Town clears building ban
Board votes 6-1 to pass moratorium

By Michael Valkys Poughkeepsie Journal May 19, 2005

Large-scale residential construction in Dutchess County's most populous town will halt for at least nine months after Town of Poughkeepsie officials approved a controversial moratorium Wednesday.
The ban stops projects of 11 lots or more.
The town board approved the measure by a 6-1 vote during a meeting at town hall.
The vote followed two volatile public hearings on the issue and weeks of discussion and correspondence over the move between town leaders, residents and developers.
After weeks of debate, the board passed a measure that seemed to completely satisfy few. Many residents, while favoring a building ban, wanted a tougher moratorium lasting longer than nine months. Many also wanted the ban to cover smaller residential projects and commercial development.
The vote came as the town struggles to plan for its future and balance seemingly unstoppable development with a desire to preserve what open space is left in the growing municipality.
Some are disappointed
Resident Lisa Weiss, head of a group that worked to preserve the old Kimlin Cider Mill and an open space advocate, said the board did well to approve a moratorium, but could have done better.
"They are responding to the requests of their constituents," Weiss said. "It just doesn't go far enough to be truly meaningful and that's unfortunate."
Another resident agreed.
"I'm disappointed they didn't include commercial," David Bagley said.
Developers argued the moratorium was a bad move. They claimed the ban could kill projects that would bring needed tax dollars to the town and Spackenkill schools, a claim those supporting the moratorium said is not true.
"We didn't think it was necessary," said Kevin Marrinan, development director for Ginsburg Development of Hawthorne.
After hearing from developers at a meeting last month, the board later passed amendments to the moratorium that will allow builders to continue with environmental reviews during the ban, at their own risk.
The amendments allow developers to move ahead with reviews required under the State Environmental Quality Review Act. The review process would have stopped during a moratorium under the original proposal.
"I would have preferred to vote on this without the amendments," said Councilman Stephan Krakower, R-5th Ward, who supported the moratorium. He said he would have supported a ban on residential construction of five lots or more along with some element of commercial.
"But I think it's important we get something on the books," Krakower said.
Developers could spend substantial amounts of money on the environmental reviews only to encounter zoning changes that could leave their projects no longer viable.
Town leaders have said the moratorium is needed to finish an update of the long-awaited master plan. That document could be ready for the board to work on late next month. The master plan would have to go through public hearings before it could gain final approval. Zoning changes reflecting the update would also have to be implemented.
Supervisor Joseph Davis said last week he would support a move to extend the moratorium past nine months if the master plan work is still incomplete.
Townhomes planned
The moratorium comes as Ginsburg plans to build 468 town home units on the Casperkill Country Club property off Route 9. Marrinan said the company would proceed with environmental reviews to submit to the town.
As for the future of the project, Marrinan said "it remains to be seen what the town does with the zoning."
Councilman Jon Baisley, R-1st Ward, cast the lone vote against the moratorium, saying it was not needed and undermines the authority of the planning and zoning boards, which review projects.
"It's a slap to them," Baisley said.
Another developer has plans that could add hundreds more units at the former Hudson River Psychiatric Center campus farther north off Route 9 near Marist College, although that project is still in its early stages.
Michael Valkys can be reached at mvalkys@poughkeepsiejournal.com

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