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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1968-02-12 fy 'F'. Minutes • LANSING PLANNING BOARD February 12 , 1968 : Town Hall Regular Meeting PRESENT : Mr . James Showacre , Chairman ; Mrs . Viola Miller ; Messrs . Paul Barron , Alex Cima , Frederick Edmondson , John Ettinger Also : Mr . Thomas Niederkorn ; Professors Frederick T . Bent and Seymour Smidt (Planning Council members ) 4' 4it The meeting was called to order by the Chairman at 8 : 05 p .m . Minutes of the meetings of December 11 , January 8 , and January 22 were presented . Mr . Ettinger wished to have page 2 of the minutes of January 8 corrected to show that it was merely his belief that the map submitted by Mr . Catherwood had been accepted by the Town Board . MOTION by Mr . Ettinger , seconded by Mr . Edmondson , and carried , to approve these three sets of minutes as corrected .• There was a discussion with Professor Smidt about the progress TOWN SURVEY of the IBM carding and programming of the survey material . Information from all the interviews that have been completed was entered and punched on the cards around the first of the year . Professor Smidt has been working on a program , but as it is a new one it is proceeding slowly . Asked if he could use some help , he replied that only professional help would be useful to him at this point . At the present time only fairly simple tabulations can be taken out . He would like to tabu- late all of the information , broken down by the seven areas in the Town . He has about 4500 cards , but feels there should be about 6000 . Mr . Showacre stated that the 1965 census had shown only 5000 residents in Lansing , which may indicate that the number of cards now on hand is more complete than appears to Professor Smidt to be the case . Mrs . Miller will check the matter of the number of interview cards . Professors Bent and Smidt left at 8 : 10 p .m . NIEDERKORN Mr . Niederkorn then joined the Board for a discussion of the SUBDIVISION Subdivision Regulations sections which he had written . A REGULATIONS solution needs to be found in the matter of land for recre - • ational areas , as to whether land or money will be accept - able . It was agreed that there must be a relationship be - Minutes , LANSING PLANNING BOARD , February 12 , 1968 ; Town Hall , Regular Meeting , page 2 tween the land and the money , and not a flat fee . Mr . • Niederkorn feels that there should be about two acres for every one hundred families . The open space could be taken over by the town , or there may be some sort of home owners association , or there can be an assessment on a special district basis for the maintenance of this land . All three of these ways have their drawbacks , but on the other hand they can all be made to work satisfactorily . The cluster-concept type of development is more a matter of zoning than of subdivision regulations . Enforcing this type of development might not stand up if someone were to take the matter to court . As much flexibility as possible should be allowed in the land and housing concepts in subdivision regulations , but in zoning it will have to be spelled out . The lack of flexibility ties the hands of developers . It would be desirable to have the decisions made by the Planning Board rather than giving all of the final approval power to the Town Board , as this latter procedure might put such matters into the hands of politics . Mr . Niederkorn then read through Articles VII to Article XIV . Article VII , Section 703 , will be changed to show that a performance bond shall be required . The percentage was not decided upon , but a search will be made among bonding com- • panies (or perhaps Kenneth Johnson might know) what the per- centage should be . Mr . Edmondson is to handle this search . Under Article IX , it was suggested that Sections 901 and 902 might be combined in order to avoid the use of the word "hardship . " Except for these points , the subdivision regulations material as submitted was felt to be satisfactory . MILLER Had spoken to Harris Dates recently about a replacement for REPLACEMENT Herbert Ley . Mx . Dates expressed himself as feeling that FOR this was a matter of three months ' duration , whereas , as HERBERT LEY Mrs . Miller pointed out to him , the matter had been before the Town Board for six months . The Board then considered the "Definitions " section of the SUBDIVISION Appendix to the subdivision regulations submitted by Mr . REGULATIONS Niederkorn . Mr . Showacre felt that it must be clear in the regulations that specifications should be set by the Town Engineer rather than having it be the responsibility of the Town Planning Board either to check on the specifi- cations or to see that they are enforced . Mr . Niederkorn feels the Board should assume that the specifications are good and that they are being carried out . It was the sense • of the Board that nothing should be done on this matter now , Minutes , LANSING PLANNING BOARD , February 12 , 1968 ; Town Hall , Regular Meeting , page 3 but that the regulations should be put into the hands of the • Town Board now , and then the matter of setting specifications can be discussed later . The Definitions were read by Mr . Niederkorn . In reply to a question from Mrs . Miller as to how regulations can be en- forced , Mr . Niederkorn said that the County Clerk is not supposed to file a deed until all specifications have been met and the land sale has