During the Saugerties Town Board meeting on July 10, supervisor Fred Costello explained that participation in the New York State Pro-Housing Community Program is becoming a requirement for grants to help public housing, infrastructure and a variety of public works grants. But after lengthy criticism from local speakers and one town councilman, the board voted against participation.
Answering many vocal critics of the program, many of whom have spoken against a proposed housing complex sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, Costello said the program is not designed to bypass the planning and zoning board reviews of proposed projects.
Costello emphasized that the Pro-Housing Community Program does not involve bypassing the planning and zoning process, and that the town board has made no decisions on the Dominican Sisters proposal, which is before the planning board.
The decision about whether to join the Pro-Housing Program was motivated by the fact that “in my administration we have gotten tens-of-millions of dollars in grant money. That has benefited our infrastructure in many ways, that has helped us manage our costs in many ways and the state is saying that in order to be eligible for many of these grants, you must be a pro-housing community.”
Many of the requirements of the program are already in our comprehensive plan, Costello said. “Saugerties has been at the forefront of conservation, of land use and we like Saugerties as it is. We like our rural character, we like knowing our neighbors, we like being who we are.”
With many development projects in the works, this decision is becoming increasingly important, Costello said. But the need to plan “is not for us,” he said. “For the next five or six years we will look largely as we do now. It’s for 15 and 20 years from now, when our children are making these decisions and planning for the next generation.”
While many of the town’s residents — long term and new — work for the scientific and technical industries and can afford the rents and housing prices in effect, the town also depends on its many lower paid workers, such as garbage haulers, waiters, cleaners and so on. These people need more affordable housing, Costello said.
“Many of these people are spending 30 percent of their income on housing, and there is a role to be played in maintaining and expanding housing opportunities,” Costello said. “That is very explicit in our comprehensive plan.”
Costello cited the need for accessory housing, such as a flat for elderly parents, and emphasized that while Saugerties allows such housing in its zoning law, it cannot simply be built. Homeowners must show they have adequate parking, well and septic capacity and enough space for the proposed addition. Nothing in the proposed Pro-Housing Community Program would change that.”
Businesses in the Village of Saugerties have been doing a good job of renovating, fixing up, cleaning and painting, Costello said. Many businesses cannot afford to do this on their own and they need some public help. While many other communities in the area have obtained grant money to help with revitalization, “one of the things preventing us from putting together a successful application is we don’t participate in the Pro-Housing Communities Program.” If Saugerties chooses not to participate in the program, it would be unable to secure many of the available grants,” Costello said. He named half a dozen programs that require membership and predicted that many more would be added in the next few years.
“This is not a law, and some people seem to think we are saying, ‘let’s pass this law and tear up the Town of Saugerties zoning law.’ That is absolutely not true; that is not our motivation this.”
However, councilman Zach Horton said that while he doesn’t see the proposal as bypassing the planning and zoning boards, he had concerns that joining the Pro-Housing Community Program “could deflate the power and oversight of those boards, and that is concerning to me. I’m not entirely confident that couldn’t happen. We’ve heard from many people tonight where the common denominator seems to be ‘let’s find a way to have greater community participation and increased education in this. I do think it would be irresponsible for us to move forward with this tonight having heard so much from the community about wanting more information and more participation. I’m not saying we should not move ahead with this. I’m saying we should table it momentarily until we’re able to accomplish these things in a better fashion.”
Councilman Mike Ivino said the town board has worked hard to “adjust zoning to the times that we’re in, and remedy issues that remained when the zoning was initially passed. I certainly would not want our zoning circumvented by a different policy. I don’t believe this resolution was meant to do that. Investors still have to abide by the state fire code, they have to abide by our code, and unless that’s changed on paper, I wouldn’t see a way they could circumvent that.”
The final vote was 3-1, with Costello voting in favor, Horton, Nau and Ivino voting against and Leeanne Thornton absent.
Prior to the board’s discussion nearly 25 community members spoke against the board making a decision at the meeting, while a few urged the board to adopt it, based on the need for affordable housing in Saugerties.
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