MINUTES OF July 15, 2008 REGULAR MEETING of the Town of Rochester PLANNING BOARD, held at the Town Hall, Accord, NY.
Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Chairman Tapper.
PRESENT: ABSENT:
Melvyn I. Tapper, Chairman Leon Smith
Shane Ricks, Vice Chair Don Dunn, Alternate Anthony Kawalchuk
Anthony Ullman
Robert Rominger
Pledge to the Flag.
Also present was Town consultant, Tim Moot, from Clark Patterson Lee.
CONTINUED APPLICATION REVIEW/DECISION
MARY ROEHM – c/o Mary Collins, subdivision approval for lot line adjustment in existing subdivision, Berme Road, 77.2-3-1.100, R-1, ‘F’ Zones
Mrs. Collins was present on behalf of the application.
Mr. Ricks noted that the maps were revised to reflect the right-of-way revisions and the Right to Farm note as discussed at the June meeting.
Chairman Tapper stated that he was going over the application again and noticed that the application notes that there are deed restrictions for no further building? Could Mrs. Collins clarify this?
Mrs. Collins noted that her client had been talking about adding that to new deeds as a restriction—more for building in the flood zone. Mrs. Collins didn’t believe that they were going to follow through with that and wondered if she should remove it from the application?
The Board felt that she could leave it on the application and that it wasn’t really a problem. Deed restrictions are something that is privately enforced. The Town can’t take action on deed restrictions.
Chairman Tapper noticed that Berme Road and Tow Path Road are both used for names for the public road that the property has access to. Are they the same.
Mrs. Collins stated that yes, they were the same road. The house is actually on Cabin Lane, which is a private road off of Berme Road/ Tow Path Road.
At this time the Board reviewed Part 2 of the Short EAF where there were no impacts implicated.
Mr. Rominger motioned to accept Part 2 of the EAF seconded by Mr. Ullman. No discussion.
Vote:
Tapper, Chairman- Yes Ricks, VC- Yes
Kawalchuk- Yes Smith- Absent
Ullman- Yes Rominger- Yes
Dunn(alt.)- Absent
Mr. Rominger motioned for a Negative Declaration seconded by Mr. Ullman. No discussion.
Vote:
Tapper, Chairman- Yes Ricks, VC- Yes
Kawalchuk- Yes Smith- Absent
Ullman- Yes Rominger- Yes
Dunn(alt.)- Absent
Chairman Tapper read the facts established at the Public Hearing and a draft of the Conditions for the Board’s consideration as follows:
Facts established at the Public Hearing:
1. Project site is located on Cabin Lane, Private Road, off of Berme Road (aka Tow Path) in R-1 and Flood Plain Districts of the Town of Rochester
2. Applicant seeks a boundary line adjustment between two lots owned by her, as indicated by Lots 1 & 2 on submitted map, resulting in Lot 1 becoming smaller and Lot 2 becoming larger.
3. Purpose of said boundary line adjustment is to give access to Rondout Creek.
4. Lot 2 has existing House and Lot 1 has previous Board of Health Approval.
5. Project is permissible under Town of Rochester Subdivision Regulations.
6. No one spoke for or against the application.
CONDITIONS:
1. Other than the boundary line adjustment the Final Map shall adhere to the originally approved filed Map of subdivision of lands of Scott Mackenzie, including all notes contained thereon, which was stamped by the Planning Board on 2/25/97.
2. All Flood Plain restrictions shall apply to those portions of lots 1 and 2 that are in the Flood Plain District as per Chapter 81 of the Code of the Town of Rochester.
3. Applicant shall file maps with the Ulster County Clerk within 60 days of chairman’s signature and return 3 filed copies to the Town.
Chairman Tapper motioned for Conditional Preliminary Approval. Seconded by Mr. Rominger.
Vote:
Tapper, Chairman- Yes Ricks, VC- Yes
Kawalchuk- Yes Smith- Absent
Ullman- Yes Rominger- Yes
Dunn(alt.)- Absent
Mr. Ullman motioned for Conditional Final Approval based on the conditions above. Seconded by Mr. Rominger. No discussion.
Vote:
Tapper, Chairman- Yes Ricks, VC- Yes
Kawalchuk- Yes Smith- Absent
Ullman- Yes Rominger- Yes
Dunn(alt.)- Absent
The Chairman signed the maps for the applicant.
