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PAGGI, MARTIN & DEL BENE LLP
Consultin.i5 En.i5ineers & Land Surveyors
54-56 Main Street
Poughkeepsie, New York 12601
914-471-7898
914-471-0905 (FAX)
Town Supervisor
Town of Wappinger
P.O. Box 324
Wappinger Falls, New York 12590
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July 1, 1998
Attention: Constance O. Smith, Supervisor
Reference: Town/Planning/Zoning Board Meetings-June 29, 1998
Dear Supervisor Smith and Board Members:
A meeting was held on June 29, 1998 with members of the Town Board,
Planning Board and Zoning Board of AppealS in attendance. This meeting was
held to discuss various items of interest for each respective Board.
In attendance at the meeting were Supervisor Constance O. Smith, Councilman
Vincent Bettina, Joseph Paoloni, and Joseph Ruggerio; Highway Superintendent,
Graham Foster; Chairman of the Planning Board, Phil DiNonno; Planning Board
Members, Mike Franzese, George Grimshaw, Bill Parsons, Robert Walker, and
June Visconti; Zoning Board - Howard Prager, Zoning Chairman, Jerry diPierno,
Vic Fanuele and Doug Warren; Zoning Enforcement Officer, Don Close; Town
Planner, Dave Stallman; Town Attorney, Albert P. Roberts, Esq.; and myself.
Councilman Ruggiero asked that I draft meeting minutes in a memo and transmit
it to the Board.
1. The first item discussed was the Proposed Service Road that has been in
discussion with the Town Planning Board for a number of years, and has been
implemented in a number of site plans that have been approved by the
Planning Board in the mid 1980's, including Sprint Oil. Volvo of Wappinger,
LPV, etc.
. Mr. Parsons explained the history of the service road as he has been on
the Planning Board for a number of years and was aware of most of the
reasons for road. He explained that the road would basically be a service
or feeder road extending from Smithtown Road on the southerly end to
MacFarlane Road on the northerly end, and would provide access to the
numerous narrow and deep commercial lots along Route 9.
Joseph E. PaW, Jr., P.E.
Ernst Martin. Jr., P.E., L.S.
Charles R. Del Bene. Jr.. P.E.
Constance O. Smith
Town Board
RE: Town/Planning/Zoning Boards
-2 -
July 1, 1998
. The purpose of the road would be to avoid having numerous and repeated
access off the high speed main road. The road would be one lane and
travel in a north bound direction only.
. Discussions were had by all Board Members and it was decided to have a
feasibility study of the road done in light of the proposed third lane, which
is currently on the Board by the New York State Department of
Transportation. Alternative type designs and/or ideas should be put in the
feasibility study (e.g. cross easements).
. The feasibility study will be done in conjunction with Graham Foster, Town
Highway Superintendent, as the road, if built, would be a Town road.
. The feasibility study will be done by our office in conjunction with Graham,
AI and possibly Mike Gallante of Frederick P. Clark Associates.
. AI Roberts brought up the potential problem of the necessity of having a
50' dedication for the proposed road. He will look into this area and
explore it further.
2. The second item discussed was the idea of Boards (Town Board, Planning
Board, Zoning Board) having a vision of what the Town should look like,
especially the commercial corridors of Route 9, Route 9D and Route 376.
Frederick P. Clark Associates had recently handed out a booklet showing
innovative designs that had been used across the country for corporate
franchise type structures (i.e. McDonalds, etc.) .
. It was discussed that the Town Board must have a vision of what the
commercial corridor should look like and possible have a theme that could
be consistent throughout these corridors.
. The Architectural Review Board (now the Planning Board) should have at
their disposal a section of the Zoning Law that would give them discretion
over development within these themes. It was also discussed that the
Architectural Review Board should be reasonable and flexible. Obviously,
to meet all these goals is rather difficult and cumbersome.
. It was, therefore, decided to set up a committee of two members from
each of the Boards, to develop a master plan for the major roads (Route 9,
Route 9D and Route 376).
Constance O. Smith
Town Board
RE: Town/Planning/Zoning Boards
- 3 -
July 1, 1998
3. The next item that was discussed was the simplification and/or reduction of
the number of commercial zones presently in existence in the Town of
Wappinger.
. Everybody seemed in favor of this including Dave Stolman, Town Planner.
It was discussed that this should be looked at in the re-drafting of the
comprehensive plan.
. One of the major reasons this item was brought up was the number of site
plans that need to be done for proposed change of use in existing
commercial site(s).
4. The next item discussed was the Signage in the Town of Wappinger,
especially along Route 9.
. The Zoning Board of Appeals members voiced their concerns over the
increasing number of variance requests for sign size along Route 9.
. Various discussions were had, with the consensus being that each sign
variance request should be decided on it's individual merits.
5. Various discussions were had regarding Escrow Accounts that need to be
placed by Applicants to cover the cost of professionals.
. The major problem occurs on the very small projects where the size of the
escrow seems not in proportion with the size of the project. The
consensus relative to these discussions were to try to streamline the
process as much as possible to avoid the high escrows.
. Associated with this was the repetition of review comments. It was
recommended (and is being followed by our office) that the review
comments be identified in the initial submittal and studied until fully
mitigated.
Constance O. Smith
Town Board
RE: Town/Planning/Zoning Boards
- 4 -
July 1. 1998
If there are any questions or comments regarding the contents of this letter,
please do not hesitate to contact this office.
;;t;::2FI2/
Joseph E. Paggi, Jr., P.E.~
JEP:law
cc: Hon. Vincent Bettina, Councilman
Hon. Joseph Paoloni, Councilman
Hon. Joseph Ruggerio, Councilman
Hon. Robert Valdati, Councilman
Graham Foster
Phil DiNonno, Chairman - Planning Board
Hugo Musto
Mike Franzese
George Grimshaw
Bill Parsons
Robert Walker
June Visconti
Howard Prager, Chairman - Zoning Board
Jerry diPierno
Vic Fanuele
AI Lehigh
Doug Warren
Don Close, Zoning Enforcement Officer
Dave Stolman
Albert P. Roberts, Esq.
Elaine Snowden, Town Clerk
Linda Nguyen, Secretary to Planning Board/Zoning Board of Appeals