The evening of 2026-08-03 was a meeting of the Honeoye Falls Zoning Board.
The site plan application for 20 North Main was approved, with two conditions. First condition was the more or less standard ‘must address issues brought up by the engineer’. Second was to finalize the easement with the Town for parking, driveway, whatnot.
Conditions aren’t unheard of, and are mostly there to streamline process around easily measurable details. In theory, if they aren’t followed, I’m sure the Code Enforcement Officer could address it on his end. Which I doubt he wouldn’t enjoy, even as I doubt it will come to that.
As Brian (ZBA Chair) pointed out, how things went shows the process works. Which is to say, people showed up with concerns at the previous meeting. The applicant adjusted their plan accordingly. And the big issues should be better than they were. I’m sure there will still be those that are unhappy with the plan, but you can’t make everyone happy.
The Library’s concern around green space was mostly addressed by giving the Town a chunk of land. In return for an easement to use a portion of the Library parking lot. This will mean some of the grassy area in front of the library does end up being developed, while some of it ends up belonging to the library (Town technically). Since very little of that grass is the Library’s now, they should view this as an improvement.
Which was a point brought up in the discussion. We should not be comparing the proposed project to the current situation, of a vacant building on an unused lot. We should be comparing it to Critics, when in operation. From that comparison, while it will be a change, it isn’t as big of a change.
On a more technical note, the Board went through the usual checklist for this kind of action. Continuing the Public Hearing, then Closed it. Went over SEQR, making a negative declaration. Granted a variance for the setback. And so on.
The setback was an interesting detail, as it was another case of not ideal, but closer. Critic’s was setback, I think I heard ~90 feet. While code requires no more than 5. This plan would be ~17. Which while still exceeding code, is much closer.
I did note that Brian was asking the applicant questions that would have required communication with the applicant since the last meeting. Which only made sense. If nothing else, the applicant would have submitted the paperwork for their revised site plan. Yet the way Brian brought it up had the applicant cover the topics for the public at large. Which I thought was a nice way to do it. No secrets, showing how and why things were done.
As an aside, the Village’s website recently had an overhaul. From talking to the office staff, they would have preferred waiting a few months, but the timing was forced on them. Which is one of the many times in life where we could take offense. Get on our soapbox and shout ‘How dare they not provide perfect service at all times’. Or we could understand that, just like us, they are doing their best. Personally, this means I have to redo some links. As with so many of the ‘problems’ in life, if that’s the worst I have to deal with, I’m really doing pretty well.
And those are my Observations From Audience Land for the August 03, 2026 meeting of the Honeoye Falls Zoning Board.