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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-02-08 I., T4 5enoci FalI{ To +.Vbvri firII- J } 1' 11 ,.kI5 * nK {� r o ' T of LANSING } L _ aA L At.: r ; ' Home cF Industry, Agriculture and Scenic Beauty ' 11 +'4 ,� q . 1 r M i • - iii r-r-.- e Lif Q.. e % - � IH fe wrr of Lansingii, ` � % '. - =. ORfINANCE 6EPT. k ; Box 186 ' ' et", j I I Lansing, [New York 14882 11 , 11 laIleim< = Town of Lansing r 1 Q 1yiri •� Meeting 218/99 7 : 30 PM Lansing Town Hall — Board. Room r_•' f: M i " I Sir A jt / tailI _ h it. tf h } o 1 rJ f, i °1 . 7 , , 4ii� It , , r it I . t �. : Am ApproxirnateTime: Agenda topics 7:30 PM Open Meeting , Approve Minutes of 1 /11 /99 Report of Comrniftees Privilege of the Floor — Board Members Privilege of the Floor - Public p . 8:00 Iva Trails: Special Guests Fernando De Aragon & Jim Schug 8 :30 PM Review Proposed Zone Change 8:45 PM Review Robed Todd Land on Fenner Rd 9: 00 PM Any Other Business One Deerns Important to Bring to the Board , 0 p Page 1 r I. 1 Town of L 3 Monday , February 8 , 1999 ; 7 : 30 PM PLANNING BOARD 4 PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS 5 (*Denotes present) 6 * Brad Griffin, Chair * Jacoba Baker 7 * Larry Sharpsteen * Lin Davidson 8 * Viola Miller * David Lippert 9 10 Paul Butler, Town Councilman 11 * George Totman, Zoning and Code Enforcement Officer 12 13 PUBLIC PRESENT 14 Fernando Dc Aragon 15 Jim Schug, Supervisor, Town of Dryden 16 10 GENERAL BUSINESS 18 Brad Griffin called the meeting to order at 7 : 30 PM. 19 Approval of Minutes of January 1. 1 , 1999-. Page 2, Line 30 . . . Jackie Baker corrected . . . although her 20 husband certainly had been . . . Page 3, Line 37 . . . Lin Davidson stated it may be the same, but he thought 21 it should read . . . without a tremendous expense to the taxpayers . . . Lany Sharpsteen moved to accept the 22 minutes as corrected . Lin Davidson seconded . VOTE : ALL IN FAVOR. MOTION CARRIED 23 UNANIMOUSLY. 24 25 NEW BUSINESS 26 Report from Officers and Committees- . , 27 EMC- Larry Sharpsteen stated that he is having copies made of the reports from Cornell on the chemical 28 and radioactive waste disposal sites by the airport. Larry stated that he also has some pamphlets on the 29 current grant application process for the trails . Larry stated that at the EMC meeting they discussed the 30 county' s current review of the Environmental Management Council . 31 Larry stated that at the meeting he recommended that they contact Jim Hanson and the people in the 32 Planning Department that were guiding the Pinney' s through this project to give the EMC the same 33 presentation that they gave the Planning Board . In Larry ' s opinion, if they had done as he recommended, • 34 some of this may not have taken place . Larry explained that by "this" he was referring to the article in a the Ithaca Journal which stated the Chairperson of the Environment Review Committee sent a letter to 371. the D .E .C . demanding a full scale E. I. S . on the Pinney Marina . Larry stated that George Totman told 37 him that another letter, demanding the same thing, was written and signed with Jim Hanson ' s name, s Y a 2 Town of Lansing Planning Board, February 8, 1999 without his knowledge . George Totman stated that he is not so sure it was without Jim ' s knowledge, but 2 Jim did not write the letter. 3 Larry Sharpsteen stated that the focus has been on the review of the charter of the E .M. C . , going over the • 4 internal rules and regulations, and re-establishing the standing committees to do their work for this year. 5 Larry stated that he changed from the Unique Natural Areas Committee (UNA) to the Environmental 6 Review Committee because the ongoing project the UNA Committee has been working on is changing 7 databases . Larry stated that, in his opinion, it is one of those projects where the process overtakes the 8 product. 9 Sewer- Larry Sharpsteen stated that he has the same thing to report as last time , which is nothing. Larry 10 stated that the one thing he would like to dredge up is the deadline for signing the agreement because he 11 thinks the City of Ithaca is going to successfully kill the project . Brad Griffin stated that he has heard the 12 Mayor speak favorably of the project. Larry Sharpsteen responded that the Mayor is the Executive 13 Officer of the City, but the Mayor docs not control the Common Council . Larry stated that the leader of 14 the Common Council has said that her particular aim in life is to stop the drain of businesses from the 15 city to the Town of Lansing. Brad Griffin stated that the deadline was a discussion of the last meeting 16 and asked Larry if he knew the date . Larry Sharpsteen stated he has not been able to find the deadline 17 date in his notes and has not been able to track down Steve Farkas to get it from him . George Totman 18 stated that one of the things in the background on these dealings is the water. George stated that the City 19 of Ithaca wants Bolton Point water. Larry Sharpsteen responded that is Lansing ' s ace in the whole . 