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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-10-20 TOWN OF GROTON PLANNING BOARD " MEETING ON THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN October 20 , 1992 at 7 : 30 P . M . BOARD PUBLIC PRESENT * George Totman Joan Jurkowich and * Monica Carey Jeannie Barrett from * Verl Rankin the Tompkins County * George VanSlyke Planning Department Cecil Twigg Sheldon Clark ( * present ) GEORGE TOTMAN opened the meeting at 8 : 00 P . M . to discuss the Master Plan . TOTMAN : Did you go over the four pages that was mailed to you ? If you have any questions or likes or dislikes , tell Joan or Jeannie . JURKOWICH : Feel free to comment . I thought we would start with the population projections . This was based on the age distri - butions in the total population . We sort of tracked how many children there were , how many people of the age when they would be having children and how many elderly people . We did a low and high projection for the year 2000 and 2010 . This includes the Village . In 1980 , the population was , according to the census , approximately 5200 . In 1990 , 5 , 483 . The low projection was up to the year 2010 , not quite reaching 6000 , then the high - projection reaching about 6300 . We also provided the breakdown of what we thought the age distribution might be within that popula - tion ; sort of projecting , if you look at the age of 0 - 19 , there is a slight decrease , 20 - 39 year olds from 31 % in 1990 to a slight decrease of about 100/10 . There was an increase in the older population , 40 and above . Age 40 - 59 , there was an increase of 22 % from 1990 ;zp to 25 - 30 % . In the age of 60 and above , an increase from 16 % to 22 % of the population . Not only is that age group increasing in size , in term ;; of percentage of population , but even as the population is growing , . there will become even more people in that age group . Using these population projec - tions , we tried to estimate what kinds of housing units PB 10 / 20 / 92 Page 2 JURKOWICH : the Town is going to need to support that population . There „ is a general trend nationwide in a decrease of household sizes . Whether people are chosing not to have children , fewer children , ore more people living alone; , more elderly people going into housinc; units , or what , there is a decrease . Based on if you have 6 , 000 people ; persons per unit , occupied units , and then we allowed extra units to assume there are vacancies . We figured on 5 % for vacancies . If you look , there is not that much difference in housing projections . Somewhere between 2300 adn 240E 1_ n the year 2010 . If you don ' t t have alot of vacant units , it is very hard for people to, find housing when they : ) need it . If you have too man 'people w in - come ; p who own the property can ' t get enough in come ; then they can ' t afford it . BARRETT : The first chart is a summary of the entire budget . You will see , for 199C , that the general appropriations totalled $ ._. 49 ; 210 . 00 . Then , in 1991 , $ .. ; 93 , 909 : 00 . In 1992 , $ 406 , 597 . 00 , which makes a total increase of 6 % . We also broke things down by appropriating outside the Village and in the Town . It went from $ 108 , 400 . 00 3_ n 1990 to $ 120 ; 600 . 00 in 1991 to $ 118 , 025 . 00 in 1992 . Then Highway - Townwide at $ 411 , 50G . 00 in 1990 , $ 435 , 500 . 00 in 1991 , ` to $ 415 , 000 . 00 i.. n 1992 . Highway , outside the Village g at $ 1, 86 , 000 . 00 in 1990 , $ 203 , 000 . 00 in 19911 , and $ 188 , 000 . 00 in 19 T 92 he also summarized. the Groton Fire Protection District ; not much of a change from $ 50 , 000 , 0O to $ 52 , 500 . 00 . A 5 % change . The McLean Fire District , from $ 40 , 476 . 00 to $ 41 , 93 .1 . . 73 , a 3 . 74 % change . The McLean Lights District , up 25 % and Peruville Lights District 20 % . The total appropriation was 6 . 75 % change in two years . Wn. at I did was take th e first category , general appropriations for the entire town and village , and I broke those down . If you look through the second chart , you can see soma- of the major increases . There are only three decreases . The Town Board went down . 45 % , special items went down PB 10 / 20 / 92 Page 39 BARRETT : 42 . 45 % and Director of Finance went down 100 % . � Major increases were in Personnel , that went from ) 8 , 000 . 00 t. o $ 10 , 000 . 00 in 1992 . Elections went from :)' 7 , 000 . 00 up to $ 17 , 500 . 00 , the Engineer went from $ 5 , 000 . 00 in 1990 to $ 10 , 000 00 in 1992 , and finally Buildings went from )469 , 500 . 00 to $ 83 , 500 . 00 . If you notice , alot of the bigchanges were between 1990 and 199 _ . So , this category is mainly Town Administration . The newt page , you get into general fund appropriations , which is the services . Public Safety , the Town offers a police and constable , traffic control and control of dogs . All three of those items went up a total of 9 % . Health Services stayed the same . The Transportation category is the So. perintendent of Highways ; that went up from $ 30 , 560 . 00 to $ 34 , 780 . 00 . That is an increase of 13 . 81 % . Probably his salary . Economic Assistance and Opportunity went up from $ 9 , 215 . 00 to $ 10 , 500 . 00 , which is about 13 . 94 % increase . Culture and Rtncreatio ,;. is . the one which Teresa Robinson mentioned . The Joint Youth Project went from $ 7 , 000 . 