1994-04-06 SP
QUEENSBURY PLANNING BOARD MEETING
SPECIAL MEETING
APRIL 6TH, 1994
INDEX
Hudson Point Planned Unit Development 1.
Aviation Mall Sand Hauling Discussion 25.
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.
QUEENS BURY PLANNING BOARD MEETING
SPECIAL MEETING
APRIL 6TH, 1994
7:00 P.M.
MEMBERS PRESENT
TIMOTHY BREWER, CHAIRMAN
GEORGE STARK, SECRETARY
CATHERINE LABOMBARD
JAMES OBERMAYER
CRAIG MACEWAN
ROBERT PALING
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR-JAMES MARTIN
PLANNER-SCOTT HARLICKER
PLANNER- SUSAN CIPPERLY
STENOGRAPHER-MARIA GAGLIARDI
HUDSON POINT PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
THOMAS NACE
MR. NACE-Okay. Generally, what we've done, we've kept the basic
concept of the plan Saratoga Associates had approved during PUD
process. Their plan was to have a boulevard type access road
coming in to a, stopping at a loop road that served the
subdivision, and within that loop, to cluster the different types
of housing that would be provided, or the different types of lots,
being third acre lots here shown in the heavy shading, half acre
lots in the lighter shading, and one acre lots in the open shading.
We've kept that same basic concept. In fact, if you look at our
plan, I think the back end of this is, with a few minor changes. is
almost identical. What we've tried to do is to provide a more
freely flowing access from the boulevard to realign the boulevard
a little bit, and to revise some of the layout up in here so that
it would accommodate that, plus that it would make better use of
the topography in here. We do have, running down through here,
there's a change in grade that's, where this is relatively eight or
ten feet higher, and it comes down a little bank and flattens out
in here. We've tried to accommodate some of that into the green
space. We've tried to arrange the green space a little bit, so it
gave better aesthetics to the entrance road, the entrance to the
boulevard. So we've provided a green strip, all the way along that
entrance boulevard, so that there won't be any frontage lots on the
entrance boulevard, really, until you get over here. These lots,
although they'll have frontage, will encourage access off of the
cul-de-sacs, but all throughout this segment, there will be no
frontage at all on the boulevard.
MR. MARTIN-I think it's an important point that they're providing
that little narrow green strip there on either side of the
boulevard. That will be common space. . ownership of the Homeowners
Association. Right?
MR. NACE-That's right. That's correct.
MR. MACEWAN-Now, the middle median, is that going to be planted as
well, or is that asphalt, or what?
MR. NACE-No, that will be planted. We will, in our landscaping
plan, we'll present you with a plan of how we're going to do that
planting.
MR. MACEWAN-Would that be the same for everyone of the cul-de-sacs,
too, the green space in there, is that all planted area?
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MR. NACE-It'll be landscaped with some sort of low maintenance type
of landscaping. We haven't finalized exactly what that's going to
look like yet, but it will be landscaped in one way, shape or form.
ALAN OPPENHEIM
MR. OPPENHEIM-Yes. Just to add to that, I think, when possible,
we're going to try and encourage saving as much natural vegetation
as possible. So, if it works, and we've got some big old pine
trees there. We're going to try and work with them.
MR. MARTIN-The other thing that's retained, that was an important
factor, the Town Board, I know, when this was going through was,
there was an attempt on this, as you can see, to keep common, or
access by as many lots as possible to a common center green area,
and they've retained that again, too.
MR. NACE-Pretty much what we've tried to do, through all this area,
is give everybody access out their back yard into some common
space, okay. The only area that we really haven't been able to
accommodate that is some here along the back side of these third
acre lots, but in general, we've kept everybody with access so they
can put on a pair of Cross Country skis, go out their back door,
and gain access to the green space and the common area throughout
the subdivision.
MR. OBERMAYER-What about the transmission lines? Are those going
to be, I mean, that's going to be a common playground also.
MR. NACE-Well, the transmission lines, right now, they are owned by
NIMO.
MR. OBERMAYER-Right.
MR. NACE-And they will continue to be owned by NIMO. That's not an
easement. That is right-of-way. So, it'll be green space.
Obviously, NIMO maintains that as open for maintenance of the
transmission mains, so you won't see planting trees under it.
MS. CIPPERLY-Do they keep that free of vegetation down there, like
spray herbicides on that?
MR. NACE-They keep the brush down, okay, and that's along any
transmission main.
MR. MARTIN-They used to spray, and they don't anymore.
MR. NACE-I don't think they spray.
that they do.
I think it's mostly cutting
MR. MACEWAN-As a matter of fact, in the eight years I've lived up
there, they've come through ~ and cut back shrubs.
MR. MARTIN-Well, I think they, they used to put down a pretty, I
don't know if toxic is the right word, but pretty strong, some sort
of a liquid or something that really just took care of everything
and that's why, even now, they, it's very low maintenance in
through there.
MR. NACE-I don't think they do that anymore, at least around the
updated areas at all.
MR. MARTIN-Another element that's retained in this, too, and it
came out during the Town Board review, was there was a concern over
setback from the power corridor, and it was a requirement that
there be a 75 foot buffer, even from the edge of the right-of-way
owned by NIMO, and that's maintained.
MR. NACE-That' s correct. You'll see that in the back lines of
these lots, these lots here, we've maintained that 75 foot minimum
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buffer. Where we can, we've provided more.
MR. MARTIN-Now, Tom, did you actually reduce the length of road?
MR. NACE-The length of boulevard has been reduced, okay, by, I
think, six or seven hundred feet. The actual length of road, just
because of the constraints of providing the green space and what
have you, the actual length of road is about the same. We have
eliminated the eyebrows up here, which Paul Naylor wanted to get
rid of. Those are a real maintenance headache to try to plow
those. So we got rid of those. I think the number of cul-de-sacs,
if you look, is still the same. They are five cul-de-sacs, plus
the one at McDonald, and we're still five. What we've done is
added the cul-de-sac in here, where the eyebrows used to be, and
combined the two cul-de-sacs that were in here into one, a little
longer, cul-de-sac.
MR. MARTIN-Could you take the Board through the phasing that you
were talking about, and how you might have to work in the?
MR. NACE-Phasing we're still working on. There are some options
that we're, obviously, going to present to you a proposed phasing
plan in the preliminary. There are a couple of alternatives, and
some of it's going to be market driven by what lots sell during
which time period. Obviously, the first phase will be to come in
and come to the end of the boulevard, at least, get the McDonald
subdivision revised, and getting this first cul-de-sac in here.
That first phase may end there. It may go further. The next
logical step would be either to come down here with a cul-de-sac,
a temporary cul-de-sac somewhere in here, or even a dead end with
a road here and bringing this cul-de-sac in, so that this was dead
ended with the next phase. It would also be possible, if we wanted
to get into the half acre lots, to come into here and maybe put
this cul-de-sac in as a dead end. One of the options we're looking
at is in the abandonment of the existing Sherman Island Road.
We'll immediately go in, in the first phase, and dead head Sherman
Island Road with a new cul-de-sac here, okay, regardless of what
our eventual phasing is, but one of the options we're looking at in
the phases subsequent to Phase I would be to possibly come in here
and, say if we came in here, if this was Phase II, to come in and
do this, Phase III miqht be to come down here, connect with Sherman
Island Road, come back up Sherman Island Road here, and provide
this as a temporary loop, so that you have safety fire access, and
you don't go past the 1,000 feet dead end road, which you would do
if you came all the way down to here with a cul-de-sac. So that
may allow us the flexibility of being able to get these lots in
here, without having to extend the road all the way around the back
side. If we did that, I've talked to Paul Naylor about it, we'd
have to, obviously, work out the legal requirements of keeping this
portion under Town ownership until we're done using it as a
temporary accessway, and we would probably, since we'll abandon,
physically, abandon it, in the first phase here, we, very likely,
would have to come back and do whatever repair or maybe repaving of
portions of it are necessary, in order to bring this to usable
standards, while we want to use it for a temporary.
MR. MACEWAN-What will happen with that lower half of Sherman Island
Road when you're all finished? It will actually physically be torn
up, or just kind of filled over and seeded, or what?
MR. NACE-When we're all finished, it will probably just be filled
over and seeded. After discussing it with Paul Naylor, I think
that's the most logical approach.
MR. MARTIN-Will you be taking up that first section between the
hammer head and the edge of your new road?
MR. NACE-We would probably, yes. We, initially, would at least
fill that in, okay, and re-establish some ground cover on it.
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MR. MACEWAN-Is there going to be anything at the end of the cul-de-
sac on Sherman Island to prevent traffic from continuing down
through there?
MR. NACE-Yes. We will, when we fill this in, and re-establish
ground cover over that, we'll put a berm, a large enough berm
there, that it will be physically impossible to go over it, and we
may have to, at least temporarily, do something to prohibit trail
bikes and that sort of thing, off road. That's a difficult issue,
I know.
MR. OBERMAYER-That's where everybody will be hanging out, all the
kids.
MR. MACEWAN-They do, now.
MR. NACE-Obviously, for the security of the subdivision.
MR. MARTIN-But you will be establishing the connection through
McDonald, allowing that?
MR. NACE-This would be in Phase I, we would be doing this cul-de-
sac, doing the entrance road, and making this connection, okay. We
don't want to abandon, we don't want to cut this off.
MR. MARTIN-That's what I was saying, and I think that's an
important feature to the traffic safety for the whole area, if that
is opened up...
MR. NACE-The other thing we've done here, if you'll notice, in
redoing the McDonald subdivision, we wanted to realign this so that
it made one intersection, so that we don't have a lot of turning
movements off of the boulevard.
MR. MARTIN-That's much cleaner.
MR. NACE-We've got really two places that that happens, that we
have turning movements. One would be right here, and one here.
MR. MARTIN-And they're aligned intersections now.
MR. NACE-They're aligned intersections. We do have a skew here
that we just couldn't get rid of, but it still falls within it's
acceptable standards to do that. We've also, in allocating green
space, I'll point out, there were two foundations, one we've shown
here, and the other was somewhere in here, that the Cultural
Resources Study showed, and we've maintained those within the green
space. The other feature, does somebody have a drawing SK2 that I
could throw up here? Okay.
MR. OBERMAYER-The area by the river, is that going to remain green
space?
MR. NACE-Yes. That's all in the dedication.
MR. OBERMAYER-Is that going to be part of the development?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Basically, those of you, I'm Alan Oppenheim, and I
represent the Michaels Group interest in the project, and I'm
working closely with the land owner, Niagara Mohawk, but
essentially what we have, really, the area that encompasses this
whole space here, which is approximately 97 acres of land, the
intent there is to dedicate that to a third party, and NIMO is
currently in the process of finalizing their arrangement with a
group by the name of the Open Space Institute, that is out of,
there's a lot of conservation and land trust work done, really,
throughout the eastern part of the State. The intent would be to
dedicate this to a third party, and at this point it looks to be
the Open Space Institute. We'd still have to work with the Town,
to get them comfortable with the program as well, with the idea of
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that whole space being available for passive recreation, and that's
something that, you know, we've had an awful lot of discussion on,
to date, in terms of exactly what passive recreation will be, but
everybody is in agreement that it's certainly not going to be used
as a public park, and it's really just a question of fine tuning,
as a group, between the development team, the Town, and this third
party, exactly how that will work.
MR. OBERMAYER-Is that going to be part of this project, though? Is
that going to be..
MR. MARTIN-You want to pay very close attention and read thoroughly
the developer's agreement. That's why I wanted to make sure you
read that, because that lays out in detail the requirements of how
this all came together and how this will come together. There's
really two basic forms of land preservation here. There's the
common space that's going to be retained under the ownership of the
Homeowners Association, all right, and that's these areas
predominantly in between the lots, but long about, in this area,
and I think it's better shown here, this whole point and all that,
that is going to be conservation area, owned by this third party,
that has to be presented to the Town Board and agreed upon by them
as an acceptable ultimate owner for that property, and those are,
really, the two basic forms that came out of this. You want to
thoroughly read that, because the numbers get a little confusing,
97 acres here, and I think there's 27 acres of open space by the
Homeowners Association. So you want to read that and get those
numbers thoroughly sorted out in your head.
MR. PALING-What's the land on the left? What is that?
MR. NACE-They're individual existing parcels.
MR. MARTIN-Yes. That's this area here.
MR. NACE-Corinth Road comes on down through here.
MR. MARTIN-And then, as a matter of fact, you've got, this is
Inspiration Park, the affordable housing.
MR. OBERMAYER-Okay.
shale?
The land up there, is that sand, other than
MR. NACE-No. It's sand. There are layers of cobbles in it, but
it's 50, we went down 50 feet with a drill rig, and it was sand and
cobbles mixed together. We did not, the deep boring was out here
toward the Point, and we didn't hit, at 50 feet, we didn't hit
groundwater, or any indication of groundwater.
MR. MARTIN-As a matter of fact, as I recall, it was a concern that
the soils were maybe too fast, and would have to be modified for.
MR. NACE-Yes. As you were speaking, well, did you have another
question for Alan?
MR. MACEWAN-Yes. I wanted him to bring us up to date with what was
going to happen with the commercial and the day care center area.
