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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-06-27 - CPC Town of Ulysses Comprehensive Plan Committee June 27, 2006 Approved with corrections 08/22/06 Present : Robert Brown, Dick Coogan, Heather Filiberto , Sue Poelvoorde, Sue Ritter, Darien Simon, Elizabeth Thomas, David Tyler, Robert Weatherby, John Wertis Absent : David Kerness, Jennifer Wapinski -Moordian, Debbie Watkins Ms Poelvoorde called the meeting to order at 7 : 18pm, she asked if all the members had been sworn in by the Town Clerk. Several members replied they had not. Ms . Poelvoorde stated the minutes from the meeting of 05/23/06 could not be approved until all members are sworn in. She asked the remaining members to please contact the Town Clerk as soon as possible so this could be done . Ms . Poelvoorde presented demographic statistics from a 2005 update of the 2000 Census, the overall showed an increase of Ulysses 3 . 04%, Tompkins County 3 . 64% and the Village of Trumansburg . 44% . Mr. Coogan stated he could email the demographics to Ms . Carlisle Peck for distribution to the other members . Ms . Poelvoorde stated at the last meeting one of the tasks was to review the plan for possible tasks that a professional planner could do . Ms . Thomas stated that one of areas she noted the plan mentions the park, keeping the area aesthetically pleasing, maintaining open space- she wondered if there was a way they could officially work with the park. She realizes they are an entity, we benefit by their being there or is this out of their realm . Mr. Tyler stated the Park is there and it is permanent, it is a major impact on the town, they acknowledge that it increases tourism and it needs to be factored into the plan. Ms . Poelvoorde stated this relationship is important for the Comprehensive Plan, what is zoned around the park, the area near Taughannock Farms Inn being zoned commercial to complement the park and tourism . What happens in the park is up to NYS , she is a planner for NYS Parks, the park prefers land use compatible to the aesthetics of a park area. Ms . Ritter stated she had a draft copy from the library, the first part is the Comprehensive Plan, in the back is a Town of Ulysses Master Plan 1995 . She wondered what this item is . Mr. Tyler stated he thought this was the draft for the plan . Ms . Ritter stated traffic volumes and data was not in the plan. Ms . Poelvoorde stated the data was all in the appendices , when the Comp Plan was printed the appendices were not included but there should be a full set in the Town Hall . Ms . Ritter stated the Comp Plan appeared to be heavy on the survey yet did not address traffic , and other areas . Ms . Filiberto stated in reviewing the Comp Plan on page 9 it references information but not having the data she could not relate the information . It would be helpful if a summary had been done. Ms . Poelvoorde stated a complete copy of the document could be made available for all members . She asked Mr. Coogan if he would copy these documents and bring them to the next meeting. Comprehensive Plan 2 06/27/2006 Mr. Tyler stated several of them had been involved in the first plan, he wondered if they had any thought on what had transpired since the initial plan was developed . Mr. Weatherby stated he could not see any explosive growth, there has been some, the tourism has grown and that is an area they wanted to see develop . Mr. Tyler replied the one item he considered when reviewing the plan is that there is a trend in this community becoming a bedroom community to Cornell . There has been a lot of pressure to purchase chunks of lands to build within the area. Mr. Coogan stated he and Mr. Rachun are putting together statistics from building permits, they are going back 5 years . They have found that on a yearly basis it has come out almost identical . Mr. Tyler stated that it is a character issue to be considered when reviewing the new document. Ms. Poelvoorde stated when she reviewed the document and the map; the residential area was all white with no areas to concentrate cluster type housing. Mr. Weatherby stated he thought the new zoning law corrected this. Mr. Coogan replied no there is still no incentive to develop cluster housing, in fact the current law actually discourages this type of development. Mr. Tyler stated the impetus right now is to gobble up the frontage; looking at other municipalities and overseas they have more concentrated housing, this allowed them to maintain open areas . Ms . Poelvoorde stated there are 17 new homes on her 6-mile drive to work that have been built. It is gradual but there is a change. Mr. Brown stated that everyone anticipated a change when the octopus was completed that this area would grow like Lansing. He believes the reason it did not is water and sewer. The first few pages of the plan indicated the need for water and sewer and he has heard no mention of plans to create this . He had approached Mr. Austic regarding this in the past, Lansing is dealing with this now-they are in need of a municipal sewer system due to the growth. Mr. Tyler stated Mr. Brown is correct in that water usually comes first then the sewer system becomes a necessity. Mr. Coogan replied where a sewer system would become an issue first is along Route 89 . This is a huge problem with septic systems along the lake due to