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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMay 1, 2024 - Town of Enfield Planning Board Meeting MinutesTown of Enfield Planning Board Meetfng Wednesday, May 1, 2024 7:00 PM In-person at the Enfield Town Courthouse and via the Zoom meetfng platiorm Present: Chairperson Dan Walker; Planning Board Members; Rich Teeter, Henry Hansteen, Ann Chaffee; Planning Board Alternate Greg Hutnik; Code Officer Alan Teeter; Town Clerk Mary Cornell. Excused: Planning Board Member Michael Carpenter. . Call to order: Chairman Walker called the meetfng to order at 7:04 PM. Review of Minutes: April 3, 2024. H. Hansteen moved and A. Chaffee seconded. All Aye, Carried. Comprehensive Plan Review Process: Chairman Walker - There has not been much change in the Town populatfon since the last census. G. Hutnik had access to the 2020 Census and shared that the Town had a drop in ~150 residents per the Census. However, Tompkins County as a whole grew by 4%. The Town wants to maintain farm land. The plan looked at land uses with a total land mass of 23,211 acres in the town. Chairman Walker shared a breakdown of the land uses, which was based on Tompkins County Assessment records. G. Hutnik asked what the goal is and Chairman Walker replied it is his understanding that the board is to go through the plan and to assess what changes have occurred and what suggestfons the planning board members have. Chairman Walker asked Councilperson Lynch what the Town Boards thoughts are? Councilperson Lynch explained that it was a Town Board decision as a whole and he does not have a personal preference at this tfme, and did not want to speak on the Town Boards behalf. Chairman Walker does not suggest that we send out a survey as it is cost prohibitfve and suggested having a public forum instead. Chairman Walker asked Clerk Cornell to make a post on the Town Website statfng the Planning Board is currently reviewing the Towns Comprehensive plan and those with comments/suggestfons should email the Planning Board directly. Councilperson Lemke commented that the Town Board will discuss expectatfons of the Planning Board at the next Town Board meetfng, Chairman Walker, that would be helpful. Future meetfngs will have an agenda item to cover the goals as they are reviewed. INHS (Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services) Plus One ADU funding opportunitfes: G. Hutnik - He spoke with a representatfve from INHS about builders for ADU’s. He shared that INHS has funding for up to five units. INHS is not currently funding any new builds, but fixing up current units that need to be brought up to code/need work. INHS drafted a letter of support for local municipalitfes to sign to show that INHS has the support of the local municipalitfes to expand the coverage area that they can show to the state and they are hopeful that the program can be extended to the greater Tompkins County Community. INHS is hopeful to apply for a bigger grant/pot of money to assist in expanding their service area outside of the City of Ithaca. Delia from INHS has shared that she is willing to come to a future meetfng, as she was unable to attend tonight’s meetfng. Chairman Walker - this funding became available mainly for downstate, possibly due to unaffordable housing. Chairman Walker asked what positfon does signing this letter put the Town in, are there any legal obligatfons by the Town signing the letter? G. Hutnik does not believe that this would put the Town in any obligatfon, he however, is not comfortable answering what any legal impacts by signing the letter would be. G. Hutnik shared that he will bring the questfons from Chairman Walker to INHS. Presentatfon on NYS Farmland Protectfon grant program, Crystal Buck, Cornell Cooperatfve Extension: Crystal spoke on the grant and the grant applicatfon runs every two years. Grant preparatfon starts now, she gave a handout to Planning Board members. The grant is not for everyone, but works for those who want long term protectfon. The landowner gives up the rights to develop large scale housing, but other rights are stfll available. The right to build large scale housing cannot be restated, regardless of who owns the property. The grant does provide funds to the landowner, however, attorney fees, and additfonal fees are not covered. The landowner would need to partner with a land trust. Finger Lakes land trust is one and NY AG land trust is a newer trust and they are expanding to Tompkins County and their focus is farm land. This last grant cycle each region is given a dollar allocatfon. $5 million was granted and they had just over $3 million that was reallocated within NYS, due to not be used. Crystal is the representatfve for our municipality and she can assist the land owners is applying, the deadline is August 1, 2024. G. Hutnik asked if anyone has partfcipated in Enfield, Crystal responded that she does not believe so, but would have to check. Chairman Walker asked if this needs to be approved by the Town, her response was that the grant requires a letter of endorsement from the Town. Chairman Walker asked what would the process be for the Town? Crystal responded that the only obligatfon would be the letter of recommendatfon, which would come from the Town Board after being recommended by the Planning Board. Discussion contfnued. Discussion of Site Plan Review Law to address land use concerns in the Town of Enfield Chairman Walker is stfll working on updatfng the law and should hopefully have something for the next Planning Board Meetfng. Other Items: Uriel Carpenter had written a letter of concern to the Town Board in regards to Open developments and water usage, etc. G. Hutnik shared part of his conversatfon with Uriel this morning and Chairman Walker replied to some of the concerns mentfoned. Adjournment: H. Hansteen motfoned to adjourn, adjourned at 8:33 PM Respectiully submitted, Mary Cornell Mary Cornell Town Clerk/Planning Board Clerk