We haven't heard too much about that.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Well, I think this here is really a long term
perspective. I mean, clearly, given the location on Corinth, and
the level of activity there, there has been an identified need for
some type of convenience, Stewarts-like, store. Whether that is a
year from now or five years from now, the market is going to, the
market's going to really drive that, but we all felt it was
prudent, as did, working with the Town Board and Mr. Martin, to at
least designate that area right along Corinth, have that commercial
designation for something that's Neighborhood Commercial oriented,
and really to just let the market drive that. So that's really as
far as we're at on that.
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MR. MACEWAN-So that could be, potentially, well beyond your Phase
III or whatever? I mean, that could be, like, seven, eight years
down the road.
MR. OPPENHEIM-It could be. It's too early to say, and I think,
given what we've gotten approved here, which is a zone change, at
the point in time that the right use comes into place, we'd have to
go through site plan process for that piece.
MR. MARTIN-See, that whole idea was done with a broader concept in
mind, and the area I always cite is the intersection of Dixon Road
and Aviation Road, where you've got neighborhood type commercial
uses available there to the people. You have a hardware store, a
bank branch, a rather small grocery store, a Stewarts is there, and
they basically service the population within a radius of that area,
say maybe a quarter or even a half mile or something like that, and
that was the same idea there, that people can go there and get
staple, basic needs, you know, rather than have to go into the
center shopping area with their car, create more traffic and more
cumulative pollution and all that, that they can go here and take
care of their basic needs, rather than have to get into the major
shopping center.
MR. OBERMAYER-Is that zoned Commercial around that potentially
Neighborhood Commercial area? What's the zone? It's zoned
Residential. So you just want that little?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Just that small section.
MR. MARTIN-It amounts to about two acres, doesn't it?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Yes.
MR. OBERMAYER-What kind of road frontage on Corinth is that right
there?
MR. NACE-There's about 100 feet.
MR. OBERMAYER-One hundred feet. So, really, where would the access
be to that?
MR. NACE-The Town, in the review of that, has asked that we provide
an access right-of-way from the end of our cul-de-sac here out
through this strip of land to that frontage on Corinth Road, and
what we've done is just to show that generally, how it could be
laid out, and to show that when you do that, what you're left with
out here are two one acre parcels on either side of that right-of-
way, and your main frontage, for access, would be off the right-of-
way, not off of Corinth Road, okay. This would just provide a road
intersection for this access out on Corinth, and then the actual
frontage for the commercial lots would be interior.
MR. MACEWAN-Is that something the Town's requesting you do, is to
have a road go in from there?
MR. NACE-Well, the Town has requested that we provide for them the
right-of-way to do that, that the Town could do at some time in the
future, if they want it.
MR. MARTIN-All they're required to do, at this point, is dedicate
that 60 foot strip through there.
MR. MACEWAN-Why would they want to do that?
MICHAEL O'CONNOR
MR. O'CONNOR-The Town actually wants a deed to it.
MR. MACEWAN-Why would they want to do that, though?
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MR. O'CONNOR-For future options.
MR. MACEWAN-For what?
MR. OBERMAYER-Maybe a secondary access to the development off of
Corinth Road.
MR. MARTIN-Yes, I think that was the thinking.
MR. OBERMAYER-Right now, you only really have one way to enter and
leave the development.
MR. MARTIN-There is usable property in that throat there.
MR. OBERMAYER-Well, with the right-of-way, there's no way you're
going to have enough room for commercial development.
MR. NACE-What do you mean, on the frontage, on Corinth?
MR. OBERMAYER-On the frontage, yes.
MR. NACE-No. There's no way. You've got 100 feet of frontage.
MR. MARTIN-And you wouldn't want that. You wouldn't want the main
access coming right off of Corinth Road. You'd want the access to
come in off of that.
MR. OBERMAYER-How far away is the next commercially zoned piece of
property from this area right here?
MR. NACE-Quite a ways.
MR. MARTIN-Probably that Neighborhood Commercial.
MR. NACE-. .to Northern Distributing.
MR. OBERMAYER-There's a little deli, West Mt. Deli right there.
MR. 0' CONNOR-. . variance for a preexisting lot.
there's any actual zoning.
I don't think
MR. MARTIN-Light Industrial's the closest. The nearest commercial
might be that area I cited, along Dixon Road.
MR. NACE-That could be. That's right, and that's quite a ways from
here.
MR. OPPENHEIM-It seems as if there's definitely,..with the amount
of growth that has happened out there, it would make sense.
MR. MARTIN-Well, see, you've got Bedford Close Phase III that is
right across the street from there, essentially.
MRS. LABOMBARD-That's what ~ would like to know, is where is the
intersection of West Mountain Road? There it is.
MR. NACE-It's right here.
MR. MARTIN-So, I mean, if you get this project built out. You get
Bedford Close built out, there's going to be quite a population of
people there, and like I say.
MR. NACE-And even if this only ends up being a cul-de-sac back here
for access to these commercial lots, it's served some purpose.
MR. MACEWAN-What's that strip there, right there at the throat of
that? Can that be rezoned to be Commercial or Neighborhood
Commercial, the throat right there, the access, that right-of-way.
Is there enough room there to build maybe another couple of lots in
there?
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MR. MARTIN-Yes, there's probably got to be almost three acres.
MR. OBERMAYER-I mean, I would think Corinth Road would be a better
place for commercial than a residential road.
MR. NACE-I think the commercial's got to be easily visible, and
right close to that.
MR. OBERMAYER-That's going to be part of this project, is that what
you're saying, or entirely segregated?
MR. NACE-Well, it's, the zoninQ, the PUD zoning for that commercial
is part of this project, okay. The actual development of this, as
commercial properties are subject to site plan review.
MR. OPPENHEIM-And from a
really feels like it's, I
the remaining housing.
right on top of a little
practical standpoint, I mean, this is
mean, that's quite a distance from any of
So it's not as if you feel like you're
commercial piece.
MR. OBERMAYER-The neighbors, though, right there, might feel like
they're right on top of it.
MR. MACEWAN-There's not a lot of houses right in that area.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Not right in this area.
MR. NACE-There's one little house here, I think.
MRS. LABOMBARD-Where's the horse farm, and where's the water works?
MR. OPPENHEIM-This is the horse farm right here. It comes in right
here.
MRS. LABOMBARD-Okay.
MR. O'CONNOR-The layout of the 60 foot road will be part of this
approval process, the actual development of those two lots, unless
there comes a buyer. That wouldn't necessarily be at this time.
MR. NACE-Yes. That's what this is.
MR. OBERMAYER-Okay. So the zoning of it, being commercial, would
not be part of this project?
MR. NACE-No. The zoning is already.
MR. OBERMAYER-It's already commercial.
MR. NACE-That's what I'm saying. The zoning is part of what's been
done. The development is not part of the plans. We're just
showing it on these plans to show you where it's at, to show you,
we've been required to layout this right-of-way. We just want to
show you that the commercial parcels that are left here fit in well
with the right-of-way.
MR. OPPENHEIM-I think, just to finish up to your original question,
this still, now that we do finally have the zone changed, the
planning there is still in its infancy. We're doing additional
market studies to really get a handle on whether this is going to
be, we have the abil i ty, I think, through the zone change, to
accommodate up to, I think it was either 75 or 100, 75. Whether or
not it's going to end up that large remains to be seen. That,
again, is going to be a market driven thing.
MR. MACEWAN-Is that something you would develop, though?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Well, it would be the intent, I think. Clearly, the
master developer of the project would be the one who would provide
that for the homeowners and, obviously, the thing that has to be
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carefully analyzed is, any improvements that you make to the common
elements of the property, from a market perspective, you put in a
community building, you've got the upkeep, the maintenance, and you
just want to be sure that that's adding enough value to the end
product to justify the additional homeowner fees.
MR. MARTIN-I would say you'd have no problem selling a 75 slot day
care facility there, with Inspiration Park right around the corner.
MR. BREWER-You show on the map on the right, Alan, a two acre
parcel for the day care center. On the map on the left, it's that
lot?
MR. NACE-Well, the lot itself hasn't been depicted exactly, okay.
This is just the general area.
MR. OPPENHEIM-This is just the label. I don't want to confuse you,
Tim.
MR. NACE-You're talking about this, and, again, here, it wasn't
really. . .
MR. BREWER-Where the borrow pit is.
MR. OPPENHEIM-That's the same location.
MR. NACE-It's the same location.
MRS. LABOMBARD-It doesn't seem to, the road doesn't seem to curve.
MR. OPPENHEIM-You're looking at a different scale, too. So it is
deceptive, because you're looking at a different scale.
MR. BREWER-It looks like it's on the other side of the road, I
mean, like it's those four lots, if you look at that, and then you
look at that.
MR. NACE-Right. If you look, this road is flatter in back. It
comes down further, closer to this line than our layout. Our
layout stays up the road. This curve stays up a little higher, and
then, because they were down further. They dipped down and came
back up.
MR. MACEWAN-What is your intent, if you decided to go with a
community center? I mean, is it just basically a meeting hall type
building or something like that?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Well, I think a community center, that's more of a
generic term, to the degree that, I mean, one of the thoughts for
this area is to have some type of community amenity, such as tennis
court, okay. So, in addition to that, it's nice to have a building
where people can go in and congregate. Very simple. Nothing
fancy, but just kind of an area where people can get together, and
if people are walking through the community, it's nice to have a
place to, particularly in the winter, if they're cross country
skiing, to stop and grab a hot chocolate or something like that.
MR. MACEWAN-Did you guys do the Interlaken development down in
Saratoga?
MR. OPPENHEIM-No.
MR. MACEWAN-They have a community center down there. Do you know
which one I'm talking about?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Yes.
community center.
I know the project.
I haven't been in their
MR. MACEWAN-It's a small building. It's got, like, a little
kitchenette place, it's got a separate meeting room, and then it's
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got a large meeting room that could accommodate maybe up to 75
people in there or something.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Yes. I haven't been in there.
is probably similar.
I imagine the theme
MR. OBERMAYER-Is this going to be like an
though? Not necessarily a community center,
center?
Association center
it's an Association
MR. OPPENHEIM-Well, I think that the distinction there, when we
say, community center, that's a good point, because, in many
respects, I mean, this is, this line here, and, actually, it's this
land plus everything below this line, that is going to go to a
third party, that will be available for passive recreation. Now
that goes beyond just the members of the Hudson Point community,
okay. That is something that could be used by members of the
public. In contrast, everything within here, and Jim threw out the
number, 27 acres of land, will be controlled and owned by members
of this community. So, it's, there will be a Homeowners
Association offering plan and prospectus has to be put together,
and so that will be included within that package.
MR. MARTIN-Yes, because you're, essentially, creating another lot
there, really, that's going to comprise all that homeowners open
space in the center.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Another taxable lot.
MR. OBERMAYER-So, like, people from Bedford Close aren't going to
be utilizing that community center? It's more exclusive.
MR. OPPENHEIM-No. One of the issues to be addressed will be, as
far as the community center goes, when we talk about day care, will
be, it may well make sense to expand that beyond just the members
of the community, and to offer day care to folks outside the
community, and that's something that hasn't been determined, at
this point.
MR. MARTIN-There's a double edged sword to that. People may view
that as a thing that lowers the value of their property in this
community.
MR. OBERMAYER-I would think so. The only thing is, though, I mean,
the lot sizes are very small and so the houses are going to be
fairly small when you're looking at the lot size of 14,000 square
feet. Is that type of people, I mean, are they, you know, the
smaller ranch houses, are they looking for an exclusive community
center? I mean, maybe Bedford Close?
MR. NACE-Fourteen thousand square feet compromises, it's a third
acre lot, and that comprises a lot of the lots that have been
developed in Queensbury, in reality.
MR. OBERMAYER-But I'm talking more like Bedford Close doesn't seem
like an exclusive community.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Well, one of the things we've tried to do here, and
I guess when you say exclusive community, we've worked hard,
particularly in this market. I mean, it's important to have some
diversity of product type, and to be able to offer that diversity,
to establish absorption to create, really, while we don't, in our
original concept we had town homes. That's no longer part of the
puzzle here, but we've got the smaller lots here that we expect to
be more reasonably priced, a third of an acre, then the half acre
lots in here, and the one acre lots here, and so there is going to
be some diversity, in terms of the types of single family homes
there, but one of the other things has been, and our level, I've
been more active down in the Albany market, but one of the things
we're seeing down there is a lot of folks don't want as much land
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anymore and that doesn't, land, so if you say a third of an acre,
that doesn't automatically insinuate that you're going down in
quality, because there is a market out there for people who want to
be part of a nice community, have a nice home, but not have a lot
of land that they own and need to maintain, and they like the idea
of being part of a community where a lot of it's commonly owned and
maintained.
MR. MARTIN-Alan, can you speak, at all, as to what's going to be
done to give this a feeling of a true planned community? I mean,
what aspects of, I mean, to what level is this going to be planned?
I mean, are we talking about coordinated signage and street
lighting? I mean, what extent is this going to?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Well, I think the, it's a good question, and I think
to make this project successful, as a planned unit community,
there's got to be some continuity, in terms of the signage. Street
lighting is still something that's being evaluated, and, obviously,
the level is financial consideration, but they're clearly are going
to be a strong and detailed fabric of covenants and restrictions
that are going to run with the property, that are going to talk
about what people can and cannot do in their yards, and identifying
some guidelines for, to the degree that some of the lots were sold
off to a different builder, and a different builder were to get
involved in the project, you want to be sure that there's some
guiding continuity for the project. So that's, you know, that's
really the intent, at this point in time.
