DECEMBER 18, 2005

KNGG BOARD MEMBER ADDRESSES BOARD OF ED 

GROUP ASKS ICC TO CONSIDER ANNEXATION
AND ITS IMPACTS
KNGG urges board to keep an eye on progress

By Joe Prout, The Register-Star, December 18, 2005 

A Kinderhook Neighbors for Good Growth board member came to the recent Ichabod Crane Board of Education meeting to urge members to pay attention to the annexation process happening in Valatie. 

Dr. Abbey Cash, the KNGG board member, came to represent her organization. 

“Basically we were trying to alert them to the situation of the annexations,” she said during a phone interview.  She said she provided information to the board and told them about the potential impacts of the projects.  She said she was trying to encourage them to start a dialog, “not stick their heads in the ground with the notion they need to stay neutral with political situations.”   

Cash said KNGG doesn’t   believe the board needs to be neutral. She said Red Hook and Spackenkill school board members have involved their districts in planning issues that affect their schools.  She said their schools boards now use liaisons. 

“To the school board and the school, it has to do with the fact that there could be a greater number of students,” Cash said, estimating that the two remaining annexation proposals and an already approved housing project are likely to add between 78 to 113 new homes to Ichabod Crane’s district.  She used an approved development from Tim Holk, located on County Route 28A and Garrigan Road (Valatie) as one of the examples of incoming houses.  Holk has approval to build 31 homes.

“This is going to cause a need for more teachers and more rooms and more staff.” Cash said.  “The annexations are looking to move the village line of Valatie so they can advantage themselves of their (Valatie’s) services that would be provided, such as water and sewer, and also be allowed to develop more densely.” 

Cash considered this to be a manipulation of the (Town’s) zoning code. “My point to them is when you buy property, you know what you’re buying.  You should buy well. When they bought that (those parcels), they knew what they were buying and now they want to turn it into something else,” she said. 

Cash noted that KNGG asked what would happen to the (ICC) budget when the enrollment goes up.  “It has to go up,” she speculated, concerned that it will lead to more budget rejections (by the voters) in the future. 

Both she and KNGG reportedly support the school district. Dr. Cash is a retired state university professor and taught in Chatham for several years.

Cash said she was happy with school board chair Gary Bagnato’s response and believes the board will consider the project.  She also felt member Bill Murphy supported the idea, and got the impression the board believed that (developer Anthony) Buono misrepresented data presented by the school (board for the hearings). 

Cash said Buono’s report (said) that there was enough capacity for more students in ICC (and) didn’t account for whether there was enough teachers available.   

“Had they (the school board) been there (at the hearing), they could have argued that point.  It is less effective if I do,” Cash said. 

Cash believes (the) school board is new to this approach, but doesn’t want the district’s voice to come too late.  “The concern is they should be part of the planning process,” she said. 

Board member Ed Brooks’ stance was just educate the children and to remain neutral, but Cash said it’ll be hard to do so if they have to keep raising the budget (and the taxes). 

KNGG COMMENTS:  “Just educate the children and remain neutral?”

It was not made clear in this article that Abbey Cash pointed out to the Board of Education that school taxes have been going up as the enrollment has been going down.  What will happen when the enrollment goes up as a result of these new subdivisions which would only be made possible if the annexation is approved? 

Taxes collected from these subdivisions will not cover the additional costs of educating additional children.  This past season the school budget was turned down by the voters.  On a second vote it barely passed.  The board cannot “remain neutral” and “just educate.”  The school board is responsible for raising funds to educate. For most part the schools are funded by collecting taxes. 

After the last school tax increase, the taxes for many home owners went up considerably. Therefore Dr. Cash, representing KNGG, request that the board get involved by appointing a liaison to attend all annexation hearings, to be able to answer questions the Town Board and the Village Board would have.  And then report back to the Board of Education. 

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DECEMBER 5, 2005

A misleading headline on the front page of the December 3 issue of the Register-Star read:

“Holk pulls plug on annexation proposal.”

It should have read, “Holk pulls plug on annexation FOR THE MOMENT.”

Chatham developer Tim Holk wanted to add 83 acres to Valatie from the land he owns in the Town of Kinderhook to build houses and apartments on.

He told the Register-Star that when he saw the writing on the wall for the houses he wanted to build, he withdrew his annexation proposal.

Holk plans to build 31 houses on 40 acres of land in Valatie on the north side of Route 28 near the intersection of Garrigan Road, the result of a project approved by the Valatie Planning Board. 

