ZBA public hearing Part II: Watershed Center seeks special permit approval

NORTH EAST — This is the second part of a two-part series on The Watershed Center public hearings, held at the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) meeting on Thursday, May 30. Part I ran in the June 6 edition of The Millerton News and may also be found online at www.tricornernews.com.The Watershed Center is a farm-based educational center for sustainable living planned for Mount Riga Farm that is seeking a special use permit from the ZBA as well as site plan approval from the Planning Board. It’s being proposed by Brooke Lehman and Gregg Osofsky, who live on the farm and together are co-directors of Mt. Riga Farm LLC, the nonprofit entity that runs The Watershed Center.On May 30 two public hearings were held, the first on the application of two neighbors — Brian Richard Watkins and Scott Kellan — for an appeal/interpretation of a decision of Zoning Enforcement Officer (ZEO) Ken McLaughlin regarding the center’s Kaye Road property, in the A5A Zoning District in the town of North East. That hearing was recessed until Thursday, June 20, when it will reconvene at 7:30 p.m.Public Hearing Part IIThe second hearing, on the special use permit, began on May 30 at 8 p.m. Watershed attorney Edward Downey informed the zoning board he had prepared to make a formal presentation, but for the sake of saving time (the meeting was already running nearly an hour late), he said if all were willing he would move on to his comments. All agreed to the suggestion.ZBA Chairwoman Julie Schroeder then read a statement from the town of North East Planning Board.“At this particular time the Planning Board has no pertinent recommendations and or advisements,” said Schroeder, reading a statement from Planning Board Chairman Dale Culver. “We may have some concerns with this application in the future.”Likewise, Schroeder said the Agricultural Farmland Protection Board of Dutchess County commented on the project. It took no position on the ZBA claiming lead agency status. Regarding whether the proposal will have an adverse effect on agriculture ag board Chairman Harry Baldwin wrote, “The property will continue to be used for commercial agriculture, i.e. the CSA will be operating on 13 acres of the property. It appears that most new or renovated structures associated with the educational center will be located outside areas currently used for agriculture, thus the proposal will not result in the property’s ag land being converted permanently to non-agricultural use. The center’s proposal does contain an agricultural education component which is compatible with encouraging farming in Dutchess County.”The Dutchess County Department of Planning and Development also had its say on the project. According to Schroeder that input was merely that the planning department believed the proposal was “a matter of local concern.”Neighbors’ supportMillerton resident Monica Blum and North East residents Cavin Leeman and Diane Zimmerman also had letters entered into the record. All wrote to support The Watershed Center and welcome it into their neighborhoods.“We wholeheartedly welcome The Watershed Center to our community,” wrote Leeman and Zimmerman in a joint letter. “Undoubtedly they will be able to do many more good things with a permanent site ... and we know that both [Lehman and Osofsky], and the center, will be ideal neighbors. We believe that their proposed use of the land will be good for the town of North East. We urge you to approve the application.”The opposition’s concernsRichard Cantor, the attorney who represents Watkins and Kellan along with a group of other residents unhappy with the project called the Oblong Valley Neighbors Association, spoke next. He asserted the “balancing test standard” for granting the area variance proves the request must be denied. Regarding the special permit application he submitted statements on traffic, engineering and architecture along with a letter from Watkins. He also mentioned Sol Flower Farm, the organic farming operation that is leasing land at Mount Riga Farm, claiming it’s problematic.“They’re a farm and they’re a CSA and an element of that is a farm market,” Cantor said, adding it needs a special permit and site plan approval. You need to know how many people will show up for the market, events, how it’s run and whether or not it’s separately leased.” He said another concern is traffic access, and that coming off Kaye Road currently is “at best, irregular, and at worst, dangerous.” Sol Flower Farm, he said, will “significantly increase that.” He said the farm will become a “very intense use.”Cantor also touched upon The Watershed Center defining itself as an educational center, which was the subject of the first public hearing and was addressed in detail in last week’s article. TacticsAfter Cantor spoke, Watershed co-counsel John Lyons, an environmental lawyer, took to the podium to address some “key issues.”He said he believed the documents submitted by Cantor were “less about environmental concerns and more about an attempt to delay [the project and inflate] expenses.”Lyons urged the zoning board to apply reason in its review, and said that the courts have ruled that not every conceivable impact needs to be considered.“SEQRA [State Environmental Quality Review Act] regulations recognize the subjectivity of the terms of significance,” he said. “Magnitude and importance [must be considered].”Fact versus fiction?Lyons told the ZBA its original negative declaration (connoting the project would not adversely impact the environment) holds up well based on the facts, and verifies the soundness of the board’s judgment.“A negative declaration is called for here,” he said, adding any neighbor’s claim that the project will result in segmentation is baseless. He added that the center and Sol Flower Farm “are not dependant on one another,” stating that much of the information provided to the board is pure speculation.“They’re just farming on that site, and if they do do a CSA they will have to come in and get a special permit,” the attorney said. “I ask you review the project as it’s been applied for, and not based on speculation.”Will reconveneAfter Lyons’ comments Schroeder said there was a lot of information to consider, which should be reviewed by the town’s engineer. The zoning board decided to recess the public hearing until Thursday, June 20, at 7:35 p.m. ZBA Attorney George Rodenhausen asked that meeting also allow for a full workshop, so the issues raised that night, along with the SEQRA review, could be discussed. The board said it would be a busy meeting, and there was some back and forth among the experts who had to check their schedules, but in the end that date and agenda was agreed upon. That meeting will be held at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex at 28 Century Blvd., Millerton; the meeting will begin at 7 p.m.