Planning Board Agendas and Minutes

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COHOES PLANNING BOARD HELD AT 97 MOHAWK STREET COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS MARCH 11, 2024 at 6:30PM MEMBERS PRESENT: Mr. Joseph Moloughney Mr. Joseph Nadeau Mr. Joe McCormick Mr. Tony D’Angelico ABSENT: Mr. Jack Carroll ALSO PRESENT: Sharon Butler, Commissioner of Building & Planning Vice Chair Moloughney called the Planning Board meeting of March 11, 2024 to order at 6:28 pm and asked for roll call. Roll Call; Chair Carroll was absent CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES FROM THE December 11, 2023 MEETING Vice Chair Moloughney; first order of business is the meeting minutes from the December 11th meeting, minute acceptance was tabled because not enough members are present to vote. YES NO Chairperson Carroll Vice Chair Moloughney Member Nadeau Member McCormick Member D’Angelico Member Couture CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES FROM THE FEBRUARY 12, 2024 MEETING Vice Chair Moloughney; next is the meeting minutes from the February 12, 2024 meeting, are there any comments, additions, changes, edits? Being none he asked for a motion to accept the minutes. Motion to accept the minutes was made by Member D’Angelico 2nd by Member Nadeau motion carried YES NO Chairperson Carroll ABSENT Vice Chair Moloughney X Member Nadeau X Member McCormick ABSTAIN Member D’Angelico X Member Couture CONSIDERATION OF A SPECIAL USE PERMIT CONVERSION AT 64 HOWARD STREET Vice Chair Moloughney; first business item we have is 64 Howard Street, is the applicant here for that? Could you just explain to us your application, what you are proposing to do. Mr. Daniel Oh; this is the former Dr. Len’s building, it was always 2 apartments above and his offices on the first floor. It’s been vacant, it’s in a tougher state because of submissions and it was half gutted when I purchased it. We did try to market it to see if there was some potential person to use it as retail offices it’s a tough location for that so the backup plan was always to convert it to apartments. We configured 3 pretty good size apartments, 2-one bedroom and one 2 bedroom so 3 apartments total on the first floor. We do have parking on site, we share the lot with Marra’s so we have 9 spaces in total. Vice Chair Moloughney; is that private, that is not a city lot is it? Mr. Oh; it is private Member Nadeau; is it owned by Marra? Mr. Oh; we have an easement for part is (inaudible) and part of it is Marra’s. Member Nadeau; ok you have parking there Vice Chair Moloughney; so off street parking is addressed? Mr. Oh; yes and there is an easement that is filed with the deed. Vice Chair Moloughney; I have one question on the drawing you provided; which side is Howard Street Mr. Oh; so Howard Street would be ---he showed it on the drawing Vice Chair Moloughney; ok so one entry off the street another on the back on the side. Oh 2 entrances off the street and one on the side. Any members have questions? These are pretty good size, there separate bedroom, kitchen. Member Nadeau; I assume that the bedroom size has to be met by the requirements for square footage. Vice Chair Moloughney; yes that all have to go through codes anyway right? Sharon; yes Vice Chair Moloughney; ok, no comments or questions from the board? Any members of the public wish to speak about this? Being none do we have a motion from board members? Member Nadeau; made a motion to accept the application as presented 2nd by Member D’Angelico Motion carried unanimously. YES NO Chairperson Carroll ABSENT Vice Chair Moloughney X Member Nadeau X Member McCormick X Member D’Angelico X Member Couture CONSIDERATION OF A CHANGE OF USE/NEW TENANT APPLICATION FOR 55 MOHAWK STREET Vice Chair Moloughney; next item is an application for 55 Mohawk Street is that applicant here? If you can go ahead and do the same and explain what you are proposing. Ms. Alyxis Zadoorian; I am proposing a use for 55 Mohawk Street for a salon suite and a large retail section. Vice Chair Moloughney; ok Ms. Zadoorian; do you want me to explain more? Vice Chair Moloughney; yes if you could. Ms. Zadoorian; essentially my goal is to have as many different professionals as possible under one roof. We have, it was an old doctor’s office so we will have 9 suites available for rent and a large open space in the center of the building and a reception area, each room can be rented to any beauty professional who will have the ability to open those and also have the ability to sell their products retail to complement their services. We will have a large lounge area at the end of the building, we will be using the side entrance on Oneida Street we will have a lounge area there with a large retail space, carrying beauty products, accessories, merchandise. Vice Chair Moloughney; ok and looking quickly at the services and providers you would be open to generally it would be professionals. Ms. Zadoorian; yes everyone would be required to have a license, most of these professionals have already been someplace else I’m just changing over from an open floor area to have their own rooms. Vice Chair Moloughney; ok, I’m guessing you’ve done your homework on the