by Bea Peterson
On Thursday, April 17, members of the Town of Hoosick Zoning Board of Appeals and Planning Board and their attorneys met jointly at the request of Town Supervisor Mark Surdam. At the March Town Board meeting Surdam said the two Boards were running smoothly but there were some hiccups and he wanted to see everyone working together with open lines of communication so that the application process runs smoothly. [private]He said each Board is doing a tremendous job and everyone is satisfied with what they are doing. He reiterated this at the opening of this joint meeting. The job of the Zoning Board of Appeals, which was established in 2009, is to review requests for building permits or change of use requests. The role of the Planning Board is to conduct site plan reviews and review plans for subdivisions. Before 1987 Hoosick had no land use laws.
Surdam said he wants what is in the best interest of the Town. He said the process has improved, especially the timeline, but there are still some issues that should be addressed. He added that this was not an attack on any person or any Board. It was a meeting to fix any issues.
Everyone agreed the Building Inspector is the key to where the process starts. The Building Inspector is guided by NYS and Town laws and which is better for the Town. Then it is a case of which Board the applicant wants to appear before. ZBA Chairman Jim Hoag said Building Inspector Ed King had attended the Planning Board’s last meeting, and Hoag felt King had a real good understanding of the laws. However, Hoag said, some things are open to interpretation and there are times when the issue is not clear. He said there are gray areas that make resolutions difficult.
Members of the ZBA try to undertake the process without significant delay, often communicating by email between meetings to get things done as quickly as possible. If an application comes with everything that is required then there is no delay in the process. Hoag suggested the ZBA do the site plan review as well. This way the Planning Board will have all the information it needs when an applicant comes before that Board after having been before the ZBA. The ZBA process averages two months. It takes 30 days for the request to go through the County Planner, then there has to be a Public Hearing, then the application has to be in to the Planning Board 13 days before its meeting.
The Planning Board process can take as little as five weeks, if all the paperwork is in place. The applicant appears before the Board for an initial conference and to see that all the requirements are met. At the following month’s meeting, if all the requirements are met, the plan can be approved.
It’s important that the Building Inspector point out what the applicant needs that he or she doesn’t have before they come to either Board. Planning Board Attorney Denis King said if all the paperwork is in order, approval can come in two meetings. A simple subdivision can be done in one meeting.
Both Boards agreed that all the application requirements and the complete law should be on the website.
Hoag said the Zoning laws should be updated. He said the original document should be found and the changes put in the proper order. He pointed out that the law isn’t clear on what “change of use” means. Both Boards would like to see a better site plan review process. It was suggested Surdam contact Rensselaer County Chief Planner Linda von der Heide for the original laws and for advice on changes to the laws. Surdam agreed to do this.
Hoag would like to see the whole ZBA document updated and redone. “If we could get that accomplished this year, it would be our biggest accomplishment,” he said.
The Board agreed that the zoning map needs to be updated and that they would like an updated map showing the flood plains.
As the meeting ended, Surdam thanked everyone for attending and suggested they hold another joint meeting in six months.[/private]