Saratoga Lake Association, neighbors demand end to tree cutting

SARATOGA – The Saratoga Lake Association (SLA) and neighbors living around the proposed Cedar Bluff subdivision have sent a letter to town officials demanding the clear-cutting operation of a yet to be approved development end immediately.

Addressed to the town board, the planning board and the town’s Zoning Officer Gil Albert, the letter from lawyer Charles W. Malcomb told officials that the felling of the forest for an unapproved John Witt Construction development is "in flagrant violation of the zoning regulations, the town’s subdivision laws, and SEQRA" (state environmental quality review act).

“If the board refuses to act within 10 days to enforce the applicable state and local laws against the developer, my clients will commence the appropriate action,” the letter states.

Albert, when reached on Thursday, said he could not yet comment as he had not seen the letter. However, last week, he said the clear-cutting of the forest on the yet-to-be-approved subdivision is “legal” and “legitimate” because Witt has an agreement with Walt Borisenok, who sits as an alternate on the planning board, to plant a vineyard there. Under the town’s Right to Farm law, Albert said, approvals are not necessary.

“As long as they’re farming it, it’s all right,” Albert said recently.

Malcomb disagreed.

“Clear cutting forested land in the town without a permit violates not only the letter of the zoning regulations but one of its clearly stated purposes. Section 273-1 of the zoning regulations states that the ‘purpose of this article is to properly preserve forested land in the Town of Saratoga’ and that ‘[f]orested land is an important natural resource and an integral part of the scenic beauty and healthy ecosystem of the town,'” Malcomb wrote. “Additionally, Section 273-3 of the zoning regulations states that a property owner must obtain a special permit from the planning board ‘before any clear cutting of trees may begin’ and approval of such permit must be consistent with the stated purpose of this section. Obviously, none of this has occurred.”

On Thursday, neither Supervisor Tom Wood nor Planning Board Chair Ian Murray responded to a Times Union request for comment. Witt also did not respond to a Times Union’s calls for comment.

While SLA and neighbors wait for a response, neighbor John Cashin said every couple of hours he sees large trucks loaded down with trees from the forest driving by his house. Cashin fears that in 10 days, all the trees on 40 acres of land could be gone.

“You can’t replace those trees,” said Cashin, who with his neighbors have been fighting against the Witt 31-home subdivision for at least four years. “We are hoping that public pressure will make the town do the right thing.”

This is not the first time Witt was caught in a clear-cutting controversy. In 2014, he chopped down a forest in Greenfield for his Old Stone Ridge subdivision to provide views of the Green Mountains. But the site plans approved by the Greenfield Planning Board did not show clear cutting. By the time the code enforcement got a stop-work order, the trees were gone.