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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-05-02 - PB TOWN OF ULYSSES PLANNING BOARD 05/02/06 APPROVED 06/20/06 Present: Chairperson Margot Chiuten, Planning Board Members : David Means, Rebecca Schneider, Darien Simon, and John Wertis . Town Board Member Roxanne Marino Unexcused : Rod Porter Excused : Ken Zeserson A quorum is present at the meeting ; the meeting was called to order at 7 : 35 pm by Ms . Chiuten . Minutes : The minutes of the February 16th, March 16th, and March 21St meetings were reviewed with minor corrections submitted by Ms . Chiuten. Mr. Wertis made the MOTION to accept the minutes with corrections , pending Mr. Porter' s approval for the meeting of February 16th minutes ; Mr. Means SECONDED the motion. All members voted UNANIMOUSLY, minutes approved. Mr. Porter via email APPROVED the minutes for February 16th, 2006 . Ms Chiuten stated that Ms . Marino would be reviewing information regarding the Zoning Ordinance, Comprehensive Plan, and the Water District 5 . The decision was made to record the meeting for future reference regarding information presented. Zoning Ordinance Ms . Marino presented a list of items that had been generated by Ms . Chiuten, Mr. Rachun and herself; it is still in rough draft, in as much as Mr. Rachun copied the comments directly vs . compiling them into one format. They are trying to get a document that the Planning Board then the Town Board would review; once this is done they would have the Town Attorney review and hopefully get the corrections implemented. There are two types of issues, at the meeting they focused on the more serious errors that have been discovered to date. There are whole continuums of items that go from technical details to philosophical details . At this point in time they are focusing on the technical details, the Comprehensive Plan is being reviewed and some of the philosophical would be incorporated into that. • Mr. Wertis stated he felt it would be helpful if the wording from the old zoning was referenced with the correction. This would allow easier reference rather than flipping from different documents . Ms. Marino stated that would be a good idea however it would require a secretarial person and Mr. Rachun, Mr. Coogan and herself are very busy with other items . Mr. Wertis asked Ms Carlisle Peck if she would be willing to do this task, the other member verbalized this would be very helpful. In addition, they would like a reference made if a particular Site Plan or project review mitigated the correction. Ms . Carlisle Peck agreed she would be willing to do this . Ms . Marino will work with Mr. Rachun to develop the list, she reiterated to the members that they review and if other issues are found please get the information to Mr. Rachun so they can be incorporated section by section. Mr. Wertis stated he preferred the items be broken down into categories, e. simple typos, easy corrections, definitions-wording. Then further down another category could be items that could go further. Planning Board Meeting 2 05/02/2006 Ms . Marino stated they thought it would be more useful to lay it out similar to the zoning ordinance. Ms. Chiuten stated that the items initially presented are the most urgent changes are identified to date. There are other ones that would involve more discussion and delay the process . An extensive discussion clarified various questions by the Planning Board members regarding how the zoning was created, how it is implanted and various other issues . Ms . Marino will inform Mr. Rachun and work with him to develop a list in the format similar to the Zoning Ordinance ; the rational that triggered this problem would be submitted ; the document will be sent electronically to Ms . Carlisle Peck. She will insert the current Zoning terminology for a workable document. Comprehensive Plan Ms. Marino stated the current Comprehensive Plan was done in 1999 , it was supposed to be reviewed every 5 years . On March 23rd, 2006 a meeting was held for people interested in working on the Comprehensive Plan, 25 people attended the meeting and expressed various levels of participation. She was charged with setting up the format for a committee to review the Comprehensive Plan by the Town Board. The format that has been developed is essentially a Core Committee of 10- 11 people and the others would be assigned into Focus groups . The Town Board has budgeted for professional planning and administrative help for the Comprehensive Plan. She has received some names for the administrative portion but feels the Core Committee should have some input as they would be working with this person. The County Planning Department has stated they are booked for all of 2006 and k would not have a professional planner available until 2007 . She is very busy with her own job and the Town business but feels follow up to the March meeting needs to be out to the volunteers to maintain interest. Ms . Schneider stated Ms . Marino really should get some secretarial support as soon as possible to maintain the momentum of the project . Mr. Wertis asked how the