Varick Planning Board June 28, 2018

Varick Planning Board

June 28, 2018

Called to order 7:10 pm

Present: Linda Mastellar (chair), Frankie Long, Hershey Sensenig, Rich Olsen, Thomas Björkman (Secretary)

Minutes approved. Moved Sensenig, Second Long. All in favor.

Code revisions. Discussed additions to code revisions requested by Town Board related to Waste-to-Energy clarification (cite 6 NYCRR §362) and allowance for process water generation (specify transloading, processing and disposal in Use Table.

Björkman will make edits and distribute to members, and then forward to Town Clerk.

Lot line adjustment. Dale Allen.  Parcel 14-1-20.11 on Town Line Rd to transfer 40 ac to neighbor leaving two large lots. All requirements were met. Accepted sketch plan in lieu of survey map. Moved Björkman, Second Sensenig 4 Aye 1 Abstain. 

Mastellar will check with county planning  to see what records they would like.

Code Enforcement. Mastellar will request copies of Code Enforcement report and permits.

Adjourn. Move to adjourn: Sensenig, Second Long. Adjourned 8:10 pm.

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Varick Planning Board May 24, 2018

Varick Planning Board

May 24, 2018

Called to order 7:04

Present: Linda Mastellar (Chair), Frankie Long, Hershey Sensenig, Rich Olsen, Thomas Björkman (Secty).  Absent: David Kidd, excused, one vacancy.

Also: Bill Yale.

Minutes approved: Moved by Sensenig, Second by Olsen.  All in favor.

Conversation with potential Planning board member Bill Yale. Memorial cemetery..5 years ago.  Several years ago to 96A in Varick. Expect to retire here and learn more and give back. Have time.

Town board meeting report.

Rich, Linda and Hershey attended the  workshop. Super useful. Better presentation.

Roles, variances; zany zoning codes by Steinmetz Planning Group.

·      Define all terms, they may be ambiguous or become outdated.

·      Every district needs a purpose statement that shows the intent, that you go back to when there is a question.

·      If a comprehensive plan is updated, the zoning code must be updated immediately afterwards to conform with the plan changes.

·      Signage restrictions can’t be based on language on sign or the type of business (must be by district instead). Can make them safe, no bigger than necessary. Time place and manner of speech can be regulated, whereas content cannot.

·      Remove any unnecessary review criteria.

·      Use tables and graphics as much as usual.

Corey Auerbach (of Barclay Damon), Variances and limitations

·      A use variance goes with the property. (Can’t expand.)

·      Variance does not change zoning, does not create a precedent for other properties seeking similar variances.

·      For a use variance, the criteria for meeting the tests are very strict. Area variances have more discretion by the ZBA.

Power.

·      Electric vehicle charging stations have State tax incentive for installation to increase facilities.

·      Power generation was covered, but speaker from NYS government did not want to discuss proposed trash to power plant in Romulus.

·      Power-plant proposer must pay the cost of government checking information in proposal.

·      Transmission lines. State can overwrite unreasonable local codes.

·      Community choice aggregation. Town contracts for power for the whole town, essentially acts as an ESCO. Want to get green energy, or NYS-generated energy (4-5c/kwh). The Town Board would have to do this.

Planning Board overview

·      Designed for introduction, but was an excellent review.

Dale Allen. Preliminary discussion about lot line shift of 40 acres between two farms. No problems noted. Will expect application.

Code Enforcement Officer. We should be getting regular reports under the code, but we have not. Linda Mastellar will ask him to come to the next several so that we can realign.

Fayette Local Law 2. They are updating their code and they are requesting our comment under SEQR. See an online version at http://townoffayetteny.org.  It addresses , new beverage business like cidery, brewery, distillery; solar and wind installations; and vacation rentals. Comment was due by April 18.

Zoning Code Revisions: Trash language at town board. Board members liked our concepts in March, and we have code ready for the town board. Björkman will ask Donna Karlsen to schedule a public hearing and vote at July 3(11?) Town Board meeting, and to put a presentation on the June 5 agenda which Björkman will attend.

