Orange County continues to struggle with bundles of plans wrapped in miles of red tape by dozens of planning and zoning board members.
It”™s not alone. Counties throughout the Hudson Valley and News York state are facing similar problems.
Simply put: The state”™s land-use system just doesn”™t work.
That”™s what attorney and land-use professor John Nolon of Pace University in White Plains and Orange County”™s Commissioner of Planning David Church told 150 members of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce at the Wallkill Golf Club on Sept. 9.
Can the system be fixed?
Nolon said he thinks so. He said local planning and zoning boards work at cross-purposes by having developers present their plans and then go out to public hearings. He said the boards should meet with the public before developers present plans to get public feedback. “Therein lies the problem,” said Nolon. “Submitting an application, then posting a public notice and a pubic hearing and giving the public 62 days to respond.”
Those 62 days can turn into months and years, as residents, who feel left out of the planning and development process, begin to merge into factions for and against the proposed development. If the project seems controversial, the public hearing, rather than tying up strings, can send architects, developers and surveying crews back to the drawing board to try to appease an agitated public.
Nolon estimated that 20 percent of projects proposed by developers are considered controversial in their respective municipalities.
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Church suggested another option. “The ”˜charette”™ process ”“ which is a fancy French term for a public meeting ”“ is an effective means of including the public”™s input before plans are drawn,” he said. “By giving people an opportunity to participate, not only does the developer get information he might not otherwise be privy to, but the community feels like it”™s on board.”
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The goal of the charette process, Church said, is to allow the community to develop ideas and meet with intelligent discourse. “This will marginalize those who want to kill the project and keep their influence to a minimum,” he said.
Particularly vexing for developers, planners and zoning entities is the State Environmental Quality Review Act, or SEQRA, enacted in 1976. The SEQRA process, critics say, is a daunting challenge for developers.
A bill to streamline the act has been languishing in Albany for months, said Nolon. “Albany”™s dysfunction this year means it will be another year ”“ if not longer ”“ before this is addressed.”
Pattern for Progress is planning to host its third annual conference on local government efficiency, focusing on SEQRA, on Thursday, Sept. 17, at SUNY-New Paltz, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. In addition to two panels held to discuss the SEQRA process, the keynote luncheon speaker will be Pete Grannis, commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
For information, contact pattern-for-progress.org or call 834-585-4900. The cost is $40 for members and $50 for non-members, with municipal officials receiving a discounted rate of $30.
