Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1971-02-03 r i • GROTON TOWN PLANNING BOARD MEETING Wednesday , February 3 , 1971 PRESENT : G . Totman , Chairman R . Cotanch H . Dow R . Gleason F . Scheffler A . Clark - Ithaca Journal The meeting was called to order at 8 * 15 P . M . by Mr . Totman who gave veryone present a copy of the minutes of the last meeting in January , 1971 . G . Totman : Are there any questions as to the minutes of the last meeting ? R . Gleason : Just one - - what was on the 26th or 27th on on did you try to meet with the Town Board or something? R . Cotanch : I guess it was the 26th , wasn ' t it , George ? • G . Totman : Yes , - the 26th . R . Cotanch : George , Hicks and I sat down with members of the Town Board and people from the School Board to discuss the problem of trailers all across the board . It ended up that the three of us and Glenn Munson and Les Graves sat around and discussed the trailer situation and didn ' t arrive at any conclusions or set any dates for any future meetings . H . Dow : We do talk around in circles to a great extent and it ' s unavoidable but I see in this trailer discussion several factors that influence the thinking of one or another of us . We know there has to be a restriction on trailer building and (2 ) we know there have already been installations a little bit out of their control and (3 ) we agree to restrict unwarranted trailer construction . We have to set limits as to land size , general space size and location re- quirements and then we come smack dab into something we all recognize we have to reconcile the requirement as to land and space size with the ability to pay and there we get into the bind of young couples who haven ' t sufficient money to establish permanent homes and have to go the mobile home way and when we get all these ideas together and can gel them then we can sit dawn and come up with a set of rules that the Town Board will accept and that will work . I almost think Dana Snell would be a good addition to any group meeting where this thing comes to a focus because he is the one • who has to go and explain and agree and accept points of view , but in order to bring this thing to a focus it seems to me we have just got to begin now to work with the Town Board members and maybe a member or two of the School Board and get the thing moving . Other- wise we ' ll be sitting here talking around it and never coming into I t . - 1 - . r • G . Totman : This was the intent , - - at least that I thought we had when we called this meeting for the 26th to informally discuss this with the Town Board . Unfortunately the weather was so bad they felt they couldn ' t make it . I think from our discussion though that our Town Supervisor got quite a reading of our feelings from it but I believe that we would gain a lot by it rather than sitting around here and making rash judgments without consulting with them and creating bad publicity . If we , and the people who are interested in the Town and School , encourage more of this type of meeting in Groton , I think it ' s better in people ' s homes where you can relax and let conversation flow , - then after two or three of these meetings , ask the Town Board if they would please get their representatives - - by that I mean - - Glenn has appointed two men to represent the Town Board - - get them together with us and get this settled . More discussion was held on the value of these meetings by H . Dow , R . Cotanch and G . Totman . Roger Gleason moved that the minutes of the last meeting be approved as written and Hicks Dow seconded the motion . Motion carried . G . Totman : In trying to promote these meetings , I think that if we encourage the people from the School , the School Board members , to participate in these sort of round table type meetings there will be a message go forth and if you are an alert Town Board member you will have to pick it up . I think we should really get the feelings and the • problems of the Town discussed fully and then we will have a better relationship . R . Cotanch : I have one more thing to say on that too . Les Graves brought up the other night that he got through his bus drivers ' survey re . the present number of kids in the Town in our School system from trailers . He estimated there would be somewhere around 200 trailers and 300 kids , which is 25% of the people in the Town . More discussion was held on this subject by H . Dow , R . Cotanch and others . R . Gleason : I read the same thing in the Groton Journal and other places too but how are you going to shut them out ? A . Clark : It would be tough . H . Dow : We ' re not trying to . A . Clark : The current Court decisions are against using zoning as a method of changing the social structure . More discussion was held on this by all present . G . Totman : In answer to Roger ' s question , an he says how are you going to shut them out . To me , we shouldn ' t take that point of view • but rather how are we going to regulate the ones that are coming in so that they will not devaluate the property . A . Clark : Conventional construction is about dead . G . Totman : I disagree on that . - 2 - r r More discussion was held on this by R . Gleason , A . Clark , R . Cotanch and others . • Roger Gleason suggested that rather than a straight trailer park we should try to set something up that people could pay on monthly and eventually own the land and their mobile home . He also mentioned that Barbara Blanchard of Niederkorn & Egner Associates had spoken about Federal funds possibly being available that would cover something like that . He also asked whether in our 701 studies we could get them to look at this thing and possibly suggest something along this line to help us . R . Gleason : What I 'm thinking is - - we talk about ( 1 ) too many kids and ( 2 ) we talk about growth and that means people and if we look at the facts of life on where they are going to live we have to come up with something that they can afford to live in and also get enough taxes out of it to pay for the services . H . Dowse The condominiums we talk about are largely owned by middle-aged people or people with grown children and now we ' re talking about young people with insufficient means to build permanent homes . More discussion was held