A New York state assemblyman from the Hudson Valley says the current process to create new villages is too simple.
First-term Republican Assemblyman Colin Schmitt says his legislation would update the village creation process in New York, a procedure that has not been revised in 50 years.
“So my legislation would increase the minimum residents required from the current 500 to 2,000. It would increase the minimum required number of petition signatures from 20 percent of the population of the proposed new village area to 51 percent of the population of the new proposed village area,” Schmitt says. “It would also strike the provision of law that allows a certain percentage of landowners to petition for creation of a new village.”
The ranking member of the Assembly Committee on Local Governments adds:
“And we’d also change the referendum procedure, which currently only includes the residents of the proposed new area of the village, and it would allow for residents of the entire town where the land for the village would be taken from to have a say if that village could be created or not,” Schmitt says.
He says a proposal to create the Hasidic Village of Seven Springs from the Town of Monroe, and next to the Village of Kiryas Joel in his 99th District, brought the topic to the forefront. He says there are other examples across the state that speak to the need for his legislation, including a failed attempt by a wealthy enclave in Westchester’s Town of Greenburgh to create a village. And he says the most recently created and subsequently dissolved village in the state — Mastic Beach on Long Island — shows why the village creation process needs tougher standards and more checks and balances.
Really, the threshold is so low to create a village in population terms in particular that really anyone could exploit the current statue for their own benefit,” says Schmitt. “And it could be any group; it could be any set of landowners. And that’s not what the intent of creating a village is in the state of New York.”
He says he will work on cultivating support across the aisle and the state, including reaching out to his predecessor, now-Democratic state Senator James Skoufis.
“I will say that it is too easy to create villages here in the state,” says Skoufis. “Since the news broke earlier this week that the Village of Seven Springs is now active again, my office has actually been working on legislation on this issue.”
Skoufis refers to news of the Seven Springs proposal becoming active again last week. Skoufis, who sits on the Senate’s Local Government Committee, represents the 39th District, which includes the Town of Monroe.
“One of the problems with Assemblyman Schmitt’s bill is that, based on the press release at least, many of the changes he’s discussing, it would be too late to apply to the Seven Springs process,” Skoufis says. “I’m looking to put together legislation that is relevant to what’s going on in the Town of Monroe to make sure that that process proceeds with accountability and local input. Right now, the state law does not prescribe either of those things, in my opinion. So there’s more to come on this.”
Schmitt confirms that his legislation would not apply retroactively to current proposals, such as Seven Springs. And Skoufis affirms there is the possibility of reconciling the bills.
