OGDENSBURG -- Ogdensburg planners and councilors will host a second public meeting on at 6 p.m. Jan. 19 to present the revised planning board recommendation for the adaptive reuse district.

According to a release issued by the planning department, city staff will highlight the revisions and intent of the district and the public will have an opportunity to ask questions.

Director of Planning and Development, Andrea L. Smith said the public voiced many constructive comments and raised important questions during the initial public meeting on Nov. 6, 2014. She added, “Since that meeting the Planning Board has reconvened and made additional revisions to the proposed ordinance in response to public comment. This public meeting will review those changes and again provide the public with an opportunity to ask questions.”

The proposed zoning plan would allow non-conforming properties throughout the city to bypass the regular zoning process.

The properties would be lumped into an “adaptive reuse district,” but are not adjacent to one another, as is the norm for zoning districts.

The proposed process still mimics a process already on the books in Ogdensburg, the Planned Development District or PDD, except that Adaptive Reuse Applications will be reviewed by a Joint Planning and Zoning Commission, and is a predefined zone not a floating zone like the PDD.

The proposal for a 9 member Joint Commission remains part of the recommendation and would be comprised of Planning Board, Zoning Board, and City Council members.

The Commission would review each application for any parcel within the proposed district to determine compatibility. The Commission would be required to hold a public hearing and ultimately would determine if the proposed reuse of the parcel is compatible with the surrounding areas and zoning districts.

The public is encouraged to attend the meeting and will have the opportunity to provide feedback before the proposal will be sent back to city council for review and possible action.

The proposal, according to Smith, “was born out of a growing problem facing many communities across the Country, not just here in the North Country – How do we plan for the reuse of pre-existing nonconforming uses in our neighborhoods, schools, churches, community centers, and government facilities just to name a few,” she said in a released statement. “While the Planning Board has been actively engaged in a comprehensive review of the city’s zoning ordinance lasted updated in 1992, since January 2012, the conundrum of school closings became an issue that took center stage. With the closing of Sherman Elementary School, Washington School, Lincoln Elementary School, and most recently, St. Margarite d’Youville Academy it was evident the City could wait no longer to address the resulting land use concerns.”

Smith said that with support from the City’s Zoning Board of Appeals and City Council, the Planning Board concentrated their efforts on this issue beginning in the spring of 2014. The result of many meetings and discussions, including feedback from the County’s Executive Planning Board, is a proposal for the Adaptive Reuse District.

The purpose of this district as stated by the draft ordinance “is to recognize the public, quasipublic, and institutional nature of particular parcels of land and provide standards and guidelines for their continued use and future adaptive reuse; and to ensure that the developments within the district will be compatible with surrounding zoning districts and uses.”