STOP, The regional wind energy industrialization of one of New York State's most beautiful and environmentally sensitive areas, the 1000 Islands of the St. Lawrence River and the Golden Crescent of Eastern Lake Ontario. If you don't think you are seeing the most recent posts click on the current month in the archives to the right.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Watertown Daily Times Reports On the Town of Cape Vincent's Zoning Fiasco and ZBA Ruling.
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20131008/NEWS03/710089864
Gee, I guess we have a new official zoning standard operating procedure in Cape Vincent. It is out of bizarro world but I guess this is how we do business now.
First get a permit and make sure the town "zoning experts" really screw it up in numerous places.
The next step is they will fully admit on VIDEO that they screwed up the permit BUT better yet they will actually admit that what was done won't even hold up in court!!! hey now we are on a roll!!!
Next step is your permit will be granted...well there might be one pesky town ZBA officer who creates a little stink and won't go along since she believes there actually should be some integrity in the zoning law...but don't worry the "boys" will put her in her place and keep her under control.
And BINGO you get a permit to build whatever illegal project you want!!! In fact this works so well we might even give the town supervisor one of these permits!!!
It's funny I can't find this process in any official NYS guides on zoning...but hey... here in Cape Vincent we like to live on the cutting edge of zoning and try something a little different!!! Not only that we paid an expensive lawyer real good tax payer money so we could administer our new law this way!!!
But maybe that money is not completely wasted. I believe this new system is interrelated to the town's economic and tourism plan. At least this way Cape Vincent gets in the paper a lot and on the map...even though we have been the zoning run amuck embarrassment capital of NYS for 8 years.
And just like the slogan in Clayton...The Tradition Continues"!!!
Monday, October 7, 2013
Cape Vincent ZBA Rules Against Mrs. Mary Grogan's Appeal On the Town's Solar Zoning Fiasco
Unbelievably once again Mrs. Mary Grogan who lives with the private wind turbine zoning screw up looming over her house, has sadly become the poster child for the Cape Vincent officials zoning ineptitude and their willingness to let the CV zoning process run completely amuck. But maybe we know have a hint as to why.
I have been astonished at the level of back peddling and rationalizations, sanitation, and damage control efforts on this solar issue to justify their zoning mess for a couple months. My experience says that when you see this type of bizarre behavior there is almost always more to the story. And apparently in this case there is also.
But maybe some light has been shed on why all the damage control and hoopla and back peddling.
I was so disgusted I left the meeting after the public hearing. And by the way Rich Edsall could actually run a better public hearing than the ZBA chairman ran this evening. What a circus! Like maybe buy a clue and actually clearly say the time and that the public hearing is now officially open and here are the details of this appeal and hearing! And then officially close the hearing.
But after I got home I received a very interesting call from someone who stayed at the meeting. Come to find out Mr. Urban Hirschey the Cape Vincent Supervisor of all people is actually applying for a special use permit from the ZBA.
Want to venture a wild guess what Mr. Hirschey is applying for?
THAT'S RIGHT ... a freaking solar project!!! Probably just like Alexander's!!!!!
Now some things are starting to make a lot more sense!
But on the Alexander/Grogan solar issue I would especially like to express my appreciation to Ms. Hester Chase who is a ZBA member. Based on the evidence her colleagues simply chose to ignore, she voted to invalidate the permits on the solar issue that were so obviously screwed up, and she asked a lot of tough questions. She had the Chairman Dennis Faulknham stepping all over himself.
Ms. Chase on a very difficult, controversial and critically important town zoning issue and in the face of significant peer pressure showed incredible integrity, credibility, and most of all leadership as many of her peers in town govt. have been doing nothing more than trying to cover their ass on the zoning fiasco they created that once more violated the due process rights of the same CV citizen. I think I will seriously consider writing in Hester's name for town supervisor.
It is not surprising since Hester was willing at risk to herself to aggressively take head on in protest the injustices of our former planning board and it's wind conflicted chairman.
It is also not surprising that our former planning board chair Macsherry has been trying to shut Hester down to address this issue fairly and competently and bring some actual justice on behalf of a badly aggrieved CV citizen...Mrs. Grogan.
I was extremely disappointed with others on this ZBA board.
But I am sure Mr. Hirschey's solar project will find nice smooth sailing in his permit approval process after the way has been cleared by throwing Mrs. Grogan under the bus!
I now can understand why this Hirschey govt so willingly goes along with the Art. X process that stripped us of our home rule rights. Apparently rights are not a big issue with them evidenced on how they once again violated the rights of a CV citizen...no problem!
What a circus act...actually a circus act has more credibility...and I shouldn't give circus acts a bad name!!!
I have been astonished at the level of back peddling and rationalizations, sanitation, and damage control efforts on this solar issue to justify their zoning mess for a couple months. My experience says that when you see this type of bizarre behavior there is almost always more to the story. And apparently in this case there is also.
