Proposed zoning law now in Town Board's hands

PINE PLAINS — After more than two years of hard work, the Zoning Commission has submitted a completed version of its zoning ordinance to the Town Board for its consideration.

Zoning Commission Chairman Jon DePreter was at the Town Board’s meeting last Thursday to present the draft, which he said met with the goals of the town’s comprehensive plan.

“Most of the things that we had in there were coming straight out of the comprehensive plan,†DePreter said, listing goals like saving the rural character of the town and protecting the environment as examples. “The goals, and then the strategies to meet those goals, mostly were out of the plan. There weren’t a lot of mysteries.â€

Town Supervisor Gregg Pulver thanked those on the Zoning Commission for their dedication, especially those who previously served an additional three years on the town’s Comprehensive Plan Committee. Both committees were manned by volunteers.

“Thank you for doing an often thankless job,†Pulver said. “We started this almost seven years ago when we were one of the first towns in Dutchess County to belong to the Greenway Compact, of which I am proud. We’ve taken the planning process quite seriously over the years.â€

The supervisor said there was, and still is, some resistance in the town to the word zoning. Currently, Pine Plains is the only town in Dutchess County without zoning. The design standards in the proposed zoning ordinance, however, were passed by the Planning Board back in 1996. According to Pulver, the threshold for site plan review has been the same since then and will not change.

Now, as the proposed zoning ordinance moves through the process, the Town Board will be right in the middle of the action.

“Now it’s the Town Board’s time,†Pulver said. “We will hire new consultants, a new planner and attorney to have a fresh look at the document from an outside perspective. We have all been born and raised in the town of Pine Plains and we appreciate the Zoning Commission’s work.†Pulver said he and the board look forward to adopting the plan and using it for the good of the town.

Zoning Commission member Scott Chase spoke up at last week’s meeting to thank DePreter and Zoning Commission Secretary Karen Pineda, both of whom he said, “took arrows from all sides.â€

“They did a very good job,†Chase said.

DePreter also thanked Pineda.

“I can’t really speak enough about Karen,†he said, adding that the entire commission worked well together to reach the end point.

Pulver, who said the Town Board will “certainly go ahead with this,†asked for a motion to pass a resolution to accept the commission’s zoning ordinance. The motion was made and passed unanimously.

Meanwhile, earlier at that same meeting, the town extended its building moratorium another six months. That gives the board a tight time frame in which to work toward adopting the zoning ordinance to make it law, according to the board’s attorney, Warren Replansky.

“Six months may sound like a long time, but it’s not a long time and the board has a lot of work to do if it wants to accomplish that [adopting the zoning ordinance],†Replansky said. “The board has to look at the law as a local law; it must hold its own public hearing and conduct the SEQRA [State Environmental Quality Review Act] process.â€

Pulver has said that to help move the municipality through the process he wants the Town Board to hire its own planner to evaluate the law, as well as its own attorney to work with Replansky. Replansky suggested the current Town Planner Nan Stolzenburg, who worked with the Zoning Commission on the draft ordinance, be involved. He also said that the new planner, once hired, should immediately decide how to proceed with the environmental review process.

To get the ball rolling, the Town Board had a discussion at its meeting last week about possible planners and attorneys that it could hire.

“We have a very big project looming in this town, which could result in one or more litigations,†Replansky said, adding that another attorney could provide the town a defense in the case of possible future litigation. He suggested some names for the town to consider. However, at the end of the discussion, Replansky recommended the town focus on hiring its own planner as the primary goal, and then focus on hiring another attorney later on.

Ed Casazza, who sits on the steering committee of the town betterment group Teesink Crossroads 21, said he “hopes the Town Board takes a real hard look†at the proposed zoning ordinance.

Casazza also suggested the town conduct an economic impact study before the document becomes law.

DePreter, meanwhile, wanted to remind residents that the ball is now in the Town Board’s court.

“I think it’s important for everyone to know that the Town Board will now review it on its own and people should stay open minded and see where the board takes it from here,†he said. “I just think there are lifestyle expectations that people have; some people are here to get away from it all, some are here to raise kids, some are here to run businesses. It’s all about balancing that and it has been from the very beginning.â€

A copy of the final draft zoning law as submitted to the Town Board on July 19 can be found on the Internet, at the town’s Web site, www.pineplains-ny.gov. It can also be read at the Town Hall, where copies can be purchased for $20. Copies may also be read at the town library.