Village of Greenwood Lake Planning Board
10/05/2023 7:30PM
Bob Zimmer- Chairman –Present
Alyse Terhune- Attorney- Present
Jamison Zajac- Village Engineer – Present
John Tracy- Present
Jack Sirios- Present
Manny Tirado- Absent
Mariano Choconi– Present
Mark Palmieri- Present
Charles Pekarek (Alternate)- Present and standing in
Jennifer Lyons- (Alternate)- Present
Ed Mateo- Building Inspector- Present
Chad Sellier- Village Trustee- Absent
Danielle Mulqueen- Planning & Secretary– Present
Returning Applications:
1-American Tower- 2 applications
- Equipment Upgrade (Verizon)
- Additional Provider (Dish)
- 7 Waterstone Road/ Benjamin’s Steakhouse- New Hotel & Restaurant
New Applications:
- Karen’s Café- Relocating business to new location at 96 Windermere Ave.
Applicant #1- American Tower:
Bob Zimmer- Invites the representative Deborah Burke form American Tower to approach and speak. Reviews the Board’s request to have new emissions reports from ATC, and Deborah confirms the submittal of those reports.
Jack Sirios- Right up front, you people have been up there (the tower) working without a permit, and it needs to stop immediately.
Deborah Burke- Any work going on there would be one of the carriers not ATC.
Jack Sirios- So you are saying you have no responsibility?
Deborah Burke- No, I am not saying that, I am just telling you I am site acquisition and I am not informed in the construction, I would have to go back and ask them.
Jack Sirios- That’s fine, you go back and let them know there will be hefty fines. Somebody has to be responsible. We have a request of after built reports done for the same locations as these last reports.
Deborah Burke- Not a problem.
Bob Zimmer- Any other board members or professionals have any questions or comments?
None
Bob Zimmer- Can I have a motion to approve with jack’s conditions and stipulations: the signage and post installation testing and reports.
Jack Sirios- I make a motion to accept per the requirements we just spoke about.
Mark Palmieri- I second.
Bob Zimmer- All in favor?
Aye unanimously.
Bob Zimmer- Ok that motion was for the “Verizon” application, we are going to make the same exact motion for the “Dish” application now.
Jack Sirios- I make a motion to accept it.
Mark Palmieri– I second.
Bob Zimmer- All in favor?
Aye unanimously.
Applicant #2- Karen’s Café:
Bob Zimmer- Reads application into the record.
Chris (Karen’s Café)- We would like to relocate the business to be more central in the Village then we are now.
Bob Zimmer- Tell me about your business, are you breakfast, lunch, dinner?
Chris- Breakfast and lunch, and about 80% overall is takeout. We do not deliver. Business hours are 8-4, Sundays we close at 2 and Wednesdays we are closed.
Bob Zimmer- Do you have anything outdoors currently?
Chris- No, we have a current seating capacity of 18 seats. We are cutting that down to 6 seats. We would like to focus mainly on takeout.
Karen- Goes over the drawings. Pointing out the two outdoor picnic tables, bicycle rack, location of garbage all outdoors. Then describes how they envision setting up the kitchen and indoor space, which is pretty much an empty shell at the moment. Also point to the proposed fence to block off the garbage, oil, and exhaust fan.
Overlapping conversation…
Bob Zimmer- Asks about the existing bathroom. States that the applicants should indicate the septic system and provide recent pump out affidavit.
Overlapping conversation…
Karen- We really want to keep the property the way that it is. We know that parking is necessary but Greenwood Lake Law says that for every 300 sq ft you need a parking space. We are going to be using 432 sq ft, so a parking spot and a half…
Mark Palmieri- So is it street parking?
Karen- That is what we are kind of hoping for
Alyse Terhune- I would just not that actually the regulations state that it is a special permit for the outdoor seating, so this board will have to schedule a public meeting, we also would have to send it to county and they have 30 days to respond. The other thing is you would be using the parking calculations for restaurants “eating and drinking places” which is one parking space per one hundred sq ft of ground floor area. The Planning Board can reduce or increase the number of parking spots, they have that authority under the code.
Overlapping Conversation centered around the parking situations in that area of the Village…
Mark Palmieri- Suggests the applicants show the potential parking spaces that can be shown in front of the business.
Bob Zimmer- Asks about how deliveries (of goods) will be made.
Chris- We don’t get deliveries, we shop ourselves, so no big trucks will be coming onsite.
Jamison Zajac- It was difficult to d a review since this was not really a detailed site plan, it was really just a survey with a few items plopped in. I was curious about the parking obviously.
Bob Zimmer- I am not too concerned about that because there are no plans to actually change or expand the building.
Jamison Zajac- Are you building up that roof?
Henry (Property Owner)- No, there is already a vent up there, we are just going to dress it up nicer.
Overlapping conversation…
Jamison Zajac- Goes over some of the items the board may want added to the site plan such as the septic system.
Bob Zimmer- Since we have to have a public meeting next month for the outdoor dining so you should just get all of these things on your site plan.
