[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City
of Beacon as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Adopted 1-17-1972 as Art. II of Ch. 20 of the 1972 Code
of Ordinances]
[Amended 3-16-1992 by L.L. No. 2-1992; 10-17-2005 by L.L. No. 12-2005; 5-2-2016 by L.L. No.
7-2016]
A.
There shall be a City Planning Board appointed by the Mayor of the City, which Board shall consist of seven members and alternate members as set forth in Article II. The respective terms of the members first appointed shall be one, two or three years from and after appointment. Their successors shall be appointed for terms of three years from and after the expiration of the term of their predecessors in office.
B.
There shall be a City Zoning Board of Appeals appointed by the Mayor of the City, which Board shall consist of five members and alternate members as set forth in Article II. The respective terms of the members first appointed shall be one, two or three years from and after appointment. Their successors shall be appointed for terms of three years from and after the expiration of the term of their predecessors in office.
[Amended 10-17-2005 by L.L. No. 12-2005; 5-2-2016 by L.L. No. 7-2016]
If a vacancy shall occur in either the Planning
Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals, other than by expiration of
term, it shall be filled by appointment by the Mayor with the consent
of the City Council for the unexpired term.
[Amended 10-17-2005 by L.L. No. 12-2005; 5-2-2016 by L.L. No. 7-2016]
A.
Any member of the City Planning Board and any member of the City
Zoning Board of Appeals may be removed by the Mayor for cause and
after a public hearing. The following shall be grounds for removal
for cause:
B.
The Chairperson of the ZBA and the Chairperson of the Planning Board
shall notify the Mayor in writing on or about December 1 in any year
of any member or alternate member, if any, who fails to comply with
the minimum requirements for training in any calendar year. In the
event a member or alternate member of the ZBA or the Planning Board
has failed to complete the minimum training requirements set forth
in § 24-5, then the Mayor may remove such member for cause
as hereinafter provided. The Chairperson of the ZBA and the Chairperson
of the Planning Board shall also promptly notify the Mayor in writing
at any time that a member of the respective Board shall fail to maintain
the minimum attendance at meetings, upon which event the Mayor may
remove such member for cause as hereinafter provided.
C.
The process to remove a member of the Planning Board or Zoning Board
of Appeals shall be as follows:
(1)
Notice. Such member shall be mailed a written notice specifying the
nature of the cause for the member's removal.
(2)
Public hearing. Such notice shall specify a date, not less than 20
nor more than 30 days from the date of mailing such notice, when the
Mayor shall convene and hold a public hearing on whether or not such
member should be removed from service on such board. Such notice shall
specify the time, date and place of such hearing.
(3)
Public notice. Public notice of such hearing shall be published in
the official newspaper of the City, at least five days prior to the
date of the public hearing.
(4)
Conduct of hearing. The public hearing on the charges shall be conducted
before the Mayor. The member shall be given an opportunity, within
the foregoing time constraints, to retain an attorney, present evidence,
call witnesses to refute the charges, and cross-examine witnesses.
A record of such hearing shall be made. The decision of the Mayor
shall be reduced to writing together with specific findings with respect
to each charge against such member. A copy of such decision and such
findings shall be filed in the Office of the City Clerk and mailed
to the member and the respective Chairman of the Board.
[Amended 3-16-1992 by L.L. No. 2-1992; 10-17-2005 by L.L. No. 12-2005]
Members of the City Planning Board and City
Zoning Board of Appeals shall receive no payment for their services
as members of their respective Boards.
[Amended 10-17-2005 by L.L. No. 12-2005]
The Chairman of the City Planning Board and
the Chairman of the City Zoning Board of Appeals shall be designated
by the Mayor or, on failure to do so, shall be elected from and by
their own members.
[Amended 10-17-2005 by L.L. No. 12-2005]
The City Planning Board and the City Zoning
Board of Appeals shall have the power and authority to employ experts
and a staff and to pay for their services and such other expenses
as may be necessary, not exceeding in all the appropriation that may
be made for such Board by the City Council.
[Amended 10-17-2005 by L.L. No. 12-2005]
The City Planning Board and the City Zoning
Board of Appeals may adopt rules and regulations in respect to procedure
before it and in respect to any subject matter over which it has jurisdiction
under this article or any other statute, after public hearing by the
City Planning Board or by the City Zoning Board of Appeals and subject
to the approval of the City Council.
