Visioning

The Upper Delaware River Corridor

The Delaware River Valley 2010

By NEAL HALLORAN

I am not an artistic person, a visionary, or a creative person. In fact, I’m not sure that I have a lot of original thoughts. What I have done and can do is take what I see and what I know and see what could be.

Almost everyone living in Sullivan County is living here because they like the area. No one lives here because this is where you make the big bucks. No one is living here because we like the noise, the traffic, the rush, the excitement or the culture of the cities. We like the clean air, the views, the wildlife, the openness, the scenic and recreational opportunities of the river, the ability to be alone, or to be with the community and to know our neighbors.

Most of us in Sullivan County scratch out a living. Some of us struggle. Some of us are financially very successful. But even some of the most successful people in our county choose to continue to call this home because of the quality of the lives we’re living here.

Seldom do we have to worry about any type of violent crime.

Seldom do we have to worry about what our neighbors are doing. And we get this for less cost and far less taxes.

Sullivan County is going to change. It may even grow. But it doesn’t have to be sold out for the sake of the financial gains of outside developers who don’t have a vision of Sullivan County beyond the dollars signs dancing in their eyes.

Outsiders are swarming at our county line, preparing to make as much money as they can before they move on. We need leaders who don’t jump for the first developer offering 15 million dollars.

We have the ability and the mechanisms to preserve what we like about here. To our east and south, communities are battling to get some of that back. Four towns in Orange County are attempting to get the state legislature to give them the right to ask their citizens for the ability to place a transfer tax of up to two percent on the sale of real estate to preserve open space. They would be joining towns on Long Island’s eastern tip who have done this for over 10 years.

This tax is only placed on a sale; it has no direct impact on the current owners. If a person is opposed to paying the tax, they can purchase property in a non-tax county, like Ulster, Delaware and Pike. But the evidence from ten years on Long Island is that the sales of existing homes did not decline; in fact, the market has strengthened.

Sullivan County currently has a lot of farmland, forestland, and open space, and we don’t have to worry about becoming another Westchester, Rockland, or even eastern Orange County for possibly seven years. But if casinos come, the county has already estimated that we will need 5,000 new houses. That will mean 10,000 to 15,000 additional students in the schools, and an additional $80 to 120,000,000 in  school taxes alone. (Do the math. New homes average two to three children per household; locally raised school costs are approximately $8,000 each student.)

How many people  have bought homes here and can’t wait until they retire here? We are the fortunate ones who don’t have to wait or chose not to wait because the quality of this life is worth giving up the possible financial gains to the east or the south of us. There is so much more that could be said as to how we could keep what we have. We are extremely fortunate to have Alan Sorensen working for us as the commissioner of planning for Sullivan County. He has the knowledge, the drive and the vision to help us be what we are.

Please keep an eye on this column as others talk about the water issues, affordability, population density, etc.

Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.

[Neal Halloran was a code enforcement official for the Village of Jeffersonville and the Towns of Cochecton and Fallsburg until July 2002. He is now the building and zoning inspector for the Town of Goshen and serves on the Zoning Board of Appeals for the Town of Cochecton where he lives with his wife, Cynthia, and two children, Amanda and Jon.]