MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CORNWALL PLANNING

AND ZONING COMMISSION HELD ON JULY 13, 2004.

 

A Regular Meeting of the Cornwall Planning and Zoning Commission was held at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, July 13, 2004, in the Cornwall Town Hall. Present were: Chairman Richard Lynn, presiding; members David Colbert, Patrick Hare (at 7:45) Anne Kosciusko and Doc Simont and alternate Heidi Kearns. Land Use Clerk Vera Dinneen was also present. Heidi was designated to vote for an absent member.  

 

R E G U L A R     M E E T I N G

 

The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of June 8, 2004 were approved as circulated.

 

APPLICATIONS FOR ZONING PERMITS

 

The monthly report of zoning activity by staff was briefly reviewed.

Doc Simont asked for clarification that the Tyler permit was for a driveway only. Vera Dinneen explained that the driveway now is off Rug Road, but the house is actually closer to River Road South and the applicant wanted to move the driveway to be more convenient.

 

NEW BUSINESS                

 

Special Permit #190                Peter & Michelle Gorat, Dibble Hill Road

                                                To establish an accessory apartment use

 

There was no one to present the application. It was unanimously voted to schedule the Public Hearing for August 10, 2004.

 

 

Special Permit #191                William Morehouse, Hollenbeck Road

                                                To establish a Traditional Home Business

 

Mr. Morehouse presented the application. He plans to use an existing garage for a small woodworking shop to construct furniture, kitchen cabinets, vanities, etc. Parking would not be an issue because there would be no retail sales on site. There will be no employees. He may construct a sign. Doc suggested that Mr. Morehouse look into the Shop and Storage regulations and decide if that would be more appropriate for him than the Traditional Home Business. Members agreed that if he decided to change to Shop and Storage before the Public Hearing is legally noticed, it would be fine with them to change the application. Mr. Morehouse will discuss the options with staff and make a decision. He will submit a narrative before the next meeting. He asked if he needed to send a notice to the neighbors whose homes are over the Goshen town line. Vera will ask Land Use Administrator Karl Nilsen. It was unanimously voted to schedule the Public Hearing for August 10, 2004.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

Commission                            Update of Planning Tasks

 

Dave Colbert reported that the committee working on application procedures is on summer schedule and will resume their work in September. He also reported that there has been some effort by First Selectman Gordon Ridgway to have a crosswalk installed from Northwest Lumber to Bairds Store in Cornwall Bridge. Annie Kosciusko has not completed her review of the zoning regulations. No work has been done by Pat Hare or Doc on the change of use requirements. Rick Lynn reported that the update of the subdivision regulations should be available in about a month following clarification of a couple of issues. He also distributed twelve pages of new parking regulations for the parking committee to review and pare down. Pat sent some information to his other committee members about TDRÕs and will have something to report soon. Rick has information about roadside vegetative buffers which he will distribute to members at the next meeting. Pat suggested some sort of walking path on the side of town roads for safety purposes. Doc explained that much of the town right-of-way is taken up by culverts, etc. Dave stated that this opportunity should be mentioned in the update of the Town Plan.

 

COMMUNICATIONS

 

Kirk Sinclair, from Housatonic Valley Association, is teaching an ÒIntro to GIS MappingÓ course at Northwest Community College. He is looking for a town to Òpractice inÓ. Whichever town is chosen would need to have a paying student attending the course. Dave asked if the Commission could subsidize (out of the training budget) an interested member to take the course. Doc may be interested and he will call Kirk for more information. Members asked Vera to send them copies of the final budget.

 

Members want to be informed of enforcement issues, either as a summary on the agenda or verbally at the meeting under communications. Vera reported on the current enforcement issues. Doc stated that enforcement is generally only taken when there is a complaint. Annie asked Vera to have Karl look at sheds which are too close to the road on Town Street.

 

Doc gave a summary of the enforcement action which was taken by Karl and the Wetlands Agency at Furnace Brook Farm. The restoration of the site should be completed by the end of the week.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8: 50pm.

                       

                                                                        Vera Dinneen, Land Use Clerk

 

 

NOTE – THESE MINUTES ARE A DRAFT.  THEY WILL BE NOTED AS FINAL ONLY AFTER THEY ARE REVIEWED AND APPROVED AS DRAFTED OR AS MODIFIED AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING OF THE CORNWALL P&Z COMMISSION.