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Southern Ulster Times, Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Surveyor redesigns Village project
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requires that the enriched housing adult
home and nursing care units shall not be
less than 25% nor more than 60% of the
total number of units. So with the 135 beds
that we require in the Assisted Living,
that actually would require between 225
and 540 independent living homes. We
are up to 212 and we feel that is about as
dense on the site as we want to go with
the independent living. We are going to
require a zoning variance for that.”
Brooks is seeking the Planning Board’s
support on this point because, “we believe
it is important that we work with the
land.” Building Department Director
Dave Barton pointed out that this project
does not meet the number and the relief
from the code but what they would be
looking for, “is a negative number; that’s
awesome, that’s great.”
Brooks told the Planning Board that
as requested she went through the CCRC
[Continuing Care Retirement Community]
code to determine how they can be in
compliance with these stipulations.
She conceded there are some areas in this
code that they will not be able to meet;
specifically the minimum requirement
that the Assisted Living building be 100
feet off of the front lot line. She pointed
out, however, that the structure will be
125 feet from the shoulder line, “because
Route 9W has an irregular highway taking
line and it’s not 25 feet off the center line
of the traveled way. We don’t meet the
front yard setback but we more than meet
the intent of, generally speaking, center-
line road 25 feet than the 100 foot setback.
We will require a variance for that.”
Brooks said she would like to have her
project consultants meet with the town’s
consultants to discuss any pertinent
issues about this project. She said there is
a requirement that all buildings must be
separated by 25 feet or the height of the
building itself. Her design presently has
a 20 foot separation distance, “between
the habitable living spaces, which is in
accordance with New York State Building
Code for the cottages.” Brooks said it
seems the building height in the code
may be intended for larger commercial
structures for fire separation reasons, but
if this is a strict stipulation that includes
every single building, then they will also
need a variance from this provision.
Brooks has submitted to the board a
full set of 26 large maps of the project
and a 231 page book of documents,
acknowledging that this will likely take
the Planning Board some time to fully
review.
A survey map shows the entire proposed project called The Village In The Hudson Valley. Route 9W is at the bottom of the map and the two
dark areas are the new Self Storage buildings.
Brooks said the new multi-family
buildings will be “tucked” into the back
of the proposed development, making
their roof peak elevations about even
with the ones in the front of the project.
She expects the project to be a Type
I action, in part, because they will be
disturbing more than 10 acres and hopes
the Planning Board would be lead agency.
According to the NYS Department
of Environmental Conservation, “Type
I actions meet or exceed thresholds
listed in the statewide or agency SEQR
[State Environmental Quality Review]
regulations. These are likely to require
preparation of an EIS [Environmental
Impact Statement].
Brooks suggested that an informational
meeting be scheduled so she can gather
input on any concerns from the public
about this project. After this she will meet
with Central Hudson, the Department
of Transportation, the Lloyd Planning
Board Chairman and the Lloyd Zoning
Code Officer before a project submission
is sent to the Ulster County Planning
Board for their review.
Planning Board Chairman Fred
Pizzuto commented, “It’s a big pill to
swallow to start.”
It was noted that a roadway to the west
to connect with Vineyard Avenue was not
possible from a topographical perspective
and due to wetlands and floodplains in
that area. Building Director Dave Barton
said a traffic light is being considered for
Mayer Drive that would be in sync with
others from Chapel Hill on up to Milton
Avenue to ease the traffic flow all along
this portion of Route 9W.
Town Engineer Andrew Learn said
the planned access points to the site may
not meet provisions in the fire code due to
their close proximity off Mayer Drive.
“The state fire code has a calculation that
drives how far apart the accesses are
required to be for a development of
this size,” he said. “I think we need to
have some further discussion on how
this project is going to satisfy this
requirement.”
Barton also weighed in on this issue.
“The code suggests that the fire official
can require two points of access because
if there is a major fire incident on the
site and the buildings are close, [and] if
there are two independent homes on fire
together, this site will be littered with fire
apparatus. So having another point of
access is probably going to be wise. We
need to think how that will be affected.”
Brooks said the owner of Phoenix
Cable, on the project’s northern border,
is not interested is providing another
access point. She said the developer has
purchased a lot at the end of Apple Lane
that will allow for utility ingress and
egress.
“We were not necessarily planning
on putting an access there but we will
certainly work with the municipality to
make sure that we do whatever we need
to, to address those concerns,” she said.
Planning Board member Larry
Hammond pointed out that if the
developer does not have a second access,
the roads on the site form a “big cul-du-
sac, which is too long [by the code].”
Brooks said their plan contains private
interior roadways but Hammond pressed
his point of there being only one access.
Learn added that the furthest roadway
to the north is a potential problem because
a fire there could choke off an entire
section of homes.
Brooks said she may provide 3D
images to the board to help them have a
more detailed view of the overall project.
The board scheduled a public
informational meeting at 6 p.m. on August
22 at the Highland Fire House, 25 Milton
Avenue.