Follow Up on the News
In a letter read aloud at a February 22nd meeting of the Shandaken town board, the city’s Jeffrey Graf wrote that the process of deciding whether Phoenicia would participate in the voluntary program was “…difficult and contentious and has, unfortunately, in some respects split the community.”
Graf, the Project Manager, said his department would regroup with community representatives at some time in the future to discuss other alternatives for Phoenicia. Until then, no more money can be spent on the project, but at the same time it would not be reallocated to other communities.
“…A time for healing and respite is desirable in Phoenicia before alternatives are concretely considered anew,” Graf wrote.
Kevin Young, the Attorney representing Phoenicia in the matter, said he took Graf’s letter to mean that the city still hopes to see a project in Phoenicia. He added that the city has also decided to not require that the town sell off the property purchased to build the waste treatment plant. At least not yet.
The project was voted down last month by voters who wanted a better deal reached between the community and the city. Critics of the project said that Shandaken town Supervisor Robert Cross Jr. failed to negotiate a financial arrangement with the city that would make the project affordable for the community.
Some critics, like Phoenicia resident Joanne Rowley, see Graf’s letter as an opportunity for a second chance at getting a better deal.
“I hope negotiations continue when there is a new town board,” she said.
If the city ultimately decides that Phoenicia is a lost cause, any money remaining in the $17.2 million fund after attorney and engineering fees are paid would shift over to Catskill Watershed Corporation, which is running a separate program intended to fund the planning, design and construction of community septic systems and/or the creation of septic maintenance districts in other watershed communities.
Boiceville is up for that one...
Masterpage Backs Away From Town...
At the February 22nd meeting when all this was announced, Shandaken Supervisor Robert Cross Jr. got his fingers burned by other members who accused the town’s top official of hiding crucial town information on the subject.
It was the attorney for Masterpage, Timothy Morrison of Albany-based firm Whiteman Osterman and Hanna, that did most of the real talking about Masterpage’s current dilemma. As he and Masterpage owner Kevin Kellerhouse left town hall before the official meeting began, but not before a Masterpage sales pitch to benefit another tower company interested in profiting from the Masterpage failure, Morrison told the Phoenicia Times that the company is too busy with another project in the town of Olive and does not have the resources to complete that project and take on the Shandaken project, which has a deadline of mid-May to become operational.
Now the company wants Shandaken to allow another manufacturer, Homeland Towers LLC. -- hand picked by Masterpage and one they have already made a deal with -- to build the tower.
Morrison refused to state specifics of the deal, but noted that it was struck on the condition that Shandaken award Homeland the contract to complete what Masterpage could not.
Homeland Towers President Manual Vicente was introduced to the town board by Kellerhouse as his choice to take over the contract, and the approved permits, for the 180 foot tower. While claiming to be the only hope for getting the tower built as soon as possible, salesman Vicente said he would need the Board to grant a deadline extension.
Town Attorney Paul Kellar is reviewing the company’s proposal.
Some residents and board members took issue with the way Homeland Towers was positioned by Masterpage, which would profit from the switch, and by Supervisor Cross as the best choice for how to get cellular service in town.
Cross has had a close relationship with Kellerhouse for years, inviting Kellerhouse to help draft the town’s cell tower law two years ago, and then signing a contract with Kellerhouse shortly thereafter to give Masterpage exclusive rights to what many consider to be the best tower location in town.
This time, it was Cross’s deliberate choice to hide his knowledge that Masterpage couldn’t come through that caused suspicion.
Councilman Rob Stanley was outraged that he was not informed until just before the Thursday meeting that Cross knew over three weeks ago that Masterpage couldn’t build the tower, but kept it quiet.
Cross said he was tight lipped because he did not want the information leaked to the press.
Stanley said Cross’s explanation that he worried how Masterpage would be characterized in the media was “silly,” and said Cross should have made the important news public so steps could be taken immediately to review several alternatives instead of giving Homeland Towers an open playing field on which to exclusively court the town.
“Now I’m being force fed another company,” Stanley said.
Ulster County Sheriff Paul VanBlarcum, who is a former Shandaken town board member that favored a different approach to getting cellular coverage for the town, was at Thursday’s meeting to urge the current board to reconsider a plan for building shorter facilities at local firehouses and other locations like church steeples.
