Paul Wandel said the “Pro Housing Communities Pledge” is the issue he’s struggled with most in his six months as a Fredonia trustee.
Fredonia’s Board of Trustees passed the state’s “Pro-Housing Communities Pledge” Monday by a 4-1 vote.
Trustees Ben Brauchler, Jon Espersen, Nicole Siracuse and Paul Wandel voted “yes.” Trustee Michelle Twichell voted “no.”
Mayor Michael Ferguson stated before the vote that the Fredonia Planning Board had unanimously approved what it said was a letter of intent to take the pledge.
Twichell urged rejection of the pledge. “This plan was introduced a year ago and drew immediate criticism from both the New York Conference of Mayors and the New York Association of Towns,” she said.
Twichell spoke of “being coerced into signing an agreement that threatens to withdraw state grants from our other housing projects. I believe that signing the agreement will allow the state to bully our constitutional home rule responsibility to maintain Fredonia zoning codes. Our codes have already provided areas of state-assisted housing.”
She went on to say that “we cannot afford to subsidize a solution for a crisis we do not have, and we cannot afford to sacrifice more of our property values by losing our ability to self-regulate our zoning codes.”
Wandel said he struggled with the issue more than any other in his six months so far as trustee. He said, “I have looked at it, I’ve done a lot of online research, I’ve done my homework. I’ve shifted one side, then the other, back and forth, so it’s been very difficult.
“But in the end, what I look at is, potentially losing state grant funding for the village. I think that’s very important for the village. I was assured by… Brian Luce of the Planning Board, that if anything were to evolve from the state mandating anything regarding housing, that it would go through the zoning, planning and code violations boards, and that we would have a thorough-checked process in that way.”
Twichell said, “The thing is, this is not preventing us from applying for any of these grants. All it means is, you get some extra points from the state. … I really don’t believe we need this. Once you give an OK to our state government to do this, they can come in and take away home rule law and just impose on us to do it. It doesn’t matter if the zoning or the planning board doesn’t want it.”
In the public comments portion of the meeting, ex-Trustee James Lynden asked the current board to turn down the pledge. Marcia Johnson argued for its passage.