Hyde Park zoning hearing questioned
Group claims procedure was not followed

By John Davis Poughkeepsie Journal March 11, 2005

HYDE PARK -- Supervisor Yancy McArthur has rejected Stop the Sprawl's charge the recent public hearing on amendments to the comprehensive plan was illegal.
Anne Dexter, co-founder of the grassroots group, said the Feb. 24 hearing was convened without a quorum of the zoning review committee members. Only two members of the nine-member advisory committee were present at the dais in the town hall meeting room.
''From a procedural standpoint, they fell short,'' Dexter said.
The committee, which has drafted a new zoning ordinance and some amendments to the comprehensive plan, held the hearing to gather public input.
Most of the 25 Hyde Park residents who spoke opposed the proposed changes, saying they would permit too much development across the town. The critics included Dexter and other members of Stop the Sprawl.
Dexter said she was not interested in having the hearing held over again. She just wanted to point out that ''the administration is lax about the process.''
At a recent town board meeting, Dexter presented McArthur with a letter addressed to him from Marc Gerstman, Stop the Sprawl's consulting attorney.
Gerstman's two-paragraph letter cites state law which, he maintains, required a majority of the zoning review committee to be present at the hearing.
Supervisor: Quorum met
McArthur said at least four members of the zoning review committee attended the Feb. 24 hearing, even though Tony Quirici and George McGann were the only two sitting at the dais -- along with planning consultant Chuck Voss.
Members Michael Dalbo and Andy Imperati were sitting in the audience, McArthur said. ''I don't think they have been lax,'' he said of the committee members.
Town attorney Scott Volkman agreed.
''Whether they were at the dais was unimportant,'' Volkman said. ''Whether they were at the front of the room or the back of the room'' did not matter.
Volkman also said the committee was not required by state law to hold the hearing. The committee held the hearing, he said, to hear public comments on its planning recommendations.
Committee co-chairman Tony Quirici said, ''We were just gathering information.''
In contrast, Volkman said, the town board must hold public hearings on the final comprehensive plan and zoning drafts before voting to enact them.
An attorney with the New York Association of Towns questioned the need for a quorum of members at the committee hearing, since nothing was being voted on.
''So long as the committee wasn't making any decisions and merely gathering information, it is not as much an issue,'' said Murray Jaros, special counsel for the Albany-based nonprofit town government advocacy association

Copyright © 2005, Poughkeepsie Journal .

AREA NEWSPAPER
CONTACT INFORMATION

ULSTER/ DUTCHESS

Poughkeepsie Journal
PO Box 1231
Poughkeepsie, NY 12602
(845) 454-2000
For an on line letter to the editor. Fill out this form

ULSTER COUNTY

Saugerties Times
Monday deadline
P.O.Box
Phone:334- 8200
FAX your letter 334-8202
saugertiestimes@ulsterpublishing
(Attention Erica Freudenberger, editor)
P.O.Box 3329
Kingston, NY 12402

Albany Times Union
Times Union
90 State Street
Albany, NY 12207
(518) 454-5091
For an on line letter to the editor. Fill out this form

COLUMBIA COUNTY
The Independent
Indenews (online)

P.O. Box 360
Hillsdale, NY 12529
Phone (518) 325-4400
FAX (518) 325-4497
Parry Teasdale, editor

letters to editor require form through website

***NOTE: Our websites make an effort to glean info for our readers from local papers. This is no way a substitute for subscribing or picking up a local paper. We gratefully acknowledge the efforts local newspapers and publications make to our community.