Move to adjourn Hershey Sensenig, Second Rich Olsen. Adjourned 8:39 pm.

Varick Planning Board April 26, 2018

Varick Planning Board

April 26, 2018

Called to order 7:04

Present: Linda Mastellar (Chair), Frankie Long, Hershey Sensenig, Rich Olsen, Thomas Björkman (Secty).  Also Brian Zerges.

Minutes approved: Moved by Sensenig, Second by Olsen.  All in favor.

Town board meeting report. Supervisor Hayssen was absent. No comment on the details, but a general sense of support. Attorney reminded about SEQR process. We should move ahead.

The state legislature is currently moving to change the Article 10 rule to eliminate trash incinerators as power plants.

Vacation rental. Resident concerns have motivated us revisit this issue, as the rental market increases with greater online reservation resources. Our goal is to help people be good neighbors. Fayette is working on legislation, they shared a draft with Frankie. Brian Zerges, a property manager and lake resident, commented on issues. Licenses have been a fairly effective, since the license is revoked if tenants violate regulation. The goal is to manage number of visitors, noise and parking. The Town of Jerusalem is working on it, but the town administration hopes that Yates County will administer licensing county-wide. That town has lakeshore on Seneca, Canandaigua and Keuka Lakes. There is already a county process, which is used to handle lodging tax. He suggested piggybacking on that process in Seneca County. 

In his experience, municipal enforcement is valuable when guests take advantage of individual owners. Zerges gave an example from Milo, where some rental owners were not supervising their guests. Milo indicated that they would enact a law if it didn’t clean up.

A noise and parking ordinance would be a good tool for the direct problems. We have discussed this before. Having a county ordinance would be preferable to a town ordinance.

Anticipating having too many absentee owners to maintain a sense of community among the year-round residents, it might be helpful to have a limit on the number of licenses in a given area. Determining the criteria for keeping a license is our key assignment. Check other municipalities.

Trash.

Developed code language (attached) based on last month’s principles (bulleted list in March 2018 minutes)

Each idea needs to be addressed in the following places in the code

·      Definition (107)

·      Determination of Allowed, Conditional, Special Use, or Prohibited in each Zoning District in the Use Table (308).

·      If Conditional or Special Use, the specific conditions or requirements in 310 or 311.

Some uses that are treated equally everywhere may also be addressed in 309, General Design Standards.

Also add to the proposed code changes the typos and temporary dock language that we developed last year.

Send the proposed code to the Town Board for their information and consideration, schedule public meeting for adoption and SEQR on June 6, any comments for us to address in May. We’ll add other things on the to do list.

Move to adjourn Hershey Sensenig, Second Frankie Long. Adjourned 9:14pm.

Varick Planning Board March 22, 2018

Varick Planning Board

March 22, 2018

Present: Hershey Sensenig, Frankie Long, Rich Olsen, Thomas Björkman, Linda Mastellar

Absent: David Kidd, one vacancy

Call to order at 7:03

Minutes approved: Moved by Sensenig, Second by Olsen.  All in favor.

Linda contacted Code Enforcement Officer Tim Dorn, to ask him to attend this meeting but did not hear back.

The ZBA was in touch regarding dock legislation progress, introduced by Helming, but not acted on yet.

Trash. Supervisor Hayssen and ZBA chair Bachman asked us to revisit the trash language in our code to see that it is as strong and restrictive as we intend.

To do so we need to have unambiguous definitions of trash and things that are similar to trash so that the regulations have the appropriate restrictions on each category.

We discussed things that the language should address, and uses the likely would be allowed, limited or prohibited.

·      We thought our language was clear that trash cannot be stored, transloaded or disposed of in town. But some find the provisos for used non-waste to be ambiguous.

·      Local ag waste as part of agricultural operation is OK.

·      Food-processing waste may be processed for reuse.

·      The municipality should be exempt for transloading trash on ten days a year to allow for semi-annual cleanup days at the town barn.

