Kent City Zoning Code
ARTICLE I
Title and Purpose
§ 77-1 Title.
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Zoning Law of the Town of Kent, New York."
§ 77-2 Declaration of purpose.
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 As stated herein, specific sections of Article 16 of the Town Law have been superseded by this chapter pursuant to the authority of § 10 of the Municipal Home Rule Law.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.