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Cold Spring Board of Trustees Seek to Streamline Process for Building, ZBA and HDRB Applicants
by Michelle Woods
In a move to "streamline" building and planning applications, the Cold Spring Board of Trustees talked to representatives from the Village's Building Department, Planning Board and Architectural and Historic District Review Board (HDRB) at the Trustees weekly workshop on July 2, 2007.
Mayor Anthony Phillips said that the representatives had been invited "so that we can get a better grip on how an applicant goes through the process" and understand the "reasons why things work or don't work." He added that the Board was "looking to have the applicant get through the process with as little grief as possible." He also said he felt that "most of the applicants are at fault because they don't have the information" and that the Board wanted to find a more standardized way to provide applicants with the requirements of the applications.
The Trustees wanted to know, from the Building Department and the Boards, whether the Building Department should be the "first stop and first step" for applicants and whether there could be a "uniform application" format. The Chairmen of the Planning and Historic District Review Boards (HDRB), Ransom Taggart and Al Zgolinski agreed that the Building Inspector, Mr. George Tompkins, should become the default first stop for residents and businesses seeking building and planning approval.
As it stands, Mr. Tompkins said the process starts with a building permit application indicating what the applicant wants to do, which includes site plans; if the applicant then needs zoning variances or Planning Board approval, their application is sent to the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Planning Board and, if the project is within the Historic District, the HDRB. Under most circumstances, applications for residential use do not need to go before the Planning Board, except for change of use.
Trustee Karen Dunn felt it vital that there be a centralized point where someone "does know what's going on" with each application. "Otherwise no one's overseeing what's going on" and said to the Building Inspector, George Tompkins that he was "the traffic control" for the applicant, letting them know which Board to apply to next, if they needed to. Mayor Phillips asked Mr. Tompkins to research other municipalities' standard applications in order to begin work on a potential one for the Village. This might allow, as Trustee Seth Gallagher pointed out, Boards to communicate with each other over the same application.
At the moment, Trustee Dunn felt that the Boards were "seeing a lot of manhours spent" on confusion about which Board should be approached first and having applications sent between Boards, adding that "we need a little more clarity all the way." However both the Chairmen of the Planning Board and the HDRB felt it would be difficult to completely streamline the process for applicants. Mr. Taggart said that, if an applicant was to go to the Boards sequentially, as he felt was being suggested by the Board, i.e. to the Zoning Board of Appeals, to Planning and then to the HDRB, "then [they would be] prolonging the process," whereas an applicant, as things stand, could be before three Boards at once. Mr. Zgolinski felt that the process was not "linear," adding that "I don't know if it's possible to avoid some ping-ponging between Boards."
Both Chairmen were concerned that applicants should be able to approach both Boards informally to ask questions and clarify what exactly they would need to present an application in front of the respective Boards. Mr. Taggart said that the Planning Board had a "laundry list" of items needed for an application, such as a deed, architectural drawings and a site plan which they gave verbally to people intending to apply. Trustee Mancari asked "where would they get that list so they come prepared?" Trustee Dunn asked if they could have a computer-generated version of their list, to standardize it for applicants and save the Board from having to go over it with each applicant. Mr. Zgolinski also said that the HDRB felt it was "preferable to talk informally" with potential applicants to give them information about the process.
Another member of the HDRB present, David Birn, pointed out a separate issue in standardizing the application that would need to be addressed. He argued that each Board has some of its own rules which are "in many ways contradictory," adding that an applicant can "get caught between contradictory pressures" when applying through different Boards. He used the example of a Zoning Code requisite for new houses to be setback a certain distance from the road, while the HDRB has a requisite that new houses "should fall in line" with existing buildings, which may or may not equal the Zoning Code requirements.
Trustee Gallagher felt this an "important" point, adding that each Board should be aware of what the other Boards want, and Trustee Dunn asked if there was "any way we can regularize this?" The Chair of the Planning Board, Mr. Taggart, felt that "we administer what's in the [Village] Code" and Mr. Tompkins felt that the Code was clear on issues such as the one brought up by Mr. Birn; he added that variances could be sought from the Code at the Zoning Board of Appeals.
The Trustees agreed that a standard application, starting with the Building Inspector, would be formulated and that the Building Inspector would then pass the application on, if necessary (if variances were needed) to the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Planning Board and the HDRB. While the Boards were keen to underline that applicants could still approach them informally for advice and questions, it was agreed that a more centralized and standardized approach would also benefit applicants.
The Village Board meets in a weekly workshop every Tuesday at 7:30pm, except on the second Tuesday of the month when they meet at 7:30pm for their monthly meeting.
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