Chapter 30A

CHAPTER 30-A

ARCHITECTURAL AND PRELIMINARY SITE REVIEW

§ 30-A.1 Purpose; findings of fact

A. It is the purpose of this Chapter to preserve and promote the character, appearances and aesthetics of the Village and to conserve the property values of the Village by providing procedures for an architectural and preliminary site review of all land developed and all structures henceforth erected, reconstructed, altered or remodeled in the Village, and by so doing to:

1. Encourage good qualities of exterior building design and good appearances to relate such design and appearances to the sites and surroundings of structures.

2. Preserve the prevailing aesthetic character of the neighborhood and geographic area and to enhance same by means of complementary structures.

3. Permit originality and resourcefulness in building design and appearances which are appropriate to the sites and surroundings.

4. Promote and encourage good qualities of architectural design and utilization of land in the erection and construction of new structures and the exterior refurbishing, reconstruction or alteration of existing structures.

5. Assure that the design and location of any proposed structure, or the addition, alteration or reconstruction of any existing structure, is in harmony with the existing topography of its site and/or the existing structure as well as the neighboring geographic area and existing property.

6. Discourage and prevent such design that would adversely affect or cause the diminution in value of neighboring property, whether improved or unimproved.

7. Prevent such design and appearances as are

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unnecessarily offensive to visual sensibilities, which impair the use, enjoyment value or desirability of neighboring properties and the health, safety and general welfare of the community at large.

B. The Board of Trustees hereby finds it necessary to create a mechanism for architectural and preliminary site plan review since:

1. Structures which are visually offensive or inappropriate by reason of poor exterior design, poor site layout, monotonous similarity or striking visual discord or dissimilarity in relation to their site or surroundings would mar the appearances of and adversely affect the desirability of the immediate area and neighboring areas.

2. Such structures would discourage and prevent the most appropriate development and utilization of land throughout the Village.

3. Such structures would impair the use, enjoyment and desirability and stability of both improved and unimproved property and are detrimental to the character of neighborhoods, produce degeneration of the values of real property with attendant deterioration of conditions affecting the functioning, economic stability, prosperity, health and safety of the inhabitants of the Village and destroy a proper relationship between the taxable value of real property and the cost of municipal services provided therefor.

C. It is the purpose of this Chapter to prevent these and other harmful effects and thus to promote the health, safety and general welfare of the community.

§ 30-A.2 Delegation of authority

A. There is hereby delegated to the Superintendent of Buildings of the Village the authority and responsibility to carry out the spirit and purpose of the Architectural Review portion of this Chapter pursuant to the provisions hereof. There is hereby delegated to the Planning Board of the Village the authority and responsibility to carry out the sprit and purpose

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of the Preliminary Site Review portion of this Chapter pursuant to the provisions hereof. [Subd. A. amd. LL #2, 2003, 8/20/03.]

B. The Superintendent of Buildings shall act as advisor to the Village Planning Board with respect to its activities pursuant to this Chapter.

C. With respect to Architectural Review, the Superintendent of Buildings shall review all applications affected by this Chapter and shall, when deemed appropriate based upon the review standards set forth herein, refer applications to the Planning Board of the Village for examination, hearing, deliberation and action thereon relative to the jurisdictional areas set forth in Section 30-A.3(A). [Subd. C. added, LL#2, 2003, 8/20/2003.]

§ 30-A.3 Powers and jurisdiction

A. The Planning Board, upon referral of an application by the Superintendent of Buildings, shall conduct an architectural review of and decide upon all of the following:

1. All applications for the construction of any new building or structure.

2. All applications for alterations or additions to any building or structure, except that with respect to a one-family residence or a two-family residence in a residential zoning district, additions, alterations or reconstruction which shall not alter the front building and roof lines or increase the gross floor area of a building by more than forty (40%) percent thereof shall be exempt from the provisions of this Chapter.

3. Repainting, residing or altering of the exterior of any building or structure which results in a change of color or materials, except one-family residences and two-family residences.

4. Design of exterior signs.

B. There is also delegated to the Planning Board the authority to conduct a review of and to issue an approval or denial for preliminary site plan approval. The Board of Trustees shall have

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jurisdiction over final site plan approval. [§ 30-A.3 amd. LL #2, 2003, 8/20/2003.]

§ 30-A.4 Architectural review

A. Review of plans.

1. A preliminary conference may be held between the Planning Board and the applicant prior to the preparation and submission or a formal plan. The intended purpose of such a conference is to enable the applicant to inform the Planning Board of a proposal prior to the preparation of a detailed submission and provide the Planning Board with an opportunity to review the basic design concept, to advise the applicant as to potential problems and concerns and to generally determine the information to be required on the formal submission.

2. The Planning Board may waive any of the requirements of this section, including a hearing, where, due to character, size, location or special circumstances, either the preliminary conference or any particular information is not required in order for the Planning Board to properly perform its review. [Amd. LL #2, 2003, 8/20/2003.]

3. No building permit for any building or structure subject to this Chapter pursuant to a referral by the Superintendent of Buildings, shall be issued unless it shall first have been approved by a vote of at least a majority of the members of the Planning Board. [Amd. LL #2, 2003, 8/20/2003.]

4. Final approved maps or plans, materials and specifications may not be materially altered in any way without the express prior approval of the Planning Board. Any requested changes of the approved plans or maps must be submitted for review at least seven (7) days prior to the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Planning Board, and no construction work involving such changes shall be commenced or continued until approval of the Planning Board is granted. The Superintendent of Buildings shall, in cases of

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violation of this procedure, order all work to be halted and, if necessary, revoke the building permit until such time that amended plans or maps are approved by the Planning Board. This section may also be enforced by the Board of Trustees by means of injunction. If the Village proceeds by injunction and is successful, reasonable attorneys’ fees, engineering fees and other expert witness fees shall be paid by the defendant. [Amd. LL #2, 2003, 8/20/2003.]

