Dirt roads not going anywhere under town’s comprehensive plan

By JEFF MORRIS

There will be no dust-up over dirt roads in the town’s draft comprehensive plan.

The plan was introduced at the town board’s Feb. 5 meeting, and the subject of an initial public hearing March 4.

Director of Planning Jesica Youngblood again launched the discussion with the board. She noted a couple of items regarding which they had received correspondence: one, a correction about Guard Hill Road, which she said was mistakenly listed as a collector road; the other a recommendation about “setting forth a policy that really looks to evaluate the potential to do any sort of improvements to dirt roads.” 

She said there was certainly no mention or demand to pave the dirt roads in town, which are a historic resource.

Supervisor Ellen Calves elaborated, saying they had “received many emails today about dirt roads; there was something circulating that there were things in the plan that had it out for dirt roads.” 

She said they had reviewed all of the language; someone had picked up on the fact that Guard Hill was mistakenly listed as a collector road, “which they assumed meant that it was targeted for paving, which was not in the plan at all.” 

There is a section, she said, that recommends a policy about dirt roads. “If people would like to see us take that out of the plan, we’d love to hear that, if we don’t need a policy about dirt roads,” she said. “It’s written in a part of the plan that touts how dirt roads are such an important part of the rural character and historic nature of the town.”

Youngblood and Calves both emphasized that they welcome comments. Calves said they would keep the public hearing open until the next meeting in order to gather as much information as possible from the public, and hope to approve the plan “pretty quickly after that.” She said she thought the plan did a great job of balancing maintaining rural, historic and small business character, and economic vibrancy in the hamlets, with potential for development and growth.

“I think it does a good job of balancing preservation and progress, ensuring livability, sustainability, and economic vitality, and continues to encourage collaboration between residents, businesses and the town,” she said.

As it turned out, many of the comments that were then made during the hearing had to do with dirt roads.

John Stockbridge, the town historian, advocated placing dirt roads in the section about preserving historic districts and properties, putting the emphasis on preserving dirt roads rather than making decisions about whether to pave them. Others agreed, with Roger Vincent requesting more funding for the highway department to properly preserve the dirt roads.

Anita Stockbridge said she didn’t see anything about limiting special use permits, but expressed concern about their use along the Route 172 corridor. She asked if something could be done to limit special use permits “in a certain concentrated area, so that we don’t become part of Mount Kisco.”

Midge Iorio spoke on behalf of Bedford 2030, of which she is director, requesting more specificity on how the comprehensive plan will work in tandem with the town’s climate action plan. She said the previous comprehensive plan had the climate action plan appended, and hoped that could be done again.

Mark Thielking, the town’s director of energy and sustainability, echoed Iorio’s remarks, noting there were no specific recommendations related to air pollution, climate warming emissions, and energy choices. He said the issues are all raised at a high level, but not with the specificity they are mentioned in the climate action plan.

Sally Corbett-Turco of the drug abuse prevention council wanted to encourage more reflection on the ways youth can be served. She said in a quick search she found the word “youth” only once, and “teen” twice, and asked for a little more work on what the youth of the town need.

With no more speakers, the board adjourned the public hearing, to be resumed Tuesday, March 18, with comments continuing to be accepted online.