The board of trustees voted to put in place a six-month moratorium on the installation of outdoor wood burning furnaces during its meeting Monday night.

The moratorium came to the trustees as a recommendation from the village planning board which would like more time to review the issue after appications have come before them.

The village had sought approval for an outdoor wood furnace of its own at the main streets department garage located outside the village limits in the town of Otsego. Water heated by the furnace would be piped in to the building's radiant heating system. The board of trustees included $10,000 in this year's budget for the furnace and it was to be fueled with wood from village trees that have been trimmed or cut down. It was expected to save the village as much as $2,500 in heating costs annually.

Treasurer Mary Ann Henderson said almost $7,700 has been spent so far on the furnace and piping. It does not, she said, include the cost of the concrete slab it is sitting on.

Public works superintendent Brian Clancy went to the planning board at the recommendation of Mayor Carol Waller, who said all construction on village property should be reviewed by the planning board.

Clancy also went to the town of Otsego planning board and was eventually given approval by the town's zoning board of appeals after it determined the outdoor furnace was not an extension of a non-conforming use.

The village planning board, however, had concerns about the impact of the smoke from the furnace. Outdoor furnaces typically have a smokestack much shorter than a house and emit the smoke at a lower level.

According to Clancy, the village's furnace, which is installed, but not yet piped into the building, has a stack 36 inches tall, but it could be extended.

The village zoning law does not specifically regulate outdoor wood furnaces, but does address emissions of smoke generally. The law states that emissions of smoke darker or more opaque than number one on the Ringelmann Smoke Chart from the U.S. Bureau of Mines are prohibited. According to the Bureau of Mines, the Ringelmann chart is frequently used by municipalities to set smoke density limits.

The problem is, no one on the planning board is currently familiar with the Ringelmann Smoke Chart. And that is one of the reasons the planning board asked for the moratorium.

David Poulette told the planning board during its September 26 meeting that he is concerned about the village's furnace. He said he has measured the distance from the smokestack to the entrance of his wife's health food store and it is less than 100 feet. The wind, he said, always blows southeast which is in direct line with the store. There is also a two-family apartment within 150 feet and a church nearby, pointed out planning board member Charles Hill.

The board asked Clancy if he could guarantee the smoke would not exceed the limit set in the zoning law and he admitted he could not.

The planning board decided to table the issue until the trustees could decide on the moratorium.

Now that the moratorium has been approved, Clancy said he's uncertain what will happen.

``I'm not quite sure where I stand right now,'' he said Tuesday.

In the meantime, the village continues to sell firewood. Clancy said the current price is $45 per face cord.

In other business, the board,

approved spending $10,000 on the library renovation project. The money will come from revenue earned from the two concerts this summer. The project includes removal of a half-wall, bookshelves and racks in the second back room and electric and lighting changes.

made a change to the zoning law to allow for the appointment of two alternate members of the planning board and the zoning board of appeals. The change calls for the appointment of two alternate members to each board. There have been a number of occasions when the two boards have been unable to vote on an application because of a lack of a quorum due to a member's recusal or absence.

Alternate members would vote in the event there was no quorum.

Trustee Jeff Katz remarked that he would like to see more recusals than there are currently and that the change in the law might help make that happen.

Trustee Paul Kuhn, a former chairman of the planning board, questioned the need for the change saying he did not remember many instances when the board could not vote because of a lack of a quorum.

Mayor Carol Waller, however, said the change was in response to a request from the planning and zoning boards.

delayed voting on a proposal to do away with the outdoor display of merchandise. Katz said he and the planning committee met with businessman Ted Hargrove following last month's public hearing on the issue and believe there may be an opportunity to resolve the matter without banning it. Katz said there was some good give-and-take during the meeting and that they are still in the talking stages.

heard a report from the police committee detailing efforts to relieve congestion on Main Street caused by delivery trucks.

The committee is working to stagger the arrival of trucks and create additional loading/unloading zones in the downtown area.