Amenia waives zoning, site plan for new town hall

Accepts agreement with
Webutuck on reserved rooms

AMENIA — The Town Board approved two major resolutions at its Aug. 19 meeting that bring Amenia ever closer to officially owning the former Amenia Elementary School building. The town plans to use the building as a new town hall.

The first was a resolution determining that after weighing the factors of public interest, the move to a new town hall would be exempt from the town’s zoning laws, including any site plan approval or other provision that would otherwise apply under Amenia’s zoning.

As Attorney to the Town Michael Hayes explained, the criteria for determining “sovereign immunity� to zoning was established by the case County of Monroe v. City of Rochester, in which a series of eight criteria were identified as constituting a balancing of public interests test.

There was discussion among the board as to whether, as a gesture of good faith, to ask the town’s Planning Board to pursue a site plan review. Councilwoman Vicki Doyle said she felt it would be good protection against any possible litigation and would involve the board in the process.

The rest of the board disagreed, saying it could only further delay the process and that legally it was unnecessary. The resolution passed 4-1 with Doyle voting no.

The second resolution approved an agreement between the town and the Webutuck Central School District, allowing the district to reserve the right to use up to three rooms in the building for administrative office or storage space.

The agreement is part of the offer of the school to transfer title to the town for $1. In exchange for the three rooms, Webutuck will continue to mow the lawns of the property.

The resolution was passed unanimously subject to the town agreeing with the floor plan that the school will draw up marking which rooms will be reserved. Supervisor Wayne Euvrard said that he wanted to make sure that the rooms Webutuck wanted were on the top floor and not any of the rooms already planned for use by the town. The resolution also authorized Euvrard to sign on behalf of the town.

Hayes said there will be no formal closing on the sale, but as soon as the documents have been signed and sent to the title company the transfer will be complete.

Resident Pat Nelligan, who had previously brought up the issue of zoning requirements for the building in a letter of complaint to the town, said during opening and closing public comments that he would not be pursuing any litigation against the town. He also offered to help pay for the costs of hiring a temporary clerk of the works to assist in the moving process, an idea suggested by Councilwoman Darlene Riemer.

Nelligan said that since June he’s felt that the board has done a good job handling the move and that his previous concerns were that the move was being rushed.

“I’m not trying to stop the process,� he said. “I’m just trying to make it work better.