00 to $ 11 , 00 : : 0r) , a 57 . 14 % increase . A total from $ 8 ; 000 . 00 to $ 13 , 500 . 00 , a 68 . 75 / increase . Home and Community Services which are the cemetaries , stayed the same at $ 6G) 0 . 00 . Then there is Undistributed . Se , you will see the total general fund appropriation went from $ 813J . 000 in 1990 u to 97 580 . QO _ n 199 p $ 2 , which is a 17 / increase . Overall total appropriations in the Town which includes general fund appropriations and the general government support went up from $ 349 , 000 . 00 to almost $ 407 , 000 . 00 . whjch is about a 16 % -increase . ( George Van S1. ke came in at 8 : 17 P . M . Y ) According to Teresa Robinson , she said there were three main thLngs increased in the Town , those were : road systems , youth recreation , and planning . Any questions or comments ? The last thing we would like to go over and spend some tim :j on is p the Mission Statement and Goals for the Master Plan . Joan and I have basically taken an approach that would allow a balance between growth in the PB 10 / 20 / 92 Page 4 BARRE . T : Town and preserving the rural character of the Town . If you would like a different approach or you disagree with us , let us know . Let ' s go over the Mission State - ment . The purpose of the Town of Groton Master Plan is to preserve the area ' s unique sense of community while providing for orderly developml:, nt by balancing the stability of the local economy and the protection of the Town ' s rural character . Does everyone agree with that approach or do you want to take a different approach ? We could approach this as if you want the Town to become more of a bedroom community or to retain the same . If you want to maintain that , we can take a different approach . TOTMAN : This is a bedroom community , but there are also a few businesses here and there . We have got to maintain what we have in order to keep it the way it is . BA �' RETT : I think what George said is , you have to put an effort in �. o preserving what you have because if you don ' t , someone is going to knock it apart . JURKOWICH : Things are going to c ':lange if you don ' t do anything . TOTMAN : I think the 'Mission Statement and the Coals that we put out there have to reflect that . JURKOWICH : I think there is two parts to that ; the unique sense of community and the balance of the Town ' s character with the future development . BARRETT : Keep it , revise it ? Which ? CAREY : Keep it . We are going to need some sort of growth and economy because if you don ' t , taxes are going to go wld . BARRETT : Keep the MI ssion Statement ? OK . Let ' s move on to the Goals . Goal # 1 , thl.:k first one we feel is really important , that is to provide you with a Master Plan that you can use as a tool or resource instead of something that you will never touch again . Goal # 1 : To prepare a Master Plan that will be used as a basis for decisions which effect the physical and economic character of the Town of Groton . The second goal is to balance the need for residential , commercial , and industrial uses while addressing the conflicts inherent among those uses . Wig could balance 10 / 20 / 92 PB Page r BARRETT : all these uses or we could try ; o make the Town of Groton so -a, e kind of Industrial High Tech Center or soma- kind of regional economical center . RANKIN : Would there be a problem balancing those ? JURKOWICH : No . The second part of this is you got to address the conflict among some of those uses . B.-'.RRETT : The third goal is to try to encourage a land use pattern whic' . , through its physical form , fosters a sense of com = minity . Win, are hoping to , through the Plan , tie the community of Groton together and sort of make it more private for certain individuals who wish it so . Possibly something through like a farmers market or another approach for int .eraction . TOTMAN . Something where there can be some type of inteirrelation . BARRETT : In the Mission Statement , we speak of the stability of the local economy and tD. e goals #4 and + 5 address that . Goal 4. 4 says . to maintain and enhance the local and regional economy in order to provide Groton residents with a variety of stable employment opportunities . In this sense , we are not isolating. Groton , but we are trying to treat Groton in m .. r ` of a regional sense , both within the County and with Cortland and Ithaca . That is our approach for that . The second part to Goal # 4 is that we are emphasizing job opportunities as opposed to increasing the tax base or maint. aining a high tech reputation . Is the Town thing something that you want to address ? TOTMAN : I think we have to address it . It is part of our goal . JURKOWICH : Is there one part of that which is mi:ire important than the other in terms of job creation vs . tax base ? Sometimes small businesses pay more taxes but have fewer jobs or worse jobs . CAREY : The tax base is something that we really have to address seriously . BARRETT : The 5th goal is a second component to the economy of Groton and that is to support the continued -viability of Agriculture . We are looking at Agriculture as part of your economy and not just preserving Agriculture , and 10 / 20 / 92 PB • Page 6 . Bls.RRETT : not as something aesthetic or a w �. y „ o provide you with open space . RANKIN : The thing I was wondering about is