market then. Ms. Zadoorian; yes, Member Nadeau; this entrance is on Oneida? Ms. Zadoorian; yes, there is a large entrance at the font of the building you can see and you can have access to the building so there are 2 accesses to our area. Member Nadeau; the other entrance being the front of the building if you are looking at this here Sharon; actually you can get in the building from N. Mohawk or the back part of the building where the parking lot is, and then their entrance is on Oneida. Member Nadeau; this sidewalk? Sharon; that is Oneida. Vice Chair Moloughney; ok, this is really just a special use permit correct? Sharon; and new tenant Member Nadeau; what about signage, what kind of signage will that have to be approved by the City? Sharon; yes the historic board because that area is in the historic area. Member Nadeau; and you are prepared to do that? Ms. Zadoorian; absolutely Vice Chair Moloughney; actually it’s not a special use it just the site plan review. Change of Use, New Tenant. Ok so you were saying the exterior is all, not any changes, parking that is all set Ms. Zadoorian; yes there are 600 parking spaces, at max we would use 30 so we will be good with that. Vice Chair Moloughney; ok board any comments or questions? Any comments from members of the public on this application? Again no written comments received. Do we have a motion? Member D’Angelico made a motion to accept the application 2nd by Member McCormick Motion carried unanimously. YES NO Chairperson Carroll ABSENT Vice Chair Moloughney X Member Nadeau X Member McCormick X Member D’Angelico X Member Couture CONSIDERATION OF A CHANGE OF USE/NEW TENANT APPLICATION AT 151 SARATOGA STREET Vice Chair Moloughney; ok next is 151 Saratoga Street is that applicant here? Mr. Robert Newberry; I am the owner of Bye-I brewing we are submitting for a change of use new tenant application for 151 Saratoga Street. We would like to propose a use of specialty retail of Bye-I 4 packs, accompanied by a tap room and food sales at that location. Vice Chair Moloughney; ok and you are just relocating in the existing building no façade changes, no structural building changes, Mr. Newberry; no structural, the only thing we will change is the garage door. Vice Chair Moloughney; ok Mr. Newberry; parking will be on street parking. There is a ton of on street parking in that section you go down there any time of the day and there is nobody parked on either side of the street. There is enough room for about 60 cars. Vice Chair Moloughney; ok do we have questions? Member Nadeau; where is this, where is it relative to that whole structure? Do we know that? Mr. Newberry; it is the front half of the structure, it so there is a garage door, it is from the garage door to the other side of the building, so it is right in front of the building. Member Nadeau; is this Saratoga Street? (pointing on drawing) Mr. Newberry; showed where it was on the drawing. Member Nadeau; is this (inaudible) Mr. Newberry; yes it is so we will have about 1200 square feet for the tap room and the rest will be our production area. Member D’Angelico; will you have a kitchen? Mr. Newberry; no right at the moment we have a relationship with a food truck so they will be parked on the property itself. There is a section to the south of the property basically where the entrance to T&T storage the parking lot there, they will park right there. Member D’Angelico; any plans for a kitchen? Mr. Newberry; yes to come soon hopefully. Member McCormick; so this application is for special use? Vice Chair Moloughney; change of use-new tenant, then general site plan review Member Nadeau; this corner go as far as the dog kennel Mr. Newberry; yes so this corner here this is the walkway, (he showed it on the drawing) Vice Chair Moloughney; one question I have with the off street parking is a zoning variance required or is it part of our site plan review? Sharon; it just part of the review Vice Chair Moloughney; because were not constructing a new building that would have to meet those standards, ok. One other question, so I see the hours roughly compared to what you are doing now? Mr. Newberry; yes exactly Vice Chair Moloughney; ok, board members any other questions? Being none he opened it to members of the public for comments. Mr. Michael Izzo; I own the garage on Saratoga Street and the house right next to T&T storage. Just parking is definitely going to be an issue, has been and I understand he said there is parking for 60 cars and maybe across the way but you’re also talking about redoing the sidewalks down on Saratoga Street where that is going to eliminate a majority of the parking and then putting a bar on Saratoga Street where there are kids and children playing and there are a lot of parking concerns and accountability concerns. People coming out of the bar and driving away intoxicated, so those are just some concerns that I have personally. Vice Chair Moloughney; just to confirm, are you that house right next door? Mr. Izzo; approached and showed it on the drawing. Vice Chair Moloughney; ok Mr. Izzo; parking is the biggest concern and then public safety is the other and the noise, I know he trying to run a business that is understandable, but those