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A Special Joint Meeting of the Mechanicville City Council and the Mechanicville Planning Board was held at the Senior Citizen’s Center, 178 North Main Street, Mechanicville, NY, on Wednesday, May 19, 2010. Comm. Seber explained that they will have a Board meeting and then the regular council meeting. Said they will start with the presentation, he will turn the meeting over to Chairman Izzo; there will be questions answered, that type of thing. Said this thing is incomplete, no one has their questions answered. Said they will adjourn this meeting and give everyone five minutes to get out of here if they don’t want to hang around and go into our regular meeting. Called on Chairman Izzo. Chairman Izzo said this will be a presentation by the applicant and then a question and answer session. Roll
Call: Mary Grace Izzo - present Chairman Izzo said this is an informational meeting and they will take a vote later. She asked Mary Beth Slevin to start the presentation and that there will be questions after the presentation. Ms. Slevin said they appreciated the opportunity to again talk about the Esplanade Project which is a mixed use project proposed for North Main Street in Mechanicville and a portion of the project is in Stillwater. Said this project was before the City Council and the Planning Board exactly a year ago. At that time the property was rezoned to a new zoning district for a waterfront mixed use district. Said they had sought a number of grants for this project and even though they were not successful in obtaining those grants, they still see the vision of the project as something that we wanted to do and it is critical for the future of Mechanicville and the Town of Stillwater. Mr. McNeary, the developer, redesigned the project so it would remain consistent with the zoning by a combination of a slightly simplified design to keep it economically workable despite the lack of the grant funding. Said with her this evening is the project team, the sponsor Bill McNeary, rob Osterhoudt and Pat Mitchell with Creighton & Manning and Steve Cotler and Derek Cooper with Cotler Architects. Said these are the folks that are responsible for developing the project from ground up. Said there are some changes in the project, it now has more open space than the original project, increased green space, and the number of buildings has decreased from 7 to 6. The site layout is more open and simpler than it was at their last appearance before the two boards. She asked Steve Cotler to run through the architectural phase of the project. Mr. Cotler pointed out some of the architectural features on the slides on the screen, emphasizing that the Main Street vision of the project is the same as it was. The buildings will be large but will give the impression of the smaller individual buildings of a traditional downtown street scape. They will have flat roofs and will form the western wall of the property. On the eastern river side they will be a little more residential in appearance and all will overlook the river. There is one commercial site in the eastern buildings and that will be a restaurant that will be on the river and you can see the umbrellas off to the right. Said from across the river, the buildings will appear residential looking at them. The apartments in the project will be very similar to what they had before and the design is basically the same except they have reduced it from 7 to 6 buildings. Said there were some site things that they did to the project that Rob will address now. Mr. Osterhoudt said what he has before them here are several renderings that have created the project, they have a planned U rendering and some of the art special renderings. Said the project site is the same, its still 11 acres. Said the major change they made here they reduced the overall footprint bringing the buildings down to 6 instead of 7 because it will make the project more efficient and reducing the project cost because they did not get the grant funding. Said they were able to line up the access points between the site itself and the existing access on the opposite side of Rt. 4 where the DeCrescente and Price Chopper driveway comes onto Rt.4. Said they will still be doing the addition of a center turn lane up here along the frontage. Talked more about accessing the property and the shared access and emergency access. Explained how the buildings will be positioned closer to the street. Comm. Seber asked if all the buildings would be closer to the street. Mr. Osterhoudt said a few will stay the same as originally presented. Said the two buildings that were in the center of the site towards the river extended out and they had a parking deck in the central portion of the site but from a cost savings prospective a parking deck is a very costly measure so they looked at that as a key point to eliminate and try to save some site cost. Said they were able to eliminate the parking deck and they expanded the footprint of the parking area. Talked about the parking areas and how the green space will be increased. Said they have increased their pedestrian access to the river with this concept. They now have 4 accesses for pedestrians and will still be open to the public. Said they consolidated down from 4 to 3 buildings in that area to capitalize on the views that are available of the river and across from