The City Planning Board shall prepare and may
change a comprehensive Master Plan for the development of the entire
area of the City, which Master Plan shall show existing and proposed
streets, bridges and tunnels and approaches thereto, viaducts, parks,
public reservations, roadways in parks, sites for public buildings
and structures, zoning districts, pier head and bulkhead lines, waterways
and routes of public utilities and such other features, existing and
proposed, as will provide for the protection and improvement of the
City and its further growth and development and will afford adequate
facilities for the public housing, transportation, distribution, comfort,
convenience, public health, safety and general welfare of its population.
The Master Plan and all modifications thereof shall be on file in
the office of the City Planning Board, and certified copies thereof
shall be filed in the offices of the City Engineer and City Clerk.
The City Planning Board may advertise and hold
public hearings when it desires, notice of which hearing shall be
advertised at least once in one of the official newspapers or in a
newspaper of general circulation in the City at least five days before
each such hearing.
The authority having final jurisdiction over
any matter in which the City Planning Board also has jurisdiction
shall not proceed to such final action until such City Planning Board
has made its final report thereon to such authority, but, if such
City Planning Board shall not have made its final report thereon within
45 days from the date of reference thereto, the authority having final
jurisdiction may proceed to final action. This section shall not be
construed to prevent the City Council from granting, in any specific
case, such longer period as it may fix within which the City Planning
Board may make its final report, and, if such longer period is granted,
the authority having final jurisdiction shall not, in the absence
of such report, proceed to final action until that longer period shall
have elapsed.
A.
No plan, plat or description showing the layout of any highway or street upon private property or of building lots in connection with or in relation to such highways or streets within the limits of this municipality shall be received for record in the office of the Clerk of Dutchess County until a copy thereof shall have been filed with the City Planning Board and it has certified with relation to its approval or its refusal to approve. Before such approval shall be given, formal offers of cession of all streets, highways and parks not marked by notation on the plat as being retained under private ownership shall be filed with the City Planning Board, and a public hearing shall be held by such Board after being advertised as provided in § 45-9 herein. The City Planning Board may thereupon approve, modify and approve or disapprove of such plat. The approval required by this section or refusal to approve shall take place within 45 days from and after the time of submission of the plat to the City Planning Board for approval; otherwise, such plat shall be deemed to have been approved, and the certificate of the City as to the date of submission of the plat for approval and the failure of the City Planning Board to take action within such time shall be issued by the City Clerk on demand and shall be sufficient in lieu of the written endorsement or other evidence of an approval herein required. The ground for refusal shall be stated in the records of the City Planning Board. The approval by the City Planning Board or the certificate of the City Clerk as to the date of such submission of the plat and the failure of the City Planning Board to take action thereon within 45 days shall expire 90 days after the date of such approval or of such certificate, unless, within such ninety-day period, such plat shall have been duly filed or recorded by the owner in the office of the County Clerk. The City Clerk is hereby authorized and charged with the duty of filing in the office of the County Clerk a certificate showing that the City Planning Board has been so authorized and that the City Clerk shall issue the aforementioned certificate of failure to take action as aforesaid.
B.
Before the approval of the City Planning Board of
a plat, such plat shall show, in proper cases and when required by
the City Planning Board, a park or parks suitably located for playground
or other recreational purposes. In approving such plats, the City
Planning Board shall require that the streets and highways shall be
of sufficient width and suitable grade and shall be suitably located
to accommodate the prospective traffic, to afford adequate light and
air, to facilitate fire protection and to provide access of fire-fighting
equipment to buildings to be coordinated so as to compose a convenient
system conforming to the Master Plan; that the land shown on such
plats shall be of such a character that it can be used safely for
building purposes without danger to health or peril from fire, flood
or other menace; that suitable monuments have been placed at such
block corners and other necessary points as may be required by the
City Planning Board, and the location thereof is shown on the map
of such plat; that the parks shall be of reasonable size for neighborhood
playgrounds or other recreational uses; that all streets or other
public places shown on such plats shall be suitably graded and paved;
and that sidewalks, streetlighting standards, curbs, gutters, street
trees, water mains, sanitary sewers and storm drains or combined sewers
shall be installed in accordance with standards, specifications and
procedures acceptable to the appropriate municipal departments or
that, alternatively, a performance bond sufficient to cover the full
cost of the same as estimated by the City Planning Board or other
appropriate municipal department designated by the City Planning Board
shall be furnished to the municipality by the owner; provided, however,
that the City Planning Board may waive, subject to appropriate conditions
and guaranties, for such period as it may determine, the provision
of any or all such improvements as, in its judgment of the special
circumstances of a particular plat or plats, are not requisite in
the interests of the public health, safety and general welfare. Such
performance bond shall be issued by a bonding or surety company approved
by the City Attorney of the City or a performance bond executed by
the owner with security acceptable to the legislative body and shall
also be approved by the City Attorney as to sufficiency and manner
of execution. Such performance bond shall run for a term to be fixed
by the City Planning Board, but in no case for a longer term than
three years; provided, however, that the term of the performance bond
may be extended by the City Planning Board with consent of the parties
thereto. If the City Planning Board shall decide at any time during
the term of the performance bond that the extent of building development
that has taken place in the subdivision is not sufficient to warrant
all the improvements covered by such performance bond or that required
improvements have been installed as provided in this section and required
by the City Planning Board in sufficient amount to warrant reduction
in the face amount of such bond, the City Planning Board, after due
notice and public hearing, may modify its requirements for any and
all such improvements, and the face value of such performance bond
shall thereupon be reduced by an appropriate amount so that the new
face value will cover the cost in full of the amended list of improvements
required by the City Planning Board, and any security deposited with
the bond may be reduced proportionately. In the event that any required
improvements have not been installed within the term of the performance
bond, the legislative body may thereupon declare the performance bond
in default and collect the sum remaining thereunder, and, upon the
receipt of the proceeds thereof, the City shall install such improvements
as are covered by such performance bond and commensurate with the
building development that has taken place in the subdivision but not
exceeding in cost the amount of such proceeds.
