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02 Town of Larisng
3 Monday , November 12 , 1998 ; 7 : 30 PM PLANNING BOARD
4 PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS
5 ( * Denotes present)
6 * Viola Miller, Chair * Jacoba Baker
7 * Larry Sharpstecn * Brad Griffin
8 Lin Davidson " Al White
9 * David Lippert
10
II * Paul Butler, Town Councilman
12 * George Totman, Zoning and Code Enforcement Officer
13
14 PUBLIC PRESENT
15 None •
16
_ 17 GENERAL BUSINESS
11 Viola Miller called the meeting to order at 7 : 30 PM .
19 Approval of Minutes of October 12, 1998-. Page 2, Line / . . . Viola Miller corrected. . .their son ' s . . .Line i
20 13 . . . buy three lots . . .Line 36. . . should state that the batch plant is located on Fenner Road . . . .Page 3, Line
21 6. . . working with the. . . Brad Griffin moved to accept the minutes as amended. Jackie Baker seconded .
22 VOTE : ALL IN FAVOR. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY .
23
24 NEW BUSINESS
25 Privilege of the Floor - Viola Miller stated there was no one from the public present at this time.
26 Report from Officers and Committees- .. +
27 Treasurer- Jackie Baker stated she received a report from Sharon Bowman showing the amount spent
28 through the third quarter. The amount remaining in the Planning Board budget is $2 ,687. 54 . Jackie .
29 stated there were expenditures for postage, office supplies, T.G . Miller & Sons , and for the Planning
30 Federation Seminar.
31 Trails- Viola Miller stated that they should be giving some attention to the possibility of trails in the .
32 town. Viola stated she asked Jackie if she would chair that committee . Jackie stated she attended a
33 meeting today regarding trails . Jackie stated that they walked the trails at South Hill and Dryden. Jackie
34 stated that one point made at that meeting was that if they put them in the plans for the paper roads,
c when someone comes in to subdivide, they would be able to show the plans to the developers. Jackie
stated that there was a lot of opposition from neighbors about these trails originally, but in Dryden they
37 did one on one visits with the neighbors and set up special meetings which helped . Security and privacy
38 were the main concerns . Jackie Baker stated that George Franz was very good at speaking with people
39 one on one and he gave her the impression that the County is there to help.
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2 Town of Lansing Planning Board, November 12, 1998
Larry Sharpsteen stated he does not have a problem with putting the trails on a map with paper roads , but
2 you can not force the developers to put them in . Larry Sharpsteen stated that recently there was a group
3 of very dedicated people that got a grant for a trail , then blamed the Town Board when it did not work •
4 out. It was simply that the property owners, across whose land the trail was planned , did not want it.
5 Paul Butler stated that the trail , for which the grant was received , was proposed to go within 20 feet of
6 peoples homes in a few places .
7 Larry Sharpsteen asked about maintenance and liability. Jackie Baker stated that she was told the
8 liability insurance falls under what they already had . Jackie stated that Jim Schug, stated the
9 maintenance of the Dryden trail is low, about $ 2000 per year. David Lippert stated he and his wife
10 walked the South Hill trail about 3 times a week until it got too cold and there is no maintenance other
1 1 than mowing. David stated they probably mow it about every 6 weeks . David stated they do have some
12 issues in Lansing, but it seems to him it would be worth pursuing, in the neighborhood off Hillcrest there
13 arc a lot of walkers and it is not very safe.
•
14 Jackie Baker stated that Audrey, from die Cayuga Heights Town Board , said the Town should be
1 s working with the Village on this. Viola Miller asked if the Board would like to have a meeting with the
16 Village Planning Board for the December meeting. Viola stated there are some natural areas where a
17 trail could be. The Board discussed the location of the old railroad beds . Brad Griffin stated that years
18 ago the trails committee came before the board and the board endorsed the concept of the trails, without
19 endorsing the methodology of the funding. Brad stated that the set up in Dryden is a good model . Brad
20 stated Jim Schug, the Town Supervisor of Dryden, and Mike Lane , then the Mayor of the Village, put
21 together a plan .
