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Amy's Perspective - Overdevelopment Was Not A Campaign Promise
Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at 10:30AM By Amy Fortunato
As a strong and solid reminder, I would like to reiterate the campaign promises expressed during last year’s (11/2017) Town Supervisor and Town Council elections. It wasn’t so long ago; but our human nature includes the tendency to forget, even the most important campaign commitments. Obviously, there were a lot of ‘if elected, promises’ made. Closer to the end of the campaigning season, lawn signs even appeared with a claim to reduce taxes, unlikely. But, each of the candidates committed to transparency and dedication to complete and then adopt a Comprehensive Master Plan for Smithtown, which includes all five hamlets. How soon we forget. Okay, I get it – but this is the reminder notification. Before any other issues are addressed, now is the time to act with integrity to serve the public of Smithtown as elected officials. This ‘sell by’ date is past due.
A Comprehensive Master Plan is an inclusive, intentional town plan based on our Smithtown town resident’s survey consensus and the essential issues that impact our community. As promised, this plan must be recognized as absolutely necessary before any construction or renovation projects are considered, especially when a special exception is under advisement. Historically, Smithtown’s current town codes were written to protect the interests and investments of the Smithtown residents at the time of their codification. The campaign promise to address our local issues with transparency and integrity requires our Town Supervisor and Town Council to conduct business in an open and straightforward manner. The onus is on our local town government to reach out and include any and all potentially interested residents rather than the ‘bare minimum’ approach. The campaign promise to complete and adopt a Comprehensive Master Plan takes precedence over any other issues as the basis and foundation for their future administration.
There are various proposed developments and issues throughout Smithtown that support the necessity of the Town Supervisor and Town Council to follow through by keeping their campaign commitments before addressing or acting on additional projects. The negative implications of approving any special exceptions occur because the precedence for more construction to be approved would be based on the special exception. Honoring those campaign promises to secure a prosperous future while sustaining our historic past in Smithtown is categorically essential. REMINDER: Now is the time to keep those campaign commitments, rather than an administration that disregards the circumspect approach to our local government by completely and adopting a Comprehensive Master Plan. REMINDER: Transparency is the clear and obvious approach to supervision with integrity.
As an example of the necessity to live by these campaign commitments before addressing or acting on additional projects, please think about the implications of the proposed special exception requested by the Watermill Caterers. The precedence set by allowing the Watermill Caterers to build a four-story hotel would introduce a different standard for any other business to build up to that height limit. The proposed four-story height level changes the landscape and character of our town. Smithtown single family residents comprise 85% of the town’s land use and population. A survey of Smithtown’s taxpaying residents is the only way to know whether the consensus exists for this relegation of our current code for height restriction. Please commit to our campaign commitments before any further administration in Smithtown.
Amy Fortunato is a Smithtown resident who ran on the Democratic line for Smithtown Town Council in 2017.
Reader Comments (1)
Starting in the late 1960's, communities across the nation were writing CMPs as a pre-requisite for applying for Urban Renewal Grants. These grants were used primarily to tear down old and/or blighted areas, to help give communities an opportunity for future planned development, and help give them a "modern" look. These CMPs failed, in most cases, because:
1) the CMP was used as a means to an end (getting grant monies to demolish old neighborhoods),
2) communities relied almost solely on (expensive) outside "planning experts" to tell the community what it should want; without ever getting to know the community and without the community learning about what the CMP can and cannot do,
3) the community was never committed to following the CMP (even though most CMPs are so non-specific that any development could be justified by it); the CMP should be codified in some way and cited to support zoning and development actions,
4) CMPs never survive in a community culture of financial secrecy, political distrust, quality of life pessimism, civic ignorance, or general indifference and, finally,
5) CMPs need a broad base of support, from many different economic and political interests, to survive the long-term planning and development they outline.
So, while I'm an ardent supporter of Comprehensive Master Plans (ie.strongtowns.org), I think Smithtown is the type of place where #4 above is too pervasive for a CMP to work. Unless, of course, Smithtown's Comprehensive Master Plan had just one goal: "Be a place in which having a Comprehensive Master Plan would make sense."