Town of Huron Planning Board Minutes - subject to approval.
Regular meeting - June 1, 2009
Call to Order: Larry Lockwood called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
Members present: Larry Lockwood, Chris Kenyon, and Jack McGuire
Other Officials present: Laurie Crane - Town Supervisor, Dave Buisch - Councilmember and Roger Gallant - Building Inspector
Guests: - Al Isselhard
Correspondence: - None
Approval of Minutes: Jack McGuire moved, seconded by Chris Kenyon to accept the minutes of
May 4, 2009 as written.
Old Business:
1. AT&T Cell Tower
Rod Prodonovich from Pyramid Network Services was not able to prepare the information requested by the board in time for this meeting and asked to be put on the agenda for next month.
2. Keyholing (Keyhole Development)
Larry had formulated some questions for discussion.
Jack clarified that previously the board had agreed that if they decided anything, cases of Keyholing that already existed would be grandfathered in and the others agreed.
Larry asked about the number of docks that might constitute a "Keyholing" situation.
Jack thought it would be covered under the Dock & Mooring Law.
Roger agreed stating that it would have to be taken on a case by case basis and would depend on how much waterfront there was and how many lots there would be. In the Virts case, Mr. Virts originally asked for a 435ft dock with 64 slips and the Zoning Board has cut that down to a 310ft dock and 36 slips. Roger thinks that there are enough tools in Zoning and Dock & Mooring to take care of those situations.
Larry also wondered about the waterfront to docks ratio, how far out the docks are able to go and how many docks they would be able to put on.
Roger said that would all be covered under Zoning and Dock & Mooring. Dock & Mooring would automatically send any dock request over 100ft to the Zoning Board.
Larry said that was all he had on Keyholing at this time.
3. Recreational Trails
Chris said he had spoken to Chuck Bush to see if there were any projects in the works where he could extend the pavement and Chuck said there was not. Chris then referred to the email that he had sent regarding a request from Chuck to see if the board could look into the possibility of any grant money to fix the end of East Bay Road at Chimney Bluffs. He had only received a response from Jack. Chris wanted direction from the board or Laurie Crane or Dave Buisch as to whether he should pursue that. He said that the road is collapsing in. Chuck Bush said that he had called the county to see if they could repair that section. Chris had taken pictures but had not brought them to the meeting. Chris said that he would be willing to pursue it since it is a town road. He could meet with Sharon Lilla to check out grants, etc.
Roger said that the town also has the small park to the east of that road. He said he didn't know what the town's involvement was in it, but it is a park. He agreed that the whole section is washing out badly. He didn't know if that was something for the Planning Board or the Town Board.
Chris thought something should be done similar to what was done at Port Bay and wondered if the State owned from the middle of the road out.
Roger said that the State owns from the road edge to the West.
Laurie said that Dutch Street has the same problem and that there was a lot of erosion this past winter.
Dave Buisch said that there is a new high water mark because the lake was so high. He thought it would be a matter for the Town Board. He said that at Port Bay, they built a solid foundation of rocks, built up the bluff and then seeded.
Chris noted that it is a recreation destination and it would be a simple fix to stop the erosion.
Roger asked Chris if he would write to the Town Board requesting them to pursue the Chimney Bluff issue and Chris said he would.
Dave asked Chris if there was anything written that defines what constitutes a trail.
Chris said that the state has guidelines for highway design and bicycle facility design but there was no money for those. He said that Trailworks will work with any trail that is designated by the town. He thought that most of the ones that Trailworks has promoted are built on old railroad beds. He also said that there seems to be a lot of interest in trails.
Dave asked if private industry could sponsor a trail.
Chris said that the Trailworks is a not for profit organization. He noted that the trail in Sodus had some usage and maintenance problems. Now, everyone uses it and it is maintained by the snowmobile club.
Laurie asked if the trails were on State land.
Chris said that the trails that Trailworks is using around Wayne County are not on State land.
Dave wanted to know if the State advertises any trails. He said the State owns a lot of land in Wayne County that would be ideal for trails if the State would allow it.
Roger said that the State owns a tremendous area around Gardener and East Bay.
Chris said that he had been looking for existing trails that could be tied into Trailworks at no cost. He could still follow through on what they had originally talked about; signing the bike path, but the board agreed that it wouldn't be very safe. He said he was still going to meet with Seth Burgess from Trailworks to see if he had any other ideas.
Al Isselhard asked if the recreational trails were also for ATV's and dirt bikes.
Chris said that the existing ones for Trailworks are only for hiking but those are not in Huron.
Mr. Isselhard asked if there was a trail that runs parallel with Route 104 and who owns it.
Chris said that it is owned by the State and is a major snowmobile road.
Mr. Isselhard asked if that was considered a recreational trail.
Chris said he thought it was just for the snowmobiles. He said they do have a problem with the dirt bikes on the trail but there is not any way to keep them off if they're licensed.
Mr. Isselhard stated that the reason he asked was because he thought there would be strong resistance to any trails that allowed ATV's or dirt bikes.
Laurie said that the snowmobile group spends a lot of money to keep the 104 trail up and the dirt bikes and ATV's do a lot of damage to the trail.
Larry said that on the Canal Trail, there are signs forbidding motorized vehicles. He said there is also a well-used trail in Ontario County on 96.
Dave Buisch said that another area to think about would be where the State does logging because it is opened up.
Chris and Roger agreed that the DEC is unsure of the status of their jobs, etc. so this would not be a good time to pursue anything through them.
