The evening of 2025-08-04 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Zoning Board.
There were two applications, both of which were approved. One for an addition at 84 Hyde Park and the other for subdivision at 20 North Main. In case you just wanted the outcomes.
The addition on Hyde Park appeared to be primarily for an in-law apartment. By the sounds of it, they were also taking the opportunity to do some other general renovations. In any case, seemed straightforward enough, so approving the request makes sense.
Brian, a surveyor, represented the Village for the subdivision of ye olde Critiques property. Because otherwise it would be Village staff asking Village staff. Which would at least look like a conflict of interests. I can’t speak to if this actually gets around legal requirements, but it felt like a good solution in this situation.
There were a lot of details that needed to be addressed (easements, parking, setbacks). But at the core, this was about moving lines on a map. In particular, shaving a chunk of the Critics property off and giving it to the Fire Department on one side. And shaving another chunk off to give to the Mendon Library on the other side. In effect, even if technically the Village and Town own the land and not the named entities. Then finally, merging the large bulk that was left into one piece.
While listening to the SEQR discussion, I wondered what would happen if they made a positive declaration. Which is SEQR speech for ‘the request has too much environmental impact to be allowed’ (without expensive and time consuming mitigation). Now in this case, such would obviously be absurd. But as the question was asked, such an answer is at least hypothetically possible.
Moving lines on a map is a pure administrative function. Not construction, not development, not anything that should negatively impact the environment (yes, other future actions could, but those should be addressed then). Office work if you will. Which is where making the determination this was an environmental issue could have been so amusing.
If office work has enough environmental impact that it should be denied under SEQR, then reviewing whether SEQR applies should itself be denied. As that is also office work. For that matter, contesting such a determination should also be denied, as that generates yet more office work.
I’m not suggesting anyone make such a determination. But I find it amusing that SEQR itself could well provide the tools to throw out SEQR. If only a Board decided to claim lead agency on an application and run with it, to the illogical extreme.
Which is a round about way of saying I think more things should be type 2 actions. Which is SEQR speech for ‘non-issue, box checked, moving on’.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the August 04, 2025 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Zoning Board.