Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979-01-15 TOWN OF GROTON ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS PUBLIC HEARINGS Held at the Town Hall , Groton , New York Monday - January 15 , 1979 : r 8 : 00 P . M . - Willmore Forney 8 : 20 P . M . - Harry L . Bush 8 * 40 P . M . - Robert Haughn 9 * 00 P . M . - Paul Cook PRESENT : G . Hoy - Chairman Mrs . W . Forney F . Pierson H . L . Bush Janet Bell Mr . and Mrs . R . Haughn F . Fouts P . Cook G . Bushnell and Approximately 8 members C . Pierson - Town Clerk of the general public Josephine Bell - Recording Clerk Mr . Hoy called the first hearing to order at 8 PM and read aloud the Notice of Public Hearing for all four applicants for special permits for motorized repair shops which was published in the Journal and Courier on December 22 , 1978 . A copy of this is on file in the Town Clerk ' s office . G . Hoy : Is there anyone here to represent Mr . Forney? Would you like to describe your business and what you are doing there ? Mrs . Forney : My husband is out of town which is why I 'm here . He ' s had a shop there since we moved there 10 - 11 years ago . It was a 2 - car garage and now it ' s a shop and he works in it and the boys work in it part - timerftghts . G . Hoy : And the shop itself has stayed pretty much like it started ? Mrs . Forney : Yes , G . Hoy : Any questions ? J . Bell : 0 . K . according to the ordinance , - -you saw the ordinance you have to comply with ? Mrs . Forney ; My husband probably did . J . Bell : Is he licensed by the State of New York? Mrs . Forney : Snowmobile shops don ' t have to be licensed , I don ' t believe . He just repairs snowmobiles . G . Hoy : Small engine repairs . J . Bell : 0 . K . you repair sleds , you don ' t sell them or do you sell them? Mrs . Forney : They don ' t sell new sleds , - - the boys sell theirs or trade them in but don ' t sell them as a business . J . Bell : 0 . K . , - - another question . You have a sign that is too big as far - 1 - J . Bell : as the ordinance is concerned but that has been there before zoning went in ? Mrs . Forney : Right , G . Hoy : Any other questions or comments ? Do you have anything to ask , Frank ? F . Pierson ; I guess if they just repair sleds and that ' s all . Are there any neighbors here ? G . Hoy : Is there any opposition to this around ? C . Bartholomew : If you rezone these from homesteads to commercial , does it always stay that way ? G . Hoy : We don ' t rezone them , - - all we do is give them a special permit to carry on a business where they are . It ' s still an agricul - tural zone . C . Bartholomew ; I understand . G . Hoy : Any more questions ? Alright , I ' ll adjourn this hearing and wait a few minutes and move on to Mr . Bush ' s application . (Mrs . Forney left the Town Hall at this time . ) - 8 * 20 P . M . - Harry L . Bush ' s Hearing , G . Hoy : I ' ll call this hearing to order . Mr . Bush , could you say something about your business for us ? H . Bush : I ' m here for a small auto body shop , - - trying to get off the ground and that ' s why I ' m here . G . Hoy : Is it strictly- - Mr . Bush : Body shop , - -body and fender repair . G . Hoy : Oh , I see . Are there any questions you would like to ask Mr . Bush ? F . Pierson : Well , I didn ' t see his actual garage but - WE J . Bell ; One question , - -do you purchase vehicles to repair and sell them afterwards ? H . Bush : No . J . Bell ; 0 . K . Now you have seen a copy of the amendment and you feel you comply with this ? H . Bush : I feel that I do , - -yes . G . Bushnell : It ' s off Davis Road and goes up . - 2 H . Bush : It goes up my own property . G . Bushnell : You own the right of way? G . Hoy : You have a home and you live up there ? G . Bushnell : Nobody bothers you there . H . Bush : Nobody bothers me and I hope I don ' t bother anyone else . G . Bushnell : Probably not . H . Bush : It ' s a little struggle getting in and out this time of year . G . Bushnell : Would have to have your own blower there . G . Hoy : Is your garage visible from the Wood Road ? H . Bush : That ' s the next road over ? J G . Hoy : Yes . H . Bush : Yes , you can see the back of it . It ' s not very visible from Davis Road . G . Hoy : Would anyone else like to add anything at this time for or against ? Any more questions ? Frank? F . Pierson : No . G . Hoy : Janet ? J . Bell : No . George , do you have anything ? G . Bushnell : No , I see