“Great cities were never built with zoning codes,” he said. “I’ve always been someone who would rather jump and figure out how to land, rather than not jump at all.” -2013, Yorktown Supervisor Michael Grace
I think he means well, but it's still a scary idea: a town with no zoning? Here's the New York State's official guidance on the subject.
"A zoning law is a community's guide to its future development. That is its purpose. It is not meant to be just another governmental intrusion, another bit of red tape to be untangled before the property owner can go ahead with his plans. The protections afforded residents and property owners within the community from undesirable development come from the restrictiveness of zoning." -New York State
Apparently, Supervisor Grace's plan will not be complete unless we can kill not only zoning, but also eliminate all building code laws relating to approval and permit of new construction, conversions and alterations (conveniently it has been hidden under a "building permit fee" Town Board agenda item: see 6/25/13 notes).
That means if the proposed local law is approved, your neighbor can file an application with the planning board and start work immediately with no consequences, regardless of whether or not zoning permits it or if it's up to code.That's right, under the proposal, you don't need a planning approval or building permit to start work. Woo-hoo! "Donald Trump," please come back to town.
And so it comes full circle to The Winery. Supervisor Grace and Councilman Murphy have been feigning outrage about the 3 brave town board members that voted not to give away town land under the false pretense of being "business friendly."
Public perception, and the practical reality, is that in the wild northwest of Yorktown (aka Mohegan Lake and Shrub Oak), anything goes. Want to develop a parking lot and open air cafe on town land? Go ahead and start without approval and permit. Case in point is the photo up top that shows that The Winery, despite the lack of a wetland or building department permit, just went ahead and dumped a couple tons of stone on the town's wetland/parkland lot and graded it to match their proposed site plan. Who needs a permit? No one. Just mumble something about being "business friendly," do what you gotta do--on town owned land, if need be--and let the chips fall where they may; hell, Yorktown doesn't have any means to enforce zoning and building laws [ed. note: unless it is a project located south of Route 202].
At this rate, Yorktown will be without zoning and planning boards by the end of the year so it will all be a moot point. Progress with preservation is the town motto, I just didn't know it meant preserving 19th century town planning and building laws that became obsolete over 100 years ago.
I leave you with this quote from "New York Zoning Law and Practice:
"Prior to the early 1900's, local government and most were without plans."
