Planning Board - Regular Meeting

perfect. Okay. Okay, folks. Welcome tonight to Townam Mount Pleasant Planner board meeting regular schedule for November 17, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. Before I start, you may notice a new board member has joined the board, Steve Schwan. um he comes with a bunch of experience in in all sorts of industries and um he we look forward to working with over the next how many years he's he's on the board. So welcome. Okay, business items. First up, acceptance of minutes drafted from the 1106 2025 planner board meeting. These those are minutes that were drafted and we are we have reviewed them and we're going to make a decision whether or not they are good or not for acceptance. Any questions or comments on on the minutes from 116 2025? Let the record show there is no no comments from the board. Um, what is the pleasure of the board with the minutes from 116 2025?

I'll make a motion to accept the minutes from 116 2025. Motion by Jane. Second. Second from Walter. Walter. I. Jane. Hi. Um, Eileene. I. Jiddy. Hi. and Steve. Hi.

And an I from me. Okay. Continuing applications proposed 15 chestnut placeville installation of retaining walls to make rear rear rear yard more usable for recreation install. Installation of a greenhouse application. Steep slope SS25-08. Location 15 Chestnut Street. Section block. Lot number is 106.13-3-80. Zone R10. owner and applicant John Marzac engineer hill the brand engineer and PL PLLC and just folks this is a continuing application which means we have heard them um and uh once before I think it was once before right yes

um and now they're going to continue to to demonstrate what they're going to do with the site do we have a stand okay that's okay

so I mean I can hold it um I'm Brian Hildenbrand, the engineer for the project. Um, not much has changed on the plan since you've seen it last. Um, since we were last in front of you, um, we met with the building inspector to discuss the need for variances. Um, it was decided that if we modified the fence location to be off of the retaining wall, he determined that a variance is not needed. Um so with that being uh confirmed and then address um having the town engineer sign off on his comments were here tonight to um advance to the public hearing.

So just for clarification so those who are here tonight or watching they came before us so there were some comments about do we need a variance or or not. The building inspector did make the decision that there was not a need for a variance. So, as a result of that, he's back before us and he's reviewing where he is at this point. So, uh, with that being said, any questions or comments from the board members? One question. Since the fence is not on top of the wall, is it in front of it now or behind it? It sits uh behind the wall into the property. And what's the height of that this fence now?

Um, it's a Um, believe it's a 4 foot fence around the the back on top of the wall. The top of the wall. Yes. So, what's the total height with the wall? 10 ft. Any question? We don't need 10 ft.

Well, that it's we had a wall the wall six feet and then originally we had the fence on top of the wall for 10 ft. Now we're offsetting pushing the fence inside the property to stagger it. And that was what we discussed with the building inspector who determined it. So it's not going on top. I'm No, it's building up, but it's not ver it's not vertical. It's not on top of the wall. It's on in the yard. Okay. And what's the separation distance between the wall and the fence? It's just 6 in minimum from the 6 in avoided the need for a variance. Correct. Okay.

And can you refresh my memory? Your backyard neighbor there they're going to be looking at the sixoot wall. They are. Yeah. The house is um in this area. There is some vegetation in between existing. Um but the idea was to clean up the dying trees, install the the wall and have the fence above and um our my client has been in contact with them um with some positive feedback, but you know they'll be noticed certainly noticed as for the public hearing. Okay.

Okay. Any additional questions? Are you screening that um retaining wall at all on the neighbor side when that's their property? That's their No. Um the this the dark line is the property line. So we're going up um with the wall. Right on. And you're welcome to plant any greenery or anything in the neighbors. They're going to look at the wall. Yes. What is the wall architecturally made of? Uh this is um like a prefabbed um Unolock. Unlock. Yeah. Like Unilock. Yes. Yeah. Okay.

