The 2022 Housing Addendum
The only formal amendment to Penn Yan's 2017 Comprehensive Plan since adoption.
Adopted by the Village Board of Trustees on December 20, 2022. One page. Covers senior housing and affordable owner-occupied housing only. Last reviewed on this page: May 2026.
What the 2022 Housing Addendum Is
Penn Yan's 2022 Housing Addendum is the only formal amendment to the 2017 Comprehensive Plan since the Plan's adoption. It was adopted by the Village Board of Trustees on December 20, 2022, five years and nine months after the underlying Comprehensive Plan took effect in March 2017.
The Addendum is a one-page document, formally titled "Review of the Comprehensive Plan as it relates to senior citizen housing and affordable owner-occupied single-family residences." Its scope is narrow: it addresses two housing categories (senior housing and affordable owner-occupied single-family residences) and does not revisit the Plan's broader analytical framework.
The drafting body was the Village Planning Board. The adopting body was the Village Board of Trustees. The Addendum was adopted under New York State Village Law § 7-722, which allows a Village to amend its comprehensive plan as long as it follows the required procedure.
The Addendum explicitly anticipates "developments in R-1 districts" via cluster and incentive zoning. R-1 is the Village's single-family residential zone. Cluster zoning lets developers group homes together on a site to preserve open space. Incentive zoning allows greater density in exchange for specific community benefits. This cluster-and-incentive-zoning language means future housing development in areas the Comprehensive Plan treated as single-family could fall within the Addendum's recommendations, including parcels that might later be added to the Village through annexation.
The Four Recommendation Areas
The Addendum identifies four specific recommendation areas. Each appears in the one-page Addendum as policy direction rather than detailed code language. Any specific code changes would require later action by the Village Board of Trustees. The four areas:
1. Targeted Zoning Changes
The Addendum calls for targeted zoning changes that allow for senior and owner-occupied affordable housing. The Addendum's text does not name specific zoning districts to be amended or propose specific density standards.
2. Scale Limits for Low-Rise and Garden-Apartment Development
The Addendum recommends scale limits for low-rise and garden-apartment development. Specific maximum height, footprint, density, or unit-count standards are not stated in the Addendum's text.
3. Buffer Zones in R-1 Districts
The Addendum recommends buffer zones where higher-density development abuts R-1 (single-family residential) districts. The Addendum does not specify setback distances, landscaping standards, fencing requirements, or structural transitions for these buffers.
4. Photometric and Lighting Standards
The Addendum recommends photometric and lighting standards for new residential development. Specific lumen, footcandle, or shielding metrics are not stated in the Addendum's text.
What the Addendum Does Not Change
The Addendum focuses on senior and affordable owner-occupied housing. It does not revisit the underlying analysis of the 2017 Comprehensive Plan — see the 2017 Comprehensive Plan subpage for the full findings. Specifically, the Addendum does NOT update any of the following:
- The Plan's population baseline. The Plan's 5,203-resident population assumption (with a projected flat trajectory through 2025) remains the foundation of all Plan-based analysis. The Addendum does not revise this figure.
- The projected ten-year housing demand of 146 units. The Plan's projection — 146 new single-family units across all price points over the 10-year horizon — remains the Plan's stated housing demand expectation. The Addendum does not extend, increase, or otherwise revise this projection.
- The infrastructure capacity analysis. The Plan's analysis of water, sewer, electric, stormwater, traffic, schools, and emergency-services capacity remains unchanged. The Addendum does not introduce new infrastructure analysis.
- The fiscal projections. The Plan's analysis of the Village's structural fiscal position (the 29% non-taxable land share, the three-roles framework) remains unchanged. The Addendum does not revise the Village's fiscal-impact assumptions.
- The Plan's 10-year horizon. The Plan's horizon remains 2026 as stated in the 2017 document. The Addendum does not extend the horizon.
- The Future Land Use Map. The Plan's Future Land Use Map (Plan p. 59) reflects the Village boundary as it existed in 2016–2017. The Addendum does not revise the map, expand its scope to include any land outside the 2017 Village boundary, or otherwise alter the planning geography.
- Any specific development site outside the 2017 Village boundary. The Addendum does not analyze any specific parcel, annexation petition, or development proposal involving land outside the Village boundary as it existed in 2017.
Public-Record Gaps — What Is Missing from Available Records
The 2022 Housing Addendum was formally adopted by the Village Board of Trustees on December 20, 2022. Adoption of a comprehensive plan amendment under New York State Village Law § 7-722 ordinarily generates a documentation trail — a public hearing record, a vote tally, identification of the trustees who made and seconded the motion, SEQRA classification documents, adopting resolution numbers, and, depending on the Village's procedures, Planning Board meeting minutes covering the drafting period. Several of these documentation items have not been located in the publicly available records reviewed for this page.
What Is Not Currently in the Available Public Record
The following items relating to the Addendum's adoption have not been located in PennYanCitizens.com's available public records at the time of this writing:
- Vote tally. The exact vote (e.g., 5–0, 4–1) on the December 20, 2022 adopting resolution has not been located.
- Identity of the trustees who made and seconded the motion. The Village Board member who made the motion and the member who seconded it have not been identified in the available public records reviewed for this page.
