MINUTES OF THE
REGULAR MEETING OF THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT PLANNING BOARD HELD AT THE
ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, 215 SOUTH WORK ST., FALCONER, NY ON NOVEMBER 9, 2005
AT 7:00 P.M.
PRESENT: Chairman Dan Evans,
Gary Swanson, Ron Calanni, Phyllis Belin,
Paul Shanahan, Attorney William Wright, Code
Enforcement Officer Randy
Woodbury and Acting Secretary Pam Vanstrom
ABSENT: Mike Mogenhan and Dave Carlberg
Chairman
Dan Evans called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M.
Motion made by Gary
Swanson, seconded by Ron Calanni to approve the minutes
of the October 12, 2005 meeting.
Carried. Ayes-5 Noes-0 Absent-2
Mr. Marc Turner was
not present for the continuation of the site plan for C P Plastics so the Board moved to
the next item on the agenda.
Mr. Gene Aversa, presented
plans to further sub-divide the development owned by Mr. Aversa and Todd Patric on West Oak Hill Road.
Mr. Aversa explained to the Board that they did a
sub-division over three years ago on West Oak Hill Rd. They have taken two of
the five-acre lots and made them into four additional lots. He said that Steve Johnson at the Chautauqua
County Health Department had told them they could further sub-divide three
additional lots per five acres after three years. Randy Woodbury said that
might be an extra regulation of the Health Department because they need to
stamp the plan before they file it at the County Clerk’s Office. Mr. Aversa
said the County told them they were only allowed six lots on their 16 acres.
Randy said the Town went through the major sub-division and approved six lots
and the County involvement did not come to the Town.
The six-lot sub-division is filed with the County
Clerk. In order to get filed with the County Clerk there is a process the
County Health Department goes through but the plan has to be approved by the
Town before they will look at it. The County will do an additional minor
sub-division after three years. The Town requires a major sub-division for both
because they are dividing into more than four lots. Mr. Aversa said the County also dictated that of the 16 acres,
two of the lots had to be five acres and they could sub-divide the other into
four lots. Mr. Aversa said they now want ten lots.
Chairman Evans said they would have to look at the
storm water calculations and topols and driveways for the new lots.
PLANNING BOARD
NOVEMBER 9, 2005
PAGE TWO
Mr. Aversa said he did not think he needed to go
through the sub-division process again.
Attorney Wright asked if the ten lots is what they wanted to end up
with. Mr. Aversa said there is not
room for any more lots and he and Mr. Patric wanted to own the two five acre
lots and will sell the others. Discussion followed on the location of the
lots. Mr. Aversa stated the roads will
stay the same and they do not want anyone impacting the frontage on West Oak
Hill Rd.
Mr. Aversa said they did not originally want to do
the five-acre lots that the County mandated. If they did not have the five-acre
lots they would have to put in sewer and water, which would cost over a million
dollars. They cannot sell the lots and need to make the lots smaller. They have
put in underground utilities at a cost of $40,000.00.
Attorney Wright said Mr. Aversa has to have approval
of this Board. The plan becomes a map that is filed with the County Clerk and
is used a reference for all the deeds that would be generated. Mr. Wright
stated it seems the County has required two steps even though they could have
done it in one step with this Board so this now has to be reviewed as a major
sub-division. They need to supply the topographical map with the contours and
have an engineer confirm the drainage.
Mr. Aversa said he would not go through that
again. He did not understand why the
Town would get involved with the problem he had with a neighbor draining water
unto his land and why Moonbrook is able to build a pond without going through
any process.
Mr. Aversa thought there was an opportunity to grant
him a waiver in the Town code in Section 130-9 and asked if the Board would
consider a waiver and if it applied to him.
Attorney Wright said there is no opportunity to provide a waiver from
the sub-division process for the entire provision. He reads it that the waiver
applies to certain sections of the code such as waiving the requirement of a
major sub-division plan that requires all roads and drainage be constructed to
the quality that is to be accepted to be deeded over to the Town. If the roads
are not to be deeded to the Town the Board could waive that requirement.
Randy Woodbury said that the first step is to refer
this to the County Planning Board. Mr. Wright said the first step is also to
provide the Board with a preliminary plot plan for review. They can accept the plan Mr. Aversa provided
as his preliminary plot plan for the first step. The Town does not know about the County requirements.