And then so and so the house is here. There's a I didn't print it out, but it shows the relationship of this to the neighbors. The wall near the neighbors. It starts at zero and goes up two to three. Right here it's um four feet. and then it gets taller as it gets to the corner. So, do we do we have a view of what it's going to look like from the neighbor's property? I mean, can you and if we we do move toward a public hearing, how do we explain that to the public that there's going to be a wall there and what they're going to look at? Um,

is there a way to do that? I could do a cross-section um that shows their property and then the applicant's property and how the elevations relate to each other. Yeah, I don't think it's going to be a big sticking point, but I think it's just something we should be prepared to do in case someone needs to see it. And it does kind of if it's it doesn't sound like it's a lot of effort from your part, does it? That's No, I don't know how sometimes it's useful, sometimes it creates more questions, but if it's useful That's good, though. That's good. more questions because um we want to vet out the questions before the application's approved versus after. Brian, can you clarify? Your detail shows a rubble stone masonary wall.

Yes, there's two types of walls. Um the smaller one on the interior of the property is the uh uh stone masonry wall because and then the larger wall it's more, you know, it would be the manufactured block. So, the neighbor will see the manufactured one. Yeah.

Okay. Any additional questions or comments? Okay. Let the record show there's no additional comments or questions from board members. Okay. So, we from town staff, we've seen comments from the town engineer that we are in good shape. I don't think there's anything else for us to do other than make a decision as a board. Do we or do we not think this is ready for public hearing? That's a that's a board decision. Any any any comments, questions, or a motion? Make a motion to schedule the public hearing. Motion from Eileen. Second. Second from JD. Walter. I. Jane. Eileen. I.

JD. Hi. And Steve. Hi. Okay. You too, Mr. Chair. Oh yes, me too. Uh I for me. Thank you. I rely on people on life. Okay, so that's it. Okay, that's it. You're good to go. Thank you very much. Thank you. Have a good night. Thank you.

Okay, so what's different between this last application, this application is this is a brand new application. We have not heard this application to new application. So it's proposed 18 H hall place accessory apartment transfer to new owner application PAA-25-2 accessory apartment location 18y place Valhalla section block number is 113.13-1-17 zone R40 owner 18 Hollyy LLC applicant is Joseph Melli engineer architect is Escaladis Associates the owner That's actually the old owners LLC. That's not mine.

Oh, okay. So, come on up to the mic and just we'll go through just for the record say who you are and all that. Uh, I'm uh Joe Melli. You're you're Jose. You're you're the applicant. Okay. Yes. And and the owner of the property. Right. Okay. So, 18y LLC is no longer applicable. You just correct. Just your name, right? Okay. We'll have Caroline make that update. And the engineer architect is the same. Yes, that's my architect. Okay. Okay, we'll make amends on that. No. Um, okay. So, let's let's go through what you're going to be doing. So, basically, everything's staying the same. Um, I don't know what you need to see, but

Well, just walk us through. We don't need to see anything. Maybe just walk us through what you're doing first. Sure. So, basically, I bought a single family house with an accessory apartment uh purposely to help offset some of the taxes and whatnot. Yeah. and everything's staying the same. Uh we just changed doors, did new floors, painted, cleaned up the place, and we're just looking to reenter it. So, you're doing the size of the apartment stays the same. Everything's staying the same. The Everything is essentially the same exact apartment. You just did some cosmetic work on it up. Yep. Okay. Um Pat,

originally approved in 1983, I think, as an accessory apartment. And again, new owner requires them to revisit you to confirm nothing's changed. Everything complies with the exception of the lot area, which is a pre-existing condition. It's slightly under the 40,000. Yeah, write that. Yeah. But everything else complies. No issues at all. We can go to public hearing. Okay. Let me just ask the board really quick as a form. Does this require a public hearing? Um, so we always do public hearings on accessory appointments. It's not necessary even when it's just a change of owner. So it's not a code requirement. However, it's been your custom practice.

Yeah, it's my only comment is it's a little bit of a slippery slope if we do it for some and not for others. Certainly for every new accessory apartment, you've always had a couple. That makes you know that makes sense. [clears throat] I think you have discretion. Overkill. It probably is overkill, but we for consistency for consistency, we should probably be consistent because somebody may have a problem if we did one for one and not for the other, you know. So, but that's just my take. So, let's see what the pleasure of the board is on that. Uh, nothing else from you, right? Uh, that's pretty much it. You're good. The building inspector has not inspected it yet.

