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Town to seek moratorium on new mines
By John Mason Hudson Valley Newspapers
The moratorium, which would give the board time to review and possibly amend the mining provisions of the town's zoning laws, still needs a public hearing, which will take place at the board's Aug. 5 meeting if the county Planning Board has reviewed the idea. The catalyst for public concern on the issue is the potential sale of an 80-acre parcel of land at Orchard Road and Columbia County Route 22. Neighbors fear the parcel, which is near the West Ghent Reformed Church and the West Ghent Community Center, will be converted into a gravel mine. An application has been submitted to the town seeking a subdivision of the property, but at this point, no one has submitted an application for a mine. A group calling itself Friends of Ghent, spearheaded by Joseph A. Adamkiewicz, sent a letter with 36 signatures to the Town Board July 8, requesting the moratorium and saying it had hired George A. Rodenhausen as its attorney. During Thursday's public comment period, Rodenhausen addressed his comments to the town's mining regulations, while the public comments focused mainly on the Orchard Road site. Rodenhausen told the board in a memorandum, and again at Thursday's meeting, that "the current mining provisions of the Ghent zoning law are unclear, are inconsistent with state law and possibly unenforceable, and fail to utilize the full authority granted to municipalities by state law, and fail to provide adequate protection to the residents of the town." He said the law should define the word mining "which isn't even mentioned in the town law. Mining is defined by the state Department of Environmental Conservation as the extraction of minerals and other material for sale, he said. The DEC's purpose is to make sure enough mining is being done, Rodenhausen sald, so mines are rarely denied by that body. Once the DEC has issued a permit, there is little the town can do. Another problem is that the town's mining district is too broadly defined, he said. According to the master plan as it stands, mining is allowed by special permit in the RA-I and RA-2 districts -- residential agricultural with one or two-acre minimum lot size -- which comprise the majority of Ghent's land, Rodenhausen said. "Therefore the majority of the land in the town is open to mining." he wrote. But towns have the ability to limit mines to certain "overlay" zones, he said. He recommended creating, a mining district based on where the most profitable mineral deposits are located and where cultural entities such as roads of special value, schools, churches and historic buildings are not located. The town of Dover, he said, "developed a separate soil mining overlay district, which crossed over established zoning districts without changing the requirements of the underlying zone. Rodenhausen suggested that the town adopt the DEC's division of labor for mines: Mines extracting more than 1,000 tons a year are under DEC jurisdiction, and those extracting less than 1,000 tons are under the town's segis. Then the town should specify what issues it will address with those smaIler mines. This distinction was adopted by the state in 1991, and Ghent's laws were never revised to adapt to this new situation, he wrote. Jerry Klein, who lives across the street from the Orchard Road site, said he had seen Suffolk County get overrun by developers. "This area is absolutely gorgeous:' he said. "It's a beautiful area, it should be kept that way. Once you let mines in, they're in control, we're not." Walter Blank, chairman of the Board of Assessors, said couldn't think of a worse place for a mine than the Orchard Road site,.with a trout stream on one side, wetlands in the middle and high visibility. "It seems like a narrow time here in which someone could put in an application:' he said, referring to the need for a moratorium. "People in this town want to preserve open space as a rural value." "We live directly across the street," said Jane Mack. "In fall, 99 people a day will stop to take pictures. It's so gorgeous -- to see a hole there would be devastating." Her husband, Dan Mack, said that although one-acre zoning had benefited him as a person with not a lot of money who was able to find a decent place to live, he favored zoning regulations for mines. "This is not an area way back in the woods where no one will see it", he said. "It's a busy road, with many accidents." Residents expressed concerns about the number of children engaged in sports at the community center or walking to school bus stops as much as 9/10 of a mile along a busy, curving street. Adamkiewicz said trucks would be coming into the mine to deliver products as well as taking minerals out. "There are a lot of beautiful things in this town," he said. "It seems like the mine is against the character of this community." A woman asked what happens to mined land once a mine is exhausted; and Robert Fitzsimmons, sitting in for Town Attomey Ted Guterman, said the DEC now requires the miner post a reclamation bond. But Rodenhausen said the agency's mining staff is so understaffed it often does not enforce the reclamation, and the town is not allowed to enforce the bond. Town Supervisor Larry Andrews thanked everyone for their comments, calling it an emotional issue, and promised, 'We'll do the best we can for you." Councilwoman Linda Hess said," I love Ghent, and I would not want to see anything detrimental happen" The board unanimously approved a motion to seek a six- month moratorium on new mining applications for the purpose of reviewing the zoning regulations.
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