By NEAL RENTZ
The Lewisboro town board is considering the creation of laws to regulate work on properties with steep slopes.
The board discussed the issue at its Feb. 10 work session.
The proposal is part of the board’s work on potential zoning amendments. The review is related to the effort to update the comprehensive plan, which was approved last year by the town board following years of work by the town’s comprehensive plan steering committee.Joining the town board in the discussion at this week’s meeting were town planner and wetland consultant Jan Johannessen; planning board Chairwoman Janet Andersen; Valerie Monastra, principal planner at Nelson Pope Voorhis, the environmental planning and land use analysis consulting firm retained by the steering committee; and attorney Christian Gates of Keane & Beane, who prepared the revised version of the proposed version with its suggestions for the proposed zoning amendments, including comments from the planning board. Keane & Beane is the firm serving as the planning board’s attorney.
The proposal to add Chapter 187A to the town code is titled “Concerning Steep Slope Protections” and would be “an entirely new chapter,” Gates told the town board.
Councilwoman Andrea Rendo said some residents have voiced concern about regulating steep slope with a 50 percent slope. “For our town that could be a driveway,” she said. “The feedback we’ve gotten so far is that it’s too restrictive.”
Steep slopes regulations “would be triggered when the cumulative disturbance exceeds 500 square feet,” Gates said.
Under the proposal, no permits would be required for a “moderately steep slope” with a slope from 15 percent to less than 25 percent. But permits would be required for a “very steep slope,” which is defined in the proposal to be from 25 percent slope to less than 35 percent and an “extremely steep slope” is a slope of 35 percent or greater.
Councilman Richard Sklarin asked why the new steep slopes regulations were needed. If a property owner has an application before the planning board, the environmental impact will be reviewed automatically, he said. “Slope is going to be a factor” in the overall environmental review, he said.
Andersen told Sklarin she is not aware of a situation in which the planning board has not approved a project because it would have been located on a steep slope. “What we have looked at is how you can mitigate it,” she said. “Can you adjust things? Can you move it?”
The steep slopes regulations would not bar the planning board review of the project, Councilman Dan Welsh said. “But this gives you standards now,” he said. “So process wise, it won’t change drastically.”
“It also helps applicants as well to be aware of what’s expected” before going before the planning board, Gates said.
“What legislative problem are you trying to solve that you don’t already have in the existing process?” Sklarin asked.
“The reason this came to be is because you don’t really regulate steep slopes at all,” Monastra said. “So, part of the concern was actually trying to capture some of those regulations if somebody’s doing work on steep slopes on their property.”
If a property owner is not coming before a board for any other reason, “this would kick in,” Andersen said. “We’ve had complaints from some people about downslope water and downslope erosion” caused by a steep slope on another property, she said.
A steep slope permit would be required for work on a property that would fit the requirements of the proposed regulations, Monastra said. If approved, there would be guidelines for doing the work, Supervisor Tony Gonçalves said. The proposal would allow for the issuance of a stop work order or violation for those not following the regulations, Johannessen said.
Some exemptions in the proposed regulations include a property owner’s normal ground maintenance including mowing and trimming, Monastra said.
The town’s engineer is KSCJ Consulting. The town board agreed to instruct the town engineer to review the proposal and come up with some additional exemptions.