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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-10-16TOWN OF DRYDEN Planning Board October 16, 2008 Members Present: Barbara Caldwell, Chair: Tom Ilatiield; David Weinstein: Joseph Laquatra, Jr.; Joseph Lalley; Megan Whitman; Martin Hatch, Others Present: Mary Ann Sumner, Town S1 Jason Leifer, Town Board; Dan Kwasnowski, Secretary; Steve Bissen, Conservation Board; Munkenbeck, Conservation Board: Lawrence Behan Planning Associates. Meeting called to order at 7:00. ipervisor; Joseph Solomon, Town Board Liaison; Environmental Planner; Patty Millard, Recording Bard Prentiss, Conservation hoard; Nancy Bice, Behan Planning Associates; John Behan, John Behan and Lawrence Bice from Behan Planning Associates presented an update on the status of the Comprehensive Plan Prt ject — Zoning Rewrite, We'll be presenting to the public, but wanted to present to the Dryden Boards first to get feedback from them before taking the next step. Dan Kwasnowski — talked about some amendments to zoning ordinance at the last meeting. Should Planning Board take on some Site Plan Reviews` What the Town Board would like to do is to fine tune these ideas, hold a public workshop, and then work on adopting the zoning amendments and have the public meeting at that point. Henry Slater's memo pointed out the zoning shortcomings of the design guidelines; things that could not happen due to current zoning even though they were in the Design Guidelines. The Town Attorney's suggestion was to adopt a zoning amendment to allow the PB to make changes on the fly if they were consistent %Mth the Design Guidelines even if they are not allowed by current zoning. We're currently working on that. Public workshop will be a i'ocus on the Design Guidelines as a lead in to "the current zoning is inadequate." We're preparing new zoning regulations that are in line with the Comprehensive Plan and get us to that point where we can do some ol'the new things in the Design Guidelines. L Bice — So the Public Workshop will focus on the Design Guidelines. Then give status on zoning update. Go over the amendments to fonnalize Design Guidelines. Powerpoint presentation. Background on Comprehensive Plan — adopted in 2005. Goals of the plan: • Enhance and Maintain Town Character • Revitalized hamlets and Village • Quality New Growth Comprehensive Plan Implementation Phase 1: Design Guidelines (Residential and Commercial) Phase 11: Town Zoning a 0 6 O i '0 PO 10 -16-2008 Page 2 of 10 Town — Landowner Partnership . Current Development Trends — maps with Historic Development Trends 1800 — present day Development is happening along the roads. The map shows a lot of open space with most development being frontage development. Commercial Development No shared parking No shared curb cuts Less convenient, less safe Sigmage Overdose Flashy Canopies Too 'T'all Lighting Cumulative effect of all these elej maintain. We want to loot: ahead. we position ourselves (the "Town) vents is not in keeping with the character the town is trying to What if this pattern replicated itself across the town? blow can to be a little bit more towards desired outcomes'? Phase 1 Design Guidelines: Residential & Commercial • Committee & Planning Board Meetings • Focus Group with Landowners, developers and the real - estate community • Public Presentation: May 14, 2008 Goals of Guidelines: • Communicate Desired Outcomes • Save Devclopersffo,vn Time and Money • Avoid the "One Size Fits All" Approach • Clear Guiding Principles & Flexibility and Creativity • Supplement Zoning, Added Support for Decisions Reviewed an example of property in the toN n and how it might develop as an agricultural subdivision. Also reviewed extending from a Village /I-Iamlet to take advantage of the existing pattern of development. Character Areas • Village / Hamlet • Mixed Use / Medium Density • Rural Highway Corridor Phase IL Zoning and Subdivision Goals: • Amend to reflect the Comprehensive Plan • Update provisions to reflect today's "best practices" and current state law • improve organization and usability • Build off and incorporate principles from the Design Guidelines — Preserve lono,-term value • Still a work in progress, time for feedback • PB 10 -1 6r2008 Page 3 of 10 Reviewed Zoning DlstrWts. New Zoning DIO -iCt�5 RR — Rural Residential The purpose of the Rural Residential (RR) District is to retain an area of the Town where rural living is the primary land use_ CorlsIstenc with the Tmxiti of Dryden Comprehensive flan, the RR District is an area that is intended to remain rural. Urbanizing infrastructure fsuoh as public water and sewer does not exist and is not planned for this area in the future. Single and two - family Moines are the predominant -firm o f development, Agriculture is also expected to be a major land use well into the future, RA � Rural Agricultural The purpotie of tine Rural Agricultural (RA) Di�str ict is to reserve an area of the Town primarily For agiicultural use. Consistent with the Town of Dryden Comprehensive .Plan, the RA District is an area that is intended to renixain rural and a place