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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1991-07-08r.� ^3 Our junkyard ordinance says that if you have two or more you need a junkyard license. The State Building Code says that all residential premises shall be kept free of inoperable vehicles among other things. Consensus of Board was that Planning Board should come in•and explain proposal. Board Members agreed to talk about it next month. Attorney Fitzgerald agreed to research it and change language. Attorney Fitzgerald will get in touch with George To tman . Board reviewed correspondence and monghly reports from the Town Clerk and Town Justice Heffron. There being no further business, Mr. VanBenschoten moved to adjourn meeting, seconded by Mr. Sovocool, at 11:20PM. Unanimous Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk MINUTES OF TOWN BOARD MEETING HELD MONDAY, JULY 8, 1991, AT 7 :30 P.M. Those present: Teresa M. Robinson, Supervisor Gordon C. VanBenschoten, Councilman Donald E. Cummings, Councilman Arrived Late Ellard L. Sovocool, Councilman Jack Fitzgerald, Attorney Absent: Carl E. Haynes Also present: Leland Cornelius, Monica Carey, David Chatterton, George Va.nSlyke, Lyle Raymond, Betty Sperger, George Senter, John Pachai Moved by Mr. VanBenschoten, seconded by Mr. Cummings, to approve minutes of June 10th meeting as mailed. Ayes - VanBenschoten, Cummings, Robinson (Absent - Sovocool and Haynes). Claim Nos. 128 to 145 of the Highway Fund in the amount of $22,998.18 and Claim Nos. 196 to 222 of the General Fund in the amount of $6,236.16 were presented for audit. Moved by Mr. Sovocool, seconded by Mr. VanBenschoten, that the bills be approved for payment. Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Robinson. Monthly reports from Town Clerk and Town Justice Heffron were reviewed: Corres ondence consisted of: 1 Application for summer youth work from Jennifer Case, 2 Lease agreement between Village of Groton Light Dept. and Baker - Miller - payment in lieu of taxes. 'Gown's portion is $136.0o 3) Copy of letter from Tompkins County Director of Environmental Health to William Cato of Cayuga County Health Dept. regarding proposed Summerhill Mobile Home Park on Route 90, south of Albert Hall's. Approx. 100 units. Discharge permit will have to come from DIDC. Betty Sperger - Do we have any results of your executive session at last months meeting? Who will take Mr. Wood's place? Supervisor Robinson said we were just interviewing them and we haven't made any decision. Is there a reason why we don't advertise in the Groton area for the Groton people to apply for these jobs if they qualify? How do people know about these jobs? Supervisor Robinson said word got out and the fellas that knew about it passed it around to the ones that are qualified. You�dono'.t have a system set up where you advertize in the area when job openings come up? Supervisor said we can advertize like that but we didn't this time. The other thing that Ms. Sperger wanted to know is what do we know about Anderson -- do you know anything different than we've known. Atty. Fitzgerald said he had written to Anderson's Attorney and told him what the presentation was from the County. He also talked with George Pfann since the last meeting and he told me what it was that the County wanted which was what I told you previously. Mrs. Sperger advised Board that the County was through cleaning up Andersons and this is back in Groton zoning hands. She said that if we don't keep track of what stuff he's bringing in, we will be doing the same thing over again George Senter reported for Gary Wood - Zoning Report 1990 year todate permits issued - 53 (13 houSes, 9 Mobile Homes, 31 other) 1991 year to date permits issued - 40 (4 homes, 6 Mobile Homes, 30 other) Letters out on unlicensed vehicles - Debra Stewart, Sherry Trinkle, Robert Batzer, Sr., George Norman, Kenneth Baldwin and Myron Jacobs (Jacobs has a couple school buses that they bought for storage, however, they are still unlicensed vehicles. Board and George discussed using buses for storage. Supervisor Robinson had a request to reduce speed limit in McLean School area. Need resolutions from Town of Groton and Dryden and County before State will put up signs. Current speed limit is 35 in Namlet of McLean, RESOLUTION NO. 29 - REQUEST TO COUNTY HIISHWAY DEPARTP�,ERT FOR REDUCED SPEED LIMIT BY MCLEAN SCHOOL Moved by Ior. Sovocool, seconded by Mr. VanB enschoten Ayes - Sovocool, VanBenschoten, Cummings, Robinson RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Groton does hereby request that the Tompkins County Highway Department consider lowering the speed limit to 15 miles per