Tusten Town City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XII
General Provisions
§ 300-12.0 Amendment procedure.
This chapter or any part thereof may be amended, supplemented or repealed from time to time by the Town Board consistent with the provisions of the New York State enabling statutes.
§ 300-12.1 Interpretation.
In interpretation and application, the provisions of this chapter shall be held to be the minimum requirements adopted for the promotion of the public health, safety, comfort, convenience and general welfare. Except where specifically provided to the contrary, it is not intended by this chapter to repeal, abrogate, annul or in any way to impair or interfere with any rules, regulation or permits previously adopted or issued or which shall be adopted or issued pursuant to law relating to the use of buildings, structures, shelter or premises, nor is it intended by this chapter to interfere with or abrogate or annul any easement, covenants or other agreements between parties; provided, however, that where this chapter imposes a greater restriction upon the use of a building or premises or requires larger open spaces than are imposed or required by any other statute, ordinance, rule, regulation or permit or by any easement or agreement, the provisions of this chapter shall control. In the event of conflict in the terminology of any section or part thereof of this chapter, the more restrictive provisions shall control.
§ 300-12.2 State Environmental Quality Act.
All administrative actions undertaken in accord with this chapter shall comply with the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act.[1] The applicant shall submit all documentation necessary to demonstrate compliance with the said Act.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Environmental Conservation Law Art. 8, § 8-0101 et seq.
§ 300-12.3 General Municipal Law.
All administrative actions undertaken in accord with this chapter shall comply with § 239-M of the New York State General Municipal Law.
§ 300-12.4 Severability.
Should any section or provision of this chapter be decided by the courts to be unconstitutional or invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of this chapter as a whole or of any part thereof other than the part so decided to be unconstitutional or invalid.
§ 300-12.5 Development review fees.
[Added 7-11-2017 by L.L. No. 4-2017]
A.
Legislative findings, intent and purpose.
(1)
The Town Board hereby finds and determines that in order to protect and safeguard the Town of Tusten, its residents and their property, with respect to certain land developments within the Town, all buildings, highways, drainage facilities, sanitary sewer facilities, other utilities and parks within said developments should be designed and constructed in a competent and workmanlike manner and in conformity with all applicable governmental codes, rules and regulations and, where required, dedicated and conveyed to the Town in a legally sufficient manner. In order to assure the foregoing, it is essential for the Town to have Town staff and competent engineers and planners retained by the Town to review applications, plans and designs, make recommendations to the Town Board, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals and to recommend their acceptance by the Town. It is also essential to have competent attorneys retained by the Town to negotiate and draft appropriate agreements with developers, obtain, review and approve necessary securities, insurance and other legal documents, review proposed deeds and easements to assure the Town is obtaining good and proper title and to generally represent the Town with respect to legal disputes and issues concerning these development projects. The cost of staff time and retaining competent engineers, planners and attorneys should be ultimately be paid by those who seek to profit from such developments rather than from general Town funds paid by taxpayers of the Town.
(2)
This article is enacted under the authority of Subdivisions (a)(12) and (d)(3) of Municipal Home Rule Law § 10(1)(ii), and Municipal Home Rule Law § 22. To the extent Town Law §§ 265, 267-a, 267-b, 274-a, 274-b, 276, 277, and 278 do not authorize the Town Board, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals to require the reimbursement to the Town of legal, planning, and engineering expenses incurred by the Town in connection with review and consideration of development applications, it is the expressed intent of the Town Board to supersede such statutes. To the extent that such statutes do not authorize the deferral or withholding of such approvals in the event such expenses are not paid to the Town, it is the expressed intent of the Town Board to change and supersede Town Law §§ 265, 267-a, 267-b, 274-a, 274-b, 276, 277, and 278 to empower the Town to require such payment as a condition to such approvals.
B.
Estimate of fees; escrow required. A reviewing board may require an applicant to deposit an initial sum of money into an escrow account in advance of the review of an application for a special permit, site plan or subdivision approval, zoning amendment, variance, or other appeal or application. Said sum shall be in an amount estimated to cover the reasonable and necessary costs to the Town in obtaining professional review of the application, taking into the Town's experience in similar applications or the experience of neighboring municipalities. Costs may include staff costs and consultant fees for planning, engineering, legal and other professional and technical services required for the proper and thorough review of an application.
C.
Consulting fee not included in administrative fees. The review fees provided for herein are in addition to application or administrative fees required pursuant to other sections of the Tusten Town Code. Monies deposited by applicants pursuant to this section shall not be used to offset the Town's general expenses of professional services for the several boards of the Town or its general administrative expenses.
D.
Fees charged pursuant to SEQRA. The reviews governed by this section shall include all environmental review pursuant to law, including review of the proposed action under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).[1] Fees charged strictly as a result of a SEQRA review shall in no event exceed the maximum amounts that can be charged pursuant to the SEQRA regulations by the lead agency.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Environmental Conservation Law Art. 8, § 8-0101 et seq.
