At the April 11 town board meeting, the town board voted unanimously to close the State environmental Quality Review, declare a "Negative Declaration" (meaning that there would be no adverse environmental impacts) even though the town planner stated that the EAF Part l and Part ll were not complete, and the existing items on the EAF Part ll indicated that there would likely be major environmental impacts, requiring (at least) the preparation of an EAF Part lll which would indicate how the major impacts could be mitigated. All this without benefit of an attorney's advice. Town attorney Dennis Lynch is required to recuse himself when issues involving his sometime client developer Patrick Magee come before the town board; Magee has requested the zone change masquerading as a "redefinition" of the LI (Light Industrial) Zone where he owns property he claims he can't develop under the existing zoning. The board voted to allow the basket of uses approved by the Planning Board from the list of uses requested by Magee, but only by "special permit" from the town board. This after supervisor Marino suggested that the applicant Magee come to the town board with a specific list of what he wanted to do. While SPACE endorses the supervisor's idea, we are appalled that the state-mandated review process was so quickly thrown out. Had the process been allowed to rut its course, it might have taken another month or two, but would likely have illuminated any problems with the plan. Stony Point is already heavily burdened with problems caused by local boards playing fast and loose with SEQRA*. Equally alarming is the fact that all this was done without an attorney present, as noted above. SPACE voiced its concern at the outset of the current administration that the town would not be properly advised.
town board scuttles SEQRA on LI zone
The supervisor named an "assistant" town attorney, but he has not been present at any of the recusals at the town and planning boards where Magee issues were discussed. In the absence of an attorney, it was interesting to see councilman Cole-Hatchard lead the board by the nose through a motion that he had prepared even before the meeting, granting Magee his current prize. Councilman Bohlander joined Cole-Hatchard in his push for approval remarking that development was being held up by "…too much bureaucracy…". We presume that Councilman Boihlander endorses a return to the lack of "bureaucratic" oversight he participated in during the planning and construction of the golf course. This big Republican-backed push for Magee is most concerning, and does not bode well for serious review when these "special permit" applications come from developer Magee to the town board.
One must keep in mind that these new "uses". essentially BU (Business District) uses, will be applicable to the Lovett and the U.S.Gypsum sites as well as those on Kay-Fries Drive.
SPACE has stood behind Councilman Cole-Hatchard in his efforts to get a better Mirant/NRSD settlement but we are most concerned with his forceful backing of a major developer's requests, whose projects have often caused serious drainage problems in Stony Point; and we are quite alarmed that this new town board has, after only four months in office, so blithely put aside the SEQRA planning process they all claimed they would follow during their campaigns.
* you can read about SEQRA here