Planning Board Minutes

 

 

Vice Chairman Donald Mendola read the Fire Prevention Code instructing the public where to exit in case of a fire or other emergency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A request from Upstate Tower for site plan approval for property located at 391 French Road for construction of a 150' self-supported tower and property located at 2724 Transit Road for construction of a 150' self-supported tower.

 

Motion by Greenan, seconded by Rathmann, to open the public hearing for Item SPR2015-05 & SPR2015-06.

 

Ayes: All                                     Noes: None                                 Motion Carried

 

Don Carpenter of Carpenter Consulting Group represented Upstate Tower and stated their proposal for a 150’ self-support telecommunications tower in two industrial zoning districts in town - 2724 Transit Road (near the intersection of Route 400 & Transit Road adjacent to the existing railroad corridor) and 391 French Road (rear of Bill Miller’s property, a blacktop business, and backs up to the industrial park on the other side of the railroad tracks). The towers will be more than 300’ from residential property, low impact to surrounding residents and not visible to any heavily populated residential areas. Mr. Carpenter stated Buffalo Lake Erie Wireless (Blue Wireless) is undergoing an expansion project and upgrading their system to 4G LTE standards.

 

Code Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Schieber stated pursuant to Town Code the project meets all town requirements with regard to zoning, fall radius, etc.  It has been reviewed by the Engineering Department and no comments were received. Mr. Schieber recited Town Code §120-40.16.1(b)(1) indicating site plan approval is required, but SEQR is not specifically required.

 

Mr. Rathmann commented on the gravel roadway on the French Road site going through a wetlands area. Mr. Carpenter responded this is an existing road and the wetlands were taken from the town GIS map.

 

No comments were received from the public.

 

Motion by Greenan, seconded by Rathmann, to close the public hearing.

 

Ayes: All                                     Noes: None                                 Motion Carried

 

Motion by Greenan, seconded by Sherman, to grant site plan approval for property located at 391 French Road for construction of a 150’ self-supported tower and property located at 2724 Transit Road for construction of a 150’ self-supported tower.

 

Ayes: All                                     Noes: None                                 Motion Carried

 

 

A request from Union Fire Company for site plan approval for property located at 1845 Union Road for construction of a new 27,000 sf mixed use fire station with club facilities, assembly use (disaster relief area) and off-street parking and amenities.

 

Motion by Greenan, seconded by Rathmann, to open the public hearing.

 

Ayes: All                                     Noes: None                                 Motion Carried

 

 

 

Intern Architect Kate Waterman Kulpa, Project Architect Sandra Mancuso and Project Engineer Ronald Szatkowski of EI Team Inc. represented West Seneca Fire District No. 2 and presented a condensed version of the plans submitted. They intend to construct a one-story CMU building at the corner of Seneca Creek Road and Union Road. The 25,000 sf building will have a fire station with truck bays located to the left of the site plan. The rest of the building will be for administrative offices, a club facility and a disaster relief area. There will be three main parking lots – one along Seneca Creek Road for firemen only and a parking lot to the east with overflow parking in the rear for the normal public.

 

Code Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Schieber stated the project requires SEQR and a negative declaration. A standard form letter was received from Erie County Water Authority (ECWA) outlining their fees and a letter from Erie County Sewer District No. 1 outlining their requirements. The project meets Town Code so no variances are required. The adjacent residential area is highlighted on the plan. Fencing and landscaping has been added by the applicant. A comment was received from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) concerning some potential archaeologically sensitive areas and this has already been addressed by the applicant. Comments were received from the Engineering Department on the original plans and EI Team has responded to those comments.

 

Town Engineer David Johnson stated the revision came into his office two days ago and he did not have time to review it. He questioned what had changed since the last submittal.

 

Ronald Szatkowski responded the site plan has not changed, but the underground storage was changed. There will be quality water control and they are not discharging any water into the storm sewer system unless absolutely necessary. There will be a detention piping system under the back parking area and purifying water along the sides. They will be storing more water than is being discharged and the only problem would be an extreme 100 year storm system. A pipe will be installed to collect water from the neighbor’s area and discharge it into a pipe system.  A trench runs down the property to a point and the outfall is located on Seneca Creek Road.

 

Ms. Kulpa stated additional screening (4’ and 6’ fences) are being provided for the neighbors to protect their properties from vehicle headlights. 

 

Mr. Sherman questioned if there will be 4:1 mitigation for the storm sewer.

 

Mr. Johnson responded there may have to be some mitigation as this is located in Erie County Sewer District. He further questioned the sanitary sewer flows.

 

 

 

Mr. Szatkowski responded they will be speaking with officials to determine the gallons per day as it will be different for use by the fire department as opposed to banquets and disaster. Mr. Johnson stated this will need to be reviewed by his department with appropriate mitigation based on what is provided.

 

Mr. Rathmann commented on lack of a tree survey, noting every tree over 4” should be named and indicated on the survey. Ms. Kulpa referred to a statement on one drawing saying no trees are viable, and noted a landscape plan was included and they will be providing all new trees.

 

Mr. Rathmann questioned what the number of parking spaces is based on. Ms. Kulpa responded that at the initial consultation they were asked to increase parking. The figure is based on several uses of assembly such as disaster and training. The Town Code requires they provide concurrent for those two uses, but they would like to have less parking.

 

Mr. Sherman questioned the maximum capacity for the banquet facility. Mr. Schieber responded the capacity will be derived by the NYS Fire Code and Building Code. The parking is based on the assembly use, which is based on square footage, along with other uses in the building.

 

Town Attorney John Fenz stated the Engineering Department needs to review the stormwater pollution prevention plan. The application must be received 30 days prior to afford the proper amount of time to review. The plan is 500 pages plus calculations, reports and additional drawings. The Town of West Seneca is an MS4 community and the NYSDEC wants the town to review it. With Mr. Johnson’s limited review, Mr. Fenz wanted the Planning Board to feel comfortable with their role in compliance with the NYS requirements.

 

Mr. Johnson stated he should have sufficient time to review the plan by the next meeting.

 

Motion by Greenan, seconded by Sherman, to table this item until next month.

 

Ayes: All                                     Noes: None                                 Motion Carried

 

Ms. Kulpa questioned if the site plan could be conditionally approved based on the information provided and since the Town Engineer’s recommendation is the only piece missing. Mr. Fenz advised against any approval at this meeting, noting this is a serious state requirement and it should be done the correct way.

 

 

 

 

A request from Sean Hanley for site plan approval for property located at 1290 Center Road for construction of a new four unit townhouse with detached garages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Motion by Greenan, seconded by Sherman, to table this item.

 

Ayes: All                                     Noes: None                                 Motion Carried