come before the Planning Board . It was suggested the Definition 15 , Town Superintendent , be rewritten to show this title as "Inspection Officer . " Mr . Niederkorn will write a final draft of this material and resubmit it to the Chairman . There is to be a joint meeting with the Town Board after the Planning Board reviews the material , and the members of the Town Board should also have copies of this material so that they can study it prior to the joint meeting . Following the Plan - ning Board ' s review of the material it can be submitted to the Town Board with the recommendation that it be adopted . A public hearing will be necessary , which will be conducted• by this Board , and there will be a meeting with the Town Board in advance of the public hearing . Mr . Niederkorn will be present at any combined meeting . He will supply the Chairman with 25 copies of the subdivision regulations • material so that they can be distributed as this Board sees fit . All possible matters should be settled with the Town Board before a public meeting is held . Mr . Niederkorn left at 10 : 05 p .m . The financial report had been submitted at the meeting of FINANCIAL January 8 , 1968 , when there had not been a quorum present , REPORT and hence was resubmitted at the present meeting . MOTION by Mr . Ettinger , seconded by Mr . Barron , and carried , to accept this report , as follows : Minutes , LANSING PLANNING BOARD , February 12 , 1968 ; Town Hall , Regular Meeting , page 4 FINANCIAL REPORT • February 1967 - December 1967 EXPENSE BUDGET ADMINISTRATIVE : Printing $ 18 . 50 T . G . Miller 35 . 63 Viola Miller (postage ) 48 . 40 $ 102 . 53 $ 95 . 00 SECRETARY : T . G . Miller $ 11 . 25 Tull 43 . 31 Merrell 145 . 43 Fuller (mimeo ) 11 . 90 211 . 89 265 . 00 NEWSLETTER : Viola Miller (postage , etc . ) $ 82 . 65 Fuller (mimeo ) 80 . 55 163 . 20 425 . 00 PLANNING : Ley ( supplies ) $ 10 . 20 Edmondson (telephone ) 7 . 45 American Air Survey 41 . 80 Smidt ( supplies ) 11 . 62 • Computer Service 275 . 58 Comfort (trailer mimeo) 9 . 9.0 Niederkorn ( subdiv regs ) 457 . 50 814 . 05 1215 . 00 $ 1291 . 67 $ 2000 . 00 The Chairman wished to postpone appointment of the standing STANDING committees of the Planning Board until the Town Board gives it a full complement of seven members . He therefore asked COMMITTEES that the present committees continue to function until the next meeting , by which time it is hoped an additional member will have been appointed by the Town Board . The Chairman has talked with Noel Desch , Chairman of the BUILDING CODES Town of Ithaca Planning Board , and Peter A . Curtiss , of the Town of Dryden Planning Board . Dryden does not have com- plete codes or building permits , although they do have a substitute for the building permits -- an "intention to Build , " or something of this kind which must be filed so that the assessors know some structure is being built . The Town of Ithaca does have building codes , but their problem is the ad - ministration of the codes . They are not happy with their pro - gram and are looking for an engineer or someone of this caliber to handle this part of their work . Chairman Showacre had called 1111 Peter Curtiss and asked if they were ready for building codes , • Minutes , LANSING PLANNING BOARD , February 12 , 1968 ; Town Hall , Regular Meeting , page 5 • and had been told that this is their next step as soon as they complete zoning , now in its final stages . There will be a meeting this coming Thursday of the planning chairmen of the Towns of Ithaca , Dryden , and Lansing , Mr . Dates , and Mr . Edmondson , the meeting to be held in the lat - ter ' s office . Mr . Showacre will recommend at that time that we pursue the idea of an engineer qualified to handle as much as can be wrapped up in one package , i . e . water , sewers , etc . , and do this on a three - town basis to be expanded to four or perhaps county-wide . Each town could then appoint an assessor or some other qualified person to work under the direction of the proposed engineer . BARRON Asked what is the main reason for a building code . The answer was given as "safety. " Mr . Barron said that in that case , the specifications should be applied to single - family residences and multiple residences . The answer was given that classifica- tions usually begin with public meeting places and go on to single - family dwellings . LIMA Without proper implementation , building codes are nearly BUILDING useless . If a building inspector is to be set up , certain specifications as to material , type , etc . , should also be INSPECTOR set up . • MILLER Feels it is not fair to anyone building a house or a commer - cial building to have someone visit him who is not a good inspector and instruct him to take some particular course of action when the inspector himself is not really qualified . LIMA A builder should be authorized to go just so far and then be inspected before he can proceed . SHOWACRE There could be assistants in every town to help the inspector . It was the sense of the Board that there should be a three - town inspector . MILLER Announced that there will be a Planning Council meeting in PLANNING the Town Hall on Monday night , February 19 , to which all members of the Planning Board are invited . As a matter of COUNCIL fact , members are urged to attend , as the Planning Council MEETING needs support . MOTION by Mr . Ettinger , seconded by Mrs . Miller , and carried , to adjourn , at 10 : 30 p .m . •