Tonight (2018-07-09) was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Planning Board.
Despite it being the last item discussed, I’ll lead with it: Mary Szlosek will be leaving the Planning Board, as she is moving out of the Village. While I’m sure I could find some details to criticize, I feel she did a good job in her time as Chair. She will be missed.
That out of the way, it was a busy night. Six applicants, of which I believe four were approved (two of which were conditional). Between the number of applications, and the scale of one of them, extra chairs were needed. Secret for anyone who finds themselves in this situation: The court room in back has plenty.
The first application is only of note because of who it was: The Stottler’s are building a barn. I found this interesting as Shari is on the Board of Trustee’s, and watching Board’s interact with elected officials amuses me. Her husband was the one to present to the board, which made sense. To the Board’s credit, they seemed to treat this like any other request. Straightforward request was approved, conditional on filing of an updated map. Conditions are not unheard of, and this one felt more like a formality then anything else.
Next applicant was even more straightforward: family has grown, kids take up space, so building addition to house. Really nothing more to say then that.
Third applicant was another addition, although it wasn’t clear to me exactly why. Part of the addition was to include a kitchen, and the house is rather old, so that may be the driving reason. Could be easier (more cost effective) to add on a new kitchen, then renovate the existing one. Regardless, there were a number of neighbors there, who sounded to be mostly in favor of the plan. Comments seemed focused more on repairing a house that has been neglected then anything else.
Next applicant was not approved, and how that came about was interesting. The owner of 12 N Main, the previous Oppedisano’s Bootery, wants to rent apartment(s?) upstairs. In pursuing that, he needs approvals from various Boards. Which brings us to tonight’s meeting.
He seemed to be heading for a conditional approval until the public had it’s chance to comment, at which point the Board’s apparent inconsistency regarding the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) was pointed out. This caused them to delay approval until next meeting, while research is done. In particular, is a SEQR required for replacing the siding of a building, with matching siding, when that building is on the states historical registry (or whatever it is called, different people used different names).
To be fair, the approval probably would have been delayed anyways, as (to misquote a Board member) the ‘easement needs to be eased’. 6 feet of the parking lot next to the building is owned by 12 N Main, and eased to Critic’s for use as parking. Part of tonight’s plan called for marking 5 feet of that as sidewalk. Which leaves 1 foot as parking. Critic’s is apparently fine with this, but for legal reasons the Village is insisting on documentation. Not that I can fault them, but it is amusing how much discussion 1 foot can cause.
Last formal applicant was for the Phase II of Pinebrooke Apartments. They are planning to add an additional 92 units, I believe in 6 physical buildings. As this was all reviewed and considered when Phase I was approved, there wasn’t really much to discuss tonight. A few details about water management was likely the biggest change. End result of that should make the neighbors at Pinehurst happier. There was also the issue of a traffic study, which the applicant wanted to be made a condition of approval. From the way they described it, having the condition would make financing with banks easier as the project moved forward. It also means they don’t need to come back next month, but considering Phase I took 12 years, the couple weeks that gains doesn’t seem relevant.
Which leaves us with the unannounced applicant, Muffy was requesting clarification on the timeline and next step for her one lot subdivision. If I heard correctly, at this time the Board is waiting for her to respond to their feedback on SEQR. With all the back and forth in previous meetings I can’t be surprised Muffy wanted to confirm things. Assuming my math is right, tomorrow marks one year since she had her first public hearing on this topic. I could speak on this at length, but as I already have, I guess I’ll wait and see.
Which brings us back to the top: With Mary departing the Board, there is a vacancy. While I do not believe the position has been formally publicized yet, I’m sure Rick would welcome anyone interesting in joining this group. Or stop in the Village office.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the July 9, 2018 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Planning Board.