The Village of Rhinebeck board on the second November meeting adopted a resolution asking the town building department to issue a building permit for a small structure to house pretreatment units for the village water treatment plant.

Anthony Amentis, the project’s professional engineer, said the village draws raw water from the Hudson River and that fluctuating turbidity and weather‑driven changes have made existing treatment unreliable. “The solution to this was to enhance treatment by providing pretreatment units to bring the water level, turbidity lower to where it would be manageable for the existing systems,” Amentis said, and added that the plant will use ultraviolet disinfection to reduce chemical disinfection byproducts.

Village attorney Rich Olsen explained the legal rationale: because the parcel lies inside the town of Rhinebeck the village must obtain a town building permit, and courts use a Monroe balancing test to determine whether a municipal function is exempt from local site‑plan rules. Olsen told the board that he had discussed the matter with town counsel and that the proposed resolution incorporates the required Monroe factors so the town has the basis to issue the permit.

The project team said the new footprint is modest — about 30 by 40 feet to house two pretreatment tanks — and that site development will be limited to an already open area of the plant site. After discussion about notice and the included legal factors, Speaker 1 moved to adopt the attorney’s resolution and the board approved the motion. The board instructed staff to forward the package to the town building department so the town can act on the permit application.

Next steps: the village engineer will provide the resolution and supporting drawings to the town building inspector and await the town’s review and issuance of a building permit.