HomeMy WebLinkAbout1971-10-20 . n
• MINUTES OF THE GROTON TOWN PLANNING BOARD
MEETING HELD OCTOBER 20 , 1971 - 8 : 00 P . M . - 9 : 50 P . M .
PRESENT : H . Dow - Chairman
G . Totman
R . Cotanch
Z . Kane
E . McLaughlin
H . Dow : Has everybody read the minutes of our August meeting ?
I ' ll entertain a motion to approve them .
R . Cotanch : So moved .
Z . Kane : I second it .
H . Dow : Then they are approved as written .
H . Dow : The minutes of the joint meeting have been waylaid but I
do want a copy . so we can refer to it as it has carried
us over to where we are now . I was hopeful tonight that
we could just get up to date on what ' s happened since we
met the last time as a Planning Board and we all have
bits of information .
• If I may I might start by saying that for the past two or
three weeks I have been visiting here and there . I have
been talking to citizens who are somewhat disgruntled at
the outcome of the trailer home meeting . I have been down
talking to Tom Niederkorn and also with Ben Bucko , and I
have been talking with some people in our outlying four -
corners : West Groton , McLean , Groton City and Groton .
The Town Board has scheduled some meetings to be held in
each of these four places . The more I think of it this is
a good move that they did schedule 3 public information
meetings and one public hearing .
The first meeting will be in West Groton Community Hall
on Wednesday evening November loth at 8 P . M. The second
meeting will be in Groton City in . the church basement ,
Wednesday evening , November 17th at 8 P . M . The third
meeting will be in McLean - - I ' m assuming , George , that
you will see they can get the Community Hall there for the
meeting Wednesday , November 24th , at 8 P . M .
The fourth meeting , which will be known as the Town Board ' s
public hearing , will be held on a Wednesday night at 8 P . M. ,
December 1st in the large group instruction room at the
• Groton High School ,
Z . Kane : How will the public be notified on these meetings ?
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H . Dow : They are waiting to give Lois ( the Town Clerk) the signal
• and when that happens she will write it up for the Press and
it will be coming out in the Ithaca Journal and Shopper prior
to the meetings . Will probably show all of them the first
time with possible reminders for each one later on .
E . McLaughlin : So the Village will be left out ?
H . Dow : No , the Village will be in the large group instruction room
at the High School .
Sometime before the Town Board takes final action to adopt the
ordinance , it has to appoint a Board of Appeals on the same
night that it adopts the ordinance - - as I was saying to Ron
Cotanch recently , it seems to me it would be a fine thing to
have a member of the Town Planning Board right here to act as
a member of the Board of Appeals . For two reasons really , - -
first George and Ron have had background that extends back
over two years on this thing and , secondly , we need one of
them to bridge the gap between the Town Board and this Town
Planning Board for liaison purposes .
Our attorney is writing it up , as of now , I hope , - - the guide
to this Article I and the purpose in Article II and he is also
writing the penalties called for in one section of this ordinance
release . Now then , here is a hazy area at this point . I ' m
confused because I don ' t know whose advice is best to use and
• that is why I want you folks to pass on this thing and see what
you think .
The revised copies of the Land Use Control Ordinance incorporate
the thinking of the Planning Board , the Town Board , the project
coordinator , Tom Niederkorn , and the Town Attorney , Ben Bucko ,
and it has been agreed that the copy in its present form is ready
for publication with the changes as they appear on pages 4 , 9 , 12 ,
16 , 19 , 23 , 40 and 54 ,
The proposed public meeting dealing with the Senior Citizen ' s
housing complex to be held on Sunday , November 7 , 4 P . M . at
the High School is to be attended by two members of each
organization in the Town . George Totman and Hicks Dow have
volunteered to represent the Groton Town Planning Board .
( Some discussion was held by all present on the meetings to be
held in November and December . )
H . Dow : Ron , - - speaking of the development of this zoning project .
Where would you say it had its origin ?
R . Cotanch : The origin came from Claude Holden some three years ago when
he saw the need for a master plan for the Town of Groton and
through the Town Board appointing a Planning Board with the
• expressed original purpose of developing a master plan for
the Town of Groton and , from this master plan , the zoning
ordinance would be put forth .
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H . Dow : George , - - as I remember , you were in the initial group to
study this ordinance . Could you add anything to what Ron
• has said ?
G . Totman : I really think Ron has covered the question very well . I
think it was good that he mentioned Claude Holden because
it was Claude ' s original idea and it wasn ' t the rest of the
Board so much , as I recall . Claude brought it up and he
attended the majority of all our meetings while he was in
office as Supervisor of the Town of Groton . I think , also ,
it should be mentioned that we had full cooperation between
the Village Board and the Town Board in the first stages of
determining the need and in the general writing of the scope of
services for the Village and the Town so they were relating
to each other . It had to be in order to have it work .
The Town Supervisor had in mind that he wanted a comprehensive
study for the Town and a Planning Board had to be appointed in
order to get Federal funds to support such a project . This
project could have been handled by the Town alone , without
going through the 701 project but byrdoing so the Town would
have had to cover the:zentire cost . By electing to go the
route of the 701 , the Town only pays one - sixth of the cost .
H . Dow : Thank you , George .
G . Totman : As I understand it , at these public information meetings that
• the Town Board is going to hold in the outlying areas of the
Town plus one in the Village , they are going to call upon you ,
as the chairman of the Planning Board , to relate to the people ,
- and be M . C . of the meeting , - - the various functions of
the Planning Board and how and why this came into being . Now
Of you are going to do that , I think that you should at that
point state very clearly that the Town Board at some date back
when decided that there was this type of need for the Town of
Groton and , at that time , they appointed a Planning Board and
that through the direction of the Supervisor there were feelers
put out to get additional funds to make this type of a plan and
from that there was a 701 study committee appointed which con -
sisted of two members from the Town Board , 2 members from the
Town Planning Board and 2 members from the Village Planning
Board and through their joint meetings together and with both
corresponding boards . This plan was presented back to each
Board for study and then , after the Planning Board agreed and
came to an understanding , it was presented to the Town Board
whose final approval was necessary . Relating to the special
joint meeting held earlier this is the Town Board ' s version
of how it should be presented to the public .
(A lengthy discussion followed on how best to present the Land
Use Ordinance at the public information meetings so that people
without any background on this would understand and be able to
ask the questions they really want answers to . )
• H . Dow : What do you folks think about taking a recess until all the
rest of these meetings come into focus ?
R . Cotanch : When is the meeting in the High School ?
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