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Thread: Clarence town board clarifies zoning code

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    Member gorja's Avatar
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    Clarence town board clarifies zoning code

    Clarence Town Board votes to clarify zoning code

    The Clarence Town Board voted Wednesday evening to clarify the town zoning code’s definition of how density in multi-family residential developments can be calculated. But it was not without some dissent.

    “Is that a clarification or a change?” developer David Huck asked Councilman Bernard J. Kolber, who proposed the measure, when he spoke during the public comment period.

    “We passed an interpretation of the law,” Kolber said.

    “It seems to me,” Huck said, “that you’re changing it. With all the attention it got at the last hearing and to slide through things here, that seems very deceptive to me. ... It’s an important topic for a lot of people and here it’s just been blown through.”

    Kolber said after the meeting that the code’s multi-family maximum of eight dwelling units per acre had become a point of contention. If developers had a 10-acre tract and made eight acres of it commercial, he said, they felt they should be able to build up to 80 housing units on the remaining two acres.

    “The Planning Board told us, ‘We can’t interpret this. This law is too ambiguous.’ So we’re saying that it’s eight units per acre [on the residential part of the parcel],” he said.
    http://www.buffalonews.com/city-regi...-code-20140723

    IMO, that was a good move by the town board because when you give the developers an inch they take a mile.

    Georgia L Schlager

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    If Clarence enacted its zoning code as a local law I don't think they can change it or "explain" it by resolution. Don't they have to amend the local law? Wonder what their attorney says? Oh wait...he's a refugee from NFTA. Enough said there!

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    Member gorja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grump View Post
    If Clarence enacted its zoning code as a local law I don't think they can change it or "explain" it by resolution. Don't they have to amend the local law? Wonder what their attorney says? Oh wait...he's a refugee from NFTA. Enough said there!
    The newest local law for Multi-family zoning went into effect in June of last year. They don't seem to be changing the law but clarifying it. They had to use the K.I.S.S. rule for the developers. 8 units per acre on the residential portion of the parcel PERIOD.

    Georgia L Schlager

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    My point is that you can't "clarify" a law in that manner. You have to amend the law so it says what you want it to say. There has to be an amendment to the law, enacted after a public hearing, just like the zoning code was enacted. Personally, I don't give a sh*t what Clarence does with it's zoning code nor do I care if their board follows the law. That's their problem.

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    Member gorja's Avatar
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    If what they did was against the law, surely the developers will attempt to prove it

    Georgia L Schlager

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    Good job Clarence.

    Quote Originally Posted by gorja View Post
    The newest local law for Multi-family zoning went into effect in June of last year. They don't seem to be changing the law but clarifying it. They had to use the K.I.S.S. rule for the developers. 8 units per acre on the residential portion of the parcel PERIOD.
    As we see all too often developers use legal loop wholes to exploit every development they can - its what they do. They find land - and max out how many buildings they can squeeze in = Profits.

    They don't care about the green space, they don't care about environmental issues - they care about return for square inch.

    So why are people surprised the Towns Officials have to explain things in a way a fifth grader could/should understand ?

    Now if Planning Board Officials and Town Board Officials could just learn to say "No" to zoning variances and exceptions !

    Good job Clarence.
    #Dems play musical chairs + patronage and nepotism = entitlement !

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    Quote Originally Posted by 4248 View Post
    As we see all too often developers use legal loop wholes to exploit every development they can - its what they do. They find land - and max out how many buildings they can squeeze in = Profits.

    They don't care about the green space, they don't care about environmental issues - they care about return for square inch.

    So why are people surprised the Towns Officials have to explain things in a way a fifth grader could/should understand ?

    Now if Planning Board Officials and Town Board Officials could just learn to say "No" to zoning variances and exceptions !

    Good job Clarence.
    Perhaps if the geniuses on the Clarence town board had said what they meant in the first place. What a surprise, developers want to make money. I thought thats what most businesses tried to do. My only point is that a town board can't amend a local law by a resolution.

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    It would seem then that many local Town Boards have been doing Illegal Local Law changes !

    Can you site what law states "Local laws cant be changed by the Local Town Board"? Thanks
    #Dems play musical chairs + patronage and nepotism = entitlement !

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    Quote Originally Posted by 4248 View Post
    It would seem then that many local Town Boards have been doing Illegal Local Law changes !

    Can you site what law states "Local laws cant be changed by the Local Town Board"? Thanks
    No law states "Local laws cant be changed by the Local Town Board". But that's not what I said. I said a local law can't be changed by a resolution of the town board. It has to be changed by amending the local law. As to what law says that, look it up yourself.

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    OK sorry I was just trying to see your point - But you already stated you don't care what they do - so why you spitin ?
    #Dems play musical chairs + patronage and nepotism = entitlement !

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