Tonight (2021-02-01) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Zoning Board.
Apart from approving past minutes, this meeting was the continuation of the review of the Wolfsberger Park subdivision.
Towards the start of the meeting, Brian (Chair) pointed out how these meetings are not question and answer sessions with the public. Even as he acknowledged they have done more of that due to the online nature of the past few meetings. I can’t fault him for this, both pointing it out and trying to adjust on the fly.
Yet, if this was a ‘normal’ meeting we would all be in the same room. That alone changes the context for questions and their answers. The peoples presence (or lack thereof) is a physical presence. Any questions they need to have answered will be. If not during the meeting proper, before or after it when people chat. Both with the applicant and among themselves. Reversely, this ‘virtual’ format fragments the public and denies them a direct voice. Sure, you can write a letter or similar, but that can be ignored (possibly without you even knowing). It’s harder to ignore someone standing in front of you. “When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”
The public hearing was closed, although no decision was made tonight. Possibly at the next meeting, but I think the one after is more likely.
The question of if all the Board members were receiving their email was raised. This is ironic as if email doesn’t work, you don’t directly know about it, as you aren’t receiving email. It’s the out of channel discussions where email failings show up. Meeting in person, phone calls, etc. Although context in email can imply issues enough you go searching.
Which brought us to SEQR, which took up the bulk of the meeting. The Zoning Board claimed Lead Agency. It’s unlikely anyone will challenge them on it, as SEQR is ‘cruel and unusual punishment‘. Although, unlike most situations, I think it actually makes sense for this project.
While the request at this point will have no real world impact (it’s literally moving lines on a map), it will have impacts down the road. SEQR will also come up then, but there is no reason it can’t be dealt with now. From a Board point of view it has to be done at some point, when doesn’t really matter. From a developers view, the sooner they know about issues the better, as they will have more time to address them. Or decide it’s not worth it, and cancel the project. In the end, I expect they can work around all issues that were discussed.
There were views expressed in the public chat that differed. I got the sense those watching felt certain issues were being ignored and/or glossed over, traffic in particular. Regardless of my opinion on traffic, I think this is primarily a side effect of the medium. I think this medium makes it harder to communicate, and thus easier to conclude ‘secrets’ are being kept from the public. Again, it fragments the public while giving more control to government. Or at least creates that appearance. And in this case, appearance might as well be reality.
SEQR will continue at the next meeting, and potentially be resolved then. Which may mean a decision on the subdivision. Or it may be delayed further. ‘Measure twice‘ and all.
Next meeting moved to March 8th, due to timing on SEQR. I don’t see a compelling reason this couldn’t jump to April. That should meet the required time frame, without being an off schedule meeting. Eh, not like my opinion is the one that matters here.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the February 1, 2021 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Zoning Board.