TOWN OF
ZONING BOARD
OF APPEALS DRAFT MINUTES
April 26, 2021*
Chairman William Moreau called the meeting to order
at 7:00 p.m. and led the flag salute.
Chairman William Moreau
welcomed everyone to the meeting and proceeded to review the Rules of the Board.
Zoning
Clerk Linda McCabe called the roll: Chairman William Moreau – present, Clifford Hanehan – present, Thomas
Carringi – present, Christopher Benn – present, Steve
Mehan - present, Mark Sullivan –absent, Mark Solan –
present, Rick Burke - present.
Due
to the absence of Mark Sullivan, Alternate Rick Burke was elevated to full
voting status.
Also
present: Zoning Officer Gil Albert, Attorney William Reynolds, Mark Lampron, Bill
Iglewski, Paul Gutto, Andrew Kazanjian, Craig and
Jennifer Sutherland. (Sign-in sheet is on file in the Clerk’s office.)
Approval
of Minutes: A motion was made by Christopher
Benn, seconded by Mark Solan, to accept the meeting minutes of October 26, 2020
as written. Chairman
William Moreau – aye, Clifford Hanehan - aye,
Thomas Carringi - aye, Christopher Benn - aye, Steve Mehan - aye, Mark Sullivan – absent, Mark Solan – aye,
Alternate Rick Burke - aye.
Carried 7 - 0
Approved
Public Hearings for Area Variance
Mark Lampron, Screaming
Eagle Brewery #21-01
123 Co. Rt. 69
Schuylerville, NY 12871
S/B/L 182.-1-72 Rural District
Applicant seeks 114’ frontage
variance and 14’ lot width variance in order to open a brewery for commercial
distribution on his property.
Applicant Mark Lampron appeared before the Board and reviewed his
application. He explained he was before
the Planning Board in October 2020, seeking a special use permit for a brewery
and distribution business. He’d been
told he needed a frontage variance and Zoning Officer/Building
Inspector Gil Albert told him he needed a 14’ lot width variance. (According to Planning minutes, he was told
he needed a 200’ frontage variance.) The Planning Board told him this had to go before
the Zoning Board prior to going forward with the special use permit. He said that this will be done in his
basement, it’s a one-barrel system, very clean and no special electrical work
is required and no customers coming to the property.
Zoning Officer/Building
Inspector Gil Albert added that the Applicant neglected the frontage variance needed
on his application and while reviewing it, he caught the error and corrected
it. The Applicant was unaware of the
correction and he apologized for that.
Chairman William Moreau asked
if there were any Board questions.
Clifford Hanehan
questioned the frontage.
Zoning Officer/Building
Inspector Gil Albert responded his property is over 5 acres, so per Town
regulations, he needs a minimum 300’ of frontage.
Clifford Hanehan
questioned when the lots were subdivided.
The Applicant replied he
bought the lot in 2004 and it was already subdivided.
Zoning Officer/Building
Inspector Gil Albert added that someone messed up allowing someone to subdivide
a 5+ acre lot with only 186’ of frontage, because a 5+ acre lot requires 300’
of frontage. But that was done prior to
the Applicant purchasing it, so it’s not the Applicant’s fault.
Attorney Willian Reynolds
responded he didn’t realize 300’ of frontage is required for 5+ acres.
Zoning Officer/Building
Inspector Gil Albert and Christopher Benn responded 5+ acres has
always required 300’ of frontage, it’s in the zoning regulations.
Chairman William Moreau asked
if there were any further questions or comments of the Board; there were none.
After providing Proof of Notice in the Saratogian on April 16, 2021, Chairman
William Moreau opened the Public Hearing at 7:12
p.m. asking those wishing to
speak, to please stand and state their name and address:
Paul Gutto,
stated he is a partner with the Applicant and reiterated that this is a one-barrel
system, no massive tanks, and they can start brewing even without a special use
permit if they were brewing just for themselves, but since they’re going to
bottle and distribute it, they need the permit.
They wouldn’t be in front of this Board aside from that.
Seeing as no one further
wished to speak, Chairman William Moreau
closed the Public Hearing at 7:14 p.m. He then asked if there were any
further Board comments or concern; there were none.
Chairman William
Moreau went through the Balancing Test for Area Variance, line by line, with
the Board to balance benefit to the Applicant with detriment to health, safety
& welfare of the community:
1. Whether benefit can be achieved by other
means feasible to applicant – Chairman William Moreau said no and the Board
members agreed.
2. Undesirable change in neighborhood
character or detriment to nearby properties – Chairman William Moreau said
no, Christopher Benn said it’s keeping within the neighborhood and the Board members
agreed.
3. Whether request is substantial – Clifford
Hanehan and Christopher Benn said no; Board members agreed.
4. Whether request will have adverse physical
or environmental effects –Clifford Hanehan,
Chairman William Moreau and Christopher Benn said no; Board agreed as well.
5. Whether alleged difficulty is
self-created, relevant but not determinative – The entire Board said no,
the land was purchased as is.
