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Fallsburg debates whether to lift moratorium for specific projects

Dan Hust - Staff Writer
Posted 8/25/16

SOUTH FALLSBURG — For more than an hour Monday inside the standing-room-only town court, Fallsburg's town board listened as speakers vigorously debated whether to lift the two-month-old residential …

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Fallsburg debates whether to lift moratorium for specific projects

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SOUTH FALLSBURG — For more than an hour Monday inside the standing-room-only town court, Fallsburg's town board listened as speakers vigorously debated whether to lift the two-month-old residential building moratorium for four different projects.

Two appeared to be at the end of the approvals process with the town, while another faced foreclosure if it cannot proceed with developing a vacant portion of the former Pines Hotel property. The fourth request for an “undue hardship” exception to the moratorium concerned an eight-unit rental complex where nothing new is being built.

Attorney Jay Zeiger represented 290 Laurel Avenue LLC and Gamble Estates Duplex Development, both of which have properties in contract as part of their development plans.

Noting both were in or even past “the eleventh hour” of permits and approvals, he questioned why they should be halted and worried what might happen should the developments' zoning be substantially shifted away from higher-density residential once the moratorium is lifted next year.

Zeiger also indicated that at least with Gamble Estates, an involved development company could be out more than half a million dollars if the project cannot proceed forthwith.

But his and developers' arguments were met with skepticism and derision by other speakers, many of whom considered their concerns the normal risks of doing business, not meeting the “undue hardship” requirement for an exception.

“These risks were all known at the beginning of these projects and all the projects before you tonight,” argued Fallsburg resident Keith Lederman. “... It's just an ordinary hardship that any businessman would complain about.”

Lederman felt slightly more sympathetic towards fellow Fallsburg resident Abe Eisner, whose New Pines Villas LLC project faces a bank foreclosure on a million-dollar mortgage if development cannot proceed.

“I didn't buy it for investment purposes,” noted Eisner, adding that his project is not connected to the actual Pines Hotel, which has long been closed and continues to slowly disintegrate.

“There is at least some germination of hardship in there,” Lederman acknowledged, though he added that Eisner should exhaust all other avenues before asking for an exception.

That seemed to be the consensus of the rest of the pro-moratorium speakers, who urged the board to be firm.

“You do not want development to get out of control,” remarked Hurleyville resident MaryAnn Geary-Halchak. “Stay your ground.”

“If you allow one exception to this moratorium, you're going to be flooded, and it's not going to stop,” warned resident Vic McCarthy.

Not so, replied Supervisor Steve Vegliante, pointing out that applicants have until this Monday to ask for an exception. After that, no more requests will be entertained.

Written comments are welcome on these four projects till today (Friday) at close of business, while the board also will hold at least four more public hearings in September for projects seeking exceptions.

Some may be granted an exception, some won't, he advised.

“We're going to listen to everyone's case as we go forward, then make a determination,” Vegliante explained. “We wanted our moratorium law to be fair, to be defensible, and this is just part of the process.”

Committee formed

Sometime also in September, the town's new Comprehensive Plan Committee will hold its first meeting.

Charged with revising the existing plan, the committee consists of Steven Altman of South Fallsburg, Eric Boles of South Fallsburg, Rabbi Lawrence Zierler of South Fallsburg, Mike Weber of Woodridge, Gerald Skoda of Woodbourne, Allison Brundage of Woodbourne, Ellyane Hutchinson of Mountaindale, Rebecca Pratt of South Fallsburg and Joe Rausch of Hurleyville.

“A true cross-section of our community will look at Fallsburg and chart a course for the next 10-15 years,” Vegliante predicted after the town board's unanimous approval of the membership.

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