MR. MARTIN-Are we going to have elevations of typical houses built
throughout the?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Yes, you will.
MR. MARTIN-I wouldn't normally ask that, but I think in this event,
we've got, you've heard me say this before, that this is supposed
to be this community's best attempt at planning.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Yes, and I think that that's something that we'll
have as we get further into the process.
MR. MARTIN-Okay.
MR. OBERMAYER-Do those transmission lines, do they come from across
the river, or is there a substation back on the river, on the side
of the river?
MR. NACE-The generating plant's right here. The dam's right here.
MR. OBERMAYER-So how is NIMO going to continue to access their
substation?
MR. NACE-They have a separate access, here, that comes in.
MR. MARTIN-That's supposed to be the road used for construction, as
well.
MR. NACE-That's right.
MR. MACEWAN-So, phasing is still up in the air, as to how many
phases we're going to be looking at for this thing, I mean, where
you're going to start and what you're going to do first?
MR. NACE-Where we're going to start, really, is pretty obvious.
That's a given. It's just how far we come with that first phase,
whether it's just this to here, or whether we extend it down a
little ways, and then how the phases are sequenced beyond that.
We've worked up a lot of options. and now we're just kicking them
back and forth.
MR. MACEWAN-I'm assuming you're looking to come in front of us here
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in another month or so?
MR. NACE-Yes.
MR. MACEWAN-What's going to happen with the McDonald subdivision?
MR. NACE-That will come to you concurrently. What we will do is
have a final plan for this, which, you know, is a one shot
modification of an existing subdivision.
MR. MACEWAN-That kicks it into the subdivision process allover
again, with the modification, is that not right?
MR. O'CONNOR-I don't think so. We've been through that a couple of
times. We've done it before by filing a modified map with letter
asking for approval of modifications, with the engineering detail.
MR. MARTIN-It's been typically done as a modification, and a one
step process, depending on how much information is needed. I mean,
obviously, if they don't get everything the Board needs, then it
would be delayed until you have everything you need, but,
typically, it's been a one step process, and the thing that has
been added, recently, with State Law, is this is the time yoU~
have another public hearing.
MR. MACEWAN-Section 267.
MR. MARTIN-Yes.
MR. MACEWAN-Actually, it kicks it into, they typify it as a major
or minor modifications, and it kicks it into, it's in the process
allover again, right from Sketch right on through, and with the
changing of the lot lines and the new road configurations, I would
consider it a major modification. I don't see a problem with it
going through, but I think you should start the process.
MR. O'CONNOR-That seems to be contrary to prior resolutions from
this Board, where we've had it before this Board twice to advise
the Board that we will be coming in for a modification, and I think
the last time, I think, it was Ed LaPoint who made the resolution,
kind of specified what the specifications and what not would be for
this submittal.
MR. MACEWAN-In all fairness, though, that plan's changed a couple
of times since then, too.
MR. O'CONNOR-The modification has not changed significantly.
MR. OBERMAYER-Well, maybe you could just show us what has changed.
MR. NACE-Well, as I pointed out before, the extent to which we're
modifying the subdivision has not changed at all, okay. The area
of lots that we're working on is still the same. It's from here on
out. The only thing that we have really changed, and the concept
of the lot layout is still the same. We've got a cul-de- sac on
this side for access to all the lots with interior access, and
we're making a connection to the boulevard from the existing road.
The only thing that's changed is now instead of having the cul-de-
sac access the boulevard up here, we're bringing it down here so
that, obviously, these lot configurations have changed.
MR. MACEWAN-What resolution are you referring to that we approved,
or that we voted on? Did we pass the resolution?
MR. O'CONNOR-Yes.
MR. MACEWAN-What was the resolution in reference to?
MR. O'CONNOR-What would be necessary for modification and was this
Board in favor of modification. The changes that we have.
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MR. MARTIN-I think it comes to a matter of substance. As long as
this Board gets all the information it needs, whether you put steps
to that, I really don't care. I think, as long as we can get the
information we need, and if that's a one step process, fine, but
this Board is not going to vote on this until it feels comfortable
it's got all the information it needs, the engineering review has
been done, and a public hearing's been held. I, quite frankly,
don't see the need for three steps, as long as all the issues are
addressed and a public hearing is held. Now, if that can be done
in the context of one meeting. and that would mean they'd have all
their ducks in a row, then, fine, but if they don't, then it's
tabled until whatever information's missing is provided, but I
don't know that there's, steps is the actual key here. It's what
information is needed, and if proper engineering is done, and the
stormwater is looked at. and that type of thing, those are the real
issues.
MR. MACEWAN-So you're basically saying that we should be able to do
this in a one step process?
MR. MARTIN-I think so. I'm not saying one meeting, necessarily,
but a one step process including a public hearing.
MR. 0' CONNOR-The changes that are proposed are actually less
changes than what were initially proposed, Craig. If you remember,
in the beginning, we were going to disconnect it from Sherman
Island Road, and we were going to disconnect and put cul-de-sacs on
the end of each of those, and have only the entrance from Corinth
Road. Now after the modifications that the Town suggested, the
Town Board requested, we are going to leave the traffic pattern
intact within the subdivision and the only thing that we're going
to change on this subdivision at all is that, instead of a cul-de-
sac, on the most westerly end of the southerly part of that
subdivision, we now have a boulevard that goes out to Corinth Road,
which is a winlwin situation, because it then allows the people
that are on Sherman Island Road to access Corinth Road through the
new entrance, as opposed to the entrance which is a bad safety
feature of the existing Sherman Island Road and, in fact, it allows
not only the people on Sherman Island Road, but I think there's one
or two small roads off of Sherman Island Road. Now, they can use
this. It also allows the school bus system to come in through our
subdivision to go into that, and I think the school bus system may
even go back out through our road.
MR. MARTIN-I think the intent was, I don't know how the school
system handles their school bus stop, but was to, the thinking was
to have the pick up now at that intersection of Sherman, right
here, rather than now I think it's at the top. isn't it, Tim, at
the curve, and that would be a safer situation.
MR. MACEWAN-They drop off the kindergartners there, at that
intersection.
MR. BREWER-Just to enlighten you, the grade school kids, they do
pick up. They come into the subdivision that's there now, because
there is a kid, it's not on the map there.
MR. MACEWAN-Yes. There's a kid at the end of the cul-de-sac, down
at Morningside Circle.
MR. BREWER-Mornings ide Circle, there's a child that lives there
that goes to grade school. So, therefore, he has to pick up that
child, so it does pick up the other children in there.
MR. O'CONNOR-But that's a real winlwin situation, as far as traffic
goes.
MR. MARTIN-And the other thing is, I think what will happen is, and
what is hoped is that the actual net traffic on Sherman Island Road
will actually be less, because, just as one thing, the NIMO trucks
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will now be coming through their service road, and it will be only
the neighborhood traffic on Sherman Island Road.
MR. MACEWAN-I've got a good question for you. I do know that,
during the summer months, there's a pretty good line of traffic
that will come down there in the evening, because there's people
who have camps down there along the river, and they access those
camps through that NIMO right-of-way where the gate is on the other
side of the power lines, which you'd have to go down past the last
house on Sherman Island, and there's a dirt road through the woods
there on the left. How are they going to get down in through there
now?
MR. OPPENHEIM-They're going to, I mean, the intent really is those
folks. There's just a few camps down there.
MR. NACE-There's only one. It's right down on, right there. Well,
there's a camp and then there's a couple of trailers. Those are
leases.
MR. OPPENHEIM-They're going to be terminated.
MR. 0' CONNOR-They're temporary leases. The intent is to remove
them, demolish them, clean up the areas where the camps are.
Timing wise, I don't know, Tim, when that's going to take place.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Well, the gears are in motion now.
MR. O'CONNOR-Are they, to discontinue?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Yes, they are.
MR. O'CONNOR-I think that also will.
MR. BREWER-So, presumably, they will be not there this summer?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Presumably,
process is going to work.
ago, has already notified
given them a time table.
but it remains to be seen how that
NIMO, and we just discussed this a week
the folks of exactly what's going on and
MR. MARTIN-What are the mechanics of that?
lease buyout required?
Is there an actual
MR. OPPENHEIM-No. I think they're just on a temporary lease,
almost like a month by month or day by day.
MR. MARTIN-Just a thirty days notice type thing?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Yes. There's nothing formal in place there.
MR. O'CONNOR-If they're like what I've seen, there's some type of
letter agreement that says that on thirty days notice they can be
terminated, but the people have some period of time to choose to
remove the improvement, if they want to, and I don't know how long
a period it is.
MR. OPPENHEIM-The hope is that they'll take everything with them.
MR. O'CONNOR-If you go further out Corinth Road, there are a couple
of real nice homes that have been built on the same basis. I
looked at those, fifteen years ago, or ten years ago, or something
like that, and I was amazed at the homes that have been built on
the basis of thirty days notice. You move it in so many days, I
forget how many days, but there's a couple of homes. I don't know,
mechanically, time wise, but that's something that they're
addressing.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Yes.
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MS. CIPPERLY-Could you show, on that map, where the open space is,
how much of that?
MR. OPPENHEIM-See these diamonds that go through? It's everything
on this side of the diamonds. So it really, if you were to follow
this, it's everything on the other side of that.
MR. MARTIN-Tom, does this line here follow this southern boundary
of that lot follows this?
MR. NACE-Exactly. These lots along the back.
MR. MARTIN-This is basically in the same exact location, this
little opening here.
MR. NACE-Yes, pretty much. That's right.
MRS. LABOMBARD-Could you explain to me the accessibility of the
whole development, especially the three acre and the one acre lots
to the river? I mean, who actually owns that green space. I know
you've answered that question. Would you answer that again for me.
MR. NACE-That's Alan. That's the green space that's going to be
dedicated to a third party, a conservation group.
MRS. LABOMBARD-Like ADK or something like that?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Like ADK, yes. The group that we've made reference
to, whom Niagara Mohawk has been talking with, is the Open Space
Insti tute, which is a larger version of a local land trust. I
mean, they are a very significant entity that's well capitalized.
They really, what they do in a lot of cases, is they come in and
they put together a management plan, and in some instances, they
stay and retain ownership forever. In other instances, they put
together the management plan for the Town, and then if there's a
local land trust that wants to take title, then they'll turn it
over to them.
MR. MARTIN-See, what I thought was important for whoever that group
is or entity is, that they do have a planning function or planning
skill. So a planning can be developed for that area, whatever that
may be, even if it's as simple as just preservationlconservation,
and how is that accomplished.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Really, I mean, truthfully, the way it's been talked
about today is the Open Space Institute, coincidentally, uses
Saratoga Associates to do a lot of their open space planning, and
Saratoga Associates, who, they've been involved in the concept plan
for this site, from Day One, has done an awful lot of management
plans for passive recreation use. They've done a lot of this for
Niagara Mohawk for other Niagara Mohawk lands. So, really, it's
accomplished by the Open Space Institute putting, somebody
employing Saratoga Associates to put together a management plan
identifying the most suitable spots for walking and passive
recreation areas, so that trails can be constructed accordingly.
MRS. LABOMBARD-Because I'm just wondering how it would be
monitored? I could see myself in there, ten years ago, with a ten
year old son and all his buddies building forts, going down to the
river, playing down there. I'd be a wreck, thinking they drown,
thinking they'd, believe me, they could conjure up anything, and
that's what my question is, who is there to monitor it, to
supervise it? I mean, even though it's all on paper, these people
aren't patrolling?
MR. OPPENHEIM-They're not patrolling, but I think a couple of
things. One, the powers of enforcement are put in a few different
entities hands. The Town, the owner of the lands, the folks in
this community, everybody has a vested interest in that, and I
think everybody is going to be interested in ensuring the fact that
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it is, so called, passive recreation. Because believe me, somebody
who buys a lot here, a big appeal to being there is knowing that
you've got 97 acres, and if you go out there, and you see a bunch
of teenagers horsing around, you're motivated to do something about
that.
MRS. LABOMBARD-So that isn't woods in thereZ
MR. OPPENHEIM-It is. It is all woods. So your question is, how do
you know?
MR. MACEWAN-It's safe to say that probably with the amount of
concerned citizens that have been fOllowing this project through
from the start, they're certainly going to be following it through
long after it's done.
MR. MARTIN-You've got to go out there to appreciate it.
definitely an attractive area.
It's
MRS. LABOMBARD-I know it is. I pass there every day.
MR. MARTIN-That was discussed, that was, almost the same exact
words were spoken during the Town Board meetings on this, and at
first, if you could have seen the initial plan, there were, how
many lots out here, 16 lots, way in the long ago? They had 16 lots
out here, then it went to 8, and then the ma;or revision was done
and they shifted everything away, and it was always acknowledged
that, even today people go down there. You're never going to keep
people off of this. It's an attractive place to be, and so, the
general thinking was that, to keep pushing the lots as far away
from the shoreline as he could. That's the best form of
preservation.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Betty Monahan has also volunteered to be full time in
supervising that.
MR. O'CONNOR-One thing, Cathy, that's kind of self restricting is
the fact that there's limited access to that. People, to get down
there, are going to have to come through the subdivision, for the
most part.
MRS. LABOMBARD-I see that, now.
