Public Hearing February 10, 2005 on Proposed Local Law #1 to impose a temporary moratorium on sub divisions consisting of two or more lots.

Public Hearing called to order at 7:00 pm, pledge to the flag led by Supervisor Merrihew.

Present: Council-members Carlson, Frisbee, Pneuman, Potter, Supervisor Merrihew and Attorney for the town Siegel.

Supervisor Merrihew read legal notice as published in the Daily Gazette on January 22, 2005.

Supervisor Merrihew: the committee is comprised of residents of the community from different sectors geographically as well as experienced. A planning board representative, a zoning board representative and town board is attending the meetings.

Paul Munson - Garnsey Road - Is in favor of a moratorium. He is not against development. Growth has to happen in a controlled way. His concern is there is no infrastructure in place out here. If things happen to fast suddenly we can end up either with contaminated wells or no water, because to many wells were drilled. He hopes 6 months is enough time to get a plan together.

Kathy Gevers - If 100 houses are built, there is going to be 100 kids, does the school own more property to build more schools? Supervisor Merrihew said to take that up at a school board meeting.

Mike Gevers - Lea Drive -Can anyone get on those committees and are they open to the public? Supervisor Merrihew the meetings are open to the public and are the 4th Tuesday of the month.

Dave Manrell - Duanesburg Church Road - Twin Brook Farms - Duanesburg is a town that is pristine. He is from New Jersey and where Duanesburg is at in development is where their town was when he left it. The town had a plan and it worked out very well. It was developed in a way that it retained its charm and beauty. And what happened as a result of that was the property value went up. He is all for the moratorium.

Kathy Gallo - Turnbull Road - She is in favor of the moratorium. The town needs to take a breath and catch their breath and think about what they really want to do in the future.

Walt Miller - Thousand Acre Road - Has been a member of the Planning Board for about 18 years. They used to have 20-25 houses a year and all of a sudden here is a developer with 17 homes, another with 23 another with 29. Most of these developers are out of town and do not care about our taxes, our schools, our fire department or our highway department, because they don't live here. As a member of the Planning Board he is definitely in favor of the moratorium.

Gary Easton - Easton Road - Has lived in Duanesburg all of his life. The land he owns has been in his family for 150 years. He does not want a situation in town where he or his wife could not sell the land. If something happens with the moratorium great, if it doesn't it is just a waste of the six months or a year and a lot of volunteer people's time, trying to put something together.

Tom Spoor - Agrees with Mr. Easton. Understands the need to reevaluate the zoning. He really does not see what good in stopping the process of a sub-division. There is a subdivision ordinance in the town already. The only thing he could perhaps see is changing the lot size of a sub division. He thinks subdivisions are a great thing and are an efficient use of the property. He does not expect to see a lot of change come out of the moratorium pertaining to the subdivision aspect of it. He has no problem with looking at the zoning. We can't expect this area to continue to be a sleepy little village like it has been over the last hundreds of years. If you are going to look at the subdivision ordinance and what kind of changes are out there that other communities are doing that we might bring into our ordinance.

Supervisor Merrihew - Agrees with Tom that Duanesburg can't be the sleepy little town that it has been and she doesn't think that anyone wants that. What this town board wants to do is to step back and make sure that we have the procedures in place to grow at a decent rate to make sure that we are going to be on the right tract and to do things right. Six months down the road we may need more time we may not need that much time. And hopes we are not wasting any of the peoples' time who are working on it. There are many different things we are going to look at.

Tom Spoor - Asked if it was necessary to stop everything while these things are being looked at?

Jeff Siegel Attorney for the Town - Thinks what is important is what you don't want happen is have property that is totally appropriate for commercial development and have a residential subdivision go there. Because the property, wherever it may be, that is appropriate for commercial development, once a residential development subdivision goes there it turns the entire area around it into residential. It's very hard to get commercial there. The purpose is to look at where it would be appropriate in this town to have commercial growth and where it would be appropriate in the town to have residential development. What the town board and the input from various members of the other boards is, trying to avoid is a race to take up whatever available open space there is to put up houses because that's the easiest thing to put up. Stepping back for a period of six months and say where should we put things.

Supervisor Merrihew - Doesn't see by being prudent you ever make a mistake.

Gino SantaBarbara - We are facing a lot of development coming into the town. What we want to do is take a step back and make sure we take the proper procedures when the developers do come our way.

