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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-06-05T13 f6605 -12 "OWN OF DR DEN IF TOWN HOARD MEETBiG .Juice 5, 2002 'Board Members Present: Supv Mark Varvayanis, Cl Charles .H.Ktlit�ld, Cl Stephen Stelick4 � Jz-_, C1 Deborah Grantham, C1 Christopher Michaels 1 Other Elected Officials; )iambi L_ BnUenbeck, Town Clerk 0cber To %vu Stall- Mahlon R_ Perkins, Town Attorney (arrived at 7:201 p.m.) Henry Slater, Zoning Officer David Putnam (TG Millers), Town Engineer 41J:14 CON :r5MI SITE PLAN REVIEW APPLICATION OF HEP ALES, INC. TO CONSTRUCT A 48'X48' SQUARE FAT FRAME BUILDING AT 12 UTILITY DRIVE Supv Varvayanis opened the public hearing at 7:05 p.m. and Tawas Clerk read the notice published in The Ithaca Journal_ Roard - members have been provid i with applica6on materiels and plans, Paul $airy of HE? Sales, Inc. explained that they are presently using three trailers for storage space and would like to construct a storage building and eliminate the trailers. D Putnam stated there would be no change with respect to drainage as they will be putting the building on a paved site. ZO Slater stated that additionally the roof drainage will be piped uritlerground to the stormvvater drain. Supv Varvayanis asked if there other question: fx-om board members or the public. There were none and the hearing was left open. PUBLIC HEARING PROPOSED LOCAL LAW ESTABLISHING MINIMUM ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS FOR CONSERVATION ADVISORY COUNCIL ANT) RECREATION COMMISSION MEMBERS Supv Varvayam. opened the public hearing ar 7 :08 p.m. and Town Clexk read the notice published in The Ithaca Journol_ 1 Hatfield asked whether it was a request from the public that prompted these proposed local laves and was told that it was not. Supv V arvayanis said that there was a law in place for the Zoning Board of Appeals. Supv Varvayards asked if there were other questions or comments. There were none and the hearing was left. open. PUBLIC HEARING PROPOSED LOCAL LAW ESTABLISHING MINIMUM ATTENDANCE AND CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERS OF THE PLANNING BOARD Page 1 of 8 TB 00 =05-02 Supv Varvayanis opened the public hearing at 7:12 p.m. and Town Clerk read the ® notice published in Me Ithaca Joumai. Town Clerk read a memo to the Board from David Weinstein in support of the proposed law, with two suggested changes (copy attached). Barbara Caldwell, Chair of the Planning Board, thanked the board for pursuing this. The Planning Board reviewed the proposed local law at its recent meeting and is in favor with some suggestions and recommendations. They made a motion which included the following points. • That it refer to the 12 regular meetings. • That absences be referred to as unexcused absences. • That absences would be excused by the Chair. • That the list of courses would be based on a draft prepared by the Chair and the Zoning Enforcement Officer. • If people wanted to be reimbursed by the Town Board, in which case they would have to have prior approval of the Town Board. • That if a person is a speaker at one of the approved classes, that would count as attendance. One of the current Planning Board members speaks at the New York Planning Federation seminars. • That. if not enough courses are scheduled and available, that the Planning Board will contact the Town Board to ask them to make arrangements with the County Planning Department to provide a course locally. • That a request for removal be originated by the Planning Board. Supv Varvayanis said they seemed to be reasonable changes. Cl Grantham said a couple of them are applicable to the CAC and she assumes the Recreation Commission also. She said the CAC is concerned about the special meetings and she thinks that: having the 40 Chair excuse an absence would be reasonable. There are no education requirements in the CAC and Recreation Commission local law, so most of the other points would not apply. Cl Michaels read from the local law in place for the ZBA, which states that training would be conducted by the Town Attorney or be courses designated by the Town Board, Supv Varvayanis stated since there were proposed changes in the local laws, he would discuss them with the Town Attorney and reintroduce the local laws at a later date. Cl Michaels said in general he supports the idea of the unexcused absence because the Chairman would be in the best position to if the board is functioning well enough and with respect to the training requirements he has no strong opinion. Cl Grantham said that perhaps the ZBA local law could be changed to match these others and Cl Michaels said he would be in favor of having them uniform. Cl Grantham said that education requirements for the CAC would be difficult. They have a very specific task which is to develop an open space inventory, so she doesn't think the education requirements should be in that one, but the other things should be uniform. Supv Varvayanis closed the public hearings on the proposed local laws at 7:20 p.m. He asked if there were any other comments on the HEP Sales application. There were