Proposal would pause approvals in Hamlet Center zones the Town rezoned without traffic studies, environmental review, or developer impact fees.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — NEW CITY, NY (June 1, 2026)
Eugene Bondar, a New York and New Jersey attorney and candidate for Clarkstown Town Supervisor, today released a proposed local law as part of his campaign platform, faulting the current administration for advancing high-density rezonings without the studies the Town’s own Comprehensive Plan required. The proposal, Proposed Local Law No. __ of 2027, would enact a twelve-month temporary moratorium on development applications in the Town’s Hamlet Center zoning districts. Bondar has committed to introducing it on the first day of his administration if elected.
The moratorium would cover districts the current administration created or amended in 2023 and 2025, including the New City Hamlet Center Zones (H1–H4), and the Hamlet Center Zones for Congers, Valley Cottage, and West Nyack.
“Clarkstown’s overdevelopment crisis didn’t happen by accident. The current administration rezoned four hamlets for dense development and skipped the traffic studies, the environmental review, and the impact fees our own Comprehensive Plan required. They created the problem. I intend to fix it,” Bondar said.
Five Deficiencies in the Current Administration’s Rezonings
The proposed law identifies five deficiencies in how the current administration handled the rezonings. First, it issued a Negative Declaration rather than the hard look at cumulative environmental impacts required by the 2021 FGEIS and 6 NYCRR 617.10(d). Second, it enacted the rezonings without a comprehensive, cumulative traffic study of the four hamlets together. Third, it left the design standards for architectural character, scale, and buffering weak and largely unenforceable. Fourth, it established no impact fee framework, leaving taxpayers to fund the infrastructure new development demands. Fifth, it conducted no Housing Needs Assessment.
During the twelve-month period, the proposed law would direct the Town to complete a supplemental SEQRA review, commission a comprehensive traffic study, draft design-standard amendments, develop a developer impact fee system, and conduct a formal Housing Needs Assessment.
The proposed law includes a hardship exemption for owners who demonstrate it deprives them of all economically viable use of their property, consistent with Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, 535 U.S. 302 (2002). The applicability provisions track New York’s vested rights doctrine.
“Smart growth protects taxpayers, preserves community character, and still gets projects built. Just ones that follow the rules. Clarkstown deserves leadership willing to do the homework the current administration skipped,” Bondar said.
Residents are encouraged to review the full proposed law at voteforbondar.com/proposed-laws-and-policies. Media inquiries: inquiry@voteforbondar.com — Bondar for Clarkstown, P.O. Box 310, New City, NY 10956