KNOX — The town board has postponed a hearing on three new business districts while it defines the boundaries of the districts so that neighbors can be informed.

The board had some contentious discussion at its March 21 meeting over what information should be given to residents and how.

There was also sharp disagreement between Travis O’Donnell, a member of the Knox Planning Board, who said it would be prudent to wait for the town’s comprehensive plan to be updated before business districts are considered, and Supervisor Vasilios Lefkaditis who is pushing to get the hearing on business districts underway.

Lefkaditis said the planning board members are “not professionals” while Councilwoman Amy Pokorny, who has headed the updating of the quarter-century-old master plan, described some as “highly trained professional planners with experience.”

Pokorny said that residents living near the proposed business districts should be told the town is making a commitment for long-range concentrated development that would need water and sewage and perhaps lighting and trash collection among other amenities.

“It would be wise to get together a committee to really think about this...for solid public input,” said Pokorny of surveying the residents. “It would give more weight to the people that are going to be directly impacted.”

“I’m afraid of the scare factor,” said Lefkaditis. He was elected supervisor over a year ago on a platform of making the town more business-friendly.

The Knox Planning Board has twice recommended against a business district at the intersection of routes 156 and 157, citing safety concerns, lack of infrastructure, problematic geology, and lack of demand.

Faced with the planning board’s recommendation, the town board at its February meeting had three choices: It could have accepted the recommendation, dropping the proposal; it could have sent it back to the planning board yet again or sent the planning board a similar proposal, such as for a district that mixed residential and business uses; or it could override the recommendation and schedule a public hearing.

It chose the latter and scheduled a public hearing for April 11 but then, at its March meeting, the board put off the hearing while it defines the boundaries of the districts and identifies the nearby residents that must be informed. Lefkaditis said several times during the March meeting that this is work typically done by the planning board but it now must be taken on by the town board since the town board is going against the planners’ recommendation.

Knox currently has one business district with no businesses. The three proposed areas are: near the intersection of routes 156 and 157; along Route 146 near Township Tavern; and near Thacher Park where Thacher Park Road and Ketcham Road intersect.

Councilman Earl Barcomb said he has been getting calls from residents, reading angry letters and stories about raucous Knox meetings, who wouldn’t attend a hearing. Barcomb said he’d heard, “I’m not coming to one of your town board meetings. I read about it in The Altamont Enterprise.”

Barcomb said, “We need to try to come up with a survey everyone can live with.” He also said, “Let’s get the people that actually live there...not just people comfortable coming to town board meetings.”

O’Donnell said from the gallery that commercial development has pros and cons, which should be in the survey as well as testimony by experts at the public hearing to educate people.

“I’m warning the board about loaded questions,” said Lefkaditis. He said results from the survey being used to update the comprehensive plan were skewed because of the questions. “If someone is concerned about our language from articles in The Enterprise,” Lefkaditis said, he or she could “contact us in private.” Then, at the hearing, he said, “We can read the comments out loud.”

John Dorfman, the town’s attorney, said that those commenting would need to give their names and addresses.

“We need to know where they live and who they are,” agreed Barcomb.

Lefkaditis said that, when the public notices are sent out, the residents will be informed they can communicate directly with the board.

Master plan

In a related conversation, Pokorny updated the board on the comprehensive plan revisions. She said she sent materials to the planning board because the group includes “some highly trained professional planners with experience.”

Pokorny said “conflicting ideas need to be resolved” before the updated plan can be publicized and a public hearing held. She suggested a “small group” could work on this or the board could do it at a public meeting.

Lefkaditis said he believes the underlying survey was flawed, meaning, “We’re back to square one.”

“I disagree,” said Pokorny. She said, if there were problems with the part of the survey that asked about business districts, that part could be addressed.

O’Donnell said “it would be prudent” to wait until the plan is in place before proceeding with designating more business districts.

“I cannot disagree more,” said Lefkaditis, noting the 1994 comprehensive plan is in place.

He went on to say that the planning board had “ramrodded through” a zoning amendment to allow large solar arrays. Lefkaditis said the planning board members were in favor of solar, that it was in their DNA.

“The comprehensive plan didn’t matter to them then,” said Lefkaditis.

“That’s almost a conspiracy theory,” said Pokorny. “They’re not the same kind of threats,” she said of issues posed by solar arrays and those posed by a business district.

“You made my case,” said Lefkaditis.

“There it is,” echoed Laura Martin from the gallery.

“It’s personal,” said Lefkaditis.

Pokorny countered it was a matter of groundwater contamination with business districts when no sewer system is in place.

Javid Afzali, a lawyer with Whiteman, Osterman & Hanna, spoke from the gallery, saying that comprehensive plans and rezones can “run together as long as the planning board and town board work together.” He cited Syracuse as an example.

“Not only can it be done, it should be done,” said Lefkaditis.

Pokorny said she would put together a committee from residents who had participated in earlier comprehensive planning workshops as well as welcoming new volunteers.

Mapping the districts

Pokorny has sketched out “areas to be considered” as the business districts, she said.

“We need to spend time to get it right,” said Barcomb, referring to experiences he’d had on the planning board in defining a business district.

“I don’t want it to die in red tape and bureaucracy,” responded Lefkaditis.

He also said, “Normally, the board enlists the help of the planning board; we don’t have it. They rejected it.”

“The planning board did a comprehensive job…,” said O’Donnell of his board’s review of the proposed business district at the intersection of routes 156 and 157. “The town board hasn’t provided a shred of rational, compelling evidence that it’s good there.”

“I sense your frustration and anger,” said Lefkaditis.

“The board has a right to reject and has to state their reason,” said Dorfman. “Any person could bring an Article 78 proceeding for not following the planning board recommendation.”

“Is that our standard now?” asked O’Donnell. “Don’t we hold ourselves to a higher standard?”

“There’s a remedy to someone who feels aggrieved,” said Dorfman of the Article 78 proceeding, typically brought by citizens upset with a government action.

“When I make my decision, I’ll take into account the planning board’s work,” said Barcomb.

Pokorny said that, before the public hearing, residents should be informed about the planning board’s concerns, like the karst geology of the area, referring to limestone beneath the soil that has fissures and sinkholes. She said later, “Our water supply is one of our most important resources.”

“That is baiting,” said Lefkaditis of informing residents about the planning board’s concerns. He also said, “The planning board is a bunch of appointees...They’re not professionals.”

Laure-Jeanne Davignon, who had served on the Knox Conservation Advisory Council, spoke from the gallery of the “septic concerns” in the Route 156 area because of the karst topography, meaning a wider range of residents would have to be informed. “It could pop out on people’s property miles away,” she said of sewage. She noted she was “someone who studied geological sciences.”

Laura Martin, who has been vocal in her support of Lefkaditis and of new business districts, spoke from the gallery, asking if Thacher Park should be shut down because of the thousands of visitors driving through the park. “Think of the carbon monoxide,” she said.

Quietly, Davignon responded there was no place to fuel electric cars. She was referencing last month’s board meeting where Pokorny had been unable to get a second on her motion to accept a $12,000 grant to install an electric-vehicle charging station in Knox.

“This is going to get buried,” said Lefkaditis of holding the hearing on setting up more business districts. “Let’s get it done.”

The board set a workshop for Monday, April 10, to map the three proposed business districts.