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01-11-2021 MTG #3 REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 347 REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING VIA ZOOM MTG#3 TH JANUARY 11, 2021 RES# 43-51 7:00 P.M. B.H. 1-4 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT SUPERVISOR JOHN STROUGH COUNCILMAN ANTHONY METIVIER COUNCILMAN HARRISON FREER COUNCILMAN GEORGE FERONE COUNCILMAN TIMOTHY MCNULTY TOWN COUNSEL ROBERT HAFNER, ESQ. TOWN OFFICIALS DIRECTOR OF BUILDING AND CODES, DAVE HATIN PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE LED BY COUNCILMAN ANTHONY METIVIER SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Called meeting to order…. 1.0 RESOLUTION ENTERING QUEENSBURY BOARD OF HEALTH RESOLUTION NO. 43, 2021 INTRODUCED BY: WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby adjourns from session and enters into the Queensbury Board of Health. th Duly adopted this 11 day of January, 2021 by the following vote: AYES: Mr. Metivier, Mr. Freer, Mr. Ferone, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Strough NOES: None ABSENT:None CONTINUATION OF PUBLIC HEARING –SEWAGE DISPOSAL VARIANCE OF MICHAEL GRASSO PUBLICATION DATE: NOVEMBER 20, 2020 SUPERVISOR STROUGH-The Sewage Disposal Application of Michael Grasso has been withdrawn. They are going to redo it and reapply. PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED PUBLIC HEARING SEWAGE DISPOSAL VARIANCE APPLICATION OF MICHAEL LOUGHREY PUBLICATION DATE: DECEMBER 28, 2020 AGENT ETHAN HALL, RUCINSKI HALL ARCHITECTURE SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Reviewed application before opening public hearing. MR. HALL-It is a seasonal residence. They really only use it during the summer. The whole thing came about because they are doing a minor expansion of the second floor. When we made the application to Dave Hatin’s Office for the building permit this part came up because they are in the Waterfront Residential District. We had to certify the septic. The existing septic is an existing holding tank. Dave said the holding tank is not big enough. You will have to ask for a REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 348 variance to keep what you have. They have been at this residence for quite some time. They are the second owner. They have been in this seasonal residence for a number of years. They have it pumped twice during the season when they are there. Of course, there is nobody using it in the winter. They have not had any issues with it with the size that it is. John I do not know if you went to the site. It is a steep site down into the area. To get a compliant system in, I mean they had a heck of a time getting the system in that they have. To add an additional two thousand gallon tanks into that area would be, I mean they would have to do a significant amount of tree cutting, clearing and stuff to get it in. They just don’t feel that it is necessary or warranted. They have been using the property for years the way it is. They would like to just leave it rather than go through all this. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Ethan does it have all the bells and whistles. I mean that when it gets to a certain level it is going to have a bell that goes off. If it gets to another higher level, the water cuts off. MR. HALL-Right. A half-full alarm lets them know that it is half-full. When it gets to a high water alarm, which gives them one days capacity. When it gets above that, it shuts off. There is a solenoid switch that shuts off the inlet from the water tank. They cannot get any more water into the building so it shuts it off at that point. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-The pumper has been able to get there obviously all these other years. MR. HALL-Yes. They have to use smaller truck to get down in there. That is kind of the other issue. If they do to a three thousand gallon system, they have to either make multiple trips or bring a bigger truck. Trying to get a bigger truck down Sign Post Road is going to be a trick. Using the smaller truck to get down in there, they can make that happen fairly easy. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Questions from the Town Board before I open this up to the public. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-You talked about some slight modifications to the house. What are those slight modifications? MR. HALL-On the second floor Tim there is an existing like loft space that is on the second floor. Very low head room the way the roof pitches there is very low headroom. All they are trying to do is raise the pitch of that roof so that they can utilize that space a little better. That is really all it is. There is no change in the building footprint or anything like that. They are just changing the volume of the space. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Thank you. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-No other questions from the Town Board? I will open it to the public. Is there any member of the public who is listening? Please indicate. There is more than one way of indicating your interest. There is a Q&A button at the bottom of your Zoom screen that comes up. It has a pop up that comes up. Then you can do a Chat. You can type a question in. My screen tells me if there is any interest from the public on this particular application. PUBLIC HEARING OPENED NO PUBLIC COMMENT PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED DISCUSSION HELD BEFORE VOTE: TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-Do you want to put the contingency in there that it can be maintained provided that it has the ( ½) half full alarm and automatic shut-off at full. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Yes. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-That is a part of the public record, but that is a contingency that they have to have. Not just something….at the moment. REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 349 COUNCILMAN FERONE-It is existing though I thought. MR. HALL-I believe that it is. They were looking at the tank to make sure that it was. I think that they confirmed that with the septic hauler. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-We will add Bob’s amendment based on the contingency of what Bob just mentioned. COUNCILMAN FREER-I would rather just say that we make it on that it complies with current Code. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-I thought it didn’t comply with current Code because it is a thousand gallon holding tank. That is why we are here. MR. HALL-That is right. The size doesn’t comply. That is what we need the variance for. COUNCILMAN FREER-The rest of the bells and whistles comply, right? MR. HALL-Right. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-So we are keeping the amendment as originally posted by Town Counsel. RESOLUTION APPROVING MICHAEL LOUGHREY’S APPLICATION FOR SANITARY SEWAGE DISPOSAL VARIANCE RESOLUTION NO.: BOH 1, 2021 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. George Ferone WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Anthony Metivier WHEREAS, Michael Loughrey (Applicant) filed an application for a variance from a provision of the Town of Queensbury On-Site Sewage Disposal Ordinance Chapter 136 to maintain an existing sewage disposal system that does not meet today’s current requirements on his property as follows:  Maintain the existing 1,000 gallon holding tank at his seasonal two bedroom residence instead of installing a 3,000 gallon holding tank required of a two bedroom residence; on property located at 11 Sign Post Road in the Town of Queensbury, and WHEREAS, the Town Clerk’s Office published the Notice of Public Hearing in the Town’s official newspaper and the Local Board of Health duly conducted a public hearing concerning the th variance request on Monday, January 11, 2021, and WHEREAS, the Town Clerk’s Office has advised that it duly notified all property owners within 500 feet of the subject property, REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 350 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that 1. due to the nature of the variance, the Local Board of Health determines that the variance would not be materially detrimental to the purposes and objectives of this Ordinance or other adjoining properties nor otherwise conflict with the purpose and objectives of any Town plan or policy; and 2. the Local Board of Health finds that the granting of the variance is necessary for the reasonable use of the land and is the minimum variance which would alleviate the specific unnecessary hardship found by the Local Board of Health to affect the Applicant; and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Local Board of Health hereby approves the application of Michael Loughrey for a variance from the Sewage Disposal Ordinance to maintain an existing sewage disposal system that does not meet today’s current requirements on his property as follows:  Maintain the existing 1,000 gallon holding tank at his seasonal two bedroom residence instead of installing a 3,000 gallon holding tank required of a two bedroom residence; on property located at 11 Sign Post Road in the Town of Queensbury and bearing Tax Map No: 239.16-1-7, contingent upon the holding tank always having an alarm for when it reaches one-half (1/2) full and an automatic shut-off when it becomes full, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board authorizes and directs the Town Clerk to forward by certified mail a certified copy of this Resolution to the Adirondack Park Agency for its review, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that this approval Resolution shall not be effective until 30 days after such notice to the Adirondack Park Agency and shall be subject to any lawful action by the Adirondack Park Agency during such period. th Duly adopted this 11 day of January, 2021, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Freer, Mr. Ferone, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Strough, Mr. Metivier NOES : None ABSENT: None PUBLIC HEARING SEWAGE DISPOSAL VARIANCE APPLICATION OF JOHN AND MARY JO SABIA PUBLICATION DATE: DECEMBER 28, 2020 REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 351 AGENT ETHAN HALL RUCINSKI HALL ARCHITECTURE SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Reviewed application before opening public hearing. The current residence is one bedroom. MR. HALL-Correct. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-This system is not designed for one bedroom. It is designed for a much bigger house. MR. HALL-Correct. