Discussion

The following letter ran in the February 11, 2001 issue of the Daily Messenger and is reprinted here with permission.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Honor the existing guidelines in Drumlins

To the editor:

Victor residents continue to look to our elected and appointed officials to make decisions that are best for the residents and the community, based on their strong goals for development done with conservation and continuity in mind.

There has been for nearly 14 months extensive residential opposition to the proposed 154 apartment/townhouses, 20 buildings, to be constructed on 26.8 acres. Pioneer Corporation, the developer from Cortland, has stated it will clear 21.9 acres (82 percent) of all vegetation, shrubs and trees in order to construct these structures, each with seven or eight units, on plateaus surrounded by steep slopes.

At the Jan. 13, 1987 Planning Board meeting, Mr. William Moore, then representative from J. G. Turner's MRB Engineering firm, submitted information about what was being proposed for these same acres.

Quoting from those minutes: "The multiple dwelling ordinance in the town addresses apartments and townhouses but essentially does not address the type of townhouse units in this development. Ownership of the units win be by the individuals -- they will own the units themselves and the land underneath their units. The rest of the area will be owned by the Homeowner's Association and will be governed by them. The Homeowner's Association will be responsible for the maintenance of the common areas as well as general administration of the subdivision itself and private road maintenance and that sort of thing." He made it quite clear these would not be your regular rental apartments.

Mr. Moore currently sits on the Victor Planning Board. The Town Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals will be asked to make a determination whether Pioneer's application on the table is "reasonably similar" to what was approved for rezoning in May of 1986, in Resolution #148. It would appear from the Planning Board minutes that Mr. Turner and MRB were quite clear their proposal was not a typical apartment/town home configuration. These specifics are also detailed within Resolution #148.

The resolution was passed nearly 15 years ago with specific commitments to the residents. We have bought and built our homes with the understanding these guidelines would be upheld. Why does Victor's town attorney state there are two ways to calculate density, then choose the method with higher density favoring an out of town developer, rather than abide by the approved 1986 resolution based on the required density of "slightly more than two units per acre?"

There are more than 10 acres of environmentally sensitive lands involved in this proposal. Victor's Conservation Board, an environmental design and research consultant hired by the town, and the results from Larsen Engineers of Rochester, have all documented extensive "potentially large impacts" on the environment should this application seriously be considered.

We will pay our taxes by the end of the month, knowing we do have strong and honest representation. There may be a need in Victor for apartments/town homes such as Pioneer proposes; looking for another location that would be more appropriate seems to be a viable solution.

The Drumlins' acres were rezoned with a very specific intent, clearly stated in the May 1986 rezoning Resolution #148 and reiterated by Mr. William Moore in the 1/13/87 Planning Board Minutes. Ask the former Town Board members who adopted ths resolution, what was their intent?

Marsha Senges
member, Drumlins Concerned Citizens
Wellington Drive
Victor

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