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From YouTube: Beacon Planning Board Training 12-13-22
Description
Beacon Planning Board training session "SEQRA Presentation."
A
Perfect,
okay,
is
everybody
ready
to
start
our
training
session?
Sure?
Yes,
yes,
yes,
I,
agree!
All
right!
Chris
I
want
to
thank
Amanda
for
for
getting
this
all
figured
out
to
allow
me
to
appear
remotely
so
I
don't
have
to
spread
my
flu
germs
to
everybody
so
tonight
what
we
have
scheduled
for
our
training
session
is
a
presentation
about
Secret.
A
A
There
we
go
okay,
all
right,
so
this
is
something
that
we
talk
about
at
almost
every
meeting
the
State
Environmental
Quality
review
act
or
seacraft
for
short
I'll
be
going
through.
Just
you
know
where
it
all
came
from
what
the
purpose
of
secret
is
and
I've
broken
down
the
whole
secret
process
into
seven
steps
that
we'll
be
going
through
tonight
with
the
25
or
so
minutes
that
we
have
available.
There's
a
lot
to
cover
so
I'm
going
to
start
buying.
Through
this
there
we
go
all
right.
So
what
is
secret?
A
It
started
in
1975
in
1975,
the
New
York
State
Legislature
adopted
article
8
of
the
New
York
State
Environmental
Conservation
law,
which
has
now
become
known
as
secret.
A
year
later,
the
New
York
State
DC,
the
Department
of
Environmental
Conservation,
adopted
the
regulations
that
Implement
secret
and
that's
at
6
nycrr
part
617..
Those
are
the
regulations
that
govern
our
secret
review,
offer
for
each
project
that
we
review
that's
subject
to
Secret.
A
If
you
look
at
the
Department
of
Environmental
conservations
website,
if
you
just
Google
secret
and
click
on
the
dec
website
that
comes
up,
it
is
a
literal
Treasure.
Trove
of
information
related
to
secret,
if
you're,
a
secret,
nerd
or
geek
like
I
am
yes
I
mean
you
could
spend
hours
reviewing
all
of
the
information
they
have.
They
have
flow
charts,
there's
a
secret
handbook
that
goes
through
sort
of
a
question
and
answer
style.
A
You
know
method
for
going
through
the
core
process,
explaining
what
each
step
means.
It's
it's
a
really
useful
website
and
has
a
lot
of
good
tools.
So
I
encourage
you
to
look
there,
but
basically,
what
secret
does
is.
It
requires
a
requirement
for
all
state
and
local
agencies
to
assess
the
environmental
effects
of
a
discretionary
action,
so
an
action
that
you
have
discretion
to
approve
or
deny
before
you
decide
to
approve
that
action.
A
So
the
purpose
of
secret
is
really
to
identify
and
consider
environmental
impacts
of
an
action
to
determine
whether
those
actions
have
to
be
modified
to
avoid
or
mitigate
adverse
environmental
impacts.
So
it
really
is
it's
a
process
that
results
most
times
in
a
better
project
than
what's
initially
proposed
through
this
process
of
modifying
it.
To
avoid
or
mitigate
adverse
environmental
impacts,
it's
not
the
intent
of
secret
that
every
single
environmental
Factor
is
the
is
the
sole
consideration
in
reviewing
the
action.
A
The
New
York
state
court
of
appeals,
the
highest
court
in
the
state,
has
also
said
that
the
agency
and
I'll
quote
here
need
not
investigate
every
conceivable
environmental
problem
it
may
within
reasonable
limits,
use
its
discretion
in
selecting
which
ones
are
relevant.
So
it's
really
meant
to
be,
and
you'll
see
this
in
the
secret
regulations.
If
you
read
through
them,
this
rule
of
Reason
quote-unquote,
rule
of
Reason
has
been
applied
in
secret
regulations
and
in
the
courts
to
the
secret
process.
A
So
how
do
we
comply
with
zikra?
Well,
there's
two
ways
that
there's
two
things
that
you're
going
to
want
to
look
at
when
you're,
considering
compliance
with
secret
one
procedural
and
the
second
substantive
procedural
is-
is
really
just
making
sure
you
are
strictly
complying
with
each
of
the
required
steps
in
secret.
A
The
secret
regulations
require
that
when
you
have
a
type
1
action,
so
those
are
the
actions
that
are
more
likely
to
to
result
in
a
significant
adverse
impact.
You
are
required
to
use
the
full
environmental
assessment
form.
