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Sec 36.05 Blk 1 Lot 16 Location: 3605 Crompond Road, Crompond Contact: Site Design Consultants, Joe Cermele, engineer Description: Reuse of existing building with reconfiguration of parking, drainage, and wetland mitigation. August 18, 2008, work session Pre-Preliminary Amended Site Plan The proposal is to repurpose the existing building as a bank. However, since the future tenant and its requirements is unknown, Mr. Cermele asked the Planning Board about submitting two site plans, one with a drive-thru window on the back of the building and the other without and the existing rear patio converted to landscaping. There was some discussion of the legality of the Planning Board approving two site plans for the same project and the possible procedures by which this could be done. Nothing specific was decided. Mr. Tegeder pointed out that the storm water retention and treatment system existing on the site never actually worked properly, and would need to be redesigned. Therefore this application should be considered a whole new site plan, not an amendment of an existing one. This project is also calling for more parking spaces than required by the town code. Mr. Giordano questioned whether the town code was outdated with respect to parking for banks, since the applicants themselves see the need for extra parking. (see JPMorgan Chase Bank 8/18/08). Mr. Giordano also brought up the possibility of access from Old Crompond Rd. in order to relieve some congestion on Route 202. The possibility of pedestrian access was also discussed. November 24, 2008, work session Since the applicant's previous appearance before the planning board, the decision has been made to scrap the two previously discussed alternative plans. During the intervening months the new owner has corrected the draining problems on the site so that stormwater runoff is now correctly sloping to the site's biofilter. New landscaping is already in place. The owner also has lined up a new tenant for the existing building, a physical fitness center, and work on renovating a portion of the existing 2,970 sq ft building for this usse has already begun and the owner has a Certificate of Occupancy for the new use. The amended site plan for the building calls for a 400 ft addition onto the existing building, plus the addition of 19 parking spaces. The addition would be for storage use by the restaurant the owner hopes will lease the remaining space in the existing building. However, the owner needs approval for the additional parking spaces before the restaurant will sign the lease. Which led to the owner's attorney, Al Capellini, to ask if the public hearing on the amended site plan could be scheduled for December; otherwise, the owner might lose the prospective tenant. If the remaining space and 400 ft addition were not going to be used for a restaurant, there would be no need for the additional parking spaces. December 8, 2008 Public Hearing The applicant is seeking approval for a 400 sq ft increase in the building size and an increase in the number of parking spaces from 28 to 47. The existing building on this site has already received Planning Board approval, but the former owners never built the required storm water management plan. Untreated storm water has been flowing directly into Hunter Brook. The current owners have already constructed the previously required biofilter swale and installed the required landscaping and wetland planting, thus rehabilitating the site. Additionally, a row of parking spaces have been constructed, but not paved, so that the site's impervious surface area actually has decreased. The public hearing was closed. The Planning Board had no objections to the applicant's requests. The Planning Board declared itself the lead agency under SEQR, adopted a negative declaration of environmental impact based on a full Environmental Assessment Form and adopted a resolution to approve the site plan. Mr. Flynn reminded the applicant of the need to extend and to repair the fence along the back of the property. |