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Back to PRESS PAGE (source)WOODSTOCK
TIMES August 2, 2001 p. 6 SAUGERTIES writer Vernon Benjamin
FIFES and DRUMS
Neighbors pulling out the stops in fighting proposed quarry
operation in Toodlum
"Here we come with fife and drum All the way from Toodlum...." --Old
folk song of Veteran
The Saugerties Zoning Board of Appeals will meet on
August 6 at the Seniors Center on Market Street to set a public hearing
on an appeal of the building inspector's decision to start the process
for reviewing an application by Shott Rock Inc. The company wants to establish
a quarry operation off Morse Road. The process is delayed as a result
of the appeal.
The ZBA is also being asked if the town acted properly in declining to
consider lead agency status in the quarry permit applcation before the
New York State Department of Environmental Consevation. The decision was
made by planning board chairman William Creen, without a board vote.
Meanwhile, supervisor Greg Helsmoortel has asked Creen to withdraw his
decision and bring the matter to the planning board for its full consideration.
The appeal brought before the ZBA, which was made by a representative
of the citizens group CARES, challenges Creen's action on a legal level.
Creen and fellow board member Robert Brandt defended
the chairman's action at an informational meeting Creen called on the
Shott Rock Inc. application. Brandt said the town "lacks the resources"
to consider a mining application. Creen at first said the DEC simply told
the town it would be the lead agency, but then acknowledged that it was
an intention, not a final determination.
CARES attorney March Gallagher filed the request before
the ZBA. Most parties involved concurred that DEC handles lead agency
status on all quarry and mining applications in the state as a matter
of policy. The argument centered on Creen's unilateral action and the
potential for delay that a dispute over lead agency status might cause.
More than 200 citizens, as well as six attorneys, attended the informational
meeting. Creen conducted other routine planning board business before
inviting Gilbert Shott, his attorney Michael Moriello, and engineers Earth
Tech of Albany and Richard Praetorius of Saugerties to make their quarry
presentation. The meeting was contentious.
Gallagher's action challenging building inspector Paul
Andreassen's decision to send the application to the planners prompted
the pending ZBA hearing. Andreassen defended his action this week by stating
that if approval was given, it would be contingent upon other permitting
requirements.
CARES contends that a determination that an application is complete for
review sets a time clock running on the planning board's decision. They
then have 45 days to make a decision once the hearing is completed. The
ZBA appeal effectively stopped that process for now.
CARES representatives were also out collecting data
on historic structures in the vicinity of the proposed quarry. The group
may seek to establish a special historic district based on the Revolutionary
War history of the area, the presence of several noted structures, the
proximity of an Underground Railroad station in the anti-slavery movement
before the Civil War, and the Toodlum theme promoted by a popular little
neighborhood publication 20 years ago.
Objections to the Shott Rock application center on
the residential area where the quarry site is located and Gilbert Shott's
initial representations to local residents. Robert O'Leary, the nearest
homeowner, said he and other neighbors were told three years ago that
Shott wanted to dig out a small lake for his children's homes, which O'Leary
said he said would also be shared by the neighborhood. The time frame
was said to be four-to-five years, but the quarry application is for 28
years and 2.8 million tons of stone.
Shott Rock Inc. was listed as a subsidiary of Tyco
Industries, a major company. Gilbert Shott is a Westchester County contractor
who recently constructed a new gold course near Hunter Mountain. He lives
in Salem.
The application calls for the removal of the rock by
blasting, crushing and trucking. Between nine and 45 trucks a day were
forecasted for Morse Road, a town road with a 20-foot right-of-way. The
proposal is opposed by town highway superintendent Al Ferrara.
The location of the site in a residential area is expected
to be a major issue. The town's Comprehensive Plan recommendations for
industrial uses are in seeming conflict with the proposal. Recommendation
5.6, for instance, encourages light industry in designation locations
with immediate access to the Thruway or routes 32 or 9W. "New single parcel
industrial uses in residential areas off major transportation routes should
be avoided," the recommendation states. Recommendation 8.1 designates
areas for industrial development based on, among other factors, adequacy
of the road system and "opportunities for district separation from adjacent
zones." These recommendations and others in the plan are under review
as part of the zoning audit that town committees are now focusing on.
The audit found a "serious gap" in the lack of guidelines or requirements
for special use permits like the one Shott is seeking.
In his presentation at the public meeting, Moriello
stated that the area had continued to be a quarry. None of the materials
included in the application confirm that contention, however. The residents
claim that no stone has been removed from that area in more than 80 years.
The zoning law allows a five-year opportunity for a property owner to
claim a pre-existing use.++ VERNON BENJAMIN
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