HomeMy WebLinkAboutLI, LIO - Proposed Amendments 1997PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS
RICHARD G. WARD
GEORGE RITCHIE LATHAM, JR.
BENNETT ORLOWSKI, JR.
WILLIAM J. CREMERS
KENNETH L. EDWARDS
Town Hall, 53095 Main Road
P.O. Box 1179
Southold, New York 11971
Fax (516) 765-3136
Telephone (516) 765-1938
PLANNING BOARD OFFICE
TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
MEMORANDUM
TO:
FROM:
RE:
Judith T. Terry, Town Clerk
Bennett Orlowski, Jr., Chairman ~~
Proposal to Amend the Uses Pe'~tted Within the
Light Industrial (LI) and Light Industrial Office (LIO)
Districts.
Zoning
DATE: February 14, 1997
In response to the Town Board's request for input, the Planning Board
wishes to be on record as endorsing the recommendations of the January
1997 report of the Plannix~g & Zoning Committee.
The January report suggests specific amendments to the Zoning Code with
regard to the uses that should be permitted or deleted from the Light
Industrial and Light Industrial Office zoning districts. The Planning
Board took an active role in the Planning & Zoning Committee meetings
because of the need to bring the Zoning Code into closer alignment with
the goals and objectives of the community, as explained in planning
documents such as the Master Plan Background Studies (1983) and the
Master Plan Summary (1985).
The Board endorses the changes recommended in this report because the
proposed amendments will accomplish the following things:
it will consolidate intense traffic generators such as
eating and drinking establishments and retail uses in the
business hamlets,
it will remove inappropriate residential uses from the LI and
LIO zones,
it will introduce trade-related uses which currently are
permitted within certain business districts but which may need
more space than is generally available within the business
districts,
4. it will introduce needed or desirable uses which currently are
not permitted within the town as of right.
All of these modifications will serve to bring the Zoning Code into closer
alliance with the goals and objectives of the aforementioned planning
documents.
In recognition of item #4, above, which deals with the introduction of a
class of uses not previously addressed in great detail by the Zoning
Code, the Board suggests parallel changes be made to the nomenclature
and definition of zoning district category "Light Industrial Office". The
purpose of this district currently reads as follows:
Light Industrial Park/Planned Office Park
To provide opportunity for the location of corporate business and
professional offices, research facilities, light industrial uses as
d~fined by this zoning code and similar activities in an open,
campus-like setting in areas which are not appropriate for commercial
activity or low-density residential development. In this area, such
uses can be established in an attractive environment and serve both
as a means of preserving the open qualities of an area and providing
and areas adjacent to hamlet areas where such uses can be
appropriately developed with suitable protection for ground-and
surface waters. Ail uses must conform to Suffolk County Health
Department standards."
The district name could be changed to Corporate Research/ Commercial
Recreation Park (CR). This change would reflect more accurately the
predominant uses that would be permitted within this district. In
conjuntion with this, the purpose statement of the CR district should be
modified as well. The following is provided as a suggested example:
Corporate-Research/Commerciai Recreation Industrial Park
To provide opportunity for the location of large operations of a
corporate or research enterprise, a commercial recreation facility, a
light industrial plant. In this district, uses will be placed in a
campus-like setting, buffered by and from adjacent uses. This
district will provide for industries needed by the Town in a manner
than protects the Town's environmental resources and which can be
accommodated by the constraints of those natural resources. All
proposed uses must meet Suffolk County Department of Health
standards.
If these changes are made, the purpose section of the Light Industry
district should be explained in more detail, as being designed to
accommodate specialized trade industries which require more space and
accessibility to large equipment than is typically found within hamlet
business centers. The current purpose statement reads only "to provide
an opportunity for business and industrial uses on smaller lots than would
be appropriate for the LIO Light Industrial Park/Planned Office Park
District."
Finally, the Board's preliminary opinion is that these proposed changes
are unlikely to have a significant environmental impact for the following
reasons. The removal of retail and restaurant/drinking uses from these
districts removes the potential for high volume traffic in these areas.
The removal of residential uses and accessory bed and breakfast uses
likewise will result in a reduction of residential traffic to and from the
area.
The introduction of repair, custom workshop and machine or equipment
repair uses to the Light Industrial district provides an alternative
location for these uses outside of the general business district,
especially where easy accessibility by large vehicles and greater working
space are crucial to the operation.
The removai of Special Exception requirements in the Light Industry zone
for boat repair yards, boat building, servicing and storage yards, for
publishing plants and for light manufacturing means only that the use will
be permitted by right. These uses are felt to be appropriate uses for an
industrial district, one where their nuisance potential to the neighboring
industrial uses is thought to be no greater or worse than those of the
existing uses permitted by right. The site plan requirements and Health
Department restrictions will remain in-place as well as the usual
environmental reviews that accompany the site and health department
permit process.
The introduction of a wide-range of commercial recreation facilities is
the most significant modification being proposed. These facilities are
not recognized by the current code: an omission that needs to be
rectified. The proposed uses are thought to pose a lesser threat to the
environment than many other land uses which more closely fit the "light
industrial park" category. The potential for the introduction of toxic
wastes or gases during a manufacturing process does not exist with the
proposed recreational uses which were considered by the Planning &
Zoning Committee. The land-intensive recreation use with perhaps the
greatest potential for groundwater drawdown and contamination is a golf
course. However, since the use would be subject to site plan review and
Health Department restrictions, and the Planning Board would require
extensive use of drought-resistant, native vegetation to minimize the need
for irrigation and fertilizer, this is not considered a significant
environmental threat.
In closing, the Planning Board urges the Town Board to proceed with
drafting legislation in accordance with the January 1997 Report of the
Pianhing & Zoning Committee. The review of the business district uses,
which is the next item on their agenda, needs to be brought t0 a quick
conclusion so that we can move on to the regional transportation plan, the
hamlet studies and a groundwater management plan, all of which should
be addressed before much more development occurs.