Varick Planning board minutes
September 23, 2021
Present: Linda Mastellar (chair), April Freier, Lauren Burling, Rich Olsen, Frankie Long, Thomas Björkman (Secty).
Absent Hershey Sensenig.
Guests: Cindy Lont, Mike Karlsen, James Foggo, Aaron Stevens, Gerry Willower, Eric Backlund
Called to order. 7:04
Minutes for August. Moved to accept Freier, Second Burling (Approved 6-0)
Public hearing on Willower-Colarco subdivision
Opened 7:06
Applicant presented information. No public comments.
Hearing Closed 7:14 Moved by Björkman, Second Olsen. Approved 6-0.
Resolution
The Varick planning board issues Final Approval of the Willower-Colarco subdivision. This action moves the lot line lot 01-4-13 4831 East Lake Rd (Colarco) and 01-4-12 (Willower). The move will square up the lot line by moving it 12.2 feet at rear of the lot, and 0 ft at the road, for approximately 250 ft. The resulting lots will be ~168 ft and ~112 ft in the rear.
The applicant supplied an Agricultural Data Statement. The board finds that there will be no impact on adjoining agricultural uses because the land use will remain agriculture.
The board received the Short Environmental Assessment Form and declared itself the lead agency for State Environmental Quality Review. Upon review of the EAF, the board found no impact because the action will lead to no change in land use, nor creates a condition that would encourage one. The board makes a negative declaration of environmental impact.
The application was not reviewed by the county planning board because it is exempt.
Moved by Björkman, second Long. Approved 6-0.
Public hearing on Backlund Trust Subdivision
Opened Public hearing at 7:25
Applicant described the plan.
Aaron Stevens, buyer, clarified that his current property and the adjacent one that he is buying align at the back. There is not extra agricultural land that would be removed.
Close Hearing. Moved by Björkman Second Olsen 6-0 Closed at 7:37
No action was taken because the survey map was not completed. We anticipate that the board will consider accepting the preliminary plat at the October meeting.
County memorandum of understanding. The County Planning Department requested comment on the Memorandum of Understanding on actions exempt from review by County Planning Board. They are preparing to review and revise it. Our suggestions are:
· For residences consider changing “family” to “household”, as we did in our code.
· For lot line moves, consider a slight increase from 20 feet, since that standard only applies when the lots widths and setbacks from buildings are significantly larger than the minimum.
· For the minor subdivision, using two years with no harvested crop appears to be a short time for determining whether agricultural use has ceased permanently.
Short-term rental discussion. Olsen reported on his conversation with Nancy Murray of Fayette. Fayette has issued 22 repeat permits and 3 new ones in 2021. There have been several applicants who started the application process. Some are still pending. Some applicants abandoned the application because they have insufficient septic.
The impacts on the Town of Fayette include more work for the Town Clerk and Code Enforcement have more uses. Limited labor. They have also found more permits to prepare homes for rental purposes.
No short-term rental applications are away from the lakeshore in Fayette. Therefore, this issue is likely to be specific to our Lakeshore Residential District, where preventing further congestion is a primary planning objective.
Resident Foggo commented that the proliferation of short-term rentals completely changes the character of the neighborhood. And is also concerned that more short-term rentals are being rapidly developed, especially by developers and property companies using them as a wholly commercial use.
Resident Lont emphasized concerns that remain to be addressed and were not acceptably handled on East Lake Road in 2021. Renters did not have an appropriate way to leave trash and recyclables when they left. Renters trespassed, especially on lakeshore and docks, but also in fields and bothered domestic animals. Some rentals had more people than they could appropriately handle, which led to unacceptable noise, trash and parking.
Several questions were identified that we need to address in the next meeting:
· Do we let it be known that short-term rentals are not permitted, and that existing uses will not be grandfathered when the law is passed? That is, all short-term rentals that are currently operating will be required to comply with all the restrictions. The inability to contact the manager was particularly frustrating.
· This board should determine the appropriate line between a vacation-home owner who occasionally rents out their house, and the short-term rental owner who occasionally stay at their rental property. There is a lot of financial pressure on long-time owners to rent to cover the rising property taxes. The former use is generally considered appropriate, where the latter degrades quality of life for permanent residents.
· The complaint process for neighbors must make rental managers accountable for the behavior of their tenants, while not making the process a vehicle for inappropriate neighbor animosity. This balance is also important if the permit is contingent on having approval from neighbors as a means of controlling density and congestion.
· All permits must be listed with contact information that always works.
Adjourn. Moved by Burling, second by Freier. Passed 6-0
Adjourned 9:03
