Town Board yet to complete review of ag protection plan

NORTH EAST — The Town Board held a special meeting Monday, Aug. 16. At that time it discussed the status of the Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan that’s been proposed by a special committee bearing the same name. It reviewed with Attorney to the Town Warren Replanksy where the town stands in the environmental review. Thus far it’s completed Part One of the SEQRA (State Environmental Quality Review Act) process. A determination of significance has yet to be made.

A required public hearing on the plan was recently held in July. Town Supervisor Dave Sherman said the board agreed it had no further recommendations it wishes to make regarding the plan and that it’s “OK with the draft that was presented at that public hearing.�

At the Aug. 16 meeting the board went through Part Two of the SEQRA review, with Replansky suggesting a number of responses, that the board readily accepted.

“We did discuss briefly the determination of significance, and a negative declaration will likely be the result of the responses to Part Two, which is evaluating the impacts for what the plan proposes,� Sherman said. “This document is really more of a guide for the Town Board to pursue certain avenues of actions to change policies and local regulations or perhaps establish other programs relating to or providing what is intended to be better for an environment of agriculture and ag operations within our community. It’s not a matter of the plan telling anyone in farm operations what to do or how to do it or anything in that nature.

“Hopefully it would provide additional options and opportunities for people in farms or farm operations to sustain ag opportunities in the future,� he added. “And to do so in a fashion that would be to offer additional opportunities and options as far as the use of their land.�

It was agreed at the meeting that a draft determination of significance, likely a negative declaration (meaning the adoption of the plan would not result in any foreseeable negative environmental impacts as a result of it), would be drawn for the board to consider at a future meeting. That third and final step of the SEQRA process must be completed before the plan can be adopted.

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