Mount Tremper resident Kathy Nolan agreed with VanBlarcum and said the board should shift its thinking away from building the all but defunct Masterpage tower and begin preparing a superior coverage plan.
“I’m happy for you to take credit for it. Just do it for the benefit of the town,” she said.
The board did not award the contract to Homeland Towers. It is expected that other providers will be asked to offer proposals.
The attorney for Masterpage also said Thursday that a lawsuit over right of way issues has been settled, paving the way for the already built Masterpage cell tower on South Mountain in Olive to become operational soon.
The lawsuit held up the installation of utilities to make the tower operational, but Olive Officials are taking a wait and see attitude.
Supervisor Bert Leifeld reports that Kellerhouse and Morrison did claim to have an agreement and that as soon as the weather breaks they would begin the final phase of the tower construction. But, Leifeld added, until a judge signs off on the case there is no deal.
Further complications surround Masterpage in Olive, Leifeld said. Verizon continues to pursue plans to build its own tower on town property at the local transfer station. Verizon is also slated to rent space on the Masterpage tower.
It remains unclear whether Verizon is planning to utilize both facilities or if the company is making its own plans to provide coverage in the event of a Masterpage failure.
“As clerks, we really shouldn’t be making administrative decisions,” came the word from the speaker addressing a 3 PM session entitled, “Dept. of Health – Births, Deaths & Marriages” in the Beekman Parlor on the second floor. “We’re simply not prepared, or elected, for that. Our jobs are clerical…”
Simultaneous sessions in the Sutton Parlor, Nassau Suite, and three separate Trianon ballrooms were dealing with “Stormwater Regulations: What Town Boards Need To Know;” “Census 2010: Town Role and Responsibility;” “Land Use Case Reviews for Town Attorneys;” a “Purchasing Workshop;” “Interpersonal Project Review” for town planners; “Personnel Issues: Tardiness, Leaves of Absence;” “Public Relations Practices in Small Towns and Large Towns;” “Reconstructed Income and Expense Statements;” “Pre-Trial Hearings” and DWI Motion Practices” for town justices; “Making A Good Record: Minutes, Findings & Decision Documents” for zoning officials; and a “Staff Attorneys Q and A.”
And that’s not mentioning the smaller sessions for court clerks and CPAs.
“We don’t really have press passes you know,” say the staff people at registration along the Promenade as large Upstate men and women gather wherever more than a single chair sits up and down the long gaudily-chandeliered room. “We can’t really have you going into the sessions people have paid for.”
Someone sees G. Jeffrey Haber, the Association’s longstanding Executive Director, emerging from the elevators and motions toward him. Haber, a large man with a down-home demeanor, makes his way over, says he doesn’t usually get media requests for his events, but then asks that a name badge be made with “PRESS” written in all caps across its tops.
I place it on my one year old, who’s busy waving to everyone in sight, wearing his very first suit… along with a Woodstock Baby t-shirt complete with peace insignia. And white sneakers.
We make our way to the vendors’ area, where dozens of companies hawking everything from municipal accounting services to streetlights and traffic planning systems are handing out pens, candy and business cards… and commenting about the baby in their midst.
“What can I say; our townspeople elected him supervisor,” I said. “I’m his handler.”
Milo waved and clapped as people made to kiss him.
At a booth for the state Office of Real Property Services, I asked if anyone from the Mid-Hudson Valley or Catskills had been through, remembering how large a role the agency had played in local politics – and news – of recent years, via the regular onslaught of tax assessment revals and the painful inter-municipality battles involved in the Onteora School District’s implementation of the state legislature’s new “Large Parcel” law. I mention the word “Olive” and the man, quickly places a gold star onto a map,. Right over the Ashokan Reservoir, noting that the Hurley town supervisor, Mike Shultis, had also been through earlier.
Few other ORPS stars fill the spaces between the Hudson and Binghamton as we head on.
At a booth for the state Comptrollers’ office, a person working in agency public relations says its been a busy season, what with all the political back and forth involving elected Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s January resignation and the state legislature’s more recent choice of one of its own to head the powerful agency over new Governor Eliot Spitzer’s own choices. But the man added that in the final rounds, actual changes would be few unless the new guy, Thomas DiNapoli, started changing his deputies… who seem to hold the actual reins in state government.
