2009.08.18
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
QUEENSBURY PLANNING BOARD MEETING
FIRST REGULAR MEETING
AUGUST 18, 2009
INDEX
Site Plan No. 29-2009 Pyramid Co. of GF/NEWCO 1.
Tax Map No. 302.5-1-92.4, 92.11, 93.1
Site Plan No. 50-2008 General Timber 2.
Tax Map No. 265.-1-28
Subdivision No. 7-2003 David Chatt, Robert Hrubenak 6.
MODIFICATION Tax Map No. 308.7-1-22, 21
Site Plan No. 28-2009 Eugene Timpano 8.
Tax Map No. 296.13-1-14
Site Plan No. 48-2008 NPA II, LLC 11.
Tax Map No. 296.18-1-47
Site Plan No. 25-2009 Randy Gross 24.
Tax Map No. 303.16-1-33
Subdivision No. 2-2009 Cerrone Builders 30.
FINAL, PHASE II Tax Map No. 315.5-1-1
Freshwater Wetlands 7-2009
Site Plan No. 38-2008 Robin Inwald 34.
Tax Map No. 227.17-1-16
Site Plan No. 44-2009 Nigro Companies 39.
Tax Map No. 302.6-1-22, 26
DISCUSSION ONLY 1 Main Street, LLC 51.
Tax Map No. 309.11-2-17
THESE ARE NOT OFFICIALLY ADOPTED MINUTES AND ARE SUBJECT TO BOARD
AND STAFF REVISIONS. REVISIONS WILL APPEAR ON THE FOLLOWING
MONTHS MINUTES (IF ANY) AND WILL STATE SUCH APPROVAL OF SAID
MINUTES.
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
QUEENSBURY PLANNING BOARD MEETING
FIRST REGULAR MEETING
AUGUST 18, 2009
7:00 P.M.
MEMBERS PRESENT
CHRIS HUNSINGER, CHAIRMAN
GRETCHEN STEFFAN, SECRETARY
STEPHEN TRAVER
DONALD KREBS
THOMAS SEGULJIC
DONALD SIPP
LAND USE PLANNER-KEITH OBORNE
STENOGRAPHER-SUE HEMINGWAY
MR. HUNSINGER-I’ll call to order the meeting of the Town of Queensbury Planning
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Board on Tuesday, August 18. The first item on the agenda is approval of minutes
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from June 16 and June 23. Would anyone like to make a motion?
MOTION TO APPROVE THE QUEENSBURY PLANNING BOARD MINUTES OF JUNE
THRD
16 AND JUNE 23, 2009, Introduced by Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption,
seconded by Donald Krebs:
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Duly adopted this 18 day of August, 2009, by the following vote:
AYES: Mr. Traver, Mr. Ford, Mr. Seguljic, Mr. Sipp, Mr. Krebs, Mrs. Steffan,
Mr. Hunsinger
NOES: NONE
MR. HUNSINGER-Our next item on the agenda is Administrative Items.
ADMINISTRATIVE ITEMS:
SP 29-09 PYRAMID CO. OF GF/NEWCO: FOR FURTHER TABLING
CONSIDERATION
MR. HUNSINGER-A request by the Pyramid Co. for further tabling, and we were just
advised by the applicant that they would like to be heard in October.
MR. OBORNE-Mr. Chairman, that’s a good thing because September is full.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay.
MOTION TO TABLE SITE PLAN NO. 29-2009 PYRAMID CO. OF GF/NEWCO,
Introduced by Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption, seconded by Thomas Ford:
1)A site plan application has been made to the Queensbury Planning Board for the
following: Applicant proposes construction of a 10,950 sq. ft. mixed use building.
New Commercial construction in the ESC zone require Planning Board review
and approval; and
2)A public hearing was advertised and held on 6/16/2009 & 8/18/09; and
3)This application is supported with all documentation, public comment and
application material in the file of record;
4)MOTION TO TABLE SITE PLAN NO. 29-2009 PYRAMID CO. OF GF/NEWCO,
Introduced by Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption, seconded by
Thomas Ford:
According to the resolution prepared by Staff. We’re going to table that to the
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October 20 Planning Board meeting. Submission deadline would be
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September 15.
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
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Duly adopted this 16 day of August, 2009, by the following vote:
AYES: Mr. Sipp, Mr. Seguljic, Mr. Krebs, Mr. Traver, Mr. Ford, Mrs. Steffan,
Mr. Hunsinger
NOES: NONE
SP 50-08 GENERAL TIMBER
MR. HUNSINGER-Our next item on the agenda is General Timber. I think everyone was
aware, previous to the meeting this evening, that DEC, what’s the proper term, selected,
I guess would be the right word, selected the Town of Lake George to be Lead Agent for
the SEQRA review. In looking at the resolution and the information in the package, is
there anything new that we haven’t already forwarded to the Town?
MR. OBORNE-Well, I think it’s safe to, I shouldn’t say it’s safe to assume, but I think that
one can assume that the lands in the Town of Queensbury are not going to be disturbed
any more or less than what they’ve already proposed, but we have not gotten updated
plans as of yet because we were moving the header, etc., but those are in the lands of
Lake George.
MR. HUNSINGER-Will we receive them?
MR. OBORNE-Yes, we should, absolutely.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. So is it premature to seek a resolution, or should we wait until
we have the plans?
MR. OBORNE-I don’t think your, the resolution is to send to the Town of Lake George
your concerns about environmental degradation or possible environmental degradation
on the lands of Town of Queensbury, and just to make them aware of those issues.
MR. HUNSINGER-So will there be a future? I guess what I’m getting at is will there be a
future opportunity to comment as well?
MR. OBORNE-Absolutely. As far as the Town of Queensbury’s lands, you are going to
be doing your Site Plan Review on that, in the Town of Queensbury.
MR. HUNSINGER-Well, I mean, in terms of the SEQRA review.
MR. OBORNE-SEQRA review, well, no, they are the Lead Agency for the whole project
at this point.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MR. SEGULJIC-But we will get to comment on it, provide comments on the SEQRA?
MR. OBORNE-Well, that’s what we’re asking you to do tonight is to provide comment on
that, yes.
MR. HUNSINGER-So we’re being asked to provide comment before we’ve seen the final
plans?
MR. OBORNE-I think that, yes, and I think that you will be given another chance to
comment on it. I think that they’ve already been apprised of the issues that the Town of
Queensbury has. It’s just more of a reiteration.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MRS. STEFFAN-Certainly if they’ve received a copy, I’m sure they have, of our minutes
from those meetings, because there are certainly a lot of open questions, and they
certainly are a lot of open questions, and certainly General Timber got a lot of direction
from the Planning Board on the things that we were looking for.
MR. SEGULJIC-Yes.
MR. FORD-Yes.
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MRS. STEFFAN-But I’m not sure. I’m certainly not prepared to put forth a resolution. I
don’t know if anybody else is.
MR. HUNSINGER-Well, I mean, there was a sample resolution, but it’s.
MRS. STEFFAN-It’s general.
MR. HUNSINGER-It’s general, yes.
MR. TRAVER-I think on the issue of Site Plan Review, I think we could probably deal
with much of the issues of stormwater management and so on. I think the one issue that
I was concerned about fairly early on is the presence of the Timber Rattlesnake, Timber
Rattler, particularly in the lands of Queensbury, and I know that in the Commissioner’s
letter, outlining his decision to appoint Lake George as Lead Agency, he indicated that in
our comments we did not include anything to support the presence of that rattlesnake
there, but I believe someone from his staff did send us a letter saying that it was logical
and that we should assume that that rattlesnake existed, and maybe more importantly,
and what my concern is, is that the harvesting be only done in the wintertime, and I think
it would behoove us to ask the Town of Lake George to consider restricting the
harvesting to specific dates, beginning and end, specific dates during the winter season.
I think that not only will help protect the wildlife that’s there, but hopefully will mitigate
stormwater as well. So that’s my main concern from the environmental standpoint.
MR. HUNSINGER-And we could put those limitations on ourselves, as part of Site Plan
Review, too, that is a Site Plan Review criteria.
MR. TRAVER-Yes.
MR. HUNSINGER-Anything else?
MR. TRAVER-Well, the only reason that I would like to have Lake George know that
we’re concerned about that with regards to SEQRA is that if Lake George says that there
was no survey done that documents the presence of those reptiles on this land, which in
fact, I believe there wasn’t. There was, let’s say an informed assumption on the part of
the biologist that because of the known proximity of populations, that it should be
assumed that they’re on this land. If Lake George were to say, for SEQRA, that we’re
not concerned about that because there’s nothing documented, maybe, in terms of
SEQRA, if we draw their attention to that, they would perhaps request that a survey be
done. So that’s, again, my concern.
MR. HUNSINGER-Good point. Yes. Okay.
MR. SEGULJIC-So if you could just clarify. We’re being asked to consider a resolution
that will include our concerns regarding SEQRA that will go to Lake George?
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes.
MR. SEGULJIC-I guess, as was pointed out earlier, we don’t have any final plans yet.
We’re kind of in a Catch-22, then.
MR. OBORNE-I think to a certain extent you are. I think your Site Plan Review’s going to
be relegated to the lands in the Town of Queensbury, and they do not propose to do any
changes in that aspect of the Site Plan. I have not been apprised of any changes that
they’re going to be doing in the Town of Queensbury. All the changes from the previous
submitted Site Plans were in the Town of Lake George. That’s why, you know, we’re
asking you to do this. If you’re not comfortable, don’t do it. Do you want to discuss it
more and get, you know, a little bit?
MR. FORD-I believe that Gretchen suggested, in an e-mail, that we have a Special
Meeting where we could air our concerns and document them, and that might be the way
to handle this issue.
MR. KREBS-But I think the resolution prepared by Staff pretty much covers what we’ve
just discussed. It says the Queensbury Planning Board would like the Town of Lake
George Planning Board to consider the following issues during the SEQRA Review: the
factors of steep slope, erosion, construction of new logging trails, wildlife including
endangered species, which would cover the rattlesnakes.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes. We might want to be more specific about that, though.
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. KREBS-Okay.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes.
MR. KREBS-Visual impacts and the quality of the environment.
MR. OBORNE-Yes, and that’s taken from Mr. Traver’s letter that was submitted earlier to
the Town of Lake George.
MR. HUNSINGER-Right. Yes.
MR. OBORNE-Verbatim.
MR. SIPP-I think there are, such as the time of harvest, in other words, we would like to
see it done in the wintertime and in the dry season, and there are some fine points here,
most logging operations like (lost words) a lot of material not cut up properly. So that it
gets covered by snow in the first season and becomes a fire hazard (lost words). So
these are general things, but I think there are some concerns. Nothing is mentioned
here about the stream. I thought the stream had (lost words) Queensbury side, but it still
can pick up some runoff if the skid trails are not put in properly.
MR. OBORNE-Absolutely. Keep in mind that there is a difference between the SEQRA
aspect of this, which was given to the Town of Lake George, and Site Plan Review,
which both Towns will be accomplishing with this project.
MRS. STEFFAN-Keith, do you know when the Town of Lake George will be hearing this?
MR. OBORNE-I have not. Again, I just got back from vacation. I haven’t had a chance
to look into that.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay.
MR. TRAVER-So would they typically wait to complete their SEQRA review until they’ve
received comments from us in the form of a resolution, or would they?
MR. OBORNE-Well, I think that is what’s moving this along is that we want to get those
comments from this Board to them. I cannot see how they can start SEQRA review at
this point with an incomplete application. It defies logic. However, you do want to
protect yourself.
MRS. STEFFAN-Well, the one thing that we could do is, you know, based on this
discussion, we do have another Planning Board meeting next Tuesday, and what we
could do is everyone collectively could bring their thoughts together and then we could
put together the resolution next week. That way we could add to this resolution with
specific items that we want.
MR. OBORNE-That’s fine. It’s not a public hearing, and that should not be an issue.
MR. HUNSINGER-I was thinking the same thing.
MR. TRAVER-Yes. It doesn’t sound like we’re pressed for time.
MR. FORD-Good suggestion.
MR. SEGULJIC-Are we going to be able to start Site Plan? Do we have to wait until they
pass SEQRA before we start Site Plan Review?
MR. OBORNE-Well, not necessarily. I mean, you have to feel comfortable in order to do
SEQRA.
MR. SEGULJIC-But we’re not going to be able to take any action?
MR. OBORNE-Well, you’re not going to be able to take any action on SEQRA until you
get a full Site Plan.
MR. SEGULJIC-But what I’m asking is, let’s say next week they pass, they don’t pass
SEQRA for a year, for whatever reason. We can’t do anything, really, until they pass
SEQRA, right?
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MR. OBORNE-That is correct. You have to have a declaration, a SEQRA declaration,
before you can move forward. You can do your Site Plan Review. You just can’t
approve it.
MR. SEGULJIC-We can’t approve it before they pass SEQRA.
MR. OBORNE-Right. Correct.
MR. SEGULJIC-Okay. So I think that would be good to wait until next week. That’s a
good idea.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MR. SEGULJIC-What specifically are you looking for, just our concerns on the (lost
words)?
MR. OBORNE-I cannot speak for the Board. I mean, the Board, I would like for the
Board to put their concerns down in a resolution to be sent to the Town of Lake George.
MR. SEGULJIC-Right. So we have the following concerns.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes. So, yes, so we’ll put it on the agenda for next Tuesday, and just,
if there’s a specific comment you want to make sure gets into the agenda, you could
either e-mail it around or just bring it Tuesday night.
MR. SEGULJIC-So really what we’re doing is asking Lake George to look at it from that
perspective.
MR. HUNSINGER-Right.
MR. OBORNE-And if you are to communicate with each other, I do want to reiterate,
please use the Town of Queensbury e-mail.
MR. HUNSINGER-Absolutely. Thank you, Keith.
MRS. STEFFAN-And I think that I would recommend that folks go back through the
meeting minutes for General Timber to refresh your memory on those items that were
hot topics for you, and then use that last paragraph as a guide, steep slopes, erosion,
construction of new logging trails, as an outline for your comments. So that way we can
be very specific about the motion.
MR. HUNSINGER-Would it be easier to get those concerns in advance, it would be
easier to do it in advance of the meeting.
MRS. STEFFAN-Absolutely.
MR. HUNSINGER-So if you could e-mail them to everybody and maybe, Keith, you
could pull them together and prepare a draft.
MRS. STEFFAN-The meeting’s on Tuesday. So Thursday would probably be a good
deadline.
MR. OBORNE-If you can get me stuff, yes, again, I do have final agendas.
MRS. STEFFAN-End of business Thursday. That way you’ll have it on Friday.
MR. OBORNE-Yes. That may be difficult. I may be able to get it by close of business
Friday. I mean, I still have to get Staff Notes out for next week.
MR. HUNSINGER-Right. Exactly.
MR. OBORNE-And Pam is on vacation.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay.
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MR. HUNSINGER-All right. Our regular agenda. If there’s no objections from the Board,
and if the applicant is available, I’d like to move up the, I don’t know how to pronounce
this, Hrubenak. Is Mr. Hrubenak here?
MRS. STEFFAN-David Chatt and Robert Hrubenak.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes. Anyone have an objection to moving this up the agenda?
MR. FORD-No.
MR. HUNSINGER-If you want to come on up. We’ll hear this project first.
SUBDIVISION 7-2003 MODIFICATION SEQR TYPE UNLISTED DAVID CHATT,
ROBERT HRUBENAK OWNER(S) JENNIFER DUNN, ROBERT HRUBENAK ZONING
[OLD] SR-1A LOCATION 20 & 26 WESTBERRY WAY APPLICANT PROPOSES A
LOT LINE ADJUSTMENT TO LOTS 25 & 26 IN THE PINE RIDGE ESTATES
SUBDIVISION. MODIFICATION TO AN APPROVED SUBDIVISION REQUIRES
PLANNING BOARD REVIEW AND APPROVAL. CROSS REFERENCE SUB 7-03; BP
06-200, BP 05-341, BP 08-519, BP 07-199, BP 06-133 LOT SIZE 0.84 & 0.92 +/-
ACRES TAX MAP NO. 308.7-1-22, 21 SECTION A-183
JENNIFER DUNN, REPRESENTING APPLICANT, PRESENT
MR. HUNSINGER-Keith, if you could summarize Staff Notes, when you’re ready.
MR. OBORNE-Absolutely. Subdivision 7-2003. This is a modification. David Chatt and
Robert Hrubenak. This is a lot line adjustment to Lots 25 and 26 from approved
Subdivision 7-2003, which is Pine Ridge Estates. Location 20 and 26 Westberry Drive.
Existing zoning is SR-1A. That was the zoning that was enacted at the time. SEQRA
status is Unlisted. The parcel history as you see is the subdivision. Project Description:
Applicant proposes a lot line adjustment to Lots 25 & 26 in the Pine Ridge Estates
subdivision. Modification to an approved subdivision requires Planning Board review
and approval. Staff Comments: According to the applicants, the purpose of this lot line
adjustment is in order to incorporate a portion of a sprinkler system associated with lot
25 that was installed on Lot 26 inadvertently three years ago. It appears that both
property owners are in agreement with this course of action instead of removing what
has already been installed. Staff has no immediate issues regarding this minor lot line
change.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. Thank you. If you could identify yourself for the record.
MS. DUNN-Jennifer Dunn.
MR. HUNSINGER-Did you have anything else to add?
MS. DUNN-I do not.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. Any questions, comments from the Board?
MR. SEGULJIC-It seems very simple.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes.
MRS. STEFFAN-Do we have to do a SEQRA on this? There’s nothing included in the
package.
MR. OBORNE-Yes, to reaffirm the previous SEQRA findings.
MRS. STEFFAN-So just do a Short on this?
MR. OBORNE-Absolutely.
MR. HUNSINGER-Well.
MR. OBORNE-It’s reaffirming.
MR. HUNSINGER-It’s in the motion that we have considered it. We don’t have to go
through a Short Form.
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MR. OBORNE-No.
MR. TRAVER-No, not if we’re reaffirming.
MR. FORD-Reaffirm it.
MR. HUNSINGER-Because, are you even moving the lot line by a foot?
MS. DUNN-Not even. It’s a foot at the widest point. It’s half an inch kind of as a triangle.
MR. HUNSINGER-I just wanted to make sure there’s no public hearing scheduled.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. I will make a motion to approve.
MOTION TO APPROVE MODIFICATION TO SUBDIVISION NO. 7-2003 DAVID
CHATT, ROBERT HRUBENAK, Introduced by Gretchen Steffan who moved for its
adoption, seconded by Donald Krebs:
1. A subdivision application has been made to the Queensbury Planning Board for
the following: Applicant proposes a lot line adjustment to Lots 25 & 26 in the Pine
Ridge Estates subdivision. Modification to an approved subdivision requires
Planning Board review and approval.
2. A public hearing was not required; and
3. This application is supported with all documentation, public comment and
application material in the file of record; and
4. MOTION TO APPROVE MODIFICATION TO SUBDIVISION NO. 7-2003 DAVID
CHATT, ROBERT HRUBENAK, Introduced by Gretchen Steffan who moved for
its adoption, seconded by Donald Krebs:
Pine Ridge Estates subdivision. According to the resolution prepared by Staff.
Paragraph Four approve. Paragraph Four B, we’ve considered the requirements for the
State Environmental Quality Review Act and reaffirm the negative declaration.
Paragraph Four E does not apply. Paragraph Four F does not apply. Paragraph Four G
does not apply. It’s approved with no conditions.
a)Pursuant to relevant sections of the Town of Queensbury Zoning Code [Chapter
A-183], the Planning Board has determined that this proposal complies with the
requirements as stated in the Zoning Code; and
b)The requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act have been
considered and the Planning Board is reaffirming the previous Negative
Declaration; and
c)Final approved plans, in compliance with the Subdivision, must be submitted to
the Community Development Department before any further review by the Zoning
Administrator or Building and Codes personnel. The applicant must meet with
Staff after approval and prior to issuance of Building Permit and/or the beginning
of any site work. Subsequent issuance of further permits, including building
permits is dependent on compliance with this and all other conditions of this
resolution; and
d)As-built plans to certify that each lot in the subdivision is developed according to
the approved plans to be provided prior to issuance of the certificate of
occupancy; and
e)NOT APPLICABLE. If applicable, Item e to be combined with a letter of credit;
and
f)NOT APPLICABLE. The Sanitary Sewer connection plan must be submitted to
the Wastewater Department for its review, approval, permitting and inspection;
and
g)NOT APPLICABLE. Waiver requests granted / denied: [stormwater mgmt.,
grading, landscaping & lighting plans]
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h)The limits of clearing will constitute a no-cut buffer zone, orange construction
fencing shall be installed around these areas and field verified by Community
Development staff
i)Engineering sign-off required prior to signature of Planning Board Chairman.
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Duly adopted this 18 day of August, 2009, by the following vote:
AYES: Mr. Sipp, Mr. Traver, Mr. Seguljic, Mr. Ford, Mr. Krebs, Mrs. Steffan,
Mr. Hunsinger
NOES: NONE
MR. HUNSINGER-You’re all set.
MS. DUNN-Thank you so much.
MR. HUNSINGER-Thank you.
SITE PLAN NO. 28-2009 SEQR TYPE II EUGENE TIMPANO OWNER(S) SAME
ZONING HC-MOD LOCATION 928 STATE ROUTE 9 APPLICANT PROPOSES
CONVERSION OF A RESIDENTIAL RENTAL TO USE AS AN ICE CREAM SHOP.
PROPOSAL INCLUDES NEW PARKING CONFIGURATION AND NEW ACCESS DECK
WITH HANDICAP LIFT. NEW RESTAURANTS IN AN HC-MOD ZONE ARE AN
ALLOWED USE SUBJECT TO PLANNING BOARD REVIEW AND APPROVAL.
CROSS REFERENCE SP 30-05, AV 18-09 WARREN CO. PLANNING 5/13/09 LOT
SIZE 0.33 ACRES TAX MAP NO. 296.13-1-14 SECTION 179-9-010, 179-7-050
EUGENE TIMPANO, PRESENT
MR. HUNSINGER-Whenever you’re ready, Keith.
MR. OBORNE-Site Plan 28-2009, Eugene Timpano. Site Plan Review for a restaurant
in the HC-Mod zone, Location is 928 State Route 9. Highway Commercial Moderate is
the existing zoning. This is a Type II, no further SEQRA required. Project Description:
Applicant proposes conversion of a residential rental to use as an Ice Cream Shop.
Proposal includes new parking configuration and new access deck with handicap lift. The
total retail space proposed for the ice cream shop is 580 square feet. Seating for 12 is
planned inside with no provisions for outside seating. There is a handicap accessible
unisex bathroom available. New Restaurants require Planning Board review and
approval. I will just jump down to additional comments. This application has been
forwarded to VISION Engineering for review and comments. Staff has identified the
following items requiring attention – Denote snow storage location on plan; Signage
materials to be used and method of attachment should be submitted; Handicap parking
location to be denoted on plan to include loading area. Minutes from June 16, 2009
Planning Board meeting concerning this application attached, and with that I’d turn it
over to the Board.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. Thank you. Good evening.
MR. TIMPANO-Good evening.
MR. HUNSINGER-Do you have anything else to add, any new information?
MR. TIMPANO-No.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. I will open it up for questions, comments from the Board.
MRS. STEFFAN-Well, my comment is that when I went through the Staff Notes, and
then when I went through the VISION Engineering comments, there are so many
outstanding items that I don’t really know how we can do a Site Plan Review tonight.
MR. TIMPANO-I don’t understand why they are outstanding items.
MRS. STEFFAN-Did you get a copy of the Staff Notes and a copy of the VISION
Engineering comments?
MR. TIMPANO-I responded to all the items that were noted by the Planning Board last
time. Which ones were open?
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
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MRS. STEFFAN-Okay, but these are the August 13 VISION Engineering comments
and then the current Staff Notes. On the VISION Engineering comments there are
landscaping and lighting issues.
MR. TIMPANO-And they were addressed in what I submitted a month ago.
MRS. STEFFAN-Well, according to these VISION Engineering comments, there are a lot
of outstanding items on parking, pedestrian safety, dumpster location, elevation
drawings.
MR. TIMPANO-Then is there a way for me to schedule a meeting with VISION
Engineering so we can resolve these issues? Because apparently there is a difference
of opinion in whether I’ve responded to his request, and whether I do have to respond to
his request, or do I have to respond to his request or do I have to respond to your
request?
