Bethel passes green resolution

Citizen groups request planning meeting changes

By FRITZ MAYER

KAUNEONGA LAKE, NY — At the first regularly scheduled meeting of 2008, the Town of Bethel Town Board passed a green resolution “supporting a community transition to sustainable development.”

The resolution calls for the Town of Bethel to lead by example in such areas as recycling and operating town facilities in a sustainable matter. It also called for the study of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and other green construction methods as potential guidelines for future construction within the town. Overall, the resolution called for 10 separate initiatives, including ones intended to help protect open space, farmland and the town’s natural resources.

A special green committee created the resolution, and immediately after it was passed, newly elected supervisor Dan Sturm proposed to renew the committee for a year with the same volunteer members to advise the board on how best to meet and implement the goals of the initiatives. The resolution passed unanimously.

Development still an issue

Despite the construction slowdown in the county, development remains one of the top concerns among Bethel residents because the presence of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts has kept interest in the area high among developers.

As a result, three citizen groups-Bethel Now!, Preserve Smallwood Country Life and Keep Bethel Rural-banded together to send a letter on January 3 to the town board and planning board requesting 12 changes or improvements to the way planning board meetings are conducted. The changes are primarily designed to give residents greater access and input into the planning process.

The letter asked that a clear procedure for Freedom of Information Law requests be formalized and publicized, that individuals with expertise who appear at planning meetings representing citizen groups be allowed more time to speak and that developers’ documents and materials be submitted to the planning board no later than 14 days in advance of pubic hearings, with a limited set of reasons that the deadline could be waived.

Jonathan Hyman, one of the authors of the letter, said in an email to The River Reporter that Sturm has already met with representatives of the groups to discuss the requests.

Vacancy filled

With the election of Sturm to the position of supervisor, a vacancy was created in his seat on the board. The board voted to fill it with Democrat Ted Yeomans, who has been active in town politics in the past.

Democrats Sturm, Vicky Vassmer-Simpson and Robert Blais voted in favor of the appointment. Republican Richard Crumley voted against it.

At the end of the meeting, after the appointment was made, several members of the audience complained that the board did not ask for public input on the matter of filling the vacancy and had made the decision out of public view.

One resident suggested that Denise Frangipane should have been appointed. Frangipane, who ran for a council seat on the Open and Responsive Government ticket, received the most votes in the election after Republican Andy LaPolt, who passed away in late December 2007. Yeomans did not run for a council seat in the November 2007 election.