The R-S said he had no IMMEDIATE plans for the land on the south side of Route 28A (the parcel which falls in the Town and that he wanted annexed to the Village), but noted that the land has a good deal of value and he could restart the annexation process at any time in the future. 

The Town and Village of Valatie Boards had met jointly many times in late fall to hear Holk’s proposal and determine whether or not they would support its addition to the village.  Holk told the R-S that he was required to show that his project is good for the community, which he believes he’s done.  

Speculating, we think that Holk is awaiting the outcome of the two annexation proposals currently before the boards.  If one is approved, he may think he can use precedence to win his case. 

One interesting point brought up at last week’s hearing by Town Board Member Francis Vecellio was that if any parcel is approved, the rezoning would remain in limbo for several many months, during which time anyone could put up just about anything they want. 

So, for the moment, Holk pulled the plug on his proposal.

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DECEMBER 3, 2005

Register-Star, Published December 2, 2005
NIVERVILLE
November 29, 2005
PROPOSAL DRAWS FIRE FROM PUBLIC
Annexation plan heard at joint meeting of Valatie and Kinderhook boards
By John Mason

Lawyer Anthony Buono faced some tough questions from an audience of about 20 at a public hearing on his proposal to annex 14.36 acres of the town of Kinderhook into the village of Valatie Tuesday. The hearing, at the Niverville Fire House, was held before both the village and town boards.

Buono’s proposal one of two annexations currently under consideration by the boards. The other, by Peter Palleschi, is for a 24-unit apartment building on 20 acres west of Route 9H near (the Valatie exit) and the village of Kinderhook.

Buono’s acreage is part of a 35.7-acre parcel he owns directly south of the village of the village (of Valatie) and of Little Falls Estates (subdivision). Buono wants to build up to 24 houses on the 14.36 acres. Annexation would give him access to the village’s water and sewer lines, and it would allow him to take advantage of Valatie’s half-acre zoning; Kinderhook’s density requirement in that area is five acres (per home).

Buono began by answering some questions raised at the initial public hearing of Nov.16.

Town attorney Edward P. McConville had raised the problem that if the annexation were approved the land would be zoneless until the village zoned it, during which time anything could be built there.

Buono suggested that he could sign a restrictive covenant that only single-family dwellings could be built on the land, and he prepared and submitted such a covenant, for the entire 35.7 acres, to the boards.

In response to questions about tax benefits of the plan, Buono compared the revenues resulting from seven houses built under Kinderhook’s 5-acre zoning with revenue from 24 units built on the 14 acres proposed to be annexed into Valatie plus four houses built on the 21 acres that would remain in Kinderhook.

The plan built under current boundaries would yield $14,219 in county taxes, $1,772 in town taxes, nothing to the village, $231 for ambulance, $1,050 for the fire department and $31,189 for the schools.

Buono’s plan, if extended to the full 28 units, would produce $48,745 for the county, $15,240 for the village, $792 for the ambulance, $600 for the fire department and $106,934 for the schools.

“Based upon these projections, annexation would yield significantly more taxes for the town and village, as well as the school district,” Buono said. “A total of $127,548 more taxes would be generated by annexation.”

As to the problem of school staffing, he said the Ichabod Crane Central School District projects a drop in enrollment every year through 2010.

Buono defended a survey Palleschi’s attorney William Better did of apartment buildings in the area saying that while it wasn’t scientific, it would be a good indicator of how many children could be expected to move into Palleschi’s buildings.

For his own development, Buono suggested getting Ichabod Crane’s figures of the number of children coming from Little Falls, Holly Hills and Edwards Court, divide it by the number of units in those developments, and apply it to his 28.

(Supervisor) McGivney said he would like to see national data on the topic.

Councilman Francis Vecellio queried Buono on a previous claim that, although his houses would be in the $250,000 range, they would “add to the overall stock and make housing more affordable.”

Buono said he didn’t know if $250,000 was high-end in today’s market. “there’s a need for medium-range housing,” he said. It’s getting harder for people to stay in the county, he said, but his project and Palleschi’s together “provide a variety of housing options” for retirees or young families starting out, to do so.

He also said he didn’t think his development would affect property values because it was in synch with the pace of development in the village as a whole.

In response to an audience question, Buono said he hadn’t yet decided whether he would be putting up stick-built or modular housing, but there would be no double-wides.

Robert Cramer, co-chairman of the town Comprehensive Plan study committee and a Planning Board member, cited the Comprehensive Plan’s emphases on open land, vistas and scenic locations, and on coordinating development with villages and adjacent towns, and said, “It’s clear to me the land is governed by the Comprehensive Plan and the code of Kinderhook. [The annexation’s] sole intent is to avoid current regulations under the Comprehensive Plan.”

