Yorktown Business Acceleration Team

Hi, My name is Evan Bray.  I live in Mohegan Lake and am seeking the nomination of the Yorktown Democratic Committee for the upcoming Town Board election this fall.  I've written a lot about the frustratingly opaque and terribly drawn out planning process in Yorktown; examples here, and here, and here...

Even if I am unable to garner the support of the party, I still believe that meaningful reform of the planning, zoning and permitting process is desparately needed.  First and foremost, we need to better serve the average resident that wants to put up a fence, or other seemingly simple project.  If it requires a zoning variance, and you're not an attorney, architect or person in-the-know, it could easily take you 6 months to a year, and that's not right.

Major projects can take years.  Faith Bible Church was just "approved," but it will likely take another year or two before a shovel hits the ground because it was such a poorly thought out proposal relative to its enormous size (16,751sf) and lack of parking--and it took 4 years to get to this point.  Remember when the Patch reported that the Costco reps were cautiously optimistic their store would open in 2013?  The presumably competent team on the payroll of Costco, a corporation valued at 50 billion dollars, obviously had no idea of the nature of the beast they were dealing with; the beast being Yorktown Planning and Zoning.  Whether or not you agree with Costco, a developer should not be in limbo (without an actual approval) for years on end--literally. 

What are you going to do about it, you ask?  For an interim solution (until I can get on the board and legislate real reform), I am proposing a Yorktown Business Acceleration Team [YBAT], headed up by me, an architect, an engineer (or equivalents) and representatives from the town, such as the building inspector.  We would meet at the library or open space at the YCC to meet with resident and business owner applicants to preempt as many objections or delays with the boards.  Because, for example, the zoning board only meets once a month, you can lose precious time if your application is not complete and the board is unable to hear or decide on your application.  I witnessed a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing where a lady who needed a zoning variance for a fence she wanted to install around her pool to keep her grandchildren safe.  This hearing was in May and the ZBA took issue with her "sign notifications."  Long story short, she didn't get a fence installed that summer.  That's not working for Yorktown; it's unfair to residents, businesses, and the volunteer boards that graciously serve the town. 

We claim to want to cater to new businesses but the ZBA meets 11 times a year.  If I moved as slowly as our bureaucracy, I'd lose my job, and they wouldn't wait a month for the human resource board to meet to fire me.

There's a lot to talk about and this post just scratches the surface.  I hope to see you soon, and I hope you are considering contributing 100 dollars to the cause. 

[photo: New York Landmarks Conservancy Awards Dinner program]