Members Present via Zoom:

Paul Slutzky, Chairman
Richard Volpi, Deputy Chairman
Gary Goodrich, Board Member
Harold Goldberg, Board Member
Carl Giangrande, Board Member
Gail Shegerian, Alternate Member

Public Present via Zoom: Kim McGalliard, Ewa Golaszewska

Public Hearing—Jagerberg Beer Hall, 7722 Main Street—Site Plan Revisions

P. Slutzky opened the Public Hearing at 7:00 PM. He advised that Notice of Hearing was posted at Village Hall, posted on Village website and placed in legal ads of Village’s paper of record, and he has received Certified Mail receipts of mailing dated April 5, 2021 to all the Board designated abutting neighbors.

P. Slutzky posted the proposed site plan to the Zoom screen and K. McGalliard briefly described the various proposed changes to the existing approved site plan.

P. Slutzky inquired if there was any member of the public present who wished to pose any questions, comments or concerns about the proposed project. There being none, he advised he would leave the public hearing open a little longer in case anyone had difficulty accessing the meeting.

Public Hearing—Hunter Vine, 7719 Main Street—Site Plan Review—New Construction of Commercial Building on Existing Foundation

P. Slutzky opened the Public Hearing at 7:06 PM and advised that Notice of Public Hearing was posted at the Village Hall, posted on the Village website, and placed in legal ads of the Village paper of record, and he has received Certified Mail receipts of mailing dated April 9, 2021to all the Board designated abutting neighbors.

P. Slutzky posted a rendering of the proposed new building to the Zoom screen, gave a brief description of the proposed project and then asked if anyone present had any comments, questions or concerns regarding the proposed project. Ewa Golaszewska said her house abuts the project site on the west side and advised she disagrees with the project as it is a commercial building and is too close to her property. She said it would block the view from her house and she doesn’t see any other commercial buildings so close to residences anywhere else in the Village.

There being no other public comments, P. Slutzky closed the Public Hearing for Hunter Vine at 7:13 PM.

There being no one from the public to offer comments for the Jagerberg Beer Hall project, P. Slutzky closed that Public Hearing at 7:14 PM.

Opening of Regular Meeting:

P. Slutzky opened the meeting at 7:14 PM via Zoom.

Review and Approval of Minutes of March 25, 2021:

After review, H. Goldberg made MOTION to approve the minutes. MOTION seconded by G. Goodrich and carried unanimously.

Privilege of the Floor: none

New Business: none

Old Business:

  • Jagerberg Beer Hall—Site Plan Revision—7722 Main Street—Kim McGalliard presenting

As there were no comments offered at the Public Hearing, P. Slutzky asked K. McGalliard to review the proposed changes on the full size site plan that was posted to the Zoom sharescreen. R. Volpi inquired if the fence on west side was going to be relocated to the property line. K. McGalliard advised not at this time, but she would like to have the relocation approved in the event it was necessary in the future. She described the new decks at grade, safety and visual railings, and access to and from the decks, as well as the new shed in rear.

The Board reviewed the Greene County Planning response to the 239 Referral. P. Slutzky reviewed corrections to the Short EAF that were made by applicant in response to County Planning recommendations. Board discussed the pictures of the existing parking lot condition that P. Slutzky had emailed to them including pictures of the presumed wetland area to the north of the small stream beyond the proposed parking lot expansion. Board agreed the proposed parking expansion amounted to no more than clean up of existing dirt berms on lot edges that had accumulated over the years from plowing of the gravel lot.

Board continued the SEQR review of the project, which it determined is an unlisted action in the Village Business District. Board reviewed the corrected Part 1–Project Information. Board then reviewed Part 2—Impact Assessment. After further review and discussion of the recommendations of Greene County Planning Board and as the Board agreed that no portion of the proposed site plan revisions impact any wetland areas or pose any significant new threat from potential flooding impacts, H.Goldberg made MOTION for Negative Declaration. C. Giangrande seconded the MOTION, which was carried by all.

After further discussion, R. Volpi made MOTION for site plan approval of the project.
C. Giangrande seconded the MOTION, which was carried by all.

  • Hunter Vine—7719 Main Street—Site Plan Review—New Construction of Commercial Building on Existing Foundation

Rendering of proposed new building was posted to Zoom sharescreen and Board discussed comments from Public Hearing made by neighbor Ewa Golaszewska.

