Okay. Welcome everybody to the May 26 meeting of the Village of Croton and Hudson Planning Board. We have one item on the agenda. Before we do that, we'll just explain our lineup up here tonight. We're shorthand. Typically we have five people that represent the board. Our chair, Rob Luntz, is away, so I'm sitting in for him as acting chair. Syed Hussain, who is our new board member, is unable to attend as well. So, we've got three people here and any vote would require all a three would require an anonymous vote. We require three people to to approve it. Okay. So our first order of business then is a public hearing. It's for Christine and Vicente Fernandez for a wetlands activity permit building envelope modification permit, minor site plan extension, all related to an accessory apartment application. Would you like a motion? And this is located at 1129 Scenic Drive West. So, we'll have the applicant make a presentation.
• We'll have the applicant make a presentation and we'll open the poll after that. Okay. So we have from the applicant, I guess, the architect. Sir, come on forward. Tell us your name. Tell us about your project. Yes.
My name is Justin Caker. I'm the architect, Highlands Architecture. My clients are here, Christine Fernandez and Diane Cinnicrope. The project is 129 Scenic Drive West. It's a existing single family residence in an RA 25 district. And we are proposing a new accessory apartment in the existing walk out basement. The existing walk out basement is already finished and has a full bathroom in it. We're adding a kitchen, We're adding an an emergency escape and rescue opening in the new sleeping area. And we're creating its own entrance on the back that can't be seen from the street. It doesn't detract from the front elevation of the house. We're also proposing removing the existing deck and stair on the back, and replacing that because we're building an addition that you can see on the drawing there that's hatched in green. So the existing frame dwelling is in the tan hatch, and the addition is in green. That's about a 282 square foot addition, which will have a deck over top of that, and the deck will expand across the back of the house. The new accessory apartment will have its own entrance, a little office area, a sitting area, a living room, kitchen, sleeping area, and it's own little entry vestibule that can be locked and controlled, and gets you access into the garage and to the upstairs to the principal residence.
• If there's anything you if you'd like to join me for anything you'd like to say to Could could you go back to Yeah.
Yeah. The existing deck and stair that's there is going to be removed. Yeah. And a new deck that goes across the back of the house will be added.
It's the deck will follow the footprint of the new addition, and it'll extend in a rectangular fashion on the south side of the house.
I don't know if So you can see the current deck is that dotted line of stair there. Yeah. That's the existing deck right there. And so the majority of the addition will be underneath the existing deck, which we're just gonna replace with the impervious deck Yeah. Or drainage.
If you could go to the new plan, you can see the new it should be a one. There it is. Well, that's showing the new apartment floor plan, and what's in green is the new addition, and the deck will be over top of that. Okay. There there is another plan that would show the the deck as well. I think we have that plan in there as well. So, footprint of the deck though is,
as we're looking at it further north, or it's actually further west, I guess. Further west. Right.
So, I guess, to give a little context behind why we wanna do the project. So,
• my parents have been living in the downstairs apartment. It's kind of like a studio setup where they have kind of, you know, the essentials. They have bedroom, bathroom, sitting area. We share the main kitchen, and main laundry room and everything on the main floors of the house. And this has worked out relatively well, but it is kind of a lot of back and forth, since, you know, their parents, hence, clearly, like, on, you know, most nights of the week will eat in their space kind of they have a setup there, but then I will cook upstairs and bring everything downstairs for her and my dad to eat. We also share meals on the main floor. But just from, like, a longer term sustainability, like, we my mom has been helping with taking care of my two year old. I'm expecting another little one in a little under three months. So as the family grows, make make space for everyone and make sure we're kind of able to keep a a good sustainable balance here. And, you know, initially, the balance of kind of my parents being up here to help out with everything, we wanted to make sure that they were happy doing that before we committed to doing too many changes. But that was kind of always our plan with buying this current, home, which is that it already had the walkout basement. It had a good setup for balancing kind of both of our families living here and kind of growing together with the multigenerational balance both so they could be here with their grandchildren and we could have them, you know, in their grandchildren's lives. And so kind of having that additional space kind of helped make it a little more, like, long term sustainable. So there isn't all of the back and forth. Gives a little more space for just, like, comfort of living and not having to optimize every square inch of the current basement
• and just overall kind of flow of things, you know, that we were not competing for the washer and dryer on days when I forgot to wash the baby's clothes or they need to wash something too. So just kind of making, like, the balance of kind of our our kind of two generation living a little more smooth. And so kind of from the main change, really, when we were initially looking, we're just gonna look at building just to adding on and putting the kitchen at the end of the house as we thought through, okay. That's technically what we wanna do is add a kitchen, but what's actually the best flow of a comfortable, like, long term apartment if this is gonna be how we wanna build it? So we've worked with, Justin to see kind of what is an optimal layout and set up to make things flow nicely, be like a a nice usable space that they can enjoy, you know, now and kind of, you know, as they continue to age, what's, you know, accessible both for them. That was one of the main considerations when looking for a place that had space for my parents is that my dad has limited mobility. So something that was, like, ease of access from the garage straight into the house. That's a very smooth access. And also having kind of that main level additional exit that we'll be adding, I think, kind of increases the usability of him getting into and out of the space comfortably, and kind of for the long term. So more just kind of looking at making the change kind of for helping us to live long term in the home. You know, when we bought the house, we kind of figured it'd be a long term place, but to make it kind of most comfortable place we could all continue to live and grow, I think it'll be most comfortable if we're able to make some of these changes. Okay. Thank you. That context is helpful. Appreciate that. Mhmm.
