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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1974-10-28 LANSING PLANNING BOARD October 28 , 1974 PRESENT : Viola Miller , Chairman , Lola Winter , William Bement , Lewis Roscoe , Fred Edmondson Also zoning officer , Norman Stanton The meeting began at 7 : 45PM . 1 . Norman Stanton presented sign requests : The first request came from C . Smith requesting lights from 9AM to 5PM for an Insurance Company on Route 34B . The flood lighting will be from ground to sign and will not shine or reflect on road . Two lights will be on each side with 150 watt bulbs . Lola Winter made a motion that the request be granted . Fred Edmondson seconded the motion , and passed the board by a unanimous vote . New Planning Board Policy : If a sign is changed in future , new sign must conform to ordinance despite fact that old sign did not conform . This motion was made by Louis Roscoe , seconded by William Bement , and passed unanimously by the Board . Second request was from A&P store to move present sign and replace it with a new one . The new sign will be a twelve foot diameter circle , which is 112 square feet . The old sign occupies 120 square feet . The Planning Board liked the design of the first plan but suggested they limit themselves to 50 square feet , 7 or 8 feet in diameter , which is allowed in the ordinance . Dave Hardie made a motion that the A&P request be granted if they would conform with the new Planning Board policy . The motion was seconded by Fred Edmondson , and the board passed the motion unanimously . This decision will be passed on to the Town Board . 2 . Mr . Manley Thaler , representing the A&P , requested permission for the A&P to add a Mansard roof to its Lansing store . Lewis Roscoe made a motion that the Planning Board recommend to Town Board that a Building Permit be granted . Seconded by Lola Winters , passed by Board unanimously . 2 . Viola Miller spoke with respect to changes in zoning ordinance . The last scheduled public hearing was cancelled because Ithaca had not received notification of public hearing . A meeting is now scheduled for October 29 . The Town Board has requested a statement from the Planning Board . • Mrs . Miller prepared a statement ( attached ) to read at the public hearing . This was read to the Board and a motion was made by Fred Edmondson , II/6 seconded by Dave Hardie , and passed unanimously by Board that it be read at public hearing . -2 - 3 . Budget The Planning Board has $ 1 , 000 to spend before January 1 , 1975 1 . How to spend ? Maps . Fred Edmondson and Norm Stanton will look up old maps and bring them to meeting on November 11 , 1974 . The Board needs to find out what is available in way of maps , what can be done with them , and there is a possibility of hiring a draftsman to work on maps . The motion was made to elect William Bement treasurer by Lewis Roscoe , seconded by Dave Hardie , and passed unanimously by Board . 2 . Bill from T . Niederkorn for consulting services $ 162 . 50 . The motion was made to pay the bill by Lewis Roscoe , seconded by William Bement , and motion passed unanimously by Board . 4 . Flood Plain Report by D ave Hardie and William Bement D ave Hardie attended meeting in Binghamton on Flood Plain Project . Something less than zoning is possible but must control what goes on in Flood Plain area . The cost involved will be for legal fees for amending ordinance . Some building code necessary . If the community does not pass correct legislation then State will impose it . If we wait for State it w ill be very difficult . The town is advised to do it . The community signs u p for program with HUD . Cartographer should be contacted to draw up Flood Plains Maps . Insurance is $35 , 000 maximum on buildings and $ 10 , 000 maximum o n home goods It was suggested by Dave Hardie that the Planning Board hold informational meeting to inform people . At this meeting should be a representative of the State to answer questions . Mrs . Miller will contact Town Board . William Bement reported that the town must have building permit plan before town can submit application for flood insurance . William Bement and Dave Hardie will present data to Town Board at their November meeting with suggestion that an informational meeting be held . They w ill return to Planning Board on November 11th with more information . 5 . Mrs . Miller reported that she had worked on subdivision regulations with L . Naegley . L . Naegley hopes to present them to Town Board soon . The problem still remains of what to do about parks ? The Planning Board suggests that the park problem be reviewed further and take problem down to Tom Niderkorn . Motion to adjourn made by William Bement . Meeting adjourned 10 : 30PM . • k - 41, PLANNING BOARD STATEMENT approved October 28 In March , 1974 , the Planning Board and the Town Board of Lansing was notified by a letter from Frank Liguori , Chairman of Tompkins County Planning Board , that according to a memorandum he had received from New York State , the Lansing zoning ordinance ✓ equirements for the issuance of building permits in the industrial , commercial , and planned developmentzzones was in conflict with New York state law in that the power of approval of site plans can not be delegated by the Town , Board to the Planning board . Immediately upon receipt of this memorandum , the two boards made plans to change procedures to conform to the law . The Planning Board continued to receive applications for permits , review