Source: https://ecode360.com/7719750
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 14:40:21+00:00

Document:
§ 40-2 City Planning Board.
§ 40-3 Members; additional help.
§ 40-4 Rules and regulations.
§ 40-5 Conduct of business.
§ 40-6 Map of city-owned property.
§ 40-8 Master Plan; public hearings.
§ 40-10 Authority to adopt Official City Map; filing.
§ 40-11 Official City Map changes.
§ 40-12 Planning Board reports.
§ 40-13 Approval of plats.
§ 40-14 Approval of plats; additional requisites.
§ 40-15 Changes in zoning regulations.
The purpose of this chapter is to promote, improve and protect the interests of the City of Oswego and its citizens and the public health, safety and general welfare thereof and provide guidance in public improvements and in the expansion and growth of said city.
There shall be a City Planning Board consisting of seven (7) members and four (4) alternate members to be appointed by the Mayor. Two (2) of the members of said Board shall be officials of the City of Oswego, viz., the City Engineer and one (1) other city official to be designated and appointed by the Mayor. None of the other five (5) members of the Board shall hold any other public office or position in the City of Oswego. The terms of the two (2) official members of the Board shall terminate with that of the appointing Mayor. Of the other five (5) members appointed to the Board, the term of one (1) member shall be of one (1) year; two (2) members shall be of two (2) years; and two (2) members shall be of three (3) years. At the expiration of such terms, the terms of office of their successors shall be three (3) years, so that the term of office of one (1) or two (2) such members of such Board shall expire each year. The four (4) alternates shall be appointed in staggered terms to correspond with the terms of the five (5) members who are appointed by the Mayor. Their successors and the successors of those first appointed to such office shall be appointed for the term of three (3) years from and after the expiration of the term of their predecessors in office. The members of such Board who shall be in office at the time this chapter shall pass shall continue in office until the end of the term for which they were appointed and their successors have been appointed, as herein provided, and have qualified, and the terms of office of the two (2) additional members of the Board herein provided for shall expire one (1) on December 31, 1956, and one (1) on December 31, 1957. Members of the City Planning Board shall continue in office until the end of the term for which they are appointed and their successors have been appointed, as herein provided, and have qualified. If a vacancy shall occur otherwise than by expiration of term, it shall be filled by appointment of the Mayor for the unexpired term. The city officials on such Board shall not, by reason of membership thereon, forfeit their right to exercise the powers, perform the duties, or receive the compensation of the municipal office or position held by them during such membership. To qualify for appointment to such Board, a person must be a resident of the City of Oswego, New York, and must have reached the age of twenty-one (21) years at the time of his appointment. Any member of the Board may be removed by the Mayor for cause and after a public hearing.
The Mayor shall designate a member of said Planning Board to act as Chairman thereof, or, on his failure to do so, the Planning Board shall elect a Chairman from its own members. The City Engineer shall act as Secretary of the Board. The Board shall have the power and authority to employ experts and a staff and to pay for their services and such other expenses as may be necessary and proper, not exceeding in all the appropriations that may be made for such Board, pursuant to the Charter of the City of Oswego.
Editor's Note: See Charter at the beginning of the Code.
The Planning Board may adopt rules and regulations in respect to procedure before it and in respect to any subject matter over which it has jurisdiction under this chapter or under any other ordinance, resolution, local law or statute after public hearing by the Board and subject to the approval of the Common Council.
The Planning Board shall meet at least once a month, as well as at the call of the Chairman. It shall keep regular minutes of the business transacted at each meeting, and, at the conclusion of each year, it shall prepare a report, in writing, to the Mayor covering its activities and containing any recommendations it desires to make. It shall keep accurate books of account of funds received by it and expended by it and shall prepare an annual budget covering authorized expenses, not exceeding in all the annual appropriation that may be approved by the Common Council of the City of Oswego.
The Planning Board shall prepare and keep up to date a map or series of maps showing thereon all property to which title is held by the City of Oswego and which has been accepted through condemnation, donation, in rem proceedings, tax proceedings, purchase or otherwise. Property owned by the city shall be clearly marked on said map. The Planning Board shall prepare or obtain and keep up to date a complete list of all property now so owned by the City of Oswego, which list shall include the complete legal description of such property, its location as to street and ward, together with any and all other pertinent data in connection with or incidental to such property.
