- By Dan Veaner
- News
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The Trustees were prompted to consider these laws because of two current cases. The first concerns a small cell tower in the McDonald's parking lot on Triphammer Road, and the other has to do with the expansion of Colonial Veterinary Clinic.
The cell tower is being erected by Omnipoint and T-Mobile to fill in reception in the area. The new tower will be about the equivalent of a light pole, and will fit in aesthetically with the light poles McDonald's has installed in its parking lot. Independent engineers, as well as Village and Omnipoint engineers have certified that the tower is sturdy, and the Village was asked to waive fall zone requirements that mandate a space one and a half times the height of the tower. Before the law was passed builders had to go to the planning board to get the project approved, and then to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) to get a waiver of the fall zone requirement. Under the new law the Planning Board may permit the tower without the fall zone.
In the case of Colonial Veterinary Hospital, a significant addition to the facility and redesign of the landscaping led them to request a smaller buffer between their property and the adjoining one. The landscaping plan seeks to compensate for the narrower strip with denser foliage, putting parking spaces closer to the boundary than would typically be permitted. "They can take a required 75 foot buffer strip and reduce it to 25 feet," said Dubow. Again, giving the Planning Board discretion to allow a narrower strip means that an appeal would not have to be made to the BZA to get the plan approved.
Public hearings on the two laws were held a few weeks ago, but nobody attended to speak for or against the proposed laws. The Village was obligated to wait for a response from the County on whether the laws would have any negative inter-community or county-wide consequences, which they received before Monday's meeting. That cleared the way for the Trustees to complete a State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) that certifies that they find the new laws will not have a negative environmental impact. After finding no negative impact they voted 4/0 to approve the two laws.
Trustee Frank Moore expressed some concern that giving the Planning Board this discretion would make it harder for them to deny using it. But Trustee John O'Neill says that the Board of Trustees, Planning Board, and BZA work closely together and there are still provisions in the Village zoning laws that should mitigate that danger. Officials say the laws will remove planning issues from the BZA, allowing it to focus more clearly on zoning appeals issues while putting planning functions more squarely in the bailiwick of the Planning Board.
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