You
can't
use
the
short
for
a
type
1
action.
If
a
short
environmental
assessment
form
is
used
for
a
type
1
action,
then
you
have
not
strictly
complied
with
secra
their
procedural
requirements
and
that
determination
can
be
overturned
by
the
court
if
challenged.
A
So
there's
a
lot
to
unpack
in
that
in
that
statement
part
so
the
relevant
environmental
concerns
those
you
have
discretion
to
look
at
an
application
to
determine
what
are
the
relevant
environmental
issues
that
we
need
to
study
here.
You
may
have
an
application
that
does
involve
an
impact
to
a
wetland,
but
perhaps
it's
a
negligible
negligible
impact
and
it's
not
really
a
concern,
but
maybe
that
that
application
does
pose.
A
A
Investigate
that
particular
impact,
did
you
review
an
expert
study
not
that
an
expert
study
has
to
be
submitted
for
every
application,
but
that
certainly
helps
to
demonstrate
the
board's
hard
look
at
the
impact
you
know.
Did
the
board
ask
questions
of
the
applicant?
Did
the
board
ask
questions
of
its
Consultants?
A
You
know
how?
How
deep
did
you
really
dig
in
to
that
that
issue?
That's
what
the
courts
are
going
to
be
looking
at
and
then
your
reasoned
elaboration?
That's
what
we
do
every
time
that
we
we
prepare
a
secret
negative
declaration
for
a
project
that
you
know,
multiple
page
document.
That's
attached
to
the
part
three
of
the
EF
is
your
reasoned
elaboration.
A
That's
where
we
go
through
each
of
those
relevant
environmental
impacts
that
have
been
identified
for
the
application,
and
we
explain
here's
why
you
know
if
there
were
project
modifications
made
that
mitigated
you
know,
mitigated
traffic
impacts
or
mitigated
storm
water
impacts.
These
are
this
is
how
the
project
was
modified,
and
this
is
the
information
that
the
board
has
relied
upon
in
its
review
to
determine
that
there's,
no
significant
environmental
impact.
That's
going
to
result
from
the
project.
That
is
your
reason,
collaboration
now
this
all
go.
A
All
of
this
goes
to
the
importance
of
creating
a
good
record
for
your
review
of
an
application.
A
record
consists
of
everything,
that's
before
the
board
at
the
time
it
makes
its
decision,
so
that
could
include
all
the
information
from
the
applicant
all
public
comments,
whether
in
writing
or
verbal,
at
a
public
hearing
memos
from
your
Consultants
memos
from
staff,
for
example
your
building
inspector
testimony
at
public
meetings.
A
All
of
that
is
packaged
up
into
this
thing
called
the
record
and
when
a
court
is
reviewing
your
determination
and
one
challenge,
that's
the
only
thing
the
court
is
going
to
be
permitted
to
look
at.
It
cannot
review
information,
that's
outside
of
that
record.
So
that's
why
it's
so
important
to
make
sure
that
your
decision
is
documented
that
you
have.
You
know
what
we
call
a
rational
basis
in
the
record
that
you
point
to
information
data
evidence
in
the
record
that
supports
your
decision,
because
that's
what
the
board
is
going
to.
A
A
This
comes
up
most
often
when
you're
talking
about
traffic,
and
you
can
have
a
professional
traffic
engineer,
submit
a
traffic
impact
study
that
demonstrates
that,
based
on
all
of
the
ite
standards
and
all
the
data
and
studies
that
that
have
been
applied
to
the
project
that,
for
example,
a
particular
intersection-
is
not
going
to
have
a
decline
in
its
level
of
service.
So
it's
not
going
to
have
a
significant
adverse
impact
on
that
particular
intersection.
A
So
the
best
way
for
the
board,
in
that
instance,
to
really
demonstrate
the
hard
look,
is
to
use
that
information
from
the
member
of
the
public
to
ask
the
applicants
consultant
and
ask
the
board's
Consultants
hey,
wait.
A
minute
was
this
information
that
the
the
member
of
the
public
just
brought
up
reviewed
as
part
of
this
traffic
impact
study?
What
is
your
response
to
that?
A
But,
at
the
end
of
the
day
the
court
is
going
to
say
that
the
board
is
bound
to
to
sort
of
listen
to
or
rely
upon,
the
expert
opinion
over
the
right
opinion,
and
this
is
a
very
frustrating
thing
for
for
many
boards
that
I
represent
throughout
the
region.
