Ferndale, NY

To the editor:

On March 3, the Liberty Town Board held a public hearing to revisit its Planned Unit Development (PUD) law, but the new version of the law appears to be even more detrimental to our community than the existing one. It will allow high-density housing developments to be built anywhere in the Town, regardless of the zoning, including in Agricultural Conservation and Rural Development districts where these developments are currently banned.

The implications of this new law will be far-reaching, threatening the rural character of Liberty and ignoring the voices of residents who opposed a PUD in Swan Lake last year and continue to oppose it now. Zoning regulations are meant to protect our neighborhoods, and any changes that increase the potential for overdevelopment, overcrowding, and the loss of green spaces are unacceptable.

The Town Board has been misled into believing that encouraging more residential developments will reduce our taxes. This mindset resembles a Ponzi scheme, because the additional expense of providing public services to new developments outweighs any increase in the tax revenue they generate. Just look at the new sewer expansion in Swan Lake which will load millions of dollars of debt onto local taxpayers to supply these new developments.

I urge all residents to attend the public hearing and say NO to PUDs and NO to the new PUD Law.