The Baxter Estates Board of Trustees approved an amendment to a bill at a public hearing on Thursday that would continue alleviating certain off-site parking requirements for Main Street storefronts.
Village Attorney Christopher Prior introduced the revision, which aims to streamline the zoning variance process for property owners with new tenants by exempting Main Street area properties without alterations or lot adjustments of insufficient off-street parking.
Trustee Chris Ficalora labeled the move a “proactive approach” to future changes for tenants on Main Street.
The change comes in light of two recent applications for new permit uses in buildings on Main Street to address the “parking burdens” in the area, according to Prior.
The village’s current zoning code requires buildings along Main Street or Shore Road to provide a certain number of off-street parking spots depending on property use.
Almost all of the buildings predate their zoning restrictions and have little or no off-street parking, which forced property owners to seek a variance for new tenants from the Village’s zoning board on parking restrictions even if there were no proposals to change the property itself, Prior explained.
“The suggestion to the board by the superintendent of buildings was there’s no rational need to bring back each change in (permit) use,” Prior said. “If the use is permitted, and the load on the property and dimensions of the property is unchanged – why make them come back?”
Trustee Alice Peckelis added the zoning variance process is time-consuming and costly for property owners, citing that as a factor the board considered before voting unanimously to pass it.
Proposals for alterations in lot dimensions or an addition of a new floor on commercial property, however, will not automatically be exempt from parking codes and still mandates a review of parking requirements from the Board of Appeals and the public.
The board closed the hearing and declared the new changes would be effective immediately after receiving the governor’s approval.
They also announced Trustees Douglas Baldwin and Peckelis are up for re-election this year on March 18 at Village Hall from noon until 9 p.m.
