Thursday, July 26, 2018
Turnout sparse at KJ rezoning hearing
Almost three years ago, more than 1,000 people crammed into a banquet hall in Kiryas Joel to witness a momentous vote by the Monroe Town Board to let the village annex 164 acres and oppose a request for a much larger expansion.
There was a lot less hoopla on Wednesday for one of the final ripple effects of that decision and the heated debate that preceded it.
Fewer than a dozen spectators watched in a meeting room above the village shopping center as Kiryas Joel officials and their consultants held a public hearing on their plans to rezone those 164 acres. It was an obligatory step toward an outcome that was obvious throughout the past annexation controversy: Kiryas Joel would now extend its zoning for dense, multi-family housing to the areas it formally annexed in 2016.
The hearing, which began with a short explanation of the zoning studies and amendments under review, nearly ended with no comments or questions for the nine assembled village officials or their consultants. But three spectators from outside the Hasidic community finally spoke up with some pointed questions about Kiryas Joel's growth and relations with neighboring communities, leading to a polite round of back-and-forth with Kiryas Joel Administrator Gedalye Szegedin.
Carol de Beer of Blooming Grove asked how the rezoning would affect the surrounding area, and whether outsiders like herself would be able to use a library or any other services in Kiryas Joel.
"I want to know what services Kiryas Joel provides that are going to be available to me," she said.
Szegedin answered that Kiryas Joel residents pay property taxes to their village, town, school district and Orange County, and that its fire department and ambulance corps collaborate with their counterparts in neighboring communities. He added a touch of humor by touting the pastries of a nearby bakery: "We also provide great kosher rugelach downstairs that anyone can have, if that's what you want."
Peter Dombroski of Monroe asked: "Will there be any open space in your community that other people can enjoy?"
Szegedin replied that the densely populated village is just a little over one square mile, a fraction of Monroe's size.
"There's not much recreational land available in the Village of Kiryas Joel," he said.
Kiryas Joel's planners have estimated that more than 4,400 multi-family housing units could be built on the 164 annexed acres and 56 additional acres that will be joined with Kiryas Joel in the Town of Palm Tree. That new town, which is being carved out of the Town of Monroe, will come into existence in January.
Kiryas Joel is accepting written comments on its rezoning studies and amendments until Aug. 7. The documents and contact information are online at kj-seqra.com/164Zoning/.
Comments:
Post a Comment
