This is perhaps a redo of the March 2021 board approvals

ROSA provided notice of a public hearing on March 15, 2021 for the purpose of approved a new zoning local law that would rezone vast swaths of the Village of New Hempstead. (See old ROSA posting.) At that meeting the Village Board voted to approved a new local law that was not ready to be approved. (If you missed that meeting you can listen to the recording here.) ROSA never saw the local law get filed and then suddenly it was on the agenda for a dead of summer meeting. The Local Law has been reworded. We have copied the prior information page and updated documents where we found new information.

POSTPONED TO Monday September 13, 2021 at 7pm Public Hearing Details

WHAT: “Continuation of the Public Hearing on Amending the Village of New Hempstead Zoning map to reflect what was adopted in the Village of New Hempstead Comprehensive Plan”

WHEN: Monday September 13, 3021 at 7:00*

WHERE: In Person at Village Hall and, as per latest email notice, also on Zoom

VIA ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84752915503?pwd=OGt0cWRFUklzV2I0S2dhQnByd0t2UT09
Meeting ID: 847 5291 5503
Passcode: 10977

*There is also Board of Trustees Workshop on the Calendar, but we don’t know what that means.

How to Prepare?

Understand What is Being Proposed As Best You Can

We have gathered up the related documents as best we could. See below for missing documents. There is a whole of of rezoning going on and its important not to panic. If you are concerned about specific aspects of what is proposed you should be very specific as to what you believe the impact will be and ask suitable questions, ask for explanations and details, and make specific requests for changes if necessary.

References

❗ This document is very specifically related to the public hearing. If passed, the Local Law will make changes to the current Village code and its tables along with the current zoning map. The changes are meant to reflect the recommendations of the Comprehensive Plan so reading the Comprehensive Plan can help you to understand what is in the new code.

At the end of the March 18, 2021 the attorney suggested the Village Board just approve the new zoning maps (even though some of the new designations were not supported by existing code) and then later approve the new zoning code. But despite this recommendation the Village Board made and voted on a super vague motion to approve both. Nothing has been filed with the Department of State and we have not found any newspaper notices of the passed local law.

Apparently the board is trying to in someway fix what they did before. They did not respond to the submissions made at the last meeting and there is hope that they will address the comments raised but it is presumed that they will approve it again.

This is an official public hearing and if you don’t believe they have sufficiently analyzed the environmental impacts of the proposed changes this is the time to say so.

There is nothing that says the Village Board must pass all changes at the same time. If you have specific concerns about just one area of change then be clear regarding the area with which you have concern.

* This is the last version of the Comp Plan hosted on the village website. It is still unclear what version was adopted at the meeting of October. No final Comprehensive Plan was obtainable through County Planning or by FOIL with the village.

** It is presumed that some of the comments made by the county were addressed but it is unclear.

*** The minutes make mention of attachments to the minutes related to explanations for passing the Comprehensive Plan but although included by reference into the minutes these documents were not part of the website posting.

Think About the Environmental Impact of the Local Law As Proposed

A Comprehensive Plan is a Type 1 action and subject to the State Environmental Review Act. See the Department of State Guidance Page for Municipalities.

ROSA has not found any evidence that the Village of New Hempstead fulfilled its requirements for environmental review for the Comprehensive Plan. The County Planning GML letter raised this issue and in August the Village planner recommended overriding the county’s recommendation to with respect to how to do a SEQR review. There were no minutes of the Village BOT regarding the Comprehensive Plan that mention this required identification of impacts and analysis of impacts.

At the March 18th meeting the planner commented that all the environmental reviews would be done at the time of project implementation. This is very much in opposition of the intent of SEQR which is to do SEQR review at the earliest juncture.

ROSA believes that a lack of SEQR review was a problem when passing the Comprehensive Plan. This oversight makes the need to identify and analyze the impacts for the Local Law all the more important. County Planning in its General Municipal Law review letter has included a requirement to prepare a Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) to analyze the maximum impact of the proposed law. This is a standard practice for a local law of this type that involves rezoning and increased density and ROSA agrees with County Planning that it is merited. Identifying the maximum build out is particularly important in the face of the Town of Ramapo’s plan to also significantly rezone lands adjacent to the Village like the Minesceongo Golf Course, the Striker Property, and the commercial area along Rt 202 south of Rt 45. The cumulative impact of all rezoning must be considered to understand how the Village will ultimately be affected.

If you have a questions or concerns regarding the clarity of the proposed local law, how many more units can be added, what the visual or traffic impacts might be, etcetera, now is the time to voice your concerns.

To help the reader understand the extent of the changes being proposed we have included an image of the current zoning map on the left and the proposed new zoning map in the middle. The use of solid red and solid purple illustrated areas being changed. But in addition there are many other areas being rezoned that are in yellow. These have been circled in red in the right most image. The use of the overlay zones in general makes sense but it is not always clear from the new map which zone is underlying the overlay zone.

There are also questions regarding the proposed use of designated open space parcels. The 301 Pomona Road parcel across from the ball field was purchased with open space funds by the Town of Ramapo and promised to the Town of Ramapo Residents for Open Space so the PUD recommendations have been highlighted by residents in that area as being of great concern. Similar concerns have been expressed regarding the purple area that is also designated open space as a result of the Fairway subdivision of the past. This land was dedicated to the Town of Ramapo for open space as part of the subdivision and there is discussion of the Town of Ramapo just donating this space to the Village for recreation solely for the Village. This means that all the woods in that area could be cleared for tennis courts and other facilities that would require significant future maintenance.

This is not a call to panic, just a call to pay attention. The best way to learn what is being planned is to show up at a meeting and listen to the planners.

ROSA 4 Rockland

New Hempstead Rezoning Local Law Public Hearing AUGUST REDUX