FORESTBURGH – Over the course of three hearings and over six hours of cross examination, Forestburgh Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer Glenn Gabbard was excused from the testimonial stand on July 11 after legal representative for Lost Lakes Holdings LLC Steven Barshov of Sive, Paget, and Riesel PC finished his questioning.

This meeting was in continuation from the latest Forestburgh Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on June 23.

Through questioning, it was confirmed by Gabbard that the cause for the denial of the building permit was caused by flaws in architectural and engineering designs of the plans submitted.

It was also confirmed by Gabbard that he received legal and architectural counsel from at-the-time engineering consultant from Barton & Loguidice (B&L), Chuck Voss. Barshov displayed that Voss signed a memorandum with the acronym AICP, which stands for the American Institute of Certified Planners.

“The letters after Mr. Voss' signature were "AICP" which are letters confirming that Mr. Voss is neither an architect nor an engineer. He is a planner,” Barshov said.

In addition to asking a series of questions that eventually led to satisfaction from Barshov, the ZBA meeting produced more questions from Barshov about the ethics of the utilization of multiple Harris Beach PLLC attorneys sitting as legal counsel for separate bodies on the same case.

As of Monday night, there is no evidence officially added to the record yet. The ZBA is set to meet again to continue the evidentiary hearing process today, July 19 at 3 pm.

Barshov’s request to the ZBA to issue a subpoena for Voss was denied. Instead, B&L Senior Project Manager Bradley Grant is expected to speak before the board.

Short-term solutions

The Town Board of Forestburgh discussed a number of topics at their regular town meeting, Thursday July 7, including future security with short-term rentals.

As previously reported by the Democrat, a dog-bite incident involving a young girl in which authorities were left struggling to establish contact with Airbnb property owners over the weekend of June 3. Forestburgh Dog Control Officer Steven Budofsky called for discussion on the matter.

Budofsky reported to the Board July 7 that the town had acquired the addresses of 21 properties that act as short-term rentals with the hopes of gathering further emergency contact information.

The Town Board agreed on the idea that any further official action on the matter will be done after the Zoning Committee has completed their draft, in which short-term rentals will be addressed and amended into the zoning law.