MINUTES OF THE REGULAR
MEETING OF THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT PLANNING BOARD HELD AT THE ADMINISTRATION
BUILDING, 215 SOUTH WORK STREET, FALCONER, NY 14733 ON MAY 14, 2008 AT 7:00
P.M.
PRESENT: Chairman Dan Evans, Gary Swanson, Ron Calanni, Phyllis
Belin, Paul Shanahan, Steve
Peterson, Fred Santucci, Attorney
Woodbury and Secretary Valerie Pierce
ABSENT: None
Chairman Evans opened the meeting at 7:00
PM.
Motion made by Gary Swanson, seconded by Paul Shanahan
to approve the minutes of the April 2, 2008 meeting.
Carried.
Ayes
7
Noes 0
Absent
1
Mr.
Evans said he would like to move the request from the Town Board for a
recommendation regarding permitted uses in Industrial Parks to the end of the
agenda. The Board had no problem with the change.
Chairman Evans reopened the public hearing for Paul
Gutzmer, National Bedding Co., LLC (Serta Mattress Co.) for an addition to the
existing building at 2375 Parkway Drive, Falconer, NY
14733.
Mr. Gutzmer, told the Board the plan he was submitting was scaled
back from the plans they presented in April. Initially
the project was for 42,000 plus SF and now is 3500 SF. At the
last meeting the issue of the retention pond was discussed. The original
site plan was approved for this addition and the retention pond was built to
accommodate that as well as other business moving into the
park. Since that time they have met with the
Mr.
Asinger reviewed the plans with the Board. He told the Board that the building
will be 350 by 100. He presented stamped site plan drawings for the project
reflecting the building and the parking lot area. The piping
for the storm water drainage was noted on the drawings. He
asked the board how they would like him to proceed. He
submitted an aerial view of the property. Mr.
Asinger
introduced Roy
Pedersen, PC from E & M Engineers and Surveyors PC, who did the site
plan drawings for this project.
The
Board discussed the following with the representatives from
Serta:
· the
drainage the swales will go around the building, there is a grade rise in the
back
side of the building
there will some grading that will not approach that area and
they
will grade off level around the
building if any maintenance or emergency vehicle
need
to get around the building they could because it will
be graded they will re-grass
· the set
back they are well short of the required 150 feet required setback lines
they resized the lot in the previous plan because of the setback requirements
they have a 50 foot setback from Willard Street Ext.
· there is
a compacted gravel lot their thought process is to let it settle for one to
two years before they pave - National Bedding just purchased the land where the
drop lot was last year
· no
additional lighting other than what is existing on the building -
there will be security lights that will meet the
code
· no change
in the utilities the existing infrastructure will accommodate the
expansion
· elevations are shown on the plans they are moving the
drive-in ramp to the new addition and opening up some loading docks and have
more shipping docks available - the
receiving area on the new side wall will be expanded for receiving more raw
materials
· they will
put silt fence in the construction areas to control any of the erosion or
sedimentation and prevent that from getting into the current storm water system
without being properly filtered
Attorney Wright said that one of the questions in his
notes from the last meeting is whether or not the water detention facility that
was constructed by the County was going to be adequate for this
project. A letter received by the Town dated 5/14/08 from
John Bremmer,
Paul Shanahan said the County indicated they would have
the water detention addressed by summer and asked the applicant what their
construction schedule is. Mr. Gutzmer said they would like to
break ground as soon as they are issued a building permit and if possible the
construction would start within a week or two. The Planning
Board usually does not go over one year for the paving because the site plan
expires in one year. If Serta needs more than one year
they can come back to the Planning Board and request additional
time.
The
Board continued by reviewing the site plan checklist noting:
· the water
flow the roof water will be captured by underground piping and directed to the
storm pond the parking lot water has storm inlets that are existing and go to
the pond that will be modified by the County - the water in the back will come
around and the water that does not soak into the ground will
get into the storm drainage system the trailer drop lot is graded so that
water comes to a grass swale that will take it to the roadside ditch, which goes
to the pond - Mr. Richard Dixon said there is money set aside
to maintain these ponds and as soon as the County can they will get the
estimates and get the work done to meet the standards Randy referenced the
letter from Mr. John Bremmer - the Board decided that they will waive the storm
water management plan with the understanding that the County will update the
storm retention facility for this project Randy said he will issue a building
permit with the contingency that the storm water pond is being reconstructed at
the same time the building is being built but he will not issue a permit for
occupancy until the DEC signs off on the storm water pond Sertas
completion date is December 2008 so the County will not hold them
up.
