[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.
[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]
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]
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]
[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.