hour in the vicinity of McLean School. George VanSlyke - Spokesman for Planning Board As I understand it you had some problems with the recommendations that were sent to you in the letter dated May 2$, 1991, about the flag lots, changing Section 312 the junk ordinance and what we've designated as road frontage. What I should probably start with and maybe let you in on why we decided to do this. What we're trying to do with rewriting the ordinances and these situations is the fact that we've found in the past year that there has been some problems for the zoning officer, number one, and also some problems as far as you the Town Board in some instances where maybe we haven't truly on the books something that defines specifically enough or maybe it's too specific, I don't know. It's a hard thing for us to try to come up with. What we try to do on the Planning Board is come up with some definitions where we can be fair to everybody and we can accomplish things so the zoning officer will understand and everyone else will understand what we're trying to get at here. So, we got the note back that you had some problems with some of the -- Let's start with the junk section first of all -- Section 312 - What was the major concern here. What I'll try to do is answer any questions you may have. If it's a problem with the wording, a problem with ... T. Robinson: I think one of the things was that nobody was here to discuss it, G. VanSlyke: Okay. I don't know why that happened that way that none of us were able to attend at that time but we'd be certainly willing to answer any questions tonight that you might have about Section 312. What we've tried to do is clarify this so that you'd know about the thing that carne up here tonight, the junk school bus, whether you can use it for storage or whatever. This is some- thing new that showed up tonight that we hadn't even considered................. Is'there a problem with the rewriting of Section 312? I assume everybody has a copy. G. VanBenschoten: If you want to read that George, I might spear: to that. G. VanSlyke: Okay. What we did was to rewrite Section 312 to read this way. "All yards must be kept free of inoperable machinery;, discarded appliances and furniture; all forms of rubbish & junk, and disorderly or unsightly piles of building materials except those associated with work in progress." You'll notice that this did not include a definition of a junk vehicle. The reasoning behind that was 'the fact that we figured. the junk vehicles were well defined previously in the State situation as to what a junk vehicle is. If the person has more than two inoperable I believe it was, if that's a State code, more than two inoperable in the yard then you have to go for a junkyard permit. • • G. Senter: That's not how it reads though. It does not read more than two vehicles. It reads two or more. There's a big difference. G. VanSlyke: Two or more. Okay M. Carey: That's the junk yard ordinance. See „ that's why we are going this way too is the fact that you have two different definitions for junk vehicles. You have the 312 and the junkyard permit. All the years I've been on the Board people have asked me well how many junk cars can I have and I never referred to the 312 and I said well you can have up to two then you have to have a junkyard permit and I think that's the way the Board has felt all along. Now we come to this point, where which one are we going by the 312 or the junkyard permit. • L. Sovocool: You're saying now they can't have any. M. Carey: That's what this 312 says, yes. But you're talking of kids that go away to college and don't register their vehicle. Well, that would be a junk car. You've got someone that wants to sell their car and they set it out front with a for sale sign on it. Well, that's considered a junk car, it's not registered. `That we're trying to do is redefine all this because the 312 won't allow any cars. L. Sovocool: How does this new section define that under junk cars? G. VanSlyke: Okay. - What we came up with the other day then and we didn't have time to put it in here,we tried to come up with a reasonable definition of what a junk,- vehicle is and Dave is going to pass out a copy to you ,just to see what you might think about -the situation. "Junk - definition -- Has to have been licensed within last 12 months, or be able to move under its own power. Show clear evidence that repairs or restoration type work has been done within last 12 months, otherwise it is to be considered as junk." What we're trying to cover here, for example, is the person who has a motor home and do not license motor home for a period of six months and. then they register and