- By Dan Veaner
- Opinions
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The Town Board has proposed using a checklist for new projects. Strict triggers would be set. Fall below the triggers and you get an in-house review by the Planning Department, and a permit without having to go before the Planning Board. Hit one or more benchmarks and your case is automatically referred to the Planning Board. The main objections to this idea are 1) It takes authority from the Planning Board, 2) It doesn't give neighbors a chance to protest projects that don't set off a trigger until they are done deals, and 3) The Planning Board needs to see the big picture, and this approach would create missing pieces of that picture. 4) All projects would not be treated the same.
I think we can dismiss #4. All projects would start with the checklist and take the appropriate path. That is being treated the same. As for #2, amend the checklist process to allow for notifying neighbors ahead of time. Give them X days to protest if they want to. If they do, it will trigger a Planning Board review. That seems simple enough.
As for #3, make it a part of the process to send a copy of the checklist to planning board members as soon as it is received by the Planning Department. It could even be scanned and e-mailed to the board. Then require the Planning Department to notify the Planning Board when a project falls below all the triggers and is about to receive a permit. It seems to me that there could even be a procedure whereby the Planning Board could challenge some specific item they are not sure really meets the checklist. I don't think this would be impractical. But it would require goodwill on both sides and a really tight checklist that both boards agree to with input from the Planning Department.
#1 -- Well, I just don't see how this takes away authority. The way I see it, it is a more respectful use of the volunteer Planning Board members' time. The relatively few times I have attended their meetings someone or other has commented that they didn't have time to review this or that in advance. Not having to directly deal with simple projects could free up some time to better prepare for the difficult projects that really need their attention.
The key is the checklist. As a Planning Board member recently observed, the holdups in the planning process are often because an applicant isn't fully prepared with all the things the board needs to review. A good checklist would be a valuable tool for the applicant as well as the Planning Office. One, two, three... if you have all your ducks in a row you can build your garage. If not, you can see in black and white which ducks you still need to line up.
It helps the Planning Department help residents and developers, and it helps the Planning Board quantify the things it thinks are important when reviewing a proposed project. And it satisfies the Town Board's goal of making the process more friendly and less fuzzy.
As for loosening allowed uses -- I have to say I was convinced by Sorrel Gottfried's argument that it represents a 'taking' from residents who purchased homes prior to the changed ordinance. Gottfried is a Village of Lansing resident who attended the joint meeting a few weeks ago to address the boards on how she thinks Village residents will be effected by the changes. If I buy a house under rules that prevent a gas station next door, and all of a sudden the rules change and my neighbor builds one, that has strong potential to change the quality of my life as well as the value of my home in negative ways. It seems like an invitation to lawsuits, and just plain misery.
I am not really sure how misery is friendly to business development. But I agree with Town Supervisor Scott Pinney that the town should be more friendly to businesses that want to come to Lansing and pay property taxes and create jobs. So I think some other form of streamlining might be better, again using a checklist.
Why not have a provision in the checklist for effected zones to gather neighbors' signatures when you want to locate next door to them? Or even better, to have Town employees send something to neighbors for them to return postage paid (it would be part of the fee for applying for a permit so taxpayers wouldn't be out 42 cents for a stamp). Doing this could save a lot of grief later for residents as well as business owners.
Finally, it is time for both boards to listen to each other. The last joint meeting was a great start. Instead of dwelling on past slights and gripes as they have in the past, they followed a timed agenda and may actually have accomplished something, or began to. We already know that one board feels like the other is unresponsive, and the other feels like it is not valued and not well communicated to. Now it's time to leave those feelings in the past and try to communicate better in substantive ways. If the two boards can build on the momentum they started at that meeting the Town will surely come up with a stronger better planning policy.
I don't offer this as the way to resolve the two boards' differences, but as a way. I am sure there are other ways, and probably better ones. I think the members of the Town and Planning Boards have the knowledge and skill to come up with them, to do what is right for the Town.
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