HomeMy WebLinkAboutDraft White Hawk Conditional Approval
DRAFT Town of Danby Planning Board Resolution No. 9 of 2019
Conditional Site Plan Approval, White Hawk Ecovillage Community, Tax Parcel #7.1-1-32
Whereas, a White Hawk Ecovillage site plan was originally approved by the Town Planning
Board in 2008; and
Whereas, an application was submitted to the Town of Danby in September 2018 for rezoning
of Planned Development Zone 19 for White Hawk Ecovillage Community, which rezoning and
some slight residential lot reconfigurations necessitated an updated Site Plan review; and
Whereas, no new development is proposed through this proposed site plan revision relative to
that site plan previously approved by the Town of Danby Planning Board; and
Whereas, the combined rezoning and associated site plan review was determined to be a Type I
Action under the Town of Danby Environmental Review of Actions Section V 1(a) and a Type I
Action under the State Environmental Quality Review Act Section 617.4(b)(2), both of which
require environmental review; and
Whereas, the Town Board, as Lead Agency for Environmental Review of this action, did on
October 15, 2018 review and complete a Full Environmental Assessment Form, and did adopt a
Negative Declaration of Environmental Significance for the rezoning and its associated site plan
review; and
Whereas, the Town Board subsequently approved updated zoning for Planned Development
Zone 19 on February 4, 2019 as Local Law #1 of 2019; and
Whereas, the White Hawk Ecovillage Community exists on land which previously consisted of
two parcels (tax ID 7.-1-68 and 7.1-1-32), which parcels have been consolidated into a single
parcel with tax ID 7.1-1-32; and
Whereas, this land is presently owned by Red Tail, LLC for the benefit of White Hawk
Ecovillage Community LLC and its shareholders; and
Whereas, White Hawk Ecovillage Community has been notified by the Town that any future
effort to subdivide consolidated parcel 7.1-1-32 into the previous two parcels or any other
number of parcels of any configuration would require prior subdivision approval by the Town of
Danby; and
Whereas, the existing White Hawk Ecovillage Community offers shares in its Ecovillage
development which allow shareholders to construct houses within residential ‘lots’ as shown on
its existing site plan and the proposed site plan, which lots are not separately-owned and
subdivided parcels of land but which have been assigned tax parcel numbers by the County Tax
Assessor for the purposes of taxation of improvements by Ecovillage home owners, tax ID
numbers 7.1-1-2 through 7.1-1-31; and
Whereas, the Tompkins County Planning Department, pursuant to §239-l, -m, and -n of the New
York State General Municipal Law determined the proposal has no negative inter-community, or
county-wide impacts; and [NOTE – this is prospective; the referral has been made, no reply
has yet been received]
Whereas, legal notice was published and adjacent property owners within 500 feet notified in
accordance with the Town of Danby Zoning Ordinance; and
Whereas, a duly noticed public hearing was held on July 18, 2019 and any public comments
were carefully considered by the Planning Board;
Now, Therefore, be it Resolved that the Town of Danby Planning Board does hereby
acknowledge and restate that the Danby Town Board as lead agency issued a Negative
Declaration of Environmental Significance for this action on October 15, 2018; and
Be it Further Resolved that the Town of Danby Planning Board does grant Conditional Site
Plan Approval subject to the following condition:
Acceptance by the Planning Board of a commitment by White Hawk Ecovillage to address
any deficiencies of the storm water management system from what was designed and
originally approved by the Planning Board in 2007. This commitment is to be in the form of
a written letter from White Hawk Ecovillage which is to include and be based on a written
report by a certified stormwater management engineer regarding construction of the storm
water management system as designed, its current maintenance status, recommendations to
address deferred maintenance, and recommendations for future maintenance as further
described below. This commitment and accompanying report shall be submitted to the
Planning Board no later than six (6) months from this conditional approval. This submittal
will be reviewed by the Town Planning Board and the Town Stormwater Management
Officer, and at a duly scheduled meeting of the Planning Board with White Hawk Ecovillage,
the board will discuss the commitment and its accompanying report. Changes to the
commitment and/or report may be agreed through this review and discussion. The board may
engage the services of a peer reviewer as provided in the Zoning Ordinance and Town Fee
Schedule. Following this review and discussion, and based on any subsequent changes to the
commitment and/or the report, the board will consider final acceptance of the commitment
from White Hawk Ecovillage to maintain the stormwater system in perpetuity and thereby
consider this condition fully satisfied.
The review in the form of a written report, to be completed by an engineer certified to design
storm water management systems in the state, is to include:
a) Review of the approved SWPPP and the storm water system as-built, noting
deviations from the plan;
b) Recommendations to fix substantive and impactful deviations from the original plan;
c) Review of the current status of stormwater practices / system;
d) Recommendations for addressing deferred maintenance;
e) Recommended schedule for regular maintenance of the system in perpetuity;
f) Any other recommendations or considerations for White Hawk and the Town of
Danby from the engineer.
Be it Further Resolved that any future effort to subdivide consolidated parcel 7.1-1-32 shall
require prior subdivision approval by the Town of Danby; and
Be it Further Resolved that within 62 days of the approved acceptance by the Planning Board
of the stormwater commitment stated above, White Hawk Community Ecovillage is to file the
approved site plan sheets with the Tompkins County Clerk.
Approved ___________, 2019 ________________________________________
James R. Rundle, Chairman