Planning Board

August 8, 2016

Attending:  John Kincart, John Flynn, Anthony Tripodi, William LaScala

REGULAR SESSION

1. Kitchawan Fire & Rescue Station

The board approved a second 1-year extension. Al Capellini, the project’s attorney, advised the board that for budgetary reasons the fire district would be proceeding with constructing only a portion of the originally approved plan. (The part omitted may be one bay.)

2. Hilltop subdivision

The board approved a second 90-day extension. The applicant is trying to get an easement to an existing sewer line. If he does, he’ll be able to develop the third lot; if not, he’ll build only two houses. The transition to a new engineer is still in the works.

3. Faith Bible Church

The board approved a separate wetlands permit, as a subset of the original permit, that allows for the demolition of the vacant building before a building permit is issued.   

5. Chase Bank, Commerce Street

The board approved the site plan and related permits with the condition that the applicant address the issues raised in a July 11 memo from Bruce Barber. The terms of the approving resolution were not read out.

6. Fieldstone Manor, Strawberry Road

The board opened and closed the public hearing on the final plat; there were no public comments. The board then voted to approve the final plat with the manor house, internal roads, conservation easement and tower assembled into one lot with the owner responsible for their maintenance and upkeep. (The vote was 3-0, with Mr. Kincart recusing himself.)   Declarations will be included in the deeds to the 14 houses requiring the owners to pay a portion of the maintenance costs.   In response to Mr. Flynn’s question what would happen if the tower was not maintained, Mr. Capellini said that the declaration would allow the town to make the necessary repairs and tax the subdivision’s property owners for the cost.

The subdivision’s recreation requirement will be met by providing 3 tennis courts that can also be used for pickle ball, plus some open space. The subdivision will also have to provide affordable housing units in accord with the town’s Affordable Housing law.

7. Spark Steakhouse, Route 202

The board opened and closed the public hearing and then voted to approve the amended site plan. Although final details of the catch basin issue remain to be worked out, it was agreed that the problem catch basin can be eliminated and the stormwater flow rerouted to another catch basin that is large enough to accommodate the additional flow.

The special permit for the outdoor seating will include a condition prohibiting amplified music. The permit will be for three years.

WORK SESSION

8. 3787 Crompond Road (Brophy sandwich shop)

Joe Riina of Site Design Consultants updated the board. A formal survey of the site has been done.  The ZBA has granted the permit for outdoor storage for the landscaping business in the rear of the site. The traffic study indicated that the additional traffic generation will not have any significant impact on Route 202 and that there will be sufficient gaps in the traffic to allow left turns. The sandwich shop, open for breakfast and lunch, anticipates that most of its business will be during the lunch hour and therefore will not impact rush hour traffic.

The second (eastern most) driveway will be limited to delivery vehicles.

The applicant was asked to speak to the property owner about making some lighting changes on the site, possibly adding lighting on the building and changing the lighting fixtures, possibly to LED fixtures, on the existing poles.

The applicant will return to the September 12 work session to review the lighting and a public hearing will likely be scheduled for September 26.

9. Orchard View Subdivision, Sherry Drive

As requested, the applicant prepared an alternative layout but stated that it was not his preferred option. The board did not review the plan but Mr. Tegeder stated that a future approving resolution would make note of why the board rejected the alternate layout.

The stormwater plan for the preferred layout has been revised and is currently being reviewed by the DEP. It includes a swale behind the houses that discharges into an easement to Pine Grove Court. An additional stormwater feature will be a detention pond under the cul d’ sac with a homeowners’ association responsible for its maintenance as well as the internal road, although the ownership of the road was left undecided.  Mr. Tegeder asked the applicant to consider reducing the size of the cul d’ sac  in order to reduce impervious surfaces. The applicant will also review constructing a “T” hammerhead turn around on Sherry Drive  if the road into the subdivision becomes a private road.

Mr. Tegeder noted that more discussion was needed about the existing surface detention pond and whether its maintenance  would be the responsibility of the homeowners’ association.

A public hearing will be held on September 26.

10. Triglia & Rezi subdivision

The applicant has agreed to pave 200 feet of Baker Highway to a width of 18 feet.  (Although town road specs require a 24 foot road, the Planning Board has the flexibility to reduce the requirement; the paved portion of Baker that ends at Christine is 18feet.) The road will be pitched so that runoff will be directed to a swale that will discharge into the existing catch basin at Baker and Christine. The road will have curbing on one side and a shoulder on the other.  Once paved, it will be up to the Town Board to accept the road as a town orad.

When the property owner who will be affected by the new road advised the board that the road or shoulder will be on her property, Mr. Tegeder explained that the road will be in the right of way, not her property; you may be using the property, he said, but it’s not yours.

A second resident noted that after the applicant paved 200 feet of Baker Highway, about 100 feet would be left unpaved and that it made sense to pave that remaining portion. It was suggested that the town pick up the tab for this extra paving.

The board asked the applicant to review and possibly modify some of the stormwater provisions.

A public hearing will be scheduled for September 26 and Mr. Tegeder advised the surrounding residents who attended the meeting that they could submit written comments to the board anytime before that date and also speak at the public hearing.

11. Crompond Terraces, Old Crompond Road

The applicant presented a revised concept plan seeking a “warm and fuzzy” response from the board that it could take to its investors.  The new plan reduces the number of residential buildings from 41 with 122 units, to 35 with 110 units, for an overall density reduction from 7.625 units/acre to 6.875 units per acre. (The rezoning resolution called for 96 units, or 6 units/acre but included a provision that allowed the Planning Board to consider a higher density.) The revised concept plan calls for 1,000 feet of less road.

The revised plan also includes a 32 room inn in addition to the 77,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. When Mr. Tegeder advised the applicant that mid-sized motel franchises were looking for 60-80 room plans, the applicant said he’d “love to do that.”  Councilman Bernard, the town Board’s liaison to the Planning Board, raised the issue of whether the site’s C2R zoning permits motels.

The applicant showed photos of what the three types of residential buildings would look like, although the photos were not all from the same modular company that will provide all the units.  Mr. Tegeder said that while he liked the appearance of one style, more work needed to be done to made the other two more attractive.

Much of the discussion focused on what the applicant calls his “C” units, three story structures that will be built into the hill, with questions being asked about what the visual impact would be from Route 202 and also whether the proposed on site parking was actually feasible.  The board asked the applicant to provide more detailed elevations and confirm the feasibility of the parking.

Mr. Kincart noted that this plan was less crowded and better than the previous plan. Mr. Tripodi and Mr. LaScala , who were not on the board during the earlier plan reviews related to the rezoning, said they liked the plan.  Mr. Flynn, however, said he was still concerned that the plan worked against the contours of the topography and would require a considerable amount of cut and fill.  Because of the topography changes, some of the units on the slopes will be constructed din a series of terraces, separated by retaining walls.  This led to a brief discussion about both the height of the retaining walls and the visibility and aesthetics of above ground foundations.

The applicant advised the board that the county Board of Legislators has approved the site’s addition to the Peekskill Sanitary Sewer District and that even if the Costco plan does not materialize or is delayed, the applicant will construct the sewer connection.

12.  Village Traditions

Removed from the agenda. No reason was given.

13. Saccente , Rocky Place

(See Planning Board 5-23-2016 and Planning Board 6-13-2016).  The ZBA has asked the Planning Board for a second opinion regarding the drainage.  There is also confusion as to what was previously approved by the ZBA and what was actually built. Mr. Tegeder said the applicant’s architect will supply additional information to show either that the  the approved drainage plan works or doesn’t work and can be fixed.