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Monthly Meeting of the Cold Spring Village Board of Trustees Re-Visits Land-Use Moratorium Issue
By Michelle Woods
Village Trustee Karen Dunn presented a memo to the Village Board at its Monthly Meeting on February 13th, 2007 on the land-use moratorium issue, arguing for the "need to consider a moratorium." She argued that the "pressures are only going to get worse" from developers in the area, especially with large-scale projects in the locality, such as the expansion of Stewart Airport in Newburgh, and that the Village should identify "vulnerable" parcels of land "and appropriately zone" them, if, as part of the Village's Master Plan, the Village feels the zoning needs to be changed. Dunn stated that this shouldn't be seen as "a nobuild moratorium," but should be part of a "community-wide conversation" that should "include landowners" in discussions about "how we want to grow."
Mayor Anthony Phillips questioned whether discussions about a moratorium might be "premature," because of the lack of land-use issues in front of the Board at present and because such discussions would be taking place before the Comprehensive Plan Special Board were "ready to address anything like a moratorium." Dunn suggested approaching "a disinterested land-use lawyer to guide us through some of the issues that might arise" and the Board agreed that she contact Professor John Nolan who is Counsel to the Land Use Law Center and Real Estate Law Institute at Pace University, to ask whether he would talk to the Board in March or April about
allow the Board to ask questions that might address stated concerns such as "what are the benefits?" of a moratorium and "what are the costs?"
The Comprehensive Plan Special Board presented their monthly report, stating that they will hold meetings twice a month on the first and second Thursdays, from 7-9pm at the Village Firehouse; the first meeting will consist of workshops of various kinds and the second will be a monthly meeting, both of which will be open to the public. Mayor Phillips noted to the Special Board that he appreciated "the time you're putting in" to their efforts.
The status of two properties in the Village was brought up during the meeting. Trustee Phillip Heffernan noted that the Marathon site was the subject of a foreclosure hearing in Carmel and that it was still possible that Putnam County could become owners of the property if back taxes were not paid on the land. Mayor Phillips warned against "jumping the gun" in debating about who will be the owners of the site and what would happen if Putnam County became the owners. He did note that if the County owned the property, a Village moratorium would have no legal power over the County's decision as to the development of the site and that the County was not obligated to go through the Village processes in the development of the site, although it was likely to do so.
The Trustees felt that, if this was the case, it was important to clarify the status of the Marathon site and Karen Dunn suggested writing to Putnam County Executive Robert Bondi to do so, to which the Board agreed. Dunn and Gallagher also suggested inviting Putnam County Legislator Vinny Tamagna to talk to the Board about Putnam County's services as they relate to the Village. Earlier in the meeting, Mr. Heffernan brought up the status of The Grove property, suggesting a strategy be implemented to "readdress the issue" in order to "get it in front of the public." The Mayor agreed to contact the Grove Restoration Committee.
In other business, Trustee Edward Mancari noted the deadline for a tentative Village budget at March 20th 2007, and that there would be two public hearings held in April regarding the budget. The budget, under State law, needs to be adopted by the last Tuesday in April.
Seth Gallagher introduced applications from the Recreation Board, including one from the Cold Spring Chamber of Commerce and the Western Putnam Economic Development Council for a weekend Design Fair to be held on Main Street on April 28th and 29th 2007. The Fair would be part of a fashion and home design week, and would showcase local firms involved with home design such as architects, realtors and contractors. The Board also agreed to continued usage of Mayor's Field by the Haldane baseball and football teams, the Philipstown Pop Warner team and the Philipstown Baseball Clinic (August 13th-17th), pending a change in fee structure, due to increased maintenance costs.
The Village Board approved a resolution authorizing the Mayor to file the application to the NYDEC for an investigation into the coal tar cleanup on New Street, and the Board approved the reports of the Village Treasurer, the Building and Fire Inspectors, the Justice Court, the Water and Sewer Department, and approved bills to be paid. The Cold Spring Board Monthly Meeting takes place on the second Tuesday of every month. The next meeting will be on March 13, 2007.
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