HORTONVILLE — The Del­aware Town Board an­nounced it recently received a $20,000 municipal grant from Sullivan Renaissance and Supervisor Ed Sykes said he already has some plans to use it.

“We have no zoning regulations for Airbnbs, glamping or short-term rentals,” Supervisor Sykes told the board. “We should have regulations, It's a safety issue.”

Sykes said he asked planner Tom Shepstone about implementing these regulations and Shepstone reported he had drafted two sets of these regulations, one for a PA town and one for a NY town. The estimated cost would be less than $2,000, Sykes reported.

Planning Board Chair Terry Zieres agreed with Sykes, saying, “We should do something.”

Callicoon resident Eva Barnett questioned the board, “What did you have in mind?”

“Fire alarms, egress and ingress issues and other safety issues,” Sykes said. “Right now we don't have any regulations at all.”

Barnett asked if any thought was given to limiting the amount of houses available for Airbnbs.

“It's hard to [find a place to] rent right now,” Barnett said.

Sykes replied, “It should be looked at.”

He also noted that the county is currently collecting room tax from the Airbnbs in the town.

The board agreed to accept the grant with the remainder of the grant to be spent on gardens in Callicoon Creek Park, near the Olympia Hotel and in public spaces town-wide, according to Sykes.

Also, site work and grading on Phase I of the Callicoon Visitors Center will also receive funding.

The $20,000 Renaissance grant is a matching funds grant and Town Clerk Tess McBeath said, “We have to be on top of the bookkeeping.”

Country Fair taking shape

The board passed a resolution authorizing the use of the Callicoon Creek Park by the Delaware Youth Center and Callicoon Business Assn. for a children's game area.

Katie Welsh will be helping to organize this part of the event and the Country Fair will be held on Saturday, July 27, officials said.

Spring Clean-Up Days set

Supervisor Sykes an­nounced that the town would again be sponsoring a Town Spring Clean Up weekend on Saturday and Sunday, April 27 and 28 at the Delaware Highway Dept.

New generator approved

Bids for a new back-up generator for the Callicoon Sewer Plant were opened and the bid went to TAM Enterprises at $164,300.

The pricetag includes building an elevated platform, walkway, fence and installing the generator on railroad property near the railroad tressel, according the Bill Brown of Delaware Engineering, who is overseeing the project.

Brown said the location of the generator increased the price. Six bidders competed on the project.

Fill ‘er Up

As the town begins site work at the new Delaware Highway Barn and Salt Shed on Route 17B they will have approximately 13,000 yards of fill to dispose of.

Many surrounding townships have expressed interest in receiving the fill and Brown said that would “save a lot of money” having towns take it away.

Thank you, Thank You

Fremont Street resident Laurie Ramie wrote a thank you letter to the town expressing her gratitude to the Town's Highway Dept. for helping her during a recent snowstorm.

Although Ramie did not tell who helped or what they did she did say that she received helping hands and wanted to publically recognize the department for all they did.

“It's no easy feat,” she said.

Water, water everywhere

UDC representative Harold Roeder reported to the town that the Cannonsville, Pepacton and Neversink reservoirs are at 93.3 percent of capacity, holding 249.4 billions of water combined.

The Delaware River Basin storage is currently 14 billion gallons above the long-term median storage.

A billion gallons of water would fill 40,000,000 bath tubs or 1,515 Olympic-sized swimming pools.