WHAT A RIGHT OF WAY IS:

A right of way is a legal right to cross someone else's land. The landowner still owns the ground. The holder gets a limited right to use it, usually only to travel over it, and no right to occupy it.

Rights of way exist because land is useless if you can't reach it. A lot with no road frontage would otherwise be landlocked. A right of way is usually granted in a deed, and it stays with the property when it's sold, passing to each new owner. Utility lines cross private land the same way.

Picture a farmer with forty acres along a town road. She sells the back ten acres to a neighbor. That back parcel doesn't touch the road, so there's no way to reach it without crossing her land. In the deed, she grants the buyer a right of way: the right to use her farm lane to get to and from the road. The neighbor can use the lane to come and go, but the lane isn't theirs. The farmer still owns it. If the neighbor later sells the back parcel, the right of way goes with it.

So - a right of way is a private arrangement between property owners, usually written into their deeds. A street is different: it has a status the town recognizes, as a public highway, a road on the official map, or a street on an approved plat*.

*A plat is a surveyed map, drawn by a licensed surveyor, showing how a piece of land is divided: lot lines, lot sizes, roads, and easements. Once a planning board approves it and it's filed with the county clerk, it's a public record that deeds and permits can rely on.

A right of way can also appear on an approved plat, but if the plat labels it a right of way, the board approved it as a right of way, not a street.

WHY EASTWOODS IS A RIGHT OF WAY:

Eastwoods Drive has been recorded as a right of way for as far back as the records go. In May 2024, the town's Zoning Enforcement Officer searched the county records. He found that Eastwoods "is also not shown as a street on any plat approved by the planning board." The 1985 subdivision map for lots along Eastwoods, approved by the Planning Board, describes the road "as a right of way, as opposed to a street or road approved as part of the plat." That right of way goes back at least to a 1962 survey map. Being on an approved plat didn't make the road a street then, and it's still a right of way today.

WHAT 280-A SAYS:

Back to the farmer example. To build a house on that back parcel, or on any parcel, the neighbor would need a building permit. That's where state law comes in.

New York Town Law §280-a says a building permit can only be issued if the lot has proper access. That access can be a public highway, a street on the town's official map, or a street on a plat approved by a planning board*. The road also has to be suitably improved, meaning safe enough for emergency vehicles.

*A street on an approved plat is a road that a planning board reviewed and approved as a road, as part of a subdivision. The board checks it against the town's road standards before signing the map, and the map is filed with the county.

A right of way doesn't count as access by default. A lot whose only access is a right of way has two options:

1. The Town Board can designate an Open Development Area. The statute says this is for structures "to which access is given by right of way or easement."

or

2. The Zoning Board of Appeals can grant a variance.

Either way, the Town Board or the ZBA looks at the road before any permits are issued.

WHAT THE TOWN HAS ALREADY SAID ABOUT EASTWOODS:

In his May 24, 2024 determination, the ZEO wrote: "A right of way is not considered a street for the purpose of satisfying the access requirements of NYS Town Law §280-a."

He said Zena Dev can get 280-a compliance in one of two ways: an Open Development Area from the Town Board, or a variance from the ZBA. Both boards would look at whether the road can safely serve 30 more homes, and either one can say no.

In August 2025, the Planning Board's own attorney, John Lyons, gave the same two routes in a letter to the DEC.

WHAT ZENA DEV DID INSTEAD:

Less than two months later, Zena Dev filed a minor subdivision application that turns three parcels into two. In the cover letter (July 17, 2024), their attorney, Alec Gladd, wrote in a footnote that the application "is not for development purposes. The application is to address compliance with New York State Town Law § 280-a." He added: "A roadway shown on a plat approved by the planning board complies with § 280-a(1)(b)."

That last sentence is Gladd's claim. The zoning officer never said it.

At the September 17 meeting, in anticipation of this Thursday's review, Gladd presented the application only as a lot-line change, three parcels into two, with no mention of 280-a. It has been two and a half years since the cover letter with the footnote.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

The minor subdivision application doesn't fit the guidance. The zoning officer and the board's own attorney both pointed to an Open Development Area or a variance. Neither pointed to a new plat.

