Saratoga eyes timber harvesting law

Town seeks to protect lake, property rights

SCHUYLERVILLE, N.Y. » A proposed timber harvesting law seeks to protect sensitive areas near Saratoga Lake from soil erosion, while protecting the rights of property owners elsewhere in town.

The town of Saratoga already has a law that prohibits clearcutting. The new law would be separate and distinct, giving officials a way to monitor the impact of new developments, even when clear-cutting isn’t involved.

In July, a six-month moratorium against all timber harvesting took effect, giving the town time to hammer out details of the proposed law. Officials and local residents discussed the issue at length Tuesday at Town Hall in Schuylerville.

“There’s got to be a balance,” farm owner Walter Borisenok said. “If you have a law that’s too tight, you could devalue someone’s property.”

Tentatively, the Town Board plans to address the issue at its November meeting, holding a public hearing in December, and adopt the law in January, Supervisor Thomas Wood said. If approved, the law would likely be more restrictive in the lakeresidential and lake-commercial zones, and places zoned for large-lot development, he said.

There is a particular concern about significant tree-cutting on the ridge overlooking the east side of Saratoga Lake causing soil erosion, which impacts the lake environmentally.

“It’s different,” Wood said. “It’s special and it needs to be given extra protection.”

Planning Board Chairman Ian Murray said there haven’t been major problems with improper tree harvesting in town. The proposed law is designed to be pro-active in nature, preventing incidents before they occur, he said.

“It should be a simple law, without being excessive,” he said.

The main concern is that people who live elsewhere, away from the lake, should still be allowed to cut trees reasonably

without interference from the town. Many people, for example, have woodlots and cut trees to heat their homes with in winter.

“We need to let farmers and property owners do their thing,” said Gil Albert, town code enforcement officer and building inspector.

But at the same time, Albert said the town should have a way of making penalties more severe for people who blatantly disregard the law. Courts seldom impose hefty fines, and developers don’t mind paying a few thousand dollars as the cost of doing business when building a large subdivision or million-dollar mansion, he said.

Denying building permits would be a more effective way of making developers comply with the law, he said.

“It’s a bigger detriment, a bigger hammer,” Albert said.

However, town Attorney William Reynolds said fines and penalties can’t be imposed without due process, which typically takes place in court.

The town would only take action when there was clear evidence of a violation, Albert said.

Reynolds said he would investigate the possibility of town-imposed penalties for both the clear-cutting and proposed timber harvesting laws.

“That would get people’s attention,” Borisenok said.