Town Boards
The Pine Plains Town Board meets regularly on the 3rd Thursday of every month starting at 7:30pm. Additional meetings are scheduled as needed. The Pine Plains Planning Board meets regularly on the 2nd Wednesday of every month starting at 7:30pm. This board is appointed by the Town Board. Click here for Board Members and links.
Pine Plains Zoning Law is Enacted
November 9, 2009
The zoning law was adopted at the October 15, 2009 Town Board meeting. The most salient features of the law are:
- It divides the town into various zoning districts with differing lot sizes or densities, varying from 20,000 square feet (15,000 if central sewer is installed) in the central hamlet districts to 5 acres in the rural district, including the agricultural overlay and the wellhead protection district.
- Although a number of commercial uses are allowed throughout the town (i.e. home businesses and other smaller impact commercial uses) major commercial development is concentrated in the hamlet center and hamlet main street districts. The latest zoning map now includes the flat land behind Stewarts on the Village Green property in the hamlet main street district.
- The agricultural overlay zone covering about ¾ of the rural district includes properties currently or previously used in agriculture (raising crops or pasturing livestock), properties with prime soils or soils of statewide importance and properties included in the County Agricultural District. However, none of the Carvel property is included in the Agricultural Overlay even kthough it meets the first two criteria. The zone
does not differ from the underlying rural district in allowed density but it restricts placement of houses on agricultural fields to the extent practicable. - The subdivision regulations require that environmentally constrained acreage (steep slopes, wetlands, flood plains, etc.) be subtracted from the total acreage prior to calculating the net buildable acreage.
- Major subdivisions outside of the hamlet districts are in most cases to be designed as conservation subdivisions, with most of the units
clustered on small lots and at least 50% of the land preserved as open space. In the agricultural overlay (A-O) district this requirement applies to any development of 5 or more housing units. In the rural and well head protection districts not included in the A-O overlay developments of between 5 and 14 units may be of a more conventional layout with Planning Board
approval; although the preferred layout is still the conservation subdivision layout. Additionally, in all conservation subdivisions after deducting the environmentally constrained land an additional 15% of the
remaining acreage is deducted from the total prior to determining the net buildable acreage. - The zoning draft includes a New Neighborhood Development (NND) overlay that can be applied to a development in single ownership of at least 750 acres. The base density in an NND is one unit to 3 net buildable acres rather than one unit to 5 acres. The open space requirement is increased to 60% of the entire parcel from 50%. Prior to approving an NND rezoning
application the developer will be required by the Town Board to commit to providing a number of community benefits and infrastructure improvements to the town beyond those obtainable through SEQRA review. - The regulations also include generous bonus density awards for various community benefits-up to 40% additional units in a regular conservation subdivision and 50% in an NND.
- Affordable housing provisions apply to all developments of 10 or more units.
Jane Waters
November 9, 2009
FINAL ZONING DRAFT FOR PINE PLAINS
September 22, 2009
The final draft of the zoning law will be adopted at the October 15, 2009 Town Board meeting. Prior to that, one more workshop meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 6 at 7PM to review the wording of a few final revisions made in the law in the September 10th workshop meeting. The most salient features of the law are: Read more
Zoning Update
August 10, 2009
Over a year ago the Town Board hired a new planner (Bonnie Franson of Tim Miller and Associates) to assist in its review and revision of the draft zoning law. The resulting draft law contains many changes from the draft produced by the Zoning Commission. The most critical change in the new draft zoning law is the addition of a New Neighborhood Development floating overlay zone that allows a developer of a very large project (over 750 acres) to increase density to one unit per three acres-a 60% increase in density from the density otherwise allowed in the rural district. Most of the critical comments made in the zoning hearings recently held (April, 2009) pertained to the NND (such as it appears to be tailored to appease Durst, it is inconsistent with the Comprehensive Town Plan and retaining rural character, the mechanics of implementation are unnecessarily complicated, etc.). In their initial meeting after the public comment period the Town Board dismissed those comments and most of the similar comments in the 160 letters that they received. They have increased the amount of dedicated open space in an NND to 60% from 50%’ a suggestion made by the Dutchess Land Conservancy and Scenic Hudson as well as PPU. Read more
We Need You at the Hearings
April 14, 2009
The first public hearing for the Draft Zoning Law is this Saturday, April 18th, at 9:30AM at the Lions Club Pavilion (82 Beach Road). We hope you can make it as your input on this far reaching law will have a dramatic impact on the quality of life of all of us here in the Pine Plains area. In our last email we made it clear how impressed we were with the hard work the Town Board put into their revision of the Zoning Commission’s original plan. Generally speaking, the draft zoning law they have come up with is acceptable. It presents needed guidelines and maximum numbers for growth in Pine Plains. It is for the most part consistent with our Comprehensive Plan and is reasonably sensitive to protection of our community’s environment and rural character by excluding steep slopes and wetlands from build-able acreage, for example. However, there are some flaws in the law as written that are serious enough to threaten to undo many of its benefits. We intend to raise them at the hearings and in our letters to the Town Board:
- The proposed New Neighborhood Development (NND), which appears on Page 41 of the document, is clearly in conflict with goals of the Comprehensive Plan. By shifting the base density from one unit per five acres, as it is in the rural district, to one unit per three acres, the NND allows for development on a scale and of a density inappropriate to the rural character of Pine Plains. It is a recipe for suburban sprawl and as such is entirely inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan.