where. agriculture is recognized as the primary land use_ Recognizing the enterprise nature of contemporary agriculture, small scale rural bu Si:nesses may be appropriate in this district upon revie�� o:f site specific impacts. These should be primarily agriculture- related businesses, and such enterprises should not evolve into retail operalions that sell products not produced on a farm or non -.fame produced items or services that are not marketed primarily to the farm commwnity. CV — Conservation The purpose of the Conservation (CV) District is to protect areas of the Tours that contain a variety of ecological and open space assets that Nvarrant protection from the impacts of intensive development_ Cori istent with the Town of Dryden Comprehensive Plan, the Town seeks to channel major development away from this area, Very low density residential uses and agriculture will remain the primary land use actlVities here_ R — Suburban Residential The purpose of the Suburban Residential (Stir) District is to encourage denser residential development in and around the traditional centers of population in the town. Consistent with the Town of Dryden Comprehensive flan, this area Wi11 accommodate new residential growih that is tied to the Towns existing villages and hamlets. A mix of housing types will be allowed here to meet the demand for Dousing that suits families of various incomes and sizes_ Water and sewer infrastructure exists or could be extendcd to most of this arear Agriat Iture will remain an allowable use in this district, but commercial uses wit I not be permitted, H — Hamlet The purpose of the Hamlet ( District is to prornote traditional patterns of higher density, mixed use de%�elopment in these existing small centers. Consistent with the Town of Dryden Comprehensive Plan, the Hamlet District will encourage new development and redevelopment that 1 1 1 increase the attractiveness of these areas by offering a diversity of options, including townhouses, duplexes, small multi -unit apartinent buIIdiiigs, and mixed use 49 (residentiallcornmei -Qlal) buildings, Careful attention to scale and design will ensure that new P13 1046=2008 Page 4 of 10 development coulplernents the architectural and urban design character of existing buildings sand streets in the hamlets. 0 C — Commercial The purpose of the Cammereial (CC) District is to encourage small neighborhood —onented businesses providing goods and services to a primarily local market. Consistent with the Town of Dryden Comprehensive Plan, con nle-re-1al retail devcIopinent that is of. a much larger scale than the scale of existing retail businesses it I not be permitted. Agriculture W1I I refrain an allowable use In this district. L10 — Light industrial f Office The purpose ol'the Ught Industrial / 0[J'ice (L10) District is lea' reserve a location in the Town for light industrial and warehousing enterprises, oFfiCe buildings that could house corporate administrative operations and service enterprises. or research and deveIoprrlent enterprises such as computer softk%are and equipment design businesses. Col istenI with the Town of Drydcn C'olnprehcrisIve. Plan, Agri cuIture will remain an alto wable use In this district. TIND — Optional 7raditional Neighborhood Development Overlay District The purpose of the Optional Traditional Neighborhood Development Overlay District ([)'f'ND0 ) is to provide development aIternatilves for landowners located at the periphery of the town's two village -s and some of its larger hamlets. Utilizing incentive zoning authority in Town Law. land in the overlay district cr►rl be. developed more intensively in return for specified public benefits and the incorporation of Traditional Neighborbood Design principles in the design of sites and structures. Small scale businesses, primadl y in in]9xed -use structures, can also be incorporated into these a.rea_S, CO — Corridor Overlay District The purpose of the Corridor Overlay (CO) District is to provide, additional design and access lranagement mquirelnents for commercial development located along the Route 131366 corridor. Allowable Use Table will allow the Zoning Regulations to be more easily read_ Right now, you 11uve to search each section to see what is allowed in each district. The Allowable Use 'fable puts all possible uses in to one table. This is a huge improvement ley Ideals: Focusing in on rural agricultural, rural residential mid conservation districts. Covers large, residential are aoFtown. Pertains to prevailing JeveIo pill ell t patterns {residel6al development, lot splits, etc,) 'floe+ to yield better results, allow Ilor flex,blIIt1'r avoid cumulative negative. impacts, l3ackoro>.ind concepts: Collaboration early -ors betw{ Discussion about the Provide a variety o:l` opt ions subdivisions. Fused oil "Pare-nt Parcels" a awCll the applicant and town staff' - characteristics ofthe specific parcel and development options. — for small subdivisions (predoniIliant type) and for large lot that exists today (as recorded in the Assessor's Office) PB 10-16 -2008 Page 5 of 10 Subdivision — all lot splits will be reviewed by the Planning Board