C. ENSURE EFFECTIVE PLANNING

Ensure that the municipal entites can effectively impliment the recommendations to enhance the rural character and the tax base by providing clear direction, training, resource and advice.

1. Give the Town's Planning Board clear direction:

a. Develop administrative policies and protect review checklists for the Planning and Zoning Boards and applicants to expedite the review process. Post on the Town's website.

b. Adopt a Pattern Book for Community Design that illustrates preferred development patterns.

c. Amend the Zoning to incorporate the recommnedations of Greenway Guide C1 for commercial strip redevelopment.

d. Amend the Zoning to include the recommendations of Greenway Guide E5 on lightning to prevent glare, protect the night sky, and enhance the Town's nighttime sky character. Use the same concepts for public street lighting.

e. Amend the Zoning to encorporate Greenway Guide E3 on parking, and bring the Town's parking requirements into conformance with the recommndatins of the National Parking Association.(Note 7)

f. Amend the Town's Highway Specifications so that future development conforms to the recommendations of Residential Streets published by the Urban Land Institute, National Association of Homebuilders, American Society of Civil Engineers and Institute of Traffic Engineers. ( Note 8)

g. Inform new members of training obligations before they join

2. Provide training opportunities for the Planning Board in:

a. The effective use of SEQR, with emphasis on the use of SEQR to address school capacity and compliance with goals of the Comprehensive (Master) Plan.

b. Use of Greenway Guides

c. Innovative planning techniques and design principals that support community objectives of protecting priority resources and community character.

d. Successful smart growth techniques and tax-positive growth strategies.

e. Take the Planning Board on tours of local examples of conservation subdivisions and traditional neighborhood development ( within practical and financial reason) so they can see these kinds of development first hand.

3. Provide the Planning Board with resources

a. Display officially adopted maps, including the EP-O maps and the Trails Map, in Town Hall for use by the public and the Planning Board during review of subdivision site plan applications.

b. Train an assistant to the Planning Board in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to facilitate conservation subdivision design.

c. Provide information on techniques that can be used to build infrastructure necessary for development districts

4. Clarify the role of advisory comittees to the planning Board, and create policies for when development proposals should be referred to these comittees for their review

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Note 7 The National Parking Association (NPA) is an international network of parking industry professionals that establishes industry standards of parking requirements. Red Hook's current Zoning requirements for parking exceed the industry standards of the NPA. For instance, the Red Hook Zoning Law requires 1 parking space for every 150 square feet of retail floor area. The NPA standard is 1 parking space for every 300 square feet. Thus Red Hook is currently requiring approximately twice as much parking as the recommended industry standard. Reducing the amount of required parking will reduce cost to the developers, reduce stormwater runoff associated with impervious surfaces, and reduce the need for businesses to seek variances from the parking requirements.

Note 8. This publication contains the current industry standards. Red Hook's Highway Specifications are based on old standards that are reasonable for major thoroughfares, but are excessive for local residential streets. For instance, Red Hook standards require that residential streets have a 26 foot wide pavement. The current recommended standard for local residential streets is 18 - 24 foot wide pavement. The current recommended standard for local residential streets is 18-24 feet, depending on traffic volume and whether on-street parking is permitted. Streets that are too wide have a suburban, rather than a character, and encourage speeding. They are also too expensive to build and the higher speeds correlate directly with increased pedestrian injuries and fatalities.

Note 9 .GIS is a computer software program that can be used to identify the location of natural resources on a property, and can assist the project applicant and the Planning Board in identifying areas where development would be best located. While GIS is a valuble planning tool, it does not replace specific information " ground truthed " from on-site field work.

#1 Recommendations from the Town's Comprehensive Plan:

* Establish design criteria including architectural controls and design review procedures, to ensure compatability of new development with historic character.
* Give stronger consideration to aesthetics and design issues within the project review and approval process.
* Encourage building design that is indigenous to the community and its rural character, with emphasis on traditional building forms and materials.
* Deter strip commercial and strip residential development, and discourage franchise architectural styles.

Recommendations from the Town's Open Space Plan:

* Develop illustrated Development Design Guidelines for subdivisions and traditional neighborhood development.

Recommendations from Greenway Guides:
* Improve the local decision making process by providing resource materials and design guidelines.

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#2 Recommendations from the Town's Comprehensive Plan:

emphasize administration and enforcement of local, County, state and Federal laws and regulations supportive of Town's land use and development policy.

Recommendations from the Town's Open Space Plan:

The Planning Board should routinely require a landowner to consider cluster alternatives when developing land in the RD3, RD5 and LD Districts

Recommendations from Greenway Guides:

Improve the local decision making process by providing training for local board members.