• Do direct your consultant to review the requirements for the property’s zoning district to determine if the proposed layout meets its minimum requirements (e.g., buffering and screening requirements adjacent to residential property lines). Prepare and submit an accurate Existing Conditions plan for the Planning Board’s review.
• Do check to see if public water and sewer services are available to the property site, and if so, ask what requirements for a connection would be necessary (e.g., extension of the sewer district, service lateral requirements, etc.).
• Do fill out the application and technical checklists accurately. These are used by the Town or Village to pre-screen the applications to determine whether more information is needed.
• Do take advantage of Pre Conceptual (Town) or Pre Application (Village) reviews with the Planning Board. These reviews are an opportunity to describe your ideas for your project, gauge the Planning Board’s initial reaction, and learn more about what (if any) concerns they may have or special features they may like to see.
• Do take advantage of the Town’s Paid Conceptual with Consultants, meeting with either the Planning Board Engineer alone (for site issues), or together with the Town Attorney (for zoning or legal issues). This is a great and cost effective way for your consultant to get your initial site plan critiqued for compliance and a list of items to complete before your first meeting with the board, or to discuss technical requirements such as storm water or traffic analysis.
• Do be sure to submit your application and documentation within the required time frame before the Planning or Zoning Board meetings. With initial submittal, submit earlier because time will be needed to pre-screen the application to see if it is complete and ready to be placed on the meeting agenda.
• Do take any potential impacts of your project on the site’s natural resources very seriously (e.g. wet areas, stream corridors, floodplains, old-growth forests and specimen trees, prime agricultural soils, plant and animal types, old stone walls, etc.), because the Planning Board members certainly will.
• Do be prepared to discuss ways to address pedestrian and bicycle access to your site.
• Do be your consultant’s employer. Direct your consultant to carefully review the information that must appear on the Site Plan, and be able to discuss any item on that list that has not been included in the submitted information (e.g., topographic information not required because no land disturbances are proposed). Any item not included may be waived at the Planning Board’s discretion, but only if a written waiver request with justification for the omission of these items is submitted. For every submittal, be aware and keep a copy of the list of items requested and check in to see what has been completed and what has not. Ask for deadlines and check on them.
• Do ask for additional off-line visits with the town’s planning board consultants. Although you must directly cover the costs for these visits, it is more cost effective than paying your consultant and waiting to be heard at Planning Board meetings. The quality of the one on one meetings makes them highly cost effective and worth the investment.
• Do take advantage of review offered by the Ulster County Planning Staff, especially if your project requires approval by the Ulster County Highway Department, Ulster County Health Department, and/or the NYS Department of Transportation. The Ulster County Planning Department will coordinate representatives from these agencies at no cost to you.
• Do advocate for yourself at Planning Board Meetings, and listen carefully to the feedback that you receive from the Board and its consultants. Carefully consider their direction. It may provide a road map to exactly what you need to secure approval. If you are not sure what is requested or meant by their suggestions, concerns or required items or documents, take the time to discuss it with the Planning Board members.
• Don’t hesitate to question recommendations that you don’t understand; try to engage the entire Board to gauge the level of support of the recommendation by other Board numbers. If you think a topic is being over-discussed and comments repeated, ask the chair to call for a vote on the issue.
• Do, if the Planning Board spends time discussing municipal policy during your review, note the time frames and contact the chair after the meeting, to ensure that that time is not charged to your project.
• Do ask to be taken off the agenda if you and your consultant are not prepared or documents have not been submitted in adequate time for review.
• Do inform your property or project’s neighbors of any Planning or Zoning applications. All zoning and some planning applications will require a public hearing; an educated and informed neighbor can be an advocate rather than an obstacle.
• Do review the criteria for variances and be prepared to discuss how your request meets each criterion.
• Don’t bring new documents to the Board meeting, or expect them to be discussed.
• Don’t attend meetings without completing your items to be submitted.
• Don’t expect the process to take less than six months (longer depending on the size and scope).
• Don’t rely on obtaining variances. Choose a project and property that fit together.
Local officials react
Town Councilwoman Kitty Brown said she thought the guide would be a useful tool for potential developers.
“The guide will help dispel the ‘urban myth’ that New Paltz is not business friendly,” Brown said. She agreed that applicants sometimes do not understand the delay they themselves create through lack of preparedness. Developers also sometimes don’t realize the level to which the general population cares about planning in New Paltz.
“We have an engaged citizenry who attend public hearings and raise questions,” she said.
Other elected officials in New Paltz felt the guide would make the planning and zoning process easier. Councilman Jeff Logan urged developers to meet with the Building Department and town engineer early to sort out issues.
To download or look at the full document, head to https://www.newpaltzchamber.org/live_work/zoning_and_planning_boards_practical_guide.aspx.
