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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-03-15 TOWN OF GROTON PLANNING BOARD Minutes/ Transcript of Public Hearing & Regular Meeting - Thurs. , 15 March 2001 - 7: 30 PM Members, Groton PlanninsE Board (*Absent) Others Present Monica Carey, Chair Joan Fitch, Recording Secretary George Van Slyke Don Scheffler, Town Councilman Van Travis Mark Gunn, CEO Barbara Clark Glen Morey, Town Supervisor Tom Guihan Mark Baxendell Brad Albro Applicants & Public Present Jim Kowalski & John Guo of Etron, Inc, Applicant The meeting was called to order at 7: 30 p . m. by Chairperson Monica Carey . Approval of Minutes - 15 February 2001 Regular Meeting M. Carey: We'll call the meeting to order. The first thing on the Agenda, as long as the applicant isn't here , is to approve the Minutes for the February meeting. Everybody read the Minutes over? Do they look okay? V. Travis: Good B. Clark: I make a motion that we approve the Minutes. B. Albro: I 'll second it. M. Carey: All in favor? (All members present indicated in the affirmative. ) Approved. This becomes Action # 6 of 2001 . Cell Tower Information - Glen Morey , Supv. M. Carey: We really haven't got a lot on the Agenda. I was going to ask Glen to talk to us about the cell tower information that you had given me and what we were discussing before the Board members came. G. Morey: Yes. There 's an issue coming up on the County now about telecommunication towers . . . and regard to emergency situations, fire and so on. What's been happening is the towns, particularly Caroline and Dryden, don't want the County coming in and dictating location and types of tower they want in their town. It's not an issue here because we have only one tower here, and it is anticipated that this same tower will remain in the same location for this area but will be raised to a certain height. I'm not sure what that is, but I 've heard 165 feet or 300 feet. I don't really know how big it is, but it will be only one tower. The intent of the program is to save live for the fire department and the police department, and the ambulance. The issue is; what the County's saying is that they want to be Lead Agency, which is fine. We wouldn't want to take anything on ourselves on this program, but do you, the Town Planning Board, want to have say on where the location is and making sure that the SEQR is taken care of? And that's where it is. The Towns of Dryden and Caroline I think Page 1 of 10 (T) Groton Planning Board Public Hearing & Regular Meeting Transcript 15 March 2001 they are going to take the County to court. And what they are going to do, the County is going to say well, you're just against communication towers, but it's not. What they're saying is they don't want the County to come into their towns and villages and dictate to them exactly what they want to do without any input whatsoever. I just wanted to know what your feelings are on it. I can make copies of this and give it to you beforehand. It's just letters from the County saying that their court cases prove them right, with the ones from the Town saying, no it was misinterpreted; our court cases are right and the County is wrong. So that's what the letters are. M. Carey: I read the letter and F was talking to Glen earlier, and my feeling is that I think the Town Board should take the Lead on it simply because they are going to supercede any cell tower laws that we have in effect anyways, and the Town Board is the one that's going to hear more of the flack than our Board will. I just thought maybe it would be more appropriate for the Town Board to handle it because they will be handling with the fire districts, right? I mean they will be involved too and that's not anything that our Board really gets into . But that's my personal feeling. Like Glen said, he can make everybody a copy if they want to read then ten pages. G. Van Slyke: I guess I have one question, Glen. Now this is just for one tower here? G. Morey: The Town of Groton did one tower. G. Van Slyke : But is the County really asking for permission to do it wherever they want to do it, down the road in the future, or - G. Morey: I don't know what they are asking the other towns for . There will be new locations in other towns. M. Carey: Our location is right up on Hughston's property on top of the hill. G. Van Slyke: Yes, but what I'm saying is like, the whole idea of writing zoning for the cell towers before was the fact that we just didn't want an agency coming in here and saying okay, we're going to put it here and with no restrictions on how tall it can be or the setup of the cell tower itself - G. Morey: What the County's saying right now is their laws supercede the towns. B. Clark: What's the tower upon on Mark Rosio's? M. Carey: That's in Cayuga County. B. Clark: Oh, that's Cayuga County. M. Carey: But that's what, over 300 feet? G. Morey: