Cross’ Road Ahead
These are tough times to be supervisor in Shandaken. But a new term of town governance is about to begin, and as with each time this happens it’s an opportunity for positive change. We wish our new supervisor Bob Cross, Jr. well as he assumes control of what he’s called “a high stakes game for control of our future.” He’s said he believes that our community can come together on the issues we’re facing, and now he’ll have the chance to try and make that a reality. We certainly hope he succeeds. It would in fact be quite an extraordinary accomplishment. But he’s got his work cut out for him.
Cross truly has a fascinating opportunity now, because how he handles some of the town’s major issues in his first 60 days will define our political climate for the next two years. Cross can be a peace maker, working to cure what he’s called the “us versus them political virus that is poisoning our community.” Or, by his choices, he can go the other way, and intensify if that’s possible, the town’s polarization. During his campaign, Cross said he’d give us a town board “that will listen to all of its citizens, and give all views equal time and equal respect.” If that turns out to be true it would certainly be a great starting point.
Cross promised Shandaken’s voters “a full and fair review of every development project” and he’ll soon have the chance to make good on that. By February 17 the town will need to take a position on its role in the Crossroads SEQRA review. Will Shandaken participate in the SEQRA process to adjudicate issues like the tax package offered by the developer, or will the town board decide what’s been offered is acceptable? We’ll soon know how full a review the new administration deems full enough, and how fair to Shandaken’s taxpayers it figures is fair enough.
Also on the subject of taxes is the state’s lawsuit against the town for what it claims is our overassessment of its land during the mid 90’s. The state is pushing to go to trial on this in April; Di Modica negotiated a settlement that the town’s counsel favors, but Cross believes he can cut a better deal. If he can that’s great. But if he can’t and the state withdraws the offer, Shandaken’s taxpayers will be looking at costs around 300% more than the settlement. That would include the full amount the state was seeking plus interest and penalties, significant legal costs, and a very expensive assessment of the town’s 55,000 acres of state land. If it does go to trial, the odds of winning aren’t good: the town of Hardenburg tried that and its tiny number of taxpayers are now paying off a far larger amount than the state’s asking of us. So there’s a big downside risk here, and we certainly hope the new administration will be making a good decision for us on this one.
Cross has also inherited an excellent draft cell tower law, now ready to go to public hearing. The point of this is to get cellular phone service in Shandaken without any battles and without winding up in court because our current zoning law can’t deal with the issue. Will Cross set a date for that public hearing and move to adopt the law and open a dialogue with the service providers? We hope so, but we’ll see. It’s clearly one benchmark for a reasoned approach to problem solving and for a quieter future.
Cross will likely be naming on January 5 a new Comp Plan Committee and he’s unlikely to repeat Di Modica’s mistake of appointing one that, like the town, is about equally split on the Crossroads project. Instead we’ll probably see a committee similar to the last GOP-appointed one with a 9 to 2 pro-Crossroads majority, though it won’t likely number more than 7 people. Based on the previous committee’s experience, we wouldn’t expect public participation to be permitted until its draft is ready for a public hearing. Look for a plan probably ready by summer, that envisions issuing permits for at least two thousand new hotel rooms in town, two-thirds for Crossroads.
Then there’s the board appointments, which are of course Cross’ and the majority’s prerogative. Cross will be naming one new member to the planning board next week and will also probably replace its chair Beth Waterman, the closest thing Shandaken has to its own SEQRA expert, with Bob Kalb. Keith Johnson will likely chair the Zoning Board of Appeals. Neither chairmanship will likely be viewed as a conciliatory appointment as both are widely seen as major Crossroads proponents, but that is the town board’s choice. More telling will be Cross’ decision as to whether or not to reappoint Jay Braman, Sr., the ZBA’s pillar of experience and moderation. That in our view would be a tough loss for the town. It’s ironic perhaps that not long ago, you couldn’t give away a vacant seat on the ZBA, while today you couldn’t, metaphorically of course, buy one. Variances, it seems, must be the next big thing.
Few at this point really know what to expect of Cross and the new board majority. They might surprise some with their openness and inclusiveness, or maybe they won’t. Will we continue to see town meetings televised? Perhaps, and we think doing so would be a very positive indication of a board that wants its residents to know what’s going on. Will we sign the new contract with our ambulance service negotiated by DiModica and Jane Todd? Hopefully we will. Will Phoenicia end up with a septic treatment system that’s beneficial and not a burden to its businesses? We’d like to think so, and we’d like to think the new town board feels the same way. It might be that as we come to focus on these kinds of infrastructure and health & safety issues, it’ll help us see how much we actually agree on. Cross has said we can rise above our personal differences to focus on the challenges ahead and we agree. He’s also said it’s going to take some good will to do that, and he’s right on that score too. It’s a new year and we’re hopeful it’s going to be a good one for Shandaken. What kind of start we get off to, well, your call, Bob.