20 Planning Federation- Viola Miller stated that there is nothing to report on at this time . Viola stated she 21 will not be able to attend the March meeting on Tuesday, March 9 . 22 Treasurer- Jackie Baker stated that Sharon Bowman sent her the reports . Jackie Baker reviewed the 23 expenditures for 1998 . Jackie stated that they were about $ 1797 under what had been budgeted . Larry • 24 Sharpsteen added that is the fourth year in a row they have been in the black. 25 Transportation- Lin Davidson stated he had not been able to attend the • last transportation meeting, but 26 from what he gathered, people are still concerned about their neighborhoods . Lin added that the 27 environmental community has taken offense to the North- South Corridor concept. Lin stated that he 28 thinks reasonable heads will prevail in the end . Lin stated that he went to a sort of focus group on the 29 balance of die lake development. He stated that was an interesting situation and he met some new 30 people and had a nice morning chat with them . • 31 Secretary- David Lippert stated he had nothing to report. 32 Lin Davidson explained the article he asked betiassed out at die last meeting. He stated that they had : .. 33 joked about how you can have an agricultural operation in a residential area and not have it smell too 34 bad . Lin stated that it can be done, if people want to do it hard enough . Lin stated his father- in-law sent 35 the article to him and he thought it was interesting. Brad Griffin stated they had wondered what the 36 connection was . Lin replied that he grew up down there and it stunk for about 2 months out of the year 37 and you did not want to even go outside . 38 Review Robert Todd Land on Fenner lid - George Totman explained that the map is of some land Rob 39 Todd bought off the Estate of Casper Fenner. George stated that Rob was thinking of dividing the parcel 40 into three lots and asked George to run it by the Planning Board before he made the formal application to 41 see if they had any qualms about it. George stated that all the lots would be bigger than required. Viola 42 stated that it is not anything that they normally would not accept . Larry Sharpsteen stated that with the 43 current ordinance, there isn ' t anything wrong with it. • 44 Trails: Special Guests - Fernando De Aragon & Jim Schug- Brad Griffin introduced Jim Schug, 45 Supervisor of the Town of Dryden . Brad stated that Jim has been at that post for a few years and during 46 the course of his career, he and the Mayor of the Village got the idea of using the old railroad bed for a . 3 Town o Lansin ! Plannin • Board Februa 8 1999 I trail and utilizing the state property out at Dryden Lake . Brad introduced Fernando De Aragon, the 2 Director of Transportation of the County Planning Department . 111. Jim Schug stated that they are very proud of the trail . Jim stated that the D .B. C . held the rights to some 4 of the railroad tracks , the Village had others, and the Town of Dryden had the rest. Jim Schug stated that 5 they got everybody together to talk about fixing it up and doing something with it. Jim said they had 6 some problems and a couple of people were not too happy. He stated they finished the job and it is very 7 nice . Jim stated that the more people that use it, the safer it is . He stated that it only crosses 4 roads, one 8 being a state highway. The State was very cooperative in putting in signs or whatever. Jim stated that 9 they had to do a lot to get the park signed over to them . He stated that they have a 25 year renewable t0 lease on it. Jim said the linear park has extended all the way into the next county. He stated that a part I t of it is part of the Fingerlakes Trail . Jim Schug explained that he gets 5 or 6 letters a year from people 12 asking where the trail is . The only rule they have is no motor vehicle traffic. 13 Jim Schug stated that they are now working on extending the trail from Dryden to the Village of 14 Freeville . The kids will be able to use it to get to the school without walking on the roads . Jim stated 15 that they were able to do it because everybody wanted to do it and everybody worked together. 16 Brad Griffm asked what the length of the original segment was to the lake and how many individual 17 owners did they have to deal with? Jim Schug replied that it was about 21/4 miles . There were about 6 18 owners . Lin Davidson asked if there were three public entities and three private owners . Jim Schug 19 replied that was correct. 20 Larry Sharpsteen asked about maintenance. Jim Schug replied that the guys that maintain the park, drive 21 down the trail slowly, inspect it, and pick up whatever needs to be picked up. Jim stated that they really 22 don ' t have many people throwing trash around . Jim stated the cost that goes into the linear trail is 20 maybe 3 men per week spread over the summer. 