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Architect urges Ancram board to align zoning code with comprehensive plan to spur housing
Summary
Architect Don Larson, a potential CRC appointee, told the Ancram town board the zoning code is overly prescriptive and out of step with the comprehensive plan; he urged adding as-of-right uses, allowing mixed-use and relaxed density in appropriate areas to encourage housing and small businesses.
Don Larson, an architect and Ancram property owner, told the town board he is seeking consideration as a CRC appointee and urged the Zoning Revisions Committee to align the zoning code with the town's comprehensive plan. "Zoning is really being rethought in a lot of communities," Larson said, arguing many codes remain suburban and discourage walkable, mixed-use development.
Larson outlined specific recommendations: increase the number of as-of-right (permitted) uses in hamlet areas, add clear mixed-use provisions, simplify the density-control schedule, and reconsider a two-year abandonment rule for nonconforming uses that can prevent reuse of historic structures. He warned that excessive discretionary reviews and consultant-driven paperwork make it difficult for small businesses and property owners to reuse existing buildings. "If there's a P in the box, we can go read the prescriptions... If there's an SP, SUP, or SPR, that's when the planning board gets involved," Larson said, arguing the board should move more routine activities into permitted categories.
ZRC members and board officials said the committee has been primarily wordsmithing definitions and procedures, and that affordable housing is the committee's next substantive task. Several members urged that the town board set clearer priorities for the ZRC so the committee can tackle the most urgent items—definitions, ADU rules, buffers, and the use chart—rather than only editing language.