on this with much concern expressed for a solution to this problem . H . Dow : If the Boards would unite and buy 35 -40 acres and get FHA financing we could certainly get little streets laid out and a condominium in time . R . Gleason : I wasn ' t necessarily thinking that this could be a public develop- went - - I was thinking if we could come up with some method in our laws or regulations to allow private building . G . Totman : Roger , your concern seems to me to be what are these people going to do that can afford nothing but a trailer - - they can ' t afford a house but can afford a trailer and lot to put it on . I think that ' s a good concern but I think we ought to limit that concern to just the people that are here now - not those from other communities who are moving in because this is the place that they can do it and if we can make regulations to stop that sort of thing - people from other areas - we have to worry about our people here . That ' s the way I look at it . R . Gleason : We have to worry about them because we can ' t stop them if they want to come here . A . Clark : You can decide who ' s going to come by regulating lot size , you regulate who ' s going to come and who has the scratch . R . Gleason : Maybe I ' m wrong but I believe we can ' t do that . G . Totman : We can sit here and discuss this month after month but this is the purpose of why we started at the last meeting to try to get a group meeting around Town with interested people and , hopefully , come up with some ideas and if the people that are concerned can ' t • excite the local legislators enough to adopt an ordinance we can accept anyway we will have to drop it . We have to get the feeling of the people and the legislators . I ' ve talked to Glenn since we had our meeting over at my house and he is very much in favor - 3 - of holding more of this type of meeting . Of course he would like • the rest of his Board to come with him so they can understand the problems people are having around the Town so before we have our next meeting maybe another one of these can be set up and , if so , Roger will let you know so you can come along . There are a couple of things I ' d like to bring up before I forget them . We talked at the last meeting about this trip to New York to the Association of Towns ' meetings where they have sessions on planning . Normally they have a bus go from this area that takes everybody down - have refreshments on the bus and takes everyone back on the bus . There weren ' t enough people interested in going on the bus this year to warrant taking one . The majority will be flying or driving down so if we can will have to provide our own transportation and I would like to see somebody from our Board go down but I can ' t make it . R . Cotanch : That ' s this coming week? G . Totman : This coming Sunday and Monday . I have talked to Hicks and Frank and they didn ' t know whether they could make it or not . How about you , Roger ? R . Gleason : I guess I can go if everything holds together . G . Totman : Good . Hicks we are talking about the trip to New York . Can • you make it or not ? H . Dow : Well , - my cow situation in February is quite a problem have quite a number due during the next two weeks and a man who is very inexperienced and I would feel uneasy going away at this time of year , so will say no . G . Totman : Frank ? F . Scheffler : I 'm the same way really . G . Totman : Looks like now we ' ll be expecting a report from Roger . I think Glenn is going and Rankin is going so there ' s no reason why you can ' t ride with them , Roger . R . Gleason : 0 . K. I ' ll get in touch with them . G . Totman : One other thing that I ' ve been meaning to bring up but keep for- getting to bring the bill with me . I sent flowers to George Lane ' s funeral from the Planning Board so would like a contribu- tion from each one of you fellows . The flowers cost $ 12 . 00 and I had our names signed to the card . Everyone gladly contributed their share for the above flowers . R . Cotanch : Did you send a card to Dan? • G . Totman : No , I didn ' t . R . Gleason : Is he sick ? G . Totmanr He had a hernia operation last week . I ' ve been so busy I didn ' t - 4 - r even call him up and I feel very guilty about that . • I$ there anything on the 701 that has come up since our last meeting , Ron ? R . Cotanch : Art , do you want to read this ad ? A . Clark : No , you read it . R . Cotanch : Our 701 is sponsoring a public information meeting on the 16th of February , which is about in 2 weeks time , on a Tuesday night , in the large group instructional room in the Groton High School . Art has consented to write an article in the Journal this week- end which will appear in the Groton paper next week . We have also taken a half a page ad in the Shopper . Discussion was held on this coming meeting by G . Totman , R . Cotanch and others . R . Cotanch : Our ad will say that this is sponsored by the Village and Town Planning Boards as the word 701 means nothing to most people . A . Clark : I just stuck it ( 701 ) in . There are enough people asking questions about what 701 is that I thought we should leave it in . R . Cotanch : That ' s O . K . We are asking each of you specifically to be there . and to get as many people from your area as you can . This will be the only informational meeting from the committee itself that will be held until the presentation of the zoning ordinance which will be in July probably . G . Totman : This will be held before our next Planning Board Meeting , R . Cotanch : We ' ll have meetings Tuesday , Wednesday and Thursday of that week . H . Dow : Would this be of interest to farmers in Groton City ? R . Cotanch : Yes , - I would be most interested if I was from Groton City since the County Planning Director has , in his future plans , Groton City - as an alternate for water basin to supply the county with water . Some discussion followed on this by G . Totman , H . Dows , R . Cotanch and others . H . Dow : Years ago there was a dam in Groton City and if this project was redeveloped again I suppose they would do it north of the old one and would extend up to Route 90 . A . Clark : The whole thing would be within the county . H . Dow : Are they talking about Tompkins County? A . Clark : Yes . H . Dow : Well , - it goes right through our place then . I could tell you exactly where it would end if it doesn ' t involve Cayuga County . More discussion was held. on the location by F . Scheffler , R . Gleason , H . Dows , Art Clark and others . GNP 5 - G . Totman : That points up the reason why the people of Groton City should be • interested in this planning process . Ron , has Frank Li.gouri - has he been Lnvited to come to this meeting ? R . Cotanch : I haven ' t invited him , - no . G . Totman ,* Do you think it would be feasible ? R . Cotanch : Sure . I think our Friday meeting might come up with a list of people we should invite . G . Totman : In preparing the people for this meeting , - I mean sort of selling our program to the people to get them to come to the meeting there is going to be a program on WHCU - - what ' s the name of it ? - - where they inverview people and ask questions and you give answers to their questions ? A . Clark : It ' s at 4 * 30 in the afternoon . G . Totman : Anyway it ' s that program - I have his name written down at the shop that does the talking , - - interviewing . He meets with the representatives that are going to be there and they tape a program which he is going to do for us and , if I understand it now , the questions are gone over ahead of time . He asks them and • we answer them to give the people an idea of what is going on in the Town of Groton . It will supposedly be on the air Thursday or Friday night of next week so we are doing everything we can to get people interested . The point I 'm trying to make is that we are making every effort we can to get the people of Groton to be aware of what is going on and to come to the meeting . Further discussion was held on this subject by R . Gleason , G . Totman , A . Clark . Roger Gleason also mentioned that he had heard part of a talk on trailers on that program and wondered whether or not he could get a written summary of it as it was quite interesting . Mr . Totman said he would ask the interviewer if we could get one . G . Totman : Does anyone have anything that they feel should be brought before this meeting under new or old business ? H . Dow : Only to inform the fellows who weren ' t here in the beginning about Mrs . Zana Kane . She has joined our Planning Board and will be here for the next meeting . Mr . Totman gave Mr . Hicks Dow copies of the Minutes of the Planning Board meetings from October 7 , 1970 to the present time for him to give to Mrs . Kane so she could read them over and acquaint herself better with the activities of the Planning Board and what they have done up until now . G . Totman : Anybody else ? Ron ? R . Cotanch ; Not anything in particular . We were talking previously about trailers and Roger brought up about Mrs . Blanchard on Housing and the 701 study . It was my impression that she would be making definite proposals to us on methods of financing not only Senior tizens ' housing but whatever she felt we might need in the low - 6 - 4 income and so on and probably give us - - I 'm sure we could get a list of Federal agencies from her - - anyhow this is one of the things that could come out of the 701 project - - the avail- ability of Federal funding for houses through maybe a local agency set up for this purpose - - private or public . G . Totman : Frank ? F . Scheffler : I don ' t know - - you talk about getting people interested in it . . shouldn ' t the local bank be in on some of this ? Maybe they would help you with a little interest of some sort . R . Cotanch : I think that if a trailer park was to be built in the Town of Groton that with the present makeup of the Bank , - - I don ' t see any problem financing for a qualified corporation . G . Totman : Frank , you were suggesting that maybe a representative of the Bank might be invited to come to one of these meetings ? F . Scheffler : Yes , along with your School Board members . R . Gleason : The Groton Savings and Loan , too . F . Scheffler : Yes , - maybe you could get them interested enough that they could help you out not only on trailers but homes of some sort too . • More discussion was held on this by R . Gleason , F . Scheffler and others . G . Totman : At our last meeting we saw a ne..d for this type of meeting and being that the fellow that Dan appointed didn ' t do a very good job and get many people out we should try again and arrange another meeting so - - Ron - - do you think you could get another meeting arranged ? R . Cotanch : Sure . 0 . K . The week of the 8th is out and the week of the 15th is out also . G . Totman : The 16th is the information meeting , the 17th is our regular Planning Board meeting and the 18th is the regular 701 meeting . R . Cotanch ; 0 . K . So the 23rd would be the first night as far as I ' m concerned that would be free - - unless you meet this Friday and that ' s kind of close . G . Totman : I think it should wait a week if you plan on holding it in some- body ' s home . R . Cotanch : I can hold it at my house but Friday night is not a good night to meet . G . Totman : You ' re talking about the 22nd or so of February ? R . Cotanch : I think the 23rd would be a good night to meet . H . Dow ; I ' ll try and get 5- 6 people from the Groton City to the meeting the 16th . R . Cotanch : 0 . K . , - - you said to invite some representatives from the Bank . - 7 - r More discussion was held on this and who should be invited . It was decided to ask the President of the Bank to send a representative . It was also decided to ask Glenn Munson and to have him get as many of his Board that could attend also . Bert Huston is also interested and quite concerned about the influx of trailers in - the Town and it was suggested that he be invited also . R . Cotanch : O . K . , - - the Town Board , School Board , Banks , Planning Board - - R . Gleason : The Fire Department ? Maybe they would have a point to make . G . Totman : 0 . K . Is there anything else ? I have nothing more to bring up before the meeting . We still have 45 minutes if we want to take all of our time . If you haven ' t anything else for all practical purposes I ' ll entertain a motion to adjourn . H . Dow so moved and R . Cotanch seconded this motion - - motion carried . The meeting adjourned at 9 * 15 P . M . Res ectfully submitted , Jos phine Bell - 8 -