It seems a couple of the items for us to to look at as a planning board that are part of the application are the extension of the building envelope, which is one area, and then the water runoff, the storm water runoff, the rain There are probably two things that we could focus on to start with, if you don't mind. Yeah. So, we just talked about the building envelope, how it, I understand the the history behind Baltic Estates, and you're supposed to build within that that limit. Yes. Just tell us a little bit about the area. It's, I think, 3.7 feet beyond
the building envelope. It is projecting 3.7 feet beyond that building limit line. Yep. We've also tried to rein in the overall square footage of the apartment. We're allowed 800 square feet or I think it's 40% of the habitable area of the house, which could be more. This total square footage for the accessory apartment is seven sixty three square feet. So, we've tried to really rein that in and use the existing 400, I think it's four eighty one square feet in the existing basement, and we're adding two eighty two, so we're really trying to keep the addition as small as possible. And and create some visual interest to it as well with the angles that you see in the window placement. It does then project out past the building limit lines. We don't think it's that much outside the building limit lines. And we also were made aware that there's wetlands, some form of wetlands on the site. The buffer used to be 100 feet, now it's 120. So, some of our project is in that wetlands buffer too. So, our client hired Ralph Mastromonaco's office to deal with the wetlands issues. He's designed a rain garden to capture the water on the decking, which is above the new addition, because the deck will go over the new addition. And capturing the water and bringing it to a rain garden that you see down there that is outside of that wetlands buffer line. And that apparently, according to the water council meeting that was held, it has to be done before the work on the house is done. Right.
Yeah. We're in receipt of a recommendation from the water control commission that had a had a meeting about this topic. Sure you guys are are well aware, where they recommended that it be approved and that is that the wetlands permit be approved, and that that rain garden be constructed, like you said, before the rest of the construction begins. So just a quick question on that. This is to handle say gutter runoff
the building that you got some additional impervious? Yes, have about 500 square feet, a little over 500 square feet of additional impervious, because the decking on top of the addition, that new roof over the addition is impervious. We're thinking about doing an impervious roof decking across the whole back of it. So, we're capturing all that water into gutters and and downspouts,
which will ultimately tie and go to the rain garden. Okay. And then it the object is for it to settle there. Yes. I'm guessing in what dispersed rate beneath the the rain the rain garden?
That's what it's been designed for. That's what the civil engineers have designed. Okay. Yeah. When I discussed it with the village engineers, the discussion was, you know, should it be a dry well? Should it be an infiltrator? Ultimately, Mastromonaco decided that this was the best solution. And I agree.
I have a question, and I'm happy to review the, as we are the entire proposal. But, from my own understanding, if we're over the building envelope, it's sort of directed at Vinny, why doesn't this need a zoning variance first?
It's because they for these subdivisions, they approve it as a building envelope modification. K. Because it's not the zone it's not like the arc 50 foot rear yard that they're getting relief from. It's it was approved by the planning board for the building envelope. So, historically, they always bring these to the planning board since
it's not I mean, it's I understand where your point is. But I'm just looking to understand why that's not happening in this case, but you're you've answered that. And is it it's it's a matter of historical precedent is what That as well. Yeah. In the hearing. Mhmm. Okay. And is that passed muster legally and all? I mean Yeah. No. I don't think you need an area variance for this. Okay. Because it's not encroaching
So it we're we're encroaching the subdivision's own zoning code as opposed to the village of Croton's zoning code. Exactly right. Gotcha. Okay. Mhmm. Good. Thank you. Yep.
• Yeah. Oh, I I have one other question, John. You said something before about the back can't be seen from the road or something like that. Yes. Didn't quite hear what you When
Let me finish. The reason I'm asking is more for your sake than for ours. Okay. If I understand the location within Baltic Estates or what I think is called Westwind actually, the
• back of your property pretty much, if there were no trees and road faces right to that design center that's nearby. I know that the lighting plan that they have right now, when you drive at night, it's pretty bright. I mean, it's not to code, I'm guessing. It certainly doesn't, is not consistent with any dark skies, code that we're gonna hopefully have in the future. So my concern is for you guys being down there in that back apartment with extremely bright lighting coming a short distance away. So my suggestion to you was or my question is, are you adding any landscaping in the back part of the property? Can you even legally do that in order to minimize the light bleed that must be coming from across the road? I guess I can answer that. Please. I'm the one with you. If you could just step up, just let me just make that one yourself. No problem. Yeah.
