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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-07-20 ! 1 TOWN OF GROTON PLANNING BOARD Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting - Thursday, 20 July 2000 - 7: 30 PM Members Groton Planning Board (*Absent) Others Present Van Travis, Acting Chairman Joan Fitch, Recording Secretary Monica Carey Glenn Morey, Town Supervisor George Van Slyke Kathy & Mark Baxendell , Applicants *Barbara Clark Robert Walpole, Applicant April Scheffler *Brenda Talbot V. Travis: We'll call the meeting of the Town of Groton Planning Board to order at 7 : 31 p.m. on Thursday, July the 20th 2000. Approval of Minutes - 15 June 2000 V. Travis: Let's first of all take up the matter of the Minutes. Have those who were here last month looked at the Minutes? Are there any additions or corrections to them? Is there a motion for approval? M. Carey: I make a motion that we approve the Minutes of the June meeting. A. Scheffler: Second . V. Travis: All in favor? (All Board members present indicated aye . ) The motion is carried . Review of Agenda V. Travis: Review of the Agenda. I have three items that I have added to the Agenda. One is our next meeting on August the 17th . The second item is the suggestion of names to the Town Board to fill the Board vacancy. And the third item is with regard to the selection of a Chair for the Planning Board. Do other members have other items that they would like added to the Agenda? A. Scheffler: I was wondering if we should discuss having a work session or something for the work on the Comprehensive Plan. I know the ZBA has one planned . I don't know if we should . V. Travis: Okay, well I'm not yet sufficiently familiar with what is taking place there, but it would be good to learn what's going on. So I've added a fourth item, Comprehensive Plan . Kathy & Scott Baxendell, ROs - 794 Cortland Road - Site Plan Review - TM # 20- i - 36. 1 V. Travis: We will start with the Site Plan Review for Kathy and Scott Baxendell. You have information that you received by mail, plus there is now supplementary information which you received this evening. And unless you read a whole lot faster than I, you probably have not gotten through it. There is the Short Environmental Assessment Form which is now a part of our materials, and there is also a business plan . I introduce Kathy Baxendell , welcome Dr. Baxendell, K. Baxendell: That's okay, Kathy's fine . And this is Mark Baxendell. This is my brother-in-law who is the contractor that's working on the project. Page 1 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 V. Travis: Okay. Mark, welcome. Why don't we start off, seeing as we have not had an opportunity to read your business plan, if you would just give us a brief verbal synopsis of what is here and what your plans are . Let me say that I have driven up and looked from the shoulder of the road at the site so I am familiar with the location and see the construction is underway. But it would be good to hear from you as to your business plans. K. Baxendell: Okay. Well, let me give you a little bit of history first. Two years ago I opened my own practice , the Groton City veterinary practice, to concentrate primarily on caring for horses, sheep, and goats. I left a practice that I'd been working in in Cortland at that point. One-hundred percent ambulatory, it's expanded dramatically over the last two years. It's really shown dramatic expansion, and have a lot of people over the last few years who have approached me and asked me if I would do small animals, which I simply haven't had the time to do at this point. So we needed to bring additional staff on board to do that. Also , the practice has grown to the point where it really needs a practice base other than an office in my house which is getting pretty hard to move in at this point with all the stuff that's in there. So we put together a business plan . Our goal is or our idea is to start out with a two- to three-person practice. That would be myself, Dr. Heather Sawyer who is a 2000 graduate from Cornell who will do the small animals for us, and we'll probably try to bring on board one third veterinarian to do some small animals and some large animals also. In addition to that, we'll have the support staff' that we need to support that type of facility, probably a couple of technicians, several receptionists, and some kennel attendants as well. In the future, as far as growth goes, I don't anticipate this being much larger than a four- or maybe a five-doctor practice at the largest. I don't have any desire to be any larger than this. No fourteen- or fifteen-doctor multi-million dollar practice up there. So I'd like to keep it small and local and very friendly. We looked , because of the original practice base in Groton City, we looked very hard for a place that was somewhere close to where I lived, since we don't really want to move out of the Town of Groton , and also somewhere that was very convenient for the clients of the practice . I had thought originally about being on 222 and someone had suggested that Tom and Sally Brown were interested in selling the property, and that's who we did approach . The property that we purchased is the old Bancroft farm which I did include a copy of -- I think there's a tax map -- I don't think it's in your packet, but it was included with the Site Plan , V. Travis: Yes, it is. K. Baxendell: It is a little bit west of Salt Road -- 222, on the north side. Primarily it's surrounded by agricultural land and there's a residential facility across the road from that. V. Travis: Yes, we have that. K. Baxendell: Yes. The original plans were to take the house that is currently there and remodel that as our small animal facility, with the plans being in the future to add an addition onto that. In walking through the house and talking with the person who's doing our business plan , it became pretty apparent that we were going to outgrow that space probably the day we opened . So it really wasn't smart to spend all . the time and money to remodel the small space; it made more sense to enlarge that area and really be efficient right from the start. And you guys do have a copy in there of the floor plan and I'll go through that with you . To your left, if you're looking at it this way, over here is Route 222. The dark outlined area is the original house, and the area to the right of that is the addition that we're currently building on the house. The house itself is going to be remodeled into a treatment/surgery, our dog and cat wards, and our radiology facility. And then the addition will be the front end . That will be the reception area. Our exam rooms, lab, pharmacy are designed primarily for being attractive and also so that the clients can get in and out of there easily . . 