KNOX — After a long and contentious public hearing on zoning amendments, the Knox Town Board on June 14 unanimously rejected measures that would have regulated light and noise for new businesses.

While public hearings on proposed local laws are intended to inform the legislative body — in this case, the Knox Town Board — of matters it may not have considered, the Knox board, led by Supervisor Vasilios Lefkaditis, distanced itself from the proposals, at times deriding and attacking them.

Throughout the session, some of the 60 citizens in the gallery were hostile toward the proposals. When the board was asked repeatedly about the reason for the proposals, the answer, from Lefkaditis, was most often that he didn’t know.

Lefkaditis, a hedge fund manager, was elected last fall on a pro-business platform, ousting a 42-year supervisor. He took office Jan. 1, well after work on the two amendments was underway. Lefkaditis opposed reappointing the longtime planning board chairman, Robert Price, and later opposed re-appointing longtime planning board member Daniel Driscoll. In both cases, Lefkaditis argued for “new blood” on the planning board but he lacked the board votes to oust them.

Both Price and Driscoll were in the gallery for the June 14 hearing and, when called upon by Lefkaditis, would occasionally answer questions from the crowd.

Light

Driscoll said that the reason for the light amendments was because the former building inspector and zoning administrator, Robert Delaney, who died last year, said he needed more guidance to enforce an ordinance the town board had passed for full cut-off lighting.

“He said it wasn’t clear,” said Driscoll.

The light amendment was largely drafted by planning board member Robert Gwinn who was not present at the June 14 hearing. Gwin had told the town board in February that currently and for the past 40 years, the Knox law specified no glare beyond the owner’s property line. “We’re adding guidance,” Gwin had said in February. “This amendment would make it clear we’re not regulating Christmas lights.”

Gwin also said, “It acts as a standard for everyone to be compliant with dark skies.”

In 2011, the Knox board passed a resolution to require new construction — both homes and businesses — to use only full-cutoff light fixtures, inspired by the Dudley Observatory’s interest at the time in using Knox with its rural dark skies for star observation. Full cut-off light fixtures, first produced by General Electric in Schenectady over a half-century ago, keep light from escaping up, focusing it instead on the ground, which reduces sky glow and saves energy.

Ordinances have been adopted in North America and Europe to prevent light pollution, which can wreak havoc with the natural world (reproductive cycles, for example, are affected by light) and affect human hormones and behavior as well.

Driscoll reported on June 14 that Delaney had said, without it being spelled out in the ordinance, he did not know, for example, if holiday lights, or solar lights outlining sidewalks would be banned.

These explanations were largely lost, however, delivered piecemeal throughout the session, as the crowd peppered the town board members on the dais with questions that they mostly failed to answer.

Resident Ernest Cupernall, for example, asked how many lighting complaints the town had received in the last year.

“None,” said Lefkaditis.

“Why now?” asked Cupernall of the amendment.

“I can’t answer that,” said Lefkaditis.

“This planning board should probably spend more time on things that matter to people in Knox…You people should work on lowering taxes,” said Laura Pasquini. Taxes are based on a budget adopted by the town board.

Although the amendment that would have clarified enforcement of the cut-off lighting was rejected last Tuesday, the requirement that all new lights be cut-off lights remains on the books.

Price said that the proposed amendment was based largely on language from a similar law adopted by the town of New Scotland. Lefkaditis projected a list of nearby municipalities that had similar ordinances, which had been provided to him by the planners. Lefkaditis was dismissive of the list, however, stating that the average population of the municipalities listed was far higher than Knox’s.

The largest was Albany, with a population over 98,000; the cities of Troy and Schenectady were on the list, too. Municipalities with populations similar to Knox included Schoharie, Berne, Rennselaerville, Florida, and Hoosick Falls. In between were Bethlehem, New Scotland, Colonie, Duanesburg, Amsterdam, Coeymans, and Saratoga, among others.

Another reason for the lighting proposal, Driscoll said, was the recent designation of a business district in the hamlet of Knox, where outdoor lighting could be a problem.

Lefkaditis owns the old general store in the hamlet and is currently in the process of renovating it. Town board member Dennis Barber plans to lease space in the building, he has said.

“It’s a pre-emptive strike against a newly created business district,” said Lefkaditis about the lighting proposal.

Many residents and board members said they preferred the current law, which prohibits lighting when it becomes a nuisance rather than defining it more precisely.

“Who determines nuisance?” asked resident Ed Ackroyd.

“That’s a good question,” responded Dan Sherman, the zoning administrator for Knox. “I’ve asked the same thing. It’s a gray area.”

Currently, if one neighbor complains about another to the zoning administrator, he has to make a decision.

“Why do this for the whole town if someone’s got a wild hair?” asked Knox resident Dennis Cyr. He said his home was broken into and he is concerned for the safety of his family when he is away. Full lighting is needed for security, he said.

