Donna Greco said she looked up “smart growth,” one of the buzz words of the development planners cited in the draft Comprehensive Plan, and “it is anything but smart. The only thing smart about smart growth is the deceptive name.” The concept involves “concentrating growth in compact, walkable urban centers. It stresses walkability and bicycle-friendly land use. Roads are made purposely narrow to discourage the use of vehicles, which will eventually be eliminated and replaced by buses. Your mobility will be greatly limited.” Among the other aspects of smart growth Greco said she found was a plan to house everyone in small apartments of 200 to 400 square feet, and “if we adopt this plan you will all be riding bikes to work.”
On the other hand, Bernard Bolitzer said there’s nothing wrong with apartment dwelling, and not everyone wants to live in a private home.
Gambling
With Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s support of increasing casino gambling in the state, many speakers warned of disaster should he view Winston Farm in Saugerties as a casino site. Specifically, the Comprehensive Plan states: “Permit development of gaming casinos only after analysis that demonstrates significant positive fiscal benefits to the town and village and its residents, such as property taxes and job creation, and demonstration that negative social and environmental impacts are fully mitigated.”
Mike Harkavy reminded the committee of the bitter fight some years ago to keep casinos out of Saugerties. “I don’t think there’s any place in our Comprehensive Plan for anything that gives a hint that this community wants casinos,” he said. On a more ironic note, Mark Knaust said, “It [the suggestion that a casino could be built in Saugerties] struck me as very odd and actually kind of humorous because I could amend that paragraph by saying the town and village of Saugerties are now behind the dynamiting of the community as long as the social and environmental impacts are fully mitigated. If this was included to be provocative, to start the community on a conversation about casino gambling, then I welcome that. I want the advocates of casino gambling to come forth and bring their arguments because I am happy to hear them and engage in that discussion.”
Lanny Walter warned that if a casino were to open in Saugerties, “you might as well forget the rest of the plan because Saugerties as we know it will cease to exist.”
Several other speakers pointed out the problems casinos have brought to other communities.
Authorship questioned
Several speakers implied that the plan was drafted by outsiders who had little interest in what happens in Saugerties. This led Patti Kelly to clarify the process, noting that members of the Comprehensive Plan Committee –all Saugerties residents and all volunteers – worked for more than two years to draft the plan. While the composition of the committee has changed over the years, she said, “there has been a consistency of purpose.” Addressing the Comprehensive Plan Committee members directly, Kelly told them, “the one thing I want people to understand is that you wrote this plan. I have watched you labor for hours over the wording of a particular paragraph to make sure you’re all in agreement with it.” Kelly also said it appeared that some members of the audience were not aware that this plan is an update of one that was written in the 1990s. “The fact that people here don’t even realize they have been living under a comprehensive plan is astounding,” she said.
Likewise, Susan Bolitzer, who had previously served on the committee, said “it was a committee with lots of varying opinions representing a lot of parts of the town. People came together to discuss things and agreed about things, and I never felt that it was one group making decisions for the whole town.”
Other comments
A section declaring Saugerties’s concern about climate change and the need for research and activities that could limit it was added after the first public hearing. Virginia Luppino told the committee that the addition was welcome, but “it didn’t give any specifics about how we could protect our agricultural resources (as climate changes). Another thing I’d like to see addressed in terms of climate change is that the science predicts that we are going to have a very wet fall through spring followed by drought every summer.” She suggested that the town and village look into more water storage capacity to cover the summer shortfalls.
Phyllis Silvers picked up on some small but significant details. “I notice that access between subdivisions has been limited,” she said. “I understand people moving into a subdivision want their space to be only for people who live in their subdivision, but what happens when we do this in our zoning laws is that we encourage every subdivision to access 9W, creating more and more traffic on Route 9W.” Another opportunity the town and village lost was in failing to require that Diamond Mills provide a pedestrian walkway with a river view. “We missed a viewshed that was overlooking the waterfall.”
The Comprehensive Planning Committee will go over the plan one more time to take the comments made at the meeting into account and revise the plan as necessary. Then the Town Board and the Village Board will hold public hearings and possibly modify the plan further. When both boards ratify a final version, the plan will take effect.
The idea of citizen involvement in local government is a good one. How anyone can object to this important facet of open government boggles the mind. The elected members of the Town Board appoint members of these committees, including planning and zoning boards, to ensure that the public does have input on legislation. Members of committees such as the comprehensive planning committee come from all walks of life, from all political parties, and have asked to be appointed because they wish to be involved. This is good, healthy, local government. They have resources provided at no cost from New York State Department of State, which provides training. There is a whole series of documents pertinent to land use with regards to property owners rights. Additionally, a paid consultant with knowledge of land use law, will sometimes advise the committee. Often, the monies used to pay consultants are obtained with grants. The Association of Towns provides advice and documents, if needed pertaining to land use questions. These citizens do not work in a vacuum. The elected member of the Board who serves as liaison attends the meetings and is aware of the entire process. Perhaps Ms. Ciarlante would prefer to govern by decree, without citizen involvement and input? This is one of the only forms of government where citizens’ themselves actually help craft laws. Ultimately, public hearings are held to allow any resident to voice their concerns or support. I applaud our Town Board for their inclusive approach to governing.