My husband and I have been living there for the last two almost a half years now. And we just have curtains, and we have vertical blinds and then curtains that we close on the window, the walkout window at nighttime. And that does the trick? And and what well, what happens is is, you know, we're low. And even though we're sort of looking over, we're not looking over it as much as you do when you're up on the upper level. Sure. So it's the light really hasn't it really hasn't been a big problem.
In the summertime, of course, it's no problem at all because all the trees It's definitely better this time of year. Yeah. The greenery and that back forest area fills in, and then it becomes a little more completely visible as winter. We will have more we will have more windows with the new addition,
but we'll definitely have, you know, window coverings on them. So I don't really see that as a problem, but thank you for that consideration. We'll have to make sure that they're light fill they're blackout.
Well, you might want to consider, and we can't compel you to do this, but you might want to consider adding some type of, you know, landscape barrier or treescape to the back portion of your property because, know, someday that house gets sold and somebody else moves in and they're not gonna maybe want blackout curtains and shades and putting on sunglasses when you're, you know, in that new ADU. I'm just concerned about that long term because until we address their situation as a village, it's gonna be kind of bright as day
from across the street. So that's a concern of mine. They actually did put up new lights, like, in the past month or so that, like, have, like, cute little cursive writings of the boutique or whatever, and they no longer have on their regular lights that would like flash and kinda drive me crazy. So I think it's slightly improved. But they still have that giant overhead light that's shining Yeah. In. Yeah. That's really the issue. Yeah. Yeah. It scatters light tremendously. And we have thought about adding like some evergreen like trees like kind of to help build kind of, like, a little bit of an evergreen wall there.
I would seriously counsel you to do that. It's not a big extra expense given Yeah. The expense you're gonna be incurring, and it would help you and and future people that might be in that house. So Okay. That's a good idea. That's all. Okay.
on your driveway, you have two car garage. Yes. And you say inside interior of that, one of your doors going into the apartment?
Yeah. Currently, the the main, fire rated door is in one of the bays, and it leads into the the finished basement area.
Alright. And I noticed there's a cut right at the at the, the west side of the house. I guess you're gonna come up the stairs and you'll walk into your your your driveway. It looks like the sidewalk was cut at one time, a long time ago.
But I'm not sure. That that's if it is, there isn't. There's a little retaining wall Yeah. On as you're going down the driveway on the right hand side, there's a stone retaining wall Right. That curves into the first garage bay
there. I I I was on the sidewalk outside. I didn't go on your property. Okay. So I I what I saw, I I saw from the sidewalk. Yes. But my question was and it's more for my own interest. Mhmm. For the for the driveway, where does the water go
when it rains? We have a drain in the back corner of the driveway. I understand. Okay. Yeah. So there's a pipe along the right by that retaining wall, there's a downspout that goes into the ground, and there's piping underneath the driveway. And then we also have a main big, like, two foot by two foot Catch basin. Yeah. Drain that then goes down into the bottom of the yeah. That was there from before we moved in. That that and you're not taking any trees down. And I noticed you have one or two trees in the front, but they're far away from the house. Yes. Right. Mhmm. And we have one big tree in the backyard, but it's, like, midway in the backyard. So far from construction. We love that tree. And it's so beautiful that tree would never go anywhere. Yeah.
If we could go back to the building envelope just real quick. Yes. I think one of the issues that was pointed out was an egress on the side of the house that would be necessary from the basement to get out in case of emergency, I think it was. And Yes. And to accommodate that, I guess, a retaining wall is being built. Yes. So I from the drawings, I couldn't tell if somebody actually really need to get out. Mhmm. Would they open the window? Would they be at ground level at that point? And how would they scamper out from there? Because the the chimney is also right there. Yeah. Have, yeah. The chimney has has an angle on it. So it we have don't have the head clearance issue there. But, basically, the window sill would be set. We'd have to cut a hole in the foundation wall, obviously.
And then the sill can only be a certain height. It can't it can't go over, I believe, 42 inches, maybe 44. Might be 44 now. Think it's 44. So it'd be lower than that. So that window is obviously, you can open it very easily. You get out onto a level surface, and then you're able to run out into the backyard with the current design that we have. We're showing like an L shaped retaining wall. The other option would be an area well that we've done before, which is like a horseshoe shape with a lid on it. That provides that emergency escape and rescue opening.
But that requires somebody to climb it, and this would be able to just walk out. Yeah. Those area wells, they're kinda like climbing walls,
and we really don't wanna do that. We'd rather just be able to get out and be in that area that's enclosed by the retaining wall and be able to walk out to the backyard. Okay. Got you. And so that that window itself would be, let's say, inside the building
would be waist height or something? Yes. Do you need to somehow get up? Let's say about three feet. Okay.
Yeah, it can't be over 44 inches for an emergency escape and rescue opening. It has to be at least 5.7 square feet of open area when you open the window. So it it will definitely be larger than that.