put back on the road. There is many cases where that happens. A person will have a winter rat, for example, they'll put their car away, store it and drive a winter rat during the winter time and then take that off the road and drive their good car at another time. So, we thought to cover these 'instances, if we could do that rather easily by saying it had to have been licensed within the last 12 months. Or be able to move under its own power. The other instance that we had problems with is the antique vehicles. A lot of people are saying to the zoning officer, well I've got antique cars or I'm restoring this car and so this next section we're trying to cover this situation as well. They should show clear evidence that repairs or restoration type work has been done within the last 12 months. If these qualifications were not met then we could consider this thing as a ,junk vehicle. G. VanBenschoten 4 • G. VanSlyke: Just fair plow junk Do you have to meet all three of those qualifications? one of the three. What we're trying to do is to be to everybody. Some people have an extra vehicle to driveway. You can't really consider that this is a vehicle and has to be moved .................. G. Senter: Would you read Section 312? (Supervisor read Section 312 again.) "All yards must be kept free of abandoned, inoperable or unregistered vehicles." It says abandoned, inoperable or unregistered vehicles. *No mention of unk. The only thing that mentions junk is Section 1242 (10 b of the New York State Building Code. This says you can't have any junk vehicles. Section 312 doesn't relate to junk. I don't know if there is a terminology problem here or ......... Z(.%6 G. VanSlyke: Our thoughts were that if we could redefine what is considered a junk vehicle, it would help the zoning officer because now according to this thing,abandoned, inoperable or unregistered vehicles, right away that's anybody's truck that doesn't have plates on it, that's anybody's winter rat, that's anybody's camper that the've got parked in the driveway, that's anybody's vehicle that they're not going to register for a certain period of time during the year. By our definition we're allowing them twelve months before this thing would be considered junk. ................ (Discussed 'inoperable and unregistered vehicles between Boards, Attorney and Zoning Officer.) Consensus was that objective criteria such as inoperable or unregistered is okay. You've made it simple for the people and for the court. Once you get into subjective criteria it could get you in trouble. Zoning officer is not allowed on property to inspect for inoperable nor would he be allowed on property to see whether repairs or restoration type work has been done in the last six months. G. VanSlyke: If Town Board is happy the way Section 312 is written, we would be happy to recind our specific suggestions. Let's go to number 2 - Road frontage. What we're talking about is the road frontage for a particular lot. We all realize that road frontage is 200'. What we would like to rewrite this as, because of the situation that we have with Tichenor, where he was trying to build a house on frontage that was not the 200' maximum, and the reason that it legally got, gone against you, I guess, was the fact that he had 200' frontage someplace else that was connected to this land. By rewriting. the road frontage section to state this: Minimum road frontage to read 200 feet minimum PRINCIPAL 'frontage with structure placed within a 200' diameter. (Read definition on page 14, 114. 11�`of Land Use and Development Code. ) Principal Lot On lots with two or more frontages the one considered the main access to the lot, that's the principal frontage. This is definitely the case with Herb's property, he had two frontages, one that was legal and one that was not. By renaming the frontage, the minimum road frontage to read 200 feet minimum on the principal lot, okay, and again on lots with two or more frontages, the one considered the main access to the lot. What our position was here, was'that he had to then use the principal frontage. That would disallow them using the smaller parcel. In other words they would have to put their particular building on that principal frontage lot. What we felt was the word principal and having it being defined in the code would be an easy way to avoid non - conforming lots from happening. T. Robinson: One of the stipulations, I believe, that was brought up was that that be put on the deed when it was sold so that it would be there for the person who bought it to • know that they couldn't buy it. Jack, can you do it? J. Fitzgerald: No. ( Discussed frontage on two sides of house that is