Stephentown ZBA Is Lead Agency On Motocross Park

by David Flint
Stephentown’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) has some new faces. At their Organizational Meeting last week the Town Board appointed Peter Ellard to fill a vacancy left by the resignation in November of Jack Liebenow. Ellard, a 12-year resident of Stephentown residing on Newton Road, is a professor of environmental ethics at Siena College where he is also Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Another vacancy occurred as a result of Robert Mittnight’s term expiring at the end of 2010. The Town Board chose Freling Smith to fill that seat. Smith, who has served on the Planning Board since January 2007, will be resigning from that position.
Mittnight said that rumors that he had resigned or retired were false, that he had in fact submitted an application for another term, so he had in effect been “booted out.” He felt there was no legitimate reason for the Board not to reappoint him after serving 20 years, never missing a meeting and being one of the few members who ever attended requisite training sessions. He believed the Town Board had been under a lot of pressure to “stack the deck.” He predicted, however, that if things are done right, accurately and straight up, the Planning Board’s decision on Howard Commander’s Motocross application will be the same as before, when the Board last summer granted a use variance. Mittnight contended that things were done right the last time, except that not all the i’s were dotted or t’s crossed. In any case, the Board’s action was later reversed by the Town Board following a successful Article 78 legal challenge by concerned residents.
Roland Barth, who was appointed by the Town Board last June to fill a vacancy, is now the Chairman, appointed as such also at the Town Board’s Organizational Meeting. Barth, who formerly worked with the New York Planning Federation in Columbia County, succeeds Jack Liebenow in the Chairman position. Joseph Champion, who served as Acting Chairman in recent months, remains on the Board as does Richard Sime. At the Organizational Meeting the Town Board also appointed Deborah Coppola as Clerk to the Zoning Board. The ZBA had been without a Clerk this past year.
Motocross Application
At the ZBA meeting on January 6, Barth reported that Clough Harbour Associates (CHA), the Board’s engineering consultant, had submitted an initial report on the information submitted so far for Howard Commander’s application for a use variance to build a motocross park in the southern end of Town off of Webster Hill Road. CHA Vice President Michael J. Bianchino wrote that the proposed project appears to be a Type I action pursuant to SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review). His report included a draft of Part 2 of the Full Environmental Assessment Form. He found that the proposed project could have significant environmental impact in a number of areas including land, water, drainage, plant and animal habitat, agricultural land resources, historic and archeological resources, traffic, noise and odor and the growth and character of the existing community.  He specified the additional information that will be needed from the applicant so that the Board can make these determinations.
Bianchino also advised that while site plan review is not required for the issuance of a use variance, there are a number of issues that should be addressed. They included the need for an erosion and sediment control plan, a stormwater management report and pollution prevention plan, dust control, location of parking spaces in the grass parking area, signage and lighting, what existing vegetation will be preserved, details on the proposed starting areas, structures for concessions and restroom facilities, condition and proposed improvements to the access drive, specifications on the perimeter runoff ditch and quantity, type and size of proposed transplanted evergreen trees. The report was given to Commander and his attorney to review and prepare a response.
Commander’s attorney, Francis Roche of Hudson, provided a survey of the proposed construction area that he said was very preliminary. It showed the motocross track in relation to the rest of the 90-acre site and indicated one nearby house. He said he would be adding much more detail to the map.
Roche explained that a bulldozer had been on the site, in apparent violation of an injunction issued last summer, only because muskrats had caused ponds that blocked engineers and surveyors from access. He pledged that it would not be back.
The Board passed a resolution reiterating their finding that the application is subject to SEQR and their intent to name themselves as Lead Agency and calling for a public hearing on that action for Thursday, February 3, at 7 pm.