all plans as presented as to their conformance to the requirements as specified in the zoning ordinance , asking for changes as necessary to conform , and finally making a recommendation to the Town Board for a troval . In most cases the developer has appeared before the Town Board at the time the Board was making its ✓ eview of the Planning Board recommendation . All building permits have been issued according to this procedure sine March , 1974 . In addition , during this time and according to this procedure ( which is the one now in question ) all variances have been granted ( or denied ) by the Zoning Board oft Appeals - - as they will continue to be under the proposed changes . As an illustration of the procedure when the Pyramid Company ✓ equested permission to appear before the Planning Board to presett its plans for a mall , the Planning Board in turn requested that the Town Board members also be present so that both boards would be e qually aware of any possible problems and could work toget . er as might be needed for a final approval ( or disapproval ) within the time limits as specified in the ordinance . A quorum of both boards was present at that meeting . As this development was large and complex it required very extensive review in many area of expertise . It is said that no development in Tompkins County has been mote thoroughly reviewed and questioned . All phases of the project were were presented by Pyramid in the most minute detail , all questions posed by the Planning Board were answered or resolved to its com- plete satisfaction . Included in the Planning Board review was a review and approval by Thomas Neidercorn who had been the profess - ional planner in developing the Master Plan and the zoning ordin- ance for Lansing , by Frank Liguori for Tompkins County , by New York S tate Department of Transportation, for traffic , and by DIC for air pollution , also by local Conservation for run- eff and streams . No public hearing were held as no variances were required . After completion of all these reviews and after several meetings to d iscuss them , the Planning Board did approve the project and did 41/ make a recommendation to the Town Board through a very lengthy and detailed resolution that the Pyramid Mall be approved . The Town Board did approve the project and request that a building permit be issued as requested . This is procedure for approving all permits in the Industrial , Commercial , and P . D . A . zones that has been followed since Marcg , 1974 . However , the ordinance was not c4anged , as perhaps it should have 41/ Had there been no appeals made against Pyramid by concerned individuals , it is possible that , as is the case in some other towns , no action to change the ordinance would have seemed necess - ary in that possible enabling legislation by the State to delegate the power of site approval to the Planning Board would have made no change imperative , and would have left the ordinance as the Town Board ( and apparently most of Lansing residents ) want it to be . After much consideration by people concerned with the legality of the ordinance and by the validity of permits being issued and by their lawyers and most especially by the Town attorney , it was determined that the Planting Board should give consideration to such changes . The Planning Board held a special meeting to con- sider the changes and did recommend such consideration to the Town Board . The chages considered were those proposed by the Town attorney . It shpuld be pointed out here that the chairman had also requested some clarification in the ordinance as to the issuanKe of permits . In subsequent discussion these have been referred to as policy changes , when for the most part , more correctly they should be noted as policy clarification . In its initial appraisal of the changes , the Planning Board did not consider changes to the ordinance which would make possible approval by any other appointed officer or body of the Town . The 11/ procedures being followed came closer to the original intent of the ordinance as approved by the originating body and by the Town Board on its adoption . However , the Planning Board has since considered all possible alternatives and has arrived at the same conclusion . It does wish that it were not necessary to make a change and feels that , in general , it has worked well . There has been mutual respect for each other between all boards and the Zoning officer . This should continue in the future . The Planning Board does recommend the changes in the zoning ordinance as proposed for the October 29 public hearing of the Town Board . It recognizes that some of these changes are necessary to conform to State law and that other changes are primarily for clarification and less confhsion in administering the ordinance . Although other procedures of approval are available , the ones now being suggested ( and presently used ) provide the best system for checks and balances , between the Planning Board , the Zoning Board of Appeals , the Zoning officer and the Town Board , thereby providing the best protection presently available to all cchncerned . The Planning Board requests that if enabling legislation is not forthcoming to give the Town Board authority to delegate site plan approval to the Planning Board , that within the legislative year , the Town Board will petition the state legislature to grant Lansing that approval by a special act . Respectfully submitted , Viola H . Miller Chairman Lansing Planning Board