Planning is, and always has been, central to our community

To the Editor:

I carefully reviewed Councilman Mathew Harriss’ lengthy letter to the editor of April 20, 2020 [“Planning will be the key to our town’s survival and success”]. He is either woefully misinformed about the current comprehensive plan, or his misrepresentation is a deliberate and willful distortion of its development and content.

Berne’s comprehensive plan was updated and adopted in 2017. The plan was funded by a grant from the Department of Agriculture and Markets for $25,000, supplemented by an $8,000 contribution from the town. It replaced a comprehensive plan issued in 1995, but never adopted.

A citizens’ advisory committee, comprised of nine members, selected for their diverse interests and backgrounds, undertook the challenge of developing the plan. Represented by farmers, businessmen, large landowners, and residents of both the Berne and East Berne hamlets, the committee met monthly for three years to craft the document.

Working under the guidance of an American Institute Certified Planner, this committee shaped a document based on community input. Public visioning and planning workshops were held; focus groups of business owners, farmers, and youth were convened to identify the wants and needs of these specific groups; and a town-wide, written survey was conducted.

An inventory of resources and characteristics of Berne was developed, with environmental and agricultural maps updated and computerized. Priority farmlands were identified. This was a massive community-wide effort involving all segments of our community.

Several studies, undertaken by other citizen committees, were consulted for more extensive background information. These included the Berne Hamlet Study and Zoning Changes, the East Berne Hamlet Strategic Study, the Biodiversity Study, and the Helderberg Escarpment Planning Guide among others. Each was reviewed to further inform the comprehensive plan committee.

This information — gathered, evaluated, and analyzed — shaped the goals and vision statements incorporated into the plan. Policies and recommended actions, direct outgrowths of this extensive public input, were developed and a draft plan presented to Berne’s residents for comment and amendment.

This draft plan required approval from the town board, the Albany Country Planning Department, the Albany Country Agriculture and Farmland Protection Board, and the New York State Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets. A New York State Environmental Quality Review was conducted before the Plan was adopted in 2017.

The current comprehensive plan exists because of planning, but it’s not the only example of carefully wrought projects previous administrations undertook. Consider the planning required to create the Hamlet Sewer System — its development, coordination with government agencies, funding and implementation — or the extensive repairs needed after Hurricane Irene. Planning is, and always has been, central to our community.

To imply, as Mr. Harris did, that haphazard decision-making, lacking forethought, direction, or deliberate consideration, is the hallmark of previous administrations, is a slur on everyone involved with those administrations and the entire community involved with the development of the 2017 comprehensive plan.

Mr. Harris’s accusation begs the question: Where is planning and forethought in evidence today?

— A streetlight-replacement program that would have saved our taxpayers thousands of dollars languishing, while other communities move forward with it.

— Voluntary citizen committees, engaged and hard-working, disbanded without notice or consultation.

— A beloved and effective dog officer replaced without warning. Why?

— A planning board member illegally removed from office.

— A planning board chairman, experienced and able, replaced by a convicted felon who never served on that board. Why?

— An unnecessary boarding kennel constructed in one of our parks, at what cost? Why?

— A reservoir under consideration. For what location? For whom? Who will fund it?

Providing water to the hamlet was considered when the sewer system was installed but, after study, it was determined that, even with grants, it was too expensive for the 100 households in the district to fund.

Where is the smart planning, the research and information Mr. Harris says he would provide? Where are the detailed plans that shaped these decisions?

Costs to the town have increased, a judicial decision issued admonishing the town board’s ill-considered, illegal actions, and dollars squandered. These are hardly the results of the carefully wrought, well-thought-out plans Mr. Harris says he wants.

He now proposes increasing the planning board to seven members. This board has worked effectively with five members, so why increase it to seven members? It will cost the taxpayers approximately $4,000 additional a year ($16,000 over four years) to fund this unneeded increase in planning board size.

His rationale for the increase is to facilitate development of a new comprehensive plan. He wants to replace a $32,000 Comprehensive Plan, adopted and updated in 2017, because it is considered “antiquated?” How much will that cost? Will it, too, be “antiquated” in three years?

The present comprehensive plan was developed through study, research, and a broad spectrum of citizen involvement, not by just five members of a town-appointed board. It is a citizens’ plan, a plan that reflects community wants and needs. It is as valid today as it was in 2017 when it was adopted.

At this time of uncertainty, when people are being furloughed and laid off, when people are afraid of losing their jobs and livelihood, when the coronavirus is threatening our health and well-being, what is the town board doing?

Rushing to hold a public hearing most residents are either unaware of or unable to access and contribute to. Why? What’s the hurry? Why do town board members want to increase spending for an unnecessary expansion of a board, and, if rumor is correct, to ensure a convicted felon assumes a seat on that board?

We’d all be happier if this administration applied its time and energy to effectively governing in a way that respects, rather than diminishes, the residents of our town.

Karen Schimmer

Berne

Editor’s note: Karen Schimmer, a Democrat, served two four-year terms as a councilwoman on the Berne Town Board. She did not seek re-election last November.

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