Bethel board inches forward on moratorium

Construction halt would affect major subdivisions

By FRITZ MAYER

BETHEL, NY — The Bethel Town Board has voted to move forward with a building moratorium that would halt the start of new major subdivisions. Many details of the moratorium remain to be worked out, but at the town meeting on March 22, councilman Daniel Sturm said the board intends for the moratorium to affect subdivisions of five lots or more in certain parts of the town.

Supervisor Harold Russell voted against the moratorium. He said the town could implement further changes to the town’s zoning regulations without imposing a moratorium. Before the vote, Russell proposed a 10-point plan of action that he said would effectively deal with most of the remaining zoning issues facing the town. Among Russell’s plans was the change in zoning in some districts to increase lot sizes for individual homes.

In December 2006, the board adopted a new master plan that provided that all new homes in districts without sewers be built on a minimum of a full acre of build-able land. However, the board accepted the plan with the understanding that further changes would be made in some areas of town. For instance, a forest conservation area located south of Smallwood and east of Route 55 would have zoning of at least five acres per house.

A committee will be formed to recommend the boundaries of new zoning districts, and to recommend lot sizes of those districts.

In advising the board about a moratorium, attorney Robert McEwan warned the board that including properties along Route 17B in the moratorium might involve elevated legal risk because that corridor was under a previous six-month moratorium, which expired on August 23, 2006. Sturm said the board’s intention was not to include Route 17B in the moratorium. He also said projects already under review by the planning board would not be affected.

Before moving forward with the moratorium, a local law must be created and reviewed by the planning board, and a public hearing must be scheduled. It had not yet been determined whether the moratorium would run for three months or six.

In other construction issues, Russell said that from now on, developers would need to put money into an escrow account to pay for a preliminary review by the town’s engineer before any new project would be submitted to the planning board. Russell said this law had been on the books since 2002, but had not been enforced.

Another development Russell said he would implement beginning next month is that henceforth a lawyer will attend every meeting of the planning board to be able to offer legal advice in a timely manner. While real estate activity has slowed down in much of Sullivan County, Russell said activity at the Bethel Planning Board remains very active.