Woodstock [Farm] Festival Festers

This article appeared in the Townsman, May 1 2008 edition.

The Woodstock farmers market, slated to open on May 28 in the Houst parking lot with additional venues, including an ‘acoustic’ music stage in the Mower’s field used for weekend flea markets, is creating tension between the Woodstock town board and the Woodstock zoning board of appeals (ZBA).

The original plan for the market, initiated earlier this year by a town board resolution adopted by three yes votes and two abstentions, called for the closing of Maple Lane (this provision now rescinded) during hours of operation and the issuance of a mass gathering permit. Further town board consideration then sent farmers market representatives to the Woodstock ZBA for an interpretation of section 5Y of the zoning law, which prohibits the display of merchandise between a structure and the street. At that hearing the applicant was allowed to change their request from an interpretation to a variance from 5Y. The ZBA’s final decision on the matter, which apparently echoes a previous ZBA decision dating back to 1985, would allow the variance provided the ZBA first receive and review a professionally prepared traffic plan that would ensure the public’s safety. The applicant was to provide such plan at a ZBA hearing scheduled for April 24, but earlier that week withdrew the application. As it now stands, the variance for the market is denied “without prejudice.”

On April 21 the attorney for the Town, Rod Futerfas, based on incomplete information that led him to believe that there had been no formal referral to the ZBA for the interpretation/variance, advised supervisor Jeff Moran that the Town was within its right to issue the mass gathering permit for the market. ZBA chairman Howard Harris, however, then provided the complete file including the proper referral. Based on this the supervisor rescinded the mass gathering permit on April 23.

On Friday, April 25 a meeting in the supervisor’s office with councilwoman Liz Simonson, Futerfas, Harris, building inspector Paul Shultis, ZBA attorney Drayton Grant, supervisor Moran and farmer’s market attorney Richard Goldman (by telephone) resulted in an apparently murky plan for getting the market back on track. Details are scant, but it appears that Goldman posited that once the market received the mass gathering permit it couldn’t be rescinded. There was the threat of an Article 78 proceeding to be taken against the ZBA to undo its decision. It was tentatively decided that to avoid a proceeding the town board and the farmers’ market representatives could “stipulate” if the market representatives produce a traffic plan then the market could open as planned.

There are still communications back and forth between attorney’s Futerfas and Grant on the matter as this paper goes to print.

ZBA chairman Harris does not know what substantive issue could be raised in an Article 78 proceeding to challenge the ZBA decision (Article 78 proceedings are used against municipal authorities, such as ZBAs, planning boards or town boards, when they fail to follow proper procedure in making determinations). In recent years the ZBA prevailed in three previous Article 78s relating to the KTD Monastery, the highway garage and the cell tower. Nor does Harris know which town agency is expected to review the traffic plan once it is produced, although he maintains a ZBA hearing is the appropriate venue. “This is not a dead issue,” says Harris. “The ZBA will do whatever it takes to maintain its autonomy.”