Others at neighboring state booths, from the Department of Environmental Conservation to Transportation, Corrections, Parole and Parks, voiced similar thoughts… albeit with a request that their sentiments not be attributed to actual names.
Someone I’ve received forwarded e-mails from at the Department of State, who identified himself as “one of your deep throats, even if you never realized it,” said that those actually working in state government were hoping Spitzer’s reform activities would move beyond the top spheres where his appointments have taken all the notice, and concentrate on lower levels where actual decisions get made, where administration really happens.
“The Association of Towns of the State of New York was established in 1933 to help towns obtain greater economy and efficiency. The Association serves town governments by providing training programs, research and information services, technical assistance, legal services, computer software programs, insurance programs and a variety of publications to member towns,” reads the official literature touting what appears online as http://www.nytowns.org/. “It represents town governments by providing advocacy in Albany, monitoring legislation and regulatory action, lobbying and presenting initiatives solely on behalf of towns. The Association gains all of its revenue from dues and activities and receives no State or federal assistance.”
They claim 97 percent of New York’s 932 towns as its members, representing over 20,000 elected and appointed officials. They also note the growing percent of the state’s population living in townships, ranging in size from some under 100 in the Adirondacks to many over 756,000 population Hempstead and another 74 with populations over 20,000… as well as the growing pressures being put on smaller municipalities by the growing security costs implemented by the federal government, or the debts of the state and its larger cities… including the big one everyone was meeting in.
We run into most of the Woodstock Planning Board and hear that their chairman, Michael Mullally, got the shortest answer of the day to a question he’d asked during a Q and A session. It was about whether planning boards should feel obligated about answering dozens of e-mails they received.
Later, Woodstock town supervisor’s secretary Angela Sweet said that in addition to the planners mentioned, town supervisor Jeremy Wilber, councilmen Bill McKenna and Chris Collins, and planners Clem Holquist and Randolph Horner were all in attendance.
Town clerk Laurilyn Frasier of Shandaken said her town’s two judges, Tom Crucet and Mike Miranda, were also there.
Olive supervisors’ secretary Susan Horner said she’d heard that town planners had spoken about going, but she was unsure if any actually had.
“Rosendale asked if we wanted to share a bus down,” said Sweet, who had nothing but praise for the session. “It’s an amazing resource.”
She spoke about how, boring topics withstood, the actual information passed on about governing at the annual meeting and training school was often invaluable. But more importantly, so was the opportunity allowed elected officials to meet their peers across the state and realize that the issues they wrestled with, prosaic or not, were all of a piece.
“Everything’s geared to your office, but the great stuff happens when you get to sit in on other events,” said Frasier, noting how it was important for clerks to learn about town board responsibilities, or planners to know about traffic or legal concerns. “I think it’s wonderful… you’re solving one person’s problems just by talking.”
As it gets dark and people make for the last sessions for the day, buzzing about how not only Sitzer, but new Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would be keynote speakers in the morning, Milo and I sit in on a few conversations.
Middle aged men and women wearing nametags laugh about having new problems with unspent snow removal budgets. Someone asks about what they do when people try to shout them down in meetings. Turns out, someone adds, there’ll be a session on just that subject the next morning.
A group of highway superintendents walk by with that classic Upstate swagger of men who’ve spent lifetimes outdoors.
“Cocktails at 6 pm?” one with a beard asks the group that’s seated, sparking thoughts of public misperceptions about what these elected officials might be doing in the Big Apple on taxpayers’ expense.
“Golly, I don’t know…” replies a town clerk with a timid smile.
“It’s the best place to meet everyone who’s here,” added the bearded highway guy. “And besides, they’ll have fresh coffee as well as beer…”
“We want to make sure we get a chance to hear what the community wants to share, now that they have a chance to look at plans and any significant information that surrounds it,” said Ford.
The sessions have been broken into five topics: student needs, instruction, facilities, transportation and community needs.
“All those concerns surround us as a district, we can’t make a decision that does not fit in our budget, or doesn’t fit in our transportation,” Ford added. “We have to think of all of those effects as we are making a decision and public input is a valid resource.”
Information will be available on tables from past school board meetings as the public arrives. New information on transportation costs will also be presented.
Three proposals from KSQ architects have been presented at past school board meetings. They range from renovations of the district, to closing additional elementary schools or all elementary schools if a central campus is decided on.