it. Said as Steve mentioned there will be a restaurant with outdoor dining and a patio on the riverside of the building and the rest of the building will be residential. Parking for the site was a difficult task, they are eliminating a parking deck, trying to reduce the buildings down but at the same time they increased their residential units from 176 to 225 as they needed to make this project viable in order to keep it on the table here and they did it by increasing the number of units. They expanded the surface parking to 450 spaces with handicapped spaces included in that, enough to satisfy the demands of the project based on the city code. With a mixed use project they complement each other so you can share the parking lot. Said they did a traffic and parking analysis and it showed the shared parking provision they are looking for works for the project and doesn’t put unnecessary burden on the spaces that are required of provided on the site. Talked about the traffic analysis and how the center turn lane is necessary for this project to work. Said the analysis shows that this project will work with a single access point. Said they have a very efficient layout for their utilities. Said they can eliminate a pumping station on the property which should save money for the city. Talked about water and sewer. Said they will have a gazebo on the north end, showed where the recreation area would be. Turned it back to Mary Beth. Ms. Slevin said she neglected to introduce Carmen Barnett with Camoin Associates who has performed a fiscal analysis for the project. Comm. Seber asked if each apartment had their own water meter. Mr. Osterhoudt said each building will be metered separately. Comm. Seber said then each building will be billed not each apartment. Mr. Osterhoudt said that was correct. Comm. Seber said their PILOT is a different configuration than a typical PILOT where the first 5 years is basically no taxes then 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% in the 10th year. Said theirs starts at 1% and goes to 16% in the 6th year. Said he had a difficult time trying to calculate this because in their analysis they are projecting $19,000,000 taxable assessment. Ms. Slevin said what they are trying to accomplish is to make sure that the debt ratio can be satisfied through the stipulation of the PILOT program so that those ratios that are required can satisfy compliance. Talked more about this. Mr. McNeary said they would start with step one in the first year and keep going up until it’s the full amount in year 20. Said this project is more profitable to the city. Comm. Seber said it certainly changed from a year ago. This project will be built out in one phase now and he thinks that is important because it changes everything as they won’t be building on this year and others at some other time. Said by year three they will start seeing some benefits whether it’s water, sewer, whatever it might be. Mr. Serbalik asked if building it in one stage depends on their projected financing. Mr. McNeary said when you go for large financing they prefer to do one loan to get more money at once. Supervisor Richardson said there’s a little confusion, he just wants them to explain when you talk about going for a HUD loan, HUD is no longer just Section 8 Housing, they now give money for market value housing. Ms. Slevin said that was correct. Chairman Izzo said she will let her board ask questions. Garry Geurtze said he would like further in-depth indication of what the recreation facility for children will be and how many children will be using that and are they all going to be crammed into that facility without separation for age groups. Said it doesn’t appear to be too much space there Mr. Osterhoudt said he doesn’t have the exact dimensions of the proposed recreation area but it’s somewhere around 40 x50 ft. and it will be an active recreation area but they don’t have details worked out on it yet. Said the green space along the river is open for other recreation things like Frisbee and things. Ms. Barnett said using the multiplier that was provided for Urban Development Research who provide multipliers for different types of apartment units based on the value of the units and using that they came up with a maximum of 24 school age children that would reside in the project site if it were fully occupied, said it could be lower than that but that’s the maximum amount developed. Larry Case asked about fire protection. Mr. Cotler said they would have the fire department go over all the buildings and everything will be in accordance with the local fire department, whatever they require. Said each building will be sprinklered. Mr. Osterhoudt said there will be fire hydrants throughout the site. Mr. Case said he would recommend a 5” hose be used that would carry more water. Mike Nann said it shows that they plan to start construction in 2011, asked how long it would take to build the project. Ms. Slevin said they are projecting between 18 and 24 months. Mr. Nann asked if they had a study on the current pump station. Mr. Osterhoudt said they submitted a sewer evaluation report as well as the pump station and they took all that into account to make sure it’s adequate hooking into the city’s line and take that pump station off line. More discussion was held on this. Mr. Nann asked if they will have docking along the river front. Comm. Higgins said it