Many thanks to the Village and Town residents (as well as
some out-of-towners!) who turned out in last night’s drizzle to participate in
the Public Hearing on the B4A Zoning Amendment.
Thanks are also due to Paul Guillaro and his team of
professionals for being so ready to answer some of the questions that were
asked, and for his preparation of a 3-D model of the site (finally!). During the hearing in the Music Room, the 3-D
model was available for viewing – but unannounced – in the Cafeteria. I’m
not certain of the number of people who were able to view the model before the
hearing was closed. I did not see it
until after.
We heard comments from 31 people last night. 25 of them were Village residents. All but one spoke in favor of development at Butterfield.
Among concerns and questions directed at the Village Board the following topics were heard:
Spot zoning and legal defense, a call for 3-D renderings, size
of building footprints, a call for affordable senior housing, ongoing medical
use at Lahey Pavilion, the length of time this legislative process has taken, compliance
with the comprehensive plan, desire for a new, large senior center that serves
food prepared on-site, a call for an independent financial analysis of the
developer’s projected revenues/costs,
impact on other districts of adding a food-service use to the site, eventual
tipping point at which additional police staffing is required, impacts of STAR
rebates on net tax revenue, likelihood the County Legislature will appropriate
funds for a new senior center, probability of hidden costs to the Village, a
call for the Village Board to have a plan in place to pay for unexpected costs,
loss of tax revenue resulting from county ownership of any portion of the site, impacts of food-service use added after the EAF was completed, fate
and longevity of the Cooper Beech tree, establishment of a conservation
easement for the green lawn, height of
buildings and impact on view-shed, addressing risk of future tax grievances, planting
the site with native plants, absence of designated location for the County Senior
Center on existing concept plan.
The Public Hearing was closed last night.
I’m looking forward to discussing prospective adjustments to
the B4A Zoning Amendment at next week’s Village Board workshop (it wasn't clear until quite late in the meeting that such a discussion would occur), and I hope we have an equally healthy turnout of support for
this important work of the Village Board.
Thank you again to all who turned out last night.
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