Town Planning & Zoning
PLanning Board Minutes - MArch 20, 2007
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Jun 18, 2007, 17:36

TOWN OF LOCKPORT
PLANNING BOARD MEETING MINUTES
March 20 2007

PRESENT Walter Thorman
William Few
Robert Langdon
Rodney Conrad
David Kinyon
Morris Wingard
Richard Forsey Chairman
Robert Balcerzak Alternate

ALSO PRESENT Eugene Nenni Sr Building Inspector
Rob Klavoon Town Engineer
Drew Reilly Town Planner
Daniel Seaman Attorney
Jane Trombley Secretary
Dana Braun Wendel Engineering

The Town of Lockport Planning Board Meeting was called to order at 7 30 pm by Chairman Forsey who then led the Pledge ofAllegiance

CASE 1 Cedar Creek Subdivision Beattie Avenue LLC Owner PUBLIC HEARING SBL 123 00 1 8 11 92 Acres David Ulrich presenting Mr Ulrich stated he is here to answer questions Chairman Forsey asked for Public Comment

Marilyn Behmof 6439 Hamm Road stated that development has taken place to the east of her property resulting in the overflow of Donner Creek causing water to come into her yard for the last 7 to 8 years Ms Behm stated it started with the Amy Drive development and was enhanced by Lockhaven Estates development Ms Behm stated until Donner Creek issues are addressed water will be the issue
to be dealt with first Ms Behm suggested diverting the water to the canal or filling in Donner Creek because she doesn't feel the retention ponds will take care of the issue and the current issue needs to be taken care of first Mr Ulrich stated he appreciates her comments and that the retention pond is 2 5 times the required
size to help with the current water problem Tim Arlington of Apex Engineering stated the retention pond will restrict the runoff from the pond and will help
downstream as water will be considerably less which will help Donner Creek they won't be adding to the problem they will be helping the problem

Janet Beales of6861 Lockhaven Drive stated she wondered what the homes would look like Tim Mulvey of Mulvey Construction stated the homes would be similar to their existing homes 1300 to 1600 square feet Ms Beales then asked what the walking path would be made of Mr Mulvey stated the same as in the Lockhaven development and the pond will be able tobe walked around Ms Beales asked ifthe pond would cause them problems such as making their sump
pumps run more Mr Arlington stated no the pond will be lower than their homes and has aberm Ms Beales asked ifthe pond would bring in geese Mr Arlington stated he didn tknow about that Ms Beales asked if the project will

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be done in phases or all at once Mr Ulrich stated probably from Beattie Avenue in in phases but it isn't finalized yet Ms Beales asked if there will be traffic problems with the school right there and Mr Arlington stated they have lined up the access with an existing road to help with control

Paul Black of 6602 Harding Avenue Ext questioned having the development which is an adult community connect to Eastwood Drive which is full of children Mr Black stated he feels the traffic will try to avoid the signal at
Lincoln and Beattie and cut through the development causing apotential problem Mr Black also stated he isn tsure the location ofthe baseball park is good it will be like having apark in his backyard and questioned what the
advantage to empty nesters would be Mr Black suggested putting the baseball field more in the middle ofthe project Mr Ulrich stated he will look into the
possibility and that he has given up several lots to make the community contribution Mr Black also questioned if the Homeowner's Association can be undone down the road in 15 to 20 years Mr Ulrich said no conditions have to be met

Terry Emmert of 6358 Badger Drive stated she would like clarification of an article that appeared in the Lockport Union Sun Journal about the condo rules and the 45 of taxes that they will pay when the Association gets a $30 million tax break Mr Ulrich explained that the 92 acres now pay $6000 in taxes but when developed will be paying taxes on $600,000 Mr Ulrich also stated the average home in the Town ofLockport is assessed at $110,000 paying
approximately $4400 in taxes that pays for education police fire refuse etc, while a patio home will pay about the same but won toverload the schools,police or other services provided Ms Emmert also stated under Town Law the infrastructure belongs to the Association and that isn twhat the paper stated Chairman Forsey stated ownership depends on how the project is approved Mr Ulrich further stated he doubts anyone in this room is paying as much for
sewer and water per linear foot as these homeowners will be

