Wawayanda City Zoning Code
ARTICLE VII
Special Use and Site Plan Review Procedures
§ 195-66 Statutory authority; applicability.
A.
The Town of Wawayanda Planning Board is authorized, in accordance with §§ 274-a and 274-b of the New York State Town Law, to review and approve, approve with modifications or disapprove special uses and site plans connected therewith.
B.
Site plan review shall be required for all special use permits, new nonresidential uses, nonagricultural changes of use, additions or alterations to above-stated uses and such other uses as the Town Board may from time to time designate by local law, unless specifically exempt by § 195-4.
C.
The following procedures shall apply.
§ 195-67 Preliminary site plan.
An applicant for a special use permit may submit a preliminary site plan for review and advice by the Planning Board. Such a preliminary site plan should provide locations and dimensions of the proposed use in relation to the property boundaries and adjacent uses. It should also indicate all accesses and improvements, both existing and proposed, and any site features which could have a bearing on the project, including the general topography and existing ground cover. This preliminary plan shall be used by the Planning Board as a basis for advising the applicant regarding information it shall require on the site plan before it conducts a public hearing or takes any action with respect to the plan. The Planning Board shall give no approval or disapproval regarding any preliminary site plan but may use it to schedule a public hearing if sufficient data is available; determine if any provisions of this article should be waived; or begin its review of the application under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR).[1]
§ 195-68 Application and site plan required.
The Planning Board shall be under no obligation to schedule a public hearing or take any action with respect to a special use permit application until a complete formal application has been made on forms provided by the Board and a detailed site plan providing the following information has been submitted:
A.
The location of all existing watercourses, wooded areas, rights-of-way, roads, structures or any other significant man-made or natural feature, if such feature has an effect upon the use of said property.
B.
The location, use and floor or ground area of each proposed building, structure or any other land use, including sewage disposal and water supply systems.
C.
The location of all significant landscaping and ground cover features, both existing and proposed, including detailed planting plans and a visual depiction or rendering of the final appearance of the property after all landscaping and other physical improvements are completed.
D.
The location, dimensions and capacity of any proposed roads, off-street parking areas or loading berths, including typical cross sections for all paving or regrading involved.
E.
The location and treatment of proposed entrances and exits to public rights-of-way, including traffic signals, channelizations, acceleration and deceleration lanes, widenings or any other measure having an impact on traffic safety conditions.
F.
The location and identification of proposed open spaces, parks or other recreation areas.
G.
The location and design of buffer areas and screening devices to be maintained.
H.
The location of trails, walkways and all other areas proposed to be devoted to pedestrian use.
I.
The location of public and private utilities, including maintenance facilities.
J.
The specific locations of all signs existing and proposed, including a visual depiction of the latter.
K.
Preliminary architectural plans for the proposed buildings or structures, indicating typical floor plans, elevations, height and general design or architectural styling.
L.
A completed SEQR environmental assessment.
M.
Any other information required by the Planning Board which is clearly necessary to ascertain compliance with the provisions of this chapter and limited to such information.
N.
Stormwater pollution prevention plan. A stormwater pollution prevention plan consistent with the requirements of the Town Code of the Town of Wawayanda. The SWPPP shall meet the performance and design criteria and standards contained in the applicable chapters or sections of the Town Code of the Town of Wawayanda. The site plan shall not be approved unless it is determined to be consistent with the provisions of the applicable chapters or sections of the Code of the Town of Wawayanda dealing with stormwater pollution prevention plans.
O.
If an applicant has not advanced its site plan application before the Planning Board for a period of 12 months, or provided an update on a pending application to the satisfaction of the Planning Board within a period of 12 months, such application shall be deemed abandoned and shall be closed by the Planning Board. In such event, if the applicant chooses to proceed with the proposed project review, the applicant shall be required to submit a new application, including a full application fee.
[Added 5-11-2022 by L.L. No. 2-2022]
(1)
Any applicant seeking to extend its application past such twelve-month period must make a written request to the Planning Board at least 60 days prior to the expiration of the twelve-month period. Such request shall include a statement regarding the status of the application and the reason for the requested extension. The Planning Board shall approve the extension only upon a finding that the reason for the extension is acceptable to the Board in its discretion.
