The Village of Liberty Planning Board is authorized,
in accordance with §§ 7-725-a and 7-725-b of the New
York State Village Law, to review and approve, approve with modifications
or disapprove special uses and site plans. Site plan review shall
be required for all special use permits and such other uses as are
designated herein and the Village Board may from time to time designate
by local law or that the Code Enforcement Officer refers to the Planning
Board. The following procedures shall apply:
An applicant for a special use permit or site
plan approval may submit a preliminary site plan for review and advice
by the Planning Board. Such a preliminary site plan should provide
locations and dimensions of the proposed use in relation to the property
boundaries and adjacent uses. It should also indicate all accesses
and improvements, both existing and proposed, and any site features
which could have a bearing on the project, including the general topography
and existing ground cover. This preliminary plan shall be used by
the Planning Board as a basis for advising the applicant regarding
information it shall require on the site plan before it conducts a
public hearing or takes any action with respect to the plan. The Planning
Board shall give no approval or disapproval regarding any preliminary
site plan but may use it to schedule a public hearing if sufficient
data is available, determine if any provisions of this article should
be waived or begin its review of the application under the New York
State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).
The Planning Board shall be under no obligation
to schedule a public hearing or take any action with respect to a
special use permit or site plan review application until formal application
has been made on forms provided by the Board and a detailed site plan
providing the following information has been submitted:
A. The location of all existing watercourses, wooded
areas, rights-of-way, roads, structures or any other significant man-made
or natural feature, if such feature has an effect upon the use of
said property.
B. The location, use and floor or ground area of each
proposed building, structure or any other land use, including sewage
disposal and water supply systems.
C. The location of all significant landscaping and ground
cover features, both existing and proposed, including detailed planting
plans and a visual depiction or rendering of the final appearance
of the property after all landscaping and other physical improvements
are completed.
D. The location, dimensions and capacity of any proposed
roads, off-street parking areas or loading berths, including typical
cross sections for all paving or regrading involved.
E. The location and treatment of proposed entrances and
exits to public rights-of-way, including traffic signals, channelizations,
acceleration and deceleration lanes, widenings or any other measure
having an impact on traffic safety conditions.
F. The location and identification of proposed open spaces,
parks or other recreation areas.
G. The location and design of buffer areas and screening
devices to be maintained.
H. The location of trails, walkways and all other areas
proposed to be devoted to pedestrian use.
I. The location of public and private utilities, including
maintenance facilities.
J. The specific locations of all signs existing and proposed,
including a visual depiction of the latter.
K. Preliminary architectural plans for the proposed buildings
or structures, indicating typical floor plans, elevations, height
and general design or architectural styling.
L. A completed SEQR environmental assessment.
M. Any other information required by the Planning Board
which is clearly necessary to ascertain compliance with the provisions
of this chapter and limited to such information.
The Village of Liberty Planning Board shall,
pursuant to the aforementioned Village Law, have the right to waive,
when reasonable, any of the requirements of this article for the approval,
approval with modifications or disapproval of special use permits
and site plans submitted for approval. This waiver authority may be
exercised in the event any such requirements are found not to be requisite
in the interest of the public health, safety, or general welfare or
are inappropriate to a particular site plan. Any such waiver shall
be subject to the following conditions:
A. No waiver shall result in allowing a use not permitted
within the applicable Zoning District.
B. No waiver shall be given with respect to standards
outside the scope of this article which would otherwise require a
variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
C. Waivers shall be limited to those situations where
the full application of the requirements contained herein would generate
unnecessary data and create unnecessary costs with regard to deciding
the matter at hand, due to the scope or nature of the project involved.
The proposed enclosure of a deck or a simple change of use with no
significant structural modifications in the case of a commercial property,
for example, might not require typical cross sections for proposed
regrading or water supply data.
D. An applicant for a special use permit or site plan
approval who desires to seek a waiver of certain of the above-referenced
requirements pertaining to such applications shall submit a preliminary
site plan as provided above. The Planning Board shall review the preliminary
site plan, advise the applicant as to potential problems and concerns
and determine if any additional site plan information is required.
The Planning Board shall consider such site plan as adequate when,
in its judgment, the information submitted is sufficient to make a
determination of compliance with the development standards contained
herein and the intent of site plan review criteria found below.
