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