And and a sill height, that's reasonable. You might be able to get the five foot exception since it's grade level. The window might be able to be a little bit smaller. So Okay. We can discuss that during the Yeah.
We've done a few of them and the windows that we put in are larger than that usually.
So, I think we've covered the building envelope, the storm water runoff. If we could pivot to the sewage treatment and how that's gonna happen. So we know that there's a private entity that handles sewage up in Baltic States. There will be a condition in our resolution that you'll need to get permission from that entity. That they have the capacity to handle Yes. You know, additional sewage.
So that We would like Can we address that? Yeah. We would like to ask the board. We spent the entire day today trying to track down who operates that facility, and we're not successful. So we're trying. But does anyone have a recommendation or
who to call them? I think I got the name at the least. We have the name. Yeah.
Have we have the name Jonas Batzis. And then that's run run by Richard Bartzik.
And we tried calling numbers. Those numbers are disconnected. I spoke with Jonas Bastas'
son who lives in California, and I spoke with his brother who lives here. And they both said, we don't have anything to do with that anymore, and we don't know who you should talk to.
And So I I would just put one, like, side note of from the additional kind of demand from a sewage or water perspective. Though we're adding the kitchen to the apartment, and we'd be adding a washer and dryer from the usage that we would have from our home. I wouldn't expect it to change at all because my parents currently use our primary kitchen for cooking day to day, and they use our primary washer dryer on a regular, like, twice weekly or twice a week basis. Mhmm. So it'll be new appliances in their space, but from kind of the the demand on the sewage system, it would be equivalent to what we've had for them living with us since April 2023.
Yeah. I'm not sure we have leeway there. It's certainly up to us. Certainly for you guys, maybe the water usage might not change in the future. A future homeowner, who knows. Vincent, our engineer, did a lot of research today to find out if the county needed, county health department needed to weigh in on this as well because
it's a change in, you know, sewage volume. They actually said that they don't do Oh. It's this private wastewater treatment operator that we need to find out, and I'll help you guys. We'll work together. Yeah. So I'll tell you whoever might own this now. Mhmm. Because I was under the I talked to people in the town of Portland, and they also mentioned the name that you did. Mhmm. It's in their jurisdiction. Yeah. So I think that all parties are gonna be, you know, interested in getting to the bottom of who owns this and who's gonna be signing off on it. Yeah.
been any other applicants with similar projects that have provided these letters? When the design center across the street got built Uh-huh. They originally thought they could tie into the that the sewer district for Westwind and ultimately were turned down and therefore had to do septic on their site, to accommodate their sewage needs. So maybe the paperwork would show that? Pardon me? Maybe the paperwork from them app Well, they it was the same it's the same entity that you all are right there right now. So they never They were they were very difficult with the applicant back. This must have been almost ten years ago, maybe seven, eight, nine years ago. It's been sold.
I I guess maybe it's changed hands. Maybe they sold it to somebody to Yeah. Think in recent years. Know that. But Yeah. I I mean, I think we all would wanna figure this out. Wouldn't they have to register with the county in some way if it got sold? Yeah. I mean, I'm sure that they, like, took it over from the county or something and sort of got approval from the county, and then they get the responsibility to maintain it and,
you know, take care of it. But it seems like something weird is going on with that. Well, and they, like, they moved their operating center from, like, on, like, Baltic Place to, like, North Carolina PO Box now. So, yeah, they've become, like, increasingly distant from the local
users. I'll I'll try to help out as much as I can to get to figure out who's owning this and who's responsible for it. And at the end of the day, whoever is would need to give my office a letter saying that it's okay, really.
So the design center that you mentioned, they were never able to procure this will serve letter. Correct? Correct.
They had to do septic. They could not tie into the sewer system, and that was bad for everybody concerned because it just dragged the process out longer and the Yeah. Applicant wasn't happy, and it was a perfect solution, but it wasn't to be. So you may have a challenge there, but I know Vinny is good for his word and is gonna work with you. Somebody owns that sewer district. Yeah. Or the sewer. So, yeah, they they They think they think Somebody's getting somebody's getting the quarterly checks. Right? Yeah. Definitely. I mean, maybe your neighbors might know something as well. We've talked about it there. We've talked for them. Yeah. So, like, h I don't if there's an HOA or anything or, like, community
you can send out or something, a news blast. Like, anyone know who owns No one. No one. I mean, I talked Is there a homeowners association? Have an HOA. Yes. And Is that I've fees go to the same entity? No. The fees go to our HOA. It's separate. So the sewer is its own. You have a separate management company for your HOA.
I mean, that's I would think the HOA has to know something about this. Okay. Maybe try with them. I've talked to the HOA. What'd they say? Anything?