24 Larry Sharpsteen asked about liability. Jim Schug replied that he talked to their insurance carrier and 25 was told that they already had plenty of liability. He stated that their liability does not go up unless there 26 are a certain number of claims . George Totman asked the name of the insurance carrier. Jim stated 27 Bailey was their carrier. George Totman stated that is the same carrier Lansing has. 28 Larry Sharpsteen stated that one of the key concerns here was that the trail was far off the road, not 29 readily observable, but the Dryden trail is almost all out of sight and they have not had any problems 30 with it? Jim Schug stated that they have not had to put any hours on it . He explained that they did have 31 a problem with a kid riding a motorcycle . They had someone talk to the father of the kid they thought 32 was doing it, letting him know that they were having a problem and that if they catch whoever is doing 33 it, they would confiscate the motorcycle and they would not get it back. Jim stated that they have not 34 had a problem with it since. 35 Lb Davidson asked how the liability works on the private land . Lin asked if they have an easement and 36 if the Town is responsible for the liability. Jim Schug stated that is correct . 37 Brad Griffin asked if there were any standards of construction or maintenance that were imposed on 38 them as a result of any grants or anything. Jim stated that there really wasn ' t anything serious. He stated 39 that there were more restrictions for the park . Jim stated that they talked about handicap accessibility of 40 the park. He stated that he had a man in a wheelchair on the park committee and asked him to go down 41 the trail. This man- could go a long way on the trail . They had to fill some ruts , but there was no real 42 push on the trail for handicap accessibility. Brad Griffin asked if he was under any pressure to pave die L.• trail . Jim said they were not under any pressure to pave it, and have no intention to pave or plow it. Jim 44 stated that what they have done is make room for at least 2 or 3 cars to park at each road crossing rather 45 than have them park on the side of the road. 4 Townof Lansing Plannrn � Board. I{ebruary 8 1999 1 Jackie Baker asked how the town feels about it generally. Jim Schug stated that until they had it in and 2 operating, they had some people complaining that the town was wasting their money. 3 Viola Miller stated that it occurs to her that they may be pushing for the wrong place to put a trail . • 4 Perhaps they should think about from the Pinney property to the south. Viola stated there are many 5 places they could think seriously about trails . Larry Sharpsteen stated that he has been talking to Jackie 6 about a trail from this area to Asbury Road which would only be 4 landowners , the Town, the Church, 7 Dewey, and Ron Scacord . 8 Fernando De Aragon stated that this is a park, although a long and narrow one , but should be treated as 9 such . Fernando stated that the trail in Dryden is terrific and would encourage anyone who has not gone to to go to see it . Fernando said the South Hill trail is also very nice and they have more experience 11 working with a greater number of private landowners and may be helpful with that. Fernando stated that 12 they provided barriers for those who wanted barriers and gates for those who wanted access to the trail . 13 They have had no problems with it and have seen more and more neighbors using the trail . Fernando 14 stated that the reviews he has seen in magazines usually come back very positive to having this type of 15 facility in a town . Fernando stated that the biggest challenge comes at the beginning in finding a right- 16 of-way and dealing with the landowners . 17 Jim Schug stated that they are looking at another section where the railroad tracks have been turned over 18 to the landowners . Jim said because you can put a trail anywhere they thought people may be more 19 accepting if it went along the edge of their property rather than straight through it . 20 Fernando De Aragon stated the County Planning Department has made their facility available and have 21 dedicated staff time and resources to communities that want to get trails started. Especially in the early 22 stages , the county has very strong mapping capabilities if you want to investigate particular routes for 23 trails which will identify all the landowners along the route. Jackie Backer asked who they should 24 contact for assistance. Fernando said they could call him and he could keep them informed of the 40 25 different sources of funding that is available . 26 Larry Sharpsteen asked what if a town does not want to go with federal funding? Larry asked Fernando 27 if he has access to not-for-profit organizations . Fernando stated that he does not. Fernando stated that 28 he deals mainly with the transportation funding, but there is recreational finding when die trail is hot 29 seeking to connect a corridor to different land uses . 30 Lin Davidson stated that he thinks a lot of the problems stemmed from the ISTEA money that he was . 31 pretty sure required that they own the land, it had to be paved, and be handicap accessible . Lin stated 32 that they had wanted o bring places together, but not make such a big production out of it. Jim Schug 33 stated the first grant they had was a parks grant, but they have an ISTEA grant new. Lin asked if they 34 had to own the propeay. Jim Schug was told they did not if they could get a perfca hent easement. 