Chris commented on the fact that Chimney Bluffs was packed over the Memorial Day holiday.
4. Amending burning law for controlled burn - Roger Gallant
Roger said that there was a place on West Port Bay Rd., a run-down cottage. He said that the owner contacted the Wolcott Fire chief and he had agreed to take care of it as a training exercise.
Larry said that when he had brought it up at the battalion meeting, the Wolcott chief had said he wasn't interested. Larry said that about six companies had taken part in a training exercise in North Rose.
Roger said that if the fire companies are willing to do the controlled burns, then there really is no need to amend the burning law since it allows the controlled burns by the fire companies for a training exercise.
Larry asked about the one in Wolcott that Roger had talked about previously.
Roger said that there is one on Wilson St. and if Wolcott won't do it then they will probably dig a hole and bury it. He doesn't like to see that happen because eventually it creates a sink hole.
Dave asked what the alternative was.
Roger said that they could take it to Seneca Falls but that it was unbelievably expensive. It could cost $15-20 thousand to tear it down and haul it to the landfill.
It was decided that at this point, amending the burning law is really a dead issue for the Planning Board.
New Business:
1. County Planning Board Monthly Report
Larry said there were two issues for the Town of Huron at last month's meeting. The first was the Bay Shore Heights subdivision application for the 310ft dock with 36 slips, which passed the County Planning Board. The County Board thought that it was great that someone was doing something positive; putting some money into Huron. They also recommended approval of the Hunter application with special conditions: that the Huron Planning Board recommendations are followed, that the County Highway must approve the traffic generating characteristics of the proposal and the property should be developed and maintained. They noted that there was a letter of concern and the County also had their own concerns about trash. They said that there is a real trash problem in that bridge area.
Laurie asked if it needed to go to the County Highway Department.
Larry said that he thought it would automatically go there in this case.
Dave Buisch asked if the DEC responded to it.
Roger said no and that he and Brett DeRoo had talked about that. Brett said that they would have no concerns as long as septic is taken care of.
It was noted that Ms. Hunter had made many improvements but still had not cleared the Health Department, so she still had a ways to go.
Larry referred back to the Bay Shore Heights case. He said that in the recommendations from the County on the Virts subdivision, they said that approval was on condition that all applicable Federal, State and local permits are obtained. They felt that the draft Harbor Management Plan should be used as a resource to help guide Bay front development such as that.
Roger said that he and Brett had discussed that and Brett felt that the Town's decisions on the Virts case were in line with the Harbor Management Plan.
Larry also reported that he was informed at the meeting that the County Board of Supervisors had approved him to be on the County Planning Board for 3 more years.
2. Burgundy Basin Inn Workshop
Jack had attended. He said that one thing that came to his attention was that there were a lot of gas and oil leases beginning to be signed in the area. He said that some leases had been signed in the town of Butler. He sat in on a session and one of the speakers there who was a landowner had been stepped on pretty severely and became quite an activist. Jack said that town roads are destroyed when the equipment comes in and the speaker said there are a lot of things that a town has to consider and take some proactive action before letting these people come in and drill and utilize the land. Jack said he didn't know if we had had any gas fields in our area, but if we do, it's something we should look at so they don't come in and ruin our roads. He thought we should have something on the books in our zoning like we do with the towers, to prevent them from coming in and just taking over. He added that a lot of the farmers that have signed leases have taken a beating on them.
Larry said he knew that there were a lot of gas wells down Routes 96 and 96A.
Jack said that this one goes west almost to Buffalo. He said that they use thousands of gallons of water to push the gas out and now they're afraid that it might contaminate people's wells.
Roger said that what they do for testing alone is very disruptive. They section the area into a grid and then place electric charges to find the wells. He said they make a mess just testing. He said that people really have to be careful because if someone doesn't allow access and the neighbor does, they can use directional drilling and go right under your land.
Jack also shared some literature from the conference on "Smart Growth" and "Site Development Plan Review" with the board. He said the conference had the best turnout that he'd ever seen.
3. LeRoy Island Bridge
Jack wanted to talk about the new bridge. He said it is gorgeous. However, there are a lot of people fishing on the south side of the bridge that shouldn't be over there. It is a safety issue. He said they're crossing back and forth and because it's a two lane bridge now the traffic is faster; he's afraid someone will get hurt. He strongly believes there should be no fishing on the south side of that bridge. He wanted to know if signs could be put up to that effect.
Roger said he believes that they would have to take that up with the County.
Jack also noted that there is a trash problem already.
Laurie said that she would talk to Kevin Rooney about getting signs to prohibit fishing on the south side of the bridge.
Jack said that there is no place for the people who are fishing to stand on the south side so they climb over the railing and stand on the breakwall; it's very dangerous.
4. The board was reminded about the presentation on Wind Power on Thursday, June 4th. Jack said that he was planning on attending.
5. Larry asked who is responsible for putting out the speed limit signs in the water north of LeRoy Island. It was discussed that they are put out by residents of the island and were not official. Jack also talked about the seaplanes that have been taking off and landing opposite LeRoy Island.
Adjournment: Jack McGuire moved seconded by Chris Kenyon to adjourn the meeting at 8:20 PM
Email communications
During the month of May the following emails were received:
5/4/09 - from Charles Boorgaard containing a video series on Wayne County wildflowers.
5/18/09 - from Chris Kenyon regarding a request from Chuck Bush to investigate fixing the erosion problem at the end of East Bay Rd. at Chimney Bluffs Park.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Grandjean, clerk
