HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.27.2025 Planning-board-minutes1
Village of Cayuga Heights Planning Board
Meeting #133
Monday, October 27, 2025
Marcham Hall – 7:00 pm
Minutes
Present: Planning Board Members Chair F. Cowett, M. Johnston, J. Leijonhufvud, R.
Segelken
Code Enforcement Officer B. Cross (via Zoom), Attorney S.O. Shah, Alternate Member E.
Quaroni, Deputy Clerk K. Perkins
Members of the Public
Item 1 – Meeting called to order
• Chair F. Cowett opened the meeting at 7:00 pm.
• Chair F. Cowett stated that Board member M. McMurry is unable to attend and
appointed Alternate Member E. Quaroni a full voting member for the meeting.
Item 2 – September 29, 2025 Minutes
• The Board reviewed the minutes of the September 29, 2025 meeting.
J. Leijonhufvud
R. Segelken
RESOLUTION No. 447
APPROVING MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 29, 2025
RESOLVED,that the written, reviewed and revised minutes of the September 29, 2025
meeting are hereby approved.
Chair F. Cowett, M. Johnston, J. Leijonhufvud, E. Quaroni, R. Segelken
– None
Item 3 – Public Comment
• No members of the public wished to comment.
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Item 4 – East Upland Road Planned Development Zone (PDZ)
• J. Leijonhufvud stated that she will be doing consulting work for Whitham Design
LLC which is advising the applicant on the East Upland Road Planned Development
Zone project; she asked Attorney S.O. Shah to confirm that she should recuse herself
from Planning Board consideration of the proposed PDZ.
• Attorney S.O. Shah confirmed that J. Leijonhufvud should recuse herself from any
Planning Board business having to do with the proposed PDZ to avoid the appearance
of a conflict of interest.
• J. Leijonhufvud recused herself from participating in this portion of the meeting.
• Chair F. Cowett stated that the Village’s Board of Trustees at its meeting on October
15 deemed the application for the East Upland Road Plannned Developent Zone to be
complete, declared itself lead agency for SEQRA review, and categorized the PDZ as
an Unlisted SEQRA action; should the Trustees approve the PDZ, development of the
project would require site plan approval by the Planning Board; because the Planning
Board is an agency that has discretionary decision authority to approve certain aspects
of the project, the Trustees have requested that the Planning Board concur with the
Trustees acting as lead agency in SEQRA review of the PDZ and that the Planning
Board join the Trustees in a coordinated SEQRA review of the PDZ proposal; the
Trustees have the authority to conduct and conclude SEQRA, but the Planning Board
can provide the Trustees with input pertaining to environmental concerns during the
SEQRA review process; the Trustees have therefore also requested that the Planning
Board join them in a special meeting on Wednesday Novermber 12 at 7:00 pm.
• The Planning Board discussed whether to concur with the designation of the Village’s
Board of Trustees as lead agency in a coordinated SEQRA review with the Village’s
Planning Board of the Upland Heights PDZ proposal.
M. Johnston
E. Quaroni
an applicant is proposing a Planned Development Zone (PDZ), which involves
the construction of ten townhouses on two parcels located on East Upland Road; and
the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees has deemed the PDZ
application to be complete, has stated its intent to serve as lead agency for the SEQRA
environmental review of the project, and has categorized the project as an Unlisted action
under SEQRA; and
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WHEREAS, the Board of Trustees has also stated that the SEQRA review will be conducted
as a coordinated review amongst the various agencies that have discretionary decision
authority to approve certain aspects of the project; and
development of the project will require site plan approval by the Village of
Cayuga Heights Planning Board; and
in their October 15, 2025 meeting the Village of Cayuga Heights Board of
Trustees requested lead agency concurrence from the Village of Cayuga Heights Planning
Board and requested that the Planning Board agree to a coordinated SEQRA review of the
project with the Board of Trustees;
the Village of Cayuga Heights Planning
Board does hereby concur with the designation of the Board of Trustees of the Village of
Cayuga Heights as lead agency under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act
for the purpose of overseeing the SEQRA environmental review of the Upland Heights PDZ
and agrees to a coordinated SEQRA review of the project with the Board of Trustees.
– Chair F. Cowett, M. Johnston, E. Quaroni, R. Segelken
– None
• The Planning Board discussed whether to participate with the Village’s Board of
Trustees in a joint meeting on Wednesday November 12 at 7:00 pm at Marcham Hall.
R. Segelken
M. Johnston
RESOLUTION No. 449
JOINT MEETING WITH THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
ON NOVEMBER 12, 2025
RESOLVED,that the Village of Cayuga Heights Planning Board will participate with the
Village’s Board of Trustees in a joint meeting on Wednesday November 12 at 7:00 pm at
Marcham Hall.
Chair F. Cowett, M. Johnston, E. Quaroni, R. Segelken
– None
Item 5 – New Business
• Chair F. Cowett stated that, subsequent to the Planning Board approving the site plan
for the proposed project at 515 Cayuga Heights Road at the Board’s September 29
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meeting, an Article 78 proceeding was filed on October 8 appealing the granting of a
variance for the project by the Village’s Zoning Board of Appeals.
• Attorney S.O. Shah stated that an Article 78 proceeding can be a fairly lengthy
process; should the variance be successfully appealed, the Zoning Board of Appeals
would need to revisit its granting of the variance, after which the Planning Board
would need to conduct another site plan review.
• R. Segelken asked if construction had started on the project.
• Code Enforcement Officer B. Cross replied that construction had not started; he is
unable to issue a building permit until the Article 78 proceeding is resolved.
• Chair F. Cowett stated that the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Planning
Board will be held on Monday November 24, 2025 at 7:00 pm at Marcham Hall.
Item 6 – Adjourn
• Meeting adjourned at 7:40 pm.