A RESPONSE TO KIERAN MURRAY’S RECENT 3/7/12 GAZETTE LETTER

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Your editor's response to KIERAN MURRAY’S RECENT 3/7 GAZETTE LETTER

To the editor:

Mr. Kieran Murray’s recent letter to the Gazette claims that his many comments regarding the potential negative tax implications for “100% low income” and “subsidized” housing under still yet another Harmon zoning change proposal have been taken out of context. Moreover, his insistence that the restoration of the special permit is a magic bullet that will correct the problem is equally incorrect.

The fact is that Mr. Murray has been repeatedly reminded that the use of a special permit to deny projects that do not have a net positive tax impact is illegal under New York State law. In addition, the special permit process is not a guarantee that potentially adverse effects will be thoroughly investigated or addressed. Witness the total absence of protection by special permits on everything from waste transfer to allowing a farmers market to open in an inappropriate location.

As for Mr. Murray’s retaliatory attacks on residents who question the proposed Harmon zoning changes, legitimate concerns have been raised about school impacts, denial of individual property rights, density, traffic and quality of housing by residents of every political stripe, including Mr. Murray himself. The issue is in the hands of the court precisely because proponents of Harmon re-zoning will tolerate no dissent, no questions, and certainly no facts.

Mr. Murray remains inexplicably wedded to a re-zoning under which not a single property owner in Harmon has signed up. Concerned residents should attend Village Board meetings when the proposed zoning changes are discussed.