[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees
of the Village of Lake George as indicated in article histories. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 12-2-1963[1]; amended 4-2-2018 by L.L. No. 3-2018]
[1]
Editor's Note: Designated as an amendment
to Ord. No. 153, which ordinance accepted the applicability of the
State Building Construction Code.
Pursuant to § 381, Subdivision 2, of the New York
State Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code Act, the Village Board
of the Village of Lake George hereby elects not to administer or enforce
the Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code for the Village of Lake
George and grants such enforcement authority to the County of Warren,
Department of Fire Prevention and Building Code Enforcement.
[Adopted 10-7-1974 by L.L. No. 1-1974]
[Amended 8-17-1992 by L.L. No. 9-1992]
A.
The Board of Trustees of the Village of Lake George
finds that excessive uniformity, dissimilarity, inappropriateness
or poor quality of design and undesirable location of buildings on
their sites and signs, erected within the business, commercial and
residential areas of the Village, adversely affect the desirability
of the immediate and neighboring areas and thereby impair the benefits
of occupancy of existing property in such areas, produce degeneration
of property with attendant deterioration of conditions affecting the
health and safety of those persons living or working in such areas
and destroy the proper relationship between the taxable value of real
property in such areas and the cost of municipal services provided
therefor.
B.
It is the purpose of this article to promote the character
and appearance and conserve the property values of the Village, the
attractiveness of whose residential and business areas is the economic
mainstay of the community, by providing procedures for an architectural
review of structures henceforth erected, reconstructed or altered
in the Village, and thereby:
(1)
To encourage good qualities of exterior building and
sign design and good appearances and to relate such design and appearances
to sites and surroundings of the structures.
(2)
To permit originality and resourcefulness in building
and sign design and appearances which are appropriate to the sites
and surroundings.
(3)
To prevent such design and appearances as are necessarily
offensive to visual sensibilities.
C.
This article defines procedures necessary to avoid
results and to preserve and enhance the character, beauty and welfare
of the Village and to ensure that the location and design of business,
commercial and industrial buildings and signs in the Village shall
be such as to aid in creating a balanced and harmonious composition
of the whole and in the interrelation of its several parts.
[Amended 8-17-1992 by L.L. No. 9-1992; 3-15-1999 by L.L. No.
5-1999]
The Board of Trustees may engage a professional
engineer or architect, as it sees fit, who would serve as consultant
to the Planning Board in reviewing plans submitted for approval.
[Amended 8-17-1992 by L.L. No. 9-1992; 5-18-1998 by L.L. No.
2-1998; 3-15-1999 by L.L. No. 5-1999]
A.
As soon as practical or, in any event, within three
business days after determining that an application for a building
or sign permit for the construction of any building, structure or
sign complies with all provisions of this Code other than this article,
the Building Inspector shall transmit to each member of the Planning
Board a copy of any such application which comes under the following
categories:
B.
Application must be accompanied by plans showing all
elevations of a new structure and all affected elevations in the case
of additions or alterations and/or plans showing the size, design,
location, color and content of proposed signs with identification
of the material from which the proposed sign is to be constructed.
C.
Approval of any building or sign permit shall be made
by a vote of at least a majority of the members of the Planning Board.
D.
The Board may approve any application referred to
it upon finding that the building, structure or sign for which the
permit was requested, if erected, altered or installed in accordance
with the submitted plans, would be in harmony with the purpose of
this article; would not be visually offensive or inappropriate by
reason of poor quality of exterior design, monotonous similarity or
striking visual discord in relating to the sites or surroundings;
would not mar the appearance of the area; would not impair the use,
enjoyment and desirability and reduce the values of properties in
the area; would not be detrimental to the character of the neighborhood;
would not prevent the most appropriate development and utilization
of the site or of adjacent lands; and would not adversely affect the
functioning, economic stability, prosperity, health, safety and general
welfare of the entire community.
E.
The Board may disapprove any application for a permit, provided that the Board has afforded the applicant an opportunity to confer upon suggestions for change of the plan, and provided that the Board finds and states that the structure for which the permit was requested would, if erected as indicated, provoke one or more of the harmful effects set forth in § 78-13.
[Amended 8-17-1992 by L.L. No. 9-1992; 3-15-1999 by L.L. No.
5-1999]
The Planning Board is charged with the duty
of maintaining the desirable character of the Village and of disapproving
construction, reconstruction and alteration of business, residential,
commercial and industrial buildings and signs that are designed without
consideration of the harmonious relation of the new or altered building
or sign to such buildings and/or signs as already exist and the environs
in which they are set. The Board is charged with the duty of exercising
sound judgment and of rejecting plans which, in its opinion based
upon study and advice, are out of character with the surrounding area
because of proposed style, materials, mass, line, color, detail, content,
placement upon the property or in relation to the spaces between buildings
or the natural character of landscape and plantings or because the
plans do not provide for the location and design of structures and
open spaces so as to create a balanced and attractive composition
as a whole and in the relation of its several parts and features to
each other. The Board may direct that landscaping and planting plans
be made a part of the application for the building permit before approval
thereof.
[Amended 8-17-1992 by L.L. No. 9-1992; 3-15-1999 by L.L. No.
5-1999]
Any person aggrieved by a decision of the Planning
Board in disapproving a building or sign permit application and of
the Building Inspector in denying such permit because of such disapproval
may appeal therefrom to the Board of Zoning Appeals of the Village,
which Board is hereby granted power to hear and determine all such
appeals. Appeals must be taken within 30 days after issuance of the
order of the Planning Board denying any building or sign permit application
and the filing of the same with the Building Inspector or within 30
days after the denial by the Building Inspector of any building or
sign permit application because of such Board disapproval, whichever
date is the later. In hearing said appeals, the Board of Zoning Appeals
shall follow the same procedure used when hearing any appeal resulting
from the denial by the Building Inspector of any building permit.
A.
An applicant must file with the Board of Zoning Appeals
a written notice of appeal, utilizing the form or forms, if any, prescribed
by the rules of the Board of Zoning Appeals and specifying in reasonable
detail the basis thereof. The said applicant must file copies of the
said written notice of appeal with the Planning Board and with the
Building Inspector.
[Amended 3-15-1999 by L.L. No. 5-1999]
B.
The Board of Zoning Appeals, upon receipt of the notice
of appeal and the record pertaining thereto, shall fix a reasonable
time for the hearing of the appeal and shall give written notice thereof
to the appellant, the Building Inspector, the Planning Board and to
the Board of Trustees. At the hearing, any party aforementioned may
attend and be heard in person or by an attorney or agent. Minutes
of such proceedings on appeal shall be kept by the Board of Zoning
Appeals for at least three years.
[Amended 3-15-1999 by L.L. No. 5-1999]
C.
The decision of the Board of Zoning Appeals shall
be in writing and shall be sent to all parties notified of the hearing,
and the original copy shall be filed with the Clerk of said Board.
A.
No person, firm or corporation shall construct, reconstruct
or alter any building within the limits of the Village of Lake George
if the building permit application for such work has been referred
to the Planning Board for its approval unless and until said Board
has approved such application and a building permit has been issued
by the Building Inspector.
[Amended 3-15-1999 by L.L. No. 5-1999]
B.
Each violation of this article shall be punishable
by a fine of not more than $100, and a separate offense shall be deemed
committed on each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues.
In addition to such fine, the violator shall pay all costs and expenses
incurred by the Village in proving such violation.
C.
In addition to the foregoing, each violation of this
article shall constitute disorderly conduct, and every person violating
the same shall be a disorderly person.
