Town Planning Board Notes
Town Planning Board Notes
Tiny Home Village Project Approved with Conditions on Fish Hill Road
The Ellicottville Planning Board in a 5-1 vote Monday approved a revised site plan, with conditions, for the Tiny Home Village at 6881 Rt. 243 West (Fish Hill Rd.) The move followed a public hearing in which two residents sought a delay, claiming they just learned about the project and needed to find out how to protect an adjacent resident of a farmhouse.
The single-owner 11-unit development on 1.55 acres was proposed in March and considered for a special use permit as a “cottage-style motel” for nightly rentals under the high-density residential development district provisions in the town’s zoning. Plans call for internet reservations and the units, ranging from 280-800 square feet, will be cleaned by an off-site employee between guests, making it the first of its kind in the community.
Vice-chair Cheryl Berrera, who voted against approving the site plan, continued to raise issues regarding the nature of the project to attract high turnover of transient tenants without on-site supervision, the high profitability of short-term rentals, and the possibility that lighting and activities will interfere with neighbors.
Clayton Williams and Bonnie Meacham spoke out on behalf of an elderly adjacent resident Geraldine Meacham during the hearing, complaining of a lack of advance information about the development. They expressed fears of snowmelt runoff very close to the Meacham farmhouse, possible erosion due to a former creek diversion, disruptions due to the nearby parking, and density, along with light and sound pollution.
“We need to know what’s happening so we know how to protect ourselves and our investment,” said Bonnie Meacham. Clayton Williams requested 48 hours to obtain a consultant’s opinion of the project’s impacts of the Meacham property.
Town Planner Gary Palumbo assured the couple that the developer has met the town’s standards and revised the plan. Board members informed them Tiny Home Village has been on the agenda for several months and notices were published. Chairman Doc Dayton said the Board’s consensus was to proceed to close the public hearing comments because an exception to the rules would have to be made to accommodate the request.
The Board had requested additional parking and a spot for a dumpster, a local contact within 25 miles to answer complaints, and minor site plan modifications including a light-tight fence bordering the parking area and driveway, and access to a PRV pit monitored by town employees, among other things.
During the public hearing, architect Mark Dean and Town Planner Gary Palumbo ran down a list of revisions submitted June 15th, along with some conditions that must be met to prevent the project from being returned to the Planning Board. It was noted that one of the project’s two owners resides in Ellicottville to provide a local contact.
Some recent plan changes include the elimination of loft beds in four of the structures to reduce the need for additional parking, along with provisions for an employee parking spot, snow storage, addition of a dumpster enclosure, 4:1 grade and sidewalk alterations, deeper catchbasins and connections from structures to storm water collection system, lighting to shield the neighborhood, curb stops, a landscape plan, signage noting the local contact person and restrictions on parking on sidewalks and public rights-of-way.
Last week the Cattaraugus County Planning Board returned a finding of no countywide impacts, but the developer will need a sign permit from the Code Enforcement Officer, the Town Board’s abandonment of utility plans for a previous project and the town engineer must sign off on various aspects of the plan.
In another matter, the Board approved a final plat revision of the Phase B of Elk Creek Subdivision that was granted in 2005. Prior to receiving permits, the developers will extend an existing sidewalk about 732 feet along Maples Road from Pine Tree Village Road to Elk Creek Drive, with several aspects of the project still under review by the Town Engineer.
The Board also approved a two-sided off-premises sign for the Ellicottville Distillery, measuring 32 square feet, to be located on Route 242 East, about 200 feet from the tubing park sign.
The Board also held a lengthy discussion with Borrego Solar and indicated some flexibility for the methodology of calculating open space and the pending results of a formal slope survey for a 5 megawatt solar energy project on agricultural and forested lands on Simmons Road. The Town’s local law governing solar development has not been tested with a completed project and Planner Palumbo is continuing to survey other host communities in New York State for local law provisions. The matter may come up for formal review in July, August or September, developers noted.