Residential Design Guidelines apply Area and bulk Table — Separate "lot size" from "density" Permitted Densih in the RR and RA Districts V Utilizing lot frontage to determine density — useful for development pattern in Dryden where most developers are NOT mixing out development potential... Rather than using minimum lot size... Start at reasonable, base development density based on available road frontage: "Actual Permitted Density" To get more lots, conservation development techniques kick in. Number of lots wouldn't exceed the "Maximum Permitted Density" (maximum density per acre) Permitted Density Examples RR and RA Districts Maximum Permitted Density — 1 unit / 2 acres From the Comprehensive flan: NNo hat would be the impact of development at this density across these districts? is this realistic? Actual Permitted Density: Less than or equal to Maximum Permitted Density Lased on linear feet of Road Frontage and proposed Form of Development Several options: Frontage lot: with an individual curbeut/driveway — 1 lot per 400 feet of the • parent parcel's road frontage Shared Access Lots: 2 or more lots with one driveway /curbcut — 2 lots per 600 feet oi'the parent parcel's road frontage — 1 additional lot per 200 feet of the parent parcel's road frontage (if using the same shared access plaint) Frontage -based density requirements protect full development of'towli roads, while allowing for reasonable amount of development. To get more lots than what is permitted by frontage: New Conservation Subdivision Procedures Conservation Subdivision Design — emphasis on the form of development (density neutral). Flexible lot sizes allow for creative subdivision design in harmony with the landscape. Uses open space resources present on a site to be developed as the starting point for design (In the same way that a golf - course community is designed). The four -step conservation subdivision design process is quite simple: I . Identify conservation areas — potential development areas follow once the conservation areas have been "greenlined ". 2. Locate house sites 3. Align streets and trails 4. Draw in the lot lines Conservation easement is the legal too] that ensures that conservation lands set aside as a result 0 of this process remain undeveloped. (Looking at this with the Planning Board now.) • Who owns the open space? PB 1046 -2008 Page G of 10 o Individual landowner or landowners o i.:and trusts. Hold easements or fee simple title to ensure conservation of lands o Nfunicipality / other public agency o HomeoAvners Association' o Combinations of the above. • Who maintains the open space? o The Owner — Depending on who that is, a management plan or a memorandum of understanding can help avoid legal problems down the road. • Primary Clements of the Conservation Subdivision Article: o Purpose and Applicability o Standards for Conservation Subdivisions ■ Density Calculation ■ Conservation Analysis • Open Space Requirement ■ Area and Dull: Regulations o Permanent Open Space ■ Conservation Casement • Land N11,anagement Plan o Conservation Subdivision Procedures ■ Low Impact Conservation Subdivisions ✓ Proposed Density well below maximum (less than 25% of the base density) and at least 75% of site as protected open space ✓ Simple Calculation ✓ Expedited Review ❖ Less likely to require an EiS under SFQR �o Possibility of combining preliminary and final plat review ■ Standard Conservation Subdivisions ✓ 'Not a Low Impact Conservation Subdivision ✓ Standard Review Next Steps: Public Presentation and Feedback Incorporate Feedback Pulling the map together Complete Zoning Updates Present Draft Zoning One of the things we want to protect is that the Town is able to review all subdivisions. Now, some happen through the Health Department only and the Town finds out about them after the fact. 11 PB 10 -16 -2008 Page 7 of 10 FEEDBACK FROM VARIOUS BOARD MEMBERS: Will Ag Related Enterprise be more defined? You talk about having lots of visitors to a site being something to be discouraged, but one of the big things in fanning right now is doing farm tourism and having people come do visits, so then you have the traffic. Want to make sure that if people have a farm or farm animals, some sheep or a backyard lien house, that those rights aren't taken away by any of our zoning. What if the kids get a little egg route? The Mays had their sheep farm for years. They changed the zoning, they built up all around them, one of the neighbors complained — Monte May had to go to court and prove that sheep manure draws less flies than horse manure to keep their grandfather clause to have their five sheep. When those sheep died, they couldn't get more. The planning Board and the conunuility will have to make stare they don't put significant farm areas in the zones (on the map when we get to that point) so that we don't discourage that. That's where the feedback is important to come in to this process. David Weinstein: For the public presentation, we shouldn't have the Allowable Use Table in there. We NN ill get too far off the topic of the Design Guidelines and that is what the focus is of this public workshop