HAS COHOCTON TOWN BOARD COMPLIED WITH DUE PROCESS DURING ZONING LAW CREATION PROCEDURES?
My name is Robert C. Strasburg II, 60 Maple Ave., Cohocton, NY 14826 and my phone number is 585-384-9318. Please feel free to write or call me on the content of this article. I am not opposed to industrial wind turbines. I am opposed to the way they are being proposed in the Town of Cohocton.
I will summarize my points relative to my observations of the proposed zoning change by the Town of Cohocton Town Board relative to Industrial Wind Turbines.
1. In January of 2006 I attended an open meeting sponsored by our Town Board relative to their proposed change in Zoning to allow 500 ft. tall industrial wind turbines.
2. I asked several questions of the Town Board and Planning Board relative to their intensions and quickly found that direct answers were being skirted and replaced with diversionary responses.
3. After becoming alarmed at the lack of transparency of Town Supervisor Jack Zigenfus and the Boards, I set out to educate myself on the legal process of zoning modification.
4. NYS law clearly supports that Town Government is given the authority and responsibility to regulate land use within a Town to protect the interest of all citizens, and it is to be done in accordance with NYS law and “due process” as it has been legislated.
NYS calls for adherence to “Comprehensive Planning” and a “Written Comprehensive Plan” if one has been adopted by a Town “in what ever form it exists” when considering “Land Use Changes”. 1. (below)
According to the NYS publication ZONING AND THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN, on page 9 it says, and I quote: “Once adopted, (referring to the Comprehensive Plan)… all land use regulations must be in accordance with it .” 2. (below)
Cohocton Town has a Comprehensive Plan that has been “adopted”. Changing local land use to accommodate industrial wind turbines is in direct violation of the letter and spirit of Cohocton’s current written Comprehensive Plan. The following quotes are sited from our Plan:
“It is the desired goal of the Plan to maintain the predominant rural character of Cohocton”… note the word “rural”... it does not say industrial.
Quoting again…“The preservation of the overall character of Cohocton with emphasis placed upon the retention of the area’s desirable characteristics, natural beauty, and similar aesthetic qualities …”
Another quote from the Plan is…“Radical or large-scale modifications of the land use patterns of these sections are not likely to be realized nor are they recommended.”
Cohocton Town Board has now effectively left it’s citizens out of this zoning process as they refuse to adhere to or legally modify our current written Comprehensive Plan.
After careful study of the situation, it appears to me that when the idea of fundamentally changing the character of Cohocton with approving the placement of industrial wind turbines came about back in 2002, some members of the Town Board evidently saw it to be of some type of a benefit. What that benefit actually is, I am not sure. It was first announced to me by Councilman Wayne Hunt earlier this year after declaring to me his “commitment to seeing turbines on these hills by the end of 2007” that they were doing it “for the revenue to the Town”. I asked Wayne, “How much revenue”? He could not tell me. This caused great alarm to me. I was thinking… this man has a commitment, but no facts to support it.
Wayne has since changed his story about the revenue to the Town. Apparently, the expected income from these turbines is now much lower than expected. While meeting in public, the Town Board now goes into “executive session” and asks the public to leave when they discuss the potential revenue to the Town from the turbine project. The last public declaration I heard from Councilman Wayne Hunt justifying his current reason for being committed to these turbines is that it is not the revenue, but some pseudo-patriotic declaration that it is the “right thing to do. Why the flip-flop?
Now we all know that time does not stand still and very rarely do things stay the same. NYS recommends revisiting a written Comprehensive Plan from time to time to revise and update the document to insure that it stays in step with the will of the people.
There is “due process”, regulated by NYS that needs to be followed when considering a change in “Land Use” in a Town that has a written Comprehensive Plan. A Town must show “comprehensive planning” if it is considering taking a course different from that which has been written and already adopted.
If industrial wind turbines are a good thing for Cohocton, there is already a defined “due process” to follow to determine if that is the will of the people. NYS law guides local Town Government to take a “hard look”, “research” and “study” an issue, present the public with credible reports prior to holding public meetings, and then ask for comment and input relative to their desires for the direction in which a community is to go. This is all to be done prior to amending a Comprehensive Plan. Once this procedure is done in a credible way, the Town Board can then proceed to enact new zoning law reflecting the “will of the people”. This is what we call democracy in action. This is what our Forefathers, Uncles, Aunts, Brothers and Sisters have bought for us and defended with their blood… the right to participate in our government.
