Fallsburg Needs a Moratorium - Just Like Bethel
Dear Friends and Neighbors
The Town of Bethel has taken decisive action to protect its community from the dangers of overdevelopment by introducing Local Law #1-2025, which calls for a one-year moratorium on high-density residential development. Fallsburg, facing even greater development pressure and with more fragile water resources, must follow suit.
Why Fallsburg Needs This
Fallsburg has been inundated with proposals for massive developments—mobile home parks, religious educational campuses, and high-density housing—that far outpace the town’s infrastructure and natural resources. Residents have already raised the alarm about:
Groundwater depletion (Loch Sheldrake already pumps in water from Woodbourne at night).
Failing and leaking septic systems in older communities.
Loss of farmland and open space due to unchecked development.
Increased taxes to pay for new water, sewer, and road infrastructure that developers do not adequately fund.
Bethel recognized these exact threats and enacted a moratorium to give itself time to update its Comprehensive Plan and zoning codes. Fallsburg must do the same—before it is too late.
What a Fallsburg Moratorium Should Cover
Modeled after Bethel’s Local Law #1-2025, Fallsburg’s moratorium should:
Pause review and approval of new applications for high-density residential developments, major subdivisions, mobile home parks, and conversions of seasonal communities into year-round use.
Apply to projects submitted after the date of adoption, with exceptions only for projects already under active construction.
Be in effect for 12 months while the Town Board and Planning Board conduct water studies, review the Comprehensive Plan, and adopt zoning amendments.
Focus on conservation, protecting sensitive environmental areas, agricultural land, and groundwater.
The Purpose of a Fallsburg Moratorium
This is not about excluding anyone—it’s about protecting all residents, full-time and seasonal, from the collapse of the town’s most essential resources: water, sewer, roads, and emergency services.
Like in Bethel, some may try to paint this as discriminatory. But Fallsburg’s reality is about carrying capacity—how much development our land and water can support. Residents of all backgrounds are already experiencing dry wells, water restrictions, and flooding from over-paved land.
Leadership by Example
Bethel’s leaders, Supervisor Dan Sturm, Attorney John Cappello, and Councilwoman Wendy Brown, worked collaboratively to enact this moratorium, despite pressures from developers and critics. Fallsburg’s Town Board must show the same courage.
Our town attorney, planning board, and elected officials have a duty to step in with a “stop-gap” measure that relieves pressure from developers while allowing residents and experts to help shape the future of our town.
The Next Step
Fallsburg must:
Draft and introduce a moratorium law modeled on Bethel’s.
Hold a public hearing so residents can voice support and provide scientific data on water scarcity, infrastructure, and land use.
Adopt the moratorium quickly to prevent a flood of new applications before stronger zoning is in place.
Fallsburg should not wait until our aquifers run dry, our roads collapse, or our taxes skyrocket. The Bethel moratorium is a clear roadmap for responsible governance. Now it’s Fallsburg’s turn to protect its residents, its farmland, and its future.
There will be an election for Town Board this fall. Several current members will be running for re-election. Fallsburg Future has decided to publish a weekly newsletter highlighting the issues that face the residents and the town. Each newsletter will highlight a particular topic of concern as well as an overview of a particular issue. We have had technical issues with our email service. It has been corrected and you are able to respond to this email.
Fallsburg's Future is a community network of concerned Fallsburg residents established in January 2016. Its Mission is to help guide the urban development of the town of Fallsburg and its five hamlets, to promote its sustainable economic development, protect the fragile beauty of its natural habitats and enhance the opportunities and quality of life for all its residents and visitors. We hope to curb the suburban sprawl that is threatening to overwhelm the town’s physical infrastructure and destroy the natural beauty that the area depends on for its future development. See us on Facebook and our website Fallsburgsfuture.com.