Planning Board Agendas and Minutes

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE COHOES PLANNING BOARD HELD AT 97 MOHAWK STREET COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS AUGUST 12, 2024 at 6:30PM MEMBERS PRESENT: Mr. Jack Carroll Mr. Joseph Moloughney Mr. Joe Nadeau Mr. Joe McCormick Mr. Tony D’Angelico ABSENT: None ALSO PRESENT: Sharon Butler, Commissioner of Building & Planning Chair Carroll called the Planning Board meeting of August 12, 2024 to order at 6:30 pm and asked for roll call. Roll Call; all members were present CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES FROM THE JULY 8, 2024 MEETING Chair Carroll; first order of business is the approval of the July 8, 2024 minutes any questions, comments or amendments. Motion was made by Member D’Angelico to approve the minutes 2nd by Member Nadeau - Motion Carried unanimously. YES NO Chairperson Carroll X Vice Chair Moloughney X Member Nadeau X Member McCormick X Member D’Angelico X CONSIDERATION OF A CHANGE OF USE APPLICATION FOR 103 REMSEN STREET Chairperson Carroll; Talia come on up and tell us what you want to do. Ms. Talia Lamiano; we are looking to expand the store to have a café. In the back of the store there is enough room to accommodate this at our existing location Chair Carroll; is this hand drawn? I think you are very talented. Gentlemen you have any questions? This is just adding seating. Ms. Lamiano; yes, Member Nadeau; I think it’s a good idea Chair Carroll; I feel the same way. Do we have any questions, concerns, comments? It was opened to public comments being none asked for a motion on the application Motion to accept the change of use application was made by Member Nadeau 2nd by Member McCormick YES NO Chairperson Carroll X Vice Chair Moloughney X Member Nadeau X Member McCormick X Member D’Angelico X CONSIDERATION OF A SITE PLAN REVIEW FOR 239 REMSEN STREET Chair Carroll; Mr. Russell 239 Remsen Street. It comes to my attention that we haven’t received all of the information that we requested Mr. Russell that’s not true I sent it to Sharon Sharon; I don’t have the stamped plans and they were asking for detailed site plans showing how the building would be connected and layout of interior of the building. Mr. Russell; I sent you a copy of this a week and a half ago—held up a drawing of the doors to be installed. Sharon; that is what they have but that doesn’t show what they asked for Mr. Russell that shows the doors Chair Carroll; ok where is the construction plans, showing how you will do that Mr. Russell; that shows the doors that is the construction plans. Chair Carroll; the one that says not for construction? Mr. Russell; well they don’t email stamped plans they drop them off which is in my hand. And this is what goes to when I apply for my work. Chair Carroll; this isn’t really acceptable, we asked for construction plans, this shows the doors but how it is connected, what is connecting between the 2 buildings. Yes you are going to have the 2 doors but what is the construction process Mr. Russell that is located on………….. Chair Carroll; this is in my opinion not adequate Mr. Russell I also sent pictures to Sharon. I sent you photos of the alleyway the existing it’s behind the fence. Chair Carroll; we will keep this, the stamped plan unless you don’t have another copy Mr. Russell I have another copy. Member Nadeau; asked about the door location Mr. Russell approached and verified on the drawing explaining that is it about 30 inches back from the gate Member Nadeau; and the primary entrance will be through Spindles? Mr. Russell; correct Member Nadeau; will Spindles still be Spindles or no? Mr. Russell; Spindles is already gone. The whole place will be Anthony’s. the emergency exits and all of that stuff, none of that changes from when it was the market. The only thing that changes is that door. Sharon; when people come in, in what used to be Spindles how do they get back to where the dining area is? Mr. Russell; through those 2 doors, he approached bench and pointed out to Chair Carroll where people would be coming in. but this existing exit, emergency exit stays Sharon; the big question was for the board, and I didn’t know the answer to was, how people were going to get from walking into Spindles to the dining room and that is what they wanted to see. Mr. Russell; correct and that is shown here on the plan Member Nadeau; nothing else changes about Spindles Mr. Russell; correct Spindles stays the same Member D’Angelico; so it’s just the market area becoming dining? Mr. Russell; correct so Spindles has the bar in it and sit down dining Sharon; that was one of the questions was the flow and how people were getting to the dining area Mr. Russell although in between the buildings is handicap accessible through initial doorway it is handicap accessible it is a 45 inch door there Chair Carroll; ok so you have 6’ x 6’8” the entry way Mr. Russell yes two 36” doors standard 36” doors Chair Carroll; now what about the structure that you are breaching through the alley? What is going on with that? Mr. Russell; there will be a roof over it and that is on this stamped drawing which will go to code. It will have hardi board siding on it Sharon; is that enclosed? Mr. Russell; yes, that