Rhinecliff Advisory Council

Agenda
Rhinecliff Hamlet Advisory Council
Today - May 14, 2009
Morton Library, 7 p.m.

I.    Call to Order/Announcements

II.    Introduction of New Council Member

III.    Approval of Minutes

IV.    Updates
A.    Comprehensive Plan
B.    Quadricentennial

V.    Old Business

VI.    New Business

VII.    Adjournment

There will be a meeting of the Rhinecliff Hamlet Advisory Council this evening at the Firehouse

Agenda follows:

I.      Call to Order/Announcements
 

II.     Approval of Minutes from Meetings  of November 13 and December 22 (special)
 

III.     Status Report and Discussion of Events Relating to Comprehensive Plan and Rhinecliff since December 15
 

IV.     Update from Town Board Liaison
 

V.     Proposal for Rescheduled Special Meeting on Traffic Concerns, January 22
 

VI.     Old Business
 
VII.   New Business
 

VIII. Adjournment

After a hamlet meeting called by the advisory council on December 22, 2008, at which over twenty residents of the hamlet expressed their displeasure with the town board’s recent actions, it was decided that the council should communicate that displeasure, and explain its sources, in a letter to the town board.

The action that provoked the most heated response was the town board’s decision to insert into the Comprehensive Plan a provision allowing for the construction of up to 200 units of senior housing at the Holy Cross site. Neither the members of the council nor the residents at the meeting could understand why such a major change in zoning, one that is out of keeping with the zoning in the surrounding area and that would increase the existing traffic problems in Rhinecliff, would be decided on at the last minute without the benefit of input from the community. The council strongly supports the position, articulated in a petition that is currently being circulated by some of the hamlet’s residents, that supplementary DGEIS hearings should be held on this matter. After so many years of painstaking efforts to solicit input from the community on the details of the Comprehensive Plan, it makes no sense for the town board to approve such a radical proposal at the last minute without any feedback from residents.

The members of the council and the residents at the meeting were also upset by the town board’s retention of the so-called Hamlet Extension—49 units of housing on the northeast edge of the hamlet—in the Comprehensive Plan. Given the town board’s general support of the conservation subdivision principles in Alternative F, we do not understand why this exception is being made. Why is the board turning its back on the principle that the location of housing should be determined after unsuitable land has already been taken off the board? (As we have repeatedly pointed out, the land in question consists primarily of steep slopes and wetlands and is the site of Indian artifacts dating back 10,000 years.) And why is the board turning its back on several years of powerfully expressed resistance to this idea from a wide swath of the residents of the hamlet? As the board will see if it reviews the materials that the council has presented to it during the two and a half years of its existence, the council conducted a survey in January 2007 in which nearly two hundred residents strongly opposed the building of a so-called Traditional Neighborhood Development on that location. The council’s opposition to the Hamlet Extension is not the opinion of a minority. It is an expression of the voice of the community.

It is, moreover, not a rejection of future development. It is a call to the town board to locate future development as fairly as possible. The density-on-density logic of “smart growth” is only smart in locations where it is possible to hook into existing infrastructure and where the presence of stores and businesses encourages new residents to get out of their cars and walk. As we have repeatedly pointed out, we have no sewage system, our roads are narrow and mostly without sidewalks, and our clay-on-shale soil leads to frequent flooding, a problem that will only worsen if new housing on the edge of the hamlet takes away permeable soil and pumps more water into the ground. In addition, there is very little to walk to in the center of the hamlet, and as anyone who did walk there from the area of the proposed development would quickly discover, the steepness of the slopes makes for an arduous return trip. A development on the northeastern border of the hamlet would only add more cars to our already overburdened roads, several of which can barely allow for two-way traffic.

In the absence of any explanation of your actions, we can only conclude that you have simply decided to disregard the concerns of the people of Rhinecliff. We would appreciate a response that addresses the concerns that we have expressed and outlines the reasons for your actions.

Respectfully submitted,

The Rhinecliff Hamlet Advisory Council

Concerned about the future of Rhinecliff? Got an issue about life in the Hamlet that you’d like to see addressed?

The next meeting of the Rhinecliff Hamlet Advisory Council will be November 13, 2008 - 7 p.m. at the Rhinecliff firehouse.

The agenda follows:

I.    Call to Order/Announcements

II.    Approval of Minutes from September 11 and September 26 Meetings

III.    Update from Town Board Liaison

IV.    Discussion of Organization and Structure of Council During the Coming Year

V.     Old Business

VI.     New Business

VII.     Adjournment

Special Meeting of the Rhinebeck Hamlet Advisory Council

Location: Rhinecliff Firehouse

For the past three months, the Council’s  meetings have centered on discussions of the alternative proposal for the Historic District, now known as Alternative Proposal F to the proposed Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Laws before the Town Board.

Residents of the Hamlet have provided the Council with feedback on this proposal over the last three meetings.  The agenda for this special meeting is for the Council to vote on whether or not to endorse Alternative Proposal F in advance of the Town Board’s public hearings on the Comp Plan, scheduled for October 4 and 7.  The meeting will provide an additional opportunity for Rhinecliff residents to ask questions and make their voices heard before the Council’s vote.

Come join your neighbors for a vitally important discussion about the future of the Hamlet of Rhinecliff and the Town of Rhinebeck.

Location: Firehouse, Rhinecliff

The Rhinecliff Hamlet Advisory Council will discuss the response of the Council and of Rhinecliff residents to the Scoping Document for the proposed Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Law, and to the alternative zoning proposal that was presented at the Council’s July meeting.

Agenda

I. Call to Order/Announcements

II. Approval of Minutes from July 10 Meeting

III. Report from Town Board Liaison

IV. Comparison of Alternative Zoning Proposal
for the National Landmark Historic District
with the Council’s Fourteen Points

V. Response to Comprehensive Plan
Table of Contents for August 14 Scoping Session

VI. Old Business

VII. New Business

VIII. Adjournment

IMPORTANT MEETING TODAY
The Rhinebeck Town Board will meet in the Hamlet to hear the Rhinecliff Hamlet Advisory Council’s presentation on the Comp Plan and the Zoning Law. Rhinecliff residents are strongly urged to attend this meeting.

Where: Rhinecliff Firehouse

When: Thursday, April 14, 7 p.m.

The Rhinecliff Hamlet Advisory Council will give Rhinecliff residents a preview of the presentation it plans to give to the Town Board concerning the Comp Plan and the Zoning Law. Residents are strongly urged to attend this meeting to give the Council feedback on its planned presentation.

Where: Rhinecliff Firehouse

When: Thursday, April 10, 7 p.m.

Thursday November 30, 2006    
    
6:45pm
Rhinecliff Fire House

Please join your Rhinecliff neighbors for a discussion of future development adjacent to the hamlet. Jamie Kibel and Michael DeCola (Goomer Hollow LLC) will present ideas for their land, 538 acres south of Rhinecliff.

IMPORTANT:  If you haven’t completed a survey yet, please do so.  Your opinion is important.  Thanks.

Congratulations to the following people, who were appointed to the Rhinecliff Advisory Council at the July 10 Town Board meeting:

• David Anthone (Temporary Chair, term ends July 31, 2008)
• Mark Browne (term ends July 31, 2008)
• Melissa Cohen (term ends July 31, 2007)
• Kathy Flynn (term ends July 31, 2008)
• Tom Holsapple (term ends July 31, 2008)
• Lance Ringel (term ends July 31, 2007)
• Sharon Rushton (term ends July 31, 2008)
• Geoffrey Sanborn (term ends July 31, 2007)
• Greg Sokaris (term ends July 31, 2007)