PUBLIC HEARING
GEORGE & BETTY HAMILTON, c/o Paul Schade– Special Use Permit for 2 family dwelling on Hamilton Drive, Tax Map #76.2-2-6.6, ‘F’ District
Mr. Schade and Mr. Hamilton were present on behalf of their application.
Chairman Tapper stated that the applicants submitted new maps that showed the parking spaces that they requested at the last meeting. There were 3 spaces provided for.
Mr. Schade noted that he changed the maps to show the parking spaces and make the map a better scale than it had been before.
Chairman Tapper questioned where the flood plain was in relation to the house?
Mr. Schade displayed the original subdivision map of Hamilton Drive that showed the flood plain ending along a wire fence that was on the property, but a significant distance from the house. They’ve never had any problems with it before. He stated that the slope of the property went down in grade significantly nearer the creek in the back. Medenbach & Eggers was still in the process in getting their septic addition approval from the Health Dept. He was aware that they received a verbal from the design engineer and were only waiting on the formal paperwork.
Mr. Ricks noted that the only issue that was left from their last meeting was to show the parking spaces on the map, which the applicant did. All that were required by the code were 1 for each dwelling, which would be 2.
Chairman Tapper questioned the existing garage.
Mr. Schade noted that they would be expanding the garage as part of the addition for the 2 family dwelling and additional parking space in the garage would be added as well.
At this time Chairman Tapper opened the Public Hearing.
There was no public comment.
Chairman Tapper motioned to close the Public Hearing, seconded by Mr. Ricks. No discussion.
Vote:
Tapper, Chairman- Yes Ricks, VC- Yes
Kawalchuk- Yes Smith- Absent
Ullman- Yes Rominger- Yes
Dunn(alt.)- Absent
Chairman Tapper noted that the Board could use another month to compile their conditions and the facts established at the Public Hearing and would have a decision for this application at their August Meeting.
Mr. Schade noted that they were in no hurry and they were still waiting for septic approval. August would be fine.
DISCUSSION
JOHN DAWSON– Special Use Permit for Flying Field in phase 3 of the Mount Laurel Estates Subdivision, Tax Map#60.1-2-3 & 2.1, ‘A’ District
Mr. Dawson was present on behalf of his application.
Mr. Greg Bolner and Mr. Timothy Moot were present from the Town’s Planning Consultant firm, Clark Patterson Lee.
Mr. Dawson presented pictures of the grass airfield in High Falls off of Lucas Avenue to give the Board a better idea of what he was interested in doing. He reiterated from the last meeting that his proposed grass landing strip was going to be placed where he had to put in a road in order to dig test wells for his subdivision.
Mr. Moot questioned if that road would be changed to be wider?
Mr. Dawson replied that was his intention. To widen it out just like the High Falls airport.
Chairman Tapper questioned if the ground was sloped in this area?
Mr. Dawson stated that it was a flat plateau in that area. He wanted a strip just like the one in High Falls. That one is actually smaller than his is going to be in length. Before he started paying for engineers and the Town’s Planner he wanted to have a discussion with the Board and get a sense that the Board is going to favorably consider this before he wastes a lot of money. He would like the stay with the Planning Board procedures and move ahead. The Lead Agency should be the DOT and FAA. It doesn’t really matter what the Planning Board determines, because those are the agencies that will say yes or no to this project ultimately. It’s all private property and there are no Town roads involved. Rick Gray has +/-180 acres adjoining his and that’s not a problem. He understands that because of his subdivision there will be some stipulations. The Board can condition it that if he should move ahead with Final Approval on the second and third phase that his approvals for his airfield would need to be reapplied for. That’s actually how it will be with the FAA as well. Again, he wanted to keep this simple and not get too involved with throwing his money around too soon.
Chairman Tapper questioned how the Board was going to get public input without Mr. Dawson submitting a complete application?
Mr. Dawson stated that no houses would be affected.
Mr. Ullman stated that review process with the FAA and DOT are actually a separate process from the Special Use Permit. Mr. Dawson would come for a Special Use Permit after the FAA and DOT approvals had been obtained.
Chairman Tapper noted that there was some e-mail correspondence between Mr. Ullman and Mr. Moot on this matter. From reading through the emails it appears that Mr. Dawson would actually be starting with the Town Board in the whole process and would only come to the Planning Board once he received those initial approvals from the Town Board and the FAA and DOT.
Mr. Dawson agreed, that he wanted to follow procedure. He noted that he emailed some correspondence from the FAA and DOT to the Planning Board Office.
Mr. Ricks stated that those were just general informational emails. They weren’t specific approvals for anything.
