FLEMING - New zoning districts proposed for the town of Fleming were hotly discussed at an informational meeting Monday night.
Kerry Ivers, senior planner for the Clark, Patterson, and Lee engineering firm, summarized changes to the original 2005 zoning code to bring it into line with the goals expressed in the town's new comprehensive plan, which her firm also helped develop.
Current uses will be grandfathered in, while the code will direct any new development. Copies of the proposed revised zoning code will be on the town's Web site, along with a map and summary of the proposed changes, Ivers said.
The town asked residents to view all the information on its Web site and to submit written comments to the town supervisor by the end of November. A public hearing is tentatively scheduled for Monday, Dec. 8.
The second moratorium on the zoning issue ends Jan. 28.
Ivers said the code was updated to manage future growth and development to minimize its impact on agricultural and natural resources in the Owasco Watershed.
Areas of concern expressed in the town's 2008 comprehensive plan addendum included residential development, waterfront stewardship, and rural character.
Some basic zoning changes include a lakeshore district on both sides of West Lake Road from Lake Avenue just north of Sand Beach Road, south to the Scipio town line and a rear lot line 300 feet west of the center of Route 38. Land further west is mainly agricultural, some of which lies within the Owasco Watershed Overlay.
A portion of the area along Stone School Road, Silver Street Road, and Mobbs Road within the Overlay is also designated Residential R-2 (2-acre minimum lots)
“A parcel can be zoned part lakeshore and part agricultural,” Ivers said. “It reflects the density that can take place. In the Overlay district, the town will take an extra hard look at development so that it's not going to negatively impact water quality.”
Another change was reducing three former residential areas into two - residential transitional (R-1) along the northern portion of South Street Road to the city line and residential (R-2)
“There is no place in the town where agriculture is barred except in the Waterfront Commercial area, which is basically Emerson Park,” Andrew J. Leja, special consul to the town, said.
“Why did we end up putting more agricultural flow into the watershed?” Poplar Cove resident Kathryn Cappella Hankins, an activist supporting water quality protection, asked. “Why aren't we modifying our agricultural districts?”
“There lies an innate contradiction between a local body's right to regulate uses and the state's right to farm the land,” Leja said. “Ag and Markets can come in and void a law that will trigger new codes. To the extent that codes are unduly restrictive to agricultural operation, Ag and Markets can step in.”
Leja pointed out that much of the land in the agricultural zone is actually being used for agriculture.
Another resident asked if he could have horses wandering around his property under the agriculture umbrella.
“The code is somewhat vague,” Leja said. “Nothing is said about livestock.”
“I thought the whole purpose of the zoning was to protect the lake,” Cappella Hankins said.
“Ag and Markets doesn't want agriculture to have a negative impact on the watershed,” Ivers said. “We shouldn't be operating on the assumption that it will have a negative impact.”
Cappella Hankins wanted to know how to get an impact study done. A State Environmental Quality Review will have to be done before the codes are finalized.
“If someone can make the argument that the new code is less protective,” Leja said, “we're giving them a few weeks to process the information.”
“This is not going to change anything going on now, ” Fleming resident Rick Gravelding said. “What I want to get out of it is not getting flooding in my home by agricultural uses.”
Leja told him that a zoning code can't take care of his problem because it's only meant to address future uses.
“Upland uses and drainage is not a problem that zoning can solve,” he said.
Residents can e-mail town supervisor Gary Searing at flemingsupervisor@roadrunner.com
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
Current uses will be grandfathered in, while the code will direct any new development. Copies of the proposed revised zoning code will be on the town's Web site, along with a map and summary of the proposed changes, Ivers said.
The town asked residents to view all the information on its Web site and to submit written comments to the town supervisor by the end of November. A public hearing is tentatively scheduled for Monday, Dec. 8.
The second moratorium on the zoning issue ends Jan. 28.
Ivers said the code was updated to manage future growth and development to minimize its impact on agricultural and natural resources in the Owasco Watershed.
Areas of concern expressed in the town's 2008 comprehensive plan addendum included residential development, waterfront stewardship, and rural character.
Some basic zoning changes include a lakeshore district on both sides of West Lake Road from Lake Avenue just north of Sand Beach Road, south to the Scipio town line and a rear lot line 300 feet west of the center of Route 38. Land further west is mainly agricultural, some of which lies within the Owasco Watershed Overlay.
A portion of the area along Stone School Road, Silver Street Road, and Mobbs Road within the Overlay is also designated Residential R-2 (2-acre minimum lots)
“A parcel can be zoned part lakeshore and part agricultural,” Ivers said. “It reflects the density that can take place. In the Overlay district, the town will take an extra hard look at development so that it's not going to negatively impact water quality.”
Another change was reducing three former residential areas into two - residential transitional (R-1) along the northern portion of South Street Road to the city line and residential (R-2)
“There is no place in the town where agriculture is barred except in the Waterfront Commercial area, which is basically Emerson Park,” Andrew J. Leja, special consul to the town, said.
“Why did we end up putting more agricultural flow into the watershed?” Poplar Cove resident Kathryn Cappella Hankins, an activist supporting water quality protection, asked. “Why aren't we modifying our agricultural districts?”
“There lies an innate contradiction between a local body's right to regulate uses and the state's right to farm the land,” Leja said. “Ag and Markets can come in and void a law that will trigger new codes. To the extent that codes are unduly restrictive to agricultural operation, Ag and Markets can step in.”
Leja pointed out that much of the land in the agricultural zone is actually being used for agriculture.
Another resident asked if he could have horses wandering around his property under the agriculture umbrella.
“The code is somewhat vague,” Leja said. “Nothing is said about livestock.”
“I thought the whole purpose of the zoning was to protect the lake,” Cappella Hankins said.
“Ag and Markets doesn't want agriculture to have a negative impact on the watershed,” Ivers said. “We shouldn't be operating on the assumption that it will have a negative impact.”
Cappella Hankins wanted to know how to get an impact study done. A State Environmental Quality Review will have to be done before the codes are finalized.
“If someone can make the argument that the new code is less protective,” Leja said, “we're giving them a few weeks to process the information.”
“This is not going to change anything going on now, ” Fleming resident Rick Gravelding said. “What I want to get out of it is not getting flooding in my home by agricultural uses.”
Leja told him that a zoning code can't take care of his problem because it's only meant to address future uses.
“Upland uses and drainage is not a problem that zoning can solve,” he said.
Residents can e-mail town supervisor Gary Searing at flemingsupervisor@roadrunner.com
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
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