·      Specify that restrictions applies to commercial use.

·      Distinguish between accepting waste material vs generating it. Latter is bound to happen, former is a problem.

·      Avoid having a loophole that lets someone store waste by calling it something else, e.g recyclable or marketable.

·      Processing locally generated waste to make a marketable product (and sell it). Some things ok, others not. What would be community expectation a of e.g. a new large-scale industrial processor of ag waste?

·      DEC considers composting and anaerobic digestion to be recycling (ECL27-106), but we don’t want big facilities dedicated to those purposes.

·      Any marketable materials need to be sold quickly, not accumulate.

We should be consistent about using the term “Garbage, trash and refuse” and have a very specific definition.
We should define “marketable recyclable materials,” which is a term used in the code now.

Definition:

Garbage, trash and refuse.

1.     Municipal solid waste

2.     Industrial waste (including process water and leachate)

3.     Any material intended to be disposed as waste

4.     Any material abandoned without a clear plan for reuse or recycling within a month.

What we consider borderline areas to be resolved: Some material that started as waste can have value recovered. Many such operations would be undesirable, but some process may be ok (e.g. pallet remanufacturing). Transloading of certain materials destined for recycling or reuse may be OK, but storage and processing would not (e.g. tires). See: Materials Exchanges under DEC rules for an example. Major criteria: toxicity, odor, risk of environmental contamination, visual blight.  

We will send our ideas to the Town Board by next Tuesday for review at their April meeting. We will use their input to refine code language at our April meeting. We’ll send the proposed language for their May meeting. They may have a public hearing and adoption then or in June.

When does the code language need to be made public relative to the public hearing?

Adjourn: Moved by Sensenig, Second by Long. Approved 5-0 8:44 pm

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Varick Planning Board February 22, 2018

Present: Hershey Sensenig, Frankie Long, Rich Olsen, Thomas Björkman, Linda Mastellar

Absent: David Kidd, one vacancy

Call to order at 7:03

Minutes approved: Moved by Long, Second by Olsen.  All in favor.

Discussed potential candidates for filling the vacancy.

David Kidd will not be able to attend for several months. We will try to accommodate the absence, but he is amenable to stepping aside if there is a good replacement. 

Public hearing on Young subdivision

Opened at 7:10

No comments. 

Closed 7:11

Surveyor Dave Hanley was present to represent the owner.
The County Planning Board recommends approval of the subdivision. 

Resolution: The Varick Planning Board provides final approval the subdivision of the Young Property, 10-4-1.11.

Moved Thomas Björkman. Second Rich Olsen. Approved 5-0.

Björkman provided a short report on the Romulus Planning Board actions in regard to the proposed trash incinerator in the Flaum area of the Depot.

We have not heard back from the county regarding our subdivision process. 

Linda recommended having our Code Enforcement Officer, Tim Dorn, attend next time. 

Adjourn 8:02 Moved: Hershey Sensenig, Second: Rich Olsen Passed 5-0. 

Varick Planning Board Minutes Jan 25, 2018

Varick Planning Board
January 25, 2018 (No meeting was held in December 2017)

Called to order 7:00pm

Present: Frankie Long, Rich Olsen, Thomas Björkman, Linda Mastellar.

Absent: Hershey Sensenig, David Kidd. One vacancy. 

A quorum is present.

Mastellar continues as chair, Björkman is appointed secretary, replacing retiring Barry Somerville.

Minutes approval for November 2017. 

Moved by Mastellar, Seconded by Long. Approved 4-0.

Carey Subdivision, Lot 10-3-10  

Varick Zoning Board of Appeals approved division into two parcels of 0.685 acres with an access easement for the upper parcel. County Planning Board recommends approval. Approved and signed by chair Mastellar.

Young Subdivision, 10-4-1.11 

Surveyor Dave Hanley representing Suzanne Young estate. Propose dividing into two lots, each 117.5 ft wide. We determined that this is a minor subdivision. Lots meet the requirements in the subdivision code. We will schedule a public hearing for February 22, 2018. County planning board can review the application at their next meeting; they will need SEQR EAF form and agricultural data statement in addition to the application and map. Property is on East Lake Rd near Kennedy, but more than 500 feet from Romulus town line. Fee was paid.

