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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-03-22 - Planning Board Meeting Minutes MARCH 22, 2007 PLANNING BOARD MINUTES FINAL VERSION VILLAGE OF RYE BROOK PLANNING BOARD MINUTES VILLAGE HALL, 938 KING STREET, RYE BROOK,NY 10573 MARCH 22, 2007 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ROLL CALL: PUBLIC HEARINGS 1. Continued Public Hearing regarding Bowman Avenue Development - Review of an Application for Steep Slopes and Wetlands permitting submitted by John Meyer Consulting, P.C. on behalf of Kip Konigsberg (K&M Realty) for property on Bowman Avenue, Rye Brook, NY, designated on the Tax Assessor's Map as Section 141.26, Blockl, Lot 1 and Lot 1.1 in the C-1 Zoning District NEW BUSINESS MINUTES DISCUSSION ITEMS 1. Sub Committee report on Planning Board Rules and Procedures. PLANNING BOARD MINUTES 1 OF 6 MARCH 22, 2007 MARCH 22, 2007 PLANNING BOARD MINUTES FINAL VERSION Present Board Mr. Dominick Accurso Mrs. Michele Fredman Mr. John Grzan Mrs. Amy Schoen Mr. Bill Laufer Chairman Warren Agatston Excused Mr. Gary Zuckerman Staff Mrs. Marilyn Timpone Mohamed, Village Consultant Mrs. Amanda Kandel, Village Counsel Mr. Victor Carosi, Village Engineer Mr. Michal Nowak, Jr. Village Engineer Ms. Shari Melillo, Meeting Secretary Liaison Trustee Paul Rosenberg and new Liaison Trustee Feinstein Chairman called the meeting to order and asked all to join in the Pledge of Allegiance. Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced the members of the Board and staff. Chairman Agatston explained the rules of procedure for the meeting. The next Planning Board meeting will be held April 12, 2007. Chairman Agatston asked to make a brief statement. Tonight will be Chairman Agatson's last night as Chairman of the Planning Board. Chairman stated that during his 5 years on the Board, he has been most fortunate to have members of the Board, Staff and Counsel who do exemplary work. "During my tenure...we have grown from an advisory board to one with final approval authority." Chairman Agatston thanked everyone for their input and participation in making his time on the Board a pleasure. Mr. Grzan thanked Chairman Agatston for his leadership and expressed his gratitude and pleasure in working with him. Mr. Paul Rosenberg addressed the Board and stated that as we all know, tonight is Warren's last meeting as Chairman and on behalf of the Board of Trustees would like to say a few words. Under your tenure you have reviewed 50 site plan reviews from small steps to multifaceted applications. This was no easy task with 7 personalities each with own unique opinion or point of view. "Warren has class and professionalism in conducting his meetings." Mr. Rosenberg went on to review all of the accomplishments achieved during the Chairs tenure. Mr. Rosenberg presented Chairman Agatston with a Plaque on behalf of the Village. PLANNING BOARD MINUTES 2 OF 6 MARCH 22, 2007 MARCH 22, 2007 PLANNING BOARD MINUTES FINAL VERSION PUBLIC HEARINGS 2. Continued Public Hearing regarding Bowman Avenue Development - Review of an Application for Steep Slopes and Wetlands permitting submitted by John Meyer Consulting, P.C. on behalf of Kip Konigsberg (K&M Realty) for property on Bowman Avenue, Rye Brook, NY, designated on the Tax Assessor's Map as Section 141.26, Blockl, Lot 1 and Lot 1.1 in the C-1 Zoning District Mr. Jim Ryan of John Myers Consulting addressed the Board. Mr. Ryan thanked the Chairman for his diligence and hard work and stated that this Board has been fair and diligent under his leadership and appreciates his hard work. Mr. Myer stated that he has been working with the consultants on the remaining outstanding issues and believes they are down to the final details of the project. Two distinct portions — the strip portion that is the portion of land offered to the Village and upon which the applicant believed the Board of Trustees would handle matters relating to design and technical details. A lot of the comments relate specifically to the strip portion. The applicant is hoping to be back before the Board of Trustees on the strip portion and believes they are bringing to an end the technical issues on this portion. There are minor changes only. Tonight we would like to hear anything your Board might want to give us and hopefully we can achieve the decision some time in April. Mrs. Schoen