[Adopted 5-10-2005 by L.L. No. 4-2005 (Ch. 7 of the 1987
Code)]
The Town Board of the Town of North Castle hereby finds that
it is in the best interests of the citizens of the Town of North Castle
and protective of their health, safety and economic and general welfare
to enact this article for the creation of an Architectural Review
Board (hereinafter referred to as "ARB"), empowered to ensure high
standards for the visual environment of the Town of North Castle.
The Town Board hereby finds that effective action by the ARB in inhibiting
development deleterious to the visual environment will prevent loss
of tax revenue to the Town of North Castle which it would otherwise
receive and will prevent destruction of the proper balance between
the taxable value of real property and the cost of Town services provided
therefor. It is the intent of the Town Board to prevent excessive
uniformity of exterior building design in commercial, municipal, recreational
or residential structures where such uniformity shall be deemed inappropriate
and detrimental to the visual environment. It is also the intent of
the Town Board to prevent excessive dissimilarity of exterior building
design in commercial, municipal, recreational or residential structures
where such dissimilarity shall be deemed inappropriate and detrimental
to the visual environment. It is the intent of the Town Board to preserve
the aesthetic value of natural and man-made features and structures
and to prevent the harmful effects of potentially unattractive or
inappropriate projects and the use of potentially unattractive or
inappropriate building materials insofar as they may affect the visual
environment. The Town Board finds that it benefits the interest of
public welfare to ensure high standards of quality of design for commercial,
municipal, recreational and residential structures, exterior landscaping
and development planning, and hereby enacts this article to achieve
the above-stated purpose.
A.
The ARB shall be appointed by the Town Board of the Town of North
Castle and shall consist of five members, all of whom shall be residents
of the Town of North Castle. No member of the ARB shall be an officer
or employee of the Town of North Castle. Upon the expiration of the
term of each current member of the Town's existing five-member ARB
in office, his or her successor shall be appointed or reappointed
to a term of five years. Members shall serve without compensation.
Vacancies shall be filled by the Town Board for unexpired terms of
any members whose positions on the ARB shall become vacant.
[Amended 5-11-2011 by L.L. No. 4-2011; 11-18-2015 by L.L. No. 9-2015]
B.
One member of the ARB shall be designated by the Town Board as Chairman
of the ARB and shall serve as Chairman at the pleasure of the Town
Board. A new Chairman, or reappointed Chairman, shall be designated
by every new Town Board at its regular biennial reorganization meeting
in the January following local elections.
C.
At least one member of the ARB shall be an architect registered in
the State of New York. The other members shall be chosen for qualification
and training in the fields of landscape architecture, interior or
exterior design, municipal planning, municipal government, other professionally
or aesthetically related disciplines or civic interest.
[Amended 5-14-2008 by L.L. No. 7-2008]
D.
The Town Board will designate a recording secretary of the ARB. The
ARB shall keep a record of all proceedings. The record shall be typewritten.
The record shall show the vote of each member on every question. If
a member is absent or fails to vote upon a motion, the record shall
indicate that fact. Records of proceedings shall be approved by the
ARB and initialed by the Chairman of the ARB at the next regularly
scheduled meeting of the ARB and shall be submitted to the Town Clerk
within five business days of that approval. Thereafter, records of
the ARB proceedings shall be available for public inspection.
E.
Three members of the ARB shall constitute a quorum for the transaction
of business. The ARB shall operate under such rules and regulations
as it may adopt insofar as they do not supersede any requirements
of this article and insofar as they guarantee due process to any applicant.
The ARB shall schedule meetings at regular intervals no less frequently
than once monthly and in accordance with all provisions of the New
York State Open Meetings Law,[1] with the proviso that no meeting shall be required if
no cases have been placed on the agenda as of five business days prior
to the scheduled meeting start. Please note specific cutoff dates
for submission of the minimum required ARB submission documents prior
to the actual meeting of the ARB. Submission documents received after
a specific cutoff date will be scheduled for the next following meeting
of the ARB.
[Amended 5-11-2011 by L.L. No. 4-2011; 11-18-2015 by L.L. No. 9-2015]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Public Officers Law Art. 7.
F.
The Chairman or Acting Chairman of the ARB shall have the authority
to convene special sessions of the ARB. Forty-eight hours' notice
of such a meeting must be provided to all members. All ARB proceedings
shall be open to the public. The public and the press shall receive
notification of all planned proceedings of the ARB in accordance with
the provisions of the New York State Open Meetings Law.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: See Public Officers Law Art. 7.
G.
The Chairman of the ARB may appoint any member of the ARB to be Acting
Chairman for any meeting which may be held during the temporary absence
or temporary incapacity of the Chairman. Should the Chairman fail
to make this designation, the position of Acting Chairman shall be
assumed by the most senior member of the ARB in terms of service on
that Board.