are just some concerns of the general area. Vice Chair Moloughney; ok understood. Board members any questions? Member McCormick; so are the parking concerns related specifically to this section or is it related to the whole area? Mr. Izzo; I would say to the whole area. When people park in front of our house we have to have the police come and have them move their cars, that just stuff we go through. I don’t see it being a huge issue, he showed it on the drawing. Member McCormick; so is your concern the parking or the use of the property? Mr. Izzo; yeah as a bar restaurant it’s a tough spot to have a bar restaurant, just the way traffic is, you’re going to have people crossing, it is already an issue with U-Haul because U-Haul’s are being rented at 3:00 in the morning and then they are damaging our house, crushing the fence that nobody takes responsibility for. I don’t want to see more issues of that sort result into (inaudible) Vice Chair Moloughney; ok, thank you. Are there any other public comments being none he asked Mr. Newberry to approach and address the concerns brought up. Mr. Newberry; as for parking south of us a lot of cars park there, so I can see what the gentleman is talking about, but north of us nobody ever parks there, we won’t have anyone parking in the area where the U-Haul trucks are so we don’t have to worry about anybody backing into his house, that is not our parking, that is just where the U-Haul trucks will be and that is south of the building. As for people walking across the street to get into their cars, we deal with that every day, so I don’t know how to respond to that. We are only open until 11o’clock so it not like we are open until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning, area concerns with the neighbors shouldn’t be an issue. Vice Chair Moloughney; and you would be amenable if we were to attach a condition to the approval that limited those hours as you stated in your application? Mr. Newberry; yes definitely. Vice Chair Moloughney; members anything else? I have one just among ourselves and maybe the planner, would the sidewalk project that was mentioned, I know the City is looking at that with developing plans, those are in draft at the moment right? Sharon; they are in design. We don’t have the funding to move forward with any kind of construction for that project. It could be a couple of years. Vice Chair Moloughney; we have had at least one public workshop on that Sharon; yes 2nd one is coming up on Thursday Vice Chair Moloughney; we liked what we have seen with that project also, just to make the whole area walkable. Board members any other discussion, do we have a motion? Member D’Angelico; made a motion to accept the application Vice Chair Moloughney; motion to accept would you, with the condition that the hours limited as stated in the application? Member D’Angelico; sure Vice Chair Moloughney; to ensure that we aren’t going past midnight and creating—and for the record it is 11PM as stated which is a Friday and Saturday. Sharon; do we have a 2nd? Member McCormick; 2nd the motion with the conditions. Motion carried unanimously YES NO Chairperson Carroll ABSENT Vice Chair Moloughney X Member Nadeau X Member McCormick X Member D’Angelico X Member Couture Member Nadeau; on further comment Bob if you could make the effort to be a good neighbor if there are issues to take care of them. I know you and I know you are the type to do that, but just for the record Vice Chair Moloughney; right understood and I believe there’s no record of issues at the current location and current operation that is understood CONSIDERATION OF A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR 132, 134 AND 150 CONGRESS STREET Vice Chair Moloughney; next we have 3 projects, 3 applications that I think it would be best discussed as one collective conversation on Congress Street. Mr. Chad Dehmler and Ms. Constance Gottwick; we are applying for a Special Use Permit to allow for an Airbnb rentals at our properties on Congress Street. Sharon; it’s not really an Airbnb Vice Chair Moloughney; I was going to ask, are you registered with Airbnb? Mr. Dehmler; yes we are, that is what our model is from the City perspective we are looking for short term rentals but I believe it not in the code so they are following along with transit type accommodations. Sharon; rooming/boarding houses Vice Chair Moloughney; right so in our Code we have rooming/boarding houses are defined. Sharon; correct Vice Chair Moloughney; so if you wouldn’t mind just explaining what gets us here, the motivation, how these tie in, these are all, not all next door neighbors but they are all in the same stretch of the street. Mr. Dehmler; yes so Constance and I have been doing short term rental for 10 years that we have been in the capital region and we moved to Cohoes in 2017. We were looking and we’ve been talking to the planning board several years ago we wanted to do the old brown town as an Airbnb bed and breakfast but unfortunately things didn’t work out for that. We like the City we would like to stay here we bought another property down on Congress Street, because we have been supporting the short term rental for people coming to the area, like