expressed her concern in the after the fact monitoring and maintenance. She asked if there is a plan about excessive drought, plantings that will survive drought, who will be responsible— for what period of time—will the residents take over the monitoring and are they capable. Mr. Ryan answered that they are looking at plants that will thrive under these conditions, drought and wet. Mr. Ryan stated that they have a list of 5 plants that were purposely selected for that. Secondly, the applicant provided a program to insure the responsibility especially over the first year. John Meyer Consulting will monitor the planting during construction—then it will be the responsibility of the applicant, maybe through bonding— that would not be an issue. Mr. Laufer asked if the type of stones being used on the slopes were sufficient for the slopes. Mr. Ryan responded that they have provided calculations to the Village and Mr. Rotfeld and are waiting for input from them on that matter. Mr. Carosi addressed the Board and stated that the calculations have been received and are being reviewed. Mr. Carosi does not see at this time any problems with what they have presented and the Village should have an answer very shortly. PLANNING BOARD MINUTES 3 OF 6 MARCH 22, 2007 MARCH 22, 2007 PLANNING BOARD MINUTES FINAL VERSION Mrs. Fredman read the submission for this weeks meeting and noted that most of the plans relied upon were old— 1973 — 1994. Mr. Carosi answered that the 1979 plan is a FERN map provided by FEMA and is actually being updated now so the map in question is actually the most current. That is for a flood plane elevation or the highest the water can possibly go in a 100-year storm. In this last storm, we had tremendous flooding from the Blind Brook overflowing — a lot of rain during a short amount of time on frozen ground. Mr. Carosi stated that he reviewed the peninsula during that time — it was dry — no water from the Blind Brook— the strip portion was partially submerged. The little swale between the strip and the shopping center was starting to flood." Chairman Agatston asked how it would affect some of the proposals made by this Board to the applicant—the path close to the waters edge for instance. Mr. Carosi answered that a good portion of that area was under water—with the asphalt it will be a little more stable but chances are the pathway would have some damage. There was not a high velocity of water. The water there is related to the tidal action of the sound. Mr. Grzan stated that the construction management plan is extremely simplistic — does not believe it is sufficient — this is a unique site — it is a landfill and question how the slopes will be stabilized before they put the rip rap. Mr. Carosi responded that the plan is an outline and will address some issues with Mr. Ryan. The Village is looking for more detail — a how to model. With regard to the steep slopes — the plans do detail the activity — they will be removing 4 feet of material to stabilize the slopes. The potential of not doing it is what will remain— it will continue to erode away and become more unstable. There will be some impacts, short term and temporary. Mr. Grzan asked for a little more info from Mr. Rotfeld. Mr. Ryan stated one of the things he said to this Board and Mrs. Timpone-Mohamed was that we would provide an outline for the various phases of construction. There is a lot of detail in the plans explaining each step of the process. The construction outline is intended to be an outline — the details of the phases of the plan are detailed in the plans. Mr. Carosi believes it is his responsibility as an Engineer to my client and is his belief to do it right and to do it safely. Mr. Laufer question if it would be feasible to bring in a report from your outside consultants and what really they are planning. He stated there is not much detail here and asked if the applicant is planning to give us any kind of a detailed plan. Mr. Ryan responded that they did and it was given to Mr. Rotfeld — there were actual field borings—those findings were in the reports submitted. Mr. Grzan has concerns — not only for the stream but the future residents, he does not want their backyards to start sliding into the water. Mr. Carosi asked if the Board would like a full report from GZA and the response was yes. Mr. Accurso asked Mrs. Timpone-Mohamed about her March 13th memo in