B. Standards for review.

1. In considering an application, the Planning Board shall take into account natural features of the site and surroundings, exterior design and appearances of existing structures and the peculiar suitability of the application for particular purposes character of the neighborhood and the purposes, with a view to preserving the values of property and encouraging the most appropriate use of land.

2. The Planning Board may approve any application to it upon finding that the building or structure for which the permit was requested, if constructed, erected, reconstructed or altered in accordance with the submitted plan, would be in harmony with the purpose of this Chapter, would not be visually offensive or inappropriate by reason of poor quality of exterior design, monotonous similarity or striking visual discord in relation to the sites or surroundings, would not mar the appearance of the area, would not impair the use, enjoyment and desirability and reduce the value of properties in the area, would not be detrimental to the character of the neighborhood, would not prevent the most appropriate utilization of the site or of adjacent land and would not adversely affect the functioning, economic stability, prosperity, health, safety and general welfare of the entire community.

3. In approving any application, the Planning Board may impose appropriate conditions and safeguards designed to prevent the harmful effects set forth above.

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4. The Planning Board may disapprove any application for a permit, provided that the Planning Board has afforded the applicant an opportunity to confer upon suggestions for change of the plan or map and provided that the Planning Board finds and states that the structure or building for which the permit was requested would, if erected, constructed or altered as indicated, provide one (1) or more of the harmful effects set forth above by reason of:

(a) Monotonous similarity to any other structures or buildings located or proposed to be located in the vicinity in respect to one (1) or more of he following features of exterior design and appearance:

(i) Substantially identical facade, disregarding color.

(ii) Substantially identical size and arrangement of either doors, windows, porticos, porches or garages or other openings or breaks or extensions in the facade, including reverse arrangements.

(iii) Other substantially identical features such as,

but not limited to, setbacks from street lines, heights, widths and lengths of elements of building design and exterior materials and treatments.

(b) Striking dissimilarity, visual discord or inappropriateness with respect to other structures or buildings located or proposed to be located in the vicinity in respect to one (1) or more of the following features of exterior design and appearance:

(i) Facade, disregarding color.

(ii) Size and arrangement of doors, windows, porticos, porches or garages or other openings, breaks or extensions in the facade.

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(iii) Other significant design features, such as but not limited to heights, widths, lengths or elements of design, exterior materials and treatments, roof structures, exposed mechanical equipment, service and storage areas, retaining walls, landscaping, signs, light posts, parking areas, fences and service areas.

(c) Visual offensiveness or other poor qualities of exterior design, including but not limited to excessive divergences of the height or levels of any part of the structure or building from the grade or terrains, harmony or discord of color or incompatibility of the proposed structure, building, refurbishing, reconstruction, alteration or addition with the terrain on which it is to be

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located and the failure of the exterior design to complement and enhance the natural beauty of its site in regard to landscape, topography, surrounding structures and the scenic character of roadways when visible from said roadways.

C. Action on Application.

Within ninety (90) days of the date of determination of a completed application by the Planning Board, the Planning Board shall approve, approve with modifications or disapprove the application. The time period in which the Planning Board must render its decision and recommendation may be extended by the Planning Board for good cause. The failure of the Planning Board or any other reviewing agency to make a determination within any formal time period shall be deemed a disapproval or recommendation of disapproval of the application.

D. Appeals.

Any applicant aggrieved by a decision of the Superintendent of Buildings or of the Planning Board with reference to any decision under or pursuant to this Chapter shall be entitled to appeal the decision to the Village Board of Trustees. [Amd. LL #2, 2003, 8/20/2003.]

§ 30-A.5 Preliminary site review

A. Applicability; exceptions.

1. Prior to the issuance of a building permit in any zoning district for a new building or structure or an addition thereto and for the alteration of a building or structure for any new land use or any altered land use activities requiring a variance or a special permit, the Superintendent of Buildings shall require site plan approval in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter. Exceptions to these requirements are:

(a) Construction of a single one-family dwelling on a single plot.

(b) Additions to one-family dwelling.

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one-family dwelling.

(d) Exterior alterations which do not result in any modification or rearrangement of building coverage or floor area.

2. The Superintendent of Buildings shall notify an applicant for a building permit in each case where site plan approval is required.

B. Sketch plan submission.

1. A sketch plan conference shall be held between the Planning Board and the applicant prior to the preparation and submission of a formal site plan. The intent of such a conference is to enable the applicant to inform the Planning Board of the proposal prior to the preparation of a detailed site plan and to provide the Planning Board with an opportunity to review the basic site design concept, to advise the applicant as to potential problems and concerns and to generally determine the information to be required on the site plan.

2. In order to accomplish these objectives, the applicant shall provide eight (8) copies of the following to the Planning Board:

(a) A statement and sketch drawn to scale showing the locations and dimensions of the principal and accessory structures, parking areas (including ingress and egress and curb cuts), signs existing and proposed vegetation and other existing topography and natural features; proposed water supply and sewage and waste disposal facilities; provisions for storm drainage, recreation and open space; and zoning calculations.

(b) An area map showing the parcel under consideration for site plan review and all properties, subdivisions, streets, rights-of-way and other pertinent features within three hundred (300’) feet of the boundaries of the parcel.

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