This chapter shall be known and may be cited
as the "Zoning Law of the Town of Kent, New York."
A.
This chapter 77 of the Town of Kent Town Code is enacted pursuant to the authority and power granted by the Municipal Home Rule Law of the State of New York and the Town Law of the State of New York, and in conformance with the 2008 Kent Comprehensive Plan duly adopted by the Town Board. As stated herein, specific sections of Article 16 of the Town Law have been superseded by this chapter pursuant to the authority of § 10 of the Municipal Home Rule Law.
B.
This chapter is adopted to protect and promote the
health, safety, comfort, convenience, economy, aesthetics and general
welfare and for the following additional purposes:
(1)
To guide the future development of the Town in accordance
with the Kent Comprehensive Plan so that the Town may realize its
potential as a place to live and to work, with the most beneficial
and convenient relationships among the residential and commercial
districts of the Town and with due consideration to:
(a)
The character of the district and its peculiar
suitability for particular uses.
(b)
Existing conditions and trends in population,
economic activity, land use and building development.
(c)
Conserving the value of buildings and neighborhoods
by encouraging the most appropriate use of land throughout the Town.
(2)
To prevent the pollution of streams, ponds and all
other water resources, to prevent floods and to encourage the wise
use and sound management of natural resources throughout the Town
in order to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the community
and the value of the land.
(3)
To protect the character and the social and economic
stability of all parts of the Town and to enhance the appearance of
the Town as a whole by ensuring that all development shall be orderly
and beneficial to the Town, by eliminating inappropriate and poor
quality design in the exterior appearance of structures and by controlling
the erection and maintenance of signs throughout the Town.
(4)
To protect residential areas and to provide privacy
for families by the preservation of such areas from, among others,
the visual intrusion of nonresidential uses and, wherever reasonable,
by the elimination of nonconforming uses which exert a deleterious
influence on their surroundings.
(5)
To facilitate the adequate provision of transportation,
water, sewage, schools, parks and other public requirements.
(6)
To encourage flexibility in the design of land developments
so as to promote the most appropriate use of lands, to facilitate
the adequate and economical provision of streets and utilities and
to preserve, to the extent feasible, the natural qualities and functions
of open lands.
(7)
To make provision for access to sunlight and the accommodation
of solar energy systems and equipment and other alternative energy
systems.
(8)
To assure adequate sites for residence, industry and
commerce.
(9)
To facilitate the efficient and adequate provision
of public facilities and services.
(10)
To gradually eliminate nonconforming uses and, where
this is not possible, enhance the compatibility of such uses with
adjoining uses.
