Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-02-14 r- r I 2 OWflO sin Monday, February 14, 2000 ; 7 : 30 PM PLANNING BOARD 2 PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS 5 (* Noma onmelio 6 * Brad Griffin, Chair Jac'oba Baker 7 * Larry Sharpsteen * Lin Davidson Viola Miller • David Hatfield 9 s Gregg Travis 10 t I * laud Shattuck , Town Councilman 12 • George Tatman , Zoning and Code ldnforcement Officer 13 PUB100 PRESENT 14 IvlattShulman � Tr �+ 15 GENERAL BUSINESS S 16 Brad Griffin called the meeting to order at 7 : 35 PM , 17 Approval of Minutes of MOM- Page 3, Line 9 . . , Brad Brifiin corrected . _ _ ha sufficient . , hairy Sharpsteen I8 motioned to accept the minutes as amended. Gregg Travis seconded . VOTE : ALL IN FAVOR, MOTION 14 CARRIED .Ut4ANIMOLISLY, S 21 Brad Griffin stated that the first meeting next month will be Ivlarcd 13 and heill be in .Ancone , .Lin .Davidson 22 entered at 7 : 39 PIM Brad stated that the homework assignment, as it were, is to look at the existing Zoning 23 Ordinance thrdcles I through 0 to look at potential corrections, both editorial and substantive , 24 Brad Griffin asked if anyone brought any other corrections to the Comprehensive Plan this evening . No one 25 responded _ Gregg Travis asked that there would be some read for the Town Board to be able to see the changes 26 clearly . hand Sharpsteen moved that the staff prepare the Comprehensive Plan as corrected with x sufficient 27 'number of copies to allow the Town Board to make review and comments . Lin Davidson seconded. OTE ; 28 ALL IN FAVOR. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY ,r1MOUJSLY , Brad Griffin stated that it should be forwarded to 24 the Town .Board by the end of the month for their review during the month of March . 50 Brad Griffin stated that there will be a public hearing on Thursday, February 17 , 9000, concerning the B [ tenschott property at 17 Ridge Road , Brad added that at He last meeting Bud Shattuck had indicated that the 32 Lown Board would be interested in thoughts by the Planning Board as to what the options might be for that 33 property . Brad Griffin stated that if that measure proceeds the Town would move to acquire title to that property, 34 clean it up , then be the owner of that property_ Brad stated that if he remembers the history of that property, it 32 used 10 belong to the fire district, Larry Sharpsteen agreed arid stated that before Mr. Ottenschott owned it, it 36 was never on the tan roles to begin with, however, as lie understands it, after the clean up. the Town does intend 37 to find a buyer for it and put it back on the tan rolls. Bud Shattuck stated that he does not think the 'down Board 38 has any intentions of becoming property owners , Bud stated that their goal is to clean up the junkyard and make 34 it ready for someone else to do something good with , Larry stated that he would feel much more comfortable if 40 there 'we something as close to saying it was cast in stone as they can get because the; have a history of 441rni unoccupied property owned by the Toni subject to turning up with stripes and bases on id Bud Shattuck stated 4l_ fleet they will not put anything in stone for them , but their intention really is to clean up the j wikyard to make the 43 town seem more viable, not to be a long term landowner of that properly . Brad Giffin stated his dist reaction 24 when Bud raised the subject was that the property is already zoned and an incoming owner would know what 11 r-- , 2 Tower of Lemsink Planning Board, Fehrnrrr c 14, 1999 1 they are dealing with and Brad would suspect economics would drive the situation at that anoint- George Tatman ? stated that what he dee gotten Tom listening to the Tavm Board and 1:1e Town Attorney: it has been made new 3 clear to everyone that the Town does not want to become property owners and the quicker they can get it back 4 into the ]iands of an individual property owner is the 'Town ' s goal . 