35 Fernando De Aragon stated that there are nice alternatives to a large trail, such as a bike trail or a short 36 trail or walkway connecting residential areas to schools or shopping areas. Jim Schug stated that if you 37 can lay plans, you can look to see where a trail can go sensibly. Jim stated that once that gets established 38 and people like it, it would be that much easier to add on to it. Jim stated that if you have a plan of 39 where to put the trail, you can get the funding when it comes available, but if you do not have a plan you 40 are out of luck. 41 Larry Sharpsteen suggested that maybe when the new sewer trunklines are put in, rather than turn the 42 land back over to property owners they could keep those easements and have the trails on top of the 43 sewer lines. Brad Griffin stated that maybe someday they will be able to say they heard it here first. • 44 Larry Sharpsteen asked Jim Schug if he knew what is happening with the funding for the intermunicipal 45 sewer project. Larry asked if Jim knew when the deadline was . Jim Schug stated that they have not 46 given a firm deadline . r. _ . . : .. ., . . . .. _ , 5 Town of Lansing Planning Board, February 8, 1999 1 Brad Griffin thanked Jim Schug and Fernando De Aragon for taking the time to come talk to them. Brad 2 stated that it was much appreciated . IP Proposed Zone Change — George Totman passed out copies of the map showing the proposed change. 4 George explained that the owner has asked that his property be made the same zone as the property 5 across the road (IR). George stated that as the Town Board looked at it, they wondered how they 6 overlooked that. The Town Board asked George to contact the Krizeks to see if they wanted to be 7 included in it . George said they were not against it, but because they are tied up with estate problems 8 they did not want to change anything right now. George stated that, by state law, before the Town Board 9 can change the zoning ordinance they must notify the County Planning Board and the local Planning 10 Board and give them 30 days to respond. Larry Sharpsteen stated that he knows why it did not get put in 11 IR to begin with . It was because they pulled back a bloody stump the last time they tried to change any 12 borders of that industrial area on Warren Road once before, so they deliberately left it as it was . Larry 13 Sharpsteen stated that he would be in complete favor of making the change to IR. Brad Griffin stated 14 that this is an official question from the Town Board, for die Planning Board to answer, in some way, for 15 the record . The board discussed the proposed change. • 16 Brad Griffin stated that the owner has formally applied to the Town Board for a zoning change and in 17 that regard , the Planning Board would have to reply as to why that should or should not be granted . 18 George Totman stated that if the Town Board receives a negative response from the County or Town 19 Planning Boards, they will have to vote on majority plus one before going to public hearing . George 20 stated that as far as he knows , the Town Board has set the public hearing for March 17 , 1999 . Brad 21 Griffin stated that he believes the owner has a right to-go to public hearing. David Lippert stated that he 22 did not think they should have the right to deny the owner the right to go to pu'1Jlic hearing. Viola Miller 23 stated she would not deny his right to go to hearing, but she would have to vote that they do not see a :� particular need for the change and it is a residential area . 25 Brad Griffin stated that they would poll the board. Brad Griffin asked if anyone had a problem with 26 the change. 27 Larry Sharpsteen — No Lin Davidson — No 28 Viola Miller — Yes David Lippert — No 29 Jackie Baker — No Brad Griffin — No 30 Larry Sharpsteen stated that he thinks in the future if people want to make changes in the zones, they 31 should put all the changes in a basket and do it one time , like once a year. Larry stated that if the Town 32 Board made it a rule that they: were only going to make changes once a year, they could stick by it. 33 Lin Davidson stated that there. are a number of typographical errors in the zoning ordinance. Lin 34 suggested that the majority of the typos could be changed in the same public hearing as this zoning 35 change. Viola Miller stated that if they hold a public hearing, she would make a motion to change the 36 20 ' minimum road frontage in RA . 37 OTHER BUSINESS 38 Brad Griffin stated that George Totman had asked him to sign some maps of a subdivision they had 39 approved at a subsequent meeting. Brad stated that it was for the Tidd property. Brad signed the survey 1 40 maps . 41 Larry Sharpsteen moved to adjourn at 9 : 56 PM . David Lippert seconded . VOTE ALL IN FAVOR ; ze MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY . 43 The next meeting is scheduled for March 8, 1999. 44 Submitted by Robin Cornell .