TOWN OF NORTH HARMONY
PLANNING BOARD
TUESDAY, 01/10/2023
MEMBERS PRESENT:
PAT RICE JAMES GOODLING
JOHN WARNER WALTER GEIST
GARY WINGER RICHARD JOHNSON
OTHERS PRESENT: KELLY JOHNSON; ATTORNEY, JODY SHELDON; CLERK, DICK SENA; BRAD LAWSON, DON MCCORD
- PAT RICE OPENED THE MEETING AT 7:00PM.
- MR SENA GAVE TOWN REPORT (SEE 01/09/2023 TOWN BOARD MINUTES)
- BRAD LAWSON GAVE ZONING REPORT
I 86 INTERCHANGE – TC DISTRICTS
MR. SENA said there is a meeting this Saturday at the Lawson boat center from 9 a.m.-11a.m. about taxing, lake districts, Q&A sessions. moratorium being drafted by dale and kelly.
MR. LAWSON said in his opinion we do not need a 6-month moratorium. all new construction what does that mean?
MR. RICE said we are not looking to stop people from putting up new garages, porches, and decks. They were just looking to stop new construction in the commercial district.
MR. LAWSON asked if it was just new homes? in just that corridor?
MR. RICE said no it is the whole corridor. from Boces to magnolia. the property next to Ramsey Rd.
MR. LAWSON said zoning needs to be tweaked a little. in zoning there is a 9-page document just for storm water storage. We also have a 38-page document for subdivision.
MR. RICE asked if lot sizes need to be adjusted now that we have sewer?
MR. LAWSON said no they do not, the planning board said they didn’t think they needed to be adjusted.
MR. GEIST asked are there a lot of sites to be built on between Boces and Magnolia?
MR. RICE said there are a lot of fairly large areas in that corridor that can be developed.
MR. WARNER said some discussion is with the development going on, that there is no access road.
MR. LAWSON said that they need ingress and egress, which the dot says you have to pull permits, with a fee, the engineer has to design it and the state has to approve it. brads not sure if we have any control of that. who are we to say where the state wants a driveway to go.
MR. RICE asked if the site plan review part of the planning?
MR. LAWSON said yes that will be part of it. They need to have sketch plans done with a sketch plan review.
MR. RICE asked if with the lakeside lot they bought they are planning on funneling down to the lake there.
MR. LAWSON said with our funneling laws they would not be allowed to do that. it is 8 acres, Mr. Lawson didn’t know if that property already has an access point, but if it does and they split it into 2 or 3 lots, then they only have 1 access point for 1 lot.
MR. GOODLING asked if that property touches Ramsey and would have access there? They could propose access there. how many units are they talking?
MR. LAWSON said they were talking about 200 homes, He said they don’t even know what they want until someone shows them. We need to see a conceptual drawing. The 1st starting point is the 394 lakeside and across the road on the Ramsey side.
MR. GOODLING asked if they would be short term rentals?
MR. LAWSON said it would not be short term, because it is 30 days or more. the county considers anything over 28 days not short term.
MR. RICE said he didn’t think there would be much of a market for short term without lake access.
MR. LAWSON said he didn’t know if they knew they didn’t have any lake access. these are the things we are not privy to at this point.
MR. SENA said that there is no access on the piece of property. It is quite irregularly shaped. 50 acres and 8 acres across the street on the lakeside.
MR. LAWSON asked if we could put a moratorium just on subdivisions? Is there a way to word it?
MR. RICE asked if we could put it on new builds 10 acres or more? he also asked if there is a need to make any changes to the TC district.
MR. STRAND said he thought the main concern with the TC district is what the development would look like.
MRS. JOHNSON said as the zoning stands now there is no architectural requirements with north harmony’s comprehensive plan.
MR GOODLING asked if there were guidelines?
MRS. JOHNSON said it’s just basic construction in the zoning law. previous discussion with the stow interchange was that you want to keep the small-town feel but allow people to come in. but they need to comply with the small-town feel instead of a box store.
MR. WARNER said there is currently no town center. The area where the firehall and town building are located is where the town center makes the most sense. We don’t want cookie cutter developments going. pitched roofs better than a 6, not flat roofs.
MRS. JOHNSON mentioned the other concern that the board has mentioned is congestion.
MR. RICE asked Mr. McCord what his thoughts are.
MR. McCORD asked if a demolition permit is a permit by, right?
