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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1973-05-09 GROTON TOWN PLANNING BOARD MEETING Held at the Town Hall Groton , N . Y . Wednesday , May 9 , 1973 D . Payne on Chairman* G . Totman - Vice -Chairman* Z . Kane on Secretary* R . Cotanch D . Chase* R . Gleason* F . Scheffler* J . Bell* - Denotes those present . Mr . Payne called the meeting to order at 8 : 15 P . M . He then passed out copies of the minutes of the April 18 , 1973 meeting to all present . Z . Kane made a motion that the minutes be approved , as written , (with one correction on on page 4 " appear " to be changed to "appeal " ) . The motion was seconded by F . Scheffler and carried . D . Payne : We have a couple of things tonight , - - one of them is the meeting scheduled for the 16th of May concerning cluster housing . Mr . Egner is going to be here to speak on this subject and the meeting is scheduled for 8 P . M . I spoke to Ron Cotanch tonight and one of the things he would like is , - -Frank you mentioned you were going to get some films from Cornell concerning cluster housing . F . Scheffler : No . D . Payne : You said you could . F . Scheffler : Yes but I turned the information over to Ron because he was on the committee . Z . Kane : Last night he asked me to ask you to get it . I think he told Don to ask you too . D . Payne : Yes , - -he told me he would like you to get the films . F . Scheffler : Alright . I gave him all the information - had a list of 3 films , didn ' t know what was in them but there was one he said on cluster housing and the others were related to it he thought . I don ' t know what they would be . Z . Kane : There was one "No time for ugliness " - - if you could get it . If not it will be alright . F . Scheffler : I don ' t know if I have any information , - - I gave it all to Ron . - 1 - Z . Kane : Well call him and he ' ll give it to you . He seemed to think you had the contacts to get the film . F . Scheffler : That ' s this coming Wednesday night ? D . Payne : Right , at 8 P . M . here . We also need to know if this will be a sound movie . I assume it will be , and also need to know what m . m . 16 or 8 and let Zana know ahead of time so she can arrange to get a projector . Z . Kane : Oh ? - - Alright . More discussion was held on this subject by F . Scheffler , D . Payne and others . D . Payne : Now we have to arrange for advertising this . George , you ' re probably more familiar with that angle than the rest of us . G . Totman : What do you want to do ? D . Payne : Let the people in the Town of Groton know we are holding this meeting and that it is open to the public . Mr . Totman agreed to take care of the advertising for this meeting on cluster housing . D . Payne : Hicks Dow contacted me and advised me that we have a request for a subdivision . This is being placed by Erma Lyons and is located on the Sovocool Hill Road . This is up past the other area we worked at and is on the opposite side of the road . It ' s just a small tract . She owns an area that she wants to split into two lots and put two houses on it . F . Scheffler : Was that Harry Strong ' s farm? D . Payne : I don ' t know whose farm it was . It ' s this side of the four corners on the opposite side of the road . They have just started to put a foundation in it . F . Scheffler : Don ' t know whose land that could have been unless it was Smith ' s . G . Totman : She ' s applying for a subdivision and is going to put in two houses , - aright ? D . Payne : Do you know where that is now , Frank? F . Scheffler : No . G . Totman : There ' s the rest of her application . D . Payne : Here are the plans for the house itself . I don ' t think anybody would be interested in that , do you George ? Z . Kane looked over the house plans . D . Payne : Now we have got to determine tonight - - I don ' t think there ' s 2 - D . Payne : any question but what this will be a minor subdivision because there are only two lots involved . We have to decide is she complying with all the regulations or not . No . 1 there ' s al - ready a foundation started and on page 6 of the Subdivision Regulations , Article III - - "whenever any subdivision of land is proposed to be made . . . . in accordance with the following procedures . . . . . " Z . Kane : Has she already obtained a building permit ? D . Payne : Yes , the permit was issued . Z . Kane : The permit was issued to build one house , - - right ? More discussion was held on this by all present . D . Payne : Did all of you see the sketch plan ? The only thing I can see that is missing from�the sketch plan are the names of the owners of the adjacent properties . G . Totman : The thing that I see that we do here , Don , is we check to see if it falls within the policy we set forth in the subr; division regulations and does it comply with the surrounding land and land uses and is the square footage sufficient and , if we decide all that is within reason , then we have to call a public hearing . Z . Kane : Is this enough frontage ? D . Payne : I think she is required to have 150 ft . More discussion was held on this by G . Totman , Z . Kane , F . Scheffler and others . F . Scheffler : Is she building the houses ? D . Payne : I understand that she is building the houses . She has one house under construction already but has been stopped after she found out about the ordinance . Z . Kane : Her Board of Health approval is out of our jurisdiction , - - we have to have that before we can approve it , don ' t we ? D . Payne : We determine now whether it is a major or minor subdivision and whether it should go any further . Z . Kane : How can we decide unless we know what kind of land it is ? D . Payne : George and I went out and looked at it . The frontage is short by 11 . 