Harpersfield Planning Board hears input from Davenport highway superintendent

May 16—Members of the Harpersfield Planning Board continued to discuss the proposed expansion to the New York Safety Track during a marathon special meeting Thursday, May 16.

The board closed the public hearing May 8, and Attorney Allyson Phillips of Young/Sommer, an Albany law firm that works for the town, said the board will have to decide whether to approve or deny the proposed site permit by July 8.

Mountain Top Airfield LLC, owners of the track, has submitted plans to expand its motorcycle track to include a smaller track for go-karts and to expand the type of vehicles to be used on the existing track and extend the time and days of racing and training.

Phillips had the board start to work on answering questions the town's Site Plan Review Law requires the board to answer before approving or denying an application. The board answered eight of the 17 questions during the three hour, forty-five minute meeting.

Throughout the meeting, members said they would like to do a site visit of the property in order to get a visual before answering some questions. The track owners agreed to a site visit if board members signed a form indemnifying the owners of any liability if something were to happen to them while on the property and submitted personal information including Social Security numbers, which the town's attorney advised them not to sign, a Daily Star archive said.

The board invited Davenport Highway Superintendent Fred Utter to the meeting to discuss the condition of Parker Schoolhouse Road. While the track is in the town of Harpersfield, the easiest way to get there is to travel along Parker Schoolhouse Road, which is in the town of Davenport. A sign advertising the track also points people to use that road from state Route 23.

Utter said the road was not made to handle the heavy traffic that uses that road to get to the track. The road was a dirt road and has only one layer of oil and stone on it. As a bus driver for the Charlotte Valley School District, he said he met trucks hauling trailers of cars and campers headed to the track Thursday morning. The town was supposed to receive some funding from the owners of the track after it was built, but that never happened.

Phillips said there was a memorandum of agreement between the track's owners and the town of Davenport that would have given the town $90,000 to fix the road after the track was built. A judge's decision in 2015 nullified that agreement.

Utter said the road has deteriorated over the years and is not scheduled to be fixed this year. Towns have to adhere to strict rules by the state and can only pave roads every 10 years. To fix the road to accommodate the amount of and heaviness of the vehicles driving on the road would cost $220,000, something the town does not have. He said some people living along the road have asked him to not fill the potholes in the road because it slows down the people driving on the road. "I know where all the potholes are," he said.

During other special and regular meetings, the board reviewed the full environmental assessment form to comply with State Environmental Quality Review Act the Department of Environmental Conservation requires. Parts of that form have not been answered because the board requested more information including from experts.

Phillips gave an update on the Article 78 litigation Mountain Top Airfield LLC filed against the town. The town submitted their response to the court Monday. The case is adjourned until July.

Phillips said the county planning board advised the town planning board to deny the application. The town has a right to overrule the decision by the county if it passes by a supermajority vote, meaning four members of the planning board would have to vote to override the county's decision.

The board voted to hold a special meeting at 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 21, to continue the discussion on the application. It will also discuss the plan during its regularly-scheduled meeting May 29.

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.