Town of Lakewood                                                                                                                                       

LAKEWOOD COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE

STEERING COMMITTEE

DRAFT MEETING SUMMARY

February 19, 2008

Members Present    

There was not a quorum

Concerns From the Audience

No audience in attendance.

Review and Approve minutes from February 12, 2008

Changes are highlighted.

Concept Area 3

Changes to concept area 3 are highlighted in green below.

As was agreed upon at the meeting of January 22, 2008 the Steering Committee committed 45 minutes to come to a consensus on Concept area 3.

Discussion started out by looking at listening with the purpose being to understand and seek common ground in finding consensus.

First, the Committee agreed on what the proposal was. 

The proposal was for Concept Area 3 to continue with the policies as stated in the 1985 Comprehensive Plan and are as follows:

à     Low density, wide lot residential development will continue in the remainder of the Township along publicly maintained roads.

à     Concept 3 ensures that a rural land use pattern will be maintained in the remainder of the township where development will continue to be at low densities with wide frontages. Goal I, Policy #5 and Goal #3, Policy #3 can best be accomplished in this Concept.

à     Low density includes lots 4.5 acres or greater, with frontages of at least 300 feet.

The next step was a clarification of why each part of the group (those who could live with the continued 1985 policy versus those who could not live with it) agreed to spend these 45 minutes on seeking consensus.

Both sides agreed that they were seeking possible solutions and that it was not an all or nothing debate.  That is, they were open to finding instances where the 1985 policy might allow for an increase in density.

After these agreements, Clint Little shared his findings regarding parcels in the Concept area 3 (MUNS 4.)   It should be noted that these findings are based, in one case, on sampling one section in the MUNS 4 Area.  The data and statistics reported on for Concept Area 3 are not meant to be definitive data and should not be interpreted as anything other than approximations. .  In addition, often times it was difficult to photo-interpret structures on properties.  None the less, the data can serve as approximate indications of current build-out and future build-out scenarios.

Clint looked at the parcels to identify those that were from 9.5 – 15 acres. Clint identified a total of 358 parcels that met the zoning requirements of appropriate acreage and road access to form buildable lots.  Of those total parcels, 135 were undeveloped --  or, more appropriately reflecting the procedures of determining this, about 1/3 were undeveloped.

A build-out scenario to demonstrate how many parcels could be split was done by sampling a a small, representative area.  In this sample, there were approximately162 possibilities to split the parcels.  There were 140 splits or buildable parcels that were possible.  So, approximately ¾ to 7/8 of the parcels could be split into buildable parcels.  Note, again, this is one sample.

The  map of the parcels before and after splits (buildout) provided a striking visual picture of the results of a buildout scenario reflecting a 4.5 acre lots size.

This buildout scenario represented what can be called a fine scale.  In other words, at a parcel level how many buildable lots would be created.

The next level of data that was presented was at a coarse scale.  It essentially zooms out and looks more or less at watershed or sub-watershed levels.  This in essence is a look at the cumulative effects of a buildout. 

This cumulative effect view allowed people to look at wetlands, flood plains, soil conditions, streams and runoff patterns. 

This view resulted in some discussions about TMDL’s for watersheds and the effects of development.  It has been speculated that at some point municipalities will need to comply with a limit on the TMDL’s and development will be affected accordingly as well as necessitate the return of impaired waters to a healthier state.

One of the solutions proposed in reaching a common ground was to analyze geographic areas (probably watersheds) and allow buildout according to TMDL’s.  Given time and resources it wasn’t considered further, but, in the long run would provide a method to determine buildout capacities.

Another solution was to look at allowing Conservation Design subdivisions.  It was pointed out that the majority of the parcels in the Concept Area 3 were individually-owned, 10 acre parcels and not suitable for conservation design subdivisions.  There were a few larger parcels that could accommodate this approach.  A concern with conservation design was that it could be difficult to execute because of the complexities associated with this design as well as increased expenses.  There was not agreement on the complexity - expense of conservation designs.

The 45 minute time limit was reached and a decision was called for.  Consensus could not be reached.  Twelve people on the steering committee wished to see the policies of the 1985 comp plan continue and one person disagreed (couldn’t live with that decision).

This summary of Concept Area 3 will be forwarded to the Town Board for a decision.

Discussion on Concept Area 7/8

The Committee worked on the Concept 7 vision.  In doing so, Jesse Schomberg presented information on Conservation Design subdivisions.  Much discussion ensued regarding its use in the 7/8 concept areas as well as maintaining the 1985 vision and policies.

There were no decisions made regarding the wording of Concept Area 7.  There was, however, movement toward maintaining the vision and policies from the 1985 Plan and detailing the purposes and description of the concept area.  As agreed upon by the Committee, Sue will draft a version reflecting this movement.

Senior Housing and Affordable Housing

We are behind on our work schedule, as we were to have finished the Vision at this meeting.  People were asked to think about the housing issues for the next meeting.

Program of Work and Next Meetings:

All meetings start at 6:45 PM at the Town Hall.

There will be an Open House after the Draft is completed, edited and ready to be presented as the proposed Plan.

There will be a Public Hearing by the Town Board regarding its adoption.

Meeting Adjourned

9:15 PM

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Last modified: 11/14/08