Tonight (2019-04-01) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Zoning Board.
The meeting was short and to the point. Muffy was back, having continued to pursue her subdivision. Long and short of it, a judge had found issue with the process used, but had not offered any opinion on the outcome of the process. In particular, the way the Village handled SEQR.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen SEQR hiccups cause troubles. At this point, I’m of the opinion the State Environmental Quality Review’s (SEQR) primary function is to be a legal bludgeon. Don’t like an applicant? Beat them with SEQR. Don’t like governmental action? Beat them with SEQR. Yet every time I see it used that way, it’s more a stalling tactic then a final decision.
Such as tonight. This will probably add another few months to the process, but not change the Villages stance. While at the same time, not resolving Muffy’s complaint against the Village. Nothing really happened/changed, but time (and other resources) were expended. The only ones that gained were those involved in the process, yet neither for or against it. In other words, attorneys and bureaucrats.
Ironically, the whole ‘process’ reminds me of the Trump collusion narrative. No one has been found to have done anything actually wrong (here or there), yet people were found to have made honest mistakes while trying to do their jobs, to the best of their ability. But instead of acknowledging that it was an honest mistake (to err is human), and more importantly that it wouldn’t change the outcome, the focus is on dotted i’s and crossed t’s. And the big issues, the ones driving the entire argument, are not actually addressed.
In this case, that means Muffy’s complaint that the Village was ‘arbitrary and capricious‘ in denying her request remains unanswered. An answer to that could (potentially) change the outcome of her subdivision request. But SEQR process? Purely a time waster. The Zoning Board will go through the steps again, without changing their decision, and Muffy will (presumably) continue on her challenge.
To be clear, I am not holding anyone in the room (Muffy, Zoning Board, relevant attorneys and support staff) at fault. As far as I can tell, all involved are acting in good faith towards what they believe is the best outcome (although they have differing views on what that outcome is). No, the fault lies in the ‘process’, which is being imposed by outside forces.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the April 1, 2019 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Zoning Board.
Agenda was not available anywhere I could find. Perhaps it will be on the Village’s website in the future, perhaps not…