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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTB Minutes 2016-04-15Special Meeting of the Ithaca Town Board April 15,2016 Minutes Board Members Present:Bill Goodman,Tee-Ann Hunter,Rich DePaolo,Pamela Bleiwas,and Pat Leary (via video conference) Staff present: Paulette Terwilliger,Bruce Bates, Susan Ritter and Susan Brock (Attorney for the Town) 1.Discuss possiblechangesto the draft locallawProvidingfor a Moratorium onNew Two- Family Dwellings^and on the Addition ofa Second Dwelling Unit to an Existing One-Family Dwelling,for a Period of Three Hundred Sixty-Five (365) Days Mr.Goodman opened the public hearing at 12:04 p.m. Mr. Goodman explained to the public that the board would be going into executive session to seek the advice of counsel before starting the discussion on potential changes. Mr. Godman moved to go into closed session to seek the advice of counsel; seconded by Rich DePaolo.Unanimous 12:05 p.m. Mr. DePaolo moved to reenter open session at 12:43 p.m.; seconded by Tee-Ann Hunter Mr.Goodman started the discussion,stating that to him it seems the board has three issues to discuss; the owner-occupancy exemption,the length of time the moratorium lasts and exemptions for subdivisions or specific zones. Potential exemption of High Density Residential Zones (HDR) Mr. Goodman tumed to the map and noted the four-different areas that are HDR, Maplewood area, Kendall and Pennsylvania Ave. area, a stretch along 96B near IC and College Circle Apartments and the Townhouse Vista. Mr.DePaolo thought it was a rational option given the information we have. Ms. Leary and Mr. Goodman agreed and Mr. Goodman suggested the board come up with the changes we would like to see and have staff and counsel draft language to bring back to another meeting. The board agreed. Owner occupancy exemption Mr.DePaolo was comfortable eliminating that exemption given that the moratorium is not likely to last a long enough time to impose a serious hardship on those that may have been considering adding a second dwelling to their residences and given the information provided by counsel. Mr. Goodman asked if there would still be a waiver system given the person who came to the first public hearing and was told he would be exempted.Mr.DePaolo thought there could be a Special TB 4/15/2016 pg 1 financial hardship waiver for when a person was relying on that income to pay for their existing mortgage. Mr.DePaolo asked Mr.Bates how many single-family houses are converted to two-family houses under the radar and Mr. Bates responded there is no way of knowing that; our office finds out about them when complaints come in or the next owner applies for a building permit or things like that. He stated that we probably find a few a year but he asked what would happen during the year when he does find one that is currently converted but wasn't permitted.Mr. DePaolo responded that that is a different scenario and doesn't apply to the moratorium language but is an enforcement issue. Ms. Leary asked what would happen if we didn't allowed the expansion of the footprint for an accessory apartment in existing owner-occupied residences. Mr. DePaolo stated that we have an existing problem that has to be solved and an overarching goal and some people are just simply going to have to be inconvenienced.Trying to accommodate everybody's needs to the utmost degree,we might as well not even be here talking about a moratorium and we will continue to end up with what we do not like. The inconvenience or detriment to a few is outweighed by what we are saying is the good in that we will solve the problem. The board decided to leave in the exemption for owner-occupied residences. Exemptions for subdivisions -Mr.Goodman started the discussion on this saying he would be in favor of this but would like to have a sense of how many parcels that would apply to.Some discussion followed and Mr.DePaolo stated that he would need more information before agreeing to this and Ms.Hunter added that there is a waiver process and that should be kept in mind because we have a way to delineate the criteria for the waivers. Ms. Brock stated that it has to be fair and not capricious. Mr. DePaolo asked what is meant by "in the process?"and the discussion following that questions made it clear that that wouldn't work since there are many subdivisions that have existing subdivision approvals and any undeveloped land can be subdivided.Mr.Goodman wanted only subdivision approvals in process not existing ones because the existing ones have had the chance to develop and they haven't but new ones did not know this was coming.Discussion followed and there is no way of quantifying why someone did not develop right away and that would not be fair and even distribution of the waiver. Discussion continued and Mr.Goodman suggested an exemption for a historic resource on the property and Ms.Hunter was concerned about having exemptions because people will take advantage of them if they can in any way possible and we have to be very careful about that and tailor the waiver process instead of looking at exemptions. Mr.DePaolo stated that the Comprehensive Plan does state the Town's desire to retain historic resources so some language could be added to the waiver criteria to make it clear that that is an important consideration for the Town. Mr.Goodman asked staff to prepare that change for the next meeting on this topic. Ms.Hunter asked about the time schedule for the waivers and after looking at the meeting schedule it was discussed that the timeframe for a meeting to discuss the waiver would be within Special TB 4/15/2016 pg 2 25 and a response would be rendered within 10 days;the board went with those numbers for the next draft discussion. Length of the moratorium -Discussion on whether a year would affect two construction seasons and Mr.DePaolo proposed a nine (9)month length for the moratorium which puts us at January 2017.The board agreed. The Board set another special meeting for April 21, 2016 at 5:30 p.m. after the Planning Committee meeting to review the changes and set a public hearing on the revised law. Mr. DePaolo moved to enter closed session to seek the advice of counsel,seconded by Ms. Hunter;unanimous.1:26 p.m. Mr.DePaolo moved to reenter open session at 1:38 p.m.with Mr.Goodman seconding; unanimous. Meeting was adjourned at 1:41 p.m. Submittet Paulette Terwilliger Town Clerk Special TB 4/15/2016 pg3