Town of Varick Planning Board Meeting Minutes
Date of meeting: September 25th , 2008
Meeting called to order: 7:10pm
¨ Attendees: Thomas Bjorkman, Phil Knapp, Bill Larzelere, Kevin Swartley , Bill Squires,
Absent: Susan Ottenweller
A quorum was present.
¨August 28th Meeting minutes : Kevin Swartley had taken minutes at this meeting because of Bill Larzelere’s excused absence. Kevin will forward his notes to Bill to have the minutes published.
Guest discussions:
Mr. Katul from 5888 E. Lake Rd. is in the process of purchasing this property and wanted to be clear on the rules for building on Lake District lots. His plans will have a main house on the upper side of East Lake Rd and a cottage that he may rent on the lake side of the road. He wanted to be sure he could have two structures on one lot before he finalized the sale. The board reviewed his lot drawing and concluded that it met all of the new conditions in the most recent zoning code changes. The board thanked Mr. Katul for checking before starting the project and suggested that if the project would take a significant amount of time before getting started, that it would be wise to check back with the board in case there were other changes that may not allow his project although there are no plans to change this portion of the code.
Joe Serven of New York Land and Lakes Development Company told the Board about his companies interest in purchasing a 100 acre piece of property on Yale Station road for development of approximately 10 lots with each lot being 5 to 10 acres. There would be about 300 feet of road frontage. The lots would be for residential development and not commercial property. He asked if our Board saw any issues with this concept in this area. He was informed that it would be considered a “major” subdivision and would be subject to all the conditions of the Sub Division code at the time when the project was formally proposed.
Old Business:
Snyder Subdivision – Since no members of the public were at the public hearing on August 28th and proper notice of the hearing was published, a motion tonight was formally made to approve the Snyder Subdivision presented for approval at the August 28th meeting.
Kevin Swartley made the motion and Thomas Bjorkman seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous to approve the motion.
New Business:
Chairman Squires suggested that a stamp be made to be used on approvals of plats for subdivisions.
Kevin Swartley made a motion that the Planning Board Chairman would be the duly designated official to sign the stamp and the Planning Board Clerk would be the secondary official if the Chairman was not present or able to sign.
Phil Knapp seconded the motion and the Planning Board vote was unanimous to approve the motion.
The Chairman will get the stamp made.
Zoning Code Changes:
Discussion of changes to be worked on by our Board and to be presented to the Town Board in a reasonable amount of time.
A preliminary list was developed:
1. Conditions for “Inns” in the use table
2. Conditions for a “Planned Unit Development or PUD” This may be in a revision of the subdivision code
3. Dock Sizes
4. Telecommunication Towers(Update for approved Zones)
5. ZBA enhanced ability to grant variances in reasonable and mutually agreeable situations between parties.
6. Subdivision Code- Simplify minor subdivision process. Make sure an Ag. Data Statement is included.
7. Clarification of the definition of a “Bar”
8. Language on “Canned Hunts”
9. Depot property usages.
10. Drainage Design Language
In the discussion of the drainage design issue Chairman Squires suggested developing a “Site Plan Checklist” for the Code Enforcement Officer to use when evaluating plans presented to him for approval. This checklist could also be on the Varick Website for the public to use in preparing their plans to be approved. All agreed that this was an excellent idea.
Phil Knapp was asked (and he agreed )to compile a list of important issues raised in the Public Information meetings that would be put on the “To Do” list.
Chairman Squires asked the Board to work on three changes for discussion at the next meeting.
These are:
1. Conditions for an “Inn”
2. Definition of a “Bar”
3. Drainage Design Standards
Next Meeting: October 30, 2008 in Varick Firehall at 7:00 pm
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted,
Bill Larzelere- Secretary