5 Man Shulman stated i:het presuming the D . E.C. Phase I :Environmental study, rinds no serious contamination, and 6 the lthrrsn goes ahead with this, does anyone know what the estimated clean up costs would be. George Tatman 7 stated that it hasn ' t gone to bid yet, but they have been in contact with some people , Mart asked if they would 8 feel tricorn ior' eble stating what the Cork of ]ugh kind lean estimates are, George Gotman stated ' hat he had no 9 idea , Bud Shattuck stated that there is nothing like that and it is important to sememher that there is still 10 1 i [ igetian going on and they are rcesh :ng at it both ways , They arc still looking at forcing hum to do what he I I needs to do to clean it up and until the court says it is no longer his, they are looking at it from both sides- Bed 12 Shattuck stated i [ is still Mr . Ottenschotl:' s property. Brad Griffin stated that Matt ' s question is likely ' o be raised 13 al the public hearing on Thursday eight. Bud Shattuck responded that his best answer to that would be that the 14 Town Beard went into this knowing there might be additional costs which is wdy what they offered is couch 15 lower than the value of the properly , 'Bud stated that there are some materials still there that might offer some lb monetary value to come back in to help offset the cost of clean up . Larry Sharpsteen agreed . 17 Bud Shattuck stated that the Town Board would appreciate anyone from the Planning Board corning to the 18 meeting .For both support or for any additional information they could provide , Bud stated that it is going to be 19 held et the Lansing + il le hire Halt . 21 Brad Griffin stated that another km in which Be Town Board presses them in an advisory roll has to do with the 22 Old Town Hall . Brad stated that a committee has been established to look at the optaens on that. Jahn Howell is 23 the 'Chairman of the camannittee, Larry Sharpsteen and brad Griffin are also on that committee . Larry Shs prsteen 24 stated that the meeting on that is next Monday at 7 : O0 PM, Larry stated he thinks it would be great if they could 25 L'incl a way to utilize it for Be community without east leg them an arm and a leg . Larry explained that there are 1111 ed many commercial uses that are net honed by the ADA , and there is nothing that says the 7 'nwn can not lease ii. .27 out he commercial enterprise and not have to go through the expense of inching it A . D. A . compliant and still save Pb the building. Bud Shattuck stated that as far as the A . D . A . it would bee flan-eetah'ab ] e building. Bud stated that 29 if there was an entrance From another vendor or anything , it would have to be A.D .A. cuingtie nt . 'Bud Shattuck 311 stated that he thinks die committee needs to meet- Bud slated aha' they were looking to have a very diverse group 31 of people on that committee, people of different ales and views on whether the building should he saved or not. 32Bud stated that they are looking to have the decision made this year. 33 34 ELECTION OF OFFICERS 35 Larry Sharpsteen stated that the slate that was nominated was as follows ; 36 Chairman — Brad Griffin 32 Vice Chairman — Lin Davidson 38 Secretary — Gregg Travis 39 Tree cc rem — Jackie .Baker Id Larry Sharpsteen stated that unless there are any nominations from the membership in general he would move 41 that the Secretary cast one ballot in favor of the slate presented. Tin 'Davidson seconded . VOTE : ALL IN 42 FAVOR.. MOTION CARRIED . The Secretary cast one ballot , 13 Committee Reports 44 Sewer- .Larry Sharpsteen stated that there has been no 'word yet on the sewer other than the fact, the way he reads 11 it, they ere saying 'Ada gives up first" as far as who signs the sn'aier agreement or who signs the sewer4111. 46 edreement . 417 Idhh : - i-.arry Sharpsteen stated he has the minutes of die meeting before last- Larry Sharpsteen stated that he ars 48 for submittal to the Town Board a list of Year 2000 committees and liaison positions . Larry stated they are - T. f . 3 Twort oLLansiog Clanninz Board, February h4. 1999 1 considering Cernell ' e response to the EMVMC 's later regarding Cornell ' e nuclear containment site on Warren Road, 2 Larry stated Cat the [MC responded to Conte11 ' s proposal with several questions including where they got the 0 model to base the weighing of the effectiveness of the sites. The answer was that they were using a standard ETA model WCeh makes it hard for anyone to argue with . Larry Sharpsteen stated that the main consideration in 5 the view of the EMC was that Cornell selected the cheapest way out and not the way out that was going to 6 provide the maximum protection For the people for the longest period of tune , which also wasn' t the most 7 expensive way, it seer high middle . Larry Sharpsteen stated the University dict respond to the list and the next 8 round is going to be taken up et the next Environmental Review Committee meeting for resolution to the ELIC . 