So, I mean, there's, like, 15 homes in our development. They're not very formal. Like, it's Yeah. Very very minimal management in terms of, like, oversight and responsibility. It's like a very small HOA, like, annual expense. They're not very involved. But from I've talked to many neighbors as well about the sewage company as well because they've sent many letters appealing to us as homeowners to help them get their rates increased because their demands were not being listened to by the town of Groton. So they've sent us, like, packets of information along with our bill of, like, this is the emails back and forth we've been saying. We need more money to deal with our systems. And they just seem, like, very disorganized. But, you know, we don't really have a choice. It's our sewer. So You're describing the HOA or the sewer kitchen? Sewer management company, mister Basties Inc. Okay. Yeah. I have, like, a full file of the things. I'm sure you do.
I mean, you can put your HOA president in contact with me. I'll try to talk to her and try to figure something out, and I'm gonna talk to Cortlandt again
Okay. When I'm in the office tomorrow. Brian? Yeah. I called Cortlandt today, and I called the office in Portland today, and they had no clue who Jonas Bastas Incorporated was. Who do talk to? Did you talk to the engineer? No. That's that's right. No. Yeah. I should have probably asked for the engineer. And they put me in charge with in touch with someone at the water treatment facility, and they said, no. You needed to go back and talk to the Cortlandt and told me someone to speak with. And she said, I don't know what you're talking about. I'll ask around, and I'll call you back if I find anything. If it means going to the treatment facility and, like, talking to a body there, someone's gotta be working there. Well, the treatment facility is right next to Food Town.
They just aren't based there anymore. Someone's gotta be working there. Imagine, at least a temporary basis. So I'll try to Yeah. Help you guys out and get to the bottom of this because it seems kinda weird to me. Somebody Nobody anything. Like, no one wants responsibility. It's kinda Yeah. Yeah. Mean, you're right, Vinny. Somebody's servicing it, and that person's getting a paycheck from somebody. All the time. Every every month. So Right. Someone's gotta know something. Right. For what it's worth,
either the state or the county has a monitoring system on the outflow of that
• system, that SPEDS
system. SPEDS in? Yeah, I called Albany today. I had the SPEDS application, which is good until next year. And I I left a message for an engineer there in Albany. He didn't call me back. Give me updated on that. Yep. You can.
that was approved in 2020. Speedy's permit. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So that's And the name the name on that permit was Richard Bartzik.
That was a state you contacted? I have a copy of that here. That's the current owner of Jonas Baptist Inc.
• It was effective, the permit was effective on 05/18/2022, and the permit expiration date is 04/30/2027.
But, yeah, he's whoever's under whoever, like, got that permit is responsible for, you know
Yeah. I tried I tried calling this guy Richard Bartzik, and I there was no it said the number was disconnected.
Yeah. We will get to the bottom of it. I Okay. Confident someone's gotta Thank you.
Responsive. Well It sounds to me like you have an ally up here who's gonna help you solve for this. But as Jeff said, the only way we could pass this is in the one of the conditions being that you'd have to have, you know, improved hookup even though I realize you're not going to use that much more water, it's still incumbent on us to require you to do that.
Okay. Let's see. We've covered most of the high points. Parking, how are you gonna handle that? You've got four
parking spots? Maybe you can address that. There's two cars currently parked in the garage. I don't know if you have any more vehicles.
No. We currently have one family car for me, my husband, and our son. And my parents have their own separate vehicle, and if we need two vehicles, we share them. We also have the garage the driveway has a lot of additional space, so there's room to park two cars behind each other on that far end of the driveway. Though we don't have plans to add another vehicle. Okay. So
like, in terms of still accessing. Yeah. There's two in the garage, and there could be two very easily in the driveway. Okay. Then Yeah. Jeff, we don't have a parking issue. Correct? Not at all. Good. Let me ask you a question. On the street
There's no restricted parking. People don't typically park on the street in our area, like, unless it's, like, if somebody's visiting for some time. Right. But, yeah, there aren't any restricted, like, no parking zone signs or anything. I guess, the only sign we have at the corner by the stop sign, by the Amberland Condos. Apartments is it says that if you're no parking when there's the snowfall coming. Yeah. For plowing.
One of the things we look out for is our emergency services and their ability to find this location. I don't know if you have on mailbox that there's another residence there or if a 911 call were to come from from there, or that address is referenced, how would the EMS, fire department, etcetera find it? What
Yeah. Our mailbox is currently just a 129, but we could always do like a 129129 and a half, or something like that if that's desirable.
I think we have to. Yeah. I don't know if we can say legislate a a post office address, but, John, for for protections purposes, how would how would you find something a place like that?
I drove up your street. I looked to the left, and I looked at the address, and there was the address. It's clear and big. Yeah. Mhmm. It just make sure the address is always visible, the mailbox on the house. Yeah. Right. It is. An ambulance fire truck coming up, he looks for the address. Yes. They they have a a little book that they can look through. Yeah. Mhmm. That's 128 over here. Our numbers are on the left. Mhmm. Mhmm. They'll figure it out pretty quick, but Yeah. You don't wanna waste any time. So make make sure the address is clear, especially at night if you have light on it or something. Yeah. Yeah. We have a light on the main house right by the numbers, and we also have a light that shines on the mailbox number as well.
