Planning spring projects
All holiday seasons, any code office is usually pretty quiet—hardly any phone calls, very little walk-in traffic, even the mail is light.
Complaints are way down because nobody is here to complain.
Walk-in traffic is down because of the same… most property owners just are not here.
Or is it that building projects are not a priority right now? Good grief, why be thinking of that construction project now, when it’s 10 below zero and three feet of snow on the ground?
Actually, now IS the perfect time to be working with architects and engineers, getting those applications put together and submitted.
Hammer out any issues preventing the issuance of a building permit now, not when the weather turns warm and everybody is doing the same thing.
History has proven that we will get a trickle of applications and inquiries from now through March. After that everything picks up.
Once temperatures actually stay near 50 degrees and the snow piles are gone [you hope], most code offices are flooded with inquiries, applications, plan reviews, in-office meetings, on-site meetings and enforcement actions… projects starting without permits.
To ensure your project will begin on time only takes planning ahead… and now is that perfect time.
Several applications were received just after New Year’s Day. One, an application for an area variance and the other a four lot subdivision.
Neither is complicated, but both require plan review, regulatory review, scheduling of Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals.
That’s not complicated, but time is involved.
By local and New York State law, when either the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals has jurisdiction, the scheduling of a Public Hearing is required.
As with any Public Hearing, a legal notice is placed in the local paper with a very brief description of the application.
This legal notice must be in the paper at least ten days prior to the hearing date.
Here, the local paper is only printed weekly, not daily. These notices must be submitted to the paper in time to meet the paper’s publication deadline.
In general, the deadline for the legal notice is about three weeks before the scheduled hearing. All this stuff takes time.
Not every permit issued needs board action, in fact probably less than 10 to 15 percent.
But how does the applicant know if a board approval is required? By planning ahead and by communicating with your local code office.
This concept is the same no matter what town, village or city you are in.
Here in the Town of Webb, we have two local papers. Both are published weekly. Our Planning Boards meets twice a month, the first and third Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. in the Park Ave meeting room.
The Zoning Board of Appeals meets once a month, the fourth Tuesday at the same time and place.
These are regularly scheduled meeting dates and do not change.
Additional meetings may be scheduled on rare occasions, but all the same applies as far as proper advertising. Town of Webb alternates year-to-year which paper to advertise in.
To help you schedule your needs, the code office has a printed list of application deadline dates for all regularly schedules meetings for both boards for the ensuing year.
This can be mailed, or emailed to you if needed. Hopefully, soon to be on-line as well.
Both boards’ meetings are open to the public. The Planning Board will often be introduced to an application before the Public Hearing is scheduled.
These are called preliminary or sketch plan type meetings. They give the applicant and the board an opportunity to discuss and identify different issues involved.
A hearing is usually only scheduled when both the board and the applicant agree that very little about the application will change, therefore the details and particulars are ready to be taken to the public.
The Zoning Board of Appeals does not, and cannot, operate that way. They can’t render their opinion beforehand; they can only act on an application as presented.
This difference is because the Planning Board is entertaining something that is allowed by local law, however subject to oversight and approval.
The Zoning Board of Appeals is entertaining something that is outright prohibited by local law, thus the term ‘variance.’