“If you have a law, live by the law,” said Albany County Legislator Travis Stevens of Knox. He said, when he was on the Knox Town Board, he voted against requiring new lights be cut-off lights.

“Are you going to change everything in your house?” he asked the board.

“I will not,” responded Lefkaditis.

Assistant Supervisor Amy Pokorny said that she does use cut-off lighting and feels it provides security.

Councilman Earl Barcomb said, “I don’t have outdoor lighting. I like the dark.”

Sound

Driscoll, a retired sound engineer and the chief architect of the noise amendment, explained that the proposed ordinance would come into play only if a new business came before the planning board; it would not apply to residences. If, for example, a large station like the one that had been proposed for the pipeline in nearby Wright, were to be planned for Knox, it would give the local board a means of setting the levels for noise rather than leaving it in the hands of the developer.

At one point late in the discussion, after several people had said neighbors should solve disputes over noise with each other, Driscoll said, “This is not involving concerns between neighbors…The noise amendment only deals with new construction, during site plan review, only when it’s clear there will be noises.”

Barcomb asked if the Knox store was likely to have noises that would trigger a noise review.

“Not likely,” said Lefkaditis who owns the store.

Lefkaditis had earlier rolled his eyes as he read the technical language in the noise ordinance. “I don’t know what dBA is,” he said. “Any questions? Wow.”

The decibel, written as dB, is used to measure sound level; the dB is a logarithmic way of describing a ratio. The most widely used sound level filter is the A scale; using this filter, the sound level meter is less sensitive to very high and very low frequencies. Measurements made on this scale are expressed as dBA.

Driscoll told the town board in February that the decibel levels used in the proposal — 40 at night and 50 during the day — were based on research done by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

“Who the hell brought this up?” asked Donald Hempstead, a Knox resident, sitting in the front row, who frequently interjected comments during the hearing. “This is asinine.”

“It wasn’t this board,” said Lefkaditis; it was the planning board, he said.

Dana Sherman said that he was on the town board in the 1970s when a noise ordinance was first adopted in response to rock concerts. “It didn’t help the situation. It shouldn’t have been passed then,” he said.

“No one will start a business here,” said Knox resident Anna Wolfe, wife of the planning board member Tom Wolfe. “This is extremely technical.”

“I don’t understand it,” agreed Lefkaditis.

“I didn’t write it,” said Councilman Barber. “How can I explain it?”

“I don’t have answers for you,” said Lefkaditis as more questions came from the crowd.

“Did this come from the planning board?” asked Laura Pasquini. “They’re appointed. This needs to change really fast,” she said to applause.

By state law, planning-board appointments are lengthy so that they are not subject to the vagaries of politics.

“Put it off until someone knows what’s going on,” urged Knox resident Bruce Countryman.

“If no one on the board can explain it, how can you vote on it?” asked Ed Ackroyd, another Knox resident.

CAC in support

Only two citizens spoke in favor of the proposed ordinances; both are members of the Knox Conservation Advisory Council.

“If you see a problem that might occur, you’re better of mitigating it,” said Dee Woessner. (See Letters to the Editor.) Later in the hearing, in response to a demand from the gallery on how lighting affects health and safety, Woessner pointed to studies on night-shift workers, showing added health problems. She urged, “Try to learn something about it, not just, ‘We don’t want to be interfered with.’”

And Laure-Jeanne Davignon presented the conservation council’s endorsement of the proposals although she said, “I’m not an over-regulation kind of girl.”

The Conservation Advisory Council is in support of the drafts “in spirit” as being consistent with the town’s comprehensive plan and contributing to the quality of life, said Davignon.

The council gave four reasons for its support. The ordinances would protect dark skies and a natural environment; they would protect property values; they would allow business growth within the comprehensive plan; and many surrounding communities have adopted similar measures for Smart Growth.

Board decides

After the hearings were closed, the crowd enjoyed a brief interlude that included photographs projected by Lefkaditis of a recent town park festival, ending with fireworks and an overnight campout. To the soundtrack of “Forever Young,” Lefkaditis projected pictures of sack races and a balloon toss, dodge ball and a cookout. The show was greeted with hearty applause.

Lefkaditis opened the board discussion on the amendments by making a motion to reject the noise proposal and keep the ordinance as it is.

The discussion was dominated by Lefkaditis who projected a quotation — the first part of this sentence from James Madison’s 1788 “The Federalist”: “It will be of little avail to the people, that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood: if they be repealed or revised before they are promulg[at]ed, or undergo such incessant changes, that no man who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow.”

“This is one person’s dream for an entire town,” Lefkaditis said of the noise amendment drafted by Driscoll. “This is one man’s vendetta for utopia,” he said, stating it was “contrary to our Founding Fathers.”

“You have a simple option — don’t adopt it,” Price said from the gallery.

“Someone could have legitimate issues,” said Barcomb, a former member of the planning board. He asked, “Is it dealt with in the site-plan review already?”

