Roberta Front Street
SBL: 48.07-2-11, 13, 15, & 17
Discussion - Site Plan
Location: Front Street
Contact: Site Design Consultants
Description: Approved rezone and site plan by Town Board by Resolution #485, dated December 19, 2017, with conditions for approvals by the Planning Board. This property has been rezoned from R1-20 to the Transition Zone to construct two mixed use buildings consisting of commercial space and residential units on 0.8 acres.

(Click here for the history of the site's rezoning.)

Planning Board 10-26-2020

The board approved a one-year time extension. Mr. Riina advised the board that the applicant is working with the town attorney on a license agreement involving the use of town property.

Without any discussion, the board approved the site plan, stormwater permit, tree permit, lighting and landscaping plan and the times for refuse pick up.

The landscape plan was revised to provide more spacing between the trees as recommended by the Tree Commission, but an ABACA memo recommended more dense planting.  The applicant will need to clarify the differences between the two advisory boards. The board went through a list of items in the town engineer’s memo; the applicant disagreed with the recommendation that he be required to do a downstream analysis of the capacity of the stormwater system. He argued that such an analysis was costly and wasn’t necessary as there would be no increase in post construction runoff from the site.  He did, however, agree to the recommendation that the drainage pipe be videoed to determine its condition.

The applicant has submitted a draft maintenance agreement for the landscaping on the town’s property.

The board reviewed a TCAC memo that recommended that the new trees to be planted in the rear of the property should be larger but spaced further apart. Also that the species be identified. Mr. Riina said the applicant would try to accommodate the recommendations. The applicant has completed a full SWPPP that will be submitted to the DEP. Mr. Riina advised the board that DEP has changed, for the third time, its stormwater  requirements for projects less than one acre in size in the downtown main street area; he anticipates that the review for these projects will not require that full standards be met and that DEP will be concerned mostly with erosion and sedimentation issues.

The board is seeking clarification as to its exact role in reviewing and/or approving the revised site plan given the fact that when the Town Board approved the site’s transitional zoning in 2017, it also approved a site plan.

As the plan includes a landscaped streetscape on a portion of the abutting paper road, the applicant will need a license agreement from the town to use that portion of the town owned land.  (The streetscape, designed by Mr. Tegeder, was part of the 2017 plan and would provide access to the paper road in the event the property abutting it ever came in for development.) The applicant will work out some issues cited in the town engineer’s memo and was asked to document all the 8” trees on the site that are to be removed. Citing the fact that several years ago the applicant removed several trees on another property to the rear of the site, a resident, also to the rear of the site, asked that the board require a performance bond  just in case his property was similarly affected. The board advised the resident to write a letter to the board expressing his concern.

Mr. Riina explained that since the rezoning was approved in December, 2017 with a conceptual plan for a 5,400 sf 2-story building with retail on the first floor and five 2-bedroom units on the second floor and a second 1-story, 2,100 sf retail/office building, he has been working on a more detailed site plan and with DEP on stormwater issues. The SWPPP has now been completed. He advised the board that the new site plan follows the conceptual plan with some minor tweaking. One of the board’s major concerns was the shared loading area for the two buildings; Mr. Riina explained that he could create two separate loading areas by eliminating two parking spaces and still meet parking requirements. 

The proposed landscape plan has some plantings in the limited 5.5’ area to the rear property line although Mr. Riina explained that two of the abutting residential properties have agreed to have the applicant add more plantings on their property.

The board went over the town engineer’s memo on some specific points, including whether the width of the interior driveway could be reduced to 16’ from 17’.

The Planning Department will review the site plan, as well as the lighting and landscape plan.