is too shallow. Mr. Nann asked if the park area just for the residents. Mr. Osterhoudt said technically it’s for the residents. Mr. Nann said out of 225 units you only expect how many children. Ms. Barnett said a maximum of 24 based on the type of housing that it is and the fact that the rent is on the high end, that is what the multiplier says. Joel DePeaux said regarding emergency response to buildings, fire, ambulances and things like that, will the graded parking area affect especially the larger trucks they have now, will it affect the response or how to get in or out of there. Mr. Osterhoudt said one of the things they did as they developed this concept was to evaluate this layout to make sure that it could accommodate the city’s emergency vehicles. Said it actually works better on this layout than it did previously because an emergency vehicle can come in and circulate all through here without having to make tight and eradicate turns. Sue Peluso said her concern was about the closed area and they answered that. Said she’s glad they changed layout in the park because she was concerned about the traffic. Richard Delaney said the square footage for the whole project is about 45,000 sq. ft greater now than it was, asked if that was accounted for by the tenant’s basement storage. Mr. Osterhoudt said in order to make the project viable they increased the residential units from 176 to 225 which was the majority of the expansion in the square footage. The basement storage areas that they incorporated into the project which are 22,000 sq. ft. spread out throughout the building are above and beyond. Said the commercial space was actually reduced in size. Mr. Delaney asked if the entrance was directly across from Price Chopper. Mr. Osterhoudt said it was directly across from the share access of DeCrescente and Price Chopper. Said they are still constructing the lighting on Rt. 4 for the center turn lane. Said they have stabilized construction entrances for the site which will stay in place until they get the primary access constructed and operational. Mr. Geurtze asked if there is a gymnasium for people who like to work out. Mr. McNeary said they are hoping to put one in. Chairman Izzo opened up the meeting to the public asking them to state their name, address and affiliation. Jim Corrigan, Deputy Fire Chief said they have concerns over water supply, they were supposed to supply a water model. Doesn’t know if that was Barton & Loguidice that was supposed to do that and that the system was going to be looped. They haven’t heard any official word that the water flow would be better for them. Said they asked if there would be locked boxes available. Said what they would like to see happen is that there is a grifit inside the boxes that go on the buildings which will be a benefit to them. Said Larry talked about the storage connections and hydrants which just makes it more efficient for them to lift their hoses up. Talked about a concern with one of the buildings being partly in Stillwater and who would respond or would they negotiate with Mechanicville to provide services to it. Comm. Seber said they had some preliminary conversation with some officials of Stillwater and they were willing to discuss the whole general area with them and hopefully it will be resolved well in advance of this. More discussion was held on this. Mr. Osterhoudt said Barton & Loguidice will review this. Ed Hildreth, 132 6th Avenue, asked if all the apartments were one bedroom. Mr. Cotler said no there will also be two bedrooms. The average rent will be from $900 to $1,500. Mr. Hildreth asked if they were looking for tenants that would be subsidized. Ms. Slevin said no, they will be market rate. Mr. Hildreth asked if the access to both driveways is a double lane. Mr. Osterhoudt said basically they have one ingress and two egresses. Tom ? Representing DeCrescentes, said the main thing they are looking at is traffic, how wide or how far down will the turn be, will it be a combination for a turn lane and for truck use because that is where the majority of their traffic is. Feels it would be a serious congested area if they don’t have to ability to turn in. Doesn’t know if that is the plan to have that center turn lane that far down. \ Mr. Osterhoudt said he doesn’t know where that turn lane will end, it will have to be determined. Tom asked how big the restaurant would be Mr. McNeary said it would be large enough to handle all DeCrescente employees. Tom said one issue he sees is the shared access at the south end of the property. Doesn’t believe DeCrescente is interested in having a shared access at that point. Mr. Osterhoudt said the shared access they are showing right now is a theoretical location. Said he understands if they are going to build their site that might not work with whatever you are planning to do on your site. Said they have flexibility on where they can locate that so they would welcome the opportunity to sit down with them and work on it. Chairman Izzo said she will take a motion to close the Planning Board part of the meetings and thanked the council and people for their comments. Ms. Slevin asked if it would be possible for the Planning Board to schedule a meeting to review the project. Chairman Izzo told her to call her tomorrow. Mr. Delaney, seconded by Mr. Nann, moved that the meeting be adjourned at 8:05 p.m. to return to Council Meeting.