committee was comprised. Ms . Marino stated she and Mr. Ellis had reviewed the volunteers, they drafted the committee based on each individual ' s expertise with planning, they considered geographic location and interests within the project. There are four professional planners Sue Poelvoorde, Sue Ritter, Darien Simon and Heather Filiberto on the committee. Ultimately, liaisons from the Planning Board and the Board of Zoning Appeals would be appointed. Ms . Marino will send these lists to the board members electronically. Ms . Marino informed the members Mr. Coogan has experience with this type of work and has offered to help organize the first meetings . She is hoping to have the next meeting the 3rd week of May. General questions were directed to Ms . Marino regarding the Comprehensive Plan and the committee. Water District 5 Ms. Marino stated in early March Barton and Loguidice did a presentation regarding Water District 5 to the Town Board. She clarified the project by giving a history of Water District 5 according to her current knowledge. 1'( Planning Board Meeting 3 05/02/2006 In February of 2005 , a scope of services was presented by Barton and Loguidice for potential alternatives for water district 5 due to unmet needs of water sources . One of these areas of unmet areas is the connection to the Village, there has been a letter of understanding that the town and village would do this. There is a well on Indian Fort Road that is not adequate, the Health Department has put the Village on notice that it is not adequate as a secondary source . There was discussion during Water District 3 and the Village donated $ 80, 000 . 00 to have a pipe connected on Cold Springs Road if another water district was created. Taughannock Falls State Park has been informed by the Health Department that their well is under the influence of surface water. They have been put on notice that they have to take corrective action. The Health Department maintains a data base of individuals who have problem water sources. The Park approached the Town regarding being included in a water district. Cayuga Addiction Recovery Services is also on a well , they have adequate amounts however the pressure is not very good and they have approached the Town as well . In December a draft report was distributed, the decision was made to have the consultant come and do a presentation. Some people on the Town Board believed alternatives would be presented. One presentation was given with the complete Water District 5 . The consultant described the various funding sources, the point system and how they are calculated. These items were presented to the State in August and they did not have knowledge of this . The application is being evaluated by the State and they expect the results within a month or so . The current route as presented will go down Rabbit Run Road, to the Taughannock Park, then out Curry Road, onto NYS 227 (Cayuga Addiction Recovery) and then to the Leisure Living Estates, they are currently being served by the Village water system. The Town Board requested another meeting to describe what the other options were; questions were submitted prior to the meeting. This meeting was held in April ; Eric Pond (Barton and Loguidice) was very helpful in clarifying the information. The financing is 4. 5 % for 38 years if you do not qualify for hardship funding. The financing can go down to 0% for 30 years . Within the hardship evaluation there are other options ; if you qualify for this loan or if you qualify for a grant for up to $2 , 000,000 . 00 . They were informed they cannot get the grant unless they do an income survey; the grant is submitted using the Census data. They used $45 , 000 . 00 which did not qualify for. Once, the letter for the financing package is offered, the Water District has to be completed within 2 years. This includes the SHPO review, DEC reviews and a multitude of work. She reiterated she is still learning the information and may not be 100% correct. Ms . Chiuten stated there would have to be SEQR review of this . Ms . Marino affirmed this and stated the evaluation is made based on a proposed project. Based on solving these needs, the engineer she spoke with at length in Troy informed her that there is not very much leeway to change due to financing without making a new application. If any major piece is taken out and reevaluated the points you have change . Taughannock State Park is 100 points without these points the financing will not go through, it was her take home understanding that the Mobile Home Park had to be in as well to get across the thresholds . Ms. Schneider stated she had not attended the second meeting, but she was concerned because based on the information given at the first meeting-it would cost each individual person $ 500 . 