is. If you want to list the categories, that should be fine. There will be other public meetings that discuss that material — we just aren't there yet. B Caldwell — thinking as a member of the public who is seeing this for the first time, when the different types of subdivision come up, are there going to be people there who are going to ask the $$ and cents questions about — what does this mean to the town, what does this mean to the developer? Can you come up with some of" that — even dust in reference without putting numbers up on the board? Costs of roads, what it costs to build and to continue to maintain and plow and school bus mileage and so forth. L Bice — Yes. I will put some of that information in. M Sumner — that's something we might want to work on too. Where it says, who's responsible for the shared areas for the open areas — we really have to put something in about the roads too. We're not necessarily talking about building a whole bunch of new town roads. J Laquatra — Right. Because people are going to be seeing this idea — cluster development, conservation subdivision — for the first time. They'll be very un{'amiliar with it, so we'll have to stress that. Il can actually end up being the same amount of units, density is allowed to be increased, and there is the benefit of commonly owned open space. T Hatfield — I think the other overriding thing that has to be stressed here — there's always going to be that underlying concern by individuals that this is a value neutral process. The first fear individuals have is that somehow you're taking value away from them. What needs to be brought back in from you guys from an outside perspective from other communities is —just because you're changing the densities and changing the structure doesn't mean you're reducing value. Matter of fact, there's probably information Joe can provide that shows you're increasing value so that the individual land owner is not negatively impacted because we're changing the rules. One of.'the first surveys told us that one of the main goals of residents of the town was to PH 1046 -2008 Page 8 of 10 maintain the rural character of the Tow' n of Dryden. That was a real underlying value. That needs to be addressed at this point in the process at the workshop level. If you don't start that education process now, by the time you get down to zoning, specific zoning issues on my postage stamp — that's where you're going to run in to trouble. i think your development community is going to understand, by the nature of their business, that they can put densities and share road cuts and reduce miles of road to be built and have the ability to share infrastructure — development costs per unit goes down, which impacts housing. We haven't even talked about affordable housing in terms of how these regulations might enable people to start focusing on starter housing in terms of what young people can afford. N Munkenbeek — And I think there are some areas of our larger community that already have the shared roads and responsibilities, aren't there, where people have had positive experiences. I know of some where they've had negative experiences. I think that as a group we can hope that people that come to the meeting will be familiar with nothing or positive experiences rather than the negative. If you have representatives of people who have had positive experiences, that would be good to have. .l L,aquatra —'1 "hose introductory slides where you show how development spread over the years are really good. T Hatfield — You could do two projections: one if you don't do anything, and the other with these changes. J Behan — I'm thinking we might want to just talk about the cost — some overview of some of the elements that establish value. Some ofthem are influenced by this process, and then we might also introduce (lie idea of a key element of value is how the absorption rate of development. There's recognizing there's only going to be so much change in the town — so at one level we all think — if we do the simple math and divide by the number, the bigger that number is, I end up with more value. The truth is, there's only so much demand. NO matter where you go with, there are only going to be x number of sales of residential lots in the town. How those are done, it's really counterintuitive, but actually the value will not necessarily be the most lots makes the most money. We might speak to that end. The most lots could actually have an adverse impact on that person and/or folks nearby. And also reinforce the idea of trying to find creative ways to reduce costs to both the project sponsor / developer /land owner AND the town. Some of the ideas of creating these drives that are very sustainable yet not expensive. One could ask someone to build a road that is fully paved up front, which become very expensive for any landowner to do, yet the toww'n is kind of Saying, that's necessarily what we need to do to achieve access to a property. We can work with you to reduce your costs and meet the Planning Board's obligation to provide safe access to properties. 