Paul Crane of6464 Cloverleaf Drive stated his development is already used as a high speed access route to avoid the stop lights Mr Crane stated he has lived here for 49 years has walked the creek and knows the pond Mr Crane states it is a 35 mph area and there are track marks on the roads people blow through the stop signs and this will cause atraffic problem with increased residential use Mr
Crane stated apark would be nice as the children currently play in the street or at the school Mr Crane feels the ponds will draw vermin insects geese and increase humidity causing several problems Mr Crane asked if the water in the
ponds will be flowing or standing and also questioned the sewer system Mr Crane also questioned how much tax would actually be collected with the residents probably being eligible for the STAR program Mr Crane stated the
baseball diamond will be noisy and should be apark instead Mr Crane again stated people will be cutting through the development to avoid the signal light and wondered if a signal could be put up at Buell Drive to slow things down and stated between 3 and 4 pm he can hardly get out ofthe development now with the

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school and the buses you need to make right turns Mr Crane stated he doesn't evenhave sidewalks in his development and yet our County taxes are the highest around Mr Crane feels the Board should think safety and believes the ecological system will cause problems Mr Arlington stated the pond will be 8' to 10' deep with a normal low water level and should not draw mosquitoes as it isn tshallow
with 2 of storage above the low water level Mr Arlington stated extending the stubs are not intended to bring traffic through Lincoln Village Mr Arlington stated the pressure and gravity sewer will connect on Beattie Avenue Mr Ulrich stated he wants to be agood neighbor and is willing to take out the Eastwood Drive connect if the Board allows it Mr Black stated he feels left hand turn signals are needed as people roll through stop signs and if you connect to Eastwood Drive it will not be a nice quiet neighborhood there will be boom boxes speeders and litter Mr Black questioned who will own the property Mr Mulvey stated the Condo Association owns it and each homeowner has apiece with the developer owning it until it is one third developed Mr Black asked if Mr Mulvey would be plowing the driveways and Mr Mulvey replied yes and mowing the lawns also if necessary and after the development is about done then amonthly assessment is charged for the purpose

Ed Quinones of 6379 Hamm Road stated he is happy about the size of the retention ponds but stated development has been going on for the last ten to twenty years and questioned the number of specs the Town has for ponds and if have they been reviewed Chairman Forsey stated yes the Town has specs that have to be adhered to Town Engineer Klavoon stated both the Town and DEC requirements need to be met Mr Quinones stated everything he has read have
proven detention ponds to be of questionable value and they are generally not properly designed and undersized by about a 3 4 to 1 ratio and absorption to runoff can get up to as much as a 6 to 1 ratio Mr Quinones presented acopy of a study which was received as Exhibit A Mr Quinones stated the studies are also finding outflow is on too short of atime i e 24 48 to 72 hours Mr Quinones stated overflow needs to be in retention not a pass through and if we have specs we may be grossly neglecting them Mr Quinones presented a photo of the inlet at Barden pond received as Exhibit B and a Snyder Drive pond
received as Exhibit C Mr Quinones stated the outflow is larger than the inlet on the Barden pond and is directly across from it instead of in the southeast comer and the Snyder pond has the inlet and outlet the same size and on the same side of the pond Mr Quinones would like to see how these ponds compare to the specs and questioned how the ponds release into the creek Mr Arlington stated all the water from the roads and houses collect in the ponds and the water won't be coming in and going out The water will come in a larger 36" pipe and go out a smaller 12" pipe that will be on opposite sides The large pipe will collect and the smaller pipe will restrict the exiting ditch that goes into Donner Creek Mr Quinones stated they are not really retention ponds unless they don trelease for at least 24 to 48 hours and if you go by the standard design they release in less than 24 hours Mr Quinones stated the specifications have to be more specific and he