which she stated that the Planning Board should consider if the loss of buffer has been minimized...what has been lost. Mrs. Timpone-Mohamed answered that the loss is from the construction itself...the units. The memo actually said that the Board needed to decide if the loss of buffer had been PLANNING BOARD MINUTES 4 OF 6 MARCH 22, 2007 MARCH 22, 2007 PLANNING BOARD MINUTES FINAL VERSION adequately mitigated or if increasing the plantings in that area or elsewhere to augment what buffer is left would be necessary. Mr. Accurso asked if it could also be done by reducing the number of units and Mrs. Timpone-Mohamed responded, yes. Mr. Grzan asked Mrs. Timpone-Mohamed what she thought. Mrs. Timpone-Mohamed stated that there is limited space to do additional plantings—the kind of plantings suited to buffer areas. We could require additional plantings on the strip portion which would act to stabilize that section of the water course. Mrs. Timpone-Mohamed stated that is one issue I think is important for the Planning Board to make a decision about. There is no hard and fast rule of thumb. Mr. Accurso asked if there were more plantings, where would they go. Mrs. Timpone-Mohamed answered that you could put more trees and more shrubs on the peninsula. There is a lot of grass area beyond what we have to provide. We also have to provide space for snow storage. Mr. Accurso—or you could reduce the number of units. Mrs. Timpone Mohamed answered that she believes reducing the number of units is not an option the applicant is entertaining. At some point it is not feasible for the applicant to drop the number of units. Mrs. Fredman doesn't believe this is in front of us for that anymore. Mr. Accurso stated for wetlands and plantings it is. Mrs. Schoen — with regard to mitigating the peninsula — after what Victor said about the flooding is more inclined that the mitigation needs to be made on the strip, trees shrubs or whatever. Perhaps some additional on the peninsula, but the strip is a concern to the Village. Chairman Agatston asked Mr. Ryan if there is a landscaping plan for the strip that depicts what is on that parcel. Mr. Ryan responded yes there is — 20 or 30 pages in the Evans report. It is our intent to leave the strip portion of the plan completely natural. We gave up 50% of our development and had intended it to be very natural. Chairman Agatston asked for any further questions from the Board or public and there being none the Chairman adjourned the public hearing to the next meeting of...April 12th Mr. Accurso Yes Mrs. Fredman Yes Mr. Grzan Yes Mr. Laufer Yes Mrs. Schoen Yes Chairman Agatston Yes DISCUSSION ITEMS 2. Sub Committee report on Planning Board Rules and Procedures. PLANNING BOARD MINUTES 5 OF 6 MARCH 22, 2007 MARCH 22, 2007 PLANNING BOARD MINUTES FINAL VERSION Mrs. Fredman stated there was in interim report delivered and now we have a draft of potential rules of procedure. In this draft, I believe the Pledge of Allegiance is inappropriate — we are a non-elected board that starts the meeting with the Pledge and I don't believe it is necessary. There are no guidelines about it. The School Board does not see fit to do it at their meetings. Mr. Laufer's opinion is that the Pledge shows a certain amount of respect. It is a traditional thing to do and believes we should keep it. Mrs. Schoen agrees with Mrs. Fredman and does not see a reason for this Board to do it and other Boards not. The Board of Trustees has traditionally seen fit to do it but she does not see the necessity for it. Chairman Agatston thinks it lends a little bit of formality to the Board and is a nice way to start the meeting. He stated it is something we have been doing— it doesn't merit any more time of discussion — there are a lot more important issues with this report to be discussed. Mr. Accurso stated that we are civil service volunteers and he is in favor of doing it. "I am proud to be an American and I think we should do it." Mr. Grzan agrees and thinks it is a nice formality. Further discussion on procedure issues among the Board members commenced. Mrs. Timpone-Mohamed, Mrs. Kandel and Mr. Carosi all addressed the Board and gave their opinion on some procedural items as well. Board commended Mrs. Fredman on her work The entire Board gave their thanks and appreciation to Chairman Agatston. Meeting Adjourned at 9:58 PLANNING BOARD MINUTES 6 OF 6 MARCH 22, 2007