1 think some oil 'those cost factors could be introduced. N Munkenbeck —1 don't know how this will fit in, but if we end up with gas drilling around here, which I predict we will at some point, it doesn't look like it'll be real soon, but since gas drillers have to build frill roads to g et to their sites, and they're going to have to get pen-nits from you guys to put them in, 1 Would think, don't they? V — No. That's controlled by the state. 0 PB 10 -16 -2008 Page 9 of 10 N Munkenbeck — If this is something hat will be in lace for the next 10 to 20 ears or so, we g P ) should think about gas drilling and the issues associated with it and put something in. I was thinking if we had any control over where they did these roadways, we might want to think in terms of this — once the roads are developed, people will want to build on those sites later. J Laquatra — Commercial Guidelines — slide with BB Farms and the Xtramart — Route 13 — if you could put that slide and then the safe slide next to it with one entrance and one exit right after it, that would be helpful to illustrate how changing from four curb cuts to one curb cut really makes things different. You had a slide in another presentation sho�%-ing how that situation can be handled more safely with one entrance and shared parking — if you could put that slide after you show that, that would give everyone a good visual representation. There was an actual photograph. That was a dramatic visual. T Hatfield — It was an aerial view of that site and it was a remake with doing it differently. Change the word Village to Villages. D Weinstein — When you present the new zoning categories, people in the audience are going to immediately ask the question in their own head — how does this map on to the old. Either, your approach could be, as you did allude to, the old ones are outdated, they don't really fit where we're trying to go anymore. There's no point trying to say how each one of those is morphing in 10 to the new ones. You could do that, or you could make an attempt to say how they arc related. M Hatch — if you're saying the old zones aren't pertinent, don't you have to say why these are pertinent, and why this particular zone is configured the way it is, and that gets you in to the thing that 1 thought you didn't want to talk about — the map. D K.wasnowski — Talking about zones is talking about places you want to create in the town. It has nothing to do with the map. If you create a Conservation Zone, it's a Conservation Zone. You picture what that looks like. M Hatch — But a Conservation Zone refers to a particular place. When you're saying this isn't relevant because the places as they are described by the colors here are B Caldwell — We're talking about the descriptions, not the map. M Hatch — So when you're talking about zones, you're talking about in the abstract. J Behan — Ultimately, they will land on a map, but at this point, it's creating the places. D Weinstein — This does highlight an issues that we're not ready to get in to, so the map probably should be taken out for now. L Bice — I think what we could do with the districts, instead of those big, giant paragraphs, I think we could distill down a little more what the different kinds of places are that you want to PB 10 -16 -2008 Page 10 of 10 foster in the town, what they mean, maybe add some images to them to invoke what they mean, that might make it a little more real to people — that we want to have vigorous hamlets, the town's not zoning for the villages, but we want to partner with the village to have great villages in the town, too. IN4 Sumner — There is a great deal of concern about development of areas contiguous to the villages. D Weinstein — We pretty clearly said in the Comprehensive Plan that we want those villages to expand in kind, to add communities that look like the communities, after in- frilling, that's where we want them to go. M Sumner — I've used the slides that are in the Design Guidelines a couple of times to explain to people and they have been very helpful. L. Bice — Did they elicit mixed reactions or are they mostly positive`? M Sumner — It makes them go away with a more open mind. N Munkenbccic — Because there are directions in which the village can expand while accommodating the Ag Lands, right'? J Behan — Maybe we could show some pictures that are incongruous with the Design Guidelines • to highlight the downside of not making these changes. We might need to have a discussion with the villages at this point. We want to take advantage of opportunities in the villages without detracting from what they have and offer. We want to make sure the villages agree and get their feedback. Start here 72:19 Make sure to bring up the survey that was done of "Town Residents in which the goal of maintaining the rural character of the town was a main feeling of residents. Technology can even make it possible for smaller lots from a health department view with allowing smaller septic fields. SCHEDULE PUBLIC INFORMATION \N'ORK.SHOP: November 20`x' — at the neat Planning Board Meeting. Meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm. Respectfully Submitted, Patty Millard 0