Planning Board - Regular Meeting

Oh, look at that.

Jonathan's there.

Hello.

Hey, Jonathan.

Hey, everyone.

Hi.

Good to see you. Likewise.

Okay. Nice vacation.

Thanks.

All right. Let's see. I'll call this meeting of the Planning Board of the Village of Cold Spring to order. Would anyone like to add or remove or modify agenda items?

I would. Okay. I would like to move new business in front of old business, and I'd also like to add 137 Main Street signage.

Can I get a second?

I will second. All in favor? Aye.

Aye.

All right. Then let's go ahead and jump into our new business, 1627 Main Street. So a little orientation for you guys. Basically, the purpose of this particular meeting is to prepare for an eventual public hearing. Public hearing, any change of views goes before the public. Basically, it's just an opportunity for the public to say, hey, this is what I think about this application, the change of use, for us to hear if they're going to be impacted by it in various ways, and potentially we'll incorporate that in suggestions on how to refine the application. The other... And as a part of these workshop sessions before the public hearing is to make sure we have what we call a complete application. It's basically just making sure we have all the information available going into public hearings so the public and the board can make an informed decision about what to do about the application. So usually when we talk about complete applications, We obviously have the forms that you filled out, but we also have pictures which you provided. We usually want a site plan, which is basically just like a drawing of the floor and the square footage that's inside there. So we understand exactly how big the space is. And then usually that site plan includes the exterior spaces so that you can know where, like, where's your garbage? Like, where's the garbage can go and and where, if any, is there parking. As you've also noted, the signage that's on here. And let's see here. We've got an interior plan. The main thing that's missing here is total square footage. So if you could add that to the core plan, total square footage. And then... I know we have, we have pictures of the parking. I assume this is the parking that's to the right of the building. Yeah. Yeah.

I think they were saying that, uh, that client normally it's not for public use, I guess, is what they were, the landlords or some of these were selling.

Uh, so I guess, uh, let's see here.

Um, that even matters. I don't even know.

I'm just saying, yes, the, the, I guess the lot has parking. I guess, Jonathan, what's the... What is the way we usually navigate the landlord's designation about... I guess if they say that's for private use, then we just count it as not available for parking in this instance?

Yeah. Yep. Okay.

All right, well, then that's that that makes that easy. So I think that like for this, we have we have no no parking available. And and I think all we'll really need is to know where the garbage is located them.

There was no sales.

Ah, that's in the, that's in the side where the unusable drive for the driveway. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. I see you have a signage there. Did you happen to review the sign regulations for the village?

That's just a picture of the sign. There's no sign there.

Oh, there's no sign there. Yeah, yeah.

Okay. This is just like, yeah.

Okay. Okay, cool. So with the signage, so the village allows like letters in windows. So like, imagine like decal, like on the window, I think without any historic review board approval. But usually any substantial separate physical signage either mounted on the building or hanging off the building is usually subject to historic district review board approval. You should do the thing that you want to do. um but if you would like a sign that requires that the approval from the planning board will be conditioned on them approving it so it may make the process longer because you have to go through two boards just as a heads up okay something to think about in terms of how you start with the signage you can always start with signage that is allowed by right and then decide you want something later and put that before the historic district group report. So something to think about. Lighting? Yes. Is there any exterior lighting?

Exterior or outside?

I don't think so. I'm not sure. But inside, we're just going to use what's there. But the exterior, this is the only thing, yeah.

I live right across the street, so I don't think there is any outside lighting. But, I mean, they could be in the back.

What are you imagining the hours of operation are going to be? So right now, just me being in it would be the same, Jesse. Same schedule, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. And I would do 8.30 to 6. 8.30 to 6. 8.30 a.m. until 6. Okay. Yep. potentially maybe 6.30 but if I start at 8.30 which that's the goal it would be about 8.30 to 6.30 the long day is 6.30 and you said only Thursday, Friday, Saturday and then only just because it'll be just me starting so it'll be Thursday, Friday, Saturday will be the schedule right now and then you know once I get it up and running depending on the space yeah see if maybe we can adjust add more time yeah for someone else you don't foresee it going past 6 30 or 7 oh no no yeah yeah i was doing over here till 7 yeah but uh but yeah this goes further i'm just going to be like 6 6 30 the latest you know right yeah so what is that like 10 clients 10 12 clients a day by 30 30 if they