MRS. STEFFAN-Well, the VISION Engineering is an agent for the Town, an agent for the
Community Development Department and the Planning Board, and so, VISION
Engineering is doing some of our Staff work for us.
MR. TIMPANO-Yes, and I respond 30 days in advance, and he responds 72 hours in
advance.
MRS. STEFFAN-That’s our system.
MR. OBORNE-The nature of the beast.
MR. TIMPANO-Fine, so, again, how do I arrange to meet with VISION Engineering to
satisfy him?
MRS. STEFFAN-How can, I understand the applicant needs to answer these, and is
there a better way for the three of you to get together?
MR. OBORNE-I think if you make a resolution directing me to set up a meeting between
VISION Engineering and Mr. Timpano, that can be accomplished. With that said, let it
be known that, if you’re requesting that meeting, that time is billable to you, and that’s
really the only indication that the applicant needs to know about.
MR. HUNSINGER-And I think one of the issues, you know, on this project in particular,
is, you know, the level of detail isn’t what the engineer is used to seeing.
MR. OBORNE-Correct.
MR. HUNSINGER-And I’ve made these comments before, during the course of the
meeting, and I’ll say them again for your edification as well. During the Site Plan, you
know, we do require certain information, but, you know, sometimes I don’t feel as though
we really need to have full engineered drawings for every little detail that’s on the plan,
and I think, you know, that’s one of the issues here. Because, you know, I mean, I did
see on your plan where you had identified where the dumpster would be. I couldn’t tell if
it was to scale, and I’m sure maybe that’s what the engineer is thinking, and in his
defense, there were no details there. So he’s saying there’s no details. You’re saying
it’s on the plan, and then, you know, we’re kind of trying to mediate this at a public
meeting which is very difficult for us to do. So I think maybe in this case a meeting with
the engineer would be beneficial and would help speed this along, you know, and part of
my concern, too, is we were here two months ago, and, you know, two months to a small
business owner means the whole world. I mean, you missed most of the summer
season now.
MRS. STEFFAN-Although he said he wasn’t going to construct until September.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes.
MR. KREBS-Well, and I think there are some things like, you know, Dan said that a
waiver will be needed from the Planning Board for topography. I mean, that site has
been as that site is for the last 25 years. Why do we need a new topography map? I
don’t understand that.
MR. OBORNE-Well, it’s a requirement of Site Plan Review.
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. HUNSINGER-Exactly.
MR. OBORNE-But as a condition of approval obviously you can waive that requirement.
I mean, that’s reasonable in this case. Absolutely.
MR. TRAVER-Yes, and looking at the tabling motion, there were very specific
engineering comments to be addressed. Number Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight,
Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Fifteen. Also, in VISION Engineering comments, you need to
address Items 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23, and I think really what we were looking for
was to satisfy the Town Engineer. We granted waivers for stormwater and grading. So
that’s what you had when you left our last meeting were those specific items to address.
MR. TIMPANO-Yes.
MR. TRAVER-And I understand that you’re feeling that you have addressed them.
Maybe as an initial step, you could visit the Planning Office maybe and take a look at, re-
review what you have submitted against that list.
MR. TIMPANO-Sure.
MR. TRAVER-And see where, you now have the most recent review from VISION,
following an examination of what you did submit. Some of the items are complete in
there. There are items that, there were a couple I saw that no additional information
provided. There were some that were just incomplete. So maybe you can work that out
in a way to satisfy those items, but that’s ultimately what we need is the signoff from the
engineer.
MR. HUNSINGER-Any other comments, questions from the Board? We do have a
public hearing scheduled. Is there anyone in the audience that wants to address the
Board on this project?
PUBLIC HEARING OPEN
MR. HUNSINGER-Let the record show that there were no takers, but we will leave the
public hearing open. Would anyone like to put forward a tabling resolution?
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay.
MOTION TO TABLE SITE PLAN NO. 28-2009 EUGENE TIMPANO, Introduced by
Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption, seconded by Stephen Traver:
A site plan application has been made to the Queensbury Planning Board for the
1.
following: Applicant proposes conversion of a residential rental to use as an Ice
Cream Shop. Proposal includes new parking configuration and new access deck
with handicap lift. New Restaurants in an HC-MOD zone are an allowed use
subject to Planning Board review and approval.
2. A public hearing was advertised and held on 6/16/2009 & 8/18/09; and
3. This application is supported with all documentation, public comment and
application material in the file of record;
4. MOTION TO TABLE SITE PLAN NO. 28-2009 EUGENE TIMPANO, Introduced
by Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption, seconded by Stephen Traver:
th
Tabled to the October 20 Planning Board meeting, with a submission deadline for
th
materials of September 15. The Planning Board directs the Community Development
Department to facilitate a meeting between the applicant and the Town Engineer to
discuss and address outstanding Staff and Engineering issues.
th
Duly adopted this 18 day of August, 2009, by the following vote:
AYES: Mr. Krebs, Mr. Ford, Mr. Seguljic, Mr. Sipp, Mr. Traver, Mrs. Steffan,
Mr. Hunsinger
NOES: NONE
MR. HUNSINGER-So contact Staff, and they’ll make the arrangements for you.
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. TIMPANO-Fine.
MR. HUNSINGER-Thank you.
SITE PLAN NO. 48-2008 SEQR TYPE UNLISTED NPA II, LLC AGENT(S)
BARTLETT, PONTIFF, STEWART & RHODES OWNER(S) SAME ZONING HC-INT.
LOCATION 820 STATE ROUTE 9 APPLICANT PROPOSES CONSTRUCTION OF A
14,500 SQUARE FOOT WALGREENS PHARMACY AND A 4,642 SQUARE FOOT
CHILI’S RESTAURANT WITH ASSOCIATED SITE WORK. NEW COMMERCIAL
CONSTRUCTION REQUIRES PLANNING BOARD SITE PLAN REVIEW AND
APPROVAL. CROSS REFERENCE AV 21-09, AV 77-08; SV 74, 75, 76-08 WARREN
CO. PLANNING 11/12/08 LOT SIZE 22.87 +/- ACRES TAX MAP NO. 296.18-1-
47 SECTION 179-4-020
JON LAPPER & STEFANIE BITTER, REPRESENTING APPLICANT, PRESENT
MR. HUNSINGER-Keith, whenever you’re ready.
MR. OBORNE-Site Plan 47-2008, Northway Plaza Associates. Requested action is Site
Plan Review for construction of a 14,820 square foot Walgreens Pharmacy, 4,643
square foot Chili’s Restaurant, reconfiguration of office space to retail space, and
associated site work. Location Northway Plaza, 802 State Route 9. Existing zoning,
Highway Commercial Intensive. SEQRA Status, this is an Unlisted SEQRA. Project
Description: Applicant proposes construction of a 14,820 square foot Walgreens
Pharmacy. Again, new commercial buildings require Planning Board Site Plan Review
and approval. Staff Comments. The proposal will require the removal of the existing
vacant Monroe Muffler building prior to the commencement of construction. Stormwater
treatment units will be installed as part of the stormwater management for the project. I
do want to go down to the Additional Comments, which is on Page Four of my Staff
Notes. The Planning Board may consider approving the additional 7 parking space
increase as a result of this proposal. Minutes from the June 16, 2009 Planning Board
meeting attached. The applicant also must apply for a sign variance associated with the
relocation of the existing freestanding sign on southwest portion of property if the
applicant is to proceed with that re-location of the sign. What follows, the other issues
and other Staff comments, is Site Plan Review, and they pretty much speak for
themselves.
MR. HUNSINGER-Thank you. Good evening.
MR. LAPPER-Good evening everyone. For the record, Jon Lapper, project attorney.
With me, on my left, is Chris Boyea. Chris does work for Chili’s. So they’re working with
us on that portion of the Site Plan, Bohler Engineering, and also on the stormwater plan
for DOT and Warren County Soil and Water on that parcel. On my right is Amy Franco
from Clough Harbor, actually out of the Syracuse office. They do work for Walgreens
and they’ve done the majority of the Site Plan on the site, the Site Plan work on the site.
Jim Hagan is here who’s the applicant’s architect for this whole project all along. Bill
Dutch on behalf of the ownership, and Stefanie Bitter from my office. So we’re trying a
new plan where we’re going to try and outnumber the Planning Board. The Board’s been
very supportive of this project. We’ve been working on it for a while because we needed
a bunch of variances, not major but important, and the Planning Board was supportive of
the variances. We had to go a couple of rounds with the Zoning Board because we
made some changes on the drive aisles. All of which, I think, made it a better project,
and this Board was supportive. We’re at the point, obviously, where we’ve got the
engineering details to work out, and we’ve got a number of Staff comments and a
number of engineering comments. Most of it is very straightforward. It’s voluminous but
not an issue. They’re really, I’ll go through the big ones, but there are really three, I
think, that are most worthy of discussion. One is this issue of the restriction on the pork
chop curbs on Quaker Road because obviously that’s a DOT issue which is a little bit
different from the Fire Marshal issue because this Board’s required that for all of the
businesses that have gone in, in that area on Route 9 and on Quaker Road and on
Aviation Road to make sure that people can’t make illegal left hand turns because of the
traffic volume. So then we get into this issue of the 20 foot aisle width required for
emergency vehicles, and I think that the best solution is to make sure that those islands,
which are only there to discourage the left turns, are mountable curbs, and then it will
allow the emergency vehicles to turn on top of them if they need to, and maintain, but still
maintain it so that it’s going to discourage people from making those turns. So that’s
how we’re proposing to address that.
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. KREBS-Jonathan, when I was looking at the drawings today, though, I didn’t see
any obstructions that would prevent you from making that a 20 foot passageway. Is
there something I’m missing there?
MR. LAPPER-Amy, can you pull that out, that part of the plan?
AMY FRANCO
MS. FRANCO-Yes. It would just be, if we made it 20 feet, it would just be so small that it
wouldn’t really be effective in preventing a left hand turn movement. It would just be, I
guess.
MR. KREBS-You have two passageways, one in and one out, that today are 12 feet.
MS. FRANCO-Yes.
MR. KREBS-What I’m saying is I’m looking at the drawing and I don’t see any
obstructions on either side that wouldn’t allow you to expand those 12 foot passageways
to 20 feet, and then you would not have to have a mountable curb, which would actually
prevent people from then making a left hand turn out.
MR. LAPPER-You mean that each of those aisles at the area of the curb would be 20
feet wide?
MR. TRAVER-I think what he’s suggesting is leaving the island, the pork chop, if you will,
as it is, but enlarging the outer boundaries of the lane, so that instead of being 12 feet
wide, they would be 20 feet wide.
MR. KREBS-Yes.
MR. TRAVER-Just making the footprint of the whole.
MR. LAPPER-Part of the problem is that we have the, on the DOT property, we have that
whole stormwater basin.
MR. KREBS-In here.
MR. LAPPER-Yes.
MR. KREBS-Yes. I don’t know. That’s why I was asking. Because I didn’t see anything
on the drawings that would preclude expanding that to 20, but you may have.
MR. LAPPER-Yes. Let me show you on, Amy, you just had that. On the drawing that
shows the stormwater, underground stormwater, basically that’s the area, we’ve got
underground structures. I think also if it was 20 feet, it wouldn’t discourage people from
making left turns. It would seem more available.
MR. TRAVER-Yes.
MR. LAPPER-Because then that’s a real issue.
MR. TRAVER-With regard to the mountable center aisle, I don’t know if that’s something
that the Fire Marshal would accept, but one thing that comes to mind is that what about
in the wintertime? I’m assuming that there’s going to be some snow build up from
plowing and so on on that in the wintertime, such that it would not be mountable.
MR. LAPPER-Well, that’s in the State right of way. So it’s going to be maintained by the
County. So we could talk to the County about that. I mean, I think they would be
sensitive to that issue. That would be under the permit, the Highway Work Permit.
MR. TRAVER-Right.
MR. LAPPER-And, you know, basically we’re just trying to find a compromise that
accomplishes the purpose of discouraging the lefts and makes it so that obviously
emergency vehicles can utilize it.
MR. TRAVER-Well, at least for me, the issue is the objection of the Fire Marshal more
than anything. So if that’s a solution that the Fire Marshal feels will work.
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MR. LAPPER-We’ll have that discussion with the Fire Marshal before we’re back here.
MR. TRAVER-Yes.
MR. HUNSINGER-What are your other thoughts? What are the other two issues?
MRS. STEFFAN-I was just going to say, Mr. Lapper, the other two issues.
MR. LAPPER-The next issue is the trees on that area where we’re doing the stormwater
work, and what we came back with this time is a proposal for massing the trees on the
side of the underground facilities, and we can certainly raise the tree size to 10 feet tall,
which is what Staff had suggested.
MR. TRAVER-Minimum 10 feet.
MR. LAPPER-Minimum 10 feet. If you look at the Site Plan, there are really three areas
where taller trees are provided, one on our site and two on the DOT property. So we
would have to do that as part of the stormwater work, but we don’t see any problem
getting that as part of the Highway Work Permit. So we’ve put that on the Site Plan as a
requirement.
MRS. STEFFAN-Did the DOT design that stormwater system, or was that something that
Bohler Engineering?
MR. LAPPER-Bohler designed it and it had to be approved. We went through a whole
bunch of designs. Chris can talk about that, but originally it was going to be a surface
grass, much less expensive but much more visible, and then it was determined it had to
be subsurface, and this makes it so it can treat a lot more water as well. Why don’t you
just describe that.
MRS. STEFFAN-And one of the reasons why I brought it up, I brought it up in other
meetings, is that it just, I hate to have those trees go away. It’s the only green thing in
that particular area, and I don’t know how the rest of the rest of the Planning Board
members feel, but it’s just so sad that those have to go.
MR. LAPPER-Amy, why don’t you just describe what you’re planting, in terms of the
landscape plan along there, and just go through, to a certain extent, we’re proposing
maple trees which are a lot more substantial. Those locust trees are, they look kind of
fragile just because of the leaf structure. I mean, they’re nice and they’re sort of mature,
but they’re not the same as a maple tree. They’ll never get as big as a maple tree, and
just the leaves just make, a lot more light comes through it. So maple trees will probably
be more effective, and it also matches what’s along the cemetery. So we just thought
that everybody would like that, but why don’t you just describe, from the landscape plan,
what’s there and what’s there.
MS. FRANCO-All right. We’re just doing like groupings of maple trees with an
understory of shrubs along those grouping of sections, and then doing like a buffered
area along the parking lot so you wouldn’t be able to see the cars as easily with a holly
and juniper mix. So we are kind of buffering it.
MR. SIPP-How many?
MS. FRANCO-There’s 25 juniper, I believe, and the same of the holly. So 50 shrubs.
MR. The shrubs are all going along this line right here.
MS. FRANCO-Yes, right along the edge of the parking area.
JIM HAGAN
MR. HAGAN-You’ve got a cluster of trees here, a cluster of trees and some shrubbery
here, another cluster of trees and shrubbery here. In between that area is the
underground facilities that are needed for the stormwater management, and to plant
something over the top of those would be counterproductive.
MR. SIPP-Yes, but that doesn’t, that’s not replacing what’s going to be taken out. That’s
just a stop gap measure that a couple of trees on one side and a couple of trees on the
other side. That’s not replacing what the.
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. HAGAN-Actually, I think if you counted the trees that are there now, there are
probably about seven or eight trees, large trees.
MR. SIPP-There are seven locust trees.
MR. HAGAN-Right, but I think we’re replacing that with approximately the same number
of trees, just, we’re putting them in a different location.
MR. SEGULJIC-How many trees, in total, are you replacing them with?
MS. FRANCO-There’s eight existing and eight proposed. I mean, seven existing, eight
proposed.
MR. LAPPER-Eight deciduous trees.
MS. FRANCO-Eight deciduous, yes.
MR. HAGAN-Plus the shrubbery.
MS. FRANCO-Right, and also if you look at, I guess the maple and with some smaller
service berry as well, are, you know, considered native versus a locust.
MR. SIPP-What kind of maple are you talking about?
MS. FRANCO-We were going to go with the Red Maple.
MR. SIPP-That’s not what you’ve got on your plans.
MS. FRANCO-The second one down.
MR. LAPPER-AC is what it’s labeled. We’re looking at the chart, they are the second
one down under deciduous trees, and I guess, I know that we’ve discussed this before,
but that stormwater basin, which I’d still like Chris to describe for you, was a very
important project for Soil and Water Conservation because it’s treating all this water
that’s coming down the Route 9 hill and going right into Halfway Brook untreated. That’s
a pretty substantial underground facility that the County’s going to be responsible for
maintaining and cleaning out. So it’s an important project, and that’s why it’s designed
this way.
MRS. STEFFAN-And from a layman’s point of view, I mean, there is a substantial green
space right there, and so, you know, as we look at the project, it’s like, why can’t you
save the trees? I mean, there’s obviously a lot of space there to be able to put a
stormwater in. I mean, I certainly understand your point of view, but it’s just, you know,
as a planner, and looking at all the trees, that’s one of the first things in any development
that goes, you know, we cut down the trees and, yes, we try to put a nice landscaping
plan in place to mitigate some of the changes that we make, but it’s still not the same. I
mean, it’s going to take 20 years to have those maple trees be sizeable enough to
compare to what’s there right now. It’s just a frustration.
CHRIS BOYEA
MR. BOYEA-Yes, yes. It’s a good point, and what we’re trying to do is work with all the
constraints that we have. One is the County Soil and Water. Two is the DOT. Three is
the Planning Board and the concern for the trees, and I think what Amy, Clough was able
to do, is work with all those pieces. Cluster the trees, big trees, I mean, this is
substantial maple trees. Maple trees also match what is just adjacent to us on the
cemetery. All along the cemetery frontage is maple trees. So it’s going to look, actually
in my opinion, more contiguous than what’s out there today. Again, as a refresher for the
stormwater it does take a large area. We’ve got over a 12 acre of impervious area.
There’s more than that with green space, but that impervious area that this system
collects goes all the way up from Flower Drum Song restaurant, in front of Wal-Mart, all
the way down that four to five lane interstate, and then catches right in front of our
property. So there is a large green space area there, and originally we had proposed,
I’m going to say the cheap way out, which was a big hole. It was going to be a big
detention basin out in front, and nobody really wanted to see a big stormwater detention
pond at the main and main intersections of Queensbury. So, at that point, we had
redesigned that system to go underground at the County Soil Conservation’s request
and right now today, the plan that they like and have approved and look forward to
issuing permits on, has over 16,000 cubic feet of storm tech chambers in that area. So
14
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
very large underground infrastructure project, that is part of this project, and that’s a
separate stormwater system than what Amy has designed for the Plaza. This is isolated
just to that existing twelve acre drainage shed that goes up to Flower Drum Song. So
there’s a lot of voids in the ground that nobody will drive by and know about other than
the people in this room right now. So it’ll look grassed. We’ll have trees anchoring on
the end. To do anymore trees in maybe like one other spot or something, we really have
to be cognizant of root structures and that those roots are going to really try to creep into
those voids. It’s possibly going to ruin the six figure investment. This has gone into well
over $100,000 for this stormwater system for the chambers.
MR. TRAVER-There’s no question that this construction is going to completely change
the greenery that we have on site now, but I think between the landscaping that you’re
proposing and the positive environmental impact that the stormwater management is
going to have, I think it’s a bargain.
MR. BOYEA-Yes.
MR. TRAVER-That’s my feeling.
MR. BOYEA-Just a couple of things to, key points about the stormwater system,
although I think we all agree it’s great. I mean, this system alone is going to reduce the
amount of flows to Halfway Brook. It’s going to reduce 80% of the TSS, which is Total
Suspended Solids. It’s going to have a CDS unit, which stands for Continuous Deflective
Separation unit, which pulls all the trash and sand and sediment out of it. It’s a really
topnotch unit, and the County is excited about it, and I think that they’re looking at this as
one of the best projects for them as well, and going forwards, this is going to also
increase the capabilities of the current ditch lines and Halfway Brook, because a lot of
water won’t make it there anymore. It’s going to be infiltrated into the sand. So future
development will be benefited as well.
MR. FORD-But what is going to happen with that trash and the sand that is intercepted?
MR. BOYEA-Well, yes, this is a pre-designed, pre-engineered unit that sits in the ground.
So it’s designed to have a top on it that opens up and, have you ever seen a vacuum
truck that they take those?
MR. FORD-Yes.
MR. BOYEA-A vacuum hose goes right in, and periodic maintenance, it cleans out the
trash that’s assembled in there.
MR. FORD-What’s the anticipated frequency of the clean out?
MR. BOYEA-A unit of this size might be somewhere around twice a year.
MR. LAPPER-The County will be maintaining that.
MS. FRANCO-Yes.
MR. HUNSINGER-If we can just go back to the number of trees. I’m sorry. Because you
had mentioned there was going to be eight new trees. In looking here at L-1A, it says
AC Three and Three on either corner. Was that modified to maybe four and four?
MR. LAPPER-You were also talking about that.
MS. FRANCO-There’s three by the parking area, and then three along Route 9, and then
there’s the two by the median area, by the road, driveway.
MR. OBORNE-What revision do you have, Mr. Chairman? I have 7/15/09.
MR. HUNSINGER-It’s labeled CC.
MS. FRANCO-Right. We’ll change it as part of the comments.
MR. LAPPER-So that’s the issue. It’s mislabeled. Also, just to make the Board feel
better about this, the, you know, obviously it’s a compromise, in terms of what Chris was
saying with the stormwater, but right now we’ve got this, you know, the Monroe Muffler
thing that’s sitting there will all the pavement. Chili’s is going to have pretty extensive
foundation plans, just to make it a lot softer than what’s there now, and there’s also
15
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
plants on all the islands around both of those buildings. So it’ll look a lot nicer than just
the asphalt with nothing.
MR. SEGULJIC-Well, that was going to be one of my comments. Walgreens doesn’t
have any trees around it, I mean, plantings around it at all, as far as I can tell.
MR. LAPPER-The Walgreens area, just in terms of how we were able to fit the drive
aisles and the parking, it doesn’t have that area of foundation plants. So instead we
have the islands. There’s just not a lot, there’s just a sidewalk.
MR. SEGULJIC-Well, I mean, remember, that’s what Code says to do. So, as I
understand it, you should have 12 trees in the parking area. My concern is along the
western edge of the site. You don’t have any trees along there, as I see the plans.
MR. LAPPER-I think that that area, we talked about that when we came and re-did the
Home Depot, just because there’s a very narrow strip, and you’ve got Route 9 and the
plows. I mean, that was the.
MR. SEGULJIC-Well, you could move them back in farther, I mean, the Code says you
have to have a tree every 250 square feet, and you have to have 10 foot of aisle. We
have a opportunity here. I mean, that’s a pretty, that’s not a very nice looking area of
Town, from my opinion. When you look at it, it’s devoid of trees. We have an
opportunity to put more trees in there.
MR. LAPPER-Well, we’re putting trees on all of the islands that don’t have them now, in
front of the old Traveler’s space.
MR. SEGULJIC-But remember, that’s what Code says.
MR. LAPPER-No, I agree.
MR. SEGULJIC-So you’re not doing anything above and beyond at all. The Code also
says you have to have a tree every 35 feet, as I understand it, along the road, and you
don’t have that along Route 9, and I can understand your stormwater control. I think
that’s great (lost words), but I’m just asking you to comply with the Code.
MR. LAPPER-The simple response is that there was just enough room there in order to
fit the parking, fit the drive aisles and fit the buildings. The goal here is obviously to re-
tenant and rejuvenate this Plaza that’s been sitting there vacant since Travelers left. So
it’s important just to have two tenants and two new vibrant buildings in the front, and this
is what we could do, given the constraints of the site, to fit sufficient drive aisles and
parking spaces to make this work.
BILL DUTCH
MR. DUTCH-Some of this goes back to the original approval with Home Depot, and (lost
words) look far different than it does today, and at that point, the discussion was had with
this Board that said, look, we want to bring some improvement. We recognize there’s
limitations given the existing facility, and so a pattern was established up in this area of
the site (lost words) that was established at that time.
MR. SEGULJIC-But that application is not before us.
MR. DUTCH-But this is an amended Site Plan approval for (lost words).
MR. SEGULJIC-The Code says you have to have a tree every 35 feet, if I’m correct. It
might even be 25 feet. Is this under the Old?
MR. OBORNE-It’s under the Old, correct.
MR. SEGULJIC-So I think it’s every 35 feet. What you’re telling me is you can’t meet the
requirements. So maybe you’re trying to do too much with the site. Is that what you’re
saying?