The Board told Mr. Aversa that the engineer could
put the contours on the map that he has and he should have Jack Thompson review
the plan and write a letter on his letterhead making an opinion that this plan
will have no adverse affect on the water flow characteristics of the property.
They also need a utility layout for the new plan.
PLANNING BOARD
NOVEMBER 9, 2005
PAGE THREE
Mr. Aversa asked what happens when Moonbrook builds
their pond because it will change the run off.
He was told this Board handles what is on the property they review. Moonbrook does not have to come to the Town
of Ellicott for the pond.
Mr. Aversa wanted to know what the position of the
Town would be in the future when the water flow changes and the neighbor drains
his water unto his property because he says it is impact. Attorney Wright explained that is private
cause of action and he would have to contact his attorney and the Town could
not do anything on his behalf. The water
calculations that are required is for the amount of rain that is falling from
the sky on this property and is configuring the amount of water run off from
this property pre-development and post-development and the water that is coming
in from the neighbors is not in the calculations. They can regulate any sub-division that might go in above them
but farm ponds are not under the Town’s jurisdiction. The County Soil and
Conservation does have authority over the farm ponds.
Mr. Woodbury said that he did do as much as he could
to help with the problem with the neighbor.
Mr. Aversa said that he was very helpful but he
still had to sue the neighbor.
Attorney Wright said to move this forward the Board can accept this plan as a preliminary plot of a major sub-division
and direct Mr. Aversa to present to the Board at the next meeting a final plan
that complies with Section 130-12 of the Town code.
Mr. Woodbury said he would take care of referring it
to the County Planning Board. Mr.
Aversa said he would go and talk to the County. Randy said Mr. Aversa would
take care of the Health Department and he would take care of the County
Planning.
Lynn Terry, 3018
West Oak Hill Rd., Jamestown, NY, told the Board that he owns the
property that is in front and at the side of Mr. Aversa’s property. He purchased the property the same year as
Mr. Aversa and Mr. Patric bought their property. He owns one and a third acres
and has put $15,000 into the house in three years and has $71,000 in his
property.
Mr. Terry said he was all for this project when they
started. He has concerns with the hours of construction, the cutting of the
trees that damaged his property, the changing of the elevation of the land and
his privacy.
Mr. Terry told the Board he did channel the water
into Mr. Aversa’s ditch and did go 15 feet over his property line to channel
the water. Mr. Terry has contacted Town
Supervisor Tyler and Mr. Woodbury. He
also called NYS DEC and they told him they did increase the flow of the water
unto his property but he would have to contact his lawyer. Mr. Terry received a letter from Mr.
Aversa’s attorney and the Town that said he had to dig a new ditch. He already
has a 2-foot wide and 2-foot deep ditch running around his property.
PLANNING BOARD
NOVEMBER 9, 2005
PAGE FOUR
Randy told the Board that Mr. Terry did not own his
house when the notices when out for the first sub-division. He said that with the ditches Mr. Terry has
dug the technical result is excellent. He
has one ditch with a bend in it completely on his property and it works beautifully.
Motion made by Gary
Swanson, seconded by Paul Shanahan to accept the plan Mr. Aversa presented as a
preliminary plot plan.
Carried. Ayes-5 Noes-0 Absent-2
Mr. Marc Turner,
Turner Property Maintenance, provided plans for his addition
to the current building at 1890
Lyndon Blvd., Falconer, NY for CP Plastics.
He said that they did add contours to the plans and
provided a report from Francis E. Jenkins, PE analyzing the run off. Mr. Jenkins
stated that the existing system appears to be adequate to handle the run
off. The Board reviewed the plans and
drainage. Attorney Wright suggested that Town Highway Superintendent Shellhouse
should review the report and drainage.
Mr. Turner showed the Board the elevations of the
steel building and photos. He also had
added the location of the electrical source on the plans.
The Board reviewed the EAF provided. Attorney Wright stated that this action does
not exceed any type I threshold in 6 NYCRR, Part 617.4 and will not receive
coordinated review. The Board noted in
Part II C that this property is zoned industrial and is currently grassed area
and gravel parking. Attorney Wright
stated this project would not have an impact on the environmental characteristics
that cause the establishment of a critical environmental area. There is not
likely to be controversy related to the potential adverse environment
impacts.
Motion made by Paul
Shanahan, seconded by Ron Calanni making a declaration that this project will
not have a significant adverse environmental impact and authorizing Chairman
Evans to sign the EAF on behalf of the Planning Board.
