MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE TOWN OF ELLICOTT PLANNING BOARD HELD AT THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, 215 SOUTH WORK ST., FALCONER, NY ON FEBRUARY 21, 2001 AT 7:00 P.M.

 

PRESENT:  Chairman Dan Evans, Gary Swanson, Ron Calanni, Bob Pickett, David Carlberg,

                       Attorney William Wright and Code Enforcement Officer Randy Woodbury

 

ABSENT: Becky Goodell and Patrick McLaughlin

 

Chairman Evans called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M.

 

Motion made by Bob Pickett, seconded Gary Swanson to approve the minutes of the November 8, 2000 meeting.

  

Carried.           Ayes-5                 Noes-0                Absent-2

 

No one appeared for the Buffalo Lube Realty site plan. Code Enforcement Officer Woodbury had tried to contact them but had no response.

 

No one appeared for the NYS Police Sub-Station on North Main St. Ext. but Mr. Woodbury informed the Board that the preliminary paving had been done contrary to the site plan approval. They need a site plan approval for any modification or alteration to the original plans.

 

Janet Miller presented site plans for modifications and alterations to the existing building at 3249 N. Main St. Ext., Jamestown, NY for a restaurant.  They plan to serve breakfast, lunch and ice cream from the location.  She provided a survey but was missing several items required for site plan approval.

 

Discussion followed between Mrs. Miller and the Board members.  The Board suggested she hire an engineer and have the site plans drawn up. There are several engineers that have appeared before the Board and have experience in preparing site plans.

 

Motion made by Gary Swanson, seconded by Bob Pickett, to consider this a sketch plan conference and have Mrs. Miller return for site plan review at the March meeting.

 

Carried.                  Ayes-5                 Noes-0                 Absent-2

 

Jerry Erickson, P.E., and Keith Zuck , Son-in-law of Mr. Kenneth Strong presented site plans for a 36’ x 72’ pole barn on Wilson Street, Falconer, NY. Mr. Zuck is the resident of the property at 2005 E. Main St. Ext., which is adjacent to the property on which the pole barn would be built. 

 

Mr. Erickson said that he did not feel that this building should be described as a commercial

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building.  Mr. Zuck said  the building would be used to store antique cars and materials from renovated apartment houses that Mr. Strong owned.   He explained that it would be used more as an accessory building for the family use. 

 

Mr. Erickson said this is in a mercantile zone and everything on the plans is within code.

 

Code Enforcement Officer Randy Woodbury provided the Board with a copy of the letter that he sent Mr. Strong directing him to stop this project.  He told the Board that Mr. Strong had come in and applied and paid for a building permit but had not been issued the permit before he started construction.

 

Mr. Woodbury reviewed Section 146-18 of the Town of Ellicott Planning and Zoning Code that excludes structures that are designed to be used for industrial use and Section 146-38 that defines a storage warehouse as industrial use. 

 

There was discussion on the property and whether it was contiguous. Attorney Wright stated that structure would have to be build on the same parcel to be considered an accessory building.  The Attorney, Code Enforcement Officer and Board members agreed that Mr. Strong would have to be granted a use variance before they could review this site plan. The plans were not complete enough to go over the checklist.  They asked Mr. Erickson to complete the plans and return once the use variance was approved.

 

Chairman Evans asked for comments from the neighbors.

 

Richard Sweet, 2009 E. Main St. Ext., Falconer, NY stated he was an adjacent neighbor and had concerns about how much activity this would generate. 

 

Al Griffith, from the executive committee of the Ross Grange 305, reviewed the letter sent by the Ross Grange and placed on file.  They had several requests regarding this project:

1)      they want a privacy fence or hedge

2)      they want the building properly finished

3)      they want eaves troughs installed to prevent any water problems

4)      they do not want trash placed at the rear of the building

 

Bernice Jones, 14 Wilson St., Falconer, NY, had concerns about the activity.  She stated that this neighborhood had always been quite and clean and would like to see it stay that way.

 

Motion made by Ron Calanni, seconded by Bob Pickett, to table this site plan review until after the applicant has appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals.

 

Carried.                 Ayes-5                  Noes-0                  Absent-2

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Troy Little, representing Ryder Truck Rental, 2137 Allen St., Jamestown, NY 14701 and Roger Harrower, P.E. presented plans for a 46’ x 61’ canopy over the fueling area that is connected to the existing building.

 

The Board members reviewed the plans with Mr. Little and Mr. Harrower.  The total square footage is approximately 2800 square feet and the cost of the project is $36,000. 

 

Attorney Wright said that this project is exempt from SEQR as a type II action because it is under 4000 square feet. 

 

The Planning Board decided they did not want jurisdiction over this project because this project will not change any of the paving, slopes, elevations or impervious area.  It will not change any of the drainage on this site. The Board decided to accept this as a sketch plan.

 

Motion made by Gary Swanson, seconded by Bob Pickett to waive the full site plan review for the canopy over the fueling area for Ryder Truck Rental at 2137 Allen Street and apply the fee toward the building permit cost.

 

Carried.                Ayes-5                  Noes-0               Absent-2

 

Michael Metzer, Project Civil Engineer, and Richard Lamont, Architect for Greenberg Farrow Engineering Development presented site plans for the construction of a Home Depot store at Fairmount Ave., and Green Avenue in West Ellicott. 

 

There had been an approval of a Chase Pitkin store on the same site at the time Wegmans and K-Mart had been built.  The area is zoned mercantile and the store will be 116,000 square feet with an   18,000 square foot garden center.

