Development, construction or any activity requiring the issuance of a building permit within the Flood Hazard District must comply with Chapter
158, Flood Damage Prevention, of the Code of the Village of Athens.
[Added 12-11-2019 by L.L. No. 5-2019]
A. Purpose. The Village of Athens Board of Trustees recognizes that
based upon the Village Comprehensive Plan, the Second Street corridor
is essential to the economic viability and growth of the Village.
However, recent trends indicate that many of commercial properties
and buildings are being converted into residential uses. In order
to protect the commercial assets of the Village further regulation
of the use of properties which adjoin Second Street is vital.
B. Supplemental Commercial Overlay Zone established. A Supplemental
Commercial Overlay Zone (SCO) shall be and hereby is created. The
boundaries of zone shall be defined by the property lines of and shall
include, all parcels which have frontage on Second Street from Water
Street to Warren Street.
C. Regulation and uses.
(1)
All current uses, whether permitted as of right or by special
use permit, contained in the underlying zone(s) shall continue as
such. Additionally, all uses allowed as a permitted use as of right
in the current Commercial (C) zone shall also be permitted within
the Supplemental Commercial Overlay Zone (SCO) also as a permitted
use.
(2)
The first floor of any parcel and or structure currently used
as or designated by the Village/Town Assessor's Office as a commercial
use may only be continued to be used for commercial purposes as that
term is defined in the Village of Athens Zoning Law and shall not
be converted to a residential use. Conversion to a residential use
shall be defined as: 1) addition of cooking, restroom facilities and
sleeping quarters, 2) offering for lease or sale as residential space
or 3) use as personal living space. Properties which have been offered
for rent or lease as residential or which have been used as a residential
living space over the last three years are excluded from this regulation.
(3)
A landowner may apply to the Village Zoning Board of Appeals and obtain for relief from this section upon showing of an undue financial hardship and upon proof of the standards found in §
250-36B(4) of the Village of Athens Zoning Law.
Lighting provided on the site to ensure safe movement of persons
and vehicles and for security purposes shall conform to the following
standards:
A. All lighting shall be designed and arranged so as to minimize glare
and reflection on adjacent properties.
B. The maximum height of freestanding lights shall not exceed 20 feet.
C. The source of the lights shall be shielded. Fixtures shall be mounted
in such a manner that the cone of light is not directed at any property
line of the site.
D. Any lighting fixture used to illuminate parking areas, access drives
or loading areas shall be of such design so as to minimize the amount
of ambient lighting perceptible from adjacent properties.
E. A site lighting plan shall be submitted as part of the application
submission for site plan review and special use permits.
F. Only white or off-white illumination may be used for any light source.
This shall not apply to seasonal or holiday lighting.
G. Hours of lighting may be limited by the Planning Board in acting
on any site development plan.
H. The Planning Board may, as it deems appropriate, require that lighting
be controlled by automatic timing devices to extinguish offending
sources during specified periods to mitigate glare. The Planning Board
may also require that lighting, except for security lighting, be extinguished
after hours for businesses that are not in operation during that time.
Motion detectors can be considered for security lighting.
I. Luminance and uniformity. Light levels shall be designed not to exceed
the latest recommended levels for outdoor lighting set by the illuminating
Engineering Society of North America (IES) for the type of activity/area
being lighted, except light levels for ATM machines shall be in accordance
with the New York State ATM Safety Act. Where no standard is available
from the IES, the applicable standard shall be determined taking into
account the levels for the closest IES activity.