There is also a proposal to separate the middle school from the high school that has gained much support among administration, teachers and parents, who find the current configuration inconsistent with quality educational standards. Two proposals have been introduced defining the middle school as either a six-through-eight or five-through-eight model. Costs range from $40 million to $70 million with State aid at approximately 31 percent.
Armand Quadrini and Scott Hillje of KSQ Architects will also be in attendance, presenting their facilities studies and bond proposals.
After welcoming statements, depending on the number of people, small groups will be formed or one large group. During the sessions, people will have the opportunity to talk, ask questions and express their concerns.
Ford encourages that the public write their thoughts. “Then we will take all of those ideas and put them on sort of a word wall, facilities here transportation there, and then each table or board member will need to take one area and synthesize them into bold statements,” she said, adding that one of the architects will then summarize the full meeting for district use. A full report will be given at a future school board meeting.
Public input will play a major role on how the board makes its decision.
“We are in a declining enrollment and we need to adjust our plans depending on that restriction… We can’t go away from that but right now that is our reality,” Ford said, referring to a demographic report that predicts that by the year 2011 there will be 1526 school age students, compared to 1916 students enrolled as of December 2006.
Ford said her role at the forum is to help organize and listen to the public. She has been working in the district for less than a month, but still coming into the office during snow days to learn about Onteora in quick time.
Ford was formally introduced to the district by OCS board president Marino D’Orazio at a February 20 school board meeting with large attendance. But it turned out that much of the audience came to protest the elimination of Michael Boms, high school track coach of 27 years, who was told a couple of weeks ago by Assistant High Scool Principal Gabe Buono that he would not have his contract renewed for the coming spring season.
“By consensus of the board we pulled the track position and the women’s varsity softball position, they are not on the consent agenda tonight,” D’Orazio said. “They are tabled for a future meeting.”
The board will discuss Boms employment during an executive session.
During public be heard, Boms, a retired Onteora high school teacher, addressed the school board (see his letter in News Briefs). Several parents, students and Onteora alumni sat around the former coach and spoke on his behalf.
Later Buono said he could not discuss confidential issues but did acknowledge the amount of people who attended the meeting.
“Mike Boms has done many great things in this community and for this school, In other business, that should not go unnoticed.” Buono said. “It was a tough decision and a professional decision.”
In other business, Assistant Superintendent for Business Victoria McLaren presented the 2007-2008 budget proposals for BOCES and Transportation, projecting an overall 15.8 percent increase from 2005-2006 at a total of $3,540,432 for the latter department, mostly due to a 19.1 percent increase in contract runs primarily because of transporting special education students. Taxpayers will also be asked to vote on four vehicles as replacements to aging vehicles. In 2006 voters denied two new busses and according to Interim director of transportation Peter Montalvo, after this year, the busses will not pass inspection. The four busses will total $279,825.
BOCES will see an overall 4.99 percent increase for 2007-2008. The total BOCES budget is projected at $2,820,245 or a $130,888 increase. The State will reimburse 48 percent of the cost, a drop from 50 percent. BOCES services include staff development, technology, special education and summer school.
"What’s interesting to me is that this store has gone through a series of different people running it," said Jim Sofranko, a West Shokan film maker and electrician. "When these people came up from Riverdale, suddenly this place had more business and more people coming out and having good conversation with real openness in a friendly environment than you can imagine. I’ve never seen it like that and it’s all different backgrounds, from weekenders to local trappers; people on one side of a political issue or another all just getting along and having a good time. Everybody loves the place!"
That congenial atmosphere is first among reasons cited by Sofranko for the decision formulated by a group of people who independently frequent the establishment to organize a fundraiser to help the Mansfields cope with the sudden medical emergency that has confronted the family. Anyone who hasn’t noticed how devastating a catastrophic illness can be under the current system of health care in America, they reasoned, hasn’t been paying attention. So, they got together and started making calls; securing space at the Olive Public Library basement from 3 to 6 pm on Sunday, March 4th, arranging food preparations with other local businesses volunteering to help and enlisting performers like the angelically voiced Amy Fradon, Marta, John Wirtz, James Barbaro and three writers of fascinatingly quirky songs- Mark Brown, Wayne Montecalvo and Mark Donato, among others.
