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Home My WebLink AboutCOC Minutes 2013-09-18 1 CODES AND ORDINANCES COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES September 18, 2013 Members Present: Bill Goodman, Pat Leary, Eric Levine, Fred Wilcox, Eva Hoffmann, Bill King. Others Present: Susan Brock, Attorney for the Town; Susan Ritter, Director of Planning; Bruce Bates, Director of Code Enforcement; Chris Balestra, Planner Chair Bill Goodman called the meeting to order at 6:34 pm. Agenda Item No. 1 - Member Comments/Concerns (decision on moving the COC meetings to the second Wednesday of the month for 2014): Chair Goodman mentioned that the Zoning Board requested the Town Board take a look at non- conforming structures in the Zoning Code. The Town Board will likely refer this to the COC for review in the future. Fred Wilcox thanked the Conservation Board for the great work they did on the Conservation Zone for Southwest Glens and Creeks. The COC Committee voted to move the 2014 COC meetings to the second Wednesday of the month. Agenda Item No. 2 – Approval of Minutes from July 17, 2013 and August 21, 2013 meetings: July 17, 2013 minutes: Eva moved and Pat seconded the motion to approve the minutes as amended, all in favor. Bill K. and Eric abstained. August 21, 2013 minutes: Eric moved and Pat seconded the motion to approve the minutes as amended, all in favor. Agenda Item No. 3 – Discussion of Memorandum and Draft Regulations from Bill Goodman, dated September 11, 2013, regarding outdoor wood burning: Chair Goodman reported on his meeting with Cynthia Brock (City of Ithaca, Common Council, First Ward) regarding the City of Ithaca’s sub-committee meeting on woodstoves and outdoor wood boilers. The sub-committee did not recommend anything regarding woodstoves but recommended the City ban outdoor wood boilers. Nothing was recommended with regards to campfires or open burning. The Committee reviewed Chair Goodman’s draft language in a memo titled “Regulating Outdoor Wood Burning,” dated September 11, 2013. Bill G. noted that under the NYSDEC regulations, open burning is prohibited except for campfires less than 3 feet in height and 4 feet in length, width or diameter. Small cooking fires and ceremonial fires are allowed, but fires cannot be left unattended and must be fully extinguished. Further, only charcoal, clean untreated or unpainted wood can be burned according to the NYSDEC law. However, the law doesn’t have any type of setbacks other than the setbacks in the Fire Code. In the example that Mr. Estabrook provided from Bristol, WI, the required setback for outdoor wood burning apparatus was 200 feet. By comparison, the NYSDEC setback for outdoor wood boilers is 100-feet from the adjacent property line. 2 Chair Goodman asked the Committee for their thoughts and a long discussion followed. One Committee member had a concern regarding the requirement to have setbacks from a residential structure on an adjacent parcel. The member felt that it would be easier to measure setbacks from an adjacent property line, rather than adjacent structures and it might result in a larger setback. The Committee seemed to support this idea and went on to discuss suitable setback numbers. The main suggestion was 50 feet from the property line of a neighboring parcel and 100 feet from any habitable structure on any neighboring parcel. Bruce stressed the need for a definition of “open burning.” He stated the NYS Fire Code was similar to the NYSDEC where it relates to open burning and recreational fires. Bruce suggested that if the Town wanted to be more stringent than the NYSDEC, then we might need approval from the NYS Fire Code. The Committee then went on to discuss which Zones the law should apply to, and whether outdoor wood boilers should be banned altogether. The COC decided that perhaps they wouldn’t outright ban outdoor wood boilers, but that the Town might restrict them to certain Zones. One suggestion was allow to them in the Agricultural and Conservation Zones with restrictions (e.g. seasonally and with large distance separations). Susan Brock had a general question regarding these laws, wondering if they would be in their own stand-alone chapter in the Town Code. Chair Goodman suggested that they might be, basing it on the public health, safety, welfare, and nuisance purpose and, further suggestion that we could refer to Zoning Districts, if we decide to restrict certain uses in certain Zones. Susan Brock added that we’d need to specify penalties, enforcement and include a definition for outdoor wood boilers. She also inquired as to whether we’d want to grandfather in any existing outdoor wood boilers or require some kind of amortization period to phase them out after a certain amount of