AMENIA — During a special joint meeting of the Amenia Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) held on Thursday, Dec. 15, the boards voted to adopt resolutions to renew the site plan, special use permit and height variance for the Sprint/Nextel cell tower on DeLavergne Hill.The Planning Board’s resolution deals with the site plan, and the ZBA’s resolution deals with the special use permit and height variance.The resolutions state that the approval of the site plan, special use permit and height variance will last another 10 years, after which another renewal will be necessary.Conditions of approvalThe resolutions include several conditions that must be met within a given time frame or else the permit renewals will be revoked. Those conditions are:• Natural plantings must be installed on the property to screen the facility. This requirement is in place of the original requirement of artificial screening.• A supplemental landscaping plan must be submitted to the Planning Board and the ZBA within 90 days of the date of the resolutions. The plan will include “replacement of all dead or dying plantings depicted on the original landscape plan and additional natural landscaping and plantings designed to improve the screening of the facility from Route 44 and the Rosendale and Murphy properties.” The applicant is required to complete all of the plantings within a reasonable time, which will be determined by the Planning Board and ZBA when the plan is submitted. The time frame will “take into account the time of the year and appropriate planting season for the vegetation to be planted.”• The applicant will have a generator installed on the property within one year of the date of the resolutions. The applicant will give the Planning Board and the ZBA written specifications for the generator within 90 days of the resolutions.• The applicant is required to post a $30,000 reclamation bond, which will cover the costs of removing the currently existing facility and the generator, should a removal become necessary.• The applicant will have the Reclamation Agreement recorded at the Dutchess County Clerk’s office within 30 days of the resolutions and will give the town proof that that has happened.Findings of factBoth resolutions also contained a list of “Supplemental Findings of Fact and Conclusions” that describe the reasons why the boards decided to renew the permits. Those findings include:• “There is a present need to provide continued coverage using the existing facility.”• “Adequate coverage cannot be provided by reducing the height of the existing tower.”• “Adequate coverage cannot be provided by requiring co-location of antennas on the municipal cell tower, whether such co-location is on the municipal tower alone or in combination with a reduced-height tower on the property.”• “The ‘as-built’ plans signed by a licensed professional engineer or land surveyor ... demonstrate that the base of the existing tower is more than 120 feet from the neighboring property lines. Inadequate evidence was produced in support of assertions that were made to the contrary during the public review process.”• “The building permit was issued for the existing tower no later than June 2003. The time in which to file an appeal to the ZBA from the issuance of that permit has long since expired.... Inadequate evidence was produced in support of assertions that were made to the contrary during the public review process.”The resolutions in their entirety can be read at the Amenia Town Hall.More information about the history of the cell tower and the permit renewal application can be found in archived articles at www.tricornernews.com.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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