Abbey Cash of Kinderhook Neighbors for Good Growth said she would like to know Buono’s projected profits from the development.

In response to a question from Claire Renn of Little Falls, Buono said he would pay for construction of sidewalks, fire hydrants, curbs and other infrastructure required by the Planning Board. Home owners, though, would be responsible for maintaining that infrastructure, and the village would maintain the roadway.
Carol Matheke of Albany Avenue (Valatie) said school certification requirements will be changing to split certification, so teachers won’t be able to switch from kindergarten to sixth grade, complicating Buono’s plan for how easily the schools could accommodate his plans. She also said the Fire Department is aging and needs volunteers.

Buono said a residential development doesn’t put as much strain on the Fide Department as such places as schools, restaurants, hospitals.

Matheke also questioned whether the intersection of Route9 and Albany Avenue could handle any more vehicles. Forty eight more cars, some going in and out several times a day, would add a lot to the traffic, she said. Vecellio agreed that was a good point, since Buono’s proposal “significantly increases the buildup of the land,” from seven units to 20 or more.

Buono said his project is remote from that intersection.

“How do you get to Albany from there?” asked Cramer. (Cramer pointed out something we learned from KNGG traffic reports – that intersection is already failing. It has reached over capacity.)

Fourteen houses won’t have much impact on 12,000 trips a day,” Buono said.

On the topic of affordability, Matheke said she moved to Valatie because she could afford a house there. “I wouldn’t expect Loudenville to build me a house.” She accused Buono of using scare tactics, telling people if more houses were not built, the people would move away.

The hearing will tentatively be continued 7 p.m. January 17, 2006 at the Firehouse. At the same meeting, board members may close the hearing and begin the State Environmental Quality Review process.

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NOVEMBER 23, 2005

ANNEXATION PROJECT DRAWS QUESTIONS FROM TOWN, VILLAGE OFFICIALS

By John Mason REGISTER-STAR November 23, 2005

 

Peter Palleschi’s plans to have the village of Valatie annex 20 acres for his proposed apartment complex ran into some dogged questioning from Kinderhook Town Supervisor Doug McGivney in Monday’s public hearing before both the town and village boards at the Niverville Fire House.

 

Palleschi’s is one of three annexation plans recently proposed to the village.  Anthony Buono wants annex 14.6 acres off Rod & Gun Club Road for a 24-house development on half-acre lots.  A third annexation proposal has been withdrawn.

 

Palleschi, owner of Mario’s True Value Home Center on Route 9 intends to move the equipment rental portion of his business to a five-acre parcel on Route 9H in Valatie, just south of the Valatie Rescue Squad headquarters.  Setting up there would involve extending the Valatie water and sewer piping to the site at a cost to him of $175,000.

 

To help with his financial burden, Palleschi wants to build a 24-unit (apartment) complex on about five acres of land he owns just to the west of the commercial property.  Jill M. Snyder, assistant project manager for Crawford & Associates, said this would bring the cost of the infrastructure improvement up to $250,000.

 

The complex is situated on a larger, 75-acre parcel owned by Palleschi.  Much of this is wetland, but the 20 acres closest to his commercial property including the 5 acres for his (apartment) complex, is build able.  Palleschi said he would like to see the village annex the 20 acres.  The rest of the land, nine acres of it in the Village of Kinderhook and the rest in the Town could go into a conservation easement and would remain under present jurisdiction, said Palleschi’s attorney, William Better.

 

Snyder said Crawford’s soil tests had shown the land would not support a conventional septic system.

 

Snyder said the improvements would involve about 1,700 linear feet of trenching, with six-inch piping for the water and four-inch piping for the sewer line.  She said there would be excess water available for other commercial use.

 

McGivney observed that land, under Kinderhook’s five-acre zoning, would allow four houses, would be used for 24 (Apartment) units.  Snyder replied that, environmentally, apartments have less impact than houses.  If houses had sand-filtered septic systems, they might discharge in to the wetlands; houses would entail more driveways.

 

McGivney asked whether the tax burden of going from a density of four units to 24 wouldn’t overshadow the benefit of the commercial expansion.  “How do you see the public interests?”

 

Snyder said since the apartments are one-to-two bedroom, they would not attract families and would not tend to overburden the school system.  Secondly, she said, they would provide the village with tax revenue.  And third, it would be an environmentally sound development that would preserve the wetlands and have little impact on the ecology.

