The First Village Zoning:
Residential Zoning Restrictions
The middle sections of the law elaborated on its intent with respect to residential land use. Section 5 stated that a garage could only be used by the occupants of the home built on a given lot, but made no mention of the Newman deed prohibition against garage placement facing streets. The footprint of buildings within Zones 1 and 2 was restricted in the wording of Section 6 to “fifteen per cent of the lot.” The rationale for this was laid out in Section 7. It included practical reasons, such as “the lack of any sewage disposal system in the Village” and the ever present “danger from fire,” as well as the wish, apparently not uncommon at that time, to avoid “immoral practices resulting from too congested living conditions.”
The “Interpretation and Purposes” of the ordinance were stated in a lengthy paragraph in Section 7 that may have been borrowed in part from zoning laws passed in other municipalities. Overall, the goal was “to promote the public health, safety, morals and general welfare in the Village of Cayuga Heights, by maintaining and preserving the Village primarily as a community of homes.” Perceived benefits of suburban rather than urban living were implicit in the belief that “the health of the community will be better preserved and protected by creating a district of homes relieved of the dangers arising from congestion such as the spread of contagious disease, the accumulation of filth, and a relative deficiency of light and air.” These concerns are understandable during a period not long after the Ithaca typhoid epidemic of 1903. The final stated goal was “the stabilization of property values without excluding any legitimate business or particular use of property from the Village.” Property values rose fast in Cayuga Heights during the 1920s; total assessed valuation was almost one and a half million dollars in 1925, compared with less than half a million dollars five years before.(1)
The concluding sections of the ordinance dealt with the mechanics of how the law would take effect and be enforced in accord with the village law of New York State. Section 8 called upon the board of trustees to appoint a zoning board of appeals empowered to convene hearings during which the members would judge whether or not to uphold the decisions of a zoning officer. Section 9, titled “Enforcement,” stipulated that the job of the zoning officer was to issue or deny building permits in accordance with the law. In their judicial capacity members of the appeals board were expected to “vary the application of the terms of this ordinance to meet the equities of particular cases.” The cost of a zoning permit was set in Section 10 at one dollar with a penalty for non-compliance of “not more than” one hundred dollars per day after a five-day grace period.
The 1925 law was amended by the village board of trustees three times in the next five years to regularize procedures for the timing and publicizing of zoning appeals hearings and to establish the definition of permissible building setbacks from roadways. At a March 11, 1929 board of trustees meeting the maximum 15% of a lot area to be occupied by any “building or buildings” described in Section 6 of the law was restated with the additional proviso that in the event a lot was subdivided the same 15% maximum would apply to each of the lots so “reduced.” Relating to setbacks, a paragraph was added which said that within Zones 1 and 2 no building was allowed to extend “nearer to a street line than the mean distance of the set-back of the nearest building or buildings within one hundred feet on each side.” The maximum setback that could be required was 50 feet and the minimum was 15 feet. Further, no plantings were allowed within 15 feet from the corner of a lot that might “obstruct the free view of vehicles,” which reflected the increasing number of cars and traffic on village streets.(2)
ENDNOTES
(1) Tax Roll of the Village of Cayuga Heights, 1920 and 1925.
(2) Village of Cayuga Heights, Ordinances, February 1, 1938.
(1) Tax Roll of the Village of Cayuga Heights, 1920 and 1925.
(2) Village of Cayuga Heights, Ordinances, February 1, 1938.