Steyer announces challenge for Warwick town supervisor

Warwick — Penny Steyer, business owner and community activist, is looking to add town supervisor to her resume. Steyer announced on Monday that she will challenge Supervisor Michael Sweeton for the job of Warwick Town Supervisor in November. Steyer, 58, said she is concerned with the challenges facing Warwick and wants to preserve the quality of life. “I’m worried about the serious challenges that face our town,” said Steyer on Monday, “and I’m dismayed at how little is being done to preserve our quality of life.” Steyer said that while the town and its residents have made “significant commitments” to preserving open space, there are still threats to farms, parks and resources. “Our PDR program has saved significant prime acreage from the threat of development,” she said. “Yet the very things we’ve acted to save — farms and agriculture, parks and recreation, and above all our water resources — are still threatened by the impacts of helter-skelter development popping up across the town.” She criticized the building bonus given to developers who cluster, that they build the houses grouped together on one part of the land leaving the rest open. Steyer said there are 570 homes in cluster subdivisions already approved and in the process throughout the town, including 125 bonus houses. Steyer, who has the endorsement of the town Democratic Committee, also talked about protecting what she called the town’s most valuable resource: its people. Steyer said the current leadership emphasizes the building of McMansions which is costing the town greatly. “Our young folks, college graduates can no longer afford to live here. There is next to no affordable housing in this town. We are losing the next generation and their children as they find less expensive housing in other parts of the country.” She noted that just one “affordable house” has been approved in the new Foxwood development in Bellvale. “While its price tag is lower than others in the subdivision will be, it is still a large-footprint house with the same maintenance costs as any other home in the development, and complex rules for getting it and for selling it later on,” she noted. Citing the tax shortfall when building houses — for every $10,000 in taxes a new house is assessed, $11,000 to $12,000 in services is required from the town — Steyer called it a “development subsidy tax.” Steyer said she has a plan to expand the town’s economic base, developing new businesses and creating new jobs here in town. She also said the town is poised for economic development — more than a commercial corridor along Route 94. Sweeton is completing his second term. He was elected in 2001 for a two-year term and again in 2003, when the term was increased to four years. He is seeking reelection this Nov. 6 and has been endorsed by the Republican, Conservative, and Independence parties.