The board shouldn't knowingly help. The application's own stated purpose is 280-a compliance, a question the town's officials have already sent to the Town Board or the ZBA.

ALSO, THIS ISN’T EVEN A MINOR SUBDIVISION:

A minor subdivision can't conflict with the subdivision regulations. This application needs waivers from them for road length, surface, shoulders, and a second access road.

A lot-line revision can't create new lots.

The application leaves out the required lists of waivers and easements. It also omits a fourth parcel, 44.2, and its acreage figures don't match each other.

EIGHT WAIVERS FROM TOWN OF WOODSTOCK CODE

These are requests the Woodstock Planning Board can grant or deny outright.

1. The blanket request Town of Woodstock Code § 202-32

A road serving eleven or more lots must be built to major road standards. Rather than address each standard one at a time, the developers asked the Planning Board to waive the Section 202-32 road design standards as a whole: fifteen pages of code.

2. Dead-end road length § 202-32.D(1)

The maximum length for a dead-end road is 2,000 feet. The proposed road is more than 9,000 feet, ending in a cul-de-sac deep in the woods. Dead-end limits exist so emergency responders can reach you and so you can get out.

3. Two means of access § 202-32.C

Subdivisions of twenty or more lots must have at least two connections to existing roads. This proposal has one way in and one way out for thirty lots. If that road is blocked by a fallen tree, a fire, a storm, or an accident, there is no second route.

4. Road width and shoulders § 202-32.G(4)

Major roads require 28 feet in total: a 20-foot surface plus 4-foot shoulders on each side. The proposal is roughly 20 feet of gravel with no compliant shoulders. Along the wetland there is no room for a shoulder at all. Shoulders are what let vehicles pass, give responders room to work, and keep people walking the road out of traffic. Widening a gravel road for construction traffic also means dust, at volumes the current road has never carried.

5. Subbase § 202-32.G(19)

Major roads require a 12-inch crushed stone subbase. None is proposed. The subbase is what lets a road carry a fire truck or a concrete truck without rutting or washing out. A road built below standard costs more to maintain, and the homeowners association proposed to maintain it does not exist yet.

6. Paving § 202-32.G(20)

Roads serving more than eleven lots must be paved. Woodstock's own environmental consultant warned that paving Eastwoods Drive would damage the wetlands alongside it. The developers' answer is to skip the paving and ask for a waiver, which leaves the Board choosing between road safety and the wetland.

7. Adequate emergency access § 202-11(E)

Subdivision roads must provide adequate access for fire, police, and emergency medical services. Reviewing the developers' own documents for the Planning Board, consulting engineer Stephan A. Maffia, P.E., called the proposal "unacceptably excessive roadway lengths with regard to safety," warning that a blockage could delay fire, police, and EMS response. He measured the access road at more than 7,000 feet, but the developers’ plans have subsequently been updated.

8. The access road must be suitably improved NYS Town Law § 280-a; Town of Woodstock Code § 202-29A.(5)

Building permits cannot be issued until the road providing access is suitably improved, and Woodstock requires private access roads to meet public road design standards. The developers have asked to waive nearly every standard that defines what "suitably improved" means. If every standard is waived, what is left of the word?

TWO WAIVERS FROM STATE STANDARDS THAT WOODSTOCK CANNOT WAIVE

The Woodstock Planning Board has no authority to set these aside. Only the New York State Department of State can grant a variance from the Uniform Code.

9. Long dead-end fire apparatus access roads NYS Fire Code Appendix D, Table D103.4

Dead-end fire apparatus access roads longer than 750 feet trigger additional design requirements. This one is more than 9,000 feet, from Zena Highwoods Road to the farthest lot.

10. Two fire apparatus access roads NYS Fire Code Appendix D § D107.1

Developments of thirty or more dwelling units generally require two approved fire apparatus access roads. This proposal has thirty lots and one road.