Town Board 2009 Dreams

This article appeared in the Townsman, December 31 edition.

With 2008 behind them members of the Woodstock town board hope 2009 will see the completion of their respective projects, some of which have spanned years.

Among the oldest of the endeavors, dating back to January 2006 is councilwoman Liz Simonson's self-appointed task "to research alternatives to Town vehicles that contribute to green house gasses and global warming, and to propose means and methods for replacement of polluting vehicles with 'greener' vehicles." In the three years since the Town has purchased more than half a million dollars in trucks and cars, all similar to the vehicles purchased in the past.

In the last year Simonson has shared responsibility for improving parking on the upper Comeau, the present situation described by many parents of soccer kids as very dangerous. She has recently been told expanding the parking will require a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals, since the area is not zoned for parking. "I can see that this is going to take a long time," says Simonson. Variances can be granted in less than a month's time from date of application.

In addition to the so-called "green fleet" project, Simonson in 2007 encouraged the town board to join ICLEI (once acronym for the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, but now calling itself Local Governments for Sustainability), a membership association of local governments committed to advancing climate protection and sustainable development. After unsuccessful attempts, reported at several town board meetings, in late summer Simonson was at last able to download ICLEI produced Clean Air and Climate Protection (CACP) software, an application that will help the Town:
_Create emissions inventories for the community as a whole or for the government's internal operations.
_Quantify the effect of existing and proposed emissions reduction measures.
_Predict future emissions levels.
_Set reduction targets and track progress towards meeting those goals.
Simonson on December 16 reported continuing to enter data, a process she described as "a very hard job," not helped by losing the aid of a high school student who originally had signed on to assist.

Simonson has also vowed since the beginning of 2007 to bring cellular phone service to the western areas of Woodstock. Despite having what she described as a productive conversation with C. Powers Taylor, owner of the three hundred foot high tower that beams a red warning light from atop Overlook Mountain, there has been no further word on a scheme to hang an array on the tower, except to announce that interest in the site by NEXTEL, a wireless service provider, has apparently dried up.

Simonson also had announced earlier this year her intention to tweak the zoning law to make some sandwich boards legal, this after the Town in 2007 had begun and then after her insistence abandoned cracking down on the illegal postings.

Councilman Chris Collins since joining the town board in 2006 has been the point person for developing policies with respect to land use. His major area of concern has been updating the Town's comprehensive plan, a document meant to articulate the development goals of the community and guide land use decisions for the next ten to twenty years. He has been working with a thick draft document dating back to 1999. Despite Simonson's observation earlier this year that the draft document was dated and that perhaps it was time to start all over, Collins has soldiered on. He now proposes treating an executive summary of the cumbersome draft as the comprehensive plan document. A date for another discussion on the matter has been tentatively set for January 12.

Collins, with Simonson's help, is also seeking to amend the zoning law by adding a provision regulating development near wetlands, watercourses and water bodies. An initial 28-page proposal was heavily critiqued at a public hearing held earlier this year, and a revised document will be discussed on February 10.

Although the town board adopted in 2007 an amendment creating an aquifer protection area surrounding the municipal wells, the law was never filed and therefore never entered into the code. The status of this regulation remains unclear and lately not discussed.

Councilman Jay Wenk will continue to labor with his endeavor to remove buried oil tanks in the area of the aquifer that feeds the municipal wells. At the board's December 16 meeting he reported that the idea of converting residences using oil to propane ran up against the unfortunate fact that most of the residences have their furnaces located in the center of their abodes, and that the fuel lines come through the poured concrete slabs. Altering these lines for replacement furnaces "will be more costly than I had thought." A similar report was made to the town board in 2002.

Wenk was more successful in getting the board to reiterate a "no idling" resolution that he had authored during his first term as councilman (1990-1993). The resolution encourages motorists not to idle their engines more than a few minutes, and is entirely voluntary.

Wenk, on record as declaring "there is absolutely no question that some of our employees and departments are working in unsafe and dangerously crowded conditions," has vowed "to avoid past mistakes and oversights" in getting the matter "resolved by the present [town] board." He says he will rely on new consultants for this endeavor, having decided after a year that he didn't have confidence in the current one.

Wenk also opposes the use of five-pointed stars on Town winter holiday decorations, claiming they have religious significance, but has not yet disclosed what he proposes to put in their place.

Terrie Rosenblum completes her first year on the town board, serving as liaison to the Woodstock Library and the recreation commission. Among her endeavors for the coming year is to refine the Town's website so as to be better used as a sounding board for citizens concerns, ideas, and comments. Also, picking up on a refrain heard in this year's unusually well attended fire commissioners vote, she wants to find "new and exciting innovations that will make room for more of our talented citizens to participate in volunteering for town projects. For example: expanding our performance and public spaces, especially if we are successful in consolidating the needs of the towns departments."

Rosenblum, perhaps with a nod to the cuts and bruises from serving on a board that has seen its share of contention, says, "I have the honor of serving on the Town Board because of the people who believe in me, and who I never want to let down…and am equally aware that not everyone voted for me, and that I have the responsibility to hear, consider and dialog with those who think or behave differently than I do." She also promises to "continue to strive to be the kind of person my dog thinks I am."

Supervisor Jeff Moran, also completing his first year in public office, is on vacation and could not be reached for this article. In other venues, however, he acknowledged the challenge of shepherding taxpayers' dollars and maintaining municipal services while the Town sails into what could be an economic storm.

The annual organization meeting of the town board is scheduled for January 6 at 7:30 PM at the Community Center, where the above endeavors will begin to take shape.