H.
The Building Inspector shall act in an advisory capacity to the ARB
and may act on the advice of the ARB, but shall not be considered
a member of the ARB. It shall be the responsibility of the Building
Inspector to prepare the agenda for each meeting in consultation with
the Chairman or Acting Chairman for the ARB. The prepared agenda shall
be made available to all members of the ARB, the Town Clerk and the
press no less than five business days prior to the scheduled meeting.
[Amended 11-18-2015 by L.L. No. 9-2015]
A.
Projects subject to review and approval of the ARB.
(1)
The following projects shall require ARB approval prior to the issuance
of a building permit:
[Amended 5-14-2008 by L.L. No. 7-2008; 11-18-2015 by L.L. No. 9-2015]
(b)
All residential renovation or alteration construction projects
reviewed by the Planning Board or sent to the ARB by the Residential
Project Review Committee.
(c)
All new commercial, religious, municipal, institutional, public
use/benefit or similar building type projects.
(d)
All exterior alterations or renovation projects of commercial,
religious, municipal, institutional, public use/benefit, special district
or similar building type projects that alter the exterior appearance
of the existing structure.
(e)
All new or altered building-mounted or freestanding signs.
(f)
All other projects as the Building Inspector or Planning Board
or Town Board may designate.
(2)
Please note that review and approval of the Town of North Castle
Planning Board may also be required, subject to its specific review
procedures.
B.
Types of review of the ARB. The ARB conducts two types of review:
(1)
Preliminary/conceptual review. In an effort to assist applicants
with development of their project towards a solution that will meet
with the approval of the ARB, the ARB will review a project while
it is in the formative or planning stage(s). The ARB shall provide
commentary on its impression of the project, special areas of concern
that should be addressed, and may provide advice as to any other areas
of the project that may require special attention or documentation.
While applicants submitting a project to the ARB for preliminary/conceptual
review may submit any documents they feel are appropriate, applicants
are encouraged to include, at a minimum, schematic floor plan(s),
preliminary building elevation(s), photographs of the site, and a
site plan.
(2)
Standard review. Standard review shall be a review before at least
three attending members of the ARB where it will act on the project
application. After its standard review, the ARB shall conduct a vote
of the attending members, the result of which will be to either: approve
the project, with or without conditions; disapprove the project, stating
the reason(s) for disapproval; reserve a final decision on the project,
subject to requiring the applicant to submit additional documentation
or to make revisions to the project for resubmission and reconsideration
at a future meeting of the ARB. To secure an approval of the ARB,
a minimum of three members must vote in support or in favor of the
project. Determinations of the ARB shall be advisory to the Planning
Board on any matter for which the Planning Board has site plan approval
authority.
[Amended 11-18-2015 by L.L. No. 9-2015]
C.
ARB submission procedures. The following are the submission procedures
necessary to submit a project to the ARB:
(1)
Submit a Building Department application, architectural construction
documents and application fees to the Building Department in accordance
with its requirements.
(2)
Submit all or at least the minimum required ARB submission documents (described in Subsection E below) to the Building Department, as described below, by the applicable ARB meeting cutoff date for the meeting the applicant desires to attend.
(3)
Attend the scheduled ARB meeting. The applicant must bring and present
all other required ARB submission documents to the ARB meeting. The
applicant is encouraged to have both the applicant/owner and architect/design
team appear to present the project to the ARB.
D.
Required ARB submission documents, by project type. The following constitute the required ARB submission documents which are required for submission to the ARB for its standard review for each specific type of project. Refer also to Subsection E, Detailed submission element requirements, of this section for specific requirements pertaining to each submission element.
(1)
New residential projects — single-family structures
and/or new accessory buildings:
(2)
New residential projects — multifamily structures:
(3)
Residential alteration projects under 600 square feet in expansion/ground
footprint area (Note: 600 square feet pertains to any new building
construction, excluding decks or patios, that will cover previously
exposed grade or earth.):
(4)
Residential alteration projects 600 square feet and over in expansion/ground
footprint area (Note: 600 square feet pertains to any new building
construction, excluding decks or patios, that will cover previously
exposed grade or earth.):
E.
Detailed submission element requirements. Noted below is detailed information pertaining to submission requirements for each element of the required ARB submission documents that are to be submitted to the ARB: {Applicants please note: The Building Department application, the architectural construction documents [Subsection E(1)] and the site plan [Subsection E(2)] constitute the minimum required ARB submission documents which must be submitted to the Building Department by the published cutoff date for a specific meeting of the ARB. The applicant must bring all other required ARB submission documents to the ARB meeting for presentation to the ARB. Inadequate, incomplete or missing documents, or failure to bring the required ARB submission documents to the ARB meeting, will result in the project not being reviewed by the ARB at that meeting.}
(1)
Architectural construction documents.
