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1972-05-02 SEOJND INFORMAT!O:t7AL MEETING FOR œANGES IN liONING MAY 2() 1972 7:30 P.M. ti~ø~O-O..O......O..~..........3.0..G.~O.·......~.....OO..ð9.~........e..6...O~..O~Ð~ Mr. George Kushner presided ovez' the meeting. Mr. Joseph !ot1rpby-M.1rpby & Krp.n Pl~l1'ming' Associates. principal speaker Member of t.he Planning Board and Town Officials attending the Info~~ational Meeting_ b~G George Kushner Mr.".., J u Ar1:hur Norton l-1r. Rober~ Kirkpa~rick .Mr.. Gilbert. Co Mellon Mr. RichaJ:d Roberts fÚ'. Robert. Monahan Mr. Gerald Ð. Solomon Mr.. George Liapes Mr. tonald R. Odell Chairman secretary Member Member Member Member Supervisor Building Inspector Planning Se~1ces ~~OOØQ~3GO.~$.~øOø~.$.~~$....&~oaø..OQO.09.ð...œ.~.3..$~..~....O.O...ØQ.ø~..~.oo.~.o~ Mr. ~1urphy reiterated his speech of April 41' 1972=highlights being:: a.. This project was a jo:!.pt effor:1; of the Murphy & Kren Planning Associat.es and the Town :aoard and Planning Board in prepar1.m,! ,the proposed changes in zon1ng~ b. Geoqraph1cal limitations, (Maps-..,warren County Soil Conserva't10tl SUr'VEJY map and tœ u.s. GeolO9'ical survey Maps) ~~Ð following having major effects on proper development: 1. steep Lands 2. Water 3. sewer ·t.: . ~"ifi:lànds 5.. Drainage e" 'I11e Town of üUe~nsb.lry=bl·eak up 1. 64 sq. mi1es=45 thousand acres 2. Water.3~840 acres 3. Land ms,ssm:41 thousa.'!1d +'''' 4. Swamps and steep slopes act. 15()OOO acres 1/3 total area 5. 50% suitable for development (possible) d. Town of Yueensbury = problerns=futue plans 1.. Road irnprovements 2. Drainage 3. Water=new plant: to be opened in 1973 4. Se\>,age SysteIncjoint effort. with the City of Glens Falls Hr~ Murphy requestsl 1. The proposed Land=Use Plan be used to up~rad~ the present zoning ordinance and map... 2~ Increase the minimum lot si~e in sWw~p areas and mountain~cus areas.. <- 3. Develope in utiLity areas At t.he completion of Mr.. Murphy C s presentation a ,~uesti()n a:ind answer session was held. EXCERPTS P'ROM QUESTl()USo ANS~VERS AND STA~'Efo'£:¡NTSI Mr. Ronald stewart& Is it possible to suggest to place one house per acr~? Answer I YesQ you oouldq w:t it would be arbitrary Wha.t considerat.1on has been 91 ven to t.ying in utili':.ies specifically water and sewage with the City of Glens Falls? Wha~ is the long range· plan to get the Vermont traffic from the NOrthway to Route 4 into Vermont~..? Mr. Clover: Answer: The City of ()lens Falls is content with the present watEt" supply.. co The sewage t~:t:"eatment plant is a joint venture with the Ci~:.yof Glens Falls.. There are }'flans being undertaken by the Stat.e t.o build n'!:w roads~ also the upgrading of other maje>l: highways... (state,¡'1ter~t. of the Lake George As soci at. ion 1s att.ac:led) (Statemf:nt. attached) ...posDible Flood Plain ZOning has not been discuss3do but could be considered for wet= lands Answers Mr. L. Vi" Morton: Mr. Neil E. Needleman: Unknown: Please state the opinion of the Planning Board on the ten acres plots~ Answer I ME'.. Kusb:".]œ ~I¡ am stronqly in favor of 'the res1deQtual Ct~nservation district" I am not. neces::arily saying 1t has to be 10 "1t oan be 5 its t.he prtr''!ciple. a." Mr. Roberts .1. ..in favor of this 1::Il1t how far can we ']0 and st.ill get it acrossed....1 all not sure I am yet ready to make a decision myself" I am leÐidnq more toward it but. the lO acres still scares me....." Mr. Mellon Deferred Mr. Monahan :)aferred Mr. Norton II I agree with it". .. .. 'I Mr. Kirkpatr1c..~ '..... .not sure Which 'Way to go 5" S" or 10 ~out its going to be one of t.hem.. tì Lester Co> Huesteå:: (Gave speech on Lake George and ~tlands= was not subnitted) FURTHER INb\'RMATION ON '1'Hß QUESTION AND ANSWER PF.RIOD CAN BE OBTAINED FROM THE TAL=- -eS OF THE MEETING.. This was~:1 ven by Lro Lestsr Huested at the Msy 2J 1972 information meeting an¿ is to be included with the minutes or that meetingo -~~Ð --;~~~,.;;.... A SWAMP (Wetland) I have been asked to give an explanation or a description of wetlands or a swamp so that we may all know what we are talking about. Many people tend to think of a swamp as a wet mushy useless wasteland of no practical use, inhabited by a few mammals, birds, and hordes of insects. They think of it as wasted land space. But a swamp is far more. It is a unique ecocosm, a little world within a world. Nature did not make a great number of swamps or wetlands and many of these have now disappeared with the pressures of a growing population. The Dunham's Bay Swamp is one of the finest examples of wetlands in existence. It came into existence as the result of a river that once flowed through the valley between Ridge