HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-04-20Town of Dz -yden Planning Board
April 2011h,2006
Members Present- Chair. Barbara Caldwell, Tam Hatfield, Jim Crawford, Joseph
Lalley & David Weinstein
Others Present: Dan Kwa.snowsid, Charles Guttman
Agenda; Hews er Meadows Subdivision - Preliminary /Final Approval
Phase II
Chair Caldwell Read the pu
C. Guttman Began by ex
and that all
regulations,
proposed.
B, Caldwell Asked if the
blic hearing into tl
plaining that each
of the lots were in
They were asking
lots were goiniz to
3e record.
lot had the proper road frontage
compliance with zoning
for the approval of the lots
be sold separately rather than
built upon.
C, Guttman Replied that yes they were going to be sold Individually and then
individual purchasers will build, we are not intending to build
the houses.
D. Weinstein Asks Ld if a letter has been received from John Anderson {TCFHD)
about the acceptability of . , .. , ,
C. Guttman The perk tests were done and appeared to be, satisfactory. Once
the final plat is in place and acceptable to the Board he would
write his approval right on the plat as opposed to writing a letter.
So therefore it uFould be stamped on the plat when it is filed. If
you would like a letter I will request that for you.
D_ Weinstein The wet area on lot 27 is not identified as a wetland because it
was reviewed?
C. Guttman in terms of wetleuji ds they are designated by the )Federal
Government at this point and they have not at this point
identified that as a Wetland, It Is Swampy but it is not a wetland.
D. Kwasnowski It is a wetland_ Th ey delineated what was available on the Fish
and Wildlife Services NL:Ltienal Wetland Inventory Maps but they
do not include everything_ It is surprising that they missed what
is on lot 27, There is definitely enough room on that lot 2 7 the
way the h€�use its laid out_ The question for the Board is whether
they au-it this actually delineated especially since they are
intending to later sell the rest of the land that adjoins lot 7, The
question is do you the Board want the buyer to be aware that
there is a wetland on that lot.
JC}. Weinstein That would be nine if there is a way of identifying as a warning to
the buyer,
C_ Guttman What it is showing on the map is a swampy area. It is not a
federally delineated wetland.
*L
i
f
D. Kwasnowski
By the National Inventory Wetland that has been done by aero
photography and is not very accurate. Does the Board want
is
them to do a field survey?
C. Guttman
What would you want in addition to the survey map showing a
wet swampy area? If you want to be sure that someone see the
area you should know that this map if approved by the Board
will be filed in the Clerk's Office. Any attorney that does real
estate work is going to request a copy of this map or have seen
this map as part of the standard title search you have to prove to
that this subdivision has been approved. They will receive this in
practice.
T. Hatfield
I don't think that they need to do any more considering that it
does say wet swampy area on the map.
D. Weinstein
I do not disagree with that. I am only concerned that the future
owner could get into trouble by doing something in that area
without knowing that it had an official designation but since it
does not then I am not worried.
C. Guttman
Lot 27 has a lot of frontage is 4 acres and could have been two
parcels but it is not. That is why the house site is where it is and
the driveway off of Hollister Road.
Chair Caldwell
Any other questions from the Board? There were none.
Do any of our public have any questions? There were none.
T. Hatfield
Moved to close the public hearing.
J. Lalley
Seconded that motion.
All in favor.
Chair Caldwell
Closed the public hearing.
The Town Board has asked us to look at Renewable Energy
facilities and Dan has provided us with the ordinance. Does this
only address wind or are we going to consider a broader thing of
alternative sources?
D. Kwasnowski It is a. Renewable Energy Conversion Systems Ordinance but the
bulk of it is regulations on wind power. In the draft ordinance I
sent out there was an exemption section that exempted solar,
geothermal sources.
Chair Caldwell I can see the safety issues on solar systems. What would
regulate my putting a dam in the creek and having waterpower?
D. Kwasnowski The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. If it was small
enough you could be exempt but you still have to have review by
. If they washed their hands of it then the state would have
detailed requirements for it.
Chair. Caldwell Should that at least be noted in anything we adopt?
D. Kwasnowski There is almost 0 local control over hydropower.
D. Weinstein If you had a situation that we met all the requirements of the
Federal regulations but there may still be something that this
community would not like to see we do not have any way of
regulating that?
D. Kwasnowski We have no control. The state has no control.
S. St. Laurent Wind and solar seem to have uncertain status in the Town right
® now and I am a little nervous about seeing geothermal heat
pumps. What is the zoning status on those right now?
D. Kwasnowski Technically yes. Under the state unified code any furnace or
heating system has to have a building permit. However, that is
very difficult to track.
J. Lalley When did we adopt the new code or has that been around for a
while?
D. Kwasnowski I think that was before.
Glenn Peters A comment from the public was that no -town seems to have an
issue with solar energy but wind on the other hand it seems that
every town in the state has its own preferences. There are areas
in the Town that could satisfy NYSERDA in terms of
requirements in the amount of wind that you get and they are
being able to get money towards putting it in.
Then they ask if the Town says if it is OK.
They're all different types of setups depending on the town. What
I would like to do is to provide any information that we can to
help you make determinations.
On the solar side I do not think that there are any problems. In
terms of wind there is a bit of a challenge. I would like to offer
our services for any information you may need on safety, birds,
bats or any thing else that might be endangered by propeller
going around or to satisfy your requirements.
