Comp-Plan

From the Daily Freeman:

The Town Board on Tuesday adopted changes in the town zoning law, comprehensive plan, and subdivision regulations intended to serve as model for preserving rural community character.

The action ending an eight-year process was followed by handshakes and hugs during a Town Board meeting, where Comprehensive Plan Chairwoman Sally Mazzarella said the laws take advantage of zoning designations that were not available when outgoing laws were adopted 12 years ago.

READ MORE

December 21,

A final vote to approve the Rhinebeck Comprehensive Plan was delayed this evening. Citing the need to comply with Public Notice requirements, the Town Board delayed their vote until December 29th or the 30th in the event of a snow storm. 

RHINEBECK — The Town Board expects to vote Dec. 21 on town comprehensive plan and zoning law updates that will require gun clubs to try to reduce noise, but won’t force them to make changes if the cost is prohibitive.

The meeting will be 6:45 p.m. in Town Hall, 80 E. Market St.

A Town Board meeting is also scheduled for 6:45 p.m. Monday, when officials expect to be given final versions of the comprehensive plan, zoning law, and wetlands regulations.

READ MORE at The Daily Freeman

The following update was provided by Rhinecliff resident John F. Lyons

The Town Board voted unanimously to abandon the proposed changes to the RA10 zone. Town Hall was packed and almost 30 citizens spoke in opposition. In addition, the Dutchess County Planning Department, the Rhinebeck Conservation Advisory Council, Hudson River Heritage and Scenic Hudson all came out in opposition to this proposal.
 
Thanks to all of you who wrote letters, attended the meetings and made your voices heard. This was a terrific community effort. And in the end the right thing was done for our community.
 
Our sincere thanks also go out to the members of the Town Board. They patiently listened to all of the public comment and, once again, took positive action in response. We commend them and appreciate their effort.
 
There is more good news. The new Comp Plan and zoning law are on track to be enacted by the end of this year. The Town Board will hold a special meeting on Monday, December 21 at 6:30 PM. At that time it is anticipated the Board will adopt: (1) the final SEQRA Findings Statement; the new Comprehensive Plan; the new zoning law; the local wetlands law; and the new subdivision regulations.
 
Thanks again to everyone for all your participation and effort.
 

The last scheduled public hearing concerning adoption of the Comprehensive Plan; Local Law No. 6 of 2009 entitled "A Local Law Amending the Town of Rhinebeck Zoning Law"; and Local Law No. 7 of 2009 entitled "Freshwater Wetlands Law of the Town of Rhinebeck" ("Proposed Actions") will be held  Monday, November 30, 6:30 PM at Rhinebeck Town Hall.

All residents of Rhinecliff and Rhinebeck are encouraged to attend.

There have been proposed last minute changes to the zoning that have concerned many area residents.

To view some of the letters from concerned residents CLICK HERE.

In the summer of 2008 we at rhinecliff.org were very fortunate to have a discussion with Randall Arendt about the proposed comprehensive plan and its impact on our community. Given the recent votes of the Town Board concerning the Rhinecliff extension, use of the Holy Cross site, and other changes to the Comp-Plan, we felt this discussion would help educate the community and the Town Board about the need to adopt a truly "Comprehensive" plan for the community. One that plans for the future, preserves the extremely important historic district, and does not reward a single out-of-town developer at the expense of the community. All of Mr. Arendt's concepts are expressed in alternative "F" of the DGEIS. 

This video discussion is shown for the first time today (January 6th) and is exclusive to rhinecliff.org

Please leave your comments below:

Video clips from the December 15th Town Board meeting. While board member Dod Crane explained the significant problems of developing the rhinecliff extension as described in the Comp-Plan, board member Dan Staley expresses his desire to see substantial development in Rhinecliff and the need "to make it worth some developers time and money"

Please leave your comments below:

In an effort to shed light on the controversial Town meeting that took place on December 15th we have extracted two clips of video from the meeting.

Rhinebeck Town Board Comp-Plan and zoning workshop12/15/08 Holy Cross video clip:

Rhinebeck Town Board Comp-Plan and zoning workshop 12/15/08 Rhinecliff extension video clip:

Please leave your comments below:

In perhaps the most well attended Town meeting in recent memory, just a day before new years eve, a hundred or so residents showed up to voice strong opposition to the votes cast by the board on December 15th.

