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Home My WebLink About2010-02-17 Danby Planning Board Organizational Meeting Minutes February 17, 2010 Members Present: Olivia Vent Ray Van de Bogart Naomi Strichartz David Mastroberti Anne Klingensmith Ted Melchen Others Present: Pamela Goddard Town Clerk Susan Beeners Code Enforcement Officer Ric Dietrich Supervisor Councilperson Leslie Connors Members of the Public: Joel Gagnon,Ted Crane,Bob Roe Appointment Chair for this meeting: Ray Van de Bogart was nominated to Chair the meeting. The meeting was called to order at 7:10pm Planning Board Secretary: Ray Van de Bogart reported on his conversation with Carol Sczepanski. He her,politely but firmly, that the Planning Board requested that the minutes from 2009 be Emailed to the Board by the end of January or she would be fired as PB secretary.An Email list was delivered to her.No Planning Board members received minutes. Responding to a question from the Planning Board, Goddard reported that partial minutes for some meetings exist in electronic form. There may be cassette recordings of meetings. Making a complete inventory of recorded and electronic records in the Town Clerk's office is a long term goal.According to counsel from the Association of Towns,minutes reconstructed by anyone other than the secretary in attendance are not a legal record. Reconstructed minutes could be compiled as an historical record,but would need to be marked as such. Resolution No.4 of 2010-APPOINTMENT OF PLANNING BOARD SECRETARY Resolved,That the Planning Board of the Town of Danby appoints Pamela Goddard as Secretary of the Planning Board. Moved by Klingensmith, Second by Vent. The motion passed. In favor: Klingensmith,Mastroberti,Melchen, Strichartz,Van de Bogart,Vent Resolution No. 5 of 2010-APPROVAL OF MINUTES,01/18/2010 Resolved,That the Planning Board of the Town of Danby approves the minutes for the 01/18/2010 meeting. Moved by Strichartz, Second by Vent. The motion passed. In Favor: Klingensmith,Mastroberti,Melchen, Strichartz,Van de Bogart,Vent Minutes will be Emailed to the PB within two weeks of its meetings. Page 1 of 3 Suggestion to send letter to Carol Sczepanski: Olivia Vent suggested that it would be appropriate to send a letter to Carol Sczepanski, clarifying that she is no longer serving as Planning Board Secretary and expressing appreciation for her many years of service to the Planning Board. She will draft a letter for the PB to sign and send. Resolution No. 6 of 2010-PAYMENT FOR SECRETARY Resolved,That the Planning Board of the Town of Danby recommends payment of$20 per hour to the Planning Board Secretary. Moved by Strichartz, Second by Melchen. The motion passed. In Favor: Klingensmith,Mastroberti,Melchen, Strichartz,Van de Bogart,Vent Discussion regarding conflicts of interest: There was a general,theoretical discussion regarding Planning Board ethics and what would constitute conflicts of interest and require board members to recuse themselves. Strong opinions about a matter do not constitute a conflict of interest. Situations which could lead to personal financial benefit, or the appearance of financial benefit,do constitute a conflict of interest. In addition, it is important for Planning Board members to disclose relevant business dealings and their positions on issues before the Board. Planning Board Appointments: Supervisor Dietrich spoke about reasons for a delay in appointments to fill vacancies in the Planning Board and appointment of the Planning Board Chair. Time is being taken to engage in discussions and joint meetings between the Town Board and Planning Board members to come to some shared agreement about goals and directions.Appointments will be addressed at the March Town Board meeting. There was a discussion about more timely and efficient ways to do this in the future. Requests for Clarity in Goals and Directions: There was a lengthy discussion about the need for more clarity from the Town Board and frustration due to a perceived lack support and follow through by the TB for PB actions. Members of the PB expressed wide-ranging interest in working on tangible projects. Such projects could placed in the framework of issues being worked on by the Code Enforcement Office and priorities directed from the TB. The PB could also work on goals from the Comprehensive Plan.According to Town Law,the PB may make rules in any area over which it has jurisdiction, and may make recommendations related to planning and development as seems desirable. However, efforts can be unproductive for the Planning Board to move ahead on its own initiative without guidance and support from the Town Board. The Town Board acknowledges that it could do better in providing feedback on Planning Board recommendations. The Planning Board expressed appreciation of Councilperson Connors presence as a TB liason and would like regular reports from the TB at PB meetings. Short reports from the TB will be added as a regular item to future PB agendas. Goddard will also advise the PB via email when TB minutes are available on the town web site. Code Enforcement Officer Beeners advised that,due to her work load,the PB can not expect a heavy level of staff support for its efforts. She presented a HUD grant application through Sheen or Better Housing, or researching the web for affordable housing opportunities, as examples of projects related to the Hamlet Plan which could be enhanced by PB involvement. [Vent offered to help with the HUD grant application due in March.] Beeners additionally reviewed NYSERDA energy conservation grants submitted by Danby and a consortium of towns. She suggested that the Planning Board investigate similar collaborative grants. Page 2 of 3 Update on Stormwater Laws: A report was given of a preliminary meeting between Town staff,members of the Upper Susquehanna Coalition, and legal counsel/members(Keith Porter and Cynthia Bowman) of the Danby Gas Drilling Task Force. A proposal to the EPA is being crafted for a request funding for a 3-5 year study of enhanced Stormwater Regulations for small municipalities. The proposal might include Danby, Caroline,and Newfield. These enhancements could be appealing to the EPA in relation to its interest in the Chesapeake Bay Water Shed and future rigorous standards for sediment run off. Porter believes that Danby is on the cutting edge of such regulations and well poised to receive funding support. Planning Board Training: A general discussion about training needs and interests for the Planning Board in 2010 and who will select training topics.Areas of training interest include how to be a good planning board member, affordable housing,recent zoning trends especially in regards to specific zoning(in relation to the Danby Hamlet Plan), and learning about SEQR long and short forms. There was some interest in exploring options for a consultant to provide joint training between municipal planning boards. Various web-based training could be researched which members study and share with each other. It was also suggested that the Planning Board might view Split Estate as part of one of its regular meetings,with a follow up discussion about issues of relevance to the PB.This could be counted as part of its training. Danby Hamlet Development: The Planning Board is interested in following up on the Danby Hamlet Plan.The study, "Told us that we needed to raise the density in a central area in order to have build a hamlet...we just don't know where that central area is."There was some discussion about the challenges of encouraging development of the Danby Hamlet(such as re-establishing the Danby Store,developing senior housing, etc.) Some of these challenges are due to the geology and geography of the area. The March Planning Board agenda will include map study for Hamlet Planning and zoning, looking at the area from Michigan Hollow to West Miller Road. Housing Initiative Updates: Supervisor Dietrich informed the Planning Board about opportunities for support in relation to housing developments already in process (the White Hawk, Camelot, and Marinelli developments). In order to meet housing needs for Cornell and Ithaca College, the county has a target of a certain number of homes to be built each year. According to Dietrich,Better Housing and the CFCU are interested in lending support and support money has been pledged by Cornell and IC. The Planning Board requests improved communication with specific information so that they are better informed when opportunities such as these arise.The Planning Board secretary offered to help link communication between the TB and PB. Further Meetings between Planning Board and Town Board: The Planning Board will bring these issues to the Town Board during its February 22,2010 meeting to continue reviewing projects and priorities on various "Work Lists." Adjournment A motion to adjourn the Organizational Meeting was made at 9:10pm. Pamela S Goddard,Planning Board Secretary Page 3 of 3