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1997-07-30 SPECIAL TOWN BOARD MEETING JULY 30, 1997 7:00 p.m. MTG.#37 RES. 293 TOWN BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT SUPERVISOR FRED CHAMPAGNE COUNCILMAN BETTY MONAHAN COUNCILMAN THEODORE TURNER COUNCILMAN CONNIE GOEDERT COUNCILMAN CAROL PULVER TOWN COUNSEL-MARK SCHACHNER TOWN OFFICIALS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR-JOHN GORALSKI SENIOR PLANNER- SUSAN CIPPERL Y PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE LED BY SUPERVISOR CHAMPAGNE OPENED THE MEETING 7:06 p.m. Supervisor Champagne-We will open the scoping session on local law entitled Exemption from Site Plan Review Procedures For Conforming Development in the Industrial Zone...Asked Town Counsel what the next move should be, do we go though the whole process, since no one is here do we adjourn? Town Counsel Schachner-We can do either, in that there is literally no one from the public here to make any comments what we are doing is scoping a draft generic environmental impact statement and the SEQRA regulations allow but do not require public input into that. So, the document that the board has is a draft of what would be the scoping document which is in essence an outline a draft outline of the generic environmental impact statement. The outline is largely developed following our existing site plan review law and the criteria in our existing site plan review law and the outline has also been prepared in accordance with the SEQRA regulations guidelines for scoping of generic environmental impact statements. As far as the public input aspect of the scoping process, public input is not required by the SEQRA regulations but we recommend it and the Board decided to have a public scoping session so that any member of the public who wished to provide any input into the GElS process had an opportunity to do so. It would be my recommendation to simply make that opportunity available to what turns out to be the member of the public who is here and take that input and if the input is in the form of comments we will take those comments and factor them into preparing the final scoping document and the generic EIS if that input is in the form of questions we will certainly do the best we can to answer those questions. Supervisor Champagne-That said the scoping session is open, sir do you have something you wanted to add, or comment on? Councilman Pulver-For the record Doug Irish says no. Town Counsel Schachner-Noted there will be a number of other public steps in this, the next step would be preparation of the final scope for the draft GElS and then preparation of the draft GElS. Once that draft is presented to the Board the Board will have two steps to take, one will be accepting the draft GElS as complete for the purposes of public review and then there is a mandatory public comment period as well as an optional public hearing. Again, although a public hearing is not required, it would be our strong recommendation to have a public hearing on the draft GElS and that would be the next public, if you will, step where we would be taking public input. Executive Director Goralski-So, I could on the record state how we went about this. As Mark, said, basically what we used were the criteria that are currently on our zoning ordinance for site plan review. That being the case I find it hard to believe that there is any potential impact that we have not identified in the scoping document, there is a very comprehensive list and there are in fact maybe some things that may not even apply but we thought it was appropriate that they be addressed in the scoping document and in the draft EIS. Supervisor Champagne-So, really what you have done is taken the regulations from the ordinances and you really applied them to this piece. Town Counsel Schachner-That is basically right. Supervisor Champagne-So, now when the draft EIS comes out we will really be looking at almost each and every identified issue that now exists in our regulations. Town Counsel Schachner-As applied to the industrially zoned area. This is the skeleton to that and the EIS document itself would be adding the body and the flesh to that. Supervisor Champagne-Mr. Brower do you have anything you would like to add? (Public given time to review document) Mr. Dennis Brower-This is a accelerated method for industry to secure a position in Queensbury? Councilman Turner-If it fits within the parameters of Executive Director Goralski-What it is, it provides for administrative approval, review of a site plan as opposed to the discretionary site plan review that the Planning Board does. If the criteria that is outlined in the law is met then there is no requirement to go to the Planning Board, if for some reason the project does not meet the criteria listed in the law then they would have to go through the regular site plan review process. Mr. Douglas Irish-Questioned how long this would take... Executive Director Goralski-That would depend on the size and the scope of the project, some projects can take three or four months some take one month, I think more than anything else what it takes out of the process is the uncertainty that developers face as far as how long will the process take by doing it this way if I meet these criteria in a given amount of time I can have my permit. Mr. Irish-It seems very reasonable. Supervisor Champagne-What it says to business coming in is here is a site that if it matches and meets all of your criteria then bingo you are off and running with considerable less hurdles to get over. But, if your needs and criteria are different then what that site has been approved for then obviously you have got to go through the same process. Mr. Irish-Theoretically, you can go ahead and evaluate the sites that are available in the Town for development ahead of time and make sure that they meet these codes. Executive Director Goralski-Right, basically if you found a site and you said you know we would like to put our paper mill there you can look at this law and say, ok, here are all the criteria can I put my paper mill on that site and meet all these criteria? If the answer is yes then you can get an administrative approval if the answer is no, you still have the option of going to the Planning Board for a site plan review. Town Counsel Schachner-An Administrative approval in this context means an application to the Planning Dept. that John and his staff evaluate and issue the permit which is similar to the building permit process then the time delayed multi step planning board site plan review process. Mr. Irish-So, eventually a developer will come in and say John, I think we meet all of these criteria can you review it and make sure we are ok with