Village of Lansing

Planning Board Meeting

February 29, 2000

 

The meeting of the Village of Lansing Planning Board was called to order by Acting Chair Halevy.  Present at the meeting were Planning Board Members Brown, Dankert, Klepack, Waterman, Trustee Liaison Leopold,Village Attorney Marcus, and Code Enforcement Officer Curtis.

 

Public Comment

Brown moved to close the Public Comment portion of the meeting as there was no one present who wished to speak.  Seconded by Dankert.  All in favor.

 

 

Landscape and Lighting Plans - McDonalds and Parkview

 

Halevy reported that the Lighting Commission met on February 28th and approved the lighting plans for both McDonalds and the Parkview Health Campus.  Dennis Reinhart will check the lighting levels with a professional light meter after the lights are installed.  The Lighting Commission's recommendation is to accept both lighting plans.

 

McDonalds:

Waterman moved to accept the Lighting plan for McDonalds.  Seconded by Klepack.  All in favor.

 

The Green Space Advisory Committee reviewed the McDonalds Landscaping and suggested that the plantings be diversified by substituting Linden trees for some of the Crab Apple trees, adding a Japanese Maple and switching some of the low plantings with the trees in front to provide an appearance of staggered planting rather than planting in straight rows.   The GAC also suggested that the Planning Board consider requiring landscaping plans to include considerations of the three important factors in the selection of plantings -  a) deer resistance b) adaptability to poor soil drainage conditions; c) zoned for winter varieties.  Curtis said that he had reviewed the suggested changes in the landscaping plan with the McDonalds representative and they had no objections.  Dankert moved to approve the landscaping plan as amended by the GAC.  Seconded by Waterman.  All in favor.

 

Parkview Health Campus:  The GAC recommended approval of the landscaping plan for Building 4 but suggested that it be pointed out that the surrounding properties have been damaged by the deer and they may want to reconsider the planting materials they have chosen.  Waterman moved to approve the landscaping plan for Parkview Health Campus. Klepack seconded.  All in favor.  Dankert moved to accept the Lighting Plan for Parkview Health Campus.  Seconded by Waterman.  All in favor.

 

Green Space Advisory Committee Budget Discussion

Halevy reported that he reviewed the proposed budget items submitted by the GAC with Dennis Reinhart:

Sign posts and benches in Lansing Trails:   approved by Reinhart;

Trash barrels:  Marcus clarified that while no municipality can give people things, there are exceptions when it is considered to be a benefit to the public in general and trash containers could be categorized as such.  If the purpose is the beautification of the Village and the trash cans have a Village logo on the side, the Village may retain ownership and make arrangements to place the trash can on the owner's property.  The owners are voluntarily agreeing to take care of the trash that is being collected.  The Board decided to try placing two trash cans in Cayuga and/or Triphammer Mall as a pilot program.

Soil Conservation Service Seedling:  the Board felt that plantings seedlings would be very labor intensive for a very low return and did not wish to pursue this project.   

Commercial trees and water jackets:  Approved.

Path material:  Reinhart asked the GAC to research the type of material to be used.  

NYSEG Trail:  There are legal issues that will first need to be clarified before pursuing the project further. 

Bush Lane Trail, Road Striping Janivar Drive; and Crosswalk on Triphammer:  all of these items are included in Reinhart's budget;

Waterman suggested that Warren Road is more in need of striping than Janivar and that will be suggested to Reinhart. 

Arcview GIS Printer:  this is part of the Planning Board budget for the Village's use.      Curtis said that the County offices are encouraging municipalities to use Arcview and they have offered to provide the training and support.

Halevy moved to recommend approval of the budget as amended in the previous discussion to the Trustees.  Seconded by Brown.  All in favor

 

Design Guidelines for Commercial Low Traffic District

EDR had been informed by the Planning Board that their recommendations so far did not seem to respond to the Planning Board's request.  Crandall and Majestic were present at the meeting to respond to that concern and to present the Board with an outline of their report and a recommendation of general guidelines for the development of the target area.  The report was divided into five sections:  1) Discussion of issues and concerns of the focus group; 2) the design guidelines themselves for the areas within the CLT District that actually are slightly different than other areas in the district;  3) Series of design standards for elements that are likely to be inside the right-of-way;  4) Implementation strategies. (Marcus said that if the end product of this process is a set of design guidelines, he recommended to the Board that the end product be adopted into the Zoning Law.  A lot of what the Board is looking for is a recommendation for what the Village will do with the additional space it acquires, most of which is in the CLT District and would involve the sidewalk, green space and curb in the Village right-of-way.  That won't necessarily be part of the Zoning Law because it's the Village property.  The idea of getting input was largely derived from the fact that the Village is going to be reconstructing N. Triphammer Road after acquiring rights-of-way from 29 properties so that the Village will own 30 feet more than it does now.  Now that it's going to be owning all this additional property and investing additional money, the Village wants to know what it should do with that space and how that space should look.);  5) Signage-visibility and appearance.