none and that hearing was also closed and the Town Board meeting was opened. With respect to the HEP Sales application, Supv Varvayanis pointed out that the County Planning Department had no concerns in their 239(1) and(m) review. The Board reviewed the environmental assessment form with respect to the project. RESOLUTION @151- NEG SEQR DEC - HEP SALES, INC. ® Cl Grantham offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption: Pagc 2 of 8 TB 064)5 =02 RFfSOLVED, that this Town Board issue a negKtive declaration bad on the SEAR se resew for the HEP Sales, Inc_ application to construct a8' by 48' storage building adjacent to the existing H EP Sales building at 12 Utility Drive, This is an unlisted action and the Town of Dryden is the lead agency in uncoordinated review. The Supervisor iz& authonaed to sign all necessary docuusents_ 2nd Gl Michaels Roll Oul1 Vote C1 IIatfield Yes C1 Stelzck Yes Supvv Varvayis Yes Cl Michaels Yes Cl Grantham Yes RESOLU'T`ION # 152 — APPROVE HEP SALES, INC. SI'Z'E PLAN APPLICATION Cl Granthain offered the following resolution and asked for its adoption, RESOLVED, that this Town Board does hereby approve the site plan application of HEP Sales, Inc. to construct a 48' by 48' storage building adjacent to the emoting HEP Sales building at 12 Utility Drive in the Town of Dryden, with the Standard. Conditions of Approval (7=12 -00), except #7, as suggested by the Town Engineer_ 2nd Cl Hatfield Roll CA11 Vote Cl Hatfield Yes Cl Stcli.ck Yes Supv Varvayan.is Yes is 1 Michaels Yes Cl Grantham Yes Cl Grantham reported that the building Committee had met on Monday to review the twee responsos to the RFP for the building design for the Town Hall, 'There was one from Egner fir. Associates w1io had done the needs study, one from Schickel Architects and one from Hi land Associates, The Committee recouxuaends Egner because they have the lowest price, the most services, and they have a head start because they did the space needs study_ With the Schickel the site analysis was extra and the overall cost was more ($160,000). Highland $119,00 0) was a somewhat iughcr fee than Egner and dues not include all the semces that Egner included, specifically the construction uversight. The Committee recommends that we accept the proposal and Let them oversee the construction as well as do the design_ Their fee ranges from $113,750 to $135,000, based on the construction budget. costs. The construction phase cost is affected by the construction budget. They would charge 8.78'°x, of the ronstructi.ort budget to oversee the construction phase, G1 Grantham stated that one issue is that none of them rnet the Town's 3 million dollar insurance level and the board seems to always waive it_ She recommends that we waive it in this case and accept their level of insurance, which is 2 million. The board briefly discussed the proposals and Gl Hut(eld stated rllat he would like to review thern_ The board will take action at the next board meeting. Cl Grantha reported that its response to requests for bus service m m the Ellis }illow area she had "ken to the TCAT Board and there will be a new route ( #53) going dawn E]hs Hollow to Brooktoradale and back to Ithaca, through Cornell with two stops there, fa,e3 of 7i TB 06 -05-02 Cl Grantham received a phone call today from Ed Bugliosi of USGS. They have a final contract approved by Albany ® for the aquifer study and will be sending that to the Supervisor. Bruce Osadchey of the Conservation Advisory Council presented the Town Board with a proposed Fill Ordinance for their consideration. They reviewed an ordinance from the Town of Ithaca and utilized the Town of Dryden's excavation ordinance (Section 806) and that is where they got 901/6 of the information for the proposed ordinance. The proposed ordinance would require fill site owners to apply for a permit (they presently do not need a permit) based on the number of cubic yards of fill. That permit would give the Town authority to inspect some of the material that goes into the sites to see that it in fact meets regulations. In addition it would require owners of sites to address issues that would protect adjacent property owners with respect to erosion, drainage, noise and visual aspects. It would also impose a time schedule to get the sites completed. Depending on the size of the project: the Town Planning Board would get involved and the Town Engineer would get: involved. The Ordinance needs to be reviewed by the Town Attorney for legalities. The CAC has reviewed the proposed ordinance and recommends that the board act favorably on it. A letter from a landowner adjacent to one of the fill site areas was distributed which points out the frustrations of dealing with a situation where there are presently no regulations. The ordinance does not address storage of fill. B Osadchey said that near Cornell where there is demolition of buildings and excavation of sites you get an abundance of these sites that pop up because they would rather not haul it to regulated landfills. Avery Park stated that Cornell had considered putting a construction dump site on Mt Pleasant Road