Planning & Zoning Commission—Public Hearing 9/24/24-Update of POCD—Future Growth/Planning of Our Town

08/27/24

Nicholas Speziale withdrew his application for home-based business at 38 Pond Ridge Drive. Speziale, his wife, and his father, planned on constructing a home and a barn garage to house his excavating business on the property. Speziale submitted his withdrawal via email to the Planning & Zoning Commission but Speziale did not explain why he and his family withdrew the application.

For New Business, Town Planner Janell Mullen reviewed her draft memorandum for accessory buildings in response to an amendment regarding special permit applications for art studios in town. According to the memorandum itself, Mullen proposed new amendments to, “ensure that the Zoning Regulations provide specific parameters that would prevent the establishment of structures without a permissible primary use in residential zones”. These amendments were designed to primarily keep buildings in Residential-Agricultural Zones as residential or agricultural in use for Goshen. Most of these amendments included additional language for Article 3 Zone Regulations for better clarification such as, “All principal buildings shall be used for residential or agricultural purposes unless a Special Permit has been granted to allow for the adaptive reuse of a pre-existing building.” The proposed amendments additionally included definitions of accessory use and accessory structures for clarification. Those definitions are as follows:

• Accessory structure: a secondary structure located on the same lot as a principal structure and which is subordinate in size and/or purpose to the principal structure.
• Accessory use: an activity which is conducted on the same parcel as the permitted principal use and is secondary/subordinate to the parcel’s principal use.

Mullen later clarified that most accessory or subordinate buildings on a property are smaller than residential buildings such as sheds, efficiency units, and barns. However, some accessory buildings could be larger than residences such as garages, shops, and extended barns. The commission later clarified that lots and parcels are synonymous; however, lots are the preferred vocabulary when writing about a lot of land since lot is defined in Goshen’s regulations while parcels are not. Chairman Jonathan Carroll then suggested the commission set a public hearing date to review adding the suggested amendments to Goshen’s accessory building regulations. Patrick Lucas motioned to set a public hearing for Tuesday, September 24th for this purpose starting at 7:30 pm. This was unanimously approved.

Land Use Enforcement Officer Spencer Musselman then conducted his ZEO report. Eight zoning permits were distributed in July and August ranging from the rebuilding of a 26' x 40 ‘ barn that was destroyed by a fire caused by a lightning strike to the installation of a 27’ round pool. PZC Vice Chairwoman, Lu-Ann Zbinden, motioned to approve Musselman’s ZEO report. This was unanimously approved.

On top of September 24th’s public hearing, the PZC will host a Special Meeting on Monday, September 9th starting at 7:30 pm to discuss Goshen’s .Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD). Here they will discuss rewriting and updating the POCD (Plans of Conservation and Development) ahead of it’s 2026 deadline.