As of midday on Tuesday, the Mansfields were in New York City anxiously trying to find a surgeon to operate on their 13-year-old son Killian. By all accounts, a remarkable boy who plays fiddle and has created some remarkable items of art, Killian has been stricken with a rare form of cancer for which he has undergone previous operations and extensive therapy and which has unhappily reappeared recently.
When Killian was nine, he broke his jaw in three places in a bike accident and after it healed the Mansfields watched closely for jaw pain or swelling because of a concern for how well the bone might knit. When swelling did develop two years later, a troublesome wisdom tooth was suspected and treated unresponsively with antibiotics and he was checked for an abscess.
"When (the physician) went to drain the abscess, he immediately knew that something was off and the next day Killian was being ‘catscanned,’ Phil Mansfield recalled. "Within a week chemotherapy was started and surgery would follow."
Killian had been diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, an unusual form of cancer effecting supportive body tissue around joints, tendons and bursae (which are cushioning tissues in these and other areas of the body). It strikes mostly young adults, most typically around knees and elbows, less frequently in the head and neck area or the abdomen. Killian’s cancer manifested in the area of his jaw injury and he underwent a 10 hour operation to remove the tumor along with part of the bone and reconstruct that portion of his jaw.
During the recovery period, the oncology staff at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital introduced their young patient to some forms of therapy which they call "complimentary medicine" which embraces acupuncture, aroma therapy, chi energy movement, visualization and other alternative avenues of the healing process. Killian responded so exuberantly to these approaches that he became "almost a poster child" for them, as Mansfield phrased it, speaking before medical groups and gatherings of donors. His enthusiasm also inspired him to use his artistic talents to design a graphic called "Grumpy Fish" which he gave to children in the ward and sells on t-shirts for proceeds which go to the Hope & Heroes Children’s Cancer Fund. It seems he had noticed that most of the donated toys in the recovery center were for very young children and he felt the need to contribute something a bit more mature than stuffed animals that would appeal to 11-year-old sophisticates like himself. Another example of Killian’s art can be seen in the form of a metallic origami fox which he created with a friend and adorns the outdoor space behind the store.
An unfortunate aspect of synovial sarcoma is an incidence of recurrence frequently higher than other forms of cancer and when it returned to Killian, it brought along a few more setbacks. Another operation has been postponed twice in the past few weeks. The second time, last week, the Mansfields were already in the hospital "pre-op" room in scrubs and surgical gowns, when they were informed that the key reconstructive surgeon had gone into labor and a replacement wasn’t available at Columbia Presbyterian.
"I was saying to my wife this morning that, when you look at the checks and balances," Mansfield said, "Columbia Presbyterian has so many checks going for them but this one counterbalance has equaled everything good they’ve done for us because this is quite serious."
A highly specialized plastic surgeon with experience in preserving vascular channels to maintain blood supply in the rebuilt regions vacated by the tumor is a vital member of the surgical team for an operation lasting double-digit hours; one difficult to procure and the nasty, aggressive nature of the affliction, which threatens to spread rapidly upward into sinus regions or elsewhere, is the cause of considerable anxiety in the oncology department of the hospital as well as in the Mansfield household. A team at another hospital was approached but couldn’t schedule surgery before March 13th. A new catscan on Tuesday, however, prompted a surgeon to venture that the removal of the tumor couldn’t wait that long and, as this is written, the Mansfields are waiting at the hospital for word of a closer target date.
"We were all pretty much floored the day they postponed the surgery," Mansfield said. "But I have to say that one of the proudest moments for me as a person was later in the day when my wife, Killian and myself were still in the City, laughing, just having a good time being together and I felt so proud to be part of a family that could find strength in each other. It touched me greatly that Killian can be such a strong part of that."
There was an undercurrent of tension laced with a dogged optimism at the store when the call came in from the Mansfields to those they left in charge that a sooner date was feasible but anxiety lingers among friends and the customers who find a touchstone of human kinship in the store’s special space for community get-together.
"It’s amazing to me the amount of interest and generosity the people who have gone to this store in the past months feel compelled to give back to these people," commented Sofranko. "These are newcomers to our community but they have such a magic to create a special space and help people come together that we’re hoping to give something back to them."
(Donations will be welcome at the library but, if you can’t make it there and would like to help out while at the same time making an investment in community spirit, the Bank of America has set up a Phil Mansfield Donation Fund account and checks can be sent to the bank % Mansfield Account at 2808 Rt.28 Shokan NY 12481).
