The New Scotland Commercial Zone Advisory Committee met to work toward completing a report to advise the Town Board, how to develop New Scotland’s commercial zones.
It is going to present the Town Board with an interim report, to update the board on its progress and get feedback on where to move from there.
The Town Board meets on Wednesday, Aug. 13.
`[We are working] so the town could update their zoning law to coincide with the comprehensive plan,` said Roz Robinson who chair’s the Commercial Zone Advisory Committee.
The `comprehensive plan` lays out the overall approach to how New Scotland should be zoned.
The meeting was the third of a series of four to try to determine a `preferred approach` toward development.
There is a moratorium on commercial zones in New Scotland until October, and no new building can be constructed until the moratorium is ended.
`Right now everything is frozen. The zoning law is in limbo,` she explained.
Robinson said they might need to extend the moratorium a short time, depending on how much progress they make by October.
While they have not landed on specifics about every aspect of the zoning district, they did say they are going to provide the town on update with the progress they have made.
Much speculation about limiting the size of the commercial developments was raised at the meeting. Committee Member Mike Naughton pushed for a cap of between 50,000 square feet and 60,000 square feet. Others on the board and in attendance at the meeting said that number should be higher.
The Advisory Committee also considered capping commercial shopping plazas, or a grouping of buildings, at some number close to 250,000 square feet.
All figures are still negotiable, Robinson said.
The board also wants to make sure not to create a situation where someone could buy neighboring parcels and combine them, as a loophole around the cap.
Naughton said this could be avoided through specific language in the zoning law.
The board also considered employing a mixed-use zone, meaning they would have both residential and commercial buildings.
Robinson said the problem with a mixed-use zone is that the term is not defined. She speculated that it means apartment buildings, offices, and restaurants, but that is a topic the board will continue to discuss.
`One of the things we have to do is define mixed-use,` she said.
Naughton added that he wanted to be sure that the zone is not commercially under-developed.
`The commercial zoning district should be primarily commercial,` he said of allowing too many residential buildings.
Robinson said they are hoping to have another advisory meeting on Monday, Aug. 25, and then a public workshop in September.
Naughton said the landowners should have an opportunity to meet and voice their concerns about the commercial zoning.
Howard Amsler, a commercial property owner in New Scotland, does not support a cap on commercial buildings and is worried that the board is not looking toward the future.
He is worried current owners will not be able to expand, and will have wasted the money they have already put toward expanding their businesses.
`We’re self employed, we’ve made investments, we’re working toward our retirement,` he said.
Jeff Baker, another concerned attendee, emphasized that the zoning cap for commercial buildings should be at least 60,000 square feet.
He was more concerned with a cap on the entirety of the commercial zone compared to the rest of the town.
`The whole point is that’s why you have to have a limit on your total commercial growth,` Baker said. `It’s a matter of making some kind of balance.“