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Home My WebLink About2001-05-30 1353 1 Public Hearing Minutes Amendments-Zoniong Ordinance May 30, 2001 TOWN OF DANBY PUBLIC HEARING MINUTES MAY 30 , 2001 PROPOSED LOCAL LAWS AMENDING THE ZONING ORDINANCE PRESENT : Supervisor Edward Inman Councilpersons : Joel Gagnon, Norbert Nolte, Naomi Strichartz, Gladys Varona-Lacey Councilperson Gladys Varona-Lacey (excused) Others Present : Carol Sczepanski - Town Clerk Susan Beeners - Code Enforcement Officer Members of the Public : Eileen Wright, Bridgid Cooper, Tom Cooper, Tim DeVoogod, Robert Roe, Bill Farrell , Walt Sczepanski, Ray Mayo, Dan Cements, Ted Merritt, Bob Strichartz, Phil Zach, Jeanne M . Boehm , Ames Brown, Hazza Mintz, Faith Chase, David Hall, Sarah Hollyday, Debbie Bensen, Chris Gartlein, Ric Dietrich, Mary Moon Woodsen, Lezlie Namaste, Gary Bercow, Willard Daetsch, Bill Halton, Kathy Halton and others . Public Hearing Declared Open Supervisor Inman declared the public hearing open at 7 : 00 p.m. and read the following legal notice : PLEASE TAKE NOTICE, that a public hearing will be held by the Town Board of the Town of Danby on Wednesday, May 30 , 2001 at 1830 Danby Road Ithaca, New York at 7 : 00 p .m . to consider the proposed Local Laws entitled "LOCAL LAW AMENDING THE ZONING ORDINANCE AND ZONING MAP TO REMOVE PROVISIONS THAT PRESENTLY REDUCE LOT SIZES FRONTAGE DIMENTIONS AND SETBACKS IN MEDIUM AND LOW DENSITY RESIDENTIAL ZONES ALONG EXISTING ROADS SHOWN AS A SOLID LINE ON THE ZONING MAP AND TO MODIFY CERTAIN PROVISIONS TO PRE-EXISTING LOTS NON CONFORMING LOTS OF RECORD", and a local law entitled, "A LOCAL LAW AMENDING THE ZONING ORDINANCE TO ELIMINATE MEDIUM DENSITY RESIDENTIAL ZONES FROM THE COMMERCIAL TARGET AREA." Copies of the proposed local laws may be viewed at the Town Clerk' s office Tuesday thru Friday from 9 a. m . to 4 p .m. and Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon. All persons will be given the opportunity to be heard either in person or in writing . " Communications Received : 1 ) Letter from Laurene Gilbert, Chair of the Planning Board - is in support of the proposed zoning changes . 2) Letter from Patrick and Judy Caveny - Opposing the proposed changes and any land use restrictions that are more restrictive than required for public safety and health. 3 ) Gladys Varona-Lacey - supports the amendments . 4) Petition in support of amendments submitted by Councilperson Strichartz with 36 signatures- _ no affidavit of witness to signatures was submitted . 5 ) Tompkins County Department of Planning - Review Pursuant to Sec . 239-1 and -m of the New York State General Municipal Law 6) Petition with 11 signatures in support of the zoning amendments-no affidavit of signature witness submitted . Supervisor Inman explained to the public the proposed local law is an attempt to remove the high density 400 foot strip along roadways in the medium and high density zones so that they conform with the zoned areas . The entire zoning ordinance needs to be revisited after the comprehensive plan is complete . 1 3 54 2 Public Hearing Minutes Amendments-Zoniong Ordinance May 30 , 2001 Comments from the Public : Tim Devoogd - E . Miller Road - favors changes Sarah Newman - E . Miller Road - supports the changes to make the descriptions match the ordinance requirements Bob Roe - 1820 Danby Road - does not support the amendment - approximately 1 /3 of the properties (319 lots) in Danby will be non-conforming as they are less than the 1 - 1 /2 acre minimum in medium density and 2 acre minimum in low density areas . It is not fair to the owners of existing lots that will be non-conforming and it appears to be a way to discriminate against low income land owners . Bill Farrell - against change as larger lots are not required by the health department . Most people buy larger lots but feels that people should have the option of purchasing a lot they can afford . Walt Sczepanski - agrees with Bill Farrell . What we are getting is a lot more rules by people who don ' t own the land . Raymond Mayo - opposes this change . Road frontage is quite expensive and makes it cost prohibitive for young people to have a home in Danby . More emphasis should be placed on enforcement of the ordinance we have . Dan Clements - opposes the change and the 200 foot minimum in his neighborhood. He purchased land with possibly the idea that his children could also build there . Ted Merritt - opposes change as it limits what a person can do with his property. He is totally against the change because it is going to cost him more money as he has now lost two lots on his property . Bob Strichartz - approves of the amendments and thanked the people who have expressed their views . His concern with over development is water. Eileen Wright - approves of the amendment as the zoning laws should reflect the true density and also worries about the water. Willard Daetsch - approves of amendment and feels that they are reasonable and help clarify the confused situation. Mary Woodson - favors amendments but is concerned about cost of property . Phil Zach - favors the amendments . Other decisions can be made after the comprehensive plan is { completed and there is a big picture . Genene Boheme - favors amendments Ames Brown - his understanding is that the Planning Board voted against this amendment before the comprehensive plan was complete . Hassa Mintz - Approves of the amendment and shares the concern of others . Faith Chase - Approves of amendment and worries about water. Bridgid Cooper - Approves of changes. Tom Cooper - favors zoning changes worries about water supply with development . Ric Dietrich - we need to look to our future and it makes sense to limit high density as he is concerned about people take advantage of the land. We need to protect our limited resources . David Hall - approves of amendments as we need to protect our quality of life . Chris Gartlein - respects the people who work on this possible problem but thinks it is negative to make the road frontage of a lot any bigger than the health department requires . We should be looking at cluster housing as a main directive with open space. Debbie Benson - favors closing up holes in the ordinance . Leslie Nameste - very important for the quality of life . Gary Bercow- In favor of the proposal . Has concern about commercial development in low density areas . Dave Shalloway - in favor of closing up holes in ordinance. Ted Jones - would hope the community would be sensitive to the needs of everybody. <`I Bob Roe - before the board votes on this they should take a drive out Ellis Hollow Road where the . ! I lots are large all over the country side with no open space at all. He would not like to see that happen in our community . Ray Mayo - has noticed the general consensus from the people who are recent residents is that this town is being over run with development. He does not think that many more people live here than lived here in 1900 . We have some development but not enough to keep taxes down. Supervisor Inman read the following resolution from the Planning Board to the residents and board . 