MR. 0' CONNOR-Unless they, there probably are ways th·at you could
hike across the wetland that you come in from the Church, I think
the Church property is on the other side of Clendon Brook, there.
You might be able to hike through there, but there aren't going to
be big parties hiking through there. People who live in there are
going to have a self interest to police what's going on.
MR. NACE-I lived next to the Water Shed property, Glens Falls Water
Shed property, for 15 years and believe me, when kids got a little
rambunctious out back, you let somebody know about it.
MS. CIPPERLY-What's the thinking behind the one large..?
MR. NACE-This here? There's a zone line that you see shown here.
Everything here is one acre. Everything here is three acre, and
that's just to comply with that zoning, because I think the three
acre zoning, this particular Waterfront Residential Three Acre is
outside of the PUD Ordinance. Am I correct?
MR. MARTIN-Yes.
MR. NACE-So, this had to remain three acre lot zoning. You also,
in that same token, you'll see a building line, what we called a
building line here across this one acre lot, simply to be a
building setback, in that the portion of that lot below that line
is in the three acre zone. So in order for this to comply as a one
acre building lot, the house has to be located north of that line.
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MR. BREWER-Also, just to let the people know, here, there are five
archeological sites on that point also, just so that you know.
You're protecting them also.
MR. MARTIN-Yes, they're indicated.
MR. OBERMAYER-Yes. They show that.
MR. MARTIN-That was the other reason for the conservation area.
That encompassed all of them.
MR. PALING-What are those, like digs, or what is it in that case?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Well, they found things such as arrowheads.
MR. PALING-A fence, what is it, protection, a fence?
MR. NACE-No, no.
MR. OPPENHEIM-I think, the areas will be identified, and,
essentially, a buffer is established, in that they, really, there
was a substantial amount of investigation. There were two phases
of analysis where an archeologist has been out on site, first
identifying the fact that there was something there, and then
identifying the extent of the locations, and the indians tended to
be along the bluffs. So, those areas will be identified by survey,
with the appropriate buffer, and left in their existing state.
MR. O'CONNOR-They may not be marked. If you follow the State's
suggestion, you can map them, but they don't want to mark them too
obviously because then you get a lot of volunteers out there
digging them up. The preferred method is to actually leave them
intact.
MR. MARTIN-It's a very interesting thing to watch done. Tim and I
were out there when they were right in the midst of a dig, and they
get out a, they do it by meters, like you have a two meter by one
meter area or something like that, and they dig it out perfectly
square and they take out every little thing, and they found, he
showed this thing to me. It looked like a rock, and he said, this
was an edge of a cutting instrument, and if you look really
closely, you can see where somebody chipped away, and they were
trying to make like a head of an axe on it, or something like that,
and then he was saying there was, like, dark soil in a cross
section of the soil, and I thought it was black dirt. He said, no,
that is where someone built a camp fire.
MR. MACEWAN-How deep were they?
MR. MARTIN-They were, probably, what, two feet, at the most, but it
was fossilized, like, a little bit, you could see a few inches
under the surface of the soil was this oval outline with what could
have been a camp fire.
(TAPE TURNED)
MR. O'CONNOR-.. .early, early Native Americans.
MEMBER OF PUBLIC
MEMBER OF PUBLIC-Down on that lower level, right out on the point,
when I was a kid, there was a pit that was probably 25, 30 yards
wide of white, white sand, and every time it rained you could go
down there and pick up a cigar can, or a tobacco can full of flint,
and it would be various kinds of flint, nothing that came from ~
area, a white variety of sand.
MR. MACEWAN-Is that pretty much it?
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MR. NACE-Yes. I think we just wanted to, before we start our major
effort here in the design process, we wanted to make sure that
everybody had a chance to look at it.
MR. MARTIN-I can't stress enough, though, to read those documents,
those three documents.
MR. PALING-Lets make sure we understand which documents you're
talking about, because this is the only thing I've got, this, this,
and I've got a couple of letters.
MR. MACEWAN-Alan, do you have a revised, kind of like outline of
what you're intent was with the development of that, in terms of
housing types, development? Not the Full Environmental Impact
Statement.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Probably part of our initial submission that was
prepared by Saratoga Associates.. overview work to date. Craig,
probably the best thing really is the Final EIS document that was
submitted. I mean, that is, it's not a summary, but I think for
anyone who really wants to.
MR. O'CONNOR-You've got the SEQRA Findings Statement, March 7th.
You've got the Hudson Point Planned Unit Development agreement, and
you've got the resolution approving the Hudson Point.
MR. MARTIN-Those are the three I was speaking to.
MR. O'CONNOR-Those are the three documents that actually set forth
the zoning for this property.
MR. MARTIN-And the major shift came between the Draft EIS and the
Final EIS. That's when the major shift came from 163 units down to
96.
MR. OPPENHEIM-The Final EIS would have all the information that
you'd be looking for.
MR. MACEWAN-I think what I would like for these three new members
is a copy of that, plus a copy of the McDonald Subdivision map, so
that they know what's going on there, before we do site visits, if
you can, because we'll take them down there and show them the area.
You're looking to come back in front of us, what, in May, first
meeting in May, I'm assuming.
MR. OPPENHEIM-And I think if you want to go out and, I mean,
whatever works best for you, but, certainly. if you're going to do
a site visit, and you want us to attend, let me know.
MR. MACEWAN-I don't know if we'll actually walk it. There's still
a lot of snow down there.
MR. PALING-Now, when we see you again, what will you be asking for?
MR. NACE-Okay. We're going to be submitting to you, okay, a couple
of things. First will be the preliminary plan, which is really the
major engineering plans for the entire subdivision, everything you
see here. In that will be a separate plan that we're going to ask
you for final approval for a McDonald revision. Okay.
MR. BREWER-How come no Sketch, Tom?
MR. NACE-Sketch, if you look at your regulations, Sketch is the
PUD.
MR. BREWER-The Planning Board didn't approve a Sketch Plan, though.
MR. NACE-No, but if you look in your PUD Regulations, you go
directly from the PUD Ordinance to the preliminary plans.
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MR. BREWER-This doesn't follow the regular Subdivision Regulations?
MR. MARTIN-No. A PUD, after it comes to the Town Board, it comes
in at Preliminary Site Plan they call it.
MR. NACE-And that's really why we're here tonight. Okay. We
didn't feel it was totally fair to come in with a complete.
MR. BREWER-No. I'm just questioning why, I mean, usually we get a
subdivision from Sketch, Preliminary, and Final. This goes right
to Preliminary, and I was wondering why.
MR. NACE-This is labelled in your regulations as Site Plan, okay.
What you're going to see at Preliminary will be a site plan, but in
reali ty, it's reviewed under the Preliminary Subdivision standards.
So, what you'll see is a preliminary plan. In essence, what you're
seeing here is really Sketch Plan. So you'll see preliminary
engineering drawings for that parcel.
MR. MARTIN-See, that's what happened. The Sketch Plan came with
the, before it even went to the Town Board. That's what we
approved in a report to the Town Board.
MR. BREWER-Boy, that was so much different than this, Jim.
MR. NACE-That's why we're here.
MR. BREWER-I understand that.
MR. NACE-So we'll hit preliminary plans, the final plan, or plan
for final approval on McDonald, and then we'll also have phasing
plans, okay, that'll show you our phasing concept, because, after
preliminary site plan is approved, then the next time we come back
will be for final approval of Phase I.
MR. PALING-Now the McDonald Subdivision will be just a layout.
You're going to modify that?
MR. NACE-Well, no. It'll be complete engineering.
MR. MARTIN-We want to thoroughly raise, too, going into this, is
Article VIII, which picks up with 179- 51, and we're going to
probably be starting at, technically speaking, 179-58, Site Plan
approval process.
MR. PALING-179-51 and 58?
MR. MARTIN-Well, I'd start at 179-51, but 179-58 in that whole
scheme of the PUD process, that's where they're picking up with
now, but you want to read that whole thing and that'll give you the
background as to how we got to where we are, and where we have to
go from here, it was part of the application.
MR. 0' CONNOR-Tom, it might answer that question more. Wi th
McDonald, I don't think you have to do the whole thing, because I
don't think there's any changes at all.
MR. NACE-No, from here, from this line out.
MR. O'CONNOR-I think if you showed from here down, out that way,
like, even like that, because all this doesn't change at all.
MR. MACEWAN-I'd prefer that they show everything, especially when
we have three new Board members.
MR. O'CONNOR-Okay, but I'm just saying, we're not modifying this up
here. We're not going to provide drainage up there different than
what's already there. This is already a Town road, that's already
a dedicated road that's been accepted by the Town Board. In fact,
from here down.
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MR. MACEWAN-What are you referring to, to showing only that lower
portion, with reference to what?
MR. O'CONNOR-We've got to show, from an enqineerinq point of view,
that we are going to properly handle the drainage as it's created
here.
MR. MACEWAN-Okay. I thought you were talking about a drawing just
of that portion.
MR. 0' CONNOR-That shows the road configurations and everything
else. Maybe it's just as well to put it all on one map. I just
don't think we want to get into thinking that, I don't know what
this engineering is up here, but that's a Town road that we're not
going to change.
MR. OPPENHEIM-See, I think, and this is a question, I don't know
how it works better for you, but, I mean, isn't that really the
line, Tom, that we're talking about?
MR. NACE-Yes. What we've got to do, though, and I think, probably,
for clarity, and I have no problem with doing this. What we'll
show you is, if you want to see the entire subdivision, fine.
We're going to show you one drawing of the entire existing
subdivision as a removal drawing to show you what portions of the
road, what portions of the water line, fire hydrant, etc., we're
having to remove, okay, and then we'll show you a drawing of what
we're proposing that shows from, it'll, again, show the rest of it
as existing, but it'll highlight from where we're starting our
changes on out, show you the changes.
MR. MACEWAN-Kind of like an overlay thing?
MR. NACE-Right. Exactly. Okay.
MR. O'CONNOR-We're going to have to pick up parts of that cul-de-
sac back from the Town.
MR. NACE-Yes. There's got to be a land trade there.
MR. O'CONNOR-We're going to get that abandoned by the Town.
MR. NACE-That's right.
MR. O'CONNOR-The other thing which we would do some place along the
same line, and probably as part of this Phase I, is construct that
hammerhead, that ending of Sherman Island.
MR. NACE-Yes. That's part of Phase I, to dead end this and
construct a cul-de-sac.
MR. O'CONNOR-I don't know if that's going to come, you want to see
it and give it a blessing, that'll have to go through Town Board
action also, because that's a separate process entirely, the
abandonment of the roadways. The Town Board will have to do that.
MR. MACEWAN-The thing that you guys were talking about, though,
that was one of your concerns, was that you were going to use a
portion of the Sherman Island Road during the construction aspect.
So, can they abandon that?
MR. O'CONNOR-I would want them to abandon it as a public highway,
okay, and if Tom and Naylor and everybody works out a way that we
can work it into a loop system on a temporary basis, what we would
do is we would still own it, but we would give you a, or give the
Town a temporary easement, like you do on temporary cul-de-sacs,
until the next phase gets kicked in.
MR. BREWER-So then what do you do? You take the berm down and then
reberm it?
- 20 -
MR. MARTIN-No. He's just talking about that metal portion staying
open.
MR. NACE-This will get constructed and this bermed right away,
permanently, okay. What we're talking about is looping, once we
get to here, being able to loop down and back up to here, okay, and
back out.
MR. MACEWAN-How big of a berm will that be?
MR. NACE-We'll have to work out the details.
MR. OPPENHEIM-It will be big enough to ensure that nobody's going
to think of going through it.
MR. MACEWAN-Okay, so then for next month, for the Preliminary,
you're going to have all the Preliminary drawings. You're going to
be looking for the Final on the McDonald Subdivision. You're going
to have your phasing plans for us. What about landscaping plans?
MR. NACE-They are part of the preliminary submission.
MR. MACEWAN-What about maybe seeing copies for what was planned, I
don't know if it's even beneficial to us, but the Open Space
Institute, what kind of arrangement's going to be made with those
people.
MR. OPPENHEIM-As soon as, you know, it's in process now. I mean,
there is something going on right now.
MR. MACEWAN-Something we can look at, some sort of draft or
something?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Well, basically what's going to happen here is, and
I told Jim, we expect shortly within the next two weeks to have an
initial meeting, to get Open Space Institute here to meet with the
appropriate folks, to outline who they are, what they're all about,
and then put the gears in motion to create a management plan.
MR. O'CONNOR-Unless the Town Board directs us otherwise, though,
Craig, most of that will go to the Town Board. They reserve to
themselves the right to approve the arrangements that are made with
the third party, because they wanted to have that control. I think
we would be dealing Open Space with the Town Board, not with this
Board.
MR. MACEWAN-What about for the Homeowners Association, the plan or
prospectus for that?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Yes. As soon as it's put together, that's certainly
something that can be made available. That's, I'll tell you right
now, that's not going to be until the tail end of this process. It
takes a while to get it put together.
MR. MACEWAN-For Final, though?
MR. NACE-Yes. I think before Final your regulations, in fact, call
for any covenants and restrictions and Homeowners Association.
MR. MARTIN-Yes. It's even here in Preliminary, actually, a copy of
the Certificate of Incorporation of Homeowners Association, the By-
laws of the Homeowners Association and Declaration of Covena-nts and
Restrictions and the Offering Plan, where applicable.
