RENSSELAERVILLE — The future of agricultural districts in the town will be decided directly by residents.
"What the majority wants to do is what we do," said Supervisor Jost Nickelsberg last week.

While a committee has worked on a master plan for the town for over a year, the size of lots in the agricultural district has been controversial.
The committee’s chairman, Vernon Husek, resigned in March over the issue. A majority of the committee’s 13 members voted for 10-acre zoning in the agricultural district. Husek, who owns 130 acres and favored larger lot sizes, called the decision "totally ineffective if we’re to believe the experts." He said at the time that the committee changed from "data-driven" to "politically-driven."

Thomas Mikulka was appointed as the new chairman.

A survey will soon be sent out to every registered voter and every taxpayer, who will choose either five acres per dwelling or 20 acres per dwelling in agricultural districts.
"We’re trying to make this be the determining survey to try and get as many people in the town, above and beyond anything we’ve had so far," Nickelsberg said.
"So anything people said at [the public hearing] didn’t count"" Becky Lewis asked last week. Lewis, a member of the land-use committee, said there was no place on the original land-use survey sent out to residents that said "20 acres." Lewis operates the only remaining dairy farm in Rensselaerville and one of few in Albany County. She has been outspoken about larger lot sizes devaluing farmland.
"We did not ask the question right the first time. That’s why we’re doing this again," Nickelsberg said.
The town is in a "fractured, divided state," Nickelsberg told The Enterprise this week. "Majority rule trumps that," he said. Nickelsberg cited the survey sent out last year to 1,400 people and a public hearing on subdivision regulations and zoning laws in April.

Overview

According to a September report by the town’s planner, Nan Stolzenberg of Community Planning and Environmental Associates, 496 surveys were returned, or 35-percent.

Survey results and visioning workshops showed residents are concerned with losing farmland; value farmers and want the town to show support; are concerned with current development patterns; and value open space, rural character, quality of life, natural areas, open spaces, and scenic views.
Nickelsberg said there is "no conclusive information"We need to ask the specific question."

The town last updated its master plan in 1991 and that plan, now 16 years old, specifies 5-acre lots in the agricultural zone.

The land-use committee is expected to complete the town’s new master plan this month, and it will be available to the public for two months before the town board votes on the plan in November, said Mikulka.
Mikulka, whose Barger Road home is currently for sale, has called the issue of lot size in the agricultural districts "a bone of contention" in the community.

A moratorium halting major subdivisions for one year while a committee completed a comprehensive land-use plan was enacted in the spring of last year. This year, in May, the town board voted to extend the moratorium for six months.

The options

Last week, trustees and residents discussed options for surveying the public. Officials originally designated five options from which residents could choose.
"That’s a huge spread there," said resident Nora Logan. Logan recommended leaving a blank space on the survey for residents to choose something between five or 20 acres.
"I wish there were just one in the middle for someone who doesn’t want one extreme or the other," Logan said. "Isn’t the issue really to find something most people can live with""

Mikulka explained the two choices.
"Do we want to preserve open land as potential agricultural land by zoning" That’s the question," he said. "If you want to do that, the experts say, ‘Twenty acres works. 15 does not work. 12 does not work. Eight does not work.’
"There’s the other side of the coin that says, if you go that way"that it decreases the value of the land"so people living there suffer"whereas the rest of the town may see an increase in the value of our land because there’s going to be a big segment in the town that’s not going to be developed," Mikulka said.
"We don’t think it’s fair," he said. Mikulka said there are other ways to preserve open space. Any major subdivision, he said, will be required to be clustered.
"We know, for a fact, that the people who want 20 acres will not settle for 10 acres," he said.

Results from the surveys and workshops showed residents want to preserve open space. However, at the town board’s public hearing on the plan in March, some town residents said they want smaller lot sizes, and larger lot size puts a burden on farmers.

The American Farmland Trust and Nan Stolzenberg, the consultant hired to work on the plan, have suggested larger lot sizes — 20- and 25-acre zoning — to preserve open space.
Nickelsberg said he wants results without any subjectivity or any bias. The town justices will count the surveys. "It will be totally secure," he said.

Other business

In other business, the town board:

— Held a public hearing to purchase one acre for the Potter Hollow Park. No comments were made from the audience of about 20 people;

— Heard from Mikuka that the town should shield the Dumpster at the transfer station from passersby. Mikulka has been reporting for the beautification committee in recent months. He lives across the street from the town hall and highway department on Barger Road. He suggested a fence to be put up at the transfer station.
"It’s your house that’s across the street," said Joan Johnston, who commended Jon Whitbeck, the town’s recycling officer, for keeping the town property in "immaculate" shape. "How many houses see this"" Johnston asked. She asked Mikulka if he is showing his house to potential buyers because it is for sale.
"Yeah," Mikulka said.
"The town is under no obligation to follow the zoning," said Jeff Pine, one of the town’s assessors and husband of Democratic Councilwoman Sherri Pine.

Residents suggested moving the Dumpster to the back of the building.

Mikulka cited dumps in Europe and Maine, and said you are unable to see transfer stations because they have been set back from the road and someone has considered shielding them from passersby.

There’s been no consideration of what it looks like, Mikulka said; and
— Heard from resident Bob Bolte that $24,629 has been raised for the senior/youth bus. The bus is to be funded by private donations. Bolte said he is expecting $5,000 from Senator Neil Breslin’s office, and a check for $10,000 is "in the mail and promised." In July, the newly-purchased town bus traveled 946 miles and had 66 passengers, Bolte said. Trips were made to New York City, Washington Park in Albany, Delmar, Cobleskill, and the Rensselaerville Institute.