00 a year. The people in the mobile home park are concerned because this is a cost they do not feel they can incur. Ms. Marino stated that when they form the district they will have a referendum . Mr. Wilson will clarify this for them . Water District 3 was created using a permissive referendum of the people in the district . The people who get to vote are the property owners not renters. The mobile home park has 97 units . Ms . Chiuten stated whoever gets the taxes would pay the bill . Planning Board Meeting 4 05/02/2006 Ms . Marino stated Mr. Auble would get the bill and would have the vote . However, he chooses to distribute the charges is up to him. If a water district is formed you would have to pay the base cost, the rest of the cost comes from the water used. That is an assumed use per year. The Town purchases water from Ithaca, they would pay Ithaca, and then recoup the base cost and maintenance/operations cost from the taxpayer. Ms . Chiuten stated there is set flat fee for the first 1 ,000 of gallons, then increased water usage obviously makes your bill go up . Ms. Schneider clarified that even if you do not hook up you have to pay a fee for the water services , if you do hook up you pay for the services as well as the water. She asked if a cost analysis had ever been done not incorporating all of these other things . Ms. Marino stated they asked for this and it was done, she did not have the documentation with her. She could not recall what the cost was for just the village and the park. Mr. Pond stated the basic to get the hardship financing would be the Park, the Village and the Mobile Home Park. Ms . Schneider stated it would less money due to the mileage of pipeline being laid. Ms. Simon stated part of the problem is the proposal has already been submitted a complete new application would have to be presented. Ms . Marino stated another part of the problem is this plan is already being presented and if in fact a financing package is offered, it would be almost suicidal to turn it down based on information she has heard. The State would not look favorably on the next application especially if in fact the Town does plan on servicing the areas in the original plan. Ms . Chiuten stated that she would like to stress that this has to go to SEQR. Ms. Schneider stated that she resides in Waterburg, and her neighbors had stated that if they put a water district in they are moving. One person has e-coli and all of Waterburg is included, where is the public input. Ms . Marino stated Mr. Austic has stated he wanted public input as soon as possible. Some members of the Town Board, herself included, have been hesitant to do this until they have chance to understand the project. Some interested public have already gotten the information and it has been an emotional issue, the need to understand the project, the financing was an issue. Mr. Pond presented this information is April; she still does not feel 100% comfortable she understands all of this. Mr. Coogan was instrumental in Water District 3 and a lot of public input was obtained. There is a lot of information being processed by the Town Board, including the Comprehensive Plan review and she was concerned there would too many public meetings but understands it is necessary to facilitate the projects on hand. Ms. Schneider asked what the Planning Board role would be . Ms . Marino stated she is not opposed to water, development or businesses ; she wants some consideration of how this impacts the future of the Town. Because this was so decoupled from the Zoning Ordinance she is very concerned as to how this will impact. Especially going down Rabbit Run and this area, there are other areas of controversy and confusion; again these are just her ideas . She is grappling how to present these concerns her and others have and mesh them with the time frame . Ms. Simon and Ms . Chiuten reiterated the SEQR process would address many of these concerns . The SEQR process once the plan is engineered would scope out the issues, the character, etc . It also addresses alternatives . Ms . Marino also addressed the cost; Mr. Pond stated that until the water district is formed the tax payers are responsible. Once the water district is formed then charges go to the water district covers the charges . A for instance is the map plan review is $ 5 ,000 . 00, now .i Planning Board Meeting 5 05/02/2006 it is up to $ 15 ,000 . 00 . If the water district is formed Mr. Coogan says these can be charged to the water district. Mr. Means stated some people in the town do not feel this is a legitimate expense. Ms . Marino stated there is a tight time frame once the financing package is offered. It has been a frustrating and stressful experience. Ms . Schneider noted that it appears there are very different opinions on the Town Board as well as in the public, it sounds like the Town needs to address this with different options . Ms. Simon stated unfortunately that the different options have been precluded due to the submission already being made . Ms . Marino agreed, the members continued to express the need for a SEQR review. She stated this was part of the documentation that was given to the Town Board . The members continued with a discussion and questions directed to Ms . Marino regarding the Water District 5 and the Planning Board role in this project. The meeting was adjourned at 9 : 35 pm . Respectfully submitted, Robin Carlisle Peck Secretary 06/20/06 4 , f . f I 4k 1