Town of Bethlehem Final Draft Comprehensive Plan
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TOWN OF BETHLEHEM FINAL DRAFT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN Bethlehem, New York Appendices Landscape Architects, Architects, ©Copyright All Rights Reserved Saratoga Associates #04017 Engineers and Planners, P.C. APPENDICES Appendix A – Additional Tools and Techniques Appendix B – Community Survey Results Appendix C – Farm and Rural Properties Survey Results Appendix D – Focus Group Meeting and Public Workshop Notes Appendix E – Town Board Update Information Appendix F – Townwide Meeting Notes Appendix G – Bethlehem Planning Advisory Committee Public Hearing Minutes Appendix H – Town Board Public Hearing Minutes and Response to Written Comments Note: The following appendices provide background information and supporting documentation relative to the recommendations found in the Comprehensive Plan. Much of this information is in the form of public input received throughout the process from surveys and public meetings. Appendix A – Additional Tools and Techniques The following are tools and techniques briefly discussed as possible actions within the comprehensive plan. These tools are explained in greater detail below. Form Based Code “Form Based Code” could be used as an alternative to the creation of design guidelines for the hamlet zones. Form based codes place less emphasis on use regulations than do conventional zoning documents. Instead, form based codes are more flexible about use, perhaps only prohibiting certain uses that are clearly inappropriate, while being very proscriptive about architecture and urban design. A useful model for this type of code is called the Transect. The Transect is a concept developed by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, a Florida based town planning firm. As the figure below illustrates, the Transect represents the continuum of development form from rural to urban. Each point along the continuum has particular design elements that characterize that type of development. For example, the T3 Suburban Transect has different design characteristics than the T6 Urban Core Transect. Streets in suburban areas tend to be more curvilinear in form, buildings are usually detached and set back from the street, etc. In the urban core, streets form regular blocks, buildings tend to be attached and located close to the sidewalk at uniform build-to lines, streetscapes are more formal, etc. These general design elements are described in the transect graphic on the next page. From this general continuum, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company’s have developed a set of standard design parameters for each transect. These standards, usually illustrated in simple to read tables, address a host of design elements ranging from the type of streets and public spaces, the building position, building type, and general architectural characteristics that are appropriate for each transect. Of course these elements must be tailored to the specific circumstances of individual communities. For example, the City of Saratoga Springs applied this approach to its “special development areas.” These six areas, one of which is the downtown, are places where the City’s comprehensive plan calls for the encouragement of high density, mixed-use development. To implement this, the three most urban categories of the Transect were utilized (T4 through T6). The actual dimensions that apply to the different design elements within these transect zones were tailored to meet the characteristics of Saratoga Springs. In Bethlehem, the Transect concept could be modified to apply to the mixed-use hamlets in a similar fashion. This would create a simple mechanism for differentiating between the appropriate scale of development in different hamlets. For example, the T6 category could be tailored to fit Bethlehem’s most “urban” (in Bethlehem’s terms) hamlet centers – perhaps Delmar, Glenmont, and a new hamlet along New Scotland Road. However, the T6 category might not be appropriate in some existing or new hamlets, such as Meyers Corners or North Bethlehem. 4 The Transect – a continuum from rural to urban (Graphic by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company) 5 Conservation Subdivision Design Conservation Subdivision Design is a type of clustering that addresses the form of development. By separating the concept of density from the concept of lot size (as described above), the Town could permit flexible lot-sizes that facilitate creative subdivision design in harmony with the landscape. In addition to the environmental and viewshed benefits of allowing homes to be situated in a creative manner, a network of conserved open lands can be created in the process. These conserved lands, for example, might function as wildlife corridors or create buffers between residential areas and those areas that continue to be actively farmed. A brief description of the Conservation Subdivision Design approach is provided in the box below. The Conservation Subdivision Design approach begins with the identification of open space resources present on the site to be developed (environmentally constrained land, agricultural land, historic or scenic views, significant woodlots, etcetera). A town-wide map of open space and agricultural resources can be a useful guide for starting this identification process (see Lands of Conservation Interest Map recommendation in Section 4.9). This resource identification will form the basis for designating conservation lands in the new subdivision. Once conservation lands are identified and designated, areas where development would be most appropriate are identified. Homes (the number based on allowable density for the zoning district) are then designed into the development areas of the site in a creative fashion. Flexible lot sizes and area and bulk standards facilitate this creativity. Identifying road alignments and lot lines are the final steps in the Conservation Subdivision Design process. Conservation Subdivision Design (term coined by Randall Arendt) Uses open space resources present on a site to be developed as the starting point for design (In the same way that a golf-course community is designed). The four-step conservation subdivision design process is quite simple: 1. Identify conservation areas – potential development areas follow once the conservation areas have been “greenlined”. 2. Locate house sites 3. Align streets and trails 4. Draw in the lot lines Conservation easement – a legal tool that ensures that conservation lands set aside as a result of this process remain undeveloped. Ownership options for conservation lands - an individual landowner or several landowners in the new conservation subdivision, a homeowner’s association, the Town of Bethlehem, or a land conservancy such as the Albany County Land Conservancy. 6 The advantages of this approach are: 1. Farmland and open space conservation, recreational development and natural resource protection guide the subdivision design process. Because the area and bulk regulations used for conventional subdivisions are not applicable, the design process is creative and not driven strictly by arbitrary minimum lot size requirements. 2. Significant networks of open land are created through the development process – the value of homes within these subdivisions are enhanced as are the value of surrounding neighborhoods, and the quality of life of all town residents is improved. 3. Developers can provide different types of housing on a variety of lot sizes in response to market demand. This allows for a more diversified housing stock to meet the needs of our changing society. Developers can also save money on infrastructure costs by clustering homes, a savings that can be passed on to homebuyers. A comparison of a conventional subdivision (left) with a conservation subdivision (right). In both cases, a total of 16 residential lots were created. A conservation easement ensures that the open land preserved as part of the conservation subdivision (right) cannot be further subdivided or developed in the future. It is recommended that Conservation Subdivision Design be required in the Residential Area. An exemption or variance process could be established to allow conventional subdivision in the rare situation when a conservation subdivision is not possible or would be of no value. However the burden of proof for such an exemption should be high, and the preference for conservation subdivision should be clear in the town’s zoning and subdivision regulations. A required open space set aside should also be established. Because sewer and water infrastructure is already available, or could be made available, in most of this area, a required minimum open space set aside of perhaps 50% could be established for conservation subdivisions. Where wells and septic systems will be utilized, the minimum open space set aside could be reduced to perhaps 40%. These minimum open space set asides would ensure meaningful open space conservation, and still allow 7 creative subdivision design. In all cases, a conservation easement will be the legally binding mechanism for ensuring that the open space set aside as part of the subdivision cannot be further developed or subdivided in the future. The town will be a party to the easement, and in some cases a third-party enforcer such as a local land trust may also be party to the easement. Ownership options for open land set aside as part of these subdivisions are described above, but in most cases it is recommended that a private landowner, or several landowners in the new subdivision should retain ownership of the land under easement. Private landowners are generally the best stewards of the