To the editor:
The Cazenovia Republican ran a story in January describing the requests of two Charles Road residents, where an application for a special use permit to operate a bed and breakfast had produced complaints from neighbors. The residents who attended the January town board meeting asked that the handling of the request by the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals be reviewed under the town’s ethics code; and also asked that the town institute a moratorium on approving any new bed and breakfasts throughout the town.
Town Board members have consulted with the town’s attorney and have carefully reviewed the detailed minutes of the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting of November 27th, 2017.
New York’s General Municipal Law allows a municipality to convene an ethics board for advice if they have reason to believe that town officers or employees may have a direct or indirect financial interest that would “conflict with the proper discharge of his or her official duties.” This was not the case in the present situation, and we found that none of the other ethical breaches listed in our code of ethics applied.
None of the ZBA members had any financial connection with the applicants or their business. Moreover, the ZBA minutes (and the recording of the meeting) indicate that the ZBA members were careful to consider the concerns of neighbors as well as the request of the applicants. Thus, we agree that there is, under the law, no need to formally convene an ethics board to review their behavior in this case.
We also agree that there is no need at this time to impose a moratorium on approvals of bed and breakfasts. There have been only two applications for such businesses over the past five years and no problems or complaints with these operations have arisen.
We do respect the residents’ concerns and have tried to address them. We will continue to review the issue of bed and breakfast operations and make adjustments to our local laws as necessary.
Cazenovia Town Board
Bill Zupan, Supervisor
Kristi Andersen, Tom Driscoll, Jimmy Golub and Pat Race, councilors
