NEW SCOTLAND — Elizabeth Stewart, a Democrat, who lost her fall election bid against the Republican Supervisor, Ed Clark, has now been appointed as a planning board member. The vote was split, 3 to 2, along party lines.

The three Democratic council members — Richard Reilly, Margaret Neri, and Deborah Baron — voted in support of Stewart, while the Republican Councilman Douglas LaGrange and Clark voted against the appointment.

Stewart is filling the vacancy left by LaGrange when he took his seat on the town board Jan. 1.

Clark calls the Democratic appointment a political move, and believes that there were other candidates who were more qualified, with planning experience. Reilly and Neri dispute Clark’s claim, saying that they picked the best candidate for the job after careful review.

If anybody was acting politically, it is Clark, who is unable to set aside personal issues lingering from a previous election rivalry, Reilly said.

Stewart

A business-development manager, Stewart, who could not be interviewed this week, has said she has concerns with high-density projects like the current Kennsington Woods application.

Stewart expressed her planning visions extensively during her campaign for supervisor.

She wants to safeguard the aquifer on the old Tall Timbers property in the town’s Northeast Quadrant from construction pollution, especially since mining there reached just a few feet above the water table, Stewart said.
"I do not like to go to a place with wall-to-wall houses," she said. "We do want green spaces for people to enjoy."

With nanotechnology underway, the Capital Region is on the edge of development, Stewart said, which will change the whole topography.

New Scotland needs moderate growth in both commercial and residential development, Stewart said.

The enrollment at the school is down compared to years past, so there is room at the school, she said.

Stewart would like the town to have affordable housing for both young and old.

The town needs to address traffic or pollution along with development, she said.
"We have to be looking at infrastructure," Stewart said. "Can we add additional roads in a certain area of proposed development" What will the traffic patterns be" These are things that need to be considered," she said. "We do not want to look like Western Avenue."

She does not think that rigid aesthetic guidelines are needed as the Resident’s Planning Advisory Committee had recommended because she believes, with planning board members guiding proposals, developers already try to fit their architecture in with what is the existing rural character of the town, Stewart said.

Objections

Clark told The Enterprise this week that he "objected strongly" to the appointment of Stewart. "I don’t believe she had the credentials," like other candidates, he said.
The Democrats are either rewarding Stewart for her "service to the party" or preparing her to run in future elections by building up her résumé, Clark said.

The board collectively interviewed all eight people who applied for the planning-board vacancy and an alternate spot, Clark said. And then the board wanted to make the appointments directly after the interviews, on the same night, he said.

The town now has in place a full planning board for next week’s February meeting.

One motion was made to appoint both Stewart as the member and Jo Ann Davies as the alternate, Clark said. Clark said he didn’t vote no, because of Davies, (see related story), but he did have two other candidates he would have preferred, he said.

Candidate Pat Snyder, had seven or eight years of experience as a planning-board member in another New York State community and also had previously served as a trustee there, Clark said. Snyder’s family moved to Voorheesville from Buchanan in 2003.

Her municipal service was during a period of commercial development of that town, Clark said, so she has tremendous experience with planning issues similar to those New Scotland is facing now.

Also, Clark said he would have liked to appoint Greg Ferentino, an architect who has represented both sides, development business and municipalities.

According to New Scotland’s voter registration rolls, both Ferentino and Snyder are not registered in a political party. Stewart is a Democrat and Davies is not registered in a party either. Before Stewart was appointed, the composition of the planning board was three Democrats and three Republicans.
"I get frustrated with Ed," Reilly told The Enterprise this week. "These are personnel matters...It’s unfortunate that he initiates these debates... Interviews are conducted in executive session for a reason," Reilly said.
Good people in good faith stick their necks out and apply for a position, Reilly said, and they shouldn’t be "dragged across the newspaper in a debate." Reilly said. Clark’s actions are "unfortunate and discouraging," Reilly said.
Stewart "is a long-time town resident who is familiar with the issues the town if facing," Reilly said. She interviewed great and was one of the only candidates "I could tell that read the town’s zoning law and comprehensive plan," Reilly said.

She is familiar with New Scotland’s needs, and familiar with what the town values, he said. She knows what the values of New Scotland are and what residents across the spectrum want, Reilly said. Also, she knows the history of the Tall Timbers site, and who all the players are, he said.

Clark takes the people he wants and then builds a defense around his choice, Reilly said. While Clark emphasizes planning experience, Reilly said he believes other factors are just as important.
"Experience on a planning board is one thing but experience with the town of New Scotland is another," Reilly said, referring to Snyder. He said he thinks it’s more important for New Scotland’s new planning board member to be familiar in the issues the town is facing right now rather than nuances like understanding the State environmental quality review process, which the town has engineering and legal counsel to walk the board members through.