0 And it's also designed to really have a lot of space for us so we really won't need to expand that for a long time . The area that's marked septic we have left open because the septic is there and we don't want to disturb that; it's certainly in good condition, so we've left that as kind of an area there that we won't build on . And Mark can address any questions you might have on the addition itself or the building itself. In addition to the house and the addition, there are a couple of other pieces on the property. There's an old dairy barn up there that we probably initially will just shore up; it needs some roofing and a few pieces of siding, shore that up so that it is weathertight. It's still in very good condition so we want to kind of maintain that if we can, with the future plans of possibly turning that into a dog and cat boarding facility. We'd remodel the downstairs and put in some indoor and outdoor runs and use that Page 2 of 19 1 1 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 as a boarding facility. I know that boarding is very difficult to find in this area. There is also a small horse barn on the property that Browns had used as a heifer facility. It doesn't have anything inside of it at this point. It does have water and electricity. We're probably not going to do anything with that in the near future. Ideally, it might be a nice place to put a couple of horse stalls in that we could have clients bring horses in that needed to stay overnight or need to be in for the day for treatment or something like that. But at this point we'll probably make sure that it's reasonably weathertight and not do much else with it. There is also a machinery shed that's on the back that Browns will continue to use to store their machinery in for the time being. 1 did put a note in the expansion plan that you have about employment opportunities. We do plan to employ between 8 and 10 individuals initially, with that expanding as our doctors expand to try and meet the needs of the staff. And those will be everything from entry-level as far as kennel attendants and cleaners, all the way up to licensed veterinary technicians, bookkeepers, receptionists, things like that, so there'll be a wide range of employment opportunities for people . V. Travis: That's 8 to 10 in addition to the doctors themselves? K. Baxendell: Yes. We'd like to think we could do it all, but we function best if we have a few extra hands. I also put a note on the bottom of that exterior appearance because that's very important to me ; I know it is to the Town as well to have things look nice . The practice will be -- will have a green metal roof and it will be sided in a cream-colored siding so we thought that would be a nice blend there. It's also going to be landscaped and there will be a berm on the front which will kind of hide the parking lot a little bit. And then along the back edge, behind the house, we're also going to put a berm there and that will probably be a fenced are where the people, the staff can walk dogs. There won't be any animals that are loose on the property, but that will give an area to walk the hospitalized patients and things like that. But that will also be benned so people won't be able to see that. There will be a sign placed at the roadside. We're working with a designer right now and they know there are some regulations with the Town that we've gotten from Mark Gunn that we will certainly keep in mind when we work on the sign, and that will be close to the roadside. V. Travis: Regarding the sign, the Town does have a Sign Ordinance and a sign permit is required, but that does not come under the jurisdiction of this Board. And so other than having advised you of that, that's the full extent of our involvement in the sign. Part of it -- one of the questions that I had was with regard to boarding animals, and you essentially answered that. My understanding is that as you initially, other than patients that are in convalescence , the boarding facility is a little bit into the future , is that right? And how far into the future do you -- K. Baxendell: It really depends. I'd like to do that sooner than later only because I think there's really definitely a need for it in the area. But it really depends on how cash flow goes and how we, you know, when we get to the point where we can remodel that facility. I don't want to slap something together and not have it work well , not be cleanable , and not be able to maintain it well, so we'd like to wait until we can do it well and do it that way. There will be some ability to board some animals in the hospital who are under medical care. We will have wards in there. That will be primarily limited to medical cases, but we certainly will have some capability to board animals there for the public. V. Travis: There surely are veterinary clinics that are in more densely populated areas than you are in and I think of Dr. Jacobson's, for example , in Dryden. But I do need to ask about noise control associated with boarding facilities and large numbers of dogs particularly. I don't know that cats make a lot of noise -- K. Bazendell: Well, they can V. Travis: I know they can K. Baxendell: The dog ward that we've planned -- if you look on the site plan there, there is a dog ward planned for the back. That will be heavily insulated . There are three indoor runs planned ; that area will be insulated as well. There will be full ventilation. If we do plan a boarding facility, noise control is very important not only for exterior, but also for the dogs that are boarding too . They don't want to have to sit there and listen to the other dogs barking all day. So noise and odor control is Page 3 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 clearly important. You can do that quite well with insulation both in the walls and around the kennels themselves. The only dogs that will be outside are the ones that are being walked, so it won't be like we'll have dogs out in runs that are barking all day. V. Travis: Questions from Board members? M. Carey: I think it's a very good idea. We could use another business in the Town of Groton, and I'm assuming you're going to use as parking in front of the house now? K. Baxendell: Yes, we'll pull in -- I've listed the client parking areas there, so we'll pull in from 222 here, we'll pull in here. There will be client parking in front of the addition here and then the staff parking over in front of the dairy barn . And we'll maintain the two driveways so we'll at least have reasonably easy entry and exit for the staff and the clients. And it seems, as far as I know when I've been pulling in and out of there it seems to be a pretty good location as far as you can see decently well in both directions. Gets a little foggy up there at times. G. Van Slyke: Not much you can do about that. A. Scheffler: Does the septic system take care of the animal waste too, or do you have another way to take care of that? K. Baxendell: That will take care of the animal waste as well. A. Scheffler: It's sufficiently big enough? K. Baxendell: Yes, V. Travis: A new septic is going in - - is that