9 The responses to all the questions except why they chose what they chose , the answers are straight forward with a 10 good foundation; you could logically follow the reasoning, except they have not changed their mind about using I I the cheapest method and the hMC has not changed their minds about when you are dealing with radiation and the 12 exposure to drinking water you can not really mess around arid choose the cheapest way out, Larry Sharpsteen 13 stated that there are a couple methods that could be economical , which according to the university were not even It considered . Brad Grifin asked if those communications went directly from the EMC to Cornell. Larry i5 Sharpsteen replied that the questions went directly from the [ MIC to Cornell with copies to the County Board and 16 the resolutions went through the County Board, Brad Griffin stated that if the EMC is and advisory group, he 17 would think that they would do it through the County Board , Lam' Sharpsteen stated that the problem was the 18 CLIC was given it reith a deadline to respond and the County Board was not going to meet eohl after the deadline 19 had expired so they responded with it clearly labeled as a response front an advisory committee to an advisory 20 board and that everything has been or will be forwarded through the channels as reel ]. . 71 laud Shattuck. stated that he read what Comell ' s response was on containing that in a wrap . Bud stated that there 2? was a leak that happened ii,vhen someone dug a liven . Bud stated that it went into an aquifer that went into Pb someone ' s home a ways away from it . Bud asked ifCornell thought that when they stopped using that, that it 24 stopped that leak , Lewy Sharpsteen stated that the way Cornell structured their report was like since there mere 25 only isolated instances, they are not really measurable , aLarry Sharpsteen stated that the RMC discussed the review of the draft EIS for the Southwest Park , Lary added that they have discussed the fact that there is an ongoing cleanup covered by the same sort of agreement that DEC 28 signs with a property owner like they did with Colonial Cleaners , Larry stated that they don't assign. any blame. 29 they just say it is here and we are going to clean it up . .Larry stated that the DEC is going to share the cost, it is 30 located down where the old Star Oil was and apparently there is a substantial spill on the edge of the property. 31 Barry Sharpsteen stated that the committee that completed the Unique Natural yeas ( UNA) document is going to 32 be available and ha would like to know if it would be the pleasure of the board for Larry to get a elate from them 33 to give lire planning Board a presentation on the document and its use give everyone the nickel course en use of 34 the relerence tables , Brad Griffin asked if the April meeting would be possible . Larry Sharpsteen replied that he 35 will check- The meeting will be on April IQ, 2000 , Brad Griffin asked if it was understood that there would be 36 no strings attached, that the table oheontents would be public in.tonnatioi3 . Larry responded that there are still 32 some that are not very happy about that. Larry stated them is the typical hedging on horn they are going to 38 structure the charges for it. Larry added that it is such an expensive document to produce that it is fair to cover 39 printing costs. Larry stated that everyone is aware that it is a public deemoant and will be treated as suck, Bud LID Shattuck sated that Larry had said at a previous meeting that they Would just receive that portion that pertained el to Lansing. Carry Sharpsteen replied that the decision has not been made by the County planning Department , 42 but that he made the case at the meeting that Lansing, Groton and Dryden are all Contiguous and it would be 43 really mice if they were not stepping en someone else ' s feet when considering development so it would be useful 44 for the municipalities to have the complete document. 45Larry stated that another thing that was brought up for discussion was whether to install solar panels on the new 46 library , Larry stated a committee was set up to review that The initial response was positive . Parry stated that 47 he thinks the use of those on the library is the only good idea about the whole idea of moving the library, George eisk Tolman stated that the story he got was that it would cost and extra $50 ,660-$60 ,ggp to Flo that and that the he' architect has assured the County they could get that cost back within 25 years- Larry bdsysrteen stated there is SD no question about it- George responded that the library is only being looked at as a 20 year project so his 51 question would be why would you spend $60 ,000 ifyou aren ' t going to get it back for 25 yrears . Larry - � � l 4 Torn of Lansing Awning ng Board, February 14. / 494 Sharpsteen stated that the actual payback is 15 years and the technology, even if obsolescent is stillefficient, 2 Larry stated that the company that has the proposal in has about 40% of the cost defrayed through a Federal grant. 