(a)
Architectural construction documents are to show all floor plans,
building elevations, sections, details, etc.
(b)
Floor plans shall be provided for each floor level, prepared
at a scale no smaller than 1/4 inch equals one foot zero inches, suitably
dimensioned, showing all building elements, walls, doors, windows,
etc.
(c)
Building elevations shall be provided for each building exposure,
prepared at a scale no smaller than 1/4 inch equals one foot zero
inches, suitably dimensioned, showing all appropriate details, walls,
windows, doors and finished grade lines.
(d)
Elevations shall also indicate line of average grade and shall
be dimensioned to indicate building heights in accordance with the
Zoning Ordinance[3] for:
(f)
Architectural construction documents shall be prepared by and
bear the seal and signature of a licensed and registered New York
State architect or New York State professional engineer.
(2)
Site plan.
(a)
The site plan shall be prepared at a scale no smaller than one
inch equals 30 feet and shall show all property lines, building/zoning
setback lines, extent of wetlands and associated buffer areas, topography
in one-foot or two-foot increments, suitably dimensioned.
(b)
The site plan shall depict the location of all structure(s)
on the project site, including "existing to remain" and new structures,
and all impervious surfaces, drives and walkways, other paved or gravel
areas, pools, tennis courts, utilities, sanitary septic disposal system
and related fields, major site features, etc.
(c)
For addition projects, area of the new addition shall be crosshatched
or otherwise highlighted to distinguish the addition from the extent
of the existing structure.
(d)
For projects where the existing structure(s) or portion of the
existing structure(s) is intended to be removed or demolished, the
perimeter of the existing structure(s) shall be noted on the site
plan with a heavy dotted line, noted as "line of existing structure(s)."
(e)
The site plan shall indicate the location of all structures
located on adjoining properties and within 400 feet of the subject
project's property line.
(3)
Landscape plan.
(a)
The landscape plan shall be prepared at a scale no smaller than
one inch equals 30 feet and shall show the extent of all existing
significant trees, bushes, ground cover and other plant growth, and
other significant site features, rock outcroppings, etc., as well
as all extent of impervious surfaces, drives, walkways, other paved
or gravel areas, pools, tennis courts, retaining and/or stone walls,
and above-grade utilities, etc.
(b)
The landscape plan shall indicate proposed new landscaping design,
hardscape and walkway materials, and existing and new plantings; include
a schedule of plantings to indicate both Latin and common names of
proposed plantings, quantities, size/caliper/pot size, etc.
(c)
The landscape plan shall indicate the extent of clearing of
existing trees and preservation of existing trees to remain, as defined
elsewhere in the Town Code.
(d)
The landscape plan shall be prepared by and bear the seal and
signature of a licensed and registered New York State architect or
landscape architect.
[Amended 5-14-2008 by L.L. No. 7-2008]
(4)
Photographs:
(a)
Provide color photographs of the properties and structures immediately
opposite the applicant's front yard property line, and other properties
and structures immediately adjoining or abutting the applicant's property.
(5)
Perspective drawing/model:
(a)
Provide a black-and-white line perspective drawing of the proposed
building from a point of view which effectively illustrates the building
massing, relationship to the site, and overall composition, context
and form of the building.
(b)
Requirement for submission of a perspective drawing is intended
to show a true perspective construction; "one-point" elevation perspectives
are not acceptable.
(c)
In lieu of a perspective drawing, a scale model of the building/site
may also be submitted.
(6)
Materials samples:
(a)
Provide samples of principal materials to be used in the building
exterior, to include samples of siding, paint/stain colors, roof materials,
window trim colors and, if possible, materials for any special foundation
treatments.
(b)
For signage applications, including samples of all principal
signage materials, lettering, supporting posts, metal tubing, etc.;
if illuminated, provide details concerning method and style of lighting
fixtures, type/color (sodium, mercury, metal-halide, incandescent,
etc.) of lamps, etc.
F.
Other information. While legally permissible under the New York State
Education Law, construction documents submitted for review by the
ARB may bear the seal and signature of a licensed and registered New
York State professional engineer. However, owing to the importance
of the principles of building design, aesthetics, use of materials
and color, and the significant training and study afforded to such
principles as a part of their formal education and licensure, it is
strongly suggested that applicants retain and utilize the services
of a licensed and registered New York State architect in the development
of their project and creation of the required ARB submission documents.
Any person aggrieved by an action of the ARB may take an appeal
therefrom to the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of North Castle
in the same manner as is provided for in the case of appeals regarding
zoning requirements. The Zoning Board of Appeals, after proceeding
in the same manner as is provided for other appeals before it and
with the same power and authority now vested in it under the provisions
of law, may affirm, modify or reverse an appealed action of the ARB.