MR. LAPPER-No, I think everyone’s recognized that it’s important to re-tenant the site
and make this work. Having a vacant plaza is not helpful to anybody in Town. The
problem is that it’s along a State highway. That area gets a lot of snow because of the
plows, and there’s just a narrow strip that’s there.
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. SEGULJIC-So they should widen the strip, then.
MR. LAPPER-The answer is we can’t without losing the drive aisle and parking.
MR. SEGULJIC-Well, maybe Walgreens is too big, then.
MR. LAPPER-Well, it’s just the reality of trying to make this whole deal work, and have
the money to, you know, have the tenants and have the money to be able to re-develop
the Plaza.
MR. HAGAN-One of the things I think Jon’s alluding to is that with the large investment
off site, that needs to be made, I think they need to get X on site. One can’t happen,
some benefits can’t happen without the other. I know that that was talked about probably
about a year ago, when our stormwater number increased from an above grade to a
below grade. So, I’m sure that that had an impact on that as well.
MR. HUNSINGER-So what was your third item, Jon?
MR. LAPPER-The third one is the traffic issue on site, about proposing to relocate that
intersection, and that’s something that both the Staff and VISION talked about. I want to
just explain why that’s on the plan. When we did Home Depot, we moved that inner ring
road in front of the Peter Harris area, we call it Retail A, to make that a four way
intersection, and the problem with that is that those tenants have very minimal parking in
front of that Retail A. So Bill Dutch, needing to re-tenant that area, has been trying to
come up with a new configuration which allows, the problem is having shoppers walk
across that inner ring road to get to those stores. There is some parking there, but it’s
only two lanes with a drive aisle in the middle. So that was a proposal to change that, to
try to accommodate more parking without having to cross the ring road. Obviously we’ve
gotten some comments from the Staff and from the engineer about that. So we wanted
to talk about that and see how the Board felt.
MR. HUNSINGER-Is there any way to move that further north, the curb cut that goes
from the parking lot into the main drive aisle? Because I like what you’ve proposed, in
terms of making the parking lot work better in front of, I think you called it Stores A, Retail
B, actually, Retail B.
MR. LAPPER-Yes, you’re right, it is Retail B.
MR. HUNSINGER-But I think I agree with Staff’s comments and engineering’s comments
that that intersection, now, is too close to Route 9, and I think it’s going to create
problems with backup.
MR. HAGAN-What you’re suggesting is taking what we’re proposing here, and sliding it
in this direction.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes, because that might alleviate those concerns by giving you more
queuing.
MR. LAPPER-You mean to compromise, in other words?
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes, but at first I wasn’t sure what you were trying to do there, and
then on C-1-1, where you overlay the current site, existing site with the proposed, it’s
obvious, you know, that you’ve realigned that, and I think it works a lot better for Retail B,
but I think you’re going to create a, I agree with Staff and the engineer that you’re going
to create a traffic difficulty with the drive aisle.
MR. LAPPER-So what you’re suggesting is perhaps moving it halfway in between the old
and the new?
MR. HUNSINGER-Just as a suggestion.
MR. LAPPER-Well, we’ll certainly look at that before we come back next time. We’re just
trying to, this whole thing is about solving problems, and it’s not that it’s set in stone that
there’s only one way. It’s just about getting a compromise that works. Bill’s point is that
before we did the Home Depot, that whole intersection was all the way at the top. Well,
Bill, what do you think about the Chairman’s suggestion that we look at trying to make it,
move it halfway back, which would create more parking, but not as much as what you
have?
17
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. DUTCH-Well, it’s just designed, whether traffic can flow here. We know this works.
I don’t know that if we intersect these and split these (lost words). I don’t know that that
works. Universal comments that we’ve had from retailer prospects is that the
configuration there is not conducive for some of the people that we would like to
entertain to come in here, and they just need better parking in front of these stores, and
we don’t have it now. I apologize for that.
MR. LAPPER-That’s certainly a constructive suggestion. So we’ll look at that and be
back with the compromise. We’ll see if we can work out something that addresses the
concerns of the Staff and the engineer.
MR. FORD-While you’re looking at compromises, is there any way that you can go back
to Number Two and those trees along the eastern side of Route 9? Is there anything
that you can put in there that will allow you the flow and the parking that you need, and
still try to accommodate some greenery there?
MR. DUTCH-My only comment is that I know where we have to stack the snow now.
We’ve been limited because of the size of the property. It’s very difficult to truck it off site
and very expensive to do that, and what we had done, we used to dump snow, years
ago, over the back of the property which we’re restricted from doing now. So if you
looked at last year’s snow piles and you know how big they got, my fear is that you put
these immature trees in there, they’re just going to get buried by these snow plows.
We’re constantly going to have to be replacing them, and I’m big on aesthetics, as big as
you folks are, but I’m just afraid that with the salt and the materials and the, you know,
that we use to melt ice and snow on there, that it’s going to be lip service only and would
be a constant maintenance problem with that stuff. Whereas the other locations that are
proposed that are proposed, I think, are easier to avoid damaging those trees than it
would be along Route 9. That’s just my opinion.
MR. SEGULJIC-But couldn’t you store the snow where you’ve got the stormwater
infiltrators?
MR. LAPPER-No.
MR. DUTCH-I don’t think so. That’s going to be State owned, or County land. So I don’t
think that they would have the right to dump their snow on that corner.
MR. SEGULJIC-But when they plow it along that way, it’s going to be in the County right
of way, isn’t it, along Route 9?
MR. BOYEA-I think there may be some that might get into the right of way. Some that
gets pushed from the right of way into this lot, and I think it’s, you know, moved by a front
end loader that’s parked on that site. In general, usually we’re not allowed to use County
right of way or State right of way for any snow storage.
MR. LAPPER-Amy was pointing out that this was the response to the VISION comments
in the last go around, and there were constraints because of underground utilities in that
area as well that would prevent. I mean, here, of course, there’s just a narrow area
between the parking lot and the underground facilities. So we really thought that, and
obviously you always want more and we understand that, that coming up with these
clusters was something that we didn’t have last time. That was in response to the
comments last month. These three areas where we could get decent size trees, and,
you know, it is going to take a little while, but if you think about Queensbury Plaza across
the street, you know, when you drive by now, it actually looks pretty good, with those
trees after whatever, probably 15 years, and it does take time, but that looks a whole lot
softer than it used to before we re-did that. So we’re certainly here to listen to
suggestions, but we’re pretty constrained. We also have all the trees along the
cemetery, because the buffer requirement made it that we had to add all t hose trees.
This was an area that didn’t have trees, right at the southern end of the cemetery
property, and that’ll look better than what’s there now.
MR. SEGULJIC-So what’s going to happen with the vegetation you’re proposing along
that strip?
MR. LAPPER-I’m sorry?
MR. SEGULJIC-You have proposed vegetation along that strip.
MR. LAPPER-Which strip?
18
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. SEGULJIC-The west of Route 9 strip.
MR. FORD-Route 9.
MR. LAPPER-Yes, but it’s low stuff that can.
MR. SIPP-Yes, but it’s not going to suffer from the salt?
MR. FORD-That’ll be piled on with the same snow that would be piled on the trees.
MR. LAPPER-That area is very close to the road. So I think it’s barberry.
MS. FRANCO-Right. It was the barberry.
MR. LAPPER-Plants that are salt tolerant.
MR. SEGULJIC-So if they’re salt tolerant, you can put some trees there then.
MS. FRANCO-Well, after our last meeting, we looked at that, because we wanted to add
some more trees in there, just because that was one of the Board’s concerns before. So
we looked at that, and just, there’s a bunch of utilities that go through there. There’s a
water line, and I think there might be some gas and/or electric that go through there. So
just with the placement of the trees we couldn’t, but we added a lot more shrubbery than
we did have on there before that were in the same, I guess, aesthetic, line as was in
there before, or exists now.
MR. SEGULJIC-So are those utilities on these drawings, then?
MS. FRANCO-Yes. They should be on both the existing plan and the utility drawing.
MR. FORD-There will be trees in that parking lot, in the lot itself, though, correct?
MS. FRANCO-Yes. We added them to the islands.
MR. FORD-At the islands. That’s an acceptable move to me, in the right direction.
MR. HAGAN-If you look at that plan right there, you can see the line. If you go over there
now, there’s a few scattered trees in the parking lot, but now you’ve got a fairly
substantial line within the parking area, which is a little more protected area.
MR. LAPPER-Amy’s looking at the utilities on the existing conditions plan.
MR. SIPP-Now this area in front of Walgreens, you’ve got a strip across there with
junipers and so forth in there. Then you have on either end you have clumps. You’ve
got a clump of three red maples on one side, on the north side, and on the south side
you’ve got some. How close together are you putting these red maples? You’ve got red
maple, three of them, on each side of that stormwater basin.
MS. FRANCO-Yes. I’m not sure, offhand, but they might be like 10, 12 feet on center.
MR. SIPP-On center.
MS. FRANCO-Right. So they’ll end up growing into each other.
MR. SIPP-Why can’t you put them across the face of that parking strip there? Why can’t
you put some trees in there?
MR. LAPPER-Which parking strip, Don?
MR. SIPP-The one in front of Walgreens.
MR. BOYEA-I believe that that underground detention system runs right to the bottom of
that wall. There’s a landscaped wall.
MR. SIPP-How about behind the wall?
MR. BOYEA-I believe on top is, you know, a guide rail and, you know, to prevent cars
from going over the top.
19
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. SIPP-Put some trees in there. What do you mean there’s no room? You’ve got 16
parking spaces there. Take one or two out and put a tree in.
MR. LAPPER-The question is, there is an island, when the parking changes. There
might be room to put one, if you look on the plan, where the parking spaces change
direction.
MR. SIPP-You’re going to lose two parking spaces. It seems to me you’ve got enough.
There used to be enough spaces for 250 cars there when Travelers was in that building.
I don’t think they’re going to have 250 going Walgreens and Chili’s at the same time.
MR. LAPPER-That’s fine. Because of the proximity to the underground units, we may
not be able to get maple trees in there, but we probably could get some trees on, take
out two spaces, put in an island, and put some substantial trees there.
MR. SIPP-You don’t have to (lost words). They don’t have to see it. They know it’s
there.
MR. LAPPER-We’ll come back with trees, instead of two parking spaces, something
makes sense.
MR. SIPP-Trees of some size.
MR. LAPPER-Okay.
MR. SEGULJIC-I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but you already have a tree existing in
that area, along the western edge of the site. So the trees can exist and survive.
Number Two, the utilities are at least five feet from them, and I’m just asking you to
comply with Code.
MS. FRANCO-I think there’s a water line that goes through there, and then bends out
towards the sidewalk, and that’s how we can have trees farther down. I don’t have large
size plans.
MR. SEGULJIC-It’s Code.
MR. HUNSINGER-Are there any other issues from Board members that we haven’t
identified this evening?
MRS. STEFFAN-No, the trees were my.
MR. LAPPER-Those were the big ones. A lot of the stuff, the engineering was re-
labeling, confirming some discrepancies on the stormwater plan. We had to change the
foot candles or the wall packs on the back of the Chili’s, you know, some specific stuff,
but nothing that is any problem, and one thing I want to talk about is the Sign Variance.
MR. SEGULJIC-Excuse me, back to lighting. I think it’s more than changing the wall
packs behind the Chili’s, or Walgreens. You have a few hot spots in the parking lot that
are up at eight and ten foot candles, in some other locations even higher, and one of my
questions is did you take into account the existing lighting in the area when you did the
photo metrics?
MS. FRANCO-Yes.
MR. SEGULJIC-Can we lower the lights in the parking lot, then? You have three or four
different hot spots.
MS. FRANCO-I know. I think that was one of the comments. So we’ll have to look at
that again, just to make sure. We’ll make sure it’s adjusted, based on the comments we
received.
MR. HUNSINGER-One of the other concerns that I had, and it’s not really, the
engineering comments don’t really come right out and say it, but it’s just with the traffic
movement where the two new buildings are going to be. It just seems to be congested.
There is an engineering comment about the delivery route and parking area for trucks
delivering to Chili’s.
MR. LAPPER-Yes.
20
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. HUNSINGER-But I guess mine’s more of a general comment, just about the traffic
circulation and traffic congestion where the two new buildings are going, and I just
wonder if there was any consideration given to placing one of the buildings in a different
location.
MR. LAPPER-This was the subject of massive negotiations with the tenants, in terms of
how they would work together, next to each other, both in terms of traffic access,
pedestrian access, and visibility issues. That’s why you’ve got Chili’s facing one way
and Walgreens facing the other.
MR. HUNSINGER-Well, just to kind of finish the thought, because part of my concern is
you’re going to have this one area of the Plaza that’s very congested, but then you’re
going to have other areas of the Plaza where you’re going to have, you know, fields of
parking that doesn’t get used very often. So is there a way to, you know, kind of balance
it out a little better so that you don’t have the congestion problems at the southern end,
and you don’t have empty parking spaces somewhere else.
MR. LAPPER-Well, those parking spaces are needed to re-tenant the old Travelers
space with retail.
MR. HUNSINGER-Understood.
MR. LAPPER-And so there’s not, I mean, we’re only complying in terms, there’s not,
even though it’s empty now because there’s nobody utilizing it, that’s really the parking
ratio that the Town requires.
MR. HUNSINGER-No, I know that. I don’t think you have too many parking spaces.
That’s not the point. The point I’m trying to make is balance the site out a little better,
that’s all.
MR. LAPPER-People will be going slowly in front of Chili’s. It’s not, that’s not a drive
aisle, in front of Walgreens, and the drive aisles are pretty well marked, in terms of the
curb cuts from the Route 9 and Quaker Road. We looked at that delivery issue. Chili’s
doesn’t get a lot of deliveries. It’s going to have to be in the back. There wasn’t any
alternative.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes. I guess really the biggest concern is the entrance off Quaker
Road, because where that, I mean, that’s going to be a significant traffic aisle, and you
have parking spaces perpendicular to that drive aisle, almost right at the entrance.
MR. HAGAN-Again, it’s Jim Hagan. If you look at the field in front of this area, that looks
very large and very open, but you also look at the portion of retail space there, you’ve got
well over 100,000 square feet of building area right there. So if that is fully tenanted, you
will be using those parking spaces out in that area. This area, proportionally, is a lot
smaller building area, but the parking is proportional to that. One of the things that we
did was we wanted to provide safe, easy access into each of those tenant spaces, but at
the same time, by design, we wanted to stop what has happened traditionally on this
center, where you had a freefall where people just came flying in off of Quaker Road or
Route 9. If you remember, when before Home Depot was built, there was a driveway
down in here, and people would literally come flying in in front of Travelers at about 50
miles an hour, but what we’ve done, we’ve controlled part of that. We still have problems
down in this area here where people come through here, and they shoot behind this
building. We’re trying to slow them down, and, you know, the lane aisles are wide
enough so that people can safely navigate through there, but there’s also enough going
on that people are going to say, whoa, maybe we should slow down, and that’s really
what we’re trying to do.
MR. LAPPER-One of the other comments related was whether we should put in speed
bumps, and we didn’t think that that’s necessary in the back because we’ve changed it to
those diagonal parking. So it’s not going to be, it’s not going to lend itself to speeding
like it was, because you’re going to have cars there, and it’s one way, and, you know,
certainly what the Board’s pointing out, this is somewhat of a grand compromise. We
think it works. We think it’s going to look a lot better than what’s there now, and Chili’s is
ready to get in the ground, and we’d like to give them the permission to do that.
MR. FORD-Would that diagonal configuration work particularly well, if it’ll work further in,
would it not work closer to that Quaker Road entrance, going in to the right side from
Quaker Road.
21
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. HAGAN-You’re talking about all this site right here?
MR. FORD-Correct.
MR. LAPPER-Yes, that’s two way. That’s the difference. We used the diagonal where it
was one way.
MR. HAGAN-This is two way in here, but behind the old Travelers, this is one way, one
way this way, and you may have some confusion if you carry the diagonal down here.
You may create more confusion if you extend the diagonal down to this area.
MR. LAPPER-Because now people would be backing up only into one way traffic, rather
than two way traffic.
MR. HAGAN-Well, Jon, I think it’s something we could take a look at.
MR. FORD-Would you, please.
MR. HAGAN-Sure.
MR. FORD-Thank you.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. Anything else from the Board? We did table the public hearing
until this evening. Is there anyone in the audience that wants to address the Board on
this application?
PUBLIC HEARING OPEN
MR. HUNSINGER-Let the record show there were no takers, but we will leave the public
hearing open.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. The items that I have, based on the discussions that I’ve heard,
is that obviously we want the applicant to address Staff comments and VISION
Engineering comments. We want the applicant to provide an enhanced landscaping
plan, because there’s been several things that we’ve talked about, and I think the
applicant understands what we’re looking for. That we want them to re-evaluate the
lighting plan to reduce hot spots, ensuring a four to one uniformity ratio, and Code
compliance. That we want the applicant to re-evaluate the curb cut location on the Route
9 drive aisle entrance. Anything else that I missed?
MR. SEGULJIC-The only thing is with the landscaping, I would just have it be compliant
with the Town Code.
MR. LAPPER-Well, it sounds like we’re going to have to ask for a waiver just in the front
if there’s water lines underneath along Route 9, there’s no option.
MR. FORD-And they’re going to examine the possibility of the diagonal parking,
immediately after the entrance from Quaker Road.
MR. LAPPER-If we could continue that down, yes.
MR. FORD-That configuration that you have further in. They’re going to at least examine
it.
MR. LAPPER-But what we’re hoping is that we could make these changes and get back
here for your second meeting in September so we could try and stay on track with Chili’s.
MRS. STEFFAN-September or October? Because we’ve passed the deadline for
September.
MR. LAPPER-We understand. We would like to get back to you in a very short time.
We’ve been focused on all this stuff, and the engineers can make these changes pretty
quickly. If there’s any way, just because we’re getting down to the short list.
MR. FORD-The September agenda is already full.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes.
22
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. LAPPER-The Staff pointed out that the southern Home Depot sign, we’re proposing
to relocate it, so that it would be next to the drive aisle. Right now it’s in a parking space.
It would be moved five spaces north, and what Staff seems to be saying is that even
though we got a variance for that, last time, if we were to relocate it, we’d require a new
variance. So, for that reason, we would have the ability, because Home Depot has a
right to that sign, we don’t have the ability to relocate it unless it was permissible. So at
this point we’re just going to have to leave it where it is, and if we have to come back
later and ask the Zoning Board to allow us to move it and modify the Site Plan, we’ll have
to do it that way, because we don’t have the right to (lost words). So if, in fact, it
requires, we didn’t have a determination from the Zoning Administrator. This is the first
time we got that comment, but if it requires modifying a variance to move it five spaces
north, then we’ll just have to leave it where it is for the time being. We don’t have that
flexibility.
MR. SEGULJIC-So just to clarify for me, you want to move it five spaces forward, but you
may not because you might need a variance.
MR. LAPPER-Because if that requires a variance, that could get denied, so we’d have to
just leave it where it is now and treat that separately, withdraw that, and come back in a
few months and deal with that.
MR. HAGAN-Currently it’s located right about here, and we’re moving it just to the north
so it’s adjacent to the entrance drive. So what we’re saying is if we leave it here, we just
move one parking space and it would stay where it is.
MRS. STEFFAN-How tall is that sign?
MR. HAGAN-That’s a smaller sign. I think it’s only about 20, 22 foot tall, approximately.
It’s not the main sign, which is located up adjacent to the main entrance.
MR. LAPPER-All right. So we’re looking at the first meeting in October, if September is
already full?
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes, September is full, but we could certainly hear you in the first
meeting in October.
MR. DUTCH-It’s not your concern, but it’s ours. We have a caveat in our lease
agreement with Chili’s that if we don’t get in the ground by a certain date, then we have
to wait (lost words) March, and I realize the way things are, we didn’t get these
comments until last Friday, the deadline. It’s a Catch-22.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. I’ll make a motion to table.
MOTION TO TABLE SITE PLAN NO. 48-2009 NPA II, LLC, Introduced by Gretchen
Steffan who moved for its adoption, seconded by Stephen Traver:
th
This is tabled to the October 20 Planning Board meeting with a submission deadline of
th
September 15. This is tabled so that the applicant can:
1.Address both Staff comments and VISION Engineering comments,
2.It’s tabled so that the applicant can provide an enhanced landscaping
plan, striping per Code compliance,
3.So that the applicant and re-evaluate their lighting plan, reducing hot
spots, ensuring a four to one uniformity ratio and Code compliance,
4.So that the applicant can re-evaluate the curb cut location at the Route 9
drive aisle entrance,
5.So that the applicant can consider or examine the diagonal parking
alternatives off the Quaker Road entrance.
th
Duly adopted this 18 day of August, 2009, by the following vote:
AYES: Mr. Sipp, Mr. Seguljic, Mr. Ford, Mr. Krebs, Mr. Traver, Mrs. Steffan,
Mr. Hunsinger
NOES: NONE
MR. LAPPER-Thank you.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. See you in a couple of months.
23
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. KREBS-Can we ask Staff to, if something drops off the schedule in September, that
we could possibly move them into it? If something comes off the schedule in September,
is it possible to prioritize them to come on?
MR. HUNSINGER-First of all, I don’t see it happening because we have such a backlog.
MR. OBORNE-Well, it’s got a public hearing associated with it.
MR. KREBS-Okay. So you’ve got to advertise.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes.
MRS. STEFFAN-The other thing, in this particular situation, would there be any
advantage, in a prior applicant, one of the things that the Planning Board identified was
that the Community Development could facilitate a meeting with the engineer. Is that
something that would be helpful in this situation?
MR. OBORNE-Having looked at the engineering comments, I’m pretty sure they’ve
already had a meeting. Haven’t you?
MRS. STEFFAN-Well, you got them last Friday they sent it.
MR. OBORNE-If you would so direct me, I have no problem with that, whatsoever.
MRS. STEFFAN-I’m just wondering if that will help you and help the applicant to be
ready for the October meeting.
MR. OBORNE-Well, I think, yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
MR. TRAVER-I think that’s mainly up to the applicant to make that judgment.
MR. LAPPER-That would be great. We’ll address the engineering comments first (lost
words).
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MR. OBORNE-Please contact my office and we can facilitate that. No problem.
MRS. STEFFAN-Do I have to put that into a motion?
MR. OBORNE-I don’t think that’s necessary at this point. We’ll put it on the applicant’s
shoulders to contact our office and we’ll move it from there.
MRS. STEFFAN-That way that would help all of us. All right. We’ll see you in October.
MR. HUNSINGER-Thank you.
MR. LAPPER-Thanks.
SITE PLAN NO. 25-2009 SEQR TYPE UNLISTED RANDY GROSS AGENT(S)
MICHAEL O’CONNOR, G. THOMAS HUTCHINS OWNER(S) SAME ZONING HC-
INT.; SR-1A LOCATION 487 DIX AVENUE APPLICANT PROPOSES A CHANGE TO
APPROVED SITE PLAN TO INCLUDE THE DEMOLITION OF EXISTING SINGLE
FAMILY DWELLING, CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW SINGLE FAMILY DWELLING, USE
OF TEMPORARY STRUCTURE FOR SERVICES WITH ASSOCIATED WASTEWATER
SYSTEM, AN INCREASE IN PARKING AND ADDITIONAL SITE DETAILS. CHANGE
TO AN APPROVED SITE PLAN REQUIRES REVIEW AND APPROVAL BY THE
PLANNING BOARD. CROSS REFERENCE SP 10-2008 LOT SIZE 15.24 +/- ACRES
TAX MAP NO. 303.16-1-33 SECTION 179-9-010
MICHAEL O’CONNOR, REPRESENTING APPLICANT, PRESENT
MR. HUNSINGER-Keith, whenever you’re ready.
