November 2006 Minutes

Town of Varick Planning Board
Minutes
November 16, 2006

The Varick Town Planning Board met November 16, 2006 at 7 PM at the Varick Firehouse. Attending the meeting were Chairman Thomas Bjorkman, Larry Peterson, Kevin Swartley, Bob Kayser, and Anne Bachman. Absent were Frankie Long and the new grandfather Bill Larzelere. Also attending the meeting were two members of the community; Linda Mastellar and Sally Swartley.

Commercial Zoning Permit application. Angel Landis has applied to start a business on the farm owned by her husband and herself at 5083 Rt 414, Romulus, NY. The business would be a store selling books, crafts, and probably some Amish food. It would be located in a new building no larger than 24ft X 32ft. Code Enforcement Office Dick Foxx had asked Angel to come before the planning board for our approval of the permit. The business does not yet have a name and Angel is aiming for an opening next spring. Bob Kayser moved that we recommend that the Code Enforcement Officer approve the application. Kevin Swartley seconded it and it was carried unanimously.

Minutes. Kevin Swartley made a motion that the minutes of the October 26, 2006 planning board meeting be approved. Anne Bachman seconded it and it was carried unanimously.

Kevin Swartley asked for information about an Open Space grant proposal to be submitted to the Restore New York program by the towns of Fayette, Varick, and Romulus. Kevin said the Town of Romulus will asked to be removed from the proposal. Thomas Bjorkman said he was not aware that Romulus felt that way, having met with their planning board to invite them to join the proposal. The grant was written by Peter Brown who is the grant writer for Seneca County. Chairman Bjorkman indicated that and Open Space Plan is called for in our Comprehensive Plan and he took the initiative to apply for a grant to prepare such a plan when the opportunity was announce earlier this month. Kevin was concerned that this application had not been approved in advance by the Varick planning board.

Bob Kayser felt we should allow Chairman Bjorkman to take the initiative on such a topic as this without planning board approval as long as he keeps us informed of what he is doing by email or a phone call. Kevin Swartley asked to be on the board for an Open Space Plan if it comes about. Thomas Bjorkman said Kevin would be a good member that board if he represented the Agricultural Enhancement Board’s to identify agricultural land that should be highest priority for protection, but the final board selection would be up to the town boards involved.

Zoning. Thomas Bjorkman presented a Use Table and we went over a number of items related to the Lakeshore Residential Zone, which had not yet been addressed. The board members were asked to consider uses in the Agricultural and Rural Residential Zone for the next meeting.

Next Meeting. It was decided to cancel our December meeting. Our next meeting will be January 25, 2007.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 PM.

Respecfully,

Larry Peterson

Acting Secretary

Approved January 25, 2007

No December 2006 meeting

The Varick Planning Board meeting scheduled for December 28, 2006 has been cancelled. The next Planning Board meeting will be January 25, 2007.

October 2006 Minutes

Town of Varick Planning Board
Minutes
October 26, 2006

The Varick Town Planning Board met October 26, 2006 at 7 PM at the Varick Firehouse. All seven board members were in attendance. There were no visitors at the meeting.

Bob Kayser made a motion that the minutes of the September 28, 2006 meeting be approved. Kevin Swartley seconded them and they were carried.

Chairman Bjorkman reported that there is now a website for Planning Board minutes: varickny.miniurl.org.

There was extensive discussion of a draft from the 9/28/06 meeting regarding uses and restrictions on the Lakeshore Residential District. What retail sales should be allowed in the district was debated at length. The biggest concerns were regarding lights, noise, and traffic and how this affected quality of life. There was a discussion of how we should control outside merchandise of a retail store.

Regarding Section 303.1 Intent. The last sentence currently reads “Commercial development that contributes to the residential experience is encouraged, whereas commercial development that compromises the residential experience is not encouraged in the district: It was decided to change the word "encouraged" near the end of the sentence to “desired.”

There was a discussion regarding mobile homes and whether they should be allowed in the Lakeshore district or anyplace else in the town of Varick for that matter. A mobile home is defined as a home brought in on wheels with a steel frame. A manufactured home has a wooden frame and there is no restriction on them.