The regular meeting of the Mechanicville City Council was reconvened at 8:14 p.m. Comm. Seber opened the meeting at 8:14 p.m. Roll
Call: Mayor Sylvester - absent Comm. Higgins led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Comm. Chauvin, seconded by Comm. Higgins, moved that the minutes of the regular meeting of May 5, 2010 be accepted as prepared. Roll Call: Affirmative – all. Negative – none. Comm. Seber said he didn’t have any correspondence from the Mayor to read. Said the only thing he has is the 31st water and sewer bills are due without penalty and they have a lot of outstanding accounts, there is $700,000 outstanding now. Said hopefully in the next couple of weeks they will see a lot of activity. Comm. Chauvin had nothing to report. Comm. Higgins said next week is spring cleanup so put your garbage out on Sunday, they are only going around once. They are running a little late this year because they are doing Scotia. Said they wanted to cancel but he told them no because there is garbage out there already. Said he and John Holland met with the railroad Tuesday and they found out the right of way extends only 30 feet so 15 feet is in the center of the rail on South Main Street so they are able to clean it up. Comm. Hipwell said they had an issue in town so he wanted to congratulate Joe and his people for a job well done. Chief Waldron said there was a robbery at the Getty mart on the 12th, they are investigating it and have a lot of evidence that will help them in the long haul. Said the attendant was beaten with bat. Said his investigator is overwhelmed with the investigations going on. Said they are doing everything they can to solve that robbery and the one at the Liquor Store. Comm. Higgins asked if he thought it was the economy that is making people do this. Chief Waldron said he thinks it is because if you look at trends over the years when economies are bad, people don’t have jobs, they steal. Said there are a lot of car robberies when doors are left unlocked so lock your doors. Monday of next week starts seatbelt enforcement begins and they will have a checkpoint in the city which kicks off the wave. Said the state provided them with $2,000 to do this. Where seatbelts, they save lives. Said they have an additional $3,000 for aggressive driving which you will see more details of for speeding, not using your directionals, just basically what you do when you’re driving day to day. Mr. . Serbalik said the 2006 tax sale petitions have been ready. Said he will get that filed in court early next week. Believes there are about 12 parcels left on it. Deputy Chief Corrigan gave his report for April (see attached) Wanted to remind everyone that summer is here and that the city doesn’t allow open burning under certain conditions. Said they have t be 25 feet away from a structure, have to be in an approved manner, have to be supervised and it does say in the city code that the fire chief has the authorization to tell people to put them out if it’s a nuisance, neighbors complain. Comm. Seber said he’s been asked several times if you are sitting around summer nights with a fire, is that legal. Deputy Chief Corrigan said our city code allows it if you are 25 ft. away from a structure. Comm. Seber opened the meeting to public comment. No one had anything. Comm. Seber read
RES. NO. 51-10 CITY OF MECHANICVILLE AGREES TO PROVIDE THE Introduced by Comm. Seber, seconded by Comm. Higgins. Roll Call: Affirmative – all. Negative – none. Comm. Seber read
RES. NO. 52-10 AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO STIPULATIONS Introduced by Comm. Seber, seconded by Comm. Chauvin. Roll Call: Affirmative – all. Negative – none. Comm. Seber read
RES. NO. 53-10 THE CITY HEREBY ASSUMES LEAD AGENCY STATUS ON THE Introduced by Comm. Chauvin, seconded by Comm. Higgins. Roll Call: Affirmative – all. Negative – none. Comm. Chauvin read RES. NO. 54-10 PAYROLL AND VOUCHERS Introduced by Comm. Chauvin, seconded by Comm. Hipwell. Roll Call: Affirmative – all. Negative – none. Comm. Higgins, seconded by Comm. Chauvin, moved that the meeting be adjourned at 8:32 p.m. Roll Call: Affirmative – all. Negative – none. |