The building inspector was there. He hasn't had time to write up the report, but he's he's indicated to us that it looks that it's there no code issues. Okay. So, you'll have a written memo tomorrow. Uh Wednesday, actually. Wednesday. Okay. As long as we have it before the public hearing, we'll be fine. Yep. So, any final questions or comments, board members? Okay. So, we can do one of two things or three things. One of them is make a motion to schedule a public hearing or not schedule public hearing. Um, what is the pleasure of the board? I'll make a motion that we schedule a public hearing. Motion from Jane. Do we have a second?

A second. Second from Eileen. Walter. I. Jane. Hi. Eileen. I. Judy. I. Steve. I. And an I for me. You're good to go. That was easier than than you thought, right? Oh, thank you very much. I appreciate that. So, so we don't need to do a public hearing, you said. No, we we will do a public hearing. Oh, we are. Okay. Just just for dotting the eyes and crossing the tees and making sure we're consistent with other applications that have been similar. Okay. So, we want to make sure that we have that consistency, you know, through each of them. So, but I don't think you're going to have a problem. Sounds good. Thank you. Have a great night.

Okay. Okay. Next up is also a new application. This is 16 Skyline Drive. Change of use warehouse office to pick a ball and paddle ball business application PSP 2510. Location 16 Skyline Drive, Hawthorne, section block. Lot number is 116.11-13-.1. Oh my goodness. Zone OB6. Z owner is RMD14-16 Skyline Drive LLC. Applicant is Damian Finley. Engineer architect is AL engineering or AI engineering. Is it AL or AI? It's AI.

AI engineering. Dolph engineering division. Thank you very much for coming out tonight. And let's just go through who you are and why you're here tonight. Mr. Chairman, it's not paddle ball. It's Pel. It's Pel. [laughter] I just assumed it was learned what Pedell is. Oh, I assumed it was paddle ball. I learn something new every day. [laughter] Okay. All right.

Uh, good evening, chairman, members of the board. My name is Diana Kv and I'm with the firm of Delbello, Denellan, Wingard, Wise, and Whitaker. Um, and I'm also here tonight, so I'm I'm here on behalf of the applicant, which is actually the owner RMD 1416 Skyline, but Damen Finley is um representative of RMC Development, and we also have um the proposed operator, Kevin K, of Crosscourt Pickle Ball. So, um, as you may recall, and I know that there are a few new members on the board, but this was, um, uh, this, um, project was previously approved in June of 2023 for two warehouse, one-story warehouse buildings, 14 Skyline Drive, 34,600 ft², and 16 Skyline Drive, 36,3 approximately 360 ft. So, um, both buildings are now, um, completed. Building 14 is fully completed and operational. Um, and it's currently occupied for warehouse purposes uh with accessory office space. Um, and it's being used by a regional HVAC distributor. Um, building 16 is essentially completed. Um, the shell is up and the slab has been um poured. So, this this is from a previous um application and essentially looks exactly the same um as it was originally um proposed. Also, the 109 parking spaces that were called for in the site plan have been constructed and striped. Um, so so RMC was approached by potential tenant um and would like to use building 16 instead of warehouse. Um, would like to use it for indoor pickle ball and as a pedel and podell facility. So um, no changes proposed to the site.

You have to explain it D.

