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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-02-17 PB Final Minutes Planning Board Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 3 February 17, 2026 Planning Board Zoom Hybrid Meeting Meeting Minutes February 17, 2026 Approved: March 3, 2026 Board Members Present: Chair Karl Klankowski, Linda Liddle, Jeff McDonald Board Members Absent: Mo Klein Quorum Present Applicants Present: Andy Sciarabba, John Driscoll Applicants Present on Zoom: Lindsey Dennington Public Present: None Public Present on Zoom: Shirley Town Staff Present: Niels Tygesen, Lori Asperschlager Town Board Present: None Proceedings Chair Karl Klankowski called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM at Town Hall. Approval of Agenda Klankowski suggested to move the Comp Plan discussion to after the New Business Items. Motion: Liddle motioned to approve the amended agenda; McDonald seconded. Vote: Chair Klankowski, aye; Liddle, aye; McDonald, aye. Motion Carried. Board Member Reports No Board Members in attendance. Approval of Past Minutes Motion: Liddle motioned to approve the February 3, 2026 minutes; McDonald seconded. Vote: Chair Klankowski, aye; Liddle, aye; McDonald, aye. Motion Carried. Privilege of the Floor No members of the public spoke during the privilege of the floor. Motion: Klankowski motioned to close privilege of the floor; McDonald seconded. Vote: Chair Klankowski, aye; Liddle, aye; McDonald, aye. Motion Carried. New Business Items SPR2601-01: Dennington-Helgren New Single Detached Dwelling Unit, Detached Accessory Dwelling Unit, and Site Improvements, Sketch Plan Review The applicant and property owners, Lindsey Dennington and Kane Helgren, propose to construct a new ‘single-family’ residence, detached accessory dwelling unit (DADU), and associated site improvements. Per the Code of the Town of Ulysses (CTU) 212-51.B and 212-52.A.2, single-family residences and DADUs are permitted in the CZ zone, but require site plan review when within a unique natural area (UNA) and/or slope overlay area, pursuant to the provisions listed under CTU 212-19. Planning Board Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 3 February 17, 2026 Andy Sciarabba and John Driscoll gave the history of the project. • Home will be built on piers to allow for minimal disturbance of drainage • Cantilevered to reduce disturbance to the tree canopy • Minimal trees removed (4 for the building the house and 7 for the driveway) • Shed Roof with a French drain • Opportunity to hook up to both the water line and sewer line with the Town of Ithaca • Owners will temporarily have airstream trailer on property during construction project • There will also be two sheds on the property for storage Liddle asked why the accessory dwelling runs into the side setback. The decision to put the DADU was to reduce the number of trees taken down. Tygesen confirmed that zoning allows accessory structures can go into 20% of a side setback (not a front setback). Next steps: • Ahead of the next meeting the committee would like to see the grading plan for the driveway and drainage system behind the house. • The committee will tentatively add the review and public hearing to the March 3 meeting. ZCA2601-01: Open Development Area Code Amendment The Town Board recently received two requests from property owners to establish open development areas (ODA) for their properties in order for the Town’s Building Official to be able to issue construction permits as required per the Consolidated Laws of New York (CLNY) 62.16.280-A. The two requests were referred to the Planning Board for advice and recommendation, and the Planning Board issued said recommendations during the 12.02.2025 and 01.06.2026 meetings. It was discovered that past Town Boards issued at least two separate ODAs for similar requests in 2014 and in 2015, but did not elect to implement prescriptive regulations or process for ODAs as other municipalities in New York had done. The board discussed Open Development Area code and used the resource Tygesen provided from other NYS towns. The town board is looking for a recommendation for how to approach a code amendment. Klanowski created a list of all land-locked tax parcels in the town and shared it with the board. He will continue to research the deeds of the land locked parcels to see if an easement is included. Currently land locked parcels are handled with an easement in the deed but not always. Could have a specifications in the amendment that it must be in a deed so there is no issue of accessing the land locked property. Next steps: • Board members will look through 2 or 3 of other town ODA laws (provided to board by Tygesen), pull together what might work for the town by 2/24 for Tygesen to review for a draft. • This initial draft would be a light version, not prescriptive text. Andy Sciarabba asked if the town would provide notice to those property owners with a land locked parcels. Tygesen said that could be done once the town board adopts the ODA law, if the town does a blanket ODA. If there isn’t a blanket ODA then each individual area will need to go through the process to establish an ODA. Planning Board Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 3 February 17, 2026 Old Business Item Comp Plan Draft 02.02 Discussion: • Current state of the Future Land Use Map • Map Klankowski created about the 5 major families who farm the land in the town • Importance of preserving ag land, include data in plan of how many people in the town work in the agriculture industry • Map Klankowski created about bulk of the houses built are from 1950-2000 • New homes being built each year (approx. 8 or 9). • Direction about ADUs in the comp plan and number of AirBnB rentals in the town • GIS map and developing character areas not parcel by parcel • Create the plan and development in blocks of time (5-10 years, 15 years, etc) • Mention of alternative means of funding creating a new water district (ex. bond act) Board Member Reports No Report Motion: Liddle motioned to adjourn; McDonald seconded. Vote: Chair Klankowski, aye; Liddle, aye; McDonald, aye. Motion Carried. ADJOURNED at 8:48PM Respectfully submitted by Lori Asperschlager, Planning Board Secretary February 23, 2026