8/9/2019 SASS Letter to Hammond
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02/02/15
Dear Neighbor,
Five years ago, the citizens of Hammond gave me the privilege to
hold the office of Supervisor. That is aresponsibility that I have
taken seriously and hopefully performed with the best interests of
the Hammondpeople as my first objective. We have addressed a number
of wanting issues; a Wind Law that was the resultof over a year's
work from a broad based citizens committee, a Hammond Comprehensive
Plan that alsoresulted from open, public participation and a
regular Hammond Newsletter, improving communication withthe
community, to name a few. This has been done while providing good
town services within budgetsreflecting prudent fiscal
management.
The town has now taken on another initiative that has resulted
in a great deal of conversation, which I wouldlike to take a moment
of your time to discuss. This is the proposal for Hammond to
participate in theapplication to the NY Department of State (DOS)
to be designated a Scenic Area of Statewide Significance(SASS).
This designation could apply to aspects of the entire American
Thousand Island shoreline from CapeVincent to Morristown and its
purpose is to identify, evaluate, and preserve specific areas of
scenic valuewithin the designated area. Currently, there are only
two such designated areas in NY, portions of the HudsonRiver Valley
(1993) and The Village and Town of East Hampton, Long Island
(2010). The application process isvery specific, detailed and
thorough as prescribed by the DOS.
I first became aware of the SASS designation during the 2009
campaign and thought that it would not only bean appropriate way to
recognize and assure the goodness of the scenic view shed assets
that we all enjoy inthe Thousand Island region, but as possible
byproducts, it could offer an opportunity to encourage
multi-towncooperation, develop additional tourism, assist in
obtaining grants from public and private sources that we allcan
benefit from, and give all of us "bragging rights". Come to find
out, when the state legislation creating thisdesignation was passed
in 1991, the Thousand Island Region was used as a prime example of
the type of scenic
area that the state wanted to recognize.
In 2012, after some of the other Hammond issues were addressed,
I contacted the towns and villages alongthe river to assess their
interest in working together for the purpose of applying to the DOS
for SASSrecognition. All agreed to take a hard look at the
proposal. I then asked several individuals to assist me
incoordinating the effort. In June 2012, the first organizational
meeting was held at the Antique Boat Museumwith almost every town
and village in attendance, along with Assemblyperson Russell and
representativesfrom the DOS. Based on the interest exhibited, the
steering committee proceeded with the process of applyingfor a
$75,000 grant to cover expenses of retaining the necessary
professional assistance. The Town ofHammond, with the unanimous
support of the Town Board, acted as the lead agency for the purpose
of the
grant application. In December of 2012 the state approved the
grant application from the Town covering costsrelated to the
project. It should be noted that the grant approval also required a
$75,000 contribution from thelocal community in kind or in other
words, commu nity involvement equal in value to the amount of
thegrant. At this time, over the past two years, numerous
volunteers from Cape Vincent to the Village ofMorristown have
worked on this project in varied forms and that requirement has
been met. Over $75,000worth of volunteer effort has been
contributed to the SASS project to make it a success. After the
grantapproval, Dodson & Flinker, a professional organization,
had been retained to undertake the evaluation anddraft the
application to the DOS, an effort now approaching completion. We
expect the final draft to be
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available shortly and the final public hearing to be held in
April. During the past two years, several regionalopen meetings and
public hearings have been held; much work in identifying and
evaluating the scenic viewshed of the Thousand Island St Lawrence
River region has been accomplished with both volunteer
andprofessional efforts; many town meetings have been held
including several in Hammond; a web site has beenmaintained
(www.scenic1000islands.com ). In other words, a lot of work has
been done.
What is SASS? That is the question I am hearing most often.
Simply put, aside from all of the possibleincidental side benefits
that our region might enjoy as a result of this project; multi town
cooperation, tourism,improved grant activity, the sole purpose of
SASS as part of the NYS Coastal Management Program is toidentify,
evaluate and preserve the valuable and greatly appreciated view
shed of the Thousand Island Region.The identification and
evaluation process is nearing completion.
Here is how the preservation portion works. First, there are NO
new permits, licenses or regulations thatwould be required within
the SASS designated area. If a preexisting state or federal permit
or approval isrequired under existing state or federal programs,
then there is one additional step in that evaluation processthat
asks the appropriate permitting authority to comment on any impact
the request may have on the view
shed. This ONLY applies to pre-existing permit, licensing or
approval reviews for projects located within theSASS designated
area along the river, Chippewa Creek and Crooked Creek shoreline
and inland for up to oneand a half miles in certain designated
areas. In other words, if a proposed project already requires a
permitfrom the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of
Environmental Conservation, the DOS or other agency,those agencies
will also review the project for its scenic impact. Again, SASS
will impose NO additional permits,licensing or approvals.
This shoreline area will be the only area of any concern, SASS
has no impact on the balance of the town. Inaddition, there are NO
mandated controls, regulations or modifications to existing town
laws. SASS willneither encourage nor prevent any type of
development in Hammond or along the Thousand Island StLawrence
River shoreline other than to provide for a scenic view shed impact
evaluation if a pre-existingpermit or approval is required.
To put the impact of SASS in perspective, for the period of 2000
2014 within the SASS designated area on theHudson River, there were
1917 applications requiring evaluation. Of these, 23 were
considered for closerreview and only four were found to have a
significant issue relative to impact on the view shed. The town
andthe region already lives easily with many state and federal
programs, wet lands preservation, building codes,health laws, Corp
of Engineers, DEC. We live with these regulations with little or no
disturbance to our livesand they are here to protect us and our
community. SASS is of the same nature. I believe that it would a
greatloss for all of us if we were to lose any our scenic view shed
asset to trivial and meaningless actions because wedidnt take this
opportunity to achieve SASS status.
If you have any questions, please contact me at
[email protected] and visit the SASS website
atwww.scenic1000islands.com.
Thank You.
Ron BertramHammond Town Supervisor
http://www.scenic1000islands.com/http://www.scenic1000islands.com/http://www.scenic1000islands.com/http://www.scenic1000islands.com/
