Rules are just a part of life. They begin at birth. Without rules chaos would rule.
So often, we forget how lucky we are to live in this great country. Sure, it’s not perfect, but overall, we’re pretty darn lucky to live where we do.
Every municipal government, from the federal, state, county, city, town and village, each have their own rules for people to live by.
This idea can go even smaller to the rules of property owners’ associations, which members have to obey.
The Town of Webb is no different than most townships.
We have rules, broadly referred to as local law.
Within our local law are lots of rules and standards, one of which is called the Zoning Ordinance. It’s probably the biggest rule of our local law.
As taken directly from the beginning of the Zoning Ordinance is stated its purpose…
“The purpose of this Ordinance is to promote the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the community and thus to lessen congestion in the streets;
“To secure safety from fire, flood, panic and other dangers;
“To provide adequate light and air;
“To prevent the overcrowding of land;
“To avoid undue concentration of population;
“To facilitate the adequate provision of transportation, water, sewerage, schools, parks and other public services;
“To protect and preserve aesthetic values and natural resources;
“And to encourage the most appropriate use of land and to channel and direct growth throughout the Town, under and pursuant to the Town Law and the General Municipal Law of New York State as amended, and in furtherance of the purposes of the Adirondack Park Agency Act of 1973 as amended.
“This Ordinance shall apply to the erection, construction, reconstruction, altera-tion, use and change in use of any building, structure or appurtenant system, and any lot, plot or parcel of land used, occupied or otherwise maintained in the Town of Webb as herein provided.”
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There will always be those who argue that local laws, especially zoning ordinances, infringe on their right to do with their property what they wish.
The problem with that idea is that all too often what one person may do on their property can have detrimental effects on other people’s property close by, or even within the community.
As in any town, too often the local Code Official finds themself in difficult situations.
Balancing the right of one property owner with the right of others to enjoy their own property lawfully is a constant challenge.
Everyone has the right to develop their property in a lawful manner. That’s why permits are required.
The permit, when issued, indicates that the proposed work will meet the minimum standards of local law when completed as planned.
This article is not intended to pick on any one property as there are hundreds, even thousands of permits on the books, some completed many still open.
Certainly a couple of situations prompted the idea for this article. Which is, at what point does the process of building a house on one property adversely impact the rights of others?
Everyone knows that a construction project has its various stages of messiness. Dirt, activity, noise, commotion, unsightliness are all part of the process.
However, how long should it take? Six months, a year, two years, three years, ten years??? What is reasonable?
This office goes out of our way to try and help people get what they want, within the boundaries of local law.
We will defend the applicant knowing things are progressing appropriately. This we refer to as “letting the rope out.”
However, there is a point when things start to go the other way, and that lawful project becomes a legitimate problem in the neighborhood.
The world would be a better place if neighbors helped neighbors and everyone respected the rights of others.
This applies to the impact and inconvenience to a neighborhood of lawful construction projects AND respecting the peace, tranquility and quality of life in the neighborhood during that project.