Editorial note: Following are comments posted to The Observer by a resident on December 12th, and are republished with permission from the author.
Neighbors:
I will not be able to attend the board meeting on Monday because of previously scheduled travel. I relied, like many others, on the regular meeting schedule, which included a planned meeting on Thursday of next week. This new, special meeting next Monday was called by two trustees specifically to avoid public scrutiny and public participation in this significant change in our laws. I am informed that these trustees actually called for this meeting on Monday of this week, yet notice was delayed until yesterday. Our village deserves more than these shenanigans, especially on an issue that has become so significant and been the subject of great controversy.
If I was able to attend the meeting on Monday, I would urge the board to reject the amendment on three principal grounds:
First, the amendment is retroactive. This is rare in legislation and demonstrates, in the most vivid and acute way, that this amendment was not designed to advance the public interest as a whole, but rather to immunize prior unlawful conduct by one or more lawbreakers. That is reason alone to reject this amendment.
Second, the amendment grants blanket permission to horse boarders first, and then requires disrupted neighbors to bring grievances second, only after they have been harmed. That is exactly the opposite of what responsible legislation should do. Rather, the proper way to regulate horse boarding is to do so by special use permits (even long term special use permits). Special use permits allow neighbors’ rights to be considered and protected first, before they suffer harm. That’s the right order of things. The current amendment has it exactly backward, putting the proverbial cart before the horse. This is further evidence that the legislation is not designed nor effective to advance the public interest as a whole. Its purpose and effect is to benefit a special class of commercial operators, including those who have deliberately violated our existing laws.
Third, the artifice of an “agriculture” designation, which now will be sprinkled anywhere and everywhere throughout the village, rather than in special agriculture zones, is destructive of our overall residential zoning and in violation of the village’s comprehensive plan.
I leave to others who are expert in equestrian matters to comment on the provisions relating to hours, horse density, etc. Those are also problematic, for many and varied reasons that have been explored elsewhere.
I will not be able to attend the Monday meeting. No doubt it was the intention of those who called this special meeting, when a regular meeting was on the horizon, and then deliberately delayed its public notice to minimize community attendance and scrutiny of their conduct. Responsible governance requires much more than this irresponsible behavior. I hope you will join me in April to vote the liable trustees out of office and send them back to their lives as civilians, if this process proceeds on Monday as they have planned.
I have spoken with the president pro tem and asked him to reconsider this conduct. I hope he will reconsider, but I am not optimistic. If this meeting goes forward, I urge you, my neighbors, to attend and let your voices be heard, despite the efforts of some of your trustees to silence you.
Once again you must find your voices, attend this dubious meeting and argue against this destructive amendment.
Respectfully,
Steve D’Amore