Message On A Milk Container: Where are the Missing ZBA Legal Notices

The Hoehmann administration has chosen a new target in its never ending frantic attempts to restrict the public’s access to “anything ZBA,” namely the removal of Legal Notices for upcoming appeals to the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) from the Public Notices web page of the Town of Clarkstown (Town) website.

Why does that make a difference, you might ask, as long as the ZBA Agenda for the upcoming public hearings is still posted?

Two reasons: one, under Town Law §267-a (7) the ZBA is required to

“...give public notice of such hearing by publication in a paper of general circulation in the town at least five days prior to the date thereof.”

Public notice has been construed as “legal notice” by the courts.

As of June 15, 2017, therefore, the ZBA Legal Notice for the June 19, 2017 public hearing would have been created.

Furthermore, past practice of the Town as recently as last month has been to post ZBA Legal Notices on the Town Public Notices web page.

As a result, the failure of the ZBA to post such Legal Notice on the Town web page could give a court reason to vacate any decision reached by the ZBA.

Second, an Agenda does not provide the public with necessary facts regarding the appeals to be heard by the ZBA.

For instance, the ZBA Agenda for June 19, 2019 states that Appeal #4058 for James & Joan Rudolph of 20 Freund Drive, Nanuet, NY will be heard seeking variances for the construction of an addition.

Vital information that would be included in a Legal Notice is missing.

For example, the identification of the subject property by map/lot/block, in addition to the street address, is missing. The result: the property cannot be easily located on the Town map and the neighborhood where the subject property is located cannot be easily determined, which in turn makes the effect of the requested variances on neighboring properties unknowable without further information.

Two, the number and type of requested variances is not specified, nor is the location of the proposed addition in relation to the existing structure. The result: whether the requested variances are substantial is unknowable and therefore the possible detrimental effects of the requested variances on adjacent properties and properties within the neighborhood is unknowable.

The number of “missing" ZBA Public Notices has just increased twofold: add the missing Legal Notices to the missing Proposed Resolutions.

But perhaps I protest too much. What difference does the lack of vital information regarding upcoming ZBA appeals matter anyway, when Proposed Resolutions detailing the decision making of the ZBA remain shrouded in a cloud?

How important is government transparency anyway?

That question has been answered by the Hoehmann administration: not much, if at all.

When will the public demand that the Hoehmann administration restore transparency to the ZBA?