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-It is designed for four bedrooms. It is the end of a private drive with very limited parking. If you went onsite, the terrain is very challenged. I think that Ethan Hall did a great job designing these systems. However, and I am going to open it to the Town Board. Then I will open it to the public. I have a problem with this one. It is not with the design Ethan I think you did a great job. The problem I have with this is the owners are trying to put too much on a very constrained piece of property. Parking is a problem. The site is a problem because of the terrain and the steep hill in back of it. This has not gone through Planning Board or Zoning Board. It will require site plan review. It will require Zoning Board variances. Despite the good job that you did Ethan I for one, Town Board member have a problem with this the way it is presented. It is not your fault. The owners of the property I think are asking too much. Put me aside and let the other Town Board members share their thoughts. MR. HALL-Can I interject before we go too far John. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Sure you can. MR. HALL-I know where you are coming from with this. John and Mary Jo have owned this property for a number of years. I think they are in the forty or fifty years. When you did Canterbury’s house right next-door this was the next piece of property down the road. John and Mary Jo came to me and they said, look we would like to redo our house. Right now, it is a seasonal thing they cannot use it in the winter. It is basically uninsulated. They come up every now and then, but it is not a good house for them to use in the winter. They are very limited in the size of the lot. We know we have a challenge ahead of us as far as Planning and Zoning goes. We put together the application for Planning and Zoning to go in front of those boards. Craig Brown said before you can come to us you know you need a septic variance go get the septic variance first go through that process. Then you can come back to Planning and Zoning and we can kind of go from there. We are looking at changing the house. I think drawing C-2 shows the propose site plan for it. It is a very challenging lot when you look at all the requirements for setbacks. There is only about a twenty-foot wide usable space on this lot. When we did Canterbury’s we had a very similar challenge. However, they were able to purchase some of the property behind them from the Benton’s so they could get the sewage disposal system that was compliant with Town regs. The lot that Mary Jo and John have there is no way that we can actually purchase additional property because it is all uphill and it would make the former Benton’s property too small. We looked at different systems and what we could do. We talked with the folks at IBS. They have this Norweco System that we are proposing to install there. It is an onsite treatment system with a bottomless sand filter. It is an onsite treatment system that is a three- chambered system. It is an aeration system that treats the water before it gets to the disposal bed. It comes through a filter system then into a pump chamber, which then takes it up to the disposal bed. That is where we are going with it. It is a very enhanced system. It is a very expensive system. It is about a thirty five thousand dollar system. According to the folks at Norweco and John, I know you had looked at this a little bit. They say that they have used this system out in the Finger Lakes exclusively. They say that the water that comes out of it can be used for landscaping irrigation and it is nearly potable. I told them it is nearly potable for you not for me. This is just kind of a synopsis of where we are and trying to make it fit within the balance of the lot. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Thank you Ethan. Town Board anybody at this point in time like to speak to this? COUNCILMAN FERONE-Ethan I am glad you took the time to explain it. This is one of the first ones I have seen from this manufacturer. I have seen the Clarus Fusions, the Peat System, and that REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 352 type of thing. My question has to do with the infiltration bed. If I look at the plan here. I know that there is another request we have we another property. It says that they raised the bed above ground with special sands and that. MR. HALL-Yes. COUNCILMAN FERONE-Along the side they have pressure treated landscape timbers or masonry block. MR. HALL-The one that we are proposing for Mary Jo and for the Carders will be masonry. COUNCILMAN FERONE-It still sounds like to me that will deteriorate over time. MR. HALL-The inside of the block George is lined with a membrane so the water cannot come out the sides it has to go down that is why it is a bottomless sand filter. The special sand that is brought in acts as the media to strain out anything that might be left from the treatment system. Like I said, out in the Finger Lakes they are allowing them to actually use this as irrigation. They can take it from the pump system, spray it out on the lawns, and stuff as irrigation. It is a very clean system when it gets done. COUNCILMAN FERONE-Thank you. COUNCILMAN FREER-Can you talk about what is the maintenance and the life cycle. MR. HALL-Sure, absolutely Harrison. The system itself you have to have a maintenance contract with the installer. They come once a year and pump the system out. They change the filters that are in it. It is a constant maintenance system. You have to enter into that Maintenance Agreement with the septic installer. That can be done in perpetuities so that the next owners have to do the same thing. Like I said, they pump it out. They check the aeration system. They change the filters in the outlet end of the treatment system once a year. I believe it is either once a year or once every three years. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-John I appreciate you sharing the emails from the Zoning Board today. Is there a precedent where the decision on the septic system has to be made first? As we discovered there is a lot, more variances required to build this. The land to ratio is point nineteen acres. We didn’t even look at where they could park their cars. For four bedrooms, you would imagine there would be more than one car. Do we have to make this decision before the Zoning Board? COUNCILMAN FERONE-It is going to come out of site plan review when the project goes before the Planning Board and if necessary the ZBA. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-I think Bob wants to speak to this. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-Historically, the Planning and Zoning Boards have asked that people get the Towns to seek those variances first. There is nothing that requires the Town Board to act. We have them…saying we are uncomfortable with this. Wait until you get approval from the Planning and Zoning Board and come back. The Planning and Zoning Board may not agree to do that. You guys are all independent Boards that can make your own decision. In a case like this if you wanted to wait until there is an actual approved project that actually would use this much four bedrooms rather than one. You could decide you are not willing to entertain at this time. …you could let them know that they could come back at a later time if they do get approvals from the Planning and Zoning Boards. COUNCILMAN FREER-There is a little bit of a Catch 22 Tim. Typically, I think the rest of us have all sat on one of the Boards. I do not think we have to wait for all of the approvals. Typically, those Boards…approve something. It is kind of a circular argument. We could ask the Planning Board for an initial review. That is typically, what the Zoning Board asks of the Planning Board is an initial assessment. They will say we are concerned about this, this or this. Worse, they will say looking at the plans; we do not have any issues. I think that would be my recommendation is that we get the first Planning Board review. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Harrison you cannot do that. REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 353 COUNCILMAN FREER-Okay. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-The Planning Board does not know until all members come to a consensus as to what they are going to do or not do. They have to do the complete review of this. MR. HALL-Their initial recommendation is to the Zoning Board. We have to go get our zoning variances first. Then come back to Planning Board for site plan review. My fear would be if we get all the way through this and get that done and then come back for the septic variance and it gets shot down we have gone through several months’ worth of work to get shot down. If it is going to get shot down, you know… COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Based on the charges you presented where do you see parking on that site? MR. HALL-Right now there are two parking spaces. I am just looking at Drawing C-1. There are two parking spaces when you first pull in. It is tight Tim. I will give you that. They tend to park a couple of cars on the lawn beside the house. Since they are the last house on the lot. They kind of line up along the edge behind Canterbury’s house. They have an ingress egress easement across there. If there is an overflow of people, they park across…house. They have done that for years. Since…owned the Canterbury house. If they have an overflow, there are some additional spaces farther down Canterbury Lane that they park on down there. The proposed area that they are doing. We are adding a garage to the back of the house. That is going to one parking space in the garage. There will be two more in the actual turnaround parking area. Again, they still have all the space behind…house that they use for the overflow. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-That reminds me. They are putting the garage there and they are going to take out some more of that bank. The septic system is going in on the southeast side of this. MR. HALL-Correct. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-If it needs repair or pumped how are you going to get equipment over to the other side? MR. HALL-We have looked at that. The garage itself is going to have two garage doors. One on each end. The back wall of the garage is going to become a retaining wall. So that we can build that back into the bank, support the bank. We will put a garage door at the front side of the garage so that they can pull in. Then we will have another overhead door on the backside so if they need to get through to the outback portion of it with any equipment or anything they can get through there. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-So backhoes are going to be able to get through that garage. MR. HALL-They can go around the front with a backhoe if they needed to go around. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Oh boy. With a deck and everything. We are asking for six variances. I am going to let everybody speak. MR. HALL-We looked at it. I had the people from IBS over there to look at. We showed them what we were planning to do. Once the system is installed, it should not ever have to be dug up. They can just get around the front. There is a walkway that comes up. I grant you it is steep on that front side. They felt that they can run a mini x up through there if they needed to pick anything up. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-The nightmare comes if it turns into a short-term rental. Any other Town Board Member want to share thoughts at this point in time. Any member of the public? PUBLIC HEARING OPENED NO PUBLIC COMMENT SUPERVISOR STROUGH-I am going to speak for myself. Given what I have, I cannot approve this. Ethan when is this going to go before the Zoning and Planning Boards? REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 354 MR. HALL-We haven’t made an application John because they wouldn’t accept it without us coming to you first. I have the applications and everything ready to go. I have met with Laura and have done by pre-application conference with her. This is where it came up that we would need septic variances first. Go get those. Then you can come back to see us. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Because of the constraints of this property and everything else. If we vote on this tonight, I will be voting no. I will allow a Town Board member to move this forward for approval and see if we got the votes. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-I would like to move it forward with the modification that we get that initial assessment from the Zoning Board if that is permitable John. Ethan explained it I think there is a window is there not. MR. HALL-Yes. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Town Counsel. What I am hearing is Tim is approving the system as long as it receives the Planning and Zoning Board approvals. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-What I was asking is to get that initial review first. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-You are not going to get initial review I explained that. They are going to go through this in detail with due diligence and make decisions on this. They may ask for a smaller house. Something….like a two-bedroom house. I do not know. I cannot tell them what to do. I don’t know what they are going to do. We may only have to approve a system that is for a two- bedroom house. If that is what the Zoning Board, Planning Board outcome is. MR. HALL-John if this larger system is approved, if the Zoning Board comes back and says, you can’t do that you have to bring us something smaller, which we will. When we did Canterbury’s we went through the very same thing. We came back and made modifications and modifications. The system that would be designed for a less intensive house would be smaller than what we are asking for right now. That would be kind of the crux of it. It would certainly be smaller than what we have proposed for the four bedrooms. COUNCILMAN FREER-I understand all of that Ethan. I plan on voting no for the six… Our job right now is not to design the system. Our job is to either approve or disapprove these variances. So. I am going to vote no. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-Let me point out if you do approve this system then they don’t have to go through the design that they have. That system is approved with this lot. Also, the way our Code is written after the public hearing is closed the Town Board is supposed to deny, accept these conditions, or accept within thirty days. You do not have to make a decision tonight, but our recommendation is you do make a choice within thirty days. You do not want to miss that time frame. I think not giving to be true to this a denial. Code says that you are supposed to do one of those three things within thirty days. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-I don’t think this is going to make it through Planning Board and ZBA within thirty days. MR. HALL-It will definitely not make it within thirty days. COUNCILMAN FERONE-I was going to say I am going to vote to on this. I know one of the request, is for this absorption field between sixty-eight and forty feet of two wells. I know you said it is an enhanced system and it is drinkable that raises a level of concern for me. The other one is sixty foot from Glen Lake rather than a hundred foot setback. Again, we are trying to be so careful with these systems and how close they are to our bodies of water. Lake George, Glen Lake, Lake Sunnyside that causes me to have some concerns. MR. HALL-George does it matter or is it there a precedence set that at two houses away there was one that was the exact same system? It was a Clarus System, but the same bottomless sand filter was approved much closer to Glen Lake than what we are proposing? COUNCILMAN FERONE-Which property is that? REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 355 MR. HALL-Paul Derby’s. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-You are not setting a precedent. You are making discretionary decisions based on the facts that are before you. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Ethan he gave a system that fits the building that is there. If you were doing the same thing, I think we would be approving it. You are going from one bedroom to a four bedroom. You are asking for six variances. MR. HALL-Correct. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-Did you close the public hearing? DEPUTY CLERK, O’BRIEN-No they have not closed the public hearing. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-I will close the public hearing. PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Do you want to wait thirty days or do you want to vote on this? I think the vote is that we are not going to approve we are going to deny. We can go forward with a vote, deny it, and then let the process happen. You will have to go before the Planning and Zoning Board and see what they say. Then come back to us with what the end product is. You are right Ethan you do not know if we are going to approve it or not. I got the feeling that once it goes through the process. Either that or we can give you thirty days and the owners can rethink what they are doing and try and come back with a smaller scale project. MR. HALL-At this point your Zoning Administrator has instructed us to do this part first before we can even be heard from the rest of it. So if it is this Boards feeling that…. I don’t know can the Town Board, Bob maybe you can answer this question for me. Can the Town Board say we would like it to go through the Planning and Zoning process first before we hear this and see if modifications to the systems get made before we come back? TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-Our advice would be it sounds like the Town Board at this point is ready to deny. They could indicate to you that they would be willing to reconsider it at…time if you receive positive feedback from the Planning Board. That is not binding, but that is sort of showing… If you make an application… MR. HALL-I understand you have to act on it in some form. Can we maybe get a directive from the Town Board to allow us to start our process with Planning and Zoning? I mean, if we get at least a directive to the Zoning Administrator that says, hey, we want to act on this and we want to deny, but we need it to go through the rest of the process to see what is going to happen. I tend to agree with you. It is going to be a challenge to get through Planning and Zoning. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-We cannot direct the Planning Board and Zoning Board. MR. HALL-You can tell the Zoning Administrator to let us move forward. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-We cannot order him to, but we can pass on that the Town Board in this instance would rather get Zoning and Planning Board review before they consider it because they are not going to consider it. MR. HALL-Sure. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-You are increasing from a one septic system for a one bedroom to a four bedroom on a very difficult small lot. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-How does the Town Board feel that I will keep the public hearing open. We will take no action on this application. I will call the Zoning Administrator, Craig Brown tomorrow and ask him if he could accommodate the Town Board wishes. That being that this goes REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 356 through any Zoning Board, Planning Board reviews that it needs to do. That will gives up thirty days to find out what is happening. Is that okay? TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-Just in that you said you were reopening the public hearing that you just closed. If you reopen the thirty days doesn’t start until you close the public hearing. If Ethan can act on behalf of the applicant, they can accept it being reopened. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Public hearing reopened. PUBLIC HEARING REOPENED - TO REMAIN OPEN-NO ACTION TAKEN TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-Is that okay on behalf of the applicant Ethan. MR. HALL-Yes. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-We will not act on this one tonight. I will call Craig Brown tomorrow to see if it is possible. PUBLIC HEARING – SEWAGE DISPOSAL BARIANE APPLICATION OF CHARLES CARDER PUBLICATION DATE: DECEMBER 28, 2020 AGENT ETHAN HALL RUCINSKI HALL ARCHITECTURE SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Reviewed application before opening public hearing. MR. HALL-This is another one that Craig told us we had to come and see you first. They are making a modification to the volume of the space. The footprint itself doesn’t change. We are making some interior renovations. It has a single story above the existing family room and kitchen area. We are going to pick that up so that we can move the bedrooms that are downstairs upstairs and get the downstairs opened up so it is more usable. There are two bedrooms downstairs that are just in the way. This is just a modification of interior space. The footprint itself doesn’t change at all. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-That stays four bedrooms? MR. HALL-Yes. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Anybody like to ask Ethan a question about this particular… COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Ethan where you plan on putting the tank or the bottomless pit, there is one row of rocks about three feet off the ground. Then behind it, there is like a ten-foot section high. Are you going to have to take down that second wall? MR. HALL-We met with the folks from IBS. We met with their masonry contractor. We are going to have to work on the back one first stabilize that before we can open up the one in the front to put this in. We will have to do both upper and lower retaining structures. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-One of your neighbors came over, spoke to us, and said they had done some work on the other side of the street once you started removing those rocks….. MR. HALL-We know that we are going to have to put up the landscaping the mesh that goes on and sets that wall so that it doesn’t deteriorate. Those walls according to the Carder’s those walls have been fixed several times. They had to maintain them over the course of the years where rocks do pop out of them and come down. We are actually contemplating putting up an actual task concrete retaining structure so that it doesn’t keep coming down. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Aesthetically how would that look? MR. HALL-The face of it will be finished with a stone finish. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Okay. For the rest of the Board what John and I discussed. As he mentioned the cesspool that is ..close to the lake, this would be brought up actually on the other side REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 357 of the road. There is a little bit of snow and ice there so I really couldn’t tell where the road is where the margins of curbing was. MR. HALL-The face of the bottomless sand filter is going to be where that lower retaining wall is. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-So it is about a foot and a half or so off the road? MR. HALL-Yes off the edge of the road. That is why we are contemplating doing it out of cast concrete with an applied stone face so that it is a much stronger thing across there. They haven’t had a problem with the people that live there year round. Somebody maintains that. I do not believe that it is Town maintained. I think it is private drive from the end of the blacktop out. I think somebody maintains that as a private drive type thing. They haven’t had anyone hit it with a plow going down through there in the winter with thirty-four inches of snow we had recently still nobody hit it. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-It is maintained by the neighbors. I can attest that because there was no salt on there. MR. HALL-Getting down there in the wintertime you kind of take your life into your hands. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-I think you put together a good system as well. MR. HALL-Thank you. COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-That is all I have to say. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Anybody else. Town Board? COUNCILMAN FREER-John I want to go back to a comment we made. I want to just say these new enhance systems. It is good for us to have the discretion of the hundred feet and that is in our Code for sure. As we get better systems, we need to figure out how to give credit for those systems if it makes sense. I would like to see what Ethan’s take on that is, MR. HALL-Credit as far as? COUNCILMAN FREER-I mean you have a hundred feet. The last one you ask for…variance. We talked about the other house that had a variance that was even closer. Would you suggest leave as is or are these new enhanced systems giving us some leeway to adjust that? MR. HALL-The new enhanced systems that you are getting like, I said the manufacturers say that the effluent that comes from these and the State Department of Health has gone along with this this can be used as main-scaping irrigation. It can be sprayed out directly on the ground, which obviously you can’t do for a normal septic system. A normal septic system has to be put into the ground. DEC and the State Department of Health have said in some instances this can be used as irrigation. I think to your point the hundred-foot separation if it can be maintained it is certainly something that you can and should do. It is not as critical with an enhanced treatment system. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-I was going to bring up what Dave said. We cannot change the hundred foot. COUNCILMAN FREER-Okay. That was my question. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-That is set by the State. MR. HALL-That is the State Department of Health. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-Until the State says that they will allow a lesser thing then our Code has to comply with that. COUNCILMAN FREER-That was my question. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Harrison I think that is why foot gives some discretionary latitude to the Board of Health to consider those kind of things. That this has got an exceptionally good, I have to REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 358 admit pretreatment system. When it is going to the filtration bed as opposed to your traditional system, which has just the septic tank. Then the bacteria works on the solids at the bottom until they liquefy. Then you have the baffles. Then the liquid it goes out to the field. It has been untreated basically except for what the bacteria has done. To your point Harrison. If you have something that you had to spend more money for, but it is going to pretreat this to the point where it goes to the bed it could have been used for irrigation, I would say that is pretty good. I know the Clarus says you can drink it. I am not going to go there. COUNCILMAN FREER-I guess that is my point. This is the third system. Fuji, Clarus and now these guys are coming on with excellent expensive system. The vision that I have is those guys on the Space Station are drinking their water. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Anybody else Town Board? Let me open this up to the public. Any member of the public wish to speak to this Carder application? He is asking for the tanks to be 37’5” from the Glen Lake shoreline instead of the required 50’setback. Tanks to be 5’1” from the property line instead of the required 10’ setback. Tanks to be 5’5” from the existing dwelling instead of the required 10” setback. Disposal system to 81’ from Glen Lake shoreline instead of the required 100’ setback. That is only asking for 19’ feet of relief. The other one I think was 37’ feet. ETU to be 6’5” from the existing residence instead of the required 10’ setback. PUBLIC HEARING OPENED MR. HALL-One other thing to point out John. Our setbacks to the residences are required to be ten feet. This residence has no basement. It is a slab on grade building. The tanks are actually below the building slab. Even if they did leak, they would have to come up to get into the building. Whereas normally the ten foot separation is if the tank leaks they won’t have ten feet of separation between your tank and the building. If it leaks, it does not come back into the house. This doesn’t have a basement under it. It is all slab on grade. Slab on frost wall. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Thank you Ethan. Dave Hatin to all panelist. He said setbacks are set by New York State Department of Health so that is in the Chat. PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED RESOLUTION APPROVING CHARLES CARDER’S APPLICATION FOR SANITARY SEWAGE DISPOSAL VARIANCES RESOLUTION NO.: BOH 2, 2021 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Anthony Metivier WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Timothy McNulty WHEREAS, Charles Carder (Applicant) filed an application for variances from provisions of the Town of Queensbury On-Site Sewage Disposal Ordinance, Chapter 136 to install a new wastewater treatment system with certain of its components to be located as follows: 1. Tanks to be 37’5” from the Glen Lake shoreline instead of the required 50’ setback; 2. Tanks to be 5’1” from the property line instead of the required 10’ setback; 3. Tanks to be 5’5” from the existing dwelling instead of the required 10’ setback; 4. Disposal system to be 81’ from the Glen Lake shoreline instead of the required 100’ setback; and 5. ETU to be 6’5” from the existing residence instead of the required 10’ setback; on property located at 93 Fitzgerald Road in the Town of Queensbury, and REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 359 WHEREAS, the Town Clerk’s Office published the Notice of Public Hearing in the Town’s official newspaper and the Local Board of Health duly conducted a public hearing concerning the th variance requests on Monday, January 11, 2021, and WHEREAS, the Town Clerk’s Office has advised that it duly notified all property owners within 500 feet of the subject property, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that 3. due to the nature of the variances, the Local Board of Health determines that the variances would not be materially detrimental to the purposes and objectives of this Ordinance or other adjoining properties nor otherwise conflict with the purpose and objectives of any Town plan or policy; and 4. the Local Board of Health finds that the granting of the variances is necessary for the reasonable use of the land and are the minimum variances which would alleviate the specific unnecessary hardship found by the Local Board of Health to affect the Applicant; and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Local Board of Health hereby approves the application of Charles Carder for variances from the Sewage Disposal Ordinance to install a new wastewater treatment system with certain of its components to be located as follows: 1. Tanks to be 37’5” from the Glen Lake shoreline instead of the required 50’ setback; 2. Tanks to be 5’1” from the property line instead of the required 10’ setback; 3. Tanks to be 5’5” from the existing dwelling instead of the required 10’ setback; 4. Disposal system to be 81’ from the Glen Lake shoreline instead of the required 100’ setback; and 5. ETU to be 6’5” from the existing residence instead of the required 10’ setback; on property located at 93 Fitzgerald Road in the Town of Queensbury and bearing Tax Map No: 289- 14-1-24. th Duly adopted this 11 day of January, 2021, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Ferone, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Strough, Mr. Metivier, Mr. Freer NOES : None ABSENT: None PUBLIC HEARING –SEWAGE DISPOSAL VARIANCE APPLICATION OF JOHN HAMPSHIRE PUBLICATION DATE: DECEMBER 28, 2020 AGENT DOMINICK ARICO SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Reviewed application before opening public hearing. REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 360 MR. ARICO-This is an existing building. It is a small camp. It is one bedroom. It just has a bedroom and really a living area in it with a small kitchen. There is an outside deck. Presently there is a small holding tank. He has had it pumped out the first time when we bought the place. He has relocated his well. If you have the drawing in front of you, you can see where they relocated the well back off the lake. It used to sit down right alongside of the house. There is a little well house there. That is used now basically to reconnect the existing well to the existing plumbing that went into the building. The way the land is shaped it is all down grade. That little driveway turnaround is probably a good twelve, fifteen feet higher than the actual Dream Lake Road itself. Where the tank we are proposing is probably another seven, eight feet lower in elevation. The building sits down lower than the driveway. There is no place for us to put any kind of a field. He doesn’t use it that much. It is a camp. I believe two thousand gallons would be more than suitable. We have a large system set up in it for a mid-level and alarm if it goes off so he can have it pumped out. The person before me was talking about a small truck. This would actually only have a small truck come in. If he gets into a bigger tank, a big three thousand gallon truck would have an issue getting in and out of the property to begin with. We are at maximum setbacks. I tried to get within from the lake and the well and the existing wells and fields that we know about. The field are under the distances it is not dramatically close. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Thank you. Any questions from the Town Board on this application? COUNCILMAN MCNULTY-Dom I appreciate you addressing the truck capacity. That grade is really steep. John and I we could not figure out how a big truck would get down there. You could get a smaller truck with a two thousand gallon capacity there to pump it when required. MR. ARICO-Yes. Honestly, they probably can get there with a hose or a small extension to it. They should be able to get down and around. We are actually even more concerned about getting our equipment down there. We are going to have to use a small excavator to get down there and get a hole dug. The hole is fairly large that we have to dig to put this tank in. It should be okay. We should be able to get a small truck down there with no problem. COUNCILMAN MCNUTLY-Thank you. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Any other questions from Town Board? Any questions from the public? PUBLIC HEARING OPENED NO PUBLIC COMMENT PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED RESOLUTION APPROVING JOHN HAMPSHIRE’S APPLICATION FOR SANITARY SEWAGE DISPOSAL VARIANCE RESOLUTION NO.: BOH 3, 2021 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. George Ferone WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Timothy McNulty WHEREAS, John Hampshire (Applicant) filed an application for a variance from provisions of the Town of Queensbury On-Site Sewage Disposal Ordinance Chapter 136, §136-11, which requires applicants to obtain a variance for holding tanks as the Applicant wishes to install a new 2,000 gallon septic holding tank in lieu of a sewage disposal system on property situated at 62 Dream Lake Road in the Town of Queensbury, and WHEREAS, the Town Clerk’s Office published the Notice of Public Hearing in the Town’s official newspaper and the Local Board of Health duly conducted a public hearing concerning the th variance request on Monday, January 11, 2021, and REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 361 WHEREAS, the Town Clerk’s Office has advised that it duly notified all property owners within 500 feet of the subject property, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that 1. due to the nature of the variance, the Local Board of Health determines that the variance would not be materially detrimental to the purposes and objectives of this Ordinance or other adjoining properties nor otherwise conflict with the purpose and objectives of any Town plan or policy; and 2. the Local Board of Health finds that the granting of the variance is necessary for the reasonable use of the land and is the minimum variance which would alleviate the specific unnecessary hardship found by the Local Board of Health to affect the Applicant; and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Local Board of Health hereby approves the application of John Hampshire for a variance from the Sewage Disposal Ordinance to install a new 2,000 gallon septic holding tank in lieu of a sewage disposal system on property located at 62 Dream Lake Road in the Town of Queensbury and bearing Tax Map No: 279.17-1-10. th Duly adopted this 11 day of January, 2021, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. McNulty, Mr. Strough, Mr. Metivier, Mr. Freer, Mr. Ferone NOES : None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION ADJOURNING QUEENSBURY BOARD OF HEALTH RESOLUTION BOH. 4, 2021 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Harrison Freer WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. George Ferone RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Board of Health hereby adjourns from session and moves back into the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury. th Duly adopted this 11 day of January, 2021by the following vote: AYES: Mr. Strough, Mr. Metivier, Mr. Freer, Mr. Ferone, Mr. McNulty NOES: None ABSENT:None 2.0 PUBLIC HEARING PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED LOCAL LAW TO AMEND CHAPTER 179 “ZONING” OF QUEENSBURY TOWN CODE TO REVISE SECTION 179-2-010(C) REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 362 “DEFINITONS” AND TABLE 2: SUMMARY OF ALLOWED USES IN RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS SUPERVISOR STROUGH-I have passed this on to the Board. We do have a couple of emails that have come from Jane Mackintosh, Susan Kassal. Reviewed and explained the reason for the Local Law before opening the public hearing. Explained they will not be voting on this tonight. We ran this by the County and the County said no County impact. We ran it before the Adirondack Park Agency because part of the Rural Residential Zone is within the Park. They did not have a problem with that. Now it goes before the Planning Board. The Planning Board will meet on the nineteenth. They will review this proposed use and see if they think it fits in a Rural Residential Zone. Then they will give us their opinion. We will be meeting again at a th Town Board Meeting on January 25, 2021 once we have all the input. We will have a public hearing tonight. We will get input from that. Then we will get the Planning Board’s input. I will leave the public hearing open. We can take further input from the public on the twenty-fifth. Then we will do SEQRA with Town Counsel’s help. Then we will make our determination if we think this is satisfactory or not. There are people present. Mike O’Connor who was the Agent for the person who inspired this, which is Rob Wing of Volt Landscaping. Any Town Board thoughts before we move forward? Mike is there anything you would like to add before I open it up to the public. MICHAEL O’CONNOR, ESQ.-As to the specific site it pretty much has been used as they are going to use it in the future. I think as more as to the specific site. I think in the definition that you have suggested. You have eliminated the things that most people would object to. Noise or any type that interferes with residential use. I think it is going to be compatible. It certainly has been in existence for some time. I think it is a nineteen point nine acre site. The actual building that has most of the activities at it are at the very back on that site. It is quite a distance from anybody else in that neighborhood. I don’t think we are going to have a great impact where a noticeable change for what presently takes place there. That would be my comments for the moment. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Okay. Thank you Mike. We have Jane Mackintosh who is interested speaking to this. I will allow Jane. PUBLIC HEARING OPENED JANE MACKINTOSH-Is this being done in order to make the existing use compliant? SUPERVISOR STROUGH-The answer to that is no Jane. The existing use is going bye bye. ATTORNEY O’CONNOR-There is going to be a change of ownership. MS. MACKINTOSH-I am under the impression that the new owner falls into this category of tree service Landscape Company. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Jane do you know where McDermott’s used to be on Sunnyside Road? MS. MACKINTOSH-Sure. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-When you go to that area you will see a gate there. It says there is a sign that says Volt Landscaping. You will see a building that houses equipment. It is a red building way in back. The house isn’t part of this lot that you are going to see there and is set to the left. If you do a drive-by as I said, we are not acting on this tonight. If you do a drive-by, you will see what this facility looks like. MS. MACKINTOSH-I am not completely familiar with the facility. What I am really wondering is why does this require a zoning change? When you make a zoning change, of course, you open up every property in RR 3 and RR 5 to this potential use. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-First of all we did not have a definition for a use of landscaping. If you look in our current, Codebook there is no use defined as forestry service or landscaping. We currently have a forestry service landscaping business there. That happened before we did our REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 363 zoning. When we did, our zoning it is impossible to be perfect. There are uses we did not include that we didn’t foresee that nobody brought up. With time and things that happened like interior storage, we didn’t have a definition for that so we had to create one. It has worked out fine. So as times change your zoning has to kind of change with the times. This is a case of well, this is an unusual thing. We do not have an overabundance of forestry landscaping businesses. We didn’t have a definition for it so we provided one. I read that to you. MS. MACKINTOSH-I don’t have any problem with creating a definition. I certainly understand that. What I am more concerned about is actually changing the zoning because, of course, that opens up the entire RR3 and RR 5 areas to future use by tree service, landscape companies. That may have a different configuration then what Mr. Wing currently has. I am also a little mystified why change the zoning why not just give Mr. Wing a variance or ask him to apply for a variance. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-A use variance is nearly impossible to get. On a scale of one to ten, it is probably a nine. MS. MACKINTOSH-Why is that? SUPERVISOR STROUGH-It is the nature of the way the State defines them. They have to meet certain criteria and there is no room for movement. MS. MACKINTOSH-The State supersedes the Town Code when it comes to use variances. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Yes. They define them. They define what is. They define what needs to be considered for a use variance to be given. They are pretty strict. Bob probably knows them off hand. I do want to point out that already in this zone is sawmill, chipping. Pallet mill. Sand, gravel and topsoil extraction. There are things that you could argue have more impact in that zone than this probably would. MS. MACKINTOSH-I understand that. I don’t know if that really justifies adding an additional use that is of an industrial nature. I am not going to citizens the fact that those other uses are allowed even though I think it was a bad idea. Why continue along the same line. I don’t think it is justified. There are industrial zones there are commercial zones that this use could fit into perfectly well. ATTORNEY O’CONNOR-The restrictions are built into the definition. I think you read most of the industrial type activities. The existing operator goes to the site. They pick up their equipment. They go off the site they go to a third party customer’s property and do their work. The new person that is going to take over this operation hopefully operates in the same manner. That is what you find on this property or any other property. Basically, there is not a great deal of activity that actually occurs on the site or would incur in the R3 Zone. It occurs on Wincrest Drive, Mannis Drive, it occurs on all the other small streets. MS. MACINTOSH-I am not so concerned. It is all well and good to talk about what these businesses are doing currently. This is not the point. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Jane your point is understood. I believe in your correspondence to the Town that you suggested at the very least this should be under a category of special use permit as opposed to the more milder site plan review. MS. MACKINTOSH-To me that did not seem like an option. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-I think that was a good suggestion. Is there anything else Jane that you would like to add in terms of your thoughts and concerns over this? MS. MACINTOSH-No. I appreciate you letting me speak. I just want to make sure that everybody did get a copy of my comments. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-I did share that with them. Stu Baker responded to me and shared them with them as well. MS. MACINTOSH-Thank you. REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 364 SUPERVISOR STROUGH-I appreciate your comments Jane. Thank you very much. NORA BUCK-I want to say a few things alone the same line as Jane. Mike was talking about this being one use or one place and trying to figure out how to make that one use for that one place. That seems like an okay idea. I think it is overkill if you are going to change the entire R3, R5 use for a place. That changes everybody in any R3 or R5 who will be impacted by this change instead of just that one spot for that one use. To me it really seems like overkill. A bit like killing a fly with a sledgehammer. To try to change the entire definition for use for this one spot by changing the definition of use for everybody. It seems like they should go through the hassle or whatever you want to call it of a special use permit or a variance or something along that line. A site plan revision in order for that one place to be changed rather than having the entire Town be able to be a new use for this. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Special use permit seems to be the wave of the day. The other thing is one reason why we are proposing it in the RR3 zone or the RR zone is because it is already a use that is in the RR zone. It is existing. It hasn’t been an issue that I know of. MRS. BUCK-Is it a use because it was a special permit that allowed it to be a use now? SUPERVISOR STROUGH-No. MRS. BUCK-Or do they define use according to the way you said it? You said all of these uses are in there, but some of them were omitted from the beginning. Some were by special permit and some were by variance that all of this different uses now occur. It seems like something that is called a residential three or a residential five. Its original use was residential not commercial. ATTORNEY O’CONNOR-It is a permitted use because when the operation began the applicant went through a site plan review and a SEQRA review. It was approved for that property for this particular use. MRS. BUCK-Right. That particular spot gets that particular use. That is fine. That seems almost like a grandfathered, like you are done with that. That is fine. Why change the definition for all of R 3 and all R 5 properties? ATTORNEY O’CONNOR-If somebody were going to try and locate a similar or a light business in another section of an R 3 zone they too, would have to go through site plan review and SEQRA review. They would get the same scrutiny that was and have the same restrictions put on it that were put on this. MRS. BUCK-That does not seem to be how this reads. If that is the case that is different. It seems like the way this is going to read is that from now on all R 3 and all R 5 properties will be allowed to have this use. That what it seems like. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Mike let me chip in. Nora I understand now. Just because we have put it in as an allowable use it doesn’t mean it is going to be allowed. This will go through depending on where the Board ends up at the end of the day, which will be on the twenty fifth perhaps. It will either go through a site plan review with the Planning Board then the Planning Board has to approve it or it will go through a special use permit process. This is a more stringent review process and it goes through the Planning Board. Nora it is not an automatic that it would be allowed. MRS. Buck-What is tonight all about? If the same thing has to happen as it is happening tonight every single time, somebody does this. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-No. It doesn’t through the Town Board. The Town Board creates Code. We are creating a use that currently exists. We put a definition to it that we think would be non-intrusive to a residential area given that we aren’t allowing noisy activities to be held on the site like chipping and grinding. We expressly said no to that. In any event, we are going to hear you out. Thank you for your input. The Planning Board will also have a thought process involved in this, too. It is going to go through the gambit. I will leave the public hearing REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 365 opened. It will come back to the Town Board of the twenty fifth. We will see where we are. I appreciate your input. Is there anything else you would like to say? MRS. BUCK-I just want to clarify. You are attempting to change or add a new use to existing structure right now though, right? SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Well yes. It is a use that is already in the RR zone. It preexisted the new zoning, which didn’t include a definition for this type of use but, they were grandfathered in. They want to sell it to somebody who is going to offer the similar kind of use. MRS. BUCK-I do understand why, but it just doesn’t seem reasonable to change the entire definition when really you just need to change that persons Mike O’Connor’s use. Why change it for the entire Town of Queensbury so that all of a sudden somebody up the road from anyone of us could then suddenly do this. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-With the pallets and the sawmills and things like that they only go where they are allowed to go. You do not have a sawmill or a pallet mill up by you, right up on Gurney Lane? MRS. BUCK-When you change the definition you are not necessarily saying it will be allowed. Why would call it an allowance if you are still not going to allow it in some places? Why change it for all R 5 and all R 3. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-First of all we are creating a definition for something that exists that we don’t have a definition for. It already exists. In our zoning, we didn’t have a definition we didn’t have a description of it. We created a description of the type of enterprise that currently is in the rural residential zone. MRS. BUCK-We had no definition for R3 or R5 before tonight. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-I am not talking about R3 and R5. We had definitions for those. We did not have a definition for tree service landscaping service. MRS. MACKINTOSH-John could I say something? SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Let’s wait for Nora. Everyone else gets a first bite then we will come back through Jane. MRS. MACKINTOSH-Okay. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Nora? MRS. BUCK-I am a little confused on what tonight is about. Are you trying to change the definition for R3 and R5? SUPERVISOR STROUGH-We are not changing a definition. What we are doing is defining a use that our Code currently does not have a definition for. That is number one. There are two things we are looking at. The second thing that we are considering is allowing that particular newly defined definition if the Town Board accepts that definition. To be an allowed use in the RR3 zone. When I say allowed that is not automatic. It will have to go through site plan review and as Jane suggested it might have to go through the more stringent special use permit process. It is not automatic that be allowed in any given area in the rural residence zone. It has to go through a stringent analysis with the Planning Board before it is allowed. It is not automatically allowed. MRS. BUCK-Okay. I think I am a little clearer although I am not certain. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-We can work on that during the week until the twenty fifth if you wish to call me. MRS. BUCK-Thanks. REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 366 SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Okay Nora. There are a couple of chat questions. Nora I already answered that question. Jane Mackintosh you have some more thoughts. MS. MACKINTOSH-I would just going to clarify what you had clarified. That you are trying to accomplish two different things. I understand and I think Nora understands. I don’t have any argument with creating a definition. My concern is with creating an allowable use. You did say because it is an allowable use it doesn’t make it automatically allowed. I think actually an allowable use does make it allowed. It doesn’t automatically mean a project will be approved that is an distinction. Making something an allowable use is a very big step. Even though it doesn’t automatically mean that any given project will be approved. I think the objection is to just taking that big step and making that big change in the first place. The other thing I would ask. Mr. Wing has an operation that has already been given permission to exist basically. You are just trying to back track and create a definition that matches something that is already there. I totally understand that. When Mr. Wing sells that property what happens at that point? SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Mr. Wing preceded the current zoning so he is grandfathered in. The new people that would like to buy the property are of a similar kind. Given the zoning and the definitions that we have, we don’t have a use defined for what wants to go there or anywhere. MRS. MACKINTOSH-Right. To say that they have an operation of a similar kind that is a slippery slope, right? Right now, they could operate in a similar way to the way Mr. Wing operates. Next year or five years from now, they could ramp up their operation and have twice as much equipment or decide to add some other service. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-They would have to get approvals to do that. Bob did you want to say something? TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-I think there has been too much focus on this one property. You are considering a zoning change. You are not considering approving a particular use in a particular property. This is not just to benefit this one person. It is to allow that use if they go through site plan review anywhere in those zones. It is a general change not a specific approval. To some extent the parts of your discussion is that, it is a general thing that is exactly what you are doing. You putting in the definition that wasn’t there so that is perfectly appropriate. That is within the Town Board’s authority. You say that this is an appropriate type of use for certain zones if they go through site plan approval. That is something you guys do all the time after going through this process. It is not approving Mike’s client’s thing. If they are going to make some change if you do approve this modification, they would have to do through site plan review. They would have to go through that just like anybody else. ATTORNEY O’CONNOR-They would have to stay within the restrictions of the definitions Bob. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-Correct. It is not to approve one person’s project. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-I think I understand Jane, Nora, and Bob Fallon. Jane your concern is that you could have something like this that might locate up by you on Gurney Lane and that would be unacceptable to you. I think that is what you meant. MRS. MACKINTOSH-No. I am not talking about my own personal interest. What I am talking about is you have R3 and R5 neighborhoods in this Community. They have certain characteristics. It is not just my neighborhood. It is every R3 and every R5. They have certain characteristics of rural setting. If you put this in as an allowable use. All of those areas and neighborhoods are subject to a change by this allowable use. One of the things that I do not know for sure, but I am under the impression based on some research that I did the Town of Queensbury really does not have much in the way of tree cutting restrictions. What if in some other neighborhood with three acres, a three acre parcel, a tree company comes in and needs to build a couple of pole barns to house their equipment? They got cranes. They got chippers. They got big trucks. How much clearcutting can they do to accommodate the barns, garages, whatever, the equipment, the parking areas? The potential there to change the nature of the R3 neighborhood is pretty great it is not my neighborhood it is the Town. REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 367 ATTORNEY O’CONNOR-Any commercial use is subject to site plan. It is a review by the Planning Board as to what impacts that proposal will have. MRS. MACKINTOSH-I am familiar with site plan. You are kicking the arguments down the road. Is there a compelling need to create other than to fix the problem with Mr. Wing’s property? Is there really a compelling need for the Town to create a zoning allowable use for this particular kind of business in rural residential areas? Mr. Wing’s problem needs to be separated from the bigger question. I would suggest that the Town consider putting tree service/landscape Company in an industrial zone or a commercial zone and separate Mr. Wing’s problem from this bigger question. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-I think you made some very good points. This Town Board will process that. We will consider the points that you made as we good forward. Thank you very much. We will leave the public hearing open. The Planning Board will deal with this on the ninetieth. They will be a Zoom only, too. Is there is anybody else, Bob. I will assume it is Fallmann. ROBERT FALLMANN-I like my neighbors are very much opposed to this. I think you are looking at one specific issue here. You are creating a situation where anybody could come in and use this. You are talking about I guess Volt. He has done a nice job with his property over there. He is not really far, as I can see a tree surgeon. I do not think it is in the same vein. If you are talking about a tree surgeon, you are talking about High Peaks. You are talking about Davies. You are talking about Aspen. You are talking about Nelson. These are big companies. They have big equipment and lots of equipment. I don’t think you would be particularly fond of having them come take over the property right next to you. I am sure you kind of like to have your peace of mind. I heard a couple things you said about noise. It is not necessarily chipping. That is bad enough. When you go out in the morning these guys start up. They start up in a convoy. You have all these diesel engines starting up. Some of these guys have some very big equipment. Some of them have cranes that are maybe a million dollars a crack. This is a lot of noise that is going to be on the road in the early morning. Then you are talking about a maintenance facility where they are going to be working on this equipment both in the day and probably at night, too. They will want to get the equipment back on the road in the morning to make money. You are not talking about something that a nice quiet operation. I don’t think if somebody came to you and starting building this next to your house John, I don’t think you would be real happy about that. I think this whole thing has been for one person and it is going to blow up to include a lot of stuff that is not really seen here today. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-That is right Bob. You are right. I wouldn’t want it next to me. I would hope that the Planning Board would disallow that. I would certainly go to the Planning Board and talk to the appropriate placement of this next to my house. That is why we have site plan review. MR. FALLMANN-John you have that on there. If it is an allowable use, the Lawyers get a hold of it and you are going to have a very difficult time stopping it. Basically, they will come back again after they cross their T’s and dot their I’s and you are not going to be able to stop it. If it is allowable, it is going to be allowed. ATTORNEY O’CONNOR-The prior site plan review had hours of operation. It had traffic limitations. They went into all the different environmental concerns that would affect somebody who adjoined the site. It is not easy sometimes to go through site plan review. MR. FALLMANN-Again, Mike you are talking about a specific instance over there with Volt Landscaping. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Is there anything else Bob? Your concerns are duly noted. MR. FALLMANN-Okay. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-I have a question from Susan Kassel that talks about the current use like sawmill. Yes, it is already an allowed use in that zone. Again, I would not want a sawmill next to me. I would hope that the site plan review would prohibit that. REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 368 ATTORNEY O’CONNOR-John the definition prohibits it. TOWN COUNSEL, HAFNER-Under that definition. SUPERVISOR STROUGH-Is there anybody else that would like to speak to this proposal? I think Sue I already answered yours. No other open questions. No more raised hands. Susan Kassel says she agrees with Bob one hundred percent. Thank you, Susan. We will carry on this conversation. PUBLIC HEARING TO REMAIN OPEN – NO ACTION TAKEN 3.0 PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR FOR RESOLUTIONS ONLY (LIMIT – 3 MINUTES) NO PUBLIC COMMENT 4.0 RESOLUTIONS RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING PURCHASE OF 2021 FORD F-550 XL PICK-UP TRUCK FOR HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT RESOLUTION NO.: 44, 2021 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Harrison Freer WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Timothy McNulty WHEREAS, the Town of Queensbury’s Highway Superintendent has requested Town Board approval to purchase a 2021 Ford F-550 Pick-up Truck, and WHEREAS, the New York State Legislature adopted legislation allowing any political subdivision in New York State to “piggyback” off an existing County/State Bid and therefore in this instance, the Town of Queensbury is “piggybacking” with Onondaga County Bid # ONGOV-106-19 2021 for a 2021 Ford F-550 XL Regular Cab 4x4 Pick-up Truck (Truck), and WHEREAS, such Truck is available through Van Bortel Ford, Inc. for the total amount of st $63,789.34 as set forth in Van Bortel Ford, Inc.’s Vehicle Purchase Proposal dated December 21, 2020 presented at this meeting, and WHEREAS, the Town of Queensbury will adhere to all New York State bidding requirements, and WHEREAS, the Town Board wishes to authorize such purchase with withdrawals and expenditures to be from Capital Reserve No. 64 to fund this capital purchase, and WHEREAS, in accordance with New York State General Municipal Law §6(c), the Town Board is authorized to withdraw and expend funds from Capital Reserve No. 64 subject to permissive referendum, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby approves and authorizes the Town Highway Superintendent’s purchase of a 2021 Ford F-550 XL Regular Cab 4x4 Pick-up Truck REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 369 (Truck), from Van Bortel Ford, Inc., as set forth in Van Bortel Ford, Inc.’s Vehicle Purchase Proposal st dated December 21, 2020 substantially in the form presented at this meeting and in accordance with Onondaga County Bid # ONGOV-106-19 2021, for the total amount of $63,789.34 to be paid from Vehicles Account No.: 004-5130-2020, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board hereby finds that the withdrawals and expenditures for such capital purchase are expenditures for which the Capital Reserve Fund No. 64 was established, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs establishment of appropriations and estimated revenues as follows:  001-9901-9128-0064 Transfer to Operating Funds - $63,789.34  004-0000-55031 Interfund Revenues - $63,789.34  Vehicles Account No.: 004-5130-2020 - $63,789.34 and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Budget Officer to amend the Town Budget, make any adjustments, budget amendments, transfers or prepare any documentation necessary to establish such appropriations and estimated revenues and effectuate payment, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor, Highway Superintendent and/or Budget Officer to take such other and further actions as may be necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that this Resolution is subject to a permissive referendum in accordance with the provisions of Town Law Article 7 and the Town Board hereby authorizes and directs the Town Clerk to publish and post such notices and take such other actions as may be required by law.. th Duly adopted this 11 day of January, 2021, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Metivier, Mr. Freer, Mr. Ferone, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Strough NOES : None ABSENT:None RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AGREEMENT BETWEEN TOWN OF QUEENSBURY AND GREATER GLENS FALLS SENIOR CITIZENS REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 370 RESOLUTION NO.: 45, 2021 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Harrison Freer WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Timothy McNulty WHEREAS, the Queensbury Town Board believes it is appropriate and beneficial to provide social and recreational activities and programs to Town of Queensbury senior citizens and therefore wishes to contract with the Greater Glens Falls Senior Citizens for senior citizen recreational and social activities and programs as permitted and authorized by New York State General Municipal Law §95A, and WHEREAS, a proposed Agreement between the Town and the Greater Glens Falls Senior Citizens has been presented at this meeting, and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes the Agreement between the Town and the Greater Glens Falls Senior Citizens for the year 2021 with funding for the Agreement not exceeding the sum of $2,000 and authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor to execute the Agreement, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that funding for such Agreement shall be paid for from the appropriate Town account as will be determined by the Town Supervisor and/or Town Budget Officer. th Duly adopted this 11 day of January, 2021, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Metivier, Mr. Freer, Mr. Ferone, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Strough NOES : None ABSENT : None RESOLUTION REAPPOINTING MICHAEL MC CABE TO QUEENSBURY ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS RESOLUTION NO.: 46, 2021 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Harrison Freer WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Timothy McNulty WHEREAS, the Town of Queensbury previously established the Town’s Zoning Board of Appeals in accordance with applicable New York State law, and WHEREAS, Michael McCabe’s term on the Zoning Board of Appeals expired on December st 31, 2020 and Mr. McCabe has expressed his interest in reappointment, and WHEREAS, the Town Board wishes to reappoint Mr. McCabe, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 371 RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby reappoints Michael McCabe to serve as a member of the Queensbury Zoning Board of Appeals until such term expires on December 31, 2027. th Duly adopted this 11 day of January, 2021, by the following vote: AYES: Mr. Metivier, Mr. Freer, Mr. Ferone, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Strough NOES: None ABSENT: None RESOLUTION TO AMEND 2020 AND 2021 BUDGETS RESOLUTION NO.: 47, 2021 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Harrison Freer WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Timothy McNulty WHEREAS, the following Budget Amendment Requests have been duly initiated and justified and are deemed compliant with Town operating procedures and accounting practices by the Town Budget Officer, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes and directs the Town’s Accounting Office to take all action necessary to amend the 2020 and 2021 Town Budgets as follows: 2020 To Code Appropriation Code Appropriation $ Increase Revenue 040-0000-52680 Insurance 500 Recovery Increase Appropriation 040-8340-4110 Vehicle Repair 500 2021 To Code Appropriation Code Appropriation $ 001-1990-4400 Misc Contractual 001-1950-4430 Property Taxes 15,000 001-1420-4720 Consultant 001-1990-4400 Misc. Contractual (HR) 10,000 REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 372 040-0000-0909 Fund Balance 040-8320-2001 Misc. Equip. 9,750 th Duly adopted this 11 day of January, 2021 by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Metivier, Mr. Freer, Mr. Ferone, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Strough NOES : None ABSENT :None RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ADDENDUM TO AGREEMENT WITH STORED TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS, INC., REGARDING ADDITION OF A TECHNOLOGY COORDINATOR POSITION RESOLUTION NO.: 48, 2021 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Harrison Freer WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Timothy McNulty WHEREAS, by Resolution No.: 304,2016, the Queensbury Town Board authorized a five (5) year extension of the Agreement between the Town of Queensbury and StoredTech Technology Solutions, Inc., (StoredTech) for the continued provision of professional information technology services, and WHEREAS, the Town wishes to add the position and billing rate of Technology Coordinator to its Agreement with Stored Tech via an Addendum, with the Technology Coordinator to be a StoredTech employee working under StoredTech’s employment rules and conditions while working for the benefit of and value to the Town in order to save money and add efficiency to Town operations by assisting in software implementation and maintenance, virtual meeting set-ups and other coordination of technology related items, and WHEREAS, StoredTech has committed to the Technology Coordinator position at a billing rate of $55 per hour with the Technology Coordinator to be made available to the Town for up to 40 hours a week although the Town will likely utilize this resource for approximately 25 hours a week, and WHEREAS, the Town Board wishes to authorize the Addendum as this additional resource and services are consistent with StoredTech’s existing provision of information technology services and StoredTech has the skill, expertise and an established familiarity and comfort level with the Town’s building infrastructure, REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 373 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes and directs an Addendum to its current Agreement with Stored Technology Solutions, Inc., for the Technology Coordinator position as specifically delineated in the preambles of this Resolution, with such terms to be as set forth in an Addendum to be in form acceptable to the Town Supervisor, Town Budget Officer and/or Town Counsel, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor to sign such Addendum and any other needed documentation and the Town Supervisor, Town Budget Officer and/or Town Counsel to take such other and further actions as may be necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. th Duly adopted this 11 day of January, 2021, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Metivier, Mr. Freer, Mr. Ferone, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Strough NOES : None ABSENT : None RESOLUTION APPROVING AUDIT OF BILLS - WARRANT: 01122021 RESOLUTION NO.: 49, 2021 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Harrison Freer WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Timothy McNulty WHEREAS, the Queensbury Town Board wishes to approve an audit of bills presented as Warrant: 01122021 with a run date of 01/07/2021 and a payment date of 01/12/2021, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby approves the audit of bills presented as Warrant: 01122021 with a run date of 01/07/2021 and a payment date of 01/12/2021 totaling $204,033.71, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor and/or Town Budget Officer to take such other and further action as may be necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution. REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 374 th Duly adopted this 11 day of January, 2021, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Metivier, Mr. Freer, Mr. Ferone, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Strough NOES : None ABSENT :None RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ADOPTION OF JANUARY 2021 TOWN OF QUEENSBURY COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE PLAN RESOLUTION NO.: 50, 2021 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. Harrison Freer WHO MOVED ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Timothy McNulty WHEREAS, the United States is facing a pandemic related to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and there was a need for the Town of Queensbury to adopt a COVID-19 Pandemic Response Plan (Plan) to deal with this emergency situation, and WHEREAS, by Resolution No.: 123,2020, the Town Board authorized adoption of its Plan and authorized the Town Supervisor to make modifications as he determined necessary as further information became known, with the Town Board to later have the ability to approve or disapprove an updated, revised Plan, and by subsequent Resolutions the Town Board authorized and ratified adoption of the Plan as further revised, and WHEREAS, certain modifications have been made since the Plan was last adopted and revised and the Town Board wishes to consider the Plan as further revised for January 2021 as presented at this meeting, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Queensbury Town Board hereby authorizes adoption of the January 2021 COVID-19 Pandemic Response Plan (Plan) in substantially the form presented at this meeting, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes the Town Supervisor, if necessary, to make modifications to the Plan as he determines that in his discretion are necessary as the situation changes and further information becomes known, with the Town Board to later have the ability to approve or disapprove a further revised Plan, and BE IT FURTHER, RESOLVED, that the Town Board further authorizes and directs the Town Supervisor to distribute copies of this Plan to all Town Departments and the Warren County Office of Emergency REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 375 Services, and the Town Supervisor, Town Safety and Compliance Officer and/or Town Facilities Manager to take any and all actions necessary to effectuate the terms of this Resolution and the Plan, as it may be amended. th Duly adopted this 11 day of January, 2021, by the following vote: AYES : Mr. Metivier, Mr. Freer, Mr. Ferone, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Strough NOES : None ABSENT : None 5.0 CORRESPONDENCE DEPUTY CLERK O’BRIEN-Supervisor’s Monthly Report for Community Development, Building, and Codes for December 2020 on file in Town Clerk’s Office. Historian’s 2020 Annual Report on file in Town Clerk’s Office. 6.0 PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR (LIMIT 4 MINUTES) NO PUBLIC COMMENT 7.0 TOWN BOARD DISCUSSIONS COUNCILMAN METIVIER - WARD I NOTHING TO REPORT COUNCILMAN FERONE - WARD III NOTHING TO REPORT COUNCILMAN MCNULTY- WARD IV  Spoke regarding Short Term Rental and going forward with some reviews. Thanked the residents of the fourth Ward for giving him their support. Looking forward to representing them. COUNCILMAN FREER- WARD II  Spoke regarding the recent events at the Capital. SUPERVISOR STROUGH  Read into record statement from Caroline Barber, Receiver of Taxes regarding options for method of payment of 2021 Town and County taxes due to COVID 19.  Spoke regarding the items that the Town would like to accomplish in 2021.  Spoke regarding the online payment site for taxes. Noted it is a legitimate third party site. There are entities out there who will pay your taxes for you. You pay your taxes to them and pay a fee for the service. It is not fraudulent as we thought. It you read the print it is clear that they are not a product of the Town. They are a separate entity. I would be careful of these. RESOLUTION ADJOURNING REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING RESOLUTION NO. 51, 2021 INTRODUCED BY: Mr. George Ferone WHO MOVED FOR ITS ADOPTION SECONDED BY: Mr. Harrison Freer RESOLVED, that the Town Board of the Town of Queensbury hereby adjourns its Regular Town Board Meeting. th Duly adopted this 11 day of January, 2021 by the following vote: REGULAR TOWN BOARD MEETING 01-11-2021, MTG#3 376 AYES: Mr. Freer, Mr. Ferone, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Strough, Mr. Metivier NOES: None ABSENT:None Respectfully Submitted, Caroline H. Barber Town Clerk Town of Queensbury MINUTES PREPARED BY KAREN O’BRIEN, DEPUTY CLERK