· The
parking lot in the back can stay graveled for one year but it they need to come
back to the Planning Board to ask for an extension if they need more time to
pave next year.
· The
Planning Board requested that a 20 foot tree buffer be added to the Willard
Street side there is a provision in section 146-43 C (landscaping) that states
a planted visual barrier will be required to be maintained in yard areas that
abut land upon residential structures are permitted except when natural or
physical manmade barriers exist the planting barrier or visual screens shall
have a width of no less than 50 feet and should be of plant materials that
within a reasonable time (5 years) the vegetation will have curtained such
growth habitat that on a year-round basis a person standing on either side of
the planning shall not be able to see through the planting - Mr. Gutzmer has no
problem planting trees but does not know if he can meet the standard requirement
of a wall of trees that prevents someone from seeing the trailers - Gary
suggested that they could plant some trees so it is not so stark - The Board
decided that they would require Serta to plant trees - They agreed on the
trees going east to west at a 45 degree angle extending 75 feet - The trees will
be Norway spruce with 10 foot centers.
· Only
other permits required are the building permit and the DEC notice of
intent.
Steve Peterson had a question about the water that comes
down from the east across the driveway to the retention pond.
The water now sheets over the parking lot. The
applicant agreed to put a pipe under the parking lot.
The
Board reviewed the EAF that was submitted by the applicant.
Attorney Wright stated that this action does not exceed any Type I
threshold in 6NYCRR, Part 617.4 and will not receive coordinated
review. The Board continued with Part II C
noting:
· This is
an addition in an Industrial Park
· That the
storm water management plan is to be upgraded by the
· This
project will not have an impact on the environmental characteristics that would
cause the establishment of a critical environmental area.
The
Board determined that this proposed action will not result in any significant
adverse environmental impacts.
Motion made by Paul Shanahan, seconded by Gary Swanson
that Chairman Evans executes the EAF with a negative
declaration.
Carried.
Ayes
7
Noes
0
Absent - 0
Motion made by Paul Shanahan, seconded by Phyllis Belin
to approve the site plans for National Bedding LLC (Serta) for the addition to
their existing building at 2375 Parkway Drive, Jamestown, NY as presented with
the following stipulations:
· the
parking lot will be paved within one year the applicant will come back to the
Planning Board if they need more time
· a pipe
will be put under the parking lot for drainage
· a tree
buffer will be added east to west extending on a 45 degree angle 75 feet they
will stagger Norway Spruce trees 20 feet on center
· DEC
notice of intent and a building permit are required
· the
regulations for the storm water management plan by the County shall be sent to
the Town of
Carried.
Ayes
7
Noes
0
Absent 0
Paul Potter, PE for Fluvanna Community Church, presented
a sketch plan for a Family Life Center for the Church at 3363 Fluvanna Avenue
Ext., Jamestown, NY 14701.
Mr.
Potter told the Board that the design is approximately 75% done.
It does have all the issues for storm water. It is
about 2 ½ acres with the expansion. The existing building is
shown with the proposed addition. There was a sketch plan
brought before the Planning Board a couple years ago but that did not go
forward. Mr. Woodbury said this is the first time a design
professional has been before that Board with this project.
Mr.
Potter said they want to do several things:
· the
Church wants to add the
· the
church has its own septic system and well - the septic system is based on how
many people sit in the sanctuary - based on what will come up in the future the
current septic system cant be expended large enough to handle it for this site
- Mr. Potter has talked to the South and Center Sewer District and there is a
sanitary manhole across the street so they have put a pump station in and would
modify the current septic for the holding tank to handle the
sewage.
· an
elevation plan for the front of the Church was submitted because they are going
to add a narthex to the front
· they do
not have the all of the architectural plans or the landscape
plan
· they hope
to come back in a couple months
· this
property was an old gravel pit - Mr. Potter did some storm water calculations
and he explained the drainage to the Board they will need to have fire
suppression for the family life center, which adds approximately 11,000 SF
12,000 SF - the connector building adds another 2500 SF plus the narthex just
the family life center needs to have fire suppression they will need storage
and pumps and back up generation for the pumps the Church is looking to put
their own power generation system in
· there
will be parking lot lighting that will go around the outside and shine in- that
is not shown on the plan
· there
will be some small modifications on the inside of the building
· this
property is zoned residential the Church has a Special Use Permit
- Randy stated that they should come in for a modification to the Special
Use Permit to show the new scale
· this site
is 11.1 acres and with the new build-out they will have about 6 acres of green
space there is a courtyard in the middle of the parking lot that will be use
for green space and a memorial garden
· there is
some storm water that is not collected by the storm water pond the grade does
not change it runs to the southwest
· Mr.