The Planning Board shall prepare and may, from time to time, modify and change a comprehensive Master Plan for the development of the entire area of the City of Oswego, which Master Plan shall show existing and proposed streets, bridges, transportation terminals and facilities and tunnels and the approaches thereto; viaducts, parks, public reservations, roadways in parks, sites for public buildings and structures; zoning districts; pierhead and bulkhead lines, waterways, routes of public utilities, docks and wharves, routes or railroads and omnibuses; locations of drainage systems, sewers, sewage-treatment plants, incinerators, water conduits and other public utilities, privately or publicly owned; public parking spaces, airfields; and also the removal, relocation, widening, narrowing, vacating, abandonment, change of use or extension of any of the foregoing features of the plan, and such other features, existing and proposed, as will provide for the improvement of the City of Oswego in its future growth, protection and development and will afford adequate facilities for the public housing, transportation, distribution, comfort, convenience, public health, safety and general welfare of the population of the said City of Oswego. Such Master Plan may also show any of the above-described features in relation to areas outside the city limits and within the County of Oswego.
Before adopting such Master Plan or any part thereof relating to the area within the City of Oswego, the Planning Board may hold a public hearing or hearings. Before adopting a modification of any part of such Master Plan, the Planning Board may hold a public hearing or hearings. Such public hearings shall be advertised in the official newspaper of the City of Oswego at least one (1) time and at least ten (10) days prior to the holding of such hearing.
Such Master Plan and all modifications thereof shall be on file in the office of the Planning Board, and the Planning Board shall file certified copies thereof in the offices of the City Engineer and the City Clerk.
In the event that the Common Council shall adopt an Official City Map and establish the same, pursuant to § 26 of the General City Law of the State of New York, a certified copy thereof and all changes thereto shall be filed in the office of the Planning Board.
After the establishment of an Official City Map as referred to in § 40-10 of this chapter and pursuant to § 329 of the General City Law, before making any additions or changes or amendments to said map, the Common Council shall refer such proposals to the Planning Board for report thereon, but if the Planning Board shall not make its report within thirty (30) days of such reference, it shall forfeit the right further to suspend action. The layout, widening or closing or the approval of the layout, widening or closing of streets, highways or parks by the city under provisions of any law shall be deemed to be a change or addition to the Official City Map.
The Common Council may refer any matter or class of matters to the Planning Board before final action thereon by the public body or officer of the City of Oswego having final authority thereon, with or without the provision that final action thereon shall not be taken until said Planning Board has submitted its report thereon or has had a reasonable time to submit such report. The Planning Board shall have full power and authority to make such investigations, maps and reports and recommendations in connection therewith relating to the planning and development of the City of Oswego as to it seems desirable; provided, however, that the total expenditures of said Board shall not exceed the appropriation for its expenses.
The Planning Board is hereby authorized and empowered to approve plats showing lots, blocks or sites, with or without streets or highways. Before such approval is given, a public hearing shall be held by the Planning Board, which hearing shall be advertised at least once in the official paper at least five (5) days before such hearing. The Planning Board may thereupon approve, modify and approve or disapprove such plat. Such approval or refusal to approve shall take place within forty-five (45) days from and after the time of the submission of the plat for approval. Otherwise, such plat shall be deemed to have been approved, and the certificate of such submission of the plat for approval and the failure to take action thereon within such time shall be issued by the Planning Board on demand and shall be sufficient in lieu of the written endorsement or other evidence of approval herein required. The ground of refusal of any plat submitted shall be stated upon the records of such Planning Board. Such certificates shall be issued on behalf of the Planning Board by its Secretary. The City Clerk shall file with the Clerk of the County of Oswego a certificate showing that the Planning Board has been authorized and empowered to approve such plats and shall further certify that the Secretary of the Planning Board shall issue in its behalf the certificate of failure to take action as aforesaid, as well as certificates of approval or disapproval. The approval by the Planning Board of a plat showing one (1) or more new streets or highways, or the certificate of the Planning Board as to the date of the submission of such plat and the failure of the Planning Board to take action thereon within forty-five (45) days, shall expire ninety (90) days from the date of such approval or of such certificate unless within such ninety-day period such plat shall have been duly filed or recorded by the owner in the office of the Clerk of the County of Oswego.
Before the approval by the Planning Board of a plat showing lots, blocks or sites, with or without streets or highways, such plat shall also show, in proper cases and when required by the Planning Board, a park or parks suitably located for playground or other recreation purposes. In the event that the Planning Board finds that the plat presents a proper case for requiring a park or parks suitably located for playgrounds or other recreational purposes, but that a suitable park or parks of adequate size to meet the requirement cannot be properly located on such plat, the Planning Board may require a sum of money in lieu thereof, in an amount to be established by the Common Council, in accordance with § 33 of the General City Law. In approving such plat, the Planning Board shall require that the streets and highways shall be of sufficient width and suitable grade and shall be suitably located to accommodate the prospective traffic, to afford adequate light and air, to facilitate fire protection and to provide access of fire-fighting equipment