Friends or Fiends to Neighbors and Property Owers?

The Friends of the Shawangunks website has an article where they are attempting to rationalize their very unfriendly lawsuit against both the Town of Gardiner ZBA and the Wustraus who own property on the Ridge.

As we reported earlier, the Wustraus wanted to be able to have easier access to their property, and asked for and were granted variances by the town ZBA to build a driveway....no more and no less.

The self-appointed defenders against all things having do do with land use on the ridge have also sent a letter to the New Paltz Times (11/15/07 issue) chastising reporter Annie Pyburn and the paper for not getting the facts straight.

So, we'd like to turn the tables for a moment on the "friends", and look at the accuracy of the statements that they make in attempting to justify their lawsuit. In his Letter to the Editor, H. Neil Zimmerman, President of the Friends of the Shawangunks states that "the ZBA was required under the State Environmental Quality Review Act SEQRA to conduct an environmental review of both the proposed driveway and the house at the same time. That the ZBA failed to do so, despite the plans submitted, was a clear violation of SEQRA."

We went to the SEQRA website, and under the FAQ's section, found the following:

"Does a zoning board of appeals, when interpreting a zoning law or ordinance have to apply SEQRA? No. As part of their appellate jurisdiction, zoning boards of appeals (ZBA) are specifically authorized to render interpretations of local zoning laws. Interpretations of the local zoning law by zoning boards are classified as Type 11 actions, which are exempt from SEQRA review."

The fact that the plans submitted to the ZBA showed a home site as well as a driveway (which we're taking their word for, since we haven't seen them) is irrelevant, since the ZBA only was asked to and ruled on the variances for a driveway.


Mr. Zimmerman also states in the letter that "our Article 78 lawsuit against the Gardiner Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) a suit against a particular property owner, when it really is about the ZBA's failure to do its job properly." According to the Gardiner Town Website, the whole purpose of the ZBA is to issue variances to the zoning laws when they are inappropriate, punative, or create an unreasonable hardship for a property owner.

The president of the "Friends" also quotes from the intent of the Ridge law, insinuating that the ZBA ruling somehow goes against it. We were present during the whole time that the Shawangunk Ridge law was being written by the consultants and town board, and time after time, property owners were verbally assured that the intent of the law was not to punish individuals or to keep them from use of their land. The Town Board members said over and over that property owners only needed to get variances from the ZBA to build on or use their land.

As much as they will try, the actions of the Friends of the Shawangunks are pretty hard to defend on any level, but especially in the court of humanity and fairness. If the rationale they use in the courts is as flimsy and shallow as what they present to the public, we have faith that the Gardiner ZBA and the Wustraus will prevail in this matter.