 

“Any time you expand infrastructure, especially to areas with wetlands,” Better said, “that’s a benefit.  Land with access to water and sewer is more valuable.”

 

He added that it was a benefit not to have a conventional filter system, which he said would have a life of 10 to 15 years.

 

When asked whether some of the housing might be dedicated to seniors, Better said that was a possibility, but the federal subsidies for such ventures would most likely be flowing towards the Gulf States.

 

McGivney said he would like to see statistics showing there would be little impact on the school system.  Better said the village currently averages .59 school children per housing unit.  McGivney said new housing is more likely to attract young couples.  He called for a study on the question.

 

Town Councilwoman, Mary Kramarchyk said the baby boomers are mainly through child-bearing, the younger grades’ enrollments are declining, and she didn’t think a formal study was necessary.

 

“This kind of apartment setup is clearly not for a family,” Councilwoman Debbie Johnson said.  “It’s a transition, for people just out of college, or older people.”

 

McGivney said young couples today can’t afford the housing they could in the past.  “We need a study,” he said, suggesting that the Little Falls or Holly Hills developments could give a good idea.

 

Better said he had done such a study, of  housing situations similar to the one under consideration, and had found few children.

 

Steve Matheke of Albany Avenue found much to worry about in the proposal.

“I’m asking the village board now,” he said.  “All this annexation being proposed: Are you going to pass a law to guarantee we won’t pay a lot of money for another water tower and additions to the sewer plant?  It’s not fair to us.  Promise us that someone else will not make a lot of money and then we pay for it.  I’m terrified.”

 

Mayor Gary Strevell (of Valatie) said he had lived through that scenario before, and his goal was that it would never happen again. Bit, “additional expenses may come.  If there are additional houses to spread it over, is that a bad thing?  I’m reluctant to spend money.  We can’t pass a law.  We can’t make a commitment to our residents.”

 

Trustee Steve Berry agreed with Strevell, saying he wouldn’t support anything that would be a cost to tax payers.  “Our legal counsel says it’s a fact of law that developers have to bear the costs,” he said.

 

Carol Matheke said there was nothing to prevent large families from crowding into apartments.  Better said there are mechanisms to limit the number of people in an apartment.

 

Lawrence Cash, a member of the town water committee, said he appreciated Mario’s contributions to the community, but was concerned about the location:  Recent heavy rains had flooded Route 9.  “Unless the plot is higher, that the roadway, you’ll have flooding seasonally.  I’m for zoning: It’s the closest thing we have to long-term planning.  Changing zoning bothers me.”  He suggested a move up Route 9 would be better.

 

Snyder said the applicant wouldn’t want a parcel that would flood, wouldn’t be permitted to build if that were the case, would elevate the portion of the parcel to be developed and would benefit from the Department of Environmental Conservation’s storm water management plan.  The rainwater would be channeled away.

 

Palleschi said the site is currently at 203 feet above sea level.  He wants to put in enough fill to raise it to 208 feet.  “It will not flood,” he said.

 

Mark Litteken questioned the wisdom of a curb cut to Mario’s rental business on the exit ramp from a highway.  “The equipment will be bucking the traffic trend,” he said. He also said that since the apartments are paying for the expansion, as capital costs go up, the prices of the apartments will follow.  “If there’s any hope of these being low or moderately priced apartments, that may not be the case,” he said.

 

Better said they were in discussion with the state Department of Transportation to limit ingress.  “That will be done at the planning board,” he said.

 

McGivney said the area is not one zoned for multi-dwellings.  “This is disruptive of the Comprehensive Plan,” he said.  “The Comprehensive Plan is based on a lot of factual studies.  This was identified as residential.”

 

If you don’t get annexation would you be able to continue with the front site as a storage facility,” Berry asked.

 

Palleschi said it would slow his progress down considerably.

 

The Buono proposal will be discussed again on November 29.  Palleschi and company will be back when they have completed required fact finding.

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NOVEMBER 18, 2005

Third developer presents village/town annexation project proposal to boards, public

By Joe Prout, Hudson Valley Newspapers, Register-Star, Friday, November 18, 2005

VALATIE -- The last of three developers looking to annex land into Valatie from Kinderhook described his project during a public hearing Wednesday night.

Anthony Buono formally presented the same version of a project he described to neighbors in a letter sent out several weeks ago. Buono intends to annex into Valatie 14.6 acres of a 35-acre parcel off Rod & Gun Club Road, just south of Little Falls Estates.