Although Lerner is one of the few fairly recent big-city transplants around that did not, in fact, ever own a second home in the Catskills, he said that “two or three folks” on his own street are only part-time residents. And most reservoir-area dwellers and can quite likely attest to the same.
The fact is that a grand portion of Olive and Shan-daken’s taxpayers live double lives: one in the city, and one in the country. It’s something that the permanent residents have become accustomed to, and for some, it’s a crucial part of life.
Alfred Peavy, a broker at Ruth M. Gale Real Estate in Phoenicia, said that no less than 90 percent of his clientele comes from the city, either looking to buy a comparatively secluded getaway home, or hoping to relocate completely. And he said that this year has been more active than last, during which he had 15 clients.
Westward Metes & Bounds agent Rachel X. Weissman said that she would estimate her clients coming from the city to comprise closer to 75 or 80 percent of the total, with, on average, three out of five of these buying second homes rather than permanent residences.
Even for the people moving here for good, however, it is frequently the case that their livelihoods depend on business connections in the city. Weissman suggested that many such people are writers, consultants, and the like, who are able to conduct their affairs through what she calls telecommuting – business done primarily by telephone and over the Internet.
Mark Lerner, for one, left a staff job in the city to go freelance when he and his family moved to Phoenicia. He said that because of the cost-of-living difference between here and the metropolitan area, he probably could not have afforded to go to work for himself if he had not made the move.
A similar story is told by Janet Steen, a writer and editor. She and her husband, Mark Donato – a grant writer and fundraiser – originally bought a second home in West Shokan in 1999, while keeping their permanent address in Brooklyn. Four years later they decided to make the West Shokan house their full-time residence. In addition to enjoying the extra space afforded them by their rural property, Steen said that the monthly cost of their mortgage is less than they would be paying for a one-bedroom flat in the city.
Steen said that, even though all of their work comes from New York, and they still have friends there, she and her husband have truly come to feel as if they’re part of their local community, and no longer feel very connected to the culture of the city.
“We know many of our neighbors,” Steen said. “We’re very aware of what’s going on here, with the DEP, the septic system, the tax issue, the watershed – all of that.”
It’s more or less expected that NYC transplants that have come to live here full-time would know something about the local community, and take some interest in its affairs. But the same is evidently not widely true of part-time residents (or weekenders, as the locals like to call them), even though they pay the same taxes as everyone else.
“I don’t think they care [about local affairs],” Town of Olive councilman Henry Rank said in a telephone interview, speaking of the second-home owners in the community. “It would be nice if they did. I met a couple of them while campaigning, and asked for their opinions, but they gave me no response.”
Olive Supervisor Berndt Leifeld agrees that the weekenders don’t maintain much a vocal presence in the life of the town – except, he jokes, to complain about the occasional barking dog and other such “things that local people take for granted.”
“I can’t think of many that have come to town board meetings,” said Leifeld.
From an economic standpoint, Leifeld indicated that the presence of second-home owners and recent settlers has been beneficial.
“They bring money to the town,” Leifeld said, “and they definitely brought the real estate market higher.”
“I find the whole situation more of a plus,” he concluded, chuckling, “I came from the city myself, a long time ago.”
Nola Gutmann of Nola Gutmann Realty in Mt. Pleasant contended that some second-home owners in the area may have more involvement in local affairs than they are given credit for.
“I get a lot of phone calls from people saying, ‘What’s going on with this, what’s going on with that?’” Gutmann said. “Some couples have one person registered here and another registered in the city, so they can vote both places.”
Though there’s no disputing that nearly everyone benefits from the tax dollars spent by weekenders, it’s really the businesses in the area that find the most reason to appreciate their presence – whether it be permanent or merely occasional.
Lauri Kennedy, whose Cracker Mill Hearth & Emporium, off of Rt. 28 in Shokan, has been in business for 32 years, said that “The more area gets developed, the more customers there are.”
Alfred Peavy of Ruth M. Gale Real Estate keeps his enthusiasm in check, saying that realistically, “There aren’t that many houses on the market [in the area.]”
He said that, with zoning restrictions around the area of the reservoir, “There’s not enough land to have a huge expansion in the number of homes. There’s very little room for new growth.”