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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1977-06-07 GROTON TOWN PLANNING BOARD MEETING Held in the Town Hall Groton , N . Y . Tuesday - June 7 , 1977 8 : 00 P . M . PRESENT : G . Totman* V . Rankin* M . Adams* D . Snell* R . Gleason* R . Brown - Zoning Enforcement Officer* D . Payne C . Twigg J . Bell - Recording Clerk* * - Denotes those present . G . Totman : We might as well get started . We don ' t have a quorum so really can ' t conduct any business , unfortunately . I think , basically , the main reason that we called the meeting for tonight has been eliminated from what I hear after I got here . We had a request for a trailer park and Dana has already granted the permit for a trailer park so basically it closes the issue for us although I really don ' t agree with what he did but he did it with the previous chairman of the Planning Board ' s advice - which he really shouldn ' t have given him because he resigned before he gave Dana permission to do that . D . Snell : If you don ' t tell anybody , - -nobody is going to know out there . G . Totman : Yes , that ' s true but we had to get together . For the last eight to nine months the Planning Board has been in limbo . Mary is a new member and she must be confused because we haven ' t met regularly and haven ' t , done anything the way we used to do . Unfortunately , nobody was calling meetings and now - our chairman has resigned so we ' re without a chairman and I understand he is also resigning from theTPlanning Board itself which means that now the Town Board has two vacancies to fill - - Fred Wilson ' s and Harvey Finks . I think one of our fallacies has been we haven ' t had a regular meeting date scheduled and it ' s been going by the board and nobody calling meetings . There ' s enough stuff going on that I think we should be meeting at least once a month all year long in order to be aware of what is going on . So I think even though it ' s an informal meeting tonight we should set up a date that we ' ll meet every month , - - say the first Tuesday of every month , - - then at least we ' ll know and be able to plan on it because at our next meeting , when we have a quorum , we have to elect a chairman . At the last minute Cecil Twigg called tonight - - has an anniversary party with people coming in from out of town , - - this was a surprise that came up and they are taking he and his wife out for supper so he just couldn ' t make it . Don - 1 - G . Totman : Payne ' s daughter had to go to some school award thing so those things happened and just couldn ' t help it . Harvey Fink is at a fire meeting tonight so as long as we called it , I didn ' t bother to call everybody back because you have to get together some way or another and I felt we should talk to Bob and Dana about this trailer park but Dana tells me tonight that Harvey told him a week ago Wednesday to go ahead and issue the permit for the trailer park . D . Snell : He told me if I didn ' t hear anything from him by Wednesday to issue it because it had been over 45 days so I issued it on Wednesday and he called me Wednesday night and told me then not to issue it . My phone was out all dayo'Wednesday so he couldn ' t get me until Wednesday night and I had al - ready issued it and I tried to phone Sheeter three times and couldn ' t get him . G . Totman : This is the request he had for the park . D . Snell : Back page . Some discussion was held on this by all present . At 8 * 15 PM Verl Rankin came in . G . Totman : Well , Verl , just to bring you up to date the planning Board doesn ' t have a quorum tonight so can ' t officially do much but what we were planning to meet for Dana has already granted a permit for the trailer park through the guidance of our previous chairman so we were supposed to elect a chairman tonight so what I suggested was that we set a date that we automatically keep for regular monthly meetings so we don ' t have to worry about people calling a meeting . For the past 6 to 7 months we haven ' t met at all . I think we met last August for the last time before tonight . We ' re just looking at this trailer park . V . Rankin : Which one are you talking about ? G . Totman : Sheeter ' s . V . Rankin : Are they putting a park in up there ? M . Adams : Just one trailer . G . Totman : Ben Bucko ruled it had to be a trailer park because there is one there now . It ' s a matter of opinion , I guess . Basically what I suggested to the 3 of us that are here tonight is we automatically meet the first Tuesday of each month . The Town Clerk has to know when we meet so she can make sure the hall is reserved . Is Tuesday alright , Roger ? R . Gleason : It ' s probably as good as any . G . Totman : If there ' s no objection then we ' ll meet then . That way 2 - G . Totman : everybody will know we meet on the first Tuesday of the month and can plan on it . V . Rankin : Of course we would like some names to fill Fred Wilson ' s and Harvey Fink ' s positions . R . Gleason : I . suggested to Hicks a fellow that has a maple sugar business - Lyle Raymond . He lives on Old Stage Road . V . Rankin : Is he the one . up there ? He seems to be interested . R . Gleason : He has some background on this sort of thing . He has a job at