a few years ago and wondered if the proposed ordinance would prevent that. B Osadchey said it would force them to apply for a permit. Cl Grantham explained that there is a 40 difference between fill and landfill. Landfills are already regulated. A Park was concerned using building materials as U. B Osadchey said the Town and the Department of Environmental Conservation would be able to enforce the ordinance and regulate the fill materials used. DEC currently does not have authority to enter property and make inspections, but via the use of a permit process they would. ZO Slater stated that unless DEC issues a permit they do not get involved, so the Town would be doing the enforcement. Atty Perkins stated that currently under DEC regulations, clean fill is permitted by State Law and asked if this was an attempt to further regulate what DEC defines as clean fill. B Osadchey said no, the issue is would be if DEC approves it, it is okay, but the real problem is when something other than DEC approves is used as fill. Cl Grantham said that if the Town had permission through a permit to inspect when necessary, if something was in violation of DEC fill laws, the'rown could notify DEC and DEC could then get involved. B Osadchey said that the bottom line is that right now, no one is looking at what is used for fill. Supv Varvayanis asked that Atty Perkins review the proposed ordinance and comment. Cl Michaels said that in Section 4 it describes conditions that could be placed on a permit and he suggested that we provide some guidance in the actual ordinance with respect to boundaries, etc. This will give the applicant an opportunity to evaluate up front whether a site is suitable. Atty Perkins asked whether the intention was to further regulate what is already allowed to be placed as fill, because as it is written a person would not be allowed to put any unnatural material there, ie concrete or asphalt which is permitted by State law. This needs consideration and is a legislative decision. A Park stated big chunks of concrete make good binding material in fill, and he thinks you need that to help hold the fill. Atty Perkins said that the Town might want to regulate placement more than the types of fill, since types of fill is already regulated. If the fill is other than what is permitted by State Law, then DEC has a say. He suggests that any fill permitted by DEC regs be permitted, but only those materials. Page4of8 TB 06- 054.12 As proposed, any project in which more than 50 cubic yards of fill will be deposited in one year, will require a permit. Cl Grantham suggested that the project description should include the location of any wells or septic systems at the site and location of surface water bodies either on the site or adjacent.. She is concerned with water quality issues. No fee is proposed for the permit and no public hearing would be required. Cl Grantham would like the proposed ordinance forwarded to t:he Planning Board for their review and comment. (ZO Slater will see that Planning Board members receive a copy.) Cl Michaels stated the guidelines should be specific with respect to what information is used for decision making and said the more guidance the better. Joyce Gerbasi said that 50 cubic yards may not sound like much to some people, but if it is going in a neighbors backyard, she'd like to know what's being done with it. Cl Grantham said that amount of fill on a two -acre lot in subdivision changes the local drainage dramatically. Supv Varvayanis said the proposed numbers in the ordinance could be adjusted, but as written from 50 to 250 yards is an administrative decision with no public hearing. For agriculture it is 500 yards a year from off-site, Cl Grantham asked B Caldwell if the Planning Board had received the information on low volume local roads. B Caldwell responded that they had but haven't had a chance to comment yet. ® Avery Park asked the Board with respect to cell towers to institute a moratorium as long as possible until matter is thought through thoroughly, and if cell towers are going to go in, the speakers at the last meeting had mentioned there could be cell towers every three miles. He asked how many site locations that would be in the Town of Dryden and noted that the way that technology changes in three years or five years the cell towers may not be needed. He asked if the Town could force them to be removed when no longer necessary. Supv Varvayanis informed him that the Town already requires a bond for removal. A Park noted that he had a personal issue with the proposed tower because it will be in front of his house, 140' high, and interferes with the view from his home. He is not against the tower, but only the placement, and said there must be a better way of doing it. Cl Hatfield asked Atty Perkins to explain how the ordinance applies and why you can't put a moratorium on when you have a pending application. Atty Perkins said the Town has a comprehensive tower ordinance that was developed with the help of a consultant from the industry that the 'rown hired. It was based on a legislative decision that the Town was going