The one mildly tricky thing about this property is that it is close enough to Route 90. It requires a referral from us to county, which means that we have, basically there's a sequence of things that has to happen So once we think we have a complete application, which I think seems like we're close, we can refer the application to the county to review. They have 30 days to respond. We cannot grant approval until either that 30 days expires or they grant approval explicitly. Just to set expectation, you know, practically speaking, these things can take a couple of months. So we at least have the 30 days that we have to wait for the county. Well, potentially wait for the county. They obviously could get back very fast, but I don't know. Jonathan, do you have any experience with the county responding to these things?

I haven't done one in Putnam County in a while, but more often than not, the 30 days expires before you get a response.

Can we have meeting? Can we hold a meeting before then?

Yeah, we can hold a meeting before then, but I think the approval is going to be conditioned on the county either not commenting or approving explicitly. Right, okay, yeah. So we can move things further on, you know, further along on our side. This board meets twice a month if we can get quorum. You can see we have three people here now. So we were able to deal with this time. So yeah, any questions from the board about this application?

No, I mean, it seems like they just figure it is lighting and then just have a spare footage. But I mean, I'm very familiar with the place. I know the old occupant.

Yeah.

He said I don't cross the street. What was there before? That's where Sylvia shopped for, it was like Italian goods. It was like shoes and handbags. Okay. Gotcha.

How quickly we forget.

Yeah, well, I mean, two days ago. So that one helps. But yeah, this, to me, everything seems like it makes sense.

Jonathan, I feel like we have these photos of where the trash is, and we have the interior floor plan, and I think if we get the total square footage on here, do you feel like that more or less gets us to complete?

Yeah, I think so. Maybe even without the square footage, if... If no alterations are proposed, it's probably complete enough to schedule a public hearing and refer to the county.

Okay. I mean, I think we just go ahead and get that moving.

We do have a square privilege.

Yeah, we do have it. Okay. It's 350. 350. Okay.

Great. Let's see. So 28th now. Our next meeting is the 2nd. It's June 12th.

No, isn't that the 11th?

Sorry, the 11th. You're right. And that is two full weeks from today. What's the... Do we figure out what the timeline is for them?

I've only posted once. It should be fine, I think. I think they post more often than the previous paper.

Okay. Let's make a shot at the 12th. So the timing... Sorry, the 11th. It got stuck in my head. The timing is such that basically we have to... post a notice of the public hearing 10 days in advance, not 10 days.

Abigail saying yes.

Oh, it is 10 days, 10 days. Yeah, 10 days prior to the public hearing. So let's see here, we're two weeks out now. So basically it gives us, if we can get it, the notice put in, um, tomorrow, then, uh, you know, we'll see when it gets published and we'll, we'll hopefully be able to have it. Um, we'll let you know, obviously, if we can't. Um, so the public hearing, basically we, we put public notice in the local paper record. Then, um, uh, you, Abigail will work with you to get you a list of, um, neighboring properties that you just need to explicitly send certified mail to to let them know that the public hearing is happening. So in case they are, you know, incentivized, I guess Kevin will be on that list. So, and then we'll make sure that we have record of that certified mail as a part of the public hearing packet. And, Jonathan, in terms of notifying the county, do I just type up a memo? What's the typical way that we do that?

I think they have a form, and I know they have some kind of guidance on their website, so I can circulate that to you and Abigail if you want. It's pretty straightforward, though.

All right, cool. We'll try to move that as quickly as we can. What is the distance?

Oh, okay.

Yeah. So most of our applications are farther down Main Street, so we don't have to worry about it. But with this property being where it is within 500 feet of Morris Ave. Okay.

Yeah, I don't, you know, these processes are never fast. Sometimes they are excruciatingly slow. I think in this case, we got the application earlier this week. We managed to get you in today. We've scheduled a public hearing. I think we get this referred to the county. That means everything goes smoothly by the end of June. You should be good. just for context. I know it probably feels incredibly slow considering your priorities, but just so you know, it's incredibly fast for this board. All right. Anything else from the group? Okay. I think you guys can be excused unless you have questions.

