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Home My WebLink About06-08-20 APPROVED PLANNING BOARD MINUTES APPROVED 1 Town of Lansing 2 PLANNING BOARD MEETING 3 Monday, June 8, 2020 6:30 PM 4 VIA ZOOM MEETING — LIVE ON YOUTUBE 5 6 Present via Zoom Excused 7 Jerry Caward, Chair Dale Baker, Second Alternate 8 Sandra Dennis Conlon 9 Norman (Lin) Davidson 10 Al Fiorille, Vice-Chair 11 Larry Sharpsteen 12 Dean Shea 13 Deborah Trumbull 14 Thomas Butler, Alternate 15 16 Other Staff Present Via Zoom 17 C.J. Randall, Planning Director 18 Jennifer Sandsted, Code Clerk 19 Guy Krogh, Town Attorney 20 Joseph Wetmore,Town Board 21 Edward LaVigne, Town Supervisor 22 23 Chair, Jerry Caward opened the meeting at 6:32 pm. 24 25 Privilege of the Floor 26 - Three residents joined via Zoom one at a time. 27 - The first resident read an email that was sent to the Planning Board Members prior to 28 the meeting regarding Emmons Road. This will also be presented at the Town Board 29 Meeting on 6/17/2020 (see below) 30 31 To the members of the Lansing Town Board 32 Copies to Lansing Planning Board 33 34 From Carol and John Howell 35 36 As residents of Emmons Road, we are officially asking the Lansing Town Board to 37 change the zoning of Emmons Road from the current RA (rural agricultural) to R3 38 (residential- mixed use). We are asking that this be a Town Board action and that it be 39 done as soon as possible. We request this to coverall parcels on Emmons Road that 40 includes both the north side and south side of the road. 41 Page 1 of 6 APPROVED 42 Over the last year, residents up and down our road have become educated on our 43 town's "Land Use Ordinance". Over the last 3 weeks CJRandal has given us great 44 assistance in presenting the options, explaining some impacts and answering our 45 questions. There is now a strong consensus of Emmons Road to make a zoning change 46 for our entire road. 47 48 There are approximately 19 residences and/or landowners that have parcels on Emmons 49 road. If it would be helpful to the Town Board in this action, we are willing to submit 50 over the next few weeks a petition that documents the local support for the change in 51 zoning. In addition this request would list all the parcels we are asking to be included in 52 this zoning change. 53 54 We will present this email at the June 17 Town Board meeting. We are very willing to 55 submit or speak orally at a later time any additional documentation or argument on why 56 we are making this request. Please let us know what additional information would be 57 helpful. 58 59 Thank you for your assistance and support on this very important change to support our 60 small community. 61 62 John Howell 63 64 - An email from the same resident was emailed after the meeting 6/8/2020 @ 9:22pm 65 (see below) 66 67 This is addressed mostly to all the members of the planning board but also it is important 68 to be clear to the Town Board of what our request is all about. 69 70 My apologies for not being more thorough in my initial email and oral input to the June 6 71 meeting 72 I was mistaken that the board new of our history and our concerns and the specifics of 73 the difference between RA and R3. 74 75 Before I get any farther let me be very clear about 2 items of discussion and confusion I 76 heard in the meeting discussion. 77 This year's action by Emmons rd residents is NOT AT ALL about 59 Emmons/ 78 OSMICA. That is a done deal, we will live with it the best we can. 79 It also does NOT include THE RIDGE TAVERN, that is on Ridge road not Emmons rd 80 Its about the much greater threat to our small cohesive community of all the other 81 possible development issues. 82 83 The following is all inclusive of why we want to go to R3 84 The following is from the Town's LAND USE ORDINANCE 2015 85 ALL of the following uses are allowed in RA and not allowed in R3- ALL of these items 86 listed below are our concerns Page 2 of 6 APPROVED 87 Lets be honest, any of the below items could be done tomorrow right next door to any of 88 us in RA 89 PG 19 90 A-RESIDENTIAL USES 91 12-mobile home park 92 17-mixed residential/commercial 93 PG 21 94 9-Rooming house/tourist home 95 22-motel/hotel 96 23-professional office 97 24- bank 98 PG 22 99 26- retail sales -general 100 27- retail sales- lumber 101 28- retail sales -industry/agricultural equipment/supplies 102 29- retail sales-marine/water-services/storage 103 30- retail sales-mobile home/rv/snowmobile 104 31- restaurant/tavern 105 32- banquet hall- reception 106 33- barber beauty shop 107 34-photocopying/graphic 108 35-mini mart 109 36-self storage warehouse 110 37- vehicle service/fuel 111 38- car sales/repair 112 PG23 113 39- car wash 114 40-sale HVAC/plumbing 115 41- laundry/self-service 116 42-sexually oriented business 117 43- contractor/landscaping 118 D-INDUSTRIAL/RESEARCH 119 1.- non-ag warehouse/wholesale 120 2-print/publish 121 3- commercial assembly 122 4-commercial excavation 123 6- truck terminal 124 7-non-car vehicle body shop 125 PG 24 126 8-junkyard 127 9-design/production prototypes 128 10-manufacturing 129 11-scientific research lab 130 E-UTILITY 131 PG 25 132 5-solar panel/commercial farm Page 3 of 6 APPROVED 133 - The second resident asked the Planning Board Members to consider taking R3 out of the 134 Solar Law. He stated that he wants the farmland to remain "protected." He emailed the 135 tolcodes@lansingtown.com on 6/8/2020 at 7:55pm (see below) 136 137 Hello, 138 139 Thank you for letting me comment on the pending wind solar law for the Town of 140 Lansing. I'm Mike Sigler and 1 have lived at 218 Pervuville road for almost 15 years. My 141 home was built in 1867 and I'm told my barn is the oldest in Lansing that's still a barn, 142 built in 1806. 