what -- K. Baxendell: No, we're going to be using the existing septic. The tank is large enough and the leach field is in good enough shape that we'll be able to use the existing septic . M. Baxendell: There's a concrete tank in there that was put in not that many years ago . V. Travis: So the drawings, I don't have the right sheet of paper in front of me -- M. Baxendell: The tank is right there. And it has its main distribution box and laterals coming out. V. Travis: Oh, okay. K. Baxendell: They go out toward the pine trees. V. Travis: That I saw, but the -- M. Carey: Now, if you have to put an animal down , are you going to have a crematorium, or -- K. Baxendell: There's a couple of disposal options. Some people do chose to dispose of their own which they are allowed to do. There is Paul Burhans, who is the dog warden for Homer, and a couple of the other towns. He has a crematorium and does offer cremation services. We do not plan to offer those at all. I have no desire to run a crematorium. M. Carey: So you wouldn't be doing that at all . K. Baxendell: I know Dr. Holmes also has crematory service as well . But one of the things that you'll see in there is a chest freezer in the kennel room. M. Carey. Saw that. Page 4 of 19 I , (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 K. Baxendell: What we do, Paul will make a pickup on a certain day during the weekend and dispose of animals for us for people who don't wish to dispose of them themselves. So there will be no disposal of animals on the property at all in any way, shape, or form. M. Carey: Okay, V. Travis: I would like to just go through the list of the general considerations for site plan review that are contained within the Code and Items A thru K to make certain we have touched all the bases and thought of all the questions that we should be thinking of with regard to this. Item A is the adequacy and arrangement of vehicular traffic access and circulation, including intersections, road widths, pavement surfaces, dividers, and traffic controls -- that is pretty much taken care of by State Route 222 . M. Carey: Right. V. Travis: And I'm not recalling exactly driveway entrances and those things, but there's pretty clear site, line of site -- A. Scheffler: Double driveway too. K. Baxendell: Yes, there's two driveways. There's actually two separate driveways in and out of that. And we also do plan to mark the entrance and exit -- well, we won't necessarily mark it as entrance and exit, but we'll mark the driveways quite well so people can see them even when it's snowing. We'll put large signs or lights or something there . V. Travis: Adequacy and arrangement of pedestrian traffic and circulation, walkways, structures, control of intersections, vehicular traffic -- well, this is pretty much out in the country and not of major consideration . K. Baxendell: There would be mostly walking from the parking lot into the building. V. Travis: Location, arrangement, appearance, and sufficiency of offstreet parking and loading -- and I think we've discussed that sufficiently. Location , arrangement, size , design, and general site compatibility of buildings, lighting, and signs, and I think we've discussed that sufficiently. Adequacy of storm water and drainage facilities. I'm not recalling, but the road is probably ditched there, is that correct, and so the drainage to the ditch and for sump pumps or whatever it is that may need to be operated with respect to the Village. Water supply -- you've marked off the well and the sewage disposal facilities and described those to us. Adequacy, type, and arrangement of trees, shrubs, and other landscaping constituting a visual and/ or noise buffer between the applicants and adjoining lands including the maximum retention of existing vegetation -- we've discussed that in your landscaping plans. In the case of an apartment complex -- not applicable. Protection of adjacent or neighboring properties against noise, glare , unsightliness, or other objectionable features -- we've talked about that . Adequacy of fire lanes and other emergency zones, provision of fire hydrants -- that it is not applicable . Special attention to the adequacy of structures, roadways, and landscaping in areas with susceptibility to ponding, flooding, and/ or erosion -- I don't think that's applicable in this case and I think fairly well-drained soils on the property. K. Baxendell: Well, actually it's kind of clay. V. Travis: Is it? Is it clay type? K. Baxendell: Yes, but it does drain. It just kind of turns into cement when it dries. V. Travis: We, the Board, now need to do a State Environmental Quality Review Act review which what we as a Board do. One of our members reads the questions and the rest of us then respond to them. And so we will do that now and you will observe it. Okay. Monica, would you read and the rest of us will follow through? Page 5 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 M. Carey, Ready, Joan? J. Fitch: Ready, Board Member Monica Carey then reads aloud Part H of the Short Environmental Assessment Form. Negative responses were obtained to all questions in Part H. Therefore , it was determined by the Planning Board, upon the motion made by Member George Van Slyke, seconded by Member April Scheffler, with all members present voting in favor, that the action, based on the information submitted, will not cause any significant adverse environmental impact, resulting in a Negative Declaration. M. Carey, Now, when I look at our zoning, we're going to -- chances are we probably ought to have a Public Hearing on this. V. Travis: Yes, M. Carey. It's a Site Plan Review. V. Travis: And so we need to set a date for the Public Hearing, and following that, we then give final approval with regard to the Site Plan Review. Have I got that correct in my mind? M. Carey. Right. V. Travis: Today is July the 20th . M. Carey: And how many days to put it in the paper? V. Travis: Five, isn't it? A. Scheffler: I think it's ten. It's under Municipal Law. I can get it in by noon Monday. V. Travis: Our official paper is the Moravia -- A. Scheffler. And it comes out on Wednesday. M. Carey: What is our official paper now? A. Scheffler. Moravia Republican— M. Carey: Not the Groton Independent thing? A. Scheffier: No, Moravia Republican Register, M. Carey: Which one is that? V. Travis: I've never seen it, so -- G. Morey: We do run it in others. We run it in the Shopper and others. G. Van Slyke: Five days before a hearing. 