Potter spoke to the
· the
parking lot will probably not be built as big as it is shown on the plans
there is bad soil in the front of the site the gravel ends approximately 25
feet in front of the Church and from there on the soil gets worse as you go
toward the lake
· Paul
Shanahan asked about the pond and drainage Mr. Potter said they will build a
berm Paul asked if it will help alleviate some of the
current drainage problems Mr. Potter said it will not alleviate the problem
but may help because the drainage now contributes to the problem
The
Board told Mr. Potter that the Church would have to submit an application to the
Zoning Board. Mr. Potter said they are still working on the
lighting and the landscaping. They will meet with the
neighbors so they are in agreement with the project. Mr.
Potter would like to help the neighbors with the ditch but does not see that
they can because the elevation is too low. Attorney Wright
said that the neighbors will receive notice of both the Planning and Zoning
meetings and will be able to come in and participate. Mr. Wright said that the
Church should do everything they can to help mitigate the impacts for the
neighbors. He said that because it is a modification of a Special Use Permit
they should review section 146-64 of the code. The Zoning
Board would like to see everything that will be presented to the Planning Board.
Mr. Potter told the Board they do not plan to ask for any variances. The budget
for this project was $800,000 to $900,000 but with the costs going up and
because the Church has not yet generated enough funds; Mr. Potter estimates it
will be closer to $1,125,000. Mr. Potter told the Board he
would have all the required permits, the lighting plan and the landscaping plan
when he comes back to the Board. Attorney Wright stated they
need to go before the Zoning Board first for modification of their Special Use
Permit.
The Planning Board continued with discussion on the
request from the Town Board to review section 146-42 D of the Town of Ellicott
code regarding permitted uses in Industrial Parks, especially that retail
business should not be precluded from operating in Industrial Parks and to give
a recommendation.
Attorney Wright read the letter received from the Town
Board dated 1/23/08. The Planning Board had met with William Dailey and
Richard Dixon from the County Planning Board with the idea that the
Industrial Parks in the Town of Ellicott were a project that basically
sponsored by the County. The County purchased the land, did
the entire infrastructure and did all of the environmental work. Mr. Wright
presumes the County had input into what would be allowed in the Industrial
Park District.
Ron
Calanni said that Bill Dailey wears more than one hat but would only speak for
the
Randy Woodbury has made a proposal, which might be a
compromise, to the Town Board. The Town Board has asked
Attorney Wright to discuss that proposal with the Planning Board. The proposal
is to add another section of code to the industrial park district that
creates the concept of a special permit use in an industrial park district.
The Planning Board discussed that proposal.
· Attorney
Wright told the Town Board that they can not leave it up to the Zoning Board to
decide what is allowed - he asked if the Planning Board wanted to recommend the
Town Board create the concept of a special permit use and if so, what the
criteria should be for that special permit use - Mr. Wright asked the Board for
ideas for what the criteria should be - Some thoughts for criteria, before the
Planning Board knew what the project was, were for incidental sales of products
made at the location.
