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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-05-28 - TB iL3 1 TOWN OF ULYSSES SECOND MONTHLY TOWN BOARD MEETING May 28 , 1996 P resent : Supervisor Doug Austic ; Councilpeople Catherine Stover , Carolyn Duddleston , Peter Penniman ; Town Clerk Marsha Georgia . O thers Present : Greg Hoffmire , Mark Scorelle , Peter Demjanec . Mr . Austic called the meeting to order at 7 : 15pm . Mark viewed the Home Page Demo for the above . Members of the Planning Board and Master Plan Committee arrived . P resent : Alex Rachun , CEO ; David Tyler , Gail Zabawsky , Ruth Kahn , Bruce & Nancy Wilson , Sue Poelvoorde , Grace Wolf / Free - P ress , Krys Call . Sue Poelvoorde distributed Draft Comprehensive Plan materials . Guess we need feed - back from the Town Board . Mr . Austic said he assumes that this is basically the same as before . Ms . Poelvoorde said yes , a few words , but nothing — significant . Mr . Austic asked what questions the committees had on the memo he sent ? Ms . Poelvoorde said no questions . . . going back to the first memo . . . you didn ' t have all the back - up material , but there was a comment about some of the work we did did not seem to be – consistent with the map . As we went back and drew that again , K rys compiled the survey results , and actually started working on write - ups and then going back through the goals and objectives statement , it actually is consistent . - Mr . Austic said , high density housing isn ' t an important thing ? Ms . Poelvoorde said in the sense that there were some inconsistencies with the data , that we asked the question about h igh density and they thought high rise . There was concern about being able to live here throughout your lifetime . Let ' s look at t he map we ' ve produced . Instead of calling it high density residential , it ' s more appropriate to call it a mixed density residential ; could be single family or apartments . Members looked at the map ; discussion ensued concerning. commercial ( a floating zone ) ; tourism ( floating zone along - lake / RT 89 ) ; mixed density residential . Mr . Austic reiterated t he need for more commercial area . Various Planning Board and Master Plan members commented on d ifferent zones ; perhaps create definitions for zones . Also , -- t his area has a lot to offer , perhaps focus on the positive aspects . Mr . Tyler continued . . . if you don ' t have any plans and - you let them happen as people come in with an idea . . . the value , o f the land for particular purposes . . . scenic purposes , etc . is - lost . Look at what has happened in other communities . The sentiment is generally " I ' ll do whatever I want with my land . " Unfortunately that has to be tempered with where are we going as a community and how do we get there . Mr . Austic asked what we don ' t have in the Town . Mr . Tyler asked what the survey said . Jobs , a few small shopping areas , that sort of thing . Mr . Tyler said for six years we ' ve had this 22 acre parcel zoned ; no body wants to build for two reasons ; water and sewer . It ' s a prime property . Krys Cail said the trouble is once you zone it commercial , they have certain rights that can ' t be denied . If someone really wants to have Tri - County Used Car Lot , 55 acre parcel , why not ? Mr . Austic said the B2 Zone was set up for specific uses . Requires Site Plan Review . . . so you can do these things even Town of Ulysses 2 Second Monthly Board Mtg . May 28 , 1996 though you have a commercial spot doesn ' t mean you can do anything . Town Attorney Wilson said it ' s hard to group things together . If you want to create a zoning ordinance that has modifications you can have 1 through 5 ; think the primary concern here - in terms of planning and where the Town Board comes from , is we are trying to - get something that is forward thinking that can and does require map referencing . See where those areas are . You ' ve focused on - industrial ; looking at it . . . trying to be nonjudgmental here . . . you must say how much of the Town do you want for each , then pick your spot . How much do you want residential , how much tourist / recreation , and then within those try to find the most reasonable expectations within that . It ' s very easy to focus on what is there ; think contemplative planning is not just committing to what is there , but considering what the other concerns are .. If you are going block zoning , fine ; if you are - going strip , go strip . But have the rationale that what you are saying is that you are accommodating all these different interests ; because that is what you really have an obligation to try to do . Within the concept of what you are trying to look for in the Town you should really make it clear as to why you are doing what you - are doing in terms of Is there an expansion area within it . Would seem , even if you did not zone something further , the plan allows for a bigger area , that allows for the future . Further comments between Mr . Austic and Sue Poelvoorde . Mrs . Kahn asked if the Board had in mind some specific additions you would like to see on