August 11, 2003

The meeting of the Village of Lansing Planning Board was called to order at 7:30 P.M. by Ned Hickey. Present at the meeting were Planning Board Members Doris Brown , Phil Dankert, Carol Klepack and Maria Stycos; Trustee Liaison Lynn Leopold; Attorney David Dubow; Associate Attorney Kevin A. Jones; Code Enforcement Officer Ben Curtis; and members of the public.

Public Comment:

Hickey opened the Public Comment period.

Cliff Buck, 39 Janivar Drive, spoke first. Buck stated that about 1.5 – 2.5 years ago, Audrey and Bill Edelman donated property to the Village for park land or development and to provide a connection to Warren Road. Buck has reviewed the Comprehensive Plan and sees there was to be a connection from the Kensington property into Lansing Trails or Wakefield Drive. Now the Village holds all the cards to make that happen. Buck wants to know why the Village has not moved on this and what are the Village plans for a road for the Kensington property. His concern is about traffic through Lansing Trails.

There being no one else who wished to speak, Stycos moved to close the Public Comment period. Seconded by Brown. All aye.

911 Building – Parking Lot Modifications:

Hickey stated the next item on the agenda was modifications for the 911 Building. Board members had received revised plans from the County as well as a cover letter. Hickey stated the Board was previously concerned with setbacks and screening for the parking lot which did not meet the zoning requirements. Hickey has confirmed with Curtis that the revised plans showing an increased setback from the road along with landscaping and a berm meet zoning requirements and he thanked Mikel Shakarjian, Tompkins County Admin. Dept, for her work on this project. Hickey stated that the plans are now acceptable to the Village. Klepack asked what species of trees are proposed and Shakarjian stated they are listed on the Landscape Plan.

Lansing Trails Phase 2:

The next item on the agenda was a continuation of discussion about Lansing Trails

Phase 2 road design. Hickey was a guest at a meeting of the Lansing Trails Homeowners Association last week where the road system was discussed. The residents present at that meeting asked to have John O’Neill, newly elected President of the Association, give a summary for tonight’s meeting. O’Neill, 53 Janivar Drive, stated he has directly contacted the owners of 64 of the 65 homes in Lansing Trails. The residents are 100% in agreement with the petition to protect the quality of life in their neighborhood and they do not want to see a thru road there. O’Neill gave Planning Board members the notes from the meeting. O’Neill stated the ultimate desire of residents is to protect the quality of life in their neighborhood. O’Neill has reviewed the Subdivision Regulations and Comprehensive Plan and feels a thru road should not be placed through a residential neighborhood. Development areas, such as Twin Glens, Tyler, Shannon Park, and the proposed Millcroft Subdivision have quiet cul-de-sacs and limited access which are the most sought after types of neighborhoods. O’Neill is proposing to have Lansing Trails 1 treated as a separate entity which will not carry thru traffic and not be connected to Lansing Trails 2. O’Neill spoke of the Comprehensive Plan and roads which allow and do not allow for thru traffic. O’Neill stated that any road which connects two points is a thru road regardless of how the road is designed or whether it is designed to discourage thru traffic. O’Neill spoke of the residents of the City of Ithaca who reside on Wood and South Streets which have been used as a channel for commercial traffic between downtown and Elmira Road shopping malls. After 20 years they have managed to reduce traffic in their neighborhood only by installation of barriers. O’Neill would like to avoid such a situation and feels there should be no thru traffic on a local service or access road. O’Neill presented a plan with existing roads as well as proposed roads. One plan presented by O’Neill would allow for the maximum number of houses and sustain Lansing Trails 1 quality of life by retaining a woodland area to act as a barrier where Janivar Drive would otherwise connect Lansing Trails 1 with Phase 2. This would also allow the Kensington residents to have another means of egress. O’Neill has read Rita Smidt’s book and referenced segments of it. Brown asked about Dart Drive and Warren Road intersection. Hickey stated suggestions that the Warren Road/Rt. 13 intersection might be enlarged and the end of Dart Drive closed as a result is all speculation.

Hickey responded to two proposals. First, is the idea of separating Lansing Trails into two entities. Lansing Trails has always been looked at as Phase I and Phase 2. It carries the same name and is being developed by the same owner and same developer. The only reason there is another subdivision is due to the length of time it has taken to develop the subdivision. This in turn has been primarily due to the sewer moratorium and economic conditions. Hickey stated making two separate entities would be inconsistent with the past planning processes and he is reluctant to support the separation of the subdivision.