“We’re solving a problem that doesn’t exist at the behest of one person,” insisted Lefkaditis, again referring to Driscoll. “The question was posed to the author where else this exists.”

The answer was, it isn’t used in other places and his hope is it would be, said Pokorny.

Looking at the other board members on the dais, Lefkaditis said, “Every person up here campaigned on a pro-business stance.” Lefkaditis said, unless they voted the amendment down, the board members would have “lost the right going forward” to claim they were pro-business.

“I think an applicant would want guidelines,” said Barcomb.

“What happens if you don’t have guidelines,” said Driscoll, “the developer will set his own guidelines…He’ll say it’s going to be fine, but it won’t be fine.”

“That’s not happening here,” responded Lefkaditis, citing 200 years of history. “It doesn’t apply to Knox…We shouldn’t have the only one in the whole frickin’ country…The greater percentage of Knox residents have voted for business…This is your vendetta, sir, not ours,” he shouted as the gallery erupted in applause.

“Amen!” someone shouted back.

When the room quieted, Lefkaditis went on, “We’ve never had a problem with noise…Stop the madness…People came up here because they want to be left alone.”

“They also want peace and quiet,” said Barcomb.

John Dorfman, the town attorney, said, “I’ve been in Knox a long time; I’ve seen neighbors fight with neighbors.” He said the cases often proceed to town court. Dorfman also described the planning board members as volunteers who had worked for a long time for the benefit of the town. Referring to the 60 people in the gallery, Dorfman said, “We don’t have the town here tonight.”

Pokorny suggested making a motion to table the noise amendment and bring it back up if Knox were to be threatened with a large industrial development.

“That means we’re selectively choosing who to apply it to,” said Lefkaditis. As proposed, the amendment would only have applied when the planning board perceived a threat from a new business. “That’s a slippery slope,” said Lefkaditis. “Common sense prevails. Nothing’s coming down the pipe.”

A motion to reject the amendment “in entirety” passed, 5 to 0, as the crowd clapped.

“Thank you for your work, guys,” said Lefkaditis.

The discussion that led to the defeat of the lighting proposal was briefer but similar.

Barcomb said, “Ideally you talk to your neighbors” if there is an objection to lighting. Barcomb said, if his cows get loose and make holes in a neighbor’s lawn, “I fill it with topsoil.”

But, he went on, “Having guidelines makes it helpful to enforce an ordinance.”

“So many of these are so vague, they are unenforceable,” said Lefkaditis of the lighting proposal.

“You beat them up if it’s too technical,” rejoined Barcomb.

“I moved to Knox because it’s unregulated,” said Lefkaditis. “If I wanted to be regulated, I’d stay in Queens.” He concluded, “The effort is commendable but it’s not for Knox.”

Again, the vote was 5 to 0, and again it was greeted by applause from the crowd.

What’s next?

While the light and noise amendments have been defeated, the town board had also recently asked the planning board to draft legislation to make the area where routes 156 and 157 intersect into a business district.

In that case, the planners turned down the board’s initiative.

“We rejected it,” said Price because of a “nasty curve” on Route 156 and because there are no sidewalks.

Price recommended that the Knox Town Board concentrate on making the current business district in the hamlet more walkable, petitioning the state’s Department of Transportation for a lower speed limit and seeking funds for sidewalks. He cited such changes in Guilderland Center as a model.

Lefkaditis said he had listened to a recording of the planning board meeting and that “99 percent” of it was Gwin talking about “no infrastructure, no sewers, no water.” Lefkaditis said, “That is a convenient excuse.” He also said there is “no logic behind it.”

“Is it logical to create a business district where there is no business?” asked Price. He said that the Highland Restaurant had closed “because they didn’t have enough business to keep open.”

“The vast majority of restaurants close because of poor management,” said Lefkaditis.

Barcomb suggested the 180 days allowed for a vacant business to re-open and still be grandfathered in should be extended.

Planning board member Tom Wolfe, who had been Lefkaditis’s choice to chair the planning board instead of Price, was the only member of the planning board, in a 5-to-1 vote on May 12, to favor creating the business district.

He told the town board his three reasons. First, he said the planning board did not comply with a directive in the town’s comprehensive plan to have “focused public meetings” on the matter.

Second, Wolfe said, most of the planning board members favored growth in the current business district although the comprehensive plan notes the extreme limitations for future growth in the hamlet where “lots are small and there is no public water supply.”

Third, Wolfe said the majority’s view that the routes 156 and 157 area lacked adequate infrastructure to be a business district ignores the fact there are currently three businesses in the area — Armstrong Furniture and Machinery, Mae’s Nursery, and Mountain Woodshop as well as the vacant Highland Restaurant.

Historically, Wolfe said, Knox businesses have been small entrepreneurial operations, not large-scale businesses in need of infrastructure.

Ultimately, with a unanimous vote, the town board asked the planning board to draft legislation that would make the routes 156 and 157 area a mixed-use district.