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TOWN OF STERLING PLANNING BOARD MEETING February 9, 2015 A regular meeting of the Town of Sterling Planning Board was held on Monday February 9, 2015 at the Sterling Town Hall at 7:00 pm with the following members present: June Ouellette ~ Chairman Sue Allen ~ Member Susan Lemon ~ Member Grover Horn ~ Member Excused: Member Vernon Bishop. Also Present: Sam Simmons, Attorney Robert Brenner for Verizon, Joe Serbin of HPC Wireless Services, Mark Myers, Town Board Member Gus Taft, Sterling Assessor Lezli Parsons. Chairman Ouellette called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm. The meeting was originally scheduled for February 2nd but was postponed to the 9th because of bad weather. CORRESPONDENCE Towns & Topics BUSINESS Sam Simmons – Preliminary meeting for Special Permit (#16.00-1-59.11) Mr. Simmons explained to the Board that he had received a letter from the CEO that he needed to obtain a Special Permit for his business on State Route 104 after placing a sign on the property advertising his construction company. He had subdivided the property 5 years ago - one parcel with a residence and the other has pole barn which he uses for equipment/vehicle maintenance and storage of business equipment between jobs. He explained that he has been using the property for years to store a couple of trailers and a truck outside that he uses for his business and also keeps his construction tools in the pole barn, the only difference was the recent sign measuring approximately 7’x4’. Some discussion ensued amongst the Board Members regarding whether a Special Permit was needed for the limited use of the property and suggested speaking with CEO Applebee to determine his concerns. Mr. Simmons explained that he builds pole barns and meets clients at the worksite to create the contract. All of the materials are delivered from the manufacturer directly to the worksite so he uses the property on Route 104 only for equipment storage. The Board decided to process as a business because the pole barn has an enclosed area for office space, construction tools are kept there and the property address is the business address. Mr. Simmons was instructed to file the application with the Town Clerk, to provide a copy of the site plan he presented and a Public Hearing would be held on March 2nd at 7:00 pm. Mark Myers – Preliminary meeting for Special Permit (#9.00-1-29) Mr. Myers approached the Board to request a Special Permit for a restaurant business on a property he recently purchased, formerly known as the Gillis Restaurant. The applicant would like to open in April after completing some minor renovations to the interior (paint and floor bracing) and possibly add patio pavers outside. The restaurant would be open 7 days a week for breakfast and lunch, and T/F/S for dinners – all year round, closing only for a few holidays. The property has public water and the septic system was recently tested and approved by the Health department. Mr. Myers stated that he has been in the restaurant business for 35 years and is looking forward to opening the ‘Village Grill of Fair Haven’. The restaurant is known to many people in attendance and has been a restaurant for over 30 years but the Members discussed the time frame since it was last open and realized that it has been over three years which complicates the process for Mr. Myers. After some discussion regarding the non- conforming use status that this property has entertained since the zoning was established in 1996 confirmed that Mr. Myers would need to go to the ZBA for a Use Variance. The zoning ---PAGE BREAK--- law allows for non-conforming uses (undersized and zoned AR) to continue as long as the business does not close for more than a 2 year period. The clerk will try to schedule a ZBA Hearing before the end of February if possible, to accommodate the applicant’s time frame to open. Verizon Wireless Communication Towers - Special Permit (#16.00-1-58.117 and #19.00-1- 16) Attorney Robert Brenner of Nixon &Peabody reviewed the two proposals for Verizon wireless communication towers located along State Route 104 in Martville and Red Creek. Both towers are approximately 1,400 feet from State Route 104 and located in a 100’x100’ lease area within the parent parcel and have a 70’x70’ fenced in compound accessed via a 30’ wide easement for utilities and a 12’ wide gravel access road. The compound contains the monopole design tower that is 149’ in height and a 12’x30’ equipment shelter which probably would be visited once a month at the most. The nearest residential structure to the tower is 1,180’ for the Red Creek site and at 1,000’ for the Martville site; and the closest property line of the parent parcel is 383’ for Red Creek site and 232’ for the Martville site. The tower has no lighting except for a motion activated lamp above the door of the equipment shelter and an emergency generator that runs for 30 minutes every month to charge battery. Propagation studies were supplied by the radio frequency engineer to illustrate the coverage anticipated by the site locations chosen as well as to illustrate the gaps that exist from the three existing towers just north of the selected areas. A honeycomb appearance develops that connects the towers and supplies uninterrupted service for users in those areas – areas to the south that currently have no coverage will eventually tie in as towers are built and overlapping occurs. Member Lemon questioned the size of the leased area in connection to the height of the tower because the general rule has been that the height of the tower equals the property line setback dimension. The applicants replied that although the leased area was small (normal size for all of Verizon’s towers) the parent parcel contained ample area to the property boundaries which would contain the tower if it were to fall and reviewed the zoning law to find a possible waiver that the Planning Board could utilize for community enhancing projects. After some discussion it was decided that the applicants would need an area variance from the ZBA to approve the small leased area, the clerk will assist in processing the ZBA Hearing. MINUTES Meeting minutes for January 12, 2015 were approved by a motion moved by Chairman Ouellette and by Member Allen seconded. All were in favor without further discussion and the motion passed. ADJOURN On a motion by Member Horn and seconded by Member Allen, the meeting was adjourned at 9:27 PM. Approved Minutes, Respectfully submitted, Lisa Somers, Planning Board Clerk