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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979-11-12 cN TOWN OF GROTON ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS PUBLIC HEARING Held at the Town Hall , Groton , N . Y . Monday , November 12 , 1979 8 : 00 P . M . PRESENT : Gordon Hoy , Chairman Francis C . White Frank Pierson H . Stewart E, ,_ Miller . D . Hall J . Bell - Recording Clerk Mr . and Mrs . W'rid'.!"D Harrison Mr . Hoy read aloud the Notice of Public Hearing on the application of Francis C . White for a special permit in regard to Motorized Vehicle Repair Shops which was published in the Journal and Courier on October 29 , 1979 , a copy of which is on file in the Town Clerk ' s Office . G . Hoy : Will you explain why you want this permit , Mr . White ? F . White : How would you like me to explain it ? G . Hoy : The size of your business ? F . White : I would say it ' s small . I run a junkyard in West Groton , G . Hoy : How long have you been out there ? F . White : Since 1962 . G . Hoy : Without any interruption? F . White : Actually my garage and repair shop I started in 1970 when I put up my building there in 1973 I got my State license when it became compulsory and I work on probably in the neighbor - hood of 40 vehicles a month . The kind of work - - it ' s a little bit of everything . I weld up most of the farmers ' equipment and automatic transmission is one of my specialties . I work on anything that comes along . G . Hoy : 0 . K . Do you have any questions , Frank? F . Pierson : No , I think I have seen his operation and know what he does . One thing - - how many parking places do you have there ? F . White : Well , there ' s probably 20 outside the fence . F . Pierson: O . K . F . White : But the bad feature - - a lot of people complain to me about and that is when a customer brings his car in - - whether it ' s a dealer or what - - if he takes his plates off it ' s - 1 - F . White : nothing to me as long as it ' s off the road , you know , and you don ' t park it back in the junkyard because there are too many who go in there and help themselves so you pretty well have to keep the customers ' cars separate from your place of business because it ' s hard to write off loss from customers ' business . F . Pierson : 0 . K . G . Hoy : Are you saying there ' s a problem with parking the cars in front or - - F . White : No , there ' s no problem parking them in front but it ' s just the Zoning Board frowns on seeing cars with no license plates outside the fence and dealers , especially out of Ithaca , bring them with dealer plates on and then leave them . G . Hoy : Has anyone else anything to say at this time ? H . Stewart : Well he ' s always had his repair shop since I came and his father did before him and I can ' t see any reason why he shouldn ' t have a license and repair cars there and it ' s the answer to a lot of emergencies and a great help up there . G . Hoy : Anyone else ? D . Hall : He ' s always been good to me . When I first moved up there I had trouble with my tractor and he took care of it and in case of emergency he ' ll take care of you . H . Stewart : He ' s helped many out . What ' s all this hollering about , I ' d like to know . G . Hoy : There ' s no hollering , it ' s just the ordinance requires him to be registered with the Town . H . Stewart : This is a poor Town , - - seems like it should want some businesses . What have you done to get businesses into Groton? G . Hoy : That ' s not for the Board of Appeals to do . H . Stewart : I ' ll tell you something - - NC has 50 , 000 people and they have one man that goes every place to bring in business . He ' s out to get business in there and he has gotten 60 of them in the last 10 years . What are you doing to bring business in here ? You ' re trying to run these guys out of business . G . Hoy : We ' re not trying to run them out . Does anyone else have any - thing to say at this time ? Is there anything else you want to ask , Frank? Alright , we ' ll adjourn this hearing . The hearing adjourned at 8 : 15 P . M . Respectfully submitted , CHsephi4ne 2 Me, J Bell 1 TOWN OF GROTON ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS PUBLIC HEARING Held at the Town Hall , Groton , New York Monday - November 12 , 1979 8 : 15 P . M . PRESENT : Gordon Hoy , Chairman Francis C . White Frank Pierson H . Stewart E . Miller D . Hall J . Bell - Recording Clerk Mr . and Mrs . Ward B . Harrison Mr . Hoy read aloud the Notice of Public Hearing on the application of Ward B . Harrison for a special permit in regard to Motorized Vehicle Repair Shops which was published in the Journal and Courier on October 29 , 1979 , a copy of which is on file in the Town Clerk ' s Office . G . Hoy : Mr . Har-rson , ':would you explain your business to us ? 1 . W . Harrison: I have a 4 -bay operation up there and will be doing body work , engine work , inspections and selling cars . G . Hoy : Your business has been running continually , since when? W . Harrison: It ' s just a new business . I just purchased it from Reid Bixler on August 24th . H . Stewart : What do you do when you go to some of these garages ? I got caught in Cortland and it cost me $ 20 and they did absolutely nothing for me . I tried to tell them what was wrong with my truck and they thought I was crazy . G . Hoy : If you ' d let us finish this other hearing then anybody that would like to leave can . And how long had Reid Bixler run it ? W . Harrison : He was there 20 years . He used to have a salvage yard up there . I ' m not going to have one and I ' ve spent a few months cleaning it up and I now have ample parking since I cleaned it out . Now I have three parking spots for every bay I have and my sign will comply with the State of New York used cars dealership , what they specify you have to have . G . Hoy : Did Reid sell used cars ? W . Harrison: Yes , I ' m not licensed with the State yet . I wanted to make - 1 - J :. W . Harrison: sure I was going to be zoned before I spent any more money but I am registered with the State of New York . G . Hoy : Have you read this article on motorized vehicle repair shops ? W . Harrison: Yes . G . Hoy : It ' s my understanding that a used car dealership , - - this wasn ' t allowed . What ' s your thinking on this ? W . Harrison: If you ' re going to sell used cars you have to have a repair shop . I saw that in there and I want to know what you ' re going to do . There has been a used car dealership there for years and I came down here and talked to a couple of people and they said if there was one there shouldn ' t be any problem as it would go along with a repair shop anyways . G . Hoy : Does anyone else have anything to say at this time- . in con - junction with this hearing ? F . Pierson: Reid did have a dealership license right and he kept it up ? W . Harrison: Yes , until he moved last September - - then Mr . O ' Brien was there for awhile and then he went back over to Sharpstein but he had the same thing in mind that I do . But that ' s water under the bridge . I ' m in there and I own the place and I definitely want to sell used cars . G . Hoy : Are you at this time working on repairing cars ? W . Harrison : I haven ' t advertised or did a thing until I make sure I ' m legal with you fellows because I don ' t want anyone to think I ' m not operating right . But I have cleaned the place up considerably - - 18 loads of junk and there ' s a little more to go out but it ' s pretty wet right now so can ' t get at it but it says you have 6 months to comply anyhow so We We F . Pierson: Right . G . Hoy : 0 . K . If there aren ' t any more questions I ' ll adjourn this hearing . W . Harrison : When will we know we can start operating ? I have been registered with the State of New York over a month now and would kind of like to get some of that money back . G . Hoy : Well , we have to meet with the whole Board , - - it will be a week or possibly two before we can let you know . W . Harrison: It ' s been two weeks now since I applied . The meeting adjourned at 8 : 30 P . M . RespeJehine �f�&ysted ,ubm ' Jos Bell Me 2 -