state workers, airport workers, people working at GE the wind turbine company there, and we’ve just enjoyed doing that short term rental to help people out that are coming to the area. When I moved here that how I ended up finding a place was through short term rental. Because of that and because we have success we have over 600 5 star reviews on Airbnb we exclusively rent through Airbnb because that provides a benefit for us in the sense of additional in between to help usher the end issues which we have had nearly none in the 10 years that we have been doing this in the capital region, and because I have been open and honest with the city in regards to this we have had conversations with the business development but that was several years ago I have mentioned it to code before I guess there was a miscommunication with regards to one words in the code but because there was one issue at one property we did reach out, we’ve had these houses and we would like to continue doing this, it’s a positive benefit for downtown, all the people we bring in they enjoy walking the downtown restaurants here and we make recommendations on the beautiful parts of Cohoes watching the waterfalls. Again our niche is for (inaudible) people coming to the area because there’s college students, we have had cyber security experts that worked on nano technology program, medical, those are the type of clientele that we have had short term. 132 Congress is with a partner and I, 134 Congress Street is Constance and I own together and then 150 Congress she owns. Vice Chair Moloughney; ok I have a couple of questions for myself but do other board members have questions to start? Member McCormick; what do you define as a short term rental? Mr. Dehmler; so we do days, our minimum is 2 days, generally the people are a week at a time sometimes we get individuals that are here for 30 days, they are traveling nurses, so we do work towards those types of individuals as well, just so we aren’t constantly doing the turnover on the properties but we do accept 30 days. Our minimum is 2 days we are allowed to go down to one on Airbnb but we found that the 2 day minimum brings in travelers that are going from NYC to Montreal 2 days of bringing people that are taking the bar exam or just driving to interviews and things like that. Ms. Gottwick; (inaudible comments) Member McCormick; what is the advantage to this versus a hotel? Mr. Dehmler; so while the advantage to this is we because my wife is German and I traveled to Europe a lot, we can have that Jungenherberge what is not a term used in the United States but that is kind of the thing we are trying to provide for people. For us to be honest, from an economic standpoint we break about even if we were to do straight month to month rentals. But in the end we find we get to meet a lot more people this way social input with these people, we are drawing different people into the area and our clients that we have are looking for something that is not as costly as a hotel, in the area the cheapest you are going to get is $60 here in Cohoes we charge $35 a night for a single and $45-$50 for a double We only have two doubles. Member Nadeau; I think there’s (inaudible) I don’t think Congress Street is the location with the density, it just doesn’t suit the neighborhood. People coming and going and I don’t feel comfortable with strangers spending 2 nights and then going it just doesn’t suit the neighborhood. It’s not something I can support. Vice Chair Moloughney; if I can ask, how long have you been doing this prior to this conversation, just curiosity on the history you have. Mr. Dehmler; we have been doing it for 10 years that we have been in the capital district. I have been in Cohoes for 7 years and these houses we have had since 2020. Vice Chair Moloughney; so for the last 4 years would be, and more or less the same business model that you have been using? Mr. Dehmler; yes I do understand the feedback on the neighborhood from a density perspective parking has never been an issue we do have 2 garage spaces at 134 and one garage space at 132, one off street parking at 150 and then we have found because we are very active, she lives in 150 and I’m in and out of 134 all the time because I use that as my office, it is a 4 bedroom house I use that as my office and have the rooms to supply supplemental income for the house. We never had an issue with parking, we’re not completely full all the time either, this is one thing we’ll have some space available so at a 3 bedroom house maybe only 2 rooms are used, on occasion we have had 3 tenants, but very rarely do we have all 4 bedrooms rented. Ms. Gottwick; if I may add in those 3 years that I have had my house I have only had positive feedback from the neighborhood, I had one person who stayed there for an entire 2 years and the person has moved but there has always been positive interaction with the neighborhood and I also have a reputation because people know me in the neighborhood so people have built a trust, so I haven’t had an issue, I just wanted to clarify. Member McCormick; do you rent each bedroom individually? Mr. Dehmler; yes, so and we do have the listing set up, you can list the bedrooms