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Comprehensive Zoning Code Changes Undergoing Joint Board Review Prior to Public Release
by Edward Paul Greiff
Karin Greenfield-Sanders, Comprehensive Plan Committee Chair told the audience gathered last Thursday, September 6, 2007 for a joint Town Board and Comprehensive Plan committee meeting that although a lot of work has been done on the 165-page Zoning Code, the document is still not ready for review by the public. What the committee needs now is feedback from the various boards, committees, and the Town Board before they can complete the document and present it to the public. She said Chazin Engineering has been very quick at incorporating changes in the draft and electronically producing an updated version. As soon as she receives all the comments she will produce a new Master Draft.
Amidst political controversy with Supervisor Sam Davis and Councilman Bob Tendy, each calling the other a liar, and some committee board members showing up saying they were not notified in time to prepare for the meeting, the joint planning session did get underway with members from the Planning Board, ZBA, ABACA, Environmental, Town Board, Comprehensive Master Plan Committee, and Chazin Engineering in attendance.
In response to the criticism of lack of notification, Supervisor Davis produced a copy of the e-mail he sent to everyone on Sunday, August 26 stating, "I've attached the draft zoning code/subdivision regs for your perusal. I'll be preparing some hard copies as well. Please read and put together your comments and questions for our Sept. 6th meeting."
Supervisor Davis asked Chazin's Mike Welti to present a brief overview of the changes contained in the Zoning Code revision plan.
Project Manager Welti told the assembled group of officials, "The Comprehensive Plan Committee completed the Comprehensive plan this past June and the Zoning Code implements the recommendations made in the Comprehensive Plan. The Zoning document has had many versions prepared and is not done yet but we are asking for your feedback so we can produce a final master document. The Zoning Code incorporates much of the old building code along with many of your recommendations and substantive changes. The main areas we changed are the ones you should look at first if you were looking at this for the first time."
Welti then went on to touch upon the highlights of the 165- page Zoning Code Plan which includes an updated Zoning District map. "The Zoning District has been consolidated a little bit. The R1 has been taken away. We added a new Commercial District for Morrissey Drive and most of the existing commercial areas have grown a little bit to allow for the expansion of commercial activity."
An included is a Ground & Surface Water Protection map is based upon the study done by Hydro Environmental Solutions. According to their report and based on the aquifer structure in Putnam Valley the Town could sustain three acre zoning. The plan proposes this to be thr new standard except for Lake Peekskill, where the zoning will be two acres. The map also shows watershed protection districts; the NYC Watershed, Peekskill Hollow Brook Watershed, and the Lake Oscawana Watershed area.
Some specific recommendations in the plan include eliminating grandfathering in certain situations, a new biodiversity procedure and screening process to determine endangered species that need to be protected and not disturbed and blasting regulations.
The map also includes a Ridgeline map showing existing and protected ridgelines and ridgeline protection standards.
Supervisor Sam Davis read a letter he received from Conservation Committee member Leo Alves in which Mr. Alves wrote that the Town should tighten the credentialing requirements (education, memberships in professional societies) for Town representatives who are charged with doing site visits to determine the presence of critical habitat areas and the potential for negative environmental impacts.
Alves also suggested that the listing of mapped ecological resources should be amended and Bedrock Geology maps, USGS Digital Orthophotos (USOS), and USOS Aerial Photography should be added to provide three dimensional interpretations for habitat identification.
Irv Sevelowitz questioned the time frame for returning comments on the zoning proposals. Supervisor Davis wanted a deadline of two weeks; he would like to see the "Plan" adopted during his administration. Councilman Ricci would like to see it held over to the next administration for implementation. It was agreed upon that Tuesday, October 30, 2007 would be the deadline for feedback on the Zoning Code changes. Once this is received a document will be prepared and made available for a public hearing to review it with the public and obtain feedback.
Greenfield-Sanders said the SEQRA review should be done for both the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code at the same time for expediency reasons, though Town Attorney David Gordon has stated that the SEQRA review must be done on the Comprehensive Plan before the Zoning Code changes are enacted.
"A lot of hard work has gone into this project, but we are not done yet," Greenfield-Sanders said.
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