3 Larry stated that it is very low maintenance and even in this arca has a lot of possibilities, Larry stated that what 4 the diC is going to do is look into the figures that they have to see if it is really going to produce that amount of 5 electricity . harry added that the figures they have heard from the company diet is proposing it is that over the life 6 of the building, in savings and in potential sales of excess electricity to common carriers could mean about $ 1 , 3 7 million. Larry stated that it would be unique in the northeast and could establish some tourism interest. Bud 8 Shattuck asked if something l ike: that could be gut on top of a Target store . Larry Sharpsteen replied that you 9 could put it on any building that has a lot of roof space. Lin Davidson asked if the weight off the arrays would 10 need more reinforcement underneath them . Larry stated that it ,Would depend. no how much you are .loading up there. harry added that if you design it in from the start the cost should be relatively small . Gregg Travis stated 12 that there are other conservation methods that could get the payback more quickly . Tony bhecysteen agreed . IS Brad Griffin sated there was something on the radio about purchasing electric buses for TC.dT that cost around 14 half a mill ion dollars . Brad stated that it makes you wonder what the payback on something like that would be. 15 Larry Sharpsteen stated that for anyone [bat has a chance to read the draft E.I. S, for the Southwest Park., there is a I6 section that is, in his opinion, nothing less than en economic declaration of war on the Toxons of Ulysses, Dryden, 17 Ithaca and Lansing h4 the City of Ithaca. Larry added that it specifically states that the plan is to take $30 million 18 a year in sales avenue from what they call the Triphammer Corridor and relocate Haat sales revenue in the 19 Southwest Park . Bud Shattuck stated that it is something like that, but he thinks (hey are also trying to draw 20 some of the traffic hack in from the hiinira area . Bud stated that there is a large group of people that go right by 21 where that area could be put together on their way to tilerira. Larry Sharpsteen stated that is over told above what 22 they intend to draw from the ' l'riphaaomer Corridor. Larry stated he would also submit that it is not going to draw 23 anything from Elmira or Auburn because who in their right mind is going to go down there anti pay 4% in sales 24 tax that they do not have to pay in their own counties of Chemeuig or Cayuga. Buri Shattuck stated the County 25 Board has instituted thy start of revenue sharing talks. Bud stated there are a lot of different ways the County is 26 looking at it presumably to hell) save loss of structure from the County salt and from the City itself Larry • 27 Sharpsteen stated that heing the cyntcei sort , he would note that previously when the municipalities proposed 28 revenue sharing when the city had the lien ' s share of the revenue to share they did not want any hen chit , Larry 29 stated that now that the city is on the low end of the teeter totter, and the surrounding mtuucipcl.ities ere bringing fit in the lion ' s share of the revenues, they are all for revenue sharing. Brad Gri.fhe stared that the Town Supeniisor 31 is currently in discussions on that very subject and Brad hoped Larry had shared those thoughts with Steve 32 Farkas- Larry Sharpsteen responded that both be and Steve are very much on the same line . 33 Town hoard Liaison- Bud Shattuck stated that he read the article in the paper several times before seeing the part 32 at the top about using the land for a planned Town Center. Bed explained that at that meeting, Bich John had put 35 out a short seal Ion about the historical part of die property, and the ver last line says "with the goals of the 36 Comprehensive Plan " and he thinks Victoria sort of read that in about using that property es part of the Town 37 Center. Rud stated that as ire said at the last himodng Board meeting, the Town Board rsrwrted the Planning 38 Board to look at the Town Center as being everything you could see if you stood on top of this building and if 30 there was nothing else in the way . Sud