Zoning Board of Appeals Minutes
December 22, 2020
Present: Tim Young, Chairman Absent: Gary Starr
Bruce Kidder David Josephson
Scott Schang
A meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Busti was held on Tuesday, December 22, 2020 at 2:00 pm via OfficeSuite HD-Meeting online to consider an interpretation regarding property located at 4515 Gleason Road, Lakewood, New York and known as Section 384.00, Block 3, Lot 12 of the official tax map of the Town of Busti.
Tim Young moved the following resolution, which was duly seconded by Scott Schang.
Town of Busti Zoning Board of Appeals
Interpretation of Zoning Code
The Town of Busti Zoning Board of Appeals hereby resolves as follows:
WHEREAS, Section 405-21 of the Town of Busti Zoning Code permits various uses by right and by special use permit in the Light Manufacturing and Research and Development (LMR) District, including, but not limited to, a “building contractor shop”, “business offices”, “machine shops”, and “professional offices,” and
WHEREAS, Jim Rauh Enterprises, LLC, d/b/a Tabone Paving, has expressed an interest in purchasing the property at 4515 Gleason Road, which is located within the LMR District, to use for its administrative offices and to store its equipment, and
WHEREAS, the Town’s Code Enforcement Officer has raised the question of whether the proposed use is permitted within the LMR District, and has asked the Zoning Board of Appeals for its interpretation. and
WHEREAS, the Zoning Board of Appeals has the authority to offer interpretations of the Town’s Zoning Code under Section 405-84(A) thereof, and
WHEREAS, the Zoning Board of Appeals makes the following findings as a basis for its interpretation:
- The Zoning Code contains no definition of the terms “building contractor shop”, “business offices”, “machine shops”, and “professional offices”, which are all uses permitted as of right within the LMR District; and
- Where terms in the Code are undefined, the dictionary definition is a useful guidepost in determining the meaning of a word or term, and the intent of the Town Board that adopted the law is also an important reference. The use proposed by Jim Rauh Enterprises, LLC, is, in our opinion, similar or equivalent to other uses that the Town Board clearly intended to permit within the LMR District, as the terms describing them are used in common parlance, and Rauh should not be limited simply because the Town Board did not anticipate every possible use in the wording of the law; and
- Furthermore, ambiguity in the Zoning Code should be construed against the municipality that has enacted it. If the Town Board wishes to prohibit administrative offices for a paving company, and the storage of equipment that is a necessary and integral part of it, then it should amend the Zoning Code to adopt clear and precise definitions for what exactly is permitted within the LMR District;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT
RESOLVED, for purposes of Section 405-21 of the Town of Busti Zoning Code, we interpret the terms “building contractor shop”, “business offices”, “machine shops”, and “professional offices,” to encompass and permit by right the use of a parcel for the administrative offices of a paving company, including the storage of equipment related thereto.
All aye. Carried.
Upon motion made by Tim Young, the meeting was adjourned at 2:15 pm.
Respectfully given,
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Susan Huffman, Deputy Town Clerk