Road and Bay Road, that is, ~ very roughly. The river was created by the melting glaciers of the Ice Age. At that time, being part of the inland sea basin, it was for a time washed with salt water. The glaciers deposited rocks, minerals, chemicals, and sand. As the land slowly rose and the glaciers had melted, the river slowly decreased in size and disappeared. The combination of iand formation, watershed, minerals, chemicals, and silt deposit allowed nature to create the beginning of Dunham's Bay Swamp. Complex chemical reactions took place over thousands of years. It began to support life. The constant supply of good water enabled the swamp to become a living ecology system. r The swamp consists of a wet mud bog, supporting small land masses and acres of hummocks of certain' grasses, plants, bushes, and small trees. Several small waterways and brooks meander yr T-- W -VV·-~~ ~~--:>:-V~..,',..,~ .1" .. ,- - -2- through the swamp to become the two main streams flowing into Lake George. The mud bottom, carefully nurtured by nature, has a constant process of decay, oxygenation, chemical change and bottom formation. Here mud worms, amoebae, grubs, crustacean and other living forms grow and nurture other forms of life such as fish, waterfowl, etc. Constant chemical change goes on keeping certain qualities of water. Bulbs and roots grow in the mud bottom and form an interlacing network. Fish come up the waterways to spawn. This supplies Lake George with much of its fish population. Small forms of life also are supplied to Lake George and act as fish food. Numerous wild- flowers and plants live in the swamp. Then we have a large animal population including turtles, mink, otters, rabbits, water snakes, deer, (formerly foxes) and others. The bird populatipn is enormous with the swamp supplying nesting places for many species. A year or two ago 2 of us in a canoe made a count of some 26 species of birds in a few hours. And so the swamp is a self-sufficient little world of its own. It can cleanse itself, keep its chemistry in balance, and supply food, minerals, and chemicals to Lake George. In fact, it is the one most important piece of wetlands to Lake George. But with all this the swamp is a very fragile thing. It can balance its own life if left alone but cannot cope with any over- load. Pollution will kill a swamp. Foreign soil fill will damage or even kill a swamp. Even a very small outboafd motor propeller churns up the bottom layers in a channel and upsets natures orderly process of decaying organic material, oxygenation and the formation -... ...........~~.,. ~j..-~...,.......,~ -,"~ ... . -, " -3- of the proper composition of the bottom. Sewage, of course, changes the bacterial flora and chemical composition. Oil is deadly to a swamp and its balance of life. I have watched the film of oil come to the surface, grow larger and larger and spread out over the water on Dunham's Bay Creek after a small outboard motor boat passed. As I said earlier this wetland is a unique and very special little world or ecosystem. It should belong to all the inhabitants and citizens of the area. It should not be used, altered, changed or damaged for the temporary benefit and enjoyment of a few, at the loss, expense and deprivation of the rest of the citizens. The swamp should belong to everybody. It should be allowed to continue to nurture and supply Lake George. The Depa~tment of the Interior of the Federal Government recognizes all this but the Federal Government leaves the use, control, regulations, and ownership to the local town governments. In regard, however, to Federal Wilderness Areas, the Wilderness Act of 1964 provides that in such areas "there shall be no permanent roads, no temporary roads, no mechanical transport, and no structural installation." You can see that if changes are made, developments come into being, recreational use and other activities take place, that the very special but magnificent ecosystem is lost to all. It took untold thousands of years to develop but man can kill it in a few years. Once 9gne, the swamp can never come back. Man cannot make a swamp. Once gone it is gone forever. In this instance Lake George would be hurt, and would never be the same again. Statement of Lake George Association Regarding Town of Queensbury r Master Plan and Zoning ordinance Changes , for Planning Board 'Hearing May 2, 1972 ~ ~ name Is Lysle W 0 Mortons¡ I am President of the Lake Qeorge Assoc18tion (LGl~) and a year around resident of, the ToWn o,f , Queensburyf living, at Assembly Point" Lake George", This ,state-' ;~t¡, presented in behalf of ,the ÙJtke C?eorge Associati'o~~ :is intElndedtofurther its primary objectives; mamaly" uto , , preserv.e. promote and protect the welfare of Lake G~orgean:dlts en:~rOnson Our Association has beEm.doing this ,f,or 8:7, years" ',Many un,iqUe benefits to the ~e and its m.rroundings are the direct restiltof'efforts of our organizatio~ø To name just ,slew we can , ' (d.te the following outstandirlg, eXamples: 1,0 LGApromoted acquis,it,ion' by,:~e Statep ofthowj~~~s,Of 'acmes . o'f, wilderness, .at Tongue, Black ~dProspect }fountains .