That's 300 , T. Guihan: That has to be lighted, right? M. Carey: Yes. B. Clark: It has a strobe light on it. V. Travis: Are the other towns asking us to join them in a lawsuit, Glen? G. Morey : No. V. Travis. Okay, so that's not an issue . Do we have, in writing, a final statement that the tower will be sited as you described? G. Morey : No. We are all anticipating that it will be there . Page 2 of 10 1 1 (T) Groton Planning Board Public Hearing & Regular Meeting Transcript 15 March 2001 M. Carey: I don't think the County has any plans drawn up exactly where they're going to go yet, right, from what I read in those papers. G. Morey: That's correct. T. Guihan: How many towers are they going to build in the County? G. Morey: I couldn't tell you that, Tom. They made a presentation to the Town Board probably six months ago . M. Carey: The County? But there are a lot of dead spots in Groton, so we really do need the extra length on the tower, I think, personally. And I'm sure any of the fire and ambulance crews will tell you the same thing. I want them to be there to take care of me if I need them. Does anybody else have any more comments or feelings? Would the Board like copies of this? G. Van Slyke: We wouldn't need to get it tonight, but it might be nice to look at anyway and just see what's happening with it. V. Travis: What is our attorney's advice, Glen, with respect to this matter? G. Morey: He didn't - the discussion on Tuesday night was that to go talk to them and that's it. M. Carey: Any more comments? V. Travis: I guess I'd ask one other thing - the County has definitely said that there will be no discussions with the local - G. Morey: Correct. V. Travis: Seems politically unwise if technically correct. M. Carey: Well, if we have no more comments, we might as well go to the Public Hearing even though we haven't got much of anybody here. PUBLIC HEARING - ETRON , INC . Etron, Inc. , Applicant / County of Tompkins, RO - Cor. Peruville Rd. , Old Peruville Rd., & NYS Rte . 38 - TM # 36- 1 -21 . 1 - Site Plan Review M. Carey: It's almost 20 to 8 and I 'll read the notice for the Public Hearing. PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the Town of Groton Planning Board is holding a Special Meeting and Public Hearing on Thursday, March 15, 2001 at 7.•30 PM at the Groton Town Hall, 101 Conger boulevard, Groton, New York for the purpose of considering an application for Site Plan Review submitted by Etron, Inc. , for a machine shop including research and development of prototypes, to be located at the corner of Peru Road (Route 38) and Peruville Road in the Town of Groton, Tax Map #36- 1 -21 . 1 (former Tompkins County Highway Garage). Monica Carey, Chairperson M. Carey: Does anybody from the public have anything they would like to say? Do the Board members have any more questions they would like to ask these folks who came all the way out here? I think we have your names. Page 3 of 10 (T) Groton Planning Board Public Hearing & Regular Meeting Transcript 15 March 2001 J. Guo: My name is John Guo . M. Carey: Okay. J. Kowalski: I 'm Jim Kowalski. M. Carey: Any other questions from the Board or from the public? Well, maybe we may as well close the Public Hearing as there is no one present who wishes to be heard. V. Travis: I so move that we close the Public Hearing. G. Van Slyke: Second. M. Carey: All in favor? (All Board members present indicated in the affirmative . ) Approved. (The time was 7 : 40 PM . ) So the next thing we have to decide on is - we did the SEQR last month on this, and the other thing we have to decide on is if we have any concerns. Everybody got a letter from the County? Did you folks get a letter from the County? I don't know if they would have given you a copy or not stating that they really have no concerns, only if there was going to be much outside noise . J. Guo: I just got back yesterday. M. Carey: I guess that was one thing I was concerned about also was any outside noise. Everything will probably be inside the building? J. Guo: Yes, everything will be inside. M. Carey: Your hours of operation will be basically a regular work week? J. Guo: Yes, 8 to 5 . M. Carey: And I don't think we need to worry about parking for your employees; there's lots of parking spaces there. And if you plan on putting any sort of sign out you have to see Mark for that . That's a special application. G. Van Slyke: There's this. M. Carey: Oh, the Ag District, that's true . I was going to ask April if she put in the Ag District form; they didn't fill one out. I 'll just have her attach it to the application. You are within 500 feet of an Ag District, so we have to have you fill out an Ag Data Statement, but well just attach it to your application that you've written out already and that, basically, has the same questions on both. So we can take care of that from our end. Anybody else on the Board have any more concerns