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doesn't care about the average rainfall they need to take the peak and multiply it by 3 otherwise they aren tdesigned properly Mr Arlington stated 100 year storm is required by the State Mr Quinones then stated we had a tremendous rainstorm on 9/6/06 that flooded Hamm Road and Locust Street Extension walk bridge where the little children walk to go to school the size ofafootball field
300 by 100 by 1 deep and if something isn tdone this proj ect will aggravate that area Picture submitted and received as Exhibit D Mr Quinones stated we need good specs to take time to get the water out Mr Quinones stated human waste is being pumped into this ditch when there is astorm and the city pumps basements The city of Lockport was arrested in 1978 for it according to Mr Quinones but nothing has been done to correct the problem Mr Quinones
questioned why the DEC is just talking Beattie Avenue to Transit Road when we talk Donner Creek as the flood plain in the Town of Lockport is from Beattie Avenue to Transit Road Mr Quinones submitted aFlood Plain map dated 9 2
81 received as Exhibit E Mr Quinones questioned when FEMA DEC or the Army Corp will get involved to do another flood plain study Mr Arlington stated in December 2005 as part of the concept plan they incurred the cost for the study
from Lincoln Avenue to Beattie Avenue as one had not been done recently and it has not been sent to FEMA yet but the original flood plain has been consolidated
and narrowed Mr Quinones stated bringing the water into the channel will give it energy and Mr Arlington stated no the culvert will restrict it Mr Arlington stated they are proposing a 150 channel down to the ditch Mr Quinones stated he feels it needs more study as the Town of Lockport and City border about 800 to 900 Acres that are channeled into the ditch on Lincoln Avenue east of Leis
east ofBarden east of Beattie Avenue and it all goes into the ditch at Stockwell Farms not into aretention pond and there are 2 to 3 culverts from the north by
Jennifer Drive that run behind his house with drainage points into the ditch Mr Quinones submitted a picture received as Exhibit F Mr Quinones feel there are too many problems with Donner Creek and Erna Drive is having drainage problems that the Town needs to solve first Mr Quinones stated he read the Town is awaiting the DEC to approve or disapprove an Environmental Impact Study for aproject but then doesn tdo anything with it The EIS is filled out by the developer who marks no at 1 0 for the flooding and disposal problems it's approved and then the people have no recourse except to go to court when there is
a problem as the DEC is not a police agency Mr Quinones stated

Charles Harry of7253 Woodhaven Drive would like the Board to look at the Town Regulations Article 16 regarding green space as he feels this project doesn't meet the requirements and he has no doubt this will come back a positive declaration Mr Harry questioned how many single family or cluster developments have there been in the past 10 years He said he feels the traffic has increased 100% to where the signals are close to failing And Mr Harry stated he does pay more than $70 a linear foot in taxes and feel there are alot of seniors outside of these developments and they should be getting the same tax
breaks Mr Harry feels that alot ofthings went wrong in Lockhaven Estates such as homes being built on the wrong lots Mr Harry feels Mr Ulrich bought a flood plain with restrictions on how much water can go into the canal and now is

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trying to make some use out of it Mr Ulrich stated he came here not trying to hide anything trying to let everyone know what they are doing that he is experienced and knew what he was buying and is trying to do a good quality
project as he does with everything he does Review of the EAF has' nt been completed Mr Harry stated he is sure it is going to come back positive and he just wants it tobe done right Mr Ulrich responded that he does also

Stacy Kropp of 5632 Eastwood Drive said he would like to have the connecting road taken out as he agrees people will be cutting through especially at 9:15 am
and 3:15 pm Mr Kropp questioned if this will raise his taxes if the new development gets a break will he get an increase and Chairman Forsey stated it should not raise his taxes Mr Kropp stated the ducks and geese already land
there what will happen to them as well as the deer that are there he doesn't want to see them get hit and feels the road will increase traffic

William H Snellgrove of 6372 Hamm Road stated his grandsons are 5th generation to live on Hamm Road as his grandparents purchased the land 10I years ago and it is becoming a retention basin due to the flooding Mr
Snellgrove doesn't feel there should be any more construction until the Creek is properly maintained Mr Snellgrove submitted three photos of the flooding on
his property and Hamm Road that were received as Exhibit G Exhibit H and Exhibit I

