We won a case at the Zoning Board of Appeals last week. They agreed with 10 citizens that Thorn Hill subdivision was NOT eligible to be built in the rural district East of Kabletown Road.
Eligibility depends on how good the land is as farmland.
Big parcels are rated better for farming, and less developable than small parcels. The administrator, Paul Raco, had rated Thorn Hill as if it were a small parcel of 60 acres, when it's actually 160 acres. His justification was that only the 60 acres were being developed intensely now. He said he had been rating this way for 12 years. The Zoning Board voted 3 to 2 to agree with citizens that the ordinance refers to the whole parcel.