individually or you can list the whole house. So we do have it setup that way because if someone comes along and says I want to rent the whole apartment for the full month then they book the house for the whole month and the rooms are blocked. Member D’Angelico; asked about booking the flat or rooms Mr. Dehmler; you mean rent wise with 134 it is mostly rooms because the living room is mine 132 is a little bit of both I have had people book the apartment for the whole month at a time, we’ve only been running that one for about a year, we do have a permanent tenant upstairs because they came and that is another thing a lot of times as opposed to advertising generally for a tenant we just find the people who come through Airbnb and want to stay longer and they book the apartment for full time, the upstairs tenant came to us through Airbnb traveling nurse who booked it for a month then decided to stay. Ms. Gottwick; for 150 (inaudible comments) Member McCormick; so that is your preference then how come you want to do the short term rental by bedrooms Ms. Gottwick; it was a preference, (inaudible) something about people traveling and going through the area. It is a promotion for the City because I get a lot of positive feedback, a lot of people are traveling through the area and are looking for short term rentals (inaudible) Mr. Dehmler; in a sense we are not absentee landlords we have an active role in this neighborhood, we are actively in the neighborhood taking care of properties, keeping the neighborhood clean sweeping the street on occasion, because there is broken glass and dirt swirling around so we take care of the houses and actively making sure the neighborhood is taken care of. Ms. Gottwick; (inaudible comments) Member Nadeau; sharon are you aware there are some literature on Airbnb can we collect tax or any kind of fee. Sharon; no, they would just pay the property taxes but the city doesn’t get anything additional. Member Nadeau; what about inspections, when someone moves out before a tenant moves in there has to be a certificate of occupancy, how does that work when it is just rooms? Sharon; what we discussed in the meeting with the 2 code officers is they would do inspections quarterly, but the owners of the properties have to have the names and date of birth of their tenants available all the time in case something happens. Member Nadeau; if something happens in the building then we know someone resides in the building. Sharon; correct Ms. Gottwick; we have their ID, we never let anybody in there without proper identification, and a picture so we know who is going to occupy our space. Mr. Dehmler; we are quite strict on that as well. And we are able to provide that to the city and that was what was indicated as Sharon said we did have that conversation even prior to that conversation I was doing the inspections on a yearly basis on the concept that this was a rental even though at the time talking to code there wasn’t that need, but I was upfront with them about doing the inspections on the properties I have in Cohoes. Member Nadeau; once again my concern is if we let this happen at 3 locations, anyone on Congress Street feels that they can’t rent their property as apartments then they are going to go to subletting the rooms, I can’t see that being a good thing. Vice Chair Moloughney; just clarifying with Airbnb that is your only reservation avenue, you don’t have other advertising Mr. Dehmler; the model was setup like this so it didn’t cause economic difficulty for use because we did set this up with that model. Prior we did not have an understanding that there were any issues, I did have those conversations before. Like I said my intention was to take over Brown Town and do something with that and as you can see the negativeness of what has happened there. Vice Chair Moloughney; not necessarily directed to you but I think the concern of in the neighborhood that has had problems, then get oh we’re just going to have people come off the street for a couple of nights at a time and we don’t know who they are or where they come from, that is a major concern for a neighborhood. I understand how your model isn’t exactly, you’re not posting something down at the county court house, you need a room for 3 nights. Mr. Dehmler; I do want to reiterate that this model as it is being done through Airbnb with that additional support, this special use it goes with us and we are active in the neighborhood and we are active with this we would want to be good neighbors with this. And we feel that this brings a benefit to the neighborhood because even though there might be some short term people that come in and out 99% of the people that are coming are there because they are bringing new blood to the capital area Ms. Gottwick; and again we usually do not even (inaudible) they come in look at the city see what the city has to offer and then they are going to Vermont skiing or going somewhere else. Vice Chair Moloughney; board members anything else? Member McCormick; my concern is it sets a precedent for single bedroom use. Vice Chair Moloughney; so I think to that point, that just confirm with the planner, special use permit is with any change of ownership that