76. A. Scheffler. So if it goes in on -- G. Van Slyke: And you notify the applicant at least 10 days before the hearing. A. Scheffler, Well, they're getting notice right now. Page 6 of 19 1 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 V. Travis: Well, you'll have ten days because -- M. Carey: How soon are you thinking of opening? A. Scheffler: The earliest it could be published is the 26th . K. Baxendell: Well, it depends. If you ask me and you ask him, you'll have two different dates. V. Travis: So, April, what is the publication date? That has to be A. Scheffler: It would be Wednesday, the 26th -- it would be the first publication. V. Travis: And then the hearing has to be at least five days after that, is that correct? A. Scheffler: Right. And I'm not sure if Sunday counts as a day. M. Carey: I think it's business days. A. Scheffler: Yes, I think so too. V. Travis: Is it? A. Scheffler: I think so. V. Travis; Well, that's one, two -- is Saturday considered a business day? So that's one, two, three, four, five A. Scheffler: Wednesday and Thursday are both court nights—if you're going to use the courtroom . V. Travis: Well, that leaves us going to something like Monday the 7th then -- or Tuesday the 8th -- A. Scheffler: That's Town Board meeting. V. Travis: Monday, the 7th? A. Scheffler: Monday the 7th is fine with me . M. Carey: How about Joan? Are you available Monday the 7th? J. Fitch: Yes, M. Carey: I guess I am. G. Van Slyke: I am. As far as I know. V. Travis: I need a motion. M. Carey: I make the motion that we set a public hearing date for August 7th at 7:30 p.m. for the Baxendell Vet Clinic , V. Travis: So we put you in care of placing the ads and setting the hearing date and securing the courtroom. G. Van Slyke: I second it. A. Scheffler: I will have to check; it's on the calendar out there. I'll call you if there's a conflict. Page 7 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 V. Travis: All in favor say aye. (All members present indicated aye .) The motion is carried. K. Basendell: I don't know if it makes a difference, but it will be known as the Groton City Animal Hospital, so I don't know if you want to put that in there . A. Scheffler. Okay. And it is your business, right, because Scott has filled out the Site Plan Review, or is it jointly? How do you want it listed? K. Basendell: Well, actually, we own the property and we will lease it to the practice, but it is my house . A. Scheffler. Okay, V. Travis: My intention is that following the hearing we will meet as a Board. Are their legalities—yes, We have to have a special meeting of the Town of Groton Planning Board. That's right. And that we will then complete Site Plan Review that night as opposed to waiting two more weeks until our regular meeting. So that takes care of your business for this evening. We'll look forward to seeing you on whatever it is that we said. K. Basendell: Is there anything in particular I should bring with me, or -- V. Travis: The thing that I would do is, if you have a few copies -- we don't expect thousands to attend this hearing -- K. Baxendell: I hope not. V. Travis: A few copies of this and I think what we will do is at the beginning of the hearing ask for you to give the same kind of statement that we asked you to give tonight. K. Basendell: Okay, that's fine . V. Travis: And then I will tell the people what we have done so far, that it is an approved use within that particular zoning district, etcetera, and that we are there to receive public comment. We may or may not receive any, and when everybody who wants to speak has, then we will adjourn the hearing and dismiss that, and then we will have the Board meeting and act upon the final Site Plan Review. My guess is that all of that will probably occur within fifteen minutes time, but I've been known to be wrong in the past. K. Baxendell: There is also on the expansion sheet is my business phone and my home phone . So if you have any questions, just give me a call if there's any other information you need or any other questions to answer. V. Travis: Fine . I need to sign that don't I? M. Carey: Yes. Charles & Sandra Kring, ROs - 251 Lick Street - TM #s 30- 1 -8 & 30- 1 -8 11 - Boundary Change V. Travis: Next is regarding the Kring property. And the -- what's the proper terminology? It's an extension of a boundary line . R. Walpole: It's eliminating a boundary line . V. Travis: Yes, Again, I have visited the property and viewed it from the road. M. Carey: Me, too. Page 8 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 V. Travis: Yes, all throughout your life, right? M. Carey: Yes. V. Travis: It seems fairly straightforward to me. Are their questions regarding it? M. Carey: No. This came before our Board before when we put the addition on and we never -- I thought it was one complete property at that time. It was still kind of divided off? R. Walpole: It's still one complete property. It's been one complete property for years. M. Carey: Okay. R. Walpole: The only reason is because of that, apparently, because of the septic system. M. Carey: Oh, okay. R. Walpole: That was the thing when the house was built. V. Travis: So it's been approved once, but was not filed? And therefore, we need to do it again? R. Walpole: No, it was already approved once and all this is is just getting rid of the property line , the tax map line. Same people own it. M. Carey: See, they bought this little strip to make it legal -- R. Walpole: That's correct. M. Carey: And they must have not -- I guess they just never took out that boundary line between the two properties. R. Walpole: There's still two tax map numbers there, but it was already approved years ago. M. Carey: Yes, it's just a little teeny strip in that little woods that we're talking about. R. Walpole: All we're doing now is eliminating that tax parcel and make it all one tax parcel. M. Carey: Right. I see no problem with it. V. Travis: I don't either. A. Scheffler: I see no problem. Obviously it has to be done to make it one parcel for that house to sit on. R. Walpole: See that's automatically done at the County level. V. Travis: Let's do a SEQRA review and then after we've done that we'll make a motion to create the one lot. And, George, would you like to read this time? G. Van Slyke: I suppose I can do that. Okay, ready Joan? J. Fitch: Yes, Page 9 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 G. Van Slyke: Part II of the Environmental Assessment -- Board Member George Van Slyke then reads aloud Part II of the Short Environmental Assessment Form. Negative responses were obtained to all questions in Part H. Therefore , it was determined by the Planning Board, upon the motion made by Member Scheffier, seconded by Member Carey, with all members present voting in favor, that the action, based on the information submitted, will not cause any significant adverse environmental impact, resulting in a Negative Declaration. M. Carey: I'll make a motion that we pass this boundary change to eliminate the boundary line between 30- 1 -8 and 30- 1 -8. 