Yes, we will. We'll we'll explain it. Um so no uh no changes proposed to the site um or to the exterior of the building. It is solely a change from one permitted use to another. Um and I believe that the reason that we are here is because in the site plan application itself and the site plan approval it was contemplated as to as a warehouse and so now we're changing it to an indoor recreation facility. Um so the proposal is for six pickle ball courts and four podell courts. Um and we did submit application materials for your consideration. We also submitted um a um a memo um on November 6th that provided some additional information. Um you know we supplemented that those original materials. Um so it had information about the interior layout, the anticipated occupancy um and the hours of operation. Um and you know we'll and we'll you know we'll answer any questions that you might have about that. Um, we also talked about, you know, how we're anticipating that it the impacts of this use would be much less than a warehouse. You know, obviously no truck traffic um and um and less usage actually of sewer. Um so, um you know, we believe that our memorandum did address most of the comments that were um raised. We also received Mr. Clary's memo and um we believe that our u memo does address most of that. But again, we're here and can answer any questions. Um, but we do we do address parking demand um which is estimated to be about um 60 parking spaces um at most and we talk about how we're there is sufficient parking on the site um and how we do comply we believe with the off- streetet parking requirements. Um and we also agree that this is a type two action under SRA and so that no further environmental review is required. Um, so if if you don't have any questions at the moment, I can turn

it over to um to Kevin Kay um who can introduce himself and tell you more about the actual use. And just one quick question. Are there any and I read the material, but just for the public here or anybody who's watching, are there any uh zoning changes that are needed for this? So no the way that we understand that no uh indoor we understand that the building inspector has concluded that indoor recreational facility is a permitted use in the OB6 zone. Okay. Um and so and again and our interpretation of the off- streetet parking is that it is that we do satisfy the off street parking

and the reason why I'm asking is because it is a change of use and and in case anybody's watching has some nothing else to do tonight. they want to make sure that they understand that because that may be a question at some point in the future when the public hearing does happen. So, thank you. Okay, go ahead.

Good evening everybody. Happy to be here. Thank you so much for allowing us this opportunity to explain to you what padell is. It's a [laughter] it's a it's a unique word and most people will say paddle which can get confused with the current sport platform tennis which many people call paddle. Um which is primarily an outdoor sport um and it's an enclosed cage area that's played on a hard court with a hard rubber ball and a hard paddle a very heavy paddle. Padell um has its origins in Spain and and now is becoming very popular uh here and in Central America is sort of making its way up and of course via Florida which is where pickle ball sort of exploded in this country. Um, and what padell is is is very similar to platform tennis or paddle. Uh, except it's played with in an enclosed primarily glass um, uh, enclosure. Um, and it does have a net. Uh, you play back and forth like paddle, but you're playing off the walls. Um, there's no real out of bounds unless you hit it against the wall first. Uh it's played with a lighter paddle, lighter racket, as well as a sort of a deflated or slightly less um active tennis ball. Um so it's a lot easier to play in many respects because of its uh light um light ball and light paddle. Um so we're excited to bring that, but we're also excited to expand um into the pickle ball and doing doing some additional pickle ball courts. I have an existing facility that uh has been doing quite well. First in Westchester, indoor dedicated pickle ball courts. Um we uh desperately need uh some additional space for that. Um so we think this is going to be a fantastic venture for us. Uh the space is beautiful. Uh would be perfect, lend itself perfectly to what we'd like to

do. Um nice high ceilings which is critical for an activity like this. Um, and we're here to answer whatever questions that you might have. Does this space have any additional facilities like u locker rooms and things like that? Um, lounge rooms or anything like that? Just or is it just just the courts?

We are not planning any locker rooms. There'll be restrooms like anything else. Uh, but uh we're not expecting people to have locker space or or keep their gear there and anything like that. Minimal minimal restroom. And one qu one last question just because of the nature of of the of the business any any thought about any kind of medical issues like you know defibrillator um those type of things that are going to be in that facility. Here's what I'm trying to think but like I want to make sure we minimize where we can the impact to our local ambulance. So, do we have any kind of thought or questions or thoughts around that, which if you don't have the answer to that now, maybe you could think about that, but we do have a a volunteer fire department and that's very limited because they're volunteers. So, if we can solve problems faster on site versus calling an ambulance, that would be a good thing to think about.

Well, first of all, you mentioned an AED fibrillator. Um, that would be mandatory. We have that in all of parks facilities. So, absolutely. Um, and I don't want to jinx myself, but we haven't really had much need for that in our our other facilities. So, um, I'm hoping that that will continue. Me, too.