Joseph Kurtz of 6435 Hamm Road stated he does not want any more new developments for Donner Creek that Donner Creek started out as a ditch that has kept developing and became acreek and now people need flood insurance to live
there Mr Kurtz doesn tfeel there are any checks and balances as there is more and more water going into the creek and feels someone should have thought of this sooner that the creek can only be cleaned 10 is now over capacitated when a line could have been put into a field and redirected the water to the field to ease it and now there is just talk of cleaning it Mr Kurtz stated the area flooded into his garage this past November and last Tuesday when the snow melted Mr Kurtz submitted nine photos of his and Behm's property which were received
collectively as Exhibit J Mr Kurtz stated with just the snow runoff without the rain his yard floods and this needs to be addressed He said the project will cause
more water and messes with the foundation on buildings Mr Kurtz stated in 1987 he had no problem getting apermit for a building and apool but he wouldn't do that today Mr Kurtz stated he has spoken to his lawyer and if his foundation is ruined from the water he will sue the Town and not go away Mr Kurtz would like the Board to study this and keep the flow down as Beattie Avenue to Locust
Street Extension is the retention pond and drainage in the Town is very important Mr Kurtz doesn't feel there should be any more development until this is addressed

David Ferris of7255 Woodhaven Drive Lincoln Woods stated they had a nice development that has turned into a hole
Mr Ferris stated an EIS has to be done and we have great local engineering firms Mr Ferris cautioned the Board to look

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out for the taxpayer as well as Mr Ulrich as he doesn't want what happened to their development to happen to others
Alternate Member Balcerzak asked Mr Ulrich ifhe doesn tget the variance to dedicate the roads and sewers back to the Town if he will go ahead with the project and Mr Ulrich stated no

Chairman Forsey thanked everyone for their input and stated the Public Hearing will remain open

6145 South Transit Road SBL 138 13 1 11 Gambino Ford Resale
Center Owner Wayne Wilhelm Scott Kuebler AlA Engineer Presenters Preliminary Site Review Proposed Auto Retail Center B2 Business CCOD Vehicle Overlay Concept April 06 Wayne Wilhelm presenting

Mr Wilhelm stated his partner was here on 4 18 06 and now he would like to address the current site plan that has been updated within the last month with the details that were missing in April 06 Mr Wilhelm states the landscaping has been addressed with trees in front the hardiest they can get the curbing along the front was addressed with cement parking partitions in front of each space and there is adrainage ditch in front Member Wingard asked which way the drainage runs and Mr Wilhelm replied north and south and the vacant lot to the north they are trying to purchase Member Wingard stated the elevation is missing on the plan Member Conrad asked about the signage and wants to know what the building looks like Mr Wilhelm stated the signage hasn tchanged from last year and they
are just painting the building Town Planner Reilly stated the biggest issue the Town is looking for is
improvements to the building and site and the Town understands that his business wants vehicles in front to show them but he needs to submit a site plan with
building elevation and EAF and a signage plan and the Town is concerned with landscaping Town Planner Reilly stated Mr Wilhelm will have to submit a short form EAF

Tabled until April 17th Planning Board Meeting

5859 5863 South Transit Road 138.05-3-1, 138.05-3-2, D. Licata, Owner. 6210 Hamm Road 138.05-3-3, D. Licata, Owner 6216 Hamm Road 138.05-3-4, D.Laux Owner John Garris Esq Sean Hopkins Esq Randy Bebout FRA Engineer Scott Francis McDonalds Proposed new McDonalds Facility Site Traffic Impact Review Mr Bebout stated they have updated the site plan with some small adjustments such as adding the loading
zone on the south side and added the location of the future cross access to Consumer Beverage which lines up towards the middle and rear of their building and the square footage was changed from 4530 to 4494 The seating capacity had