MR. MACEWAN-Is there anything else that YOU need?
MR. MARTIN-Well, when it comes in, we're just going to follow 179-
58. That's what we'll do for a completeness check, and then it'll
be with the Board.
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MR. BREWER-Can I ask a couple of questions?
MR. MACEWAN-This isn't a public hearing, but we'll let you.
MR. BREWER-I just would question the time table for the permits for
the septics, and we have to get, what is it, a SPDES Permit for the
over 40 septic system?
MR. NACE-That was, okay, originally, when, I don't have a copy of
it, but when the old original Draft EIS was submitted, it included
a cluster of townhouses, and there was a common system that was
going to serve the development, and that would have been required
for that common system.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Well, aren't you talking about the 49 and the septic
variance with DOH?
MR. NACE-Okay. That's the variance. Yes. That is in process.
All the paperwork's been submitted to the Department of Health.
MR. BREWER-And nothing really happens until you receive that
permit, is that correct?
MR. O'CONNOR-Not necessarily. It's like,
would be like any of your other approvals.
always conditioned upon this.
that portion, I think,
Your final approval is
MR. BREWER-But I mean, you can go in and do your infrastructure and
stuff like that, but you just can't build a house until you get
that permit?
MR. NACE-No, no. We can't file the subdivision.
MR. BREWER-You can't even cut a tree, then.
MR. NACE-We can go through approval phase with the Town Board, or
the Planning Board, and if the Board is willing, have an approved
plan contingent upon Health Department approval. Okay.
MR. BREWER-Suppose, hypothetically, you get that approval from this
Board, you go in and you start doing this and that and whatever,
and DOH says, sorry, fellows, you can't do it, and then, you don't
put a tree back that's already cut.
MR. NACE-No, no. That's right. You're right.
MR. BREWER-I mean, so that's kind of.
MR. O'CONNOR-What Tom is saying, we get approval of this Board,
contingent upon..
MR. BREWER-Nothing happens, actually, until you get that approval.
MR. NACE-Yes. Right.
MR. MARTIN-You can't even do site work.
MR. NACE-I'm sorry. I misunderstood the question.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Nothing's going to happen until all the approvals
are. .
MR. NACE-I would expect we have that DOH approval within the next
month.
MR. OBERMAYER-Are you going to be collecting the stormwater from
that area?
MR. NACE-We're going to be putting in good soils, sandy soils.
We're going to be putting in drywells and probably in some of the
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lower areas connecting the drywells with some perforated pipe with
stone. So, no, with the drywell system and infiltration system
we're better off keeping the stormwater diversified throughout the
site. We're going to do that as much as possible, but in the low
areas we'll probably just.
MR. MARTIN-You have the paved swales all the way through and all
that.
MR. NACE-Paved swales all the way through.
MR. BREWER-I've got one more. The right-of-way that you're giving
the Town, for the potential road, I would ask this Board to ask the
Town why they want to build a road that length when they don't own
the land on either side of it, and is that land potentially there
for rezoning? I mean, if the Town comes in, I don't understand, in
my mind, why the Town wants to build a road. I don't know how long
that is, Tom. Can you give me an idea?
MR. O'CONNOR-Eighteen hundred feet.
MR. BREWER-Why does the Town want a right-of-way of eighteen
hundred feet to bui ld a road at one hundred bucks afoot? I'm
asking this Board to ask the Town Board why they would want to do
that.
MR. OPPENHEIM-I think, I mean, that's a long road.
most towns.
Any time, in
MR. BREWER-I understand that, but NIMO owns that land.
the Town want to spend that kind of dollars?
Why does
MR. O'CONNOR-I don't think the Town has committed.
MR. BREWER-No, I know they haven't committed, but why would they
even get the idea to spend that kind of money to access your
subdivision, Mike?
MR. O'CONNOR-I don't think they have the idea that they would ever
spend the money. I think what they're doing is, what we used to do
when we had a subdivision approved on a regular basis, here, is
always have a possibility of connection to the next adjoining
property.
MR. MARTIN-And we're starting to do that again.
MR. BREWER-What if that next adjoining property is. ..?
MR. NACE-What if somebody comes in here and wants to develop one of
these long, narrow lots?
MR. BREWER-That's their problem.
MR. MARTIN-That request originated with Paul Naylor, and I don't
know that it was ever questioned.
MR. BREWER-I'm questioning it now.
MR. MARTIN-Well, he asked for it, and the Town Board made sure that
it was included.
MR. BREWER-Okay. Fine, but I would ask this Board to ask him why
the only property that it adjoins, that could be developed, is
somebody elses. So what the Town Board has in mind, if they're
ever going to build a road there, they're building a road for
somebody else.
MR. MARTIN-Well, not necessarily, if somebody comes in and says
they want to develop somewhere in here, which is right now open
horse farm, they want to do that, they build the road for us.
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We've got the right-of-way. They just have to build the road for
us. They pay for the road.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Plus I think it also should be pointed out that this
land here may well end up in the Town's hands. This land here is
the land adjacent to the wetlands.
MR. BREWER-Okay. Maybe just an explanation then. That's all I'm
asking you for.
MR. MACEWAN-Can we do this? Can we request Mr. Naylor's presence,
to keep the public happy, at our first meeting with this guy?
MR. MARTIN-Yes. He's going to have a lot of comment on this.
MR. MACEWAN-Can you see that he'll be there at the night that these
guys are going to be there?
MR. MARTIN-Yes.
MR. MACEWAN-Will that make you happy, sir?
MR. BREWER-Yes.
MR. MACEWAN-Okay.
MR. BREWER-As a private citizen, I'll talk to Paul Naylor.
MR. MACEWAN-Okay.
MR. BREWER-The Open Space Institute that will possibly, whomever
owns that land, Alan, you're going to deed restrict that so that
it'll never be anything other than passive recreation, as per your
definition and the Town Board's definition?
MR. OPPENHEIM-Yes. That's the way, I mean, I think that you've got
the protection, in that in those three documents we've made
reference to, clearly, we've all agreed, and it's been put in
writing, that it's going to be passive recreation, and we know that
there still needs to be some efforts as to defining what exactly
goes into that box, but there's no question, from our perspective,
as the project developer, that, and we also have some say into
that, clearly, ~ want it to be passive recreation, and it wouldn't
serve us otherwise, and I know the way the Town feels about it as
well.
MR. MACEWAN-Is that something that the Town Board has to approve?
They approve that before we give you final approval for the
project?
MR. O'CONNOR-I don't believe so. I think that they will approve it
before we are entitled to get a building permit, within the project
on the lots, as you approved the layout.
MR. MARTIN-There was a restriction in there as to, I think that's
right. It's in that developer's agreement that no building permits
will be issued until land is conveyed, and properly, and that the
Town Board...
MR. 0' CONNOR-We may, in fact, be given in the deed with the
grantee, the person who is actually going to be the taker of the
deed, executed in proper form for recording, but with the grantee
being blank, that they hold in escrow, with the Power of Attorney
to fill in the party of the second part. We did not want one to
hold up another, and I don't know if the talks with the Town Board
are going to be satisfactory, with the talks with the Open Space
Institute with the Town Board are going to be satisfactory, if all
of a sudden somebody on the Town Board is going to say, no, we want
go look at other people, and this process, we want it to go
forward. We're going to give up control, except for the fact that
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we say we will require that it be not more than passive recreation.
MR. MARTIN-The other person that would be at your disposal on this
would be Paul Dusek, if a question should arise to this, because he
was privy to all that, too.
MR. BREWER-I guess what my position is, that that land ever ends up
in the hands of the Town, owned by the Town, and the Town, fifteen
years from now, says, gee, that's a beautiful piece of land. Lets
make it into a farm. I know Y..Q.1!. don't want that to happen. I
don't want that to happen, either.
MR. OPPENHEIM-I don't think, legally, they can do it.
MR. O'CONNOR-We will restrict the conveyance of it, the same thing
as we will restrict the conveyance of the 60 foot right-of-way. In
fact, on the 60 foot right-of-way, I think we have an agreement,
and it's within the documents, and I haven't looked at those since
February or March when they were done, but it says that there's a
right of reverter, that if the Town Board ever decides that that's
not going to be a public road, that strip will go back to us.
MR. MARTIN-Right. I think that was restricted to a public highway,
and that was it.
MR. O'CONNOR-Public highway, or, there's also some thought, you may
want to have a nature traillbike path through there, with Town
blessing.
MR. BREWER-Who's responsible for it now, though? Suppose
somebody's walking down through there and they get hurt?
MR. O'CONNOR-The Town will own it.
MR. BREWER-The Town will own?
MR. MARTIN-The 60 feet.
MR. O'CONNOR-Yes. Not an easement, they will own the deed.
MR. BREWER-So then anybody can go down there. If the Town owns it,
then anybody can use it. Right?
MR. O'CONNOR-Subject to the rights of the Town to restrict access.
Every piece of property that the Town owns is not necessarily
accessed to the public, or the public doesn't have right of access
to it. It has to be held for public purposes. They can restrict
it. They can own that piece and say, we're not. It's like the
water plant. They own the water plant, but everybody in the Town
can't go on the water plant property, and they can do the same
thing with this strip.
MR. BREWER-Okay.
MR. MACEWAN-Anything else?
MR. BREWER-No. That's all.
MR. MACEWAN-Anybody else? No? Then we'll see you in May.
MR. OPPENHEIM-Okay. Thank you.
AVIATION HALL EXPANSION
MICHAEL PIAZZOLA, PRESENT
MR. PIAZZOLA-Our Construction Manager, Ron Stoddard, and I met with
Jim Monday morning and we've basically given notice as to, one of
the deals that we worked with Galosha is that they could sell as
much sand as they could get to K-Mart for whatever they could get,
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as part of the deal that they have with us, and they were going to
haul it and we were going to look the other way, and because your
concerned about hauling during the day, basically what we told
Galosha was that, as of this Saturday morning at eleven o'clock,
that operation is shut down completely, that day hauling operation,
and they're working like hell to get as much sand down to K-Mart as
they can because it's all profit to them.
MR. MARTIN-Now what did that letter agreement say, that you gave to
the Board, what day was it, April 7th, or 9th?
MR. PIAZZOLA-It was the 7th.
MR. BREWER-The first letter? Yes, the seventh.
start going to the Town.
It was going to
MR. PIAZZOLA-Okay. You want it to be the seventh? I'm just trying
not, I mean, Galosha, we're just trying to not cut Galosha off,
because we want him to make money on the pro j ect, and we're
negotiating.
MR. BREWER-When did you tell him this?
MR. PIAZZOLA-We told him Monday after we left Jim's office.
MR. BREWER-Okay. Let me just tell you this. I went up there
yesterday, just to look. Matt Galosha came to me, said, do you see
where that transit is, that's where we're going to. We should be
done in a day. I said, okay. I'm not here to check on you, Matt.
I just came up to see what was going on.
MR. MARTIN-All I'm saying is, if you're not going to honor that
first letter that you wrote Paul Naylor, then you would be well
advised to be on his doorstep tomorrow morning at eight o'clock
explaining why that's not the case.
MR. BREWER-I also ask, does Galosha have the second contract?
MR. PIAZZOLA-Did you ask Matt?
MR. BREWER-No. I asked you. I'm asking you.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Yes. We're negotiating that right now. The problem
is, to be perfectly honest, the contract, the amount that we've put
together for the contract amount is that that should not exceed
about a million eight for all that work. Galosha's at 2.3 million.
MR. BREWER-I don't care about dollars and cents.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Well, I'm just telling you that, we're trying to get
Galosha to work, but the problem is we're so far away on numbers
right now that we're giving Galosha the work in little bits, and
Ron Stoddard, who is our Construction Manager, is working with
Galosha daily to try to come up with something that works so we can
sign on the dotted line.
MR. MARTIN-Ron sat in my office Monday morning and said that they
were going to finish clearing out the path for the building. In
other words, they were scraping off the asphalt of the old parking
lot for the Mall, and they were taking that to K-Mart also, and,
obviously, Paul Naylor does not want that. It's all full of
asphalt chips and all that. He doesn't want that, but, when that
was done, he estimated that to be about Thursday. When that was
done, they were going to immediately start hauling to the Town, and
then he was to call Paul Naylor, who I talked to this afternoon,
who had not heard anything from anybody yet, and I said that you'd
be advised to call him in advance, because he has things to do at
his end to start that hauling, to be done by Thursday at the
latest, tearing up the building pad, and then he would go back to
hauling from the sand bank, the good stuff that Paul wants,
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Thursday.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Right. So for the sake of, just clarification, and to
honor the agreement that we put before you last week, why don't we
say that, again, April 7th is the day that we told you, okay. Lets
give Galosha another day of hauling, and then start hauling to the
Town tomorrow night. Is that all right?
MR. BREWER-Who's going to haul it to the Town?
contract for it?
Who has the
MR. PIAZZOLA-Galosha's going to haul it to the Town.
MR. MARTIN-My way of thinking, that's totally up to the Highway
Superintendent.
