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Evans recommends current Planning Board members for new board

Saranac Lake Community Development Director Jeremy Evans, right, speaks during Tuesday night’s village Planning Board meeting. Listening are board members C.J. Hagmann, left, and Donna Difara. (Enterprise photo — Chris Knight)

SARANAC LAKE — Village Community Development Director Jeremy Evans recommends that the current members of the Planning Board be appointed as the first members of the new Development Board.

Under the new land-use code adopted by the village board last week, the village is combining the functions of the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals, each of which has five members, into one five-member Development Board.

Evans said he contacted members of each board recently to gauge their interest in serving on the Development Board.

“Recognizing the village board has the prerogative to do whatever they want in a situation like this, my recommendation will be the five members of the Planning Board continue on,” Evans said.

The current Planning Board is made up of Leslie Karasin, who’s been its chairwoman since 2009, Donna Difara, C.J. Hagman, Molly Hann and Dave Trudeau.

“I think we have a great mix of board members,” Evans said. “They can totally handle (the responsibilities of the new Development Board). They’ve all expressed a desire to continue, but they certainly recognize that’s the board’s prerogative.”

Evans noted that two of the Planning Board’s members have served on the Zoning Board of Appeals.

“Dave had quite a few years on the zoning board, and Donna’s been on there for a couple years now, so I think that’s a big advantage going forward,” he said.

The village board could take up a resolution to appoint the new Development Board at its Monday night meeting. Evans said he’s asked the board to not make its appointments effective until the new code is filed with New York’s Department of State.

During Tuesday’s Planning Board meeting, Evans said it could benefit the board to go through some training on zoning board responsibilities like area variances, interpretations and use variances.

“There’s no point in any of you watching a webinar on site plan review or what planning boards do. You know that,” Evans said. “But we should spend time talking about our code specifically, and what it means to get an administrative permit versus a site plan permit versus a special use permit, and how to deal with all of the standards that are there.”

Since the new code contains more standards than the current code, there should be fewer variances for the new Development Board to deal with, Evans said.

“On the other hand, there’s all these standards that in some ways we’ve cracked down on stuff, and people aren’t going to like it, so there may be more use variance requests and interpretations,” he said. “On the other hand, the new code allows a lot of flexibility by the (Development Board) to make exceptions to the standards. There will be projects which don’t need to come to the (Development Board). If you follow the standards, you can get a permit.”

“In some ways, it really could make the zoning board side of the administrative code — there may be less of a need for it because of the way the new code is written and some of the powers that are granted to the new development board. We won’t know till we do it, but that is one reason that I think it’s good to have one board.”

Under the new code, members of the Development Board will be appointed by the village board and will serve five-year terms. The village board also gets to pick the board’s chairperson. It also has the power to remove any member of the Development Board for cause and after a public hearing.

Members of the Development Board are required to attend regular and workshop meetings and to complete four hours of training each year. Failure to attend more than five meetings in one year or comply with the training requirements can be grounds for removal.

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