By JIMMY LAWTON

OGDENBURG – St. Lawrence County Planning Board Chair Tom Jenison says a proposed Planned Development District application for the former Lincoln School should go back to county planners for review, if the property is removed from the proposed Adaptive Reuse District.

Step by Step Inc., has applied for zoning change that would allow the non-profit to move its mental health services into the former school building located at 1515 Knox Street.

At a recent meeting county planners recommended the city deny the request, because they believed it would benefit the city to make the zoning change through the city’s proposed ARD, which does not yet exist.

However an amendment proposed by councilor William Hosmer Tuesday would modify the ARD to include properties that are less than two acres in size, which would exclude the former school property that is just over two acres.

Jenison said that if the amendment is passed and the school is not included in the ARD, that the PDD should be returned to the county for review. He said the potential for Step by Step to pursue a use change through the ARD process was a major factor in the county planning board’s decision.

He said the application for a PDD was denied it was not due to the project itself, but rather because county planners thought the ARD process would have been the better way to handle the request.

Jenison said the city’s proposed amendment to the ARD would represent a potential substantial change to the circumstances surrounding the application.

“The people who voted against the recommendation didn’t do it because of the application itself, but because of procedural purposes,” he said. “They just felt the Adaptive Reuse District would have been a more legitimate way to do it.”

Jenison said the he believes the change-of-use proposal put forth by Step By Step Inc., is  valid. County planning staff also found the use to be valid.

Jenison said the process has been a frustrating one for developers, residents, city councilors and planners.

“What should have happened is that the ARD should have been hashed out first, but both proposals came to us on the same night,” he said. “The cart basically got ahead of the horse.”

County Planner Jason Pfotenhauer, who reviewed the application and recommended it be passed by the planning board, says the city’s proposed amendment would create a unique situation since it limits options for the developers.

He said county planning staff would willing to review the PDD again in light of the proposed changes to the ARD.

“So there has to be some relief for the developer. There isn’t an appeal in this process. The applicant could go through the use variance process, but that’s considerably different,” he said. “The action taken by the county planning board is no longer relevant if the property is isn’t included in the ARD.”

Pfotenhauer said it should be reconsidered before the city council takes action.

“The county planning board acted in good faith, but all of the potential ramifications were not fully exhausted and so we are in uncharted waters.”

The county’s recommendation has a lot of weight on the application due to a state law that requires a majority-plus-one vote in order to contradict the county planning board’s recommendation.

As it stands it would take only four votes for the city to deny the request. If the county were to support it, it would require five votes to deny the request. Councilor Jennifer Stevenson has recused herself from the votes related to the issue as her realty company was involved in the sale of the property. That would leave just six voting board members.

The board is expected to take action on the PDD at a special meeting to be held Thursday (May 28) at 8 p.m., according to City Manager John Pinkerton.

If the city denies the application, it could put the zoning change in limbo, but Planning Director Andrea Smith was unsure how long Step By Step would need to wait before it could reapply.