A motion was made by Mark
Solan, seconded by Rick Burke, to accept the application as presented and grant
the requested variances. Chairman William Moreau – aye, Clifford Hanehan - aye, Thomas Carringi -
aye, Christopher Benn - aye, Steve Mehan - aye, Mark
Sullivan
– absent, Mark Solan – aye, Rick Burke - aye.
Carried 7 - 0
Granted
The Applicant thanked the
Board.
Jennifer & Craig Sutherland #21-02
188 Hanehan Rd.
Schuylerville, NY 12871
S/B/L 195.-1-57 Rural District
Applicants
seek a 15’ front setback to construct a 26’ x 36’ metal garage.
Applicant Craig Sutherland appeared before the Board and stated they have
5.5+/- acres and are seeking to build a 26’ x 36’ metal garage. He said they are within their setbacks but
need a 15’ road frontage variance. He
reviewed the lay of the land and explained he doesn’t want to go too close to
the existing garage nor too close to the ravine. The placement of this would be approximately
16’ and 20’ from the garage and ravine.
He added there will be two garage doors; a
9’ x 8’ door for access to mowers etcetera and a 12’ overhead door.
Chairman William Moreau asked if there were any Board questions; there
were none.
Chairman William Moreau questioned the sight line and asked for Zoning
Officer/Building Inspector Gil Albert’s opinion.
Zoning Officer/Building Inspector Gil Albert stated he is fine with this
and no problem with sight line.
Chairman William Moreau asked for the opinion of Town Attorney William
Reynolds; he had no opinion.
After providing Proof of Notice in the Saratogian on April 16, 2021, Chairman
William Moreau opened the Public Hearing at 7:21
p.m. asking those wishing to
speak, to please stand and state their name and address. Seeing as no one spoke, Chairman William Moreau closed the Public Hearing at 7:22 p.m. He
then asked if there were any further Board comments or concern; there
were none.
Chairman William
Moreau went through the Balancing Test for Area Variance, line by line, with
the Board to balance benefit to the Applicant with detriment to health, safety
& welfare of the community:
1. Whether benefit can be achieved by other
means feasible to applicant – Clifford Hanehan
said no, not without getting into the ravine; the Board members agreed.
2. Undesirable change in neighborhood character
or detriment to nearby properties – Chairman William Moreau said no and the
Board members agreed.
3. Whether request is substantial – Christopher
Benn, and Clifford Hanehan said no, not compared to
others and this is a large lot; Board members agreed.
4. Whether request will have adverse physical
or environmental effects –Chairman William Moreau said no, the Board agreed.
A motion was made by Christopher
Benn, seconded by Mark Solan, to grant the 15’
variance as presented. Chairman William Moreau –
aye, Clifford Hanehan - aye, Thomas
Carringi - aye, Christopher Benn - aye, Steve Mehan -
aye, Mark Sullivan – absent, Mark Solan – aye, Rick Burke - aye.
Carried 7 - 0
Granted
The Applicant thanked the Board.
Information
Andrew Kazanjian appeared seeking
advice and opinion of the Board concerning his plans for 1390 Rt. 9P, the Calvin
Gong property. He explained he will be
going before the Planning Board later this week and is aware if his proposed subdivision
of the property is approved, he’ll need to come back before the Zoning Board
with an application for a variance. The
property meets frontage, once divided each lot will have 70’, but if divided,
each lot will only have 9,025 sq. ft. and 15,000 is required. He is wondering if they think they think this
is doable.
Zoning
Officer/Building Inspector Gil Albert stated he meets all but the square
footage and most lots in that area are less than 5000 sq. ft.
Christopher
Benn said he meets frontage but not square footage and it’s not out of
character for that area.
Zoning
Officer/Building Inspector Gil Albert said he’s pushing hard for this because
it’s been a thorn in everyone’s side and needs to be cleaned up.
Mark
Solan said if he builds just one house without subdividing, he wouldn’t need a
variance. Andrew Kazanjian responded he
can’t afford to purchase without subdividing it.
After a lengthy discussion,
Town Attorney William Reynolds said the Board is not here to give advice and
the Board is not to give opinion on any proposed project without first having a
full application.
Discussion continued and
Chairman William Moreau said once they have the application the Board will
consider and vote, but they can’t say now, as they don’t have all the
facts. They know the project and would
like to see the improvement there. They
like the concept. He told Andrew to go before
the Planning Board and then back to the Zoning Board next month.
Andrew Kazanjian thanked the
Board for their time.
Old Business:
New Business: Chairman William Moreau and the Board welcomed new member Rick Burke to the ZBA.
A motion was made by Mark Solan, seconded by Clifford Hanehan, to adjourn the
meeting at 8:06 p.m. Chairman William Moreau – aye,
Clifford Hanehan - aye,
Thomas Carringi
- aye, Christopher Benn - aye, Steve Mehan - aye,
Mark Sullivan – absent, Mark Solan – aye, Rick Burke - aye.
Carried 7 - 0
Meeting Adjourned
*Notice of correction: Applicants were incorrectly numbered on the
agenda as 21-02 & 03. Minutes
reflect correction.
The next Zoning
Board of Appeals meeting will be held May
24, 2021.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda McCabe
ZBA Clerk
~Meeting dates are subject to change~