By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

While no specific changes have been proposed yet, the town of Cicero is looking to revamp its zoning districts to eliminate spot zoning and encourage smart development in the town. Planning Board Chair Bob Smith presented the town’s case for the overhaul at a public hearing at the May 11 Cicero Town Board meeting:

Becoming a suburban town

Smith said most of the districts were created when Cicero was still a largely rural town. Over the years, however, Cicero has tended more toward residential and commercial development. The development of the commercial corridors of Route 31, Route 11 and Taft Road has contributed to the uneven zoning of the town.

Smith also cited the 2007 referendum in which residents voted to change their classification from a first-class town to a suburban town. In a suburban town, the supervisor assumes the role of the town’s chief executive officer as well as responsibility for its day-to-day operations. Suburban towns can also have special reserve funds to pay for long-term projects, keep more from speeding tickets fines and set speed limits on town roads.

Spot zoning

Another major issue in Cicero is spot zoning, in which a single parcel is zoned differently from the majority of the surrounding parcels.

“What we have is pretty messed up,” Smith said.

Smith called Lincoln Avenue the “poster child for spot zoning.” The area originally had been zoned for agricultural use, but over time, commercial development has isolated residences on Lincoln Avenue.

“Now the folks in Lincoln Avenue are surrounded by Sun Auto [on one side and] Walmart on the other side,” Smith said. “Property values in this neighborhood have fallen and they are going to continue to fall. It’s an orphan neighborhood. … We shouldn’t allow this to happen.”

Barriers to development

While residents’ property values are suffering from Cicero’s poor zoning, potential commercial developers are struggling, as well.

Smith said many properties contain multiple zoning districts or are not zoned for commercial construction, and it’s costly to pursue a zone change. The application fee for a zone request is $1,750, and developers also accrue costs for surveying, engineering and legal services.

“It isn’t unheard of for a developer to have [to pay] in excess of $10,000 for re-zoning,” Smith said.

Smith said the prohibitively expensive cost of zone change requests leads developers to look to other towns for their projects, such as Clay and DeWitt.

“That’s not good economic development,” Smith said. “A 5 percent premium just to get started?”

Smith also called the re-zoning process “discretionary and political.”

“It’s very subjective to what the mood is,” he said.

Residents react

After Smith’s presentation, a handful of residents raised their concerns about the possibility of re-zoning.

Resident Don Snyder expressed concern that if lots currently zoned agricultural were changed to residential, homeowners’ assessments would increase, and ultimately, their taxes would rise as well.

“We need to look down the road for two things: one, for the commercial development; two, for the [residents] already there,” Snyder said.

Former supervisor Judy Boyke said residents who live on improperly zoned lots have trouble finding buyers for their homes. She also questioned the town’s lack of a plan for re-zoning.

“No one has said … what areas, what roads are you going to change?” she said.

Supervisor Mark Venesky said the major target areas for zone changes will be Route 31 to the Clay line, South Bay Road and Route 31 to Brewerton.

“We’re going to take out time,” Venesky said. “Obviously, we’re not going to rush into anything.”

Resident Tom Beaulieu pointed out that, while a previous town board voted to accept Cicero’s comprehensive plan more than a decade ago, the board never actually adopted the plan. He also criticized previous boards for allowing the spot zoning problem to grow unchecked.

“When you do things like that, you end up creating bigger problems,” Beaulieu said. “I guess the Coliseum was an easier project.”

An updated map of Cicero’s zoning districts is available at bit.ly/cicerozones. The town board has not developed a plan for what the changes to zoning districts will look like, but the public hearing will continue at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 25.