By 7:30pm the board had finished Town business and opened the floor for public comments. First up was Rhinecliff resident John Lyons. He read from a letter that spelled out the adverse impacts on the community and ended by urging the board to reverse their decision. (Click HERE to view letter)

Mr. Lyons was followed by Rhinecliff Advisory Council member Tom Holsapple who read a letter from the Council that spelled out the Council's dismay over the Board's actions. (Click HERE to view letter from the RAC)

Morton Road resident Michael DeCola spoke next and handed the board a petition signed by more than 100 residents requesting additional public hearings given the substantial changes made to the original Comp-Plan. Mr. DeCola was interrupted by Supervisor Traudt’s informing the room that the votes of December 15th were simply to “tell the Town’s planners what to look into.” Essentially the board said the votes of December 15th were not final votes, just a “poll” of the board for the purposes of a working meeting to direct planners to “look at issues”. This explanation did not sit well with anyone in the room. Chants of “read the minutes” (of the last meeting) could be heard for several minutes. Clearly uncomfortable, the board attempted to explain why they had no minutes prepared from the last meeting.

Additional members of the community spoke as well as Jeffrey Anzevino from Scenic Hudson (Click HERE to view letter from Scenic Hudson) The comments were unanimous in their disapproval of the Board’s actions.

During this holiday season the Town Board voted 5-0 to amend the Comp Plan to allow 200+ units of senior housing at the former Holy Cross site.

The addition of 200+ units of allowable density is a substantial change to the original DGEIS document. Proceeding to an EIS at this point would be a mistake, and unlawful.

We urge all residents of the Town to sign this petition to create a supplemental DGEIS document. It is imperative that there be new public hearings to review this significant change.

IMPORTANT MEETING

Where Do We Go From Here?
 
On December 15, the Rhinebeck Town Board voted 3-2 to keep the proposed Rhinecliff Hamlet Extension in the Town Comprehensive Plan – despite years of strong and consistent opposition to the proposal in its various forms from the Rhinecliff Hamlet Advisory Council and residents of Rhinecliff.  In addition, the Board voted 5-0 to amend the Comp Plan to allow up to 200 units of senior housing at the former Holy Cross site.
This special meeting has been called to hear from the public about the Board’s actions, and to discuss possible strategies for the Hamlet moving forward.  Please plan to attend if at all possible.
 
Monday, December 22
 
6:30 p.m.
 
Morton Library

Posted December 18th

Last Monday (December 15th) the Town Board voted 3-2 in favor of leaving the 49 unit Rhinecliff extension in the Comp Plan. Members Bruce Washburn, Dan Staley, and Supervisor Tom Tradut voted for the extension while Members Dod Crane and Ellen Silverstein voted against the inclusion of the extension.

For three years the Rhinecliff Hamlet Advisory Committee has recommended against this option and most recently on September 26th, the council voted 7 to 1 in favor of Alternative Plan F, which would not have allowed for such an extension. 

In addition, Randall Arendt, one of the nations leading landscape planners, recently met with the Town Board and members of the community in an effort to explain why such an extension was not practical from a developer's perspective. Mr. Arendt clearly indentified the area for the proposed Rhinecliff extension as having steep slopes, wetlands, and poor drainage, making it completely impractical for small lot development.

The terrible flooding experienced by the Stortini development is the result of poor planning and is exactly what  three members of the Town Board just advocated for Rhinecliff in voting for the inclusion of the Rhinecliff extension.

In voting for the inclusion of the Rhinecliff extension in the Comp Plan, these two board members and the Town Supervisor have completely ignored the wishes of the Rhinecliff community, both large and small land owners, farmers, the recommendations of the Rhinecliff Advisory Council, and the sound advice of the top conservation planner in the country. These actions have placed the Town in a precarious legal limbo with many lawsuits sure to be filed. It is truly astounding that in these economic times the Town should embark on a path that will surely end in a protracted and extremely expensive legal battle.

Rhinecliff.org will be following these developments in the next few weeks and you can look for comprehensive video and reporting in the days to come.

The Town Board will be deciding on the Proposed Zoning and the Astor Flats TND in the near future. There is now a petition to tell the Town Board to say NO to a proposal that threatens substantial harm to Rhinebeck's historic character.

