Since before Mayor Lee Kyriacou was elected mayor, the council has been working closely with its City Planner, John Clark, to make the city’s Zoning Tables easier to understand. According to reporter Jeff Simms, who covers City Council meetings for the Highlands Current, the City Council has been working on this simplification “for 2 years at least,” he told A Little Beacon Blog right before the meeting began at 7pm (watch it live here on the city’s new YouTube Channel!).

You may have received a robo-call about a Public Hearing about a Zoning change that affects your property. If you are subscribed to the Emergency Alert System and checked all of the boxes to get all of the calls, then you maybe have gotten this one. The City Council has expressed interest in reaching people more proactively about when Public Hearings happen, and considered using the robo-call system.

The Public Hearing about the Zoning tables will cover the following:

Draft Use Table
1. Simple X - Y axis chart grouped by use types – shorter and easier to understand;
2. Combines Off-Street Parking (PB) and Office Business (OB) into Transitional (T) zone with some additional uses and residential options;
3. Combines Local Business (LB) and General Business (GB) districts;
4. Reduces the number of required Special Permits and shifts some Special Permits to the Planning Board;
5. Adds several new use categories:

Vehicle Sales or Rental Lot
Animal Care Facility
Golf Course

Eliminates a few use categories:

Ski Facility
Retail Truck or Trailer
Medical Service Structure

Draft Dimensional Table
1. Adds standards for new Transitional (T) district;
2. Eliminates inconsistencies in the table;
3. Decreases some setbacks in single-family districts and increases side setbacks in certain multifamily districts;
3. Adds dimensional standards (setbacks, building height, building coverage, minimum open space) instead of floor area ratios;
4. Removes more than half of the existing footnotes.

Draft Zoning - Major Text Amendments:
1. Updates uses and cross-references to be consistent with the new tables;
2. Broadens the general Special Permit conditions in Section 223-18 to include potential conflicts with adjacent blocks and adds traffic hazards or congestion, emergency services, infrastructure requirements, and consistency with the Comprehensive Plan as factors to consider;
3. Adds hotels to the list of potential uses allowed by Special Permit in the Historic District and Landmark Overlay Zone
4. Requires 25% non-residential uses in the Waterfront Development district within 400 feet of the Train Station;
5. Requires 1st floor non-residential uses in the Linkage district along the north side of West Main Street and Beekman Street;
6. Removes the expedited review process in the Linkage district;
7. Adds missing definitions.

In response to these changes, Beacon’s Planning Board reviewed the change and submitted feedback, which is attached to the meeting’s agenda on the City’s website, and republished here on A Little Beacon Blog.

“As requested, the Planning Board reviewed the Local Law amending Chapters 223 and 210 of the City of Beacon Code concerning the Schedule of Regulations and associated amendments, and changes to the Zoning Map at their May 12, 2020 meeting. City Planner John Clarke gave a detailed explanation of the proposed zoning amendments and creation of the Transition Zone. A lengthy discussion and review of the revised zoning tables took place. There was much debate about the commercial requirement for the Linkage Zone and the affect increased density would have on properties in the Transition Zone. Members felt the City Council should consider generating a schematic example of both a commercial and residential site by applying the new zoning regulations to better understand the resulting bulk increased density would have on neighboring properties.”

For those new to this, the Linkage Zone is the area down by the train station, where Brett’s Hardware is. The Parking PB district was an area created years ago when Beacon was being planned as a walking mall and parking was projected to be needed. According to Jeff: “The Transition Zone replaces an existing zone and gives it a better name that makes more sense. The one it replaces is PB (Parking).” The goal is to better transition from Main Street to the residential areas. There is flexibility for commercial as well as residential in these proposed changes.

Some uses are proposed to have changed in these changes. All of the details of this can be found in the agenda documents that can be found in detail at the City’s website here.

UPDATE: The meeting was adjourned to 2 weeks from today, to await Dutchess County comments.