MR. BREWER-What bothers me so much is that when you, Mike, myself,
Dan Galosha and Paul Naylor sat in Paul's conference room, Danny
sat across the table from me and said, we've got to go three, four
more days and we'll be done with K-Mart. That's a week and a half
ago. I mean, how many more three, four more days are you going to
go, and then when you say to us, Saturday it's done, Wednesday,
they're still hauling. That's what ticks me off so much is, if
it's going to be ne:xt Wednesday, I don't care. Tell me next
Wednesday. Don't tell me Saturday, and then when I go to work
Monday morning, I see trucks, and my ears turn red because I see
trucks.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Well, if we agree tonight that tomorrow's the last
day, then I'm going to go to Galosha and say, tomorrow's your last
day. If April 7th's the date, then I think it should be April 7th,
because every time I go to Galosha and say, you need to stop
hauling tomorrow, well, can I get two more days, can I get three
more days.
MR. BREWER-No. This Board here, and I'm speaking for myself as a
member of this Board, is not here to make Danny Galosha money. I
mean, they're a great customer of ours, where I work, but this
Board, I don't think, is in a position to make a contractor money.
That's not what we're here for.
MR. MARTIN-And the other thing that was said, in the context of our
meeting Monday, was that the only hauling that would be done during
the day, during this night time period, would be the incidental
hauling necessary to dig the footings, and that was it. There may
be an occasional truck during the day time, but nothing of the
magnitude of like the twelve per hour that we're getting right now.
Maybe one or two an hour, tops.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Fine. So lets honor the April 7th date. Tomorrow's
the last day for day hauling to K-Mart, and the night hauling will
start either tomorrow night or the night after. I just don't know
if Galosha can get people to haul tomorrow during the day, and then
put the same guys on at night. I just don't know.
MR. MARTIN-I don't know how ready, what Paul's got to do. He may
need some lead time, too, but all I'm saying is you should be
talking.
MR. BREWER-I mean, how does the Board feel? I mean, you heard how
1. feel. How does the Board feel? Does the Board feel that we
should let him keep hauling during the day or what?
MR. STARK-Well, Tim, you know, maybe they didn't know exactly how
much they could get down there. They said, well, maybe five days
will do it, and it actually turned out to be 10 days.
MR. BREWER-George, he told me how much he's hauling a day, how much
he sold to them, it's like adding one and one.
- 27 -
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MR. STARK-Maybe they needed more, to do what they had to do down
there.
MRS. LABOMBARD-What if they're not done tomorrow?
MR. BREWER-Then let them haul it from their pit by the airport. I
mean, that's not the spot they have to get it from. I mean, when
Galosha talked to Kubricky this winter, or last winter, they didn't
care if they got it from the Mall. Danny Galosha thought he was
going to get it from his pit. He has several pits. When we talked
to K-Mart, a year ago when we approved their building down there,
I asked them, where' s the dirt coming from. They said, most
generally, the dirt will come from towards Kingsbury. It will come
down Quaker Road, towards the airport. There's pits out there, as
though they had already talked to someone.
MR. MARTIN-Speaking for me personally, given the choice between
meeting the K-Mart need from the sand at the Mall and meeting the
K-Mart need from the sand out near the airport, I'd rather see it
come from the Mall, because those trucks coming to K-Mart via
Kingsbury are going through residential neighborhoods, and less
well built roads to accommodate those heavy trucks. Quaker Road is
built to a certain standard. It doesn't go through any residential
neighborhood, and that's.
MR. OBERMAYER-I, myself, would like to see a little more, you know,
better schedule. I mean, you tell us one day, as Tim says, and
then you still see them ramming down the road. I don't have a
problem with Galosha bringing them to K-Mart, but, the whole idea
was to control the trucks during certain traffic periods, and
that's not happening right now. That was the real criticality, how
the whole discussion came about. We didn't want you hauling it
during rush hour in the morning, nor in the evening.
MR. MACEWAN-I will say one thing, in their defense, every truck has
been covered going down Quaker Road.
MR. OBERMAYER-Yes, they have, and they're washing the wheels, too.
I made that comment earlier.
MR. MACEWAN-I mean I guess, somewhere along the line I've lost our
scope of where we're going with this. What's the problem with
going up and down Quaker Road?
MR. OBERMAYER-There's no problem with it, as far as ~ can see.
MR. MACEWAN-And that's a commercial highway.
meant for.
That's what it was
MR. OBERMAYER-Right.
certain hours.
The whole deal was to re strict it during
MR. BREWER-The amount of them.
MR. MACEWAN-Well, why doesn't somebody get on the case of yellow
freight who's got three or four tandem tractor trailers a day going
up and down that road.
MR. BREWER-Three or four a day versus twelve or fifteen an hour,
Craig? Come on.
MR. MACEWAN-I mean, that's what it's meant for.
highway.
I mean, it's a
MR. BREWER-It's not meant for specific amount of trucks, fifteen or
twenty trucks, to go up and down that road all day long.
MR. MACEWAN-Why not?
MR. BREWER-What do you mean, why not? I'm not saying it can't be
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done, but it wasn't built for that.
MR. OBERMAYER-The dirt has to come from somewhere, though. I mean,
they have to continue with the construction. So they have to have.
MR. MACEWAN-How much more time does he need to finish up his deal
with K-Mart?
MR. PIAZZOLA-He told me, I mean, what he's telling me and maybe
what he's telling Tim are two different things, because Tim's on
the Planning Board, and I'm the represented property owner, but.
MR. MARTIN-My main concern is the representation was made to this
municipality, and most specifically that Highway Superintendent
over there, that hauling was to begin on a certain day, and for all
I know, maybe he's made plans, he's going to have somebody there
tomorrow night. That's what I'm concerned about.
MR. BREWER-And that's what I see is the big problem, is the
priority is for K-Mart. We're not in business to make K-Mart
money. The Town has been promised that dirt, and I think the Town
should get it before K-Mart. I'm sorry if you don't like that
thought.
MR. MACEWAN-I'm not saying that I don't like that thought. I agree
with you.
MR. MARTIN-I'm not saying that it's a big deal, that if you're not
right there honoring that tomorrow, but I think it's worth the
courtesy of a personal visit to him tomorrow to explain why it's
not being done.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Okay. Lets do this, because I don't want to keep
giving you schedules that we can't abide by. Tomorrow's April 7th.
Tomorrow will be the last day of hauling for K-Mart, and where he
gets his K-Mart sand from after tomorrow is Danny Galosha's problem
and not mine, because I've got a commitment to delivery 100,000
cubic yards to the Town, and that'll start.
MR. MACEWAN-Let me ask this of the Board. What's the problem if he
stops tomorrow and delivers his 100,000 yards to the Town, then if
he needs, he goes back and starts delivering to K-Mart next week,
two weeks from now?
MR. BREWER-It won't happen, Craig, for the simple reason that K-
Mart, I presume, is on a time schedule, and they're pushing to go
as fast, I don't have a problem if he keeps going to K-Mart, as
long as the Town gets their dirt.
MR. PALING-What is the problem? The schedule that has been set up
has been violated to hell, but it doesn't seem to have caused any
real problem, and the only arguments seem to be taking place here.
What is the problem that's come up because of it?
MR. STARK-The Town's going to get their dirt eventually. What do
they need the dirt now for anyway? It's not winter.
MR. MARTIN-I don't mind even if you don't start tomorrow with the
Town, as long as it's agreeable to the Highway Superintendent.
MR. PIAZZOLA-I hate to keep coming back to you and saying, and have
Tim say, well, you said three days ago, four days ago.
MR. BREWER-You told him Saturday. That's fine with me. I don't
have a problem with that. If you want to go to Saturday, go to
Saturday. If you want to go to Wednesday, don't tell me Saturday
and then go to Wednesday. If you go to next Wednesday, I don't
care. If you want to go to three weeks from Wednesday, I don't
care. You pick a day.
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MR. PIAZZOLA-See, I don't know what he needs.
MR. MACEWAN-Well, what do you care about? I mean what's your gripe
here with this?
MR. BREWER-Because, Craig, when they come in with a piece of paper
that says, we're going to haul from eight a.m. to three p.m., and
they're hauling from four-thirty to three-thirty, or three o'clock,
it's the principle of it.
MRS. LABOMBARD-It is.
MR. BREWER-It's the principle of it, and that's what pisses me off.
MR. MACEWAN-I agree with you on that aspect. Have they been
adhering to it, though, since the last time we talked to them, as
far as the hours?
MR. BREWER-No, sir.
MR. MARTIN-He stopped at three-thirty.
MR. BREWER-They stopped at three-thirty, but they start at four-
thirty in the morning, Jim.
MR. OBERMAYER-I think four-thirty in the morning is a great time to
haul dirt.
MR. BREWER-It says seven to seven.
MR. MARTIN-We sat in Paul Naylor's Office and said, the three of
us.
MR. BREWER-At the Planning Board meeting, they came in with a
schedule.
MR. MARTIN-Well, one of those, we said it was four a.m. to three-
thirty would be all right.
MR. BREWER-Right, we did, but when they came in to the Planning
Board meeting.
MR. MACEWAN-I have to ask you a question right there. Why are YOU
guys making a deal with them that isn't in front of this Board?
MR. BREWER-He said that would be ideal. They came to the Board and
said, from seven p.m. to seven a.m. they would haul to the Town.
From eight a.m. to three p.m. they would haul to K-Mart. We said,
okay, fellas, great. They're doing it from four-thirty in the
morning until three in the afternoon.
MR. MACEWAN-So we've given them two opportunities to adhere to a
strict schedule, and both times they have not done it.
MR. BREWER-That's what bothers me, Craig.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Well, Tim, we gave you two schedules last week that
said, as of April 7th, this is the schedule we're going to follow.
Tomorrow's April 7th.
MR. BREWER-I think the schedule says, as of April 1.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Well, the ones I gave you last week say April 7th.
MR. BREWER-I think they say April 1st. Maybe they say April 7th.
MR. MARTIN-The two phased ones there, the Option A and B.
MR. MACEWAN-Well, I guess maybe the contention we have here is
that, yes, you gave us a schedule that said April 7th,...when you
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were going to be done, but you also gave us a schedule that said,
you guys were going to haul within a certain time period, and that
hasn't happened.
MR. PIAZZOLA-We gave you April 7th.
eight to three, incidental hauling.
We were going to haul from
MR. MACEWAN-That starts at four in the morning.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Tomorrow's April 7th.
MR. MACEWAN-I'm not talking about tomorrow being April 7th. I'm
talking about up to today. Things haven't been going the way
they're supposed to be going.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Galosha said, I need to get as much down to K-Mart as
I can, and I said, well, and he also said that he had a good
relationship with the Town, and it wouldn't be a problem, so he
hauled from four-thirty to three-thirty, and that's what he's been
doing.
MR. MACEWAN-His good relationship, I think, is going down the tubes
real quick.
MR. PIAZZOLA-So I have a schedule that I gave you that says, as of
April 7th, it'll be eight to three, for incidental hauling, and
seven p.m. to seven a.m. to the Town, and that's the schedule we'll
follow.
MR. OBERMAYER-Yes, just a time schedule, where you're going to.
MR. STARK-Why don't you say something to Galosha, get him in here,
and let him defend himself.
MR. BREWER-Isn't that funny, what I said April 1st, and everybody
keeps saying April 7th. It said April 1st, because you told us
that you didn't want to get pinpointed into a specific day being
April 7th. It says April 1st.
MR. OBERMAYER-Do you have someone else contracted?
MR. PIAZZOLA-No. We went to Paul Naylor, and he said he'd be ready
on the seventh, I think. Well, tomorrow's April 7th. Can we just
start the schedule tomorrow?
MR. BREWER-Sure you can.
MR. PIAZZOLA-The
Galosha as well
right. It's all
Town.
thing is, I can't keep coming here and defending
as myself, because Galosha says that it's all
right. I talked to the Town. I've talked to the
MR. MACEWAN-But the bottom line is, Galosha's not the one who made
the deal with the Planning Board. So you're wearing the shoe s
right now, and you're the one that's got to say, I don't care what
you're telling me, that's not the deal I struck up with the
Planning Board, and that's the way it's going to be.
MR. OBERMAYER-It's really your responsibility.
MR. PIAZZOLA-I understand that.
MR. MARTIN-If I were you, all contact of that nature should go
directly through Ron Stoddard. He's the Construction Manager.
MRS. LABOMBARD-May I suggest that we have some closure on this
right now? I think Mike knows what we want and expect of him.
MR. BREWER-No. I think we should officially make a resolution as
to what's going to happen.
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-
MRS. LABOMBARD-That's what I'd like to.
MR. BREWER-If you would tell us what you're going to do, we'll make
a motion and approve it, and if it's violated, then Mr. Martin will
give somebody a call and take the proper procedures, but leave
yourself open. If you want to go until next Saturday, say so. I
mean, I don't care. Just say what you want to do.
MR. OBERMAYER-I mean, if it's going to be ongoing to K-Mart, that's
fine, too.
MR. STARK-He can't say that now, because he doesn't know whether
Naylor can take it tomorrow or not.
MR. BREWER-I'm talking about K-Mart, George.
MR. OBERMAYER-I mean, to me, you can go as long as you want to K-
Mart. How can we stop them from going to K-Mart, the hours?