(2)
If such extension is granted, the applicant shall be required to pay an additional fee to the Town. Such fee shall be established by resolution of the Town Board from time to time.
(3)
If the application was referred to the Planning Board in relation to a violation notice or enforcement action, the applicant shall be required to pay a further additional fee for any extension granted by the Planning Board, in addition to the other fees set forth herein. Such fee shall be set by resolution of the Town Board from time to time.
(4)
This Subsection O shall not apply to any applicant whose application is lawfully and properly awaiting approval from an outside agency. If an applicant is lawfully and properly awaiting approval from an outside agency, the applicant shall be permitted to provide updates by mail or paper submission to the Planning Board.
P.
If at any time the ownership of a parcel changes during the pendency of an application in a manner that would change the applicant, the application shall be modified to properly identify the new applicant.
[Added 5-11-2022 by L.L. No. 2-2022]
§ 195-69 Waivers.
The Town of Wawayanda Planning Board shall, pursuant to § 274-a(5) of the Town Law, have the right to waive, when reasonable, any of the requirements of this article for the approval, approval with modifications, or disapproval of special use permits and site plans submitted for approval. This waiver authority may be exercised in the event any such requirements are found not to be requisite in the interest of the public health, safety or general welfare or are inappropriate to a particular site plan. Any such waiver shall be subject to the following conditions:
A.
No waiver shall result in allowing a use not permitted within the applicable zoning district.
B.
No waiver shall be given with respect to standards outside the scope of this article which would otherwise require a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
C.
Waivers shall be limited to those situations where the full application of the requirements contained herein would generate unnecessary data and create unnecessary costs with regard to deciding the matter at hand, due to the scope or nature of the project involved. The proposed enclosure of a deck or a simple change of use with no significant structural modifications in the case of a commercial property, for example, might not require typical cross sections for proposed regrading or water supply data.
D.
An applicant for site plan approval who desires to seek a waiver of certain of the above-referenced requirements pertaining to such applications shall submit a preliminary site plan as provided above. The Planning Board shall review the preliminary site plan, advise the applicant as to potential problems and concerns, and determine if any additional site plan information is required. The Planning Board shall consider such site plan as adequate when, in its judgment, the information submitted is sufficient to make a determination of compliance with the development standards contained herein and the intent of site plan review criteria found below.
E.
Nothing herein shall authorize the Planning Board to waive state environmental quality review requirements.
§ 195-70 Hearing and decision.
[Amended 3-4-2021 by L.L. No. 2-2021]
The Planning Board shall fix a time, within 62 days from the day an application for a special use permit or site plan approval is determined to be complete by the Planning Board, for the hearing of any matter referred to under this section. The Planning Board shall give public notice of such hearing at least five days prior to the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town. The applicant shall cause the public hearing notice to be delivered via certified mail, return receipt requested, to all record owners of property within 500 feet of the property boundaries. Copies of the certified mail receipts and return receipts shall be delivered to the Planning Board at the commencement of the public hearing. The record owners for the certified mailing shall be obtained from the latest Town of Wawayanda tax rolls. The Planning Board shall decide upon the application within 62 days after the closing of the public hearing. It shall not, however, grant approval before a determination has been made with respect to environmental impacts pursuant to SEQRA. The decision of the Planning Board shall be filed in the office of the Town Clerk and a copy thereof mailed to the applicant within five business days after such decision is rendered.
§ 195-71 Conditions.
The Planning Board shall have the authority to impose such reasonable conditions and restrictions as are directly related to and incidental to the proposed special use permit or site plan. Upon approval of said permit and/or plan, any such conditions shall be met prior to the actual issuance of permits by the Town. These conditions may include requirements of the applicant to provide parkland or to provide fees in lieu thereof pursuant to § 274-a(6) of the New York State Town Law.
§ 195-72 Referrals.
The Planning Board is authorized to refer special use permit applications and site plans to other agencies, groups or professionals employed or used by the Town for review and comment and to charge the applicant fees for any reasonable expenses connected therewith. The Board shall, in particular, ensure that the requirements of § 239-m of the General Municipal Law regarding review by the Orange County Planning Department are met. It shall also comply with all requirements of the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act.