structure is pre-existing, it’s boarded up months ago because of all the robberies and break-ins on Remsen Street. Member Nadeau; asked if there would be a step or is everything level Mr. Russell; there will be no step Member D’Angelico asked what would be happening with the existing Anthony’s building Mr. Russell stated that he has talked to several people about it, small restaurant from Troy approached me, a doctors office approached me, I have no idea yet. It won’t be another similar restaurant. Sharon; I think with the explanation because what you were looking for was the flow of Spindles into the dining area and pointing that out on the drawings, when he goes for the building permit they are going to want to see the whole thing anyway. Vice Chair Moloughney; just one question on the exterior and exterior materials does that go through the historic board? Mr. Russell; they already approved that. Sharon; what’s behind the fence area, that piece of fence is staying so it’s not visible from the street, but the front of building he got approval to paint the building and replace the door so it’s the same as the other building. Chair Carroll; do you consider this acceptable for what we need Sharon; if you are good with the explanation from him Vice Chair Moloughney; it’s site plan Sharon; you wanted him to explain how people were going to get to the dining area, because I didn’t know Chair Carroll; there’s where it’s going and that’s what it’s going to look like. Member McCormick; and this is stamped by an engineer. Sharon; there will be review by code and the city engineer Mr. Russell; as you know they want stamped plans Chair Carroll; otherwise it’s just a drawing Vice Chair Moloughney; and code will do their review Sharon; absolutely, they will and Garry the city engineer will also. Chair Carroll; are there any public comments? Mr. George Soloyna; the door that is on 2 Rivers is that the dining area, is that accessible to visitors? Mr. Russell; that is an emergency door, the flow will go through Spindles. Chair Carroll; any other public input? Being none asked for a motion on the application Motion to accept the site plan review application was made by Member Nadeau 2nd by Vice Chair Moloughney motion carried unanimously YES NO Chairperson Carroll X Vice Chair Moloughney X Member Nadeau X Member McCormick X Member D’Angelico X CONSIDERATION OF A CHANGE OF USE NEW TENANT APPLICATION FOR 363 SARATOGA STREET Chair Carroll; 363 Saratoga Street Mr. Toni Lima; representing the applicants due to a language barrier. They are interested in opening a grocery store specifically selling Brazilian food and personal things. So selling things like Brazilian bread, and meats that come from Brazil Chair Carroll; so it will come from Brazil? Mr. Lima; correct. It is going to be imported it will come to us vacuum packed then we would cut the pieces as much as the customer wants. Also the same with the bread, it is a Brazilian specific bread so the dough will come from Brazil we are just going to bake it. They will sell some canned food and things like that. Chair Carroll; there were some concerns about the parking lot delineation Mr. Lima; yes there a parking lot with 7 spots right in front of the store. Actually it is already painted with the lines. Chair Carroll; gentlemen do you have any concerns? Vice Chair Moloughney; the sign outside at the parking lot, there is no signage only on the building? Mr. Lima; correct yes. Chair Carroll; good location. Member Nadeau; will any food be consumed on the premises? Mr. Lima; no strictly a market Chair Carroll; will they be making food to go? Mr. Lima; no just a grocery store Chair Carroll; and there isn’t going to be street sign it will just be on the building, you have the parking, delineating it. Gentlemen do you have any concerns? Being none asked for public comments being none asked for a motion on the application. Motion to accept the application for the Change of Use/New Tenant was made by Member D’Angelico 2nd by Vice Chair Moloughney motion carried unanimously YES NO Chairperson Carroll X Vice Chair Moloughney X Member Nadeau X Member McCormick X Member D’Angelico X CONSIDERATION OF A CHANGE OF USE/NEW TENANT APPLICATION FOR 190 REMSEN STREET Chair Carroll; Wendy Remsen Street Ms. Wendy Wright; I am opening my third location of Nocturnal Cookies we are a late night cookie shop. Late at night there isn’t anything available so we deliver late night. Member Nadeau; do you use a delivery service or do you deliver yourself? Ms. Wright; we used to deliver ourselves but now I use door dash Chair Carroll; and you are going into Nelly’s Ms. Wright; going into Nelly’s it is perfectly set up we are just changing colors. In fact I used her floor plan Sharon; when are you going to open? Ms. Wright; once I have all the approvals Chair Carroll; gentlemen any concerns or considerations? Vice Chair Moloughney; one question about the hours, is the bakery open for walk in’s the full hours Ms. Wright; yes. We are going to start 7 to 1am so we can see how we do, then we can expand the hours. Vice Chair Moloughney; ok I’m just thinking if there’s a bunch of people coming in for ice cream and they are hanging out on the street making noise and like that