But maybe some light has been shed on why all the damage control and hoopla and back peddling.
I was so disgusted I left the meeting after the public hearing. And by the way Rich Edsall could actually run a better public hearing than the ZBA chairman ran this evening. What a circus! Like maybe buy a clue and actually clearly say the time and that the public hearing is now officially open and here are the details of this appeal and hearing! And then officially close the hearing.
But after I got home I received a very interesting call from someone who stayed at the meeting. Come to find out Mr. Urban Hirschey the Cape Vincent Supervisor of all people is actually applying for a special use permit from the ZBA.
Want to venture a wild guess what Mr. Hirschey is applying for?
THAT'S RIGHT ... a freaking solar project!!! Probably just like Alexander's!!!!!
Now some things are starting to make a lot more sense!
But on the Alexander/Grogan solar issue I would especially like to express my appreciation to Ms. Hester Chase who is a ZBA member. Based on the evidence her colleagues simply chose to ignore, she voted to invalidate the permits on the solar issue that were so obviously screwed up, and she asked a lot of tough questions. She had the Chairman Dennis Faulknham stepping all over himself.
Ms. Chase on a very difficult, controversial and critically important town zoning issue and in the face of significant peer pressure showed incredible integrity, credibility, and most of all leadership as many of her peers in town govt. have been doing nothing more than trying to cover their ass on the zoning fiasco they created that once more violated the due process rights of the same CV citizen. I think I will seriously consider writing in Hester's name for town supervisor.
It is not surprising since Hester was willing at risk to herself to aggressively take head on in protest the injustices of our former planning board and it's wind conflicted chairman.
It is also not surprising that our former planning board chair Macsherry has been trying to shut Hester down to address this issue fairly and competently and bring some actual justice on behalf of a badly aggrieved CV citizen...Mrs. Grogan.
I was extremely disappointed with others on this ZBA board.
But I am sure Mr. Hirschey's solar project will find nice smooth sailing in his permit approval process after the way has been cleared by throwing Mrs. Grogan under the bus!
I now can understand why this Hirschey govt so willingly goes along with the Art. X process that stripped us of our home rule rights. Apparently rights are not a big issue with them evidenced on how they once again violated the rights of a CV citizen...no problem!
What a circus act...actually a circus act has more credibility...and I shouldn't give circus acts a bad name!!!
Correction From the Last Post
According to the Town Clerk, tonight's Cape Vincent ZBA meeting and public hearing will be at the Cape Vincent Rec. Park building at 6pm. Not at the town offices.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Important Cape Vincent Zoning Board of Appeals Public Hearing Monday Oct 7th.
Today, Monday Oct 7 at 6 pm at the town offices will be the ZBA public hearing on the town's zoning mess concerning an improperly permitted solar project on the property of Mr. Roger Alexander that is impacting the property of Mrs. Mary Grogan. This case has been going on since July 10th of this year when the planning board was mistakenly on the path to approve a solar use in the River District that was actually not allowed in that district.
Once they realized the mistake the entire zoning process on this matter became a fiasco of back peddling and rationalizations and the only way they could figure to rectify and rationalize the situation was with a highly irregular distortion of the CV zoning regulations and attempt to permit the project grandfathered under the old law, which actually raised more problems.
Ironically some other interesting things surfaced as part of this fiasco, such as the planning board chairman at the time indicating we should not interpret our zoning so literally. That alone is an astonishing statement. If zoning laws are not taken literally, then there is no point, credibility, or consistency at all since any personality or group within the governmental zoning process over the years can simply apply the law as they personally see fit. That simply leads to land use chaos and becomes completely arbitrary and irrational which in addition would not hold up legally. The law is the glue that keeps things consistent and should largely remove too many conflicting and arbitrary decisions from watering down the zoning process to the point of uselessness.
Mrs. Grogan BTW if you don't know already is also the Cape Vincent seasonal resident who lives with the dangerous private illegal wind turbine looming over her house on County Rt. 7 for the last four years. That is due to a another zoning fiasco by the previous town govt. that was never rectified by the current town govt. despite that fact the CV ZBA decided the turbine was illegal, and the NY courts upheld that decision. She is bringing the appeal before the ZBA on the solar issue.
It will be very interesting to see what happens tonight at the ZBA public hearing and what happens next.
In many ways the entire credibility new CV zoning process and the officers who apply it rests on what may or may not happen tonight at the ZBA.
And that is considering that we have rested the future and defense and the health, safety, and welfare of our community on larger critical issues like wind development on our new zoning law.
Once they realized the mistake the entire zoning process on this matter became a fiasco of back peddling and rationalizations and the only way they could figure to rectify and rationalize the situation was with a highly irregular distortion of the CV zoning regulations and attempt to permit the project grandfathered under the old law, which actually raised more problems.