Bob Kayser brought up the topic of flag lots which is a narrow lot to allow access to land behind adjoining properties. The consensus of the group was that flag lots should not be permitted. All new lots should be at least 100 feet wide to permit future access to and development of land behind roadside residential lots.

The meeting was adjourned at 9 PM.

Respectfully,

Larry Peterson

Acting Secretary

Approved 16 November 2006 Motion: Swartley Second Bachman Carried 5-0

September 2006 Minutes

Town of Varick Planning Board

Minutes
September 28, 2006

The Varick Town Planning Board met September 28, 2006 at 7 PM at the Varick Firehouse. Attending the meeting were Chairman Thomas Bjorkman, Larry Peterson, Kevin Swartley, Frankie Long, Bob Kayser, and Bill Larzelere. Annie Bachman was absent. Also attending the meeting were two members of the community: Linda Mastellar and Lisa Sadlik.

Minutes. Three minor typos were noted in the minutes from the meeting of August 24, 2006. Bill Larzelere made a motion that the minutes be approved as amended. Frankie Long seconded the motion and they were carried.

Information items. Bill Larzelere reported on an illegal dumping incident that he discovered last Sunday on the Kuney road. Fifteen loads of construction material from a house in Seneca Falls that had been torn down had been dumped on a vacant lot with the intention of burning it. Bill got Sara Ryan involved from the Seneca County Health Department who in turn got the state DEC involved. The DEC issued a citation to the individuals who had dumped the material there.

Chairman Bjorkman reported that he had received a phone call from an individual who wished to remain anonymous at this time but had expressed an interest in opening a banquet hall and conference center on the East Lake Road in Varick. Thomas told him about the concern of the East Lake Road residents about traffic congestion. Kevin Swartley pointed out how there is no zoning now and anyone could do this that really wanted to. It will be another 12-18 months before we have zoning. It is like the wild west now.

Thomas Bjorkman said Seneca County has updated their web site and our planning board minutes are no longer on there. He is going to research the best way for our mintues to be placed online for all who want to read them.


Old business. We discussed the lakeshore and whether we should have one zone or two. We discussed how deep the zone or zones should be. We discussed height of buildings, noise, septic tank cleaning, lot size, house size on lot size, footprint, multi-family dwellings, drainage plans, etc.

It was decided that Thomas Bjorkman would develop a strawman so we would have a starting point to discuss all of these topics further.

Bill Larzelere will research DEC code assignments that we can tie into our plans.

Linda Mastellar thinks that Mendon has plans that may benefit us to look at and she will check into this for us.

Lisa Sadlik will check into septic tank inspections as far as who might do the inspecting and other considerations.

Next Meeting. The next meeting will be October 26, 2006 at 7 PM at the Varick Firehouse. Chairman Bjorkman suggested Halloween costumes would be appropriate attire.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 PM.

Respectfully,

Larry Peterson

Acting Secretary

Approved October 26, 2006

October 2006 Agenda

Varick Planning Board
Agenda
October 26, 2006

Approve minutes
September 28, 2006


Committee reports: none

Information items:
New Website: varickny.miniurl.org

Discussion items: none

Old business:

1. Lakeshore District. Permitted uses; building envelope, congestion
2. Septic inspection

New Business

1. Flag lot for farms, not residences
2. Temporary personal property sale, vs indefinite business.

New subdivision proposals: None

Set next meeting time: Currently scheduled for November 16, 2006

Adjourn

Varick Lakeshore Residents’ Meetings

Organized by the Varick Planning Board to determine which protections residents in the lakeshore zone want in the zoning code. July 8 (Seneca) and 9 (Cayuga), 2006.

Seneca Lake
July 8, 2006
LDS Seneca Youth Camp

41 Residents attending
Bob Kayser, discussion leader
Larry Peterson, Thomas Björkman VPB members attending

Size of lakeshore zone
Preference is 600 ft to 1700 ft from lake.
600 feet, 3 people; > 600, most; 1/4 mile, 15, 1/2 mile, 6. May be sufficient to have 1/4 mi up side roads, and less (600 ft) between roads.

