BETTER THAN HEARSAY - The Candidate Speaks

By Michael Ryan

WINDHAM - Connor Exum was recently nominated by the Windham Democratic Party to run for town supervisor in November, opposing incumbent Republican Thomas Hoyt.

Exum has asked to express his views on a proposed Zoning Law that is the subject of an upcoming public hearing, and two years in the making by a specially formed Zoning Commission.

This will be the first in what could be a series of public hearings ultimately resulting in adoption - or not - by the a majority of the Windham town council. Exum’s perspective on the important issue is as follows:

Is Windham Zoning Out Locals?

I am asking everyone to come to the August 19th public hearing at the Center Church in Windham at 7 p.m. to voice your concern about the Zoning Proposal.

I am making this request as a concerned citizen and candidate for Town Supervisor of Windham. Please, I hope you will take a moment to read my reasoning on why this Zoning Plan is detrimental to the community’s future well-being.

Cost of living is one of the most pressing issues for any community in America. In New York State, this issue is tied to the ability to afford housing.

According to a study by Cornell and the NYS Department of Labor in 2024, 10.5% of people polled about intrastate migration moved due to the need to find affordable housing.

Other communities on the Mountain Top (Prattsville and Tannersville) are tackling the problems of affordability in the housing market, but Windham is planning no such strategy for the future.

Windham can no longer avoid these basic facts about the state of New York State’s cost of living. Nor can Windham avoid the fact that our housing market cannot be supported by our job market.

Our community’s proposed Zoning Plan promotes a rapid increase in the housing market’s value while putting negative pressure on the ability to create corresponding economic growth.

This is the primary reason our community is rapidly transitioning into a second-homeowner-only community. According to the Windham Comprehensive Plan of 2020, our town is already facing an issue with vacant/seasonal homes (67.1% of the total homes) that dot our landscape.

We’re also facing the issue that only 17% of the housing stock is owned by 25-44-year-old families in our community. Many in Windham are already painfully aware of these conditions.

Facts such as these seem to have had little impact on the planning process for the zoning proposal. Why the zoning commission has adopted policies such as restricting future lot minimums of 5 acres in the Rural Residential district (the majority of land on the zoning map) and 2 acres in the Hamlet districts is difficult to comprehend.

This policy will only make our land shortage more acute and increase the value of our properties, further excluding many potential buyers from the housing market completely.

By not increasing the amount of mixed-use and cluster zoning in the community, we will leave our community devoid of population and economic growth now and in the future.

Parking mandates will make developing future businesses in our community that much more costly and difficult.

One such mandate requires 1 parking space for every 3 seats. A 60-seat restaurant will then require 20 parking spaces. Where is one to find 20 parking spaces within 500 feet of your establishment on Main Street, Windham, or worse yet, in Hensonville?

The unfortunate answer is that these spaces cannot be accommodated on Main Street without demolishing existing properties. This is why the requirements of mandating parking are, at this point, considered outdated by most planners.

Why is our Zoning Commission attempting to add every obstacle to prevent affordable growth in our community with provisions like this? A viable Main Street is livable and has employment options.

This Zoning Plan’s goals are contrary to a Main Street that is vibrant and livable. Once again, the zoning plan roadblocks these goals by limiting dwelling units to 4 per acre in business districts such as our Main Street.

The Zoning Commission should be championing affordable homes right on our Main Streets with zoning that creates row housing or multi-family apartment buildings.

I’m perplexed as to why our zoning plan seems to avoid any possible creation of a full-time residential base on Main Street. The fact is a strong presence of living space and employment on a Main Street drives up value and increases economic growth.

Perhaps, this low-density policy is an attempt to reduce short-term rentals? If so, more effective legislative measures exist. Simply banning short-term rentals from the Main Streets of Windham and Hensonville is more effective.

The current proposed approach will only limit short-term rentals, not remove them, and they will still crowd out the development of affordable long-term homes we desperately require on our Main Streets.

Instead of embracing the development of common spaces and cluster zoning in our Hamlet Regions and Districts, we’ve embraced an older style of land development that will see the creation of more urban sprawl.

Urban Sprawl like this will create a more congested and more car-dominated future in our community while also driving up the prices of natural resources.

Make no mistake, this community will never have enough parking along Main Street (Windham or Hensonville) to satisfy this type of expansion that the Zoning Plan is creating.

By placing the emphasis on the size of individual lots of 2 acres (Hamlet District) and 5 acres (Rural Residential) instead of clustering them together to save space, our community will force residents into using cars for even the most mundane of trips to Main Street.

We should instead focus our development on creating Complete Street-compliant streets throughout the community. Complete Streets will encourage the building of sidewalks and bike lanes.

These features will increase both bike and foot traffic, which will be the catalyst for economic growth in our community.

It seems all of these considerations were not given a moment's thought in our Zoning Proposal. We are sleepwalking ourselves into a future where many residents will no longer be able to live in our community.

The segment of the local population that cleans the homes, mows the lawns and takes care of the day-to-day necessities of this community will be the first group no longer able to live on the Mountain Top.

But, make no mistake, this group will not be the only part of our community disenfranchised. The proud old families that claim 8 or 10 generations of living in these cozy hamlets will no longer be residents with our current job market - a job market that will not allow for the 9th and 11th generations of these families the type of livelihoods that will afford the housing market we are creating in this community.