Town Zoning Attorney Says He Can Not Defend Our View!

Syracuse zoning attorney Mr. Paul Curtin is telling you that he could not defend a zoning law  based on the idea that you think some development might destroy Cape Vincent's beautiful scenery.  He is basically saying  he  could not defend the essential quality that makes Cape Vincent what it is and supports Cape Vincent's primary economy of tourism and seasonal visitors. He is basically saying you can not protect views like these below. Apparently he is saying you can not make an aesthetic judgment through zoning.  Why then are there thousands uopn thousands of zoning laws that do EXACTLY THAT!!!  Including our old zoning.

                                 And BTW why are we taking advice about what we can

                       and can not do with OUR incredible scenery from a lawyer in Syracuse!!!

                                    Do you think these views below should be protected?

Well, when you are not willing to defend the views or make a aesthetic judgment for the good of your community...this is where that thinking leads.  Wind turbines in California.

My advice to the attorney is…you need to get out of your office more  and visit the 1000 Islands, Golden Crescent, a state park, a national park or monument, etc  Fortunately Mr. Curtin, there are very credible and knowledgeable people who would strongly disagree with your view.

So I am thinking… why does this sound familiar about industrial wind turbines and the view?

Oh that’s right…that is exactly what Edsall our former wind conflicted planning board chairman said.  That is exactly what the Green Shirts like Paul Mason, and Gary King believe…and wind promoters Marion Trieste, and Carol Murphy.  This is exactly what Tom Rienbeck and his conflicted board have said.  AND it is exactly what the wind developers like BP and Acciona have said.  AND I am positive it would be EXACTLY what the former Edsall endorsed big Albany wind lawyers Whiteman. Osterman and Hanna would say. 

So who is our new attorney working for?? Of course consider that much of his firm’s business apparently is assisting big real estate  developers.

So I guess in the end our expert lawyer has just verified that all the people I listed above have been dead right on this view issue.  Too bad if you don’t like the ugly eye sore turbines that will dramatically alter the entire character of  the town, landscape, and region, and your property values in one of the most scenic and treasured regions of NYS  Too bad because you can’t do a damn thing about protecting your viewshed.  This would also mean that Mr. Curtin apparently would defend the turbines on Wolfe Is. from a veiwshed perspective.  All you people who have had your property values diminished because of the “view” of those turbines, just suck it up!!

Mr. Curtin just negated most of our Cape Vincent Comprehensive  Plan which has language  heavily oriented toward doing exactly what Mr. Curtin says you can’t do, protect the viewshed.   That would mean if the Comp Plan (CP) committee continues to try to protect our viewsheds with the current language or stronger language, then they will have to change it, since the attorney says our zoning laws can't make a judgement on viewsheds and zoning has to match the direction of our Comp Plan.   Our attorney says we can’t deny anything because of the way it looks…then guess what, our comp plan and our zoning won’t be in “accordance “ with each other as NY laws says they must be.  This would be exactly what I have been saying for months…actually several years.   Of course the other option is to tear apart our CP so it doesn’t reflect the protection of the viewshed as it does now and only deals with the science. So I would keep a very close eye on what these two committees do now with this new information from the expert attorney.  Even the zoning committee has said the comp plan and zoning must match. So now unless they change the comp plan to reflect the idea that you can’t protect the viewshed from thing you think will radically diminish it’s beauty, then you have a legal problem.

And you think the science is enough?  Well what happens if another big invasive development comes in that doesn’t throw ice, or make a lot of intrusive noise, or make people sick, or kill birds…but the development of which dramatically changes the landscape and view as the main concern?

.

Nope you can’t deny it just live with it live with it.  And sometimes wind turbines don’t throw ice, or make noise, or spin and kill birds.  They just sit there making absolutely NO electricity as they screw up the view including their red flashing strobe lights.