He discussed a proposal for 24 houses, a new road and related infrastructure improvements, expecting the land in question will be zoned with half-acre lots -- essentially like its immediate neighbors.

In an earlier interview on the subject, Buono said he plans to save the bottom half of the parcel for himself -- about 16 acres. There is already a five-acre subdivision with a house associated with this proposal, which he said would remain in the town as well.

Regulations on this sort of proposal required Buono to show what the worst-case scenario for maximum build-out on his land would be. As such, he had to include four additional houses on the land not in the annexation on the southern part of the parcel, since the entire parcel is being subdivided.

Both the town and village boards have to review the annexation proposal and rule on whether allowing the parcel into the village provides a benefit to the community. Buono expects the parcel to connect to the village's water and sewer lines. Neighboring developments have half- or near-half-acre parcels. There are two other developers looking to add land to Valatie.

Town Attorney Ed McConville quickly offered a contrary opinion on what Buono perceives to be the potential zoning capacity for the land. McConville said if the town and village boards approve the annexation, the land is zoneless until the Valatie trustees pick a zone.

According to McConville, that means anything could be built there. McGivney said that premise concerned him. Both men tossed around a conceptual Valatie Wal-Mart, which Buono said he had no intention of building.

McGivney said without an approved comprehensive plan, the trustees have no formal guidelines for future development. The board members later agreed that they could make Buono commit to specific zoning as a condition of annexation approval.

Village Attorney Pat Grattan repeatedly asked Buono to focus his presentation on why his proposal benefited the community.

"The village stands to receive a very significant tax windfall from this annexation," Buono said, later adding that the town would continue to receive taxes on the land as well.

Buono said the current parcel is assessed for about $83,000, with the 14.6 acres in question assessed at about $33,000. He said that generates about $27 for the town taxes and less than $500 for the school district.

If developed with houses valued between $200,000 to $250,000, Buono said the new parcels' total assessments would equal about $6 million. He said the town would receive about $2,640 in taxes, Valatie would receive about $15,000, the county would receive about $40,600, and the school district would receive $89,000.

Buono also said the village would be able to charge infrastructure connection fees and the costs for any required upgrades to the water or sewer systems to the developer. Mayor Gary Strevell said the village intends to make the developer pay for any improvements to either system, so the current users aren't hit with a cost increase.

Buono declined to detail anticipated infrastructure needs because he doesn't publicly have a specific proposal yet. He said the village's Planning Board would address how new houses would impact the village's infrastructure when he formally presents them a proposal.

The developer would later admit that Valatie apparently doesn't have a water system capable of handling his proposal, let alone three annexations. "I'm very aware Valatie can't guarantee me water," he told the board.

McGivney also pointed out that when the nearby Widewaters shopping center requested to connect to Valatie's water system, an engineer's report stated there wasn't enough water available. Widewaters requested to use 10,000 gallons daily, and Buono estimated his proposal would need 14,580 gallons.

Buono also argued that the town's efforts to conserve open spaces have limited developable areas for new houses. He said modifying the zoning to half-acre lots from its existing five-acre designation partially negates the number of houses lost to conservation and puts them in a population center -- which he notes is where the town's comprehensive plan intends growth to
occur.

Town Board member Francis Vecellio argued that the plan also calls for a buffer of lower-density property around the population centers, and said extending village boundaries into that area negates that.

"There would be no limit to how far the village could expand," he said.

While not proposing what is considered affordable housing by New York State, Buono asserted that by adding more houses to Kinderhook's housing market, it towers the cost for all homes in the community by providing supply to meet
buyers' demands.

Buono also said there would be negligible impacts to the Valatie Rescue Squad, the Ichabod Crane School District -- which has seen a population decrease in recent years -- and the town's highway department.

Vecellio disagreed with Buono's presented facts on whether there would be an impact to Ichabod Crane, noting that it's well known that houses automatically add more expenses to a school district than the tax money they generate pay for. Buono said the boards couldn't deny his proposal because houses add costs to school districts-- all housing proposals do so -- and it
would set an impossible precedent for any future growth.

McGivney requested a cost to expand the village's systems to his parcel and wanted to know what tax benefits would come to the town if the developer was forced to build a proposal with the current five-acre zoning.

The next meeting on Buono's proposal is set for 7 p.m., Tuesday, in the Niverville fire station.

DON'T BE LEFT OUT! VOICE YOUR QUESTIONS AT THE NEXT ANNEXATION HEARING MONDAY, NOV 21- Niverville Fire House, Niverville 7:00 PM.

 

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