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Comprehensive Plan
Highway/Commercial, Industrial,
Business/Office Must all be updated
uniformly throughout the entire town, no
spot zoning. Residential Component of
the plan must be brought up to date as
well.
Hamlet
Design Models and Buffers between uses
must be incorporated into the
Comprehensive Plan to remove the
likelihood of incompatibility between
uses, such as residential &
agricultural, commercial/industrial &
residential and so on.
Owner
occupied businesses should be
incorporated into the commercial portion
of the zoning updates as identified in
planning consultants recommendations to
the town.
Agricultural Operations Zoning
Specific to
farms both active and inactive, and in
order to preserve land best suited to
farming and animal husbandry, zoning
specific to this local but fading
industry should be developed by a
committee of local farm operator/owners
accompanied by the County Planning
Commissioners Assistance. Farm worker
housing, farm stands, produce markets
with prepared foods should be encouraged
not prohibited, this allows for
additional opportunities to profit while
farming. Presently the options for
additional sources of income from
agricultural operations are limited. A
barn that has outgrown its use could be
rehabilitated into a year round produce
stand, a studio or workspace that could
be rented for income or even a form of
housing. This alternative form of
zoning specific to agricultural
operations would allow the large farm
landowners to gain additional capital
without the prerequisite of having to
sell most or all of their acreage to
attain it. Equine Operations should be
included as well as tack shops, feed and
equipment businesses are all small local
industry that will support, sustain and
facilitate the remaining agricultural
operations within Montgomery.
Sewer Treatment Plant on Neelytown Road
Must be
completed in the most cost effective and
efficient manner possible using the most
up to date and land treatment
technologies available and applicable to
its present location. Grant funding
sources must be thoroughly researched
and applied for, before any new tax
levies are raised for the project.
Pollution in Orange
County
Orange
County is part of the environmental
protection agencies non-attainment areas
that have failed to meet national
environmental air quality standards.
Citizens of Orange county face a cancer
risk more than 100 times the goal set by
the clean air act, 86% of the cancer
risk from air pollution comes from cars
and trucks. In 2000, Orange county
ranked among the dirtiest worst 20% of
all U.S. counties in terms of nitrogen
oxides and ozone emissions per seasonal
daily average.
Based on
the EPA’s most current data, Orange
County ranks among the dirtiest/worst
10% of all U.S. counties in terms of non
cancer hazards from HAPs. All HAPs are
associated with serious respiratory
problems, including asthma, especially
in children, and difficulties in
breathing, especially for the elderly,
and cardiovascular problems in the
general population. Instead of
continuing to devise ways for Montgomery
to be the hub cap of the north east we
have to consider the facts.
Deisel emissions are a recognized
carcinogen and are suspected respiratory
and cardiovascular toxicants. Diesel
emissions are the hazardous air
pollutant with the highest contribution
to cancer risk. The transportation
sector, including highway vehicles,
contributes by far the most carbon
monoxide and is a major source of
Volatile Organic Compounds from the
combustion of fossil fuels. Oxidation of
nitrogen oxides results in:
photochemical smog and ozone, acid rain,
prolonged exposure with this acute
irritant delivers increased chronic
bronchitis in children, exacerbates
children’s asthma, causes respiratory
inflammation in children’s lungs, causes
damage to plants and corrosion of metal
surfaces.
On 17K we have the Coldenham Elementary
school. Berea Elementary school, Valley
Central High School, Valley Central
Middle School. SO even people who do not
live along route 17K are being affected
by the heavy truck traffic along 17K.
The trucks by pass the weigh station on
I84 by cutting across on 17K
The people from the Coldenham Homeowners
Association who have been fighting the
enormous Pilot Truck project for 6
years, residents along 17K Including,
Newburgh, Montgomery, Crawford,
Bullville, Circleville are forming an
alliance to meet this growing problem
head on. Warwick has accomplished the
very same and we can too.
Inclusionary, Workforce, Affordable
Housing Law
Needs to be
adopted and put into action. The plan
designed and tailored by professionals
is the plan most appropriate and
beneficial to our community, as well as
to property owners and developers. This
version of inclusionary zoning, best
replicates a traditional community,
where development has taken place more
slowly and over decades. A traditional
community generally possesses a
diversified array of housing sizes,
shapes and types, including variety in
the lot size they would be built upon.
Affordable Housing
“Affordable
housing”. I read that and think, a
developer wants to build a large
conglomeration of units all in one
place, so it must be “Cheap Housing”.
Otherwise why not build a quality cape
cod style house out of real and durable
products, like wood or brick. Something
Mother Nature wouldn’t blow apart over
time, something the homeowner could
proudly resell and not just unload. A
quality house that would make sense to
put additions onto, a home a realtor
could sell over and over. Why not build
a home here and there, over time,
integrated into the community. Why do
they feel people of one income bracket
should all be crowded into one place?
More bang for their buck that’s why.
“The American Dream”. You see that
appended to all kinds of things lately,
but stick it on cheap housing and it is
offensive. Stick it on cheap housing
that doubles as a firetrap and you have
slums. Certainly nothing to be proud of,
but some developers couldn’t care less
what they leave behind so long as their
pockets are bulging when they are done.
Build it right, build it safe, build it
beautiful; don’t compromise the rest of
the community with temporary junk and
eyesores that the pre-existing community
can only resent. We have fine craftsmen,
electricians, plumbers, stonemasons and
ironworkers right here in our county,
not to mention excellent local supply
centers. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to
see quality going up around us? Workers
bussed in from elsewhere are there
because they are just about paid with
dirt, the lack of pride and skills in
their work is revealed in the structure
standing. So much for the American
Dream. |