Ms. Wright; got you, we don’t have that issue at all. In Schenectady we are open until 1, in Albany we do get people coming in because we are located near McGeary’s. So it’s not like people are going to come out at midnight for that, it’s if they are already out somewhere and they stop in. Chair Carroll; will you have eat-in Ms. Wright; we do have for people who wait, if they eat a cookie or two there are chairs, it does take about 15 minutes, the cookies aren’t in a counter waiting for people to come in Chair Carroll; oh so they’re fresh made? Ms. Wright; yes fresh made. Member Nadeau; so the cookies are made on the premises? Ms. Wright; they are baked on premises, we get our dough from elsewhere. Chair Carroll; a wide variety Ms. Wright; we have 17 flavors Chair Carroll; gentlemen do you have any considerations or concerns? Being none opened it up to public comment being none asked for a motion on the Change of Use/New Tenant application motion to accept the application was made by Member D’Angelico 2nd by Vice Chair Moloughney motion carried unanimously YES NO Chairperson Carroll X Vice Chair Moloughney X  Member Nadeau X Member McCormick X Member D’Angelico X INTRODUCTION TO A PROPOSED PROJECT AT 50 DELAWARE AVENUE Chair Carroll; ok Caryn Sharon; this is a no vote it’s just so they can introduce the project Ms. Caryn Mlodzianowski; from Bohler Engineering, representing Anthony Casale owner of the property at 50 Delaware Avenue. Ms. Mlodzianowski introduced the project stating that they have gone through the zoning process obtaining 2 variances; one for the setback of the building from the river to allow for the path and 2nd for the 50 units over the allowed 10 units. The original proposal was 4 stories with 100 units upon comments from the residents the proposal was reduced to 3 stories and 60 units, with park amenities for the public and a walkway for public river access. Another feedback comment was about parking so with 60 units and maintaining the green space, we were able to increase the parking to 115 parking spaces for the 60 units. Chair Carroll; the requirement is 2 correct? Sharon no 1 spot per unit Ms. Mlodzianowski; there will be also an amenity within the building just for residents there will also be a sidewalk connection along Delaware Avenue that will be available to the public to access that pedestrian path. We were able to reserve green space here and a park that can be used by the public also Chair Carroll; now initially this was going to be mixed- use, that is not going to be now? Ms. Mlodzianowski; no longer commercial we scaled it down to be residential Chair Carroll; what is the combination between one, two, and three bedroom? Ms. Mlodzianowski; 40 one bedroom and 20 two bedroom. Chair Carroll; and these are going to be market rate: Ms. Mlodzianowski; yes. We did bring the look of the building for your review and we are looking for initial feedback on that and the site plan itself so we can continue to move forward. Sharon; I want to give the public a few minutes to look over the design I gave them my copy so they can see the design of the building. Chair Carroll; now we are not going to do any voting tonight, this is just for public information. Does anyone from the public want to make a comment? Vice Chair Moloughney; so I guess this is early and still preliminary, green space and (inaudible) Ms. Mlodzianowski; green space and possible underground retention Member Nadeau; so will the parking take place over the retention areas? Ms. Mlodzianowski; that what we anticipate yes. Vice Chair Moloughney; my next thought would be (inaudible) personally there is very little waterfront left we’ve built a ton of apartments with no retail or commercial and I know you hear one thing from the zoning board and another from the planning board, but to be honest in all due respect it is not the zoning boards responsibility, it either complies with the code or it doesn’t and the variances don’t (inaudible) with the site plan. My personal feeling, it’s valuable and the intent of the mixed-use district wasn’t to build 500 apartments but it’s to have a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood and we are running out of space to do that, my thoughts I don’t know how the rest of the board feels. I know you come here and you hear that from me and you keep changing your plans back and forth and which direction do you go in and what does that mean for type of tenant, type of retail I understand some of those complexities but I still think it is important to me it is an important element, to maximize the waterfront. Chair Carroll; from an engineering standpoint, with the storm from Saturday night and it dropped 3 ½ inches of rain in an hour and a half now is your underground retention going to manholes or go through the pavement? Ms. Mlodzianowski; we still have to do soil testing to confirm that ideally it would be perforated pipe underground but testing is needed to support that, if not it would be a solid pipe with an outlet. Chair Carroll; ok is the perforated pipe is it going to have the long narrow slit opening? Ms. Mlodzianowski; it would actually have holes in it Member McCormick; it would be based on the geo-technical review. Chair Carroll; anyone else have