to try to limit the number of towers. The purpose of the local law is to regulate the siting of them, not restrict where they go, as long as they've complied with looking at a certain number of alternatives, the first one being co- location. The local law represents a legislative decision to have fewer towers but perhaps a little higher, and encourage co- location. It's a use which is allowed by special permit. When a use is allowed by special permit, after the applicant has made a prima facia showing of compliance with the local law, the applicant is entitled to the issuance of a permit within 60 days after the matter is finally submitted. The only way you can deny a special permit is if you have a rational and good reason for it: that they have not met some of the contemplated conditions of the local law because they have not demonstrated all the things they are supposed to demonstrate or hasn't filed a surety bond. If the applicant has made a prima facia showing you have very limited options. This really comes back to the Telecommunications Act; these things are regulated by the Telecommunications Act. Atty Perkins said we are not really able to say where they go; that is not the purpose of the Page 5 of 8 T13 06=054)2 ordinance. I'he ordinance really is to encourage co- locations and can reduce the overall number of towers that might otherwise be sited. Cl Grantham said that it: seems that one of the problems with the Town's Ordinance is that we've said have fewer towers and if she understands the interpretation that was given last month, that means that even if they could have two or three smaller towers that are co- located on existing structures, our tower ordinance encourages them to build a single tower instead of putting structures on several existing structures. Supv Varvayanis does not agree with that interpretation. Atty Perkins said a single tower is what Crown made application for. ZO Slater said the applicant had to prove that co- locating on existing structures would not work for their purposes in order to be able to build a new tower. Atty Perkins said that the potential grounds for denial would be that they haven't made all that investigation. There are existing towers in the area and they will have to demonstrate that they aren't workable. ZO Slater stated the application had been under review, from a technical aspect, since November. B Caldwell stated that the Planning Board has no position with this particular tower, but said that Natan Huffman has prepared a paper regarding amendments to the telecommunication tower ordinance that the Planning Board has recommended be sent to the Town Board for consideration. She said that essentially it is recommending a melding of the different degrees of control and concern because of changes in technology. It is very technical and that's why the Planning Board felt that the consultant should look at it. It wouldn't change the focus of the ordinance, but would add a different layer for some change in technology. Cl Michaels asked if Crown Castle had responded to the questions he had and ZO is Slater said that they had not. Terri Allen of Dryden Ambulance, Inc. presented their monthly reports. There were 74 ambulance calls in May. They are readjusting past call logs because there were some inaccuracies in reporting which town the call went to. The new rates approved by the Board went into effect the day after the board meeting. They are not currently billing for refusals at motor vehicle accidents but are conducting a study as to the feasibility and will review it aver 90 days and decide whether they should in fact charge for that, as private services do. Receipts for the month totaled $12,174.14, year to date collections are $82,513.14. The transition to Multi-Med billing is almost complete. With respect to the balances due as December 31, 2001, ($168,000) she believes that the majority of that is items that will be or have been written off. Dryden Ambulance, Inc. will not be purchasing new soft%%we because of the decision to go with Multi -Med for billing. The Emergency Services Committee had an informational meeting. CI Stelick, Supv Varvayanis and Bob Day attended. Don Hartman and Brian Wilbur were unable to attend, and Brian Wilbur may not be able to serve on the contract. Atty Perkins has reviewed the contract with Multi -Med for collection of amounts prior to December 31, 2001. It was previously approved for signature by the Supervisor subject to approval by the Town Attorney. Atty Perkins has written a letter to the Supervisor outlining his proposed charges in the contract and explained those to the board. Martha Robertson gave her report as one of the Town's County Board Representatives. The County voted last night to approve the Vital Communities Initiative. The new bus service route through Ellis Hollow will start tomorrow. The schedule is on the TCAT website. People 4Pcan park their cars in the lot at the Ellis Hollow Community Center (please leave room near the Page 6 of 8 TB 06 -054)2 building for the nursery school). This will be made a permanent route if ridership is good isenough. With