Should the town assess the approximately 725 customers of the water district the estimated $100,000 cost of testing the capacity of the town wells in order to expand the district and serve the Woodstock Commons affordable housing project, whose developer is the Rural Ulster Preservation Company (RUPCO)?
Lorin Rose. “I believe that (such an assessment) would roughly double the water district customers’ bills for about two years. Before assessing the current customers, I would ask RUPCO if it would assume part or all of the cost of testing, as a sort of goodwill gesture. That would be my first attempt.”
Jeremy Wilber. “The short answer is no. The tests are a ridiculous request, or requirement, of the DEC (state Department of Environmental Conservation). We have more than enough water,” said Wilber, who cited statistics on the amount of water pumped at the beginning and the end of his tenure as supervisor — approximately 60 million and 47 million gallons per year in 2000 and 2007, respectively, with a percentage of those totals deducted for factors such as leakage or firefighting — as evidence of the aquifer’s ample supply, amounting to an excess capacity of up to 15 million gallons annually. [Note: The Woodstock Commons project would reportedly require 12,500 gallons per day, or roughly 4 million gallons a year.]
What are your views on the RUPCO project in general?
Jeremy Wilber. “I don’t support or not support the project. What I support is the law. The Woodstock Commons project didn’t require any change in the zoning law or other Woodstock laws. When it was adopted in 1989, the zoning law, with a ‘density bonus’ provision, made clustered housing a very specific permitted use in areas served by (the town’s) water and sewer (systems). That law was challenged and defended successfully by the town. I think that the town’s hands are tied. The town can’t arbitrarily deny an applicant, especially under the (federal) Fair Housing Act, something that is specifically permitted in the law, which in this case is unequivocal.”
Lorin Rose. [Rose declined to comment, citing his position on the Planning Board, which functioned as the town’s lead agency for an extensive environmental review of the project. In addition, the Planning Board has conducted recent hearings on RUPCO’s compliance with permits it has received for the 53-unit housing development, which is under construction.]
Should the town pursue changes in the zoning law that would promote business activity in Woodstock and could include the commercial development of the so-called Bearsville corridor?
Lorin Rose. “I am not in favor of expanding the Hamlet Commercial district to include the Bearsville corridor, but I would support actions to make the (vacant) Simulaids buildings (in Bearsville) more viable,” said Rose. “No one from the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals has been involved in the Town Board’s review of the zoning law. It seems insane to try to change the zoning law without input from the people who are the most well-versed on the subject.” The candidate acknowledged some residents’ fears that a proposed change in the zoning law’s use table for the Gateway Overlay district near the intersection of Routes 375 and 212 could lead to the construction of a large hotel in that area. “If we can’t provide enough water for the RUPCO project, then we can’t provide enough for a big hotel. We must first study the water system just to see if it could serve RUPCO.”
Jeremy Wilber. “Absolutely not — not an inch — in terms of expanding the commercial district to the Bearsville corridor,” he said, noting that no expansion of the town’s commercial occurred during his eight-year tenure as supervisor. “But we could amend the (zoning law’s) use table for the Light Industrial district in Bearsville to include a use such as warehousing for the former Simulaids site. That would be a low-intensity use of the property that would not require water or sewer service and would not be polluting. Warehousing is prohibited under the current use table, but is one example of a way to keep a property on the tax rolls and give its owner a reasonable commercial use. Woodstock might not be crazy about having a chemical operation on the vacant sites, but a use like warehousing, which wouldn’t endanger the aquifer, might be desirable.”