Ironically some other interesting things surfaced as part of this fiasco, such as the planning board chairman at the time indicating we should not interpret our zoning so literally. That alone is an astonishing statement. If zoning laws are not taken literally, then there is no point, credibility, or consistency at all since any personality or group within the governmental zoning process over the years can simply apply the law as they personally see fit. That simply leads to land use chaos and becomes completely arbitrary and irrational which in addition would not hold up legally. The law is the glue that keeps things consistent and should largely remove too many conflicting and arbitrary decisions from watering down the zoning process to the point of uselessness.
Mrs. Grogan BTW if you don't know already is also the Cape Vincent seasonal resident who lives with the dangerous private illegal wind turbine looming over her house on County Rt. 7 for the last four years. That is due to a another zoning fiasco by the previous town govt. that was never rectified by the current town govt. despite that fact the CV ZBA decided the turbine was illegal, and the NY courts upheld that decision. She is bringing the appeal before the ZBA on the solar issue.
It will be very interesting to see what happens tonight at the ZBA public hearing and what happens next.
In many ways the entire credibility new CV zoning process and the officers who apply it rests on what may or may not happen tonight at the ZBA.
And that is considering that we have rested the future and defense and the health, safety, and welfare of our community on larger critical issues like wind development on our new zoning law.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
BP - Is It Really All THEIR Fault???
This is a quote from a post on the Cape Vincent blog Pandora's Box of Rocks.
"We are collectively holding our breath, and have been for a long time, for the message to sink in with BP that their development efforts here are unwelcome by the vast majority of residents. They should leave here to allow the town and the region to recover from nine years and counting of astonishingly arrogant corporate abuse. We have had enough of BP's brand of public outreach and it is time for them to stop; it is time for them to go!"
Note the general tone of this post on the issue. A lot of things they should do...or they should stop...or it is time form them to go.
What about US??? Do we just sit by like a bunch of hapless victims?
When do we declare we have had enough and stop leaving all the decisions to them and the State as we sit by only reacting from one wind crisis to another????
BP Meeting At Aubreys Confirmed - What's Next?
It has apparently been confirmed that BP held a meeting at Aubreys with it's lease holders. Of course the speculation is wild as to what this means.
The hope is (including me) that BP is telling the lease holders "Bye Bye" and just pulls the plug and walks away once and for all.
However, there is another possible reality we should consider. That is that maybe BP has found a buyer, and we will have another wind developer yanking on our community chain and continuing the division of the community. And the next wind developer, if there is one, might not drag it's feet on a potential project as BP has done for years while our community got ripped apart..
But if BP walks, and dumps it's lease holders like so much left over trash, we need to seriously rethink our comp plan and zoning and take control by prohibiting wind development once and for all, and passing a community bill of rights and stop letting the future of our community be in the hands of giant wind energy corporations and the politicians that ensure their dirty business.
If BP walks away clean with no other developer behind...then it would be the perfect time to do what I suggest and not squander that opportunity trying to appease the State or anyone else.
Stand up and do what is right to set an example to REALLY protect Cape Vincent and the 1000 Islands.
Stop trying to be reasonable and fair and appease an Art. X system that removed our home rule rights, and start doing something that significantly protects the rights of the people, species, and the scenic and environmental treasures of our area.
Do what has been painfully obvious since 2005 or 2006 and certainly since 2009 when the Wolfe Is. turbines went up. BAN the damn wind development fiasco in CV once and for all, and hope that leadership sets an example that spreads to other wind threatened communities in the region!
The hope is (including me) that BP is telling the lease holders "Bye Bye" and just pulls the plug and walks away once and for all.
However, there is another possible reality we should consider. That is that maybe BP has found a buyer, and we will have another wind developer yanking on our community chain and continuing the division of the community. And the next wind developer, if there is one, might not drag it's feet on a potential project as BP has done for years while our community got ripped apart..
But if BP walks, and dumps it's lease holders like so much left over trash, we need to seriously rethink our comp plan and zoning and take control by prohibiting wind development once and for all, and passing a community bill of rights and stop letting the future of our community be in the hands of giant wind energy corporations and the politicians that ensure their dirty business.
If BP walks away clean with no other developer behind...then it would be the perfect time to do what I suggest and not squander that opportunity trying to appease the State or anyone else.
Stand up and do what is right to set an example to REALLY protect Cape Vincent and the 1000 Islands.
Stop trying to be reasonable and fair and appease an Art. X system that removed our home rule rights, and start doing something that significantly protects the rights of the people, species, and the scenic and environmental treasures of our area.
Do what has been painfully obvious since 2005 or 2006 and certainly since 2009 when the Wolfe Is. turbines went up. BAN the damn wind development fiasco in CV once and for all, and hope that leadership sets an example that spreads to other wind threatened communities in the region!
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