Varick Planning board minutes
May 26, 2022
Present: Linda Mastellar (chair), Cindy Lont, Lauren Burling, April Freier, Frankie Long, Thomas Björkman (Secty). One vacancy.
Guests: James Foggo, Dick Jensen, Neil & Lisa Olver.
Called to Order 7:02pm
Minutes for April
Approval moved by Burling, second by Lont. Approved 6-0
Short Term Rentals
The laws passed at the Town Board and will serve in the interim. It was filed with the Secretary of State and will take effect soon.
Thomas will update the Zoning Code on the Town website. SUP application due Sept 1, and the permit will have an expiration date. Working with ZCEO Dorn on enforcement. Insurance is not a requirement by the town because it is too hard to enforce and there are other mechanisms to ensure that owners do so. The town has a temporary (6 month) moratorium on Special Use Permits, until a second Town Law is approved by the state that has developers pay for any required engineering.
Public comment
Jim Foggo. Thanks for STR effort. Comp plan has been mentioned many times. One relevant item is worth recollecting. There was a survey in 2004, with over a thousand responses for each question. What people valued and what concerns are documented. Friends and family nearby, rural environment. Quality of Life, open greenspaces and farms, low-volume country roads. Intimate neighborhood and neighbors you know (>60%). Town should protect farmland from development. 88% reduce conflict between farm and non-farm.
Jensen subdivision.
The Board discussed a preliminary proposal for a subdivision on Rt 414 just south of Fayette. The current parcel is an odd shaped lot made up of a piece of 1.26 acres near the highway that has only laneway access, and further laneway access around another parcel to a second piece of 33 acres. The proposal is to join the rear piece and laneway to the lot immediately in front of it to create one large contiguous agricultural parcel. The portion by the highway would be a conventional residential lot.
The applicant will provide a Subdivision application, fee, EAF and SEQR.
The planning board found the proposal to be acceptable even though the residual lot remains unconforming for the road frontage. We will move forward next month.
Andrus-Seymour subdivision
This subdivision was approved in April contingent on the County Planning Board not asking for any conditions. The subdivision was considered by the County Planning Board in May, and they had no comment or conditions. Therefore the subdivision is fully approved.
Olver project
The planning board considered the preliminary plat for a major subdivision to seven parcels. The former Varick Winery property on Rt. 89. The preliminary plat for a major subdivision to eight parcels. Four lake parcels each with 185 of frontage on the road and lake, comprising 1.4 ac each. Other parcels are manor, winery and farmland. The farmland would likely be joined to neighboring farm parcels.
The applicant and board discussed the preliminary plat, including different ways to achieve the ends the applicants and the board desired.
Some concerns that are likely to be included.
The farmland lots will not be further subdivided in the future. While the farmer to the west will buy the lot, road access from Rt.89 on the east is desirable.
The four lake lots will not be further subdivided. The applicants hoped to focus construction on the lake side, but some board members expressed concern, voiced at the public hearing as well, that construction would harm valuable natural features of this distinctive property.
The subdivision code provides 45 days after the public hearing to vote on approval of the preliminary Plat. The public hearing was held on April 28. 2022.
Resolution
The Varick Planning Board accepts the Preliminary Plat for the major subdivision of Parcel 12-28.12.
The approval is anticipates the following conditions in the final Subdivision Plat.
· Parcel 1 is the manor house and adjacent barns and orchards.
· Parcel 2 could be joined with an adjacent parcel having sufficient road frontage, in which case the connector to Rt 89 frontage can be removed
· Parcel 3 will not be an agricultural use, so the former winery will have the restrictions on commercial uses pertaining to the Lakeshore Residential District.
· Parcels 4-7 are1.4 acres straddling Rt. 89 and approximately 185 ft of road and lake frontage. Buildings on the east side of the highway are likely to need greater restrictions than in the Zoning Code in order to preserve natural features as describes in IV 7F of the subdivision code, as well as limitations on buildability in IV 5A of the subdivision code.
In granting this approval, the Varick Planning Board identifies no waivers that have been requested and which in its opinion may be waived without jeopardy to the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare.
Approval of a Preliminary Plat shall not constitute approval of the Subdivision Plat, but rather it shall be deemed an expression of approval of the design submitted on the Preliminary Plat as a guide to the preparation of the Plat, which will be submitted for approval of the Planning Board and for recording upon fulfillment of the requirements of these regulations. The applicant has six months from the date of this approval to submit a final Subdivision Plat. Prior to approval of the Subdivision Plat, the Planning Board may require additional changes as a result of new information obtained at the public hearing.
Moved by Burling, Second by Lont. Approved 6-0.
Fees
Cindy Lont has collected fee information from adjacent towns. She will send them to us and we will discuss a recommendation for Varick next month.
Adjournment
Moved by Burling, Second by Freier. Approved 6-0.
Adjourned 9:13 pm