MINUTES
of a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lansing held on Monday,
February 7, 2000, in the Village Office.
PRESENT:
Mayor Don Hartill; Trustees Lynn Leopold, John Bailey, Larry Fresinski,
Franklin Moore; Planning Board member Janet Waterman; Village Attorney Randy
Marcus.
Mayor
Don Hartill called the meeting to order at 7:40P.M.
Pledge
of Allegiance to the Flag.
The
Mayor opened the public comment period. No public was present.
Motion- To Close Public Comment Period
Trustee Larry Fresinski moved to close the public
comment period.
Trustee Lynn Leopold seconded the motion. A vote was
taken:
Mayor
Donald Hartill - Aye Trustee
John Bailey- Aye
Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye Trustee Larry
Fresinski-Aye
Trustee Frank Moore-Aye
Next
on the agenda was a public hearing to consider the proposed local law to
establish a Village SEQR Type II list.
Motion- To Open the
Public Hearing for the Proposed Local Law, Village of Lansing Type II Actions
Under State Environmental Quality Review Act
Trustee Lynn Leopold moved to open the public
hearing.
Trustee Larry Fresinski seconded the motion. A vote
was taken:
Mayor
Donald Hartill - Aye Trustee
John Bailey- Aye
Trustee Franklin Moore- Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold
–Aye
Trustee Larry Fresinski-Aye
The
Mayor stated that this is the document, which the Trustees discussed at last
meeting that establishes a list of SEQR Type II actions to supplement the Type
II list under New York State Regulations. There was no public present to
comment. The Mayor asked if a SEQR needed to be done. Randy stated that you can
read the SEQR Regulations either way as to whether this is an administrative
action, or an action requiring review. Frank stated that the short form is not
a burden and it should be done to show our consideration.
Motion- To Close the Public Hearing
Trustee Larry Fresinski moved to close the public
hearing.
Trustee John Bailey seconded the motion. A vote was
taken:
Mayor
Donald Hartill - Aye Trustee
John Bailey- Aye
Trustee Franklin Moore- Aye Trustee Lynn
Leopold-Aye
Trustee Larry Fresinski-Aye
The
Board did the short form SEQR and found that there were no significant adverse
environmental impacts. The Board noted that in the case actions which do have a
potential environmental impact, such as a special permit for a home occupation,
the Zoning Law already binds the Planning Board to consider all of the
environmental impacts in the permit review process. The purpose of the SEQR is
to call attention to potential environmental impacts. It’s more of an awareness
issue. Randy stated that a positive declaration on the SEQR often slows down
the process but doesn’t necessarily stop the applicant from continuing with
their proposal.
Resolution #3637- To
Declare a Negative Declaration for Proposed Local Law, Village of Lansing Type
II Actions Under State Environmental Quality Review Act
Trustee Lynn Leopold moved this resolution and
Trustee Larry Fresinski seconded the motion. A vote was taken:
Mayor
Donald Hartill - Aye Trustee
John Bailey- Aye
Trustee Franklin Moore- Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold
–Aye
Trustee Larry Fresinski-Aye
The
Mayor entertained a motion to accept this local law. Frank stated that the
words Lansing Zoning Law in Section II
#1 & #2 needed to be corrected to say Subdivision Regulations. The
Board agreed to these corrections.
Resolution #3638- To
Accept the Proposed Local Law, Village of Lansing Type II Actions Under State
Environmental Quality Review Act as Local Law 3 for 2000 with corrections
Be
it enacted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Lansing as follows:
SECTION I. PURPOSE AND INTENT.
The
purpose of this Local Law is to create a specific list of actions that may be
taken by the Village, through its Board of Trustees, Planning Board or Board of
Zoning Appeals, which actions the Village deems not to require review under the
State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQRA”). It is the intent of this Local Law that a
list of Type II actions be established to supplement the list of Type II
actions currently provided in Section 617.5 of the Regulations promulgated
under New York State Environmental Conservation Law Article VIII. This Local Law is being enacted in accordance
with the provisions of said Section 617.5 at subsection (b), and the list set
forth herein is intended to supplement the list of Type II Actions set forth at
subsection (c) thereof in such cases as the Village of Lansing acts as an
agency for SEQRA review. The Village acknowledges
that no other agency is bound by the list of supplemental Type II Actions set
forth in this Local Law. The Village has
determined that each action set forth in the list in this Local Law in no case
would have a significant adverse impact on the environment based on the
criteria contained in Section 617.7(c) of the SEQRA Regulations, and each
action listed in this Local Law is not a Type I Action as defined in Section
617.4 of the SEQRA Regulations.