Motion: We determine that the Young subdivision is a minor subdivision and provide preliminary approval of the subdivision. Moved: Björkman, Second Mastellar, approved 4-0.

Björkman will send our subdivision procedure checklist to Harriet for her comment.

Subdivision record keeping. 

The board reviewed a new subdivision record-keeping spreadsheet that Rich Olsen developed on Google Sheets. A script makes for easy record entry. The spreadsheet allows easy search, review and updating. A vertical view page is valuable when we are working with a specific subdivision application.

Adjourn 8:55pm Moved: Mastellar, Second: Björkman 4-0

Varick Planning Board Nov 16, 2017

Varick Planning Board Minutes 11/16/17

Meeting called to order 7:03. Present – Linda, Tom, Rich, Frankie, and Barry.

Minutes from previous meeting approved - motion made by Rich, second by Tom.

We brought up topic of itemizing subdivision approvals we have made. Barry passed out approval sheet covering back to 10/27/16. Rich is working on a spreadsheet that we can log these items into as they are approved. This will make subdivision information easily accessible. 

The following steps map our process for subdivision applications.

1. Prior to or at initial meeting for application, the board must determine if a major or minor subdivision. Applicant must include EAF form and AG data statement. We receive  application and check.

            2. Copy goes to Donna with check – we may keep a copy.

            3. Review at next meeting – give our feedback, preliminary approval or decline.

4. If preliminary approval must be forwarded to Seneca County PB – application, map, SEQR form, and AG data statement. Don’t send changes that are miniscule. Must be turned in eight days before their meeting – noon on previous Wed.

5. Donna notified to advertise public hearing 5 days prior to date. We are not required to take action at the public hearing but must do so within 45 days. We must application has been recommended by county planning board and it is as follows…

            6. We must notify neighboring town if subdivision is within 500 ft of town line.

7. Board actions – conditional approval, conditional approval with modification, disapproval, final approval.

8. If approved, map is stamped, application, SEQR, amendments and maps are filed. Signed copy of map and notice of action given to owner. If person is not present acting chair will notify them.

9. Sample language for the motion must include SEQR information. If SEQR exempt – “This subdivision is exempt form SEQR approval according to NYS Code of Rules and Regulations – 6CR-NY 617.5 (c) (19).”

10. If not exempt we must complete the SEQR form supplied by applicant. The following language will be used with reasons selected from online SEQR instructions:

The Planning Board of the Town of Varick hereby determines that issuing the Special Use Permit constitutes an unlisted action that is subject to SEQR and that there is no federal or other involved agencies with respect to this action; and, that the Planning Board hereby declares itself to be the lead agency for this action and that a short EAF is sufficient to determine the significance of the action; and, that the Planning Board hereby determines that the provisions of subdivision (4) of section 305 of article 25-AA of the Agriculture and Markets Law do not apply; and, based upon its review of the Local Law, the EAF, its own independent analysis of the proposed action, and comparison with the Criteria for Determining Significance found at 6 NYCRR Part 617.7, the Planning Board hereby finds that issuing the Special Use Permit constitutes an action which will not have a significant impact on the environment and therefore does not require preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement; and, that this Determination of Significance shall be considered a Negative Declaration made pursuant to Article 8 of the Environmental Conservation Law; and, that this determination is based on the following facts and conclusions:

Motion made by Linda seconded by Tom that we not hold a meeting in December, all agreed.

Linda received extensive email from person concerned about summer rentals on the lake based on discussion at combined meeting of Fayette TB and PB. Will forward to our board members.

Linda needs to contact Donna about where to file PB information, documents, etc. Basically, we need a file cabinet.

Meeting adjourned at 8:30, motion made by Barry, seconded by Rich.

Respectfully submitted,

Barry Somerville, secretary