time. The Committee made no final decisions at this point. Chair Goodman will draft another updated law for the next COC meeting. The Committee will continue their discussion on outdoor wood boilers then. Agenda Item No. 4 – Continued Discussion of Off-Premise Signs and Continued Review of New and Improved Draft Sign Law, Draft Dated September 18, 2013: Chris noted that, since the Committee seemed happy with the new simplified structure at the last meeting, she and Susan Brock provided an expanded draft law that included revised regulations pertaining to the Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Zoning Districts. Reading through the minutes from the last meeting, one Committee member had desired to talk about off-premises signs as well as the new sections. Susan Brock mentioned that she found off-premise language from a NYS municipality that’s been litigated and upheld by the courts. Susan said that our law could revise the off-premise sign definition to read “a sign which directs attention to a business, commodity, service, entertainment or attraction sold, offered or existing elsewhere than upon the same lot where such a sign, is displayed.” This would not cover sale events like the St. Catherine rug sale but would allow signs for such things like the AIDS Ride for Life. Chair Goodman added that we could then basically prohibit off-premise signs, but it would not apply to some events. The Committee 3 supported this idea, so Susan and Chris will work on adding that language to the law in a future draft for the Committee to consider. Moving on, the Committee reviewed the red-line version of the draft Sign Law and made the following changes and comments: Page 2, Chapter 221-3.A. Interpretation, highlighted in yellow: Keep this as is until the Committee decides to re-word this section. Page 2, Chapter 221-4 Prohibited signs and displays: • D: After a long discussion on portable signs, the COC decided to delete “D”. • G: Chris stated: “This particular item is identical to what our existing law says; there’s no change to it”. The Committee decided to leave as is for now. Page 3, I. Copy-change signs: Chris mentioned there is a proposal the Committee will see as the Committee gets further into the law to permit copy-change signs with restrictions in the Ag Zone, Commercial and Industrial Zones. The COC Committee will discuss at a later time. • J: Chris mentioned this was a ‘catch all’ and the Committee should discuss at a later time. Page 3, Chapter 221-5 Exempt Signs: • A: Change wording to “public safety and public emergency signs.” • B: After a small discussion, the COC decided to leave as is. Page 3, Chapter 221-6 Signs requiring permits: Does the COC want to require permits for any Commercial or Industrial signs, regardless of the size? Chair Goodman requested to hold that question until the Committee reviews the Commercial and Industrial section. Chapter 221-7, Criteria applying to signs in all zoning districts: • Signs shall not: (2): After a long discussion, the Committee decided to change the wording to “be attached to utility poles, bridges, safety traffic, or street identification signs.” • B. Any noncommercial copy may be substituted…: Susan Brock explained to the Committee that this was called a “substitution clause.” Because the law was so content neutral. She wasn’t sure if the clause was needed but recommended that we leave it in. The COC was fine with that idea. Page 3, Chapter 221-8 Residential Zoning Districts: • A: Change to “freestanding, wall, projecting, and awning signs…” delete canopy. • B: Question to the Committee regarding illumination requirements. Goodman requested to review this at a later time. Page 4, E. (1), Temporary campaign signs. Susan expressed to the Committee that she thought this section should either say that campaign signs were not subject to an aggregate limit, or that the aggregate limit should be larger than for the other sections. Discussion followed. The COC Committee decided to delete the section on temporary campaign signs completely and let them be part of the overall aggregate limit of signs in the section. 4 The Committee left off on page 4, E and will continue from there at the next COC meeting. Agenda Item No. 5 – Other Business: None. Next meeting date tentatively scheduled for October 16, 2013: • Discussion of Materials Related to Outdoor Wood Boilers and Outdoor Wood Burning: - Dutchess County Planning Federation Newsletter. - Town of Ithaca Regulations for Outdoor Wood Boilers. - Revised Draft Regulations on Outdoor Campfires (available at the meeting). • Continue Review of New and Improved Draft Sign Law, Redlined Draft Dated September 18, 2013. Meeting adjourned at 8:28 pm. Respectfully Submitted Sandy Polce, Administrative Staff