anything to say? Anyone here want to make a comment about the project. Theresa Bourgeois; stated that she agreed with Vice Chair Moloughney on the mixed-use element of the project. All her comments were inaudible. There was a discussion regarding the development of all the properties on the waterfront. She also asked about public notice of this meeting Sharon stated that she sent the agenda to the HOA president for Admirals Walk and also to Claudia that has a facebook page where she puts these things on. John Frainier; 6th ward council person. On the item of public notice it has been out on the Island neighborhood watch facebook page, the 6th and 7th ward page and the Cohoes webpage so the residents have been aware of this meeting. Caryn has come a long way from her initial proposal she has listened to the residents. As far as mixed-use--- 90 Delaware was supposed to have a commercial use in there with bike and kayak rentals and a small coffee shop and that didn’t happen. Caryn listened to the neighbors and the residents and took that part out. Although not perfect it more acceptable to the neighborhood. .Jessica Duncan; Sharon as I’m sure has heard me with the other meetings, but I have lived on the island for 17 years and it has changed so much over the years. We have to many apartments, I understand what is going to happen I’m not opposed to it, this plan that they have come up with is definitely better than having 100 additional apartments. Like you I am disappointed in the lack of mixed-use and I’m on the fence because as much as I complain about traffic there are major traffic concerns getting to and from, I live on Ontario Street its crazy. It has blown up since I’ve lived there, I’ve lived there for 7 years I can’t even park on my own street anymore. But back to this, I would really like to see mixed-use there because we only have so much of the riverfront left. I travel outside this region and their riverfront is mixed-use, they have parks there, a restaurant, go down to Athens it’s not that far, they’ve got a band stand out there, a park, they have a restaurant there. I’d like to see a restaurant there, something. But there is definitely traffic concerns, increased burden on our water and sewer, as a whole not to mention down at the river it floods especially with the hurricanes that they predicting them to be. And an increase on the city services, where is that going to come from, is there anyway to widen Delaware Ave so that we can get 2 lanes of traffic through there comfortably. Not to mention kids that walk to school, I know they are one and two bedroom apartments planned but our school are at capacity. Ms. Barbara Orekondy; when many of use first moved into Admirals Walk we had a marina. The marina unfortunately moved down to Rensselaer, but we were also told at time that there would be less (inaudible) on Delaware on the river. I know from following what you have been doing and how hard you worked to get to this point, but I wanted to add what you were saying about the mixed-use and development hopefully get something along the river eventually. Chair Carroll; anyone else want to make a comment? Sharon can you read the comments that came in Sharon read comments from Jacqueline DeChiaro (against the project), Nancy and Jack Jones (against the project), and Anita DeChiaro (against the project) Chair Carroll; ok thank you. Does that complete our presentation? Ms. Mlodzianowski; (inaudible) this is obviously a well thought out site plan and as we continue forward we did do a full EIS (inaudible) something about lead agency. I hear the mixed-use comments other than that we are happy to make those changes. Chair Carroll; ok thank you for presentation Mr. Anthony Casale; with regards to the mixed-use the last meeting there were about 50 people that came out. There was a discussion about the mixed-use in the proposed building. Mr. Casale stated that he will have a gym in the building and will have personal training available for the public if they wish to use that service. Member Nadeau; Sharon how does that work if we were to say we wanted mixed-use would they have to go back to zoning. Sharon; no because they went for a couple of variances for the setback of the building and having over 10 units. Member Nadeau asked Mr. Casale what his experience is, the understanding was this is your first endeavor personally? Mr. Casale I have experience building other complexes this is my first owned apartment building. Member Nadeau; what is your take on commercial space Mr. Casale; explained about the gym he is going to have in the building and the personal training program. I was contemplating a small coffee shop in there. It is on a side street so there is no traffic there so there isn’t a reason for people to come for a restaurant or something like that. Member McCormick; so you don’t have the draw? Sharon; the biggest thing that the zoning board members said is that and a lot of people in the public said the same thing there are so many empty store fronts all over the capital area do you want to see another empty store front if he has to do a commercial space and you can’t get anyone in there, then you have a big empty commercial space. Chair Carroll; my opinion is if