To the editor:
Many of you have undoubtedly read last week’s front page article describing the last town board meeting, during which I meticulously outlined what I see as the incompetence of several board members and petitioned that Anastasia Urtz be relieved of her duties for conflict of interest.
You may also believe that this does not concern you as you are not one of the affected neighbors to Owera Vineyard.
Think again.
It is the editor’s article on page 2 that should have caught your attention. During the next board meeting, several laws will be amended in ways that should appall you. These amendments will include reducing the acreage needed to be considered a “farm” to a measly seven, inclusion of non-farm operations under the agricultural protection and provisions for circumventing zoning laws for “farms.”
These changes are all done to satisfy the egos of a number of board members, including Anastasia Urtz, in order to carry out their 2013 Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan, a plan that is designed to bring a beverage trail to Cazenovia. That plan specifically calls on the town to remove all impediments — that would be neighbor complaints — in order to make an enterprise a success and profitable. The law changes, up for vote, include language not to “unreasonably restrict/restrain farms or farm operations located in a State Certified Agricultural District.” These “farm” operations includes wineries, breweries, cideries and distilleries, all with tasting rooms, bars, taverns and the pursuant events linked to these establishments.
You may ask any of my neighbors how they like to live with loud music, drunken behavior, excess traffic late at night, sleep deprivation and having the state police on speed dial when the parties go late into the night, not to mention the reduced property value of their homes. It is important to know that by law the neighbors of Owera Vineyard today are required to inform interested buyers of the influence and disturbance that Owera has on their quality of life.
Owera Vineyard is simply the prototype, designed to get the bugs out of the system, set the precedent and do the groundwork for many more to come.
So think again — is this what you want in your neighborhood?
It is only a matter of time before another neighborhood is being destroyed at the hands of your elected town officials that no longer have your interest at heart, but is catering to their own visions and a few select entrepreneurs, funded by property tax breaks.
In case you missed it, the board will also vote to approve a law that empowers themselves to overwrite the tax levy limit in order to adopt a budget that gives the town board means to fund, as the proposed law states, “any other special or improvement district governed by the town board” — that would be the beverage trail.
So I urge you to submit written protests to these changes and attend the meeting on August 9.
Jorn Clement
Cazenovia