No questions. Okay. Is there anything else that we need to provide?

No. I mean, I guess if you wanted to... If you wanted to drop the square footage number on here and send it digitally to Abigail, just so we have the digital version, that would be helpful. But I think besides that, we're good.

Good.

And just for the minutes, if the board wants to do a motion to schedule the public hearing.

Oh, yeah. So we're going to do it for the 11th. Yeah.

I'll make a motion to schedule a public hearing for change of views for 167 Main Street for June 11th. Second.

All right. Thank you so much. Yeah. Yeah. And we'll send that digitally. Yeah. Cool. All right. We'll be seeing you around. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So we have 26 main signage on here.

um i think we have our our uh previous applicant for 26 maine here in the room with us um welcome back thank you um so for just so everyone knows kind of where we are so uh we received all the details that that fulfilled the requirements on approval uh so um the application that we deemed was complete and then with the public hearing and then uh approved uh has met the conditions and uh the site plan has been stamped so they've been on basically from a code enforcement perspective yeah they are they are this is okay no i'm not saying that oh sorry sorry I'm trying to get everyone up to speed on kind of where we are. So in the application, the signage that was indicated was what we saw in our public hearing, which was in the window, right? The letters in the window. So all the conditions of the approval were met. So the site plan got stamped and approved. And I presume that you have opened.

Yeah, but we're still waiting on the signed permit.

Oh, from the code enforcement officer?

Yeah, I'm missing one piece.

Okay.

The final piece, I believe.

That's going to be with not this group. So, unfortunately, we cannot help you with that. The code enforcement officer who we share with Silvestown up the hill, Greg Warner, is the one that would provide that. Okay. Abigail, what is the, do they, advocates usually go through us to get to Craig or do they have more, have direct?

You have direct, you can call, but I do want to confirm that it is with them. So they do have it and it should be under review and possibly issued. So, yeah.

Okay, great. Glad to hear it.

So she, she contacted you?

You can, but if you would like something a little bit more direct, you can call them directly. I can give you that number.

Okay. Okay. Yeah, sure. And that's with Greg. I remember I spoke to him at one point.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, all right. So Hillary, one of our members, has brought up an additional concern that is related to the use but not technically under this board's authority.

Okay.

In that, and Jonathan, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but we faithfully executed the The application evaluated it as it stood, approved it in method conditions. Now, any applicant that does something that is not aligned with the proposal, it falls to the code enforcement officer to say, hey, this is not what we have on file and therefore you need X, Y, Z thing. So just to want to make sure we're setting expectation about we can have the discussion, but there's not really much to do. And then there's maybe a question to Jonathan about, although I know it's not typical for this board to refer to the chief enforcement, the code enforcement officer, if there are, if there's a route by which is typical or if it's more of like letting the, if it's, you know, maybe even as a private citizen, letting the village office know about a thing and just to let the clerk forward as needed. Do you have a preferred path for us?

Yeah, there's not any kind of procedure as far as the planning board referring anything to the code enforcement officer. But, you know, if the board had concerns with something, they could vote to send some kind of correspondence. And it would be up to the building inspector to decide if or the code enforcement officer if they want to respond to that and address it.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Well, I think since we have the previous applicant here, if you would like to explain the difference between the signage that was in your application and the signage that is sitting in front of the building now.

Can I see?

Yeah. Oh.

Wait, you want to step up?

Yes. That's outside of the building. It's not on the wall.

so so the the um i believe the signage the signage chapter also covers sandwich floors and exterior signs that are not attached to the building okay so um uh you would want to basically make sure that you were in conformance with that code. Otherwise, basically the code enforcement officer might say, hey, this either is against code, you need a variance, or it's against code, or it is with code but needs approval from the Historic District Review Board. So those are the things that can happen. That's just an FYI. There's nothing this board can do in one way or another. We've done our diligence for you. You're approved from our perspective, which is something for you to keep in mind.