1 ' I I ! il ; 19 � � � { I r i i f II } 7I II . . I 111 I ! f 11 I I I . , i . _4 : 11 I I �.f. �t∎ i$ J {c k. I 1355 3 Public Hearing Minutes Amendments-Zoniong Ordinance May 30 , 2001 RESOLUTION NO . 2 OF APRIL 30, 2001 Report to Town Board related to Proposed Local Law Amending the Zoning Ordinance and Zoning Map to Remove Provisions that Presently Reduce Lot Sizes , Frontage Dimensions , and Setbacks in Medium and Low Density Residential Zones along Existing Roads shown as a Solid Line on the Zoning Map, and to Modify Certain Provisions related to Pre-Existing Lots and Nonconforming Lots of Record RESOLUTION NO. 3 OF APRIL 30, 2001 Further Report to Town Board related to Proposed Local Law Amending the Zoning Ordinance and Zoning Map to Remove Provisions that Presently Reduce Lot Sizes, Frontage Dimensions , and Setbacks in Medium and Low Density Residential Zones along Existing Roads shown as a Solid Line on the Zoning Map, and to Modify Certain Provisions related to Pre-Existing Lots and Nonconforming Lots of Record RESOLUTION NO . 4 OF APRIL 30, 2001 Report to Town Board Related to Proposed Local Law Amending the Zoning Ordinance to Eliminate Medium Density Residential Zones from the Commercial Target Area PROPOSED LOCAL LAW ENTITLED "A LOCAL LAW AMENDING THE ZONING ORDINANCE TO ELIMINATE MEDIUM DENSITY RESIDENTIAL ZONES FROM THE COMMERCIAL TARGET AREA." Susan Beeners explained that presently in the medium and high density zones are areas that are designated for rezoning applications for commercial development. These are the only areas that commercial zones could be established. What' s proposed is to make it such that one can only go to the Town Board and ask for a rezoning to commercial in the high density areas and not in the medium density areas . There is a possibility in this section that if the town decided to rezone additional land to high density, that those areas would be part of a commercial target area. Councilperson Nolte left the meeting at 8 : 07 p . m . Comments from Public : Bob Roe - said that there are only two areas affected by this ordinance . Most of the other areas shown on the map are not usable or already in use . If you exclude the medium density from both those areas from commercial usage then we have no place for commercial ventures to go . If you change the wording in the ordinance it becomes totally speculative as well as expective and there can be no development at all . We have no place for commercial development. If you look carefully we do not have any commercially developable land. The last of the space that is available is either wet, unavailable because they are not for sale or already have existing structures on them. Tim DeVoogd- In terms of large high density isn't large enough to accommodate the kinds of shops that people might want in the community. He would be in favor of the change accompanied with a reevaluation of where the boundaries are . Bill Farrell - suggests that it be left as it is . Walt Sczepanski - we have to have a place if you want some type of commercial . Ray Mayo - basically we are a bedroom community for the City of Ithaca and the Town of Ithaca . We are just paying taxes to maintain the community . Ted Merritt - if there was land available along Danby Road he would like to see a small family store and a gas station. We are preventing building and always have so we must go to Ithaca or out of Town to get necessary items . Keeping commercial out prevents growth here . Bob Strichartz - in favor of removing the target areas . Ames Brown - likes the idea of moratorium. Don Barnes - would like to see changes in the ordinance wait until the comprehensive plan finished. He favors keeping high density along the main road to encourage business . _`i t 5 V 4 Public Hearing Minutes Amendments-Zoniong Ordinance May 30 , 2001 Comments from the Board Supervisor Inman said that he would like to have input from all the Board before a decision on the proposed local laws is put to a vote . Councilperson Gagnon said he strongly supports removing the 400 foot strip loophole that is in the ordinance . He personally supports low density as being more than two (2) acres . Large lots can create more sprawl than not. Our ordinance does not mandate large lots but clustering whenever it is possible . On the commercial target proposed local law he said he is not convinced that un-targeting medium density is the best way to go. We have not had a whole lot of commercial development in Danby . Councilperson Strichartz said she supports both changes with reservations about the target zone . The 400 foot strip change for her is simply telling the truth. What she hears from residents who live in Danby is that when they buy into a low density area they are not aware that along all the roads that 400 foot strip is high density . Supervisor Inman reported that this 400 foot strip along the roadways has always been a pet peeve ever since he was on the Board of Zoning Appeals . He didn' t feel that there was a straight zoning ordinance . He believes it should be changed There are many things to consider for the residential Commercial Target Zone and thinks we should remove the word "target" from the definition. Public Hearing Declared Closed Supervisor Inman declared the public hearing closed at 8 : 37 p .m . (awjp9 Carol W . Sczepan i, eown Clerk phm-11 ' s . 01 1