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SHOTT PUT
Company removes stone from controversial Veteran site in apparent violation
of state rules
Vernon Benjamin, New Saugerties Times, October 4, 2001 (p2)
The town of Saugerties pursued a hopeful attempt to become
lead agency in the environmental review of Shott Rock Inc.'s mining application,
the firm moved unexpectedly onto its Morse Road property off Route 212 in Veteran
and removed several truckloads of palletized quarry stone.
The action, which may have violated Department of Environmental
Conservation regulations, alarmed neighbors. Some claimed a fence was damaged.
A truck reportedly almost went off the narrow road, and the village water lines
were threatened by the weight.
Citizens Action for Residential Environments in Saugerties
(CARES) stepped up efforts to get people to testify at a public hearing on October
11. The town board is considering an amendment to the town zoning law that would
eliminate the right to a quarry or mine in a residential area under a special
use permit. Quarries would only be allowed in light industrial and commercial
zones under the proposed change. This is the second of two pubic hearings.
The first was well attended two weeks ago. The next day Shott
moved in and carted off the stone. This week, town building inspector Paul Andreassen
conducted an inspection of the hill site after notifying Shott Rock attorney
Michael Moriello that the company acted in violation of a DEC ban on any activity
at the site while the mining application was under review.
Shott Rock applied to the DEC for a mining permit and appeared
before the town planning board for a special-use permit in a residential area
where the site is located. Action before the planning board stopped in early
September when CARES filed appeals with the town zoning board of appeals over
the manner in which the planners received a file of information on the project
and its action on the environmental review.
Planning board chairman William Creen told the DEC the town
was not interested in becoming lead agency. But Creen acted independently and
without the authority of the planning board. That prompted the town supervisor
to become involved, at first seeking a retraction letter from Creen and then
writing to the DEC directly when the planner did not act. In its response, the
state gave the planning board until October 2 to notify the DEC if it wanted
to be considered for lead-agency status.
Again Creen did not act. The matter was not brought before
the planning board, and no special meeting was scheduled before the deadline.
Town supervisor Greg Helsmoortel is still seeking an opportunity for the town
to be lead agency, however, by another direct appeal to the department.
Recent New York State Bar Association literature suggested
that prospects for Shott Rock ever taking stone from that hill again were very
dim if the town adopts the proposed changes to the zoning law. In adopting such
changes, the town government argues that it is not acting against a specific
mining application, but seeking to regulate mining better townwide.
V.B.