or any questions? G. Van Slyke: There was one thing, I think it was from the Transportation Department. You're not going to access to 38 are you? You're going to come in from the old highway. J. Guo: Yes. G. Van Slyke: Okay, so you're not going to try to access 38? J. Guo: No , M. Carey: There's quite an embankment there. G. Van Slyke: Well, they had a concern about that so I just thought I 'd bring it up. M. Carey: Very good. Anybody else have any questions or concerns for these folks? Page 4 of 10 (T) Groton Planning Board Public Hearing & Regular Meeting Transcript 15 March 2001 V. Travis: Let's just hope they grow to the size of the old Smith Corona with 2000 employees. M. Carey: Would anybody like to make motion to approve or disapprove this? B. Albro: I make a motion we approve it. G. Van Slyke : I 'll second it. M. Carey: We really don't have any stipulations to put on it. It's going to be a regular business and everything will be inside and they'll have regular hours and there's plenty of parking. All in favor? (All Board members indicated they were in favor. ) Approved. This becomes Action # 7 of 2001 . M. Carey: You're all set. That wasn't hard. B. Clark: Good luck. Code Enforcement Officer Mark Gunn re Baker M. Carey: Mark, do you have anything for us on the Baker deal? M. Gunn: Nothing, really. I made up the report. Did I give you guys the report? M. Carey: No. I got a copy of a letter from the Baker's lawyer. M. Gunn: I did make up a report and gave it to Glen and the Town Board members and, basically, I put down the reasons that I found in our local Code and our State Code as to why that structure couldn't be used for that business. The first one I listed was: the structure is approximately 1570 feet from the Village of Groton line which places it in an M- 1 District. I didn't find the type of business that he was requesting to put there. It's not listed in our Town Code, and that which is not listed is not allowed. So I put that down for number two. Number three: NYS Uniform Code Part 704 classifies the structure as 513 , which is combustible framing and combustible exterior. The Part 701 .4 - I listed all the things and I can give you each a copy of the stuff, classifies the occupancy as a C3. 3 High Hazard, and the other portion, the furnishing refinishing, was a High Hazard. The C4 . 2 which is the warehouse, was a Moderate Hazard. The Code limits the square footage for that type of use to 2000 SF and he's way over that. Part 771 . 4A6 in the NYS Code doesn't allow two uses in a wood- frame structure. So he can't do a warehouse and the furniture stripping business at the same time. He'd be able to if, in fact, he cut the square footage of that building down by putting a concrete block wall with a three-hour rating from floor to ceiling, to and through the deck, which is absolute phenomenal money. But if he wants to do it, that's okay. Part 774. 2C and 774 . 4A4 requires the type of use in that structure to be sprinklered and to have a fire alarm system connected to 911 . Table 770 requires setbacks from the property line to be a minimum of 100 feet and he's right on top of the road, 30 to 40 feet. Plus he was too close to Gordy Schultz's property. I didn't get into any of the - I put down to the bottom Tompkins County Health Department, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Owasco Lake Watershed; they are all going to want to have something to say about that with the creek behind there and it's also dangerously close to a flood zone. So FEMAs going to have to have something to say about it. There's other things without me even going into the building. I 've been told the ceilings are too low; I 've never been in there, so I don't know. But I put in the letter that without seeing the inside of the building there are very possibly more issues that could prevent them from using it for that type of business. These are things right off the top of my head I came up with. There could be a lot more that are in there. But it's enough for the average person to oh no, I guess I better look for another place. And it's not that I don't want them to be here; we need the business in the Town, but there's just all kinds of things there that I have no control over. Page 5 of 10 t ' (T) Groton Planning Board Public Hearing & Regular Meeting Transcript 15 March 2001 M. Carey: But this creates a problem, if we haven't got anything in the Zoning Laws for furniture refinishing and he's bought land out in the Town. Now would he be able to go to the ZBA, or would we make something and the Town Board would amend it to the Zoning Law? M . Gunn: I don't know how that whole thing works. I 've never gone through that. It seems like he'd be able to try to get a variance for putting that business in the Town. You, number one, would have to deny him based on that. M. Carey: Right, M. Gunn: And then he would have to go to the Variance