Lawsuit
"I like Greg," Reilly said of Ferentino. He interviewed well, Reilly said, adding that he could see Ferentino serving the town in the future as a planning board member. But right now, he is not the perfect candidate that Clark says he is, Reilly said.

Ferentino is a co-respondant in a law suit the town is facing, Reilly said.
Last year, Ferentino and his wife had a "drop-dead drag-out dispute" during planning board meetings over approval for a dog kennel on property they own on Fielding Way, Reilly said.

The Enterprise attended these meetings. Krumkill neighbors came out in swarms, to speak against the proposal because of noise and traffic concerns; but the Ferentinos and the Dimura family also came armed with their attorneys.

The Dimuras live on Fielding Way and have been feuding with the Ferentinos over rights to the private road, particularly the right-of-way for entering and exiting.
The Dimuras, who say they own the road, conceded that a gravel subscriptive right-of-way was established over time, but they said at planning board meetings that there is no deeded easement and the Ferentinos do not have the right to "over-use" the access, such as would be the case with a commercial enterprise with increased traffic.
Also their attorney, John Hayko, said that the planning board was bound to the limitation set by New Scotland’s zoning board in a variance approved in 1992, which was granted to serve only two residential lots. "Those conditions cannot be overlooked or ignored," Hayko said at the September planning-board meeting.
The Ferentinos’ attorney argued that the easement was by "necessity," which happens by itself. He also argued that the town maintained the road up until the late 1970’s.

The planning board ended up approving the special use permit for the dog kennel.

The board’s attorney, Louis Neri, advised the planning board that it was not up to the town to make a determination on the limitations of the access, and that the board did have the authority to make a determination on the special use request. The decision before the planning board was simply the issue of the use, of a dog kennel itself, Neri had said.
Planning board Chairman Robert Stapf said at the time that, although the board permitted the use, in order for the Ferintinos to get a permit, the road would have to comply with the town’s road standards. "Town law has very specific standards for two-way traffic," Stapf said. In order to comply, the road has to be modified, he said.

For the driveway to be widened, Hayko said, his client would have to agree to it; he reprimanded the board for throwing the issue to the courts.

Reilly told The Enterprise on Wednesday that the Dimuras and others have filed a suit against the town of New Scotland’s planning board and the Ferentinos. Litigation is pending, Reilly said.

So, while this does not completely exclude Greg Ferentino from being a planning-board member, his dog kennel application may come back before the planning board in the future, Reilly said. So, at this juncture, Ferentino may not be the best candidate for the town to appoint, Reilly said.

"Cowardly"

New Scotland resident Katy O’Rourke who attends board meetings regularly called The Enterprise this week, saying she was "upset in they way the whole thing went down."

First of all, she said the public knew that the interviews were going to be conducted last Wednesday night but were not told that the board was going appoint someone after the long executive session.
"It just cut out any kind of public input," O’Rourke said. She said she certainly was interested in who the candidates were and the board’s reason for choosing one over another. She said she would have liked the board to make its appointment like it often does during a regular board meeting.
"The way the whole thing was done was cowardly," O’Rourke said. She said the town board is sending the message that it doesn’t want to hear everyone’s opinion.

O’Rourke then went on to say, much as Clark had, that the Democrats’ appointment was politically motivated.
"I think they were confused on what position they were voting on," she said.
"I think a lot of people will be disappointed that Peg Neri went along with it," O’Rourke said. "I was very hopeful, she would be a more independent voice."

Neri is a new Democratic council member as of Jan. 1.
"I didn’t go along with anything, I listened and made my own decision," Neri responded to The Enterprise. She said she reviewed each candidate’s qualification, read their application ahead of time, and thoughtfully participated in the interview process. "If I don’t vote in the particular way Ms. O’Rourke or Mr. Clark want me to vote, they say I’m partisan, and that’s not true," Neri said.
"I didn’t become a board member to vote in any particular way...I use my experience, education, and good judgement and make up my own mind," she said.

Stewart has lived in New Scotland for a long time and had researched the issues facing the planning board, Neri said; she thinks Stewart will be a great asset to the board.

O’Rourke said she doesn’t see how living in the town for a certain amount of time makes a candidate more qaulified than someone with planning experience.
"It’s very very fustrating," O’Rourke said, because she sees how very few people show up at the public meetings, and she said she thinks part of the reason is because residents don’t believe they have the power to change anything. She said she can see where citizens get this viewpoint "expecially when this sneaky and underhanded," stuff happens, she said.