MR. LAWSON said yes, it is by right.
MR. McCORD said it is very simple, you need to have a purpose for the moratorium. You need to define the words in the moratorium. needs to be more specific. example from this area to this, have an exception in the moratorium for new single-family homes.
MR. RICE said he thought that the lakeside of the road we wanted to keep it fairly residential.
MR. McCORD said that side of the road should be generating more tax dollars than a small business would.
MR.McCORD also said that in our code right now there is no specific guidelines for these districts.
MR RICE asked about extending section 404 in the zoning law to commercial districts.
MR. McCORD said that would not be a bad idea.
MR GEIST said that it seems like a moratorium is a no brainer.
MR. McCORD said it has to be a moratorium that is well worded and written in such a way that it doesn’t go further than that.
MR. GEIST asked if Mr. McCord is available for the next 6 months.
MR. McCORD said he is but only for this project.
MR. GOODLING said it sounded to him that taking the moratorium down to Boces was inappropriate. but if the justification is the sewer, how do you not include that?
MR. McCORD said he was trying to say from commercial development side he doesn’t see a ton of opportunity.
MRS. JOHNSON said we can still have the moratorium go from Boces, but we will just make an exception in the moratorium for a single residential dwelling.
MR. GOODLING said if the justification is for the moratorium is for the sewer, then you have to include all areas in the sewer.
MR. JOHNSON asked what’s the harm of running it all the way from Boces?
MR. McCORD said there isn’t any, as long as we define it.
MR. RICE asked how do we craft the language, do we just eliminate single family homes on single lots, and accessory structures on single lots?
MR. McCORD said one thing to take into consideration is the subdivision aspect. we need to be clear enough with our language, the developer can not just divide the lot into single lots.
MRS. JOHNSON said you add the exception does not apply to subdivisions.
MR. McCORD asked if Mrs. Johnson would craft the moratorium, for the next town board meeting.
MRS. JOHNSON said yes, she would and that the next town board meeting is the 13th of February.
MR. WARNER asked about an architectural review board.
MR. McCord said as far as he knows there are only 2 architectural review boards in Chautauqua county. one in the institution and the other in Westfield.
MR. STRAND asked, do we want to have an architectural review board?
MR. McCord said in Westfield the architectural review board is the planning board.
MR. RICE said at the next meeting we will change the language.
MRS. JOHNSON said she can draft it and email it then if it needs fixing it can be done and ready before the next meeting.
MR. RICE asked if we need to do a lot of revision on the TC district.
MR. McCORD said no the 404 section needs more revision; design guidelines would help with keeping the character of the town but allow certain things to happen that were not happening before.
MR. WARNER said we have known this was going to happen for a long time and now we have phase 2 of the sewer coming in, we will see a lot of changes and we need to make sure we do it right.
MR. RICE asked if there was anything further.
MR. LAWASON asked 1 question regarding the cheese shop across from camp Chautauqua. They are planning to put in a restaurant and pizza shop, and a retail boutique. on the north end they were planning to have someone come in with a coffee shop. However, our current zoning does not allow for coffee shops. Why would we have omitted coffee shops?
MR. RICE said we allow food to be sold. So, if they are selling donuts and coffee isn’t that just a matter of definition?
MR. LAWSON just wants to make sure that if he allowed this by right that he wouldn’t be hanging his neck out to be chopped off by the zoning board.
MR. WARNER said they had to pass a resolution from the state for more mandated things for a lot more inspections, forcing yearly inspections on houses of worship.
MR. LAWSON said the code was a little easier years ago, when you could do it every 3 years.
MR. SENA said he talked to Pierre about possibly doing shared services. He is in favor for it, there has been a committee formed.
MR. RICE asked what fees are they talking about raising?
MR. LAWSON said permit fees, right now we don’t charge a fee for fire inspections. Many municipalities have a separate fire inspector that they pay. They are certified code inspectors.
MR. GOODLING asked if the county doesn’t provide these services, has any discussion been made that the city of Jamestown could assist in this.
MR. SENA said the city of Jamestown has one person that does just that and he cannot get done what he needs to, so we would not be able to share services with them.
- MOTION
On a motion made by Mr. Geist, Seconded by Gary Winger and none being opposed. The meeting was adjourned at 8:21 p.m.
The next meeting date is Tuesday, February 14.
Jody Sheldon- Clerk