ø.nd'ø'évéral . islands: now In the Parko 2" 'tGA sponsored the Lake Georg~ Anti-Pollution ~~hlch' 'gives it., water the "AMJpecia1 Classif1.cationH enjpY~~fby'~ly one other Lake in the Stateo. "\, . ',.;. '. :... 30 ,LGA through -czourtact:f.:onand:.legislation. brougbt ,s,tatuat'ory , water-level c,ontrol ,to Lake Georgè,that liiDits f1u,ctu8ti~;to within an'IS" span during the su~er' ,and early fa 11.0 , Wbhave a membership totaling nearly 2000 individuals at the present time Q Roughly 28% of our members ar about 500 QWD prQperty in theT,Own of Queensbury o Many of them are p.~minentresidents r> A significant portion of the land area of the ToWn:'ofQu~ens- bury (perha.ps one-fifth) lies in thêLake George water,hedo Our ...-. ' A's8óciat,ion is intensely concerned with what happens in, the .. , . watershed" The Lake George basin 'is' a ISO square .mile þQwl'with about 4S~quare miles of _ter a.t.the bottomo Sooner,O-~l~ter, . ;'. all surface and ground waters including whatever pol1U:t~,ts :they . contain find tbeir way to the Lake" 'Tpis is our Numb~ 'Pne 'pr~lemo W;e are also greatly concerned about the flora and~aøna) . ~ about the geology and the Boi.ls of the wat.ershed fpr they are vital parts of tbe overall ecologica.l system of Lake George/> Any serious disturbance of any .of these· factors can upset and bring rUin to the entire region ~ Durin¡ the past 150 -200 "ears and particularly in the past ;LOO yearaman has made many· so called "improvements" ,in the Lake George basin \> The environmental impaòcts of these "improvements" bave caused steady deterioration oftbe natural quality of tbe Lake,o For instance tbe famous Lake George strain of Laketro1ît: is probably extinct 0 The level of pbospharous iD' tbe .South, bas'in is now over SO%. or the critical value where eutrophicatiOn always occurs t Algas blooms" loss of transparency and oxygen deplet~on al.l aymptolls of eutrophicatiœ have been observed in the waters,. south of tbe Narrowsp where the population deasity is highest" '. J To sum the situation up - things aren't good - they are ge~ting worse - and its up to all of us to do something about ito Thats why we åre appearing before yoUr Board tom:ight 0 There are several things we wish to comment on and recolÌl11e'sd to the Planning Board: 10 WETLANDS PROTECTION One of the IDOst biologlcallyvaluable fresh water wetlands ' remaining in the State of N,ew Y~rklies in the ToW£. g_,f , Queens bury 0 This wetland is tbellOO acre Warner&.Hàrrisli , ,1 ' ., Dunham Bay marsh with its 3'lnlet;~ which connect.' :tD.,~e George 0 It is all part of th~Lak~ George &yatemo':Ståte and independent scientific expertsh~ve evaluated th~se marshes as bè:f,ng the most biologica,ll)' productive ,"!,etlands in ,~h~ 'entire Lake, George basin and of :1__se intrinsi,c~ ,v~l~e to . tbe general welfare of all oftb~; peopleo This wet~.~, ha,s been on the &cquisition list of th~,Dep.rtment of ~nviro~- mental Conservation of the State- or New York s,irÍc.e ,1965; but . . for well known budgetarY re4sonsacquisition. has be~ delayed 0 This pt"iceles8 natural resource i.. now threatened by realty developments.. Our Association has been collaborating w~th the State in working out plans forè8rly acquisition.." . We hopC\\ and believe acquisition and preser~ation .of the marsh is in sight" However we most respectfully b~t neverless stro~ly urge the Planning Board and Town of Queensbury to protect this and all other wetlands in the Town from imminent environmental damage, by banning at.y realty development and residental or cOlllllercial construction: including filling or dredging in wetland areas a 2 a COJottERCIAL ZŒING AT THE LAKE For many years there has been .Dltch concern voiced by members of the Association over uncontrolled and unregulatoo cODlDerc· ial expansion .at Lake George 0 Without do~t coømercial develop- ments on the West Side in ,the Town of Lake George with its high seasonal population d~si.ty is the chief planning . probl. at .the Lake; and we are very glad to note, that the ToWn of Lake Georse is now doing something aboutf,t'a East side residential, property owners don' t ;want COIllll81".c- ial expansion to occur along'the .East Side Lake Shoree, They don · t want tbe natural, Adirondack