New training for planning, zoning boards

Members must study four hours per year

By FRITZ MAYER

NEW YORK STATE — Beginning January 1, 2007, members of planning and zoning boards across the state will be required to have a minimum of four hours of training per year.

In New York, decisions by planning boards and zoning boards of appeals members are central to the way land is used in towns, villages and cities. But until now, there has been no formal training required to sit on these boards. Board members, who are appointed by town board officials, are unpaid volunteers.

Leon Scott, chairman of the Bethel Planning Board, said members of that board already undergo some training, which is encouraged by town officials. He added, however, that the new law might motivate members to take more training and it will require the board to keep detailed records regarding the training.

The state law that mandates the training is not ironclad. According to information published by the New York State Legislative Commission on Rural Resources, “any municipality may waive the four hour requirement... by passing a resolution.”

Still, with the coming of the law, town officials have contacted the Sullivan County planning department to encourage the county to initiate a program that would fulfill the training requirement.

County planning commissioner Dr. William Pammer told lawmakers on December 7 that officials from Rockland, Forestburgh and Liberty have expressed interest in a training program. Pammer said he was working with Sullivan County Community College and town supervisors to develop a program.

The training issue led to a discussion of the possibility of initiating a countywide code-enforcement program, a topic that legislators have broached in the past without results. Legislator Jodi Goodman said code enforcement should be uniform throughout the county.

Pammer said that developing countywide code-enforcement would be difficult because New York is a “home rule” state, which means that most decisions regarding zoning and building codes reside at the town or village level. He added, however, that the towns of Liberty, Fallsburg and Thompson, the three most populous towns, had begun working together in some areas.

T.J. Brawley, the building inspector in Thompson, said inspectors from the three towns “exchange information on a regular basis and try to stay in sync with one another.” Brawley said they want to avoid a situation where a developer thinks he can do one thing in one of the towns and not in the others. He added, however, that the three towns have separate governments and there are differences in their zoning ordinances.

In a related matter at another meeting in the government center that day, Legislator Rodney Gaebel led a discussion about remaking the county’s electrical licensing board. One of the board’s primary responsibilities is to ensure that electricians that work in the county have a county license. Gaebel said the biggest challenge facing the board is a lack of enforcement. He said that some town supervisors have resisted the suggestion that town code enforcement officers or building inspectors should be responsible for enforcing the license requirement, although in his opinion that is the way enforcement should be handled.

The electrical licensing board is going to be restructured beginning in March 2007, and enforcement measures will be further addressed as that process moves forward.