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Established 1947
AROUNDTOWN
byStephenR. Barbeau
Supervisor, Town ofLeRoy
The last two weekends have
been very inspiring with tributes
to our veterans. First, I had the
opportunity to attend the dedica-
tionceremony for thenewcounty
Veterans’ Memorial on Bank
Street (just past St. Jerome’s) in
Batavia. It was a very nice cere-
mony and please make sure you
visit thisveryclassysetting.Along
withLeRoy’sownDerrickMonu-
ment providing thememorial, the
Town’s contribution paver is the
very first such marker. And, as
always, LeRoy’s Memorial Day
tribute is topnotchwith itsmusic,
speaker, roll call, and taps. That
always leadsme tovisit our cem-
eteries to pay respect to deceased
lovedones. In that spirit, theTown
has just engaged a contractor
to begin a multi-year project of
gravestone renovation inour nine
“closed” cemeteries (many more
thanmostmunicipalitiesoursize).
There is an incredible amount
of history in these (and our two
“active”) cemeteries, including
Revolutionary andCivilWar vet-
erans and their families.
I would also like to take the
opportunity toclearly, and factu-
ally (something often lacking in
today’s socialmedia landscape),
report to you the position of the
Town Board in relation to the
Frost Ridge issues by printing
the statement I made to those in
attendance at our last meeting.
However, at that time, the judge
had not ruled. He now has. So,
I will also quote from his ruling
at the end. Thiswill be from the
Town Board’s perspective only.
Asyou read,pleasekeep inmind
thesaying Ihadonaposter inmy
office as a school administrator
for the past 25 years- “What is
popular isnotalways right-What
is right is not always popular”.
The First Amendment of the
Constitutionallows for the“right
of thepeople topetition thegov-
ernment fora redressofgrievanc-
es.”About a year ago, a number
of residents from theFrostRidge
areabrought a“grievance” to the
Town Board through telephone
calls, attendance at Boardmeet-
ings, andapetitioncalling for an
end to concerts at Frost Ridge.
Doingwhat it is supposed to do,
the Board began to investigate
the issue. We did so by visiting
the area during concerts, re-
viewing our code with the code
enforcementofficer,meetingwith
area residents and the owners of
Frost Ridge, and reviewing our
legal obligations with the town
attorney.This has beendone in a
very objective, comprehensive,
and consistent manner. Here is
whatwe learned.
Concerts- Notice I said con-
certs and not concerts at Frost
Ridge. I say that because NO
WHERE, inANYDistrict,ANY-
WHERE in the Town Zoning
Code, are concerts mentioned
as a permitted use. Therefore,
it is our understanding, as con-
certs are NOT SPECIFICALLY
PERMITTED, bySTATE statute
governingzoning, theywouldbe
IMPERMISSABLE. So, thefirst
issue the Town Board is faced
with is an action in violation of
its own zoning code.
Next- It isoftenmentioned that
therewere“concerts” (definitions
vary) at Frost Ridge prior to
current ownership.While that is
VERY debatable, the Board has
decidedNOT toargue that point.
If theywere held, to any signifi-
cantdegree, theySHOULDNOT
HAVE BEEN (based on what
I stated above as a violation of
zoning), and clearly NO ONE
argues at the level they arebeing
held today.But, here iswhat else
the Board discovered during
its research. Case law seems to
make it clear that not only may
a board seek to correct errors
from the past, it actually has an
OBLIGATION to do so. If it
does not, it exposes ITSELF to
litigation for failing todo so (the
Town becomes the defendant).
That would be irresponsible on
our part.
So,whatdowehaveso far?The
TownofLeRoyhas come to learn
of a violation of its zoning code
and legally has the responsibility
to address it, even if it has not in
the past. Notice what I have also
failed tomention-noiseordinance,
decibel levelof themusic,number
and orderliness of patrons attend-
ing, economic factors. That is
becausenoneof that is relevant to
Town Supervisor Column
thedecisionweneeded tomake.A
concert venueof this type isNOT
PERMITTED ANYWHERE in
theTown of LeRoy.
Now, how didwe address this
specific issue with Frost Ridge?
We made our findings clear to
Frost Ridge ownership during
the summer of 2013 (this is not
something recent or a surprise),
right in the midst of their 2013
concert season. But, the Board
made a conscious decision to
“dragour feet”until the fall soas
not to disadvantage Frost Ridge
with their advance bookings and
ticket sales. However, as I men-
tioned earlier, it was made clear
that theTown couldnot permit a
concert venue in 2014 and this
was formalized in a letter from
the CEO in September, 2013.
This position was reinforced to
Frost Ridge ownership through-
out thewinter asmeetings began
with them to address the issues
of many campsite zoning code
violations aswell that theBoard
has beenmade aware of (a sepa-
rate issue).
Result - Frost Ridge chose to
ignore the Town’s request and
booked a full concert venue for
2014. Apparently, they believe
they are entitled to do so. Fine.
Residents of the area believe
they are entitled to relief from
the impact thoseconcertshaveon
their quality of life and property
values. Fine. The Town Board
believes ithas theduty toenforce
itszoningcodeandcorrect a lack
of proper enforcement from the
past. Isn’t it appropriate we let
the vehicle established in Arti-
cle III of the Constitution- the
judiciary- decide the issue? The
Board approached this issue in
a very logical and appropriate
manner andwaswilling to abide
by whatever the judge ruled in
both its letter and spirit.
What did the judge say?- I
quote-“…the Town has clearly
established that theconcertvenue
(is) in violation of the Town’s
zoning ordinance.” In other
words, a concert venue should
not beheld at FrostRidgeor any
other location in the Town, just
as the Board initially directed.
Whilewe feelnopleasure ineven
having to deal with this issue,
it is gratifying to note that the
ruling CLEARLY substantiated
the manner in how your board
handled this difficult situation.
We will continue to handle all
such issues in thesamedeliberate,
objective, and logical manner,
where doing what is right will
trump doingwhat is popular!
Thankyouand seeyouAround
Town.
