Council schedules public hearing, seeks mandatory planning-board referrals to comply with MS4 rules
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Summary
The Common Council set a public hearing for a zoning text amendment that would require the planning board to consult specified city departments on site-plan reviews, a change presented as necessary to meet MS4 stormwater requirements from the DEC and EPA.
The Utica Common Council scheduled a public hearing and moved related ordinance language to committee after members and staff discussed requiring planning-board referrals to address new MS4 stormwater rules.
Deputy City Engineer Nick Breidenbacher told the council the draft language updates how the planning board coordinates with city departments to comply with MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer system) regulations imposed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Breidenbacher said the changes are intended “so everybody's in compliance” with the new rules.
Council members focused on a single-word change in the zoning ordinance’s site-plan referral language: replacing “may” with “shall” so the planning board is required, rather than permitted, to consult the engineering department and other city offices on each site-plan application. One councilmember argued that mandatory consultation will satisfy EPA requirements and ensure departments such as public works, codes, stormwater management and public safety are notified of planned projects.
The council also debated which offices should be included in the referral list. An amendment offered on the floor added the Department of Public Works, the city engineer, the commissioner of codes, the stormwater management officer and the City’s public-safety department to the list of required consultees and asked that representatives of federal, state and county agencies and designated private consultants be included as needed.
The resolution providing for a public hearing on the zoning amendment directed the city clerk to publish notice and set the hearing for the council’s first May meeting (the resolution text as amended listed May 7, 2025). Council members voted to place the ordinance language and hearing schedule into the committee process for fuller review before any final adoption.
Council members asked that the referral language read fluently and consistently (for example, calling it an ordinance “amending section 2-29-315” rather than “adding” the section) and requested that the Department of Public Works be explicitly included where practical. Staff confirmed that some department representatives already receive plan copies for larger projects, but the amended text would require distribution for every site-plan application.
No final amendment to the zoning code was adopted on the floor; the council will hold the required public hearing before committee consideration and final vote.
