Donna Essegian made several valid points in her comments to the Town board Thursday night. Its true for several years now our local government has either ignored or tried to manipulate our Zoning Law regarding wind development. . Its also true that many communities are either adopting or updating their Comprehensive Plans and Zoning Laws to address Industrial and individual scale wind development.
I spoke with Donna after the meeting because I wanted to share with her what I consider an important distinction in one of her observations. At one point she stated that our Comprehensive Plan was outdated and needed to be revisited and updated. While it is true our Plan,which was adopted in 2003,contains this recommendation ,"Every five years after adoption of this Plan,the Town Board and Village Board will form a committee to review and update this plan", it does Not mean that the Plan is outdated or invalid.
In the early spring of this year Planning Board Chairman Edsall made a similar observation,following a question regarding the Comp. Plan stating that " you'd probably find that plan has no authority now because it is out of date". I doubted the validity of this claim, so I did some research. According to a senior Jefferson County Planner who assisted Cape Vincent in the initial adoption of our Plan, and the Chairman of the Jefferson County Planning dept., until such time that a Comp. Plan is amended or revised,the stated vision and long range goals that serve as guidelines for all zoning criteria, are as valid as the day they were adopted. I decided to go one step further and referred to the New York Dept. of State,and received the same response. Each of these officials advised that we should revisit the plan as recommended,but it is not imperative or even suggested that we should revise it unless the community dictates so.
For my part,as I read the Comp. Plan and the accompanying purpose clause of our Zoning Law, I can't see any reason to revise the vision and long range goals expressed in these documents. They clearly define and set out to preserve what I value most about Cape Vincent ,the small town rural atmosphere,incredible scenic views, and unique environment and wildlife. The authors of both these documents(including many of our current community leaders) clearly intended to preserve property values and provide for the beneficial use of one's land providing it creates no negative impact to one's neighbors and fellow residents. Neither economic hardship nor potential financial gain for a certain faction,should be the measure by which we define or alter our entire communities future.
I commend Donna and agree with her assertion that we should follow the recommendations included in this Plan and revisit it. Any update in my mind should only be to reassert with conviction the original vision and goals established in 2003. It would be beneficial however to amend our zoning law to include a provision that prohibits industrial scale wind development ,which is obviously incompatible with the goals and vision expressed in the Comp. Plan, and also one that regulates the siting of individual scale wind power to protect the interests of nearby residents.
If Cape Vincent eventually has to deal with an Article X siting board in regards to industrial wind development, my sense is that it would appear much more convincing to have adopted and enforced a policy that is compatible with our Comprehensive Plan, rather than allow a regulated degree of development that is contrary to that Plan,and creates negative impacts that cannot be mitigated , only compensated or reimbursed for. This would present ,in my opinion, an attitude that we have no conviction in our stated goals and vision for our community, and would make it much harder to make a good faith argument to protect our valued resources.
David LaMora
Cape Vincent
Link here to read Cape Vincent's Comprehensive plan
Link here to read Cape Vincent's Zoning law
12 comments:
Abraham Lincoln said this:
"The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than bureaucracy.
It denounces as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me and the Bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe. Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money powers of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed."
Hey, give it a chance, Abe. Lighten up ok fella? It's been 148 years getting to this point. One big party. The only war that didn't enrich the few was the "war on poverty".
Rather than suggest the Plan has to be scrapped and a new one designed and implemented, a better approach would be to ask for comments about the current plans timeliness and value. Not too long ago at a town board work session I heard a conflicted board member say the comp plan was fine, just needed a little tweaking. Members of the LDC said the plan was fine although they needed a way to better implement some of the goals. All this tells me the plan is reasonable and we just need to formally take a look at it and endorse it again.
Having said that we should also understand that lease holders and their supporters will be quick to say the plan is not representative of the new reality, wind development. Wind supporters have a better chance of scrapping the plan and turning this town into an industrial waste site if the conflicted board members are re-elected. My guess is that they missed their opportunity to modify the comp plan and this town and the people they elect won't tolerate turning Cape Vincent into the largest industrial wind complex east of the Mississippi River.
Edsall thought he could effectively repeal the comp plan by effectively ignoring it. And he almost got away with it.
Please don't neglect to vote on Nov. 8.
