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Minutes 01-30-07 Print E-mail
Minutes of the
NYS Association of County Planning Directors
Board Meeting
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm
The Desmond Hotel
High Street Room 28
Albany, New York
* Indicates planners in attendance at meeting
Attendance:
 Member:
 County:
   Attendance:
 Member:
 County:
  Mark Fitzimmons
 Albany
     Keith Zimmerman
 St. Lawrence
  H. Keir Dirlam
 Allegany
     Lawrence S. Benton
 Saratoga
  Rita Petkash
 Broome
     Ray Gillen
 Schenectady
  Thomas Livak
 Cattaraugus
    * Terry, Alicia
 Schoharie
  Steve Lynch
 Cayuga
     Danielle Hautaniemi
 Schuyler
  Rose Wightman
 Chautauqua
     Glenn Cooke
 Seneca
  Randy J. Olthof
 Chemung
    * Gregory P. Heffner
 Steuben
  Donna Jones
 Chenango
     Thomas Isles
 Suffolk
  Brown, Rodney
 Clinton
     William Pammer, Jr.
 Sullivan
  Vosburg, Roland
 Columbia
    * Elaine Jardine
 Tioga
 * Dineen, Dan
 Cortland
     Edward Marx
 Tompkins
  Nicole Franzese
 Delaware
     Jennifer Schwartz
 Ulster
  Roger P. Akeley
 Dutchess
     Tatich, Patricia
 Warren
  Drew Eszak
 Erie
    * Mark Galough
 Washington
  Vic Putman
 Essex
     Sharon Lilla
 Wayne
  James N. Feeley
 Franklin
     Gerard Mulligan
 Westchester
  James E. Mraz
 Fulton
     Richard Tindell
 Wyoming
  James Duval
 Genesee
     Chris Wilson Yates
 * Hart, Warren Greene
    * Mike Kayes
 NYSACPD
  William Osborne
 Hamilton        
  Bruce D. Armstrong
 Jefferson
    Guest Peter Manning
 NYS DOS
 * John Sorbello Lewis
        