respect to the County budget, they are asking that departments reduce their core budget by 20 o. A meeting on the budget and capital projects committee will be held June 11, 2002, in the old jailhouse from 2 to 4 p.m.. On the agenda for 3:15 that day are Ellis Hollow Road, Hanshaw Road and the aquifer study. With respect to Ellis Hollow Road, the Highway Department brought a proposal to the Public Works Committee that because this is entirely local money and because of the budget crunch, the work plan be changed to maintain the road in the current profile, repaving the road when it needs it. They estimate it will be 3 years or so before it needs major attention. By abandoning the previous plan (adding shoulders, etc) they will save 1.6 million as well as the money in the budget this year for design services. They won't gain the safety features of the original plan. Work on Hanshaw Road will be put off until 2004. With respect to property reassessments, 849 properties were revalued in the Town of Dryden, 107 decreasing in value and 675 increasing. The Village of Dryden had 55 properties revalued, the Village of Freeville had 22. 144 of the parcels were new. There were two grievances from the Village of Dryden, one from the Village of Freeville, and 64 from the rest of the Town. She noted most of those were from Ellis Hollow. There were 835 grievances county- wide and decisions on those will be sent out in the near future. Peggy Walbridge noted that her experiences with the Assessment office is that they are remarkably sloppy" and she wondered if there was any movement in the County to make it a more transparent process. M Robertson noted that she was present for some of the grievance process in the Town of Dryden and explained how those grievances were handled. Cl Stelick noted that during the process the ® property owner was offered a chance to have a representative of the Assessment Department do a `walk through" inspection and most declined. He stated it is not a perfect process, but it seems to work pretty well. Next year they will give more information with respect to why an assessment was changed. Joyce Gerbasi questioned the legality of picking a specific area in which to conduct a. revaluation vs doing it county -wide. M Robertson said they choose areas that have had a lot of activity, whether it be up or down, and as she understands it, the County is doing nothing illegal. USGS has given Tompkins County a proposal to do a needs assessment of all the aquifers in the County, except Virgil Creek in the Town of Dryden and two that the Town of Caroline is having done) for a price of $7,500. The County's share is $5,250 and the contract will be signed. She noted it will probably be some time before they go any farther than a needs assessment. Cl Hatfield asked when the pledge of allegiance of the flag was taken from the agenda and stated he he'd like to see it restored. Cl Grantham submitted photos on behalf of Robin Seeley of work done on Hammond Hill Road. She staged that the board had previously approved $6,000 to add gravel in the low spots for the benefit of the camp there. She said that Jack Bush had said that they would not go beyond the ditches, widen and so on, but: that the photos say otherwise. The other point that she wanted to make was that the Board did not see a SEQR or project description before the work was started. She said the Board is supposed to have a project description and a SEQR before the work is done even if it is on the 284 list, and the resolution that was adopted amended the 284 list to include some "specific add gravel work" on Hammond Hill. She also noted that in The Ithaca Journal there was a map and list of highway projects is in different Towns and the three that were on the map for Dryden were different than what was on the 284. She said she is assuming that it was some sort of mistake and that J Bush will be Page 7 of 8 TB U6 -05 -02 getting questions from the public. It is information collected by Fernando deAragon. J Bush ® told Cl Grantham that he would like to be notified ahead of time what she would be bringing to the meeting so that he could be prepared. She said that these are questions brought to her by the public and so she Ivas bringing them to the meeting. J Bush suggested that she do that during the day and give him a call. Cl Hatfield stated that seemed reasonable to him in order to be prepared. He further stated he saw nothing wrong in the photos. P Walbridge said she appreciated the board members making better use of the microphones and asked that the Clerk use a microphone when she reads the public notices. She also appreciates when information is being done in the public eye rather than in private conversations so the public doesn't know what is going on. On motion of Cl Michaels, seconded by Cl Stelick, and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at 9:07 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Bambi L. Hollenbeck Page 8 of 8 7aown of nryden Town Board Meeting ® June S, 2002 Name - {Please Print) CF QSAR�C N r Cov W lj6r /cgl .ib h -44 r) Address rr � n Im r �w4 t d i 0,E J