Town Board
September 19, 2017
Absent: Councilman Diana
1. Road paving
Highway Superintendent Paganelli announced that road paving would begin shortly and that he would have a final list of the streets to be paved.
2. Changes at town hall parking area
Separate bids were awarded to remove and relocate the flag pole in front of town hall ($3,850) and the three granite monuments ($5,250). A new flag pole will be installed in front of town hall. The monuments will be relocated to Patriot Park.
3. 2353 Granville Court wetlands permit
The board open and closed the public hearing on a wetlands permit. A vote to grant the permit was postponed pending the drafting of an approval resolution that will require the property owner to construct two fences: one around the new swimming pool and a second to provide access to a utility easement on the property.
The board held three public hearings related to the mall. (For background on each issue, see text below)
Amended site plan to accommodate three new retail spaces
The two major issues were the height of the proposed pylon sign near Dicks that would be visible from Route 6 and the town takeover of the ring road.
The board, and also ABACA, are concerned about the proposed 26’ tall sign that would be the tallest in Yorktown. (The town’s code limit signs to 16’ and the sign at the Staples Center is just over 16’.) The applicant explained that in response to earlier concerns from the board, it had reduced the height which originally was over 30’; it wants the sign visible to motorists along Route 6, traveling the speed of the road. On the suggestion of Councilman Bernard, the applicant will erect a balloon at the proposed site so that the board can do a site visit and see the impact of the sign.
Supervisor Grace explained that the DOT will only allow the new entrance to the mall from Route 6 on condition that the town take over the ring road and the board wants to do what it can to insure the continued viability of the mall. While the mall owner will be responsible for snow plowing, and the road will be brought up to town specs before the town accepts it, still to be worked out is an agreement for long term maintenance costs. Highway Superintendent Paganelli pointed out that when the town took over several county roads in Yorktown as part of the Legacy Fields agreement, it received a one shot sum of money for paving the roads. But that was 10 years ago and the roads will have to be repaved again in the future at the town’s expense. Mr. Paganelli also wanted the liability issue clarified and the town engineer asked the applicant if an existing town sewer line that has had a history of problems could be rerouted under the ring road.
The hearing was closed. The applicant will likely appear at next week’s work session so that final issues can be ironed out and an approving resolution voted on at the first meeting in October.
Zoning Code change to allow a health/fitness use
Al Capellini, speaking on behalf of the mall, explained that malls across the county are repurposing and introducing new types of uses in response to the changing retail environment. Bill Beck of Club Fit as well as Councilman Bernard, expressed concern that a fitness center that had no internal connection to the mall would not help bring traffic to the mall. Other speakers suggested that the mall owners look for other possible users that would bring shoppers to the mall. In response, the applicant explained that if Seritage, the owner of the Sears parcel, could not lease the space, the loss of rental income would lead to a reduction in the parcel’s assessed value and tax revenue to the town.
The hearing was closed. The board postponed a vote.
Amended site plan for Sears parcel
The applicant explained that some changes have been made to the 24 Fitness sign as per ABACA’s comments but that the new plan has not been reviewed by the advisory board. Bill Beck also questioned the traffic generation numbers provided by the applicant and said that the town hadn’t done its due diligence on environmental issues.
The hearing was adjourned to give the board more time to work out issues with the applicant.
6. Bank Road/Public hearing on parking restrictions
The board open and closed a hearing on restricting parking on a portion of Bank Road in order to improve site distance. Bill Beck of Club Fit thanked the board for making the change. The board approved the zoning change.
7. Granite Springs Sports Complex
The board approved a $3.850 million transfer from the General Fund fund balance to a capital projects line in order to pay for the contract already award3ed to Montesanto Brothers. In response to a question from Councilman Patel, Supervisor Grace said that the town had received the check from Enbridge pursuant to the recent agreements the board approved with the pipeline company.
8. Worker’s Compensation
The board approved a resolution transferring a total of $493,446 from the General Highway, Refuse, Water and Sewer funds to cover worker’s compensation costs for January 1, 2017 through August 31, 2017. The largest transfer, $319,060, was from the Highway fund.
8. Courtesy of the Floor: Immigrant Protection Act
15 people spoke in opposition to the resolution the board adopted on September 5 supporting County Executive Astorino’s veto. They opposed both the substance of the resolution as well the fact that the resolution was not published in advance in the agenda and was introduced at the end of the meeting when most of the public was gone. Three people supported the resolution arguing that immigrants should come here legally. Supervisor Grace took umbrage at some of the remarks and defended the board’s action. The Courtesy statements and Supervisor Grace’s response can be viewed on line at the town’s web site, http://yorktownny.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php. The comments begin at the 2:29 mark with a woman in a salmon colored blouse. Supervisor Grace’s response begins at 3:07 mark.
The public hearing for The Weyant, originally scheduled for September 19, was not held. During Courtesy of the Floor, the board was asked why there had been no public notification of the change. In response, Supervisor Grace said that all the interested parties, e.g., “the neighbors,” had been notified. After the meeting, when the CIY observer asked Councilman Lachterman if a new hearing date had been set, he said none had been set.