MR. BREWER-I don't want to have you get in a conflict with
Galosha's either, but on the same hand, I don't want him out there
saying, well, it's okay because I've got a good relationship with
the Town. Bull shit. He doesn't right now, as far as I'm
concerned anyway.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Again, Tim, I don't want to take money out of
Galosha's pocket. So I don't want to commit, and I don't want to
say, okay, tomorrow's the day, if he needs another day, but I want
to be able to say something to you that we can start, we can make
a motion to adopt, and we can start, as of X date, we're going to
stop day hauling.
MR. BREWER-If he needs another day, lets give him until Saturday.
MRS. LABOMBARD-Well, when will we know?
tomorrow.
If Mike talks to him
MR. MACEWAN-He's coming in here right now and telling us the guy
needs until Saturday, or he needs another day.
MR. BREWER-Lets make it a week from today.
MR. OBERMAYER-Yes. Give him a week.
MR. PIAZZOLA-I'd like to give him through Saturday, Tim, because I
don't want to have to come back here in a week and then have you
say.
MR. BREWER-If you want to give him through Saturday, and he's still
going next Wednesday, you'll be back here Monday, I'm sure.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Lets give him through Saturday.
MR. BREWER-Like you said, though, I don't want to take any money
out of his pocket either. I mean, if he can go until, do this,
Mike. We'll give you until next Wednesday. Tell him he's got
until next Tuesday.
MR. PIAZZOLA-I'd like to give him until Saturday.
MR. OBERMAYER-But you could go on your regular twenty-four hour
schedule though after that, right? Just as long as you go by those
time schedules that we agreed upon.
MR. BREWER-I still would like to know the destination.
MR. OBERMAYER-Right, but, I mean, the destination could be K-Mart,
as far as I'm concerned, as long as you go by the time schedule.
MR. MARTIN-You don't have any up date on an ultimate destination
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--
via your own lot or, with NIMO?
MR. PIAZZOLA-We're supposed to have a plan from John Meyer
Consulting, tomorrow or Friday, and they keep promising a plan, and
they're still working with NIMO trying to get SAG line height
coefficients out of them so they can do the final grade, but I told
them, I said, we've surveyed the power lines, put the final grade
on the plan, get it to me so I can get it to NIMO, . and we can get
it in the process, at least so we can get the thing rolling with
NIMO, because they're going to make changes anyway, regardless of
what we submit to them. The other way to go, we're working with,
we just made an overture to Queensbury Gardens, who has an interest
in taking some of it, which would require the construction of a
haul road across the NIMO easement, or the NIMO lands, to get down
to Queensbury Gardens.
MRS. LABOMBARD-Where's Queensbury Gardens?
MR. PIAZZOLA-It's the apartment complex that abuts the property.
MR. BREWER-So you would go through your own property, so to speak,
right?
MR. HARLICKER-Why don't you just build a little old temporary road
right where that dotted line is there?
MR. MARTIN-See that little green line going through Queensbury?
MR. PIAZZOLA-This one right here? Is this where want the fill?
MR. MARTIN-Yes. Put that fill right in that road.
MR. BREWER-I still would like to know, if it goes on site or that
route, I don't care, but I would like to know the destination. All
right. You're going to do seven p. m. to seven a. m., Town of
Queensbury.
MR. PIAZZOLA-That'll start Monday evening, which is, that'll be the
eleventh.
MR. BREWER-You're going to call Paul Naylor tomorrow morning,
correct?
MR. PIAZZOLA-Right.
MR. BREWER-Begin the eleventh of April.
MR. PIAZZOLA-We're going to have incidental day hauling between
eight a.m. and three p.m.
MR. STARK-What's that, for the foot print of the building?
MR. PIAZZOLA-That would be for the footings.
MR. BREWER-Beginning Monday?
MR. PIAZZOLA-Beginning Monday, eight to three, incidental hauling.
MR. OBERMAYER-Where are you going to bring that fill, the
incidental material?
MR. PIAZZOLA-It's one truck an hour to K-Mart, is that a problem?
MR. BREWER-No.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Eight to three, incidental hauling, and I don't know
the destination, but you'll know as of Monday.
MR. BREWER-Before it happens.
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"-'
MR. PIAZZOLA-Between now, which is 4/6 to 4/9, day hauling until
eleven a. m. on Saturday. We close down on the weekend. On
Saturday, we close down day hauling.
MR. BREWER-Day hauling beginning at four-thirty a.m. until three
p.m.
MR. MARTIN-And eleven a.m. on Saturday.
MR. BREWER-Will end eleven a.m. Saturday, 4/9. How's that, Mike?
MR. PIAZZOLA-If you could put that on Queensbury letterhead. If
you type that up, then we can hand it to Galosha and say, here it
is. Here's your schedule.
MR. MACEWAN-And if he doesn't abide by it, somebody ought to say
something to him, then.
MR. PIAZZOLA-I know. I'm trying to keep Galosha working, but the
thing is, every time I go to him and say, you have to do this, he
says, I've already taken care of it with the Town. So should I go
hire August Bole and throw Galosha off the site, which is what I'd
like to do, because I don't like to keep coming here.
MR. MARTIN-No. The next time he says that to you, you say, okay,
fine, lets go call Jim Martin right now.
MR. PIAZZOLA-Okay.
MR. MARTIN-All right? Lets do that. Next time he says I've worked
it out with the Town, lets the three of us get on the phone.
MR. PALING-With all due respect, this letterhead will be the
Planning Board that's saying this, and it's not Paul Naylor.
MR. MARTIN-I'll tell you what, Tim. I'll have it typed up for your
signature. We'll just say, as per our meeting last night, the
agreed upon hauling schedule is.
MR. BREWER-I want to make a motion right now to approve this
schedule, and then tomorrow it can be typed up, and I'll sign it.
MR. STARK-Make the motion, then.
MOTION FOR THE AVIATION MALL HAULING BEGINNING 4/6/94 THROUGH
4/9/94 DAY HAULING FROM 4:30 A.M. TO 3:00 P.M WILL END 11 A.M.
SATURDAY 4/9/94. BEGINNING MONDAY APRIL 11TH. 7 P.M. TO 7 A.M. TO
THE TOWN OF QUEENSBURY PIT. INCIDENTAL HAULING WILL BE FROM 8 A.M.
TO 3 P.M. ONLY, Introduced by Timothy Brewer who moved for its
adoption, seconded by Craig MacEwan:
Duly adopted this 6th day of April, 1994, by the following vote:
AYES: Mr. Obermayer, Mr. Paling, Mr. MacEwan, Mrs. LaBombard,
Mr. Stark, Mr. Brewer
NOES: NONE
ABSENT: Mr. Ruel
MR. PIAZZOLA-The other thing I need to ask your indulgence on is to
have a workshop meeting, so we can talk about our subdivision plan
that we've filed, basically, for financing purposes, and we'd like
to do that on the 12th, if possible, the 12th of April.
MR. BREWER-I spoke to Bob Stewart about it today, and I said I
didn't have a problem with it. You want to do it Tuesday the 12th.
Do you know if Bob got a hold of Ted Turner today?
MR. PIAZZOLA-I don't know. Bob told me, I was in Syracuse today,
- 34 -
but Bob called me on the phone. Can we tentatively schedule it for
the 12th? Can we have it set up for the 12th, and then we'll
confirm it with the ZBA?
MR. BREWER-All right.
MR. PALING-I'm not familiar with what you're talking about. We're
going to get something on this?
MR. BREWER-We'll get paperwork.
MR. MARTIN-It will be in your packets. It's on your April agenda.
MR. STARK-Does anybody see any problem with the subdivision?
MR. BREWER-Nobody's seen it yet, George.
MR. STARK-Well, you know what they want to do.
MR. MARTIN-I can, basically, in a nutshell, tell you what it is.
Here is it here, okay. They've got a long term lender on this
whole building, some sort of teacher's pension fund. They don't do
construction financing. They've had to go to a conventional bank
to finance their construction of the J.C. Penney's building. Those
lenders have said, we want a first security position on that parcel
of land that the building is going to sit on or we won't give you
the financing. So, in order to do that, a lot has to be created
that follows the footprint of that building. Now, when you do
that, she's got it here, when you do that, you naturally create
parcels that violate virtually every aspect of the Code. There's
no yard setbacks. There's no frontage on a road. There's no
nothing. It's supposed to be 25 acres in size. Everything is, you
know, so that's why they have to go for a variance. The Board's
seen when a nonconforming lot comes through, you can't create a
nonconforming lot. You've got to get a variance first, and then
they've got to get a subdivision, and the frustrating thing about
all this is, this lot is probably going to exist for the term of
the construction, maybe eight, nine months, tops, and then it's all
going to be conveyed back into the overall parcel again.
MR. MACEWAN-Isn't there something you can do to get around that?
MR. OBERMAYER-Can't you get a construction loan?
MR. MACEWAN-Can't we pass some sort of resolution to get him around
that, so that they don't have to go through that rigamarol?
MR. STARK-That seems like a hell of a lot of expense.
MR. MARTIN-They've done that before, with other communities, and I
can't think of, because you have to look at the worst case scenario
here, if something did go wrong, that the long term lender doesn't
take out the construction lender, that lot will stay in effect. I
mean, that's probably a one percent chance of that happening or
whatever, but nonetheless.
MR. PIAZZOLA-When you borrow three million dollars from the bank,
they want to know that they've got collateral on the loan, and
you're fighting the battle between Teachers which is a big
Teacher's Pension fund that has the loan against the whole 55 acre
parcel, and Key Bank, which is going to be doing the loan on the
Penneys. Teachers wants to give up as little as possible, because
they want to have the most leverage and collateral as they possibly
can. Key Bank wants to get as much as they can because they want
to spread their risk out ove~ as much of the property as possible.
Key Bank will not take a secondary mortgage position behind
Teachers. Teachers has a mortgage here that's in the first
posi tion. We went to Key Bank and said, listen, just take a
second, and they said basically, we're not going to sit behind a
thirty million dollar mortgage. We'll have to foreclose against
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the thirty million, buy Teachers out, just to secure our three
million, which is the J.C. Penneys building. The way we've done
this, in several other communities across New York, is we've
created a subdivision plan where we've created separate and
distinct parcels.
MR. MARTIN-In the Town of Guilderland, most closely.
MR. BREWER-How come so many lots, though?
MR. PIAZZOLA-How come so many lots? Just quickly, we're buying
three lots from Charlie Wood, which (TAPE TURNED) If we could just
do that, that would be a lot line alteration. The problem is, the
bank that's loaning the money for the construction wants those as
collateral as well. So they have to be subdivided, but the
existing J.C. Penney has to be subdivided because what's going to
happen is, when the proposed J.C. Penney is built, the construction
lender's going to take their collateral interest out of there, give
it back to Teachers, then they're going to take the collateral
interest against the existing J.C. Penney which is being built out
as Mall shops. ..department store, when that's built, then
Teachers will get the collateral interest back in the existing J.C.
Penney, and the construction lender will take their collateral
interest against the fourth department store pad.
MR. MACEWAN-And the lawyers are getting rich.
MR. PIAZZOLA-We' re creating 10. We're creating the large Mall
parcel. We're creating Department Store D, which would be four,
J. C. Penney, which is five, the new J. C. Penney, which is six,
seven, eight, to Charlie Wood, nine, Charlie Wood, and... .which is
Parcel 10.
MR. BREWER-And then after everything is built, it's going to be
reverted back to one lot again?
MR. PIAZZOLA-Right, and we'll be filing another subdivision plan,
a year from now, with one parcel, to roll all the parcels back into
one. I mean, Bob Stewart, I have a meeting with Bob Stewart, and
he asks me a thousand questions. How can you do this without going
through the subdivision process? This is just a pain in the neck.
It's a lot of paper. It's a waste of trees. There's got to be
another way, Michael, and the lawyers that represent these banks in
New York want it this way, because if they have to foreclose
against this proposed J.C. Penney parcel, they want to know there's
something to sell.
MR. BREWER-How in the hell can they not be sure about a company
like J.C. Penney? It's Pyramid Company, though.
MR. PIAZZOLA-So that's why we filed the 10 lot subdivision plan.
We're using all the engineering from the site plan modification,
the original site plan package, as the underlying engineering that
you'd submit with any subdivision plan that you file.
MR. STARK-Tim, did you talk to Ted about this?
MR. MARTIN-Ted's aware of it.
MR. STARK-What's he say?
MR. MARTIN-His general impression is, and I don't want to speak for
him, but I think his general impression is that he doesn't see a
problem, from an Area Variance standpoint, and that their principal
concern in considering that is they have to weigh the detriment to
the neighborhood against the benefit to the applicant, and in this
case, the surrounding community, there's really not a detriment to
the community. The Mall's there. This is a continuation of that
use, I mean, and everybody knows what it is, and the benefit to the
applicant is obvious.
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MR. STARK-This will be a joint Board meeting next week?
MR. MARTIN-Well, I don't know.
hope that it is.
We haven't heard from them.
We
MR. BREWER-Tentatively the 12th.
MR. STARK-Which is Tuesday.
MR. PIAZZOLA-We'd like to get on the Planning Board agenda for our
Preliminary plan at subdivision on the 20th of April.
MR. MARTIN-Well, we had to stagger it in such a way that you're on
for the ZBA meeting first, and then the next available Planning
Board meeting, provided you get all your approvals.
MR. BREWER-The nineteenth you'll come to us. The twentieth, you'll
go to the ZBA.
MR. MARTIN-No. It's got to be reversed.
MR. PIAZZOLA-I guess you need the variances before you can go to
the Planning Board?
