Concern About “Industrial Creep” In New Lebanon
by Thaddeus Flint
The public largely chose to skip the August 11 public hearing on a zoning law amendment preceding New Lebanon’s monthly Town Board meeting and now there is new zoning law amendment.
The matter had come up before. At a June public hearing on the amendment, the Town Hall was filled and it wasn’t because the Townspeople had taken the night off to laud small changes to the zoning law. The section of the amendment on allowing Small Business Operations to manufacture goods in the Commercial Zones and not just the Industrial Zone of the Town had some residents worried. Without the correct wording the Town might be exposed to future industrial creep. The Board, at that meeting, more or less agreed with the objections of the public and sent Chairman Ted Salem and the rest of the Zoning Re-Write Committee back to re-write the re-write.
[private]The re-written re-write wasn’t much different from the original, which was no surprise as Salem maintained that the first one was good enough to begin with. One change limited Small Business Operations (SBOs) to ten employees working simultaneously. SBOs will have to have off-street parking for employees, not produce “substantial noise, vibration or otherwise objectionable disturbances.” No mass production will be allowed and manufacturing should be done “primarily within the confines of the buildings, but may make minor use of outside space.”
“It’s worse than the original,” said Dorothy Dooren, one of only two residents to voice their opinion at the latest public hearing. “Nothing is prohibited in this definition.”
According to Dooren, the new zoning amendment is in conflict with the outlook of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan. “New Lebanon will be an attractive, friendly, and well maintained community,” quoted Dooren from the Plan which is rarely consulted or mentioned anymore. “It will promote carefully thought out commercial and residential growth.” The lack of clear definitions in the new amendment seemed to Dooren to contradict the Town’s plan for the future. “Surely uncontrolled industrial manufacturing is not carefully promoted,” she said.
The Comprehensive Plan also notes that almost half of residents surveyed indicated “the rural atmosphere of New Lebanon as the primary reason they decided to live here.”
“Manufacturing would be a game changer,” warned Dooren.
However, all those residents polled back in 2005 either didn’t believe that the amendment, as newly re-written, would affect the rural picture of the Town, or else they had something better to do, because Dooren and resident Robert Smith were the only two who had anything to say about it.
Smith, who is on the Planning Board, said “why even bother having any laws at all? Nobody will enforce them.”
Whether anyone will enforce it or not, and whether it undermines the Comprehensive Plan or not, the zoning amendment passed with all in favor except Councilman Matt Larabee who voted against it. Councilwoman Irene Hanna had previously abstained from voting without giving a reason, but this time found no reason not to vote yes.
As for the laws that nobody will enforce that Smith spoke of, this has to do with a sign or mural—it could be either depending on who’s eye is beholding it—that Behold! New Lebanon, the living museum of contemporary rural life, put up on the old OTB building in the middle of Town. Apparently signs are regulated in New Lebanon and murals are not. Behold!’s banner with pictures, by photographer Uli Rose, of some of the “rural guides” that make up the museum is without words or information of any kind, and, under the Town’s ordinances, would be considered a mural. Smith and some others see the mural as a sign, and the sign as a sign that Behold! does what it feels like without asking for permission first.
According to the Town’s attorney, Andy Howard, Behold! didn’t need to ask permission to put up the mural because there is no permission needed, currently, to put up a mural. There are some sign rules but it seems nobody took the time to completely spell out what a sign is so it would be difficult to enforce.
“This is not unique to New Lebanon,” pointed out Howard. In fact a large number of municipalities across the country spend a lot of money trying to regulate every aspect of signage, and even art. Howard recommended the Zoning Re-Write Committee take a look at the current sign ordinances.
“I was afraid of this,” sighed Salem.
Zoning and building codes are seemingly everywhere lately. Even the Fire Department, working toward getting its new fire station built, has run into that regulative quagmire. The LVPA asked other fire departments how they got their stations built and it looks like some of them might have missed a code or two in the process. At the same time, the Town Board is becoming more inquisitive into the LVPA’s finances.”
“You guys are designing a $3 million Fire Department,” said Town Supervisor Mike Benson, “and that is a major expenditure for the taxpayers.” Benson prepared a financial sheet he feels sums up the LVPA’s finances and asked that they be looked over so that the Town Board and Fire Department are all on the same page. “We need a starting point,” said Benson. Ed Godfroy of the LVPA said the figures would be examined by the Department’s accountants.
The Town’s tennis courts have moved a step closer toward eventual repair. With a vote of all in favor, Councilman Dan Evans will convert his plans for the refurbishment to a Scope of Work. After a pre-bid meeting on September 11, it is expected that bids will be requested for September 18.
The night ended with resident Johanna Johnson-Smith chiding Benson for his recent lawsuit against Town Clerk Colleen Teal. Benson had objected to Teal’s petitions to eventually run for the Town Supervisor position this November on the grounds that Teal was not really a resident of the Town she one day would like to supervise. This was a “huge double standard” said Smith. “You didn’t live here when you first ran for Supervisor. You were sleeping in Loudonville.”
“Were you looking into my windows?” laughed Benson.
“No,” said Robert Smith. “But you were looking into hers.”[/private]