Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-04-15Town of Dryden Planning Board Minutes Thursday April 15th 2004, 7:30PM to 9:15PM Planning Board Members Present: Barbara Caldwell (Chair), David Weinstein, Joseph Laquatra Jr., Lisa Stuttle, Tim Crawford, Tom Hatfield Others Present: Henry Slater (Zoning and Code Enforcement Officer), Debbie Gross (Environmental Planner), George Frantz (Comprehensive Plan Consultant), and Residents: Simon St. Laurent, Ken Miller, Laura Daly, Mitch Wiedemann, Kathleen Mclsaac, Wayne (can't read last name), Robert Warfield, Mary Warfield, Skip Thorne, Brian K. Richards, Judy Auble- Zazzara, Kalay Mordock, Graham Dobson. Joan Portzline — Subdivision Sketch Conference • Parcel is about 100 acres, bounded by Wood Road, Sheldon Road, and Etna Road. • Phase 1 includes lots A — G with frontage on Sheldon Rd. Phase 2 will be mostly lots above 10 acres, with a deed restriction that they are not to be further subdivided. Joan is sharing her whole plan as much as possible at this stage. • There is access to electric, buried phone lines, and TV cable, but not natural gas along Sheldon Rd and Wood Rd. • The site was Cornell agricultural research land, and Gary Wood, PE states that there is existing drainage. • Based on an April 15'h workshop on Stormwater Management for New Construction provided by Scott Cook and Ellen Hahn of DEC: when individual lots are subdivided from a larger parcel, and each new lot has its own road frontage, with no plans to build internal roadways or driveways, no Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) is required. The plan will be required when each individual home is built, depending on the acreage of disturbance. • Debbie Gross confirmed with Scott Cook that this project, as currently described, does not require a SWPPP. • However, Phase 2 of the project may require construction of shared driveways. The driveways themselves would probably be long enough to require a SWPPP, since over 1 acre of land is likely to be disturbed. • Tom Hatfield expressed Sheldon Rd. Regarding driveway cuts might not locations for driveways. minimum of 200 feet ear concern about the number of road cuts, the phase 1 lots on Sheldon Road, Joan make sense because the lot boundaries A site visit would help. The frontage ;h (approximately). both along Wood Rd and stated that requiring shared might not be the best )n these lots is fairly wide, a • There was discussion about using shared driveways to access the larger flag lots in phase 2. Each lot would have a narrow 125 foot strip of road frontage to meet zoning requirements. Q%WtL %• ft Ao.m However, some concerns were raised about maintenance of these little strips, as well as the challenge of maintenance of the shared driveways, and the issues involved with setting up a home - owners association to maintain the driveways. • Joan invites planning board members to conduct site visits. In designing phase 2, she is thinking about the topography of the landscape, and where the homes could go. If a SWPPP is required during phase 2, this may influence the layout of the lots. (something about Ed Fulkerson and TG Miller providing input). • Joan had considered building an internal road, but this would not be economical given the density she proposes. However, she would not like to increase the density because the land is not good for high density and she would like to protect the landscape — i.e., the farm feel to the area as you drive down Sheldon Road. She has been approached by two developers interested in buying the land, but they would like to put in higher density development. Only the raised areas have good soils for building. She has been thinking of putting in a pond on the property during phase 2, and has had Gordie Morgan from Soil and Water out to look at the soils. However, whether the second phase moves forward at all depends on how readily the first lots will sell, • There was some discussion of extending the set -backs on parcels A through G to protect the viewshed, however Joan felt that this would not make sense based on the topography. • Joan also would like to have several deed restrictions: o No further subdivisions; o No single or double -wide homes; o Developer approval necessary for modular homes; o Houses cannot be less than 1200 square feet. o The planning board would like an official list of proposed deed restrictions. There was some discussion of whether some of these restrictions might be exclusionary in relation to affordable housing. • Debbie Gross will make a map for Joan showing the boundaries of the Unique Natural Area on the property. David Weinstein suggests that there could be deed restrictions to protect the Unique Natural Area. • For phase 1, Joan will work with Gary Wood, PE to get health department