Republican supervisor candidate sees an influx of new residents, businesses
Nancy Schauffler believes that there is a boom coming to Woodstock.
“There are a lot of people moving to town because of airbnb,” says the Republican candidate for town supervisor. “They really need firm guidance from three agencies — the building department, the planning board and the ZBA. The decisions of the various boards — ethics, zoning, planning — should be respected. This will encourage more people to volunteer for positions in town government.”
She says she wants to make sure all three town agencies are up to speed to deal with the great economic burst that’s coming to Woodstock. “The Colony, Gypsy Wolf, there are a lot of new businesses that have come into town; and all the tourists, because of airbnb, and a lot of them are deciding to stay here. I foresee a growth period and want everyone to be prepared for it.”
Schauffler has lived in town now for seven years. She grew up in Garrison, New York, graduated Oberlin College in 1981 with a government major. She has a Masters in journalism from American University and spent 20 years in New York City in a family business, managing an apartment building and doing bookkeeping.
“I went through a hippie phase between college and New York City. I hitched to Alaska and worked on a fishing boat, ended up in an ashram in California. I ended up deciding that my karma was to go back to NY and help my family in the real estate business.
“Some good friend of mine from the city moved up here,” she says. “I wanted to move to a place like Garrison, which is more like a suburb now. I wanted a place to go hiking. I wanted a place as far from New York City as possible and still get The New York Times at my door.”
As has been noted, Schauffler currently has a lawsuit against the town over a zoning issue with Cucina restaurant. Should the town supervisor be suing the town itself? “Then I’d be suing myself, so it ought to be pretty easy to settle,” she jokes. “I’m just focusing on the job and what I’d like to do as supervisor. There are some things I think I can contribute to the town.”
She listed her concerns.
“I would like to deal with the maintenance that has been postponed for the last few years in an effort to deal with the tax cap. For instance, the highway department is supposed to pave ten miles of road per year — last year they paved two. They don’t have the manpower. The foliage at intersections is not being trimmed creating dangerous conditions. The signs are not being cleaned and replaced, there’s one by Bread Alone that is so faded it’s pink. Very Woodstock.
“It’s all the highway department can do to do the plowing and keep up with the essentials, but they’re not doing what they should be doing. The same with water and sewer. The wells need to be maintained…there’s a whole host of water and sewer maintenance projects that keep getting put off. They’re behind in pumping out septic tanks.
“So I would go through the budget with my bookkeeping background — I know how to look for the details. The current supervisor says he’s constantly reviewing the budget for ways to save, but it would be good to have a fresh set of eyes. If we can’t find savings and new revenue, we would have to override the ttax cap…
“I know some towns are taxing airbnb’s, that’s something we can look into, but the bottom line is the maintenance has to be taken care of. Maintenance should take precedence over new projects…for instance the solar array…Three years ago the solar array would have increased our carbon footprint and cost us a million dollars. This new proposal would kind of break even…might decrease the carbon footprint in 12 years or something. We should wait a couple of years when we might even decrease the carbon footprint and save money…and do the maintenance.”
She discussed the town board’s procedures.
“I’m an advocate for open government and the democratic process. I think everything should be discussed, all town business with the entire town board. And we should have as many public hearings as possible on issues like whether to charge for Mountain View parking lot.
“Town meetings should be orderly, a little more structure in town government would be a good thing. Orderly meetings give everybody a chance to talk and be heard.
I admire the way Stuart Auchincloss conducted his meetings of the Library board…he guided the town through a difficult process with open meetings…
“And we need to hire a traffic consultant…we need an expert opinion on what to do about traffic. We’ve had lots of amateur opinion.”
And her take on the campaign?
“It’s been fun and interesting…sometimes. Its a more public thing than I’ve ever done, so it’s a little stressful.”
