With a new home and pole barn proposed for a West Jackson Street parcel, a neighbor asked the Common Council why she wasn’t notified of proposed zoning changes she said could impact flooding.
The council unanimously approved the rezoning of nine parcels on West Jackson Street and Niagara Street from open zoning to low-density residential. The rezoning, and a separate increase to impervious surface coverage limits, came following a “comprehensive” review and plan approved in March that city officials said missed the north-end neighborhood.
Ahead of the hearing, Jason Dool, chief building inspector, said the north-end properties had been part of a reserved area.
“When the new map came out, they were zoned open space,” Dool said. “Since then, we’ve had a couple of people inquire about building in these vacant parcels. There’s a couple (parcels) that have homes on them and have utilities on them. Despite there being homes, they weren’t zoned residential. They had variances there to build. It really never came to light until we had another resident wanting to build on a West Jackson parcel.”
The city had contracted with Colliers Engineering and Design in Rochester earlier in the year to review the city’s zoning map and help resolve inconsistencies.
The council also unanimously approved increases to the amount of space a property can have that does not allow water infiltration, known as impervious surface coverage. Dool had explained that such space is taken up by homes, garages, driveways, parking lots, compacted gravel surfaces, sidewalks, above-ground pools, and sheds. The approved change increased permissible impervious surface coverage in the low-density residential district from 30% to 40% for lots of up to 1 acre; 30% for lots of more than 1 acre.
“The reason we’re raising it is Lockport is an older city and in many, many, many areas of the city it’s pretty compacted to begin with,” Blackley said. “So this allows those homes to meet the standards where they should be anyway. … No one is harmed by it. It actually helps people in those regards.”
Following the rezoning vote, Evelyn Buffone, a West Jackson Street resident, asked the council, “Did you change it back to what it was before you made the new zoning stuff last March? Is that what happened? We weren’t told anything. If I didn’t read it in the paper, I’d have no idea.”
Blackley did not answer the question of whether the day’s vote had restored a previous zoning designation.
When they redid the comprehensive plan in zoning, they overlooked these properties,” he said. “And the reason they overlooked them is because of the zoning map. … So what they did to bring it in line with the new, you know, density maps on our zoning map, which yours would be low density, because there’s not many people living out that way.”
Buffone said her neighborhood experiences flooding and asked if the impervious surface area increase would affect her street.
“The lot next door to me is 17 acres. Does that mean he could pave 40% of 17 acres or have a roof on it?” Buffone said.
Blackley said, “I don’t think that’s the same. It’s with normal city lots.”
Buffone asked why she didn’t receive information on the proposed change.
“Well, it wasn’t a hearing …” Blackley said.
“Right now we just had a public hearing about it,” Buffone said.
“Yeah, we did have a public hearing,” Blackley said.
Mark Devine, 3rd Ward alderman and chairman of the council’s water and sewer committee, suggested that Buffone “remain vigilant” about the type of construction proposed in her neighborhood, due to the drainage issues.
“The gentleman who wishes to build a home next door to us on his 17 acres is looking at a great big pole barn and a large home,” Buffone said. “I think he’s talking 3,000 feet for a ranch and a couple other accessory buildings. And I’m concerned that you’re going to let them do 40%. Where’s all this water going to go? We’ve already got to run pumps to get it out of our yard.”