Permitted uses have a common factor: Land uses that increase traffic on East Lake Road are undesirable.
Higher density is NOT desirable.
Condominium developments are NOT desirable.

Commercial development
Maximum acceptable is Marina with 2 hotels, 2 nice restaurants total for Seneca shore of Varick.
Bed & Breakfast Yes
Gas station NO
Sandwich place (depends on aesthetics and noise): specify design, hours
Winery/tasting room. Only on side road. Tour buses limited to 4 or 6 tours/day.
Home occupancy business: no
Dog breeding kennels: no (noise).
Other businesses: no

Quality of undesirable businesses: Increase traffic and make noise.

More businesses on second tier of development (1/4 to 1/2 mile from road)
Resort or golf course on land behind East Lake, overlooking lake is desirable.
No businesses at all was a strong theme from many.

Water quality.
Septic inspection (Though this does not apply to most Seneca lakeshore):
10 years after initial installation, then at 2 (16 votes) or 5 (11 votes) year intervals. (assumption is that inspection will be done at time of septic pumping by town contractor who charges $50 to $100).

Stormwater runoff onto lakeshore properties is a concern.

Desirable public amentities. Walking and biking paths on road (have county do it).
Require residents to move garbage cans from road after collection.

Lot size: 0.7 acres is bigger than needed. Criterion for changes: reducing tax burden is desirable.

House size/viewshed. Two story limit.



Cayuga Lake
July 9, 2006
Varick United Methodist Church

58 Residents attending
Thomas Björkman, discussion leader
Annie Bachman VPB member attending
Dick Peterson, Kathy Russo, Town board members attending

Desirable government-funded development: Bike trail, ball park, community garden.

Residential construction.
Minimum setback: reduce only in cases where it allows matching existing housing.
Side setback, at least 10 feet, but not much more.
Maximum footprint, make a percentage of lot size rather than absolute size.
Viewshed: Building bulk is a strong concern. On lake side of Rt. 89, strong support for a maximum building height of 12 ft above center line of highway. (Current practice.)
Comment: New power (and communications) lines should be buried.
Signage. Should not be excessive or unsightly.

Unacceptable uses: Things that create risk of chemical or gas spill. Malodor.

Commercial uses
No resorts. (Two proponents, many opponents)
Shed sales, boat storage: Nearby, but not on Rt. 89.
Bed and Breakfasts OK, but regulated to protect privacy, limit noise, and accommodate parking with low visual impact.
Home occupancy: yes
Winery tasting room: yes

Traffic: speed is major concern. Substantial volume is acceptable, congestion is not big issue (as it is on East Lake)

Restaurant is good
Condominium complex is bad.

Water quality
Septic inspection. Five year intervals overwhelmingly preferred. (Assumption is that inspection will be done at time of septic pumping by town contractor who charges $50 to $100.)

Size of lakeshore zone
How deep (west of Rt. 89 ) should the zone be?
200 ft: 3 residents
500 ft : 13
1000 ft: 19
>1000 ft: 1

August 2006 Agenda

Varick Planning Board
Agenda
August 24, 2006

• Approve minutes (5 min)
  
  June 22, 2006


• Committee reports: none


• Information items:


1. Long dock proposal in Romulus
2. Fayette Zoning Code process
3. Annual Small Cities Conference, Ithaca Oct 3-5 (free)
4. Zoning Board of Appeals member update
5. Comprehensive Plan coverage in town newsletter
6. Update on Empire Biofuels


• Discussion items:


• Old business:
1. Junk language from last meeting (10 min)
2. Conservation, Recreation, and Green Energy District (10 min)
   Develop “Purpose” statement in accordance with Comprehensive Plan.


• New Business:


1. Lakeshore District. (40 min)
   Results of July 8-9 residents meetings.


• New subdivision proposals: None
• Set next meeting time: Currently scheduled for September 28, 2006 (2 min)


• Adjourn