If it's posted, they will know

Planning board applications to be added to www.townofwarwick.org, By Linda Smith Hancharick WARWICK - The Town of Warwick is now making available on its Web site all new applications to the Planning Board. “If we can get information out earlier, that’s better,” said Supervisor Michael Sweeton. “Both the Planning Board and the Town Board wanted to do this.” What this does is give people information well before they may have otherwise gotten it. Currently, applicants are required to mail notices to nearby property owners five days prior to the public hearing. Sometimes, people didn’t get the notice until the day of the hearing. Much work also has already been done to an application by the time the public hearing stage rolls around. Posting the information online at the time the application is made will give residents much more information much earlier in the process. “Some applications are in the works for a year or even two before the public hearing is held,” said Sweeton. To reach the new Planning Board applications, simply log onto www.townofwarwick.org and choose “Residents.” Then scroll over to Town Hall; and proceed to New Planning Board applications. The information included on the web site includes the date of the application, the project name, owners, engineer or surveyor, acreage and a description of the project telling what the application is for, the specific location and zone. The section is updated every two weeks by the Planning Board secretary, Connie Sardo. “Our Web designers, Mark and Pat Damia, in conjunction with Ms. Sardo have presented the information in an easy to access, readable format which takes minutes to review,” said Sweeton. The town has suggested that applicants give earlier notification to surrounding property owners than they have in the past. About six months ago, the town asked applicants to voluntarily send out the notices earlier than five days before a hearing. “They’re not doing it,” Sweeton said. In order to change that requirement, the town would have to officially change the zoning, which is a lengthy and costly endeavor. Sweeton said the town will change the code requiring notification if changes are also going to be made to the zoning on Route 94. A scoping session was held a couple of weeks ago on that and Sweeton expects the scoping document with recommendations to be completed by mid-March. The town’s Web site was created about four years ago by web designers Mark and Pat Damia as part of the Quality Communities Committee project. The site provides users with five topics. The first and most extensive is the Residents section. Clicking on this will let the user choose Town Hall, Town Services, Education, Hospital, Libraries, Houses of Worship, Park information and Orange County Government information. The Town Hall section is where the new Planning Board applications can be found. It also lists the supervisor’s corner, a calendar of upcoming municipal events, a list of committees and boards, election polling maps showing each of the voting districts and a list of polling places, and the Town Code, Zoning and Design Guidelines. Services list animal services, permits and licenses, Dial-A-Bus and recycling information. The education section gives an overview of the four school districts attended by children of the town and links to each of the Board of Education web sites. St. Anthony Community Hospital is accessed through the hospital section. The libraries section gives an overview and links to the Albert Wisner Public Library, the Florida Public Library, the Greenwood Lake Public Library and the Ramapo Catskill Library System. Houses of worship lists the churches and synagogues throughout the town. Town Parks information is provided under that heading. Finally, Orange County government information, including important phone numbers, can be found in this section as well. Getting back to the Home Page, the second heading is Visitors. Here is a welcome letter, link to the Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce and a “Visit our Farms” section with an interactive agricultural map, and directions to Warwick from all major thoroughfares. The third heading on the home page is Business. Information on the Chambers of Commerce throughout the town and Orange County is provided here, as well as information on the U.S. Small Business Administration. The interactive agricultural map is also located here. All names and phone numbers for the town’s elected officials, as well as department heads, can be found in the Contacts heading. Finally, under the History heading, town historian Florence Tate provides an overview of the town’s history. Also included is the official town seal. “This is a great opportunity for residents to easily keep up on what is happening in their neighborhoods,” said Sweeton. “Hopefully this new presentation of development activity in the town will help residents and developers alike achieve a better understanding of each others’ concerns.” Here is the first application posted, as of Feb. 8: PROJECT NAME: Classic Restoration / Pine Island Warehouse DESCRIPTION: Site plan approval and special use permit for the use of an existing building for a classic car restoration business, situated on tax parcel S 3 B 2 L 2.222; project located on the end of Transport Lane 1250+/- feet north of the intersection of County Route 1 and Liberty Corners Road, in the AI zone, of the Town of Warwick, County of Orange, State of New York. Owners: Pine Island Warehousing & Storage. Acreage: 5.81 Acres.