Alyse Terhune- And send pdf versions to Danielle as soon as you have them.
Bob Zimmer- Like Alyse said the County has 30 days to respond so the quicker you send us revised plans the quicker we can get that clock rolling.
Jack Sirios- Years ago Orange & Rockland and there is an odor in that building of a chemical used in that building years ago, it is called either ascacrol or edentine. The inside of that building should have a scope sample done for every 100 sq ft of space. The testing lab will be able to tell you if it is clean or contaminated.
Overlapping conversation…
Henry Lech- No problem
Jamison Zajac- One of the other comments I had made was regarding grease traps. I see you have them over here on the northside of the building. I wasn’t sure how you felt about having them in the building? (directed to the Building Inspector)
Karen- We have them in the building where we are now.
Ed Mateo- The basins should have a separation between the trap and the drain pipe so that no material can come back through the drain pipe.
Jamison Zajac- That’s fine it is more of a permitting question anyway. Some municipalities have it straight in their code as no indoor.
Ed Mateo- We have outdoor and indoor but I don’t know of any code that requires either.
Jamison Zajac- Last comment Code section 120-28 has specifications for special permit uses section J. refers to outdoor dining, so I suggest you read through those and see if any apply or the Board is allowed to waive them.
Mark Palmieri- Is outdoor dining considered service? If there is no table service, is it outdoor dining?
Overlapping conversation on the definition of outdoor dining…
Alyse Terhune- Ed what do you say on that?
Ed Mateo- That was before me, but a condition I believe was that they were not allowed to serve at the tables. But it was still a special use permit for some reason.
Alyse Terhune- It just means a public hearing, I think we should go ahead and do that. I don’t see anything in 28 J that is going to be a problem here. You are not going to be in a right of way, the tables will not be adjacent to residential properties…
Bob Zimmer- What does it say regarding being adjacent to residential properties. Basically this is what you can’t do which is good for you to know.
Alyse Terhune- They can’t put tables in the right of way, if located next to a residential district you have to consider that and possible limit the hours things like that. But I don’t think…
Bob Zimmer- Well Ms. Flood does live on the one side.
Jamison Zajac- The code gives the Board discretion…
Bob Zimmer- O.K. I wanted to know if that section explicitly prohibited something…
Alyse Terhune- No it doesn’t.
Jack Sirios- I don’t think the two tables would be a problem.
Bob Zimmer- O.K. let’s move on then. If you can make those changes to the plans and we can schedule the public hearing for next week hopefully we can wrap everything up.
Chris- Well Karen was trying to show you guys the back of the building, this is where we want to fence this out behind the bathroom, where we want to put our three oil bins for our waste oil, our garbage containers, I kind of want the exhaust fans back there as well, just to keep all of that confined the furthest away from all residential areas.
Bob Zimmer- Is that something that has to get serviced by a vehicle?
Chris- No. The garbage I will wheel to the street and the oil I have already made sure with the company that picks up my waste oil that the big tube they use reaches back there.
Bob Zimmer- Alright, so he doesn’t have to drive on to the property either, O.K.
Chris- We want to block all of that from view.
Jack Sirios- Just show all of that on your new drawings and make some type of a side note on the drawings what it is for.
Bob Zimmer- Anyone else have anything?
Mariano Choconi- Does it have an ANSUL system?
Karen- Yes, it is on there.
Overlapping Conversation…
Mariano Choconi- Make sure it is labeled because it only says fire extinguisher.
Charles Pekarek- Is there anything in the code as far as accessibility, size of bathrooms because of the Americans with Disability Act?
Mark Palmieri- I think you could argue it is already existing, they are not changing anything.
Jamison Zajac- It is a good question and I would have went there before seeing the plans.
Alyse Terhune- Unless Ed there is something in the Building Code?
Ed Mateo- A lot of that has to do with occupant load and I would look at that once I received building plans.
Jamison Zajac- Just to clarify parking, they are just going to show it out front, street parking?
Bob Zimmer- Street parking, yes. And the Village allows parking on Windermere Ave.
Alyse Terhune- I actually don’t want them to show street parking. We can just say in the resolution there is parking on the street. What I don’t want is a site plan that appears to provide street parking which is not this board’s purview.
Charles Pekarek- Anything regarding signs? And also lighting?
Chris- I would like to put as many signs as I am allowed. The current lighting is pretty sufficient, maybe down the road I would like to add more but I don’t have any current plans.
Overlapping conversation…
Alyse Terhune- You would just need a motion to set the public Hearing for Nov. 2nd.
Bob Zimmer- Can I get a motion?
Mark Palmieri- I will make a motion
John Tracy- I will second
All- Aye
Applicant #3- 7 Waterstone Rd/Benjamin’s Steakhouse:
Bob Zimmer- We left off, you went to ZBA and you got the variances you needed, at the last meeting we went over those variances. We wanted to start the SEQR review and you gave us the long form but there was, some comments from the engineer and attorney that we would maybe have to re classify or whether it makes any difference.
Jamison Zajac- No we just have to recirculate it.
