Letter To The Editor – Triumph Over Democracy

To the Editor:
On July 1,  three days before the celebration of our own Declaration of Independence over the tyranny of King George, I had the great displeasure to witness one of the most shocking displays ever of a local government’s trampling on the rights of the entire Town, by secretly passing (in public) a use variance from “Residential-1” to “Commercial/Industrial” in the New Lebanon Speedway’s proposed motocross/motorcycle and dirt bike track to be built in the southern part of Stephentown off of Webster Hill Road – a very small dirt road coming off of Route 20, right next to New Lebanon and East Nassau.
This was a private triumph over democracy by four men with a pre-ordained agenda, who were not governed by law, reason, conscience or due process. This was one of the most callous and contemptible violations of the fundamentals of law and general fairness that I have seen in my legal career.
Four members present of the five member Zoning Board, Joseph Champion (Chairman?), Robert Mittnight, Sr., Richard Sime and the rarely-before-present Jack Liebenow, obviously privately pre-decided the outcome of this matter and then stampeded the result in their secret public vote. Mr. Liebenow had not attended any of the prior meetings in which this project was discussed.
There were so many fundamental errors and flaws in the behavior of this Zoning Board, that, aside from being an embarrassment, subjecting Stephentown to rightly-deserved ridicule and scorn by its own citizens and residents of the neighboring towns, it makes their “decision” absolutely reversible in a State Supreme Court Article 78 Proceeding, which I hope and expect to be brought by a group of concerned citizens.
When first walking into the Stephentown Town Hall that night, I noticed all four of the Board members meeting and talking privately in the Code Enforcement Officer Dean Herrick’s office. That in and of itself is a fundamental and egregious wrong, a total violation of New York State’s “Open Meeting Law.” A quorum is not allowed to meet anywhere except in public or in an openly-declared executive session. That the Code Enforcement Officer was present only added to the public insult.
The Board at the meeting itself had a public-be-damned attitude. What was of paramount importance to the “Chairman,” Joseph Champion, was to get this over with, and fast. The Board had not a clue of what was required under the zoning law and the State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQRA”) and the regulations implementing the act. Mr. Champion at first simply said in words to the effect, “SEQRA is not important here, and we are not going to vote on it.” He passed it over. At that moment, Dean Herrick chimed in from the back, “Joe, you have got to do SEQRA.” At that moment the Board members’ gross ignorance – or possibly complete contempt – of the law took place in full public view. The “Short Environmental Assessment Form” was handed over to Mr. Liebenow, who then proceeded to “read” it. He himself answered “No” to each of the questions on the form. One of the questions was, “Could the action (of the requested change) result in any adverse effects associated with the following:  surface or ground water quality or quality of noise levels, existing travel patterns, solid waste production or disposal, potential for erosion….” He simply said, “No.” There was no discussion. Was that supposed to be the vote of the Board? One never knew. Another question: “Will the action result in any adverse effects on Asthetic… or other natural or cultural resources or community or neighborhood character?”  The same answer, “No.” Another question, which makes this whole process even more ludicrous, was “E” – “Is there or is there likely to be controversy related to potential adverse environmental impacts?” Once again Liebenow said out loud, “No.” Once he finished reading the form, he himself then declared there were no impacts, and the Board suddenly and apparently declared – without a public vote on each of the questions asked – that the SEQRA process was done. They had never even declared themselves to be the “lead agency,” nor had they ever sent letters to other appropriate governmental entities asking if they wanted to become the lead agency. Once again, a violation and less than lip-service to SEQRA.
As pointed out in Lou Oliver, Esq.’s fifteen page letter to the Board, on a number of legal issues, this Board was required to send a complete
package of all of the documents in the file to the Stephentown Planning Board 20 days prior to the original public hearing which took place on June 3. Nothing was done. The Planning Board did not even know about this. Additionally, this Board was required to send a complete package to both the Town of New Lebanon and to the Village of East Nassau, as abutting or close governmental entities. They did nothing. These were mandatory provisions of our own Town statute.
What makes this whole process even more embarrassing and despicable is that toward the end of the meeting these four “governmental officials” hovered up at the front of the bench and mumbled. Suddenly after three or four minutes they had: a) privately granted the use variance to the speedway owner; b) voted to approve the minutes of the last meeting; and c) also voted to adjourn.  All that was done in a course of three or four minutes without the public’s hearing a word or having a clue what they were doing.
This Board, in violation of all principles of open meetings, due process and justice to the general public took three separate votes in “private public,” got up and basically left. This whole farce would be absolutely laughable if the violations of due process were not so serious. The legislation and zoning law in Stephentown belongs to the entire population of the Town. This small band of truckling toadies does not own our Town’s statute. It is not theirs to trifle with at their whim and caprice. It belongs to the citizens of the Town, and it must be dealt with honorably, reasonably and with caution. Their decision may very well have been one of cold and calculating cynicism. These lemmings followed the desires of the Pied Piper speedway owner. I have no doubt that the decision was preordained here. The Zoning Board was ready to pass this project a month ago but for alternate member Jim Ayling’s conscientious and persuasive motion to table it. That was the “public” meeting where Chairman Champion, after hearing complaints from residents of the prospective noise of 30 dirt bikes (in 10-15 races a day) with over 100 decibels for each dirt bike, almost sneeringly said, “So, lady, you got a problem with the noise, huh?” The conduct of these Board members made a mockery of the entire process. Maybe, if they were truly only ignorant, one could forgive them. But they also had a willfulness in their utter contempt for due process and the law itself.
These four Board members should summarily resign. They had no integrity in this matter, and they have no business in sitting in judgment of our Town law. They have shown themselves unfit to be deciding matters of importance to our Town. After their resignation, this matter should begin absolutely anew. It should be referred to the Town Planning Board, where there is a group of caring, intelligent and conscientious citizens, who do not have contempt for law, reason and the fundamental rights of citizens.
Very truly yours,
Brian C. Baker
NY Route 43, Stephentown