We unfortunately have had an EMS call with my son and a choking incident, and they were able to find us. They were, like, there within five minutes. It was incredible. There's there's an inspector for Groton that probably comes up there,
and if he does, he'll he'll leave you a letter or a note or they'll mail you something. What you have to do, you haven't gotten it, you're probably doing everything right. Okay.
Well, what have we done in the past on agents for this issue? Was a little easier because we could put a or ask that somebody put some sort of mailbox sign out front. This is it's kinda tucked around the back. You'd almost need a second mailbox with a number on it to signify that there's, say, two residences here.
I'm not sure. It's within the house. So thank you for answering that. That's what we've done in the past when it's a detached ADU. But when it's been
in the primary, what have we done in the past? I haven't experienced it, but I did see something in the code that says it needs to be like, basically, it needs to have a new address. Well, that's why I'm suggesting that John's solution
isn't a 100%. It seems to me we have to establish a separate address. I think that it needs to it'll probably be 129
A. Yeah. And then you have to, you know, put that outside the door leading to it and maybe in the front where you have the 129 as well. It's, like, 129 A Rear or something like that. Mhmm. But that is a good point. And it is something that the code does say needs to be done. I don't know exactly what the section was in the accessory apartment code, but it says, like, it needs to have its own address, basically. Okay. So I don't think that that'll be too big of an issue anyway. It's not a big ask for them. Mhmm. And it keeps everybody safe and future residents safe and gives response time for you guys even makes it even faster. Yeah. So we'll we could just work that out, like, you know, in the field if anything, and I'll work on my end on, like, making it a legal address and whatnot. Mhmm. Okay. That's just Great. On my end, basically, Sounds good. Thank you.
condition in here. It's it's in there on item two. If you wanna change the language, it just says a distinguishable address. This shall be clearly visible. Perfect. It's in there. Mhmm. If you wanna be more specific, you The distinguishable address
I believe it does. Yeah. I the thing is I'm gonna talk to the town of Portland assessor about this because I don't really know how they treat accessory apartments or accessory cottages just to make sure that we're on the same page and things are getting done properly. Right. Like, consistently also. We'll just add that it meets it has distinguishable address and meets zoning code
Okay. Jeff, in that would that be different or in addition to what's written in number two?
No. We'll just add to that number two, and also meets, appropriate zoning code regulation.
Code. Build building code, probably. Building code? Or is I wouldn't be in that zone. Code.
Is it I guess building code, probably. Mhmm. Okay. Property maintenance or maybe something like that. In compliance with applicable codes. What's the codes to be safe? Mhmm. Applicable.
• Okay. What else, guys, you wanna bring up?
No. I don't have nothing else. I would just say, I think in four or now therefore it'd be resolved. You go one two, 3, four. Right. It says to be determined by planning board. I guess that's where the condition for the rain garden would probably No. It's already in your actually event.
It's in the five j now. Yeah. It was added. Disregard that. Yeah. Yeah. Five j was added. Yeah. Couple of That was one of the edits that was made, the recent version. That's good. Yeah. The the two things that were asked for by the the
water commission were added in that spot. I see that. So just right here. Thank you. The way you the way it's written, Jeanette, for five j, does that assume that it has to pass muster with the engineer? Yes. Is that implied? That's
stated It will be. Throughout, but you know, it doesn't hurt to add it, you know, to the satisfaction of And I'm only saying that because,
it sounds like even from what Ralph did that there's a multiple of choices on how to handle a a rainwater a rain garden. It was pretty explicitly outlined in the No. No. No. I know. But I'm just saying that if there's a choice of three or four different methods, hypothetically, I don't know.
Whichever one has chosen has to pass muster with him. Yeah. No. The the rain garden the rain garden is the way to go when it's near the wetlands and whatnot. Is there only one kind of rain garden? I mean, there's, I'm sure, different types, but generally, it's, you know, in the depression where they could store some water that have, you know, native plants in there as well, and then they have outlet structures to kinda control the flow. So We can add to the satisfaction
Okay. So that's it for questions. We do have a public hearing that's part of this, and it's up to the public to weigh in this application.
• Perfect. Okay. So we Motion to open a public hearing. To open
a public hearing for the application for wetlands activity permit building envelope modification permit minor site plan extension related to the ADU accessory apartment application at 129 Scenic Drive West.
Because you have a quorum of three members, there's a five member board, but you only have three members present. There needs to be a unanimous vote on this. We're opening the public hearing, so just a second. Alright,
Did we receive any communication from the public? Okay. We have nobody present to speak.
So, I think with that we're gonna close the public. So, motion to close said public hearing that we just opened?
We can I interrupted our attorney, but just can't do that business? I'm sorry. I'll repeat it. It's because there's a a five member board and only three members are present, you need a unanimous vote to pass this.