1 recently had the Moore's rebuild the barn to preserve it. 143 144 1 have a great number of concerns in regards to the solar and wind ordinance. My main 145 concern is allowing solar and wind installations in R3 zones. In the town zoning for R3 it 146 says "The intent of the R3 District is to designate areas where the use of the land will 147 change from the most traditional agricultural uses of the community to a more dense 148 residential development depending, in part, upon introduction of public water and 149 sewerage. Regulations and standards in the R3 District are intended to guide density 150 and establish the criteria and conditions for development of the land driven by the reality 151 of land values." 152 My home is directly across from an R3 zone. 1 expected one day for homes to be built 153 there so 1 was very happy when the farmer renting the land was able to bring back the 154 soil and grow corn. 1 said I expected it housing development, not that 1 welcomed 155 it. What 1 didn't expect was that it one day could be a power station industrial site. That 156 doesn't fit with any expectation and frankly 1 don't think it fits with what people consider 157 farmland even though 1 understand RA is much less regulated. 158 159 Farmers get an enormous tax benefit and they should. Their income is wholly reliant on 160 the land. If they were taxed at market value they could not make an income. But with 161 that tax benefit I've always understood that the farmer was protecting the land, 162 preserving it as open space. Yes, you have to accept the manure spread, the slow 163 tractor, and yes, plowing at midnight. Its all worth it. For that preservation the farmer 164 gets ag rate taxes. 1 want farmers to make money off their land through income and 165 farmer. Speculation invites problems and 1 see little difference between a solar array 166 and a parking lot with a factory and that certainly wouldn't be allowed in an R3. 167 168 Reading over the solar law, it worries me that it reads much more favorably to the 169 corporation than it does the Lansing resident. The document defines "Practicable"as 170 satisfying the over project purposes after taking into consideration cost, time, 171 technology, and logistics. By having this in the documents the rights of the corporation 172 take precedence over the rights of the Lansing resident. The project purposes are the 173 main consideration, not the aesthetic of the town and the reasons people have chosen to 174 live here. We declared ourselves a "Right to Farm"community with fanfare just a few 175 years ago. 1 don't think anyone would consider an industrial complex covering farmland 176 for the next 25 years,farming. Page 4 of 6 APPROVED 177 178 In part 802.18 it says one of the goals is to minimize adverse visual impacts. I'm happy that 179 we agree solar farms have a negative visual impact. Including making solar farms not 180 permissible in R3 zones, and adjusting "practicable"to put residents before corporations, I'm 181 requesting you remove the following from 802.18: 182 1. "yet screening should minimize shading of solar collectors." I'm not supportive of 183 having these in RA zones either, but it would seem shading of the collectors should 184 take a backseat to the screening from neighbors and folks just driving in and around 185 town. 186 2. "Up to 20%"should be pollinators. I'd like to see that "at least 20V 187 3. A chain link fence is allowed under the ordinance. Chain link fence surrounding 188 hundreds of acres? We have a free roam of animals in Lansing, something I think 189 most residents embrace. I'd request no fencing. 190 4. Lighting would be allowed. It would be activated? A light to serve any purpose has 191 to be bright enough to serve that purpose. It would add to the light pollution that 192 already is shed from Ithaca. 193 In closing I'm requesting industrial sized solar and wind arrays not be allowed in R3 194 zones and that RA would have much stricter viewshed regulations. Once this land is 195 gone, it will be gone for 25 years. I understand the lines from the power plant are 196 attractive, but it's unclear why the power plant land isn't the starting point. The 197 beginning of the local law makes some claims 1 would like to challenge. One, that's it's 198 non-polluting. Once their installed there's no pollution, but through their creation, the 199 mining of the rare earth elements, they pollute,just somewhere else. 200 201 There's been the claim this will lower electricity rates. That's not been the case in 202 Dryden where only 250 families have signed up for community solar and those who have 203 signed up have seen little savings. Electricity rates didn't increase when the power plant 204 closed, so why should they decrease with solar. While this will mean jobs building the 205 arrays, that's where those jobs end, unlike the powerplant that even at the end 206 employed 70 people. It also says it will encourage business development. How? 1'd 207 suggest a new natural gas supply would have an exponentially greater impact on 208 attracting businesses than solar arrays covering up farmland that's been a major draw 209 for people to the town. 210 Thank you for considering these changes and hearing me at you meeting. 211 Best regards, 212 213 Mike Sigler 214 215 - The third resident spoke about issues on Emmons Road and his property and a petition 216 that he received this morning. He addressed his issues with the petition (the correct 217 address of the complaints being made in the petition). 218 219 Page 5 of 6 APPROVED 220 Discussion on Land Use Ordinance Audit 221 222 Questions 31 through 45 were discussed from the Land Use Ordinance and Regulations Audit 223 questions. 224 225 Review of draft Solar &Wind Local Law (05132020 version, located at bit.ly/lansingsolarwindl 226 227 228 Update on proposed new NYS large-scale sola permitting regime (ORES) 229 230 Meeting adjourned at the call of the Planning Board Chair at 8:58 pm. 231 232 Minutes taken and executed by Jennifer Sandsted 233 234 Access to public documents are available online at: 235 Planning Board Email tolcodes@lansingtown.com 236 237 Town Website https://www.lansingtown.com 238 239 Planning Board agendas, minutes & submittals https://www.lansingtown.com/town-docs Page 6 of 6