[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Piermont
12-20-1983 by L.L. No. 5-1983. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The Village Board hereby finds that inappropriateness or poor quality
of design in the exterior appearance of buildings or land developments adversely
affects the desirability of the immediate area and neighboring areas and,
by so doing, impairs the stability and value of both improved and unimproved
real property in such areas, retards the most appropriate development of such
areas, produces degeneration of property in such areas with attendant deterioration
of conditions affecting the general welfare of the inhabitants thereof, and
creates an improper relationship between the taxable value of real property
in such areas and the cost of municipal services provided therefor. It is
the purpose of this chapter to prevent these and other harmful effects of
such exterior appearance of buildings and land developments and thus to promote
and protect the health, safety and general welfare of the community.
The Board of Trustees of the Village of Piermont hereby creates a commission
which shall be known as the "Architectural Review Commission."
A.
The Commission shall consist of five members who shall
serve without compensation.
B.
All members of said Commission shall be residents of
the Village and shall be specially qualified by reason of training or experience
in architecture, land development, municipal planning, real estate, landscape
architecture or other relevant business or profession or by reason of civic
interest and sound judgment to judge the effects of a proposed building or
land development upon the desirability, property values and development of
surrounding areas.
C.
The members of said Commission shall be appointed by
the Village Board. The Chairman of said Commission shall be designated by
the members of the Village Board annually. The term of office of each member
shall be three years, except that the initial appointments of one member shall
be for one year, of two members for two years, and of two members for three
years.
D.
The Village Board shall have the power to remove any
member for cause. Vacancies shall be filled by the Village Board for the unexpired
term of any member whose place has become vacant.
A.
The Commission shall hold regularly scheduled meetings
monthly and at such other times as the Chairman may designate. A majority
of said Commission shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
Any report or recommendation made by the Commission must be adopted by a majority
and shall be officially filed with the Village Clerk and the referring board
or department within 30 days of its adoption.
B.
Where changes or modifications on any submission are
recommended, there shall be set forth the specific changes and the reason(s)
for the same. An applicant may be requested to appear to review with the Commission
any submission to it. The powers of the Commission are advisory. Requests
for the opinion and recommendation of the Commission may be made by the Village
Board, the Planning Board, the Zoning Board of Appeals and any other board,
commission, agency or department of the Village.
C.
The jurisdiction of this Commission shall be limited
to site plan and subdivision applications involving three or more residential
lots or units and to all applications relating to the WF-2, Business A and
Business B Zoning Districts involving a request for a variance. This Board
shall have no jurisdiction whatsoever over one- or two-family dwellings, except
with respect to site plan and subdivision applications filed subsequent to
the enactment of this section and involving three or more lots.
[Added 8-5-1986 by L.L. No.
9-1986]
The Commission shall base its recommendations on the following criteria: No building or structure or land development shall be so detrimental to the desirability, property values or development of the surrounding area as to provoke one or more of the harmful effects set forth in § 4-1 by reason of:
A.
The repeated and adjacent use of identical or nearly
identical facades or structures arranged without respect to natural features
of terrain or other existing structures.
B.
Inappropriateness of a structure or land development
in relation to any other structure or land development existing or for which
a permit has been issued or to any other structure or land development included
in the same application with respect to one or more of the following features:
(1)
Cubical contents.
(2)
Gross floor area.
(3)
Height of building or height of roof.
(4)
Other significant design features such as material or quality of architectural design, roof structures, chimneys, exposed mechanical equipment and service, service and storage enclosures, signs, landscaping, retaining walls, parking areas, service and loading docks, dividing walls, fences and lighting posts, provided that a finding of inappropriateness existed to provoke beyond reasonable doubt one or more of the harmful effects set forth in § 4-1.