split by another parcel. For example, 60' on one side and 250+ on the other side. It is not creating a non - conforming lot since his access to his building or the property has to be on the maximum frontage. They can put the house wherever they::wabt)as long as it meets Health Dept. requirements and other setback requi.cements. J. Fitzgerald: The problem that I would have would be The way you're finishing is the structure is to be placed within a 200' diameter. I haven't looked up the definition of diameter but I always thought it measured. the center of a circle but it could very well measure the center of a rectangle. But, historically, the definition of principal in there is you're dealing 2:!,7: with a corner lot, you are not dealing with the situation we had with Tichenor. I looked at a lot of ordinances today to see if I could find some wording that would be more common. I didn't find any. Apparently other people aren't having the same problem that we're having here. All the statutes that I read, City of Cortland and Cortlandville, don't deal with the problem. My suggestion would 'be, the word contiguous is used often in zoning ordinances and proceedings by the court. The definition of principal frontage is in the ordinance and deals with a corner lot. (Boards,and-1Town :attorney discussed definition on principal frontage and also structure being placed in a 200' diameter.) T. Robinson: Okay, read it to me again George. • G. VanSlyke: "Motion was made to recommend to the Groton Totem Board to amend Sections in the Land Use & Development Code in reference to minimum road frontage to read 200 feet minimum PRINCIPAL, Frontage with structure placed within a 200' diameter." T. Robinson: Okay, do you have another one? G. VanSlyke: #3 - Do you all have copies of the letter from George? Create Flag Lot - The reason that we are bringing this particular definition up is because alot of things have happened in Town have really put us in a position where we are involved with a non - conforming lot and end up with a piece of property that is out in back and they need to have the ability to have access. Most of these happened before the ordinance was written. What a flag lot definition is and I'll just read it. "A lot that meets the minimum area requirements of the Town Zoning Ordinance and is connected to a public road right -of -way by a strip of land at least twenty feet wide and containing a private access drive." The reason that we would want to come up with this definition is that there are several places in the Town where the use of the flag lot would help to utilize some land that at the moment is not usuable because of the access of frontage problem. They do have the acreage but they do not have the frontage requirement. So, by allowing a flag lot, and if you will look at the last page, you will notice what they.are referring to by flag lot. If you look at Section D. (Everyone discussing flag lot illustration.'rStrip of land at least twenty feet wide would contain private access drive. Someone should check with the fire department to see what their requirements are for emergency vehicles.) G. VanSlyke: How would it be if we took this back and checked with the Fire Department and some of the other Planning Boards and see how theirs is operating and then come back and report on that? T. Robinson: I don't think we object 'to what you brought before us. • I just think that we want a few words here and there and a little bit of clarification and we'll go from there. Am I right? (Board Members agreed). Supervisor Robinson asked George Senter if he had anything from Gary regarding Highway Garage wiring project. Mr. Senter had nothing on it. Supervisor Robinson, Atty. Jack Fitzgerald, Gary Wood and representative from Bonding Company met to discuss new building project. Atty. Fitzgerald said that there was a lot of give and take on the nickel and dime stuff and they agreed to the vast majority of it. Their building expert just wanted to prove that he'd done something and that he'd read the plans and he caught Gary in'one or two minor things. But, the big bone of contention is going to be the extra charge for the Architect and the extra charge for Gary. Those are 'the two largest items that make up the $30,000 that we want to keep here and that part hasn't been resolved. All the little items were taken care of and they amounted to roughly $10,000, maybe a little bit less. Atty. Fitzgerald reported that there zE� nothing new on status of Hedlund case. The answers been tiled, There being no further business, fir. Sovocool moved to adjourn meeting, seconded by Mr. Cummings, at :_5011PI. Unanimous, Colleen D. Pierson Town Clerk 0