Impartiality of planning board chair questioned

The proposed development known as Eagle’s Nest Estates has been before the Town of Tusten Planning Board for nearly a year. Since then, the Chairman has ruled time and again in favor of the developer - even when he had no authority to do so. In addition, he has made false and misleading statements to the press. Those are the charges leveled at Charles Weiland, Chairman of the Town Planning Board by Friends of Crawford Road, an environmental watch group.

On August 19, 2002, Weiland issued a letter stating that the “Town of Tusten Planning Board received an application for preliminary approval of Eagle’s Nest Estates subdivision. After discussion, preliminary approval was granted.” In fact, no such application was ever submitted by the developer. In addition, the Town of Tusten Subdivision Law requires that in order for approval to be granted, the Town Planning Board must hold a public hearing, advertising said hearing in at least one local newspaper. This was never done. In a statement to the River Reporter of Sept. 12, 2002, Weiland denied that it was even necessary.

At the September Planning Board meeting, it was established that organizations such as the Sullivan County Planning Board, the Upper Delaware Council and the Department of Environmental Conservation be considered interested or involved parties and be forwarded all correspondence pertaining to the subdivision. Mr. Weiland refuses to comply and continues to withhold information from the public – even when numerous proper requests under the Freedom of Information Act were sent directly to his home and office.

Procedurally, the Chairman has made error after glaring error. He has stated in writing that the Planning Board passed a resolution granting his Board “lead agency status” when in fact none of the appropriate parties were notified.

Weiland is now attempting to grant a variance to allow the developer to subdivide his property into thirteen lots where the Town Subdivision Law allows for only nine. He is attempting to grant a second variance to extend the cul-de-sac entrance road to 2,600 feet when the Law allows for only 2,000. These zoning laws took months of careful planning by community leaders and were not designed to be circumvented, yet the Chairman has taken it upon himself to arbitrarily bypass these laws as he sees fit.

The Planning Board has not at this stage obtained the required EAF (Environmental Assessment Form) from the developer. This basic document must be filed in order to start the SEQRA process. The proceeding before the Board was placed on hold pending submission of this document by the developer. This is vital where the bald eagle, a protected species is involved as well as many other issues, including but not limited to, runoff, visual impacts and disposal of sewage. It has been documented that three American Bald Eagle nests are located in the heart of the proposed development. Yet Weiland has made statements such as “I don’t see why we have to fill out the visual impact form.” Not to comply is simply unlawful. As for the eagles, the developer’s own attorney has made reference in his letter of November 8, 2002 to the “clearance of nests.”

Weiland has made other false and misleading statements to the press. In the February 4th 2003 edition of the Sullivan County Democrat he said that a number of residents are “against the town and seek to stop the project.” He further states that he is not “over cooperating” with residents who are questioning some of the things that have been going on. He stated that organizations such as Friends of Crawford Road did not apply for any information under the Freedom of Information Act. This is totally false. They have applied more than once, the most recent request dated December 21st, 2002.

In August, Weiland issued a letter declaring the project a “Type I Action” meaning a full blown state environmental impact study must be done. Yet, on Sept. 12 in The River Reporter, Weiland stated, “no declaration has been made. I don’t know where they got that from.” Pressure has been placed on the Board by the developer’s attorney to have the project declared an “Unlisted Action” in order avoid a full environmental review. The Chairman is well aware that this project is in the Scenic River zone and must be subject to a full review.

Clearly there is a bias here. The Planning Board Chair has an obligation to represent the community taxpayers, yet he refuses to compile a proper administrative record pertaining to the project, documenting all the steps involved. This project is considered a major subdivision for the Town and could potentially be a burden to the taxpayer. There are countless adverse impacts that affect the town’s most valuable resource - the River. This includes visual impacts. Yet Weiland has said, he “did not see a need to do a visual impact review” and that, “we could just Neg.-Dec. the project in the EAF after the public hearing.” No record has been made to support these conclusions. In fact, the developer proposes to construct 13 homes right on the ridge overlooking the river. The negative visual impact is obvious. Clearcutting.

There are many other concerns including acceptable evidence of water supply, erosion and sedimentation control, siltation and water contamination, soil evaluation testing, sewage disposal, ad infinitum. How do we know there won’t be erosion and runoff into the river? Requests have been made for the Town to hire it’s own engineer to properly oversee the issues at stake here. The Planning Board Chair is not expert in these matters, yet he has refused these requests. Other towns such as with the Shawangunk Ridge development, have gone so far as to turn lead agency designation over to the DEC. They have the money and resources to evaluate a project of this size and scope. The Planning Board Chair does not.

Finally, Weiland has gone so far as to make insulting and inappropriate comments to other members of the Board who question his authority as well as citizens who appear before him. Enough is enough. We demand that the Chairman either recuse himself or be removed by the Town Board.

For further information and supporting documents, contact Friends of Crawford Road at 845-252-3881 or 212-593-3757.