Town decisions must be for good of community

Dear Editor,

Many a Town Board and Zoning Board of Appeals are required to make decisions for “the good of the community.” The Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Saugerties is considering such an appeal now, which on the surface seems a small matter in comparison to others. A property owner wants to put a car wash on Route 32 near the Thruway exit/entrance. However, the land he owns for this project is part of a large aquifer, and the owner is also a part-owner of the very large attached parcel (more than 800 acres) that contains the bulk of the aquifer. It, too, is a desired candidate for development. This creates complexity.

However, concentrating on the potential car wash site, the Zoning Board of Appeals members are required by New York Law 267-B (Permitted Action by Board of Appeals) to take into consideration first “the health, safety and welfare” of the community (Paragraph 3, Section B). To summarize, the property owner making the appeal must prove that hardship rather than opportunity is the cause of his request.

There is no hardship. The owner, assuming he did due diligence in purchasing the land, knew the current zoning. His request is simply opportunity, and so should be denied because clean water is a responsibility of the town and essential to the community. Promises of technological fixes should not be considered; we have a multitude of technological failures as examples, whose consequences have long lives. The owner is not denied use of the land, but is limited to uses that do not affect the aquifer.

New York state has a lot of leeway for local self-rule, but our human desire to accommodate our neighbor can conflict with the good of the community, and none of us can afford to let that happen, especially in this century, in this place. — Mary Ann Mays

Saugerties, N.Y.