P. Slutzky said project is in the Village Business District and the proposed use of the building as a retail wine shop on ground floor and studio above were permitted uses in this district. Board then discussed the side setback requirements in this district which are five feet on either side from property line. While it appeared the proposed twenty foot wide building would easily be able to maintain the required five foot side setback, Board withheld judgement until the full size site plan survey map is presented to the Board. Board discussed E. Golaszewska’s comments that the proposed building would block the view from her building and that she doesn’t see any other commercial buildings so close to residential buildings in the Village. Board agreed there is no language in Zoning Law that restricts proximity of commercial use to residential use in Business District other than the side setback requirement and no language that guarantees viewshed other than maximum height requirement, which the proposed building meets.

Board reviewed Greene County Planning response to 239 Referral form that advised referral was incomplete and a full size site plan survey map was necessary. P. Slutzky advised he had so informed applicant who responded that he has a surveyor in the process of producing the site plan for our review.

Board reviewed Part 1—Project Information of the Short EAF. P. Slutzky asked C. Giangrande to check if the project is in the 100 year flood plain as applicant has indicated on question 16 that it is not.

P. Slutzky granted E. Golaszewska privilege of the floor and she stated she objected to project as the view from her east side attic bedroom would be blocked. P. Slutzky reiterated that there is no inherent right to a viewshed. C. Giangrande advised that attic space would not meet building code for a bedroom. E. Golaszewska replied she would use it as her office and wanted a couch there to knap on. C. Giangrande invited her to visit him at Village Hall in his capacity as Building Inspector to discuss and review her intended use of attic space.

P. Slutzky said further review of this project would be suspended until applicant submits surveyed full size site plan for Board and County Board review.

  • Short Term Rental Committee Discussion

P. Slutzky reviewed the Zoom meeting he, R. Volpi and H. Goldberg attended with Samantha White of Granicus-Host Compliance on April 21. He advised they reviewed pricing of the desired services which total around $20,000 per year with payments made monthly or quarterly. A 3 to 6 month payment “holiday” is available at start when implementing and integrating the service with regular (most likely quarterly) payments commencing thereafter. Ranges of possible registration fees for STR applicants and the probable resulting yield for the Village were discussed as well as various possible components of a proposed STR ordinance. S. White will send us a model contract for 1 year with option to renew for 2 more years at fixed price. She will also send a comparison report between Host Compliance and Harmari attributes and a copy of customer satisfaction survey for both firms prepared by independent third party.

P. Slutzky reviewed the video conference meeting discussion he, R. Volpi, C. Giangrande and H. Goldberg attended with Paul Meikle of Harmari also on April 21. Some of the points that P. Meikle emphasized were:

STR owners can self register at Village Hall or online at Harmari site. They should be given 30 to 90 day grace period to become compliant with new Village STR ordinance via the registration process and by paying their applicable fee.

Live agents respond to all incoming and outgoing calls to their 24/7 hotline. Calls to STR owners are not robo-calls, which are difficult to document.

System will supply minimum of two pieces of supporting documentation for all identified STR non-compliance issues.

Occupancies, annual rental days, average per night room or house rates will be available at their portal and are included in their contract base price.

They include two mailings to non-compliant identified STRs to foster compliance. (Cost of initial mailings to generate registration of STRs and collect registration fees are not included in their base price) Additional mailings to secure compliance or warn of violation of ordinance or assess fines would be at Village cost.

Registration payments could be by check or credit card to Village Hall or by Paypal payments that would be routed to Village account. They would maintain logs of all payments at their portal.

Committee members made it clear that we wanted a system that would place minimal additional work on our undermanned Village Hall staff. In response to our numerous questions regarding payment and tracking of payments of fees and fines, P. Meikle said he would set up a video conference next week with Alan Atamer, the company founder, CEO and principal engineer, who would be able to answer all of our detailed questions on the mechanics of the payment process.

P. Slutzky discussed his conversation with Kevin Schwenzfier of Delaware Engineering and advised he had forwarded him the link to the Committee’s sharefile site containing the various municipal STR laws the Committee has been reviewing. He advised that K. Schwenzfier will furnish a signature ready contract agreement to the Village Board for Delaware’s proposal to assist the Committee in drafting an STR ordinance, in time for them to review and possibly approve at their May 10 regular Village Board meeting.

  • Hunter Peaks Project

P. Slutzky said he had received an email from Jesse Fraine of Delaware Engineering advising that he had reviewed the Water System design that Hunter Peaks has submitted to NYSDOH for approval and he will be assisting the Mayor Higgins in providing a “will-serve” letter to Hunter Peaks for submission to NYSDOH. P. Slutzky said that as this was the last significant hurdle facing Hunter Peaks, he expected the review of their siteplan and major subdivision to be back on our agenda within the next few months.

Adjournment:

H. Goldberg made MOTION to adjourn the meeting at 9:09 PM. C. Giangrande seconded the MOTION, which carried unanimously.

Transcribed by:
Paul Slutzky