More than 1,228 sign petition hoping to stall Caroline zoning vote

In a packed room at Caroline Town Hall last Wednesday, community members who are against proposed zoning laws in the town left no seat available.

The town board was holding a public business meeting. To start the meeting, the board gave privilege of the floor to residents.

The first speaker was John Morse, who let the board know that he and residents in attendance did not feel that their opposition to zoning had been heard by the five town board members.

“The residents of this town are using their voices in the most democratic ways possible,” he said during the meeting. “We put up signs, attended meetings, wrote letters. And the five big in-person meetings in the last year resulted in an overwhelming public outcry against zoning.”

Morse had with him a petition signed by 12,228 members of the Caroline community. The petition called for a town board vote on zoning to be postponed until January 2024, after an election where three of the five board seats will be on the local ballot.

Per state law, zoning laws are not eligible to be presented as a referendum, meaning residents cannot vote directly on zoning laws. Instead, the town board votes on whether to adopt those laws.

Morse said the petition hopes to delay that vote until after the election, in order to give candidates time to run on the issue that has divided the small, rural town.

“You have a responsibility to listen to your constituents. What is being presented here is valid, and if you choose to ignore this petition and take advantage of obscure New York state laws that have no direct mechanism for a referendum on zoning, then that is not a democratic approach and would be a slap in the face to residents and taxpayers of this town,” he said to board members during the meeting. “It’s time now for the members of the Caroline Town Board to listen to the members of the community. It is time to show you can do what is right.”

Following his comments, Morse placed the petition on the table where the board members sat. He was treated to thunderous applause from the community members in attendance. Nearly 10 additional residents spoke after Morse in support of the petition, with some deciding to sign it at the meeting.

Caroline Town Supervisor Mark Witmer said after the meeting that the board is in the process of reviewing the petition and hopes to respond to it at the next town board agenda meeting. That meeting will be April 5 at 7 p.m. at Caroline Town Hall, located at 2670 Slaterville Rd.

“I’m still collecting my thoughts, and I want to speak very sure-footedly and knowledgeably about it when I do,” Witmer said of the petition. “My questions would be: what did people understand? Being opposed to zoning is one thing, but I want people to understand why we’re doing the zoning and what it would mean for them. A lot of people signed [the petition], so it merits a very thoughtful response. No doubt about that.”

Witmer said that the town board had known that the petition was circulating for several months and wasn’t surprised when it was presented at Wednesday’s meeting.

There have been multiple public meetings where organizers who oppose zoning have circulated the petition and spoken out against the proposed law. Witmer said he feels a philosophical difference with those residents but still considers them neighbors and friends.

He believes that zoning laws will protect the rural nature of Caroline without infringing on residents’ rights.

“I said this in the aftermath of the listening sessions we had [last year]. I said, ‘I hear you. This is a difference of philosophy.’ We all love Caroline, and we all love our neighbors. I’m not saying that glibly,” he said. “Our goal, and the goal of the zoning plan, is to ensure that [the rural nature of Caroline] is protected and enhanced. Make sure it is to the benefit of residents, the benefit of businesses so that development is planned out thoughtfully.”  

After the meeting, Morse, who owns the banquet facility Celebrations in Caroline, said that he doesn’t see the law in the same way, and based on meetings he’s attended in the last year, he thinks most Caroline residents agree with him.

“To me, it’s a discriminatory thing,” he said. “This is a town that doesn’t have a lot of financially privileged folks, and when you add laws like this and start to put more regulations in place, make people get special permits, anything that adds a dollar is going to exclude somebody.”

Morse was clear that the petition does not say no to zoning, even if he is personally against it. He said that when the three board members who are up for reelection in November were elected, zoning was not being seriously discussed and candidates did not run on their stance regarding those laws.

Town board members Tim Murray and Kate Kelley-McKenzie were first elected to the town board in 2019. Witmer was first elected to the town board in 2012 and has served as supervisor since 2016.

“If the town truly does or doesn’t want zoning, it would be easy to tell in November,” Morsesaid. “Our ask is simple: because no one ran on zoning last time, it wasn’t mentioned. This time, it would be a platform for candidates.”

In January 2021, Caroline updated its comprehensive plan, which is when zoning started as a discussion in the town hall.

In April 2021, the zoning commission was formed. That commission was tasked to come up with a zoning law and present it to the town board for a vote.

Witmer said he disagreed that candidates haven’t run on zoning as an issue, as he was elected during the time Caroline was working on its comprehensive plan and was last reelected as supervisor in November 2021, when zoning was an issue in the town.

“[When] I was last elected a year and a half ago, the zoning conversation was underway and we had been very clear about that,” he said. “There was a vocal presence there [at Wednesday’s meeting] from the community of people who are dead-set against zoning. We’ve heard from them before. I’m happy to say I have a different take on it. The board voted unanimously to appoint a zoning commission. That was a step to do what we’re doing, to consider zoning rigorously.  We are doing that. It’s in line with the platform, prior actions. Honestly I feel like it’s a responsible thing for us to be doing.”

Witmer said he didn’t know for sure when the zoning commission would present the town board with a draft law to vote on, but said he believes it is close. Once that happens, he said the board would review the law and hold a public meeting to debate it.

Morse said the fact that the zoning commission is close to presenting a draft law makes it apparent that Wednesday was the right time to present the petition.

“We knew now that this would be the right time because the zoning commission has indicated that it will turn [the draft law] over to the town board at any moment,” Morse said. “We wanted to get this in there, get some discussion before they try to railroad it through without seeing that petition.”

Caroline has a population of a little more than 3,000, Morse said to get more than 1,200 residents to sign a petition shows that there is a voiced opposition to zoning.

He said the “No Zoning” signs that have been a topic of conversation around the town are just the beginning of the opposition. In a year, the petition’s signatures were gathered at meetings, protests and events large and small.

On Feb. 28, a public information session was held at Brooktondale Fire Hall where Morsesaid the no-zoning crowd was really able to make its voice heard.

“It was a home run for the non-zoning folks. There were new people speaking which had a lot to say, and it just continues to fall on deaf ears,” he said. “I personally think it’s very hard for them not to listen to [the petition], but I think they’ll find ways around it. Even the smaller events we’ve hosted have been amazing in a little town like this.”

Morse said zoning has a time and place for certain communities. He cited safety and infrastructure in larger cities as reasons to plan for certain businesses and buildings to be in certain places.

In a rural community, however, he doesn’t see a reason for zoning.

“What are we doing it for in the country? We’re not putting zoning in for infrastructure or public safety. We’re doing it for people’s personal preferences,” he said. “If you want to build something on your property and you start asking your neighbors, chances are someone is going to say no. The taxpayers want to choose what to do on their property.”

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