Town of Poughkeepsie, NY Article XIV Amendments

§ 210-153 General procedure.

A. The Town Board may from time to time, on its own motion, on petition or on recommendation of the Planning Board, amend, supplement or repeal the regulations and provisions of this chapter in the manner provided by the Town Law.

B. SEQRA. The Town Board shall be considered to be the lead agency in any action initiated under these procedures.

C. The Town Board, by resolution adopted at a regular or special meeting, shall fix the time and place of a public hearing on the proposed amendment and cause 10 days' public notice thereof to be given stating the purport of the proposed amendment.

D. Decision. An amendment that has been approved by the Planning Board shall be adopted by a simple majority of the Town Board. No amendment of this chapter that has not been approved by the Planning Board shall be adopted except by a super-majority vote (majority plus one) of the full Town Board membership.

E. Whenever the majority of the taxpayers in any district shall present to the Town Board a petition duly signed and acknowledged requesting an amendment, supplement, change, modification or repeal of the regulations prescribed for such district or of the Zoning Map, including such district, it shall be the duty of the Town Board to hold a public hearing thereon and cause notice thereof to be given in the manner prescribed above.

F. All petitions for any amendment of the regulations or districts herein established shall be filed in writing in a form required by the Town Board and shall be accompanied by a fee to help defray the cost of advertising the hearing on said petition and incidental disbursements.

§ 210-154 Advisory report by Planning Board.

A. Every proposed amendment, unless initiated by the Planning Board, shall be referred to the Planning Board. The Planning Board shall report its recommendations thereon to the Town Board, accompanied by a full statement of the reasons for such recommendations, prior to the public hearing. If the Planning Board fails to report within a period of 45 days from the date of receipt of notice, the Town Board may act without such report. If the Planning Board disapproves the proposed amendment or recommends modification thereof, the Town Board shall not act contrary to such disapproval or recommendation except by the adoption of a resolution fully setting forth the reason for such contrary action.

B. Planning Board recommendations.

(1) In recommending the adoption of any such proposed amendment, the Planning Board shall:

(a) State its reasons for such recommendation, describing any condition that it believes makes the amendment advisable.

(b) Specifically set forth the manner in which, in its opinion:

[1] The amendment would be in harmony with the Town Plan; and

[2] The amendment would be in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article I of this chapter.

(2) In recommending the rejection or revision of any proposed amendment, the Planning Board shall similarly state its reasons.

C. Nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the Town Board from acting on a proposed amendment prior to receipt of the Planning Board's recommendation as specified in Subsection A of this section; provided, however, that the proposed amendment shall be adopted by a super-majority vote (majority plus one) of the full Town Board membership.

§ 210-155 Other referrals.

The Town Clerk shall forward one copy of the proposed amendment to each of the following as applicable:

A. Dutchess County Department of Planning, together with a full statement of the proposed action, as defined in § 239 of the General Municipal Law.

B. Municipalities: each of the municipalities adjoining the Town of Poughkeepsie.

§ 210-156 Public notice and hearing.

A. The Town Board, by resolution, shall fix the time and place of the public hearing and cause notice to be given as follows: by publishing a notice of the proposed amendment and the time and place of the public hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town not less than 10 days prior to the date of public hearing; and by giving written notice of hearing to any required municipal, county, regional, metropolitan, state or federal agency in the manner prescribed by law.

B. The applicant shall provide evidence that the applicant has notified adjacent property owners of the nature of the proposed zoning change.

C. For parcels that are changed from one zone to another, the applicant shall provide evidence that the parcels affected by the proposed rezoning have been conspicuously posted with a sign for at least 10 days prior to the date of the public hearing. That sign will be provided to the applicant by the municipality for a fee; a sign permit is not required. Within 10 days of the closing of the public hearing, the sign shall be removed.

§ 210-157 Publication and posting.

Every amendment to this chapter, including any map incorporated therein, adopted in accordance with the Town Law shall be entered in the minutes of the Town Board stating the effective date of the amendment, and a copy, summary or abstract thereof, exclusive of any map incorporated therein, shall be published once in the official newspaper of the Town of Poughkeepsie, and a copy, summary or abstract of such amendment, together with a copy of any map incorporated therein, shall be posted on a sign board maintained by the Town Clerk pursuant to Town Law. Affidavits of the publication shall be filed with the Town Clerk.