SENECA FALLSTOWN BOARD WORKSHOP MEETING MAY 29, 2013
The Seneca Falls Town Board held a Workshop Meeting on Wednesday, May 29, 2013 in the Town Hall Meeting Room, 81 W. Bayard Street.
Present were Supervisor Donald Earle; Councilpersons Susan Sauvageau and Emil Bove. Also present was Patrick Morrell, Attorney for the Town; Steven Turkett, Zoning Officer and Members of the Public.
Supervisor Earle called the Meeting to order at 6:20 P.M. Councilmen Casamassima and Moore were absent from the Meeting; the Pledge of Allegiance followed.
Smoking: Mr. Turkett said this is being removed from the Town Code in light of the NYS Law generally prohibiting smoking in public places; the Town does have a smoking policy. Mr. Morrell stated the smoking policy is part of the Employee Handbook. He added we have had no smoking in our Parks – that would be covered by the NYS Law. After lengthy discussion, it was decided that the Board will revisit this.
Snowmobiles: Mr. Turkett stated the Town Code was well written, allowing snowmobiles on the shoulders, highways and Town roads throughout the Town. The note to be added is the operations of snowmobiles is not permitted within the former Village boundary. He added T.J. had a comment to add “unless there is a declared snow emergency”.
Solid Waste: Mr. Turkett stated there is a section that required kitchen food refuse to be wrapped in paper; this section will be removed. The Village had a solid waste removal policy from 2008 which had a lot of definitions in it, as well as defining what hazardous waste is – he added all this to the Code; this is all still in the former Village boundary. Discussion followed. Mr. Turkett said the first section of Solid Waste (Chapter 246) deals Townwide; the section he added is more specific and more restrictive to the former Village boundary. It was suggested that there be a Townwide set of regulations. Mr. Turkett said he is acting from the point of essence of time to get it done. He left the Town alone as it is and added the Village. More discussion followed. Ms. Sauvageau suggested a footnote be added referencing the County for recycling.
Chapter 255 – Subdivision of Land: Mr. Turkett stated he revised this as suggested; there were some minor changes. Mr. Morrell noted that what is in the book is the Town’s Subdivision. Mr. Bove asked if it would apply to the whole Village; Mr. Turkett replied yes. Mr. Bove asked if that was practicable; Mr. Morrell replied he thinks so – the Village didn’t have much at all. He added the main thing with the Town’s subdivision regulations is that the Town regulates any division of land as a subdivision. He said our Code is a bit more restrictive. Mr. Morrell stated if anything were to be added, it would be to have lot line adjustments not necessarily be required to go through subdivision approval.
Chapter 255-3, B. – Exceptions, would be removed. After discussion, it was decided to eliminate the names, but keep the tax map numbers in the Code. Mr. Turkett said time frames for filing were set at 45 days; this has been changed to 62 days; filing fees were removed and added to the Fee Schedule. Mr. Morrell suggested that the Fee Schedule be reviewed by the Board at the beginning of each year.
Senior Citizen Exemption: Mr. Turkett stated there are no changes. Mr. Morrell noted this is dictated by the Real Property Tax Law. He will check to see if that schedule can be removed and put on something similar. Brief discussion followed.
Taxicabs: Mr. Turkett indicated that this Chapter will be deleted in its entirety – the Town doesn’t license taxicabs.
Vehicle and Traffic: Mr. Turkett stated this was put together by Mr. Wood, Chief Peenstra and himself. He noted a lot of streets were changed as far as speed limit; traffic control signals eliminated; and traffic restrictions. Discussion followed relative to fines. All streets were eliminated from Section 280-6 to Section 280-14. Section 280-18 - Parking prohibited at all times, will remain in the Code. Mr. Turkett said he dropped weight limit from 10 tons to 6 tons. Truck route system remains the same. William Street was changed to no parking on the entire length as per Mr. Wood.
Section 280-22 – Parking prohibited certain hours, Chestnut Street was changed earlier in the year. Section 280-23 and Section 280-24 were deleted, as well as Section 280-28 and 280-29. Mr. Turkett said Parking prohibited in municipal parking lots is what is currently being used. Brief discussion followed.
Mr. Bove mentioned that in Chapter 230-89 there is reference to Superintendent –that needs to be changed. Mr. Turkett said he changed it on the front sheet to Highway Department or Highway Superintendent. Mr. Bove said in Chapter 55-4, there is reference to Deputy Court Clerk which the Board eliminated. The Clerk mentioned that the position of Chief Deputy Court Clerk, not Deputy Court Clerk, was eliminated. Ms. Sauvageau indicated that everyone else would be just Court Clerks. Mr. Turkett said he eliminated that whole section - Chapter 55-4.
Water: Mr. Turkett stated this was put together by Mike Pickard, Anne Haviland with some input by Pat Cafolla. He said a lot of this didn’t change – a lot of just the terminology changed; fees were taken out and will be put in the back. In Chapter 285-36, Foreman should be changed to Highway Superintendent. Chapter 285-19, Restriction in use for nonessential purposes, Water and Sewer Commission should be changed to Town Supervisor.
Chapter 290 – Wells, cisterns and cesspools remain the same. Mr. Morrell suggested keeping it because there is a specific authority in the State Law for the Town to regulate those sorts of things.
Zoning: Mr. Turkett noted there are quite a few sections to Zoning. Under General Provisions, he took the Town of Ithaca’s Code and asked that they blend it into our Code. He said it’s a tighter law for the Town to be able to fall back on in case anyone challenged any of the Code. He gave this to Mr. Morrell who reviewed it and suggested it be added to our Code. Mr. Morrell noted the Ithaca Code was written a lot more recently.
Mr. Morrell stated he would like the Board to consider the possibility of - if it wishes to ban things like hydrofracking, it can be included in the Code; this could be done at this time. Mr. Bove asked if Mr. Morrell had a list of things. Mr. Turkett mentioned that the Board will have time to add to the book one more time. Brief discussion followed.
Chapter 300, page 74, Section B - Parking and storage of recreational and other large vehicles: Mr. Turkett said the essence of this is people will take their campers and trailers out of storage from the winter and park them in their driveways which displaces their cars and creates line of sight vision problems for neighbors trying to pull out of their driveways. What other municipalities have done is – they have said none of the major manufactured mobile homes can be placed in the front of the house; they need to be on the side or the rear of the property. Lengthy discussion followed relative to tractor trailers and trucks parked in driveways. It was suggested to delete the word commercial and go more with tonnage and type of vehicle. It was decided this section needs more work.
Section C – Restrictions on number of vehicles parked on residential property: After discussion, it was decided to change 3 spaces to 2 spaces per living unit. Section D – Nomenclature – This refers to the “general plan” of the Town; Mr. Turkett changed this to the Comprehensive Plan.
On page 77, Mr. Turkett said everything that says “building permit” is changed to “zoning permit”; the County issues building permit. Chapter 300-6, Definition, Mr. Turkett said we need definitions for boarder, transient and seasonal. He requested some examples from General Code. He added separate pages – Pages 77a, 77b and 77c relative to “Family” – he took this from Ithaca’s Code. Discussion followed relative to Family and Multiple Dwellings.
The date of Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 7:00 P.M. was set for the next Workshop Meeting on the draft Code.
Being there was no further business, a motion was made to adjourn the Meeting by Emil Bove and seconded by Sue Sauvageau. No questions. Motion carried 3 ayes, 0 nayes.
Meeting adjourned at 8:20 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
NICALETTA J. GREER
Town Clerk