TOWN OF GRANBY
PLANNING BOARD
Meeting Minutes
December 6, 2016
A regular meeting of the
Granby Planning Board was held at the Granby Town Hall, 820 County Route 8
Fulton; and was called to order at 7:30 pm by Chairman Paul Ketchum. A roll call introduction of the members
present commenced as follows:
Paul Ketchum, Chairman
David
Crockford
Jeff Richards
Jane Crego, Vice Chairman
Carl Nylen
Rhonda Nipper
Cheyenne Manford
Lisa Somers, secretary
Also Present : Rodney Delong, Peter Holmes, Town Councilor
Tracy Doyle and Historian John Snow.
MINUTES
A motion to approve meeting minutes for
November 17, 2016 was moved by Jane
Crego and seconded by Rhonda Nipper, all were in favor and the motion carried.
BUSINESS
ALEX
BIDWELL - The Public Hearing scheduled for application submitted by Alex Bidwell is
cancelled. The applicant had spoken with
Chairman Ketchum and was delaying the project at this time.
GRANBY
FIRE DISTRICT
– Granby Fire Commissioner Peter Holmes was present at the meeting to answer
questions from the Board regarding the SEQR Lead Agency request that the
Planning Board previously rejected in relation to a renovation and new build
project on County Route 8.
He explained to the Board that the Granby
Fire District has two entities – Commissioners and Department. The District is part of the State similar to
the Town municipality, and the Commissioners are similar to the Town
Board. The commissioners have authority
to levy taxes which purchases buildings and equipment such as trucks and
apparatus. The equipment is supplied to
the Fire Department, which is a non-profit corporation that supplies the
manpower that utilizes the community/resident owned equipment.
Peter Holmes further explained that a
feasibility study had been commissioned and performed to determine the
viability of the present property on County Route 8. It was determined that a new structure was
needed, therefore a proposed 50’x80’ structure was submitted along with
renovations to the existing 100’x140’
building to improve truck access and equipment storage. The Fire District had hired an attorney, Mr.
Pinsky, to facilitate the paperwork which instigated the SEQR Lead Agency
letter that the Planning Board received.
Mr. Holmes stated that the attorney is a Fire/EMS specialty attorney
that does only these projects and is confident that the fire distict should
receive the lead agency status and that the team of attorneys, architects and
engineers involved are qualified to perform the review.
Board member Jane Crego stated that the reason the
board opposed the request was because the letter received from Mr. Pinsky
didn’t supply enough information, the included short form EAF was incorrectly
completed and there were no drawings or description of what the project
entailed. Mr. Holmes replied that was
the reason he came tonight and would answer any questions the Board had. Chairman Ketchum stated that he had also
spoken to Mr. Pinsky after the last meeting and was told that he intended to
file for an exemption status and in his opinion would likely get it. The Board members asked why the Fire
Department had appeared for Site Plan Review for the installation of a sign a
few months ago – why hadn’t the District Commissioners handled that? Mr. Holmes explained that the Fire Department
had raised the money to purchase the sign and the quicker route for a small
project was Town approval and not through the Fire District process. Member Carl Nylen asked the membership what
they thought about fighting the lead agency status for SEQR; the general opinion
was that the information discussed tonight allowed the membership to have
confidence in the competency of the review under the direction of attorney
Pinsky. Mr. Holmes thanked the Board for
their understanding of the project and was appreciative that there would be no
further delay in their process. Town
Councilor Doyle stated that the Town would still be involved and the structures
would need toabide by NYS Building Codes as well as Fire &Safety
Codes. Mr. Holmes added that the code
they need to construct by is at a higher standard than normal projects because
of their Essential Services status.
COMPREHENSIVE
PLAN REVIEW
– Chairman Ketchum provided copies of the latest updates.
PRIVILEDGE OF THE FLOOR
Town
Councilor Tracy Doyle stated that the Town Board would be having their
organizational meeting in January and a new liaison would be appointed for both
planning and ZBA.
Board
member Carl Nylen inquired on a new schedule of meetings for 2017 and whether
budget items for the new year had been reviewed. The secretary will provide meeting schedule
at the next meeting, and Chairman Ketchum will attend to the budget.
ADJOURN
With
no other business before the Board a motion to adjourn at 8:33 pm was moved
by Carl Nylen and seconded by Cheyenne Manford, all were in favor, motion
carried.
Respectfully
submitted by:
Lisa
Somers
Planning
Board secretary