- Public-hearing record. The minutes, public-comment record, and notice-of-public-hearing documentation for any public hearing held on the proposed Addendum have not been located.
- SEQRA classification. Under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, a comprehensive plan amendment requires a SEQRA classification (Type I, Type II, or Unlisted Action) and an environmental impact determination. SEQRA evaluates potential environmental impacts of a proposed action — including effects on land use, water and sewer capacity, traffic, and natural resources — before a policy is adopted. The Addendum's SEQRA documentation has not been located in available public records.
- Adopting resolution number. The numeric identifier of the December 20, 2022 adopting resolution has not been located in available public records.
- Planning Board meeting minutes covering the drafting period. The Village Planning Board served as the drafting body for the Addendum. The Planning Board meeting minutes covering the period when the Addendum was drafted have not been located in the available public records reviewed for this page.
Why This Matters
A formal amendment to the Village's adopted comprehensive plan is a significant municipal action. The procedural documentation listed above is what a court, future researcher, or property owner would typically review to verify that the amendment was adopted in conformance with Village Law § 7-722 and SEQRA. These items are FOIL targets — accessible via a Freedom of Information Law request to the Village Clerk.
Considering Filing FOIL
A focused FOIL request to the Village Clerk for "the public-hearing record, vote tally, SEQRA classification documents, and adopting resolution number for the December 20, 2022 Housing Addendum to the Comprehensive Plan, along with Village Planning Board meeting minutes covering the Addendum drafting period" would likely resolve all six gaps listed above.
For paste-ready FOIL request language and submission guidance, see the FOIL Requests Hub.
Read or Download the Addendum
The 2022 Housing Addendum is a public record. PennYanCitizens.com hosts a copy on Box.com for direct download. The link below opens in a new tab.
2022 Housing Addendum
Village of Penn Yan — Adopted December 20, 2022
1-page standalone PDF. Formally titled "Review of the Comprehensive Plan as it relates to senior citizen housing and affordable owner-occupied single-family residences."
View or Download on Box →Where This Document Is Cited on PennYanCitizens.com
The 2022 Housing Addendum is referenced across PennYanCitizens.com wherever the Village's amended housing policy is relevant to an active issue. Here is where it shows up.
Reference Card 1 — The Comprehensive Plan Hub
The hub page covers the Addendum in context with the underlying 2017 Comprehensive Plan and the other Village planning documents (Infrastructure Design Criteria, Parks & Recreation Master Plan). It also covers the statutory framework under New York State Village Law § 7-722 and the question of how often a Village is required to update its plan.
Visit the hub →Reference Card 2 — The 2017 Comprehensive Plan
The underlying long-term land-use policy document the Addendum amends. Adopted in March 2017, the 2017 Comprehensive Plan provides the population, household size, infrastructure, fiscal, and Future Land Use Map analyses that the Addendum does not revise.
Visit the page →Reference Card 3 — Historical Timeline
The five planning documents Penn Yan has adopted (or developed) between 1989 and 2026, including the consultants, steering committees, funding sources, and adoption records that produced each version.
Visit the page →Reference Card 4 — Infrastructure Design Criteria
The engineering manual that operationalizes the Comprehensive Plan. Adopted the same month (March 2017) as the underlying Plan itself. Sets technical requirements for water, sewer, stormwater, roads, and electric service.
Visit the page →Reference Card 5 — Coming Next: The McFetridge Compliance Audit
In Development. The forthcoming McFetridge Compliance Audit subpage will use the Comprehensive Plan and the 2022 Housing Addendum as the primary policy framework for evaluating whether the Village has followed its own adopted planning commitments in the proposed McFetridge Farm annexation. The Addendum's cluster-and-incentive zoning recommendations, R-1 buffer recommendations, and silence on parcels outside the 2017 Village boundary are all directly relevant to that analysis.
Page in development — no link yet.Sources
Primary sources for this subpage:
- Village of Penn Yan, December 20, 2022 Housing Addendum, formally titled "Review of the Comprehensive Plan as it relates to senior citizen housing and affordable owner-occupied single-family residences" (one page, full text)
- Village of Penn Yan, 2017 Comprehensive Plan (adopted March 2017), including the underlying findings the Addendum does not revise
- New York State Village Law § 7-722 (comprehensive plan amendment procedure; SEQRA classification requirement; consistency rule)
- New York State Environmental Conservation Law Article 8 and 6 NYCRR Part 617 (State Environmental Quality Review Act — SEQRA — classification requirements for comprehensive plan amendments)
- Village of Penn Yan eCode360 codified history notes
- Chronicle-Express, Observer-Review, and Finger Lakes Times coverage of the 2022 Housing Addendum adoption process
This subpage was last reviewed on May 20, 2026. Specific factual claims on this subpage carry their own source citations. The Village of Penn Yan has not been consulted in the preparation of this subpage. PennYanCitizens.com is an independent civic-journalism site; we are not affiliated with the Village of Penn Yan, the Town of Milo, or Yates County government.
Several items on this subpage depend on confirmation through Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request responses, in-person inspection at the Village Clerk's office, or access to Planning Board and Board of Trustees meeting minutes not currently in PennYanCitizens.com's available public records library. Section 5 of this subpage explicitly inventories what has not been located in available public records.