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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019.01.08 P. Rosenberg CommentsMayor Paul Rosenberg Statement January 8, 2019 900 King Street Tonight we are holding a continued public hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Petition for Amendments to the Zoning Code pertaining to Planned Unit Developments in connection with the applicant’s proposal to develop senior living facilities for persons aged 62 years and over at 900 King Street. The public hearing was opened on October 22, 2018 and continued to the Board meetings held on November 8, 2018, December 11, 2018 and tonight, January 8, 2019. During that time period, we’ve received a number of written comments and comments made during our Board meetings from members of the public. The Village’s staff and professional consultants have likewise submitted comment memos to the Board. Over the past week, we have also received additional comments from NYSDOT and the Village’s Traffic Engineer concerning the scope of the traffic studies that must be performed by the applicant. The Board itself has also provided the applicant with verbal comments during these meetings, including – the building is too big, too bulky and the age of the residents MUST be limited to 62 and over. The applicant has responded to the Board’s concern about the age restriction and modified the project from a 55+ to a 62+ age restriction. We expect the applicant to respond to the remaining substantive comments in the Final Environmental Impact Statement. We cannot be more clear to the applicant that approval of this project in its present form is highly unlikely. The scale and massing of the proposed building needs to be further reduced in what is presented in the FEIS. This may mean proposing variations on the alternatives that have already been presented in the DEIS. I would encourage the applicant’s consultants to coordinate with the Village’s consultants regarding these alternatives before finalizing the FEIS for submission. The applicant also needs to spend significant attention to the comments raised by the public, BBUFSD, and others regarding the construction impacts – noise, traffic and otherwise – and propose adequate mitigation measures to help lessen these impacts to our residents. The additional traffic studies called for by NYSDOT and the Village’s Traffic Consultant must be performed by the applicant and responses to all substantive comments submitted during the public hearing must be responded to by the applicant when it drafts the Final Environmental Impact Statement. It is my understanding that rather than respond to these comments piecemeal as they come in, the applicant will respond to all comments, including revisions to the plans, in the FEIS. That process cannot get meaningfully underway until the public hearing and written comment period is closed. Barring any new, remarkable, substantive information being revealed tonight, it is my intention to call for a motion to close the public hearing tonight and leave the written comment period open for a period of [15] days. This would mean that after tonight, you still would have the opportunity to submit written comments to our Village Administrator Chris Bradbury (hand delivery, mail or email), until January 23, 2019. In total, this will have provided the public with approximately 3 months to comment on the DEIS which I believe is more than reasonable. Now, I would like to ask each of the Trustees to provide their views, opinion and comments on the plans and information that has been presented to-date by the applicant.