Board. It seems like he's got a whole lot of other hurdles he has to cross before he even can come here. He's got to have a ton of State things he's got to take care of before he could come to you with this is how I 'm going to fix this and this is how I'm going to fix this. M. Carey: No, I'm saying that if this Vincent goes outside the Town and buys five acres someplace and we haven't got anything in our zoning laws to allow furniture stripping and refinishing, should we start thinking of putting an amendment into the Zoning Law? M . Gunn: It might be a thought, but you really have to look at the magnitude of what somebody wants to do and the high hazard. You're going to want something like this, I would think, in an M- 1 District. That would be about the only place. I don't think you're going to want one in a Rural Agricultural going out next to somebody's residential house. It's better close to wherever you have industry. It would take a lot of looking to see where a spot like that would be, where it would be adequate. B. Clark: Well right now, Vincent is doing that business down next to the fitness center. M . Gunn: He's actually to a real smaller scale, and I think that building is concrete. B. Clark: I think so. M. Gunn: It's a block structure which helps it a lot. And also, I think he's also been there for a long time. I 'm not sure about that, but I know his storage tractor trailers have been there since I can remember. That puts it back in - B. Albro : That's Dumont's there, the tractor trailers. M. Gunn: Isn't it Steven's stuff that's in it? B. Albro : In some of them, yes. T. Guihan: I think he's been there since - B. Albro: He's probably been there six, seven years maybe. T. Guihan: Yes, since whatchacallit got his fitness center going. B. Albro: Yes. T. Guihan: Because I had rented a space from him. M. Gunn: I ended up looking up, according to our Local Law, the items that we did have listed. They have to do with industry and manufacturing. I was looking up the definition of those two and manufacturing and industry, neither one of them, really fit the bill of a product that's already made and you're taking it apart and re-doing it. None of them fit that so I couldn't, in my eyes, categorize it Page 6 of 10 (T) Groton Planning Board Public Hearing & Regular Meeting Transcript 15 March 2001 under either one of those. And also , I think there was a clause in there under either one of those that there couldn't be any negative affect, or something of that nature, in the surrounding area. V. Travis: It says produce no industrial waste which reduce the quality of air, water, and land. M. Gunn: Right. And, you know, I felt there was the potential for that being close to the creek. V. Travis: You said this was a furniture refinishing business, is that right, that uses a vat process where they dip furniture and - M. Gunn: No. G. Morey : They spray it on and it's all recycled. There is no waste other than the old varnish and stuff like that that they scrape off. But it's all closed and there's no pollution whatsoever now, today. And he did get a variance when he put the place here . M. Gunn: There's commercial wood processing. There's items of that nature which I guess - M. Carey: You're going to have to put a couple together. M. Gunn: It's kind of hard to actually guess what he's categorized. NYS Code categorizes him as a C3 .3 High Hazard, and they only give you one - once you start mix messing with the volatile chemicals, or the flammability of the upholstery and the wood, then it starts adding up on you . I told you last month in the BTUs that's what creates such a high hazard for it. You could even have - and I don't know what kind of chemicals they use - but they could be non-toxic, non-flammable, and he's still got the C3 . 3 because of the wood and the fabric . So it's highly flammable . So if he wanted to go to another part of Town, you know, it might be something, you know, or come up with a district or something that, you know, he'd be able to do . But, you know, here again when, you know, it's up to the Board. B. Albro: Yes, I think at this point, at the moment, he's looking for storage. That's what he's looking for. He's got two big college contracts and he's looking for some buildings locally because he does most of his stripping right over here - to place his stuff so it is right within an arm's reach of what he's doing is what he's looking for. I don't think he's looking to refinish and strip and all that out there. He's looking at it more for storage basically. B. Clark: But the bad thing about that location on Peru Road is his big trucks. I 've been through there with a school bus and there's not enough parking and his trucks have been out on the road and that's a danger. M. Carey: Well, we've got a few empty dairy barns around. T. Guihan: Well, he can't rent a storage area and store furniture in it, can he? M. Gunn: Sure. M. Carey: It's allowed. We have warehouse facilities. T. Guihan: But the law wouldn't let him because of the hazardous material? B. Albro: The combustion. Wasn't that why, hike out here - that's the problem with storing furniture out here was the combustion you were saying a month ago? M. Gunn: He could use it as a warehouse. But there again, he's got a square footage problem with that building where he's going to have to end up having to cut that down and put in a sprinkler system. B. Albro: Just for storage, for cold storage, you mean? Page 7 of 10 (T) Groton Planning Board Public Hearing & Regular Meeting Transcript 15 March 2001 M . Gunn: Yes. Dusty Keyes has got the same problem. Dusty had to bury a tank in the ground. I think he's got 10,000 gallons of water up there buried so the fire department can go up there and suck it out and have water for a fire. Once you go over a certain square footage - off the top of my head I don't remember what that is either, but I had looked it up with Dusty and Dusty was way over that. As I recall, this one here altogether is 8 or 9 , 000 SF; I couldn't believe how big that building was. B. Albro : It's big. V. Travis: It's huge. M. Gunn: When I heard that I said wow, I've lived here 33 years and never paid attention to how big that building is. There's a possibility of him using it for a warehouse, but he hasn't approached me for using it as just warehouse. He's approached me for using it as either a stripping business or stripping and warehouse. M. Carey: The sprinkler system would be the only thing he'd have to put in to make it into a warehouse? M. Gunn: I'd have to check more on that. It depends on if he expects to have an employee there, or something of that nature. When he starts having employees then he's talking about the water issue, the plumbing issues, bathroom facilities. Once you have employees then you're talking about having habitable space in there and the ceiling has to be a certain height. When I think of a warehouse, I think of going in and there's no ceiling in the place. I've never been in there. So I think it's possible for a warehouse, but you know it's kind of hard to say without - B. Albro : There is a bathroom in there already. They had that put in when John Colander(?) was there and there's a thousand-gallon tank out back. M. Gunn: When the Health Department gives me something saying it's an adequate septic - B. Albro : I 'm sure the Health Department has it. M . Gunn: If they do, that's fine. B. Albro : But there is one there. As far as the ceilings go, I'm trying to remember. It's been awhile since I 've been in there . I want to say part of it's almost like a cathedral type and part of it is a little lower. But I 've not been in there in a long time. But even as storage, maybe, if you were to suggest that as just a storage and not have employees there other than dropping off, picking up, whatever they are doing, and not working there all day. M. Gunn: There again, I think it's possible if he comes to me and says that's an avenue he'd like to take, I could give him a yes it's possible/ no it's not possible. It's probably going to be possible, but once I tell him that he needs to come see you folks and go over the issues of in and out with trucks and things of that nature. V. Travis: Is this the same man that lives across the street we did a Site Plan Review for? B. Albro : It's his building. It's not him. We're not talking about Harvey Baker; we're talking about Steve Vincent, V. Travis: Who wants to rent the facility? B. Albro: Right, Exactly. M. Carey: And that man's upset because - M. Gunn: He is or he isn't going to purchase that? I have no idea. Page 8 of 10 • (T) Croton Planning Board Public Hearing & Regular Meeting Transcript 15 March 2001 G. Morey : There's been discussion on both sides. Either purchase it or rent it. B. Albro: Well, see I think part of that is - I talked with Steve. We've done business for quite a few years and, in fact, I stopped to see him one morning for another issue, but Harvey was there and he was discussing the things that he's already had done which is, like us, we're doing our homework and they're doing their homework, which is cool, so like the bathroom and stuff is there and the tank is in there, which I think is good. Hopefully, something could work out with it, but I think they might have the paperwork for the bathroom and the water. I can't remember how much water is there, whether it just feeds that bathroom or if there's more on the other end. I'm not sure what's in the other end where Harvey has his shop down there. I don't know what facilities are really down there. It's been a long time since I 've been in there. I don't remember exactly how the layout was other than long. I know if you come in John's end he had a room probably not as big as this. Then there's a wall and it opened up and went probably two-thirds