I have not seen this happen in Cohocton. Instead, what has been produced is a report done for us by the very wind developer that wants to put 500 ft. turbines all over our hills with less than adequate safeguards. Their report, although determined to be incomplete by the NYS Department of Public Service in a letter to our Planning Board on June 8th of this year, (I have a copy in my office) is the only “study” offered by our Town Board supporting their action.
We were led to believe by Supervisor Zigenfus that he would put together a public forum in which the Town Board would invite professionals from the wind industry and government official to provide relevant information on what might be expected as an impact by changing Cohocton’s zoning in such a way as to allow unlimited numbers of 500 ft. tall turbines. No such forum ever materialized. Our Town hired an engineering firm (paid for by the wind developer) to do a study of the impact on Cohocton from the placement of these turbines. The unlimited site location of industrial turbines allowed by the currently proposed new zoning law, offers no real protection. Our Town refuses to let us see the results of this report.
Cohocton citizens have presented hundreds of questions to our Town Board in writing after being promised by the Board that if we did that, they would reply with answers back in writing. This way we could be informed of the impact we were facing prior to public hearings. The public hearings have come and gone and not one of my fellow citizens has gotten one answer back. We will not have another opportunity to voice our opinion on this new zoning law prior to the likelihood of our Town Board voting it into law on November 21st.
We have been shut out of the democratic process by dictatorial practices by our Town Board. The only recourse left is to turn to the judicial branch of our government for relief. This deficient sham process is what the Town Board will offer in Court as their defense that they have done honest “comprehensive planning”. Our Town Board has already spent $22,681.00 this year on legal fees for an outside law firm. Under the guise of representing Cohocton, these attorneys, in my opinion, are simply writing a biased law in favor of the developer instead of first going back and revisiting the Comprehensive Plan. The real will of the people of Cohocton has not been properly sought. In addition, the developer has paid $21,523.47 to this same law firm. Why?
We as taxpayers will now be burdened with many more thousands to pay in court costs to defend this action of our Board if they vote this law into effect on November 21st. Supervisor Zigenfus has already declared his intention to borrow $50,000.00 more for legal fees, now we are up over $70,000.00 of Cohocton taxpayer’s money. I will not sue our Town; I live in the Village and will not be right next to these 500 ft. turbines. But, those that will be have been given no other choice to protect what they have worked all their lives to accumulate.
In addition to preparing to borrow money to defend lawsuits, on November 21st at 6:30 PM, the Town Board will hold a public hearing in Atlanta (North Cohocton) in which they want us taxpayers to approve them raising the Towns Indemnification insurance to protect them from being sued personally for the actions they are taking. The income from these turbines is so minimal that they will not release the numbers to us, and they are preparing to pay for attorneys and insurance at our expense as taxpayers to defend them in lawsuits. Does this sound like good planning? What might be the real reason for pushing this law through?
Now, you can be sure that I will be attacked in the next issue of this paper by those that are in line to receive payment for leasing their land to the wind developer. Pay close attention to how they avoid addressing the real issues. They will attack me the messenger, but they will not be able to defend why open democracy was not practiced concerning this issue. Remember… no credible studies… no public forum of professional advisors as promised…no answers to hundreds of questions from my fellow residents…NOT ONE!
I am urging all residents of Cohocton and neighboring communities (this will affect Wayland-Cohocton school taxes) to stand up for democracy! Send a letter and make a phone call immediately to Supervisor Jack Zigenfus of the Town Board of Cohocton at 15 South Main Street, Cohocton, NY 14826 (585-384-5330) expressing your outrage of his leadership on this issue and ask for a Moratorium on this entire process until the Comprehensive Plan is properly revisited for updating. Attend the November 21st Town Board meeting and express your demand for the return of the Town Board to the democratic principles they swore to uphold.
Sincerely,
Cohocton Wind Watch Member
http://cohoctonwindwatch.org/
P.S. We have every Board meeting on DVD for anyone interested in seeing this debacle of honest government
1. http://www.gorr.state.ny.us/zoning.html#authority
2. http://www.dos.state.ny.us/lgss/pdfs/zncompplan.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment