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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-07-19 TOWN OF GROTON PLANNING BOARD Minutes/ Transcript of Regular Meeting - Thurs. , 19 July 2001 - 7:30 PM Members Groton Planning Board (*Absent) Others Present Monica Carey, Chair Joan Fitch, Recording Secretary George Van Slyke Mark Gunn, CEO Barbara Clark Glenn Morey, Town Supervisor Tom Guihan Mark Baxendell Brad Albro ARRlicants & Public Present Don Palmer, representing Kevin & Stephen Vincent, Applicants; Doug C . and Douglas G . VanBenschoten, Marion L. Hanson, Alan Giambattista Public Hearing - GSG Vincent Co A.,RRlicant / Cortland Savings Bank RO - 750 Cortland Rd. (NYS Rte. 222) TM # 20- 1 -35 - Site Plan Review - Proposed Commercial Upholstery Business M. Carey: It's 7: 35 p.m. , and the first thing on the Agenda is a Public Hearing, and I'll read the Legal Notice: Town of Groton Planning Board Public Hearing. Please take notice that the Town of Groton Planning Board is holding a Public Hearing on Thursday, July 19, 2001 , at 7: 30 p.m. at the Groton Town Hall, 101 Conger Boulevard, Groton, NY, for the purpose of considering an application for Site Plan Review submitted by GSG Vincent Company for a commercial upholstery business to be located at 750 Cortland Road, State Route 222 , in the Town of Groton, Tax Map #20- 1 - 35. Monica Carey, Chairperson. J. Fitch: What is the date that was published? M. Carey: 6 / 28 , J. Fitch: Thank you. M. Carey: Okay. We got some members of the public here. Would you like to make some comments. A. Giambattista: My name's Alan Giambattista. I don't know enough about this and I'm not sure what they have in mind. M. Carey: Okay. Don Palmer here is representing the company and maybe he can give us some ideas. D. Palmer: I'd be glad to try to answer any questions that might come up. GSG Vincent Company is a furniture restoration/ refinishing company that's been established for a number of years in the Groton community, and they are looking to expand within the Groton community. One of the steps for expansion is to hopefully acquire the building at the intersection of Salt Road and 222 for the purpose of conducting the reupholstery part of that business. And the plan is to have employees working in that building, the number of employees should not exceed ten at any one point in time. All of the work will be confined to that building. There should not be any noise coming out of the building that would be distracted to the neighbors. The Town Planning Board has heard the initial proposal and has indicated their preliminary approval to go ahead with that, with the restriction in and out of that building needs to come off the Salt Road as opposed to 222 . And there's this proposal for a Public Hearing to see if there was any input. It is my understanding that the Vincents have talked with some Page 1 of 9 (T) Groton Planning Board Regular Meeting Transcript 19 July 2001 of the neighbors and talked a little bit about what their plans are. They have a very good reputation and run a real clean shop. They adhere to all the rules and regulations and are very conscious of the environment. There won't be any toxic chemicals, fumes, or anything coming off of this process. Certainly they are very cognizant of their workers, all in compliance with the regulations that come into that. They are real conscious of safety and run a real good show. The ultimate plan beyond this phase is to hopefully progress and build a new building in the Industrial Park area on 222 . So this is one phase of their expansion and development. A. Giambattista: So when they moved in there they would leave the - D . Palmer: They would continue to use that building for some period of time. And if that materializes, they would probably not incorporate the upholstery business into their new building; they'd keep it as a totally separate building. There's some reasons to do that logistically, and there's also a whole set of regulations that relate to the upholstery business that's separate from the furniture sanding and restoration business. So at this point, the plan is to operate two separate facilities. At some point it may evolve and make sense to add onto the new structure and move the building in their new facility. But right now, the plan is to keep totally separate facilities. A. Giambattista: Would this be a place where customers come? Also, is it retail or is just a place D . Palmer: No, it's intended to be commercial. There may be some amount of traffic coming in and out of there just by the reputation of the firm. But it's not intended to solicit business - -- - - -- - - - and have a lot of walk-in -traffic or anything of-that nature. --It's-intended to be a work location. A. Giambattista: How about the amount of truck traffic. Will they be hauling furniture in and out--? D. Palmer: There will be truck traffic in and out just by the nature of the business, although it won't be real heavy traffic. It's basically the trucks will bring the furniture in; they'll do whatever needs to be done, and they'll take it back out. If the furniture needs to be further processed, it will go to another facility for that to happen. M. Hanson: There was some talk about the variance in zoning. If there's a change with that, there's the implication that the upholstery business leaves and another business comes in. We'd like to know. M. Carey: They'd have to come before the Board to get a Site Plan Review if the upholstery business leaves and another totally different business comes in. They'd have to come before our Board, just like this company's coming before our Board to get a Site Plan Review to operate . A. Giambattista: But there's no variance involved at this stage? M. Carey: No . Because it was commercial out that way. M. Hanson: Well, we're concerned mostly about traffic and noise. The truck traffic would be coming in and out of 222 pretty much? M. Carey: No, it won't come off from 222 or come on from 222 . Everything has to be from Salt Road. D. Palmer: All the traffic in and out of the building has to come off the Salt Road entrance. M. Carey: The 222 entrance will be blocked. G. Morey: But would they be coming off 222 to go into their place? Page 2 of 9 (T) Groton Planning Board Regular Meeting Transcript 19 July 2001 D. Palmer: That's entirely possible. They would come off the State road onto Salt Road and then into the building. B. Albro: It's only about 50 yards from the corner, the entrance that' s there. T. Guihan: Didn't Vincent agree to put up a barrier or - D. Palmer: They intend to block off that entrance onto 222 . T. Guihan: With trees, ornamental shrubbery or something? D. Palmer: Some form of barrier where that driveway would not be used. G. Morey: Don, what size trucks are we talking? Mack trucks? Eighteen wheelers? Or - D . Palmer: It could be anything depending on what happens. It could be tractor trailers coming in and out of there . The Vincents do have their own fleet of trucks. So I would think if there's any amount of traffic in and out of there it would be their own vehicles. G. Morey: The big trucks really aren't that big. They are just covered - D. Palmer: Well, there are two tractor trailers also that they own. So depending upon what happens at any point in time, they might use the smaller cube box or it might be a tractor trailer. The tractor trailer is primarily for the big, high volume, and there's a number of contracts with universities and colleges throughout New York State and they're looking to enlarge that type of business. The busy time of the year would certainly be during the summer months when the schools are out of session. But it's hopeful that this business will continue throughout the year and add some amount of stability to the business by allowing the upholstery end of it to keep going. M. Carey: Any more questions? A. Giambattista: I guess I just want to make sure - our understanding is that the parking lot will be in front of the building? Facing 222 - like the employee parking and that sort of thing. D. Palmer: I'm not sure that's really been talked about, but that's certainly feasible to be parking that way because that area will not allow access out onto Route 222 , so it would certainly make for good parking for employees. I'm not sure if that's the ultimate decision. M. Carey: Any other questions? Any questions from the Board? D. Palmer: The normal hours of business will be during the daytime from about 7 or 8 o'clock and they'd probably finish up by around 5 at the latest. You're not going to have a lot of activity into the evening or nighttime hours. M. Carey: Well, if there are no more questions, then I will close the Public Hearing. (The time was 7:22 p.m. ) I'd like to comment that we did hear back from the County Planning Board, and they don't see that there's going to be any negative impacts with this Site Plan Review. Everybody read the letter? It should have come out in our packets, but it didn't. Would someone like to make a proposal to approve or disapprove the Site Plan Review? B. Clark: I make a motion that we approve the Site Plan Review for the GSG Vincent Company, as requested, with the restriction of access only from the Salt Road, M. Carey: Do I hear a second? T. Guihan: I'll second it. Page 3 of 9 (T) Groton Planning Board Regular Meeting Transcript 19 July 2001 M. Carey: All in favor? (All members present indicated in the affirmative. ) Passed. Okay, I guess everything's all set. Douglas & Marjorie Van Benschoten ROs - 680 Stevens Road - TM #31 -01 - 19. 2 - Request for Boundary Change M. Carey: Okay, the next thing on the Agenda is a boundary change. The Van Benschoten's are here to discuss a boundary change on Tax Map 31 - 1 - 19 . 2 on Stevens Road. DC VanBenschoten: I'm not sure what you show there. M. Carey: Okay, they're asking for a boundary change. Where is this Doug? DC VanBenschoten: Well, approximately nine years ago we came to the Board and asked for a minor subdivision that was approved. It went through, but we never did anything with it. M. Carey: Okay. DC VanBenschoten: In the meantime, nine years has changed everybody's thinking and now we'd like to change the location and run it entirely along the line that borders the Carey property, all the way back to my father's, and come down the road approximately 330 feet which makes about 12 acres. M. Carey: So it will be a - DC VanBenschoten: A straight line back through. I think what Marjorie drew up in the drawing there shows it only going partway back. M. Carey: It should be about ten acres. DC VanBenschoten: Yes. This is what it was. This is the proposal. In the meantime, my son and I have talked it over, and rather than make it odd-shaped back in here and property we will not be able to - I mean, why would anybody else want to buy it? M. Carey: Right. DC VanBenschoten: It would go with the rest of it, so we decided to go all the way back in. M. Carey: So when we first agreed to your subdivision, we just put a boundary back - DC VanBenschoten: No , that was this one right down here. G. Van Slyke: The one that' s x-ed out. DG VanBenschoten: That's right. Yes. G. Van Slyke : That was supposed to be the parcel that you were going to take? DC VanBenschoten: Yes. M. Carey: Okay. DC VanBenschoten: But you did approve it at the time and, in the meantime, things have changed. M. Carey: So the parcel that's x-ed out is going to go back to Parcel 2? DC VanBenschoten: That would return to like our original property in the first place. I'm not sure what procedure we have to do to go through this to just disclaim that. You can do that right here? Page 4 of 9 (T) Groton Planning Board Regular Meeting Transcript 19 July 2001 G. Van Slyke: I guess I have a question. So you're going to go all the way back to your back line now? DC VanBenschoten: Yes, G. Van Slyke : So this 660 by 660, 10 acres, that's not what you're really asking for here? DC VanBenschoten: That's right. G. Van Slyke: So we're not really seeing the true picture of what you want. DC VanBenschoten: That's right. You're looking at approximately like 330 feet on the road frontage and about 1755 feet back here is the approximate. M. Carey: It would just be a square lot basically, right? DC VanBenschoten: It's going to be rectangular. M. Carey: As you get back towards the end. DC VanBenschoten: It will go all the way back to where - it will take in all the boundary by your property. M. Carey: Right, DC VanBenschoten: We're looking at shortening our road distance up by approximately 330 feet. M. Carey: Questions? Everybody looks puzzled. G. Van Slyke: Okay. I'm seeing N80016'W - the line in back of, Doug, your property. I assume that's your property where the driveway is and the house? DC VanBenschoten: Yes. G. Van Slyke0 Okay, so you have a line , a boundary line? DC VanBenschoten: Yes, that's a small parcel out of there so that for financing on the house they wanted that piece of property around everything that they have mortgaged to protect it. G. Van Slyke0 Okay, so what is the entirety of what you own here? DC VanBenschoten: The entirety is about - I have a map that shows that if you'd like to . G. Van Slyke: That may be helpful because what we see here is - DG VanBenschoten: She just took a Photostat of this and shrunk it down for that but she couldn't get the whole map in. G. Van Slyke: Okay, so what I'm asking is, is this all your property here? DG VanBenschoten: This is the lot. This was the parcel that was brought out a few years ago for my son-in-law and daughter's place. So that's a separate tax map number. G. Van Slyke0 Well, my question is, is this line going to come back to this line here? Is this where it's going to cut off the piece - DG VanBenschoten: This will be done - Page 5 of 9 (T) Groton Planning Board Regular Meeting Transcript 19 July 2001 M. Baxendell: Parcel 3 is going with Parcel 2 now. There will not be a Parcel 3 there, correct? DC VanBenschoten: Well, it's not going to actually adjoin to this one. DG VanBenschoten: This one has to stay separate because of the requirements of the bank for the house property. M. Baxendell: So this is going to turn into all this. Parcel 3 is being absorbed into Parcel 4. DC VanBenschoten: That's correct. M. Carey: We've got how many feet of road frontage down here - almost 300, so we're okay there . M. Baxendell: So Parcel 4 is absorbing Parcel 3 so what you're going to have left is Parcel 1 , Parcel 2, and Parcel 4 . DC VanBenschoten: Yes. M. Baxendell: That's easy. M. Carey: That' s basically a boundary change. G. Van Slyke: Okay, I'd like to see where they're putting this piece of property. M. Baxendell: From there, 300 feet of road frontage all the way back to there. M. Carey: It's going to be a long narrow strip. G. Van Slyke: Okay, we got 330 feet of road frontage and it's going all the way back to the back line here. So we don't even know where the back line is. M. Carey: Not on that, but on this. Basically we move the boundary on - G. Van Slyke: So we're going to move this? DC VanBenschoten: Yes. This boundary will come out. G. Van Slyke: That will drop and then you'll have a new line here. DC VanBenschoten: Exactly. M. Baxendell: You're taking 300 feet and just chopping it off the end. DC VanBenschoten: Approximately. At first we thought maybe 250, but then once he got to looking it over - you need a number. M. Carey: 330 is what you're saying, right? DC VanBenschoten: That was 12 acres. G. Van Slyke: That was 12? And then if you wanted to split that again you could do it, right? DC VanBenschoten: I'm sure his anticipation is not to split it up. Just like nine years ago we wanted something else and then never did it. Page 6 of 9 (T) Groton Planning Board Regular Meeting Transcript 19 July 2001 M. Carey: Tom, did you have something? T. Guihan: No. DC VanBenschoten: So if you need a firm figure here use 330 feet of road frontage for the new parcel. And we know it's pretty near 1753 on this backside. Probably runs on a little taper down through there, but that will be up to the surveyor . M. Baxendell: 330. Got it. You're set. We understand. M. Carey: Any more questions from the Board? Okay. We need to do a SEQR on this. Everything that gets changed we do a SEQR on anymore. Board Member George Van Slyke then read aloud Part II of the Short Environmental Assessment Form. Negative responses were obtained to all questions in Part H. Therefore, it was determined by the Planning Board, upon the motion made by Member Van Slyke, seconded by Member Barbara Clark, with all members present voting in favor, that the action, based on the information submitted, will not cause any significant adverse environmental impact, resulting in a negative declaration. This becomes Action # 18 of 2001 J. Fitch: You should use the new form. M. Carey: This isn't the new form? J. Fitch: It doesn't have the question at the end on the establishment of a CEA (Critical Environmental Area) . You might want to get the new version. M. Carey: Anybody like to make the motion to approve or disapprove this boundary change? B. Albro: I make the motion to approve the boundary change. M. Carey: Second? T. Guihan: Second. M. Carey: All in favor? (All Board members present indicated in the affirmative. ) Passed. You're all set. When you do the mylars, you'll have to bring them in and we'll have to sign them. DC VanBenschoten: We can go ahead now as far as the surveyor? M. Carey: Yes, you're all set. DC VanBenschoten: Thank you very much. Approval of Minutes - 17 May 2001 Regular Meeting M. Carey: Well, I guess the next thing is to approve the Minutes of the June meeting. Do I hear a motion? B. Clark: I make a motion that we approve the Minutes of the June meeting. M. Carey: Second? Page 7 of 9 '(T) Groton Planning Board Regular Meeting Transcript 19 July 2001 B. Albro: Second. M. Carey: All in favor? (All Board members present indicated in the