Why Might Claverack Be Broken?

Why is this website titled "Is Claverack Broken"? The answer is simple - it's the flip side of the slogan of the current Claverack Town Board; "Claverack is Working".

Way back in 2003, Kippy Weigelt (current Town Board Supervisor, and as such our representative on the Columbia County Board of Supervisors) was elected to the Board. The TB was then, and has been ever since, led and dominated by long time local residents, virtually all Republicans. Currently Katy Cashen is the sole Democrat on the TB.

Whether Republicans or Democrats, it might be time to ask if the TB and its representatation on the County Board of Supervisors (BOS) should change. Let's look at Kippy's signature accomplishment, the Town's Comprehensive Plan. Kippy was a leader in its development, which began in 2005. To save you doing the math, this was more than 17 years ago.

The Comprehensive Plan was a big deal, a collaboration between the TB, residents, and facilitated by a group of consultants hired by the Town - Community Planning and Environmental Associates (CP&EA) of Berne, NY. New York doesn't mandate that towns develop a comprehensive plan, so in doing so Claverack was thinking ahead. The idea behind such a plan is that it should guide efforts to invest and build, limit undesirable development, identify important projects, and align the efforts of government with the vision of the residents.

The final Comprehensive Plan was published in April 2008, fourteen and a half years ago. It states that it provides guidance looking forward 10-15 years. It can be downloaded here.

The document is 186 pages long, not hard to understand but hard to absorb due to its size. A good place to start is on pages 8-11, the SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats. Each list is ordered with the most critical items listed first.

Our strengths include our rural, scenic, natural and historic environment and our ability to grow (residential neighborhoods, schools). Weaknesses that were clearly identified included poor planning tools and a history of poor planning, no town center, a poor location for central services such as the post office, no walkability or sidewalks, high speed traffic at our main intersection, and so on.

These are weaknesses that residents still see today. Where is the planning for traffic, the town center, walkability? When we see huge solar farms approved without oversight and input, where is the planning focus on natural beauty and rural character?

Threats were called out clearly - poor planning, unchecked development, loss of rural character, lack of communication between government and residents. Many would say these threats were never addressed.

Opportunities have been ignored and never pursued. New planning tools, sidewalks, building a new post office, protecting open space, retail businesses along 23B and coincident traffic modifications.

The consequences of ignoring our own Comprehensive Plan are visible, and becoming more visible. Claverack is the central hub for the new power line modifications, and the truck traffic is negatively affecting residents. We failed to respond aggressively when traffic routing options were offered for gravel trucks from the Greenport quarry. We failed to adopt planning and zoning restrictions that would have limited the impact of several new solar farms on residents.

There are still no sidewalks, no traffic improvements, no new services for residents, no protections against poorly planned outside developers.

In the 2021 election cycle, Kippy Weigelt and fellow Republican members Hookie Hook, Doug Colwell, Mary Jean Hoose, and Lou Lamont ran together on a single slate using the slogan "Claverack is Working". You can read the plan for yourself, and you can ask yourself it the current Town Board is doing its job. In fact, you might question whether our Town Board is doing anything at all.

Image from a 1906 postcard showing Shaw Bridge. Claverack received a state grant to repair the (currently out of service) historic bridge, but has done nothing with the funds for several years.