the map . Mr . Austic said he would like to see the County Home . . . it ' s an ideal spot . Mr . Penniman said perhaps it would be helpful to decide what the categories ought to be and then decide how much area fits the . Commercial " floating " zones were discussed . Mrs . Stover said she would like to see existing businesses " grandfathered " ; placed on the map . Mr . Austic asked if anyone knew how much open space is in the Town . Mr . Tyler guessed 756 ; Mr . Austic said it is closer to 906 - 926 . You are never going to lose all the open spaces . Suggestions for using different colors on the map to define certain areas , etc . was offered by Attorney Wilson . - Heated discussion concerning size of blocks ; taxes , etc . ensued . Mr . Austic said a diverse mix of all activities needs to be created , thus allowing older folks to remain in the community and younger folks to stay . Not just residential , which sends more - children to the schools and thus increases school taxes . Need some activities that perhaps employ a few people and helps the - tax base . Mr . Tyler spoke to the potential of our area . Look at 10 - 15 years ago and what took place in the Lansing area . That type of activity will not take place here . . . need to think of other communities we emulate . . . and I don ' t particularly emulate what - has happened with Dryden or RT 13 ; or Enfield ; or Newfield . We are talking about Yes , we need to have this , but think we need to agree on a concept of where we are going and I haven ' t heard anyone talk about that particular issue . Do we want to focus on being everything to everybody so we can have a little of everything or do we want to focus on something that is more specific ; what do we want to do ? Mr . Austic said he would like to see the Town focus on job producing , not strictly commercial and retail sales . More things going on where 15 - 20 people are working ; then when you have more people here they may want other things and then maybe you ' ll have \V) Town of Ulysses 3 Second Monthly Board Mtg . May 28 , 1996 to change your plans and put in a couple stores . First step is t o get people here . Mr . Tyler said if we don ' t know what will bring people here ; do know we have something bringing people - - Tourism . Can ' t base a community entirely on tourism ; but do need a focus . Mr . Penniman said may be able to compromise ; if we could define some sort of low impact commercial development that would be allowed in residential ; perhaps if we have three types of residential ( high , medium and low density ) ; a limited low impact commercial development that doesn ' t involve a lot of traffic , noise or visual impact ; like some of the businesses now where 10 - - 12 people come to a barn and do computer programming . Don ' t know if it ' s legal but it is going on . Decide what type of commercial - - would be allow in a residential and then which parts of the Town we would be willing to allow it . Ms . Poelvoorde says we have wording on that ; not this type of industry ; but you can do office and professional . Part of what - is wrong with this , is that during one of our first meetings with t he Town Board , that we didn ' t want to rewrite the zoning plan , so in not wanting to rewrite the zoning plan , we worked really hard to keep the number of categories small . That may have been t he wrong direction . Mr . Tyler said that what we presently have is residential , agricultural , B1 and B2 . That ' s pretty primitive - and doesn ' t give much flexibility . If you do have a lot of possibilities and potential you can do a lot more . Working with - - three , can ' t do much with it . Mr . Wilson said you can have a Master Plan ; whether it gets - rezoned or not is another issue . Mr . Tyler stated if you ( Austic ) are saying we face problems with t axes and need to build our tax base , I think this Town governing body needs to take the initiative to put some services in places --- where it will foster what you are talking about . Mr . Austic said we have tried ; can ' t run water if the people can ' t pay for it . Mr . Tyler said you can ; it ' s a question of whether the Town wants t o invest in that . Discussion regarding water attempts in the past ; referendums voted down , etc . Mr . Tyler said take a typical example . a private line ends up getting run to Seafuses ' , that was a golden opportunity to have a fairly modest but fairly significant water line run and it wouldn ' t have cost that much ; did have a couple o f property owners who refused to go on after the grant fell t hrough . That seems to be a ripe type of situation where the Town should look hard and say maybe we should spend $ 300 , 000 . or whatever , it ' s a lot of money but it will have a significant impact on the area where you do it . That was a logical place to -- do it , right outside the Village as a potential for development and it just never happened , probably never will happen at least not in the near future because it ' s the- way the thing unfolded _. You have to seize opportunities when they come along ; that was an -- opportunity that slipped through our fingers . You mentioned now t hat Auble is applying for a water district again . Have become d isillusioned , he wanted this thing to be turned into something t hat we could do lots of things with it and he just let it sit - - t here . I was in favor of the B1 largely because of the way it was situated , didn ' t have a lot of road frontage and wasn ' t something that would have a big impact on the traffic and so forth . Master Plan said why if it hasn ' t happened at this point why should we wait . Couldn ' t argue with that . That is where some impetus from the governing body could encourage people to do t hings . Mr . Penniman said thinks it would be important to get members of t he Planning and Master Plan committees and the Town Board \k0V Town of Ulysses 4 Second Monthly Board Mtg . May 28 , 1996 together on a regular basis . Mr . Tyler said that a couple of things have been suggested here ; 1 ) the map here is suggested as being quite limited . . . the question is is the Town Board looking for something that has more variation to it . . . if that is the case think it needs to be articulated ; will make a difference as to how this whole process unfolds ; requires also a commitment on the part of the Town Board t hat says yes that means we are looking at a Zoning Ordinance t hat needs to have not just vanilla or chocolate but maybe eight o r ten . Mr . Austic said he feels it is least important to worry about the residential restrictions . Most important is commercial and industrial . Mr . Rachun commented on the floating tourism zone . . . being that it is our greatest natural resource and may end up being our - g reatest industrial / commercial . . . the whole thing wrapped up in one , maybe the parameters of that zone should be defined further - because it may eliminate some of the problems we are thinking about in terms of industrial . There are things that we could do in this community to enhance our tourism and think if we can define that zone a little bit better , and enlarge it and - encompass more of what we are able to do here , it may open things up a bit too . Mrs . Kahn spoke concerning the refinement of the map . Mr . Austic said the Village has said there are 250 building lots left in the - ✓ illage ; there ' s your high density housing . Would suggest you let the Village take care of the high density housing and we look at other areas of concern . Mr . Rachun reiterated what Mr . Austic said earlier . . . there are at least 1000 acres in the Town currently on the market , trying to be sold . . . farm land , etc . , people having a hard time selling it . An evolving community at t his point . Mr . Austic asked when another meeting could be scheduled . Mr . Tyler said that Mr . Wilson ' s suggestion of having Option A , - Option B , Option C might be a good way to go . . . perhaps that should come from different groups . Maybe the Town Board wants to t ake a map and put down their ideas . Mr . Wilson spoke to this issue . Mr . Tyler and Ms . Poelvoorde also commented . Mrs . Kahn said that most of us are interested in providing jobs so that young people can stay here ; providing housing for older people so t hat they can stay . So that we can have a three generation type o f community . Mr . Tyler asked if we could get maybe four categories of what we are talking about on this business side . Mrs . Kahn said one of the priorities is to make this a place that will be job producing . Mr . Austic said he doesn ' t see a lot of commercial / retail sales coming in . Mr . Rachun said that we have - the difference between farming and agri - business ; our agri - business is thriving ; have in the future tremendous expansion - going on in this area . Talk about enhancing what you have now ; allowing to grow what exists and make it thrive . Have two agri - business right now that want to do some major upscaling and development in this community . Ms . Cail said you can go anywhere in the Town the , way our Zoning Ordinance is written now . Mrs . Kahn asked what we do next . Mr . Penniman asked if work should be done in our respective groups and get together in two months . Mr . Austic said let ' s work on it ; define levels of business we want . Ms . Cail asked if they could get some background information ; if there are maps available that have scale on them , that would be useful ; maps t hat have the current commercial use places outlining specifically where they are ; I don ' t have anything current . Can we invest the money to have copies for everyone ? Mr . Austic said Town of Ulysses 5 Second Monthly Board Mtg . May 28 , 1996 t he aerial maps couldn ' t be copied . Decided to meet again in three weeks , June 18 , 1996 at 7 : 30pm . Respectfully submitted , Marsha L . Georgia Town Clerk * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To Planning , Master Plan and Town Board Members : P lease excuse the quality of the minutes of this meeting . Our recording devise did not pick up many people commenting on various topics and basically transcribed what I could hear . The t apes are in the Clerk ' s Office if you wish to listen to them . P aula Mount D eputy Town Clerk