PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING JULY 14, 2009


Present: Regular members Anne Kosciusko, Lynn Cheney, David Colbert, Pat Hare, Alternates Heidi Kearns, Emily Pryor and James LaPorta, commission staff Karen Griswold Nelson and commission planning consultant Tom McGowan.

Absent: Rick Lynn and Chris Hopkins.


Chairman Anne Kosciusko called the meeting to order at 7:37 P.M. All members participated in all parts of the proceedings.


PUBLIC HEARINGS: None.


REGULAR MEETING:

  1. APPLICATIONS FOR ZONING PERMITS.

#796- Anne and Neil Estern - 46’ x 24’ studio/not for habitation – 432 Cream Hill Road. Permit approved June 30, 2009.


#797 - Stephen Kilroy and Grace Yoon - 12’ x 28’ addition with wood deck as shown on filed site plans – 25 Cherry Hill Road Permit approved June 30, 2009. Transfer of property has resulted in zoning compliance of addition constructed without permits.

Discussion ensued as to various methods of addressing zoning violations including but not limited to “after the fact” zoning permits. Methods such as “After-the-fact” fees and or/fines as provided for in the statutes and the regulations were discussed with direction given to staff as to investigation of other town’s procedures. The issue was to be re-visited.


  1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES. May 12th and June 9 and 23 (special) meetings.

Motion Mrs. Kearns, second Mr. LaPorta, to approve the minutes of the May 12th meeting as presented: approved Mrs.’s Kosciusko, Cheney and Kearns and Mr.’s Colbert, LaPorta and Hare. Mrs. Pryor abstained due to non-attendance.

Motion Mrs. Cheney, second Mr. LaPorta to approve the minutes of the June 9th meeting as presented: approved Mrs.’s Kosciusko and Cheney and Mr.’s Colbert and LaPorta. Mrs. Pryor and Kearns and Mr. Hare abstained due to non-attendance.

Action on the June 23rd minutes deferred.


  1. NEW APPLICATIONS: None.

  1. PENDING APPLICATIONS: None.


5. CORRESPONDENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED.

Correspondence made part of the record:

June correspondence from Cream Hill area residents regarding the “Sweet Peet” operation. (Distributed at the July 23rd workshop meeting)

July 14th correspondence from Cream Hill Farm regarding the “Sweet Peet” operation.

June and July correspondence from Attorney Steven Byrne regarding the “Sweet Peet” appeal.



  1. OTHER BUSINESS.

Griswold Nelson addressed the traffic and parking questions still under consideration as part of the Hummingbird Stone LLC/Change of use permit, requesting that the commission consider the matter as part of the Harrall-Michalowski study of the village centers. It was noted that the State DOT had been on site and that the DOT representatives had suggested that the town provide their own recommendations to the traffic division on the matter based on current DOT compliance regulations that could be imposed for lack of less restrictive and more user friendly recommendations from traffic professionals. Additional costs to study the matter were discussed and accordingly,

Motion Mrs. Cheney, second Mr. Hare, to allocate up to $500.00 for study and recommendations on the matter: unanimously approved.


Griswold Nelson advised the commission that questions raised regarding the status of two parcels of land on Everett Van Doren’s Dibble Hill property had been addressed with resolution reached between Mr. VanDoren and Cornwall’s assessor, Barbara Bigos.


  1. PLAN OF CONSERVATION AND DEVELOMENT WORKSHOP – final review of “Natural Resources” and ‘Housing” sections.

Copies of the July 13th revised draft of the “Natural resources” section of the Plan of C&D were distributed for review and comment. The commission reviewed the draft with direction given to Griswold Nelson (and Colbert) as to additions, deletions, modifications and typos to be corrected prior to making the draft available for public review and comment. The section was to be revisited at the next meeting. The commission briefly discussed the newest revised version of the “Housing” section of the plan with the section to be revisited at the next meeting. Mr. McGowan advised the commission that the village center study currently being done by Harrall-Michalowski was nearing completion with a report to be made available in the near future. Mr. McGowan was to contact Mr. Harrall regarding attendance at a September 22nd special meeting to present his findings.



  1. ADJOURNMENT


Motion by unanimous vote to adjourn at 9:45PM; unanimously approved.


Respectfully submitted,


Karen Griswold Nelson