§ 195-73 Appeals.
Any person aggrieved by any decision of the Planning Board or any officer, department, board or bureau of the Town may apply to the Supreme Court for review by a proceeding under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules.
§ 195-74 Effect of site plan approval.
[Amended 11-4-2010 by L.L. No. 2-2010; 12-5-2024 by L.L. No. 5-2024]
The site plan as approved by the Planning Board shall be binding upon the applicant. Any changes from the approved plan shall require resubmission and reapproval by the Planning Board. The site plan shall remain effective, as an authorization to establish the use, for a maximum of two years from the date of conditional final approval unless the Planning Board, upon request and for good cause shown, grants not more than one one-year extension in writing pursuant to § 195-78K or a building permit has been obtained. Absent such extensions, or issuance of a building permit, the site plan use shall be deemed to have expired.
§ 195-75 Renewal of permits.
The Planning Board may require, at the time it is initially granted, that any special use approval be renewed periodically. A special use which has been discontinued for a period of two or more years shall also be deemed to have lapsed. Such renewal shall be granted following public notice and hearing and may be withheld only upon a determination that the conditions attached to any previous approval have not been met. A period of 62 days shall be granted the applicant in such cases to make remedies and bring the use into full compliance with the terms of the special use approval. Should the applicant fail to make such remedies, the special use approval shall be revoked and the use immediately discontinued.
§ 195-76 Special use review criteria.
The Planning Board, in reviewing the site plan, shall consider its conformity to the Town of Wawayanda Comprehensive Plan and the various other plans, laws and ordinances of the Town. Conservation features, aesthetics, landscaping and impact on surrounding development as well as on the entire Town shall also be part of the Planning Board review. The Board, in acting upon the site plan, shall also be approving, approving with modifications, or disapproving the special use permit application connected therewith. Traffic flow, circulation and parking shall be reviewed to ensure the safety of the public and of the users of the facility and to ensure that there is no unreasonable interference with traffic on surrounding streets. The Board shall further consider the following:
A.
Building design and location. Building design and location should be suitable for the use intended and compatible with natural and man-made surroundings. New buildings, for example, should generally be placed along the edges and not in the middle of open fields. They should also be sited so as to not protrude above treetops or the ridgelines of hills seen from public places and busy highways. Building color, materials and design should be adapted to surroundings as opposed to adaptation of the site to the building or the building to an arbitrary national franchise concept.
B.
Large commercial buildings. Commercial facades of more than 100 feet in length should incorporate recesses and projections, such as windows, awnings and arcades, along 20% of the facade length. Variations in rooflines should be added to reduce the massive scale of these structures and add interest. All facades of such a building that are visible from adjoining streets or properties should exhibit features comparable in character to the front so as to better integrate with the community. Where such facades face adjacent residential uses, earthen berms planted with evergreen trees should be provided. Loading docks and accessory facilities should be incorporated in the building design and screened with materials comparable in quality to the principal structure. Sidewalks should be provided along the full length of any facade with a customer entrance and integrated into a system of internal landscape-defined pedestrian walkways breaking up all parking areas.
C.
Lighting and signage. Improvements made to the property should not detract from the character of the neighborhood by producing excessive lighting or unnecessary sign proliferation. Recessed lighting and landscaped ground signs are preferred.
D.
Parking and accessory buildings. Parking areas should generally be placed in the rear or side whenever possible and provide for connections with adjoining lots. Accessory buildings should also be located in the rear with access from rear alleys. If placement in the rear is not possible, parking lots should be located to the side with screening from the street.
E.
Drainage systems. Storm drainage, flooding and erosion and sedimentation controls should be employed to prevent injury to persons, water damage to property and siltation to streams and other water bodies.
F.
Driveway and road construction. Whenever feasible, existing roads onto or across properties should be retained and reused instead of building new, so as to maximize the use of present features such as stone walls and tree borders and avoid unnecessary destruction of landscape and tree canopy. Developers building new driveways or roads through wooded areas should reduce removal of tree canopy by restricting clearing and pavement width to the minimum required for safely accommodating anticipated traffic flows.
G.