 * David Woods
 Livingston
        
  Jack Miller Madison
        
  Paul Johnson
 Monroe
        
 * Doug Greene
 Montgomery
        
  Patricia Bourne
 Nassau
        
 * Ferraro, Sam
 Niagra
        
  John R. Kent
 Oneida
        
  Karen B. Kitney
 Onondaga
        
 * Hughes, Kris
 Ontario
        
  David, Church
 Orange
        
  Wayne Hale
 Orleans
        
  Brian Frazier
 Oswego
        
 * Bliss, Terry
 Otsego
        
  John Lynch
 Putnam
        
 * Vanderheide, Linda
 Rensselaer
        
  James Cymore
 Rockland
        
  1. Call to Order and Introductions - Meeting called to order at 1:35 PM by President Hart
  2. Approval of Agenda – President Hart requested to add 1 item to the Agenda under item 5. New Business – b. Planning Partners meeting
  3. Approval of Minutes of December 1, 2006.  Moved by A. Terry and Seconded by D. Woods.  Unanimously carried.
  4. Reports, Updates, Discussion
    1. Rural Resources Commission, Land Use Advisory Committee (met 1/25/07) – K. Hughes
      1. Legislative Items
        1. Revisiting bill for mediation in municipal planning and zoning disputes.  Mediation would be non-binding arbitration.  Consensus was reached to proceed with this proposal with the goal to reduce legal costs associated with disputes
        2. Home-based businesses bill – LUAC staff missed target – proposed bill focused more on labor laws than land use issues.  This proposal was not approved.
        3. Water and sewer requirements under ECL Public Health law requiring septic system regulations for subdivisions involving 5 or more lots of 5 acres or less – revisions proposed to require PERC tests and design review in the beginning of the process rather than at the end.  Home Builders Assoc. opposed this, as did NYS DEC.  No consensus for change was reached.  Discussion ensued regarding this issue, especially problems posed in municipalities without subdivision regulation, like SEQR review.
        4. Proposal to increase the threshold requirement for certification of surveys and engineering drawings for projects from current $5,000 for public and $10,000 for private to $50,000 public.  Also, to increase square footage threshold from current 1,500 square feet to 3,000 square feet
      2. RRC has distributed a new publication entitled Agriculture Tax Abatement Laws.
    2. Website – President Hart stated that he distributed the RFP to the Executive Committee who has approved it.  Need to update the schedule, as the project is running slightly behind and it is no longer valid.  Once he updates with corrected dates, he will distribute to CPDs to pass along to their web designer contacts.  Send any proposals received back to W. Hart.  This item, then, will be kept open until next meeting.  S. Ferraro inquired about estimated budget and detail.  W. Hart responded that based upon the number of pages specified and the optional items requested in the RFP the probable cost is $5,000 - $10,000.  S. Ferraro requested that business sponsors, such as National Grid be pursued.  This was agreed upon by consensus.  W. Hart reported that NYPF Director Bob Elliot would also pass the RFP to his web designer for bidding.  K. Hughes asked the CPDs contemplate the main need for the website – internal communication or public consumption.  He envisions three purposes of the site:  communication, legislative policy and public perception
    3. NYSAC Economic Development, Environmental and Rural Affairs Committee – David Woods reported that the committee met on 1/29.
      1. No resolutions currently due to budget timing – expect some in the fall.
      2. Presentation by Brian McMahon, the President of the NYS Economic Development Council.  ESD will be split into Upstate and Downstate.  Daniel Gunderson will head the Buffalo office.  Downstate may include up to Saratoga County along the Hudson River Valley.
      3. Trying to stall the IDA reform legislation by proposing alternatives
      4. Price of milk discussed
      5. Bill is now being drafted to deal with the new building codes requirement to inspect commercial buildings every 3 years, including farm buildings.  Trying to exempt farm buildings of this requirement.
    4. NaCO and NACPD
      1. NaCO is considering addition of County Planners at its April Board meeting.
      2. Inquired about AICP certification requirements.  CPDs informed him increased hours required to maintain certification.  President Hart said that he did submit his comments to National APA.
    5. Training of Municipal Planning and Zoning Board members – Resolutions from Livingston and Washington Counties were distributed.  G. Heffner said he distributing a list of all possible training sources together with the model resolution to Steuben Co. boards.  D. Woods stated that the Livingston Co. resolution added any training deemed suitable by the County Planning Director.  President Hart asked if any CPD has been required to lead effort.  A. Terry said yes in Schoharie County and that is why they have partnered with NYPF for a QC grant to develop custom training materials.  T. Bliss inquired how municipal officials have been notified of this requirement.  Consensus was basically through periodicals such as Towns and Topics or via town attorneys.  G. Heffner stated that he is developing a self-taught training course based on the Short Course and that this is most appealing to his local officials.  He will distribute to CPDs when complete.  W. Hart stated that he is taking 1 hour of each County Planning Board meeting to educate those members on distinction of intermunicipal and countywide impacts and how the County Planning Boards review should differ from a local review.  M. Galough stated that his county conducts 2 training sessions per year and that some of his local members attend Saratoga County’s annual full day training session.
  5. New Business
    1. NYS DOS Local Government Division Update – Peter Manning
      1. Newly appointed Secretary of State is Lorraine Cortes Vazquez. She is from the Bronx.
      2. Land Use Training Programs – train almost 10,000 local officials per year.  May change up some of the training sessions, such as teaming with local and county officials.  New courses include Rental housing/Absentee landlordism, Working with Applicants, and intermunicipal cooperation.  Have published a new publication on sign control.  Handle approximately 1,000 technical requests per year.
      3. Shared Services Unit – the Shared Municipal Services Incentive grant program requires two or more local governments cooperating.  To date have had 2 rounds of grants.  Very successful first round – grants were announced last fall.  2nd round applications total $25M.  Unsure when/if there will be future rounds. Working with the Government Law Center on developing training on consolidation and dissolution.
      4. Quality Communities – A five-year report (2001 – 2006) has just been distributed reporting updates on the initial 41 recommendations.  Most have been accomplished.  15 more recommendations were added for future programs, although future resources are uncertain.  Teleconference on Intermunicipal Cooperation held last September is available on DVD.  NYS DOS has participated in several statewide conferences presenting on QC program and projects.  Several QC projects have won awards.
      5. NYS DOS funds part of the NYC Watershed Program.  Their annual technical conference was held last fall.  DOS also administers a small grant program and provides assistance to the Watershed Protection Council.
      6. Appalachian Regional Commission – Lisa Melville will now be the Program Coordinator.  Another round expected to start this spring.
      7. Mandated Training – L. Heithof had distributed a draft model resolution for comment.  Final version should be sent soon.
    2. Planning Partners meeting – President Hart informed members of this meeting that took place a couple weeks ago in Troy with himself, representing the NYSACPDs, NYPF and the APA NY Upstate Chapter.  Metro Chapter APA has written a position paper on highlighted planning issues to the change of administration.  President Hart believes Upstate Chapter should follow suit.  President Hart suggested the issue to highlight is the workings of land use control in NYS.  The Planning Partners discussed how to maintain home rule power, but require municipalities to write and adopt comprehensive plans and then pass consistency laws that requires all implementation projects, including ordinance development, to be consistent with that comprehensive plan.  Bob Elliot of NYPF agreed to approach Patty Sulkin, Dean of the Albany Law School, to see if a position paper on smart growth is already in development.  K. Hughes commented that it should be that state dollars should be invested only in a manner that is consistent with comp plans.  He said he is interested in the academic professionals position on this.  W. Hart asked if there was any urgency on timing of this.  He will contact the Policy Leader of the Smart Growth Team.  S. Ferraro stated that the most successful way to approach this might be to incorporate the concept into the already promoted 7-point Economic Development issues.  D. Woods warned that the path taken should be achievable within home rule constraints to avoid the crash and burn state planning initiative of the past.  W. Hart said that the approach should respect home rule, but seek to advance the smart growth principals of the APA. It was noted that the majority of US States have some form of smart growth legislation. E. Jardine stated that state programs could require or favor projects that are listed on comprehensive plans during the grant process.  L. Vanderheide said that in her DOT Region, projects are required to be listed on comprehensive plans or corridor plans in order to be listed on the TIP.
      Action Item:  Kris and Warren will collaborate on writing a position paper on this issue to be distributed to the CPDs for review.
  6. Organizational Issues
    1. Treasurer’s Report – Treasurer Jardine distributed report and reported signature cards and all other housekeeping was addressed with Trust Co. Bank before this meeting.  Account Balances were reported, including the maturation of the CD, which will occur on 12/10/07.  Treasurer’s report approval moved by S. Ferraro and seconded by A. Terry.  Unanimously carried.
      1. NYPF is now billing for NYSACPDs 2007 dues.  The Board at the last meeting waived 2006 dues.  President Hart will send a follow up e-mail to all CPDs informing them of current activities.
    2. Roundtable – Deferred until next meeting due to time constraints
    3. Upcoming Meeting Schedule – Friday, May 4th in Canandaigua at the Finger Lakes Wine and Culinary Center.
  7. Adjournment – Adjourned at approximately 3:55PM by consensus.