Town considering a moratorium on subdivisions
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. » The town has scheduled a public hearing to discuss a proposed six month moratorium on all applications for residential subdivisions in the Conservation Residential (CR) Zoning District.
The CR Zone includes much of the land west of Vischer Ferry Road with the exception of the Corporate Commerce Park, the Vischer Ferry Road Corridor Study, and several small parcels.
The public hearing is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. March 9 at town hall.
The town implemented regulations for the CR Zone in 2005 as part of the Western Clifton Park Land Conservation Plan and Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS).
The Western GEIS was requested and prepared in order to evaluate the cumulative impacts of future development in the area to identify appropriate mitigation to ensure orderly and equitable growth in the area. At the time there was concern that if nothing was changed with development patterns, the western part of town would soon resemble the heavily developed eastern section.
The study’s findings revealed the level of residential and commercial development being proposed for the area was not in keeping with the rural uses envisioned by many town residents.
The CR Zone was enacted in 2005 by the Town Board. Its purpose was to provide and support ongoing open space and agricultural uses, sustain the rural character, protect and enhance open space and agricultural heritage, provide for development that complements the settlement pattern within the area, and protect the economic base and quality of life for those residents living there.
At the Feb. 18 Town Board meeting where the date for the public hearing was set, Planning Director John Scavo said the town was looking to update the land use and land conservation plan mapping due to the length of time that has passed since the study was started in 2003.
“The study was a snapshot in time of the area as it was when the study was started and we want to take a snapshot of where it is today,” he said. “We want to update the findings from 2005 and include solar technology which wasn’t contemplated as part of the original GEIS.”
The moratorium will give the town time to evaluate the current build-out scenario status of viable land use within western Clifton Park, develop a public consensus on current land use vision and future land use for the area, update a mitigation cost schedule, and update the use of the town’s Open Space Fund.
The moratorium would also give the town a chance to update land conservation plan mapping which includes agricultural and open space resources, existing protected open space, nature preserves, Land Conservation (LC) Zones, and potential future parks, nature preserves and contiguous open space habitat.
When the new evaluation is done the town may choose to modify existing planning and land use mechanisms for preserving open space and agricultural uses in coordination with encouraging
economic growth at a sustainable level within the CR Zoning District.
Scavo noted that those parcels in the CR Zone that conform to the zone’s regulations may still be developed during the moratorium as long as they contain just one single-family home per lot.
According to the resolution requesting the board vote on whether to hold a public hearing on the proposed moratorium, the Town Board took on the proposal “in response to concerns voiced by residents of the Town of Clifton Park regarding maintenance of the rural character of the town and continued preservation of open space.”
The Town Board, the resolution continued, seeks to once again have a review of the study area and the CR zoning law and determine whether it still addresses the needs of the community.
“Based on the outcomes of the analysis the Town Board may choose to modify existing planning and land use mechanisms for preservation of open space and agricultural uses in coordination with encouraging economic growth at a sustainable level within the CR Zoning District,” the resolution stated.
Questions have been posed at public hearings during the past two years by local open space supporters over the continued development of large parcels in the CR zone for community solar farms. Questions were posed on several occasions as to whether the regulations of the WGEIS with respect to the CR Zoning District were being followed.
In recent weeks a twolot subdivision allowing two single family homes to be built in the CR zone was approved by the Planning Board despite the concerns of more than 50 neighbors. One of the neighbors attended the Feb. 18 Town Board meeting and said the moratorium’s proposal took him by surprise.
“I was taken aback by the discussion of a moratorium in the CR Zone,” said Matt Weber. “A lot of neighbors disagreed with the decision (to allow the parcel’s subdivision) and the town fought us for seven months. During that time there was a real push to get the project through and it seems odd five days after approval you’re talking about a moratorium. It doesn’t sit well with us.”