4 ft . on each parcel but the length of it is much more than required and I don ' t see any reason why the Board of Health wouldn ' t approve it . G . Totman : If we approve it , then I think , in making the recommendation for the approval , for a matter or record in case somebody - 3 - G . Totman : comes back and says anything , we should stipulate why we are doing it . Page 33 and 34 Don deal with minor sub - divisions , - - requirements and things like that . I think we should all read that first . D . Payne : Right . G . Totman : Maybe if you ' d like to know more details she might come down tonight if you phone her . Z . Kane : I was just wondering about that , - -why she wasn ' t here , - - it ' s very difficult to know what she plans to do with just these papers , I think . Has she seen a copy of these regulations ? G . Totman : Yes , I told her to come pick up a copy and she must have when she made the application . Does she show how the drainage is going to be and where the sewage will be ? D . Payne : No . F . Scheffler : The slope is away from the house in the back - - downhill . D . Payne : 0 . K . Now , for a minor subdivision in the regulations on pages 6 and 7 - - bottom of page 6 and over onto page 7 - - " If a sketch plan is . . . . . outlined in Article III , Section 2 . " This is all we are doing now - - classifying the application , - -right ? Am I correct ? O . K. After the classification they have 6 months - - G . Totman : She doesn ' t want that , - - she wants to get started right away . D . Payne : This is true but all we are doing is classifying it now, G . Totman : If we approve this , then we say O . K . we approve your sketch plan and now you make your formal application with the number of copies required and so on„ and after you make the formal application to us we call a public hearing . D . Payne : We should make suggestions now from what we know . R . Gleason : I ' m sorry I ' m late , - -had some plowing to do . D . Payne : To bring you up to date , we are right now working on an application for a minor subdivision sent to us by Erma Lyons - - the location is up on the Sovocool Hill Road , - - past the other location we were involved with before and on the opposite side of the road . D . Payne : What do all of you feel about this application ? G . Totman : I move we accept it as a minor subdivision and ask her to submit a formal application and while doing so she should show us where she is going to put the sewage in in order - 4 - G . Totman : for us to approve it in lieu of the shortage of 11 . 4 feet per parcel . D . Payne : Would anyone like to second the motion George made ? F . Scheffler : Yes , I ' ll second it but should ask for both sewage and water instead of just sewage . The motion was carried . D . Payne : Is there anything else should be added to that ? Z . Kane : Should we mention the Board of Health approval ? G . Totman : According to my limited knowledge of what we are doing , - - you are the clerk of the planning board so you will be the one to write the letter to tell her these things and be sure and include in the letter that we have to have assur - ance of the Board of Health approval . D . Payne : Maybe we should put in the letter that she should be familiar with the subdivision regulations concerning minor subdivisions . Is everyone in agreement with what ' s been said so far concern_ ing this application for a minor subdivision ? D . Chase : There ' s something I wanted to ask , - - are we supposed to notify the neighbors or something ? G . Totman : Yes , when we hold the public hearing the adjacent owners have to be notified and other neighbors so they can attend and we can hear their views on this . That ' s a State law . Z . Kane : Another thing too , she should give us the names of the adjoin - ing property owners . D . Payne : That ' s right . Z . Kane : I ' ll put that in the letter , too . D . Payne : We had one other thing that came 4.1p that has since been dropped but it was concerning the possibility of a trailer park in Peruville . Now there was some discussion concerning this and apparently the fellow was issued a permit to do it , - - an oversight . No . 1 he didn ' t have anywheres near enough land to do it and No . 2 Peruville is in the low intensity area in which trailer parks are not allowed . D . Chase : Excuse me , Don , what is low intensity ? Z . Kane : It ' s defined in the Zoning Ordinance , Don . There are certain things not allowed in certain areas . Mr . Totman and others discussed the meaning of low intensity with Mr . Chase . - 5 - D . Payne : Well , - - for any of you that have copies of the zoning ordinance - on page 12 , at the bottom of the page , Item 601 . 14 cover - ing mobile home parks , - - it ' s listed that mobile home parks are acceptable in agricultural , low and medium intensity areas and this should be corrected to read only in agricultural areas , with special permit , and they are not allowed in low and medium intensity areas at all . Some discussion was held on this by Z . Kane , G . Totman , D . Payne and others . D . Payne : There has since been an understanding between the gentleman involved and the Town that he can ' t put in a trailer park because it ' s a low intensity area . He also found out tonight that he has approval to put in a single trailer , and he intends to rent that . It ' s apparently causing quite a bit of static among the neighbors who own adjacent properties . They aren ' t happy at all with the situation and don ' t feel he has the frontage or total land area to be acceptable for a single unit dwelling . But , apparently we aren ' t going to be involved in it since the trailer park is out . George and I attended the Town Board meeting on Monday night for the public hearing on the changes in the Subdivision Regulations required by the State . There were no objections and it was passed unanimously . After the Town Board meeting was over with , I made a suggestion to the Town Board that the Planning Board be allowed to take another look at the trailer ordinance . They did agree , with some reservations , that we could compare it with other towns in the area to see if we are in line with their ordinances . If we find that we need changes , we should draw them up and present them to the Town Board for their approval or rejection . So we have something to work on . George has told me he would get a copy of Dryden ' s mobile home regulations and I am going to contact a Cortland County planner and see what he has that he could give us . Some discussion was held on this by G . Totman , D. Payne and others . D . Payne : Would anyone like to make a motion that the meeting be adjourned ? G . Totman : One minute , - -are you going to start working on this thing here at the next meeting ? D . Payne : Yes . G . Totman : In the meantime you will meet with Erma and let - us know when the public hearing is . She has to submit her plans before the public hearing . The point is she will put the pressure on you . D . Payne : Maybe we could set a date right now . She wants to build them this summer and sell them . - 6 - R . Gleason : She doesn ' t want it dragged out . Some discussion was held on this by R . Gleason , G . Totman , D . Payne and others but no firm date was set . G . Totman : I move the meeting be adjourned . Z . Kane : I second the motion . Motion carried and the meeting adjourned at 9 * 55 P . M. Re pectfully submitted , Jo phine Bell - 7 -