• with some recent amendments today. I'm not going to highlight just some of the the more salient points in this, a lot of whereas clauses, but just to highlight a few of them. Well, first of all, this is this is a draft resolution to approve a minor site plan, accessory apartment, and wetland activity permit application for a minor site plan in associated with the construction of an accessory apartment for 129 Scenic Ave West. Some of the whereas clauses, a public hearing was conducted on May 26, duly noticed to the public. The going down a little bit further whereas clause, the water control commission met on May 18 and weighed this weighed the wetlands activity permit application, and they recommended approval to the planning board. Going further down, another whereas clause, planning board is approving is the approving authority for accessory apartment and hereby approves the accessory apartment with of 763 square feet. And that's just important because the law requires that they be between three hundred and eight hundred. So we're good there. Let's see, moving further down, we're gonna start to get into some of the conditions on page two. We talked about the address number two. That it be visible from this clearly visible from the street, and we're gonna add that it meets applicable village code. So add that to that number two. Just number three b, just be aware that this is for the this permit this approval is being granted for current owners of this unit and that it expires with a transfer of of the property. The new owners have ninety days to apply to keep it in place. That's kind of an FYI. Okay. Jumping to page three, another let's see, important piece, the rain garden. That was part of the
• recommendation from the WCC, the rain garden be built prior to the
• construction of the main project and that we're adding to it, that it'd be designed to the satisfaction of the engineer.
• Let's see. Moving on. Yeah. Seven c is the big one. The applicant shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the village engineer that the private wastewater treatment plant that serves the property has sufficient capacity to accommodate the additional accessory apartment. And these are conditions to the wetland activity permit. I'm sorry. These are this is a condition that particular one is a condition to the building permit. No work may commence on any portion of site without first contacting the building to inspect and ensure that all permits and approvals have been obtained and that the following conditions have been met before the issuance of building permit. So I have to get that sorted before we can say break ground.
• And I think that's it. Was there anything else to add to the resolution?
No. We've had to change some of the signatures on the back. Jeff Haynes acting chairman. Yeah. Robert Luntz absent.
So with that, as our attorney mentioned, because we have just three people here, an approval would require unanimous three three zero decision.
• So are we ready to entertain a motion for this? Question for you. Go ahead.
You have a hookup to the sewer system now. Would it be possible to kinda figure out how much more capacity you're going to need? So if you do get to talk to somebody and they ask you questions, you'll have an idea of how much more. And you just say, well, we're gonna have more. Mhmm. Can you figure something out ahead of time?
So I think, like, hypothetically, yes, for an additional, like, resident. But I would say what we would actually practically expect is that it would be the same because we're having the same number of residents using the new appliances as they were using the previous appliances. So everything they're using currently in the kitchen is just upstairs kitchen, it'll have you downstairs, water, dryer downstairs, kind of from like the actual demand. Oh, could. We could try to figure out.
• for the application for an accessory apartment at, excuse me, been on the address here. 129 Scenic Drive. That's exactly what I was gonna say. 1129 Scenic Drive West for an ADU. Like I said, I'd like to make a motion that we we approve that with conditions written in the the draft resolution.
In addition to needing the, the change of the writing of the we need the engineer approval for the rain garden, that we also want to establish a separate address for the ADU, and the suggestion, not requirement of additional landscaping in the back, those three additional Okay. Items. Excellent. And I with those, I would second the motion to approve the application.
Okay. Excellent. All in favor? Aye. Okay. K. You guys are good. Great. Good luck with the the vendor. Thank you. Sweet vendor.
Vinny Vinny's gonna help us. No problem. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. You. Thank guys. Good luck with the baby. Thank you. It's good luck. Congratulations
Question for you. Do you know offhand roughly how many ADUs this would make for us? 36 in county? Okay.
Yeah. I mean, this is perfect use of an ADU. This is way we originally envisioned it, actually. A mother-in-law apartment. Yeah.
Except I'm the mother. Yeah. Yeah. First time we're here. Sweet. We say the same He's on fourth duty. He just put in the first one to bed.
It's a balance. It's a balance. We have we have some some some Grammy day care and yeah. The little one the oldest starts school at Honeo of Mary Montessori in September, and then, yeah, we're gonna have some some nanny help as well. I'm full time nanny grammy nanny right now,
but when we get the second one, we'll have a little extra help. We're gonna bring in some additional. True true daddy help. Yeah. Well, good luck. Best two years of my life so far, though. No
doubt. Well deserved. Thank you so much. Thank you. Alright. Good luck, guys. Thank you.
can I under the engineer report portion of our meeting just to ask a question of our engineer? You had answered me, Denny, about some of the aspects of the sign and historic Hudson, and there was a second subject I I brought up that you addressed. But the one thing that I still have a question on, are you in a position to, briefly tell us what's getting done down at that Cortlandt Manor and all the machines moving? I know they're rebuilt redoing the entrance area, But is there a design page that on the website that the village website that people can look at? There's some plans.
