Planning Board
Town of Varick New York
Minutes December 21, 2023
The Varick Planning Board held a regular meeting at the Varick Town Hall December 21, 2023 at 7:00 pm.
Present: Linda Mastellar– Chair, Cindy Lont, Ann Kaminski, Seth Brandow
Absent: Frankie Long, Lauren Burlng, Thomas Bjorkman,
Guest(s): Jason Martin, Jonas & Fannie Peachy
Meeting called to order at 7:00 pm.
Minutes Review: New Clerk requests review of their editing of corrections on the October minutes originally recorded by a Board member. Motion to accept revised minutes.
1st – S. Brandow, 2nd- C. Lont, Approved
November 2023 minutes: Motion to accept minutes.
1st – S. Brandow, 2nd – A. Kaminski, Approved
Public Comment
STR owner (Rte 89), Jason Martin, has purchaed an adjacent property with plans to STR. Proof of ownership required and provided to be eligible for the waitlist. This property is in an area with 16 current STR. Because of the 15 STR limit in the district, there needs to be 2 withdrawals for this property to begin the approval process. It can be rented out for long term rent of 31 days or longer while waiting for an opening.
Jonas Peachy is looking to subdivide property at tax lot 14-1-05. Currently a 214 acre property to be divided in a straight line into 2 properties -130 acres and 84 acres. A survey is being done. All pieces of the applications need to be provided – SEQR, Subdivision Application, and the Ag Data Statement. Fees total $350 ($250 fee plus $50 per lot). The forms are due by January 1, 2024 to send to the County by January 3, 2024 for them to act on at their January 11, 2024 meeting. A Public Hearing will be scheduled for the next Planning Board meeting on Janary 25, 2024.
There is (or should be) a link on the website to the State Forms.
Verizon Request to install 3 antenna to the existing tower with no structural changes. The wording of the related Code is confusing as to if they need a variance to perform the installation.
PB interpretation allows this without a variance and makes a motion to authorize T. Dorn, CEO to issue the permit as the request is in line with the Code.
1St – S. Brandow, 2nd – C. Lont, Approved
The Telecommunication section of Code needs to be revisited.
Mini Libraries: C. Lont and A. Kaminski have filled a couple and looked at other ‘boxes’ to repurpose and set up. Newspaper boxes are a great idea as they are built weather proof.
Planning Board Composition: Frankie Long has officially resigned from the Planning Board making one opening available for a new person. T. Bjorkman had mentioned Bob Peterson at a previous meeting. A second position may also become open, but no further information is available at this time.
Motion to accept Frankie’s resignation with regrets
1st – C. Lont, 2nd – A. Kaminski, Approved
Gifts have appeared at the homes of board members. A copy of the Planning Board resolution of not accepting gifts will be found and sent to the gift giver. Sadly, the contents of the gifts can not be shared to a food pantry or other charitable organization.
Website: Public reaction is very good. The process for changes/additions is that big (major) items are referred to Spencer, smaller (minor) items can be handled by T. Bjorkman. Suggest that access to Google Docs be limited.
For the safety of members, it is requested that there be a published Varick e-mail address to then forward messages to either one or all board members private e-mail addresses. No personal phone numbers to be published. A. Kaminski will contact S. Ottenweller, ZBA chair and T. Bjorkman on this subject.
STR
Clarification needed: Owner Occupied (OO) and Owner Supervised (OS). C. Lont’s understanding was that OO = Rental is in the same building that the owner lives in (re. Duplex) and OS= rental is a separate building on the same property or adjacent property from where the owner lives. The language in the Code is not completely clear and should be revised in the next Code update. This should be referred to T. Bjorkman as he keeps a running list of Code correction/revision needs. Should review his current list to see what needs action.
STR Transfer – STR transfers are currently NOT allowed. Should there be a change to the policy, how to regulate and when to deny.
Current renewals received with payments. All reviewed by C. Lont with only one complaint from a neighbor of a parking issue. This is being resolved by the renting of parking space from said neighbor.
Motion to renew the current listed properties for STR consisting of Lont, Dorn, Olver (2), Long, Pletcher, Foust, Stivers (2), Terlouw, Cayuga Belle (2), Bachman, Casasanta, Youngblood, Streeter, Sandroni, Zeitler. (Total 18).
1st – A. Kaminski, 2nd – S. Brandow, 1 Abstention (C. Lont on her own renewal), Approved
Idea put forth by A. Kaminski to include a photo album of Varick Businesses digitally. Debate if they should be on the website, but decided it would be more visible on Facebook with links between the website and Facebook.
Missing minutes from August 2023. There was a Public Hearing at this meeting that needs to be referrenced. Carol Millis, Secretary will put together a minutes outline using the decision verbage found on the laptop.
Site Form Review tabled.
Next meeting is scheduled for January 25, 2024. Legal notice will be published in the Finger Lakes Times of the 2024 meeting dates.
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm with no objections.
Respectfully submitted.
Carol J. Millis, Secretary