· Paul
Shanahan said that when he asked Mr. Dailey and Mr. Dixon if the Town did allow
Blooomquist Landscaping to come in and develop this parcel within the
industrial park would it have any impact on future development with larger
manufacturer - Mr. Dailey did not think it would have any
impact and did voice he was favorable to the change - Paul said that if they did
allow this they should open the code to allow the businesses that are there to
do the same - Attorney Wright agreed that they would have to make anything they
did district wide or they would get into a spot zoning situation -
Paul said that he thought you could achieve a common ground
by allowing Bloomquist Landscaping or a similar business into the industrial
park district through a special use permit process the part about retail sales
would have to have one broad change and one variance type of change - Ron said
he would agree but for existing businesses the incidental sales should have a
start and end time - Fred Santucci said that Overhead Door
sells doors and Gary has stated that Gren Company also does retail
sales - Attorney Wright said that should not be there but they did not come
before the Town - Randy Woodbury told the Board members that Overhead Door has
been told not to sell doors to individuals at the industrial park - they can
have clients come in because they are a service company but individuals should
not be allowed to pick the door up themselves - both Serta and
Bush have asked to have retail sales and Randy has told them
no
· Paul
asked what the necessity or purpose of prohibiting retail sales was Randy
thought that has to be decided on a case by case basis and is why he suggested
the special use permit that can be a mechanism to govern something that is not a
use by right in the memo that he wrote to Councilman Lodestro there is a
strong test in section 146-64 of the Town of Ellicott Zoning code that states in
the special use permit section that whatever use that is allowed by special use
permit cannot be any more objectionable than a use that is allowed by right
there is also a lack of definitions in the code
· Bloomquist Landscaping does not fit in the Industrial
Park by right almost 100% of his business is off site but it is not a business
that can be there by right
· Randy
said that the Board needs to realize how valuable the
Industrial Parks are to preserve (even if they are vacant for a long period of
time) for a high employee business such as manufacturing there is a lot of
money put into the infrastructure Fred said there are better locations more
suitable for a landscaping business than the Industrial Park Paul stated that
he feels that the IDA made it very clear that the parcel has not been developed
and this would be opportunity to get it developed Attorney Wright said the
problem is to write the code to allow this business but not something that the
IDA and Town does not want Ron stated that the purpose of the Industrial Park
is for manufacturing business and to create jobs the landscaping business will
not create jobs Paul said at the same time you are not developing that parcel
and getting it on the tax roll
· Ron asked
if the businesses were subsidized by the Federal or State government
- Randy said he thought it was part of the Economic
Development Zone
· Randy
said that he thought an ideal spot for this would be on
· Most of
the Board members were in agreement that this business did not belong in the
Industrial Park it could open the Industrial Park to anything it might be
considered spot zoning Paul said that this parcel has never been developed in
all the years the Industrial Park has been there
· Phyllis
Belin stated that because of the emphases at the College on training people that
are industry ready there will be more skilled labor in the area a business may
come in because of the work force
· Randy
said that even if the Special Use Permit were created the Zoning Board might not
grant a permit to this business Randy said that Bloomquist could apply for a
use variance
· Randy
said that the same thing is happening at the airport there is a big hanger
that they hope will be used to its capacity - someone at the
IDA (who is not there anymore) wanted them to use it for IDA offices that
would have taken something (even though it is not being used to its full
capacity) away from the airport
· Randy
said Mr. Dixon, as the financial person, wants to do something with the
properties because they are not turning a profit the County has expenses - Mr.
Dailey would say the same thing with his IDA Hat on but when he had his
County Planning Hat on and was asked if they wanted the scheme to apply to the
whole district he said No
· Paul
asked the Board if they were in agreement to open the Park to incidental sales
to the existing businesses the letter from the Town Board did not request that
- Dan did not think the criteria was there to change the
integrity for retail sales
· Gary
Swanson said that his opinion would be to recommend not to change the code
Fred Santucci agreed Paul said that there does not seem to be anyway to make
it fit
· Attorney
Wright said that the Board in the past have directed the Chairman with the
Attorneys help to send a letter to the Town Board with their
recommendation and the reasons
· Randy
said that the Industrial Parks are designed for what goes back to legislative
intent he feels that the legislative intent of Industrial Parks Countywide is
for job intensive manufacturing purposes and even if they have to be land banked
preserving that is so great that should never jeopardized
The
Board agreed that they should recommend that this business not be allowed in the
Industrial Park because:
· the
legislative intent - land is valuable and should be preserved
· even with
a modification of the code to allow a special use permit the proposed use of
applicant is not permitted under the Industrial Park criteria
· the IDA
director advised the Board that unless the Board could create
criteria that only went to one parcel they were not in favor of retail sales on
an Industrial Park wide basis the Board did not recommend the rezoning of
individual parcels due to spot zoning Paul said that would tread on a spot
zoning issue Ron said that if they were to allow retail outlets in an
industrial park would it discourage manufacturing companies coming in
Motion made by Gary Swanson, seconded by Phyllis to
direct Chairman Evans to send a letter to the Town Board stating the Planning
Board in not in favor of a change because of the reasons
listed.
Carried.
Ayes
7
Noes
0
Absent
0
Motion made by Paul Shanahan, seconded by Ron Calanni to
adjourn the meeting at 9:08 PM.
Carried.
Ayes
7
Noes
0
Absent 0
_______________________________
Valerie Pierce, Secretary