Planning Board Agendas and Minutes

MINUTES OF THE COHOES PLANNING BOARD MEETING HELD ON AUGUST 12, 2013 AT 6:30 P.M. IN THE COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF CITY HALL MEMBERS PRESENT: Vice-Chairman Clarence Badgley Mr. Edward Carboni Ms. Sharon Gariepy ABSENT: Chairman Joseph Moloughney Mr. Mark DeFruscio Mr. Jake Dumesnil ALSO PRESENT: Melissa Ashline-Heil, Director of Building and Planning CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES FROM THE JULY 8th, 2013 MEETING Member Carboni moved to approve the minutes. Member Gariepy seconded the motion which passed unanimously. YES NO Joseph Moloughney ABSENT Leo Badgley X Edward Carboni X Jake Dumesnil ABSENT Sharon Gariepy X Mark DeFruscio ABSENT CONSIDERATION OF A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR A POOL AT 116 SIMMONS AVE The applicant did not attend the meeting. As a result, Member Gariepy moved to table the special use permit. Member Carboni seconded the motion which passed unanimously. YES NO Joseph Moloughney ABSENT Leo Badgley X Edward Carboni X Jake Dumesnil ABSENT Sharon Gariepy X Mark DeFruscio ABSENT CONSIDERATION OF A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR A POOL AT 3 LOUIS STREET Suzanne Colton proposed installing an above ground pool 50’ from the front and 10’ from the side and rear property lines in her sideyard at 3 Louis Street. Member Gariepy asked the slope of the land and where water would drain should the pool fail or during backwashing. Ms. Colton described the land as directing water to the road. As a result, Member Carboni moved to approve the special use permit. Member Gariepy seconded the motion which passed unanimously. YES NO Joseph Moloughney ABSENT Leo Badgley X Edward Carboni X Jake Dumesnil ABSENT Sharon Gariepy X Mark DeFruscio ABSENT CONSIDERATION OF A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR A POOL AT 12 OLIVER STREET The homeowner proposed installing an 18’ above ground pool in the backyard of 12 Oliver Street. Although the proposal meets side setbacks, the pool would be 5’ from the rear property line which abuts NYSDOT lands. As a result, Member Gariepy moved to approve the special use permit conditioned on receiving an area variance from the rear setback requirement. Member Carboni seconded the motion which passed unanimously. YES NO Joseph Moloughney ABSENT Leo Badgley X Edward Carboni X Jake Dumesnil ABSENT Sharon Gariepy X Mark DeFruscio ABSENT CONSIDERATION OF A MINOR SUBDIVISION AT 94 COLUMBIA STREET Chuck Marshall proposed subdividing 25 Central Avenue in order to merge the newly subdivided land with the Stewart’s Shop for parking. The City’s Common Council approved the transfer of land. The Planning Board previously approved the site plan. Member Gariepy questioned the bollards. Mr. Marshall explained they were installed to prevent any cars from running into the store. Member Gariepy moved to approve the subdivision. Member Carboni seconded the motion which passed unanimously. YES NO Joseph Moloughney ABSENT Leo Badgley X Edward Carboni X Jake Dumesnil ABSENT Sharon Gariepy X Mark DeFruscio ABSENT CONSIDERATION OF A SITE PLAN AT 8 SIMMONS AVENUE Luigi Peschi of ABD Engineering represented the Church. The largest issue, stormwater, would be handled in the same way as the current site: sheet draining east from the building and parking lot to the proposed pond. The building would not have gutters so rooftop runoff would also drain to the basin/pond which would slowly discharge water via an outlet control structure. Mr. Peschi designed a pond large enough for peak flow, handling the runoff from the site’s larger building and parking lot. The previous parking lot contained 50 parking spaces. The proposed parking lot would contain 84 spaces. Traffic would enter and exit on Simmons Avenue. Member Carboni questioned whether the runoff which enters the street and neighboring properties will be improved. The raised parking lot has exacerbated the conditions. Mr. Peschi deferred to Planning Board review engineer, Thomas McGrath on the matter. Other elements of the site plan include landscaping and lighting. The engineer changed the lights to downcast and provided a detail in the plans showing foot candles of 1 and .5 at varying distances. Neighbor Susan Yavinski is still concerned about the number of lights in the parking lot. Mr. Peschi designed the lighting for safety. The Church Deacon has agreed to place the lights on a timer to shut off most lighting at 10pm. Lights would only be operational during meeting times, which is four nights a week: Sunday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Landscaping involves planting of maple trees around the perimeter of the property. Shrubs are proposed along the building façade. Ms. Yavinski asked that arbor vitae or shrub infill the maple tree trunks which will fail to provide the visual buffer required by Cohoes Local Code. Councilwoman Diane Nolin questioned the stormwater proposal. She pointed out that the drainage areas are filled in, the building is larger than the original structure, the parking lot is also expanded and now requires a variance as it is less than 10’ from the property line in violation of Cohoes Local Code. Furthermore, the catch basin on Masten Avenue cannot accommodate the increased runoff. Another neighbor added that the stormwater runs off to the northwest corner of the property where green space was significantly reduced by the building. Mr. Peschi reiterated that the proposed basin is double the required capacity. He explained that DEC wants stormwater runoff to drain naturally. Member Gariepy questioned snow storage location(s). Mr. Peschi proposed the perimeter of the parking lot. However, Board members expressed concern that along Simmons and Masten Avenues the runoff would create problems during spring thaw. Instead, the Board requested snow storage along the storm pond created on the eastern boundary. The adjacent neighbor questioned whether a pond can be installed that close to the property line. He is concerned about mosquitoes. Unfortunately the code does not appear to restrict placement of stormwater ponds. The two state agencies’ competing concerns have been problematic in many settings. Oleg Smolovik pointed out that the wooded area the pond replaces was also full of mosquitoes. Ms. Yavinski questioned whether the applicant could be required to provide on-street parking. The Traffic Commission chairman informally reviewed the plans. He had only two questions: verification of the parking space size and the location of a monument sign. Both were answered to his satisfaction. A proposal to use on-street parking might meet opposition because of the curve of Simmons Avenue and concerns about sight distance. Vice Chairman Badgley questioned whether the applicant could install roof gutters and rain barrels or cisterns to collect some of the roof runoff. However, he recommended tabling the item pending the review engineer’s comments. Member Carboni moved to table the subdivision and final site plan. Member Gariepy seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Joseph Moloughney ABSENT Leo Badgley X Edward Carboni X Jake Dumesnil ABSENT Sharon Gariepy X Mark DeFruscio ABSENT Member Carboni moved to adjourn at 8:00pm. Member Gariepy seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Please note the next meeting will take place September 9th, 2013.