It's,
but
it's
it's
a
fact
that
that's
how
the
courts
are
going
to
look
at
that
evidence.
A
So
moving
on
to
the
basic
Frameworks
I
know
our
time
inspired
to
delaying
Mom
we're
going
to
go
through
seven
basic
steps
to
the
secret
process.
So
when
an
application
is
first
submitted,
the
first
thing
we're
going
to
do
is
we
classify
the
action?
So
they
look
at
the
environmental
assessment
form.
We
look
at
the
what's
being
proposed
and
we
determine
as
a
type
1
type
2
or
unlisted.
Usually
this
is
done
at
the
staff
level.
A
A
Unlisted
actions
are
literally
just
that
they're,
not
in
the
type
1
list,
they're,
not
in
the
type
2
list.
They
are
unlisted
and
there's
no
presumption,
that's
carried
with
an
unlisted
action
that
it
will
or
will
not
result
in
a
significant
adverse
environmental
impact.
So
once
we
classify
our
action,
the
next
step
is
to
figure
out.
Okay,
well
who's,
going
to
be
responsible
for
reviewing
the
environmental
impacts
of
this
project,
and
that's
the
the
lead
agency.
A
When
you
have
a
type
1
action,
you
are
required
to
designate
a
lead
Agency
for
unlisted.
You
can
do
an
uncoordinated
review,
which
basically
means
that
every
agency
that
has
any
kind
of
approval
authority
over
the
project
does
their
own
secret
review
of
the
whole
project,
not
just
the
area
within
their
jurisdiction,
but
the
whole
project.
So
usually,
we
coordinate
and
choose
a
lead
agency
and
that's
what
we
do
at
the
beginning
of
each
project,
where
the
board
makes
a
motion
to
authorize
circulation
of
notice
of
intimate.
A
So
what
the
board
is
saying
is
that
you
know
we
as
planning
board
of
the
City
Beacon.
We
want
to
be
the
lead
agency
to
review
the
environmental
impacts
of
this
project,
but
we
need
to
notify
all
of
the
other
potential
lead
agencies,
so
all
of
the
other
boards
and
agencies,
both
within
Beacon
and
outside
of
Beacon,
that
has
authority
over
the
projects
that
could
be
dot
DEC.
You
know
Dutchess
County,
Department
of
Health
Etc,
and
we
circulate
notice
to
each
of
those
agencies
that
we're
raising
our
hands.
A
We
want
to
be
lead
agency
and
you
have
30
days
to
tell
us
that
that
you
object
and
that
you
would
rather
be
lead
agency
once
those
30
days
has
passed,
the
planning
board
can
become
the
lead
agent
step
three
determining
significance.
This
is
probably
the
most
important
step
of
the
secret
review.
This
is
when
you
issue
your
negative
declaration
or
positive
declaration,
and
the
question
you're
asking
yourselves
is:
will
the
application
result
in
one
or
more
significant
adverse
environmental
impacts?
The
answer
is
no.
A
A
You
know,
I
think
it's
important
a
couple
things
about
negative
declarations.
Many
times
an
application
is
modified
during
the
course
of
the
board's
review
such
that.
Perhaps
when
it
first
came
in
there,
there
may
be
one
or
more
significant
adverse
impacts
that
could
be
identified,
but
the
applicant
voluntarily
modifies
the
project
or
the
quote
proposed
action
such
that
there
no
longer
is
a
significant
adverse
environmental
impact.
A
So,
for
example,
a
project
could
have
you
know,
reduction
in
density
or
you
know
somehow
reduced
in
size
that
could
result
in
a
negative
declaration
in
several
positive
declaration.
That's
more
often
than
not.
That's
what
we
see
that
there
are
project
modifications
that
occur
during
the
course
of
the
application
review
that
allows
for
the
negative
declaration.
A
One
kind
of
interesting
point
about
the
timing
for
a
negative
declaration,
which
I
always
find
interesting,
is
the
secret
regs
do
have
a
frame
set
forth
for
when
an
egg
deck
could
be
issued
and
that's
20
days
after
establishing
lead
agency.
So
if
you
think
about
it,
you
establish
lead
agency
right
at
the
beginning
of
the
project,
so
20
days
after
that
is
is
not
you
know
not
a
lot
of
time
to
review,
but
the
alternative
is
or
when
the
lead
agency
receives
all
information.
