Report on the Planning Board Meeting of September 28th

The Cochecton Town Planning Board meeting held on Thursday, September 28, attracted in excess of 100 townspeople, most of whom were there both to hear from Paul Savad, the developer who is applying to build a 42 house suburban subdivision in the area of New Turnpike and Cross Roads, and to voice their opinions regarding its appropriateness. The meeting had been announced in the Sullivan County Democrat, as a review of the developer's sketch plan and a beginning scoping session, the latter intended to identify significant environmental impacts that could be reasonably expected from the project. Despite a raging storm outside, most of the people in the large audience remained throughout the long evening as a testament to the seriousness of their own concerns about what everyone agrees is an unprecedented development proposal for our town.

Legal Process Outlined and Questioned.

After hearing the developer's attorney describe the project, the attorney for Keep Cochecton Rural Concerned Citizens Group asked the Board whether the legally necessary declarations and determinations, timely notification to affected parties, notification to appropriate county and state agencies, and other preliminary, but legally required, procedures had been accomplished in order to properly conduct the scheduled business. Since these requirements had not been fulfilled, or could not be verified as fulfilled, a decision on both the applicant's sketch plan and the scoping considerations was postponed. The Planning Board, however, recognizing that many people in attendance had come to voice their opinions, generously invited the public to do so. A five-minute time limit for each speaker was invoked by the Chairperson, who also asked individual speakers not repeat the points that others had made earlier. Finally, the attorney for Keep Cochecton Rural Concerned Citizens Group reminded the Board that town boards in New York State have a responsibility under State law, beyond simply verifying that a proposal meets minimum zoning requirements, to consider broad environmental impacts such as those presented to them.

Accuracy of Sketch Plain Raised.

The first residents to speak questioned the developer's representation of the actual site and nature of the proposed development, and challenged the developer's responses to the required initial assessment, which is required by state law, of potential environmental impacts (known as the Environmental Assessment Form), as incomplete and disingenuous. The site plan that the developer presented did not, among other things, recognize that the boundary between Cochecton and Delaware townships, which this site falls on, has been in dispute for many years (since the 1860's). Much depends upon where that boundary actually is. Other residents spoke to the negative impact of this proposed suburban style subdivision on the general character, aesthetics, wildlife, traffic and road conditions, housing density, and on the water quality of the currently existing community.

Environmental and Tax Raise Implications Discussed.

Other residents voiced concerns about the safety of their children and about the inevitable increase in air, noise, and light pollution, and about wanting their children to experience the Cochecton they had known when they were growing up or when they moved here. Still others pointed out that US Geological Survey evaluations of the soil at the site made adequate waste systems highly questionable, at best, and finally that that the Sullivan County 2020 Comprehensive Plan warns that residential land uses do not provide as much in revenue as they cost to the townships in public services (the ratio for Cochecton is for every dollar received, one dollar twenty-five cents must be expended). Therefore, the result of major residential projects like this, if other land uses do not compensate, is that taxes-already high-- will have to increase. If other residential developers follow this large developer, and are approved, who among us will be able to afford to live here?

Study of Future Development and Moratorium?

A question was then raised by a resident whether it was not the proper time for Cochecton to consider a moratorium on large residential building projects within the township in order to revisit the town's 1998 Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Laws. Many towns in Sullivan County-Bethel, Liberty, Lumberland, among them-are doing just that.