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Parking
Issues
(Except as noted, the following summaries are for Town Board meetings.)
12/18/2007
New parking lot between Yorktown High School and existing Downing Park
commuter lot
The town and Yorktown school district have reached agreement on constructing
a new parking lot on town property between Downing Park and the school
property at corner of Springhurst St. The lot will
have approximately 110 additional parking spots. Additional research
determined that the land was not parkland and could be developed..
1/8/2008
(work session
Addition to Downing Park commuter lot
Discussion focused primiarily on the issue of the
removal of the site's trees. See
Tree Removal
Also, both DiBartolo (and to a
lesser extent Metz) said that the reason for the lot was the safety of people
using the Rte 202 fields who park along Route 202 and have to cross the
street. The use by high school students was not the prime reason.
Pending public hearing on No Parking designation for Flagg
Pl
Hearing is scheduled for Jan 15th. DiBartolo
asked if hearing should be postponed pending outcome of new parking lot.
Board decided it would hold hearing but not announce a decision until after
the lot issue was resolved. In that way, DiBartolo
wouldn't have to put up no parking signs (cost $82 each) and then take them
down. There would be no need for the no parking signs once the new lot is
open
1/15/2008
Public hearing on "no parking" for Flagg Place and related Downing
Park parking lot
Proposed to make Flagg Pl a “no parking” zone Mon-Fri between
7am-2pm on school days. Purpose is to prevent Yorktown High School students
from parking there and walking to school.
Metz explained that the “no parking” was related to the proposed
new parking lot adjacent to Downing Park (39,000 sq ft) and that once the
parking lot was constructed, there would be no need
to restrict parking on Flagg Pl. The lot should “take care” of
the student parking issue that the board's Public Safety Committee has been
working on for years.
For that reason, they closed the public hearing but reserved decision.
DiBartolo was asked to explain plans for the
parking lot. He said there would 228 spots (the number differed from earlier
accounts) and that the work would be completed about two weeks after he
received the excavation permit to remove the tree stumps. The lot should be
ready by mid to end of February. (Staff is currently removing the dead trees
and the public hearing on the excavation permit is scheduled for 2/19/08.
There will be no grading work.)
Some concern was expressed about possible run off to the school but this will
be addressed. Reference was also made to a $10,000 grant from the county that
could be used to plant new trees – but this was not explained in any
detail. The lot's surface will be millings (chopped up blacktop) so that
water can flow through. The millings were obtained at no charge so only cost
to town for doing the lot was staff time.
See also related summaries dealing with Tree
Removal
Mention was made of school personnel monitoring the lot.
Questions/comments from the public were limited to the Flagg Pl issue only
and could not be about the parking lot. (A public hearing on the excavation
permit for the parking lot is scheduled for 2/18/08.)
January
28, 2008, Planning Board work session
This was a referral from the Town Board relating to the Excavation Permit for
the expansion of the Downing Park lot
The trees have already been cleared by the Highway Department. The Planning
Board expressed the opinion that it would have been preferable if the permit
had been applied for and granted before the work had been done. The Board
concluded that there were no planning issues, but rather engineering and
conservation concerns.
February
19, 2008, Public hearing on Excavation Permit for expansion of Downing Park
parking lot
Highway Superintendent Eric DiBartolo summarized
the plans for the expansion of the lot from the current 125 spaces to 336 spaces.
The lot is currently used by 30-35 commuters, plus students at the high
school. The plan includes two paths leading to the high school. Parking
permits will not be needed to use the lot.
DiBartolo stated that the additional spaces were
needed to accommodate people who use the ballfields
at night as well as the participants of the hole-in-one games. There will be
no grading of the site and there will be buffers of between 32-35 feet from
the existing school buildings. The lot will be surfaced with millings (ground
up asphalt from the Hutchinson Parkway) that the town has obtained at no
cost. The millings are permeable and will not be sealed. The lot will not
look “attractive,” he said, but will be serviceable.
(Blacktopping the lot would cost $240,000.) Once the lot is operational, he
will monitor the traffic and might recommend a “no left turn”
sign.
Bruce Barber stated that there are no wetlands on the site. He has stipulated
several conditions as part of the permit approval.
Linda Miller asked questions regarding the size of the millings and the
possibility that they might migrate from the site and also that they might
possibly being carcinogenic. She noted that New Jersey had regulations
governing the use of millings and asked if New York State had any similar
regulations. (For a copy of Miller's statement click here)
Barber also suggested that the town should check on the size of the millings
to make sure that they did not migrate. DiBartolo
said that the millings will be large enough (1 inch or minus in size) not to
create a dust problem or migrate. He said that millings were currently being
used on Catherine St and had created no problems.
Carl Hoegler expressed concern over where runoff
from the site would go. DiBartolo said that the
plan calls for piping and swales that will divert runoff to the west of the
site.
Ray Arnold said it appeared that the expansion was proceeding without a plan,
at which point DiBartolo produced a drawing of the
plan that he said was prepared at no cost to the town.
Susan Siegel asked if the expansion was part of an agreement with the school
district (parking for students in exchange for a possible reduction in town
fees for the use of school facilities) as the plan had been announced in
December after a meeting with district officials. Alice Roker
said there was no such agreement and DiBarolo said
that the idea of expanding the lot had been discussed for nine years.
Councilman Bianco acknowledged that while
approximately 60% of the lost trees on the site were dead, that it was
perhaps time for the town to consider rethinking a “no net loss”
policy for trees and do more to replant trees when some have to be cut down. DiBartolo said that he will work with the new town Tree
Committee to use part of a $10,000 county grant to plant new trees on the
site.
Councilman Metz said the expansion was need as a safety issue of students who
are currently parking on narrow streets near with high school.
As an aside, and in response to a question during Courtesy of the Floor, DiBartolo said that the cut down trees had been made
available to town residents.
May 11, 2010, work session
Commercial Vehicles Law - Bill Gregory
Discussion of parking commercial vehicles in residential areas.
There would be a restriction of no more than 2 suburban vehicles.
Storage or parking of construction equipment is prohibited in residential
areas.
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