[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Wales 11-11-2008 by L.L. No.
12-2008.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Flood damage prevention — See Ch. 103.
Subdivision of land — See Ch. 181.
Zoning — See Ch. 100.
[1]
Editor's Note: This local law also repealed former Ch.
150, Open Development Area, adopted 8-9-1990 (originally adopted as
an amendment to the Town's Zoning Ordinance), as amended.
A.
Pursuant to § 280-a of the Town Law, the Town Board, in
order to maintain the rural character of the Town and to provide relief
to landowners who wish to subdivide land that lacks adequate public
road frontage for standard lot development or for more efficient utilization
of rear yard space, may, by resolution, establish an open development
area or areas within the Town. An open development area is not an
as-of-right use and must be designed to maintain the rural character
of the Town as well as to meet the conditions as herein established.
B.
The erection of any building or improvement which does not have immediate
frontage on an existing state, county or Town highway or a street
shown upon a plat approved by the Town as provided in §§ 276
and 277 of the Town Law shall require an open development area permit
as provided herein.
A.
Application procedure.
(1)
The applicant shall file a development plan for the approval of an
open development area, which shall include:
(a)
A description of all land which the applicant proposes to develop
as well as all lands owned by the applicant adjacent to the area proposed
and a copy of the recorded deed of the applicant describing the subject
premises.
(b)
The location of property with respect to surrounding property
and streets.
(c)
The location and approximate dimensions of all existing property
lines.
(d)
All pertinent features, such as existing structures, streets
and other information that may influence the design of the plan.
(e)
The location, width and approximate grade of all proposed access
roadways.
(f)
The approximate location, dimensions and area of all proposed
or existing lots.
(g)
The names of all property owners of record adjacent to and abutting
the proposed open development area.
(h)
The name and address of the owner(s) of the land to be developed,
the name and address of the developer(s), if other than the owner,
and the name of the land surveyor.
(i)
The acreage of the tract to be developed to the nearest 1/10
of an acre.
(j)
Any other appropriate information.
(k)
Specifications for a private right-of-way and a plan for maintenance.
(l)
The fee payable to the Town Clerk, as determined by the Town
Board, for each proposed lot within the open development area.
(2)
The application shall be presented to the Town Clerk at least 10
days prior to a regular meeting of the Board.
B.
Health approval. The application must contain a letter of recommendation
by the State and/or County Health Department indicating compliance
with the standards of the applicable sanitary code, Public Health
Law or the applicable health codes. In the event that the proposed
open development area does not require approval of the State and/or
County Health Departments, a statement to this effect must be submitted
with the application and verified by the State and/or County Health
Department.
D.
Development plan. Plans submitted to the Town Board shall be prepared
in appropriate scale and shall show all lots, rights-of-way, drainage
plans, public utilities, sewage disposal and any other information
deemed appropriate and required by the Town.
E.
Submission date. The date of submission shall be the date of the
next general meeting of the Town Board after receipt of the same by
the Town Clerk.
A.
Referral. The Town Board shall refer the open development plan to the Town Engineer, Building Inspector, Town Attorney and the Planning Board for their review, advice and recommendations, including all the terms and provisions of § 150-2 of this chapter.
B.
Planning Board meeting. The applicant shall be prepared to attend
the next regular meeting of the Planning Board after the official
submission date and any subsequent meetings deemed necessary by the
Planning Board to discuss the preliminary open development area plan.
C.
Planning Board action. Within 45 days after submission to the Planning
Board, said Planning Board shall take action to recommend to the Town
Board a conditional approval, with or without modification, or disapproval
of such open development plan, with the ground for disapproval stated
upon the records of the Planning Board. Failure of the Planning Board
to act within such forty-five-day period shall constitute a "no recommendation"
of the plan.
D.
Town Board action. Before the Town Board acts on the plan, it may
schedule a public hearing to be determined at the first meeting subsequent
to receiving the recommendation of the Planning Board. Upon mutual
consent of both the Town Board and the applicant, the public hearing
may be delayed. If any zoning changes are to be requested at the time
of the approval of the open development area plan, a public hearing
must be held thereon. The two public hearings may be held at the same
time.
E.
Public hearing. The Town Board may within 45 days from the date of
the public hearing approve, modify or disapprove such plan. The grounds
for such action shall be stated in the minutes. The Town Board may
require additional information prior to acting on the plan. The approval
of such development plan may include additional requirements.
A.
Improvements and performance bond. Prior to any action by the Town
Board approving an open development area plan, the applicant may be
required to complete, in accordance with the Town Board's decision
and to the satisfaction of the appropriate Town department, all the
street, sanitary and other improvements specified in the action approving
said plan, or as an alternative, to file with the Town Board a performance
bond in an amount estimated by the Town Engineer to secure to the
Town the satisfactory construction and installation of the incomplete
portion of the required improvements. Such amount shall equal an estimated
100% of the cost of such improvements. A period of one year or such
other period as the Town Board may determine appropriate within which
required improvements must be completed shall be specified by the
Town Board and expressed in the bond. A one-hundred-percent maintenance
bond shall also be provided upon acceptance of the facilities. All
required improvements shall be made by the applicant at his or her
expense without reimbursement by the Town or any district thereof.
