WESTERLO — The town board and newly created planning board are at odds over who should write a master plan for land use.
The law creating the planning board in March gives the new board "the power to prepare a master/comprehensive plan."

Chair Leonard Laub says he and the new planning board members accepted their roles with the understanding that the planning board would be writing the master plan.
Councilman R. Gregory Zeh, at the June town board meeting, recommended the new planning board members "get their feet wet" and see more applicants before taking on the task of creating a master plan.

At a special meeting last Tuesday, Zeh recommended five members from the zoning board of appeals and another member from the building department serve on a committee with the planning board to create the master plan. Zeh was concerned about equal representation among Westerlo’s townspeople.
Councilman Ed Rash opposed committees and recommended words in the bill, which could be construed as the formation of an independent committee, "be stricken."

Before last week’s special meeting was adjourned, the town’s attorney, Aline Galgay was directed to remove that wording from the bill.
By including the wording in the bill, Galgay insisted she hadn’t done anything "underhanded," and pointed out that the law enacting a moratorium does not create a new board or committee. The section in which wording construed by planning board members as meaning an independent committee be formed to create a master plan was included in the legislative findings of the bill, explaining why the town is enacting a moratorium, she said. Galgay called the wording in the bill "a non-issue." When enacting a moratorium, she told The Enterprise, a town must give details and articulate why the town needs a moratorium.
If adopted this month, no large subdivisions within the town will occur for 18 months. Galgay said 18 months is a "justifiable" and "defensible" amount of time for a moratorium. One year, she said, is too short, and two years is too long.

The town board will hold a public hearing on the proposed law to enact a moratorium on major subdivisions for 18 months at its next meeting on July 3 at 7:30 p.m.

Dual roles

The town board had disbanded the planning board 15 years ago amid complaints from developers that it was slow and cumbersome. During that time, the town board served as a planning board.

For the last two years, several members of the town board have advocated revamping Westerlo’s outdated subdivision regulations or creating a comprehensive land-use plan.
Earlier this month, Laub updated the town board on the planning board’s first meeting, which included "unofficial," "off-the-record" applicants — one to develop the former Shepard’s resort in southern Westerlo and another concerning Lake Onderdonk.
At its first meeting, Laub said, the planning board also drafted a mission statement. The mission statement includes application procedures, which include a "pre-screening" process for applicants.

In order to be placed on the planning board’s agenda, applicants must first consult Edwin Lawson, the town’s building inspector.
"We don’t discriminate," Laub told The Enterprise, adding that all applicants will first consult Lawson. Laub said some applicants, before seeing the planning board, may not have enough information to complete their environmental review form. If an applicant doesn’t have all the information at the board’s monthly meeting, he must wait until the following month, "which burns up a lot of time," he said.

All planning board members knew when they were interviewed that they would also be creating a master plan, Laub said last week. The planning board, he said, will conduct open workshops and interact with the townspeople throughout the drafting process. Laub is looking for participation from as many residents as possible.

Last week, Galgay was concerned about the planning board having dual roles. Applicants will be coming before the planning board while its members are drafting new subdivision regulations and zoning laws, she said. If the planning board members also perform the role of the committee to form the plan, they cannot hold meetings for both on the same night, she said.
"You have to be very careful that those roles are kept separate," she said.

Galgay cited a lawsuit filed last year against the town when the town board was serving as a planning board. Residents Helene Goldberger and Paul Baitsholts are contesting the planning board’s negative environmental declaration — meaning an in-depth study is not needed — for a project known as Emerald Meadows, which would be adjacent to their properties. Goldberger and Baitsholts also alleged in their suit that the board was illegally constituted.
The issue, Galgay said, is: "How can you make an unbiased decision""

The town board is a legislative body. The planning board is not; it can draft a plan but cannot adopt it as law.
"I still disagree. I still think we need other people involved," Zeh said at the meeting’s end.