Master Plan Hearing Legal Notice

Poughkeepsie Journal, Monday, July 15, 2002

LEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that on Thursday, July 25, 2002, at 7 p.m. at the John Jay High School, Route 52, Hopewell Junction, NY, the Town Board of the Town of East Fishkill will continue a public hearing which initially opened on May 23, 2002 regarding a proposed new Comprehensive Plan, 14 local laws to implement the plan, and a Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement regarding the Plan and the Laws.

At the same time the Board will consider several modifications in the Comprehensive Plan, and in several of the laws. Copies of the text of the changes, as well as maps, and all the documents previously presented, are available at the Town Hall, and at the Town library, during normal business hours, and will be placed on the Towns website.

Further information is available from the Contact Person: Supervisor Peter Idema, Town Hall, Route 376, Hopewell Junction, NY 12533. 845-221-4303.

A Notice of Completion of the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement was previously published and is on file at the Town Hall.

The proposed modifications in the previous proposals are briefly summarized here. Please consult the website, library or Town Hall for precise text changes.

Local Law "B": (Environmentally Sensitive Lands): The proposed modifications would tighten the restrictions on environmentally sensitive lands by requiring proposed new lots to meet a 2-part test for creation of new lots. One test would be based on deductions for environmentally sensitive lands. The other test would require each lot to have a minimum buildable area, free of any environmental constraints.

Local Law "C": ("Affordable Housing"): The proposed modifications would:

enhance affordability requirements by clarifying that the standard for affordable housing is eighty percent (80%), rather than ninety percent (90%), of the median Dutchess County family income;
reduce the maximum percentage of affordable units in any one (1) project from twenty percent (20%) to fifteen percent (15%);
add an additional category of eligible purchasers for people who work at business within the Town;
relax the initial proposal that households whose income increases would have to move within one (1) year;
limit the additional market rate incentive units to one (1) incentive unit for each affordable unit, rather than one and one half (1) incentive unit.

Local Law "D": (Creating the R-3 Residential Zoning District). The proposed law would provide "grandfathering" provisions similar to those adopted when the Town created the R-2 district.

Local Law "E": (Creating the R-1.5 District) The proposed modifications would broaden the purpose provisions of creation of the zone, beyond just agricultural and farmland, and include the same "grandfathering" as local law "D."

Local Law "F": (Highway Specifications) The proposed modifications would:

allow limited provision of private roads in cluster subdivisions and CRD Developments, provided that the Planning Board is satisfied that the road would be permanently maintained by the homeowners association;
set standards for separation of driveways on Minor Local Roads from intersections.

Local Law "G": (Conservation Residential District ("CRD")). The proposed modifications would:

reduce the permitted lot sizes, width, depth and frontage, to accommodate the mandatory nature of the affordable housing provision in the CRD zone;
increase amount of environmentally sensitive land subtracted from development potential, by excluding slopes over twenty percent (20%), rather than twenty-five (25%);
decrease the maximum permitted number of affordable units from twenty percent (20%) to fifteen percent (15%);
set a parking standard for single family dwellings of two (2) spaces per unit.

Local Law "H": (Cluster Subdivisions) The proposed modifications would:

clarify that cluster subdivisions are not permitted in the CRD Zoning District;
clarify the standards for determining the number of units under affordable housing provisions while subjecting cluster lots to the standards of environmentally sensitive lands;
allow the Planning Board some flexibility in determining the width of the buffer zone around a cluster subdivision;
transfer the Planning Boards authority to allow accessory retail or personal services up to ten thousand (10,000) square feet in larger cluster subdivisions to the Town Board;
allow the Town Board to approve up to three thousand (3,000) square feet of professional office space in such area, and reduce amounts of paved parking where pedestrian/bicycle use, or other parking, make this possible.

Local Law "I": (Average Density Subdivisions) The modified law would eliminate average density subdivisions in the R-2 acre zone, but would permit average density subdivisions in the R-3 acre zone, allowing lots no smaller than two (2) acres. This modification would still protect the environment, since the subdivision would be subject to the provisions on environmentally sensitive lands.

Local Law "J": (Regulations Applicable to Residential Zones) The proposed modifications would:

exclude up to four hundred (400) square feet of garage space from counting as part of Floor Area of a building;
require a one hundred foot (100) minimum setback for any new building from the edge of pavement on a State or County road outside of identified Hamlet areas.

Local Law "N": (Provisions Applicable to Non-Residential Zones) The proposed modifications would:

exclude up to four hundred (400) square feet of garage space from counting as part of the Floor Area of a building;
require a one hundred foot (100) minimum setback for any new building from the edge of pavement on a State or County road outside of identified Hamlet areas;
allow the Planning Board to require sidewalks in commercial zones where pedestrian activity is anticipated;

Additionally, the proposed Comprehensive Plan amendments suggest consideration of a more extensive area to be zoned from R-1 to R-1.5. The maximum area which could be considered for this change would include approximately 21% of the Town.

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that written comments on the Comprehensive Plan, the Laws, the proposed modifications, and the DGEIS will be accepted until Tuesday, August 13, 2002 at 4 p.m., to the contact person listed above. At the hearing all interested parties will be heard.

DOROTHY MEKEEL Town Clerk Dated: July 12, 2002 234940 Poughkeepsie Journal Subclassification: LEGAL NOTICES Published 7/15/2002 .