Said improvements include at least the following:
B.
Inspection of improvements. The Town Engineer shall act as agent
for the Town and Planning Boards for the purpose of overseeing the
satisfactory completion of improvements as required by the Town Board
and shall determine an amount to defray costs of inspection. The applicant
shall pay the Town the costs of inspection before the open development
area plan is signed for filing. This cost shall be in addition to
the fees required. If the Town Board or its agent finds, upon inspection,
that any of the required improvements have not been constructed in
accordance with the Town Board recommendations or the approved construction
detail sheet, the applicant and the bonding company will be severally
and jointly liable for the costs of completing said improvements according
to specifications.
A.
Upon completion of all requirements set forth in the action approving
the open development area plan and the approval by the Town Board,
the plan shall have the certification of the Town Clerk as follows:
|
Approved by resolution of the Town Board of the Town of Wales,
New York, on the _____ day of __________, _____, subject to all requirements
and conditions of said attached resolution. Any change, erasure, modification
or revision of this plan, as approved, shall void this approval. Signed
this _____ day of __________, 20_____, by __________."
|
B.
With notation to that effect upon said plan, it shall be deemed to
have final approval and shall be properly signed by the appropriate
officer of the Town Board and shall be filed in the office of the
Town Clerk, the Town Building Department and the Highway Superintendent.
Upon posting of the performance bond in accordance with this
chapter and after approval and filing of the open development area
plan as required, the developer may initiate land sales or construction
of the open development area itself.
The Town Board, in considering an application for an open development
area plan, shall be guided by the following considerations and standards:
A.
General.
(1)
Character of land. Land to be developed shall be of such character
that it can be used safely for building purposes without danger to
health or peril from fire, flood or other menace.
(2)
Conformity to Official Map and Comprehensive Plan. The open development
area shall conform to the streets and parks shown on the Official
Map as may be adopted and shall be properly related to the Comprehensive
Plan as it is developed and adopted by the Planning Board.
B.
Design standards.
(1)
Access roadways.
(a)
Access roadways shall be designed either with a cul-de-sac or
circular way to preclude any use other than access to or exit from
property in the development.
(b)
All access roadway widths shall be measured at right angles
or radial to the center line of the municipally owned street and shall
not be less than a fifty-foot right-of-way with a gravel surface not
less than 20 feet, in order to meet International Building Code requirements.
(c)
All access roadway widths and street pavements shall be measured
at right angles or radial to the center line of the street.
(d)
The specifications for construction and maintenance of the right-of-way
shall be established by the Town Engineer and must be submitted with
the preliminary development area plan for recommendation by the Planning
Board and Town Engineer and final approval by the Town Board. If the
enforcement of the provisions of this section would entail practical
difficulty or unnecessary hardship, or where the circumstances of
a case do not require the structure to be related to existing or proposed
streets or highways, the Board may make any reasonable exception and
issue the permit subject to conditions that will protect any further
street or highway layout.
The Town Board may modify the specification requirements in
any open development area plan where, in the Board's judgment,
such modification is in the public interest or will avoid the imposition
of unnecessary individual hardship as stipulated in this chapter.
The developer, before the approval of the open development area
plan, shall complete improvements to the satisfaction of the Town
Engineer or post a performance bond sufficient to insure the satisfactory
completion of the following required improvements, except where waivers
may be required, and the Town Board may waive, subject to appropriate
conditions, such improvements as it considers are not requisite in
the interest of public health, safety and general welfare:
A.
Where the Town Board finds that extraordinary and unnecessary hardships
may result from strict compliance with these regulations, it may vary
the regulations so that substantial justice may be done and the public
interest secured, provided that such variances will not have the effect
of nullifying the intent and purpose of this open development area
plan.
B.
Where the Town Board finds that due to special circumstances of a
particular plan the provisions of certain required improvements is
not requisite in the interest of the public health, safety and general
welfare or is inappropriate because of inadequacy or lack of connecting
facilities and adjacent to or in proximity to the proposed plan, it
may waive such requirements subject to appropriate conditions.
C.
In granting variances and modifications, the Town Board shall require
such conditions as will, in its judgment, secure substantially the
objectives of the standards or requirements so varied or modified.
All deeds and easements of all or part of the real property
subject to the requirements and conditions of the open development
chapter approved herein shall contain the following provision: "This
conveyance is made and accepted subject to the open development area
plan approved by the Town Board of the Town of Wales on the _____
day of __________, 20 _____."