A
A
Where
the
planning
board
took
853
days
to
issue
an
egg
deck,
the
court
said:
that's
fine,
you
didn't
violate
Secret,
the
court
said
and
I'll
quote.
In
our
view,
the
planning
board,
as
the
lead
agency
painstakingly,
undertook
to
gather
substantial
data
regarding
the
application
holding
both
public
meetings
and
hearings
in
order
to
receive
and
consider
evidence
from
all
interested
parties
following
the
expiration
of
the
deadline
for
submissions
the
board
issues
in
that
deck
at
its
next
regularly
scheduled
meeting.
A
Thus,
we
conclude
the
determination
is
not
untimely,
so
I
always
find
that
interested
in
853
days.
I,
think
that
has
to
be
a
record
so
with
that
moving
on
to
our
next
set.
So
if
the
board
determines
that
there
may
be
one
or
more
significant
adverse
environmental
impacts,
IT
issues,
a
positive
decoration
which
then
triggers
a
requirement
for
preparing
a
draft
environmental
impact
statement.
A
Typically,
that's
prepared
by
the
applicant
and
their
representatives
prior
to
Preparing
that
deas
or
draft
environmental
impact
statement.
You
have
to
go
through
a
scoping
process.
Scoping
used
to
be
voluntary,
used
to
be
optional
before
the
2019
secret
amendments.
Now
it's
required,
and
basically
what
scoping
is
is
it's
the
process
of
creating
a
written
document
that
outlines
all
of
the
issues
that
are
going
to
be
studied
in
the
environmental
impact
statement?
The
purpose
is
really
to
narrow
this
scope
of
the
issues
that
are
going
to
be
studied.
So
you
don't
waste
time.
A
It's
really
supposed
to
focus
only
on
those
issues
that
are
potentially
significant
and
eliminate
consideration
of
impacts
that
are
irrelevant
or
insignificant,
so
there's
a
whole
process
for
scoping.
Typically,
the
applicant
will
submit
a
draft
scope
for
review.
The
lead
agency
then
circulates
that
scope
to
all
of
the
other
agencies
with
approval
Authority
called
involved
agencies.
A
Sometimes
there
many
times
there
are
changes
made
to
the
scoping
outline,
sometimes
there's
a
public
hearing
process,
but
there
should
at
least
be
some
method
of
written
public
comment
available
and
then,
if
the
lead
agency
has
not
approved
a
final
scoping
document
within
60
days
after
the
applicant
has
submitted
their
draft
scope
and
the
draft
becomes
the
final.
So
that's
important
that
the
lead
agency
act
swiftly
to
make
sure
that
any
revisions
that
need
to
be
made
can
be
made.
A
That
period
can
be
extended
on
Mutual
consent,
but
it's
still
important
to
get
through
that
process
swiftly.
So
the
next
step,
once
you
have
your
scoping
outline,
which
is
essentially
you
know
the
table
of
contents.
For
for
the
impact
statement,
the
applicant
prepares
the
deis,
so
that's
going
to
examine
the
nature
and
the
extent
of
all
the
potentially
significant
adverse
environmental
impacts.
A
The
sort
of
the
Cornerstone
of
an
Eis
is
really
the
consideration
of
Alternatives
there's
a
section
of
the
Eis
where
a
number
of
you
know
Alternatives
the
proposed
action
need
to
be
considered.
One
of
those
that
has
to
be
considered
is
the
no
action
alternative.
So
what
will
be
the
impacts?
If
nothing
happened?
A
If
it's
complete,
then
the
lead
agency
will
deem
a
complete
and
scheduled
public
hearing
on
that
draft
and
Family
Impact
statement
after
the
public
hearing.
The
next
step
is
the
preparation
of
the
final
environmental
impact
statement
now,
what's
unique
about
the
final
environmental
impact
statement,
is
that
it
will
respond
in
writing
to
every
question
raised
during
the
public
hearing
on
the
deis,
whether
that's
you
know,
testimony
from
the
public
at
a
public
hearing
written
comments
from
outside
agencies.
Every
single
one
of
those
comments
and
questions
are
responded
to
in
writing
many
times.
A
A
The
finding
statement
basically
is
the
culmination
of
your
environmental
review.
It
provides
a
rationale
for
your
decision
and
certifies
that
the
alternative
that
is
selected,
whether
it's
the
initial
proposed
action
or
one
of
the
alternatives,
is
the
action
that
avoids
or
minimizes
the
adverse
environmental
impacts
to
the
maximum
extent
practical.