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1997-08-12En AGENDA Town of Wappinger Zoning Board MEETING DATE: August 12, 1997 TIME -- 7:30 PM Approval of June 24, 1997, and July 8, 1997, minutes. DISCUSSION Town Hall 20 Middlebush Road Wappingers Falls, NY Carl Grabala & Randall Steller - Discuss Appeal No. 1247 requesting a variance to allow a 90 -foot amateur radio tower on property located at 10-16 Old State Road (Wheeler Hill). '1rr MINUTES Town of Wappinger Zoning Board of Appeals August 12, 1997 Minutes Members Present Mr. Prager: Chairman Mr. Fanuele: Member Member Absent Mr. diPiemo: Member Others Present Town Hall 20 Middlebush Road Wappinger Falls, NY Mr. Lehigh: Vice Chairman Mr. Warren: Member i�lav AUG 2 6 1997, Mrs. Nguyen: Secretary to the Zoning Board,' dANMG g0ARD Mr. Prager: I would like to call the Town of Wappinger Zoning Board of Appeals to order. Roll Call please. ROLL CALL: Mr. Warren: Here. Mr. diPierno: Absent. Mr. Fanuele: Here. Mr. Lehigh: Here. Mr. Prager: Here. Vote: All present except Mr. diPierno. Mr. Prager: The first item of business is the approval of the July 8' minutes. Did everybody receive them? Mr. Fanuele: I make a motion that we approve the minutes. Mr. Warren: Second. Vote: All present voted aye. Mrs. Nguyen: There are also minutes from June 24"' that you received a long time ago. Mr. Lehigh: I make a motion since I was here. Mr. Warren: Second. Vote: All present voted aye. 14` Mr. Prager: The next item of business on the agenda tonight is to discuss Appeal No. 1247 by Carl Grabala & Randall Steller. Requesting a variance to allow a 90 -foot amateur radio tower on property located at 10-16 Old State Road, know as Wheeler Hill. Who can I ask to speak for Town of Wappinger Zoning Board of App" Is Minutes - August 12, 1997 Page 2 this appeal? Just come on up front and state your name for the record and explain exactly what your requesting and why. Mr. Steller: My name is Randall Steller, amateur radio operator. We would like to request a variance for a height restriction by the Town for a 90 -foot amateur radio tower to be used in the operation of the amateur radio with respect to the Federal Communications guidelines of Part 95. That is why we are here tonight. Mr. Prager: I understand that the tower has already been put up. Mr. Steller: That is correct. Mr. Prager: I gather from some of the information that we have an Order to Remedy Violation by the Zoning Administrator, Don Close. Mr. Steller: That is correct sir. Mr. Lehigh: This meeting tonight is just a workshop, fact finding. One of the questions that I have, this is in no way since A-1 Communications is involved in this, that this is a for profit organization, or not? Mr. Grabala: Not for profit. Mr. Steller: This is not for profit. This is for ham amateur radio use. The Village of Wappinger Falls Police Department, which we have representatives here tonight, is currently using the tower free of charge. They are not being charged for this use at all. Mr. Lehigh: Well, when we hear the case, I am going to want to see some kind of proof. Mr. Steller: Absolutely. That is not a problem. Mr. Lehigh: I am going to want to see who paid for putting the antenna up. I want to see if Mr. Niemcyk received any kind of gratuity for this tower. I want some kind of proof. Mr. Steller: .. (Not transcribeable) Mr. Lehigh: Did he receive any money for having the tower put up on his land? Mr. Steller: As far as my recollection, no. It was a handshake deal between Mr. Niemcyk and us stating that he will allow us to put the tower on his property. Mr. Lehigh: We will want to know who paid for the tower and some kind of proof. Mr. Steller: That is fine. Mr. Prager: I see a receipt or a bill here from A-1 Communications. I gather it is from the Village of Wappinger for some equipment that was leased to the Village. *.. �.. Mr. Steller: That is correct. Town of Wappinger Zoning Board of App'L fs Minutes - August 12, 1997 Page 3 Mr. Prager: I guess my question here is if they did not lease this equipment from you, would you have allowed them to put their antenna on your antenna? Mr. Steller: Absolutely. Mr. Prager: So, that was not part of the deal? Mr. Steller: That was not part of the deal .... Mr. Prager: The little shed that was mentioned here also in the Building Permit ... I guess the shed was supposed to have been an existing shed? Mr. Steller: That is correct. Mr. Prager: You didn't have anything to do with building the shed? Mr. Steller: The shed was not put there by us. The shed was put there about 20 years ago by NYS as an environmental sniffing station. NYS at that time, never apparently received a permit from the Town to put a station up there. It was NYS property and in their wisdom, they didn't do that. Therefore, in order to utilize the shed for ham radios, which the application was put in �•► for, we had to file and pay the Town for a permit for the shed to add the electric. Mr. Prager: That is what I am getting at. You did the electrical? Mr. Steller: Yes. Mr. Prager: What is the shed being used for? Mr. Steller: The shed is being used for ham radio equipment and it also powers the repeater for the Village of Wappinger Falls. Mr. Fanuele: It is hard to believe that the Village of Wappingers Falls would put an antenna up there in violation of the Town of Wappinger Zoning Ordinance. Mr. Steller: How is it in violation of the Town of Wappinger Zoning Ordinance sir? Mr. Fanuele: Because the antenna is too high. Mr. Steller: As we said, we filed for a ham radio .... Mr. Fanuele: I am talking about the Village of Wappingers Falls. Mr. Steller: I understand what you are saying. Mr. Fanuele: They put an antenna up there knowing that it is in violation of the Town's Zoning Ordinance, yes or no? *40r Town of Wappinger Zoning Board of App?lis Minutes - August 12, 1997 Page 4 Mr. Steller: I have no idea whether they knew or not. Mr. Fanuele: Can we direct a letter to the Village and ask that particular question? Mr. Steller: If you feel that is necessary. Mr. Fanuele: Can we direct a letter to the Village of Wappingers Falls? Mrs. Nguyen: Yes. Mr. Lehigh: The Zoning Officer was up there and issued an order for you to take the antenna down. I also have a letter here from people who state there is an unlicensed body shop on that property. We can not entertain any kind of variance on property that has an illegal business operating on it. One of the first things we are going to have to do is send the Zoning Administrator back up there to see if there is a body shop in operation at this time up there and if there is, we can not entertain it until that part has been taken care of. Mr. Steller: Let me explain on one thing. Apparently yes, there may be or may not be a body shop operating on the property. That is not my concern. That is not my property. Mr. Lehigh: Yes, it is your concern. Mr. Steller: One minute sir, until I am finished please. It may or may not be my concern. First of all, that body shop may have or may have not been operating for a number of years now, exceeding maybe 18 years. The Town of Wappinger Fire Inspector, Building Inspector, and numerous other people in the Town of Wappinger offices have known about his body shop, may or may not be operating up there, for this amount of time. The Town of Wappinger chose not to entertain any filing of complaints or anything about this body shop up there until now that we have gone up there and put a tower up there. You explain this to me, how does this happen? Al] of a sudden the Town of Wappinger knows about this and chooses not to entertain any problems with it up there until such a time where a tower is there and then there is complaints about the tower, not about the body shop. So, the tower order to remedy was sent out and then apparently there may or may not be a body shop up there, that problem now props up. You explain this to me, how does this happen all of a sudden? Could it be maybe a problem with personality conflicts between one of your Board Members who is not present here tonight and somebody else? That is the other problem that I see occurring here. Mr. Lehigh: I have no knowledge of what you're talking about. I do not know of any complaints that have been filed on that property or anything else. That is not my problem. That is the Zoning Administrator's problem. He is the one who enforces the law here. I do not. The only thing I am imparting to you is information. This Board, according to the Town Ordinance, is not allowed to sit in judgment on a case or a variance if there is an illegal operation going on there as far as the Zoning Ordinance is concerned. So, first of all, really there is not much we can do. Mr. Steller: Until you find out whether or not there is or is not an illegal operation on the property. I do understand that. What I am trying to portray to the Board is that numerous people in the Town, while the Board Members are not aware of this, I know that one particular Board Town of Wappinger Zoning Board of Apps Minutes - August 12, 1997 Page 5 Member is aware of what is going on. One particular Board Member had made comments to the property owner that if the tower happens to go away, then the other problems with the possible body shop and possibly everything else up there will also go away also. I want to leave that name harmless at this time. I just want you to know this is what we are dealing with here. We have numerous problems here and I would like to see what we can do to get this straightened out. That is why we are here tonight. I am not here to cause problems. This is a fact finding mission. We are going to put all the facts on the table, what we have at this moment. Mr. Prager: Unfortunately, as Mr. Lehigh had said, if there really truly is a violation up there, we can not do anything. Mr. Steller: What I am trying to say is if the violation has been going on for such and such a time, then I understand that it is almost grandfathered that it is no longer a violation. Mr. Lehigh: There is no grandfather clause in the Town of Wappinger Zoning Ordinance. Mr. Grabala: I can understand that. All of a sudden, these certain people knew about it. All of a sudden, things popped up as part of this whole thing. Take care of this and this whole thing will be taken care of. I think that is crazy. Mr. Prager: I can not speak for that. All I can speak for is .... v.