Secondly, the provisions Section 402 of the Subdivision Regulations need to be explained more fully. Hickey asked Attorney Dubow to do this. Dubow gave his opinion of Section 402.03b, regarding subdivision road types and purposes. Dubow stated that there is additional language in Section 402 beyond that which O’Neill has highlighted which also needs to be considered to understand the context in which the highlighted text appears. Section 401 also states subdivisions shall be in harmony with the Village’s General Plan. Section 402.01 states the principals to be followed. Dubow stated the Village planning documents, including maps, clearly show an east/west connection through the Lansing Trails Subdivision. Although the road is conceptual, it appears in both the General and Comprehensive Plans. Dubow stated Section 402.02 of the Subdivision Regulations clearly states that streets in contiguous subdivisions shall be coordinated to compose a convenient system to include construction for present or future roads when needed. It further states when a subdivision adjoins undeveloped land it shall be designed so its streets are laid out to provide suitable connections to the adjoining land.

Buck objected stating that through traffic was the issue that should be discussed. Hickey stated that Buck was out of order. Buck asked that his objection be included in the record.

Dubow continued. The Comprehensive Plan deals with concentrated traffic and says east/west connection roads would be added as needed. It is up to the Planning Board to make a decision as to whether a connection road is necessary and where needed how it should be designed.

Hickey stated the Board must provide information to Jonson and Fabbroni for a sketch plan. Stycos stated the Board must discuss and decide whether to provide for an east/west connection road. Hickey stated a Public Hearing is required when a Preliminary Plat is submitted. There would also be a Public Hearing for the Final Plat. These hearings will provide opportunity for public input. Klepack stated the Lansing Trails Homeowner’s Association is well organized and has expressed concerns. Other residents of the Village may also have concerns. Klepack feels accommodations must be made for cars in the future and plans must be based on the good of the entire community. Brown was in agreement with Klepack and has felt a connection road has always been necessary from Warren Road to N. Triphammer Road. Brown likes quiet neighborhoods and is supportive of calming measures on connection roads and noted the proposed connection in Lansing Trails is not a straight through road. Dankert also agrees with Klepack and remembers Dart Drive of 30 years ago and feels no additional traffic is needed on that road. Stycos would like to see an information meeting held with other Village residents who do not live in Lansing Trails, but who might be affected by the decisions made regarding Phase 2. Stycos would like to see Bush Lane and Craft Road representatives present. Hickey would like to consider the impact of Lansing Trails 1&2 fully developed with 177 units, but without a connection. Those in Lansing Trails 1 will use Bush Lane, Cherry Road or Dart Drive to get to Warren Road. Those in Lansing Trails 2 will also use the same roads to get to N. Triphammer Road. This is keeping traffic out of Lansing Trails but is placing additional traffic and a burden on other neighborhoods. Hickey stated utilizing narrow roads, curves, humps, and a roundabout could act as a deterrent to through traffic and provide traffic calming for the cars that did use those roads. There is a seminar on traffic calming in Syracuse in August and Dankert, Alternate Planning Board Member, John Piscopo, and Superintendent of Public Works Dennis Reinhart will be attending and will bring back ideas. Hickey stated the connector should serve the residents of Lansing Trails and should not provide a short cut to others.

The Board was in agreement that they are not supporting two subdivisions and are supporting one subdivision with connection to both Warren Road and North Triphammer Road. Leopold would like to see the Village take pro-active measures for traffic calming in new developments as well as throughout the Village.

Hickey had information on traffic calming measures including an article on traffic roundabouts for Klepack to review. Hickey has asked Fisher Associates who are working on N. Triphammer Road reconstruction for their opinion on them. The Traffic Engineer for Fisher feels that roundabouts with a single lane and yield signs on all feeder roads works better than 4-way stops. Hickey would also like to see a 25 MPH speed limit in that area. Klepack noted a traffic roundabout is designed to keep traffic flowing and she would prefer to see traffic stopped. This will be reviewed further. Hickey gave the developers a green light to proceed with the sketch plan. Hickey noted that as part of the SEQR review, a traffic study will be required and there can also be a request that the study weigh roundabouts versus stop signs. The traffic engineers will also be asked to provide information on other traffic calming measures. Hickey also stated the developers would need to write a letter to be given to the Board of Trustees requesting clustering. Hickey provided the developer a copy of the letter submitted in 1993 to use as a guide. Curtis also reminded Fabbroni to review Section 500 in the Subdivision Law regarding the information required to be on Sketch Plans.

