PUBLIC HEARING
OCTOBER 12, 2004
GALWAY TOWN HALL
Supervisor Hargrave called the Public Hearing to order at 7:00 p.m.
The following Town Board Members were present:
PRESENT: Supervisor George Hargrave Councilwoman Susan Sutch Councilman
Charles Quinlan Councilman
William Topper
Councilman Michael Tillson arrived late at 7:10
p.m.
OTHER PRESENT: R.
Daino; J. Glenn; M. Glenn; C.W. Hansen, Highway Superintendent & M. DeFoe, Town
Clerk.
Town Clerk read legal notice placed in the Daily Gazette on October 1, 2004.
Ruth Ann Daino read
two newspaper articles from the Gazette on Rural Preservation & Suburban
Sprawl.
felt that the acreage increase was a step in the right
direction to protect the rural character of the town. She felt other areas needed to be addressed
also. Incentive should be looked into for
farm land to be kept agriculture.
Different zoning size requirements for various areas of town should also
be reviewed. She suggested creating
hamlet type areas in certain parts of town and branching out from there to
larger lot requirements. Graham Pritchard, Planning Chairman stated
that he had received two comments regarding proposal in his position as
Planning Chairman. One property owner
stated that he was not in favor of proposed change because he felt this would
limit young family’s ability to build in community. The other concern came from a developer that
misunderstood how proposal would work and be applied. Graham explained to the developer the change
in law; how it would take place; the effect it would have on future
subdivisions not previously subdivided lots.
David Balbian felt the town
needed to find ways to preserve the open space in town to keep the rural character. In all statistics he has read the average to economical
size home actually required more services than it generates in taxes in
comparison to the larger upscale homes of ¼ to ½ million dollars which require
less services than they generate in taxes.
He would like to see incentives for people to donate development rights
to their property, or have town look into grants to purchase lands and preserve
some of the open space which is most desirable in the town. Eric
Connolly is new to community lives on Armer Road
in new development. He would like to purchase
a 12 acre parcel from his neighbor and subdivide that into about four
lots. He would like to create a hamlet
type area on Armer Road. He felt young families just starting off
would not be able to afford to purchase five acres of land and then build a new
home. These proposed changes would
eliminate the ability for young families to locate in Galway. He doesn’t think a blanket five acre minimum
lot size requirement is the best thing for Galway. Patrick
Bingham asked if lots that were previously subdivided and were only one
acre would be considered grandfathered lots with new zoning? Supervisor Hargrave stated that would be
correct. Mr. Bingham felt the Town was
moving in the right direction with larger lot requirements. Pat advised that he subdivided some property
into five acre lots with housing restrictions and had no problem selling
lots. Mary Lynn Kopper had concerns with doing zoning changes in pieces. She was under the understanding that after
the comprehensive plan was completed, an update of the entire zoning
regulations was going to be looked at to address some of the loose areas
discussed in the comprehensive plan. She
questioned if the zoning regulations were being looked at beyond lot size for
updating purposes? Supervisor Hargrave
stated that this is the first step, there is a committee working on the
updating of our zoning regulations. Once
they have completed their work, there will be more hearings to review their
proposed changes. Paul Pribis discussed a subdivision he did on his property in 1987,
but never filed maps. Board stated if
maps were never filed with county the grandfather clause would not apply
because subdivision was not recorded within the required time frame. Patty Vandetti
reiterated the previous concern regarding young families being able to purchase
a five acre lot in Galway and then be able to afford to
build on it. Michael Glenn questioned if there was an existing home on a one
acre parcel, would you be able to take that home down and rebuild a bigger home
under proposed regulations? Supervisor
Hargrave stated that request would need to be made to the Planning Board. Bob
Glenn stated that he felt the current zoning should be left as it is. He also felt larger acreage requirement would
eliminate young families ability to purchase & build in Galway. Barbara
Wright asked for clarification on when zoning change would take
effect. Supervisor Hargrave went over
time frame and procedure for this Local Law to be approved and put into place. Carmen
Gutto questioned if logic of this change was to keep density down in
town? Supervisor Hargrave stated that
the purpose of tonight’s public meeting was to get the communities comments
& concerns regarding proposal not to answer questions. Mr. Gutto felt larger lot would reduce tax
base in Galway. Jon
Hallgren, Chairman of Zoning Board of Appeals felt that maintaining rural
character could not be accomplished by changing lot size requirement. He felt this proposed change would create a
lower tax base in Galway in a community that already
lacks business needed to maintain school district and roads. Jon felt that rural character could be
obtained by creating a mixture of high density lot sizes; high density areas
for housing and affordable housing areas.
Subdivisions can be created to obtain rural look town is concerned with
and still provide higher density living.
Jeanine Flinton stated that
the zoning regulations do address the areas that the audience has stated as a
concern tonight. The Planned Development
District allows for residential, mixed use & commercial development. There are mechanisms within zoning
regulations to address unique development.
Jon Hallgren stated planned
density instead of spontaneous density was what he suggested. Patrick
Bingham felt one acre lots would not keep our community rural. The Town of Milton
10-15 years ago was rural, at one acre requirement currently in place we will
look like Milton in no time. The survey put out to community when they
were working on Comprehensive Plan clearly came back with residents requesting
that community remain as it is rural & residential. He felt the five acre requirement would keep with
what the community requested in that survey.
Carmen Gutto felt town soil
conditions would regulate lot size with out putting this lots size requirement
into place. There are no sewer/water
utilities in town, therefore over development he feels is not a problem. Patrick
Bingham stated it was unrealistic to believe that the town somewhere down
the line would never go to sewer/water utilities. Mary
Lynn Kopper stated districted zoning was needed in Galway. Bob
Glenn questioned what the average cost of a home in Galway
was? Tracy Killeen, Assessor stated the
average assessment is about $118,000. Adrien Gaudreau felt that zoning needed
to be realigned to allow for different types of zoning in town. Bill
Fitzner stated that maps were drawn up by the Soil Conservation Service
showing various soil types in the entire county. When re-zoning of the town, he suggest that
there be a correlation between zoning & this mapping. Jan
Johnson stated that what she is hearing tonight, is that what the board is
proposing is to simplistic and more really needs to be done before addressing
just lot sizes. There were no further
comments from the audience regarding the public hearing.
The public hearing was adjourned at 7:55 p.m.