RENSSELAERVILLE — After the town board voted unanimously last month for new zoning laws, it was harshly criticized last week by two members of a farmland protection group.
"There was never any give and take between the town board and the citizens on the zoning law...You sat and you listened and you voted immediately...," said Vernon Husek, who founded and leads Rensselaerville Farmland Protection, at the town’s January meeting. Husek served as chairman of the committee that created the town’s comprehensive land-use plan adopted in March of last year. He resigned after the town board adopted the plan; he did not agree with a majority of the committee, which voted for a lower density requirement in the agricultural district than was suggested by experts, who had recommended 20- and 25-acre zoning.

After surveying residents, the board voted for five-acre zoning in the agricultural district; of nearly 1,000 residents who responded, about two-thirds chose five-acre zoning over 20-acre zoning.

At the December hearing, Jeannette Rice, who served on the committee through April of last year and supported the committee’s plan, outlined three density requirements — five-acre, 20-acre, and 20-acre net density. Rice, a member of Husek’s group, said she favored 20-acre net density, a requirement in which four smaller parcels are placed on the edge of a large piece of land and one large tract remains undeveloped. Rice distinguished her viewpoint from 20-acre zoning, in which a 100-acre parcel would be divided equally with five 20-acre lots.

Last week, Rice criticized the survey sent to residents in the fall, saying the survey contained no information about net-density and that residents could submit it after the deadline.
"I just think they’re wrong," Supervisor Jost Nickelsberg told The Enterprise this week of Husek’s group. Nickelsberg said the town "had 20 months of give and take." He cited the number of meetings held by the land-use committee and hours of work on the plan, saying he attended meetings while Husek was the chairman and later when Thomas Mikulka, who replaced Husek, assumed the chair.
"I think we answered sufficiently amongst ourselves and within ourselves," Nickelsberg said. "We can’t expect to go to a final plan and expect acreage issues to be resolved," he said, citing other tools used to protect farmland, such as transfer of development rights, whereby a landowner sells his rights to develop, and placing restrictive covenants on land. Asked if he prefers transfer of development rights and covenants to zoning, Nickelsberg said, "I’m interested in all options...I’m not sure it’s one-size-fits-all."

At a Dec. 19 public hearing on new zoning laws, as the density requirement in the agricultural district stood at one dwelling per five acres, members of Husek’s group gave the town board many letters and lists of questions. They have argued that a lower-density requirement in the agricultural district will lead to the town’s farmland and prime soils being lost and will result in more development, more services, and higher taxes.
"Facts were presented to you and you ignored them," Husek said to the town board last week.

Asked if he felt residents had a good understanding of the five-acre, 20-acre, and 20-acre net zoning requirements, Nickelsberg said he trusts that the citizens of Rensselaerville looked at the options. He cited the land-use committee’s meetings, which were open to the public.
"If you wanted to hear, be heard, you had a chance," he said.

The farmland protection group held a public forum last year before elections and invited candidates for the Albany County Legislature and keynote speaker Katherine Daniels of the New York Planning Federation. After the town sent a survey to residents, who were to choose between five-acre and 20-acre zoning, it sent a bulletin to residents, encouraging them to vote for 20-acre zoning. RFP met with the Albany County Planning Board in December, and the group’s attorney cited the inconsistency between the town’s comprehensive land-use plan and the town’s zoning law, adopted in December.

The town’s master plan calls for 20-acre zoning in the agricultural district. The zoning law adopted in December calls for five-acre zoning.