 

Their recommendation was broken into two categories -  guidelines or tools to influence the direction of the site development (such as placement of buildings and location of parking)  and standards or details that should probably be used in the public domain right-of-way (public signage, street furniture, lighting, etc).  They broke the study area in several zones because they felt there were details that should be incorporated into the guidelines in specific areas in addition to general guidelines that apply to the entire area

In general, they felt that a pedestrian friendly aspect is very important to this community.  They think that all the streets should be served by a pedestrian system which should be more of a structured sidewalk system that is physically separated from the traffic by at least a grass separation.  Street trees are important to create a sense of order and to offset some of the current irregularities of the building angles and setbacks.  If desired, they will provide a list of street trees that would do well in this area.  There are currently buildings which are angled to the street, but they think that future buildings should have parallel relationship with the street facade as a general rule, with some exceptions due to topography.  They recommend establishing a build-to line along N. Triphammer Road to create parallel relationships.  A 75 foot build-to line works with most existing structures and gives the opportunity to provide green space and parking in the front.  Intersections would be structured somewhat differently than mid-block sections, and would include entry points to parking pockets to consolidate as many curb cuts as possible.  This makes the road and the pedestrian system safer, and reduces visual clutter.  They are recommending a linear walk system in front of the businesses with some parking in front.  In the zone further north where the lots are larger they're recommending side and rear yard parking with a few spaces in the front for those who need to be accommodated.  Employee parking would be in the back and visitor parking in the front.  There are a series of stream corridors going through the area which are part of the natural ecosystem and they think they should be left on the surface whenever possible.  They recommended that developers design natural buffers that respond to the individual characteristics of the lot whenever possible.  When developing lots, all the aesthetics should be considered -  sound, smell  and sight.  In order to address the topographical problem and enlarge the visual perception of green space along N. Triphammer Road, they suggested using a little wall along that corridor with hedge material above that for screening, so the two vertical areas track a space that is a level . They feel that would make a very distinct character for this area without incurring a hardship on the property.  A combination of wall in the mid-block area with a set of stairs to provide access gives you a visual element that serves a function.  

 

The Planning Board felt that the recommendations made by EDR were interesting and appropriate. There was some concern that EDR had invested time in areas of the Village that were beyond the scope the Village had described  in its RFP and that EDR had failed to recognize parameters such as the Triphammer Road Reconstruction Plan and the existing permitted zoning uses which the Village had clearly stated would not be changed. The Board agreed to ask them to continue provided some accommodation could be developed for time that had been spent beyond the scope clearly stated in the Village’s RFP.  The Board will arrange for another meeting with the Board and EDR after Ned Hickey returns.  They felt that Trustee Larry Fresinski and possibly Engineer David Herrick should work closely with them so that EDR has more input on the plans for the reconstruction of N. Triphammer Road.  Marcus will draft a letter to EDR specifying the Board's understanding.

 

 

 

 

Other Business

Klepack reported that the Mayor had not responded to the request that the issue raised by the Kensington Homeowners Association be addressed by the Trustees.  Halevy will mention this at the March Trustee meeting.

 

Leopold asked about the billboard by the new Monroe Muffler.  Marcus said that it is within the State road right-of-way and is in an area where grandfathered billboards are protected.

 

Minutes

December 13, 1999:  Waterman moved that the 12/13/99 minutes be approved as amended.  Seconded by Klepack.  All in favor.  

December 28, 1999: Klepack moved that the 12/28/99 minutes be approved as amended.  Seconded by Brown.  All in favor.

January 10, 2000: Dankert  moved that the 1.10/00 minutes be approved as amended.  Seconded by Klepack.  All in favor.   

 

 Adjourn

Waterman moved that the meeting be adjourned at 10:10.  Seconded by Klepack.  All in favor