Town Board
March 26, 2019
CLOSED SESSION
Litigation and negotiations
OPEN SESSION
1. Rezoning request: 675 and 685 Saw Mill River Road
The site is adjacent to the former Jennifer’s Restaurant on Route 129. There are six rented dwelling units on the site; the owner wants the property rezoned to C-4 (the heaviest of the town’s commercial zones and applied mostly to highways) so that one of his tenants, a landscaping business, could legally park trucks on the site (trucks are currently being parked on site.) When asked how many trucks he anticipated, the owner guesstimated possibly 20. His goal, he said, was to be able to get a better return on his investment. Given the parcel’s closeness to the reservoir, the lot would only use item 4 and not be paved with asphalt.
Councilman Diana appreciated the owner’s intent to legalize the currently illegal parking situation and added that the availability of parking for commercial vehicles was an issue. Mr. Tegeder explained that parking commercial vehicles in a residential area is allowed by special permit but is not allowed in a Country Commercial zone. (At least one of the two parcels is in a Country Commercial zone. It was not clear what the zoning was for the other parcel.) Mr. Tegeder added that a zoning change to C-4 would permit other commerical uses on the site.
The board will make a site visit.
2. Panbar Realty/Stormwater/Excavation permit for Aspen Road, Shrub Oak
The applicant, a contract vendee, wants to construct a house on a corner of the vacant 4 acre lot that includes slopes greater than 30%. Because the project involves moving more than 200 cubic yards of dirt, the permit must be issued by the Town Board and is subject to a public hearing. The applicant said that the Board of Health has already approved a septic system for the lot.
The board referred out the application.
3. Hallocks Mill Sewer Extension
Town Engineer Quinn gave a status report on the sewer extension plan.
The size of the project has been reduced from a possible 450 parcels to cover 315 existing houses at a total cost of $14.3M with $10M coming from money set aside in the East of Hudson Fund and $4.3 M to be bonded and paid for by the benefitted property owners. The areas to be sewered includes 65 in Sparkle Lake, 29 on Sunrise Street and 221 in the Birch Street area although the specific streets in the 325 parcel Birch area were not identified.
A video of the presentation is available on line at https://www.yorktownny.org/townboard/meeting-videos.
More details about the project are available at
https://www.yorktownny.org/engineeringandsewer/hallocks-mill-sewer-extension-project
Mr. Quinn said he anticipated that petitions would be sent to homeowners within 1-2 months and that he would submit a copy of the petition to the board for its review before it was sent to homeowners.
4. Quality of Life Committee
Supervisor Gilbert suggested reconstituting the Committee that was created in 2016 but which never actually met. The Committee was envisioned as a forum where residents could air their concerns. According to the law that established the five member committee, three would be town officials, one would represent a public service organization affiliated with the town and one member would be a resident of the town. Councilman Diana, who voted to create the committee, said it was never established because he couldn’t get anyone interested in serving.
While Supervisor Gilbert and Councilwoman Roker said they were more interested in hearing from the public than town officals, Councilmen Diana and Lachterman said that official representation was needed on the committee because they knew the laws and regulations.
The town attorney was asked to draw up a modification of the existing law.
5. Selected resolutions
Bid for renovation of library bathrooms. The board rescinded the bid previously awarded to the lowest bidder and awarded the bid to the second lowest bidder; the difference was an additional cost of $9,000. Library Director Hallinan explained that the low bidder was not able to provide some of the materials involved in the bid; the problem stemmed from the fact that some materials were specified on the construction plans but were not specifically listed in the bid document which referred bidders to the plan. As part of the discussion, the town attorney was asked to review the template for bid documents to make sure it included provisions for a performance bond.
Auction of Parks Department vehicles. The board voted to dispose of four no longer needed vehicles and two pieces of equipment at an online auction site.