approval. She will also prepare the short EAF for SEQR • There was a motion to send this project along for a hearing when ready. Several Brief Items • Henry Slater announced that Ardis Adams has withdrawn the subdivision application along Etna Rd. • Minutes from the March 18`s meeting were approved. • Jim Crawford was welcomed as a new member of the Planning Board. Revisions to the Comprehensive Plan • George Frantz had prepared revisions to the Comprehensive Plan, based on discussion at the previous planning board meeting. These revisions were approved, with a minor change of phrase from "small scale multi -unit housing" to "small scale single family and multi -unit housing" in a paragraph on affordable housing. • :Debbie Gross will follow -up to make sure that revisions are posted on the website. • George is working on a paragraph of new text to address concerns about land that is currently farmed, which the plan designates for development. The Town must be sensitive to agricultural concerns because the Department of Agriculture and Markets is carefully reviewing local zoning and comprehensive planning for impacts to agriculture. George suggests that new zoning should make it clear that the Town intends to protect existing farms, as long as the farmers want to continue farming. • It was agreed to mark all currently farmed lands within the Town with green stripes on the "future land use map ". Debbie Gross is working on preparing this map. In areas suggested for residential development, changes would only move forward if those farms ceased to operate. George suggested that the areas marked in orange on the future land use map, as "rural residential" areas would be low density and quite compatible with agriculture. • Ken Muller (a land -owner and farmer in Dryden and Caroline and a resident of Richford) expressed concern about farmers in agriculturally zoned areas who might want to subdivide their properties for sale. He was concerned about new restrictions that would affect his retirement plans. Ken was also concerned that there had not been enough public involvement in development of the plan. • Lisa Stuttle shared that there was a lot of concern and confusion in the agricultural community about the type of zoning regulations that might be suggested by this comprehensive plan. • George Frantz offered to arrange a Saturday morning meeting with the farm community in Dryden to discuss the plan. However, given that now is a busy time for farmers, it was ultimately decided that George would prepare a fact sheet summarizing and clarifying the plan's recommendations for agricultural areas. This fact sheet would be mailed to all farmers in the Town. Debbie Gross will work on preparing a list of addresses. • There was a suggestion that a footnote on "floating zoning" should be added on P. 54 of the plan in the section on Hamlet Areas. • Several residents from Etna expressed concern about the proposed density to the west of the Hamlet of Etna. George Frantz showed the revised future land use map which eliminated the "industrial area" south and east of Etna, added conservation land adjacent to the Bird Sanctuary, extended the Rt 13 overlay zone to Aramark, and reassigned the remainder to rural residential.. • Ken Miller shared some more concerns about the text of the comprehensive plan_ As the meeting was nearing an end, the Planning Board suggested that he could share his concerns in writing. Lisa Stuttle gave him her copy of the plan. Respectfully submitted by Debbie Gross, Town of Dryden Environmental Planner, May 12, 2004 — Revised May 27, 2004 J _ .haw • Planning board on subdivision, hamlets, agriculture Thursday night's Planning Board meeting included a sketch conference for a proposed sudivision • on Sheldon and Wood roads near Etna (map) as well as continued discussion of the Draft Comprehensive Plan's sections on hamlets and agriculture. The Planning Board welcomed new member Jim Crawford, and approved the minutes from the previous meeting, the first minutes to appear on the town's web site in a long time. The next discussion, which lasted about an hour, concerned the Daniel Armitage subdivision, which Joan Portzline presented. The initial sketch is oriented with north to the right. Sheldon Road's curve is the northern edge of the property in question. Wood Road runs along its eastern edge, and the road on the left edge is Etna Road. Parcels labeled with letters are part of Phase I, and the parcels listed with acreage are part of Phase II, except the lots in the northwest and the one with a a house shown on it, which have already been sold, a cg i vision to the Planning Board The area used to be Cornell research fields, and all of the parcels in Phase I have access to electricity along Sheldon Road. There was discussion of stormwater