MR. OBORNE-Site Plan 25-2009, Randy Gross is the applicant. Changes to an
approved Site Plan requires review and approval by the Planning Board. The location is
487 Dix Avenue. Existing zoning is bifurcated in SR-1A and HC-Intensive. SEQRA
Status is Unlisted. Project Description: Applicant proposes a change to approved site
24
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
plan to include the demolition of existing 3 bedroom single-family dwelling previously
proposed for parsonage, construction of a new 5,800 square foot 4 bedroom single-
family dwelling proposed for parsonage and temporary use of 2,560 square foot Pole
Barn for services with associated wastewater system. Further, the applicants seek
permission to use tents from April thru October 31, 2009 for related ministries and
functions of the church. Additionally, the applicant seeks to use existing construction
entrance for congregation traffic until existing house is demolished. Moreover, an
increase to the limits of clearing adjacent to the east side of the church and religious
instruction building is proposed. Finally, an increase in parking from the previously
approved 72 spaces to a revised 150 spaces. Staff Comments. The applicant received
approval for Site Plan 10-2008 on July 15, 2008. Since approval, the applicant is now
seeking to modify the site plan as described above. Currently, footers for the Sanctuary
are being installed, a large portion of the grading has been accomplished and the
inground pool has been removed and filled in. I do want to go down to Additional
Comments. Final approved plans to include all changes and revision to approved site
plan must be complete and clear when submitted. Staff recommends a post approval
meeting with the Planning Department prior to final submittal. The Planning Board may
wish to make this a condition of approval. Further, the Planning Board must grant
approval for the additional parking, and with that, I’d turn it over to the Planning Board.
MR. HUNSINGER-Thank you, Keith. Good evening.
MR. O'CONNOR-Good evening. I’m Michael O’Connor. I represent the applicants, and
with me is Pastor Randy Gross who is the applicant and Tom Hutchins who is the project
engineer. I guess what we would try to do is to go through the Staff’s comments and
respond to each of those. On the second page, they begin with the Planning Board may
wish to direct the applicant to provide an updated phasing schedule for the new
proposal. On the filing that was made on S-1, there is a construction phasing that
indicates that during 2009, that Phase I was the main building. That is under
construction. (Lost words) a little bit of confusion, which I’ll refer to later when I’m talking
about the engineering comments. You did approve Site Plan in July of 2008, I guess.
There were conditions on that approval. The Zoning Administrator signed off on all those
conditions in satisfaction of those conditions, on April 10, 2009. I’ve got a signed copy,
stamped copy of the Site Plan approval which was of the main structure, and of the
subdivision for the main structure. A building permit was issued. They had proceeded
with construction on the main area of worship, and that is underway. Additionally, in
2009, their goals were relocation of the existing residence to off site location. That has
not happened. I’m not sure whether it will be completed within that year. It probably will
not be completed until part of Phase II is done and they construct the replacement
structure (lost words) site, in all honesty. So maybe that has to be moved out of 2009.
Construct all parking areas, drives, and walkways, and that is underway. The utilities
work (lost words) water supply for the main building and wastewater for the main
building. Those will be constructed as that construction progresses (lost words) in the
next couple of weeks. The construction is coming along pretty well there. We
understand that we wouldn’t get a Certificate of Occupancy until those things were taken
care of, like any other construction. Okay. The first Staff comment was we should
provide an updated phasing schedule. On the submittal for this meeting, there is a
construction phasing. It’s on Sheet S-1, and we’re pretty much right in line with that,
except for perhaps during 2009. I’m not sure if we will relocate the existing residence to
an off site location. That will probably be held up until we actually construct the
replacement residence at the back of the site. Other than that, pursuant to the approved
Site Plan, which was approved by Staff on April 10, 2009, the did obtain a building
permit, and they are constructing the main area for worship. To date, I guess they have
poured the outside walls, and they expect to put the trusses on and the roof on within the
next couple of weeks. That’s progressing maybe faster than they actually even
anticipated, and, Randy, anytime you want to step in, you can. Utilities work, including
water supply to the main building and wastewater for main building will be part of that
construction. We understand that we can’t get a CO until we have that, and we put on
the filing in 2010, Phase II, the parsonage, which is the building on the back, and the
youth building, which started out as a pole barn, and is on the west side of the property,
we anticipate that that’s when those would be constructed. We will construct the
driveway and sidewalk for the parsonage with the parsonage construction, and utilities
for the parsonage and the youth building would be, and the wastewater for both those
buildings would be constructed as part of that. Now, I don’t know how much more detail
the Board wants as far as phasing, and I guess the next question is what is the timing in
the future of Phase II building. Phase II building is the building behind the main area of
worship. We have not put that on our schedule of construction. I think the priorities are
to do the main building and do the parsonage and do the youth building, and then
probably come back for that. So if you wanted a timetable, it would be after the other two
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
phases we’ve set, and maybe we now have to start talking about Phase III as opposed to
Phase II. The additional parking may not be necessary at this time. We re-examined our
activities and what not, and we think that the additional parking is necessary, and there is
certainly some economy to putting the parking in all at one time, and that’s the reason
that we have a request before you for an additional 78 parking spots, as opposed to the
initial 72. That’ll bring the parking up to 150 parking spots. The future status of the youth
building, and you’ve asked whether it’s temporary use. When it is constructed, we
believe it will be used on a regular basis. Again, it will depend upon the activities of the
congregation as to how much it’s used, but the hope is that it will be used full-time once
it’s constructed. Will the single family home be demolished on site or be removed as
stated on plan? If we can, and Randy, correct me if I’m wrong. If we can find a place
that we can move it in an economic manner that makes it worth salvaging, that’s the
intent, but if we can’t, we will demolish it and remove, you know, the parts of it and
dispose of them in an appropriate manner. The last comment was the 7200 square foot
religious instruction building appears not to be attached to the sanctuary as previously
approved. That is an error in drawing. It still is intended, when constructed, to be
attached, and we can remedy that, either as part of a condition, or if we are coming back
to you, and based upon the engineering comments, we probably are coming back to you.
The slope compaction to be performed by tract equipment. That’s just a note. Okay. All
right. Tom, I think we’ve gone to engineering. So why don’t you address engineering.
We have no objection to having a meeting with Staff, and would accept that readily as a
condition that, post-approval, we have a meeting with Staff to make sure that their
concerns on the plans, or that we make appropriate notes to answer their comments.
That was the purpose of that, Keith?
MR. OBORNE-Yes, absolutely, it’s for clarity and completeness.
TOM HUTCHINS
MR. HUTCHINS-With regard to Staff’s comments, as Mike indicate, I’m sorry, Tom
Hutchins, Hutchins Engineering. The first one is a note item. The parking photo metrics,
yes, I need to add the much smaller building mounted lighting to the photo metrics of the
plan, and indeed I did not have that information on there. It won’t be a tremendous
impact to the plan, but that should be revised, and I will do that.
MR. O'CONNOR-I’d make one comment, too, if you look at S-1. The layout is a little bit
different than it was before. Part of that was generated by Staff, and particularly Dave
Hatin noted that we needed to have a drive around for emergency access. So that’s the
new drive around that’s on the east side of the building, and when that was installed, the
idea was to, it made more sense to change some of the configuration of the parking.
MR. HUTCHINS-And I would touch on that. You may or may not recall, in the previous
plan, all of the parking was entirely on the west side, and that issue came up when they
went to pull a building permit and so we had to provide vehicle access around, at that
point, and then it made sense to, this parking over here was not as desirable as shown
where we have it. So, we’ve reconfigured it. Yes, we did add some parking spaces, and
we’re happier with the layout, and we think it flows better. It moves parking from the side
to the rear, and it does increase the number of parking spaces, which we really do
believe was needed. The Town’s Code is one space per five seats in the sanctuary, and
if you can imagine a 300 seat sanctuary that was filled. The average would not be five
attendees per vehicle, and I think that’s reasonable to understand.
RANDY GROSS
MR. GROSS-Isn’t there a Code change, it was brought to my attention, that allowed for
more?
MR. HUTCHINS-That allows the Board to expand over that, yes, with Board approval, up
to double, which we are within. With regard to VISION comments, the prior three that I
had seen, that we had seen, two of them are addressed. They’re asking for some more
soils info. There was, I was relying on soils info. that was done for the previous systems
up here. I have no problem re-doing that. I have looked at it. I haven’t logged it and
shown it on there. With regard to their Item Four, I guess we have some confusion. This
was new info. to me. We had an approved Site Plan, and so I would have presumed that
any prior engineering comments would have been addressed, and I came on late in the
game here. So I may be wrong, and I’ll have to research that a little bit myself, and if you
want to touch on that.
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. O’CONNOR-Okay. Well, Pastor Randy did meet on different occasions with Staff
and believes that the comments that they had as to the prior submittal were all satisfied,
and I think evidence of that is the stamp by Craig Brown, so I’m not sure if there’s
something not in a file or whatever, but the prior, Comment Four C and Comment Four D
appear to address the septic system, which has not, for the main sanctuary, which has
not been changed, and which was approved and for which he has a building permit in
hand for. So we’ve just got to straighten that out, I think. I’m not sure what the comment
is, and I don’t mean to look at Keith, because it’s an engineering comment, but.
MR. OBORNE-Yes. I’m not privy to those. I’m not privy as to why the building permit
was released. Not to say that it shouldn’t have been, I just don’t really know exactly what
the issues were.
MR. O'CONNOR-And don’t we presume that it’s okay when it is?
MR. OBORNE-I think you can presume that it’s okay to build a sanctuary at this point.
Obviously you’re back for Site Plan Review modification. So we’ll just move ahead.
MR. O'CONNOR-I’d prefer to look at the glass as half full as opposed to half empty.
MR. HUNSINGER-I was looking at it as halfway to the next glass, but that’s neither here
nor there.
MRS. STEFFAN-Yes, and in a bureaucratic system, you have to have all the paperwork
completed, and so the files have to be complete.
MR. GROSS-And my comment would be that, being that it is complete, and signed off by
Craig, that that would hold (lost word) in terms of the approved system, the modification
that we made was also at Craig’s request, that moving the septic tank itself up near the
building is standard practice, that having a septic tank that far from the building is
actually a negative to effluent traveling. So that was, again, one of the things that Tom
brought to my attention, and Craig thought that it was a great idea to do.
MR. O'CONNOR-There are two changes. I don’t mean, necessarily, that there were no
changes from the prior septic. The two changes were the relocation of the septic tank
and putting in a grease trap, which was also suggested by Town Staff, but there was no
change in design for quantity or flow, or actual construction. Okay. Tom, I’m sorry.
MR. HUTCHINS-Okay. I’m going to try to pick this up. Item Five, again, is a septic
system. We’ve talked about that. I haven’t delved into the approved system design in
great detail. Six is a Phasing schedule. We’ve discussed that. Seven is lighting, and
I’ve already talked about that. I do need to tweak the lighting plan. Parking surface. To
clarify, I thought we had indicated it’s a gravel surface, but to clarify, we’re showing it all
as a gravel surface, but stormwater’s designed for asphalt.
MR. HUNSINGER-So all the parking areas are gravel?
MR. HUTCHINS-Proposed at this point, yes.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MR. O'CONNOR-There is, shown on the plan, an overflow of parking in grass.
MR. HUNSINGER-Right.
MR. O'CONNOR-But the actual parking that we’re asking the permission for to use on a
regular basis is on gravel surface.
MR. HUTCHINS-Item Nine, he has a question about my grading and a swale, and I’ll
look at it again. I remember looking at it when we put it together, and I felt it would be
okay. I’ll take another look at it and address that. Landscaping on the parking area, with
the revised parking area, we probably owe you a revised landscaping plan, because that
will have to change. We do have a landscaping plan with the plants, but we probably
should, we should update that. There is an error on my drawing. Instead of 512.4, it’s
indicated 212.4, and I will correct that. Walkways at the youth building, we really haven’t
figured out the flow around the youth building yet at this point, but I can get something on
there to show. It is a phase down the road. So we didn’t show a whole lot of detail there,
but I can get something there. The tents, as we talked about at the last meeting, the
tents are for use through this October, and so they would be out of there at the time we
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
want to construct stormwater controls, and again, sequencing and phasing. We had
one. I guess we can attempt to clarify it a little bit, and lighting. I will get the light pole
base on there, and that’s. So there are a number of issues, and there are a number of
things that we should address. So I’ll leave it to the Board for questions.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. Any questions, comments from the Board? I think you
covered everything.
MRS. STEFFAN-Yes, and in my mind, you know, when I was reviewing the project, it’s
just, you have to satisfy the VISION Engineering comments and the Staff comments, and
then, you know, certainly all the recommendations are relevant and necessary.
MR. O'CONNOR-Does the Board have any concern about the increase in parking? I
think that’s a Board determination.
MR. SEGULJIC-I do not have any concerns.
MRS. STEFFAN-No, and in my mind, it is, you know, as you said, it’s easier to do it up
front than it would be later on.
MR. KREBS-And I think the five people per car is an, I mean, when I go to church, I don’t
see five people in any more than one or two, three cars in the whole thing.
MR. O'CONNOR-Some people are younger than you, though, Don.
MR. KREBS-Yes, but if you look at family size today, it’s significantly less.
MR. HUNSINGER-What is it, 3.2 or something.
MR. O'CONNOR-I think it’s less than that.
MR. KREBS-It’s going down.
MR. O'CONNOR-Okay. So you are probably going to approve it and condition it upon us
satisfying and engineering comments.
MRS. STEFFAN-Probably not. It was a good try, though.
MR. HUNSINGER-Before we consider a tabling resolution, we do have a public hearing
scheduled this evening. Is there anyone in the audience here to address the Board on
this application?
PUBLIC HEARING OPEN
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. Let the record show that there were no commentors. The
public hearing will be held open.
MR. FORD-Can we get some clarification, though, and I guess this probably comes from
Staff, or comes from the Town Engineer, on are we re-visiting the approval on the main
septic system?
MR. OBORNE-With the modifications you’re proposing, you just have to get your
engineering signoff on it. It was previously approved, but it’s being changed.
MR. O'CONNOR-But those comments have nothing to do with the re-location of the
septic tank or the addition of the grease trap. These comments are talking about the
capacity and design.
MR. TRAVER-Yes. I think a signoff is really what you need, and once you review the
prior approval, and discuss the minor changes you’re making, it shouldn’t be.
MR. O'CONNOR-Okay. Then it’s our position that we have a signoff on that, and you
might, either that, or we set up a meeting with Dan Ryan, and Tom and Dan Ryan can.
MR. OBORNE-Well, what’s the issue, though?
MR. GROSS-Well, we have an approved Site Plan that, and for all the engineering and
design, and so the only thing we’ve done is moved the tank. We haven’t changed the
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volume. So, you know, our system should be accepted, you know, if it’s clarified to Dan
Ryan, I think it should be accepted at that point.
MR. OBORNE-Well, again, I can’t disagree with you on that. I think that that’s something
that Dan’ll have to make a decision on.
MR. KREBS-Well, and also, didn’t you move it because Craig Brown suggested that you
move it?
MR. GROSS-Yes.
MR. KREBS-I mean.
MR. O'CONNOR-His comments, though, aren’t as to that moving. His comments were
more general as to the general design and capacity, the sloping and some other stuff.
MRS. STEFFAN-Well, but the record has to reflect, you know, the design drawings have
to reflect the reality of what’s there, and the engineer will make a decision based on
whether it’s appropriate or inappropriate.
MR. OBORNE-That is correct.
MRS. STEFFAN-So if a meeting’s necessary, we should authorize that, like we’ve done
before, a meeting with the Town Engineer.
MR. HUNSINGER-Well, that seems pretty, well, I don’t want to presume that it’s going to
be a simple.
MR. O'CONNOR-I think it would expedite things.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes. Okay.
MR. OBORNE-I do want to remind the applicant that any meeting that is facilitated with
the Town Engineer is billable to the applicant, and I just want to make sure that’s
perfectly clear, and I do want to state that it probably is a good idea. I’m not espousing it,
but they tend to go a long way.
MR. GROSS-I’ve done that before.
MRS. STEFFAN-Right, yes, and in my mind, I mean, we’ve recommended this a couple
of times tonight, and in my mind, it will just, it’ll help move the process along so in the
long run it would probably save the applicant money. Okay. So we’ve got the Staff
comments, VISION Engineering comments, and then if a meeting’s necessary. So those
are the three items. Now this is a modification, correct, Keith?
MR. OBORNE-That is correct.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. All right.
MR. OBORNE-It is still a separate Site Plan number, but it is a modification to an
approved Site Plan.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. So I don’t have to say modification. All right.
MR. O'CONNOR-Let me ask this question, too. I think some place in the comments,
somebody talked about revisiting, did you talk about revisiting SEQRA?
MR. OBORNE-Eventually, yes.
MR. HUNSINGER-Well, we’d have to, to approve any modification.
MR. O'CONNOR-Okay. All right. No, you don’t. I’m thinking of the next application.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. I’ll make a motion.
MOTION TO TABLE SITE PLAN NO. 25-2009 RANDY GROSS, Introduced by
Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption, seconded by Thomas Ford:
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
th
Tabled to the October 20 Planning Board meeting. Submission deadline for materials
th
will be September 15. This is tabled so that the applicant can:
1.Address VISION Engineering comments,
2.To address Staff comments,
3.And if a meeting is necessary between the applicant and the engineer, the
Community Development Department may facilitate that meeting.
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Duly adopted this 18 day of August, 2009, by the following vote:
MRS. STEFFAN-And the Planning Board authorizes a meeting between the applicant
and our Town Engineer, which would be facilitated by the Community Development
Department.
MR. OBORNE-Strike the authorizes, because that means the Town will pay for that.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. I’ll take that back. If a meeting is necessary between the
applicant and the engineer, the Community Development Department may facilitate that
meeting.
MR. OBORNE-Thank you.
MR. HUNSINGER-Good clarification.
AYES: Mr. Traver, Mr. Sipp, Mr. Seguljic, Mr. Krebs, Mrs. Steffan, Mr. Ford,
Mr. Hunsinger
NOES: NONE
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. Good luck. See you in a couple of months.
MR. O'CONNOR-Thank you very much.
SUBDIVISION NO. 2-2009 FINAL, PHASE II FRESHWATER WETLANDS 7-2009
SEQR TYPE PREVIOUS SEQR CERRONE BUILDERS AGENT(S) NACE
ENGINEERING; MICHAEL J. O’CONNOR OWNER(S) SAME ZONING SR-1A, RC
3A, WR-3A LOCATION WEST MT. RD. & CORINTH RD. APPLICANT SEEKS FINAL
APPROVAL OF PHASE II PORTION OF SUBDIVISION WHICH COMPRISES OF 10
LOTS RANGING IN SIZE FROM 1.03 ACRES TO 47.68 ACRES. SUBDIVISION OF
LAND REQUIRES PLANNING BOARD APPROVAL. WARREN CO. PLANNING N/A
APA, CEA, DEC, ACOE NWI WETLANDS LOT SIZE 222.2 +/- ACRES TAX MAP NO.
315.5-1-1 SECTION A-183, CHAPTER 94
MICHAEL O’CONNOR & TOM NACE, REPRESENTING APPLICANT, PRESENT
MR. HUNSINGER-Keith, whenever you’re ready to summarize Staff Notes.
MR. OBORNE-I shall. Subdivision 2-2009, Phase II, Cerrone Builders. This is Final and
Freshwater Wetlands 7-2009. This is, the location is Corinth and West Mountain Road.
Existing zoning, there are three zones, SR-1A, RC-3A, WR-3A. This is a Type I realty
subdivision. With the newly designated ACOE, Army Corps of Engineers Wetland,
located on Lots Five, Six, Eighteen and Nineteen, the Planning Board will need to re-
open SEQRA and re-affirm the previous SEQRA determination with the addendum of the
Freshwater Wetland application. Project Description: Applicant proposes subdivision of
a 222.2 +/- acre parcel into 25 lots ranging in size from +/- 1.03 acres to +/-47.68 acres.
This proposal is for the Final approval of Phase 2 of the project which received
preliminary approval in conjunction with Phase 1 on 4/28/09. Subdivision of land
requires Planning Board review and approval. Note: Previous approval expired while
waiting for a water district extension. I’m going to drop on down to new comments. A
meeting, per the Planning Board tabling motion dated June 23, 2009, was accomplished
on June 30, 2009 between Tom Nace, Project Engineer for Cerrone Builders, Vision
Engineering and Paragon Engineering. Please see attached Paragon Engineering
correspondence to the Planning Office and sign-off dated July 24, 2009. The Planning
Board must re-affirm SEQR due to the newly designated ACOE wetland associated with
this subdivision. Please see page S-2 and S-4 of plan revised 7/20/09. The applicant
proposes grading within 45 feet of the wetland boundary for a stormwater infiltration
basin located on lot 18, hence the FWW 7-2009, and with that I’d turn it over to the
Board.
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. HUNSINGER-Great. Thank you. Good evening.
MR. O'CONNOR-Again, I’m Michael O’Connor from Little & O’Connor, for the applicant.
With me is the applicant, Al Cerrone. He is the principle of Cerrone Builders, Inc., and
the project engineer, Tom Nace. We think that we’ve answered all the questions that
have been raised, and we seek Final approval of Phase II.
MR. HUNSINGER-Can you just satisfy one question?
MR. O'CONNOR-Yes.
MR. HUNSINGER-The new wetlands, newly discovered.
MR. NACE-No, they’ve always been on the plans.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MR. NACE-We just were not previously doing anything within the buffer area from the
wetland..
MR. HUNSINGER-Questions, comments from the Board? Hearing none, we do have a
public hearing scheduled. Is there anybody in the audience who wants to address the
Board on this application?
PUBLIC HEARING OPENED
MR. OBORNE-I do have public comment.
MR. HUNSINGER-Go ahead.
MR. OBORNE-Let me make sure I have this right. “Dear Mrs. Steffan: Unfortunately I
will be out of town and unable to attend the public meeting related to the “Phase Two
Subdivision” planned by Cerrone Builders. Therefore, I am sending this fax in the hope
that two of my concerns will be addressed. They are: Will my property be adversely
affected by water “run off” from the mountain. In the past may homes in Bedford Close
had their basements flooded during the spring due, in large part, to this type of situation
and I obviously want to avoid having to deal with a similar problem. I am also concerned
about the visual appearance of a bunch of houses setting on the mountainside. I hope
that the Planning Board insists that the wooded nature of the property is kept intact.
While recognizing that homes will be constructed, I think it is possible to do so in a
tasteful manner. I don’t know the process by which this fax will be recognized, but I hope
that the members of the Planning Board will be aware of my concerns. Thanks for your
help. Don Slater”, and it’s dated 8/17/09. I do want to state that the obvious allowing of
this public hearing is due to the Freshwater Wetland and not due to subdivision, which
are intrinsically tied.
MR. HUNSINGER-Thank you. Yes. Good point.
MRS. STEFFAN-Well, certainly the water runoff issue has been addressed. I mean, that
was part of the whole project, reason why this was in phases, and then the other thing,
the visual appearance, I mean, we’ve certainly put, we put a height requirement in, and
clearing limits and those kinds of things. So I think both of those issues have been
addressed for Mr. Slater.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. Seeing how there are no other comments, I will close the
public hearing.
PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED
MR. HUNSINGER-What will be the next step, Keith? Do we need to go through the
whole SEQRA Long Form?
MR. OBORNE-I don’t think so. I think that at this point you would re-affirm your previous
SEQRA. Let me pull this up again. Hang on a sec. Because Craig and I had a
discussion about this. You can re-open the SEQRA process and re-affirm the previous
SEQRA determination, with the addendum of the Freshwater Wetlands. You could state
that in the resolution and state that in the body of the minutes. You’ve already issued a
SEQRA Negative Declaration on this project. What you would do is re-open SEQRA and
re-affirm the SEQRA Findings previously. With the fact that the wetlands were
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
previously on the property, you know, I think the only issue now is that they’re grading
within 45 feet of the buffer of the wetland. Does that adversely effect your previous
SEQRA Findings, well, that is for you to determine. If it has, then you would re-open and
do the Long Form absolutely, but if you feel it hasn’t, re-affirm and you should be on safe
ground.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. Does anyone have any concerns or comments about the
grading within 45 feet of the wetland?
MR. FORD-Within 45 feet of the buffer.
MR. SEGULJIC-Well, I guess, can you do anything (lost words)?
MR. NACE-No, it’s simply a matter of where the stormwater basin fits in, where the soils
are good.
MR. SEGULJIC-So you’ve done everything you can to minimize?
MR. NACE-I believe so.
MR. SEGULJIC-Okay.
MR. NACE-We’re keeping that 45 feet as a natural area that will provide a good buffer.
MR. SEGULJIC-All right.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MR. SEGULJIC-And with this approval, this would be it for you guys, right? Not that I
don’t like you.