Um, most of of any kind of, uh, injuries that you see, uh, somebody trips and falls. Um, they may sprain or break a wrist or something like that, and that's primarily because, uh, you know, they're they're they're running for something or whatever. And it does happen. It's not frequent. usually treated with an ice pack on site. Um, and they take care of themselves if they need to see or seek medical attention.

Yeah. I just want to make sure that if we move this application, we just it's not a big deal, but we I just know the these volunteer fire departments and and ambulance departments, they they just are just stretched thin even for the littlest things. So, if we can minimize those by putting that stuff on site, I would like to see more them a little bit more detailed. you know, if we do have a public hearing, just document what we're going to do. Just again, dotting the eyes and crossing the tees. Okay. Any other questions or comments or board members? Um, I know it's a very social sport. Are you going to have any lounge areas, any food service? And

we will have a social area um lounge, if you will. Um, it's uh right at the at the entrance. Uh, we're not expecting uh to to accommodate lots of spectators. Um, our current facilities don't allow for that really or permit for that. Um, I don't think it's necessary. Um, it is a social sport and people will potentially um, stick around and and socialize a little bit, but for the most part they come, they play, they chat a little bit and then they're out and and the new groups would come in and play. Um, as far as uh food, we're not expecting or anticipating any um venture into like a a food establishment. We're not going to be providing any kind of prepared foods on site or anything like that.

How many courts are six pickle ball and four pedal? Six and four. Okay. See, regarding play oneonone or you can play two on two. You can play it's usually It's it can be oneon-one. It can also be four on four. It it's mixed. Pickle ball is almost always for two on two. So I mean at the max we're talking 30 people. Yeah. 30 to to 50 people or so is what you're expecting in terms of at peak time in terms of players.

I have a question regarding traffic. Pat, the init initial application and the resolution that became before the board that we signed off on required a traffic light at Skyline and 9A. Yeah. Uh that traffic light has not been installed to date. So where where does that stand in terms of this application now? So you

um yes, we can we can provide an update. So my understanding um is that the footings have been poured and that the actual light will be hung in you think in the next few weeks or what has right. So we couldn't receat correct. Okay.

Okay. Any other questions or comments from board members. So from a town staff perspective, I think we're fairly good shape. We have an opportunity to meet the applicant at some length. Um Sal is very con confident that this falls into our indoor recreational facility. We have several other similar facilities in industrial locations in the town. So, it's consistent. It's just a different type of facility. No, understood. Yeah. So, we're all good. No zoning issues. And again, there was essentially using the same footprint of the warehouse that was originally approved. The one thing, Diane, I don't know if you noticed, there were loading docks that were associated with this building. Yes. What's going to happen?

Yes. So, the the loading dock is going to continue to be used not for truck loading, but for um you know, for maintenance, and I don't know if you want to speak to that, but um but I think that's that's going to help with any maintenance, any any interior construction. Um do you want to Yeah. So the the loading docks will be beneficial especially in our initial buildout because the pedel courts uh are we have heavy glass panels that need need to be moved in and out and from time to time those need to be replaced etc etc. So it's very beneficial to have those loading docks. So we'd like to keep them and I think you also mentioned like maybe any cleaning or anything else that might

Yeah. equipment court cleaning sweepers and stuff like that we we'd like to have the access. It's a lot easier to do it as well. This is the first time I'm hearing about Padell. It sounds like um pickle ball courts are packed and that Padell courts are expensive. Do you have reason to believe that people are interested in that here or where are they playing it that you know that you're investing that much in that? Do you It's just public education telling us about it because I've not heard of anyone playing that game.

Well, we're definitely ahead of the curve. We'll be like pickle ball when we When we first opened up our first pickle ball, uh it it was first in the county and everybody said, "Well, I mean, I can play in the park." Well, you can, but it's not regulated. It's not police, it's not administrated. Um and um we can you can play at any time regardless of the weather indoor. So, indoor sports and recreation is sort of my my wheelhouse. That's what I do.