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previously been 125 and is now 114 with parking at 48 spaces and they will lose 5 spaces when the access goes in The shed enclosure has been relocated within the
setback requirements for the rear yard and landscaping includes a row of Colorado spruces This is aB1 use district and Mr Bebout realizes special use permit is required Mr Bebout stated there would be amaximum of 15
employees Mr Bebout showed arendering of the proposed building with a window on the front and stated there are now 26 9 total windows Mr Bebout stated for landscaping the required 5 green space around the building is next to
impossible where the drive thru window is and where the sidewalk is it s just too narrow Mr Bebout stated they have added information on the signature roof and
questioned if it is signage or an architectural element Mr Bebout stated it is included in the 679 square feet and that is within the allotment for signage Town Planner Reilly stated the concerns with this lot were the minimum width internal green space driveway CCOD requirements landscape buffer and reduced road sign elevation Mr Francis stated they are no longer proposing a white building instead it would be cultured stone that can be power washed and showed pictures of current locations using the cultured stone Member Wingard stated he feels it looks nicer than the white Mr Francis stated they have added a window to the top of the building to accommodate the code and showed paint chips of Confident Yellow and Brittlebrush which will accent the building instead
ofthe bright yellow previously shown and stated the tan colored stone keeps the Corporate image Member Wingard stated it's a nice looking building Town Building Inspector Nenni questioned the height of the flagpoles in the pictures shown and Mr Francis stated the American flag would be lower than in the picture Paul Burakowski of FRA Engineering stated the signal analysis provided more
details on the traffic and the requirements for asignal were not met meaning a traffic signal is not warranted based on the traffic volume Mr Burakowski stated
the analysis included increased traffic from the proposed Wal Mart as requested and the traffic was still insufficient Mr Burakowski stated DOT standards
require the distance from the edge ofthe access driveway to Hamm Road using the formula of taking the width which is 42 multiplying it by 2 and adding 15 which equals 99 and their lot is 159 to be used for the study Mr Burakowski
stated the traffic study was done during peak service hours of Friday evening and Saturday midday and found that there is the ability to have 185 left turns done in
an hour with the traffic going into the center lane of Transit Road then moving into the driving lane based on pure volume as the traffic comes in blocks because
of the signal lights Alternate Balcerzak stated he feels there could be an issue with someone making a left turn from Hamm Road at the same time as someone making a right turn from McDonalds Ms Braun stated CCOD requires 200
distance from the intersection to the entrance She said that limiting access with right turns only is an option but that this may result in pushing the problem to
another intersection then Ms Braun stated afull traffic study count was done from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm on aweekday and it is possible to make left turns as people are currently doing it from other businesses in this area Ms Braun stated

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the performance was an E F on the level of service study and a gap analysis is very difficult Mr Bebout stated if you restrict the customers to a right in and right out they are being forced to circle around the building while more people are entering Member Wingard asked how much of the business is drive thru and Mr Bebout stated about 65 Member Langdon asked how many could be in the queue to make a left hand turn and Mr Francis stated 7 or 8 Member Langdon asked what would happen to the flow if there were more and Mr Francis stated they would have the option of circling around the building and going out onto
Hamm Road Mr Francis stated a lot of the traffic is coming out from the city and it is in blocks not continual so gaps do exist Member Conrad stated there are also a lot of people coming north from Robinson Road along this route
Member Wingard asked if this study was done with a2 estimated growth rate per year and including Wal Mart as you don twant your customers to be disadvantaged and Mr Francis said yes Town Building Inspector Nenni stated prior to this meeting he received a letter from the neighbors to be reviewed by the Board

MOTION made by Member Thorman seconded by Member Langdon to hold a Public Hearing on 5859 5863 South Transit Road and 6210 6216 Hamm Road for the proposed McDonalds 3 Ayes 4 Nays Denied

MOTION made by Member Few seconded by Member Wingard to wave the Public Hearing on 5859 5863 South Transit Road and 6210 6216 Hamm Road for the proposed McDonalds 3 Ayes 4 Nays Denied

No decision made pending receiving more information on the project

MOTION made by Member Langdon seconded by Member Kinyon to adjourn the Planning Board meeting a 10 15 pm 7 Ayes 0 Nays Carried

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