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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 1987-05-28 TOM OF ITHACA SPECIAL BOARD MEETING May 28 , 1987 At a Special Meeting of the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca , Tompkins County , New York , held at the Town Offices at 126 East Seneca Street , Ithaca , New York , at 1 : 00 P .M . , on the 28th day of May , 1987 , there were : . PRESENT . Noel Desch , Supervisor Henry McPeak , Councilman Marc Cramer , Councilman Gloria Howell , Councilwoman Robert Bartholf , Councilman Patricia Leary , Councilwoman ABSENT : Shirley Raffensperger , Councilwoman ALSO PRESENT : John Barney , Town Attorney Robert Flumerfelt , Town Engineer PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Supervisor led the assemblage in the Pledge of Allegiance . COVENANTS AND BY-LAWS FOR CAYUGA VISTA Supervisor Desch stated that although Mr . Mazza was not here as he promised , he had participated with Mr . Barney in a thorough review of the documents including the rental and occupancy restrictions as approved by the Board a year or so ago . He noted for the record , that the Board had toured the Cayuga Vista facility on May 19 and discussed the Covenants and By-Laws . No formal action was taken at that time . Town Attorney Barney stated that he received the materials from Mr . Mazza , late yesterday . He went on to say that he sent a letter to Mr . Mazza indicating the additions that were crucial from the Town ' s standpoint and that those have been been incorporated in the Covenants and By-Law . He stated that the first set of them come under Article 17 of the Covenants which is on page 117 starting from paragraph " i " through "m" . The Town Attorney noted that this was language which was verbatim to what he had suggested which in turn was the language which the Town Board had adopted a year to two ago . He went on to say that Article 20 was added , "Amendments " which provides basically that "No amendment or alteration of this Declaration shall be effective or be permitted unless and until approved by the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca and in the • "Enforcement " section a sentence was added which reads "The Town of Ithaca shall also have the power to enforce the aforesaid but is not obligated to do so" . He stated that again , this was language that he had suggested to Mr . Mazza . The Town Attorney continued noting that in the By-Laws , under "Assessments " , Article 6 , a new paragraph was added limiting the increase in any assessment to a 15 % increase unless 2 / 3 of the non-sponsor owned unit holders vote in favor of the increase . Town Board 2 May 28 , 1987 Town Attorney Barney stated that he had added , under Article 10 , "Amendments " the sentence that "Any amendments to these by-laws shall not be effective unless and until approved by the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca" . Also , under Article 13 , "Enforcement " a sentence giving the Town the right but not the obligation to enforce the requirements of the By-Laws . The Town Attorney went on to say that in addition to those changes there were several odds and ends kinds of changes , clarification changes that were made that he and Mr . Mazza had talked about . He noted at couple of changes that he had suggested that were not made . He noted that he was not terribly concerned about them but wished to bring them to the Board attention , a couple of blanks that need to be filled in . On page 140 , he noted this sets up a kind of interesting mechanism where the Board of Managers make contracts on behalf of the unit owners but the Board of Managers itself are not really responsible for those contracts unless they are made with local misconduct . He noted that he had suggested to Mr . Mazza that this was a fairly rigorous kind of a situation . He went on to say that he felt the Attorney General would take care of this , that they will not pass it in this form . He stated that basically it means if he goes up there and buys a unit , I ' m delegating to the Board of Managers the ability to contract and if they contract out the construction of a fifty million dollar piece of improvment , a meeting hall or sanething like that , and then there is not enough money in the assessements to pay for it , I as a unit owner are bound by that contract and must come up with my share of money for the contract . So , he stated that he had suggested that the liability be limited to just what a unit owner had invested in the property , but Mr . Mazza chose not to change this . He stated that he did not think the Town should get involved , but it would bother him as a potential owner . The Attorney General is in the business of protecting the consumer where the Town of Ithaca is more involved in the impact on the Town and the zoning and density and what needs to be in the Covenants and By-Law to protected these sorts of things . Councilman McPeak asked , is this whole thing in its entirety called a Master Deed? Town Attorney Barney replied no . The first part of it is called a declaration which is recorded in the County Clerk ' s Office and is the declaration by which the condcminium is its self formed and that remains in place unless its amended or revoked and that takes an 80 % vote of all the owners . Councilman McPeak remarked , then there is another docL men t that is called a Master Deed? Town Attorney Barney replied no . There is a separate item which is a deed which will have in it , among other things , the words that the deed is subject to the Declaration and Covenants . The Town Attorney went on to say that the other area he had suggested a change in was the insurance . The way it is structured • right now the insurance amount is blank . The Board of Managers can set this amount . Again , from the Town of Ithaca ' s standpoint this is not a problem . Also , Mr . Mazza limits the people who can hold a mortgage to basically commercial financial institutions , agencies Of the state government , federal government or the seller . The Town Attorney stated that if he wanted to go buy one of these units and someone was willing to loan him the money he could not buy a unit , using someone elses money , unless it was the seller . He went on to say that he did not understand why it was there as it has sane impact if you are a student , in other words if a student wants Town Board 3 May 28 , 1987 to live there for four years and borrow the money to buy a unit from a parent , he can ' t do it . Councilwoman Howell added , a parent could buy it . Town Attorney Barney replied , yes a parent could buy it but then you have a question of occupancy because they have to live there after a year . But this is Mr . Mazza ' s business . The Town Attorney stated that his recommendation would be to approve the Covenants and By-Law as they were modified and presented today . They include the rental and occupancy restrictions . • RESOLUTION N0 , 119 Motion by Councilman McPeak , seconded by Councilwoman Howell , RESOLVED , that the Town Board of the Town of Ithaca hereby accept the Covenants and By-Laws for Cayuga Vista as modified and presented in final form to the Board . (Desch , McPeak , Cramer , Howell , Bartholf and Leary voting Aye . Nays - none) . A copy of the approved documents is appended to the original minutes . ADJOURNMENT The meeting was duly adjourned . Town Clerk •