Responding to growing public opposition, the Hurley City Board unanimously withdrew a proposed moratorium on sure varieties of large-scale improvement because it prepares to undertake an up to date complete plan. The moratorium would have halted improvement on lots or mixture of heaps totaling 15 acres or extra, or the place land improvement totals one acre or extra. It was initially restricted to the A-4 and A-2.5 districts, however was expanded in scope to incorporate the complete city aside from agricultural use.
“Over the course of the 2 hearings concerning the proposal, it turned clear that Hurley residents didn’t favor a moratorium being enacted,” supervisor Melinda McKnight mentioned after a second public listening to on the Might 16 assembly of the city board. “We took their feedback to coronary heart and deferred to their judgment.”
These opposed included developer John Joseph, who owns the property occupied by the West Hurley Hannaford grocery store and is in litigation with the city over its denial of a proposed Dunkin’ at routes 375 and 28.
“As everybody’s already famous, there’s any ongoing litigation at present, and I consider this moratorium will solely result in extra. And I feel I communicate for greater than myself as a taxpaying citizen, that the board ought to suppose very rigorously and undergo the method to not have extra litigation expense to the taxpaying residents of this neighborhood,” Joseph mentioned.
Legal professional Umar Sheikh, representing Arizona Hudson Valley, a agency that bought the Twin Lakes property in 2018, requested the city to “critically think about” what it’s doing with a moratorium.
“Development is simply now beginning as a result of we’ve been by 4 lawsuits with the city,” he mentioned. “Proper. And there’s a fifth one ongoing in federal courtroom proper now. The idea of that federal courtroom lawsuit is that this city is purposefully trying to halt improvement, which it isn’t permitted to do,” Sheikh requested for an exemption for the Twin Lakes venture. “There’s a concerted effort by sure individuals on this city to cease improvement.”
McKnight countered that the litigation began lengthy earlier than the present board and administration was in workplace.
Raleigh Inexperienced, a Mountain View Avenue resident, was involved about inevitable extensions past the 9 months and cited a county planning board suggestion in opposition to a moratorium.
“That memo was not referred to after we had the general public listening to every week in a while April 18. I’m curious why that wasn’t shared with the general public at the moment. And it’s nonetheless not talked about immediately,” Inexperienced mentioned. “And lastly, we’ve so many lawsuits occurring on the town. It will inevitably result in one other lawsuit. And that’s your tax {dollars}, my tax {dollars} going in the direction of lawsuits that we might have simply prevented.”
McKnight mentioned the county planning board memo was posted in town web site.
Charles Gottlieb from the regulation agency representing Southern Realty & Growth, which had proposed the Dunkin’ drive-thru, voiced his consumer’s objections. “A moratorium can solely be enacted in an emergency or a disaster scenario, and I see no emergency or disaster scenario right here. That’s black-letter regulation. The revised moratorium nonetheless has no proof of any of such a scenario. But it’s been expanded townwide,” he mentioned. “Even the Ulster County Planning Board says this city board mustn’t undertake the moratorium. They really state that within the final 5 years solely 20 tasks [from Hurley] have been referred to the Ulster County Planning Board, two of them which can be thought-about vital.”
The put up Hurley moratorium shelved, Supervisor McKnight defers to public opposition first appeared on Hudson Valley One.