MRS. STEFFAN-The other thing is with the wetlands during construction, the wetland
boundaries have to be demarcated during the process, and so to all construction folks
it’s very obvious that those are boundaries that need to be respected. So I’m not worried
about that from the SEQRA point of view.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. Would anyone like to put forward a resolution regarding the
Freshwater Wetlands Permit for Cerrone Builders?
MR. O'CONNOR-Don’t you have to re-open SEQRA, as Keith suggested, first, though,
and re-affirm it, and then do the two permits.
MR. HUNSINGER-I kind of thought we did that. Okay. I’ll re-open SEQRA, and let the
record show that no one on the Board had any comments relative to additional impact on
the Freshwater Wetlands, and there’s actually comments in the actual resolution for the
Freshwater Wetland Permit that SEQRA was considered.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. I’ll make a motion.
MOTION TO APPROVE FRESHWATER WETLANDS PERMIT 7-2009 CERRONE
BUILDERS, Introduced by Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption, seconded by
Donald Krebs:
1)A site plan application has been made to the Queensbury Planning Board for the
following: Applicant seeks final approval of Phase II portion of subdivision which
comprises of 10 lots ranging in size from 1.03 acres to 47.68 acres. Subdivision
of land requires Planning Board approval. Freshwater wetlands permit required
for disturbance within 100 feet of a wetland boundary.
2)A public hearing was advertised and held on 8/18/09; and
3)This application is supported with all documentation, public comment and
application material in the file of record;
4)MOTION TO APPROVE FRESHWATER WETLANDS 7-2009 CERRONE
BUILDERS, Introduced by Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption,
seconded by Donald Krebs:
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
According to the resolution prepared by Staff. Paragraph Four, it’s approved.
Paragraph Four A complies. Paragraph Four B, we have re-visited the SEQRA
Negative Declaration and reaffirm SEQRA. Paragraph Four F and G do not
apply. This is approved without conditions.
a)Pursuant to relevant sections of the Town of Queensbury Zoning Code
[Chapter 94], the Planning Board has determined that this proposal
complies with the requirements as stated in the Zoning Code; and
b)The requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act have
been considered and the Planning Board has adopted a SEQRA Negative
Declaration; and, therefore, no further SEQRA review is necessary; and
c)Final approved plans, in compliance with the Freshwater Wetlands permit,
must be submitted to the Community Development Department before
any further review by the Zoning Administrator or Building and Codes
personnel. The applicant must meet with Staff after approval and prior to
issuance of Building Permit and/or the beginning of any site work.
Subsequent issuance of further permits, including building permits is
dependent on compliance with this and all other conditions of this
resolution; and
d)As-built plans to certify that the site plan is developed according to the
approved plans to be provided prior to issuance of the certificate of
occupancy; and
e)If applicable, Item d to be combined with a letter of credit; and
f)NOT APPLICABLE. The Sanitary Sewer connection plan must be
submitted to the Wastewater Department for its review, approval,
permitting and inspection; and
g)NOT APPLICABLE. Waiver requests granted / denied.
h)The limits of clearing will constitute a no-cut buffer zone, orange
construction fencing shall be installed around these areas and field
verified by Community Development staff
i)All lights to be downcast / cutoff fixtures. All fixtures shall be inspected by
Community Development Staff for compliance prior to installation
j)Engineering sign-off required prior to signature of Zoning Administrator.
k)The applicant shall submit a copy of a NOI [Notice of Intent] SWPPP
[Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan] & NOT [Notice of Termination] -
see staff
l)The applicant shall submit a copy of a NYS SPDES [State Pollution
Discharge Elimination System]
th
Duly adopted this 18 day of August, 2009, by the following vote:
AYES: Mr. Traver, Mr. Sipp, Mr. Seguljic, Mr. Ford, Mr. Krebs, Mrs. Steffan,
Mr. Hunsinger
NOES: NONE
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. Would anyone like to put forward a resolution for Final Stage
approval?
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. I’ll make a motion.
MOTION TO APPROVE FINAL, PHASE II SUBDIVISION 2-2009 CERRONE
BUILDERS, Introduced by Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption, seconded by
Donald Krebs:
A subdivision application has been made to the Queensbury Planning Board for
1.
the following: Applicant seeks final approval of Phase II portion of subdivision
which comprises of 10 lots ranging in size from 1.03 acres to 47.68 acres.
33
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
Subdivision of land requires Planning Board approval. Freshwater Wetlands
permit required for disturbance within 100 feet of a wetland boundary.
2. A public hearing was not required for the subdivision but was scheduled on
8/18/09 [wetlands permit]; and
3. This application is supported with all documentation, public comment and
application material in the file of record; and
4. MOTION TO APPROVE FINAL, PHASE II SUBDIVISION 2-2009 CERRONE
BUILDERS, Introduced by Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption, seconded by
Donald Krebs:
According to the resolution prepared by Staff. Paragraph Four A complies.
Paragraph Four B, negative. Paragraph Four F and G do not apply.
a)Pursuant to relevant sections of the Town of Queensbury Zoning Code [Chapter
A-183], the Planning Board has determined that this proposal complies with the
requirements as stated in the Zoning Code; and
b)The requirements of the State Environmental Quality Review Act have been
considered and the Planning Board has adopted a SEQRA Negative Declaration;
and
c)Final approved plans, in compliance with the Subdivision, must be submitted to
the Community Development Department before any further review by the Zoning
Administrator or Building and Codes personnel. The applicant must meet with
Staff after approval and prior to issuance of Building Permit and/or the beginning
of any site work. Subsequent issuance of further permits, including building
permits is dependent on compliance with this and all other conditions of this
resolution; and
d)As-built plans to certify that each lot in the subdivision is developed according to
the approved plans to be provided prior to issuance of the certificate of
occupancy; and
e)If applicable, Item e to be combined with a letter of credit; and
f)NOT APPLICABLE. The Sanitary Sewer connection plan must be submitted to
the Wastewater Department for its review, approval, permitting and inspection;
and
g)NOT APPLICABLE. Waiver requests granted / denied.
h)The limits of clearing will constitute a no-cut buffer zone, orange construction
fencing shall be installed around these areas and field verified by Community
Development staff.
i)Engineering sign-off required prior to signature of Planning Board Chairman.
th
Duly adopted this 18 day of August, 2009, by the following vote:
AYES: Mr. Sipp, Mr. Seguljic, Mr. Ford, Mr. Traver, Mr. Krebs, Mrs. Steffan,
Mr. Hunsinger
NOES: NONE
MR. NACE-Great. Thank you.
MR. O'CONNOR-Thank you very much.
MR. HUNSINGER-You’re all set.
MRS. STEFFAN-Congratulations. Good luck.
SITE PLAN NO. 38-2008 SEQR TYPE II ROBIN INWALD AGENT(S) PARADOX
DESIGNS OWNER(S) INWALD ENTERPRISES, LLC ZONING WR-1A LOCATION
38 GUNN LANE APPLICANT PROPOSES AN 863 SQ. FT. RESIDENTIAL ADDITION
WHICH WILL CONNECT THE GARAGE TO THE MAIN HOUSE AND A 400 SQ. FT.
34
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
SCREENED PORCH ADDITION. EXPANSION OF A NON-CONFORMING
STRUCTURE IN A CEA REQUIRES PLANNING BOARD REVIEW AND APPROVAL.
CROSS REFERENCE AV 68-08; SEASONAL RESIDENCE; [BP 92-378, 89-059, 6987,
6732, 6589] WARREN CO. PLANNING 10/8/08 APA/DEC/CEA LG CEA, APA LOT
SIZE 0.66 +/- ACRES TAX MAP NO. 227.17-1-16 SECTION 179-13-010, 179-9-020
CHARLIE JOHNSON, REPRESENTING APPLICANT, PRESENT
MR. HUNSINGER-Keith, whenever you’re ready to summarize Staff Notes, please.
MR. OBORNE-As stated, Site Plan 38-2008, Robin Inwald, requested action, Site Plan
Review for the expansion of a nonconforming structure in a Critical Environmental Area.
Location: 38 Gunn Lane. Existing zoning is Waterfront Residential One Acre. This is a
Type II SEQRA. Project Description: Existing one story house to be connected to
existing garage with a 642 square foot expansion to the east side of the house. Further,
a new 221 square foot foyer / porch and a new 400 square foot screened porch
proposed in addition to the expansion. A new septic is also proposed for this project. I’m
going to drop down to Additional Comments. This application has been forwarded to
Vision Engineering for review and comment. The applicant has addressed all of staff
concerns. However, there are VISION Engineering concerns. I’ll turn it over to you.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. Thank you. Good evening.
MR. JOHNSON-Good evening. My name is Charlie Johnson, Paradox Design
Architects, representing Robin Inwald. In the interest of time, I thought we’d just jump
right to VISION comments. There’s just a couple that still are unresolved. These were
received by e-mail Friday afternoon. So short time to respond, but we’ve re-done that,
and I’ve got a revised drawing. Some other information that he’s requested. I’ve already
e-mailed Keith some of this stuff that I could this morning as well. So the first item is
Item Number Five. I think Darrah Land Surveying has submitted a letter. I confirmed it
with VISION. They originally did not receive it. So they do have a letter stating that all of
the properties within 200 feet of this subject property draw their water from the lake. So
there’s no wells within the 200 foot radius.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MR. JOHNSON-I’ve added the note regarding maintenance of rain gardens to the
drawing, per Item Number Nine. Item 14, we had a perc rate of seven minutes and fifty
seconds. New York State Department of Health, Appendix 75-A regulations divide your
perc rates up into categories of minutes of perc, one to five, six to seven, eight to ten.
We used the six to seven because we were in the six to seven minute range. VISION
Engineering wanted us to use the eight minute range. I’m not sure why, but we did. It
changed the size of our absorption bed. It bumped us to the next size of the pump,
which is why we re-did our septic design calculations which you were e-mailed earlier
today. So that’s taken care of. Item 14 also requested a scaled cross section of the
absorption bed. I’m not sure why he needed it. It was graded as requested, but here’s
the diagram that we’ll forward, submit tonight for that. It shows everything’s in order.
Item Number 15, buoyancy calculations for the lift station so that the lift station doesn’t
pop up out of the ground as it gets saturated. The original calculations didn’t calculate
the weight of the earth on top of this, the weight of the cover on top of it. We’ve since
revised our calculations and it shows in excess of 1.5 safety factor. So that Item 15 is
taken care of there. The other element of Item 15, it says absorption bed quantity. So
we’ve calculated, or I’ve calculated, that the absorption bed, now, is 20 foot by 40 foot.
There’s six inches of gravel, then the lateral pipes are on top of that. So we’ve got six
inches of capacity. 20 by 40 is 800, or is 400 cubic feet, using this six inch depth,
assuming we’ve got 40% of voids in the gravel. I’m just going to walk us through this
really quick. We have 160 cubic feet. Each cubic foot can contain 7.48 gallons of water.
So when you do the math, this absorption bed, if you just poured water into it, and it
didn’t drain at all, would hold almost 1200 gallons, 1196 gallons of water. So our house
generates a certain amount of effluent, and our dosing volume is calculated in septic
design calculations at 228 and a half gallons per dosing. We’re estimating between two
and four dosings per day. So I took the 288.5 times a total of four dosings, and it comes
up to 914 gallons. So if we assume that this absorption bed lost no water whatsoever, all
day long we pumped effluent into it, it would still only get 914 gallons per day. It’s
capacity is almost 1200. So I’m not sure where this comment comes from. Since I can’t
really speak with Dan Ryan, I couldn’t really resolve this, but my calculations show we’ve
got capacity. I think, Item 17, I’ve added the note that all the plumbing fixtures are going
to be water saving. Item 19 is the same as the cross section of Item 14. Item 19, I’ve
added a rain garden planting schedule. I previously just listed the approved plants that
35
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
could be placed in. I’ve since done a planting scheme, list of the plants that could be in
there. Item 20, he wanted a second run of silt fence, just below, down slope of the septic
field, thinking that they would be built at different times and it would add additional
protection. So I’ve shown that on the plan as well, and then Item 21, I did a little revision
to the grading to divert the water around the garage. So that’s not an issue anymore as
well. So all of the fairly small items, comments of VISION have been dealt with.
Drawings are revised. So I’d entertain any other questions, and ask for Final approval.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. Questions, comments from the Board?
MR. SEGULJIC-Just two quick things, I think for clarification. With regards to the rain
garden, the one on the west, and I think I’m missing something. It looks like the pipe is
going to be at grade, not below grade.
MR. JOHNSON-No, they both come out where, into that soil mixture. See the little rain
garden detail that kind of cross section?
MR. SEGULJIC-I guess what I’m getting at is, isn’t the bottom grade of the rain garden
328 or so?
MR. JOHNSON-Correct.
MR. SEGULJIC-And the pipe is going to be going across at 330, so it’s only going to be
like two feet below grade or so.
MR. JOHNSON-Well, it starts on the south side of the property at 332.
MR. SEGULJIC-Okay.
MR. JOHNSON-And it drops at a very low pitch all the way down to 330, which is the top
rim of that rain garden.
MR. SEGULJIC-Three-thirty-two is the grade, correct?
MR. JOHNSON-Correct.
MR. SEGULJIC-So the pipe’s going to run on top of the ground?
MR. JOHNSON-No, it’ll be under the ground, but only 12 inches or so.
MR. SEGULJIC-So it’s going to be sloped back so it’s always going to drain out?
MR. JOHNSON-Correct.
MR. SEGULJIC-Okay. The other thing is, the rain gardens themselves are, if I’m correct,
like 21 inches deep or so.
MR. JOHNSON-They’re 21 inches from grade. They’re not actually deep. You excavate
that amount. First you put in six inches of gravel, then another 12 inches of a soil
mixture, leaving a three inch depression to contain the ponding of water.
MR. SEGULJIC-Okay. What’s going to happen in the wintertime when it’s frozen, then?
I thought you wanted to get it below the frost line?
MR. JOHNSON-No, this is right from Department of DEC’s stormwater management
manual. This is their design. There’s no water running in the wintertime. Freeze/thaw
maybe, but.
MR. OBORNE-Yes. Are you considering this an infiltration device?
MR. SEGULJIC-I guess.
MR. OBORNE-Yes, well, it’s not designed.
MR. SEGULJIC-So the water’s going to pond in here, during the wintertime when the
ground is frozen?
MR. OBORNE-Correct. Right. That’s my understanding.
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. JOHNSON-Correct.
MR. SEGULJIC-A lot of times you put a pipe in it to get you below the frost line.
MR. OBORNE-Right, a certain percentage needs to be below for infiltration. Correct.
MR. JOHNSON-Right.
MR. SEGULJIC-Well, I guess Dan Ryan looked at that and he was okay with it.
MR. JOHNSON-This is what the DEC calls an alternative stormwater device.
MR. SEGULJIC-Okay. All right.
MR. TRAVER-The only question I had was that, you mentioned that the, you made some
revisions to the size of the pump.
MR. JOHNSON-Yes.
MR. TRAVER-Would that have any impact on the buoyancy calculations?
MR. JOHNSON-He already calculated all that. He re-did that with the new pump and
included it already.
MR. TRAVER-Very good. Thank you.
MR. SEGULJIC-Just one last thing, the septic system. You’re putting in a new system.
MR. JOHNSON-Correct.
MR. SEGULJIC-Where is the existing septic system?
MR. JOHNSON-We’ve been told it’s between the house and the garage. It’s a 30 year
old system. We don’t really know, but I’ve put notes on to the effect that it’s to be
removed. That’s the probable location, to be removed off site. Where the addition is
now is where we’re thinking, where we’ve been told that septic system is. So as we
excavate for the crawl space, we’re going to remove all of that. It’s coming out wherever
it is.
MR. SEGULJIC-Okay.
MR. JOHNSON-Wherever it is, it’s totally illegal.
MR. SEGULJIC-All right.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay. We do have a public hearing scheduled. Is there anyone in
the audience who wants to address the Board on this application?
PUBLIC HEARING OPEN
MR. HUNSINGER-Let the record show there were no takers. Any written comments,
Keith?
MR. OBORNE-No, sir.
MR. HUNSINGER-No written comments, either. I will close the public hearing.
PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED
MRS. STEFFAN-And I will make a motion.
MOTION TO APPROVE SITE PLAN NO. 38-2008 ROBIN INWALD, Introduced by
Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption, seconded by Thomas Ford:
1)A site plan application has been made to the Queensbury Planning Board for the
following: Applicant proposes an 863 sq. ft. residential addition which will
connect the garage to the main house and a 400 sq. ft. screened porch addition.
Expansion of a non-conforming structure in a CEA requires Planning Board
review and approval.
37
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
2)A public hearing was advertised and held on 10/28/08, 5/28/09, 7/28/09 &
8/18/09; and
3)This application is supported with all documentation, public comment and
application material in the file of record;
4)MOTION TO APPROVE SITE PLAN NO. 38-2008 ROBIN INWALD, Introduced
by Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption, seconded by Thomas Ford:
According to the resolution prepared by Staff. Paragraph Four A complies.
Paragraph Four E, F, and G do not apply. This is approved with the following
condition: That the applicant satisfy VISION Engineering comments, 5, 9, 13, 14,
15, 17, 18, 19, 20 & 21, and obtain an engineering signoff.
a)Pursuant to relevant sections of the Town of Queensbury Zoning Code
[Chapter 179], the Planning Board has determined that this proposal
complies with the requirements as stated in the Zoning Code; and
b)This is a Type II SEQR, and, therefore, no further SEQRA review is
necessary; and
c)Final approved plans, in compliance with the Site Plan, must be submitted
to the Community Development Department before any further review by
the Zoning Administrator or Building and Codes personnel. The applicant
must meet with Staff after approval and prior to issuance of Building
Permit and/or the beginning of any site work. Subsequent issuance of
further permits, including building permits is dependent on compliance
with this and all other conditions of this resolution; and
d)As-built plans to certify that the site plan is developed according to the
approved plans to be provided prior to issuance of the certificate of
occupancy; and
e)NOT APPLICABLE. If applicable, Item d to be combined with a letter of
credit; and
f)NOT APPLICABLE. The Sanitary Sewer connection plan must be
submitted to the Wastewater Department for its review, approval,
permitting and inspection; and
g)NOT APPLICABLE. Waiver requests granted / denied.
h)The limits of clearing will constitute a no-cut buffer zone, orange
construction fencing shall be installed around these areas and field
verified by Community Development staff.
i)Engineering sign-off required prior to signature of Zoning Administrator.
j)The applicant shall submit a copy of a NOI [Notice of Intent] SWPPP
[Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan] & NOT [Notice of Termination] -
see staff
k)The applicant shall submit a copy of a NYS SPDES [State Pollution
Discharge Elimination System]
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Duly adopted this 18 day of August, 2009, by the following vote:
AYES: Mr. Traver, Mr. Sipp, Mr. Krebs, Mr. Seguljic, Mrs. Steffan, Mr. Ford,
Mr. Hunsinger
NOES: NONE
MR. JOHNSON-Thank you very much.
MR. HUNSINGER-You’re all set. Good luck.
MR. JOHNSON-How long could I expect the signoff to take, do you think?
38
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. OBORNE-You need to submit final plans to me addressing all the engineering
issues, revised final plans, and we’ll send them out to VISION Engineering, no longer
than two weeks.
MR. JOHNSON-Okay, and that will preclude the issuance of a building permit?
MR. OBORNE-Absolutely. Yes.
MR. JOHNSON-Okay.
MR. OBORNE-Then it comes back to me. I vet it. Then it goes to Craig. He vets it.
Building and Codes vets it, and then it’s released.
MR. JOHNSON-Thank you very much.
MR. HUNSINGER-Thank you.
SITE PLAN 44-2009 SEQR TYPE II NIGRO COMPANIES AGENT(S) BARTLETT
PONTIFF STEWART & RHODES OWNER(S) UPPER GLEN STREET ASSOCIATES,
LLC ZONING CI LOCATION 735-751 & 745 GLEN STREET APPLICANT
PROPOSES A 200 SQUARE FOOT PATIO AREA FOR PICNIC TABLES, AN 80
SQUARE FOOT BICYCLE RACK PD, RECONFIGURATION OF DUMPSTER PAD,
NEW PARKING LOT CONFIGURATION AND UPGRADED STORM WATER
CONTROLS. MODIFICATIONS TO AN APPROVED SITE PLAN REQUIRE PLANNING
BOARD REVIEW AND APPROVAL. CROSS REFERENCE SP 47-08; BP 98-3257, BP
98-3256, 98-5244 WARREN CO. PLANNING 7/8/09 LOT SIZE 8.96 +/- ACRES TAX
MAP NO. 302.6-1-22, 26 SECTION 179-9-010, 179-4-090
STEFANIE BITTER, REPRESENTING APPLICANT, PRESENT
MR. HUNSINGER-Keith, whenever you’re ready to summarize Staff Notes, please.
MR. OBORNE-Site Plan 44-2009, applicant Nigro Companies. Requested Action: Site
Plan modification. The location is 735 Glen Street. The existing zoning is Commercial
Intensive. This is a Type II SEQRA. No further review needed. Project Description:
Applicant proposes a 200 square foot patio area for picnic tables, an 80 square foot
bicycle rack pad, relocation of dumpster pad and stormwater modifications. Modification
to an approved site plan requires Planning Board review and approval. Staff Comments:
The applicant wishes to expand the seating capacity for the Five Guys Burger
Restaurant by removing and replacing 274 square feet of existing landscaping with a
patio and four (4) picnic benches. The landscaping to be removed is not slated to be
replaced as submitted. The applicant is submitting a stormwater modification that
addresses multiple issues on site. All roof water from the one story commercial building
that houses the Tractor Supply business is proposed to be captured by roof leaders
directing water to a proposed storm drain and catch basins located to the rear of the
building. This proposed drain to be extended to an existing stormwater catch basin near
the Five Guys Restaurant. Further, the applicant is planning to repair a washout in the
parking area to the south. I’d drop down to additional comments. This plan has been
forwarded to Vision Engineering for review and comment. This plan has been forwarded
to the Fire Marshal’s office for review and comment. The Planning Board may wish to
waive the additional four (4) parking space requirement associated with the expanded
seating capacity for Five Guys as per §179-4-090K of the new code. The Planning
Board may consider, as a condition of approval, any increase in parking requirements
above seven (7) additional spaces for any future change in use in the plaza (as this will
exceed the threshold of 10 spaces), will require the applicant to increase the parking
capability accordingly. Please refer to §179-4-090K of the new code for further
clarification. The applicant has requested waivers for stormwater, grading, lighting, and
landscaping. With that, I’d turn it over to the Board.
MR. HUNSINGER-Great. Thank you. Good evening.
MS. BITTER-Good evening. Stefanie Bitter, from Bartlett, Pontiff. Attorney for the
project. I’m here this evening with Jamie Margelot from Nigro Companies, and Christian
Bertrum from Bergmann. I want to give you a little background information on this. We
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made this mission on June 15, seeking the incorporation of the four outside tables for
the Five Guys restaurant. At that time, I believe a couple of weeks prior to that, re-
striping of the entire parking lot had occurred, which was part of the resolution that was
issued by this Planning Board for the actual re-development of this building. At the time
that the re-striping was done, it wasn’t brought to the attention of the striper that those
39
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
spots had to be nine feet in width to actually be in accordance with the plan, and were
done, unfortunately, 10 feet in width. That immediately resulted in a site visit by Keith
Oborne and myself and the other two gentlemen that I’m with. At that time, we
discussed what other alternatives existed, as well as the stormwater issue that was
presented in the rear of the lot. As a result, the application that’s now before you is not
only seeking the inclusion of these four outside tables, as well as the stormwater issue
and the re-striping. I just wanted that to be clarified, because there was some confusion
with the VISION Engineering comments. So that you’re aware, back to our request, 16
seats, four tables, which results in a loss of four parking spaces. So we’re seeking a
waiver from those four parking spaces this evening. We are suggesting that we’re going
to create new permeable area by the dumpster area. In addition we’re also going to
create a dumpster corral, and enclose those dumpsters, so that we make it more neat
and aesthetically pleasing. We’re also incorporating a bike rack, because now we’re
under the new Code, which we’ll present for 16 bikes, but the one request that we have
this evening is that the bike rack that we’re proposing is on the north end of the site, in
front of Game Stop. We want to discuss, this evening, the possibility of having a bike
rack there, and a bike rack over by the other commercial building where Price Rite is, to
kind of separate it, to have accessibility for bikes on both sides. We are also in the
position that the landscaping to be replaced is going to be replaced in kind, and we were
hoping to have a discussion with the Board as to a location that you thought would be
best. The suggestion we had is, again, by the dumpster area, but we’re looking for your
input this evening. As to the phasing, the stormwater wasn’t optional. It was actually the
area behind the commercial building, and I can have Christian go into more detail as to
that, but I know VISION Engineering had that question that was presented. The one
main Staff comment that I just wanted to respond to is with regards to the drive aisle
width being insufficient. The drive aisle widths that we’re discussing are actually located
on the eastern side of the main commercial building where Price Rite is located, and as
any of you who have been to the site know, those drive aisles are presented today, and
have been incorporated in all the plans for the last 10 years or so. So they’re existing
and grandfathered and we’re trying to maintain that. So we don’t feel that any additional
relief should be needed for those items. I’ll open it up to questions at this point.