to buildings and to be coordinated so as to compose a convenient system conforming to the Official Map, if one be adopted and established, and properly related to the proposals shown by the Planning Board on the Master Plan; that the land shown on such plats shall be of such a character that it can be used safely for building purposes without danger to health or peril from fire, flood or other menace; that suitable monuments have been placed at such block corners and other necessary points as may be required by the Planning Board, and the location thereof is shown on the map of such plat; and that the parks shall be of reasonable size for neighborhood playgrounds or other recreation uses; that all streets or other public places shown on such plats shall be suitably graded and paved and that sidewalks, street lighting standards, curbs, gutters, street trees, water mains, sanitary sewers, fire-alarm cables and necessary ducts, fire signal boxes and storm drains or combined sewers shall be installed, all in accordance with standards, specifications and procedure acceptable to the appropriate departments of the City of Oswego; or alternatively that a performance bond sufficient to cover the full cost of the same as estimated by the Planning Board or other appropriate city departments designated by the Planning Board shall be furnished to the city by the owner; provided, however, that the Planning Board may waive, subject to appropriate conditions and guarantees of such period as it may determine, the provision of any or all such improvements as in its judgment of the special circumstances of a particular plat or plats are not requisite in the interest of the public health, safety and general welfare. Such performance bond shall be issued by a bonding or surety company approved by the City Attorney or by the owner with security acceptable to the Common Council and shall also be approved by the City Attorney as to form, sufficiency and manner of execution. Such performance bond shall run for a term to be fixed by the Planning Board, but in no case for a longer term than three (3) years; provided, however, that the term of such performance bond may be extended by the Planning Board with the consent of the parties thereto. If the Planning Board shall decide at any time during the term of the performance bond that the extent of building development that has taken place in the subdivision is not sufficient to warrant all the improvements covered by such performance bond or that required improvements have been installed, as provided in this section, and by the Planning Board in sufficient amount to warrant reduction in the face amount of said bond or that the character and extent of such development requires additional improvements previously waived for a period stated at the time of fixing the original terms of such bond, the Planning Board may modify its requirements for any or all such improvements, and the face value of such performance bond shall thereupon be reduced or increased by an appropriate amount so that the new face value will cover the cost in full of the amended list of improvements required by the Planning Board and any security deposited with the bond may be reduced or increased proportionately. In the event that any required improvements have not been installed as provided in this section within the term of such performance bond, the Common Council may thereupon declare said bond to be in default and collect the sum remaining payable thereunder and, upon receipt of the proceeds thereof, the city shall install such improvements as are covered by such performance bond and are commensurate with the extent of building development that has taken place in the subdivision, but not exceeding in cost the amount of such proceeds. In making such determination regarding streets, highways, parks and required improvement, the Planning Board shall take into consideration the prospective character of the development, whether dense residence, open residence, business or industrial.
The Planning Board is hereby empowered simultaneously with the approval of any such plat either to confirm the zoning regulations of the land so platted as shown on the Official Zoning Maps of the City of Oswego or to make any reasonable change therein, and such Board is hereby empowered to make such change. The owner of the land shown on the plat may submit with the plat a proposed building plan indicating lots where group houses for residences or apartment houses or local stores and shops are proposed to be built; such building shall indicate for each lot or proposed building unit the maximum density of population that may exist thereon and the minimum yard requirements. Such plan, if approved by the Planning Board, shall modify, change or supplement the zoning regulations of the land shown on the plat within the limitations prescribed herein; provided, however, that for such land so shown there shall not be a greater average density of population or cover of the land with buildings than is permitted in the district wherein such land lies, as shown on the Official Zoning Map. Such building plan shall not be approved by the Planning Board unless in its judgment the appropriate use of adjoining land is reasonably safeguarded and such plan is consistent with the public welfare. Before the Board shall make any change in the zoning regulations there shall be a public hearing preceded by the same notice as in the case of the approval of the plat itself. On the filing of the plat in the office of the County Clerk of the County of Oswego, such changes shall be and become part of the zoning regulations of the City of Oswego and shall be enforced in the same manner and shall be similarly subject to change.
The Planning Board shall have such other powers and duties as set forth in § 37 of the General City Law.
Editor's Note: See also Ch. 280, Zoning.

References: § 40

§ 40

§ 40

§ 40

§ 40

§ 40

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§ 40

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§ 40

§ 40
 § 26
 § 40
 § 329
 § 33
 § 37