RVC Planning Board proposes changes to village code

LINKS TO THE COMPLETE LIST OF CHANGES:

http://www.rvcny.us/rvcagenda/DOCS-805931-v1-RVC_1101__building_height_and_lot_coverage.pdf

http://www.rvcny.us/rvcagenda/DOCS-806131-v2-RVC_1102_setbacks.pdf

During the village board meeting on Jan. 25, David Resnick of the Planning Board proposed some changes to the village building code for Class A residences.

“We [the board] wound up studying 39 surrounding communities ... to create a benchmark and see how lot coverage is addressed in other villages,” said Resnick, a Planning Board member who addressed the trustees.

Resnick first proposed a modification to the current lot coverage for homes, which right now can’t exceed 33.3 percent of the lot area. He recommended a limit to a building’s total area so it would be no more than 30 percent in a lot area less than 8,000 sq. feet. He said that for a lot area exceeding 8,000 sq. feet, the total house area should not exceed 25 percent.

Resnick also proposed a change to the height of a home from 30 feet to 32 feet. However, the new height of a building will be measured to the peak of the home and not to the midpoint of the gable roof. Under the current code, no building can exceed 30 feet and the height is measured to the midpoint of the gable roof. But under the new proposed code, which Resnick called a "relational restriction," the 32 feet will be measured to the peak of the building and the height can't exceed the average height of the homes located on the same side of the street within the same block.

Another code change was for the setback of buildings and the size of yards. For rear yards, the depth of would be changed to at least 25 feet, five feet more than the current village code. As for front yard setbacks for residential lots, the new proposal prohibits an enclosed entrance to continue more than four feet from the home, and the bottom step of the entrance can’t exceed six feet from the house.

Changes were also proposed for houses on corner lots. For them, the current code states that the yard opposite the greatest setback would be no less than 15 feet. Resnick proposed that this should change to 20 feet.

An additional proposal was for the side yards of houses. The current restriction hinges on whether the house was built before or after 1983. The new proposal says nothing ab out the age of the building — that for houses with an average lot width of 60 feet or less, the minimum side yard width would have to be five feet. The house also has to be 15 feet from an adjacent property.

The board of trustees plans to discuss all these changes again at the next public meeting in Village Hall on Feb. 8.