environmental issues . A lengthy conversation ensued regarding growth areas around the various members ' residences , patterns they have seen and the effects on landscapes over 5 - 10-20 years . Providing incentives for clustered development i . e. tax incentives may be a solution. The issue of commercial growth outside of the village, i . e. Kinney Drugs moving was discussed. The trend due to being cheaper to build outside of the village, would like to see more commercial development-this strengthens the village. The Comp Plan promotes this and the members felt it was a positive having this cohesion between the Village and the Town to work together. Ms. Poelvoorde asked if they develop areas that they would like to see zoning changes that need to done immediately could they promote this . Mr. Tyler stated it could but it is a political process and it would take time and subject to the Town Board. Comprehensive Plan 3 06/27/2006 Ms . Poelvoorde stated that it would be her hope that if the Town Board accepts this Comprehensive Plan it would then approve a zoning map to reflect the goals of the comp plan. Mr. Tyler asked how she feels the current zoning map reflects the Comp Plan. Ms . Poelvoorde replied it did not appear to be compatible . Mr. Tyler stated the community needs to be involved, it should be reflected in the legislative law which is the Zoning Law, until the community or neighborhood state they do not like this and become involved the changes do not occur. Mr. Coogan stated zoning is a regulatory instrument, the other side is incentive-why don ' t you come here, if you do we will make it better for both of us- there has never been an incentive to develop in specific areas . Mr. Tyler and Mr. Weatherby discussed the fire tax on agricultural land; this is the type of incentive that could be done . It was discovered that this incentive was "peanuts" to relieve tax burden. When this is done the tax burden ultimately shifts elsewhere. A conversation ensued regarding the increase of tourism and agricultural development specifically the increase of vineyards . The Finger Lakes area is unique and the area has developed extensively, California growers are showing interest in the area and purchasing lots . An area near Indian Creek has been purchased and a vineyard is being established there. The Amish have expressed interest in purchasing a large farm in the Trumansburg area. The number of large farmers is currently 5 active farms, 40 years ago there were a lot . The bigger farmers get bigger-there are not as many siblings staying on and farming as there had been, farming in Ulysses will probably decline in farmers yet the size of the farms will probably increase . The Ag census in Tompkins County, which is not the norm statewide, indicated a growth in small specialty farms-organic farming, ginger production, etc . The number has not decreased but smaller niche farms are developing . Ms . Simon stated that another item to assist in development is having an adequate infrastructure, road, water and sewer in the areas you want development . If they are not provided elsewhere then development would go in that area. Mr. Coogan stated they have not seen the development in Water District 3 they had anticipated, there has been 3 new permits issued. The biggest item they have seen is the property value has increased for the Jacksonville area, undervalued properties have started to sell at the market value. Ms . Simon stated but that is just water, the combination could increase development. We do not have drought problems around here so well water tends to be an adequate supply. Providing sewer along with water could promote development in the areas that are designated as targets for development . This trend can be witnessed in development areas across the country-these tend to be the areas that are developed due to available resources . Mr. Tyler discussed the progression of the Bolton Point project and its impact on development for the Town of Ithaca The water came around faster than the sewer, there was a sewer moratorium due to the problems on the East side of the lake . Jacksonville is quiet now but he anticipates it will increase and start to snowball . Ms . Ritter stated the town protects the Ag lands by not increasing the water district beyond a certain point . The residents on Sheffield Road would like to have the water extend to them however due to having to cross Ag lands the Town has stated they will not extend water for purchased development rights programs . Mr. Wertis stated he does not understand the process ; he heard a few minutes ago the zoning ordinance does not reflect the comp plan . Is part of their task at all to come to a consensus that the plan is not reflected in the zoning ordinance. How do they do this? Comprehensive Plan 4 06/27/2006 Ms . Poelvoorde stated yes, and this leads into their next discussion which is the tasks to be assigned to the planner. Have the planner review the documents for the town-are there items missing, the inventory items should be reviewed, they are hearing disconnects between the plan and zoning, review the goals and objectives . Mr. Wertis asked how this information will go to the Town Board, would it be via the minutes, resolutions or how . Mr. Tyler stated it would be in a formal report, the Town Board does not usually have time to wade through the minutes . Ms . Poelvoorde stated Ms . Marino would also be providing regular updates at the Town Board meetings . Mr. Brown asked if the comp plan had been available when the zoning ordinance was composed . Mr. Tyler stated it had. Ms . Poelvoorde asked if they were ready to discuss the tasks for the planner. Ms . Simon stated it was important to know what they want the planner to do, if the Cornell group or a planner does the survey that is the first thing to do , they would be second guessing everyone and indicate how they need to proceed. She looked at the comp plan and it is good however it does have room for improvement, and she feels it all should be reanalyzed and not interpret any of it as being good enough. She asked Mr. Coogan if they have information that goes 30 to 40 years to establish growth periods . Mr. Coogan stated they have 5 years of maps with pins indicating new growth. There are records for the past 25 years but is not easily retrieved. Ms . Simon stated this is an item a planner could review. These are areas we may want to concentrate on for development or the absence of it . Mr. Tyler stated the county pays for air maps every ten years . They have been done 1980, 1990 and 2000 he is unsure of 1970 . These would be accessible for review of specific areas . Ms Filiberto stated the county database would have this information in the County Assessment. Mr. Coogan stated another item would be the properties where houses are being replaced with new houses . This may indicate another category to be reviewed. Ms Ritter presented the information with hand outs from Yasmin Miller the Director of Survey Research Institute regarding the pricing and work they could perform for the committee. She consulted with Fernando (D ' Aragon) and he has used this group for all of the various types of surveys and have been very happy with the institute. She had to provide information that she was unsure of to Ms . Miller, such as the number of surveys, she gave the approximate of 2 ,000 households for Ulysses for the number of surveys . She also had to provide the number of questions, she used the Caroline survey which is composed of 60 responses and the prices are quoted on that. She stated they can do paper surveys which can be scanned which would omit the need for data enter. The Town of Ithaca uses BOCES for bulk mailing which is a little cheaper. A lengthy discussion regarding the costs, the items needed and who could obtain this information, i . e. traffic counts from the highway department-crunching these numbers could be a duty of the planner. It was presented that one item of the previous survey was the incredible level of participation and it was more persuasive having a written document vs. the telephone survey. The extra information provided in the other Comprehensive Plan 5 06/27/2006 comments section of the previous survey resulted in very positive feedback. It is very easy to tell a person they do not have time to complete a telephone survey, i . e. dinner hour call being received. The telephone survey would be composed of 10% of the population-the previous survey was provided not only to property owners but was made accessible to renters in the area. They would be difficult to reach with a telephone survey. The idea of doing both to compare the results-especially from those who did not respond was offered. Another way to reach these individuals would be with a public meeting to try to obtain their viewpoint. Some people are comfortable with writing and some are comfortable speaking in public and vice versa. Close ended surveys oftentimes do not offer the answer an individual would like to have thus the need for a comments section is a good item to include . A computer cannot analyze this information . A review of the survey cost estimated it to be $ 2000 . 00 based on the numbers returned at the last survey done . This would include reviewing the survey, creating scannable forms , scanning/verifying the questionnaire, delivery of data and codebook, and statistical analysis . The committee would have to compose the survey, the institute would review and compile then provide the statistics . Ms . Poelvoorde requested the members review the previous surveys pull questions they would like to have submitted . Mr. Coogan offered to compile a list if the members would email them to him for presentation at the next meeting. Ms . Poelvoorde requested the members review the comp plan and write questions based on perception of the plan . Also , the need to review the tasks for the planner, Ms . Marino has been provided with a list it will take time to get the person hired and on hand to start work. Ms . Simon stated her name is on the list and she has been advised by members of the Town that she is not "conflicted", but she would have to step aside during voting . Mr. Coogan offered a projector and laptop are available for composing the questionnaire during the meetings . Mr. Wertis stated he would like to establish a decision making process for the meetings, a roll call vote to make any decisions made definitive . In addition, he stated he felt the Town Hall would be better for the meetings as there is a copier and the tools they need on-site . The next meeting will be held July 25th at 7 : 00pm at the Ulysses library. Respectfully submitted, Robin Carlisle Peck Administrative Assistant 08/23/06 Comprehensive Plan 6 06/27/2006