E. Nothing herein shall authorize the Planning Board
to waive state environmental quality review requirements.
The Planning Board shall fix a time, within
62 days from the day an application for a special use permit or site
plan approval is made, for the hearing of any matter referred to under
this section. It shall give public notice of such hearing at least
five days prior to it in a newspaper of general circulation in the
Village and decide upon the application within 62 days after such
hearing. It shall not, however, grant approval before a decision has
been made with respect to environmental impacts pursuant to SEQR.
The decision of the Planning Board shall be filed in the office of
the Village Clerk and a copy thereof mailed to the applicant within
five business days after such decision is rendered.
The Planning Board shall have the authority
to impose such reasonable conditions and restrictions as are directly
related to and incidental to the proposed special use permit or site
plan. Upon approval of said permit and/or plan, any such conditions
shall be met prior to the actual issuance of permits by the Village.
These conditions may include requirements of the applicant to provide
parkland or to provide fees in lieu thereof pursuant to § 7-725-a
Subdivision 6, of the New York State Village Law. Conditions shall
also include specified times for initiating and completing construction
or establishment of the use, failure to meet such deadlines rendering
the approval null and void with respect to any further activity unless
later extended by the Planning Board.
The Planning Board is authorized to refer special
use permit applications and site plans to other agencies, groups or
professionals employed or used by the Village for review and comment
and to charge the applicant fees for any reasonable expenses connected
therewith. The Board shall, in particular, ensure that the requirements
of § 239-m of the General Municipal Law regarding review
by the Sullivan County Planning Department are met. It shall also
comply with all requirements of the New York State Environmental Quality
Review Act.
Any person aggrieved by any decision of the
Planning Board or any officer, department, board or bureau of the
Village may apply to the Supreme Court for review by a proceeding
under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules.
The site plan as approved by the Planning Board
shall be binding upon the applicant. Any changes from the approved
plan shall require resubmission and reapproval by the Planning Board.
The site plan shall remain effective, as an authorization to establish
the use, for a maximum of one year from the date of approval unless
the Planning Board shall have granted an extension in writing. Absent
such an extension, the special use shall be deemed to have expired.
A special use which has been discontinued for a period of one year
or more shall also be deemed to have lapsed.
The Planning Board may require, at the time
it is initially granted, that any special use approval be renewed
periodically. Such renewal shall be granted following public notice
and hearing and may be withheld only upon a determination that the
conditions attached to any previous approval have not been met. A
period of 62 days shall be granted the applicant in such cases to
make remedies and bring the use into full compliance with the terms
of the special use approval. Should the applicant fail to make such
remedies, the special use approval shall be revoked and the use immediately
discontinued.
The Planning Board, in reviewing the site plan,
shall consider its conformity to the Joint Liberty Comprehensive Plan
and the various other plans, laws and ordinances of the Village. Conservation
features, aesthetics, landscaping and impact on surrounding development
as well as on the entire Village shall also be part of the Planning
Board review. The Board, in acting upon a site plan connected with
a special use, shall also be approving, approving with modifications
or disapproving the special use permit application connected therewith.
Traffic flow, circulation and parking shall be reviewed to ensure
the safety of the public and of the users of the facility and to ensure
that there is no unreasonable interference with traffic on surrounding
streets. The Board shall further consider the following:
A. Building design and location. Building design and
location should be suitable for the use intended and compatible with
natural and man-made surroundings. New buildings, for example, should
generally be placed along the edges and not in the middle of open
fields. They should also be sited so as not to protrude above treetops
or the ridgelines of hills seen from public places and busy highways.
Building color, materials and design should be adapted to surroundings
as opposed to adaptation of the site to the building or the building
to an arbitrary national franchise concept.
B. Large commercial buildings. Commercial facades of
more than 100 feet in length should incorporate recesses and projections,
such as windows, awnings and arcades, along 20% of the facade length.
Variations in rooflines should be added to reduce the massive scale
of these structures and add interest. All facades of such a building
that are visible from adjoining streets or properties should exhibit
features comparable in character to the front so as to better integrate
with the community. Where such facades face adjacent residential uses,
earthen berms planted with evergreen trees should be provided. Loading
docks and accessory facilities should be incorporated in the building
design and screened with materials comparable in quality to the principal
structure. Sidewalks should be provided along the full length of any
facade with a customer entrance and integrated into a system of internal
landscape-defined pedestrian walkways breaking up all parking areas.
