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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPB 2023-09-28 attPB 9-28-23 Approved 1 Town of Dryden Planning Board Meeting Thursday, September 28, 2023 Hybrid Zoom Approved on 10-26-23 Planning Board - 2023 Current Members I.P.Z Ex Ab Tony Salerno, Chair (2029) X John Kiefer (2027) X Diane Tessaglia-Hymes (2028) X Linda Wagenet (2023) X Craig Anderson (2025) X Joe Wilson (2024) X Dan Bussmann (2026) X Brad Will (2023) * Alternate X Chris Morrissey (2023) * Alternate X Others Present Ray Burger, Planning Director Joy Foster, Board Secretary (Excused) Dan Lamb, Liaison (TB) The Regular Meeting of the Town of Dryden Planning Board was called to order at 6:01pm by Chairman Tony Salerno. The chair activates alternates Chris and Brad Public Comment (for items not on the agenda) Craig Scutt from the Conservation Board has concerns about a property on W. Lake Road that last they knew had a Stop Work Order and over the summer State DPW Trucks have been dumping load after load and the property owner has been pushing more dirt over the edge. Why is the State dumping on a Stop Work Order Site, and what needs to be done to stop this? They must be in Violation of Stormwater as the dirt is just being pushed into the stream and there are no erosion fences or any precautions for Stormwater. The Conservation Board feels their requests or concerns addressed to the Town just get ignored, they are at a loss now on what to do. PB 9-28-23 Approved 2 Planning Board – what does the Town do to enforce this, are there steps being taken? There is a timeline that needs to be enforced. The Owner is blatantly ignoring the Order. The Board asked for more information on issues such as the status of projects, not just saying a Stop Work Order has been issued. Want updates. Request Planning Dept. staff to enforce. Zoning Officer Ray – says the Stop Work Order was issued, Dave (Stormwater Officer) inspected, and the work had stopped, but now it has re-started. Dave will issue violations and the Owner will submit a Ground Disturbance and Stormwater Plan and if necessary, a court appearance ticket will be issued. Approval of Minutes – 8-24-23 . Motion from J. Wilson to approve the 8-24-23 minutes with the modifications. Motion: J. Wilson Second: C. Morrissey All in favor – Yes Revised 1061 Dryden Road Housing Project • Jonathan Williams, a resident, speaks of his concerns, with traffic going in and out of the driveway. The traffic study done was from 2016. The retaining wall is a problem blocking sight of traffic. The 1st step would be to at least clean out the vegetation to help with the view. He’d like to see the retaining wall gone. Maybe advisory signs. He supplied the Board with pictures from the site. Resolution #12 to the Town Board to include conditions that maximize the safety of people that exit the driveway, the bus stop and cross walk, at 1061 Dryden Road. • Could be flashing advisory signs, or lowering the speed limit, or improving the line of sight. Motion: J. Wilson Second: B. Will All in favor – Yes PB 9-28-23 Approved 3 Billboard Application The Planning Board has a discussion on the height and removal of existing billboards and what the brightness will be. With the very prescriptive law if applicant is following that law the PB has no further say or recommendations. Ezra Village Discussion C. Anderson went to the Village Planning Board, our recommendations were heard and met with pushback by the Village, the developer Rocco said he would review the recommendations. No work will begin until next spring so there is time for planning. Zoning RFP Update and discussion John Kiefer has put together his research on moving forward with EDR. (See attached) The Planning Board decides to go into Executive Session to discuss EDR Contract, only Planning Board Members and no recording. J. Wilson moves to have a revised request for proposals, advertise more, circulate the RFP better. No talk of budget. Do the plan in phases. Motion: J. Wilson Second: C. Anderson All in favor – Yes While in Executive Session it was discussed about the Planning Board filing a Violation Complaint against site 1614-1646 Dryden Road, Bellisario Excavation and Drainage with the nature of the complaint being operation as a Contractors Yard with Roll-off Containers, Excavation Equipment and RAP is being stored on site in violation of Town Zoning Law. J. Wilson moves to file this complaint. Second: B. Will All in favor - Yes PB 9-28-23 Approved 4 Planning Department Update and Town Enforcement (Ray Burger) •AOT has training in October for all Boards. •Town Clerk circulated Groton’s proposed Solar Law , these would apply to the Yellow Barn Project, a 600+ acre site. •Town CEO has been visiting Scotties Auto (always with their knowledge -does not have a Drone or any Drone Pictures). Sent a NOV and will be issuing an appearance ticket. •The Planning Board would like to see in the Planning Dept. report what step you are on, where you are with violations. Town Board Update – Dan Lamb •Freese Rd. Bridge Making tweaks to the MOU then will go out to bid. •License agreement with Cornell to allow a trail spur from the Varna Community Center to the Rail Trail. •Tompkins County is putting out an RFP for Broadband to cover underserved areas of the county. This is a concern for Dryden that this does not duplicate what is already happening in