LIBERTY — Zoning changes regarding houses of worship and private schools are anticipated within the town of Liberty as Town Planner Peter Manning presented a second informational hearing on the …
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LIBERTY — Zoning changes regarding houses of worship and private schools are anticipated within the town of Liberty as Town Planner Peter Manning presented a second informational hearing on the proposals before the Town Board on Monday night, May 1.
Manning’s presentation was a reintroduction to the changes proposed to the zoning laws within the town, as well as the necessity for such changes in order for the town to become compliant with the federal act, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), which was passed by the U.S. Congress in 2000.
RLUIPA protects religious institutions against discriminatory land use regulations, as well as provides protection against religious or denominational discrimination, total exclusion of religious assemblies, unreasonable limitation of religious assemblies, unequal treatment, and religious discrimination.
The presentation highlighted a number of changes being proposed in order to become compliant.
These include adding special uses to houses of worship, private schools, and restaurants and taverns that are located within the town’s Service Commercial (SC) district, alterations to the development standards in the schedule for district regulations (dimensional requirements like building height and lot coverage), and certain amendments to Article VI’s regulations pertaining to special uses.
Currently, the Town of Liberty permits 3.5 percent of its land use to houses of worship and zero percent to private schools, according to Manning.
The proposed changes are in discussion by the com
mittee named to review the changes. This committee includes the Town Board, as well as two Town Planning Board members, Mattie Steinberg and John VanEtten.
The next step for the proposed changes will require Town Attorney Ken Klein to assemble an official local law. Town Supervisor Frank DeMayo said he expects this process to be completed by the beginning of June, at which time the local law will be introduced and a public hearing scheduled.
Fixing false alarms
After reviewing with the local fire departments on the need to cut down on false alarms within the municipality, the Town Board voted to pass a local law at their meeting on Monday to enforce a violation code.
This local law was inspired by the Town of Delaware’s approach to the same problem, and follows their example verbatim. The number of violations will run concurrently with an increasing monetary fine with each infraction. One offense is a warning, the second and third false alarms are met with a $250 fine, a fourth is $500, and a fifth offense is $1,000.
Lake Hills Estates introduced
A proposed development project regarding Lake Hills Estates was introduced before the Town Board and members of the public Monday night.
The presentation was given by planning consultants Tom Shepstone of Shepstone Management Corporation, Joel Kohn, and Ivan Kalter, with Project Engineer Glenn Smith of Monticello-based Glenn L. Smith Consulting Engineering on board with the project as well.
The project seeks to create a Planned Unit Development (PUD) District on the property. According to the presenters, four parcels of land are involved in total. These parcels range in size, with the largest being 130.57 acres (which would be reserved as strictly open space use.) In total, approximately 210.5 acres are part of the project.
It is anticipated to house 180 two-family dwelling units, which equates to about 90 structures, and will be placed in the Rural Development District portion of the property. 59 buildings will measure to be roughly 1,800 square feet, and 31 structures of 3,000 square feet.
Two community buildings, equating to be 3,500 and 6,500 square feet respectively, are also expected to see construction. The third lot is planned to house a two-story structure spanning 10,8000 square feet as a mixed-use commercial building.
It is noted that the proposed residential density of Lake Hills Estates is roughly 0.86 units per acre. It is anticipated the project will contain its own sports complex, outdoor pool, and maintain its own water and sewage systems on-site.
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