Where Is The Accountability On That Old PVA Idea? - Is It Possible Somebody Was Wrong????

Back in March soon after I opened this blog I put up a post about the concept of a Property Value Assurance Guarantee ( PVA)  The basic idea of a PVA being that if you are driven from your home by the disturbing and overwhelming impacts of industrial wind development nearby that the town zoning would require the  wind company to compensate you for the drop in your property values if you chose to sell out.  This was promoted as a form of “zoning protection” for Cape Vincent property owners.

I have always found this to be a ridiculous idea, expressing that if the impact of the land use proposed was so invasive people would have to move away as a result that you had a much bigger zoning problem and should prohibit that use outright as the best protection.  To me  a PVA was just nonsense thinking and was one more way to dodge the real problem and not face up to it.  This PVA  line of thinking was promoted by some of our current town board members and others. This came up long before I opened my own blog and I opposed it on the other blogs and of course as you can imagine in came the swarms of nasty comments that I was out of touch, didn’t understand the problem, that we had to defer to the “experts”who  were promoting this idea etc etc etc.

Below is just one example of the typical comments I would received when I would  oppose the idea of a PVA by our new board.

“If the PVA comes up with our zoning committee I will applaud them for their foresight and encourage them to enact one. If you protest a PVA it would be a clear sign you just don’t get the big picture and that you think your opinion is more important than a real and comprehensive defense to the problem.”  

This was actually one of the more measured  comments I would receive.  Others of course would say I was a nut case, radical, lunatic etc and could not possibly understand the issue as our new town govt officials and experts did. 

But here is the thing about this PVA zoning discussion.  It evaporated!!!  Gone !!!  I  have looked through the zoning law several times and there is NO reference to a PVA anywhere.  Nothing, nada, zip!!!  And for a while this was THE mantra as you can see in the typical comment above. This was one of THE zoning savior ideas that at that time many thought could not be questioned.  It was sacred ground because it was promoted by some prominent people in our new govt. 

So…OK…where did that PVA go in our new CV zoning if it was the be all and end all as some claimed????  Is it possible that the “experts” on the zoning committee, and town board could have been in error in their judgment   about a PVA that was so heavily touted as the answer???? Is it possible that so many new govt supporters bought into the PVA idea so quickly and supported it with very little critical thought that they became group thinked and tunnel visioned  on the issue because some of the new prominent CV officials said they supported it and said it was the right idea.   Is it possible that the group think support and lack of willingness to question and analyze because of partisan political nonsense has led us astray on other zoning questions and approaches that seem to be so heavily set in stone and defended now????  That’s a rather disturbing thought!!! 

Or is it as the commenter above suggests about my analysis of the PVA as nonsense, that in the end it was a clear sign that they just didn’t get the big picture either by dropping the PVA????  

 I’ll tell you what I think likely happened.  The lawyer probably told them much the same thing myself and a few others had told them, that the PVA was a screwy idea and in the end was so far off base it was not even defendable.  Like I said, at one point this was a big ticket item brought before the planning board and town board by one prominent councilman and latched onto by numerous others on the blogs.

Interesting how things just evaporate so conveniently when the “experts” get it wrong.  Funny how after all this hoopla over a PVA and strong endorsement as a “must do” option that now you don’t see any discussion of this anywhere else.  No accountability???? 

Is it possible the “experts” on our zoning committee and town board  might have gotten some other things wrong too in their approaches to the CV wind zoning problem?  Things that seemed to be so set in stone at one time as an absolute that are  not to be questioned? 

Is it possible the town board and the zoning committee, and their unquestioning supporters  might  also  have it wrong in their approach to appeasing the NY PSC and Article X with a setback zoning law that has also been touted just like the PVA at one time as the must do absolute  answer?????