management - apparently there had been a presentation on stormwater that afternoon - though the lot already includes drainage put in earlier. Most of the other questions the Planning Board had related to issues of how responsibilities fall if the property is subdivided and sold to people who develop individual lots as opposed to subdividing and developing it simultaneously, as well as to issues around adding driveways to these lots. Planning Board member Tom Hatfield noted that the line of properties in Phase 11 would be adding six road cuts in a quarter mile, which would be really dense, and was also concerned about the eight potential driveways into Sheldon Road. There were questions about whether shared driveways were possible; Board member Joseph LaQuatra pointed out a lawsuit in progress against the town over a shared driveway on Bone Plain Road. There were general questions about the use of flag lots - narrow driveways to large parcels. Deed restrictions also came up a number of times, as Portzline plans to include minimum sizes for houses and restrictions on modular housing, as well as limitations on further subdivision. There is also a county Unique Natural Area near the edge of the property that can't likely be built upon, and there were questions about how much disturbance would be involved in development. Zoning Department Head Henry Slater announced that another subdivision proposal, for four parcels on Etna Road, had been withdrawn. The,board next reviewed changes made to the Draft Comprehensive Plan at the last meeting. Most of the changes were accepted without new changes, except that the last sentence of the first changed paragraph was modified from "small scale multi- unit" to "small scale single family and multi- unit ". 4 1 1 ' Other changes were meant to ensure that active farms in areas slated for possible future development be encouraged to continue, and there was discussion about changing the maps to show active farms and, as Planner George Frantz said, "consider them reserve areas." Tom Hatfield wanted it made clear that suburban development "would only kick in if these farms are unable to sustain themselves ". Frantz noted that the Department of Agriculture and Markets is actively policing zoning and planning to make sure it isn't opposed to the interests of farmers. Environmental Planner Debbie Gross had a map showing active farms overlaid with the (now outdated version of) the land use map. The map hasn't been revised to show changes in the Etna area and north of the Village of Dryden, and the map of active farmland is approximate, based on tax assessment information from 2003. (if you know of an active farm that's missing, contact Debbie Gross at 844 - 8655.) It looks Like it's missing Cornell fields, which is.perhaps not surprising given their tax- exempt status. Ken Miller, a resident of Richford who farms in both Dryden and Caroline, was concerned that the plan didn't take a different point of view into account: farmers in the agriculturally -zoned areas who want to subdivide their properties. He felt the restrictions on'subdivision outlined in the current Draft Comprehensive Plan were "a very poor concept for the farmer," and would lead to lots of brush lots. He was also concerned that there hadn't been any signslof a meeting with farmers, and that he had only just learned of this plan, not having received anyj notice of it or the survey that preceded it. Joseph LaQuatra reflected that no one had brought those issues up at all at the public meeting. George Frantz suggested that a Saturday morning meeting with farmers to explain the implications of the plan for farmers would be a good idea. Board members Tom Hatfield and Lisa Stuttle asked for a written explanation of the fixed -ratio zoning described by the plan, with some sample scenarios and descriptions of what would happen if a parcel was no longer used for agriculture. There were also some questions about how planning for the Etna area had turned out. Skip Thorne of the Etna Community Association was there, concerned about plans for development to the south and west of the hamlet. Planner George Frantz described the proposed changes to the south, removing the industrial area and adding a green buffer between Etna and Route 13, which seemed to go over well, r t� • • f i': a� u: 1 q it t George Hraniz .shows how pknts for Eliza have cjumged As the board reached the agriculture section of the plan, Miller also objected to language restricting the kinds of businesses permitted on agricultural land, and a line about "crafty zoning language" that was apparently a typo for "crafting zoning language ". The board ran out of time for discussion, and will discuss this in more detail in future meetings, Posted by simonstl at 08:46 AM I Comments (0) II