affirmative. ) Approved. This becomes Action #20 of 2001 Comments from Supervisor Morey M. Carey: Glenn, would you like to say a few things to the Board? G. Morey: Well, certainly. Every month you're supposed to have a representative here from the Town Board and in talking to Monica, they haven't been showing up so I will encourage them to come to the next Board meeting you have. I promise you that there will be someone here. On July 10' we regrettably accepted the resignation of Van Travis. He's a great guy and his ethics and integrity have been excellent in helping the Town of Groton grow and actually planned the growth of the Town. Now in order to fill the vacancy, it worked out so well the last time that we advertised, having them give a resume and application, and then have you interview and chose them for submittal to the Town Board. I think that worked out great. It seems like in reading your notes every month you are all getting along, you all know what's going on. Regrettably also, Mark has handed in his resignation. It will be due at the end of August or sometime when he has to do it. J. Fitch: Mark - G. Morey: Mark Gunn, I'm sorry. Mark's got the job at McCormick and he'll be teaching full time in September which means he has to do class lessons and things like that. Plus, he's also going to college part-time so he's going to have a full plate. I have talked to George Senter and at the time that Mark makes the decision he will take over part-time while we advertise, and I'll ask you to help us interview the people who apply for that job so we can all understand what we want and what we can do and also review a job description so everybody's on the same line . Comprehensive Plan G. Morey : There's a question also about the Comprehensive Plan. Well, basically all I want you to do is read it. Assure me that you have read it in the Minutes. You're not going to change it right now. I don't want you to think about changing it. But, basically, I just want you to read through it. So next year if I am elected again, we can start a new committee with at least two people from the Planning Board, two from ZBA, and at least two people at large from the community to come back and look at this. Now the reason why we have to have a Comprehensive Plan which is very much important to us is it's going to tell us where we want to go in the next ten years. It hasn't been updated since 1993 and, in order to get money from the Feds and the State and everybody else like that, and any kind of grants, the first thing they ask you for is your Comprehensive Plan. What do you want? What are you going to do? Where are you going from here? And that's what we have to tell them that we want a three-thousand building here or houses, or whatever. I don't care what it is, but I've got to know also what the people of the Town of Groton want and where we're going to go. Then we can hit the grants and different businesses to attract them here and get them done . So all I want you to do is just read it and discuss it among yourselves. If there is a critical area you want to change, bring some notes and say we've got to come back and look at this once more. That's all I want you to do . And I want to make sure everybody's read it. I think that's it. Thank you. M. Carey: Thanks. Page 8 of 9 .(T) Groton Planning Board Regular Meeting Transcript 19 July 2001 Code Enforcement Issues - Mark Gunn, CEO M. Carey: Mark, have you got anything to bring before our Board? M. Gunn: No. M. Carey: Does anybody else have anything to bring before the Board? Workshop G. Van Slyke: Did everybody get this thing from the Environmental Management Council on the cell tower wireless workshop? T. Guihan: Are you going? M. Carey: I can't, I'm working. T. Guihan: It's on a Monday at quarter to seven. I think I'm going. G. Van Slyke : It might be interesting to see what's happening with it. T. Guihan: Well, it will bring me up to date. M. Carey: That will be good. T. Guihan: Give me a call and we'll go together. G. Van Slyke: All right. M. Carey: Thanks, George, for bringing that up. Adjournment M. Carey: Anyone else have anything to bring before the Board? Well -- Be Clark: I make a motion we adjourn the meeting. Be Albro: I'll second it. M. Carey: All in favor? (All members present indicated in the affirmative. ) Meeting adjourned. The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p . m. Joan itch, Recording' Secretary 8/14/01 Page 9 of 9 AUG 1 6 2001 T04'vI; OF Gnu ON TOWN CLERK