Trumansburg releases second draft of zoning plan

Trumansburg, located in the town of Ulysses, recently released the second draft of its zoning law. Photo by Elijah de Castro.

Following six months of community feedback, Trumansburg’s Comprehensive Plan & Zoning Revision (CPZR) committee released a second draft of proposed changes to Trumansburg’s zoning laws Dec. 27. The new draft includes major revisions to the first draft.

The first draft of the zoning proposal, released in June 2022, aimed to address the town’s seriously low affordable housing supply. (There are 84 units of affordable housing for the 5,000 people who live in Ulysses.) Additionally, the draft legalized and regulated the construction of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), self-contained housing units located on the property of a preexisting house.

The first draft was met with a mixed response from the Trumansburg community. While many were supportive of increasing affordable housing, concerns were raised that the ADUs could turn into vacation houses or market-rate houses, rather than affordable homes. In a Dec. 27press release, the CPZR committee said that the second draft of the proposal reflects recent feedback.

Trumansburg Connection by Elijah de Castro

“In the six months since that release, the committee has collected feedback from various Village boards, the Village’s attorney, and Village residents via email, Facebook, and in-person meetings,” the press release stated.

In the press release, the CPZR committee announced three main changes to the first proposal: revisions to the dimensional requirements for dwelling units, a widening of the definition of a low-income household and the removal of regulation of manufactured homes.

The first draft of the proposal reduced the lot size requirements for lots with 1-20 dwelling units from Trumansburg’s 2012 zoning ordinance. In the 2012 zoning ordinance, lot sizes were required to be 15,000 square feet for the first residential dwelling unit, 7,500 square feet for the second residential unit (on the same lot) and 5,000 square feet for each additional dwelling unit.

The first draft reduced these requirements significantly. If a lot were to have one or two dwelling units, it needed to be only 6,500 square feet. The first draft also proposed that for a third and fourth dwelling unit, lots were required to be 13,000 square feet. Lots with five units were required to be 26,000 square feet. Each additional dwelling unit required 3,250 square feet on a lot, as opposed to 5,000 square feet in the 2012 zoning ordinance.

The second draft maintains some of the first draft’s lot size requirements while reducing or increasing others. The proposal to reduce lot size requirements from 15,000 square feet to 6,500 square feet for lots with one to two dwelling units remains unchanged. The required size for a lot with three to four dwelling units was cut further to 10,000 square feet. However, the required size for lots with five units was increased to 37,500 square feet. The lot size for each additional dwelling unit returned to 5,000 square feet, as under the 2012 zoning ordinance.

The definition of a low-income household has expanded in the second draft, which would make affordable housing more accessible for families. The first draft defined a low-income household as “a household whose income is more than 50% but not more than 80% of the median family income.” The second draft revises this definition to include all families whose income is under 80% of the median family income. In Tompkins County, the median family income for a family of two is $64,150, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Additionally, regulations around manufactured homes (houses prebuilt in factories) have been struck from the first proposal. In the second proposal’s edits, the village’s attorney cited a 2015 New York State law that limits the ability of local governments to regulate manufactured housing.

The revised draft proposal is available at https://tinyurl.com/TburgZoning. The press release also announced a public meeting at 9 a.m. Feb 4, 2023. Additionally, the press release said the village government will be adopting a more frequent schedule to discuss zoning changes.

“Revising zoning on a more regular basis allows for quicker course correction and faster response to changes in the community,” the press release stated. “It also provides increased opportunities for community input along the way.”

Trumansburg Connection appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Submit story ideas to Editorial@VizellaMedia.com