[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Jamestown 3-26-1962 as Ch. 23 of the 1962 Code.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Appointment — See § C-8.
Oaths of office — See § C-11.
Parks, Recreation and Conservation Commission — See Ch. 57.
Public works — See Ch. 68.
Parks and public lands — See Ch. 193.
Streets and sidewalks — See Ch. 252.
Subdivision of land — See Ch. 260.
Zoning — See Ch. 300.
[1]
Editor's Note: This chapter was amended 7-24-1972 to delete original Sections 23.17, 23.22, 23.23, 23.24 and 23.25.
The City shall be governed by the provisions of General City Law §§ 26 through 39.
[Amended 2-10-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006; 8-28-2017; 11-25-2019 by L.L. No. 1-2020]
The City shall prepare, adopt and file an Official Map within the authority and meaning of General City Law § 26. It shall be filed in the proper public offices as the first and initial Official Map of the City for the purposes contemplated in General City Law §§ 26 through 39. The City Clerk/Treasurer is directed to file in the office of the County Clerk an instrument certifying that the City has established an Official Map and Plan as provided in General City Law § 26.
The City Planning Commission is hereby created. The Mayor shall appoint seven members of the Commission in accordance with § C-8 of the City Charter.[1] The Commission shall exercise the powers and perform the duties vested in it by the Code of the City of Jamestown and §§ 26 through 39 of the General City Law, except as the Council holds in abeyance certain powers or reserves the right to pass upon certain decisions of the Commission under the discretionary provisions of such sections.
[1]
Editor's Note: See Charter § C-8.
[Amended 2-10-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006; 8-28-2017; 11-25-2019 by L.L. No. 1-2020]
In accordance with General City Law § 32, the Commission shall be vested with the power to approve plats showing new streets or highways pursuant to General City Law §§ 32, 33 and 34. The City Clerk/Treasurer is directed to file with the County Clerk an instrument certifying that the Commission has been authorized to approve plats and to exercise the powers in relation to the same provided by General City Law §§ 26 through 39 and that the Building Inspector is the City official who shall issue, in the name of the Commission, a certificate of failure to take action in relation to such plats, within the meaning of such § 32.
The Commission is authorized to exercise the powers contemplated by the General City Law § 37 relating to the authority of the City Council to grant to the Commission the power to make changes in zoning regulations.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 300, Zoning.
The Building Inspector shall be the executive officer of the Commission. He shall issue the permits, certificates and instruments contemplated by General City Law §§ 26 through 39. He shall retain copies in his office as part of the public records of the City.
[Amended 2-10-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006; 8-28-2017; 11-25-2019 by L.L. No. 1-2020]
A. 
The City Clerk/Treasurer shall act as secretary of the Commission. He shall keep minutes of its proceedings and publish the same in the official paper annually designated by the City Council.
B. 
Following the publication of the official minutes as provided by the preceding subsection, the City Clerk/Treasurer shall transmit a copy of the printed minutes to each Commissioner, the Corporation Counsel, the Building Inspector, the Director of Public Works, the Director of Assessments and the Superintendent of Public Utilities. He is authorized to certify minutes of the proceedings of the Commission upon the request of the person in interest.
The Director of Public Works shall act as the technical advisor of the Commission, and his staff shall prepare the maps, descriptions and records required by it.
The Corporation Counsel shall act as the legal advisor of the Commission.
A. 
Determination of rules of procedure; records to be kept; stenographer. The Commission shall determine the rules of its procedure. It shall keep a record of its hearings and the testimony and statements of persons relative to proposals pending before it. The stenographer assigned to the Board of Appeals shall act as the stenographer of the Commission.
B. 
Use of parliamentary procedure. Except as otherwise provided by this chapter or by the laws of the state, the Chairman shall conduct all proceedings of the Commission under the customary rules of parliamentary procedure.
C. 
Method of making motions; recording of vote. All proceedings, decisions and resolutions of the Commission shall be initiated by the appropriate motion of one Commissioner. The motion need not be seconded. The vote upon every motion, resolution and decision shall be recorded by the City Clerk/Treasurer.
[Amended 2-10-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006; 8-28-2017; 11-25-2019 by L.L. No. 1-2020]
A. 
The members of the Commission shall take and file with the City Clerk/Treasurer their oaths of office in the form provided by the City Charter.[1]
[Amended 2-10-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006; 8-28-2017; 11-25-2019 by L.L. No. 1-2020]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Charter § C-11.
B. 
The members shall serve without compensation but shall be paid for necessary expenses in the performance of the duties of their office. No administrative or appointive officer of the City required to render services to the Commission under this chapter shall receive additional compensation.
C. 