he ' s licensed by the State of New York and no junk cars stored and I ' m sure he has sufficient off- street parking here . H . Bush : About 32 acres altogether . G . Hoy : I guess that ' s all , then . Mr . Hoy adjourned the hearing at 8 : 25 P . M . — — — — — — — — — — — — We — We On — — — — On On On On OR — — On as — — — — — — — — — — 8 : 40 P . M . - Robert Haughn Hearing G . Hoy : Mr . Haughn , do you have something to say at this time ? R . Haugh : I ' m Robert S . Haughn , 460 Lafayette Road and I ' m applying for a special permit for the operation of a motorized vehicle re- pair shop for repairs of same and small farm equipment . G . Hoy : Are there any questions at this time ? J . Bell : No , I think it says everything on the application . - 3 - R . Haughn : I spelled out on my application pretty much what I want . G . Hoy : It ' s very good , - -answersdour questions . Does anybody else want to say anything at this time ? If not this hearing is adjourned . The hearing adjourned at 8 : 42 P . M . Me Me Me ME ME Me M — — — ON — — — — — — — — — — — — — 9 * 00 P . M . - Paul Cook Hearing P . Cook : I ' m coming up here . I got a letter from the Zoning Board that I was repairing autos illegally six weeks ago and I do absolutely nothing for the public . You couldn ' t hire me . I don ' t buy or sell but I bought nine 1979 automobiles and have 7 of them licensed , as of today , and the other 2 will be as soon as they are repaired and I will be using them . G . Hoy : You ' re going to use these cars yourself? P . Cook : Yes , sir . G . Hoy : You do body work on them? P . Cook : Yes , I bought them from All State Insurance Company . Both of my boys have 1978 ' s . - - one is driving one and the other is saving his until Spring . J . Bell : You ' re saying you bought these automobiles to sell them? P . Cook : I bought them from All State Insurance but not to sell . I haven ' t sold them and have no intention of selling them . You have to be an authorized repair dealer to sell them and I couldn ' t sell them if I wanted to . G . Hoy : It doesn ' t say here whether you ' re licensed - - P . Cook : No , I ' m not licensed for nothing . My son is going to BOECS as an auto mechanic and I still have 7 kids at home . J . Bell : You paint and repair family autos . P . Cook : That ' s right . Exactly what it says on that paper . If anybody has any complaints about me I want to hear them right now . I want to hear it tonight . J . Bell : But you ' re applying for a permit for a repair shop ? P . Cook : I pay taxes on that place . J . Bell : What you ' re doing , - -you ' re applying for this ? 0 . K . , - -you saw the copy of the zoning ordinance amendment you have to comply with ? P . Cook : That ' s right . - 4 - Go Hoy : You don ' t intend to do anything more ? Po Cook : Nothing for the public , - -you don ' t pay my kind of wages , - . I ' m retired , - -I ' m 65 years old , Go Bushnell : What do you need a license for ? P . Cook : If anyone else can operate in this Township I can , - - I ' m doing the same thing , - - somebody made a complaint , - - there was a letter from this Board saying it was drawn to my attention , Jo Bell : Was this letter from Mr , Brown ? I ' m confused , - - Po Cook : You know what ' s going on at my place , - -Floyd sure does . You go by it enough times , There are 9 automobiles sitting in my driveway right now but 7 of them are licensed and my camper is licensed and my truck is licensed and they are all insured , too , J . Bell : 0 , K . , - -who told you to apply for this ? P , Cook : a did , - -I got a letter from the Zoning Board of Appeals . The letter said I was operating a repair shop in a residential district , - = that ' s what the letter said , G , Hoy : Does anyone else have anything to add ? Co Bartholomew ; I ' m here to oppose a garage being on the back side of my mothergs piece of land . I think the property value of that piece of land will drop if you let him have a motorized vehicle repair license , P . Cook : If I have one it will be right in that garage under my house , Right under my living room , C . Bartholomew ; If we go to sell her land the property value will be down , P . Cook ; I have rights and I have no intention of building anything or expanding . I have no intentions of that , C . Bartholomew ; That ' s the way it was in the paper , P . Cook ; What .paper ? If it is , I don ' t know where they got it fromo G , Hoy : Anything else to say? R , Grinter : I ' m Richard Grinter and I live right across the street from Mr , Cook , I ' m here because I understand you ' re applying for a license to operate a motorized vehicle repair shop , If you ' re buying these cars and fixing them up for your own private use that ' s one thing , It seems to me if you ' re using them for your private use there ' s no need for you to have a license for a motorized vehicle repair shop and as far as that is concerned that ' s fine but I ' m here to oppose granting you a license for a motorized vehicle repair shop , P . Cook : I ain ' t going to do nothing for anybody except myself , R . Grinter : In that case I don ' t know why we ' re here , If that ' s the case OM 5 SO R . Grinter : there ' s no need for the license the way I understand it , - - correct ? G . Hoy : That ' s right . The reason we ' re here is he has asked for a special permit , - - if he doesn ' t intend to do more than what he says here I don ' t see why he needs one and if there ' s no opposition to what he is doing now . R . Grinter : None , so long as he just does that . We ' re opposed to a com- mercial operation that would involve automobiles in and out and signs . If it ' s strictly for his own private use completely that ' s a different story . I have no objections to that and I don ' t think anybody else has but if it ' s a question of doing it for the public there and having automobiles in and out , that ' s a different story . G . Hoy : You ' re saying , you ' re going to do no repairs for the public ? P . Cook : Absolutely none . F . Fouts : I don ' t see why you need a license , then . G . Hoy : We ' ll have to look into it - - we ' re just here to hear what people have to say — On W . Sampson : All I have to say is I ' m not opposed to any of it . G . Hoy : Alright . I had a phone call from another neighbor , Ken Cobb , and he was opposed to it too . Is there anything else anyone would like to add at this time ? If not , will adjourn the hearing . That ' s all and thank you for coming down . The hearing adjourned at 9 * 15 P . M . On 00 ON — On — On as — On — — — — — On OR — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Mr . Hoy held a brief meeting with the Planning Board members after the last public hearing was adjourned . G . Hoy : This draft was given to me by Mr . Gary Evans of the Tompkins County Planning Board . He met with the Planning Board last Monday night and they asked me to come down and he gave me this and he said we have to adopt a set of rules and regulations for our own board and approve them as a group or anything we do if it goes to court is automatically thrown out if we don ' t have our own guidelines to go by and if you have questions he said he would get together with us some night and explain the whole thing to us . At one time Ben handed us out a set too . I don ' t have them with me tonight . I don ' t know if all of you received them or not . I think I gave them to you George about a week ago , - - they have pretty much the same thing , - - guidelines to go by . Look them over and we should think about them . Now I would like to take nominations for vice- chairman that we should have done years ago . The floor is open for nomina- tions . 00 6 - r ' F . Fouts : I nominate Frank Pierson . J . Bell : I second the nomination . J . Bell : I move the nominations be closed . G . Bushnell : I second it . The roll call vote was as follows : J . Bell - Yes G . Bushnell we Yes F . Fouts we Yes F . Pierson - No G . Hoy an Yes . G . Hoy : 0 . K . Frank has been nominated our vice- chairman . Does anyone have any other business ? J . Bell : Yes , I would like to talk about that last hearing - - Mr . Cook ' s We On as to why he was here . G . Hoy : That was brought up one other night and I was of the understanding he wanted a permit and now he comes and tells us he had to have a permit so we have to find out . I can ' t see any reason why he needs one if it ' s strictly family repair . J . Bell : I would sort of like to see that letter . G . Hoy : Colleen , we want to know why and how was Paul Cook told he had to have a permit? C . Pierson : Apparently Bob sent him the original letter . G . Hoy : We ' ll hold a meeting at 8 P .M . Monday , January 29 , 1979 to decide on the 4 hearings that were held tonight . The meeting adjourned at 9 : 30 P . M . Respectfully submitted , Jos hine Bell SO 7 -