The first thing we should do with our zoning law is to enforce it!
Actually all of the bases are covered. Our Comprehensive Plan and our Zoning Law don't allow for wind turbines. That was the reason that three members of the ZBA voted to allow turbines to be considered utilities. That changed everything. Two of the two members that voted to do this are no longer on the ZBA and the third member probably is wiser now. If anything needs to be revisited it is the resolution to consider turbines as utilities.
Sorry, that was supposed to say two of the three members voted.....
The comp plan is very important. We should be open to ways on which it can be improved. But the comp plan does not have the force of law. It is the zoning law what we need to take a hard look to see how we can improve it.
I see the problem as some comparison to technological rather than geographical. To keep the aesthetics of one you have to adapt the other. You can't keep the beauty and appeal of Cape Vincent by compromise. To expect some modifications is realistic, but turning Cape Vincent into an industrial wind site is absurd. Why not Kentucky fried chicken and a Walmart? Maybe a few other things like another prison? Seriously, this is exactly what the current cabal will do if they remain in office. Wind power is a political industry. Without corruption and taxpayer money it wouldn't even be a political issue.
The key word in ACCIONA and WALMART's SUSTAINABILITY plans are identical;
Sustainability
At Walmart, we know that being an efficient and profitable business and being a good steward of the environment are goals that can work together. Our broad environmental goals at Walmart are simple and straightforward:
To be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy.
In ten years, at this current rate of change, Cape Vincent could become the home of a luxury high rise office/residential community. Imagine a complex of high rises along the St.Lawrence and your very own Walmart at the site of the St.Lawrence/Lake Ontario junction.The town board can overlook this new community from atop the residential high rises and have the new town hall on the ground floor. Imagine the penthouse view from the top of an 8 story complex. The people of Cape Vincent have no vision. We need to be more like Miami, not some GOD forsaken little farm hick town. We'll bring in more "diversity" to run the concessions and fill the jobs at the new Walmarts, Burger Kings, and KFCs. Just imagine our very own police department complete with SWAT teams and HOMELAND security to control the crime. These are the visions those of us have who see the future of not only wind power, but what federal spending can do for our community. Thank you for your support. See you at the polls.
Anon 1:01 You state "the comp Plan does not have the force of law,it is the zoning law we need to take a hard look at."
I offer the following, not to be argumentative , but informative.
This is an excerpt from a New York Dept. of State Technical series on Comprehensive Planning and Zoning, written by James Coon.
"Once a comprehensive plan is adopted using the State zoning enabling statutes, all land use regulations of the community must be consistent with the comprehensive plan. In the future, the plan must be consulted prior to adoption or amendment of any land use regulation. In addition, other
governmental agencies that are considering capital projects on lands covered by the adopted comprehensive plan must take the plan into consideration.
New York requires that zoning be adopted in accordance with a well-considered or comprehensive plan. This requirement reflects both underlying constitutional considerations and a public policy that views zoning as a tool to plan for the future of communities. Over the years, the New York courts have defined the comprehensive plan to be the governing body’s process of careful consideration and forethought, resulting in zoning that is calculated to serve the community’s general welfare.
During the 1990's the zoning enabling statutes were amended to provide a process for adoption of a comprehensive plan--a formal planning document that can provide goals and objectives for the community. Once the plan is adopted, the community’s land use regulations must be consistent with it.
This usually means (though it is not mandated) that plan adoption is followed by the adoption of a series of zoning laws designed to “implement” the comprehensive plan. For these communities, then, the statutory requirement that zoning be “in accordance with a comprehensive or well-considered plan refers to the comprehensive plan pursuant to Town Law, §272- "
Rich Edsall tried to deny the legal Authority of our Comp. Plan because he knew it would be a deterrent to allowing industrial scale wind turbines in Cape Vincent.
One cannot overstate the significance of our comp .Plan.
Dave,
My comment at 1:01 does not differ from what you are saying. I agree that the comp plan is very important. Just pointing out that the comp plan is, as you point out,"a formal planning document that can provide goals and objectives for the community."
But the specific zoning ordinances are where the rubber will meet the road.
Let's get some decent zoning adopted and enforced around here. I am sick or driving around Cape Vincent and seeing a lot of crap that should not be allowed. We look like a dump in many ways.
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