Zoning regulations must be enforced

A town or village planning board has no easy task when processinging an application. It has to review site plans, architectural renderings, maps, septic and water specifications, environmental forms, endless reports — the list could go on and on. Its members, mind you, volunteer to do such work. So when they are faced with applications that sluggishly follow along, it can, understandably, be frustrating.Case in point, the GRJH application in the town of North East. GRJH, Inc., is run by businesswoman Alicia Metz. It’s the corporation behind the Sunoco gasoline station and convenience store on Route 44 in Millerton, which has operated without a certificate of occupancy since it opened in 2006 — and has thus been operating illegally. The North East Planning Board has tried and tried to deal with the business to bring it into compliance throughout the years. It’s attempted to address the illegal, internally lit LED (light emitting diodes) sign, for one thing. It has tried to do so repeatedly, but with no luck. The sign remains in opposition to the town’s sign ordinance, yet it remains. Even the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) has weighed in on the matter and denied a variance request, but again, to no avail. The matter is now tied up in court, as GRJH filed an Article 78 lawsuit against the ZBA ruling. The case is one to watch — it has implications that could impact the future design of the entire town and village.The GRJH attorney, Keith Nolan, just last week appeared before the board with a very tardy site plan. The submission of the site plan was required as part of a conditional approval granted by the Planning Board to GRJH, but even the promise of stepping onto the right side of the law didn’t seem to motivate the applicant. Nolan was supposed to have submitted the site plan on Jan. 9. Instead, he submitted it less than 24 hours before his appearance last week on Feb. 23. Not surprisingly, the board was not pleased. Its request for a timely submission was ignored. The board was not given enough time to thoroughly review the submission in preparation for a thoughtful and intelligent discussion at its meeting the following night. Clearly, the Planning Board should have been given the respect and professional courtesy of real time to review the material with due diligence, well in advance of its meeting. Nolan’s treatment of the board, perhaps indicative of his client’s wishes (as he hinted when stating, “There have been times when I have been instructed not to attend [Planning Board meetings]”), has become something of a pattern. Planning Board Chairman Dale Culver was on the mark when he addressed the issue with Nolan head-on and said there was “genuine frustration.”A Planning Board is meant to listen, learn, investigate, mitigate and advise. Its members do their best to help protect and enhance their community’s aesthetic and function. In North East, the Planning Board has been doing a really good job of maintaining the vision developed through the town’s comprehensive plan — one of rural character with open, productive land, livable communities and a bustling village center. It should be given the continued support it needs to do its job. This case is tough. GRJH has flagrantly disregarded Planning Board regulations in the past, but now Nolan seems to be playing catch up. Just this week he assured The Millerton News the Planning Board’s requirements will all be met (weather permitting) by its March 9 meeting. The town should stand firm, with hands outstretched — and if those plans are not submitted in full at that meeting — its zoning enforcement officer should be sent immediately to Sunoco to shut it down.