Letter to Editor re. Hamptonburgh Town Board Meetings - Public Comment & Comp. Plan

August 7, 2023

Town of Hamptonburgh Town Board

18 Bull Road

Campbell Hall, NY 10916

RE: Status of “No Solicitaton Law” and Comprehensive Plan Update?

Dear Supervisor Jankowski and Councilmen Cocchiara, Horrego, Lord and Willems, Thank you for discussing enactment of a “No Solicitaton” type law at the June 5th Town Board Meetng. I was unable to attend the 6/26/23 meeting but do not see any mention of an update on this in the 6/26 meetng minutes, following the Board’s request of Attorney Donovan to research it at the 6/5 meeting. As I am aware that the agenda for the once-monthly Town Board meetings does not include any official public comment period (which makes it very difficult for the taxpayers and residents to share our concerns and have any kind of real dialogue with our elected officials), I am reaching out in writing (again) to let you know that I believe it is very important that such a law be enacted here in Hamptonburgh as soon as possible.

I would also like to hear from the Town Board members who were on the Comprehensive Plan Committee as to the status of such. An enormous amount of work went into preparing the draft Plan by the Committee Members and the

public, and the one put in by the committee members is greatly appreciated by the public. It is a disservice to the members of the public who participated as well as to all the taxpayers of the Town, that the Plan has still, more than a

year after the March 2022 public hearing, not been officially updated.

I would like to hear from the Town Board members in partcular (and not just from Supervisor Jankowski) when the updated plan will be implemented. As I understand it, the updated Plan would have guided updates to the zoning as

necessary which would have aided our Planning Board in reviewing new projects as they are proposed. As we all know, new projects continue to be proposed on a regular basis and without the implementaton of the new Plan, it is possible

that projects that do not meet the guidelines of the new Plan, which was the product of much work and cost by the.Town’s professional consultants. NOW is the time to finally move this along and implement the updated Comprehensive

Plan. It is very discouraging and upsettƫng to see the Town government having completely dropped the ball in this regard. I would ask the Town Clerk to make sure that this discussion is included in the minutes of this Town Board

Meetng so that town residents who are not able to attend can stay informed on this matter.

Thank you for your contnued service and I hope to hear both of these issues addressed in a discussion including ALL of our Town Board members at this evening’s meeƟng.

Sincerely,

Sheila M. McGroddy, P.E.