Stephentown ZBA Takes Up Motocross Again

by David Flint
It took some prodding but the Stephentown Zoning Board eventually got on track to starting a new review of Howard Commander’s proposed Motocross Sports Park. The meeting on Thursday evening, October 7, got off to a late start because, with Board Secretary Deborah Angley’s resignation and no replacement found yet, no one present knew where to find the key to the light switch. Town Clerk Patty Gallup finally arrived and put the lights on.
The prodding was applied by Attorney Craig Crist, appointed by the Town Board to provide guidance to the Zoning Board following the filing of successful Article 78 proceedings challenging their granting of a use variance in July. Crist found that none of the Board members present, Joseph Champion, Bob Mittnight, Richard Sime, new member Roland Barth or Alternate Member James Ayling were inclined to chair the meeting in the absence of Chairman Jack Liebenow. Champion, who has acted as Chairman during deliberations on the Motocross proposal, declined to do so at this time. Champion also seemed to be reluctant to hold the meeting at all given that there was no secretary to record the minutes. Craig said, however, that the meeting would be held. He asked for a volunteer to record the minutes, and Barth finally agreed to do it. Craig then asked for a motion to permit Ayling to sit on the Board in place of the missing Liebenow. Again Barth, after some delay, finally offered the motion and Sime seconded. But Champion voted no and both Mittnight and Sime abstained so the motion failed, and Ayling left the dais to sit in the audience. Ayling has sat on the Board in the recent past without any motion being made, but apparently Crist felt that a motion was needed. It was not clear why the Board rejected the motion.
Crist then elicited from the Board a motion to go into executive session to discuss “a litigation issue.” The motion passed 4-0, and the Board and Crist retired to another room for about a half hour. When they returned Crist suggested three motions that he was able to get the Board to make, all of which passed 4-0. The first was to vacate and annul the use variance that they approved in July. The other two were to hire the engineering firm Clough Harbour and Crist’s law firm, Dreyer Boyajian LLP, to advise the Board in revisiting the use variance application. Costs will be paid by the applicant, Howard Commander.
Commander said his attorney was working on a new application that he would be prepared to present at the November meeting. He was looking for discussion on its merits first and would officially file the application at a subsequent date. He said he had commissioned a sound study at considerable expense, and he was concerned that the Board would take care to read and analyze it before ordering any new study at additional expense to him. He said he also had a traffic study completed and was in the process of hiring other technical experts as well. He wanted assurance that he would be put on the docket for the November meeting. If the use variance is approved, Commander said he expected the Motocross park, which adjoins land in New Lebanon where his Drag Strip and Raceway are located, could be completed next spring. He asked if there was any objection by the Board to him cutting down some trees on the property and having them ground up.
Crist assured him that meetings would be held on the first Thursday of each month and that Commander’s proposal would be on the agenda for November 4. Regarding the sound study Commander had commissioned, Crist said the Board would evaluate it as well as any studies that residents in the area might commission. As for the trees, he said the Board would not grant or deny permission. He expected that Commander would consult his own attorney on that.
The attorney for neighboring residents, Lewis B. Oliver, Jr., had little to say at this meeting. He suggested only that the Board should have guidelines regarding the submitting of paperwork so that it is available prior to any meeting.