Town Planning Board Meeting
Town Planning Board Meeting
Utility-scale solar and Tiny Home Village projects aired by Town Planning Board
The Ellicottville Town Planning Board, in a Monday night session in the Town Center, set a public hearing for a multi-unit rental enclave, approved a minor subdivision, and held pre-application talks with developers of a 5 MW solar energy project.
Two of the proposals could be the first of their kind here if they gain approval in the coming weeks/months.
One of those is Tiny Home Village, proposed at a 1.4 acre site at 6881 State Route 242 (Fish Hill Road). Plans call for 11 independent tiny house-style structures clustered along Plum Creek and ranging in size from 280 square feet to 800 square feet.
The Board will hear public input on the project at 6:00pm on June 28th. A special use permit is required because it is located in the HD zone for high density residential development and is being reviewed under standards set for motels.
The project is designed to accommodate families on a short-term rental basis, with reservations made on the internet. Each building will feature single bedrooms, with all but two of the units equipped with small lofts. Twenty parking spaces are proposed in front of the cluster and the rental units will be accessed by a walkway.
Planner Gary Palumbo said most of the site plan issues identified in April have been addressed, but parking remains the biggest issue and two more spaces should be provided, along with space for a dumpster. The town requires one space for each room and one space for up to three employees.
Mark Dean of Dean Architects said there are no employees, but staff will arrive to clean after guests depart and parking will be adequate until the next group arrives.
Vice-Chair Cheryl Barrera warned internet reservations can't limit the numbers and types of guests who show up, noting the town experience has shown younger groups will rent one unit and invite all their friends unless there is some control. Board members pointed out short-term rental rules require a local manager-contact to reside within 25 miles of to answer any complaints. Palumbo recommended the local contact be made a condition of the special use permit.
He said some engineering details remain but the Board agreed Tiny Home Village is a complete concept. The project will be reviewed by the Cattaraugus County Planning Board following the public hearing.
The Board then discussed the Borrego Solar project sketch plan for a 5 megawatt energy facility on 28 leased acres of a 92-acre parcel of agricultural and forested lands at 6902 Simmons Rd. The Board has entertained three prior solar proposals under the 2020 Solar Amendment to the Zoning Law, but none have completed a full review and some of the amendment's details haven't been fully tested.
Adam Fishel of Marathon Engineering and Terrence Nolan, Borrego's senior project developer, asked for guidance in interpreting slope and open space provisions of the local law.
Preliminary measurements for placement of the two solar arrays, based on an aerial survey technology, indicate most of the area can be averaged to meet the town's slope criteria of less than 15 percent slope requirement. Fishel explained that some small portions of the footprint are between 15 and 17 percent and isolated pockets range from 17 to 20 percent. He added that this approach meets the general intent of the law.
Palumbo pointed out that these results differ from the 26-40 percent slope shown on Cattaraugus County's GIS results. Fishel replied that a topographic survey will be completed on the ground to verify the slope.
Palumbo told the Board that solar projects follow the natural contours of the land and the intent of the law can be met if averaging the slope will incorporate the steepest grades. Board members agreed the method is acceptable so further site studies can continue.
The developer asked how to move forward because the site doesn't meet the town's "usable open space" requirement. Palumbo suggested finding more property, but he noted now is the time to "fine tune" the Solar Amendment's requirement which allows agricultural, forestry or similar activities as acceptable "usable open space."
But the Borrego project instead removes only about 10 acres of the 30-acre leased area for solar panels, gravel and equipment pads, thereby meeting 67 percent of the 80 percent open space requirement with the remaining 20.3 acres. The remaining 13 percent could be filled by purchasing open space easements from the property owner or neighboring landowners. Fishel explained the current municipal open space regulatory standard is to count the vegetated areas between rows of solar panels - about 15 feet in the Simmons Rd. project - and inside the perimeter of the project fencing enclosure. "Usable" open space is not part of other local laws and he offered to provide information from Borrego's Newstead, Pembroke and Batavia projects where this standard was applied.
The Board authorized Palumbo to investigate how open space considerations are treated in other communities and informally report back with his findings before the June 28th meeting, when updated site plan information may be on the agenda. Brief discussion followed regarding a preliminary visual impact analysis.
In another matter, the Board authorized a minor subdivision to allow separating a 20-acre lot at 6890 Horn Hill Rd., with several conditions. The move authorized creation of a six-acre panhandle-shaped lot, which Board members said are to be avoided. A 1200-foot shared driveway will provide each parcel with road frontage, on condition that a front setback is established where the lot width is more than 150 feet, that a cross-easement deed restriction for for the driveway be attached to both parcels, that tree clearing be limited to 25 feet wide for the driveway and perpendicular to the ridge line for the home site, and the Town Board review a driveway permit.
The next meeting of the Ellicottville Town Planning Board will be take place June 28th at 6:00pm at the Town Center.