The Chairman is authorized to administer the oath to persons appearing before the Commission and submitting verbal statements in connection with applications or other matters pending before it. The stenographer shall transcribe all statements of such persons as part of the record of the proceedings.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: Former § 61-12, Stenographer, which immediately followed this section, was repealed 11-23-1992 by ordinance which also renumbered former §§ 61-13 and 61-14 as §§ 61-12 and 61-13, respectively.
[Amended 2-10-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006; 8-28-2017; 11-25-2019 by L.L. No. 1-2020]
The Chairman is authorized to call special meetings at any time. Two members of the Commission shall have the right to invoke a special meeting by filing a written request with the City Clerk/Treasurer stating the purpose of the meeting. The City Clerk/Treasurer, upon receiving such request, shall give written notice to each member of the time of the meeting. The City Clerk/Treasurer shall give 24 hours' written notice of each regular and special meeting. He shall mail this written notice to each member of the Commission, Corporation Counsel, Building Inspector, Director of Public Works and stenographer to the Commission, to the official newspaper designated annually by the City Council and to citizens or other individuals having particular matters pending before the Commission on the day of the proposed meeting.
A. 
All petitions or applications authorized by General City Law §§ 26 through 39 and this chapter shall be in writing, signed by the owner of the property or his agent, with full address specified. Three copies of each petition or application shall be submitted, accompanied by maps, whenever possible, indicative of the proposal in detail. These shall be submitted to the Building Inspector in the first instance. If the application or petition is of routine nature, he shall grant the same, if clearly within his authority and power, but if the power or authority of the Building Inspector is doubtful in relation to the same, he shall submit the petition or application, with such additional information as he deems expedient, together with his recommendations, to the ensuing meeting of the Commission. He shall communicate the decision of the Commission, in writing, to the applicant.
B. 
Applications for the approval of plat or allotment maps, within the contemplation of General City Law §§ 32, 33, 36 and 37 and sections of this Code in relation thereto, shall be submitted, in writing, in triplicate, accompanied by appropriate maps and blueprints based upon the survey of a competent civil engineer and under his certificate, showing the complete dimension of the property and its boundaries, the proposed layout of individual lots and the suggested park, recreational, school or other civic centers or sites with the proposed lands to be devoted to mercantile, factory or other purposes not permitted within the residential district under Chapter 300, Zoning. The Building Inspector shall not entertain these applications unless detailed, complete and adequate petitions, maps and data are thus submitted in triplicate. Following the submission of these applications in the required form, the Building Inspector shall at once convene the Director of Public Works, Director of Assessments, Chairman of the Board of Public Utilities and Superintendent of Public Utilities in conference for the purpose of determining and certifying the following:
(1) 
Whether sewers and water mains exist on the allotment and, if not, whether such sewers and water mains may be constructed through the allotment on a sound financial basis and the prospective income therefrom both in taxes and rentals, together with a statement as to the probable date as to when the City Council and the Board of Public Utilities will be prepared to extend water mains and sewers through the particular tract of land.
(2) 
Whether the proposed streets or highways to intersect the allotment have been worked and, if not worked, whether the owner is willing to work the same under the uniform rules of the City, and if the owner is not willing to do so, the cost of placing such proposed streets or highways in condition apart from the assessable cost of paying the same.
(3) 
If the allotment is in the residential district, whether the proposed layout will promote the convenience and welfare of the inhabitants of the City within the meaning of Section 33 of Chapter 690 of the Laws of 1926.
(4) 
Whether the proposed layout of the allotment within the residential district contemplates certain mercantile sites and other community service sites, whether the administrative officers specified recommend such sites and just what specific variations will be required in the provisions of Chapter 300, Zoning, otherwise applicable to the particular plat or allotment.
(5) 
Whether an existing allotment map is already on file in the office of the Director of Assessments and in the office of the County Clerk, to what extent the proposed allotment map as forming a part of the Official Map of the City changes that situation, and the recommendation of the Director of Assessments in relation thereto.
(6) 
All other data or information relative to the proposal available in the administrative departments of the City, together with the suggestions and recommendations of the specified administrative officers in relation to the proposal.
C. 
Since a final decision must be reached within 45 days by the Commission on applications for the approval of plat or allotment maps, the Building Inspector is directed to perform the acts and procure the information contemplated by this chapter with all convenient speed. When such information is reduced to writing, he shall give notice of a hearing upon such applications by printing a notice in the official paper designated annually by the City Council showing the time, place and the nature of the proposal to be considered not less than 10 days prior to the date fixed for such hearing. The notice shall state that citizens may be heard for or against the proposed allotment plat and map. The notice shall be signed by the Building Inspector, and, in addition to being transmitted to the person specified in this chapter, it shall be mailed at once to the petitioner or applicant, his agent, attorney, engineer and other persons in particular interest. Following the hearing, the Commission shall reach and record its decision by formal vote on its minutes.