MR. HUNSINGER-Questions, comments from the Board? So does the Board that you
submitted, does that represent the new striping that was done?
MS. BITTER-Yes.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
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MS. BITTER-Because we submitted on June 15, which is why we weren’t before you in
July. So the new plan was actually submitted by Bergmann, and we replaced it in kind,
but just the application wasn’t updated to incorporate the change of the stormwater.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MR. FORD-I’m glad you’re corralling those dumpsters. I hate it when they stampede.
MR. HUNSINGER-Questions, comments? They’re looking for input on landscaping.
MRS. STEFFAN-I thought about that, and I just don’t know what to suggest. I mean,
there’s so much blacktop around that, and obviously they’re taking out the landscaping
around the building to put in the picnic tables, but, I mean, where do they put
landscaping? I mean, there is that grass buffer, but is that of any value?
JAMIE MARGELOT
MR. MARGELOT-If I may, I’m Jamie Margelot from Nigro Companies, and if you’ve been
to the site, the site is pretty heavily landscaped as it is now, making the landscaping as
important to me as it is to everybody else here, we pride ourselves on the way it looks.
So it’s kind of tough to squeeze in, but what we propose to do is over where we’re
building the dumpster corral is kind of screen the dumpster corral with a bunch of large
shrubs and maybe burning bushes on the side of that, and on the back of it, which would
add for all the landscaping, which would make up for the landscaping I’m taking out and
then some, and also serve as more of a purpose to screen that dumpster corral so it
serves as a pretty good screening there.
MRS. STEFFAN-That’s a good idea. Burning bush are pretty in the Fall, too.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes. What other plantings would you use? Arborvitaes, probably?
40
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. MARGELOT-Arborvitaes are nice, but, like last year when we had that ice storm,
you know, the ice just kills those arborvitaes. It weighs on them so heavily that they get
large, broken branches and they get big, brown spots in them. The burning bushes they
grow tall, they grow full. They turn red in the Fall. There’s a lot of other burning bushes
on the property. It seems to fit well. I mean, I would take recommendations if there’s
other things that you suggest. I would follow your suggestions. Just, the burning bushes
seem to be fit for the use and look well for where we’re going here.
MRS. STEFFAN-Sure, and if close enough together, when they grow, they can make
quite a thick hedge.
MR. MARGELOT-Yes, and plus I’ll load them right in there, too. I’m not shy about
putting bushes in there. So it’s a big dumpster corral, and I’ll be planting more square
footage than I’m taking out, by all means.
MRS. STEFFAN-Sure. It seems reasonable.
MR. HUNSINGER-Anything else from the Board? We do have a public hearing
scheduled this evening. Is there anyone in the audience that wants to address the Board
on this application?
PUBLIC HEARING OPENED
MR. HUNSINGER-Let the record show there were no comments. Any written
comments, Keith?
MR. OBORNE-No.
MRS. STEFFAN-The one question I have, it is a Staff comment. Please clarify the intent
of the proposed retail parking to the west, the areas currently used for storage and
display of trailers. I’m assuming those are the, is that the loading for like the Shop Rite
tractor trailers?
MR. MARGELOT-That’s for the Tractor Supply. They have a fenced in sales area, and
on the other side of that fenced in sales area, they have some trailers that they have for
sale. That’s the area in reference.
MR. KREBS-At the right end of the building.
MR. MARGELOT-Yes.
MRS. STEFFAN-Yes. Okay. At the other end, on the Aviation Mall side. Okay. Yes. I
had a totally different thing in mind. Okay.
MS. BITTER-So we’re going to reduce that in size to make up for those seven spaces.
That was one thing, just to note for the record, that the modification of the site layout is
because there’s, on the northernmost end of the site, there’s an island that would have
required a curb cut in order to place the seven spaces there. That was originally what
was approved. So we’re making those up in that retail area, because that’s a drive aisle.
So it would be unsafe to actually create those in that curbed area.
MR. SEGULJIC-So, if I’m understanding this correctly, we’re being asked to approve the
new picnic tables, and the two bike racks.
MS. BITTER-Two bike racks.
MR. SEGULJIC-You’re asking for one to be at, for lack of a better term, outside of Five,
the west side of?
MS. BITTER-In front of the Game Stop.
MR. SEGULJIC-In front of the Game Stop, and the other one to be?
MS. BITTER-Immediately adjacent to, what’s the tenant right here?
MR. MARGELOT-Over where there’s the Brooklyn Pizza. I pretty much would put it
anywhere on that sidewalk over there, wherever it fits the best, as far as people’s front
doors, but over on the other building there.
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MS. BITTER-The eastern end of that large commercial building.
MR. SEGULJIC-And then the new parking lot configuration.
MS. BITTER-Right, the re-striping.
MR. SEGULJIC-Which is a loss of four spaces?
MS. BITTER-Because of the tables, we actually have to create four spaces, because we
have these four additional tables.
MR. OBORNE-So it would be a waiver, which is solely in the realm of your abilities.
MR. SEGULJIC-Okay, and then also the enhanced stormwater controls.
MS. BITTER-Exactly.
MR. OBORNE-I do have a question, if I could ask.
MR. HUNSINGER-Go ahead, Keith.
MR. OBORNE-There is a VISION Engineering comment. I don’t know why I didn’t pick
up on it. Shame on me, but it has to do with the stormwater coming off of the building,
and you have it as optional. Why optional? I see where you have it not optional is where
you’re repairing the cut, and then the new stormwater basin going in, and then that’s
tying in to the existing one, but the ones in the rear?
MR. MARGELOT-Due to the cost of constructing that, you know, behind the Five Guys,
it’s a walk, it’s got utility lines, power lines. It’s going to get pretty expensive to repair
that. They are hoping that by adding, you know, the catch basins down further, that’ll
alleviate most of the problem.
MR. OBORNE-So sheet flow is what you’re looking at there, coming off of the roofs?
MR. MARGELOT-Yes. Currently it sheet flows from behind the Tractor Supply down
through to the catch basins down at Five Guys. Some of it goes through that, you know,
that area. So we’re hoping that by depressing this area, putting a couple of catch basins
in, that’s going to alleviate the problem. The client would like to have the ability that if
this does not solve the problem, that they could go in and add the rear drainage.
MR. OBORNE-Okay. One other issue, from my comments, I’m going to move on from
that one, is you do have dumpsters, and I apologize for this. They are over by the
Tractor Supply loading area, right here. What are you plan on doing with those? Just to
keep in mind that you don’t have to corral them because they’re not view from a public
right of way. I’m not too concerned about that, but they are taking up parking spaces,
and I’m just curious as to, are they planning to stay there? Are they eliminating those
parking spaces? And if so, you may want to ask for a waiver of additional four parking
spaces. I just would like clarification on that one issue.
MR. MARGELOT-We could do one of two options which would be to squeeze them
down closer to the building, where the parking lot where the parking spaces end, which
is noted on that. In doing that, it kind of bottlenecks it a little bit there.
MR. OBORNE-I don’t think the Fire Marshal would be happy about that.
MR. MARGELOT-Yes. I mean, going for a waiver would be good. Those, I’ve never
seen a car parked there in the five years that I’ve ever, I’ve been going to the shopping
center weekly, sometimes three, four times a week. Not only there, but on the whole
other side of the Tractor Supply, there’s no vehicles parked over there. Which seems to
me, maybe I’m a little biased, but an abundance of parking spaces, and, you know,
technically, yes, but I really don’t think that it’s going to hurt us to lose that.
MRS. STEFFAN-I would think the only people that would park back there would be
employees, and I don’t even think they’re utilizing this.
MR. MARGELOT-The employees don’t even park there. All the employees park in front
of the store. There’s an island, it’s kind of pointing on my map, but they all park out,
there’s a light pole, inside one of the parking spaces where all the employees park there.
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So, I mean, you never see any vehicles there. So, I mean, if we went for a waiver for
those four spots, that would probably.
MR. OBORNE-I would recommend that they go for a waiver, they ask for that waiver, just
to clean it up. So, with that said, that’s all I have. If the Planning Board’s satisfied with
the optional nature of that, that is a mess back there. There are issues back there.
There is sheet flow, and it flows all over the place. It doesn’t flow in a direct line to where
we want it to flow. So, with that said, I know that Bruce may have an issue with that, but
the optional nature of it just doesn’t seem to fix the problem in my mind.
MR. HUNSINGER-Where’s the sheet flow going?
MR. MARGELOT-It currently sheet flows from the Tractor Supply down, there’s a couple
of catch basins by Five Guys to pick up the drainage. There’s also a washout along the
property line, kind of where we’re putting the catch basin, where the water flows and
actually flows off the property. We’re actually proposing to cut out a large chunk of the
pavement and drop down, you know, the catch basin, create like a bowl. We’re actually
going to try to catch, most of that water that’s flowing behind, you know, Tractor Supply,
before it even gets, you know, past that first catch basin.
MR. HUNSINGER-I guess my only concern is, if that doesn’t work, then what’s the next,
you know, what’s the trigger, or what’s the next?
MR. OBORNE-Well, I think you may have to impose a condition of approval that triggers
it. What that may be, I think you have to decide amongst yourselves. Code compliance.
MR. SEGULJIC-But I’m confused one step even above that is that they’re requesting a
waiver from stormwater, but yet you’ve submitted .
MS. BITTER-But that was my whole pitch was that when we originally submitted it, the
stormwater wasn’t even part of the concern. The stormwater didn’t come up until we had
our site visit, and Bruce Frank’s comments were brought to our attention. So that was
my application’s error. What we were willing to suggest is it could be possible just to say
that if Bruce Frank brought it to our attention that the optional plan had to be
incorporated, that could be the trigger that actually gets it moving since Bruce Frank is
the one that’s going to do the site inspections.
MR. TRAVER-Well, except that we’re then asking Bruce to do something that’s our job,
and I’m not sure that’s a good idea.
MR. MARGELOT-In all fairness, this water problem is not only a problem of the shopping
center, but it’s my problem. This water flows behind the building. It flows into a grass
area which I have an extremely hard time maintaining, and now I have one area of the
shopping center which doesn’t get maintained on a regular basis. So I want the problem
fixed as far as, you know, so what I’m proposing to do is implement this plan, in two
stages. Do the first stage, which I feel fairly confident in speaking with the engineers, I
think that they feel confident as well, is going to get rid of a lot of the problem. I mean,
this water is flowing from the back of this building, behind those dumpsters, and then
flowing in that grass area all the way to the closest catch basin which is in between the
New Way Lunch and the Five Guys building. I mean, that’s the closest one to it. This is,
the catch basins that I’m putting in is going to catch 90% of that water that’s coming off
there, causing the ponding behind where those dumpsters are. If you go behind there,
you can’t even walk behind there. So now I have an area of grass which I can’t maintain.
It looks terrible, and my boss is constantly yelling at me about it. So if this doesn’t work,
then I would implement the other plan, because I came up with this plan two years ago,
before this was ever an issue. I mean, this is something I’ve been looking at, due to the
pure nature of the cost. I mean, there’s 75 KW running right down the middle of that
back road, and that back road is not very big. So the cost, for me, to implement the first
series of this, which I feel is probably going to fix it, if it doesn’t, then we’ll go into it. The
second part of this is extremely expensive. I mean, I have to, I can’t bring machines
back there to dig along the whole entire length of that building. I have to have all that,
the black top popped up and literally hand dug, because you can’t get a machine back
there. So, I mean, if that’s something I can avoid, I will. If it’s something that I have to
do, then that’s something that I will have to do, because I’m not going to implement,
spend the money, go through all this time, and do half of something that’s not going to
work. I mean, if it doesn’t work, you know, not only the recommendations from the Town,
which I’ll listen to gladly, but if I see it for myself that it doesn’t work, then I’ll get it fixed.
So that’s why we’re asking to put it into two stages, under the review of he engineers that
this is going to catch most of this water. I mean, if you go there, and you could actually
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watch the water flow and watch it pond. I mean, this is going to collect a lot. I mean, it’s
going to, compared to what there is there now, I mean, this is a huge step, in my opinion,
in correction.
MR. SEGULJIC-I’m a little confused. So what you’re going to do, what you’re proposing
to do is you’re proposing to install the catch basin that is in the, off the southeast portion,
I guess that’s where Brooklyn Pizza is.
MR. MARGELOT-Yes.
MR. SEGULJIC-And then the rest of that is optional.
MR. MARGELOT-Well, what I’m going to do is I’m going to, behind the loading dock of,
kind of where the Brooklyn Pizza is, I’m going to do it from there, and then go all the way
to where it’s on the corner of the Five Guys building. So I’m going to attach into the
existing.
MR. SEGULJIC-Okay.
MR. MARGELOT-So that’s half of that whole system.
MR. SEGULJIC-You’re saying you want to do that.
MR. MARGELOT-That’s what I want to do.
MR. SEGULJIC-The rest of it going to the west behind the building, is optional.
MR. MARGELOT-Is optional, but I want to have that, I want to have that option that if this
doesn’t work, I want to go and do that.
MR. SEGULJIC-I mean, it all sounds good to me, but my question is, in looking at Dan
Ryan’s letter, it’s not clear to me whether he evaluated it or not. He says the stormwater
is questionable. He never comments on it.
MS. BITTER-Right. We don’t need a waiver, and then he does mention on the second
one, Phase II improvements related to stormwater appear to be optional. I mean, we
could get VISION Engineering signoff as a condition.
MR. SEGULJIC-I guess that’s all I’d be looking for.
MS. BITTER-Right. Acceptable.
MR. HUNSINGER-So, if I can go back to the original question, and I guess I’m going to
put Keith on the spot, which I do at least once a meeting. If we were to leave it up to
Bruce Frank to determine if they should include the optional stormwater work.
MR. OBORNE-I think that there has been precedent on other sites that if, that he can
professionally evaluate stormwater and has signed off on his site plan inspection reports.
Sure. I don’t think it’s an issue, but what you really want to do is make sure you spell it
out when we have to have a rain event and we’ll have to have evaluation, you know, on
certain steps along the way. I hope I’m being clear here, to direct him how, what’s going
to trigger this and what’s not going to trigger it.
MR. HUNSINGER-Right.
MS. BITTER-I guess it would be after Phase I’s installation that, you know, he visit us.
MR. OBORNE-Monitoring for a three month period.
MR. HUNSINGER-But I’m also hearing the applicant say, well, if it’s not working, we’re
going to want to do that anyway.
MS. BITTER-Right, and that way we wouldn’t have to return to the Board to do that.
MR. HUNSINGER-That’s not even going to require an action of Bruce Frank, if they want
to do it. So I think maybe we would word it to say that the applicant, at their discretion,
may install the optional component, or they may be required to install the optional
component at the direction of the Code Enforcement Department.
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MR. OBORNE-Based on.
MR. HUNSINGER-Based on actual observation.
MR. OBORNE-Field observations.
MR. HUNSINGER-Field, yes.
MS. BITTER-That’s fine.
MR. OBORNE-If the Board is comfortable with that.
MR. SEGULJIC-Well, I am.
MR. FORD-Do we want to specify?
MR. HUNSINGER-Where does the stormwater go? I mean, once it leaves your site,
where does it go?
MR. MARGELOT-There’s a, the main runs out parallel to Route 9. So this, I’m attaching
in to a catch basin which currently attaches into that. So it just is piped out to stormwater
retention with Route 9.
MR. HUNSINGER-So it all, it ends up into Route 9?
MR. MARGELOT-Yes. The main that runs out there, yes.
MR. HUNSINGER-And that’s also close to the area where the State just spent all that
money to upgrade all the stormwater before it enters Halfway Brook, too. Is the Board
comfortable with it?
MR. KREBS-Yes.
MR. SEGULJIC-Yes.
MR. FORD-Yes. Do we want to specify the size of the rain event that would cause Bruce
to come out?
MR. OBORNE-I don’t think that that’s tenable.
MR. FORD-Okay.
MR. OBORNE-I think a timeframe would probably be more appropriate, because you’ll
have multiple rain events. Even better would be in the Spring, after thaw. See how that
works.
MR. FORD-Good point.
MRS. STEFFAN-Now, do we have solution two proposed? Is that in the plan?
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes. It’s shown as optional. Have you talked to your neighbor about
getting a right of way to get onto their property to do any?
MR. MARGELOT-I don’t encroach onto the neighbor’s property. So it’s all on my
property. So, no.
MR. HUNSINGER-No, I mean, just in terms of gaining access to their property for, so
you wouldn’t have to hand dig the trench, for example.
MR. MARGELOT-Well, I have to hand dig the trench because of the power lines that run
underneath it.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MR. MARGELOT-There’s everything back there, but I’m not afraid of that. It’s that, I
mean, we’re going to have a barbecue. Sending people back there, I mean, what I had, I
called UFPO to mark all this out, because this was, I was working on this before this was
ever brought to the Board’s attention. I had it all marked out with UFPO, and I also had a
fire hydrant which I repaired back in the day, and, you know, National Grid comes out
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
and they’re like, you know, you don’t want to be digging back here. I mean, it’s three big
high voltage lines running right down the middle of that.
MR. OBORNE-It’s hot. It is.
MR. MARGELOT-Yes.
MR. HUNSINGER-Wow.
MR. MARGELOT-If I could avoid that by any means, then that’s what I’ll do, but
compared to what is there now, this is going to be night and day difference. I mean, this
is going to collect so much of that water, and it’s just going to dry out the rest of the site
where it’s just a swamp. I mean, it’s a mess. It’s unmaintainable.
MRS. STEFFAN-What is the status of the Fire Marshal’s comment? On review of the
Drawing C070B, it appears the fire access to the rear of the structure severely
compromised or not available.
MS. BITTER-I don’t have a copy of that letter, but it is a pre-existing condition.
MR. OBORNE-I think what the Fire Marshal is hoping to get is to get that fire sprinkler
augmentation moved, because the access is bad, and having walked back there, I tend
to.
MR. MARGELOT-Do you mean the fire hydrant, to get that moved?
MR. OBORNE-Yes. I have a photo of it, I think. It’s right in this area here.
MR. MARGELOT-The Siamese connection that comes out of the building itself?
MR. OBORNE-Right. It’s the augmentation to the fire sprinkler system. During a fire
event, they’ll plug into that and pump water into it.
MR. MARGELOT-Yes. You want to move that?
MR. OBORNE-Well, that’s what he’s asking.
MR. TRAVER-That would alleviate the driving problem in the rear of the building.
MR. MARGELOT-Well, where would I put it, though? I mean, the only place to put it
would be on the back of that building, which would be moving it from one bad spot to the
same.
MR. OBORNE-Yes. He’s looking to have the connection, FDC connections, moved to
the front of the structure, if at all possible. Now, I mean, it is possible, I understand that,
but it probably would be cost prohibitive, I can’t deny that, but I think if you can address
it, he may be satisfied.
MR. MARGELOT-Anything’s possible. If it’s an issue and it needs to be removed, I could
move it, but then you’re going to have that on the front sidewalk, the pedestrian sidewalk.
I don’t know if he’s going to want it there.
MR. OBORNE-He prefers it there. I know he does. It is a pre-existing condition. They
would have to manually go back there. They can’t get a truck back there. I think that’s
the issue. They have to run the hoses back there, and it is for protection. I mean, that’s
the whole issue.
MS. BITTER-Maybe we can address it by actually having the client meet with the Fire
Marshal, as a condition, at a later date, to see if some compromise can be reached,
because at this point we’re kind of making suggestions that we don’t know whether or not
the Fire Marshal is willing to agree to those things, or whether or not it’s even possible
with the structure as it exists. So, I think that Jamie would be willing to meet with the Fire
Marshal.
MR. MARGELOT-Yes, I would. Because if it’s a matter of being able to get a truck back
there, we could cut back those trees significantly, which would only benefit something I’d
probably do anyway, to get the trees out of the way.
MR. HUNSINGER-Well, maybe that’s the easy answer.
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MS. BITTER-Right.
MR. MARGELOT-I mean, I’ll gladly go there and I could limb them up to 12 feet or
whatever the height of your truck is.
MR. OBORNE-Don’t you have a fence there, though?
MR. MARGELOT-There is a fence, but there’s a drive lane, and then there’s a berm that
goes up, and the fence is on top of that. That berm goes up a couple of feet. I could get
a guy in a bucket back there and bring all those trees up almost as high as the building,
all the way across the back of that, which would ultimately clean up my site, allow easy
access to the back of the shopping center, and not have me pay.
MR. KREBS-And if the drainage solution works, it’ll be nice and dry back there, too.
MR. MARGELOT-You see that, we’re on the same page. I mean, I’ll gladly send
somebody back there and cut that whole road right through.
MR. TRAVER-Yes. I think if you’re willing to meet with the Fire Marshal and attempt to
come up with some solution.
MR. MARGELOT-I’ll gladly meet, who is it, Mike Palmer?
MR. OBORNE-Yes.
MR. MARGELOT-I met with Mike Palmer a bunch of times. I have a decent relationship
with him, and I hope he reciprocates that back. I’ll gladly meet with Mike and go over
whatever we need to with him. I think that it would serve his purpose, I mean, if I cut
those back, I think that that would, not speaking for Mike, because I can’t do that, but I
hope that would satisfy what he’s looking to do.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MR. KREBS-Yes, well, I think that that’s correct, isn’t it, Keith? He just wants access to
that area.
MR. OBORNE-That is correct.
MR. MARGELOT-Currently now, all the trucks, all the delivery trucks drive back there. I
mean, you’re getting 60 foot trailers back there. For the Dollar Tree, they pull right back
there. A lot of the trucks that deliver to the Price Rite, they drive around the back of that
building and then they back into the loading dock. So there’s full sized trucks driving
right down there daily.
MR. HUNSINGER-So if they can make it, you would think a fire truck could.
MR. MARGELOT-Yes. I mean, these are big truck.
MR. OBORNE-Well, I mean, there is a certain amount of distance you need between the
building and the truck itself to maneuver. I’m sure that’s one of his issues.
MR. HUNSINGER-Right. Yes.
MR. MARGELOT-And if I have to cut back into the bank that’s adjacent to that, where
that connection is so that, to allow that, then that’s what I’ll need to do, but I feel pretty
confident that there’s sufficient space back there.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MRS. STEFFAN-This is a very confusing application trying to put together an approval.
Is the Board moving toward approval on this, obviously with conditions?
MR. FORD-Yes.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. Now, as far as Staff Notes, Page CO-10B, the handicap space
access aisle dimensions to be nine feet by eighteen feet minimum, but we’ve identified
that there was a striping problem, and so now they are ten. So does the parking lot have
to be re-striped?
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MS. BITTER-Yes.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. The bike rack, okay, we had talked about that. Clarify the
presence of the French drain detail on the page.
MS. BITTER-Can I just back you up?
MRS. STEFFAN-Yes.
MS. BITTER-The bike rack, the one thing we’re proposing to put in front of the Game
Stop and in front of the Brooklyn Pizza area, just to make sure that they can be allowed
to modify that.
MRS. STEFFAN-So as long as we’re okay with that, but I guess they’re telling you it has
to be on that page, but it’s okay if it’s on that page, if it’s two places, we’re okay with that.
It just needs to be on the page.
MR. OBORNE-Just to note it.
MS. BITTER-Yes.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. So if I go with satisfying those, we’re good with that. The
phasing schedule, that applies to the stormwater phasing, the first plan and the optional
plan. Okay. Not just the stormwater proposal. Okay. So that’s a valid condition. The
drive aisle width, that’s a pre-existing condition, and so we’re not going to require that
they fix that or change that. Correct? Okay. The other thing is to clarify the intent of
proposed retail parking to the west. That’s where the Tractor Supply store is. Correct?
So that we’re not going to worry about that.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes.
