TOWN OF GRANBY ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
Meeting Minutes
September 30,
2019
AGENDA: Ryan Pitts Public Hear
Regular Meeting
MEMBERS: Michael French, Chairman
Peter LeoGrande
Tom Thompson
Tina Sawyer
ALSO PRESENT: John Snow Jr..
Chairman
French opened the meeting at 7:00 pm.
PUBLIC
HEARING
Chairman
French stated that the Public Hearing scheduled for Ryan Pitts’ Area Variance
Request was cancelled due to the conflict with the presently enacted Moratorium
which affects all applications within the Town.
The applicant will need to request a hardship waiver from the Town Board
before pursuing the Area Variance from the ZBA.
The Town Board has scheduled a Hearing on October 23rd, and
the ZBA agrees to hold a Hearing on October 24th, in an effort to
save time in what’s left of the building season.
TRAINING
Town Supervisor John Snow Jr. was present at the
meeting to provide the ZBA membership with the yearly state required municipal
training regarding ‘workplace violence’ and ‘sexual harassment’. The zero-tolerance policy was discussed as
well as the procedures for filing complaints.
The training was interactive with examples and questions.
MINUTES
A motion was moved by Member Thompson to approve the meeting minutes December
18, 2018 with minor correction. The
motion was seconded by Member LeoGrande, all were in favor without further
discussion and the motion carried.
MORATORIUM
There
was some discussion of the Moratorium adopted by the Town Board in July. The action taken was to provide a ‘stop-gap’
in time to allow amendments to be made to the Town documents that are in need
of updating in order to protect the residents and the Town from commercial
development that could be impactful.
Member Sawyer explained that a Steering Committee had been formed, of
which she was a Member, and that they with the help of three hired
professionals were making headway to identifying many of the issues. Town Engineer Doug Miller, Planner Howard
Brodsky, and Land Use Attorney Jamie Lynn Sutphen were leading discussions at
monthly meetings recently started. ZBA
secretary will email copies of the Moratorium for Board member review.
CEO
DISPOSITIONS
The
CEO, David Hanford, provided the ZBA with several sign replacement applications
and an animal shed application for their input and clarification as to whether
ZBA Area Variances are required per the Zoning Ordinance. The Town’s regulations are loosely written
making interpretation difficult, and there are jurisdictional issues as well.
Fulton
Mobile Home Parks Inc. has three pending building permit applications for
replacement signs at three different locations.
The CEO has supplied Dispositions for clarification as follows:
#2019-0001 for location at 1589-1599
Co Rt 8 - Fox Meadows MHP
#2019-0002 for location at 307
Rathburn Road – Wooded Acres MHP
#2019-0003 for location at 1922-34 St
Rt 48 – Somerlawn Senior Community
The ZBA
members reviewed the sign regulations, Zoning Ordinance Section V(E), and the
proposed renderings and locations for all of the signs. The present and proposed locations are within
the State, County or Granby ROW’s and are only being updated because of age and
wear, with no change to size or location.
A motion was moved by Member Thompson that the Member ship
determined that no ZBA action was necessary, and that the CEO should process
the aforementioned dispositions to building permits at his discretion and in
accordance to NYS Building Codes. The
motion was seconded by Member Sawyer, all were in favor without further
discussion and the motion carried.
Another
pending application before the CEO is in regards to the construction of an
accessory structure for sheltering animals on property where a principal
structure does not exist. Disposition
#2019-0004 for location at 573 Cty Rt 8 within the A-1 zoning district was
discussed by the Members. The property
is 28 acres with fencing to contain goats and a couple head of cattle but needs
shelter for the winter. The proposed
shed is 30’x16’ and located approximately 75’ from the side property line and
further back from the roadway. The Town
has a designated agricultural zoning district (A-1), which this is within, as
well as active State Certified Agricultural Districts that support farming
endeavors. A motion was moved
by Member Thompson that the ZBA determined that the CEO has jurisdiction to
process Disposition #2019-0004 for pending building application for
construction of 30’x16’ farm animal shelter without need for ZBA action. The motion was seconded by Member LeoGrande,
all were in favor without further discussion and the motion carried.
ADJOURN
With
no other business before the Board a motion
to adjourn at 7:44 pm was moved by
Member LeoGrande and seconded by Member Thompson, all were in favor and the motion carried.
Respectfully
submitted by:
Lisa
Somers
ZBA
secretary
