Cooking Up A Motocross Park

by David Flint
According to DEC’s illustrated “SEQR Cookbook,” it takes a dozen eggs – well make that a dozen SEQR Steps – to complete a “SEQR Soup.” The Stephentown Zoning Board cooks are only up to step six now with Howard Commander’s application for a zoning variance for his proposed Motocross project.
[private]At their meeting on Thursday, February 2, the Board heard their attorney, Craig Crist, read from the more detailed SEQR Handbook about Step #6, “Scoping a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).” Having last month issued a declaration of positive environmental impact, meaning that there is an impact, for the Motocross park proposed for a residential area off of Webster Hill Road, the applicant is now required to come up with a draft EIS which will outline in more detail the impact regarding noise and change to the character of the neighborhood and how that impact might be mitigated.
Scoping is likened in the Cookbook to trimming the fat. According to the Handbook the object is to “narrow issues and ensure that the draft EIS will be a concise, accurate and complete document that is adequate for public review.” The process is intended to ensure that all issues that concern the public are included and unnecessary issues are excluded.
This meeting was intended to be “basically a scoping session” as Crist put it at the last meeting, but not much in the way of scoping was actually accomplished. Commander’s team seemed not quite sure what was expected of them at this point. ZBA Board Member Peter Ellard put it succinctly that they should demonstrate to the Board that the significant impact in noise and change to the character of the neighborhood can be mitigated in some way. ZBA Chairman Roland Barth added that they should be aware that they can’t use as a mitigating factor for noise the fact that noise is already present from the adjacent Lebanon Valley Raceway and Dragstrip.
Brian Baker, standing in for the opposing neighbors’ attorney, Lewis Oliver, said he and Mark Bagdon of Novus Engineering did have a contribution to make to the scoping. They presented a list of 15 items they believed should be addressed regarding a more thorough noise study, impacts on the character of the community and possible alternative sites. The final item in their list asked the question whether the project would set precedent for other future projects “that are incompatible with existing zoning and require use variances.”
It was decided that Commander’s engineer, Pat Prendergast, would take this list as a starting point and, prior to the next meeting, get together with Mike Bianchino, the Board’s engineer, and work out a draft scope for the EIS. This will be considered at the next meeting, set for March 1, the Board will subsequently provide a final written scope to the applicant who can then move on to the seventh egg -or Step – in the process, which is preparing the draft EIS.
The next meeting will also be preceded by a public hearing on the issue of whether an area variance should have been applied for because the access road to the proposed Motocross park might violate a required 25 foot setback.[/private]