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TOWN OF ULYSSES
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
APPROVED MINUTES
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Approved: November 21, 2018
Present: Board Chair Bob Howarth, and members Andy Hillman, Steve Morreale, Cheryl
Thompson, and David Tyler; Town Board member and Zoning Update Steering Committee
Liaison Michael Boggs; Town Planner John Zepko.
Public in Attendance: Roxanne Marino.
Call to Order: 7:00 p.m.
Meeting Minutes (08/15/2018)
Mr. Tyler MADE the MOTION to accept the amended August 15, 2018 meeting minutes, and
Mr. Morreale SECONDED the MOTION. The motion was carried unanimously.
Zoning Discussion
The evening’s main agenda item was a zoning discussion based on recent feedback from the
Town Board, which did not support the Zoning Update Steering Committee’s (ZUSC)
recommendation for a proposed 80/20 conservation-development split that would be imposed at
the time of a property owner’s first subdivision. The BZA was the leading body that proposed
the 80/20 plan to ZUSC. The discussion’s aim was to get input from BZA members on how to
proceed, and to discuss possible alternatives to propose to the Town Board. Mr. Howarth said he
was unsure what exactly the Town Board did not like about the plan. Mr. Boggs said he had the
same question and expressed confusion when the Town Board said the 80/20 plan was off the
table. Three of the five Town Board members will not vote for the plan, he said, and cited
misinformation being spread from certain community members. The other two Board members
are also members of ZUSC and support the plan. The Ag Committee strongly opposes any
changes to the current zoning law.
The courts have said zoning is legal, even if there is a reduction in land value, Mr. Howarth said.
Secondly, many of the Ag Committee members who oppose the draft proposal do not actually
own land in Town. A former member of the Ag and Farmland Protection Plan group, Mr.
Howarth said data showed 40 to 60 percent of Town farmland in 2011 was not owned by
farmers. Mr. Morreale urged everyone to look at the data to help inform decisions; the Town has
the data.
Originally, the proposal among ZUSC was to use 15 as a divisor to determine how many
allowable subdivisions per parcel (For example, a 75-acre parcel would be granted a maximum
of 5 subdivisions under the initial proposal). Mr. Howarth pointed out that the 80/20 was
similarly protective as the 15-divisor plan but actually offered property owners more flexibility.
Town of Ulysses
Board of Zoning Appeals
2
Mr. Boggs reported that, at a recent meeting attended by the deputy assessor, the assessor did not
see 10 to 12 housing starts per year in Ulysses as high development pressure. Mr. Zepko agreed;
10 to 12 houses per year is slow growth. But that is a rearview-mirror look, said Mr. Hillman.
The point is to protect the Town now, since achieving the Town’s goals to protect agriculture
and open space will become more difficult once development does arrive, he said. Mr. Howarth
noted areas in the towns of Ithaca and Lansing, where farmlands are now gone.
Citing the necessity for safeguards to protect ag lands, the BZA ultimately supported the 80/20
plan and also supported the option to allow one house on the 80-percent, no-development
portion.
Mr. Hillman MADE the MOTION to adjourn the meeting, and Mr. Morreale SECONDED the
MOTION. The motion was unanimously carried.
Meeting adjourned at 8 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Louis A. DiPietro II on November 13, 2018.