22 Larry Sharpsteen stated that if the casements are made, the various walking societies such as the Finger
23 Lakes Trail Group and the Appalachian Trail Group, would probably build the trails as a work project .
24 There is no reason the Town should have to spend money for the initial investment. Larry added that, in
25 fact, some of the groups would even do upkeep, and some of the upkeep could be done with community
26 service or penal labor. Brad Griffin agreed with Larry Sharpsteen, adding that over the past 30 years or
27 so , the Finger Lakes Trail has developed over 500 miles of trail available to the public, and to the best of
28 Brad ' s knowledge, not one cent of public funds was used. Al White stated if the Town did it, it would
29 have to meet handicap requirements, but if done privately it does not. Larry Sharpsteen added that if not,
30 then the private landowners would be liable.
31 Viola Miller stated she is hearing enough interest to have Jackie follow up on it . Viola Miller asked if
32 someone would be willing to help Jackie . David Lippert volunteered to work with Jackie on the trails .
33 Transportation- Lb Davidson stated he did not take great notes at the NESTS meeting on October 29;
34 1998 , but they got a lot of feedback on the north-south connectors . There is a need to upgrade those
35 connectors, but the questions are when and how. How these alternatives might make a difference
36 remains to be seen from the models. Brad Griffin stated he attended that public meeting. A lot of time
37 was spent on presentations by people in Present Hollow and Forest Homes . Brad added that to a large
38 degree the transportation study deals with these extremes, on one hand to safely move a lot of traffic in
39 little periods of time . Brad stated that the map shown at that meeting was not as specific as the one Lin
40 showed the Planning Board a couple of meetings ago . They decided to pull back and show a concept
41 map of the four possible north-south connectors and the east-west connector.
42 Brad shared the goals that were chosen by the working group . Goal 1 is a transportation system that / .
43 enhances and preserves the quality of life in neighborhoods, residential and other community areas,
44 including recreation, educational and commercial areas. Goal 2 ' is to develop and maintain a multi-
45 modal transportation system that connects residential , public and commercial activity centers of the
46 study area and the region. Goal 3 is outstanding pedestrian, bicycle and transit facilities to use as an
47 alternative to the automobile . Goal 4 is to support livable communities through strong linkages between
NO: ; ' ''
3 Town of Lansing Planning Board, November 12, 1998
transportation planning and land use patterns and policies . Brad then read the names of the participants
401 of the Working Group Members, NESTS Technical Advisors, Ithaca-Tompkins Bounty Transportation
3 Council (ITCTC)Staff, NESTS Consultants, and the NESTS Client Committee Members.
4 Sewer- Larry Sharpsteen stated everyone is aware that approximately $ 3 million will be made available
5 to the Town of Lansing to work on the infrastructure . All this money goes west if the municipalities do
6 not sign the agreement . After all this regional cooperation for the media, Larry stated that what it boiled
7 down to is fighting over who will control what. Basically, the municipalities are negotiating to decide
8 on the order of the use of funds and the allocation of funds, but the agreement has to be signed before the
9 funds are lost. Larry Sharpsteen stated that the City of Ithaca is stalling . George Totman stated that they
10 had an all day meeting on Saturday, but George did not have a chance to talk to anyone today that had
1 1 attended the meeting to see how that meeting turned out .
12 D. E. C . - Larry Sharpsteen stated he received a letter stating he may not be able to vote because he has
13 missed a couple meetings. Larry Sharpsteen stated that it came down to his business or the E . M . C.
14 meeting and his business took precedence . Larry stated that one of the focuses of the E. M . C . remains
15 the Lake Source Cooling project, which has taken on a life of its own.
16 Planning Federation- Viola Miller stated there is a SEQR meeting Thursday, November 19, 1998 , at the
17 Ramada Inn at 7 : 00 PM , put on by the Tompkins County Planning Federation. Jackie Baker will be
18 going. Lin Davidson and David Lippert will also try to attend .
19 Viola Miller stated that she serves on Federation Meetings and they have talked about having alternates.
20 Because of die Charter, the alternates can not vote , but can listen and discuss things. Viola asked if
21 anyone would be interested in being an alternate . Viola stated they meet every second Tuesday at 7 : 00
® PM. Lin Davidson stated that he would give it a try.