11 and make it one complete parcel, and waive the public hearing. G. Van Slyke: I'll second that motion , V. Travis: We have a motion and a second . Is there any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. (All members present indicated aye.) The motion is carried. And, April, the front office will see that the tax department is notified of the change -- A. Scheffier: That's the applicant's responsibility. R. Walpole: That's all done. V. Travis: Oh , they just needed our approval? R. Walpole: They didn't need the approval. They do it automatically. That's one of the things when you get into this comprehensive thing. This boundary thing, in reference to some of these cases the building inspector should be able to just look at some of this stuff and just go ahead and authorize it -- your law needs to be changed and looked at. But in most of the townships the building inspector, when you come in with this map, is authorized to take care of it unless there is a major problem; then it would kick back into a Site Plan Review or something. We've had a couple of them here that is a waste of -- the Town passes them but it's already been done legally with the attorneys and with the County. V. Travis: What purpose were we serving tonight? R. Walpole, That's my question . I really don't know. A. Scheffier: Our Code says that we -- R. Walpole: It's in the Code . M. Carey: It's in the Code right now, but-- A. Scheffler, Any boundary change requires Site Plan Approval , M. Carey: Yes, V. Travis: Well, we didn't really do Site Plan Approval. A. Scheffier: Well I don't mean that, I mean any boundary change is subject to subdivision approval . And I do agree with Bob . And Lyle's been talking about that. R. Walpole: I think the building inspector should have the power to say go to the Board or I'll make a determination and I'll ship it to the Board . From that standpoint. There's still got to be some control, I'm not saying to rule it out completely, A. Scheffier: I think that's something that ought to go into our discussion. Page 10 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 R. Walpole: See, both of these lots -- we're eliminating a lot that was not legal, and as long as we are upgrading to comply with the regulations. If we were non-compliant, then I think yes, it's got to come in for a site plan to know the reason why you're going to issue a permit for that. M. Carey: I think one of the reasons we put it in was simply so we wouldn't end up with land that was landlocked. R. Walpole. Oh, I understand that. M. Carey: And that's been a concern with a lot of these parcels that are out back. R. Walpole: On that you've at least got some control for somebody coming in for a building permit. M. Carey: Right. R. Walpole: And the other thing is that the assessment department sends up the split and everything to the County Clerk on a quarterly basis. I think they come up quarterly, don't they April? A. Scheffler: No, they 're coming up all the time now. They're coming really quick. R. Walpole: All the time? So they 're on top of it more than they were before . A. Scheffler: Yes, we're getting them in a lot quicker. R. Walpole: Yes, so I mean then if they spot something right then as it comes in, then they can turn it over to the building department and go from there. I know the local attorneys here are very aware of this. Thank you very much . V. Travis: You're welcome. Baxendell Vet Clinic Re-visited M. Carey: Can I make a comment on the vet clinic? Because it is on a State road, we need to send that to the County Planning Department, V. Travis: That is right. I knew that -- A. Scheffler: I think that has to be ten days. Will we have ten days? V. Travis: It doesn't relate to the public hearing. I think the worst that may come out of that is that instead of giving approval that night, we may have to wait until the meeting on the 17th . G. Morey: But there is two entrances or two egresses on that property. And they have been approved in the past. The only thing they want to know is --- V. Travis: And the A. Scheffler: I'll try to get that out tomorrow. V. Travis: County Planning Board thing is advisory I believe. G. Van Slyke: Right. They don't make any decision. All they do is advise you if this is okay or not. V. Travis: Oh , I think . if there was something really flagrant, they would say hey you got problems here that you need to undertake . But yes, I'm not certain that we're sending it there for approval. It's for under advisement. Page 11 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 M. Carey: I'll make the motion . G. Van Slyke: I'll second it. V. Travis: Motion made and seconded to send the application for Site Plan Review for the Groton City Animal Hospital to the Tompkins County Planning Board for review and comment. All in favor say aye. (All members present indicated aye .) Motion is carried . OTHER BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THE BOARD Discussion of Planning Board Makeup , Etc. V. Travis: Our next meeting is scheduled for August 17th . I will not be here August the 17th , so it is going to be critical that we come up with a quorum and, obviously, I won't be contributing to it. Also, we need a -- we do not presently have a Chair. The Vice Chair is not going to be here . I would like to suggest that we pass a motion tonight that Monica Carey chair the meeting of August the 17th . Is there a motion to that effect? A. Scheffler: I will make the motion. V. Travis: Is there a second to the motion? G. Van Slyke: I'll second the motion, but I think that for discussion -- are we open for discussion now? V. Travis: Yes, we have a second. G. Van Slyke: Oh, okay. I think that it would be worthwhile if we appointed at least a temporary one for like a six-month trial period or whatever to see if we can get some continuity back to the Board. My thought would be that maybe since Monica has been here longer than God , that this might be a worthwhile time to use her not only for the next meeting, but for the next six meetings. And when we finally do get to a point in January, let's say, or whatever, and we do have a full Planning Board at that point, then it would be my feeling that we could then at that time get a chair and a vice chair and do it that way. That's my only comment. I think that because she has been involved in this for so long that probably her expertise is a little more than the rest of us have at this point. A. Scheffler: I agree with that, but it is up to the Town Board to appoint. And I was going to ask you if the Board was going to. G. Morey: That's correct. It is up to the Town Board -- but what has been happening in the past, and I believe in this, and if the Planning Board gets together and nominates a Chair and Vice Chair, the Board will go along with that. It's always been that way and I don't think it's ever going to change . G. Van Slyke: But I think, in all fairness, that we have to give whoever the new person is the opportunity to be involved in the decision as well, not just for three or four of us to sit here tonight and make that decision. I think that we should work on a temporary basis for that period of time, and once you have the other person on board and we have a full Board here that we can work with . I really find it difficult to sit here with four people and we're making decisions that should be made by six. M. Carey: That kind of brings up -- I mean, nothing against Brenda, but Brenda really hasn't been attending many of our meetings. A. Scheffler: Brenda's not in very good shape . Page 12 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 M. Carey: I know she's not very healthy, and maybe we ought to pose the question to her do you want to stay with the Board? If you don't, then we need to find someone that's going to devote more time because if I'm going to be Acting Chair, then I'm going to need help from everybody on this Board because of my hours that I work. I'm not free to just leave my job and come to Groton for different things . So I'm going to need help from all the Board members and I want to feel free to call anybody that's in the Town that's on this Board and they'll know exactly what I'm talking about; not someone that's missed three or four meetings. A. Scheffler, Would it be wise to think about having an alternate member? That's been brought up before . V. Travis: That's been brought up in the past. M. Carey: We have a hard time filling up our Board members now. G. Van Slyke: I would rather have a person that is appointed and not have to worry about somebody sitting in the wings. If whoever you appoint is dedicated enough to do the job , they'll be here . Otherwise , there's no reason for taking the position . It just doesn't seem reasonable to me that somebody would want to be on this Planning Board and would not be willing to attend the meetings. G. Morey: There were two people that did apply for the position last time, last January -- Neville and Mark Baxendell who was just here tonight. Butch Neville. Now those are two good choices, but before I'd ever appoint, I'd go to the Chairperson and say do you agree with this or do you not agree with this . And I will take suggestions if anybody wants to talk to me -- M. Carey: I think if we do talk to them we need to stress that we want someone that's going to be committed to the Board and work at not someone being Chair year after year after year. You're going to have to start taking turns being Chair because, in my opinion, we just had a lump dropped on us losing George because he basically knew everything in this book. Now for awhile we're going to be stumbling along trying to get through everything. G. Morey: I talked to each and every one of you about George resigning. I didn't want everybody to bail out just because he was leaving. I think it's a great opportunity for you, okay? I know the three of you are very knowledgeable, you know how to handle a meeting, you know how to handle public meetings, too. I know April's brand new and she's coming along onboard real quickly. if you step back and reorganize your meetings right now -- that's why I'm saying that if you have a suggestion on who you want to be here that will be involved and that will know exactly what's going on and going to the classes every year that you're supposed to go to -- I'd really appreciate that. But as far as right now, it's a great opportunity to start over. Find out what kind of rules you want. Make an agenda now for next month and stick to the agenda. Don't go off on a tangent to find out something else that's not on the agenda; it's just wasting your time . Share information. The three of you have the most knowledge here to teach the newer. I know Barb Clark would be here, but they are inbetween here and Alaska. They are supposed to be coming back. I called them Tuesday to see if they were home and I just left a message . But if you can, vote on an Acting Chair tonight, get an Acting Vice Chair so you have some kind of organization. If you want to accept "Robert's Rules" for your meetings, that's fine. Then you stick to them. It's your Planning Board . I'm not going to jump in here. What I want to do as Town Supervisor is attract businesses and attract new homes. That's my only goal -- but to do that, you have to have a clear, concise Building Code. And I don't think we really have that. There was the item that came up tonight. That, would be very simple to change. I don't think we're at a point that we can do that right now. And the Comprehensive Plan -- I think everybody's diving into it just thinking about what do you want? Do we have to go do it all over again? I just want you to review it. I want you to read through it. Find out what is still applicable for the Town right now. Is there things that have changed? We're going to have to do this every ten years so in 2003 that we'll have to do it. We can plan later. And if you read through the Comprehensive Plan, which I did, it still has active subjects that still pertain to the Town. There's a lot of SCM contradictions, you know, that are left. I think today there still is a problem because you have all these retirees that are getting bailed out from the company and it's still our problem to help these people out. They can't afford the taxes upon taxes upon taxes. That's why we need a nice business here. One nice thing about what Kathy said today Page 13 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 that sort of gave me a chill -- I didn't want to move out of the Town of Groton . I like it here. That's great. And that place is going to be big. She's already taking additional doctors there and it's just opening up everything. Large animal and small animal. I think it's going to be just like the Cornell Research Center over at Cornell University. It's one stop shopping, and they are nice enough people that people want to take their dogs and cats to. Along with horses and cows -- at least we can think of it as a great beginning. And it's your Board, and the Town Board's going to stick behind you . Tyke was going to be here tonight, but he started painting today and he didn't finish so he couldn't make it. But you know, next time think about the Comprehensive Plan. Read it and come up with some suggestions we can change in 2003, or things we want to go back to and check out, and just say you know I think it is -- I think it is exactly still what we're looking for. It's great information, too. It really is. And when I read this copy of the plan I didn't know our agricultural - - I knew it was important, but I didn't know how much important to Tompkins County it is. Should we concentrate on that? I think we're going to. V. Travis: We have a motion on the floor. Monica, my question to you is if elected, will you serve? M. Carey: Yes, I'm here all the time. V. Travis: And so the motion, if I recall, was to elect Monica Carey as temporary Chair from now through December the 31st. G. Van Slyke : No, that wasn't the motion . The motion was that she was to chair just the next meeting. I only brought discussion up. We still have this motion before us that we have to take care of at the moment. We either approve the motion that she just is temporary for the next meeting, or we disapprove it and then have another motion that allows us to -- J. Fitch: You can rescind your previous motion. G. Van Slyke: I would have to rescind