stated that they were looking at how it would all fit together and how it is 40 going to look. rather than whether there is going to de a building here or there . had stated that when they talk 41 about the Town Center they are envisioning things es a whole- George Tatman stated that he thinks people have 42 different concepts of a Town Center, some people see it as a nice green way and nice park , others think of it as a as place where merchandise is being bought and sold and other businesses 'flaking a town thrive - George explained 44 that both he and Steve Farkas have been talking to people around town and asking questions to get any comments 45 people may have on the article that was an the paper. George suited that tine comments have been very positive. 46Brad Griffin stated that now that a zoning is in place , the town is on the verge of saying they do not want a 47 junkyard in the center of the town , and that property gets cleaned up, Brad would be very optimistic about 48 economics driving that }mint. Larry Sharpsteen stated that there is enough land there, it is located well and it f, 49 would be the perfect location for a Wilson Farms or something like drat . 50 • 5 Town of Lansing Planning Board, &brzrary 14. 1999 1 Discussion on a Joint Meeting between the Town Board and the Planning Board - Bud Shattuck stated that the 2 joint meeting they had scheduled that got snowed out has been tentatively rescheduled for Thursday, March 2, 2000 . Bud stated the Town Board would like to meet to go over these same sort of ideas and talk about what the Planning Board ' s roles would be as opposed to what the roles of some of the subgroups are. Bud Shattuck stated 5 that the meeting would be held at the Town Hall , that it would be a working meeting but would be open for 6 people to come and listen. The meeting was set for 7 : 00 PM . 7 Discussion on Portland Point - Bud Shattuck stated that he talked to Joyce about what the concerns of the EMC 8 were about that property. Bud stated there were some concerns about some storage of oil or gasoline that was up 9 higher than the plant, but she also talked about an area above that was a fossil area of some sort where people 10 have been coming from all areas around the world to see . Bud stated that he did not know about that. Larry 1 ] Sharpsteen and Lin Davidson explained where it was located . Bud Shattuck stated that his thoughts were that if 12 there was a possibility of getting federal money, that is an area that could certainly be flushed up . Bud stated that 13 he brought that up before the Chamber of Commerce of Tompkins County. Bud stated that he told them there are 14 several spots in Lansing that were either going to be developed or turned into park land that could utilize that 15 money. Larry Sharpsteen stated that not only that area , but also die area called the Gulf Creek Gorge that goes up 16 past the Cayuga Lake Highlands development and the gorge that goes up Dug Road in Ludlowville are areas that 17 have been real resources for fossils. 18 Bud Shattuck stated that he looks at it two fold, if there is an area that might contain something like that and that 19 has the possibility of being developed , is there some way to market that as part of a resource of Lansing. Bud 20 stated that as you bring sewer in, you plan where it is going to go and they arc possibly going to build trails over 21 the top of it. 22 Gregg Travis asked if someone is going to develop an agenda for the joint meeting. Bud Shattuck stated that they 23 could do that. Larry Sharpsteen agreed it would give them some place to start. George Totman stated that he 24 will not be able to be at that meeting . George stated that he normally saves Monday nights for Planning Board 25 meetings in Lansing, and he has a very important meeting that night so he will not be able to make it. CIBud Shattuck stated he would like to remind everyone about the census starting April 1 , 2000 . Bud stated that 27 everyone should be talking to people making them comfortable with it and if anyone has any questions about the 28 census , they could call him , George Totman , Frank Proto, or Matt Shulman . Bud stated that for the last census, 29 68 % of the people in Lansing turned their stuff in the first time , which means that 32% had to be redone. Bud 30 stated that goal is to be at least 5% higher than that of 1990, which would be 73 % . Bud Shattuck stated that they 31 have started testing for enumerators at the Community Center on Thursday nights and they will be testing at the 32 Town Hall every other Saturday. 