We are requesting that the Danby Town Board reject the request to consider approving a special easement on a piece of property at the end of Marsh Rd that would provide rights to a 5-house development.  This piece of property has only 15 feet of road frontage and is a gross deviation from current Danby Zoning Law standards for subdivision. 

The Danby Town Board is being asked to consider using NYS Town Law Sec. 280 to create an “Open Development Area” for a large parcel at the end of Marsh Rd.  This little-known law allows a property owner to ask the Town Board for a resolution that allows construction on property with no road frontage by creating access by easement instead of a road.  It is a long & complicated process and letting the Town Board know that we are not in favor of this could stop this now. 

This land is located in a sensitive and beautiful natural area that the Town has been intent on protecting for years. It borders a Tompkins County Unique Natural Area (UNA), the headwaters for 6-Mile Creek, and the charging area for one of Danby’s biggest aquifers.  It’s important to protect our water resource & natural areas.

The buyer is proposing a Cluster Subdivision for up to 5 new houses and will need to build a suitable 1200-foot road of at least 30-feet wide which would cause much damage to this sensitive area.  

Approval of this ODA would allow the developers to avoid meeting the compliance requirements of our Danby Zoning Regulations and Subdivision Regulations. Everyone else who goes before the Planning Board, asking for a subdivision, has to meet certain criteria that the Planning Board uses to determine suitability. This request, if approved, opens the door to others asking for an Open Development Area for their property in order to develop it. This threatens the beautiful open areas that make Danby so special.

If the Town Board approves this it could set a dangerous precedent for protecting Danby’s open space & natural areas.  Danby could start having development anywhere on land that does not have adequate road frontage.  This goes against the Danby’s Comprehensive Plan, which is designed to discourage this type of development and where the word “preserve” is mentioned 42 times.

This proposal is being considered without public notice and lack of transparency as our Danby Town Board Supervisor, Joel Gagnon, has been promoting this plan for months by working with the owners, the buyers, and their attorney.  The public has not been notified or, until recently, the Town Board and Planning Board members. 

The Town Board is not obligated to approve this ODA resolution if it does not benefit Danby or contradicts the Comprehensive Plan. They need to hear from us about this before their scheduled special meeting set for Monday March 1.

The Town Board should not be providing special consideration to any applicants that allow by-passing our Zoning Laws and go against the Danby Comprehensive Plan.

We are respectively asking the Danby Town Board to reject this request for an ODA for land situated at the end of Marsh Rd in order to encourage orderly and equitable development in Danby and promote maintaining the rural character of Danby.

Please consider signing this petition which will go directly to the Danby Town Board members and Supervisor.  They want & need to hear from us!

Thank-you for considering this and adding your name to this petition.

Town Law $280 which concerns Open Development Areas...https://codes.findlaw.com/ny/town-law/twn-sect-280-a.html

Danby Comprehensive plan...https://towndanby.digitaltowpath.org:10768/content/Departments/View/7:field=documents;/content/Documents/File/615.pdf