While Woodstock officials were discussing their possible role in the planned Terramor clamping resort just across the town line in Saugerties, one council member, Bennett Ratcliff, insisted the town exert its legal authority over wetlands there. But council member Laura Ricci, who has taken the lead on speaking with Saugerties officials, said the town had no legal standing to do so.
Ricci said she also asked county executive Jen Metzger whether Ulster County will step in.
“Her answer is, it is a home-rule state,” said Ricci. “And so for the county to try to step in and tell somebody how to do their business, that goes against being a home-rule state.”
Town supervisor Bill McKenna said he would help Ricci get in touch with the Army Corps of Engineers, which may be able to exert federal authority in the matter.
Ratcliff wasn’t satisfied. “I still continue to believe that that the alteration of the wetlands in Woodstock requires a permit,” he said. “We ask them to apply for a permit. If they refuse to apply for a permit, then we ask for an injunction because it would be irreparable harm to the wetland. If they if they appeal that … that is a point that should be determined judicially.”
Town attorney Rod Futerfas opined that the town could not apply its wetlands regulations to a project not located within Woodstock. Futerfas also said the town didn’t have standing to request involved-agency status in the SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review) process.
“Since we do not have jurisdiction to fund or approve, or directly undertake an action on this project, we do not qualify as an involved agency in the SEQR process,” Futerfas wrote in an email reply to council member Reggie Earls’ inquiry. “While I understand the natural concern that can arise where environmental impacts of a project may adversely affect properties in neighboring jurisdictions, the SEQR process does permit interested parties to raise concerns within the SEQR process undertaken by the lead agency. I’m aware that this advice isn’t what you want to hear, and it won’t make concerned Woodstockers happy. I’m sorry for that, but it represents my opinion of the law on this subject.”
Futerfas suggested that the town board seek permission from Saugerties to be treated as an involved agency, but that it didn’t have legal standing to demand it.
That didn’t at all satisfy Ratcliff. “What he’s saying is we can’t apply it to a project in Saugerties. We’re not applying it to a project in Saugerties. We’re applying it to our wetlands,” Ratcliff argued.
Ratcliff asked McKenna whether the town might have missed the deadline to request involved-agency status.
Ricci said there was a June deadline, but that was to oppose Saugerties being lead agency.
“We did not oppose Saugerties being lead agency,” she said. “So the only deadline that came and went was a deadline to say, do we agree that there should be lead agency or we disagree, and we don’t disagree. They should be lead agency. It is a Saugerties project.”
Ricci plans to attend the January 17 Saugerties town planning board meeting and speak on behalf of Woodstock. “I have a number of things that I want to propose to them and to say, and I think having us stand on legal ground and making statements is the way to proceed forward,” she said.
Archtop Fiber coming to Woodstock
The new company set up regionally in the iPark 87 technology campus is offering Woodstock high-speed Internet and phone service, giving Spectrum competition. Various other Ulster County communities have entered agreements with Archtop Fiber.
“They’re going to start some time this year to run cable and run a cable company basically to compete with Spectrum in Ulster County over into Dutchess, I believe Columbia County, and I think out into Delaware County,” town supervisor Bill McKenna said. “It’s slated to be cheaper. I’m told that the connection is going to be about $50 to $55. It should be more reliable. It will definitely be stronger capacity.”
Spectrum’s infrastructure relies on the power grid to amplify the signal about every third pole, Archtop’s fiber network uses no electricity in the field, only power at the main hubs. And it uses less power, so it can stay online ny using battery backup systems through power outages, McKenna said. The robustly funded firm also plans to dig small trenches along the roads to bury its lines, making them more weather-resistant, he said.
Since the threshold for economic feasibility is 20 homes per mile, McKenna expects Archway to begin in the more populated areas of Woodstock. The company said it was eager to work with the town to apply for federal broadband grants to service outlying areas, he added.
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