does not carry through, it would be a new request. Sharon; correct Vice Chair Moloughney; I think the whole idea of special use permit is you look at each case with the facts and it is that differentia of the boards opinion where you allow one and deny another based on the facts you have in front of you. I think as a procedural I don’t necessarily think that if you approve one you have to approve all. But I know what you are saying. While we were talking I looked it up and there are very positive reviews on Airbnb. Any other comments or questions from the board? Are there any members of the public that want to speak on this topic. Mr. Daniel Oh; I think what some of the members expressed are a big concern for setting a precedent of allowing this, no offense to the applicants but there is no need on Congress Street, I have properties in the area I know it very well. I think a special use permit should be given very carefully, I don’t think this is the right area at all even if properly managed it can be of use to the community, but I think management wise it is extreme and I think personally, this shouldn’t be allowed and if it was to be allowed give the City some kind of recourse because (inaudible) we see is rooming houses and that one person and Airbnb doesn’t qualify anyone and it can be pretty much anybody with $35 in their pocket more or less and (inaudible) and can come and stay there. If this is granted please limit it with some type of time line where there can be checks there can be some type of review of violations, police calls where the City has some type of recourse to revoke the special use permit just so there isn’t another situation like this that gets out of hand and they might be responsible management but I think setting that precedent is probably not the best thing for downtown Cohoes where we don’t need that, they can easily rent it out by the unit with long term tenants and I think that is the best thing for most of these properties so please just proceed carefully. Sharon; Mayor Keeler sent a comment in (read the comment which does not support this application). Vice Chair Moloughney; any additional public comments? Do you have any response to any of the comments? Mr. Dehmler; I would like address, again we are active participants, we are not absentee landlords like some of our other neighbors are then we have to deal with the dirtiness of the neighborhood. He asked about clients in regard to if you allow this special use permit to, we are here to work with the city with this we feel that this business model is positive model especially for the hosts take an active role like what we do. And again we are not just letting anybody in the apartments we are making sure we understand exactly who is coming in here, we are very strict with the rules that Airbnb has set down for who comes into our house and we follow them strictly no 3rd party bookings we do not allow 3rd party bookings, everybody must have a profile picture before they come in any of our houses and we double check to make sure the individual coming in there we don’t allow people with zero reviews, they have to be specially approved by us and on top of that we make sure that the ones who do have reviews have positive reviews. Member McCormick; so you are saying you are prescreening for tenants through Airbnb. Mr. Dehmler; we do that in the type of model of prescreening yes. Member McCormick; then what happens if they don’t meet, how would you know that? Mr. Dehmler; well if they are short term less than 30 days then Airbnb will support us to have them removed, if absolutely necessary we would have to involve the police. We have had ….. Member McCormick; (inaudible) reservation process Mr. Dehmler; we would not if it short term less than 30 if it is above 30 and that is part of the business model, anybody over 28 days or 30 days then becomes where we have to go through the eviction process. So generally that is one way for us to it is getting more difficult for the landlords in New York State to be able to remove people. One person in one of our apartments it took us 7 months and $7,500 out of my pocket for that whereas this model it supports, it’s a need there is a need for it and this supports that ability for us to should we find someone that is needing something long term then they have that ability after they stay there for 3 months is what we do. Ms. Gottwick; stated that she doesn’t allow anything over 28 days so that she doesn’t have issues with tenant removal. Member McCormick; do you do any general background screening Mr. Dehmler; they have a background check yes. That is one reason why we stick with Airbnb because they have the background check. Member D’Angelico; obviously this is much more profitable than long term tenants Mr. Dehmler; it actually is not, it is not more profitable for us basically in this case it is about the same amount. Member D’Angelico; really Mr. Dehmler; we do monthly discounts for people who stay for a month and generally we don’t get that $35 a night for a full month.. We usually do between $600 and $700 a month per room a month Member D’Angelico; so that is equivalent to a monthly rate for a flat Mr. Dehmler; well by the time