Um and I'm confident that there's enough people who are in the sports, both sports are growing. Um pickle ball for sure is growing and it's very very social. It's a it's a great sport for young and old to play together. So that part of it is I'm not concerned about. Um people will come especially to a nicely properly run facility. Padell is also up and coming. Um the closest facilities you either have to go to Norwok or you have to go to Brooklyn or into New Jersey. So

the the the market is wide open here. um will be a very very unique location because of the ceiling height uh the ease of the access um I'm pretty confident we're going to attract many many people who play play the sport they go to Brooklyn or they go to okay Stanford just saw this play pickle ball last night 25 guys of course were packed before we got there all throughout the night we We're all It's an older demographic. Who you calling old? [laughter] Nobody's old. They're all bad here. [snorts]

So, if if the board does decide to move toward a public hearing, and that's up to the board. The two things that we've talked about already, but we just want to make sure we document them. I want to make sure we document where we are with the light as of as of as of now or when we closer to the public hearing. Make sure we document like it's the the the footings are getting whatever blah blah blah. So we have that as a document somewhere. The second thing I think we should make sure we cover is what I brought up which is about making sure dot in the eyes across the tees. We want to mitigate the impact to the to the ambulance department. So you have all those all those uh tools tools in place to help people who need to be helped if there's a medical about safety measures and

then you have to do it anyway. But we want we just want to say it here. Okay. You know what I mean? So if anybody has any questions about it, we have that documented that there would be some level of first response, first level medical response, but then which would then miticate anything to the halter or thorwood fire am. I mean we we don't have any reason to believe that this activity would cause more injuries than like other type of you know even if it was a warehouse activity but we we'll we'll we'll document for purposes if you're doing it. Let's just dot the eyes across the te's. Yep. Okay. Anything else? Would this be a 7 day a week operation and what would the hours per day be?

Right. So, um you you can talk about that.

Sure. Um we expect to be open seven days a week. Um it's primarily um say most people will start around 8:00. Have some early birds that want to play, but it's not a lot of people. Um for pickle ball, uh pickle ball peak hours are probably first part of the day, middle of the day is probably a little bit slower. Um and then it picks up again in the evening. Uh and then weekends. Uh pedel is uh slightly different. Uh it's mostly that you might have a couple of early morning people, but it's mostly played in the evenings and on weekends. Um, but we expect to be probably most of the time we'll be done by 10 o'clock. Right.

So, you figure you're going to open at 6:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. Probably probably seven. Seven, right? Yeah. We'll probably start at seven. Okay. Let's Let's be a little more concrete than probably. Can we Well, I think what we've what we've submitted in our memo was 7 to 10 p.m. 7 days a week. Yeah. Um that's and that's what I think that's what we're asking for. Planning boards don't like probably. They're like concrete. Yes, I understand. That's that's what we're asking for for the hours of operation. Okay. Yes. All right. One more time. Any questions or comments for board members?

Okay. So, we have an active new application. Looks like they've demonstrated what they need to demonstrate from the town staff as well as I just point out you don't have comments from Dave Smith. I don't think there are any engineering comments, but I think you can schedule public hearing. Yep. Pending his comments. Yep. So, what is the pleasure of the board? Make a motion to schedule a public hearing. Pending pending m comments. Pending days comments. Okay. Motion from GD. Second. Second from Walter. Walt. Hi, Walter. Jane, hi Eileen. Hi, JD. Hi, Steve. Hi. And an eye for me. Okay. Well, and I learned something new tonight.

All right. Well, thank you very much. And um just to for clarification, are you um if everything goes well at the public hearing? Is that the stage at which you would then ask for a resolution to be drafted or Yeah. Once you successfully go through the through the uh public hearing and there's not bunch of comments that make us rethink the application. Mhm. Then you get to the point where we we ask the consultant to draft the resolution. Then they then they come back then you come back or the the consultant will be ready with that resolution. Then we make the motion on that. Thank you. So appreciate it. Thank you very much. Okay. Motion to close the meeting. To make a motion to close the meeting. Motion from Jane.

Second. Second from Walter. Walter. Hi. Jane. Hi. Alen. Hi. JD. Hi. Steve. Hi. And I from motion to close the meeting. Steve, you you can click the button.