At a special meeting of the Claverack Town Board held on Tuesday, August 26,
Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Art Baer, Public Works Commissioner David Robinson, and County Attorney Daniel Tuczinski requested that the county be granted immunity from the town’s zoning regulations and that the requirement for a site plan review by the Town Planning Board be waived.

Attorney Ted Gutterman, who is serving as counsel to the Town Board in this matter because Town Attorney Robert Fitzsimmons, who is also Deputy County Attorney, had recused himself, provided an overview of the town’s position in the proceedings.

Gutterman clarified what the county was seeking in its request for immunity. “I want to make clear what the county is asking,” he said. “It is not for the town to waive site plan review in connection with development of the site. They want to acquire and renovate the current space. So the application to the board is not referring to the whole site, only to the renovation of the school.”

The county would purchase the entire twenty-four acres of the former school complex, including a large portion of open space. There has been talk about creating a “county campus” and speculation about future development on the site, but Gutterman said each new proposal would be subject to review by the Town Planning Board.

“In the future, it is important to reserve site plan review for possible further development,” Gutterman advised the board.

Gutterman also touched on the issue of the proposal’s compliance with the town’s new comprehensive plan. The implementation of the comprehensive plan may require changes to Claverack’s zoning laws, but as of yet, none have been proposed or adopted.

He made that point that there “isn’t any real mention of Ockawamick except on page 169” of the plan, where it is suggested that Ockawamick and Northrup Farm could be used for recreation.

“I don’t think there is any inconsistency,” Gutterman said of the proposal and the goals of the comprehensive plan. “The comprehensive plan encourages economic development where appropriate. I would say there is nothing inconsistent with the findings of the comprehensive plan committee.”

At this point, he asked that the board entertain a resolution to send a letter stating the proposal’s compliance with the plan, which the board was quick to vote on and pass. Before calling for the vote, Supervisor James Keegan stated, “I don’t see any problem.”

There was some rumbling from the audience when the board voted on the issue without allowing public comment, but all comment was deferred until Gutterman had completed his presentation.

When the public was invited to speak, one woman noted that there was real opposition to the proposal and asserted that there should be discussion about it. Laurie Fiederlein pointed out that the town wished to preserve its rural character and open spaces and reflected how this proposal might be in opposition to that goal.

Gutterman told her the town couldn’t forecast future development of the site.

Fiederlein also noted there would be an increase in traffic, which was also the concern of other residents, and expressed hope that there might be another use which would require less traffic.

Keegan and other board members said that when the building was used as a school, the only traffic was the buses running twice a day. Some in the audience disagreed with this assessment.

Claverack resident Cyndy Hall cited a figure of 30,000 visits per year to the Department of Social Services, which she said DSS Commissioner Paul Mossman had quoted during the special meeting on August 26. She wanted to know if a traffic study had been completed and what the results of it had been. Keegan said he had not seen any results, and Gutterman added that the report would have to be made available before the county completed the State Environmental Quality Review.

In favor of the project was Ed Fertik of Philmont, who felt the move would ramp up business for the village by increasing traffic to the shops and other businesses.
“This county office could be the best thing to happen to Philmont,” Fertik said. “Lunch traffic, employees stopping after work and browsing the shops. This could be a huge plus for Philmont.”

When the audience questioned the advisability of the board even considering waiving its oversight of the project, Gutterman stressed the idea that the town had little say. “The town has a very limited role here. The county has the more significant role of developing the site. I think it is misplaced if the town were involved in this issue.” He said the county had hired the engineers and done all the studies.

Hall said that, as a taxpayer, she felt the town should have input as the process goes along. In response to Hall’s comment, Keegan stated that he is a member of the county legislature, and he does not intend to let “anything negative to the town happen.” He added, “I am confident the county will make it a fine project.” He said he would keep the town board informed of the details.

Town Councilman Clifford Weigelt said there are very intelligent people at the county level and many of them live in Claverack “Everyone is trying to make this the best thing for the county and for Claverack,” he said. “They are not just forcing something down our throat.”

Audience member Matthew Perry supported site plan review. “I don’t see site plan review as an undue burden,” he said. “It lets our planning board have a say, and I don’t think we should give that up.”

There was very little discussion about the option for up to ten years on the two acres of property, but the board was very much in favor of taking advantage of the possibility.

Gutterman said there were more pluses to the idea than just the land. “General Municipal Law makes it easy for municipalities to cooperate with shared services,” he said.

Keegan said if the county project went through, building a new town hall on the site would allow the town to share parking, maintenance, water and sewer with the county, reducing costs to the town.

“It’s not going to cost us anything at this point, why discount it at this time?” he said.