Bob Zimmer- Right and we had to do that because Jamison found?
Alyse Terhune- Something in the Village Code that states that it has to be identified as a Type I action.
Jamison Zajac- Right per NYS it was ok to classified as an unlisted action, but the Village Code has a section that would require it be listed as a Type I action.
Bob Zimmer- So we had to recirculate it. Have we started that yet, have we done it?
Jamison Zajac- No not yet. There was a line in there that said that the Village Board of Trustees had a right to take over as lead agency if they wanted, so we circulated to them. As far as the SEQR review we haven’t gotten the SWIFF yet and they haven’t gotten the DEC and DOH approvals, so it is still a little bit out before the board can decide on SEQR.
Bob Zimmer- So what do you have for us tonight?
Dan Getz (Applicant Representative)- We have a sketch of the stormwater management we intend to use. This is the area that we have shown before where the septic is going to be, it is still under review of the DOH, we believe we have answered all of their questions but we are still waiting on their review. The DEC will also need to sign off due to the size of it. Setback and appropriate distance from the septic, we will have underground filtration of the stormwater runoff here, subsurface under the parking area, the roof of the building we want to send into a cistern that would have a pump that could be used to irrigate the landscaping it would be about a 3000 gallon cistern we will verify that before…
Jack Sirios- With an overflow into the lake/
Dan Getz- That’s right overflow into the lake. The water quality we are handling the one year storm for water quality because Greenwood Lake is critical environmental area for phosphorus, so we are treating the one year storm worth of water and since this is a redevelopment project…
Bob Zimmer- So you are not treating it you are holding it.
Dan Getz- Right, well holding it does provide some treatment.
Bob Zimmer- I just don’t want everyone to get confused that you are doing some sort of active treatment.
Dan Getz- Right, no it is all passive. And the underground will have infiltration so you will have some of that water infiltrating through the ground and in that sense, it is a passive treatment.
John Tracy- As far as the infiltration that is not a big span here.
Dan Getz- The main concern we have with this is the level of the groundwater, the bottom of this will be 3’ from the level of groundwater that is the requirement for that.
Bob Zimmer- Is there stormwater drainage in the parking lot that directs to that? How does the parking lot drain?
Dan Getz- Yes, so there is going to be a catch basin here and then the high part of the parking lot is around here and so this area will flow to this catch basin, this area will flow to the front of the lot and then we are going to have slot drains across the entrance drives here to pick up the water and make sure it doesn’t go on to Waterstone Rd and bring that around to a hydrodynamic separator, the thing with the lot is due to the grade we don’t have the elevation to do the infiltration like we are doing back here. The higher part of the lot we can do the infiltration this part here we are going to have a hydrodynamic separator to remove a lot of the pollutants before that water goes into the lake. So, what is leaving is just clean water. There will be a maintenance service with a vac truck that cleans out the debris.
Jamison Zajac- I believe you guys have to provide a maintenance agreement to the Village.
Dan Getz- O.K.
Jamison- We were just talking about the possible necessity of having a Traffic Study done.
Alyse Terhune- Have you looked at the increase of traffic?
Jack Sirios- We discussed that before, didn’t we?
Dan Getz- A few meetings ago I thought that it was discussed that this would be a reduction of the previous use on the property.
Michael (Applicant Architect)- It is less occupants in the hotel and less occupants in the restaurant then were previously there.
Jack Sirios- So then we can let it go.
Bob Zimmer- Well we did though ask you about what you were going to do about the construction equipment going over the bridge. You said that you would look into that or specify that heavy traffic wasn’t going to go over the bridge.
Overlapping Conversation…
Applicants state that no construction equipment will be driven over the bridge.
Michael (Architect)- So, the existing 22 hotel rooms and 150 seats, the proposed is 16 hotel rooms and 90 restaurant seats.
Alyse Terhune- But when was the last time that restaurant hotel has been it use?
Charles Pekarek- 1982, I never seen more than 20 people in that restaurant as long as I been going there.
Jack Sirios- it doesn’t matter how many were there it matters how many seats were there.
Bob Zimmer- Do you know when the restaurant and hotel last operated?
Jack Sirios- Four or five years ago.
Overlapping conversation regarding that the last owners operated the motel rooms but never reopened the restaurant.
Bob Zimmer- I am going to open the meeting up to the public for public comment. Please state your name and where you live for the record.
Public Comment-
Steve Gross- 71 Colonial Ave. in Warwick, NY. States his concerns with the timeline of variances granted by the ZBA and the SEQR process.
Marilyn Hayden- 4 Windermere Ave. Greenwood Lake, NY. Marilyn is the Village Historian and she presented interesting historical facts regarding the property.
Lisa Milano- 14 Murray Rd. Greenwood Lake, NY. Asked questions about how the SEQR process works.
Bob Zimmer- I am going to adjourn the public hearing for tonight to be continued next meeting November 2nd.
Jack Sirios- I make a motion to end the meeting.
Mark Palmieri- I second.
All- Aye
Bob Zimmer- Meeting closed.