Woodstock’s housing committee has identified seven town-owned sites as possible locations for affordable housing. It noted that American Rescue Plan funds had to be committed to engineering and housing research if the federal grant was not to be forfeited.
The committee’s September 10 presentation to the town board led to a rare instance of town supervisor Bill McKenna and councilmembers Bennet Ratcliff and Maria-Elena Conte agreeing on something. The momentous memorable moment didn’t last.
Working with the county planning department, the committee has identified as potential locations the center-of-town Mountainview and Rock City Road parking lots, two parcels on the Zena Highwoods Road, 31 acres in Zena, a parcel off Route 212 known as Little Deep, and space next to the Woodstock Commons housing development.
“Currently, we do not know the feasibility of building housing on any of these sites, so it makes sense to gather the data we need to move forward with one or two of them,” housing committee chair Katherine Tegan began. “Let’s use these federal funds to find out once and for all if any of these properties are suitable for housing, and if they are not suitable the town can conserve them as open space.”
Tegan outlined three phases: a preliminary overview to help narrow candidate locations to two or three sites, then surveys, engineering and environmental studies, and finally concept development for one or two of the parcels.
“At the end of this process, we will know what are the best one or two town-owned properties to build housing on, based on the environmental and engineering surveys,” she said. ”By creating site concept plans, the engineering and architectural firm will show us how many units could be positioned on the site without sacrificing views or altering the character of the town.”
Everybody’s very excited
Supervisor Bill McKenna said he was very excited about moving forward. “This is what I envisioned when we dedicated the funds last year,” he said. “I will also say that during at least one of the public hearings on the zoning amendments, a lot of folks talked about a RUPCO-like project, and that’s what we should focus on.”
RUPCO developed the successful Woodstock Commons project, but only after a decade of litigation.
Ratcliff concurred with what McKenna had said.
“I’m glad to hear that you are looking at land that the Town of Woodstock itself, the people in Woodstock, own,” he said. “I am so happy to hear that this is a place where we can say we want affordable housing and the town will be the first to step up and look at all of its properties. I really do appreciate that. I look forward to seeing what more develops.”
McKenna wanted to make sure that moment wasn’t forgotten.
“Nick, write down Bill and Bennet agree,” instructed McKenna to this reporter.
The room erupted in laughter.
“It’s time you stopped writing down everything that Bill says to you,” Ratcliff retorted.
There were groans in the room.
The first of many steps
“We may be able to go to some of our officials higher up, county or state, who may be able to partner, to go to the next steps after this. This the first step,” councilmember Laura Ricci said.
“I think everybody knows that I’m in support of affordable housing, and ran on that platform, so this makes me really happy to see,” councilmember Anula Courtis said. “I encourage you to as the group moves forward, to keep in mind green technologies, phased approaches, and different types of housing so that people are not forced into one type of a home. So let’s try and keep it Woodstock.”
Maria-Elena Conte said she appreciated all the hard work. Using already existing town land was important for sustainability. “I’m excited for this as well, and I think it’ll be great for our community,” she said.
The research of town-owned lands is one part of a multi-pronged approach to tackle the area’s affordable housing crisis. Last year, the town board pledged $199,000 of American Rescue Plan funds toward engineering to make town lands “shovel-ready” for an organization like RUPCO to build affordable housing on.
Another $175,000 had been earmarked for seeding a low-interest loan program to help homeowners build accessory apartments, such as those above a garage, or detached cottages. However, that program was closed due to lack of interest, making that money available for other programs.
To waive or not to waive
Ratcliff returned to his subtle and not-so-subtle criticisms of the supervisor, beginning with a resolution to waive the building-permit fees for a renovation of the Woodstock Historical Society building.
McKenna suggested waiving the fee because the historical society was on town property.
“Do we need to vote on this, or could you just waive it?” Ratcliff asked.
McKenna said he couldn’t waive fees.
“You can’t waive building permit fees?” Ratcliff asked, an eyebrow raised.
He was referring to a building permit for cleaning up contaminated fill on Church Road in Shady. In that situation, McKenna had directed the building inspector to waive the fee, saying it would be collected “on the back end” once cleanup was completed. Critics of McKenna’s handling of the cleanup have noted the fee still hasn’t been collected.
After the meeting, Ratcliff pointed out the county Supreme Court had invalidated the permit issued for what became known as “Plan E.” Nothing has been done since.
The ZRC ain’t the ZBA
Ratcliff objected to the appointment without an interview of zoning board of appeals (ZBA) member Joe Belluck to the zoning revision committee (ZRC).
“We did interview whim when we put him on the ZBA,” McKenna said.
“But now it’s a different committee. This is the ZRC,” Ratcliff replied.
Ricci said the ZRC members know Belluck and are confident in him.
“I know Joe’s work. I think it’s great, and I support that,” she said. “I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about we need to do our work. We need to interview the person.”
McKenna said the town board has waived interviews for committee appointments on occasion.
The vote to appoint Belluck to the ZRC was 4-0, with Ratcliff abstaining.
Join the family! 