my second and she would have to rescind her motion. Okay. A. Scheffler: I thought it was to wait until we had more people here too to make that decision for the rest of the year too . J. Fitch: April can rescind the previous motion and that needs a second and a vote and that would take care of it. A. Scheffler: I'm seconding the motion that he made. G. Van Slyke : No, we've got to rescind yours first. A. Scheffler: I didn't make a motion . G. Van Slyke : Yes, you did. J. Fitch: Yes, you did. G. Van Slyke: You made the motion that she would be the temporary one . I seconded so we could discuss it. V. Travis: That's right. A. Scheffler: Oh, I'm sorry. G. Van Slyke: Now we have to, as far as the Minutes are concerned, I have to rescind my second if you -- or we can take it to a vote . J. Fitch: She has to rescind the previous motion. Page 14 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 G. Van Slyke : Right. You rescind your motion, I rescind my second and then we can have a new motion. A. Scheffler: Okay, I rescind my motion. G. Van Slyke: And I rescind my second. Now it seems that this is the way it is, I'll make the motion that at this time we have Monica Carey as our Acting Chair until January when we, hopefully, will have a full quorum of Planning Board Members, and at that time when we reorganize in January we could take of a new Chairman and Assistant Chairman . I would also say that, at this time, in the same motion, if Van would be willing to serve as Assistant Chairman to her for that period of time . J. Fitch: As Vice Chair? G. Van Slyke : Yes. V. Travis: Is there a second? A. Scheffler: I'll second it. V. Travis: Is there further discussion? A vote . All in favor say aye. (All members present indicated aye .) The motion is carried . G. Morey: I don't want to wait until December. I want to get a new member here before that. G. Van Slyke: I'm saying to you that the way things work out sometimes it may be that for this period of time we might be waiting to have a person onboard. V. Travis: In terms of looking for people -- by the way, I brought a list of six, five six names, and those are all from the McLean area. Obviously, I'm not promoting any one of them. A. Scheffler: Do we want to run the same ad that we ran previously and have the applications available? G. Morey: Yes. M. Carey: I think we ought to too. And I think we ought to see if anybody else on the ZBA would be interested in moving to our Board. A. Scheffler: I hate to disrupt that Board . They do such a good job and they work so well together. M. Carey: There might be somebody that would like to become more involved. The ZBA only has meetings here and there white our Board has a meeting every month . Just mention it that we got this opening. G. Morey: You know the thing is what we'll do is we'll advertise for it. And then if the ZBA wants to, they can put an application in. G. Van Slyke: Okay, I'll make one more comment here too . Van is from McLean . I'm from Groton City. Barb is from Groton City. You're from Groton proper. Are you from West Groton? A. Scheffler: Used to be, but I'm over here now. G. Van Slyke: Right now on the Planning Board we really don't have anybody from that direction, and -- G. Morey: The Town Board has two from West Groton, two Village, and one Groton City area. Page 15 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 G. Van Slyke: Yes, but rm saying that you get one section of the Town saying well, gee, we're not even represented on this Board. G. Morey: Well, the ZBA -- Mary Decker is from West Groton, M. Carey: Now this Scott Baxendell you said was -- A. Scheffler: Mark M. Carey: He might be someone we want to look at. He's a contractor, too. A little more experienced on that end too. V. Travis: Well, one of the things that occurred to me as the Town Board thinks of people , one of the important things is their leadership experiences and ability. Because, well I told you, I just am not interested in becoming Chair, and I think I'm not even opposed if the right person came along who really had the leadership skills and knew the Town and that sort of thing, that a new person could become Chair if the rest of the Board thought that they had those kinds of qualifications. In my mind, it's not a seniority thing as I see it. But I think it is important that we have people who can step forward in the breach like we had to do tonight to keep the process moving. But as I say, I have not even spoken to a single one of these people . They are good people. I was pretty careful in who -- A. Scheffler: Could we look at it? V. Travis: Yes. There's no secret at all. The two Haines women are mother-in-law, daughter-in- law; they're farmers. That Munson pretty much runs Munson Auto Sales on Main Street -- School Street it is. Tom Buren owns and operates Triphammer Mobil in -- across from Pyramid Mall. A. Scheffler: He participated quite a bit in the Sirens hearing. V. Travis: They did . But he's a real good businessman. Don Mays is with Xerox and he lives on Church Street about two houses down -- well, he bought the house in which the two girls -- and he's a nice guy. And who else is on the list there? That's probably most of them at any rate. G. Van Slyke: Converse? He's Randolph Pump , V. Travis: Ray, that's right. He's Randolph Well and Pump and he's a good guy, too. Discussion of Comprehensive Plan Review & Other Board Procedures V. Travis: In the process, I need a copy of the Comprehensive Plan . Would you mail me one , April, please? Or you can hand me one tonight. & Scheffler: You didn't get one? I handed them out to everyone. V. Travis: Maybe I wasn't there. A. Scheffler: What you can do is take the one that I have here and I'll just get another one. V. Travis: Monica, you're going to be the Chair and I'm not going to be here . Maybe want to delay it until September when more people would be here, but the suggestion of putting the Comprehensive Plan on the agenda and having people read it before they -- that' s how I really prefer to work is that we know in advance if we're going to discuss something like this. We just don't walk in that night and everyone's saying we haven't read it and we don't know it, but obviously it's something that we ought to discuss. Page 16 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 A. Scheffler: I finalized that Agenda on the Friday before the meetings, so if anybody wants to call me with anything prior to that that they want to add, if something comes up that you think of, you can do that too . M. Carey: One thing that I'd like to make a comment on is all these applications that get dropped on our laps when we walk in here . I think we need to put a stop to that because I think being that we've got three old people and we've got three new people it's confusing for these new people to walk in and have an application handed to them that you were given either after you mailed out our Agenda, and then we've got to fit it in and, you know, it's