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Planning board vows follow-up after members say town board bypassed referrals
Summary
Planning board members said the town board passed or advanced items without giving the planning board meaningful input. Members described a meeting with two town-board officials who promised not to "skip" the planning board; the planning board will seek formal follow-up and noted Article 78 as a remedial option if referrals continue to be ignored.
Speaker 1 described a post-meeting conversation with Supervisor Marston and Councilman Degotti in which the town officials reportedly promised that future matters would come to the planning board for review and not be "skipped." Several board members said they remain skeptical and asked whether the town board would formalize that promise in a resolution.
"They shook my hand and gave me their word," Speaker 1 said after recounting the meeting, but other members cautioned that informal assurances can change with personnel turnover and that a formal response from the town board would create more reliable continuity. Speaker 2 and others said the planning board submitted a letter of recommendations at the prior meeting and had not received any reply from the town board.
Legal remedies were discussed as background, not as immediate action: the board's counsel explained Article 78 remedies for review of local government action, but members were told judges often ask parties to negotiate in private. The board debated whether filing Article 78 would be politically or procedurally useful and noted it depends on where the case lands in the state-court system.
The planning board asked two members (liaisons) to raise the issue at the earliest town-board workshop and to request a written update about how the town will ensure referrals are routed to the planning board and how the town will respond to planning-board recommendations.
Next steps: planning board will request a written commitment or explanation from the town board, have liaisons present the issue at the next town-board workshop, and reserve Article 78 or other legal options if the planning board’s advisory role continues to be bypassed.
