(An update of my January report.)
Concerns about the possible impact of large-scale development (likely Stephen Lucente's Varna II) on the Varna Master Plan work that's just getting underway are apparently not enough for the Town Board to be willing to commit to a moratorium on development in Varna. Effectively, we kind of have a "please do not build anything too drastic here but we'll think about it" sign out - maybe it would be good to add that to the Varna road signs.
In the meantime, the Town Board is moving forward with zoning, just removing the density table from the hamlet section to leave a temporary maximum of one unit per 10,000 square feet, or 4.35 units per acre. If and when the new zoning is adopted - not likely sooner than May or June, though that seems optimistic to me - that would also put an effective if temporary halt to large-scale residential projects. They plan to amend the zoning with the results of the master plan when the master plan is complete. (They also plan to amend the Comprehensive Plan with results from the Master Plan.)
The Master Plan is somewhat delayed. In January, the Planning Board appointed Jim Skaley, Melissa Amodei, and Mike Richardson as community representatives, and it still sounds like they're aiming to finish by the end of summer, producing zoning language, comprehensive plan language, and maybe more. Cornell apparently did not end up contributing funds, so the $70,000 project is now a $40,000 project plus some staff time.
Posted by simon at March 11, 2011 6:04 AM in Varna , Varna II , planning and zoning