they are done and I’m doing my taxes right now basically if we did rent those houses out we could probably have right around the same amount. We like the short term, we feel it is a benefit bringing different people into the city and it is something for us that we enjoy because again it brings a social atmosphere and we can provide for people who are looking temporarily while they are here looking for something more permanent in the area. And we have had people stay on in Cohoes because of seeing the city. Again from what the Mayor was indicating our neighborhoods, we feel this is a benefit for our neighborhoods it will help the neighborhoods I think it will help keep it a little bit cleaner people will not necessarily they might come for a couple of days but again 97% of those people are state workers, nursers, lawyers that are coming, future lawyers that are coming to take their test. As you saw I have over 600 positive reviews on there. Vice Chair Moloughney; I just went on Airbnb I looked for properties in the neighborhood and found Chad and Constance it was clear what apartments were listed. Just on your point on converting to full time what is your typical occupancy or vacancy rate, like how are you……. Mr. Dehmler; I haven’t looked at the actual occupancy rate, every time you log into the app you see it I don’t generally pay attention to that. From a financial perspective looking at 134 Congress Street that is the one that I’ve been with the longest I mean there is, I’m generally not packed full all the time. Sometimes it’s 3 at a time sometimes 2 every once in a while I won’t have anybody in the house at all, sometimes I have, it a great neighborhood in the sense that we get people there that use the bus system, they like that a lot because it is right across the street. Ms. Gottwick; we are looking at 60% we not even looking at 100% Vice Chair Moloughney; ok thanks. We are at the point do we have a motion to approve or deny, approve with conditions what is the general consensus on how we want to proceed. Member D’Angelico; I don’t see a need for a boarding house or an Airbnb on Congress Street so I make the motion to deny 2nd by Member Nadeau Vice Chair Moloughney; so…….. Sharon; it would be a yes to the denial and no if you want to approve. Vice Chair Moloughney; this is where I get hung up on rules. So if we vote no to the negative then what, is that a no decision? Sharon; it will depends on how the vote goes. So are you yes to the denial or no to the denial Vice Chair Moloughney; no for the denial on this one Sharon; ok YES NO Chairperson Carroll ABSENT Vice Chair Moloughney X Member Nadeau X Member McCormick X Member D’Angelico X Member Couture Sharon; so the application is denied. CONSIDERATION OF A SPECIAL USE PERMIT/NEW TENANT APPLICATION FOR 175 PARK AVENUE Vice Chair Moloughney; 175 Park you have been very patient. Mr. Jules Obour; I have been teaching dancing my whole life and I’ve been teaching dancing in Cohoes for the last 15 years. Someone called me and told me that they way I do dancing and she told me if I could fix it then I could be the general manager and I could use it for my teaching. And that is what I have been doing there for 8 years. Then I got a call from Sharon and came down. Parking has 20 cars, Vice Chair Moloughney; so I did hear in there that parking is one area of concern but you stay on top of it, you monitor it and you are actively engaged in various events. Mr. Obour; I have a picture if you want to see it -he brought the picture on his I-Pad around to the board members Vice Chair Moloughney; that’s your property so you have off street parking right Mr. Obour; yes, would you like to see the inside of the building? He then brought up the pictures of the inside of the building and showed it to the board members. He stated that he is there every day and keeps the property cleaned up Member Nadeau; so you are Monday and Wednesday 7pm to 9pm and one Sunday a month, that is pretty stringent Mr. Obour; yes sometimes there is a private lesson sometimes I teach on Friday. Member Nadeau; are there any social events where there is alcohol or anything like that? Mr. Obour; no, coffee, tea nothing else. Member Nadeau; Sharon are there any records from over the years of any issues from the neighborhood? Sharon; no nothing at all. Member Nadeau; that’s good news Vice Chair Moloughney; any additional comments from the public? Mr. John Frainier; 124 Continental Ave and I am also the 6th Ward Counsel person. Jules and his team have been good neighbors since he came to us very welcoming, any questions we had they invited us in to tour the facility it’s a good use of the church. Vice Chair Moloughney; ok, thank you. Do we have a motion? Motion made by Member D’Angelico to accept the application 2nd by Member Nadeau motion carried unanimously. YES NO Chairperson Carroll ABSENT Vice Chair Moloughney X Member Nadeau X Member McCormick X Member D’Angelico X Member Couture Sharon; reminder that the 2nd training is on Thursday night. Vice Chair Moloughney; do we have a motion to adjourn; Motion made by Member D’Angelico 2nd by Member McCormick Meeting adjourned at 7:35PM Submitted by: Sharon Butler Commissioner of Building & Planning