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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-03-14 TOWN OF GROTON X Planning Board Informational Meeting Monday,I March 14,1 1994 ,1 7 : 30 P . M . PLANNING BOARD PUBLIC PRESENT ( * Denotes Members Present ) Tracy Smith,I Tompkins County Planning Board * George Totman, Chairperson *' Sheldon Clark *° Monica Carey George VanSlyke Verl Rankin Cecil Twigg George Totman began the meeting at 7 : 45 p . m . G . TOTMAN : I have asked Tracy Smith to be here tonight , even though the Groton Town Board has not officially approved us making contract with the . County, to get an idea of what we are looking for so she can get feedback to write down goals to rewriting . the ordinances and putting it into a workable form so it is more user friendly for our people as well as the Courthouse . Tonight ,, I would like to have Tracy tell us what she thinks or how she may think this might work and set up dates to when we will be meeting to discuss revisions . We are looking at the first Thursday of every month so it will not conflict with our regular Planning Board meeting dates . We would like to include the Code Enforcement Officer and the Chairperson of the ZBA at these meetings to hear feedback on . some of the problems they have bee: experiencing . Most of the ordinances have been there since 1972 . Some ordinances are repetitive . Tracy ' s job iz:; ruhat they call a circuit rider . We contract with the County and they send a circuit rider out to get feedback from the various towns and/or villages . She will be providing us with her guidance and expertise as well as taking notes and using our minutes . This being our first meeting will be- to - provide Tracy with what we are looking for and to -answer any questions that she may have . Tracy,1 why don ' t you explain to the Board what you ' re job assignment :d is a what you plan to accomplish . . T . SMITH : Tracy reiterated what G . Totman said about the definition of a circuit rider . As far as input , it ' s basically what you want , it ' s your call . The first thing we should do is to go through it :careiully and try to find the repititions. :and :. confusions ,that. _George .. :Totman :.was .. talking about . Also get the input from the Zoning Officer . One thing I have done was reading the plan to see what recommendations there are— zoning ,, cluster development and planning developments . As far as new things for the commercial industrial zoning ,, flag lots , and elderly housing could be added in . That ' s it for now . G - TOTMAN : Any questions ,, Sheldon? S . CLARK : Where does this line up with what was prepared with the other two girls from the County Planning Board? G • TOTMAN : Jeannie Barrett turned in her resignation . Joan Jurkowich was hired . Joan helped us with the Comprehensive Plan . - Town - o€ - Groton - Planning - Board - Informational - Meetingr,, Monday� March 14 ,,, - 1994 � - 7 : 30 - p : m : - Page - 3 . � '' G . TOTMAN : Even if you could get a ball-park figure and have it approved by. Joan to present it. to the Town Board for approval would be fine . This is something that we cannot do alone . If you went out to a private consulting firm,I it would not be cost-effective . Here �� we can work as a group together and design it ourselves . We want it to be accepted by the people . Basically,, that ' s all I had . Tracy, do you have anything else? T . SMITH : I will try to get a general idea of the cost . S . CLARK : Interesting stuff . G . Totman adjourned the meeting at 8 : 35 p . m . Submitted by Penny Bogardus . Town - of - Groton - Planning - Board - Informational - Meeting4 - Monday , - Mar- ch - 14, - 1994 ,E 7 : 30 - p : m . - - - Page - 2 - S . `CLARK What does it say about flag lots in that? Is it my understanding that we have to better define or make up a set of rules for flag lots? G . TOTMAN : We take this book here . If we could cut the size of the book in half ,, I would be happy . There ' s a lot of ways to make the book more user friendly . S . CLARK : You ( Tracy ) have expertise in wording these type of things? T . SMITH : Yes . G . TOTMAN : This is what the Tompkins County Planning Board has hired her for . Her job is to meet our needs . She has to go by what we tell her . S . CLARK : So where do we start? M . CAREY : I think we should start from scratch . G . TOTMAN : I think it ' s important to get input from Lyle Raymond . M . CAREY : Definitely . G . TOTMAN : Square footages of houses ,I mobile homes ,, etc . go to the ZBA and not to us . We need to know their problems with the ordinances . For example,( we have an ordinance that says you have to have 840 square feet for living quarters . The reason why it was put in there since 1972 ,, a couple of years later ,( the superintendent of the school came to us to say we had to do something because they have added to new bus routes to Groton this year but no houses . They are all these junky trailers moving in . Usually,, by nature , these type of trailers generally have 3 or 4 kids living in them . We talked with the Town Board at the time and talked them into putting a moratorium for a year on any trailers coming into town so we could have time to work on it . So instead of coming up with a rule against trailers , we figured out that the biggest trailer made was a 14 ' by 70 ' which is 840 square feet ; therefore , anything to do with residential has to have 840 square feet . This put a stop to all future junky trailers coming in . This is one area where that has to be revised is the mobile home ordinances . We have to adopt ordinances that reflect the modern-day elderly housing project--granny flats . We have to get approval from the Groton Town Board to sign a contract with the County . There ' s money in our budget to do it . We have to follow protocol . Tracy will be putting together a package to be presented to the Town Board to basically tell us how much it will cost . After the contract is signed ,I she will be meeting with us once a month or whatever it takes to get the job done . Tracy, our Town Board meets this coming Monday night . Can you have something ready for us by then? T . SMITH : I am really not sure . I can try to get a general idea . G . TOTMAN : I apologize for the short notice,, but if we do not start now,, we will not be able to work with you until April or after . Town - of - Groton - Planning Board - Informational - Meetingt, Mondays March 141, 1994 � - 7 : 30 - p : m . Page - 3 �. rp� , G . TOTMANt Even if you could get a ball-park figure and have it approved by Joan to present it to the Town Board for approval would be fine . This is something that we cannot do alone . If you went out to a private consulting firm, it would not be cost-effective . Here , we can work as a group together and design it ourselves . We want it to be accepted by the people . Basically,f that ' s all I had . Tracy,, do you have anything else? T . SMITH : I will try to get a general idea of the cost . S . CLARK : Interesting stuff . G . Totman adjourned the meeting at 8 : 35 p . m . Submitted by Penny Bogardus .