Bethel measures up

By CHRIS CONROY

BETHEL — Town of Bethel building measurement standards may soon change, but the allowable height of buildings in most of the town won’t.

At the June 27 Bethel Town Board meeting, the board introduced Local Law #2 of 2002. If passed, the proposed law will alter the way building height and lot coverage are measured in the town. For people outside of White Lake Homes, however, these changes won’t amount to much at all.

The process began two months ago when residents of White Lake Homes, a residential development located along the shores of White Lake, raised concerns over new building that was taking place in the sub-division. Long-time residents worried that new lots were being over-built and some new structures were being built too tall, obscuring the lake view from previously constructed homes further from the shore.

With all the construction conforming to local zoning laws, there wasn’t much the homeowners association could do.

After reviewing the situation, town planning consultant Tom Shepstone suggested a set of changes that would reconfigure the calculations used to compute lot usage and building height. The new lot usage calculation explicitly forbids counting property that is covered by water in computing a buildable lot size. Based on the new building height computations, which measure the average height from the average ground level all the way to the peak of the roof, as opposed to the current measurement that does not use averages, the overall allowable building height would drop by about five feet.

According to the board, the new calculation methods were deemed more sensible overall than the one currently used, and the proposed zoning change was expanded to encompass the whole town. To keep building heights the same in the rest of the town’s residential areas, the maximum building height was increased by five feet. The proposed changes would affect only residentially zoned areas.

“Most people will not actually be affected by these changes,” said supervisor Allan Scott.

Shepstone will be present at the scheduled 8:00 p.m. public hearing on July 11 to allay any continuing confusion about the proposed changes.

At the meeting the board also:

• Announced that the milfoil problem in White Lake/Kauneonga Lake was nowhere near as severe as had been originally thought. According to a survey conducted by B.J. Gettle and environmental officials, only three spots in the lake show any sign of milfoil at all.
• Approved a $500 payment to cover the insurance deductible of a resident whose home was damaged by a town sewer backup.
• Forwarded to the planning board letters of support for the proposed veterans’ memorial park at the Citgo station across from the end of Pine Grove Road.
• Set public hearings for July 11 and 25 to discuss releasing the remaining $141,000 of grant money from a 1999 HUD Community Block Development Grant to residents outside of the grant’s originally designated geographic area.
• Officially appointed Harvey Goldberg, as a town constable, to assist in off-hours patrol of lake and land traffic.
• Announced that building inspector Tim Dexter was one of the New York Sate building inspectors who became certified to enforce the new New York State International Construction Code.
• Requested that Peter Nye of the NYS DEC attend a meeting to inform the board of eagle habitats in the town and what should be done to protect them.
• Reported that most of the problems reported by the residents of the Bethel senior housing apartments have been dealt with. Shale silt in the water system continues to be a problem that residents report is not being addressed.
• Announced that building activity in the town is up 81 percent from this time last year.
• Referred resident concerns of apparent perpetual yard sales taking place in numerous parts of town to the planning board.
• Rejected a request from Penny Natural Gas to extend their franchise agreement. In two years, Penny has yet to file for actual construction of a natural gas line through the town.