how . are you going to keep more of the agricultural dollar :; in the community rather than having them go out ? VANSLYKE : We don ' t have any Agricultural. , support things in Groton . There is no farm machinery dealers here . Ail the money goes outside the area . R :NK IN 0 How do we get Agricultural dollars back into the community ? BA ?? RET `O We can ' t find out unless we address it in the Plan . VANSLYKE : Do we really want fantastic farmland having houses put up all over it ? JURKOWICH : There mai- be a way to have it so that development and the farmer both. benefit . VAN ,SLYKE : As long as we understand what we mean by Agriculture as part of the economy because unless we go out of our way to try to draw in business that are farm related , we are i :. ot going to help the farmers much . BARRETT : In the Mission Statement , we talk about protecting the Town ' s rural character and this is Goal # 6 : to protect the_ diverse physical environment which provid .. s the backdrop for Groton ' s unique rural character . Wig are approaching it this way as oppose? - . o protecting wetlands or trying to attract more tourists or trying to attract or protect your aesthetic quality . TOTr1AN . We like it the way it is . We need to keep it the bray it is . JURKOWICH : When we get into the Mission Statement , we will try to balance that verses your future economic rind growth needs . B,-;1.RRE1T : Goal # 7 : to manage growth so that current and future residents are provided adequate anv. timely services . So that as Groton grows , so do your services . Services don ' t grow faster th. az development . Goal # : to 1romote activities which foster community interaction and support in Groton . Goal # 8 as opposed to # 3 is more to actually try to encourage a farm , rs marker; or other activii: y that will attract residents and make them a more cohesive community . PB 10 / 20 / 92 Pag =. 7 TOTMAN : It always takes a leader or a groiip to gat the support for something like that . BARRETT : Goal # ` 9 says to work with the Village of Groton on issues - of mutual concern , e . g . schools , infrastructure , and economic development . Consider their Master Plan . JURKOWICH : You need to recognize -interaction . The Villac• e is sort of a core economic community . VANSLYKE : The school provides alot of the support for the kids with their activities . BARRETT : OK . These are the nine goals . If therF:.b is anything you want added , feel free . Just let us know . For example , one thing that is not in there is meeting social needs of disadvantaged and poor ; m =iybe a community center . It looks like through the budget , some _rioney is moving more towards social services . TOTM.NN : Don ' t promote it . BARRETT : Think about itiore goals and if you think they need � o be addressed . JURKI) WICH : How about transportation ? Hi.pusing ? TOTMAN0 Tompkins County already has Tom Tran . R NKIN : As long as there are no cluster housing . JURKO W i CH : Transportation would be sort of covered uni-?. er # 6 & # 7 : services . TOTM. .N : Are you talking about promoting more roads , maybe putting in paper streets ? JURKOWICH : Any of that . TOTM5N : What did you have in mind ? BARRETT : Do you want to assess your roads and try to preserve their function ? Do you want to direct your traffic onto certain roads ? Do you went to create internal access ? TOTMAN : One r, f the things that I was thinking about was , we have public transportation now with the County . Do we want to look at potential developmental areas having new roads ? PB 10 / 20 / 92 Page 8 AA.RRETT * So , is there concurrence that you want to set the goal on transportation ? TOTM?±.N : Yes . # 10 is Transportation . JURKOWICH : How about housing ? It is more emphasized on the residenntial needs , suclh as gl: anny flats , senior citizen housing , affordable housing ? VANSLYKE : I think we should ignore affordable housing . We don ' t need that in the Town ; it would conflict wii: , t ;D. e character of the Town . TOTMAN : Let ' s address aff (_) rd -, ousing , but only have it be a part of our goal that we retain what we got , not make any rules so that it rel. tricts Affordable Housing . The road frontage itself restricts people from buying .,. and because land is so expensive . We s ';. ouldn ' t do anything to obstruct individual housing . We should make that a goal in our Mission Statement . VANSLYKE : # 11 is individual Affordab .Le Housing . BARRETT : This is another thing which you should bring up to the Village when they come in for the public hearing . Let ' s ta , . k about the next meeting November 12 at. 7 : 30 P . M . At that meeting , we will start to loo '�. at the Infra - structure ; tRe inventory of tb. , -, roads , water and sewer ste ,, s , and then in December , we will look at the Natural Resources ; soils , slopes , land use , possible housing . In J =: nuary , Economic Development ; February , Agriculture and March , stf-. ri.: looking at t ;,. e different developmental pa .: terns that you could develop . 013. r meetings will be the second Thursday of the month . It is subject to change . MriNY.QA C QR1EY motioned to adjourn the meeting , GEORGE VANSLYKE seconds the motion . ALLiIN FAVOR /MOTION PASSED It SANDRA D . DILLON do certify ;, ; at I did take the minute .-:. mf said meeting and the above is a true and accurate rranscr :iption of the meeting .