The Independent – February 25, 2005

 

9/9H Panel Seeks State Grant

By Richard Roth

 

KINDERHOOK – The committee studying the Route 9/9H corridor through the Town of Kinderhook has applied for $50,000.00 from the New York Department of State’s Quality Communities Grant Program.

 

The $1 million DOS program’s purpose is to aid municipalities in developing “tools and strategies that link environmental protection, economic prosperity and community well being.”  February 25 was the application deadline, and the grant recipients will be announced in 6 to 8 months.

 

The Town already has a “very good Town Code and a well prepared Comprehensive Plan,” according to committee co-chairman Bob Cramer, who also sits on the town Planning Board.

 

“We want to have a plan for development,” said Mr. Cramer, “so when a developer pulls in we can say ‘this is what we look for, this is how we envision what we hope Kinderhook will be.”

 

Mr. Cramer said the committee has had three meetings, and that the grant application has been its “biggest effort so far.”  A professional grant writer was expected to give the application a final look before it was delivered to the DOS Friday morning.

 

The committee includes town residents with a wide area of interests and expertise.  Landscape architect/public relations consultant Joanne Gans serves as co-chair.  Other members are Gerald-Minot-Scheuerman, a state budget examiner who serves on the Planning Board; Meg Moran, an attorney (former Planning Board member and member of the KNGG Board of Directors); Tim Moran, a business consultant; Mark Litteken, an accountant (and former KNGG Treasurer); Ken Jewel, a real estate broker; Kelly Love, a musician; Alvin Knoll and George Sheer, architects; and Dick Morrill, an historian (and artist.)

 

They’re all volunteers, and everybody’s name is on the application form,” said Cramer.

 

Mr. Cramer said the commercial district on the 9/9H corridor will be the committee’s first area of consideration.  Aside from a few pockets that existed prior to adoption of the Comprehensive Plan, commercial zoning is limited to the section approaching State Farm Road, near the site of the recently approved Widewaters complex.

 

The corridor committee will meet at Town Hall the first Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m., and Mr. Cramer said meetings are open to anyone who wants to come.  “I think of it as progress,” he said, “there will also possibly be two meetings to gain input from the public.”

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Register-Star -December 21, 2004   

Scenic overlay district unveiled to packed house

By John Mason

COPAKE -- A standing-room-only crowd of more than 80 heard about plans for preserving the scenic beauty on the eastern edge of town Saturday at Town Hall.

The proposed scenic corridor overlay district is about two miles wide, running west from the Massachusetts border to 1,500 feet west of Route 22, and about eight miles north to south from Copake's border with Hillsdale to its southern border with Ancram.

Although only a small proportion of Copake residents live in this corridor, Strategic Planning Committee Chairman Edgar Masters said, "We believe this will benefit the town as a whole -- it protects its open space and rural character."

Town officials were spurred to action by a threat posed by a gravel mine proposed for the area south of Copake Falls in spring 2003, he said.

In addition, a survey of town property owners revealed support for protecting resources and using zoning to protect open space, Masters said. The survey had an impressive response total of 38 percent of 2,260 surveys sent out, he said.

If adopted, the district would lead to a number of zoning changes in the corridor.

Five types of businesses that are now permitted under certain conditions would be totally prohibited: any extractive operations or soil mining requiring review by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, telecommunications towers, radio and television stations and towers, bus stations and mobile home parks.

Other businesses that are now subject to a special use permit would be "strictly regulated," including hospitals or nursing homes, public utility structures and buildings, recreation uses of mountain land, schools and nursery schools, convenience stores, farm machinery and equipment, motels, theaters and concert halls, animal care businesses, government buildings, clubs, produce stands, summer camps and retreats, gift and antique shops and restaurants.

Many types of businesses that are already prohibited would continue to be prohibited.

Design guidelines were also developed by the committee to protect the visual sightlines of the area within the overlay, Masters said.

General design guidelines for the corridor, applicable to subdivisions and businesses but not to agriculture, would include: preservation of vegetation and topography, mitigation of air pollution from dust, smoke and condensation, buffering using natural vegetation, underground utilities, a 35-foot-height limit and mitigated visual impact for buildings, minimal glare from outdoor lighting, screening of mechanical equipment, loading docks, garbage containers, control of soil erosion and a limit on the footprints of buildings of 7,500 square feet (and more?).

In response to a question, Masters said there is not a no-build zone in the district.  When asked whether colors of houses and siding would be regulated, he said the town would want to protect the visual aspect of the area from anything that was “garish or out of place.” 

Copake’s proposed scenic corridor district would be the same width as Ancram’s.