I would like to be able to help the information process along any
® way I can because there was tremendous interest at the home
shows that we had in Binghamton, Syracuse and Ithaca.
It is critical at this point to get these renewable energy resources
in place with the cost of rising fuel.
D. Weinstein Do you not only provide information and you also install the
systems. You have vested interest. I agree with the fact that it is
a good idea but we as a Board have to be concerned about is
having an ordinance which would be lineate enough to allow a
lot of people to rush and install a lot of systems. But then to find
out that these systems are not net suppliers and we end up with
relic systems all over our landscapes that are abandoned
because the owners found out that they really did not work as
they were hoping. They then may become abandoned.
G. Peters The amount of power that can be generated is information being
provided and the rate of return is also information out there.
There are also restrictions on distances. I have given information
to Henry. We would be happy to make a presentation for you.
There is a house on Etna Road that has solar panels. I did not
know that there were restrictions on solar power in this town.
One of the jobs I did was a pole stand.
D. Kwasnowski There really is not a restriction on solar there is an
administrative glitch.
G. Peters The article said that solar power is forbidden. I would like to
participate in this process in a constructive way.
D. Kwasnowski
Our zoning ordinance is an inclusive ordinance which means we
include the uses aloud in certain districts. A solar panel can be
interpreted as an accessory use structure being it is a residential
use.
D. Weinstein
It could be put on a 60' pole.
D. Kwasnowski
We have no height restrictions in the Town of Dryden. It has
always been that if it is not included then it cannot be done.
Another opinion is that this not really the intent but that if it is
not included in the zoning ordinance than it is not regulated but
you would still have to get a building permit and may have to go
to the ZBA for determination.
T. Hatfield
There has been a couple of different ordinances in the past one
being cell towers which would be an excellent road map to
follow. It is the process that needs to be followed. With this it
puts the burden on the applicant and not the town. We need to
look back at the process of the cell tower ordinance was created.
From this boards perspective I think we are in an area here
where the Town Board has asked us to have this discussion. I
think the Town Board should follow the process that was taken
to create the cell tower ordinance.
The original ordinance which was 8 to 10 years ago, it was
looked
at to minimize the intrusion and to maximize access to
technology.
G. Peters
This is a residential ordinance not an industrial. I appreciate
your time and I will be getting the information to Henry and
Dan.
B. Caldwell Getting back to Howser Meadows. We now have the SEQR form.
The Planning Board read through the SEQR process completing
Parts I, II &, III (attached is copy of SEQR documents).
D. Weinstein Moved that the SEQR be accepted for a negative declaration.
T. Hatfield Seconded that motion.
B. Caldwell Asked for any discussion and with no discussion the motion
and all were in favor. Motion carried.
J. Crawford Motion made to approve the Subdivision as proposed with
conditions of a 239 L & M Review by Tompkins County and
Health Department approval.
T. Hatfield Second
All in favor
The discussion began with the question whether to lump all
alternative energy resources into one ordinance or segregate
them into different ordinances. The discussion started with
including all types of alternative sources in this ordinance. There
was a concern that people were going to come up with all sorts of
things to use for alternative resources. There needs to be
restrictions and different review processes for each of the
® sources.
The idea of proposing this draft is to start a mechanism for
dealing with renewable energy. The wind turbine seems to
propose the most environmental impact that we have seen to
date.
The board's comment was to be specific and address the fact
that some other sources may need to come to a special permit
review so they are there and you have the procedure.
The comment was made that we are presuming that there is
going to be an impact until you do a study and find out that
there is not. Another way to go is to presume that there is not
going to be an impact until someone has an issue. There are
studies going on all over the Country watching these things. The
fact that there is going to be community impact means it is going
to be fairly well established as technology emerges but there is
going to be emerging technologies over and over again and the
presumption is that we are going to have ordinances and
regulate things until we find out there is no impact.
Until we are educated more about things to know the impact it
may have on the community and to be able to say no. It could be
a dangerous issue. It was brought up that there are also
lawsuits that need to be considered. Board Member Tom Hatfield
® mentioned that the Town Board could put a moratorium on
renewable energy until a study was done and it was determined
whether or not the Town would then allow this activity. This
would be a way to survive the legal system.
A member in the audience made the comment that the problem
right now is that the Town Government has decided that they do
not have the right to say yes to any of the projects of renewable
energy. This circumstance has been done for years and there
have been permits issued. I also believe that it is only from the
Cornell Wind Turbine Project that the stance has been taken
that what is not allowed is now forbidden.
It was agreed that some renewable energy has been done for
years. It is a fact that fossil fuels are more expensive and may
continue to be that. The idea of a moratorium was further
discussed.
Dan mentioned that there will be a public meeting sometime in
June or July,
Barbara asked about multiple wind towers on one property and
was concerned that it would become a wind farm. Dan explained
that the turbines were not as big as the industrial size turbines.
•
The total height versus the fall zone was then discussed. The
biggest impact is the aesthetics.
The noise level was discussed.
Chair Caldwell asked the Board if they were all in agreement
that there needs to be an ordinance. The Board agreed.
Chair Caldwell mentioned that within the ordinance maybe a
provision should be written that when some of the other
renewable sources are proposed there should be expert input so
that the Town Board would not have to rely on their own
knowledge or to have to go back and rewrite everything. This
would be similar to us now relying on the engineer to give us a
report.
Meeting Closed