MR. BREWER-Right. He's got to go to the ZBA the 20th and us the
26th.
MRS. CIPPERLY-We're going to have two meetings. He's coming to us
on the 21st.
MR. BREWER-And then he's going to come to us the 26th.
MR. STARK-Why do we have to have a meeting on the 12th?
MR. MARTIN-He wants to have a joint session to explain this to both
Boards.
MR. PIAZZOLA-What I'd like to do, George, is bring in Bob Stewart,
Austin Hoffman, who's the Attorney out of Syracuse who does this
for a living, from Pyramid, John Meyer Consulting and Northeast
Survey.
MR. STARK-Seven o'clock next Tuesday then, over there?
MR. BREWER-Yes.
us.
If there's any change to that, you'll hear from
MR. PIAZZOLA-If we don't get the ZBA, I'd still like to just take
an hour of your time, if we could, to go through this thing in
greater detail.
MRS. LABOMBARD-We have site visits the 13th of April.
MR. BREWER-Right. Tuesday night, the 12th, we have a meeting at
seven o'clock. After that, we have the 19th and the 26th.
MR. MACEWAN-I've got two things I'd like to talk about, if I can,
for a minute. Did you guys make some sort of deal with these guys
in that meeting there on Monday?
MR. BREWER-We didn't make any deal.
MR. MACEWAN-Well, that's not what I heard from you.
MR. BREWER-He said it would be ideal if he could go from 4:30 in
the morning.
MR. MACEWAN-That's not what I heard. My ears didn't deceive me.
You said that's not the new schedule we agreed to. That was the
word you used, right?
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-"
MR. BREWER-We agreed to a schedule last week.
MR. MACEWAN-No. I'm talking about when you guys met with them
Monday afternoon.
MR. BREWER-Yes. We told them they had to stop at three o'clock in
the afternoon, and, essentially, that's what they did.
MR. MACEWAN-You didn't make up a new schedule then?
MR. MARTIN-No. We told them to stop at three.
MR. MACEWAN-Okay. Secondly, this thing with the McDonald
Subdivision, I would encourage you to take a look at the law,
because the law states that any modification of an existing
undeveloped subdivision kicks it right back in Sketch, Preliminary,
allover again, and that's the way the law was written, and that's
the way the law went into effect July 1, and that's the way Dick
Boos put it to us, and it was specifically asked that, even if you
moved a lot line one foot, and he says, even if you moved a lot
line six inches, it kicks the process in allover again. It's kind
of stupid, but there's reasons for it.
MRS. LABOMBARD-Now this McDonald Drive, or whatever, what, is that
in there already?
MR. MARTIN-Yes.
MR. MACEWAN-It's existing, but they're modifying it to suit the
needs of the entranceway to the PUD. If everybody's going to play
by the rules, I want everybody to play by the rules.
MRS. LABOMBARD-Would you answer this question for me? I know that
the original plan of Hudson Point is, you know, the Town Board said
no, there's no way, we did, this was before me, okay. There's no
way we're going to do 199 lots.
MR. BREWER-On the contrary.
MRS. LABOMBARD-So, we got it down to 166. You get them down to 96,
and they re-did the whole thing.
MR. BREWER-I'll tell you the scenario. The scenario was that they
came to the Planning Board, and I'm as a member of the public, they
came to the Planning Board, they approached them. They showed them
a plan that the Planning Board gave them conceptual approval. They
went to the Town Board, the Town Board went through the process
with them, ended up giving them a positive dec on the EIS, and went
and did a Draft Environmental Impact Statement, and came back,
correct me if I'm wrong, no, didn't ever come back.
MR. MACEWAN-Never came back to ~.
MR. BREWER-They came back with a final, it came as a Draft EIS.
They took comments. They had a public hearing. They listened to
people speak. NIMO got involved a little bit. They came back with
a Final EIS, which now shows you the plan that you're looking at
today.
MRS. LABOMBARD-Right. Okay. Now, we have to have another public
hearing to, now, this, what they just showed us today, nothing has
been ratified or okayed.
MR. BREWER-PUD status has been approved.
MR. MARTIN-There's elements of that that you cannot change, without
Town Board action.
MRS. LABOMBARD-I understand that.
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MR. STARK-Who owns the land, right now?
MR. BREWER-Niagara Mohawk.
MR. STARK-And they're selling it to the Michaels Group?
MRS. LABOMBARD-So the Michaels Group hasn't forked out a penny yet,
except for their engineering fees and drawings?
MR. BREWER-Believe me, they've forked out a lot of money.
MRS. LABOMBARD-I know, but they haven't bought any, they don't own
any deeds to any property?
MR. MACEWAN-They're whole deal is going
getting final approval of this subdivision.
will change hands.
to be contingent upon
Then, probably, money
MRS. LABOMBARD-And who gives them the final approval?
MR. MACEWAN-This Board.
MRS. LABOMBARD-This Board, yes or no.
MR. BREWER-In phases.
MR. STARK-Well, say they come in for the first phase. You give
them final approval for the first phase, he can build the first
phase.
MR. MACEWAN-This Board has, basically, the right to say yes or no
to them. That's why I'm asking you guys to get a copy of that
Final Impact Statement, so that you can, it's going to be thick,
and there's going to be a lot of reading, but will bring you up to
date on everything that's happened with the thing since Day A.
MR. OBERMAYER-You can get us copies of that. right?
MR. MARTIN-Yes.
MR. MACEWAN-Plus the McDonald Subdivision.
MR. OBERMAYER-Now when are they scheduled to come in front of us?
MR. BREWER-They're not yet.
MR. MACEWAN-Some time in May it'll be in front of us.
MRS. LABOMBARD-But you see, this is where I'm confused. From what
I've inferred, is that because they had gone to this point revise
their original plan, that something actual was, that the okay was
given to them for something.
MR. BREWER-A PUD.
MR. MACEWAN-They got a new zoning designation. That's what they
got.
MR. BREWER-That zoning up there is all SR-1, WR-3, okay.
Therefore, that means they can't go in there and put third acre
lots. They went in under a PUD designation, which allows them a
mix of uses. The density has to stand, but the lot size can vary.
MRS. LABOMBARD-Can vary, I understand.
MR. BREWER-And so that's what they got. It was approved.
MRS. LABOMBARD-So, we conceivably, all of us could say, no, we
don't want anymore PUD's in that part of Queensbury, and can the
whole thing, scrub the whole thing. I'm saying, hypothetically,
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everybody in here, or half of us decide.
MR. MARTIN-You have to have a reason. There has to be a
substantive reason. They're entitled to that PUD designation. A
PUD is an actual zoning district. just like SR-1 Acre or something
like that. It's an actual zoning district. Now they're entitled
to that, and they're entitled to that in a basic format, and that's
what that resolution approved. Now, the responsibility of this
Board is to take that general form and hone it down into a specific
plan, a detailed plan. Now, if you reject that, there has to be a
reason for it, and then they go back to the drawing Board. They
have that basic form, and they'll adjust something..your concern,
but they're entitled to that project, and they're entitled to that
project under certain general circumstances.
MRS. LABOMBARD-What about a SEQRA Review on all of that?
MR. MACEWAN-It's all been done. That's what kicked it into the
Full Environmental Impact Statement.
MR. MARTIN-They're in, the scheme of things, the way that's laid
out, they're about two thirds of the way through the process. The
final third is this site plan review process. Remember, the reason
why it's termed site plan review is they now have a permitted use.
They've got a permitted district. Now, it's just like you with any
other site plan approval. It's not that it's ~ a permitted use.
It's a permitted use, but only upon your approval of that site
plan. There's going to be 96 lots there, and the resolution of
approval even gives parameters to the size of those lots, and it
also says, there's a range in which those lots can fall. Maybe it
can be 32 third acre lots at only, I think, the ranges are in
there, though. So, within those ranges, this development can take
place, but you, and through your site plan review process now,
determine what that detailed shape is going to be.
MR. BREWER-. .the minimum or maximum amount of certain sized lots.
MR. MARTIN-What I think is an important concept with a Planned Unit
Development is, Planned Unit Development is our most sophisticated
mechanism we have in this Ordinance to deal with Planning, and that
is supposed to be a planned community. That's why, you normally
don't address things like street lighting and street signage, but
you're going to get into those things because that's all things
that are elements of this neighborhood. and you're planning this
out almost to the Nth degree.
MR. MACEWAN-How emphatic are you going to be wanting to make them
stick to that, I mean, with lighting, signage? A couple of things,
as part of this PUD they were supposed to have, a PUD's supposed to
encompass a wide range of community needs, from not only commercial
endeavors. but residential, and neither one of the commercial zones
that are being met with and really dealing with, just kind of,
well, we might do that in the future. We might not do it at all.
MR. MARTIN-Yes, but I disagree because in that resolution of
approval, there are specific uses. That resolution of approval for
those commercial district is laid out just like commercial district
of this Ordinance. It' s limited to certain uses. They have
setbacks. They even have a green space requirement. A certain
amount of green space in the front yard.
MR. MACEWAN-What I'm getting at is that, it could never happen, a
commercial use.
MR. MARTIN-So then they'd have to come in for a zone change or
something like that.
MR. MACEWAN-On that basis alone, they're not meeting the
requirements of a PUD.
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MR. MARTIN-I don't think you're needed to have a commercial space
to meet the requirements of a PUD.
MR. MACEWAN-It says so in the Ordinance.
MR. MARTIN-I think they've also met the requirements of a PUD by
the range in housing that they have there. They have a certain
number of third acre lots.
MR~ MACEWAN-Yes, but a PUD is not just designed for residential
needs. A PUD is supposed to be, the thought and the mechanism
behind it is supposed to be a self-contained community.
MR. MARTIN-No. It can be an all residential PUD. Look at Top of
the World.
MR. PALING-It doesn't seem that the public is going to have much of
an impact on this now.
MR. MARTIN-But it's supposed to be a range of housing.
MRS. LABOMBARD-They could just bring up some real concerns that
would have to be modified, and once those would be modified...
MR. MACEWAN-The Southern Exposure development is not part of the
PUD, however, they need to gain access through that development to
get to their PUD. That was a development that was done before the
Master Plan was changed. They're all substandard lots in there.
Now that the thing's never been developed and they're now modifying
the thing, it's going to kick it back through, in mY opinion,
through the whole process again. ...are going to have to come up
with one acre lots. I guess when you get down to the point, you
talk about what's your definition of a modification, whether it's
major or minor. You're definition of what yoU might think might be
a minor modification is not mY. definition. I mean, if you're
moving a lot line one or two feet, or you're taking a radius of a
road and moving it a little bit, yes, maybe that could get away to
become a minor modification, but when you're totally changing the
infrastructure, like they are in that, and totally moving, what,
five or six properties in there, changing the lots all around, that
becomes a major modification.
MR. MARTIN-Well, that's your decision as a Board.
MRS. LABOMBARD-All right. From past experiences, what's your
opinion, that you think's going to happen, when we present this to
the public, in open forum?
MR. MARTIN-I think, given what this has gone through, and as
closely as I've followed this with the Town Board all the way
through, I think you're going to have some comment, but it's not
going to be that negative.
MR. MACEWAN-I want to reiterate one point that Mike O'Connor said,
was he was saying that that was a resolution that was acted upon,
the thing that Ed LaPoint had initiated that resolution for that.
On that, that resolution was done before that new law went into
effect, and nothing happened on that subdivision. They didn't act
upon it, and no formal decision has been made on that subdivision.
No formal approval has been done on it. So, as far as that goes,
that resolution is kicked right out, because now the law supersedes
that resolution.
MR. MARTIN-Well, I think it's up to this Board to come to a
consensus of opinion on how you want to treat this.
MR. MACEWAN-Well, that's why everybody's got to have
information in front of them. You can't come up with
consensus with everybody, you know, for me, personally, I'd
see them go through the process again on that subdivision.
all the
a good
like to
I don't
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have a problem with the way it's laid out or anything. I'd like to
see the lots maybe a little bit bigger, but I think there's some
room for flexibility in there, but to just ignore it and say, well,
it's a minor modification, just dust it off, that's not right.
That's not the case.
MR. BREWER-Hypothetically, if it does have to go through the
process again.
MR. MACEWAN-It should go through easy.
haggling.
There shouldn't be any
MR. BREWER-Does he leave the zoning as it is?
MRS. LABOMBARD-See, I don't understand why Phase I has to be the
one third acre lots.
MR. MARTIN-It's always been the case that when a subdivision comes
in for a modification that was approved under an old Ordinance,
it's bound only to the requirements of the old Ordinance.
MR. MACEWAN-The reason for it, Cathy, is you have to get the
infrastructure going first. You have to gain access into there to
do that. They're not going to go up and down Sherman Island Road.
They're not going to use that access road down by the river. They
need to get their Boulevard put in first, and get into there, and
where are they going in through, it happens to be gOing through
those third acre lots. That's the reason why they have to go that
way.
MR. BREWER-They've got to recoup some of their money.
MR. MACEWAN-Yes. It doesn't make sense for them to go and put,
what did you say, $100 a foot to put a road in to go in there three
quarters of a mile to build up six half acre lots and hopefully try
to sell them, when you've just put in how many millions of dollars
worth of roadway.
On motion meeting was adjourned.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
Timothy Brewer, Chairman
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