Leah Wilcox of Ancram’s Planning Board was on hand to talk about her town’s experience with such a corridor.  It took them a year, and several public hearings, she said.  “We took what our residents had to say to heart, and modified our proposal.”  One change they made was to exempt single-family homes from the restrictions.

Mining was prohibited.

“By prohibiting mining, we’ve taken control out of the hands of the bureaucrats in Albany,” she said.  Otherwise it’s DEC that tells you what’s going to happen in the town, not you.” And she said, they’ve taken the control out of the hands of the wealthy developers.

“Everybody seems to be happy with the scenic corridor,” she said. The only bump worked out well – a Citgo service station sited at Columbia County Route 22 and 3 submitted to modifications that made it acceptable.  A bright red roof was changed to earth colors, and a red, orange and blue banner on the canopy was changed to white.

A 500-acre parcel was recently sold for $5 million, a price that wouldn’t have been achieved if there were a gravel mine next door, she said.

One citizen asked Masters whether cutting off commercial development from the corridor would open up the balance of the town to commercial development.

“We aren’t cutting off commercial development for scenic overlay,” Master’s said.  “We’re regulating it.”  Only five types of businesses are being added to the prohibited uses, he said – the amount of development is not cut off.

“If what this committee is doing had been in place, we wouldn’t have that rubble on 22,” said one man. “So I salute what you’re doing.”

The reaction to the proposal seemed to be positive.  No one spoke directly against it, and when Masters asked the audience, “Are we on the right track?” the audible response was “Yes.”

Copake Councilman Carl Ritchie said the committee is “doing a wonderful job.  I think the strategic overlay is going to preserve the beauty of Copake for generations to come and we should support it and the committee any way we can.  I settled in a beautiful, beautiful place, and it would be a shame not to recognize it.”

Masters said the committee is also considering a proposed zoning change for the town as a whole.  Currently, most of the residential portion of the town has three acre zoning.  He said the committee is looking at raising that number in some areas of the town and lowering it to one in others.

The Strategic Planning Committee will now fine-tune the proposal for the overlay district, fleshing it out with details.  A public hearing for comments on their changes will be conducted February 12.  The committee will revise the documents following that hearing, and another public hearing will then be held.  Then the proposal will go to the Town Board.

Greenway could guide corridor study planning

As Kinderhook prepares to receive notice on whether it will receive a Small Cities grant to help fund the proposed 9/9H Corridor Study, the executive director of Greenway spoke of what her organization can add to the process.

Town Supervisor Doug McGivney said the town will likely involve Greenway during phase two of the study’s development, while Executive Director Carmella Mantello said she’s ready whenever she receives the phone call.

McGivney said the plan optimistically has Kinderhook receiving a small cities grant for the study, and phase two would be seeking a second grant to pay for the matching cost Kinderhook would otherwise have to pay for the first grant. The proposed study is to look at development and related issues along Routes 9 and 9H.

Mantello said that Greenway can not only assist with seeking grants, but it can also help the town develop the study with no cost for its services.

According to Mantello, Greenway often has money available for comprehensive plans. Also Greenway planners can sit with Kinderhook corridor study committee members to assist with the plan’s development.

For financial assistance, Mantello said Greenway could supply a small grant to provide start-up money. She said she could work on other state sources of grant money as well. Since this is a corridor study, she said she could approach the Department of Transportation to see if it has grant money and other planning assistance to offer the process. Also, the Department of Environmental Conservation can be approached, if there are matters of concern for the agency, she said.

Aside from helping with the study, Mantello said the planners could advise the committee on other agencies they can approach for guidance. She said Greenway has helped develop corridor studies for other towns, and is working with Hyde Park in Duchess County on its project. She said that Greenway is also working with Austerlitz on its master plan.

Additionally Greenway can help the committee evaluate consultants it would bring on to the project, Mantello said. She said these and other services are available for a phone call.

Mantello said corridor studies have a wide range of price tags depending on what’s desired. She said, depending on what a municipality asks for, they can cost as little as $1000 to $100,000. She estimated the Hyde Park plan at $75,000, but observed that it was in depth. She said that plans incorporated commercial infrastructure plans and detailed the Franklin D. Roosevelt Park visitor center.

To contradict popular belief, Mantello said this isn’t a "big brother" approach to municipal design. She said the Greenway planners don’t design the study. Instead they show what study options are available. She said Greenway can function as the middleman between the consultant and the town. She said Greenway can make certain the town gets what it wants in regard to architectural standards and landscaping.

A variety of details is available as well, Mantello said. Not only can Greenway offer plans including lighting and parking lot design; it can also show examples of plans from around the state.

Mantello said Greenway occasionally meets with skepticism, and said it has had to contact their member towns to remind them of what Greenway has to offer. Kinderhook is a Greenway town.