SPEAK OUT IN OPPOSITION TO PROPOSED 

WATER QUALITY BILL THAT OVERRIDES 

VILLAGE ZONING CODES!

 To All Village Officials:

In a "Friday night special," a bill has just been introduced into the NYS Legislature which advances Albany's consistent attacks on village government, by-passed the regular channels of input for proposed legislation, and which would completely override village zoning authority under the guise of  "Mom & Apple Pie"  regional water quality. Specifically, the proposed legislation would create a "commission" with regulatory authority to establish Long Island water quality standards, and the power to override village zoning codes whenever, in the name of those standards, the "commission" believes it appropriate. SCVOA, in opposition to this Bill, notes that:

1. No villages (nor SCVOA) were consulted prior to drafting this legislation.  As a result, this legislation is ill-conceived and poorly drafted. Villages have always been the biggest supporters of clean water, and have been on the "front lines" of protecting the local environment for decades.  Moreover, as currently written, the legislation relegates villages to a minority representation of a subcommittee whose chairman will be a minority member on the "commission." 
2. The legislation is duplicative.  Federal, State and County legislation (as well as many village codes) already govern "clean water," and there has been no showing that those laws have been ineffective.
3. The legislation is the wrong tool to accomplish a laudable goal.  No one suggests that Long Island shouldn't have clean water, and no one is suggesting that a village should be able to allow a land use that destroys our Island's aquifer; however, necessary regional goals exist on a variety of fronts, and are not achieved by overriding local zoning codes.  Such goals are achieved through enforcement of existing legislation, inter-municipal advisory committees, permitting processes, and other legislative and administrative devices.  To empower a "commission" to override local zoning is an unprecedented usurpation of village authority.

 A MEETING OF INTERESTED PARTIES IS 

SCHEDULED FOR:              

Thursday, January 30th, 2014

11:00 am to 1:00 pm 

Lower Level, Conference Rm B  

SCVOA URGES YOUR PRESENCE AND 

VOICE AT THIS MEETING!

 Mayor Ralph A. Scordino

 President

 Suffolk County Village Officials Association