By - Jane Waters

November 9, 2009

The zoning law was adopted at the October 15, 2009 Town Board meeting. The most salient features of the law are:

• It divides the town into various zoning districts with differing lot sizes or densities, varying from 20,000 square feet (15,000 if central sewer is installed) in the central hamlet districts to 5 acres in the rural district, including the agricultural overlay and the wellhead protection district.
  
  
• Although a number of commercial uses are allowed throughout the town (i.e. home businesses and other smaller impact commercial uses) major commercial development is concentrated in the hamlet center and hamlet main street districts. The latest zoning map now includes the flat land behind Stewarts on the Village Green property in the hamlet main street district.
  
  
• The agricultural overlay zone covering about ¾ of the rural district includes properties currently or previously used in agriculture (raising crops or pasturing livestock), properties with prime soils or soils of statewide importance and properties included in the County Agricultural District. However, none of the Carvel property is included in the Agricultural Overlay even kthough it meets the first two criteria. The zone does not differ from the underlying rural district in allowed density but it restricts placement of houses on agricultural fields to the extent practicable.
  
  
• The subdivision regulations require that environmentally constrained acreage (steep slopes, wetlands, flood plains, etc.) be subtracted from the total acreage prior to calculating the net buildable acreage.
  
  
• Major subdivisions outside of the hamlet districts are in most cases to be designed as conservation subdivisions, with most of the units clustered on small lots and at least 50% of the land preserved as open space. In the agricultural overlay (A-O) district this requirement applies to any development of 5 or more housing units. In the rural and well head protection districts not included in the A-O overlay developments of between 5 and 14 units may be of a more conventional layout with Planning Board approval; although the preferred layout is still the conservation subdivision layout. Additionally, in all conservation subdivisions after deducting the environmentally constrained land an additional 15% of the remaining acreage is deducted from the total prior to determining the net buildable acreage.
  
  
• The zoning draft includes a New Neighborhood Development (NND) overlay that can be applied to a development in single ownership of at least 750 acres. The base density in an NND is one unit to 3 net buildable acres rather than one unit to 5 acres. The open space requirement is increased to 60% of the entire parcel from 50%. Prior to approving an NND rezoning
  application the developer will be required by the Town Board to commit to providing a number of community benefits and infrastructure improvements to the town beyond those obtainable through SEQRA review.
  
  
• The regulations also include generous bonus density awards for various community benefits-up to 40% additional units in a regular conservation subdivision and 50% in an NND.
  
  
• Affordable housing provisions apply to all developments of 10 or more units.