Pine Plains Board passes moratorium

By: Darryl Gangloff Register Herald   January 26, 2006

The town board has voted to approve a local law that sets a 12-month moratorium on certain development in the town.
The moratorium will affect major subdivisions consisting of four lots or more.
It will allow a State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) review of certain pending applications to continue, but only to the point of filing a final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
This contingency in the local law will allow certain project developers, such as the Carvel Development, to continue work on their Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).

Typos and minor changes
Before the Jan. 19 public hearing began, town Attorney Warren Replansky noted that he had changed some minor typographical errors in the document, as well as added one suggestion from the Dutchess County Department of Planning.
"I had sent the proposed law to county planning. They reviewed it before and had no comment," Replansky said.
"I got back to my office at 6:30 p.m. and they had faxed me a comment. They had one comment, and I don't know why they didn't comment on it last time, since it wasn't on one of the changes," he said.
County planning recommended adding one sentence to Section 9, paragraph I, which relates to granting variances.
Before the addition, the paragraph read as follows:
"In the event the town board grants a variance from the provisions of this Local Law to the applicant, the applicant shall be required to comply with all provisions of the town's current Site Plan Review Law and/or subdivision regulations, or any amendments to that law or regulations, which may be enacted during the terms of this Law, and to all requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act, in conjunction with such application proceedings."
At the suggestion of county planning, Replansky added the following sentence to the paragraph:
"The reviewing board shall consider in its review any interim data, recommendations and/or conclusions which, to date, have been promulgated, produced, or drafted by the zoning commission in its recommendations for amendments to, or the enactment of new, Land Use Laws or Regulations."
The other two minor typographical changes involved changing the lettering of two paragraphs, as well as changing a reference to those paragraphs.
"I don't consider any of these to be substantial changes that would require a new notice of a public hearing," Replansky said.
"The form that we have now is virtually identical to what we had before," he said.

Successive subdivisions
Once the public comment session was opened, Don Bartles, the chairman of the zoning board, asked how the moratorium would address the cumulative impacts of successive subdivisions of three-acre lots.
"I see what you're saying. If somebody had a 100-acre parcel and they subdivided three five-acre lots, then come back in and subdivide three five-acre lots, and so on," Supervisor Gregg Pulver said.
"It depends on how quickly they came in. It would be an interesting legal issue," Replansky said.
There was no other public comment.
"We're ready," said board member Dorean Gardner, which seemed to sum up the thoughts of all residents in attendance.
After the public meeting was closed, Pulver asked if board members wanted to discuss the moratorium before they voted.
"We've discussed it enough," said Gardner.
The board agreed unanimously to approve the moratorium, which will be Local Law No.1 of 2006.
The moratorium will not become effective until it is filed with the Attorney General's office.

In other matters
Pulver read aloud a letter written by Patricia Nannetti, co-chairwoman of the Pine Plains Community Food Locker, which thanked the town's highway department for its help with the program.
"Their willingness to help with food distribution pick ups, whenever needed, became an indispensable service to us. Without their help and dedication to our organization, many needy people would not have received assistance," Nannetti wrote.
"Most people don't realize that the highway department also voluntarily handles the loan closet for the Town of Pine Plains," Pulver added.
The loan closet consists of walkers, hospital beds, commodes, and other health-related aids. Pulver thanked the highway department for its involvement with the closet.
Since the last meeting, Pulver discussed local government with the senior class at Stissing Mountain High School, which he does twice a year.
Every year, the classes are assigned to send letters to government officials. Pulver said he receives the majority of these letters, which he doesn't mind.
"I gave them an assignment this year to figure out why we're not getting any young volunteers into the rescue squad and the fire company," Pulver said.
"I asked them what we could do as a community to foster that type of volunteerism," he said.
Pulver said he is looking forward to receiving their comments.
The town hall received a new roof due to the large amount of leaks that plagued the building.
""We had a new rubber roof put on to the tune of $15,000. We hit a good stretch of weather last week to get it done. They just finished it up today," Pulver said.
Highway Superintendent Robert Harpp commented on the recent string of storms that have hit the town.
"We've been using a fair amount of materials and have quite a bit of overtime with the storms we've been having," Harpp said.
The town board approved a resolution for a statutory installment bond for the Bobcat 5600 Work Machine, which is a turbo four-wheeler that can be used all year by the town to plow snow, cut grass, and perform other duties.
"We're going to borrow $54,900 for five years. Stissing National Bank gave us a rate at 3.75%," Pulver said.
"Basically, we're borrowing money to buy the machine that we already have," he said.
In the water improvement area report, Pulver noted that there is a billing problem this quarter with town water.
"Check your bills. If there's a problem, call the water company machine and somebody will take care of it," Pulver said.
"I'm not sure what the real problem is, but there's a new computer system. Some bills are high, some are low. There was an estimated reading this time, which should have been an average," he said.
"And they were very responsive of the complaint," said board member George Keeler.
Pulver apologized for the billing mistakes.
Michael Lawson, the officer in charge at the police department, presented the board with the 2005 year-end summary of hours and activity.
There were a total of 2,762.5 hours, including 1,757 hours on patrol. There were 1,189 records of activity, including 547 vehicle and traffic warnings, 375 vehicle & traffic tickets, 169 complaints, and 32 arrests.
"Complaints were up over 2004," Lawson said.
For the building inspector report, Pulver noted that there were 70 total building permits for the year. Fifteen of those were for new homes, and the rest were for renovations.
The town hall will be receiving a temporary modular structure to help alleviate the cramped conditions of the current building.
"It's getting really cramped. Three people are sharing my office with me," Pulver said.
This will be an interim solution until the board can look at the bigger picture of the town hall.
During the final public comment session, Ray Reed commended the police department for their work.
"I think they're doing a great job," Reed said.

©The Register Herald 2006

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.