Planning Board

February 11, 2019

 

Attending:  John Kincart, William LaScala, Rich Fon, Robert Garrigan

 

1. Lowe’s/discussion of Certificate of Occupancy

Lowe’s wants to open on or about March 15, but before it can get a CO (certificate of occupancy) it must satisfy all the conditions of its site plan approval.  Three conditions remain unfilled: planting trees on Underhill Avenue, site landscaping, and reaching a satisfactory agreement with homeowners on Old Crompond Road about sewer connections.

 

The landscaping obviously can’t be done until the spring and opinions differed as to the progress of the sewer connections talks: Michael Grace, Breslin’s attorney, advised the board that 4 of the 9 homeowners had decided to take a cash payout from Breslin and opt out of sewers, two others are involved in remedying a construction issue involving their joint driveway and four others remain unresolved.  Calling the homeowners’ demands that Breslin pay for the sewer connections regardless of the cost (that could involve expensive rock excavation) a moving target, he said the sewer issue should not be used to hold up the opening.  As for the landscaping, he objected to providing a performance bond, but a Breslin representative said he had no problem providing either a cash bond tied to the estimated cost of the landscaping or tying a temporary CO (TCO) to the issuance of a building permit for one of the pads. He advised the board that the company was close to coming to agreement with a tenant for one of the three pads.

 

Speaking for the homeowners, Ann Kutter advised the board that the only reason some homeowners have said they would opt out of a sewer connection was that Breslin was not prepared the pay the full cost which was their unerstanding. She also advised the board that there were issues that were still unresolved and that the homeowners were not getting answers from Mr. Grace.

 

The board went into special session and voted to amend the site plan so that the requirement for the off site tree planting would be satisfied by Breslin choosing either the cash bond or linking the condition to the issuance of a building permit for the pads. The board left the fulfillment of the unfinished  landscaping up to the town board that has to decide whether to issue a TCO. Mr. Fon said that the record was clear regarding Breslin’s commitment on the sewer connections , but added that if an agreement with only one homeowner ws outstanding, possibly something could be arranged.

 

2. Brookside Village subdivision

The applicant wants to change the orientation of the house located in a 5-lot subdivision that was approved in the 1980s in order to make the lot more attractive to potential buyers.  The board had no issue with the desired change.

 

3. Fiore subdivision, Carr Court

(See Planning Board, 3-12-2018.) The applicant’s engineer, Joe Riina, advised the board that the proposed new lot would be able to hook up to sewers via an existing easement. He also explained that in addition to the existing stormwater retention facilities, the applicant is proposing to add additional underground storage in order to deal with concerns from downslope residents. He said that the additional stormwater facilities were not required and were being designed to capture run off from a 25 year storm. Asked if additional retention could be provided, the engineer said yes, but that would involve more changes to the site.

 

The board will hold a public hearing on the subdivision plan in March.

 

4. Mohegan Audi Addition/East Main Street

Assistant Planner Robyn Steinberg advised the board that neither an application for a stormwater permit nor a SWPPP had been submitted and reviewed by the board prior to its granting site plan approval; she said that the SWPP referenced in the 2018 approval resolution was actually one from 2010.  Once the error was discovered, the applicant has retroactively submitted an application and SWPPP. The board went into special session and voted on an amended approval resolution.

 

5. Roma Building

At the applicant’s request, the item was withdrawn from the agenda.