- Further, the NND would allow for the creation of an entirely separate hamlet equal in size to the hamlet of Pine Plains (up to 611 or higher), within which some commercial uses would be allowed provided they don’t compete with businesses presently within the hamlet (just how the town would determine, in any legal fashion, exactly which businesses are competing and which are not is unclear). The Comprehensive Plan states plainly that the historic Pine Plains hamlet is to be the town center and community development must therefore be focused in or adjacent to that center.
- While it would seem that the NND concept was created specifically for the benefit of the Durst Carvel Project, it is by no means certain that it would preclude the construction of additional large scale developments. In fact, there are several other large land holdings within town which could be combined to meet the requirements of the NND and thus create a second and possibly a third hamlet-sized development in Pine Plains. Development on that scale is wholly at odds with the Comprehensive Plan.
- The NND section of the Draft Zoning Plan should be removed until such a time as language is clarified and the allowable development is of a scale and density consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Further, the proposed Draft Zoning Law, exclusive of the NND, provides sufficient flexibility to meet the legitimate concerns of both the town and any developer, making the NND provision unnecessary. Given the looseness of its wording and its potential to cause serious, irreversible harm to the community-both unforeseen and foreseeable-the zoning law would be much better without the NND provision.
- Some additional concerns. We believe site plan review should include single home parcels as well as multi-unit ones. Our concern for our ridge lines, steep slopes, and open farmland should not end just because a single residence is planned for the site. Also, the same lighting restrictions should be applied to all residential sites, not just ones with multiple units.
Please download the Draft Zoning Law if you have not already done so and come to the hearing this Saturday (and the second the following Wednesday evening at 7:30) prepared to voice your concerns. In addition, please put your comments in writing and send them to: Town Supervisor, Town of Pine Plains, Pine Plains Town Hall, 3284 Route 199, PO Box 955, Pine Plains, NY 12567. You have until the close of business day on May 4th to submit your comments.
Thanks and we’ll see you at the hearings.
The Beginning of the End
March 17, 2009
The Pine Plains Town Board, after going over the Proposed Draft Zoning Law submitted to them in 2007 by the Zoning Commission, has, after working long and hard with their planning consultant, completed the Amended Final Draft Zoning Law and submitted it for public review.
Public Hearings on the proposed law will be held on Saturday, April 18th at 9:30AM and Wednesday, April 22nd at 7:00PM at the Pine Plains Lions Club Pavilion at 82 Beach Road.
You can download the documents at the town’s website (the main document is titled “Local Law #1 of 2009 – Pine Plains Zoning” but there are other important documents on this web page, including maps and appendices). Or, if you prefer, you can pick up a printed copy at the Town Hall for $12.50.
We’re impressed with the evident time and thought that’s gone into the document but we’d like to examine it more closely before we comment. We recommend you do the same. We’ll share with you any thoughts or concerns we have between now and the hearings and we hope you’ll join us at the Lions Club Pavilion.
–Paul, Jim, and the rest of the steering committee
Carvel/Durst Proposal Update January 26, 2009
January 26, 2009
After the overwhelmingly negative reaction from the public and many experts representing PPU, Scenic Hudson, the Dutchess Land Conservancy, the county planning office and even the State Department of Environmental Conservation in the series of public hearings held in the spring of 2008; the Carvel/Durst team submitted a major revision of their large golf development proposal to the Planning Board.
“Planner updates town on progress of zoning review” in Millerton News
February 7, 2008
By Whitney Joseph – Editor
02/07
PINE PLAINS – Planning consultant Bonnie Franson appeared before the Town Board Jan. 31 to discuss her progress in the review of the proposed zoning law.
Franson, of Tim Miller Associates, was retained last year to work with the Town Board on that review, which she began in November. To start the process, Franson took a look at the town’s objectives, especially in ensuring they kept in line with the comprehensive plan.
January 31st Town Board Meeting
February 1, 2008
Special Town Board Meeting, January 31, 2008
Present: Gregg Pulver, Rick Butler, Dorean Gardner, George Keeler and Bob Couse
Gregg Pulver began the meeting by reading the notice placed in the paper about it. He then said we have a temporary vacancy on the Planning Board and put an ad in the papers about the vacancy which is to fill in for Brian Coons who is in Afghanistan. It is for a one year term, actually it ends December 31st of this year and if Brian is still deployed we will reappoint the person for as long as needed. Seven people applied and three people were interviewed. All three were excellent candidates who did very well in the interviews. Really the determining factor was that the person chosen has attended many meetings of the board. There was no further discussion and Rick Butler moved to appoint Sarah Jones. The vote was unanimous.