MRS. STEFFAN-But we are going to give them a waiver for four parking spaces. I have
that in the waiver section.
MR. TRAVER-And related to the parking spaces, under additional comments, Staff
comments number four, as a condition of approval, any increase in parking requirements
above seven additional spaces for any future change in the use in the Plaza will require
the applicant to increase the parking capability accordingly.
MR. KREBS-I have a question. Are we talking about eight spaces? Because we’ve
talked about four and four?
MS. BITTER-Right, four and four.
MR. KREBS-Okay.
MRS. STEFFAN-Yes, the way I had that described is.
MR. KREBS-You said four spaces, and I just wanted to make sure that it was four and
four.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes, which four.
MRS. STEFFAN-Right, in the waiver section, we’ve got a waiver for four parking spaces
plus four additional spaces for behind the Tractor Supply store. Yikes. Okay. Loading
areas to the east and west demonstrate accessibility for delivery vehicles. Please
provide turning patterns and turning radiuses for these areas. That we haven’t
addressed. We’ll need to on the plan. You put that on the plan.
MR. MARGELOT-Right. It’s an existing condition. Tractor trailers access the area.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. Proposed parking area in the southwest currently has a
dumpster. Are those the dumpsters behind the Tractor Supply store?
MR. OBORNE-That is correct. Those are the ones that require the four extra spaces.
They’re going to leave them as is.
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MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. So, should we leave that in the motion? Because we’re going
to.
MR. OBORNE-When you do your waiver for the parking spaces, the first four would be
for the increase in seating for the Five Guys.
MRS. STEFFAN-Right.
MR. OBORNE-And the other four would be for the pre-existing locations of the
dumpsters on the southwestern side of the Tractor Supply parking area, something along
those lines. If you want to drop, under my additional comments, Number Four, I think
that the way that I have applicants submit their revised or approved plans is they actually
put the resolution on their plans now. So, when somebody’s going to come in and do
another change or a Site Plan modification, whoever the planner is at that time, or if I’m
still the planner, here in this Town, I’ll be able to see that, and I can see exactly what’s
going on, instead of muddying the waters.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay.
MR. OBORNE-Help you out a little bit, hopefully.
MRS. STEFFAN-Take that out. We have VISION Engineering comments two through
six, and then my note, on the Code Enforcement for the stormwater, this is what I wrote.
You have to tell me whether this works or not. Code Enforcement should evaluate the
performance of the Phase I stormwater control after a significant rain event to be
determined. If the performance of the Phase I stormwater solution is sufficient, then the
plan satisfied the stormwater needs of the site. If the proposed Phase I stormwater
solution does not meet the stormwater management needs of the site, then the optional
stormwater plan will need to be installed and inspected by Code Enforcement.
MS. BITTER-Well, we want to have the right to do it ourselves. So that’s being approved
as part of the Site Plan.
MRS. STEFFAN-Yes, and that’s based on a conversation you absolutely want to do that,
but from a Code Enforcement point of view, this, I think, provides Bruce Frank with what
he needs to make a decision.
MR. KREBS-Yes.
MR. OBORNE-It gives you a mechanism by which to.
MR. HUNSINGER-Right, say they have to do it.
MRS. STEFFAN-To enforce them. Okay. Seems reasonable.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MRS. STEFFAN-I don’t think I have to say that about that Five Guys seating because
they’ve asked for a waiver.
MR. HUNSINGER-No. We’ll have to do this in one take, because I don’t think you’ll ever
be able to do it twice.
MRS. STEFFAN-No. I think you’re absolutely right. Okay. Did you close the public
hearing?
MR. HUNSINGER-I did.
MRS. STEFFAN-It was so long ago, I forgot.
MR. HUNSINGER-Well, we’ll just say let the record show that the public hearing was
closed. That way we’re covered.
PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. I will make a motion.
MOTION TO APPROVE SITE PLAN NO. 44-2009 NIGRO COMPANIES, Introduced by
Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption, seconded by Thomas Ford:
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1. A site plan application has been made to the Queensbury Planning Board for the
following: Applicant proposes a 200 square foot patio area, an 80 square foot bicycle
rack pad, reconfiguration of dumpster pad, new parking lot configuration and upgraded
storm water controls. Modifications to an approved site plan require Planning Board
review and approval.
2. A public hearing was advertised and held on 8/18/09; and
3. This application is supported with all documentation, public comment and application
material in the file of record;
4. MOTION TO APPROVE SITE PLAN NO. 44-2009 NIGRO COMPANIES, Introduced
by Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption, seconded by Thomas Ford:
This is a Modification to Site Plan No. 47-2008. According to the resolution prepared by
Staff. Paragraph A complies. Paragraph Four E and F do not apply. The applicant has
asked for waivers on grading and lighting, which have been granted. They’ve also asked
for a waiver on parking, and the Planning Board has granted the waiver for the four
parking spaces near the Five Guys location, and the Planning Board has additionally
approved a waiver for four parking spaces for pre-existing dumpsters in the southwest
location behind the Tractor Supply store. This is approved with the following conditions:
A. Pursuant to relevant sections of the Town of Queensbury Zoning Code [Chapter 179],
the
Planning Board has determined that this proposal complies with the requirements as
stated in the Zoning Code; and
B. This application is a Type II, therefore, no further SEQRA review is necessary; and
C. Final approved plans, in compliance with the Site Plan, must be submitted to the
Community Development Department before any further review by the Zoning
Administrator or Building and Codes personnel. The applicant must meet with Staff after
approval and prior to issuance of Building Permit and/or the beginning of any site work.
Subsequent issuance of further permits, including building permits is dependent on
compliance with this and all other conditions of this resolution; and
D. As-built plans to certify that the site plan is developed according to the approved
plans to be provided prior to issuance of the certificate of occupancy; and
E. NOT APPLICABLE. If applicable, Item d to be combined with a letter of credit; and
F. NOT APPLICABLE. The Sanitary Sewer connection plan must be submitted to the
Wastewater Department for its review, approval, permitting and inspection; and
H. Waiver requests granted: grading, lighting plans, parking waiver for 4 spaces near
Five Guys location, and parking waiver for pre-existing dumpsters in the southwest
location behind Tractor Supply.
I. The limits of clearing will constitute a no-cut buffer zone, orange construction fencing
shall be installed around these areas and field verified by Community Development staff
J. Engineering sign-off required prior to signature of Zoning Administrator.
K. The applicant shall submit a copy of a NOI [Notice of Intent] SWPPP [Stormwater
Pollution Prevention Plan] & NOT [Notice of Termination] - see staff
L. All previous conditions of approval shall apply and shall be referenced on the
approved site plan.
M. That the applicant will meet with the Fire Marshal to discuss his July 31, 2009 letter
and recommendations.
N. That the applicant will obtain a VISION Engineering signoff from their letter of August
th
13. The items that need to be addressed are Items 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
O. Additionally, the applicant will need to satisfy some of these conditions I’m about to
th
read from Staff Notes from August 18:
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
a. That on Page CO-1O-V, that the handicap space aisle dimensions will be nine
feet by eighteen feet minimum, and of course the details are in the Staff Notes, I
won’t read them all.
b. Also that the bike rack details need to be present on the plan, to clarify the
presence of the French drain detail on that page.
c. On Page CO-8O-B, please provide a phasing schedule for all aspects of the
proposal, not just the stormwater proposal.
d. On Page C100-B, the applicant needs to identify the loading areas to the east
and west, and they should demonstrate accessibility for delivery vehicles. That
should also include turning patterns and turning radiuses for those areas.
e. The applicant will also address the loss of landscaping associated with the
proposed patio, and they will be replaced as discussed with landscaping around
the dumpster pad, and the applicant identified that they would be putting in
burning bush shrubs around that enclosure.
f. This condition is regarding the stormwater, and this condition is Code
Enforcement should evaluate the performance of the Phase I stormwater control
after a significant rain event, and that event is to be determined. If the
performance of the Phase I stormwater solution is sufficient, then the plan will
satisfy the stormwater needs of the site. If the proposed Phase I stormwater
solution does not meet the stormwater needs of the site, then the optional
stormwater plan will need to be installed and inspected by Code Enforcement.
Just a notation that nothing can prevent the applicant from installing the optional
stormwater controls which exceed the Phase I solution.
th
Duly adopted this 18 day of August, 2009, by the following vote:
AYES: Mr. Traver, Mr. Krebs, Mr. Sipp, Mr. Seguljic, Mrs. Steffan, Mr. Ford,
Mr. Hunsinger
NOES: NONE
MS. BITTER-Thank you very much.
MR. HUNSINGER-You’re all set. Good luck.
MR. MARGELOT-Thank you.
MR. HUNSINGER-Thank you.
DISCUSSION ITEM ONLY SEQR TYPE N/A 1 MAIN STREET, LLC AGENT(S)
CURT DYBAS OWNER(S) SAME ZONING MS [MAIN STREET] LOCATION 1
MAIN STREET APPLICANT PROPOSES A TWO STORY 4,400 SQ. FT. BUILDING
STND
[1 FLOOR COMMERCIAL, 2 FLOOR OFFICE] WITH ASSOCIATED PARKING AND
LANDSCAPING. OFFICE, SMALL [LESS THAN 20,000 SQ. FT.] IN THE MAIN
STREET ZONE REQUIRES SITE PLAN REVIEW AND APPROVAL. SUBJECT TO
2009 ZONING CODE. CROSS REFERENCE N/A WARREN CO. PLANNING N/A
LOT SIZE 0.33 +/- ACRES 14,374.8 SQ. FT. TAX MAP NO. 309.11-2-17 SECTION
179-7-070
CURT DYBAS, REPRESENTING APPLICANT, PRESENT
MR. OBORNE-I’ll just do a brief discussion. This is a discussion for a conceptual review.
It has been requested by the applicant, Mr. Dybas. The location is 1 Main Street. It is
adjacent to the Hannaford shopping plaza in West Glens Falls. The applicant is
proposing a two story, 440 square foot building, with associated parking and
landscaping, and again, it’s just a conceptualized discussion with the Planning Board,
and I’d turn it over.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MR. DYBAS-My name’s Curt Dybas. I’m agent for Elise Baron and Keith Cavayero, and
just a brief history on the property. This parcel was left over when Keith Cavayero and
Elise Baron recently sold their practice, the chiropractic practice adjacent to it, and they
had purchased this property, I guess a couple of years ago, as protection for their
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business. Since sold the business. Now they have this property which is very unusual in
that it’s 35 feet approximately on Main Street, 45 feet on Luzerne Road, and 260 feet
frontage on Western Avenue, very visible from three streets, plus it’s also very visible
from the parking lot of CVS and the chiropractic center, and what do we do with it. We
have looked at it in many ways, and I’m aware of the new zoning for Main Street, and we
did look at the frontage on Main Street as a first blush, and we end up with a building that
is approximately 28 feet on Main Street, and approximately 80 feet extending back along
Western Avenue, and, economically it doesn’t work because you just end up with so
much circulation, needed an added stair for exiting, and two stories we need an elevator
because we’re looking at business on the second floor versus apartments, which
apartment use you can go up to three apartments without an elevator, and we had the
numbers crunched and we looked at return, and it’s just not there. So I said, well, what
is another approach to this thing, and came up with this idea of this 50 by 44 building,
and fully aware that it exceeds the density for the zoning. Again, you have the plan in
front of you. Off the top of my head, you’re eating up a lot for circulation, and one stair
and an elevator, etc., and you look at the return, and this will fly, as far as the rental
return on your investment, and we tried to address the zoning concerns, being that the
exposure to this lot, and create like a park like setting with a series of brick piers and
fencing, and a green area and give you the visible access at the corners for visual,
because if you look at the site, and if you’ve driven by it, the existing house that’s there, if
your 21 feet from Main Street widened, you’re about 15 feet in front of that house that
sits on the property right now to the corner, and anyone that’s come down Western and
taken a right onto Main Street knows what that corner is, particularly looking back over
your shoulder, what’s coming at you from the City. It’s big traffic flow. We’re trying to do
something with it, trying to make it attractive. We’re aware of the zoning. I don’t know
what that tooth would look like sticking out 28 feet wide and 25 feet tall out there on the
corner and extending back about 80 feet on Western, but this is conceptual, open for
discussion. We’re looking at it before we go any farther. This may be the end of it. I
don’t know. I don’t mean that as a threat. Don’t get me wrong. We’re trying to do
something with it, but in the current economics that we’re involved in and rental markets,
and all that stuff, we don’t know right now, can it fly. I mean, I drive around and there’s
an awful lot of open property, which scares me, but it will come back. I’m convinced of
that. It always does. The gray hairs on my head tell me that. So, with that, I’m here to
try to answer some questions, or listen to your input.
MR. HUNSINGER-Questions, comments from the Board?
MR. STEFFAN-Well, I guess my comment is, you know, I travel that intersection all the
time, and I’ve looked at that existing residence that’s on the corner, when there was a
For Sale sign on it, and I thought, how can anything possibly be done with that site, just
because of the traffic congestion at that intersection, and by putting, adding curb cuts to
that already congested, jammed up intersection, in my mind, as a Planning Board
member, I don’t think that that would be appropriate. The only way I can see, in my
mind, using this lot, is there any way that the CVS Plaza will allow access from the back
side?
MR. DYBAS-That’s a good question. It has not been explored. CVS is a large
corporation. I’m dealing with Hannaford on a project over in Greenwich right now. It’s a
long involved process up through the chain of command. I don’t have an answer. It
would be nice to say, yes, we can do it. We have to get through all the legal department
and they’ve got to investigate their insurance requirements, and, you know, I know what
I’m doing with Hannaford right now. It’s something that definitely needs to be
investigated, and Mr. Cavayero, and Ms. Baron also have to talk to Dr. Parisi, who they
sold their practice to, about possible access to the other portion of the site, because you
realize that the CVS property, chiropractic practice is a condo property. There’s a
property line through the middle of that building.
MR. HUNSINGER-You can see it right there, yes.
MR. DYBAS-Yes, you can. That is two parcels, and it is Code compliant as far as the
zoning is concerned, but that was divided when CVS built that building. A little bit of
history. Keith owned the property. He cut a deal with CVS. They built the box for him.
He finished the inside. They end up with a parcel and their front portion of the building.
That’s how it works. So basically if you’re going to negotiate with CVS in the front, you
have to negotiate with Dr. Parisi for the rear access. So, I have two, and I don’t know the
relationship with the previous sale of the partnership.
MR. OBORNE-If I could interject, I think the first step that we should do is to look at the
approved Site Plan for CVS and the chiropractic office, is it. There may have already
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
been interconnects installed on that Site Plan, and I’m not sure if they are or not. I
haven’t seen them.
MRS. STEFFAN-It’s a fairly new building, certainly in the last 10 years.
MR. OBORNE-Yes, and I think, and I’m pretty sure that George Hilton did the Site Plan
on this, and he’s famous for his interconnects. So if he, in fact, did do this Site Plan, the
chances that there are interconnects would be there.
MR. DYBAS-I have the plan. You should probably have it in your record.
MR. OBORNE-I’m sure I do. I haven’t I pulled it yet.
MR. DYBAS-But that’s.
MR. HUNSINGER-Is there an interconnect designed into the plan?
MR. DYBAS-I don’t see one.
MR. HUNSINGER-Okay.
MR. OBORNE-I don’t know. This hasn’t been stamped by, so this could very well.
MR. DYBAS-February ’96.
MRS. STEFFAN-Thirteen years ago.
MR. DYBAS-Yes. It doesn’t seem possible, does it? But that’s when it was built, and
pull it out and look at it. That would make it easy, but I, you know.
MR. OBORNE-I do suggest, give me a call to remind, and I’ll go ahead and do that. I’ll
give you my card.
MRS. STEFFAN-In my mind, because I go to that CVS often, and that parking lot is
underutilized, even on a Saturday, you know, when there’s a lot of traffic out and about,
that parking lot is underutilized.
MR. DYBAS-Basically the entire east side of the parking lot is underutilized.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes.
MR. DYBAS-And the northeast corner is the low spot, and also, yes, I would propose
using that for stormwater drainage. One of the issues is it floods every time when the
water comes down Luzerne Road, and it’s a real. I’ve seen two, three feet of water in
there.
MR. HUNSINGER-Wow.
MR. DYBAS-And this site, although when you drive by the site it looks quite a
remarkable grade difference between the developed property and the developed
property and CVS and Keith’s and the house, but it’s not that radical. I mean, there’s
been some movement of earth, but, no, the site is workable, but, you know, in
addressing the Main Street thing, this is the beginning of that chain coming up toward the
Northway, and I cannot see CVS being changed in that, even though it’s 13 years old. I
can’t see that building being changed appreciably in the near future, and it’s something
that we have to look at as far as how do we look at this site. Do we look at it just as
facing Main Street, or do we look at this site as a three sided parcel, which indeed it is.
I’ve had experience years ago with a lot of those exposures. They’re difficult buildings.
They’re difficult sites.
MR. SIPP-My question is, which zoning does this fall under, Main Street or?
MR. OBORNE-Main Street.
MR. SIPP-Therefore parking would have to be in the rear, right? The parking would
have to be in the rear of the building, if it falls under Main Street zoning.
53
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. DYBAS-Yes, and I think there’s some latitude of the Board to investigate the
aesthetics of that property also, if that’s what you really want is this tooth in the front of
the parcel, yes, but then you turn your back on Western and Luzerne.
MR. KREBS-Well, I personally would object to putting a building on that corner, 21 feet
from Main Street, which is what the Code requires.
MR. DYBAS-That’s correct.
MR. KREBS-Because you will have no vision, when you’re coming down Western, on
what’s happening on Main Street.
MR. DYBAS-And you end up with about a 75 foot deep building, which takes you back
about two thirds on that one leg, as far as length, and one of the economics of the
building, because of it’s being long and narrow, Number One, I mean, you’re ending up
with more wall, more corridor and everything, but to make the building usable, you end
up with irregular walls. The walls almost have to follow the property lines, and then it
becomes difficult to construction, so, you know, we priced it out, and we have what they
call a conundrum.
MR. FORD-Have the owners considered acquisition of some parcel or a portion of that,
along that Western border?
MR. DYBAS-Excuse me, along that?
MR. FORD-Have the owners considered purchasing along the western line of the
property, you know, whether it be 15 feet or 20 feet, or whatever?
MR. DYBAS-Without looking at the map, I believe, then, CVS and the chiropractic would
be non-compliant as far as zoning, because of the site area. We haven’t looked at it, but
I mean.
MR. FORD-Well, I’m just throwing out an idea. You asked for ideas, and that was an
idea.
MR. DYBAS-Yes, but I’m trying to, if I recall, in past, looking at this, there is a, I think the
site aerial is like an acre back then, and I believe that each one of those parcels just as
right there, as far as the division line between the two, as far as required site area.
MRS. STEFFAN-That whole, your whole lot is just difficult because it’s on, you know, two
intersections that are very dysfunctional already.
MR. DYBAS-And they’re getting worse.
MRS. STEFFAN-Absolutely, and, you know, certainly, as that area grows, it will continue
to get worse. The other thing is winter. I mean, half of the year we’re snow covered, and
that particular lot carries a lot of snow, and what happens when you’ve got these major
intersections and you’re trying to plow them. I mean, what reasonably could survive or.
MR. OBORNE-It’s a tough lot.
MRS. STEFFAN-It’s very, very tough. I’m sure it was a great investment if you needed
overflow for that main lot, but as an individual property to develop, it wasn’t a good
investment from that point.
MR. DYBAS-Hindsight’s 20/20, and if you owned the property next door, and this
particular parcel came up for sale, you have to buy it.
MRS. STEFFAN-Yes.
MR. DYBAS-But when you sell the practice and the building, and the person who buys it
doesn’t want it, now you have a .33 acre shoe string, which is a very, very difficult lot. I
mean, I’ve looked at this thing. It’s almost an impossible parcel. Do you turn around and
say, do I paint the existing house and fix it up, and try to sell it or rent it? I don’t know. I
mean, this is where we’re fishing, but they’re trying to do something with it, and that’s
why I’m sitting here, and as I said, we may run into a brick wall here.
MR. FORD-Has that been explored with the CVS and the other chiropractic, the potential
for the purchase of that and splitting that into two lots, possibly?
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. DYBAS-It was explored when Keith sold the practice and that chiropractic portion of
the building, and the purchaser had no need for it, and probably didn’t like the price. I
don’t know, I can’t answer if he’s explored it with CVS, but as it was brought up here
before, the parking basically is underutilized as it is, so why would you want it? It’s only
usefulness is parking. I mean, he wouldn’t build another little building on it in conjunction
with CVS.
MRS. STEFFAN-Well, the other concern is, consideration I’ll say, is long term
development. I mean, that is certainly a small CVS. It’s been there for 13 years, and
what’s the possibility of that growing and expanding? I mean, Walgreens is going in on a
diagonal to that. So there may be the possibility of CVS wanting to purchase that land to
expand their footprint. Because if you’re competing with a much bigger brand.
MR. DYBAS-I’m sure the owners would be more than happy to entertain an offer from
CVS. I don’t think one’s been put on the table yet.
MR. FORD-But that is an idea, you know, for them to explore that with Walgreens.
MRS. STEFFAN-It’s just, if you look at the other development that’s going on in the area,
that may be inevitable. I just don’t see this being developed.
MR. OBORNE-I would say the access, to explore access through the CVS parking lot,
would be the first step. I think that goes without saying, and I don’t speak for the Board.
Doing any curb cuts on Western Avenue is probably a non-starter, at this point, but,
nevertheless, I think that’s the first thing that you would need to do, and an office
building, you know, maybe change the use, and I’m just throwing things out.
MR. HUNSINGER-Where’s the curb cut for the lot now? Is it on Main Street?
MR. FORD-West on Main.
MR. DYBAS-The curb cut is on Western. There is a, like a two car parking lot, right to
the side of the house. I have it dotted on the Site Plan.
MRS. STEFFAN-Right. It’s an existing. It’s a little.
MR. FORD-I thought you meant the one from CVS.
MRS. STEFFAN-It’s a cute little house.
MR. DYBAS-The property line is a little off, but it is a cute little house.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes.
MR. DYBAS-I mean, he purchased it and gave the woman that lived there, you know, a
life lease, and I guess she passed away or is in a nursing home. So, you know, he has
the property, and, you know, he has a payment on it, and right now it’s vacant. So
you’ve driven by and seen the For Rent sign on it. A lot of For Rents.
MR. FORD-Have you considered building a bowling alley there?
MR. DYBAS-Or a botchy court, or something along that line. I mean, I’ve stood on it,
and I look at it and I just shake my head. I mean, I’ve had tough ones before, but this
one is.
MR. HUNSINGER-And when you get a lot like that, you always kind of wonder, how did it
end up in this shape?
MR. DYBAS-It probably ended up in that size because of some widening of Western
Avenue at some time.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes, probably.
MR. DYBAS-It was probably 15 or 20 feet wider than it is today. That’s conjecture. Who
knows.
MR. HUNSINGER-I do like your building design, for what that’s worth. I mean, I think
that does capture the spirit of the Main Street design guidelines.
55
(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. DYBAS-Well, I tried to do it, but take it out of the criteria of having it on Main Street.
That’s basically, I tried to do this park. I tried to carry the 21 foot setback with the fence
and the pier. So it would tie that whole thing together and look like an end of a big block
coming at you. That’s what I tried to do, and so at least encompass something.
MR. HUNSINGER-Right.
MR. DYBAS-And, you know, get the parking. It’s minimal for parking, and allow places
for snow and stormwater on either side, and try to work what I had. I mean, it’s difficult.
These are challenges. Something will come of it. It has to. I mean, it’s a viable piece of
property with a great exposure. Something will come of it, and it may not, you know, it’s
not going to be, you don’t have to worry about the October meeting. It will probably more
like, you know, Spring. Somewhere around that time, but I, you know, as you said,
explore the possibility of the CVS access, and it would be great to get access to both
parking lots.
MR. OBORNE-I think that opens up a few doors.
MR. HUNSINGER-That does.
MR. DYBAS-If he could secure access to both parcels in the back, and not come off of
Western at all, and address this Site Plan the way it is, I think it’s very viable.
MR. FORD-Yes.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes.
MRS. STEFFAN-Who knows. The front may be a roundabout or something like that.
MR. DYBAS-I was very leery about roundabouts, and I have to say, off the record, they
happen to work. The one Downtown I think is, I mean, I used to sit there, coming out of
the gym, two minutes I could time the light, and now I watch it, and it works, except for an
occasional drunk that goes right through the center of it.
