The Zoning Board of Appeals this week had 4 Public Hearings on this night.  Below is a summary of each item. For reasons not explained at the meeting, they did not conduct the public hearings in the order that they listed on the agenda.  Also note that the ZBA Meeting Agenda and Packet - Feb 4, 2020 is 188 page PDF that contains all of the items reviewed for each public hearing.

The first public hearing was a continuance for sign variance request for a Well Now Urgent Care at 1438 Western Avenue by AJ Signs.  This public hearing was very well attended and the public provided an overwhelming number of comments against the project.  Also, there were 20 direct letters of opposition and another 15 replies to the ZBA in response to a McKownville Improvement Association Announcement submitted before the public haring.  There has also been 1 letter of support from an Anonymous Neighbor.

The applicant at the end of the public hearing decided to request a continuance and will be revising their variance proposal.

The second public hearing was a continuance Robinson Ace Hardware parking lot expansion at 1874 and 1890 Western Avenue.  The engineers for Ace Hardware will presented updated plans for the removal of the building at 1890 Western Avenue (the former jewelry store) and their parking expansion. One differently-abled resident made a request that any changes not impact accessibility to the bus stop in front of the store on Western Avenue.  The engineers assured the resident that no changes would impact the bus stop. The variance for the changes in the parking lot were granted.

The third public hearing was an application for Verizon Wireless - Cell Antenna near 21 Norfolk St, Guilderland. They intend to replace a ~28 ft pole with about a ~34 ft pole with a “small” cell antenna on top to provide better service to the area.  This cell antenna is not 5G, but the current 4G standard.  No one spoke for or against proposal and the application was approved. 

Lastly there was continued public hearing for Special Use Permit (SUP) for installing additional lighting for safety and security at the First National Bank of Scotia on 8 New Karner Road.  The application indicates that the property has Karner Blue Butterflies and Frosted Elfin “per DEC mapper”.  

You can find the DEC Mapper here: http://www.dec.ny.gov/eafmapper/

This tool can be used to create Full or Short Environmental Assessment Form that identifies a site contains any species of animal or associated habitats listed by the State or Federal government as threatened or endangered.

Save the Pine Bush has submitted this letter of opposition and Steve Wickham spoke in support of that letter requesting that lighting guidelines outlined in that letter be followed and explained that the Save the Pine Bush group was concerned about the potential habitat that has been created in the cleared lot behind the bank and setting precedent for lighting on property that is adjacent to the Pine Bush Preserve.

The bank had already made adjustments to their lighting plan and provided diagrams to show that the additional lighting would be added to the front of the building and that the building itself would largely shield the the light from potential habitat behind it.