Construction on slopes. The crossing of steep slopes with roads and driveways should be minimized and building which does take place on slopes should be multistoried with entrances at different levels as opposed to regrading the site flat.
H.
Tree borders. New driveways onto principal thoroughfares should be minimized for both traffic safety and aesthetic purposes, and interior access drives which preserve tree borders along highways should be used as an alternative. Developers who preserve tree borders should be permitted to recover density on the interior of their property through use of clustering.
I.
Development at intersections. Building sites at prominent intersections of new developments should be reserved for equally prominent buildings or features which will appropriately terminate the street vistas. All street corners should be defined with buildings, trees or sidewalks.
J.
Streets and sidewalks. Cul-de-sac and dead-end streets should be discouraged in favor of roads and drives which connect to existing streets on both ends. Streets within residentially developed areas should be accompanied by on-street parking and a sidewalk on at least one side of the street. Sidewalks should also be provided in connection with new commercial development adjacent to residential areas, and pedestrian access should be encouraged.
K.
Setbacks. New buildings on a street should conform to the dominant setback line and be aligned parallel to the street so as to create a defined edge to the public space.
L.
Adjacent properties. The proposed use should not have a detrimental impact on adjacent properties or the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the Town of Wawayanda.
M.
Conditioned approval. If the proposed use is one judged to present detrimental impacts with respect to noise, lighting, surface runoff, emissions or other similar factors, the Planning Board shall determine whether an approval could be conditioned in such a manner as to eliminate or substantially reduce those impacts.
N.
Community impacts. The Planning Board shall consider whether the use will have a positive or negative effect on the environment, job creation, the economy, housing availability or open space preservation. The granting of an approval should not cause an undue economic burden on community facilities or services, including but not limited to highways, sewage treatment facilities, water supplies and fire-fighting capabilities. The applicant shall be responsible for providing such improvements or additional services as may be required to adequately serve the proposed use, and any approval shall be so conditioned. The Town shall be authorized to demand fees in support of such services where they cannot be directly provided by the applicant. This shall specifically apply, but not be limited to, additional fees to support fire district expenses.
O.
Hamlet areas. The hamlet areas of Wawayanda, specifically Ridgebury, Slate Hill and old New Hampton, are important and integral parts of the Town's culture and heritage. The hamlets represent historic, compact, developed areas within the largely rural regions of the Town. The character and quality of Wawayanda would be permanently diminished if these small settlements were to disappear from the landscape. New development should be integrated into the hamlet centers in such a way that it improves upon the positive aesthetic aspects of the hamlet centers and ensures that these centers will be preserved. New buildings and additions to existing buildings should blend into the existing hamlet landscape to the maximum extent practical. In considering an application for a special use within the Town's commercial and hamlet districts, the Planning Board shall consider the following:
(1)
The architectural style of buildings (particularly where there are structures of historic or architectural significance within view of the site).
(2)
A building's scale, proportion and massing. Scale deals with the relationship of each building to other buildings in the area. Proportion deals with the relationship of height to the width of the building and with the relationship of each part to the whole. Massing deals with the volume created by sections of a building.
(3)
Rhythm of openings. The rhythm of openings refers to the number and spacings of windows and doors in a facade.
(4)
Building materials and architectural details. The use of similar materials and textures will help a new building or restoration fit into the existing neighborhood.
(5)
Exterior lighting (including the number, height and design of the lighting fixtures and the amount of light).
(6)
Fences and walls, landscaping and paving materials to be used on the site.
(7)
Lot coverage. The maximum percent of lot to be occupied in hamlet areas may be increased by 10%, provided that the additional coverage shall not be allowed in any required front yard.
(8)
The mix of uses. No residential uses shall be located on a floor below a nonresidential use, and residential uses shall have separate access from the nonresidential uses.
(9)
New construction. New construction shall be permitted, provided that it has sensitively maintained the existing character of adjacent and surrounding historic structures. This may be exhibited through architectural style and character, arrangement, texture, materials, details and ornamentation and the overall bulk and massing proposed.
(10)
Parking. Off-street parking shall be wholly provided in the rear and/or one side yard, behind the front building line, and shall be screened from adjoining properties in accordance with the landscaping provisions hereof.