This article appeared in the Townsman, November 27 edition
Two public hearings, one on adoption of a general code for the Town of Woodstock, the other on adoption of regulation of out-door wood burning boilers saw the adoption of the former and no vote on the latter.
Adoption of the general code for the first time combines and indexes all of Woodstock's local laws into one volume "logically arranged for convenient use." Prior to now, the Town's local laws and ordinances, ranging from alarm systems to zoning, lay in a file as separate documents. In the process of codification, which began almost three years ago, numerous local laws were updated and amended, including laws regulating solid waste, water and sewer districts, various commissions, animal control and tree preservation, to name a few. At least one ordinance, dating to the 1930s prohibiting the wearing of bathing suits on the main street, was tossed.
The code is available for inspection on the Town website (Woodstockny.org) and a hard copy is filed with the town clerk's office. The town board in the future will decide on a price for the volume for those who may wish to have their own hardbound edition.
The public hearing for the code raised barely a comment from the public, most likely because no new laws or regulations were contained in the body of the document. After closing the hearing and voting unanimously to adopt the code the town board received the appreciation of the town clerk, Jackie Earley. Earley, who has worked during her tenure to sort, organize and properly store town records, had persuaded the previous administration to allocate approximately $16,000 for the consultant, General Code of Rochester, New York, to assist in producing the document. "I really thank you for seeing this through," said Earley after the adoption of the code.
But matters were not so smooth for the proposal to regulate outdoor wood burning boilers. The proposed law, modeled on legislation adopted by the Town of Hurley, raised reservations on the part of David Boyle and Ronnie Spaziante that a useful utility could be regulated out of existence. Councilwoman Liz Simonson made the point that the law appeared to be a land-use regulation and therefore should be added to the zoning law rather than be adopted as a free-standing regulation. Supervisor Jeff Moran agreed with Simonson that the regulation might best be situated eventually in the zoning law, but warned the board that applications for outdoor boilers may soon be made and that a free-standing law was a faster remedy to the potentially unfettered proliferation of devices known in other communities to cause discomfit to neighbors. After some discussion the public hearing was recessed until further notice.
Resolutions to pay the monthly bills in the amount of $366,360 and authorize budget transfers were adopted with four votes and one abstention, Simonson again withholding her vote because she "didn't have the time" to personally inspect the manifest.
Councilman Chris Collins led off the committee reports with the offer to "be very brief" on his "superficial start" in his now three year endeavor to update the Town's comprehensive plan. Apparently discussions with councilwoman Terrie Rosenblum concerning the recent scheme to adopt the executive summary of the draft comprehensive plan, which had been substantially developed in 1999, were not conclusive enough to advance a serious proposal to the board.
Simonson announced that after several months she had finally successfully installed software purchased from the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives ("ICLEI"), and is now working with the assessor, Marc Plate, to supply the data that will disclose the carbon emissions of Town buildings. Simonson promised a report in a month.
Simonson also reported having a "pleasant talk" with C. Powers Taylor, owner of the three hundred foot tower on top of Overlook Mountain, which according to a legal opinion from the Town's land use attorney Drayton Grant is now illegal. Simonson, acknowledging that the tower had caused considerable consternation to the community when it was first built in the 1980s, now feels that after "twenty-five years it is what it is," and is hopeful that the facility will be useful in providing cell phone service to the western areas of the town not served by the tower on California Quarry. The Town has commissioned no independent study to substantiate claims that the tower would indeed provide such service. Simonson, who opposed the California Quarry tower that now services almost 80% of the Town's population and entire commercial district, reported that Taylor was "surprised" his tower wasn't used instead of the California Quarry site. Simonson reported that NEXTEL, a cellular service provider that had expressed an interest in the Overlook Mountain tower, is no longer an interested party.
Simonson chaired a committee that issued a report dated August 12, 2004 recommending Byrdcliffe as "the best" location for a cell tower, and failing that the former landfill as "an attractive site" for a cell tower, and nowhere in the report recommending Taylor's tower on Overlook Mountain. Simonson had led the charge in 1998 to amend the zoning law with a regulation that killed the possibility for a cell tower on Overlook Mountain. According to Town commissioned studies the Overlook Mountain tower would have left the entire commercial district in a dead zone for cellular service.
After hearing Simonson's report, supervisor Moran suggested that any contemplation of a cellular service provider being located on Taylor's tower should begin with a formal application to the building inspector.
The next scheduled meeting of the town board is for December 9th.
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