people want to go out we have a beautiful down town, we have one of the few packed main streets in the area I’d like to focus our commercial, restaurant areas on Remsen Street make Remsen Street the draw. Sharon; they will need to know the thoughts of the board and how they should proceed with their plans. There was a discussion regarding having a small section on the first floor designed for commercial use—approximately 2,000 square feet. There was a discussion regarding restaurants not being a viable use but perhaps some other commercial use in a small foot print of the building. Chair Carroll; my personal opinion is opening a restaurant or bar down there would be a big inconvenience for the people who live there, now you have delivery trucks, you have venting of smells out the window and more traffic. Mr. Casale explained that a restaurant would involve more infrastructure and redesign of the parking area to include more parking for cars Chair Carroll and if you have a restaurant and you are open late in order to turn a profit that would be somewhat of a distraction for the residents. Mr. Casale; there is a lot of traffic that goes through there but they are going to work or heading home, they aren’t going out at 7:00 at night. Chair Carroll; ok any other concerns? Vice Chair Moloughney; I would just say that I’m sympathetic to your point and I know a lot of these are market dependent, but part of the responsibility of this board is looking at the 30 and 50 year horizon and not just what today’s market is. That is the balance and if it is some small space set aside I don’t know we heard from the rest of the board to. But collectively, informally (inaudible). There was more discussion about the mixed-use portion of the building. Sharon; is there a small area on the first floor that can be cut out for a coffee shop or something like that? Mr. Casale; yes he then explained how the first floor was going to be laid out. He said he has a large portion cut out reserved for lobby space, gym, rest room so he can take some square footage for some other commercial space. Chair Carroll; conceptually I don’t have any problems with this. Sharon to the board; do you want him to cut out an area for some kind of commercial use? Vice Chair Moloughney; I’m happy with some of the suggestions made, carve out some space, reserve some space I wanted to have the conversation about this. Member Nadeau; I agree with this. More housing is getting out of control so we can offer the public that there is a mixed- use there I would prefer that. Chair Carroll; you can have a coffee shop there, but you have a Cumberland Farms within a couple of hundred feet, you can get your coffee, paper, sandwiches, that is already there. Ms. Duncan stated that Cumberland Farms isn’t the same as getting to know your barista and people would be able to get a job. There was a discussion about the previous approvals of the apartment complexes and they were not made to have a mixed-use in the buildings, so there is no draw for people to come to one complex being made to have a mixed-use in the building. The president has already been set. Chair Carroll; the problem is there was no master plan, all of these projects were approved on standalone piece meal so once you set the president that you don’t need a mixed-use then the people coming later they have to make up for the failures of the past. Like Joe said you have to think 20-30 years ahead Member McCormick; I don’t think it’s fair to ask this developer to make up for what has not happened in the past. There needs to be a reasonable balance. Mr. Casale stated that he can advertise the personal training that will be available to the public and can have a small coffee shop there also. Sharon; you can use some the bakeries on Remsen Street. Chair Carroll; a lot of the people that would use that coffee shop would be the people that live there. I don’t see a lot of people coming from other places to stop in there. Vice Chair Moloughney; having some space defined I appreciate your perceptiveness to that none of us can see 10 years in the future and see what that space will be or the demand but having some space set aside would be better. Chair Carroll; ok any other comments? There were none Ms. Mlodzianowski; as far as next steps is there something (inaudible) Vice Chair Moloughney; we can declare our Intent to be lead agency for the project, and that would start the 30 day process. Sharon asked Caryn if anything has been uploaded to the CRIS system for SHPO yet. Ms. Mlodzianowski; yes they have until the 21st. Vice Chair Moloughney; the long form EIS has been submitted so we can choose to do that. Chair Carroll; do we do that now? Vice Chair Moloughney; yes it is procedural it just starts the clock. We declare our intent to act a lead agency for SEQR on the project. I’ll make that motion, 2nd by Member D’Angelico motion carried unanimously. YES NO Chairperson Carroll X Vice Chair Moloughney X Member Nadeau X Member McCormick X Member D’Angelico X Adjournment; Motion Vice Chair Moloughney 2nd by Member McCormick YES NO Chairperson Carroll X Vice Chair Moloughney X Member Nadeau X Member McCormick X Member D’Angelico X Submitted by: Sharon Butler Commissioner of Building & Planning