Planning Board Agendas and Minutes

MINUTES OF THE COHOES PLANNING BOARD MEETING HELD ON OCTOBER 17th 2017 AT 6:30 P.M. IN THE COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF CITY HALL MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Mark DeFruscio Vice Chairman Jack Carroll Mr. Bob Bucher Ms. Stephanie Couture Mr. Joseph Nedeau ALSO PRESENT: Kara McKnight, City Planner Melissa Cherubino, Building/Planning Director CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES FROM THE SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2017 MEETING Chairman DeFruscio opened the meeting at 6:30pm and the recording secretary to take roll call. Member Carroll moved to approve the minutes. Member Nadeau seconded the motion which passed unanimously. YES NO Bob Bucher X Joseph Nadeau X Mark DeFruscio X Jack Carroll X Stephanie Couture X SPECIAL PERMIT AT 34 MC ELWAIN AVENUE The applicant, Randall Wachunas, explained that he plans to operate his business out of an 18 – 20ft. box truck and he would simply be using his home address for mailing purposes and as a place to park the truck. Member DeFruscio asked if there would be any sorting in the house to which Randall replied no, there will not be any sorting. There will only be sorting in the truck. He also stated that he will not be leaving any bottles on the lot, especially since it belongs to his grandmother. Member Nadeau asked if there would be people walking on the property to drop bottles off. Randall said that he will be picking up bottles from all of the customers so no one will have to drop anything off at the address. He plans to use the revenue to eventually save up for a site dedicated to the redemption service so he doesn’t have to do it out of a truck. Member Carroll asks if there will be anything in the truck when he parks it at night. Randall responds by saying that he doesn’t plan on anything ever being in the truck at night but if so they will be wrapped in sealed bags. Member Boucher recommends issuing the permit with the contingency on limiting the truck size to 20 ft. or less and also making sure the address is not used as a redemption site under any circumstances. Member Boucher motions the approval and Member Couture seconds it. A vote is taken and the motion is passed unanimously.  YES NO Bob Bucher X Joseph Nadeau X Mark DeFruscio X Jack Carroll X Stephanie Couture X SPECIAL PERMIT AT 300 CENTRAL AVENUE The applicant, Stacie Waters, is looking for a special permit to use a residential space as a low intensity office. There will be no on street parking and each of the 4-f employees will park in the driveway. Member DeFruscio wants to know about the items that are located in the driveway currently. Stacie states that it’s actually on another property and it’s not affiliated with the lot she owns. She adds that there will be no signs installed on or around the building so it will blend in with the surrounding houses. It was originally a daycare before its current use so she doesn’t see an increase in traffic. Member Nadeau agrees that there was probably more traffic when it was a daycare relative to its current use. Member Carroll makes a motion to approve the application and Member Nadeau seconds it. A vote is taken and it passes unanimously. Member Couture motions to close the meeting and Member Nadeau seconds it. All are in favor and the meeting is adjourned at 7:45pm. CONSIDERATION OF A SPECIAL PERMIT AT 307 COLUMBIA STREET Did not show up. CLOSIING SEQR FOR THE COMMUNITY BUILDERS Jonathan Draper explains that TCB met with the Historic and Zoning Boards, which he plans to do again once SEQR is closed. They are currently in the process of finishing the site plan and project it to be done before the next planning board meeting. Jon explained that they accomplished the variances that they applied for however the ZBA could not make a final vote until SEQR was closed. Melissa Cherubino explained that the other boards did not see an issue with parking and she did speak with the three neighbors who did show up. The goal is to fill the homes and make people feel safe in the neighborhood. Jon states that TCB ended up providing more parking spaces than they have in previous projects and they have not seen any issues. Member Boucher makes a motion to declare a negative declaration for SEQR and member Carroll seconds it. The motion passes unanimously and SEQR is closed. The meeting is adjourned at 7:30pm.