MRS. STEFFAN-But certainly as the traffic volumes increase, that intersection is going
to get even more difficult. So there are other things to consider.
MR. DYBAS-Well, the traffic now cutting through the back of the car wash, up Luzerne,
because of tech street now, then they drop back in onto Luzerne, and also cutting
through and coming down by the Hess station. I don’t know the names.
MR. FORD-Widening of Western may be addressing that, too. That may be needed.
MR. KREBS-There is another alternative, and that’s to move the building to the south,
and come in off Luzerne Road onto the property, and not have the cuts at all on Western.
MR. DYBAS-Well, also the problem there is, you know, the proximity of the cut. I looked
at that, the proximity of the cut to the corner of Western and Luzerne corner is just too
close to the corner. I mean, if two cars are waiting to get out of there, you’re stuck. I
think the original premise is, access from the adjacent property is the key.
MR. OBORNE-Yes. Your driveway spacing standards would be violated right there.
MR. DYBAS-Yes.
MR. KREBS-Okay.
MR. DYBAS-Okay. I have the key, I think.
MR. OBORNE-I think you do, really.
MR. DYBAS-And if you could pull the signed copy of this and see what we, hopefully
there’s a note.
MR. OBORNE-Yes. I’m going to leave you this note. I’ll give you my number and give
me a call.
MR. DYBAS-Okay. I’ll do that.
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(Queensbury Planning Board 08/18/09)
MR. OBORNE-And we are very busy me, and unless somebody, you know, tickles me
and.
MR. DYBAS-Well, as I said, this is not going to happen this Fall. This is something that
is going to transpire over the winter. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your time.
MRS. STEFFAN-Thank you.
MR. HUNSINGER-Thank you. Any other business? Don?
MR. SIPP-Are we going to, getting back to schedule (lost words) here, are we going to
take some time at the beginning of next week’s meeting to go over specific items?
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes. Actually we’ll probably do it at the end. That way we don’t have
to hold the public up, but, yes, we’ll deal with it next week.
MR. OBORNE-Yes. You should have something ready to go by Tuesday.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes. So get your comments to Keith.
MR. OBORNE-Yes. If you get your comments to me, I’ll get something drafted. Again,
Pam is out. She’s on vacation. I think I can handle it, though, and I’ll get something
rough to you by close of business, if not a little more polished than rough, by close of
business Friday.
MR. HUNSINGER-That’s fine. Okay. Great.
MR. OBORNE-I’ll have it for you on the Tuesday.
MR. HUNSINGER-Did you have a comment, Don?
MR. KREBS-Yes. I’d like to discuss, again, this engineering situation and the
information not getting to the client early enough. I don’t care if we have to push the
original date of submission back by two weeks. I think we need to give the Staff
comments and the engineering comments to the applicant at least 14 days before our
meeting. We spend hours and hours at this meeting talking about things that could have
been resolved prior to the meeting, and, you know, there has to be a way that it can be
accomplished. We just need to move all the dates back by 14 days. I don’t know. Do I
make a resolution to that effect or, do we work that out with Staff somehow? I mean, we
just spend hours going over these things that could have been eliminated from the
meeting had that information been given to the client or the applicant beforehand.
MR. OBORNE-Well, I think, if I may speak.
MR. HUNSINGER-Go ahead, Keith.
MR. OBORNE-I think that a lot of the onus, especially on the first applicant, is on the
applicant. What he submitted in response to VISION Engineering, was inadequate. It
absolutely was, and for the most part that is the case. I share your concerns with getting
approved applications. Absolutely. I mean, that’s our job, but we need to do it right, and
that’s all I can say. I know your issue.
MR. KREBS-I’m not saying we aren’t going to still have some applicants who aren’t
going to answer, but in the great majority of the cases, a lot of those things that we don’t
know the resolution to could have been resolved, had the client or the applicant had that
information with enough time to go back, they could change the drawings. They could
look at the drawings.
MR. OBORNE-But then the issue would be, then you would be sitting here going through
each and every drawing. You’d be spending the same amount of time, because the
applicant would have to explain to you the changes he’s done to the drawing. He still
has to get VISION Engineering signoff, and there is no perfect answer. I think that you
and I have gone around on this, and I agree. There is no perfect answer. It’s not a
perfect world, and a lot of the times the applicants are not submitting clear and concise
information. They’re not willing to spend the money on an engineer. They want to do it
themselves on the cheap. That’s the risk they take, and that’s what I surmise from the
situation.
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MR. HUNSINGER-We did have the one project this evening, where they got the
comments on Friday and they had addressed them all and told us how they addressed
them all and moved on.
MR. TRAVER-Right.
MR. OBORNE-And those were professional people that were hired by the applicant.
MR. TRAVER-Right.
MR. OBORNE-There is a difference sometimes. The cost of doing business is, you
know, you need to have your professionals on board, unless you really know what you’re
doing.
MR. KREBS-But when you have a small business who wants to open an ice cream shop,
he can’t afford to spend that kind of money for a professional, and a lot of times we ask.
I mean, twice now engineering has come back with this topographical thing for an
existing building that has been there for.
MRS. STEFFAN-Well, we also have the ability to waive that for the applicant, but then
again we get into situations where somebody’s trying to develop a site on a main
thoroughfare, and there are a lot of site constrictions, and so that’s one of the reasons
why we have some of the zoning that we have, is that we need to require some of those
things. So it really is kind of a Catch-22. I mean, I do feel sorry for the small guy who
maybe doesn’t have the money to do all the things we need done, but at the same time,
we have these requirements for a very specific purpose.
MR. KREBS-And I also say, even in many cases that I have seen, the person is willing to
make the changes that the engineer gives them, but we have to postpone that process
for two months until we can get them back on the schedule. Had he had those, he could
come in and say, I agree with this, I agree with this. I’ve changed this. We have
accepted that tonight, okay, from an applicant, and we could do that.
MR. TRAVER-Provided they get signoff.
MR. KREBS-Provided they signoff.
MR. TRAVER-But I think there’s a big difference between an applicant responding, if we
have a specific motion where we say, okay, you need to respond to engineering items,
six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, there’s a difference, I think, although I admit
it’s subjective, but there’s a difference between an applicant making an inadequate
response, and an applicant not bothering to make any response. So I have a little bit
more sympathy for someone who maybe tries to do an engineering drawing on their own,
and perhaps we ultimately can decide to accept that or not, but when an applicant, you
know, walks out the door with a very specific list of things that they need to respond to
and chooses to not respond to them, you know, that puts them in a difficult situation. It
puts us in a difficult situation.
MR. KREBS-And I agree with you.
MR. HUNSINGER-Mr. Ford?
MR. FORD-I’ve suggested that it really is a timing and a scheduling problem. I’ve
suggested that before. Let me run it by you again, but right now we’re asking for
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submissions by the 15 of the month prior to our meeting. What if we, in transition over a
period of time which it may take, let’s bring that back. Start with a week, bring it back to
the seventh, instead of the fifteenth, or the eighth.
MR. KREBS-Or bring it back to the first.
MR. FORD-Well, that’s where I’m heading. That maybe in six months we have it back to
the first of the prior to the month before our meeting. So that VISION Engineering can
have a more appropriate time, to get the responses to the applicants.
MR. TRAVER-But then if the applicant responds to the comments, they’ve still missed
the deadline. So the cycle remains. Just the dates are changed, but the cycle is what it
is.
MR. OBORNE-Other issues will rear its ugly head also.
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MR. TRAVER-Right.
MR. FORD-Okay. Then there’s no solution.
MR. OBORNE-The solution is to submit a good plan. That’s the solution.
MR. HUNSINGER-Well, that’s what I was going to say. I mean, you know, we keep
talking about the timing of it, but isn’t the real issue the fact that we’re not getting the
information that we need.
MR. TRAVER-Right, incomplete applications are making it on to the agenda.
MR. HUNSINGER-I guess two thoughts to that is, one, you know, are we not being clear
about what is needed, and I’m saying that rhetorically. I think we need to look at this
stuff, and maybe there’s a better way to present it. Well, the checklist, I know, was
revised, not long ago.
MR. OBORNE-It’s pretty clear.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes, and I meant to say that during one of the reviews this evening.
The new Code, the review form that we have, I think, is very helpful, because it gives like
a little narrative description of stuff that we didn’t get before. So maybe some of these
issues will start to get worked out.
MR. KREBS-But I have a question. What is wrong with what Tom and I are suggesting,
that you move that submittal date up by two weeks, and then end up with the engineers
and the Staff being able to get back to the applicant with their comments, two weeks
prior to our meeting?
MR. TRAVER-Because there’s still only so many meetings in a month.
MR. FORD-They would be the same.
MR. KREBS-They would be the same.
MR. TRAVER-Yes, but the problem is that if you have a deadline X. Okay. Right now
it’s X. Okay. So now you move it up. Then you have an interchange between the
applicant and the engineer. Well, they’ve still missed the deadline for when they’re on
the agenda. So unless you have more meetings in a month or you have two types of
meetings where one is.
MR. KREBS-Yes, but, Steve, part of the problem is sometimes they’ve gotten the
information by e-mail on Friday afternoon. They haven’t had an opportunity to evaluate
whether or not they can comply to what the engineer had said. They haven’t even had a
chance to go back and look at the drawing.
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MR. FORD-Case in point. Tonight’s meeting, August 18, submittal date was July 15.
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If those submittal dates had been July 8 or July 1, we would have had a week or two
weeks more VISION Engineering to get their act together, I don’t mean that, but, you
know, get their observations and send that out to the applicants. So what it is incumbent
upon the applicants to do is get their submissions in two weeks earlier.
MR. TRAVER-Right. Well, I think another way to look at it, you know, from a
management standpoint, is we have different sort of bumps in the road, in terms of
having a smooth passage of an application from a concept to our approval, and, you
know, we’re talking, in a way, about one of those bumps in the road that’s among the
most complicated because of all of the staff working for the applicant, our Town Staff, the
Town Engineer and so on. Why don’t we start by looking at one of the simplest cases,
and that’s just not allow an application on the agenda unless it’s complete. That’s not
necessarily going to solve the VISION Engineering and the back and forth, but it’s going
to have a big impact.
MR. OBORNE-That’s the protocol now.
MR. TRAVER-Well, I understand that, but, you know, applicants, you know, they ask for
waivers, and we’re still getting.
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MR. OBORNE-You have to disseminate all the facts. You have to disseminate all the
information that’s coming in.
MR. TRAVER-We had an application in front of us tonight where one of the requirements
for tabling was that they respond to a specific number of things, and they didn’t respond,
and they still got on the agenda. I submit that they should get back in the job stack until
VISION says, okay, I have all the information I need, according to your last tabling
resolution, now let’s put them in the pipeline.
MR. OBORNE-Well, which application was that?
MR. TRAVER-The Timpano.
MR. FORD-Well, it happened with frequency where he makes the observation, no new
was presented.
MR. TRAVER-No new information received.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes.
MR. OBORNE-All right. Well, a lot of times, the way I go through the vetting or the
completeness review that I do, is to see if they addressed it. I don’t do a full blown
review on each and every answer. I see if they addressed it. If they have addressed it, I
move it on. If they haven’t addressed it, I call them and say address it. Now if VISION
isn’t satisfied with what they’ve addressed, how they addressed it, VISION is going to
say, have not been addressed.
MR. FORD-Or no new information.
MR. OBORNE-Or no new information.
MR. FORD-And if there is no new information, should that come on to us?
MR. OBORNE-Probably not, probably not.
MR. TRAVER-So right there, I mean, if we started with the easier one, in my opinion, I
mean, we’re talking, and I think Don’s point, Tom’s point, I mean, the communication
between the engineer and the applicant and Town Staff and us and all of that certainly,
you know, there’s little bottlenecks there. That’s a very complicated situation, which
might be addressed if we eliminated some of the easier things to solve, which is we’re
spending time dealing with applications that are incomplete. Let’s try that, and then see
how that impacts on VISION is going to have fewer things to deal with because they’re
going to sit back and wait until they get a completed application.
MR. OBORNE-Well, I can’t guarantee you that that’s not going to happen again,
because I can’t, I mean, just being human, some things are going to fall through the
cracks.
MR. TRAVER-Well, sure.
MR. OBORNE-Nine times out of ten I catch them.
MR. FORD-Maybe a combination of those two.
MR. TRAVER-Well, I think that’s what the result would be, would be a combination of the
two.
MRS. STEFFAN-But there’s also the issue of, you can’t drop something off, if you drop
something off an agenda because it doesn’t meet our requirements, that has already
been noticed to the public, and people are going to come, believing that that is on the
agenda for that night, and then if you bump someone.
MR. TRAVER-Yes. I wasn’t talking, I’m sorry. Maybe I misspoke. I wasn’t talking about
bumping someone. I was talking about them not getting on the agenda until they got a
signoff that maybe VISION didn’t agree with what they submitted, but they submitted
something. So we would never see one that said no new information, submitted when
we had put in a tabling motion that they had to submit.
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MRS. STEFFAN-Right, but unfortunately if Keith gets the feedback from VISION
Engineering on Thursday, say, we’re here on Tuesday, and so if they got that information
last Thursday or Friday, and now we’ve got 20 outstanding items, that person should
really not be on the agenda.
MR. TRAVER-That’s right, and that’s where the dates come in. That’s where the dates
come in.
MR. FORD-The earlier submission date address it, at least starts to address that
variation.
MR. TRAVER-Right.
MR. KREBS-And an example of this is tonight, Randy Gross is here, okay, and he has
been told by Craig Brown that he should move the septic tank closer to the building.
Now that wasn’t part of our approval, okay.
MR. OBORNE-I disagree with that statement. I believe that Tom Hutchins wanted to
move it closer and Craig said that’s probably a good idea. Craig is not going to direct
somebody to do that. That’s Dave Hatin. I think Tom Hutchins said I would like to move
this closer, and Craig said that’s a good idea.
MR. KREBS-Okay. Well, that wasn’t what I heard the applicant say tonight.
MR. OBORNE-That’s my understanding.
MR. KREBS-Yes, but what I’m saying, in that case, if that had been, they didn’t change
the drawing yet, okay, properly. So that’s why I’m saying, and VISION caught that,
because it was a change, and then if they had had two weeks to get back to them, they
could have come to our meeting with that correction taken. So it would be less items that
we have to go through every time.
MRS. STEFFAN-And I also think that one of the other things that we have to do as a
Board is, when we have an item, when we have an application that’s incomplete, as we
did with the first application, if there’s too many outstanding items, we do not discuss it.
We do not spend time with that application. We table it, and we do that consistently.
MR. TRAVER-If we did that, it would not take long before we never saw an incomplete
application. Aversive conditioning I think is what they call it.
MR. SEGULJIC-I think one of the big problems with moving the submission date back
two weeks, I can see a lot of confusion. The worst plans you ever get are the ones
where you have, you’re given these plans to look at, and the engineer or whoever is
talking about all the changes they’ve made already. So are we going to end up with two
sets of plans, then?
MRS. STEFFAN-And we do get into the issue that we’ve gotten out of the habit of
diverting from a policy that we made where we do not accept any new items,
submissions, anything, the night of a meeting, and over the last six months, we have
been accepting new information the night of a meeting, and that’s a Planning Board
problem. That’s not an applicant problem. They’re providing us with new information,
and if we accept it now it’s our problem.
MR. OBORNE-Also keep in mind with this scenario, which is a viable scenario. I mean, I
think what we have going now is viable. I think what you’re proposing is viable. I think
what will happen is, you have that date. Let’s say we move it back to the first, and
VISION Engineering gets their comments to the applicant, okay. Well, the applicant’s
going to take a week to turn that around and then re-submit to us. So now we’re a week
away from our first meeting, well, you still want VISION Engineering signoff. So it’s got
to go back to VISION Engineering to get signoff, and then it just seems like there’s a lot
of back and forth that you’re going to have to deal with, coming meeting night, and there
will be additional information.
MR. KREBS-But we’re doing it anyway. Because we table some of these applications
five and six times before we approve them.
MR. SEGULJIC-They’re not getting the point, then, if it takes five or six times.
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MR. KREBS-No, you know why, Tom, because they submit the answers that they
believe are correct back to VISION Engineering, and VISION comes up with, because
they’ve changed things, they come up with additional questions which require another
review by the applicant again.
MR. FORD-For an applicant to receive the VISION Engineering comments as we do on
Friday before the Tuesday meeting.
MR. HUNSINGER-Well, wait a minute. Just to pick up on that point, one of the things
that we talked about during one of these discussions recently was as soon as a re-
submission submits new information, getting that to VISION for comment, so that you
could do a back and a forth in that two month time period. Is that happening now or no?
MR. OBORNE-That’s happening when it’s directed by the Board for the applicant to have
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a submittal date of say the 24 so they can get on the next month’s agenda or something
like that. Absolutely.
MR. HUNSINGER-Well, just pick one of the projects that we tabled this evening. There’s
nothing to prohibit that applicant from turning it around and re-submitting new information
within a few days.
MR. OBORNE-Absolutely not. Absolutely not.
MR. HUNSINGER-So again we’re back to the applicant, you know, it’s a self-
perpetuating problem. They do have some control over.
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MR. FORD-But they know they’ve got until the 15.
MR. KREBS-Part of the problem is, also, though, when we table it and we tell them to go
back to the engineer, and they answer the 12 questions that we asked them, it goes back
to the engineer, and sometimes the engineer comes back with some more comments,
okay.
MR. TRAVER-That’s out of our control. I think what we can control is when they don’t
respond to the engineer.
MR. SEGULJIC-To me there’s a bigger issue. I don’t think, it’s not the applicant’s job to
satisfy the engineer. It’s our job to look at the engineer’s comments and say, yes, this is
relevant. We want more information on it. Because he, the engineer, has got to make
judgments. I don’t want to be put in a position whereas an application comes in to us
that we look at, and I have all these different concerns. Behind the scenes the applicant
and the engineer are working. Next thing you know, you have the attorney waving the
letter, we’ve got engineering signoff, when I had other concerns beyond that. So I’m
afraid of being lead down that path.
MR. KREBS-You’re misinterpreting. We’re not saying that engineering that engineering
signoff is Planning Board approval.
MR. SEGULJIC-Well, correct, but I can see that happening, but then I can hear the
comment, well we worked with the engineer, and that’s how come I spent all this money
and did all of this. It’s our job to look at, the engineer works for us.
MR. HUNSINGER-No, I think we all agree with you. Yes, absolutely.
MR. SEGULJIC-But I’m concerned about being lead down this path.
MR. HUNSINGER-That’s a valid concern, yes.
MRS. STEFFAN-Well, it’s just that a lot, a majority, because we’re not engineers, most
of us are not engineers, and we do rely on those comments to make sure that it’s
technically correct.
MR. KREBS-Right, and there was one application today that there were 32 engineering
comments, okay.
MR. TRAVER-And a lot of them said no new information received.
MR. SEGULJIC-And until the issues are cleared up, we should say, you’ve got 32
comments, we’ll see you in two months. That’s what we have to do.
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MR. OBORNE-I was just going to say that it is ultimately the Planning Board’s decision.
It’s not engineering’s decision. I mean, you can certainly take what you feel is important
as a Board, and agree with the engineer or disagree with the engineer. You have the
power. Now I know that there’s a level of comfort, obviously, with an engineer’s signoff.
I mean, that protects the Board and all that, but I think sometimes you have to look at
each individual comment and see what’s important and what’s not important. A lot of
things that the engineer is doing now, and this is no slight on VISION Engineering at all,
but they have two principles there now. Before it was just one principle. So there’s a
different engineer which, boom, right off the bat, means a different human being, which
means a different approach, and also what they’re doing, they are doing a lot more
planning and zoning issues that they shouldn’t be doing. They should be sticking with
stormwater and, you know, infrastructure and the likes, that type of stuff, SWPPP, and
not dealing with setbacks or worried about Area Variances or anything like that, because
it makes it look a lot worse than it actually is. So that’s all I have to say. The Planning
Board is the final arbiter, and that’s the bottom line.
MRS. STEFFAN-I think the other issue that I think is important to bring up is that, you
know, we were talking about, if somebody submits before the application deadline, that
can go right to VISION Engineering. Keith is not sitting at his desk waiting for things to
do. So there’s another issue that comes along with workload. Keith is the only Land Use
Planner. There are applicants coming in all the time. So everything can’t be turned
around as quickly as we might believe it can.
MR. TRAVER-Right.
MR. FORD-I’m just trying to put the onus on the applicant to submit earlier.
MR. OBORNE-Well, why not make, do something, try the Monday or the Wednesday
before, or the Tuesday. It gives them a week. Something.
MRS. STEFFAN-Well, we should only change one thing at a time. I certainly thing that
there are three things we can do. Certainly the suggestion of moving the application
deadline up a week or two, we can decide that, but the other two issues that I think are
important to agree on is, if somebody comes to us, and they have a lot of outstanding
items, we table them without discussion.
MR. KREBS-And if they’ve had two weeks to review that, absolutely, I think you just say,
tabled.
MRS. STEFFAN-And then the second item for the Planning Board, three in total, is that
we do not accept material the night of the meeting.
MR. FORD-We do not accept, we reject it. We say no. Take it back, sit down, I don’t
want it. I won’t take it.
MR. KREBS-I agree with that.
MR. OBORNE-Even from Great Escape.
MR. KREBS-Okay. Have we come to a conclusion?
MR. HUNSINGER-Well, I was just going to ask. Do we want to experiment and make
the deadline a week earlier? Starting in October? Let me think this through. What
would be the soonest meeting that we could?
MR. TRAVER-I think we should do it for September.
MR. KREBS-I would make a suggest that we do it starting effective January, the
beginning of the year, because the volume is generally less during January, February.
MR. HUNSINGER-I like that idea, because I think the submission dates have already
been posted for the year.
MR. KREBS-Exactly, and so if we started it with the beginning of 2010, you could start
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with the first of the month being instead of the 15 of the month.
MR. SIPP-That’s what I just said, Don, no matter what you do, you’re going to have
people who don’t follow the rules, and you’re going to end up with a mess.
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MR. HUNSINGER-Absolutely.
MR. SIPP-You’re going to be tabling Site Plan after Site Plan.
MR. KREBS-Well, Don, if that’s because they’ve had the information for two weeks, and
they haven’t done anything, that’s their problem, then. They get tabled.
MR. SIPP-How does that solve your problem of getting backed up?
MR. SEGULJIC-The issue that I see is that then they’re going to change their plans, and
we have the original set of plans, and now they’re going to come in with another set,
thinking we have the set that the changed to address the comments, that we never got
the comment on those comments.
MR. SIPP-Human nature is a postponing operation, and therefore the applicant is going
to postpone a day or two, and you’re going to be left with the same mess you’ve got now.
MR. OBORNE-And if I may say that we are into our third month on the new Site Plan
Review applications, you know, if you feel that that’s enough time to see how that’s
working out, then, I mean, I’m not going to disagree with you on that. I think that more
time should be allowed to see if that works a little better.
MR. KREBS-Sure. That’s why I said, okay, well, then let’s postpone it until December
and make a decision in December for January.
MR. HUNSINGER-We will anyway, because in December we post the meeting dates
and deadline notices and everything for the coming year.
MR. FORD-That’s a legitimate time to make it, if we can get agreement from the majority.
MR. HUNSINGER-I think that’s, but following along Gretchen’s, you know, three things, I
think the other two are things that we can do right away.
MR. TRAVER-I was just going to say, I mean, in the meantime, let’s just not, let’s
immediately table any application that they didn’t submit what they were supposed to
submit.
MR. HUNSINGER-Sure. I’ll start that next week. I have no problem with that.
MR. TRAVER-And you won’t believe how fast that’ll come to an end.
MR. HUNSINGER-Yes. Okay. Any other business? Good discussion.
MRS. STEFFAN-Okay. I’ll make a motion to adjourn.
MOTION TO ADJOURN THE QUEENSBURY PLANNING BOARD MEETING OF
AUGUST 18, 2009, Introduced by Gretchen Steffan who moved for its adoption,
seconded by Thomas Ford:
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Duly adopted this 18 day of August, 2009, by the following vote:
AYES: Mr. Traver, Mr. Krebs, Mr. Sipp, Mr. Seguljic, Mr. Ford, Mrs. Steffan,
Mr. Hunsinger
NOES: NONE
On motion meeting was adjourned.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
Chris Hunsinger, Chairman
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