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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLL 1 2020 Training for PB-ZBA members (amending 3 of 2010) TOWN OF LANSING, TOMPKINS COUNTY, NEW YORK LOCAL LAW NUMBER 1 OF 2020 A LOCAL LAW PERTAINING TO THE APPOINTMENT AND USE OF ALTERNATE MEMBERS BY THE PLANNING BOARD AND ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS, TO AUTHORIZE THE ADOPTION AND APPROVAL OF OPERATING PROCEDURES, AND TO ADD TRAINING REQUIREMENTS AND RULES FOR MEMBERS AND ALTERNATES BE IT ENACTED by the Town Board of the Town of Lansing as follows: SECTION 1 – AUTHORITY, REPEALER & SUPERSESSION: This local law is enacted pursuant to the authority and power granted to the Town of Lansing under and pursuant to §§ 267(11) and 271(15) of the Town Law, § 10 of the Statute of Local Governments, § 10 of the Municipal Home Rule Law, and the New York State Constitution, at Article IX. This local law supersedes any prior Town of Lansing policies, local laws, ordinances, or rules that are inconsistent herewith, and it expressly supersedes and replaces Local Law #3 of 2010. To the extent inconsistent therewith, Town Law §§ 271 and 267 are also superseded to the extent this local law pertains to the appointment, terms, functions, and powers of such Alternate Members. SECTION 2 - PURPOSES: It is sometimes difficult to maintain a quorum on the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals because members are ill or upon extended vacation, or find they have a recusal concern or conflict of interest in relation to a specific applicant or matter before such board. In such instances, full participation by a full board is impeded and sometimes official business cannot be conducted, thereby causing procedural and other problems, including adherence to required timelines. The use of alternate members in such instances is hereby authorized pursuant to the provisions of this local law, and alternate members be and hereby are authorized to act whenever a regular member of the board to which they are appointed is absent or unable to participate on an application or matter before the respective board, whether due to a conflict of interest, need for recusal, or other cause. SECTION 3 - TERM, APPOINTMENT, AND RE-APPOINTMENT: Alternate members of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals shall be appointed by the Town Board for a term of one year. Prior to appointment, the Town Board shall refer the name of the proposed alternate member, together with any application materials provided by such candidate alternate member, to the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals, respectively, for review and comment. No alternate member may be appointed to the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals for more than 7 terms. SECTION 4 - DESIGNATION PROCEDURE FOR ALTERNATE MEMBERS: The Chairperson of the Planning Board or the Chairperson of the Zoning Board of Appeals may designate an alternate member to substitute for a member when such member is unable to participate upon an application or matter before such board. When so designated, the alternate member shall possess all the powers and responsibilities of such member of the board. Such designation shall be entered into minutes of the meeting at which the substitution is made. SECTION 5 - MEMBER AND ALTERNATE MEMBER TRAINING REQUIREMENTS AND RELATED RULES: All provisions of law relating to Planning Board or Zoning Board of Appeals member eligibility, vacancies in office, removal, compatibility of offices and service on other boards, as well as any provisions of any law or procedure relating to training, continuing education, compensation, and attendance, shall also apply to alternate members. As to all members and alternate members, the following rules apply and the following annual training requirements shall be completed to maintain eligibility for the holding of, and eligibility for re-appointment to, each respective office, whether as member or alternate member: A. Each member of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, and all alternate members, shall complete a minimum of hours of subject matter training each year, such training to principally address land use reviews, process, and procedures. Training received by any person in excess of the number of required hours in any one year may be carried over by the member into the next succeeding year in order to meet that year’s requirements, but excess training hours may not be carried over to or on account for a second successive year. Such training shall be approved as set forth herein, but need not be limited to, training provided by a municipality, a regional or county planning office or commission, a state or county planning federation, state agency, statewide municipal association, college or other similar entity. Training may be provided in a variety of formats, including but not limited to, electronic media, video, distance learning, and traditional classroom training. B. In addition, each member of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, and all alternate members, shall complete a required number of hours of classroom training in conducting effective public meetings and communications and management of high stress environments. Excess training hours for this subject matter may not be carried over from year-to-year, and all such training shall be at sessions scheduled or approved by the Town Board or the Director of Planning. C. The Town Board may periodically set the required number of hours of training by resolution, and may amend such number from time-to-time. For the purposes of this Local Law the initial required hours are established as follows; (i) four hours for land use practice and general training per § 5(A); and (ii) t wo hours for public meeting and communications training per § 5(B). D. The training required by this § 5 may be waived or modified by resolution of the Town Board when, in the judgment of the Town Board, it is in the best interest of the Town to do so. Waivers may not be granted upon any individualized basis but, for example, may be issued to an entire board due to having obtained the training in a manner or location that meets these requirements, but for not having been pre -approved by the Town Board or Director of Planning (e.g., dispute resolution training session at NYS Planning Federation Annual Meeting). E. No decision of any board shall be voidable, voided, invalid, or declared invalid because of a failure of any one or more members or alternate members to have completed required training. F. The following list of agencies, commissions, associations, universities, and other organizations are approved to provide training to meet the training requirements when the training they provide pertains to municipal planning, zoning, community design, environmental issues, economic development, and local government functions and practices: 1. The NYS Department of State; the Department of Agriculture and Markets; the Office of the State Comptroller; the Department of Health; the Department of Transportation; the Department of Environmental Conservation; the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation; the Department of State and the Attorney General’s Office, Homes and Community Renewal, Empire State Development, the Energy Research and Development Agency, the Committee on Open Government, and the Hudson River Valley Greenway. 2. The New York State Association of Towns, the New York Conference of Mayors, the New York State Association of Counties, the New York Planning Federation, the American Planning Association, the Upstate New York Chapter of the American Planning Association and it sections, and the Metro New York Chapter of the American Planning Association and its sections, American Farmland Trust, the New York Farm Bureau, and any County or local Soil and Water Conservation District, and the various agencies and county-affiliated corporations comprising the Cornell Cooperative Extension network. 3. The Capital District Regional Planning Commission, Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board, Herkimer-Oneida Counties Comprehensive Planning Program, Lake Champlain- Lake George Regional Planning Board, Long Island Regional Planning Board, Southern Tier Central Regional Planning and Development Board, Southern Tier 8 Regional Board, Southern Tier West Regional Planning and Development Board, Genesee-Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council, Hudson Valley Regional Council, Tug Hill Commission, the Adirondack Park Agency, the Lake George Park Commission, the Tompkins County Department of Planning and Sustainability. 4. The Albany Law School Governmental Law Center and Institute for Legal Studies, Pace Law School, Cornell University, and on-line planning and zoning training programs offered by the New York Municipal Insurance Reciprocal, Pace University and Land Use Law Center, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse University Environmental Finance Center, and the Lincoln Institute of Land Use Policy. 5. Any other program, offering, or training which, in the discretion of the Director of Planning decided upon a case-by-case basis, meets the training purposes and requirements of law and this local law, or any program or source of training approved by resolution of the Town Board or by formal adoption of an amendment to the list of approved sources as set forth herein. SECTION 6 - PLANNING BOARD RULES AND REGULATIONS: Consistent with Town Law § 271(13), the Planning Board may hereafter and from time-to-time recommend to the Town Board proposed procedural and allowable substantive rules and regulations relating to matters over which the Planning Board has jurisdiction. Such rules and regulations shall become effective upon approval thereof by the Town Board, either as written or as amended by the Town Board, which in all cases shall endeavor to approve, with or without modifications, or disapprove of the same within 90 days of referral by the Planning Board. SECTION 7 - PLANNING BOARD AND ZBA CHAIRPERSON DESIGNATIONS: The Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals shall hereafter select from among their own members (but not from among any alternate members) their own chairpersons and vice chairpersons. On or before the date of the annual organizational meeting, the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals shall notify the Town Board as to the identity of their designated respective chairpersons and vice chairpersons. In the event the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals fail to annually designate a chairperson or vice chairperson, the Town Board shall make such appointments. SECTION 8 - SAVINGS: If any part or provision of this local law or the application hereof to any person or circumstances is adjudged invalid by any court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction, such judgment or determination shall be confined in its operation to the part or provision, parties, and circumstances involved in the controversy in which said judgment or determination shall have been rendered, and such determination or holding shall not affect or impair the validity of the remainder of this Local Law or the application hereof to other persons or circumstances. The Town Board declares that it would have adopted this Local Law, or the remainder hereof, had such invalid application or invalid provision been apparent. SECTION 9 - EFFECTIVE DATE: This local law shall take effect immediately.