The Moratorium
The current moratorium is a local law that suspends approvals on all “major subdivisions” (5 lots and above). It does not prevent building a house or a few houses on a piece of property. It allows rehabilitation of existing buildings or adding extensions provided they don’t exceed 20% of the original building. Large new commercial buildings are included, but the new library will not be subject to the moratorium and construction is expected to begin soon. The moratorium allows the SEQRA environmental reviews on large proposals currently before the Planning Board to continue “at the developer’s own risk,” and overrides the SEQRA timeframes. No final vote will be taken even for the environmental review (FEIS) and the proposals will not proceed to the site plan and subdivision approval part of the planning process until the moratorium is lifted. Developers will have to comply with whatever zoning, new site plan and subdivision regulations are in place at that time. The Zoning Commission has completed its work on the draft zoning legislation and turned it over to the Town Board. The Town Board has hired a new planner (Bonnie Franson of Tim Miller and Associates) to assist in its review of the law. They extended the moratorium in their July 22, 2008 meeting for another 6 months in order to have time to complete their review, make any revisions and enact the zoning law.