23 Discussion on Town Tour taken October 31 , 1998- Lin Davidson stated it was a good tour for him . It
24 is good for everyone to see what the Sovocool area amounted to . Lin stated it pointed out need to have
25 those easements . Brad Griffin stated one of the things that struck him was the cliff dwellers. Brad was
26 amazed people would live in such precarious circumstances.
27 Viola Miller wanted to make sure there was a thank you sent from the Planning Board to Pete Larson.
28 Jackie Baker stated when they went to the lecture, the three things they needed to work on are the
29 Comprehensive Plan, the Project Review , and continuous monitoring. Jackie felt the tour was the best
30 way for them to do it. Viola Miller stated she looks forward to having room enough for a big map of
31 Lansing in the new Town Hall . David Lippert stated when you are driving you can not see the town the
32 same way .
33 Brad Griffin stated that the last two times they have been out with Pete; Pete mentioned situations of
34 Town roads that should be County roads and County roads that should be Town roads . Brad thinks there
35 might be some issues in the public interest in that . Brad stated that if Pete could make a list for the
36 Town Board and Planning Board to look at, they may be helpful in bringing that to a process to make it
37 happen. George Totman will ask Pete Larson to give them a list.
38 Lin Davidson asked who is responsible for closing and reopening roads . Paul Butler responded that the
39 Town Board is responsible for it. Lin Davidson asked if there was a change in the status of the Lansing-
40 Genoa Town Line Road because they use to have a seasonal permit, but Lin has noticed that the sign is
41 gone. Paul Butler stated that something did come before the Town Board, but he can not recall what is
4 was at this time. The road is now open all the time . George Totman stated that you would have to ask
43 Pete.
44
4 Town of Lansing Planning Board, November 12, 1998
1 Report from Town Board Liaison - Paul Butler stated that he did not have a report . He said he was not
2 there for the opening of the bids on Friday and has not heard how it went . George Totman stated that the
3 bids were high . •
4 Report from Code Enforcement Officer - George Totman stated the estimated construction cost of the
5 building permits are $ 1 . 5 million higher than last year at this time. George added that that are about 20
6 more permits . George stated that there are higher cost houses being built. George said they are suppose
7 to start Ron Seacord ' s new building sometime this week .
8 OTHER BUSINESS
9 Discussion on Portland Point Project- Viola Miller stated she knows George can give the permits out,
to but it should come in for some review because it effects the things around it. Viola believes it is time the
11 Town Board lets the Planning Board know what is going on in the matter of planning for the town .
12 Larry Sharpsteen stated that it is an industrial area and what they are planning is not an industrial use.
13 Larry said it can be done under a PDA, but that should come before the Planning Board_ George Totman
14 replied that there was no zoning when the project was started and when the zoning went in it was
i5 included as what was acceptable in the IR Zone . Viola Miller stated that, it seems to her, when the
16 Town can do that sort of thing without relating to the Planning Board, there isn ' t much reason for the
17 Planning Board to be sitting here month after month without having some input.
18 Larry Sharpsteen asked what documentation is there that there is a project going on down there . Larry
19 stated they did not start it before zoning was implemented. He said they have just started demolition,
20 and that is not a declared use . George Totman stated it has been started for about two years . George
21 explained that there is a long trail of paperwork. George stated he does not want to argued; but stated
22 that if anyone else gets in on the project now, it could kill the whole project. George stated that they are •
23 working on a strict time schedule. George stated they are working very closely with the County
24 Planning Commissioner and Karl Heck. Larry Sharpsteen said nobody said they were going to stop it,
25 just let the Planning Board look at it. Larry stated they look like idiots in the planning community for
26 not knowing what is going on down there . Larry Sharpsteen stated they are tired of the secrecy between
27 the Town Board and the Planning Board . Paul Butler stated he does not know where the secrecy is, there
28 are no secret meetings, they are open to the public and the minutes are open all they have to do is read
29 them . Larry Sharpsteen stated that since the Planning Board is a part of the Town government, shouldn ' t
30 they get the information before they read about it in the paper before everyone else does.. Larry stated
31 they would like to know about what is going on in their venue.
32 Al White moved to adjourn at 9 : 32 PM . Lin Davidson seconded . VOTE : ALL IN FAVI ' ; MOTION
33 CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
34 The next meeting is scheduled for December 9, 1998 .
35 Submitted by Robin Cornell .