Mary Jane Fuller - Depot Road - She would love to see Duanesburg stay a sleepy little village. She knows that is not realistic. She is in favor of a moratorium to give people a chance to stop and look things over and do the very best they possibly can. Because you cannot go backwards, so what ever happens, happens, and you can't erase it. Take your time do what ever you have to do and do it in the best possible manor.

Linda Susi - Knight Rd. She feels exactly the same way as Ms. Fuller.

Sherry Notaro - Duanesburg Church Road - She supports the moratorium. Doesn't see why we can't take a minute and take a breath. There are big, big issues here. This isn't just everyone wanting to stop development. We have to take it at a pace that is going to be appropriate for the town.

Bill Wetzel - Duanesburg Church Road - Has heard a lot of reference to looking at growth in the tax base and the anticipation that would reduce the individual taxes. It is important to look at any type of business coming in. Generally businesses look for incentives and to expect a business to come in and saddle the burden of taxes for the rest of us is a little unrealistic. He thinks before any decisions are made to look at a cost benefit analysis.

Bill Miner - Rt. 20 - He is a member of the Ad Hoc committee. He feels the moratorium is a very good thing. The moratorium gives us a six-month opportunity to look at this 20 year- old document, which is supposed to be the framework for how the town moves forward. No one is trying to constrain business or quality growth in the Town of Duanesburg. Doesn't think six months to review a document shouldn't be a terrible hardship.

Paul Munson - Being we are twenty minutes from Albany it is all the more reason to get it right. It puts the town in the drivers seat it puts the town in position to put things in place to do it right.

Gary Easton - Easton Road - Heard mentioned an increase in lot size he doesn't see any need for that.

Laura Silva - Chairperson Planning Board - The Planning Board supports the moratorium, just for the fact they are getting inundated with larger subdivision applications. Thinks the town really needs to look at how this is going to impact schools and highway. They would like to see the town go to a larger lot size.

Bill Smith - Skyline Drive - He is in favor of larger lot sizes.

Joyce Easton - Easton Road - What Gary neglected to say was they own 210 acres, and has been farming here all of his life. If something should happen to him tomorrow, she would appreciate being able to sell that property. A moratorium, fine, if you keep it at six months that's wonderful, if you want to extend it a year, possibly, but don't keep someone like us unable to develop their property.

Bob Frost - He also feels that making larger building lots would be a hardship for residents who have been here along time who have larger parcels of property. Now their land has less value because they have less lots out of it. He is a contractor town and has done a number of subdivisions. He thinks it would be a good idea if he got on a committee he could bring some incite into what he has encountered over the years.

Paul Munson - On the lot size issue. Studies have been done, and having larger lot sizes increases the value of the land and the surrounding land.

Marilyn Peterson - She has over 70 acres. She is in favor of the moratorium. When she moved here sixteen years ago they had a great well and now they are having all kinds of problems with it. She has no proof that it had to do with development, but with seventy acres they are still having a problem. She is concerned with water and sewer, and has concerns with schools, which are now packed. Bringing more people in is not going to save us more money, it is going to cost more money because we are going to need more schools. The traffic has increased in the last two or three years.

Joyce Easton - There are no more children in our school today in Duanesburg than there were in 1986.

Bob Frost - He graduated from Schalmont in 1971, there are less kids graduating now than there were in 1971.

Laura Silva - She lives in one of the first subdivisions and there are at least 15 kids under the age of 5 in their subdivision. Multiply that by all of the other subdivisions going to be built. She spoke to the Chairperson of the Planning Board in Guilderland who pointed out that their new ordinance, dealing with the rural part also provides for a hardship. Maybe that is something else the board could look at.

Bill Smith - Asked about the lot size.

Supervisor Merrihew- It depends on the zoning.

Dave Manrell - Thinks that is appropriate. The town should be looked at and planned in way that aesthetics' of the town are looked at. We should want the town developed in a way that keeps the town as nice as it is now.

Supervisor Merrihew - The Ad Hoc Committee has been working very hard. We are planning on sending out a flyer to all residents, asking their opinion on what direction they want Duanesburg to go with. She is not quite sure when that will be going out, it should be sometime in the late spring.

No other comments: floor closed at 8:00 pm. Council-member Pneuman motioned, seconded by Council-member Frisbee to close the public hearing at 8:00 p.m. All in favor 5 ayes, Council-members Pneuman, Frisbee, Carlson, Potter and Supervisor Merrihew.