Mr. Moot agreed and noted that Mr. Dawson had to start with those other agencies first. He requested that the Planning Board be copied with all applications and correspondence so the Board could follow along during the process.
Mr. Bolner noted that he reviewed the decision for the subdivision and right now this property has Conditional Preliminary Approval for a 22 lot subdivision and asking for a Special Use Permit on 4 of those lots in sections 2 and 3 is going to change some things and that will have to be looked into should Mr. Dawson proceed. It’s a different situation. Mr. Dawson has 2 open applications on one lot. He believed that he would need to withdraw the subdivision for affected sections if he wanted to proceed with the airstrip. Therefore he’d be starting over and applying for a subdivision with property that has an airstrip on it.
Mr. Dawson didn’t agree. He clearly stated that should he proceed with Final Approval for the last phases that he’d need to reapply at that time for the airstrip.
Mr. Bolner didn’t think that this Board could grant approval for a Special Use Permit in conjunction with an open subdivision that hasn’t received Final Approval yet.
Mr. Dawson noted that to start Final Subdivision approval he has to get Health Dept. Approval and get the road in and when and if he does that, the Special Use Permit would be null and void. He understands that.
Mr. Ricks didn’t understand why Mr. Dawson would want to do something like that.
Mr. Dawson noted that he needs to do something. He was affected by the moratorium and now with the economy the way it is he needs to try and do something.
Chairman Tapper noted that the moratorium didn’t have an affect on Mr. Dawson’s project.
Mr. Dawson stated that the moratorium was started because of him. It took time away from his approvals. He started the application in 2002 and it was only 18 lots, but because of how long it was taking, he needed to generate more money out of it and increased it to 22. He has a lot of issues with it right now and is trying to do something and this is the direction that things are moving in.
Chairman Tapper felt that the only way Mr. Dawson could get started was to start applying to the DOT and start from there.
Mr. Bolner wanted Mr. Dawson to know that the Town of Olive would also need to be notified because of their proximity and they’d really need to look further into the status of the second and third phases with Conditional Preliminary Approval. He’s really never seen anything like this before. They really didn’t think that it was feasible to get the Special Use Permit without withdrawing his application for the subdivision.
Mr. Dawson noted that he had DOT out and they looked at the area and he may need to change the take off direction. He’s put a lot of research into this and he can even shorten the length of the strip if he needs to. He just needs to do something. He wouldn’t have done this subdivision if he would have known what the economy was going to turn into. He has also entertained turning it into an equestrian subdivision.
Mr. Moot noted that he’d need a Stormwater Management Plan for this. According to SEQRA he can’t phase it—that would be segmentation and isn’t allowed and the disturbance would require this.
Mr. Dawson noted that he wouldn’t have to install it all at the same time, he could phase the construction.
Mr. Moot noted that would require a SPEDES Permit then.
Chairman Tapper instructed Mr. Dawson that the next steps were in his court if he decided to proceed.
ACTION ON MINUTES
Mr. Ricks made a motion to accept the June 17, 2008 minutes. Seconded by Mr. Rominger. No discussion.
Tapper, Chairman- Yes Ricks, VC- Yes
Kawalchuk- Yes Smith- Absent
Ullman- Yes Rominger- Yes
Dunn(alt.)- Absent
OTHER MATTERS
Chairman Tapper asked if the Board Members would be able to reschedule the meeting for August from the 19th to the 26th due to the Secretary’s vacation. The Board Members all agreed that would be fine.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Chairman Tapper addressed the two or three members left in the audience, explaining that the Board needed to go into executive session for a discussion. If the remaining members of the public would kindly exit the building, the Board wouldn’t need to go into a small room and could hold their discussion at the table. The members of the public didn’t have a problem with exiting the building.
At 8:05pm Chairman Tapper motioned for Executive Session to discuss Planner review, seconded by Mr. Ullman. No discussion. All members present in favor.
At 8:40pm Mr. Ricks motioned to close Executive Session, seconded by Mr. Ullman. Chairman Tapper stated that no votes were taken and no money was expended during the Executive Session. All members present in favor.
Chairman Tapper noted that he was following up on the plaques and letters for past members. The Town Board didn’t agree to do this, so he felt that if the Board Members would all agree to donating funds, they could do it themselves. They agreed and it would be looked into.
Chairman Tapper motioned to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Rominger. No discussion. All members present in favor.
As there was no further business, at 8:50PM, Chairman Tapper adjourned the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Rebecca Paddock Stange, Secretary