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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-04-14 To Seneca Falls To Auburn 111 \ TOWN of LANSING `F • fail: " Home of Industry, Agriculture and Scenic Beauty " • AI\ ,y.N � \ 1 Town of Lansing it ORDINANCE DEPT. 11 Box 186 1l Lansing, New York 14882 \ Ij \ To Ithaca Town of La tI: .!. :. .ILfl.g . . r \--' • Planning• Board Meeting- 04/1.4/97 7 :30 PM Lansing Town Hall - Board Room Type of meeting : Agenda topics 7 : 30 PM Call. Meeting to Order - Recognize Guest - Approve March Minutes - General Business 8 :00 PM Any other business one deems necessary to bring before the board S • TOWN OF LANSING Planning Board Monday, April 14, 1997; 7 : 30pm PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS (* Denotes present) Larry Sharpsteen, Chair * Jacoba Baker * Viola Miller * Brad Griffin * Lin Davidson Al White * Robert Todd David Lippert Larry Tvaroha, Town Councilman * George Totman, Zoning and Code Enforcement Officer PUBLIC PRESENT Lawrence Conlon 56 Conlon Road • Robert Todd opened the meeting at 7 : 34p .m. Review of Minutes from Meeting held March 10, 1997 Page Three, Third Line -Viola Miller corrected . . .example in the foreword. . .Page three, Last Line - Brad Griffin corrected. . .owned by De Pauw University. . . , Page Four, Second Line - Brad Griffin corrected. . .explained his map shows a right-of-way. . .Second Paragraph, First Line - Brad Griffin corrected. . .not a road off Burdick Hill. . .Last Paragraph, Second Line - Viola Miller added. . .the lack of a second. . .Page Six, Second Line - Viola Miller corrected. . .The Pinney' s may be asking. . . Third Line -Viola Miller corrected. . .The State would designate. . .Page Seven, Third Line - Brad Griffin corrected. . .FOIL . . .Page Seven, Seventh Line - Viola Miller corrected. . . suggested clearly identifying. . .Brad Griffin made a motion to approve the minutes as amended; Lin Davidson seconded. VOTE: ALL IN FAVOR; MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY Lin Davidson wondered if he should send a note to Jeannine Kirby nominating Brad Griffin to the County Transportation Advisory Board. George stated a copy of the minutes were given to Jeannine. Viola responded that if she didn't read the minutes she wouldn't know. Robert Todd felt if George were to make sure Jeannine received a copy of the minutes that would be sufficient. Town of Lansing Planning Board Monday, April 14, 1997 Page 2 Discussion on minutes and procedures Viola Miller stated she wanted to make a few comments regarding the minutes and hal hoped all of the Planning Board members would be at tonight' s meeting. Viola stated they were an official board made up of lay members who are suppose to have some knowledge of what they are here for. She would like to be able to look back on any of these minutes and hope to find it was a reasonable group of people. Viola finds the Planning Board is prone to making off t cuff comments that really don 't belong in the minutes. She found examples of that at last month' s meeting and in the minutes. There were statements made about working with the TowmlBoard which Viola felt they couldn't expect to get any cooperation when making remarks about how long the Town Board has had the Proposed Zoning Ordinance. Viola stated it was important to have the kind of meeting that makes people feel welcomed to come to , comfortable to be at the meetings and feel comfortable when they leave. Viola' never wanted to see the time when they didn't welcome comments from the public. There should be a place for public comments in the discussions and thought they could accomplish a great deal more if they were to run the meetings in that matter and to make sure the Planning Board members had a way to respond before the Chair summed up the situation. Viola felt there were a number of members on the Board that were not given the opportunity to express themselves as they might like to . • Viola would like to see the minutes show each members ' opinion and to express thenzelives rather than just light conversation. Viola stated she was very proud of this Board and of the members that served on it, but would like to see some structure. Robert Todd thanked Viola. Jacoba stated she felt they needed Viola to keep things in 1 ' p e and to set standards. Robert felt it had been such a relief and a weight off his shoulders after working on the Zoning Ordinance for so long, perhaps that was why the meetings were like that, they had been so serious for so long. Viola agreed that is probably why some of it took place, but it went back to when they were working on the Ordinance. Viola didn't feel they were expressing themselves as well as they should have been back then. Robert Todd remarked that Viola had mentioned at the last two meetings the fact that shel did not feel the Board had enough opportunities to speak. Robert felt the Planning Board had all 'the opportunities they wanted and asked Viola to explain. Viola gave a couple of examples from the minutes as to where there were discussions regarding how the Planning Board was going to approach the Town Board in getting a response about the Zoning Ordinance. Viola recalls the minutes stating a letter would not be sent to the Town Board. One person from the Planning Board would go to them for an answer. A letter was eventually written and Viola did not recall any of the Planning Board receiving a copy of it, or having knowledge of it being sent when they specifically said one shouldn' t be. Viola remembered in the past if the Chairperson had to write • a letter, a copy was given to each member so it could either be sent out with the minutes Or be a • Town of Lansing Planning Board Monday, April 14, 1997 Page 3 part of the minutes. Viola stated she felt the Planning Board was lacking the professionalism that we should have according to Robert' s Rule of Order. Lin Davidson suggested when they have a discussion that needs a decision, maybe the Board should be polled instead of quickly moving on to the next item. En thought that perhaps by going around the table one by one asking for everyone ' s input would be better. Robert felt they acted on a consensus most of the time and if something needed to be voted on they did, he didn' t feel they needed to vote on every issue. Viola didn't think a vote needed to be made each time, but just to take the time to see what each person thought about something and if they didn't have a comment, they didn't have a comment. Viola didn't feel right just to break into a conversation held by the Chair, she would rather be given the opportunity to speak rather than interrupt. Robert stated it almost depends on whose running the