CLICK HERE to sign the petition

May 12, 2008
 
To The Town Board:
 
Rhinebeck is a community that includes working and retired homeowners, large and small land owners, working farmers and people who pursue various commercial endeavors. I can’t say that I distinguish the town from the village from the hamlets; I don’t distinguish old time residents from weekenders from the estate owners. My family chose to buy a farm here thirty years ago simply because we like the place. For most of us our land is our most valuable asset, one we have loved, cared for, and guarded, one we expect to see us through retirement, or pass on to our children.
 
We must have viable economic alternatives for land use or we will divide and sell these properties. It hardly matters whether you have 5, 10, 20, or 50 acre zoning- once these lands are divided you will never again see them as they are today.  Rhinebeck’s current Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Draft threatens the rural character of our community.  The current zoning is arbitrary but this new plan is no less arbitrary.
 
Whether you live on the east side of Route 9 or the west side, the proposed downzoning amounts to a taking of our land.
 
On the subject of east side vs. west side: If this suggested R-20 zoning is implemented, will this now mean that I live on the “good side of the tracks” or will this have the opposite  effect based on tax implications? We don’t need three Rhinebecks: East, West, and Village.
 
Everyone should recognize the flurry of subdivision activity made “under the wire” of this development moratorium. Just the “threat” of this proposed change has yielded the collateral effect of legacy sprawl and it comes at the cost of all of us who failed to sub-divide or really had no intention to do so.
 
It’s not about density it about distribution.
 
To maintain our rural feel let’s not scrap the current zoning numbers, let's use tools such as Conservation Subdivision or turn those numbers into “currency” that can be traded through the use of Transfer Development Rights (TDR).  A simple market can be created to allow for owners of land to transfer their current density allowance to other areas deemed more appropriate. Either approach will allow for better economies and affordability; they are simple, effective, and will prevent further fragmentation with its associated sprawl.
We need a system that will respect the interests of land owners both large and small, that will promote restoration and rehabilitation. This solution, must include the village, and should be market based. At this point we are tired of hearing “You can’t do that,” “Wait and see,” “You really don’t understand.” The tools are at hand and have been used throughout the country. Downzoning is taking; plain and simple.
 
Richard Creed
Creed Ankony Farm
44 Ryan Rd.
Rhinebeck, NY. 12572

The Rhinebeck Town meeting held at the Rhinecliff Firehouse on April 14th featured a presentation by The Rhinecliff Advisory Council on alternatives to the Comprehensive Plan’s proposed “Rhinecliff extension,” previously known as the “Rhinecliff TND.”

Geoff Sanborn (of the Advisory Council) gave a slide presentation and discussion on the four key concerns of the council. These included: The narrow streets and need for safe play areas, limited parking, challenging infrastructure, and the increased flooding that has occurred in recent years.

Some of the details discussed by Mr. Sanborn included the near impossibility of installing a sewage system in Rhinecliff due to the expense needed to overcome the complex geography and the significant historical significance of the region.
The slide presentation included recent photographs of the terrible flooding Rhinecliff has seen in the last few years. This is worth mentioning given the Comp-Plan’s proposed “Rhinecliff extension” is situated on wetlands and steep slopes.

Recognizing the need for growth, the council presented alternative locations be considered at the Laidlaw/Butcher Boys property to the North. Currently zoned commercial, they recommended the zoning be changed to residential.
In order to improve upon the Comp-Plans current recommendations, the council supported the use of Conservation Subdivisions to determine the best areas to place new development.

This practice relies on four key steps to define the best place to build. (i) identifying primary and secondary conservation areas, (ii) design open space to protect them, (iii) arranging houses outside of those protected areas, and (iv) finally lay out streets, lots and infrastructure.

In addition, the council laid out an ambitious plan for connecting the Village of Rhinebeck with the hamlet through a Greenway and connecting trails. This would allow residents to walk and bike from the Village to the hamlet on trails and foot paths.

While most of the presentation was focused on better alternatives to the Comp-Plan’s proposed “Rhinecliff extension,” there were some additional points worth noting. The council proposed capping the size of new homes in the hamlet at 2,800 sq feet in an effort to maintain the character of and feel of existing homes in the historic hamlet. The council also suggested that where appropriate, accessory housing be allowed such as converted garages. This would of course be dependent on septic approval etc.

Few questions were posed to the council after the presentation. The Town Board seemed very receptive and requested printed copies of the presentation for further review.

We hope to post the slide show presented by the council as soon as we receive a copy.