At the next town of Crawford board meeting on Thursday, March 20, the town council, led by Supervisor Charlie Carnes, will decide on whether or not to increase the number of planning board members from five to seven. According to Supervisor Carnes, the board began their consideration of this topic after seeing other towns increasing their planning boards' sizes. "A lot of towns around New York State have gone from a five member planning board to a seven member planning board, and we think that going to a seven member planning board will give more of a diversity of opinions," says Carnes.

Carnes also points out that some complaints regarding the planning board's interaction with the public and the length of time they take in reviewing applications have also contributed to the town council's investigation of expansion.

The proposed change is not without its downsides, however. Carnes says he and the rest of the board are "kind of on the fence," and he pointed out that the planning board's activity has slowed given the current real estate market. There are fewer new building applications at the present moment, and as such, it may not be wise to increase the number of people on the board — and, consequently, the town's expenses — at this time.

Should the town council decide to go ahead with the planning board's expansion, the two new board positions would be trial appointments which would last for roughly eight months. This trial period would allow the municipality to see if the expanded board would work as a permanent change, resulting in each planning board member's tenure to be increased from five years to seven. While such a trial period is not included in the New York State law regarding planning board expansion, the town is able to establish the period through Municipal Home Rule law, which would allow the town to supersede the state's traditional procedures if it works in the town's interests.

Phil V.O. Jamison, current planning board chair, and 12-year board member, is not enthusiastic about the proposed board expansion. In terms of receiving complaints, he says that they are the "nature of the beast," because no matter what decision the board makes, someone will end up dissatisfied. He also cites a study by the Orange County Citizens Foundation from this fall that finds that Crawford's planning board has one of the fastest application turnovers in the county. More importantly, Jamison believes that the expanded board will erode the distance between the planning board and the town council, and will increase the potential influence the council will be able to have on the planning board's operations.

"There's a political insulation built into the system to protect the two boards from each other, so one board can't unduly influence the other board," says Jamison. "The town board specifically cannot influence the planning board in any one given year, much the same as our supreme court judges are appointed one at a time."

Part of Jamison's fears stem from the fact that there will be an opportunity for the town board to appoint three planning board members at once, instead of the usual appointment of one member per year, should the expansion go forward. The two new members would reach the end of their trial periods at the same time that one already-established board member would come to the end of his five-year term.

Supervisor Carnes dismisses these concerns, citing that the town board has had several opportunities to replace planning board members they may have been unhappy with, and hasn't.

"There's been very little turnover with our planning board," says Carnes, "so if we really wanted to change them, myself and most of those members have been there since 2000, with the exception of one new one, and we've made no changes to the planning board. So if we wanted to do it as their terms came due, we'd be completely into a new planning board right now. I don't think that [concern] holds water."

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