Zoning changes
On another subject, the board resumed an ongoing discussion of proposed changes to the zoning law, covering matters such as accessory apartments, home occupations, farm stands, parking-lot lighting, requirements for site plan review, and the regulation of development in the Scenic Overlay District. Following input from Planning Board member Paul Shultis Jr. and resident Iris York, the council agreed to make necessary revisions of the text under consideration, which incorporates recommendations by the local and county planning boards and the local Zoning Board of Appeals, as well as edits by Woodstock supervisor Jeremy Wilber.
At future meetings the board will review the revised text and, eventually, schedule a public hearing on the packet of zoning changes, some of which date to 2004. Meanwhile, Wilber reported that he had researched the feasibility of permitting Woodstock residents to keep chickens, as proposed by speakers at the board’s February 12 meeting. Any such amendment to the zoning law would not be part of the current packet of proposed changes.
Except in cases where neighbors don’t get along with one another, the keeping of chickens (but not roosters) has posed few problems elsewhere, said Wilber, recounting recent conversations with other municipal officials. The other Town Board members appeared receptive to the idea, while Lorin Rose, who serves on the Planning Board and is an announced candidate for supervisor in the fall election, observed that chickens offer the fringe benefit of eating the ticks that cause Lyme disease.
Wilber pledged to obtain relevant zoning information from chicken-keeping communities and pass it along to the Planning Board. If it proved prudent, he said, the Town Board could expedite the process of adopting a new local law, as it did recently in the case of a proposal to criminalize hydrofracking. “By the end of August people will be eating fresh eggs,” quipped Wilber.
Town Hall update
The supervisor cited early March as the target date for completion of the Town Hall renovation project, which got under way last May. The town, rather than an outside contractor, will handle the task of moving the Police and Emergency Dispatch Departments and the justice court back to Town Hall when the work is finished. The three departments have occupied temporary offices on Comeau Drive during the construction.
McKenna and Magarelli recommended that the board find some worthwhile use, other than storage, for the second-floor space at Town Hall, which has not been renovated but is reportedly attractive. A police locker room occupies part of the space.
In an interview after the meeting, Magarelli confirmed that she would seek election to a new Town Board term in the fall. With the Town Hall project scheduled for completion, the councilwoman plans to muster support for a renovation of the Community Center. About 45 percent of the estimated cost, she said, could be raised privately, through the sale of 1,000 bricks or plaques bearing donor’s names, at $100 apiece.
McKenna and Wilber have yet to decide whether to seek reelection. The councilman said that he might announce a decision in the next week or so.