Dryden. Concerns have been raised. Caroline is interested in working with Dryden Fiber to address underserved areas. Dryden is negotiating with the county to be included in the RFP. Next PB meeting – 10-26-23 at 6PM November meeting – 11-30-23 December meeting – 12-28-23 Adjourned 8:27PM Respectfully submitted, Joy Foster Recording Secretary To: Dryden PB/Zoning Update Steering Committee 9/23/23 From: John Subject: Zoning Update Recommendation Following is a summary of my work over the past few months to develop recommendations for Dryden to move forward with zoning reform. I worked to better understand how planning consultants and communities are using zoning code reform to address topics similar to those recommended in Dryden2045 and the 2005 Plan. I also continued a discussion with EDR (Sam Gordon) to help me decide if I should recommend we work with them. The below text includes a brief summary of our work to date, my recommendations for moving forward, and then some notes from some people I’ve talked to and educational materials I’ve studied. Very Brief Background: TB Resolution, Zoning Update RFP, EDR Interview  Last spring the PB reviewed a list of all of the Dryden 2045 references to zoning reform and agreed to volunteer to lead a project to update Dryden’s zoning codes.  The PB drafted a resolution for use by the TB to start the zoning update project. The TB approved the resolution, which asked the PB to lead the effort with specific focus on topics such as increasing housing options and diversity of allowed land uses, preservation of open space, and removal of regulatory uncertainty for desired development.  The PB drafted an RFP for professional services to assist with the update. EDR, the company that prepared Dryden2045, responded to the RFP. During a subsequent interview with EDR, the PB’s selection committee was impressed with EDR’s Lisa Nagle but asked them to amend their proposal to place more emphasis on an up-front critique of Dryden’s zoning codes and elaboration of how form-baaed zoning principles might be used.  EDR’s amended proposal was an improvement but lacked desired specificity on the up-front work.  The PB’s search committee elected to pause the consultant selection process. Recommended Next Steps  My first recommendation is that Dryden should not delay the process of reviewing and reforming its zoning codes, to be consistent with both Dryden 2045 and the 2005 Comp Plan. I don’t think the process will get easier if we delay.  Second, I think we should work with EDR using an incremental approach. At each step we can decide on moving forward based on results to date. I think Lisa Nagle has the required technical skills. And I think we know how to work with Sam Gordon to leverage his project management skills. Zoning Update Recommendation Page 2 Based on my recent phone and email conversations with Sam, the Phase 1 scope will include: Interviews with Dryden’s planning staff and board members to identify problem, weaknesses and opportunities in our land use codes and goals for reform. Analysis of Dryden’s comp plans. Lisa will read Dryden2045 and the 2005 Plan and develop an understanding of the goals and actions they contain. Critical examination of our zoning/land use codes. The work will identify code elements that need work to bring them in line with Dryden’s comp plans and with contemporary best practices for clarity and compliance with other applicable laws. The examination will include zoning, subdivision, design guidelines, mobile homes. The deliverable will be report identifying problem areas and opportunities for improvement of the above codes and guidelines. EDR will include specific recommendations for use (or not) of form-based code structures. For each item the report will define the problem/opportunity and how it should be addressed. Work with the PB/Steering Committee to define next steps. For example, we might choose to work on codes related to existing housing districts. Or we might choose to implement some or all of the new districts consistent with the Dryden2045 Future Land Use recommendations. Sam said his proposal includes the above work and that he will adjust the cost/hours spreadsheet to separate it from the public outreach piece. The our initial agreement can be for just this phase of work. Following are notes from some of my investigations. Smart Growth America SGA is a Washington, DC non-profit with a mission to advance the tenets of smart growth in communities across the US. Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable population centers to avoid sprawl and improve livability. I think the principles of smart growth can be helpful for planning in Dryden’s residential zones. The principles are: 1. Mix land uses 2. Take advantage of compact design Zoning Update Recommendation Page 3 3. Create a range of housing choices 4. Create walkable neighborhoods 5. Foster communities with a sense of place 6. Preserve open space, farmland, CEAs 7. Direct development to existing communities 8. Provide transportation choices 9. Make development approval processes predictable, fair, cost-effective 10. Encourage community/stakeholder input in development decisions SGA includes the Form Based Codes Institute which offers training and consulting services to communities that want to work on zoning reform to implement the some/all of above actions. I met with Toccara Thomas, Executive Director of the FBCI, to discuss Dryden’s zoning update initiative. Then we exchanged several emails to better define how they might work with us.  