Talk is cheap — but as Planning Board Chairperson Joann Waski has demonstrated, voting with your conscience is a lot harder when you are running on the Republican ticket.
Let’s not be fooled. Joann Waski has said some things at Planning Board meetings that townspeople have wanted to hear. In 2022, as the brand new chair she voted against the Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard expansion in a 2-2 vote with one abstention. She explained that she was getting letter after letter opposing the expansion and it was her job to make sure residents have the best quality of life.
It’s worth your time to read her comments at that meeting to compare them with her recent vote on the Ciderhouse: Baiting Hollow Farm Vineyard again fails to gain planning board approval.
In 2022, Waski also voted with the rest of the Planning Board to recommend a moratorium on industrial development in Calverton.
I would suggest these early votes were her way of setting the table for her bid for a seat on the Town Board which was announced in February of this year. But she has now shown her true colors with her recent tie-breaking Ciderhouse vote. Evidently her concerns about protecting the Sound Avenue corridor and listening to resident opposition have disappeared. Like all her fellow Republican cronies in town government she sided with the developer on this matter. She voted to approve a repeat offender’s flagrant disregard for the town’s laws, rules and regulations. I suggest, if elected, this is what we can continue to expect from Waski.
Take a look at the Ciderhouse vote that legitimized the developer’s illegal expansions. During that meeting Waski said:
“I want you to understand that I am you. I am a resident of Riverhead. I was born and raised in this town and I see your signs and I know that you are upset and I empathize with you. And probably if I were not sitting in this seat, I’d be sitting with you with my own sign.”
Why did Waski bother to make these gratuitous comments? Was she pandering to voters while doing the developer’s bidding? If she really felt that way why didn’t she say no to this developer? Her single deciding vote would have sent the message to all developers in this town that they have to keep their projects within the bounds of their approvals. You can’t just do what you want, seek forgiveness, and know you will get it from this town. She offered absolutely no legitimate reason for her vote to legalize the Ciderhouse application.
This is a cautionary tale. A candidate’s actions speak much louder than her words. Remember this when you cast your vote in November.
Kathleen McGraw is a longtime summer resident in Northville. She is a member of EPCAL Watch.
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