Rutland Herald

Planners meet after three-year hiatus

April 10, 2000
By SANDI SWITZER Herald Correspondent

DANBY - The Planning Commission didn't meet for three years. And when they reconvened recently, it was a little too late for the town plan - it expired last year.

Now the seven-member board is undertaking a page-by-page assessment of the document.

Members elected Bradley Bender to serve as chairman of the commission and agreed to hold regular Tuesday meetings until the project is complete.

Bender credited the Danby Select Board for bringing it to the commission's attention that the document had expired.

The town plan has been the subject of attention recently because of an OMYA proposal to begin quarrying operations at the Jobe Phillips Quarry property.

The District 1 Environmental Commission considers conformance with the town plan in reviewing a project for Act 250 approval.

Bender said the meetings held recently have been well attended as the planning commission goes through the document line by line. He pointed out that the town plan currently mentions the possibility of another marble quarry being opened in the Danby Four Corners area at some point in the future.

"I don't know that we're going to say anymore than that," he said. "Our town plan is very generic, very basic. I have a feeling that some people think it's going to outlaw any activity by OMYA, and that's not what it's going to do."

The town plan does address issues regarding quality of roads, uses of land and quality of life, Bender said.

He said it's the function of the District Environmental Commission to decide whether the quarry project should proceed.

Citizens have suggested the town consider interim zoning as a way of addressing the issue, according to Bender.

"It was pointed out that this was tried in Danby some 30 years ago, and the people that attempted it were within inches of being tarred and feathered," he said. "So the 'z' word is not a nice word around Danby."

Bender noted the planning commission had not met in three years because there was little to discuss.

"We've never looked at it as a role of a zoning board, so we've taken a very laid-back approach," he said. "Unfortunately, it never came to my attention that the plan was about to expire until all this business started with people getting anxious about the possibility of OMYA doing something. It then rapidly came to everyone's attention that it had expired."

Bender said officials will be sending out questionnaires regarding the town plan, and will schedule a public forum to give citizens the opportunity to provide input.

Planners hope to submit the revised document to the Select Board for review by the end of June, he said.

The next planning commission meeting is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Town Clerk's office.