it? Executive Director Goralski -Yes, exactly. Supervisor Champagne-The message that we are sending out there that Queensbury is business friendly, we are going to try to do what we can do, certainly not to let them come in and gut the place and create havoc but lower the hurdle if you will. Mr. Irish-Are you going to go through and look at other sites John besides these that are marked for industrial development or.. Executive Director Goralski-Those sites are the sites that are currently zoned for light industrial use in the town, I believe that there is one heavy industrial zone there, this process will not look at other areas of the Town however we hope that this, when this impact statement is done it can be used for a hook for future rezonings in that it would make sense that if we could find sites in town that we know would meet these criteria at least on a site level if not on a use level then those sites could potentially be zoned light industrial also. On the other hand as we develop this document we may determine that there are some sites that are zoned light industrial that couldn't meet this criteria it might be appropriate then to change the zone of those properties to something other than industrial. Councilman Pulver-As the new Master Plan is shaping up does it look like we are going to have many changes to our industrial zone? Senior Planner Cipperly-Not a lot but what we have been trying to do is get more usable parcels, right now there are some light industrial areas that are mixed in with other zonings or you know it is hard to get a twenty five acre parcel when you have got light industrial and you have got a single family residential next to it which does not make sense from a Councilman Pulver-You have that a lot on the Luzerne Road Senior Planner Cipperly-Right, and right next to the Northway near Sherman also there are some places where we have done some adjusting of the lines to make more usable light industrial and to make things more compatible. Right now you have quite a few split zone parcels so.. Supervisor Champagne-I have been notified by the County that Silver Bow property that is over on County Line Road, John we talked briefly about this, that could be coming up for tax sale this year. It is forty two acres, one piece is forty two acres, a second piece is about twelve or fourteen acres that is fairly close. It is the property that if you were going by the airport go down the steep hill there is a Nimo substation on the left hand side this property would adjoin there at that point and then it would go back. I guess it would be east in behind those residences. That was looked at years ago by QEDC possibly as a purchase that is ideally situated in there and if the Silver Bow or the bank does not redeem that it maybe possible the County, the Town, QEDC, IDA some one of those agencies. In my opinion should put a claim in on that and it could become a beautify site back in there for industrial... Mr. Brower-Which bank owns it now? Supervisor Champagne-I do not know..J have asked Mike Swan at the County to kind of put a hold on it until the Town or someone will be talking about that here before the auction. Executive Director Goralski-If you want we will use this as our scoping document and begin to prepare the EIS. Supervisor Champagne-Asked the public if they had more to add? I think we have a good start here, I want to complement you folks for putting it all together because to me it is a great way to do business. Mr. Brower-Questioned the sewers in the industrial park... Supervisor Champagne-Yes, it is an on site kind of sewer arrangement over there that is pre-built kind of a sewer operation and is not working too well, my position would be that there will come a day soon that we need to sewer that and bring it back to the city. Mr. Irish-Has there been any discussion any kind of access road that would be quicker for companies that want to develop over by the airport, to get their trucks from the Northway to the Industrial site without going through Quaker Road area? Executive Director Goralski-That is really tough because of the Great Cedar Swamp there, there are five hundred acres ofDEC and Army Corp. wetland to go through and I just do not see that happening. Discussion held regarding synchronizing the lights on Quaker Road... (Councilman Monahan entered the meeting) Executive Director Goralski-For the record those heavy industrial properties, it does not look like heavy industrial uses would meet the criteria in this ordinance. Mr. Irish-What would you define as heavy industrial? Executive Director Goralski-Batch plants, asphalt plant, chemical processing, fuel depot... Mr. Irish-What about the existing use that was there? Executive Director Goralski-Ciba Geigy ... that was a heavy industrial use I would say. Supervisor Champagne-So you are telling me a paper mill would not fit down there? Executive Director Goralski-Not for this process...it would go through the normal process...this process and this law will not eliminate or not prohibit anything. Mr. Irish-This is for the guy who wants to come in and hire two hundred people and put computers together.... Executive Director Goralski -Or the guy that wants to hire five people... Senior Planner Cipperly- The other aspect of it too is sometimes it is just something that you probably should have a public hearing about, this process would eliminate a public hearing and sometimes there are off site impacts that might happen due to a certain size or noise, so if there is something that might impact a neighborhood where you might want to have a public hearing that is the sort of thing that might be out also. Supervisor Champagne-The AMG building on Corinth Road if someone wanted to move in over there would this process kick in? Executive Director Goralski-Assuming that they meet the criteria, there are two things the site and the use, ok, assuming the use that they want to put in there meets this criteria with regard to noise or emissions or any of these things listed in these twenty seven pages then yes, they would come in and go through this process. Supervisor Champagne-Anything else...close the scoping session... Mr. Irish-Invited the Town Board to a meeting of the Queensbury Citizens Group...Tuesday August 12th RESOLUTION ADJOURNING MEETING RESOLUTION NO. 293.97 INTRODUCED BY: Mrs. Carol Pulver WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mrs. Connie Goedert RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby adjourns its special meeting. Duly adopted 30th day of July, 1997 by the following vote: AYES: Mrs. Monahan, Mr. Turner, Mrs. Goedert, Mrs. Pulver, Mr. Champagne NOES: None ABSENT: None Respectfully submitted, Miss Darleen M. Dougher Town Clerk Queensbury