Utica, New York Common Council Meeting Records

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Common Council Meeting with Committee of the Whole Meeting February 4th, 2026

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Common Council Meeting with Committee of the Whole Meeting February 4th, 2026

16 matches · 8 unidentified
1:48:11
Well, this is a different one. I'll read Resolution providing for public hearing on a zoning amendment, whereas the city, uh, the Utica Common Council proposes amendment to the zoning board prohibiting billboards, whereas proposed amendment were referred to the Planning Board on February 4th, 2026 for a report thereon, whereas the City of Utica zoning ordinance requires that before any amendment supplement or change in the text, there should be a public hearing notice. Whereas the City Clerk shall cause to be published a public hearing notice at least 2 times, not less than 10 days before the public hearing. Now there be resolved that the Utica Common Council shall conduct a public hearing on the proposed amendment at its regular meeting on February 25th at 2026 at 7 2 PM in the Common Council chambers. All right, so these are going to go into the public hearing.
3:06:40
Yep, resolution providing for public on a zoning amendment, whereas the Utica Common Council proposed amendments to the zoning code concerning the battery energy storage systems within the city, whereas the proposed amendments were referred to the Planning Board on February 4th, 2026, for a report thereon, whereas the City of Utica zoning ordinance requires that before any amendment, supplement, or change in the text, there should be a public notice and hearing Whereas the City Clerk's Office should cause to be published a public hearing notice at least 2 times, not less than 10 days before the public hearing. Now therefore be it resolved that the Utica Common Council should conduct the public hearing on the proposed amendment at its regular meeting on February 25th, 2026, at 7 PM in the County Council Chambers, One Kennedy Plaza, Utica, New York, to provide the public with an opportunity to question and offer comments on the proposed zoning text amendment. Immediately after the public hearing, the Utica Common Council may consider legislation that will amend the zoning ordinance to allow battery energy storage systems within the city.
Unidentified speaker 1:33:17
Energy related, and the thought was we needed time to review to figure out what we wanted to do, where we wanted them to be. My understanding, if you're not familiar with what these systems are, and I have a very simple knowledge of what they are, but my understanding is they are essentially, you know, large shipping containers that house energy that they take off the grid during off hours and then sell and reuse it during high periods of energy usage. Other than that, I don't know much more, but I know that the state is pushing them. But I also know that there's a lot of concerns with where they're located because I believe there's issues with— you can't actually put them out with regular— with water. So we had some discussions and I did do some research. The state came out with guidelines for these systems. So the piece that you have in front of you is the actual definition. We're just adding what the definition of battery energy storage system is. That definition came from the New York State, I pulled that directly. We're going to be adding that into the code. The second piece, which you don't have in front of you, designates the specific areas within the city that they would be allowed in, which would be the industrial district and the industrial mixed use district, and they'd be allowed only by a special use permit, which would mean they'd have to apply for a permit. There'd have to be a public hearing notice to, um, property owners, and then, um, a site plan approval.
Unidentified speaker 1:37:05
Yeah. And, and to be clear, there are, you know, much like other, you know, wind, solar, you know, there are a lot of concerns with, you know, having these systems in place. Um, again, we just said, um, you know, you can't put it out with, you know, regular, you know, water. So the fire department has to figure out, you know, how to handle that. And they're— so the last piece of legislation that I sent down is the actual regulations, um, which would require again, the special use permit, and there are specific things that the applicant would need to provide. A lot of those include, you know, providing, um, not just information about, you know, how it's going to look, but, you know, noise regulations, um, you know, their safety information, and providing that to the fire department, police department, codes, um, you know, inspections, site access. You know, there's a lot of different regulations for them. That they not only have to apply when they do their site plan approval as part of their special use, but as an ongoing, you know, changes in ownership has to be shared. So there's a lot of things that govern that. Again, we're not asking for the Council to act on this tonight. You can't, it has to go to a public hearing. And I know that I just sent this down today, 'cause I was waiting for clarification that we could get it on the calendar for Planning Board. But take a look at it, we can answer more questions. It is very detailed. Again, I took, you know, the model system from, you know, New York State as to what they recommend for their regulations. I tailored it ever so slightly to fit the City of Utica specifically. Um, but, um, you know, review it, and then if you have specific questions, I know one of the things I talked about with fire, um, and urban, um, was adding a, um, you know, distance from any residential uses, um, between the structures to prevent any fires. Um, so fire is still weighing in on, on the distance that should be between them.