What this attorney has told you is…there is NO value to, and you can not protect, the one thing that draws the majority of people to Cape Vincent and the Lake and River region and supports the bulk of its economy…THE VIEW!!!  Sorry Cape Vincent, you have no right to defend your view. The new town zoning attorney says he will not defend your view,  even though your Comp Plan says he should. Unless of course all that comp plan talk by the Republican candidates before the election was just a lot of bunk!  

Below is the Republican Unified Position Statement

“

2. Wind Moratorium

Wind currently proposed Cape Vincent are incompatible with the path for community development outlined in the cooperative Town and Village 2003 Comprehensive Plan. If elected, we will institute a moratorium in Cape Vincent to halt any further progress by wind developers. The moratorium will extend for as long as necessary. Any subsequent amendments to the zoning law pertaining to wind will not only comply with the town's master plan, but will also provide the fullest protection for the public's health, safety and property value.

Now what this means is that since the attorney says he can’t defend the scenic vistas which is the major theme of our comp plan, and the comp plan and zoning must match, that would mean the protective language in the comp plan must go…since he says you can’t put it in the zoning and defend it.  And they say above that any zoning law will comply to the town’s master plan…something has to give one way or the other.

There is nothing in this  statement that specifically commits to protecting our scenic resources.  But isn’t that one of the KEY things, if not the key thing  to protect property values that this board has droned on and on about

That my friend is why campaign statements are kept purposefully vague so they can be interpreted many ways and doesn’t really commit any politician to anything.  And it is why I wanted more commitment BEFORE the elections on the wind issue. 

Funny thing though that numerous towns and counties etc in NY and around the country  have actually BANNED wind turbines and other things in large part because of  the VIEW!

Does somebody want to explain to me what is the point of having a SCENIC byway and run through the town if we can’t protect it!!!  Isn’t the entire point of a SCENIC byway to protect the SCENIC part.?  Here is some more absurdity.  Put a 1.5 mile buffer on either side of 12E in part because it is a SCENIC byway, and mileage buffers way back from the shore at least in part to preserve viewshed AND THEN SAY, “Oh well we can’t protect those areas anyhow based on  view.”  OK…then what the hell is the point!!   Did somebody miss the point that it is called a SCENIC byway!!!  I tell you what we can do…we can have a scenic byway right up to the borders of CV, and we can be an independent “crap up the scenic byway zone”!

There has been a lot of talk by the new board of promoting CV to the rest of the world.  Am I missing something here, or wouldn’t it be logical to include showcasing the spectacular beauty of our area?  Maybe we could put a little asterisk and a disclaimer that says…

*** ”Warning to any prospective  purchaser of property in CV. The beautiful scenes you see it his CV promotion could dramatically change at any moment because our zoning attorney says we can’t actually protect these beautiful views. These views may not be representative of what you see when you visit CV, and we take no responsibility for protecting them… you are on your own. Buyer beware!

Oh and by the way there is a clause in our zoning regulating signs and flags. That would be because somebody had decided that signs and flags over a certain size and height  are not attractive and somebody might not want to look at them.   There is also a clause prohibiting signs with flashing lights and moving parts.  Based on our zoning attorney’s advice all this must be removed!  In fact take down the fences around junk yards, or screening on mobile homes, that is in our laws because of the VIEW.  Trash anything in our zoning that makes an aesthetic judgment and let our zoning turn into chaos.  In fact this gives the pro wind people one more justification to say “you can’t tell me what I can do on my property”.  When it comes to view they would be right! Somebody needs to notify Save the River and 1000 Islands Land Trust that they can not protect the view of our area… our expert attorney says so!

Some reminders of what our old zoning law and old Comp Plan say.  If you can’t make a zoning judgment that certain things are not attractive, then all this language is pointless.   Does this language protecting our scenic precious resources now disappear since our attorney is essentially saying he can not defend it?  I would watch closely!!!

From our old zoning

From our old Comp Plan

I agree with the commenter on JLL…time to get a new attorney that comprehends that Cape Vincent and our region is nearly ALL about the VIEW, and protecting it!!