Shandaken Supervisor Candidates

Rob Stanley

Rob Stanley

Rob Stanley was a town council member for four years and has been supervisor for the past two years. He attended Onteora High School, graduated Summa Cum Laude from SUNY New Paltz, and lives in Pine Hill. He works as a plumber in a business owned by his family and is entering his 24th season as a ski instructor at Belleayre. Formerly president and technical director of the Shandaken Theatrical Society, he has been involved in Phoenicia Elementary School’s Kool Skool programs. He has three children.

Regarding the critical issue of flooding in Shandaken, Stanley feels it’s important to dig out local streams, as the town has recently done in the Stony Clove. He has vowed to “continue trying to get the DEC to modify and streamline the permitting process to make it easier for us to get into the streams. I’ve also been working for the past year with the Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program to make a townwide flood hazard mitigation plan.”

With many properties flooded by the recent hurricane, Stanley acknowledged that homeowners may want to have their properties revalued, but he says the town is “not in a financial position to do full reval. It costs $150,000 to $200,000, which the town does not have, especially considering the amount of money we have to spend on flood response.” He said homeowners may contact the assessor’s office to request an individual reassessment. A townwide revaluation has not been done since 1978.

Stanley pointed out that a number of residents have been displaced from their homes. Some have inquired about the possibility of selling their land to the DEP or to FEMA. “The big concern is that the uninhabitable properties, once they’re reassessed, will put more of a burden on habitable properties. At the Coalition of Watershed Towns, we’ve been discussing the possibility of residents exchanging those properties for DEP lands higher up that are buildable, so we don’t lose our tax base. We would have to flesh out the details.”

He is opposed to rezoning as a solution to the problem of Hanover Farms, the farmstand that is operating outside the limitations of local zoning regulations. “The law is insufficient,” he said. “Who can survive with a 100-square-foot area?” He continues to work with council members on modifying the farmstand regulations within the zoning law, while acknowledging that there are other businesses that “do not conform to every snippet of the law. Richie Stokes, our zoning office building inspector, has straightened out some situations.”

Stanley does, however, feel that more businesses along Route 28 would be desirable. “We’re not talking about strip malls. We continue discussing revitalization of the hamlets, which we should be doing, enticing businesses into the hamlets. But the hamlet of Phoenicia is in a flood plain. More businesses on Route 28 would help our tax base, and it should be grown responsibly. ”

With the Onteora Central School District perennially considering whether to close the Phoenicia Elementary School as enrollments in the district decline, Stanley commented, “It would be devastating.” He said such a move would make housing stock in the western part of the township unavailable to young families. “Who will buy homes up there to put their kid on the bus to ride to Boiceville? Some of them already have a ride of an hour and a half from Pine Hill, and they don’t want to add another half hour.”

Asked whether it would be worth attempting to override the 2 percent tax cap to avoid closing the school, he replied, “I’d like to see it held under the tax cap. While municipalities are struggling to maintain fiscal responsibility, the school district is out of whack.” He says the district should eliminate unnecessary expenses in its administration budget in lieu of closing a school.

Stanley favors a sewer system for Phoenicia “under the right circumstances. It’s more environmentally friendly than septic fields and cesspools, but if the cost is too much of a burden locally, it’s not as feasible.”

For the future, he said, “I’d like to see us build more business in the town, draw more tourism, and increase our standing as one of leaders of living in the wild forest. We’re the heart of the park, and we get the brunt” of flooding and government regulation. “We’re positioning ourselves to be the voice of the high mountain towns, an asset not only to Ulster County but also to the state of New York.”

Among his accomplishments as supervisor, Stanley said, “I have brought order and calmness to town meetings and to the community as a whole, not yelling and screaming as in previous administrations. I’ve held costs down to a zero percent tax increase, and restored the fund balance for the future. I’ve showed leadership in five states of emergency, both flooding and snowstorms. I’ve opened up communications with the town board, where we have bipartisan support for most resolutions. Board members are updated weekly, and we communicate well, regardless of party affiliation.”++