SECTION II. SUPPLEMENTAL LIST OF TYPE II ACTIONS.
The
following actions shall not be subject to review under the SEQRA in such cases
as the Village of Lansing is an agency thereunder:
1. Approval of minor subdivisions, as such
term is defined in the Village of Lansing Subdivision Regulations;
2. Approval of minor amendments, as such term
is defined in the Village of Lansing Subdivision Regulations, to previously
approved subdivisions;
3. Granting of a Special Permit to convert
a single-family residence to a two-family residence in accordance with the
terms of Section 304.06(a) of the Village of Lansing Zoning Law;
4. Granting of a Special Permit for a home
occupation in accordance with the terms of Section 304.06(d) of the Village of
Lansing Zoning Law;
5. Recommendation and approval of Planned
Sign Areas in accordance with the provisions of Article VI of the Village of
Lansing Sign Law;
6. Actions to be taken, and not otherwise
identified in accordance with the SEQRA Regulation as Type I Actions, in
connection with implementation of the Greenway Plan of the Village of Lansing;
7. Issuance of an interpretation of the
Village of Lansing Zoning Law by the Village of Lansing Board of Zoning
Appeals;
8. Naming or changing the name of a
Village street;
9. Assigning or changing the street
address of a parcel of property;
10. Minor, routine decisions of the Village
of Lansing Planning Board that would have no significant impact, whether
adverse or otherwise, on the environment, such as approval of an amendment to a
previously approved landscape plan.
SECTION III. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Local Law shall be effective ten (10) days after publication and posting as required by law, except that it shall be effective from the date of service as against a person served with a copy thereof, certified by the Village Clerk, and showing the date of its passage and entry in the Minutes of the Village Board of Trustees.
Trustee Larry Fresinski moved to accept this new
Local Law 3 and Trustee Frank Moore seconded the motion. A vote was taken:
Mayor
Donald Hartill - Aye Trustee
John Bailey- Aye
Trustee Franklin Moore- Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold
–Aye
Trustee Larry Fresinski-Aye
Next
on the agenda was the approval of minutes.
Motion-Approval of Minutes for January 24th, 2000 as
amended
Trustee Lynn Leopold moved that the meeting notes as amended be hereby adopted as the official minutes. John Bailey seconded the motion. A vote was taken:
Mayor Donald Hartill-Aye Trustee Lynn Leopold-Aye
Trustee Franklin Moore-Aye Trustee John Bailey-Aye
Trustee Larry Fresinski-Aye
The Mayor commented that the formal protest of the
census has been sent. This is a big impact to the Village since the amount of
money we receive is population driven. The Mayor will be writing a letter to
the new census office in Elmira to offer our assistance in any way and to even
mail the forms ourselves. At this point 25% undeliverable mail is possible. The
Mayor asked Jodi to have Carol Willard drive by the apartment signs to see if
they’re street address is on their apartment signs. If it is not, he would like
Carol to notify the apartment owners to see if they could get their street
number on their signs. His main concerns were Gaslight Village and University
Apartments.
The Mayor missed the kick off meeting of the shared
money resource group in the County. The issue of sales tax would be better if
the whole County was per capita. Currently the whole County except the City of
Ithaca is per capita. Competition for development can be harmful.
The next update was on water & sewer. The State
has decided we should pay for the County Health Department by adding $3 per
year to each water user bill. Sewer is making steady progress.
It’s time to begin thinking about the budget. The Mayor will do a draft then assign pieces
to each Trustee so that they may better understand the whole process. Don
suspects no major changes this year. He reminded everyone that the next Monday
night meeting was changed from February 21 to February 28th. Lynn
stated that she would not be present at that meeting. The Wednesday meeting
with the employees will still be February 16th at noon. John will
not be able to attend this Wednesday meeting.
