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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1971-07-21 GROTON TOWN PLANNING BOARD MEETING • July 21 , 1971 8 : 10 P . M . - 9 * 30 P . M . PRESENT : H . Dow - Chairman G . Totman R . Gleason F . Scheffler R . Cotanch Z . Kane Others - A . Clark - Ithaca Journal The meeting was called to order by Mr . Dow and copies of the Minutes of the last meeting were passed out to those present to read . Mr . Cotanch moved that the minutes be approved as written and Mr . Gleason seconded the motion . H . Dow : If there are no objections , the minutes of the last meeting are approved as written . Tonight we have two objectives - - one is to discuss the outcome of our meeting two weeks ago with the • Town Board and , secondly , we want to nominate someone to fill the vacancy created by Dan Carey ' s resignation to this Planning Board . Well , we had a very cordial visit with the Town Board members . We arrived a few minutes after they had started their meeting . This was Frank Scheffler and I , - - and so in opening up when they gave us the floor I suggested that our reason for coming was to simply find out from them what it was that they felt the Planning Board should do in cooperation with them . In other words , what they considered the purpose of the Planning Board to be and if there was any lack of com- munication or cooperation what it was that they assigned the reason to be . They were very frank and honest , - - I guess every one of the members spoke and we came away pretty well satisfied that we had reached an understanding . Well , first of all , they gave us their version of the reason for the original establishment of this Board and they said that this Board had to be established to pre cede the formation of the 701 Committee because by establish - ing this Board first they satisfied a Federal requirement before the money could be granted for the study . So that ' • was something that accounted for their interest in the be - ginning in having a Planning Board back when Claude Holden - 1 - e was instrumental in introducing the idea and then we got to • the function of the Planning Board in relation to them and it was agreed that the Planning Board had to act as an arm of the Town Board , - - an auxiliary to the Town Board , - - and then I ventured to ask , since I didn ' t know and hadn ' t been associated with it at all , - - I asked if someone in their group could point to a time when they thought there was a cleavage between the two Boards , or a lack of under - standing , and why it grew so - - they seemed to be unanimous in stating that the possible break and the feeling of mis - understanding came with this Snowmobile ruling . The members of the Town Board felt that when the snowmobile problem was publicized and when the rules governing snowmobiles were given out that the Planning Board at that time took it upon them- selves to do all this without the knowledge and consent of the Town Board . Well , of course , that was entirely something I had never known about and I am stating their position on this thing now and so they felt that right across the Board , - - the Town Board people felt that this seemed to demonstrate a tendency on the part of the Planning Board to take authority they didn ' t rightly have and they resented it . Now whether all the other problems grew out of that or not , I don ' t know but that was the one they pointed to as being para - mount in the beginning of this trouble . Well , then I don ' t know who did the asking at this point , Frank or I . but we both put questions to them and one of us suggested that it was • impatience on the part of the Planning Board because the Plann - ing Board felt that the Town Board had been very slow and in- effective in dealing with this junkyard ordinance . Well , Glenn Munson , and in fact the others , all agreed on this that at the time of the junkyard ordinance and the time when it should have been enforced there were severe problems that caused them to delay action . One was the death of Myer Karp and the need to replace him with another attorney and about that same time there was a change of supervisors which caused a dislocation and then the new attorney on the job , Ben Bucko , came on the scene about that time and it took time to get him oriented so those were the reasons why they delayed taking any particular action on the junkyard ordinance . They felt that the Planning Board might not have understood that or given any thought to it . Here ' s Frank right now . Frank , - - I ' m quoting you . F . Scheffler : Me ? H . Dow : I was just telling everybody about our experiences with the Town Board . So that is where we spent the first few minutes on these points right here . Now , is there anyone on our Board who wants to comment as to your reactions regarding their position ? • G . Totman : I realize the intent of what we are doing is to cement our relationship with the Town Board but , in all sincerity , if we want to be honest with ourselves , I think we should accept that and go forward together . But what I was going to say on the junkyard ordinance , I think it ' s really kind - 2 - of childish to lay the blame of three years ' inactivity to • the fact that Myer Karp died . In the first place Myer Karp was dead before they drew up the ordinance . When they drew up the ordinance , Mr . Williamson was the Acting Town Attor - ney and from that point on they could have enforced it . Granting Ben laid on this thing for a couple of years but to me you really can ' t blame it on Ben because if they were in - terested in enforcing it they could have made Ben take it off his table . H . Dow : Well , - - when we get all said and done , probably there ' s a reason on both sides for criticism . F . Scheffler : You might say , too , as far as this snowmobile goes , we were well into the winter before we took any action on it . More discussion was held on the snowmobile question by all present . H . Dow : Letts assume that there could be other situations like this . What recommendation would you folks make in terms of avoid - ing a thing like this ? Human nature is what it is and their Board makeup is what it is and so is ours . What procedure could be followed to have better communication? R . Cotanch : They haven ' t allowed us to act as their arm , as yet , and be - cause of this , we have gone off on our own and gotten into • trouble now and then . Now the