HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin- 4-20-11
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CODES AND ORDINANCES COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
April 20, 2011
MEMBERS PRESENT: Bill Goodman, Pat Leary, Eric Levine, Fred Wilcox, Eva Hoffmann.
OTHERS PRESENT: Susan Brock, Attorney for the Town; Bruce Bates, Director of Code
Enforcement; Sue Ritter, Director of Planning; Chris Balestra, Planner; Dan Tasman, Assistant Director
of Planning; Minakshi Amundsen, Cornell University Planner.
Chair Bill Goodman called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m.
Agenda Item No. 1 - Member Comments/Concerns: None.
Agenda Item No. 2 - Approval of Minutes from February 16, 2011 and March 16, 2011 meetings:
February 16, 2011 minutes: Committee felt they needed more time to review, discuss and make any
changes at the next COC meeting in May.
March 16, 2011 minutes: Minor changes were made to the minutes that were approved as amended. Fred
moved and Eric seconded the motion, all in favor of the changes.
Agenda Item No. 3 - Review of Revised “Garages” and “Accessory Building” Definitions and
References in the Town Zoning Code:
The Committee went on to review and discuss the revised document that Bruce provided and made the
following changes:
Page 1: Garage definition: keep ‘designed to be’; and retype ‘principle’ to ‘principal’.
Page 1: Article V; Conservation Zones; Section 270-17, Yard regulations; (F) Accessory buildings: Add
‘other than garages’ after accessory buildings in the first line; and add ‘(including garages)’ after
accessory buildings in the third line.
Page 1: Article V; Conservation Zones; Section 270-17; (G) Detached Garage: change ‘not’ to ‘nor’ in
the second line.
Page 2: Article VII; Lakefront Residential Zones; Section 270-46; (E) Accessory buildings: First line to
read as: ‘In Lakefront Residential Zones, accessory buildings, other than garages, may occupy any yard’.
Next sentence to read as: ‘Accessory buildings, in the aggregate, may occupy not more than 15% of any
required yard and, if other than a garage, shall be not less than three feet from any side or rear lot line
(with some reference to (F), Susan Brock will add additional wording in this section).
Delete the remaining wording in (E) starting with “Any accessory building on a corner lot ……’.
Page 3: Article VII; Lakefront Residential Zones; Section 270-46; (H) Garages; (a): change typing error
on the word ‘set back’ and combine it to read as ‘setback’; and delete one of the punctuation marks.
(c): Line should read as: ‘Garages shall be included in the 15% lot coverage’.
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Moving to page 6; Article XI; Mobile Home Park Zones; Section 270-94; Yard regulations:
Delete ‘and garages’ in (B) and in (C).
Page7: Section 270-219.3; Amateur radio facilities; (C): no need to include this section in the law.
Susan Brock will make the changes and provide the Committee with an emailed copy before regulation
goes to the Town Board.
Motion to move the law to the Town Board for review at their May meeting : Eric moved and Pat
seconded the motion. All were in favor to send on to the Town Board.
Agenda Item No. 4 - Discussion of Comments Received Regarding Stream Setback Law:
The Committee began discussion of the Stream Setback Law comments provided by Cornell, with Mina
Amundsen, Cornell University Planner present. Mina gave a quick overview of the comments provided
by Cornell.
Sue R. gave a brief review on hydric soils, noted that the definition of wetland should be included for the
Comprehensive Plan purposes. She also discussed maps on DEC wetlands and other NYS wetlands.
Pat had a concern regarding ‘General Development Impacts’ on page 3, particularly how to make the law
more flexible and what it would do to affordability of new housing and new development. Mina
explained and discussion followed regarding flexibility, developers, homeowners, design
accommodations, Cornell housing in the Sapsucker Woods area that would be affected, sustainable site
development, wetlands, natural drainage, reviewing maps, streams, setbacks, and other regulations,
individual houses and individual lots, shortage of apartments and town homes.
Bill asked if there was any general response from the Planning Department on the Cornell comments. Sue
mentioned that the exemption on a half-acre lot could pose a problem (example: Kendall Avenue lot,
homeowner wanting to move the stream and/or build over it).
The Planning Department was asked by the Committee to provide written responses to Cornell’s
comments for the next meeting. The Committee will continue with Cornell comments and comments by
Jim Semp and Jon Bosak at the next meeting.
Agenda Item No. 5 - Continued Discussion of Draft Conservation Amendments:
The Committee continued their discussion from page 6; (5)(a), regarding the clear cutting issue (that 90%
of land that would allow 74% cutting of trees). Discussion followed regarding the sustainable,
reforestation, and clear cutting plans; having a DEC forester review a plan; the proposed law section
(7)(a) on page 8, and the difference between using certified and qualified foresters (Sue will check on).
The Committee decided to leave the language in the law as is, but would think about changing the
definition of clear cutting to lower the percentage from 75% to 50% or 55%.
The Committee will continue with page 7 at the next meeting.
Agenda Item No. 6 - Other Business:
The Committee discussed changing the COC meeting time to 6:30 p.m. for the remainder of the year.
Fred moved and Eric seconded to officially change the meeting time. All were in favor of the time
change.
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Agenda Item No. 7 - Next meeting date and agenda:
Next meeting is scheduled for May 18, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. and the agenda will include:
- Review of minutes from the February 16th meeting.
- Continue Discussion of Revised Draft Conservation Zone Amendments.
- Continue review of Stream Setback Law Comments.
Meeting adjourned at 8:32 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Sandy Polce, Administrative Staff