too confusing. It's too hard with as many new people as this Board is going to have . A. Scheffler: I agree. V. Travis: The problem for me is I think if I had 30 years of experience like George, that might not bother me. But frankly, if at all possible I try to visit the property and I try to give a little bit of thought as to what the issues are. Like barking dogs at a veterinary clinic . And, just speaking for myself, I do okay if I have a little time to think. I am not great on just popping it on me and expecting me to think of all of the aspects of the issue. And that's what we're really here for is to think of all the aspects of the issue so the thing doesn't come back and get thrown in our face. And so I agree. A. Scheffler: Well, our Code actually says the application has to be in ten days before the meeting. V. Travis: That's right, it does. In fact, we ought to abide by that. M. Carey: I think so too. It would make it much simpler for especially the new people to start to learn all the laws -- it's too confusing to have something like that coming in . Nobody knows where the property is and there's a lot of paper shuffling around . A. Scheffler: You will have some people upset. M. Carey: Well, I agree , but -- A. Scheffler: The person that sat here . G. Van Slyke: Maybe it's time that he realizes that we don't sit for his convenience . The whole thing is is that other people have to go through the process. And if it's not in there ten days before then you don't get on the Agenda and you have to wait until next month . M. Carey: We kind of let him know the last two months too, so I think he would realize that we're not going to be putting up with his dropping things off right then and there. We need time to study this stuff, we can't have it just dropped on our laps anymore. V. Travis: And it's almost crucial for me to visit the properties. I don't know my Groton geography that well. I'm stuck over there in the corner and that's about my little world when it comes to the Town of Groton. A. Scheffler: Are the maps that I prepare -- I prepare the maps with all the names and everything on. Are they good enough for you to find V. Travis: I just have one suggestion. Please , please, please mark a north arrow on them. A. Scheffler: Okay, V. Travis: Especially when I get over here in the boondocks. Now when I'm on Route 222 1 can figure out which way I'm going. G. Van Slyke: Gee, when I get into downtown McLean I think I'm in the boondocks. Page 17 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 V. Travis: You talk about a north arrow though . When I started coming to McLean , you come from Ithaca out to 366 through Etna, Freeville, and into McLean and I'll tell you, I don't know where that road does all its turning and bending, but you talk about being disoriented. For the longest time I thought the sun rose in the west in McLean . And so a north -- in fact, the list you handed out does say that maps will have a north arrow on them. That would be the big thing. A. Scheffler: Or anything else you guys have a suggestion on too that you want for the meeting. V. Travis: Is there any other business? G. Van Slyke: I'd just like to make a -- it was mentioned about that we might want to read over the Comprehensive Plan and its a few pages here . If we were going to discuss any part of the Comprehensive Plan, I think we should do it in sections and it might be worthwhile at the previous meeting we make a decision we're going to read over and look at, let's say, the first five chapters. And we're going to discuss them at the next meeting. And if that could be sent to us with the Planning Board Minutes and what transpired at that meeting so that every -- even the ones that are not in attendance will have the opportunity to know that well, this is going to be on the Agenda. This is something probably I should be doing. So I would make that suggestion if we're going to do that. V. Travis: I think that's a real good suggestion . G. Van Slyke: And if you want to do that for the August meeting, we could set it tonight and say that we would read the first six chapters and if you find something in there that is -- M. Carey: I've already read the first five chapters -- G. Van Slyke: So that when we get to that point at least we can do this section and if there's a problem with something there, then we look at it and write down the information and come back to the Planning Board and then maybe we have to make some decision about changing that. V. Travis: That's helpful and for someone like me who knows I'm not going to be here, I could just jot a few notes and send them to Monica and say here's the thing. Glen, what are the issues that you want us to be looking at as we -- and I don't mean chapter by chapter, but in terms of the Plan itself, what is it you would like us to be studying? G. Morey: All I want you to do is to think of the mission statement -- what the Town has been and where do you want it to go. It outlines different areas of the Town, agricultural, residential, business prospects, things like that. There are also some unique areas that are -- animal life that's unique to Groton. There's a very comprehensive report of just what the Town is. Basically, all I want you to do is find out if the stuff is still correct. Has something major gone or has changed? But also, look and see is that what we want to do? It identifies land uses. Are the land uses still the same as it was back ten years ago in 1983? Find out if this mission statement is exactly what we want to do or where we want to go to. V. Travis: Mission statement and goals are a biggy. G. Morey: I know. You don't have to do it -- it's already been done . And I'm not asking you to do it all over again and rewriting it. I'm asking you to -- V. Travis: One of the things is that if you're looking out into the future you may say, you know, that this mission statement and these goals are no longer applicable or what we want for the future well-being of this Town. When I said they are a biggy, they really require a lot of thought. G. Morey: If you say the goal or the mission statement is not adequate now, we're going to put a little note that it's not adequate, change for 2003. Probably in 2002 we should set up a separate committee , not the Planning Board, not the ZBA, it would be a combination of both and some outside members to get together and find out what our mission statement and our goals are going to be. I Page 18 of 19 (T) Groton Planning Board Minutes/Transcript of Regular Meeting 20 July 2000 don't want you to change anything. I just want you to put notes down that we've got to look at this in 2003, or this is perfect. V. Travis: Okay, that's helpful. I'm tuned in now. Other good suggestions? Adjournment V. Travis: I'll take a motion for adjournment. G. Van Slyke: So moved. A. Scheffler: Second. V. Travis: We stand adjourned . The meeting was adjourned at 8 :47 p .m. Jo . Fitch ording Secretary Faxed 8/3 /00 Page 19 of 19