Board raps clear-cutting developer

By TOM KANE

HORTONVILLE, NY — “The clear-cutting you did is a bad precedent for the town,” said Town of Delaware Planning Board consultant Tom Shepstone at the board meeting on July 23. “This is a serious matter.”

Shepstone came down hard on Andy Parsons, a North Branch developer, when Parsons said he had two lots that he clear-cut, one of two acres and the other of one acre, to the south of the hamlet of Callicoon above Route 97, implying that he was within the law.

“I know what you’re doing and I don’t appreciate it,” Shepstone said. “You’re parsing the words to justify what you did. The intent of the law is perfectly clear. You should not have done it.”

The zoning law says explicitly that the clear-cutting regulation shall include the cumulative cutting of smaller plots as part of the cutting of a single tract, Shepstone said.

Shepstone serves as the permanent adviser to the planning board and attends every meeting.

“I asked Jim [Scheutzow, the code enforcement officer] if I needed any permits up there and he said I didn’t,” Parsons said.

Scheutzow claimed that Parsons never said the cutting would be done on the ridge. Parsons owns several other pieces of property and Scheutzow thought he was referring to those properties.

The planning board told Parsons he needed to get a professional surveyor to determine exactly how many acres were cut, come up with a plan for remediating the site and contact the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to get an opinion of the effect the cutting will have on storm water run-off.

The remediation must include planting new trees on the site, the board said.

How many trees will be determined after the board learns if there was a violation.

Some in the audience were concerned that someone can still legally clear less than two acres without getting permission.

“Are we going to see two-acre clear-cuts up and down our scenic and recreational river that can be done legally?” Fran Hepburn, a Callicoon resident, asked.

The board admitted that it was not against the law.

“There is another provision in the law that states a person who plans to build within 100 feet of the ridgeline or which is proposed at a lower elevation and which would be visible from the Delaware River must seek a special use permit,” Shepstone said.

The answer didn’t satisfy Hepburn.

“I can’t accept that anyone can clear-cut two acres on the ridge and still make it right,” Hepburn said.

Written only as a guideline, there is no regulation in the River Management Plan that prohibits a landowner from clear-cutting less than two acres.

“The wording of the law needs to be clearer to adequately protect the ridge,” said Neal Halloran, a former code enforcement officer for Cochecton who has the same job in the Town of Goshen. “There is a way to build on the ridge without clear-cutting, except for the footprint of the house,” Halloran said.

Selective cutting can be done, providing a view and still allowing trees to stand, he said.

“You can have your view and not be viewed from the river,” he said.

After the meeting, Shepstone agreed with Halloran’s opinion.

“I think we need to put in language that says you may build on the ridge without clear-cutting,” Shepstone said.

Towns along the river valley need to be more sophisticated about language because growth is clearly coming and property owners will want to build on the ridge, Halloran said.