C. Lighting and signage. Improvements made to the property should not detract from the character of the neighborhood by producing excessive lighting or unnecessary sign proliferation. Recessed lighting and landscaped ground signs are preferred. Signs are governed by Chapter
70 of the Village of Liberty Code.
D. Parking and accessory buildings. Parking areas should
be placed in the rear whenever possible and provide for connections
with adjoining lots. Accessory buildings should also be located in
the rear, with access from rear alleys. If placement in the rear is
not possible, parking lots should be located to the side with screening
from the street.
E. Drainage systems. Storm drainage, flooding and erosion
and sedimentation controls should be employed to prevent encroachment
upon or injury to persons, water damage to property and siltation
to streams, wetlands and other water bodies. All applications shall
provide for stormwater management and erosion control measures, as
may be required by the Planning Board, regardless of the applicability
of New York State law in this regard.
F. Driveway and road construction. Whenever feasible,
existing roads onto or across properties should be retained and reused
instead of building new, so as to maximize the use of present features
such as stone walls and tree borders and avoid unnecessary destruction
of landscape and tree canopy. Developers building new driveways or
roads through wooded areas should reduce removal of tree canopy by
restricting clearing and pavement width to the minimum required for
safely accommodating anticipated traffic flows.
G. Construction on slopes. The crossing of steep slopes
with roads and driveways should be minimized, and building which does
take place on slopes should be multistoried with entrances at different
levels as opposed to regrading the site flat.
H. Tree borders. New driveways onto principal thoroughfares
should be minimized for both traffic safety and aesthetic purposes,
and interior access drives which preserve tree borders along highways
should be used as an alternative. Developers who preserve tree borders
should be permitted to recover density on the interior of their property
through use of clustering.
I. Development at intersections. Building sites at prominent
intersections of new developments should be reserved for equally prominent
buildings or features which will appropriately terminate the street
vistas. All street corners should be defined with buildings, trees
or sidewalks.
J. Streets and sidewalks. Cul-de-sac and dead-end streets
should be discouraged in favor of roads and drives which connect to
existing streets on both ends. Streets within residentially developed
areas should be accompanied by on-street parking and a sidewalk on
at least one side of the street. Sidewalks should also be provided
in connection with new commercial development adjacent to residential
areas, and pedestrian access should be encouraged.
K. Setbacks. New buildings on a street should conform
to the dominant setback line and be aligned parallel to the street
so as to create a defined edge to the public space.
L. Adjacent properties. The proposed use should not have
a detrimental impact on adjacent properties or the health, safety
and welfare of the residents of the Village of Liberty.
M. Conditioned approval. If the proposed use is one judged
to present detrimental impacts with respect to noise, lighting, surface
runoff, emissions or other similar factors, the Planning Board shall
determine whether an approval could be conditioned in such a manner
as to eliminate or substantially reduce those impacts.
N. Community impacts. The Planning Board shall, in the
case of special use applications only, consider and make a finding
as to whether the use will have a positive or negative effect on the
environment, job creation, the economy, housing availability or open
space preservation. The granting of an approval should not cause an
undue economic burden on community facilities or services, including
but not limited to highways, sewage treatment facilities, water supplies
and fire-fighting capabilities. The applicant shall be responsible
for providing such improvements or additional services as may be required
to adequately serve the proposed use, and any approval shall be so
conditioned. The Village shall be authorized to demand fees in support
of such services where they cannot be directly provided by the applicant.
This shall specifically apply, but not be limited to, additional fees
to support fire district expenses.
O. Outstanding violations. Neither the Code Enforcement
Officer nor the Planning Board shall be under any obligation to process
a special use or site plan review application for a property with
outstanding violations of this chapter.
P. Professional fees. Applicants for special use approval
or site plan review shall pay all professional costs incurred by the
Village of Liberty in the processing and/or review of any such applications.
These fees shall be governed by a schedule of uniform fees, charges
and expenses adopted by the Village Board.