of the way down to another wall, and Harvey was in the end. The antique shop was in the center, and John was in this end. But I don't know if they've opened the inside up or anything like that. But even maybe if he could use it for storage it would help him out if it's possible to do that. You need to actually go in for a storage thing? M. Gunn: I need an accurate square footage and that's going to tell me a lot right there. There comes into play business separation, how far apart the exit doors can be, and lighting, and that sort of thing. So it's probably entirely possible he could use it for that, but there's a number of things I 've got to look at. B. Clark: It seems like he would want a sprinkler system in because you remember the fire over in Freeville? V. Travis: Yes. B. Clark: Vincent had church pews from the McLean church stored there, and they lost them; that building went down. M . Gunn: Yes. The only problem is it's so costly. I 'm dealing with that with the Elm Tree right now. Without municipal water, it is very expensive to put in an adequate sprinkler system. B. Clark: But if he's going to warehouse antique furniture from colleges and things like that, you'd think he wanted to be protected. Even for insurance purposes. M. Gunn: Yes, you'd think. B. Albro: He might look at it differently if he was buying the building than putting in a sprinkler system or doing a lot of that and not own the property. Everything he does would be there and to the advantage of the owner. M. Gunn: He pays for the loss when it goes up in smoke so if he puts in an adequate sprinkler system that would douse the flames before it destroyed it. It's six one-half dozen the other . B. Albro: But there's a possibility under that way, the storage . M. Gunn: Yes. B. Albro: Well, that's a positive outcome of this. Utilize the building. M. Carey: That is the biggest problem. Anybody else have any more comments or things they'd like to discuss? Page 9 of 10 (T) Groton Planning Board Public Hearing & Regular Meeting Transcript 15 March 2001 Elm Tree SRrinkler System M. Gunn: Oh, yes. Were you aware of the difficulties we were having with the sprinkler system in the Elm Tree? M. Carey: No . M. Gunn: There was a - they had gotten a variance - same thing, wood-frame structure, two stories. They wanted to put a banquet room in and an apartment upstairs. I sent them to the NYS Variance Board, and they got their variance to use that upstairs, and one of the things the State told them they had to have was a sprinkler system in the banquet room, the vestibule, upstairs, and in the vestibule downstairs, and in the petition that I got where they were granted it, Item #9 states and a sprinkler system will be provided on the first floor. They didn't have it. And they are about ready for a CO so they can open up and move in upstairs. And there's no sprinkler system down there, so I said well, Item #9 states clearly in black and white, the sprinkler system is required on the first floor.. So they had told me it was a typo . It took me a couple of weeks of going in-between a State engineer from Binghamton, a Mr. Blanca(?) from Albany, but finally somebody faxed me the Minutes of that variance meeting and in it it clearly states that a sprinkler system would be provided upstairs, in the upstairs vestibule, and in the downstairs first floor vestibule. They called me up after he got it and said he didn't know how we got it to these people without it saying vestibule, but we screwed up and it's not required on the first floor. I called him today and got a letter out to them saying that it's not required on the first floor so they really don't have anymore hang-ups, and they are about ready to open up . M. Carey: Good. Good spot. V. Travis: That will help them tremendously having a banquet room. What they have done, as probably many of you know, is when they've had a big party, they've closed the restaurant, which means that people coming in off the road to have dinner, find the facility closed down except for the party. They've been unable to do both at the same time. This should help them tremendously. It's unfortunate for them that they couldn't have had that altogether when they opened . It's been almost a year. It doesn't seem possible. They opened in May and we're not far from May. M. Carey: Right. Okay, Mark, thanks for keeping us informed. Anybody else have anything? Congratulations . Monica ! G. Morey: Congratulations, Monica, for being chose the Chairperson. The Board did make a resolution to accept your nomination. M. Carey: Thanks. Well, if there's nothing more to come before the Board, then - Adjournment V. Travis: I move we adjourn the meeting. G. Van Slyke: I'll second it. M. Carey: All in favor? (All members present indicated in the affirmative. ) Meeting adjourned. The meeting was adjourned at 8 : 10 p . m. r Fitch Recording Secretary 4/3/01 Page 10 of 10