This plan's been in the works for, like, a few years as I understand it. Yes. I think seven or eight, maybe even longer than that. We're doing, like, the parking area as well, cleaning that up. They're gonna bring a water line there. Are they paving that parking area? Yeah. I believe that that paving will be a part of the of the project.
And do they have do they present plans to the village? So I I'm not sure where the how the process went with that. Who has oversight then for that?
This stuff as I understand, this stuff was approved years before I got here. Not by Croton?
Yeah. I'm not sure. Okay. If there are plans, it would be useful for the village residents for there to be a project page on the website if that's possible. No. Particularly with the entryway because that presumably is gonna be nice and attractive and it would be it'd be wonderful if we if people could see what's going on and then whatever plans are available to show in terms of the parking. Because part of my concern is that if they're gonna put McCann down impervious surfaces or impervious surfaces, where's the water going? You got the Croton Bay right there. You have, you know, ecological issues that I hope were addressed. But I gotta imagine. By whom and when, it's a mystery for us. Agreed.
Yeah. It would help to get that information as well. I look into getting it. Okay. I'm also curious as to knowing the answers to your questions. Thank you for that. Yeah. Appreciate that.
And any no update from the DOT about or, the state about the design center? No. Nothing. So we're just waiting in the meantime, and they still have their TCO, I guess.
Just on our way in down down the down the south side, as you get to the gate Mhmm. Past the gate, they put a little island. So traffic's gonna be on the left and right
going in before he just drove in and Oh, for the back. For the manor? For the vanquel. Yeah. They got they got two gates. Gonna clean up the entrance and exit there. Yeah. I'm not really sure how it looked before either. And it's a pretty big project that I haven't put tremendous amount of time into.
So I don't You have lot on your you a lot on your plate. No question. I was just curious if The Village could, even through Brian Healy, just get more more information. I think it's a reasonable request to ask. But I think a lot of people are also wondering the same. So I mean, we we get asked. So, you know, that's partly why then you get asked. Yeah. I'll get you as much info as I can on that. Thank you. Really appreciate that. Okay.
• The minutes from the May 12 meeting.
A couple of things. Yep. The first is and I can pass this down to Karen. In the, just following the call to order in the first paragraph I wrote,
• the planning board also acknowledged the award by the Westchester Planning Federation of its citizen planner award to our chairperson, Rob Lunce. I think that's a nice thing to at the end, Bob. Oh, did we?
I just don't doubt me if you wanna be accurate for the Oh, put it where you like. That's fine. We can put it under
Okay. And just say prior to adjournment, blah blah blah, about Robert. That's fine. Thank you for that.
And the other small request I would make, is the second to last paragraph on page one. Second line of the word many. Steve Christie asked recommendations from Milton Pope for his suggestions as to how to clean up the many signs. Instead of many, Karen, can we put a random configuration? Because that's really what I was conveying by bringing up that issue.
And, Steve, you were specifically talking about that, I don't know, group of of signs that the village maintains, manages at the entrance of the village.
Right. That's the one you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. May I just add? So just just changing I'm sorry. Just changing the word many to random configuration is
This place, I mean No problem reading those as you go past 45 miles an hour. And I couldn't have read them all. I was driving by the day, and I was like, yeah. I didn't read anything. So I saw the Roto Robe sign. I was like, I saw I could read it. Right.
Okay. Yeah. Couple of things. Okay. Under old business, let's see. It'd be the second graph where we mentioned Bill Brady went through a memo prepared by Nelson Pope. We could combine that with the paragraph above Okay. So that it reads, the planning board, along with attorney Jeanette Coster, who participated via Zoom, Bill Brady, principal planner for Nelson, Pope, and Voorhees, continued their discussion of local law introductory number seven of 2026 and went through the memo prepared by Nelson, Pope, Voorhees dated April 1126, which is attached to these minutes. Just add that four or five words, and then we can scratch the second paragraph. Okay.
• Then on page two, one two three four, fifth paragraph down, sentence beginning. Language should be included that any signage required by law be excluded from permit regulations. For example, New York State signs on gas stations. I would just add between New York State and signs, I would add inspection. That's really the type of signs we're talking about.
• Go ahead.
I mean, there are other types of signs that are required by state law and gas stations, you know, such as climbables and
not smoking. So why not put required state signs or something like that? Yeah.
So then it would say That that would convey what you're trying to do. New York say required New York state signs on gas stations. Yeah. That's a We'll change it to say that. Better change. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks.
page one, bottom paragraph, one, two, third, sentence down, all the way to the right. Area that needs to be clarified, like signs and window decals, has directional signs.
• My English isn't that great, but maybe we should say as directional signs of commercial buildings. Yes, no. It it doesn't matter. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah.
exactly what I'm gonna say. Take out like and put it such as. Okay. Thank you, John.
Seconded. Second from John. All in favor? Aye. Aye. I believe that's it. We got everything business? All good?