Sleepy Hollow, and its rural way of life, at a crossroads
Little question that the village of Sleepy Hollow, population 3,300, is not your typical suburb.
It's a bedroom community seemingly plopped down in the middle of a big forest. No sidewalks. Can't install fences or sheds. And certainly, no boats parked in driveways. A Headless Horseman bonfire tribute to the village namesake. Community Easter Egg hunts and Christmas tree lightings in the modest park not far from a village hall that doesn't look at all like most suburban village halls. A decidedly rural feel.
And the residents of Sleepy Hollow, not unlike those feisty inhabitants of the slowly dwindling unincorporated neighborhoods, passionately defend their bucolic lifestyle against any and all threats. Consider the opening to a Jan. 28 letter to the editor:
"The elected officials of Sleepy Hollow are about to change our village forever."
Before you can ask, "How so?" writer Rich English explains the threat: a 125-foot cell tower that would be plopped down just south of that village hall, at 1 Thorobred Lane. The unsightly tower "would be in everyone's pictures on the Fourth of July, at the Easter Egg Hunt, during the Headless Horsemen bonfire and during the Holidays in the Hollow. Do we airbrush the tower out of our pictures so we can pretend we are maintaining the rural image the village has tried to maintain and preserve for over 50 years?"
Turns out cell towers are a permitted use on village-owned property, so unless the village wanted to wage a legally risky after-the-fact zoning change, the only issue on the table is negotiating the lease arrangements.
But there's another, bigger threat to Sleepy Hollow's way of life. And it's something residents seem to dislike as much as cell towers: Taxes.
A challenge with maintaining a rustic atmosphere in a bedroom community is the absence of business and industry to pick up the brunt of the local tax burden.
So, village leaders the past two elections have asked voters for tax increases. If you look at it from the standpoint of percentage increases, the amounts were whoppers: 82 percent in the most recent vote, or a doubling of what a typical resident pays in Sleepy Hollow taxes.
If you look at the amount compared to the overall tax bill, which included school and other governments, the increase of $316 for the owner of a $200,000 home was reasonably modest.
So, in a less-than-stunning vote, with 84.8 percent of the ballots unofficially tallied on Election Night last year, the measure was trounced, 543 to 92, with 26 percent of the town's registered voters casting ballots. A referendum a year earlier with similar numbers produced similar results.
Now, with the March 15 primary at hand, Sleepy Hollow is back on the ballot again. This time, though, the amount sought and size of the tax bite have been scaled back considerably: to roughly 33 percent.
However, village leaders caution this tax increase is only a first step; they'll likely be back for more in two years. In the meantime, the village has scrimped and saved, cutting back on lawn-mowing and light bulb repair. (And keep a close eye on the speedometer on 25-mph-limit Sleepy Hollow Road, one of the most notorious speed traps this side of Hebron.)
One can never know for sure where the truth ends and political saber-rattling begins. But the predictions of what would happen to Sleepy Hollow without the additional tax money are dire. Options, Village President Stephan Pickett said at a recent informational meeting, could include merging with a neighboring town (Elgin? Perish the thought.) Or, just becoming a big, unincorporated neighborhood. "If this tax referendum doesn't go through," he said, "where do we go? What do we do?"
It seems to come down to what residents want.
In a few weeks we'll have a pretty good idea.
Jim Davis can be reached at jdavis@dailyherald.com. Follow him on Facebook at JimDavis06 or on Twitter, @dhjimdavis.