character of the .region to be repI,tced by garish urb. and resort type de.v.elQpID8I1ts" Tbése folks include residential owners in Dresden) Fort Arm and Queensbury" Tbe latter are .now aU zoned residential except 'for a few _11 isolated cOlllllercial islands" Oar Association respectfully uages tbe Planning Board and tbe Town of Queens bury to deny perad.,ts or ~rf,anc88 for any further c~rcial purpose. whatsoever on 9Lfrom tbe To_ of Lake Geor¡e to the Ridge Road and alongtbe Þ110t lCnob Road... We believe there will in fact be very st".t"OÌ1g opposition to any such applicationsc As examples of such public attitude we cite the recent vigorous opposition to the Pencel and Witham applications~ 3... POLLtrrION CONTROL The chief pollution threat to Lake George is not bactera- logical; it is nutrient pollution~ Phosphorus has been identified by scientists working at Lake George as the probable cause of excessive algae growth and pntential t~utrophication in the Lakeo As most everyone is aware Lake George 1s the site of intensive scientific study by biologists and other . experts from RPI~ SUNY and other institutions ~ RPIoperates the Fresh Water Institute at. Smiths Bay and SUNY the . Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory at Lake George Villageo LGA is collaborating with them in their work and also in implementation of the resuits of their worko 'lbe pr:lJDary . focus of their studies. is to understand and evaluate nutrient pollution 0 Nutrient pollution has led to the death of sOate lakes; it has rendered .ny lakes unattractire for recreational and residential purposes. and it .is now the ~ritical problem at Lake George., Anotber falDDUS lake - Lake Tahoe - in California and, Nevada faced the same problems of pollution. ect" as we do at Lake George and they bave carried out millions of dollars of scientific research to find answers" LGA is in contact with tbe Lake Tahoe Area Council and the Lake Tahoe Regional Plan- ning Agency 0 'lbe Lake Tahoe people are some years ahead of us in their planning and implementation" For instance they are ~:-yollecting and proces~ing 60 percent of a~l ,sewage in the SSO square mile' Lake Tahoe basin 0 Their sewage treat- ment includes a tertiarr PM.e for the removal ofpho.pho~s and 'nitrogen from the effluerito : ,By 1973 all sewage -in ~he· ·Tahoe basin will be so treatedo They have also sci~tif~cally invest1$ated ~e entire land area of the baS~j) c,la8l.ifying it as to, lad "ç~p,ability and have scientifically: deterlDined the maximum nUQlber()f . , , people that can ,be alloWed ,in an,. area, and in the,"~i;n,a.a .' . . whole at any one t1me~ ·.1:0 o,tber words they have had to . 'j , . . " establish l:tm1ts of pupulationdensities for the different , . land uae eategories to be .sure th,eregion will surv;1:ve for future generations 0 T~eir Master Plan embodying these limit- , , stions and guide rules _8, be. approved and is ~ in eff,f¡tC~o From what we know about Lake George and its surround~ water- abed tbrousb our own investigations ,and collabøratipn witb the Lake George ,scientific commun1ty we believe similar popula~ion density restraints DUSt be :taaposeðat Lake Georae :tfit is . to surviveo .....'. As a yard stick Lake Taboe has set a liad.t of 280,000 people ,at 8D1 time in their SSO squaremi1e basin ') . If we appliect the _ rules our limit 111 tbe 150 "square mile Lake Gearle hasm would be about 76.000 0 Our .,......r pops1at:ton i. about sœ of th. vay to tbat poµat now 0 We bave no specific recOlllllèDdation8 a,t theJllOmeÐt with regard to pollution control at Lake George because .tbe scientist ~ are still working on the problemo There are however serious nutrient pollution problems in the waters of Lake George with- in the Town of Queensbury at Assembly Point~ along Pilot Knob Road and particulary at Cleverdale 0 There are several poøsible alternatives solution8o We invite the Planning Board to share SOllIe of the pub~ish- edland use control and pollution abatement information we have recieved from Taboeo . We seekthecooperaticm.of tbe Town of Que_sbury in solving ona pr..ctica1 and effective basis these land use and pollution control problems t~t face us all as soon as possible" SUØfAB.Y Our Association had c0ì18idered the new ''Rural Cemservation District" .zone which has been ,proposed by the Boa~ 0 I,n our opinion this ls. sound plaanina and lIpst laudable".. Having.., " objectives tbe preservation of open space an~ li.mitation of population density it applies well to upland and rugged , rural lands 0 We feel however that it should not be applied to wetland or flood plain areas where all ,residential and c~ial construction should be prohibiteclo