Village Board and the Planning Board get along very well together even though they do have different viewpoints on some subjects . H . Dow : Well , - - I think all this is good and I think it ' s cleared a lot of air . R . Gleason : I was thinking one place where we could have avoided some of this is perhaps - - we talked about snowmobile possibilities and I assume that perhaps they read it in the paper before they got it from us and it ' s possible that there ' s where the error was . H . Dow : Once again , - - it ' s a case of lack of good rapport . But I just thought , Frank , the other night , at this stage where we had gotten through this snowmobile phase of the discussion that , generally speaking , there is no reason to think the Town Board harbors any grudge any more and I think they are ready to work and to communicate , - - in fact that ' s why , at this point , I wrote down what they said . They said at the end of this junkyard discussion , both groups should exercise more patience and with the passing of time things would work in harmony and I think they all felt the same way . It was their suggestion to exercise more patience and we will get along , because once before , in the discussion leading up to the word patience as I remember it Frank someone said we just • can ' t work too darned fast . We have to take our time and put the pieces in place as they develop . . . . that is the theory that governs their actions . - 3 - H . Dow : Well , - - that ' s their thinking and to implement that idea it was suggested that both Boards should act in accord with • the other ' s knowledge and understanding , which gets right back to the newspaper report on the snowmobiles , I suppose . That , of course , is a two -way street and the Planning Board can ' t do it alone . Now , then , this last point that I wrote down Frank , and per - haps you will want to add to it , - - they suggested that there should be a revival of efforts to resolve the mobile home problem . Now I ' m not just sure where this revival of effort should take place but they felt that it ' s the one big problem that faces both Boards at this time . Z . Kane : We were all ready to forget it for awhile and now they want it brought up again ! H . Dow : They feel we should revive our efforts to resolve the mobile home problem . R . Cotanch : Isn ' t that contradicto ry after they just brought up a mobile home amendment and 5 - 0 dispensed with it ? What is their thinking ? Do they want something coming from the Planning Board now , or what ? H . Dow : Your ' re speaking of that meeting - - • G . Totman : Their regular monthly meeting after their public hearing . I think that what happened , Hicks , - I think most of the members of the Board that I have talked to anyways agreed before that public meeting that something should be done but after what happened at the public meeting and the lashing they took because of the poor presentation and because of the way Ben presented the amendment and the way the people there reacted , they weren ' t prepared for that . Some discussion was held on this by G . Totman , Z . Kane and others . G . Totman : I would like to suggest that the Town Board at their next meeting , if they want to discuss the mobile home problem , charge the Planning Board to come up with a suggested solution to the problem . H . Dow : I think that ' s a good suggestion for the reason that it puts it in its proper perspective . R . Gleason : There ' s one question in my mind and that is , aren ' t we going to solve this problem through the 701 Committee ? G . Totman : I know what you ' re going to say , and I agree with you 100% , but I feel let us get all the credit we can get for what we have done with this thing and have them ask us to work on a • solution and it will come when they accept this thing . - 4 - (Mr . Cotanch passed out copies of the proposed technical • (basis for Land Use Control Ordinance for the Town of (Groton to all the Planning Board Members to study and ( comment on . Mr . Dow suggested that everyone make this ( their homework and read the 50 - some page report carefully (before the next Planning Board meeting , which will be (August 18th , and be prepared to discuss it and make re - commendations then . ) Some discussion was held by R . Gleason , H . Dow and others regarding low income housing and housing for the elderly and what would be the best type of hous - ing for Groton ' s purposes . H . Dow : One other matter of business this evening is to submit to the Town Board the names of candidates for the vacancy created by Dan ' s resignation and I was asked by Glenn to give them this list so that they can take action and appoint someone from the list to fill this vagrancy on our Planning Board . Does anyone have a person in mind ? R . Cotanch : i I thought we were all supposed to find one so there would be six names to submit . Is this to fill the unexpired term? H . Dow : This would be to fill Mr . Carey ' s unexpired term and , as of now , I don ' t know what period that would cover but Mr . • Totman will check this out and tell us before the person chosen is notified . G . Totman : I have a name I would like to present . H . Dow : Alright , G . Totman : Mr . John McMullen . H . Dow : He ' s from McLean , isn ' t he ? G . Totman. : Yes . He ' s a retired man and the only reason I ' m proposing him is that he lives in a trailer and I feel that he is intelligent enough to qualify to serve on the Planning Board and I feel someone from the trailer community should be on the Board . He lives on the Cortland-McLean Road , R . Cotanch : I nominate Ed McLaughlin , who ' s a Town resident , and owns a business on Main Street in the Village . H . Dow : Roger Gleason and Frank Scheffler have no nominations . How about you , Zana ? Z . Kane : I nominate Donald Payne , who lives on the corner of Champlin Road and Route 222 , H . Dow : Are there any further nominations ? Then , - - we will submit - 5 - three names to the Town Board by telephone in the morning . They shall be - J . McMullen , Ed McLaughlin and Donald Payne . If there ' s nothing else to come before this meeting , I ' ll entertain a motion to close . George , - - do you have anything to bring up ? G . Totman : No , - - I make the motion that we adjourn . R . Cotanch : I ' ll second the motion . H . Dow : If there are no objections the meeting is adjourned . Thank you for coming everybody . Respectfully submitted , Jo ephine Bell - 6 -