STATE OF NEW YORK, COUNTY OF ONONDAGA AND TOWN OF SKANEATELES
PETITION TO:
Town of Skaneateles:
Planning Board – Joseph Southern, Chair; Donald Kasper, Scott Winkelman, Douglas Hamlin, Anne Stinson-Redmond, Members
Zoning Board of Appeals – Denise Rhoads, Chair; James Condon, David Palen, Michael Ciaccio, Kris Kiefer, Members
Town Board – Janet Aaron, Supervisor; David Badami, Kevin McCormack, Mark Tucker, Robert Coville, Councilors
FROM PETITIONERS:
Board of Directors of the Skaneateles Lake Association, Inc. (SLA); Members of the Skaneateles Lake Association, Inc.; Residents of Onondaga and Cayuga Counties and interested citizens and stakeholders
PURPOSE OF THIS PETITION:
Petitioners demand that the application of Loveless Farm Development, LLC reviewed by the Town Planning Board at a public hearing on February 13, 2018 be denied in its entirety.
WHEREAS:
- Petitioners are interested parties and all have standing to present this petition.
- Skaneateles Lake has sustained pollution resulting in the spread of zebra mussels, milfoil and harmful algal blooms.
- The SLA has worked to remove this pollution and has spent almost $250,000 each year from donated funds for this effort.
- The City of Syracuse and Village of Skaneateles were granted waivers from mandatory filtration for the water they consume from Skaneateles Lake by the NYS Dept. of Health with the condition that they take necessary action to protect the watershed.
- We learned that nutrients and sediments run into the lake from 153 tributaries in our watershed that contribute to the spread of pollution to Skaneateles Lake.
- The Town of Skaneateles held a public hearing on the application of Loveless Farm Development, LLC on 13 February 2018 and many citizens attended and spoke in opposition to this application and urged the Planning Board to deny this application.
- The application relates to disturbance of soil and development in a steep slope area within the Lake Watershed Overlay District – an environmentally sensitive location. The application involves construction of a vehicle bridge over Bentley Brook and development of Lot #1 immediately to the north in a heavily wooded lakeshore location adjacent to the mouth of this significant tributary to Skaneateles lake.
- The Town of Skaneateles Comprehensive Plan and related Zoning Law include provisions that should guide the Town of Skaneateles Planning Board and any other Board that would have jurisdiction to consider this application. Those provisions have been presented to these Boards and will not be repeated here.
- There are no mitigation measures that your Board could impose that would eliminate the harm to the lake from this development in a steep slope sensitive area.
- Many lakeshore residents consume water direct from the lake. Pollution from this development will jeopardize the purity of their water.
Your approval of this application will hinder the work of the Skaneateles Lake Association, Inc., the work of the City of Syracuse and Village of Skaneateles to protect the watershed and their filtration waivers.
We the undersigned demand that you deny this application in its entirety.
Respectfully submitted,