Carried. Ayes-5 Noes-0 Absent-2
Motion made by Paul
Shanahan, seconded by Phyllis Belin to approve the site plan for Turner
Property Maintenance for their addition to the existing building at 1890 Lyndon
Blvd., Falconer, NY contingent on Highway Superintendent Shellhouse looking
over the drainage calculations.
Carried. Ayes-5 Noes-0 Absent-2
Chairman Evans
stamped and signed two copies of the site plan. Randy said he would waive the
third copy of the site plan for this project.
PLANNING BOARD
NOVEMBER 9, 2005
PAGE FIVE
Eric Stawitzky,
Senior Forester at Forecon Inc., told the Board they wanted to
start the permit process to do some harvesting of timber on the Patal property
behind the Colony Motel located at 620 Fairmount Ave., W.E., Jamestown, NY. He
provided some documents for the Board.
The harvesting plan is looking to utilize the Colony
Motel parking lot and the road running behind the Motel to an area of open
ground behind it as the log landing area.
The harvest in question is going to be a modified selection harvest or a
partial type cut that will look to remove the over mature material that is
degrading back there. He provided a copy of a survey that was done by Mike
Rogers in 2003.
Chairman Evans asked where the proposed skid road
was on the map. It does not go beyond
the property line. The skid road is
already established but never utilized.
It is actually grass with some trees that have fallen unto it but is
very recognizable in the field. There
are no houses back there. Water and run
off were considered but does not seem to be an issue in this case.
Mr. Stawitzky said are looking at the harvest taking
6 to 7 truckloads. The harvesting is
looking to utilize a small tractor situation to control the noise and any other
factor the larger tractor would provide.
Also within the harvesting they are going to try to find someone that
will be utilizing as much of the top material or firewood material as possible
to control any debris left on the property. The only soil type available on the
property is a gravel silt loam, which is very deep and generally sloping and
well drained. They are using Mike Rogers to come back and re-flag to make sure
they are only considering what is within the Patal property. The main goal at
this time is to remove poor quality over matured material to allow future growth for long term and to improve the
overall quality within the wood lot. The owner should have the right to utilize
some of the material that is going bad and there is a considerable amount of
it.
Attorney Wright asked if Forecon was involved a
couple of years ago when there was a proposal to cut this property. Mr. Stawitzky said they were not and were
just recently retained by Mr. Patal.
Paul Shanahan asked if they had a percentage figure
of removal. Mr. Stawitzky told the
Board they estimate about 30,000 and 35,000 board foot on the total property
and they are looking between 18,000 and 20,000 to be removed within the
harvest.
Mr. Stawitzky said the hours of operation would be
between 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM during dry or frozen situations. He stated there
are no watercourses going through the property.
There was discussion on the sewer easement.
Attorney Wright said the applicant needs to apply
for the site plan review. The Board does have the authority to waive the
requirements of the site plan review, which is appropriate in this case. A
PLANNING BOARD
NOVEMBER 9, 2005
PAGE SIX
short form EAF must be provided. This is just a
sketch plan conference and the Town has to publish and send out notices to
neighbors. Mr. Wright said for the record when this plan came in a couple of
years ago and the neighbors came in mass. This Board must be particularly
sensitive as far as the hours of operation.
Chairman Evans listed what the Board needed for the
site plan:
1) an
updated survey map
2) any
water courses plotted or explained there are none on the property
3) they
should show the staging on the maps – loading of the trucks
4) any
easements plotted – they need to confirm the sewer line
5) the
Board will waive the 5 foot contour intervals
Other things the Board would like to see would be:
1) hours
of operation
2) what
trees they are planning to cut and which ones they plan to leave – such as
sizes and dimensions of the trees – some sort of logging plan
3) any
information they could provide of their operation – such as a Forecon brochure
Paul Shanahan asked if they would be affecting the
buffers. Mr. Stawitzky showed the Board
on the map where they will not take any trees and said the overall removal will
not affect the buffers. He said this would be a two to three week operation.
Randy Woodbury said he would take the plans to the
County Planning Board. The Town needs
an official application for the site plan with the fee and a short for
EAF.
Motion made by Paul
Shanahan, seconded by Phyllis Belin to adjourn the meeting at 8:37 PM.
Carried. Ayes-5 Noes-0 Absent-2
______________________________________
Valerie Pierce