Millcroft Subdivision – Preliminary Plat Approval:

Hickey stated the Board has completed the SEQR. The first item for review was the Engineer’s Report from Brent Cross dated August 7, 2003. The report states that changes have been made and the storm water management issues have been addressed to meet the concerns of the Village. Cross is recommending that the preliminary plat be approved although he is still awaiting engineering details, including the final hydrologic and hydraulic calculations, which can be made a condition of the final approval.

The Board then reviewed the conditions for preliminary plat approval: 1) approval by the Village Engineer of the Final Subdivision Plat and supporting design/specification documents; 2) approval by the Village Attorney of conveyance and dedication documents prior to signing of the final plat; 3) approval of the Village Attorney of any restrictive covenants by the developer applicable to the subdivided parcels; 4) compliance with Section 406 of the Subdivision Regulations for recreational land; 5) conveyance to the Village by the lawful owners of any strips of land (i.e. the disputed 8 inch strip of land) between the southerly boundary of Millcroft Trust property and northerly right of way lines of Craft Road/Leifs Way; 6) completion of the connection of Croft Place in Phase 1 and Millcroft Drive in Phase 2 subject to the following: (Wording for this condition is being worked on by the Village Attorney, Millcroft Attorney, Hickey, Curtis and others. When completed, it will be inserted into the final plat.); 7) compliance with Section 306 of the Subdivision Regulations as to the letter of credit and related financial security requirements; 8) availability of sufficient sewer units and capacity by all other utility providers; 9) approval of Village Engineer of infrastructure construction plans; 10) approvals from all other required governmental agencies including Tompkins County Health Department; and 11) inclusion on the Final Subdivision Plat of notification as to those lots which are situated within the Airport Combining District and the restrictions and conditions applicable to such lots. Dubow noted these restrictions may not be listed individually on each deed but should be found during a title search which would include review of the subdivision plat filed in the County Clerk’s office. Dubow stated the Airport Combining District is defined in the Zoning Law. Board members were in agreement to the conditions as listed.

Next, the Board considered the concerns expressed in the 239 Review from the County regarding the Airport Combining District. The issue of the storm water detention basin being included as recreational land was addressed. Hickey referenced the submittal by Bob Miller for recreation space calculations. The 6% for recreation area equates to 3.02 acres. The project calls for 2.3 acres of park area including access from Croft Place and .76 acres of trail area in Phase 1 and Phase 2 for the north/south trail. Phase 1 and Phase 2 have drainage parcels of 2.265 acres and all land in those parcels below the 100-year storage elevation (1.505 acres) was subtracted to equal the .76 acres to be added for trail areas. The developer thus demonstrated that the recreation land did not include land required for storm water management.

Stycos asked about the recreation area if Phase 2 is never completed. Miller would be willing to include the 6% in Phase 1.

Dankert moved to approve the 11 conditions, as attached, for the preliminary plat approval for the Millcroft Subdivision Phase 1 and 2. Seconded by Klepack. All aye.

Klepack moved to approve the preliminary plat for the Millcroft Subdivision Phase 1 and Phase 2 subject to the conditions previously approved. Seconded by Brown. All aye. Dubow advised the Board that the vote satisfies the requirement for a supermajority to override a determination of adverse impact of the County’s 239 Review though the Board had also addressed concerns upon which the negative determination was based.

Approval of Minutes – July 29:

Klepack moved to accept the minutes of July 29^th as revised. Seconded by Stycos. Ayes – Brown, Hickey, Klepack and Stycos. Abstain – Dankert.

Lake Placid Conference:

Hickey stated the next item to be discussed is the Lake Placid Conference scheduled for September 22^nd. Attendees may be Curtis, Dankert, Stycos, Leopold and Klepack. Those interested will notify Curtis.

Lighting Commission Report:

Hickey stated Board members have received a report from Superintendent of Public Works Dennis Reinhart dated 7/29/03.

Voting Requirements:

Hickey stated there have been some changes for voting requirements for Planning Boards as NYS has passed a new law. Dubow recommended all members read the handout and discuss it at another meeting.

Adjournment:

Klepack moved to adjourn at 9:00 P.M. Seconded by Dankert. All aye.