Okay, no, that's good to know because I'm happy we're having this meeting. We want to put a sign on the building, but the delay in the process of the change of use, there's other... things that I need to fulfill and this had to be the number one priority, the change of course. And I couldn't extend getting that approval by filling in any kind of signage because there's other timely factors that have to be in place. So I can't even, I don't even want to do anything with signage until I get something from like a different end. saying that this is set, you can stay in this building, you can be a dance studio, and then we'll put in all of our signage. But I just, I can't have anything prolong that process. I'm very envious of the previous group that went down here getting a three-week turnaround in six months. So I just, once I get this from Craig, I'll do everything that I need to do with signage. We won't put that up. I thought since it wasn't attached to the building, it was okay. But we'll just wait and I'll do everything else with the historic review board. But I just need to make sure that when I start that process, when I put in that application, I'll still get the signed thing from it.

It's not really a change of use because it was a dance studio to begin with.

It changed. Remember, it went to the press monkey. Oh, yeah. Otherwise, it wouldn't be before us. We wouldn't even know about it.

I don't know if you have clarity on that. Like, if I start, if I put in the application. Because I have everything. I have the application.

The good news is, basically, the sequence is, the application has been approved. And I have stamped it. Right. So, you're good from our perspective.

Okay. Okay.

Once the code enforcement officer says, OK, see that you have gotten the stamp. I feel good about the details here. Here, I'm going to issue you the permit. Then you're then you're actually golden. Yeah. So if at any point after that you want to change the signage, you feel free to do that. in accordance with the zoning law and potentially in concert with the Historic District Review Board to get approval on, right? So, yeah. So, yeah. I think you're really close.

I feel like I need to wait until I get that down from Greg.

The issue of the permit, yeah.

I can't have anything else. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Nothing you can do on your end to expedite that, right? That's a pen and piece.

You can ask Abigail very nicely. Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right. Good luck. I just wanted to mention the reason why I had the concerns about the sign was you've got it so close to the fire hydrant. That was... For me, a real safety concern. The other concern was, you know, we get a lot of wind and everything. It looks like you were, I'm going to forget the size of the sign, but it looks like you're holding the sign down by bricks. So that too looks like it would be very flimsy and it could be a danger if we get lots of wind and it could fly off and Anyway, so those were the reasons why I brought it up and wanted to make sure that nobody gets hurt.

Yeah, no, of course. It's fastened to the, like, bush that it's in front of. So it's, like, around another base. But, no, I understand fully. So we'll do something about that. But, yeah, everything is going to get better.

Is it an issue that it's on public property as well? Is that public property? That's where the fire hydrant is.

Yeah, I think that's probably village-owned land.

Our landlord does all of that landscaping in front of the building, including that whole front.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's a tricky thing because I also mow the grass between the sidewalk and the street. I'm not actually sure. Jonathan, do you know offhand where the boundaries are? I know they vary a lot by lot. Yes.

I don't know for this particular property, but... As far as the sign chapter, it does say that you can't have any signs in the public right-of-way. So whether this is in the public right-of-way or not, I'm not sure. But it could still be private property and in the public right-of-way. Yeah.

That's something that Greg could... Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. He's... I don't think he's the person. Oh, he's not?

He would do the referral to the HDRV. Right.

So he would... Yeah. But I would just... Leave everything as is. Talk to him and give him the indication that you've been waiting to open up and you've had your approval stamped for X number of days and weeks. And hopefully you can move along.

It's taken so long for you.

Yeah.

It is what it is. But I'm hopeful that it'll wrap up soon. Yeah. Okay.

Good luck. Thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

Okay. Bye.

I think you had one other thing you wanted to bring up?

I got a sign fetish. I guess I was a little concerned about 137 Main. That's the new dispensary. And it's got this huge sign in the window. Yeah, I guess because it's still like a retail facility, they don't pay their insurance to use it.

Yeah, so I think the law is that it's not more than one third, one third of the window, Jonathan.

Let me just pull it up here in the code.