 

The Town of Ellicott Zoning Board approved a variance of up to 0 feet for Wegmans and Home Depot at their February 5, 2001 meeting.

 

Discussion followed between Mr. Metzer, Mr. Lamont and the Board members.  They discussed:

1)      number and placement of parking spaces – Home Depot wants 527 spaces

2)      utilities –they will utilize the existing utilities

3)      exits on the side of the building

4)      landscaping and % of coverage – they have more than required according to code

5)      variance that was granted by ZBA was up to 0 but each Wegmans and Home Depot will have a set back of 7 feet

6)      retaining wall and possible fence

7)      exporting of materials from the site

8)      fire hydrants – they are relocating and adding one

 

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9)      lighting – they have relocated some lighting on the plans

10)  no water drainage off site – it will go into the existing system

11)  water tank – the tank holds 300,000 gallons – color should be beige to match building

12)  buffers to wrap along the water tank 

13)  hours of operation – normal hours of operation are 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM – home Depot has some 24 hour stores

14)  signage – shown on plans – they will be replacing the Jamestown Savings sign along Fairmount Ave with a Home Depot sign which will be the same square footage but different dimensions – Mr. Lamont provided a photo of the sign

15)  there will be no outside dumpsters – there might be some recyclables

 

There was a lengthy discussion on the truck traffic through the customer parking lot. There were concerns about the safety with the parking spaces located where they are shown on the plans.  Mr. Lamont stated that he did not feel that Home Depot would want to decrease the number of spaces.  He thought they would be willing to move some of them because of the safety factors.  The Board and Mr. Metzer and Mr. Lamont discussed several changes and came to an agreement that seemed best for both the Town and the applicant. (Revisions listed in the motion of approval).

 

Mr. Metzer told the Board members that he had ran calculations on the drainage. He stated that the oversized pipe in the far reach of the system pre-detains the water and because of the additional detention the flow from this property will not be increased over the original 100,000 square footage building.   

 

The retaining wall was discussed and they came to an agreement that a 4 foot chain link fence would added the length of the wall and have both top and bottom rails. It was agreed there would be additional buffers to wrap along the water tank.

 

Board went over the check list and noted:

1)      no drainage off site

2)      some parking revisions were made and the crosswalk was changed

3)      added a chain link fence along the retaining wall

4)      they will tie into the existing utilities

5)      one new fire hydrant and relocation of others

6)      they will replace the exiting Jamestown Savings sign with Home Depot sign

7)      addition of additional buffers

8)      applicant needs to provide copy of the cross drive agreements

 

The Board members reviewed the EAF provided.  Attorney Wright said the proposed project did not exceed any Type I threshold in 6NYCRR, Part 617.4 and will not receive any coordinated review.

 

Board continued with Part IIC noting:

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1)      the traffic patterns and drainage were addressed in the site plan

2)      the property is zoned mercantile and had previously been approved for a Chase Pitkin store

 

 

Motion made by Gary Swanson, seconded by Bob Pickett to declare this proposed project would not have any adverse environmental impacts and direct Chairman Evans sign the EAF on behalf of the Planning Board.

 

Carried.                Ayes-5                      Noes-0                  Absent-2

 

Motion made by Bob Pickett, seconded by Ron Calanni to approve the site plan for Home Depot with the following contingencies:

 

1)      applicant must provide Town with a copy of the crosswalk  easement they have  with Wegmans and K-Mart

2)      applicant will make revisions to eliminate 33 parking spaces along the northeast border  of the current lot – revisions to increase parking on what is now the north easterly triangular island – revisions to increase the number of parking spaces along the easterly boundry of the property to the east of the building to add 5 additional spaces to the north 

3)      applicant will make revisions to the site plan to add a pedestrian crosswalk in a

                  north east direction with the addition of STOP signs in both directions

4)      applicant will make revisions to the landscaping plan to add Austrian Pines at the south east corner of the lot and around the water tank to a boundary that would represent a north south line at the western portion of the tank

5)      applicant will make revisions to the site plan adding a four foot high chain link fence for the full length of the retaining wall – such fence to have top and bottom rails

 

The applicant will provide three sets of revised plans to be approved by the Code Enforcement Officer.

 

Carried.                  Ayes-5                    Noes-0                Absent-2

 

Randy Woodbury asked the Board members to hear a sketch plan for Mary Ellen Williams for her business at 878 Fairmount Avenue. 

 

Ms. Williams explained to the Board that she wanted to relocate an outdoor pavilion on her property.

 

 

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There was a discussion on another business on the same property.  The Board agreed that Tom’s BBQ Pit had been misrepresented to the Town. Mr. Woodbury and Attorney Wright had a brief discussion on non-conforming use and legal non-conforming use.  Attorney Wright feels that Tom’s BBQ is illegal and was misrepresented to Town and the former Code Enforcement Officer. 

 

There have been water and sewer connections added to the building.  The building was not supposed to be  a permanent building.  Mary Ellen Williams said that she would work with the Town Officials to remedy this since it was on her property.

 

Ms. Williams told the Board members that the relocated pavilion would be used for her use only.

 

The Planning Board waived the full site plan review for Mary Ellen Williams for the relocation of a pavilion on her property at 878 Fairmount Avenue.

 

Motion made by Ron Calanni, seconded by Bob Pickett to adjourn the meeting at 9:30 PM.

 

Carried.                 Ayes-5             Noes-0                Absent-2

 

 

 

___________________________________________

Valerie Pierce, Secretary