Frank gave the Board the results of his findings on
the Elderly and Veterans Property Tax exemptions. Frank spoke with Steve
Whicher of the County Assessment Office and found that the Village of Lansing
is on the low side for the Elderly Exemption. We allow 50% exemption up to $15K
income and 20% at $18.6K, while, for example, the County allows 50% at $18.5K
and 20% at $24.2K. The corresponding Town of Lansing limits are the most
generous, at $19.5K and $25.2K. Frank would support conforming to the Town, or
at least the County. The change needs to be done before the end of February.
The relevant references are Sect. 458-A of the Real Estate Property Law, and
limits are on p. 135 of the Supplement thereto. For Veterans, we apparently do
participate, and our allowances are about in the middle of the pack, and no
action seems called for by us, except perhaps to give appropriate reminders in
the next newsletter. The Mayor asked Frank if he would write that article for
the newsletter. Steve told Frank that veterans should go to the local VA office
to get the paperwork started. NYS Veterans Assistance is located in the Babcock
Building.
Larry reported on the Environmental Design meeting.
Basically, Larry stated that the consultant had to go back to the drawing board
because what they proposed was the same characteristics as Skaneateles with
buildings close to the road, parking on N. Triphammer instead of bike lanes
& parking in the rear of buildings. The consultants did not listen to what
the Village wanted and didn’t do their homework. The funding for the N.
Triphammer Road Project requires that this project be multi modal. What the
consultant proposed was not. They also didn’t consider that this is a Low
Traffic Commercial area. Frank thought they should model after another Village
with a mall. It was asked if we signed a contract with the consultant. Randy
stated that at one point they received a contract that didn’t even relate to
the work and he told Ned to have them send a contract that was a simple letter
format, describing solely the terms of the project. To his knowledge, no
contract has been signed. Carol Klepack will report to the Planning Board at the
February 14th meeting. It seems that the Village is very unhappy
with the consulting group because they are not listening to what the Village
wants & needs. The consultants were given the concepts at the first meeting
but what they presented at the 2nd meeting had no relationship.
The Mayor stated that the Village has received the
$100,000 check from the NYS Thruway Authority for the Multi-Modal funding for
Sheraton Drive Sidewalks. Don will write a thank you letter to Marty Luster and
invite him down to see the completed project.
Don has also received a letter from the Kensington
group. He will be composing a letter to them to update them on the discussions
with the Edelman’s. It’s still a matter of sewer availability.
Motion- To Go To Executive Session to Discuss
Financial Matters Relating to the
Proposed Property
Acquisition
Trustee Larry Fresinski moved to go to executive
session and Trustee Lynn Leopold seconded the motion. A vote was taken:
Mayor Donald Hartill-
Aye Trustee John Bailey-
Aye
Trustee Larry Fresinski-
Aye Trustee Lynn
Leopold-Aye
Trustee Franklin
Moore-Aye
Motion- To Come out of Executive Session
Trustee Lynn Leopold moved to come out of executive
session and Trustee Larry Fresinski seconded the motion. A vote was taken:
Mayor Donald Hartill-
Aye Trustee John Bailey-
Aye
Trustee Larry Fresinski-
Aye Trustee Lynn
Leopold-Aye
Trustee Franklin
Moore-Aye
Resolution #3639- To Authorize the Mayor to Make and
Sign a Final
Monetary Offer for the
Right-of-way to be Acquired From Homik’s
Property at 2310 N. Triphammer Road.
Trustee Larry Fresinski moved accept this resolution
and Trustee John Bailey seconded the motion. A vote was taken:
Mayor Donald Hartill-
Aye Trustee John Bailey-
Aye
Trustee Larry Fresinski-
Aye Trustee Lynn
Leopold-Aye
Trustee Franklin
Moore-Aye
It
was reported that Audrey Kahn’s husband has passed away. Audrey was a former
trustee for the Village and the Mayor will send a note on behalf of the
Village.
Motion- To Adjourn
Trustee John Bailey moved adjournment. Trustee Lynn
Leopold seconded the motion. A vote was taken:
Mayor Donald Hartill-
Aye Trustee John Bailey-
Aye
Trustee Larry Fresinski-
Aye Trustee Lynn
Leopold-Aye
Trustee Franklin
Moore-Aye
The
meeting adjourned at 9:50 P.M.
Jodi
Dake
Village
Clerk