► Mr. Grabala: Okay. Mr. Prager: Also there is a letter here. I will mention this to you. I don't know if you have a copy of it. It is from Dr. Paul Garell and Ann Garell-Davis. I gathered they are neighbors to the Niemcyk property or in the vicinity and they for one mentioned in their letter about an auto tow truck, and automobiles. If that is the case, it is a residential piece of property. Mr. Steller: I understand that. Mr. Prager: That has to be straightened out before anything is done. Mr. Steller: That is fine. I have no objection to you taking whatever steps you think is necessary to find out whether or not it is legal. Mr. Fanuele: What we are saying is this is tabled until the other is done. Mr. Prager: Do you want to have a site inspection? Mr. Lehigh: Well, we are really not ... This is a workshop. We really are not taking any testimony. Mrs. Nguyen: Would you like to look at some photos? DISCUSSION OF PHOTOS Mr. Prager: Linda, where did you get the pictures from? Town of Wappinger Zoning Board of App'9s Minutes - August 12, 1997 Page 6 Mrs. Nguyen: They are from Dr. Garell's daughter. They are the ones that sent in the letter. Mr. Lehigh: You have to turn it over to the Zoning Administrator. Mr. Prager: Linda, maybe you could make a note to tell Don when he comes back. He is on vacation until when? Mrs. Nguyen: Monday he will be back. Mr. Prager: Then he can go up and take a look at the property. If there are definitely violations on the property .... Mr. Steller: Is it possible for us, since these are part of the case file, for us to get copies of these? Mrs. Nguyen: Yes. Mr. Prager: You should be able to get copies of everything that we can get. I don't know if you got a copy of the letter. Speak with Linda and she will see that you can get copies. Mr. Steller: We will come back tomorrow. Mr. Prager: How are you for Saturday morning, Al? Mr. Lehigh: I think the Zoning Administrator should go there before we do. Mr. Prager: Yes, why don't we do that. We will adjourn this workshop until the next meeting. Then, he can find out and get back to us about the information, if there is an illegal business up there or not. Then what we will do is at that time, after that meeting, then we can go up there for our site inspection, if it is true or not. Mr. Steller: Thank you very much. Mrs. Garell-Davis: You're going to allow the tower to remain pending the ...? Mr. Prager: Yes, for two weeks I am. At least two weeks. I want to see if there is a violation. Mrs. Garell-Davis: Then at that point you will have a determination? Mr. Prager: Hopefully we will have the information if there is truly is a body shop or not. Mr. Lehigh: When there is a public hearing, for public comments, then he has to mail out notices to all the property owners within 500 feet of that property. They will be notified. That is the law and it will also be in the newspaper stating there will be a hearing on this request for a variance. Mrs. Nguyen: You want to adjourn that to when? Mr. Prager: Well, we want to adjourn the workshop until the next meeting that is the 24"'. Cm Town of Wappinger Zoning Board of Appel Minutes - August 12, 1997 Page 7 Mrs. Nguyen: The 26'. Mr. Prager: The 26h. That is a Tuesday night, 7:30 again. It will be a workshop again for more information. It will not be a public hearing. If it warrants a public hearing, at that time, I will set a date for the public hearing. If not, we will take it from there. Mr. Kanter: My name is Lawrence Kanter. I live on Wheeler Hill Road. What is the status of the Remedy Order for him to take the tower down? Mr. Prager: Right now we are allowing, at least until the next workshop, to stay up. Mr. Lehigh: We don't give orders. The Zoning Administrator does that. Mr. Garell: Will there be a notice for the next meeting of the 2419 Mr. Lehigh: The 26'. Mr. Prager: No, there won't be. So make sure you write it down. It is August 26`' at 7:30. We do it on the second and fourth Tuesday, unless there is some kind of emergency. Just so you know for the future. It will be the 26'. It will just be a workshop. We will just be getting more information. Any other further business to come before this Board? Mr. Fanuele: I make a motion that we adjourn. Mr. Lehigh: Second. Vote: All present voted aye. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:50 PM. 0 Respectfully submitted, Linda Nguyen, Secretary Zoning Board of Appeals Town of Wappinger