Cornell . V . Rankin : He works at Cornell ? . R . Gleason : Yes , R . Gleason : Pete Zubal might be another possibility . D . Snell : I think that Raymond is really interested . R . Gleason : I think he would be a good man . Some discussion was held on this by all present . V . Rankin : What ' s Harvey going to do ? Did he sell his farm? G . Totman : No , he hasn ' t sold his farm . R . Gleason : The wheels are grinding though , I guess . G . Totman : In all fairness to Harvey , - -he has a problem which he is trying to solve and doesn ' t really know , - -he would like to stay in the area but financial -wise I don ' t think he can . And the poor guy has a real burden on his shoulders and just doesn ' t know what to do with it . V . Rankin : Ain ' t we all ? G . Totman : I wouldn ' t be surprised to see him move right out of the area completely in the next 6 months . R . Gleason : How about Ron Marks for a new member on the Planning Board ? I ' ll tell you another fellow who might be possible and that ' s Dick Church , or maybe his wife . G . Totman : Dana , when the Board of Appeals have their meetings , do they let you know when they are having them all the time ? D . Snell : Well , I know but they don ' t really let me know . They hand applications into me and I turn it down and pass it on to Gordon so I come to see what they are going to do about it . I have no voice in the meeting . R . Brown : Who ' s on the Board ? D . Snell : Floyd Fouts , Dick Bell , and a lady named Bell and also Frank Pierson . V . Rankin : They don ' t meet regularly , do they ? _ 3 a G . Totman : No , they meet on call . V . Rankin : We ' re going down to Galbraith ' s Monday night . D . Snell : You haven ' t been down there yet ? V . Rankin : No , we were supposed to decide on it in April or May and he has been hollering about it but Hicks has been putting it off so we wrote him a letter . We went over your proposals last night and Ben thinks it would be unconstitutional to ban junkyards altogether . G . Totman : Let me rephrase what you just said , - - you went over our proposals ? V . Rankin : The Planning Board proposed it to us . G . Totman : They were proposed to us by Hicks Dow and we agreed with them We - that ' s all . V . Rankin : Well , actually the one was getting Hicks out of a mess and I told him so last night . G . Totman : We didn ' t have any comments on them but he told the Town Board that they were our proposals , - -well , they weren ' t our proposals . One of the proposals was to create in the ordinance this provision for small businesses in an agricul - tural zone and he allowed and permitted a small business to start in a zone which was not legal and since then they appointed the wife as assistant town clerk and now they want to change the ordinance to make that business legal . V . Rankin : They don ' t , - -he does to save his skin . G . Totman ; You also have to go by what public opinion is in the Town , - - the people in the town know that . V . Rankin : He didn ' t have any business doing that . D . Snell : You have people around that want to have a little small business and there ' s no place they can do it according to the zoning . G . Totman : But we should change the zoning first and not permit it until we have . V . Rankin : There should be some serious thought on that , too , first . G . Totman : Yes , I agree with you . V . Rankin : On the other one , - - that was his idea , too , - -he probably wants to sell 2 or 3 lots , - -knowing him . R . Gleason : Changing the subdivision , - - I have discussed that with several people . I can ' t We We this is not just here - - Dryden has changed theirs . I talked to Ben Bucko about it . V . Rankin : He was against it at first . - 4 - R . Gleason : He isn ' t now . V . Rankin : Yes , - - he advised us last night to go ahead . You just can ' t write it so it ' s going to be right - - there ' s plenty of loopholes in it yet . D . Snell : Dryden only has one now , - - it ' s no longer minor and major - they have just the one . G . Totman : That ' s what it will amount to - - doing away with minor and just having a major . R . Gleason : That will create problems , too . our major subdivision is written with the idea of developing a tract so there ' s a lot of detail it calls for . G . Totman : our major subdivision is written along the State guidelines . V . Rankin : It protects you , - - you can ' t go back in and buy a lot with no road frontage . R . Gleason : Right , - -but if someone was to develop 5 lots along Cortland Road they would have to go to a major subdivision which has a lot of detail that isn ' t entirely necessary . Some discussion was held on this by all . G . Totman : So if nothing else comes up between now and then we ' ll meet the first Tuesday in July ( the 6th) and I ' ll notify everybody so they can plan for it . There ' s the possibility that Bob may have some problems and we might have to have a meeting . As I understand it Dana is going to work with Bob some and if something comes up give me a call and we ' ll call a meeting but otherwise will meet July 6th , M . Adams moved that the meeting adjourn and R . Gleason seconded the motion - Motion Carried . The meeting adjourned at 9 P . M . Resp tfully submitAe�d ,, Jos hine Bell - 5 -