The Town of Hurley has set an April 18 public hearing on a proposed nine-month development moratorium in the A-4 and A-2.5 districts in order to provide time for an update of the zoning code and the comprehensive plan.
“The zoning hasn’t been updated in a comprehensive way since it took effect in 1969,” explained town supervisor Melinda McKnight.
The moratorium would stop all site plans, special-use-permit applications and subdivision reviews for project involving more than five acres of land in the two zoning districts. It would also bar construction activity including “clearing, grading, excavating, soil disturbance or placement of fill that results in land disturbance” of a half-acre acre or more.
If the moratorium is adopted by the town board, the town will get to work.
The comprehensive plan and zoning do not match. There’s a conflict between them.
“The zoning wins,” McKnight said.
A working group handling the comprehensive plan update was plagued by heavy turnover. “The process wasn’t well-conceived. I think, because of that, they didn’t have continuity,” McKnight said. “The decision was made to have it be a product of the town board.”
The plan text is being written by the town planner, and the project is being overseen by the board.
McKnight expected a draft version to be available to the public “within a couple of weeks.”
The public hearing on the moratorium is set for April 18 at 7:15 p.m. at the Hurley town hall, 10 Wamsley Place.
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