Tonight (2017-04-24) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Zoning Board.
The meeting was an odd mix of encouraging and sad at the same time.
Someone was in to get an interpretation of the code. In particular, does #38 of the Table of Use Regulations Nonresidential Districts allow (or deny) pet grooming. To jump right to the conclusion, no action was taken. No interpretation was offered, either for or against. If there had been one, it would have been a ‘No’, but no motion was made. One point for sad.
I believe everyone in the room thought the desired business was a good use of an otherwise vacant storefront on main street. But due to absent board members, and their default abstaining on all votes, everyone present would have had to vote ‘yes’ on any action. In discussion, that was clearly not going to happen. One board member would have clearly voted against interpreting ‘Personal Service Shop’ to include ‘Pet Grooming’ (and another was on the fence). Their stated reason was concern about future lawsuits. Government fear of the people is one point for encouraging.
Both the village planning and zoning boards have a member that, in many ways, is the same. Individuals who have been here, and involved, for so many years they offer useful historical perspective on the topics being discussed. A valuable resource for the board, and by extension the village. I don’t think either of these people would make good chairmen of their respective boards. It takes a certain mindset to herd cats and keep to the topic regardless of any distractions. This works well for the planning board, as this member can look at things from a different viewpoint without having to maintain order. Unfortunately, this person is the chairman of the zoning board. I enjoy the stories and random tangents, and usually hang around after the meeting just to hear more of them. For the applicant or anyone else in the room? I suspect they want to stick to the task at hand and not wander down memory lane. Another point for sad.
While the applicant did not get the interpretation they were looking for, there was discussion about changing the code. This focused on how the code was hopelessly outdated in many ways. What are the odds we will again have need of a railroad station? I was glad to hear people acknowledge flaws in the code and discuss plans to correct them. Hopefully they will take care of 190-3 while they are at it. Change the failure state from ‘the property owner is breaking the law’ to ‘I don’t have to like it, but it’s not against the law’. Another point for encouraging.
Unfortunately, none of this is of any use to the business trying to expand in the village. You may read about ‘stifling innovation’ or ‘discouraging growth’, but I got to see it tonight. The fastest things may work out is mid-June, and odds are it will be months later then that (if at all). Which pretty much kills this planned filling of an empty window. Maybe these people have the endurance and will to stick it out, maybe not. Another point for sad.
Interesting meeting, interesting discussion. As stated at the top, odd mix of encouraging and sad.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the April 24th, 2017 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Zoning Board.