WHITE LAKE, NY — Transparency in local government is a topic of immense local concern.

A petition calling for greater transparency in the Town of Bethel has gathered just over 1,100 signatures at press time.

While the petition addresses Bethel Town Supervisor Daniel Sturm, it addresses a perceived lack of transparency from the town’s building department and its planning and zoning boards. 

The five requests in the petition (see sidebar) address better access to town files during the planning board process as well as access to planning and zoning board meetings and minutes. 

“The building department’s lack of resources and necessary staffing has resulted in a noticeable limitation on our ability to participate in the planning process town-wide,” reads the petition.

Planning board projects

The issue came up originally in the winter of 2021, when BESIDE Cabins brought to the Bethel Planning Board a proposal for the development of 57 single-family residential lots and a 45-pod campground near the Bethel community of Smallwood. 

The Smallwood Civic Association (SWCA) began to advocate around the project, an advocacy for which the Smallwood Aware Residents Team (SMART) was eventually formed. SWCA chairman Jonathan Hyman sent planning board chairman Jim Crowley a letter on December 5, 2021, requesting more open access to meetings. 

“Because many of our members are unable to attend meetings in person for reasons related to work, family obligations, geographic distance due to second homeownership, the Coronavirus pandemic, the inability to attend meetings on a Monday night, and many others, we are requesting that the planning board broadcast via Zoom or some other internet enabled service, your proceedings,” read the letter.

The planning board did not choose to do so. As the petition points out, Bethel is the only one of Sullivan County’s five most populous towns not to make its meetings available online. 

BESIDE Cabins decided, ultimately, to look elsewhere to locate its project. The matter of access dropped until the White Lake Mansion House project came before the Bethel Planning Board, proposing to create a 72-unit hotel in White Lake. The public sentiment around that project led to a resurgence of interest in the planning board’s proceedings, and a renewed push to request greater transparency from the planning board. 

“The petition … seeks to demonstrate to the town board and [Bethel] Supervisor [Daniel] Sturm and the to the planning and zoning boards, that there is overwhelming public interest in first-hand knowledge of its proceedings and decision making process,” reads a message sent out by SMART. “Put simply, residents want the ability to participate remotely — this is the reality of the world we now all inhabit -- in government and in public hearings.

Planning board response

The planning board has so far not put its meetings online. 

Planning board chairman Jim Crowley told the River Reporter he doesn’t see it as an issue of transparency: before COVID, if you wanted to come to a meeting, you came in person. In his opinion, the virtual planning board meetings held in other towns don’t work as well as virtual town board meetings do, given the complexity of the matters discussed before planning boards. 

The Bethel Planning Board voted unanimously against broadcasting its meetings, and he doesn’t intend to revisit the discussion, Crowley added.

UPDATE: On Tuesday night, March 7, SmART sent out an email indicating that the petition would be presented at the following day's town board meeting. This article will be updated following the March 8 board meeting.

UPDATE 2: A coalition of groups presented the Bethel Town Board with the petition at its Wednesday, March 8 meeting. Members of the town board appeared receptive to the petition, and indicated there would be discussions and work done toward its aims in the near future. A full write-up of the meeting will appear in next week's River Reporter.