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Hopefully Courts Will Uphold Town Enforcement of Agricultural District Laws
To the Editor:
Putnam Valley voters elected Democrats in the fall of 2005 to promote the environmental protection of the town and reduce cronyism. For the most part they have at least tried to do so, but county legislator Sam Oliverio's recent support for illegal waste hauling in town raises a question whether he agrees with this policy.
A notorious dump on Cimarron Road is claiming that the state agricultural district laws exempt it from town zoning requirements. However, only legitimate farm operations can gain this exemption. The whole Town Board (Republicans and Democrats both), the town Building Inspector, and the state Department of Agriculture and Markets all agree that the activity is not farming, which is obvious to just about everyone except Mr. Oliverio. Nevertheless, and despite his lack of jurisdiction over the enforcement, which is a Town matter, he wrote a letter to be sent to the court supporting the exemption.
Hopefully the courts will uphold the town enforcement, which is necessary to prevent the waste hauling to the facility from dominating the residential area around Cimarron Road. Mr. Oliverio's alternative vision, would result in substantial damage locally and beyond. Aside from the continuing problems due to the dumping and trucking, it would expand the ability of facilities to use the agricultural laws to avoid town zoning. The owner of any land in an agricultural district could establish a regional dump regardless of the zoning without town review. The potential for abuse is clear, and many of the regional dumpers using the Cimarron Road facility have joined Mr. Oliverio in encouraging the court to dismiss the town enforcement action.
Aside from the threat to the town from this expansion of unwelcome industry, if the Court were to accept this new interpretation it would undoubtedly result in a loss of support for the agricultural district program in Putnam County (and probably elsewhere). Mr. Oliverio seems not to have taken this into account in siding with the dumpers against the Town and its residents. Whoever he is protecting, it isn't the local environment.
John Cohen Putnam Valley
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