33 Matt Shulman asked if Bud Shattuck had been in touch with the Village of Lansing because at the last Village 34 board meeting he attended . Don Hartill was talking about some incredible problems they are having with getting 35 correct addresses . Bud Shattuck responded that he and George Totman will take care of that . 36 37 Privilege of the Floor 38 Larry Sharpsteen stated that he has an item that will have a direct affect on the quality of life in the Town and in 39 the County as a whole with regard to tax structuring and sale of land for strip development and long teen land use 40 with regard to conservation and appropriate maintaining of viable farmland and open space. Larry stated that 41 Matt Shulman has done a good deal of research on it and has volunteered to explain what is going on as it is 42 presented in the Year 2000 Revaluation Summary Analysis Report from the Division of Assessment; hopefully 43 for sonic future action on the Planning Board ' s part. Larry added that there has been some very basic structural 44 changes . 45 Matt Shulman stated that he is speaking as a resident, not as someone from the newspaper. Matt explained that at 4fak the last Town Board meeting Steve Whicher gave a presentation of the affects of the Year 2000 Revaluation on 4W the Town of Lansing. Mau stated the documents Steve gave out had only data on countywide summaries plus the 48 Town of Lansing. Matt stated that to his recollection , what Steve said was that the good news was that the tax 49 rate is going down , the explanation of the reason the tax rate is going down is that the tax base has increased . 6 Town of Lansing Planning Board, Febniary 14, 19.9 1 Matt stated that when he got home and started looking into the document, he found more than the heard at the 2 meeting. Matt Shulman referred to page 6 of the document and explained the chart. Matt stated that the real key 3 to his eye is that residential ' s share of the difference is a —3 2/3 % and vacant land is up nearly 22% . Matt • 4 Shulman stated that in writing his article on the revaluation, he was really torn because having seen this he 5 wanted to express some feelings, but he did not feel he could do that in a news article. Matt stated he called 6 Steve Whicher. Steve told him not to worry about the agricultural increase because that is before the exemptions 7 and after the farmers have the exemptions, there won 't be much impact on them. The increase in vacant land is 8 up 30 . 43 % and constitutes nearly 22 % of the growth . Steve told Mau that they have not revalued vacant land in 9 10 years where they have revalued residential in the last 4 years so it is a much bigger jump . Matt responded that 10 if they were revaluing land near the airport or in a commercial enterprise and not affecting rural areas, he could 11 understand that. Matt stated that he was not sure he understood everything Steve Whicher said . Mau stated that 12 he understood Steve to have said that they use comparable sales . Matt stated when someone sells a house, the 13 use stays the same, but when someone sells vacant land , the use changes because people buy vacant land to build 14 on . Matt stated if you apply comparable sales to say that a 3 -acre lot is worth 18 ,000 and use that as the basis i ;Jr 15 increasing for other people ' s vacant land that may not he changing use, then Matt sees a problem with it. Mau 16 Shulman stated that it is not just happening in Lansing. Matt stated he received a call from Don Barber, 17 Supervisor of Caroline, and the ratio between the two towns is consistent. Mat stated that if you look at the 18 whole county you will see the same thing. Matt stated his instinct is that vacant land is being reassessed on the 19 basis of comparable sales where the land use is changing . Matt stated that Don Barber told him Steve 1s'hic.her 20 said his hands are tied because by state law he has to go by "highest and best use" and has to use comparable 21 sales for that. Matt Shulman stated that he has prepared a tentative statement to read to the County Board . Brad 22 Griffin asked if Matt ' s main concern is the methods of appraisal . Matt replied that is was. Brad Griffin stated 23 that private appraisers and those in government are driven by both practice and law as well as professional 24 standards. 25 26 Larry Sharpsteen motioned to adjourn the meeting at 9 : 55 PM. Lin Davidson seconded . VOTE : ALL IN • 27 FAVOR. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. 28 Submitted by Robin Cornell .