meeting, everyone has their own style. Robert heard Viola stating how she felt the meetings should be run. Since he' s been a member, there had been Linda Hirvonen, Al White and Larry Sharpsteen as Chair, and each have run the meetings differently. Viola stated Linda always got comments from the Board, she rarely gave her own opinion which is what a Chair is suppose to do. • Robert asked if anyone had any comments. Brad was reluctant to bring this up in Larry' s absence, although some of what Viola was saying was brought up previously by Al White. Brad agreed with Robert, if he had something to say he would wedge in and express it, but he also felt there should be some sort of consensus, whether it was by vote or by going around and giving ample time. Viola wanted to make it clear she was hoping Larry and the rest of the Planning Board members were going to be there but had to get it off her chest. Robert asked Jacoba Baker how she felt. Jacoba replied she did not feel they went by consensus enough. There were times she needed to pull everything together and by listening to everyone she could make up her mind but when just listening to one person that lays it on the line, she is afraid the members are not getting equal say. Lin Davidson felt if someone comes forth with an idea, each member can be asked what they think or how they feel about it. Lin stated Robert was good about getting everyone ' s opinion as where Larry sometimes flies through topics when there is a lot on the agenda. Lin also stated if someone is accustomed to waiting back until someone catches a breath to make a statement, there are times that breath never happens. Lin felt he didn't think it was a matter of a consensus or voting but a matter of getting input from each board member before going on. George asked if he could say a few things. He thought what Viola was trying to say was that the comments being made about the various board members of which they are advisory to does not • look good for the general public to read in the paper or minutes, even if you may think that. George also thought Viola was saying that a statement made should be coming from the Board and not from the Chairperson, if something is going to be said as far as what the Board thinks, I . I . Town of Lansing Planning Board • Monday, April 14, 1997 Page 4 there should be a consensus done before that statement is made. George asked Viola if that was correct. Viola agreed and stated she was not doing this entirely on her own, others felt the same way. Robert thought the Board worked very well together, there were things in the past that had bothered him but you learn to take the good with the bad. It had been a long time since they have had a chance just to sit, talk and go over things, they have always had a full agenda. Lin ; suggested they have a particular structure for each agenda item and get each person' s opinion before going on to the next item. Viola agreed and stated the Chair could then easily sum it up after each Board member expressed their opinion, she didn't want to be critical but wanted this to be constructive criticism. Everyone agreed it did not have to be a vote, even eye contact with each Board member was sufficient, a chance for everyone to contribute if they wanted to . General Business Robert Todd asked if anyone had read the Lansing Community Newspaper. Matthew Shulman had an article about the Lansing Town Board meeting and that the Proposed Zoning Ordinance was discussed. George stated he read the article and normally the Planning Board would hold a public hearing first, get the public ' s opinion, fine tune it, then give it to the Town Board, but that is not the way it was done. Pat Conlon asked what their thought process was by not doing it that way. Robert Todd expressed he thought the Planning Board agreed they were going to give it to the Town Board first and get their feedback first because they were the ones who were ultimately • going to vote on it. Jacoba felt it would have been a lot easier for the Town Board if they had talked to the Planning Board first. Viola stated it was not the consensus of the Board to do it that way, she felt very strongly there should have been a large public meeting before it went to the Town Board. Brad Griffin felt the Planning Board should know if they were all on the same planet with the concept because if there were misgivings from the Town Board then a public hearing would be counterproductive. Viola remembered there were a number on the Planning Board that felt the same way. Larry Tvaroha sat with the Planning Board for three years while they worked on the Ordinance. Whenever he was asked if this was the sort of thing he wanted or the Town Board wanted, she felt then there was no reason they shouldn't go to the public.; Robert Todd stated the Town Board is going to make the final decision on this and there will always be people on both sides . Jacoba stated the longer they wait the tougher it will be for them to make a stand on it with elections coming up. Robert stated you will never make all of the people happy. Lin remarked people don' t like change and this is a great manifestation of change. Brad felt it was frustrating but the Planning Board is committed to get some reaction back ! from the Town Board. The more specifically the Planning Board understands that, the better they will be in their advisory role. Pat Conlon wondered if the rumor of a proposed go-cart track going in on Conlon Road would help spark the Town Board into making a decision on Zoning. Viola thought what Pat was saying is if people didn' t know if this sort of thing was there and they could have done I • something through Zoning. Pat wondered how many other situations could arise like this in places where there is no jurisdiction. Viola felt they had used their knowledge and experience to • Town of Lansing Planning Board Monday, April 14, 1997 Page 5 write something for the good of the Town and they should stand by it. She also felt the Town Board should take the bull by the horns and pass it, going around the neighborhoods to meetings after meetings will not bring about what you want to accomplish. Lin Davidson seconded Viola' s statement. Jacoba felt the longer it is kept secret the more animosity builds up and it' s just a boiler building. Brad stated the Town Board is planning on meeting Wednesday, April 16, 1997 to discuss the Ordinance. Lin Davidson made a motion to adjourn this meeting. Brad Griffin seconded. VOTE; ALL IN FAVOR; MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY This meeting was adjourned at 8 :26p.m. Submitted by Sue Davenport The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 12, 1997, at 7:30pm. • •