C.
In making such determination regarding streets, highways,
parks and required improvements, the City Planning Board shall take
into consideration the prospective character of the development, whether
dense residence, open residence, business or industrial.
D.
Insofar as provisions of law, other than those contained
in this article, require approval of a plat, map or plan of land as
prerequisite of its record, or to allow it to be recorded, such provisions
shall not be in force insofar as they apply to plats, maps and plans
of land within the limit of this municipality.
The City Planning Board is authorized and empowered, simultaneously with approval of such plat mentioned in § 45-11, to confirm the zoning regulations of the land so platted as shown on the Official Zoning Map of the City and to make such reasonable change therein as may be necessary or proper to improve or protect the interests of the City in its public health, safety and general welfare.
A.
For the purpose of providing for the future growth
and development of the City and affording adequate facilities for
the housing, transportation, distribution, comfort, convenience, safety,
health and welfare of its population, the City Planning Board is hereby
authorized and empowered to approve the development of plats, entirely
or partially undeveloped and which have been filed in the office of
the Dutchess County Clerk prior to the appointment of the City Planning
Board on October 6, 1958.
B.
Prior to taking action in accordance with the above
authority, the City Planning Board shall prepare and adopt an amendment
or amendments to the City's Land Subdivision Regulations[1] so as to establish the procedures and standards to be
followed in identifying such entirely or partially undeveloped plats
and replanning them.
[Adopted 6-3-2002 by L.L. No. 20-2002]
[Amended 5-2-2016 by L.L.
No. 7-2016]
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
An individual appointed by the Mayor of the City with the
consent of the City Council to serve on the City Planning Board and
Zoning Board of Appeals when a regular member is unable to participate
on an application or matter before the respective Board, as provided
herein.
An individual appointed by the Mayor of the City with the
consent of the City Council to serve on the City Planning Board or
Zoning Board of Appeals.
The Zoning Board of Appeals of the City of Beacon as established by the City Council under § 223-54 pursuant to the provisions of § 81 of the General City Law.
[Amended 5-2-2016 by L.L.
No. 7-2016]
A.
The Beacon Council members hereby enact this article to provide a
process for appointing alternate members of the Planning Board and
Zoning Board of Appeals. These individuals would serve when members
are absent or unable to participate on an application or matter before
the respective Board.
B.
Alternate members of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals
shall be appointed by the Mayor of the City with the consent of the
City Council or other duly authorized appointing authority for a term
of three years.
C.
The Chairperson of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals
may designate an alternate to substitute for a member when such member
is absent or unable to participate on an application or matter before
the Board. When so designated, the alternate member shall possess
all the powers and responsibilities of such member of the Board. Such
designation shall be entered into the minutes of the initial Planning
Board and Zoning Board of Appeals meeting at which the substitution
is made.
D.
All provisions of state law relating to Planning Board or Zoning
Board of Appeals member eligibility, vacancy in office, removal, compatibility
of office and service on other boards, as well as any provision of
a local law/local ordinance relating to training, continuing education,
compensation and attendance, shall also apply to alternate members.
This article is hereby adopted pursuant to the
provisions of § 10 of the New York State Municipal Home
Rule Law and § 10 of the New York State Statute of Local
Governments. It is the intent of the City Council pursuant to § 10
of the New York State Municipal Home Rule Law to supersede the provisions
of:
If any provisions of this article are held to
be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid by any court of competent
jurisdiction, the remaining provisions of this article shall remain
in effect.