Yeah, I think what's tricky about this one is like, depending on what parts... You count, like, it might be close to one-third. I get that it's, like, you know, it doesn't look super professional. No. But I think, unfortunately, this also falls in the same category as the previous one, which is that it's not, code enforcement is not our purview. Yes. But being villagers and concerning... But you absolutely should bring that up to the village clerk as a citizen. Right. Yeah, and let them know and let them pass along information as they think it makes sense to do. I will say that, to Jonathan's point earlier, that there will be things that are not necessarily disbord if and when the Fjord Trail starts to implement things, we may have some things to say about the impact of that. And so it won't be under our purview. We won't have any, you know, we won't have anything other than our own opinions and the fact that we think it impacts the village. So we still have that, you know, that capacity and that right as a board. And yeah.

Okay. Fair enough. Thank you.

Yeah.

uh can we have a minute oh yes oh we do yes i did not realize we had minutes while we're doing that um is there any reason that i should be worried about judging this hair salon since i'm going to be one of the ones getting a uh notice about the change of use across from my my house so i mean I don't think I have any reason why I would be not fair and impartial, but I don't know what the rule – I've never come across this before, so I don't know what the standard is for board members.

Yeah, I think as long as you disclose that you live across the street and that you feel you can be fair and impartial under the circumstances, then you don't need to recuse yourself.

Okay, thank you. That's what I figured, but I just wanted to get that right. I can disclose that that is, in fact, my barber. Oh, okay. That can be fair enough.

Okay, all right. But I just didn't know if I'm getting mail. I'm on the record as doing that. I just wanted to make sure that it's okay.

I do realize that I didn't explicitly confirm I'm available on the 11th. I hope that both of you are. I am as well. Okay, good.

Yeah, and I... I would have told you.

Let's look at these in the minutes.

We should, one thing that I would, yeah, we'll look at the minutes, but one thing we might want to start doing as a board is like, planning ahead maybe a month or two to say when availability is not. I mean, I have usually done that, but now that we have the summer, maybe before we leave and we can send out a mail or include you in this summer, but there's a lot of people traveling. I get some big hits. I don't want to put people in a bad spot to not get approval for something because I'm the last member that can't be here. And we're going to be down a member starting when Ben is not going to be Oh, in June.

In June. At the end of June, it's going to be gone.

There's only going to be four of us for that period of time, right? So we should definitely make sure that...

I'm working on it. Okay. All right.

But I'm just like, what other reason why we should... Okay.

Yeah. Fair enough. I am working with the mayor to make sure we have some full coverage. Okay. Well, we won't necessarily have coverage, but to make sure that she has... The usual process that we all went through is that the village, that the mayor and the village board kind of with input from the existing planning board approve new members.

Right. I remember the interview process with the trustees and everything else.

As far as I can tell, for the rest of the year, I've mapped out my schedule. Things could change. But I make myself available the second and fourth Thursdays, unless an emergency arises. Right. Okay. Or somebody offers me a trip to Paris.

Yeah. Well, the second, the reason I bring it up, the second one in June, I'm going to be out. And I think it might, I mean, July. And I think that the first, sorry, the first Thursday in July, I'm definitely not going to be here. And it's possible the second Thursday. Thursday too, but I'm not sure.

Okay.

All right. So this was from March 26. Yeah, it says 2025.

I'm sorry, it is 2026. I will make a change here. And Jonathan, do you need the photos and stuff in your inbox? I would assume.

Yeah, as long as you can send it to me in time for the next meeting, that's fine. No rush.

And Jonathan, you're going to send us the referral information?

Yeah. And actually, Abigail, if you post what you have on the website, I can pull it up there. That's fine.

Okay.

Yeah, I mean... Yeah, what was the, I forget, Abigail, what was the delay there?

Delay in what?

The two months from when we approved this two months ago.

I, I just, I didn't want to say it was complete and I didn't have final just for the invoices and stuff like that. Yeah. Yeah. It's difficult collecting after, of course, you know, people anyway. Yeah. Okay.

All right. I think with changing the date, that's it. That's all I have. Anyone see anything else?

No, I'm good.

All right.

I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of March 26th, 2026 with the change of date to 2026. Okay. Second. All in favor? Aye. All right.

I'll make a motion to adjourn. Hold a second.

Bye. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thanks, Jonathan. You got it. See everyone in a couple weeks. Yes. Take care.

Bye.

Bye.