Toccara read our RFP for the zoning update and said our goals (which are based on Dryden2045) are consistent with SGA/FBCI’s mission.  Toccarra recommended a work plan beginning with a visit to Dryden to meet with our update committee and with the TB. The visit would include a seminar on form-based code reform and discussion about how aggressively Dryden wants to pursue reform. Then FBCI would critique our zoning codes, prepare a written evaluation and recommendations for the update, and give us a proposal for next steps. Ballpark cost for the site visit and code analysis $10-$20K.  The examples she provided of their work were in urban communities. I asked for an example of their work in a community similar to Dryden and she sent me a PPT presentation she did for the Derry, NH Planning Dept and PB.  I related my investigation (see below) into Derry’s reaction to her work and that I felt Dryden would be even less inclined to embrace a complete transition to form- base concepts. I said my impression is that form-based zoning concepts are well developed for urban communities but not so much for rural areas.  Toccara said her group is just beginning to work with rural communities and reform using Euclidian code structures. We agreed that the best next step, should Dryden elect to hire SGA, would be for them to do a zoning code audit to identify code elements that are in conflict with our comp plan development goals. I did not ask Toccara for a proposal.  My view is that, while a SGA code audit would be very useful and informative, I don’t think we would want to hire them to do the update. Currently their principle focus is on urban communities and form-base code structure. Derry, NH The Town of Derry is about 1/3 the size of Dryden with our triple our population. It has significant rural, agricultural lands but also includes a downtown area about the size of Cortland. Town government/municipal operations is much bigger than ours, employing about 350 people. I reviewed the Derry zoning codes and exchanged email with George Sioras, Derry Director of Planning. Zoning Update Recommendation Page 4  Derry’s zoning code is classic monolithic Euclidean zoning with strict limits on allowed uses and complicated processes for permitting anything not allowed by right.  George said Derry is experiencing problems with lack of housing options, little development in existing population centers and low density sprawl into the rural areas.  George told me that SGA’s presentation on form-based code reform was very informative and the goals stated were very much in line with his goals for zoning reform.  However, George said town officials and staff felt the complications outweighed the potential benefits of transitioning from Euclidean to Form-Based zoning.  He said the town has been working on incremental code reform using staff and volunteer board resources, keeping the overall Euclidean structures, and will focus on housing over the next few years. AARP Livable Communities Perhaps my biggest surprise in my work to get started on Dryden’s zoning update was AARP’s extensive Livable Communities program. The program fits with AARP’s mission to support senor citizens but is broadly applicable to our goal to increase diversity of Dryden’s housing stock and livability of our neighborhoods. The program embraces the principles of smart growth and contains a very extensive base of literature and seminars on zoning reform. I reviewed two of their documents: A Handbook for Improved Neighborhoods and The ABCs of Accessory Dwelling Units.  The Handbook is full of ideas to liven up and diversify neighborhoods in hamlets, villages and cities. One chapter that caught my attention is called Reinventing Spaces – Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference. For municipalities with limited resources to effect code reform it recommends an incremental approach that focuses on the community’s highest priorities and/or most achievable actions first. Begin by making a list of all the areas that need work and pick one to work on. Successful execution builds momentum and political will to continue the process.  The ABCs advocates for code language that encourages ADUs instead of placing limits on their configuration and use. It is filled with useful tools like this one: Rules That Discourage ADUs • ADU-specific regulations that don’t also apply to primary dwellings (e.g., owner-occupancy requirements) • complex design compatibility criteria and approval steps • off-street parking requirements beyond those required for the primary dwelling • restrictions that limit ADUs to certain areas, particular zoning categories or to large lots • caps on square footage relative to the primary house that make it easy to add an ADU to a large home but hard or impossible to add one to a small home Zoning Update Recommendation Page 5 FINAL REPORT; Rural Application of Form Based Code in Michigan I included this report, prepared by the Michigan State University Extension, Greening Michigan Institute, because it is the only reference I could find on the subject topic. After some 20 pages of analysis it concludes that form-based codes are not appropriate in rural areas because there are no clear forms to serve as a reference. No surprises here. 9/23/23 jak