May 08, 2008 11:05 am
—
By JIM AUSTIN
Cooperstown Crier
The board of trustees has scheduled a public hearing
later this month to accept comments on changes in the
Historic and Architectural Control Overlay District section
of the zoning law.
The change is a recommendation from the planning
board, which has been reviewing the law for more than
a year, board member Cynthia Falk told the trustees last
month.
Most of the language in the rewritten section has been
taken from a model law recommended by the State Historic
Preservation Office and the Preservation League of
New York, she said.
More than 50 municipalities use the language of the
model law in some form, and it has successfully held up
to legal challenges.
Falk said the major difference between the model
law and what the planning board has recommended is
that it does not include a separate Historic Preservation
Commission. Instead, the planning board will continue to
review any exterior changes to a structure, new construction,
demolitions, site development plans, subdivisions,
etc.
She said the village does not have the ``people power’’
to man a separate preservation commission of knowledgeable
individuals. Instead, the planning board will
depend on its advisors.
Also changing in the law is the way demolitions will
be handled.
In a letter to the board of trustees, the planning board
explained there are currently no criteria to evaluate demolition
projects.
An earlier amendment to the law defined historic and
architectural significance in regard to contributing status
to the Glimmerglass National Register Historic District,
but offered no other guidelines.
That can be challenging for the planning board when a
structure, like Jane Forbes Clark’s barn on Spring Street,
is inadvertently omitted from the national register nomination
and ends up being demolished.
``As it stands now, if it is listed on the national register
as contributing, you can’t take it down; if it isn’t then you
can,’’ the board’s letter stated.
The public hearing will be held Monday, May 19 at 8:30
p.m. in conjunction with the trustee’s monthly meeting.
A copy of the changes to the law is available in the village
clerk’s office.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.