Thaddeus Kolankowski, senior land use planner with Barton & Loguidice, gave a PowerPoint presentation to the Lloyd Planning Board last week to keep them abreast of present and future development trends that are facing the town. He said there will be impacts to the town that should be identified and planned for due to the increases in the number of visitors to the Walkway Over the Hudson and even more when the improvements to the eastern section of the Rail Trail are completed.

“This may lead to opportunities to encourage some trail compatible development along the trail corridor,” he said.

Kolankowski suggested the Planning Board refine their design standards on the architecture of buildings, streetscapes, signage, and amounts of green space desired as well as ways to ease traffic circulation on sites. Kolankowski said the board should also consider revising their site-related standards.

The planner said the recent meeting of the three town boards – Planning, Zoning and Town – helped to start a dialogue on the build-out of the remaining large parcels in town “and have the town direct the opportunities for the development” of what may be more suitable for these lots.

Planning Board Chairman Dominick Martorana said the town has  maps that show build-out scenarios and additional GIS maps posted on the towns Web site showing recreation areas, voting districts, water and sewer districts and new zoning areas for the town at www. townoflloyd.com.

“Hopefully we will be able to review them at the next workshop meeting and look at the build-out – mostly residential – for the zone changes and how it would impact the town,” he said.

Kolankowski said Supervisor Ray Costantino has been contacted by the Ulster County Area Transportation [UCAT] Council requesting Lloyd’s input on their Rte. 9W and Rte. 299 transportation corridors.

“Hopefully that will happen in the next year or two,” he said. “The Planning Board will have some input on that.”

Kolankowski advocated updating the commercial/industrial districts, with Martorana adding that bringing water and sewer services to vacant parcels in the main traffic corridors will provide future jobs and business opportunities.

Kolankowski said that all of these factors can become part of an update to the town’s Comprehensive Master Plan, which is now five years old.

Martorana also noted there is activity presently within the Waterfront Bluff Overlay District because of the development of the Bob Shepard Highland Landing Park, the recently opened Walkway Over the Hudson and the future eastern leg of the Hudson Valley Rail Trail. He said the town has some district requirements, “that lays out colors and schemes,” but said the board should inquire about any new state requirements aimed at these sensitive areas, “and how do we address it.”

Martorana noted that the area surrounding the riverfront park is zoned residential and any desire to locate a business there would need a zoning variance.

“We may want to review that, not to say we’re going to change anything, but just to be able to see what our options are,” he said.

The chairman also made note that clearer design standards will help with laying out projects designated as Planned Residential Development and Planned Unit Development zones.

“I think it would be easier for the [Planning] board and the developer and the rest of the Town Board to look at and to make clear-cut decisions as far as which way they [developers] can proceed and which way we proceed,” he said. “It’s a combination of being able to look at something clearly and say this is allowed there, this is not allowed and what kind of development can go there instead of trying to engineer it for an applicant.”

Martorana said he favors allowing the Town Board to proceed with the adoption of the new zoning code with the changes the Planning Board has already suggested, rather than hold up a document that has been years in the making. If the Planning Board has additional suggestions, Martorana urged bringing them forth at a later date.

Kolankowski said in the next few years Lloyd will be looking at their Strategic Development Plans that will also include the Illinois Mountain area, the mixed use Highland Square project proposed for the intersection of Rtes. 9W and 299, the residential neighborhood project called Mountainside Woods proposed just beyond the end of Toc Drive and the Highland Hamlet, currently the subject of a Smart Growth study.

Kolankowski suggested the board consider several new zoning techniques – Traditional Neighborhood Development, Incentive Zoning, Floating Zoning, Performance Zoning and the Transfer of Development Rights [TDR]. The latter technique is aimed primarily at agricultural zones by permitting increased development density on a smaller portion of a property while allowing the majority of land to remain as either open space or for farming, in perpetuity.
Kolankowski said the buzz word, “Sustainability,” has become a necessity in today’s development world. Lloyd may need to consider if wind and solar farms along with geothermal and bio-fuel production should be a part of an alternative energy mix that is entertained in the future.

Kolankowski said all of these considerations will achieve better and more common sense development projects for the town.

Martorana suggested adding a status update to an applicant’s file of which agencies have already been engaged, such as the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Army Corps of Engineers or the Department of Health. In addition he said the list should contain any approvals already completed and if and when the Public Hearing for a project was opened and closed.

“So this way the board can spend more time on planning rather than administrative. Instead of us guessing a lot of the time, we want to have things in front of us,” he said. “This way we know what’s going on, what approvals they got or didn’t get.”

Martorana sees a busy 2010.

“We’ve got a full plate ahead of us for this year, to try and get things done and get it over to the Town Board,” he said. “I want to be able to address things [now] that may be slipping through the cracks.”

By MARK REYNOLDS
mreynolds@tcnewspapers.com