E.
Receipt of money by Town Supervisor. Upon receipt of monies requested for an escrow account, the Town Supervisor shall cause such monies to be placed in a separate non-interest-bearing account in the name of the Town and shall keep a separate record of all such monies deposited and the name of the applicant and project for which such sums were deposited.
F.
Receipt and approval of consultant's itemized voucher by Town Board. Upon receipt and approval by the Town Board of itemized vouchers from consultants for services rendered on behalf of the Town regarding a particular application, the Town Supervisor shall cause such vouchers to be paid out of the monies so deposited, and shall debit the separate record of such account accordingly. The Town shall provide copies of the vouchers to the applicant upon request.
G.
Review and audit of itemized vouchers by Town Board. The Town Board shall review and audit all such vouchers and shall approve payment of only such consultant charges as are reasonable and necessary in connection with the review and consideration of applications. A charge or part thereof is reasonable in amount if it bears a reasonable relationship to the average charge by consultants to the Town for services performed in connection with the review of a similar application. In auditing the vouchers, the Town Board may take into consideration the size, type and number of buildings to be constructed, the topography of the site at issue, environmental conditions at such site, the infrastructure proposed in the application and any special conditions the Town Board may deem relevant. A charge or part thereof is necessarily incurred if it was charged by the consultant for a service which was rendered in order to protect or promote the health, safety or other vital interests of the residents of the Town, and protect public or private property from damage.
H.
No direct payment by applicant to Town consultant. In no event shall an applicant make direct payment to any Town consultant as compensation for services performed for the Town by the consultant in connection with his/her application.
I.
Request for additional sums from applicant. If at any time during the processing of an application there shall be insufficient monies on hand to the credit of an applicant to pay the approved vouchers in full, or if it shall reasonably appear to the reviewing board that such monies will be insufficient to meet vouchers yet to be submitted, the reviewing board shall require the applicant to deposit additional sums as the board deems necessary or advisable in order to meet such expenses or anticipated expenses.
J.
Failure to deposit requested review fees. In the event the applicant fails to deposit the requested professional review fees into an escrow account, any application review, approval, permit or certificates of occupancy may be withheld or suspended by the reviewing board, officer or employee of the Town until such monies are deposited.
K.
Return of unexpended funds to applicant. Upon completion of the review of an application or upon the withdrawal of an application, and after all reasonable and necessary professional review fees already incurred by the Town have been paid and deducted from the escrow account, any balance remaining in the escrow account shall be refunded within 60 days after the applicant's request.
L.
SEQRA documents to be posted on Internet. Pursuant to Chapter 641 of the NYS Laws of 2005,[2] the following SEQRA documents must be posted on a publicly available website after the Town, or any board or agency thereof, including, without limitation, the Town Board, the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, acting as lead agency, has issued a positive declaration under SEQRA; any environmental impact statement (EIS), including but not limited to draft, final, and supplemental EISs; comments received from any governmental agency, interested party, or member of the public with respect to such EIS; and the responses to these comments. The above-mentioned documents are referred to herein and in § 300-12.5L(1) as "SEQRA internet documents."
(1)
Internet posting requirements.
(a)
Unless determined by the Town Board to be impracticable, the Town's official website will be the posting site for all SEQRA internet documents. If the Town Board deems posting on the Town's website impracticable, the applicant shall post the SEQRA internet documents on a publicly available website provided by the applicant for the period required by the lead agency and in any event in accordance with Article 8 of the Environmental Conservation Law and applicable regulations.
(b)
When an applicant submits a hard copy of a SEQRA internet document to the lead agency, the applicant shall simultaneously submit a copy in digital portable document format (otherwise known as "PDF") on a compact disc to the lead agency, or other format required by resolution of the Town Board from time to time, which will then be forwarded to the Town's Webmaster for posting. No SEQRA internet document will be deemed officially submitted to the lead agency until the SEQRA internet document is posted and accessible to the public. The applicant shall be responsible for collecting, digitizing and providing to the Town in PDF format all comments received on the EISs. This chapter does not change any of the applicant's other SEQRA obligations under state and local law, including, without limitation, the filing and circulation of hard copies of SEQRA internet documents.
[2]
Editor's Note: See Environmental Conservation Law Art. 8, § 8-0101 et seq.
§ 300-12.6 Application and review fees.
[Added 9-13-2022 by L.L. No. 1-2022]
At the time an application for a site plan review permit, special use permit, variance, or any other permit application specified in this chapter or the Town of Tusten Code, an application fee shall be paid to the Town by the applicant; such fee to be determined from a schedule of fees as adopted by the Town Board by resolution. Additional fees may be imposed to cover the costs of inspections, professional reviews and consultants, and SEQRA compliance, as well as the expenses connected with notices and hearings. (See Article XII, § 300-12.5.)