Site Plan Hearing

Last night our site plan went before the Town Planning Board for approval. Prior to tonight, a couple committees as well as the town engineer reviewed the plan and made comments. Those were then reviewed by the Board in an open forum. It was very interesting to witness this process, which took some time but was very exciting for us nonetheless. Overall the review of our plan was relatively uncomplicated, but there were a few notes requiring discussion:

• The fire district recommend a sprinkler system because of distance from road and lack of water source. After some discussion we decided this was unnecessary.
• Requirement of drainage easement means and bounds map because of stream on property
• Do we need a description of corridor or a detailed survey? 
• A detailed survey would be exceedingly difficult (and expensive and inaccurate) because it is a meandering creek
• Description would be good enough.
• The Conservation Board asked, "Will it be a modular house?" - and no one knows why.
• The Conservation Board also noted that the "sensitive areas" (farms, etc) listing was missing, while in fact it was included and for some reason they just overlooked it - and again no one knows why.
• Steep slopes need approximate labeling on the plan.
• Must edit note about visibility from driveway to agree with Dept. of Transportation assessment.

Besides all of that, the Board found no issue with our plan. So after our discussion they moved on to what was next on the agenda, and we had to wait until the end of the meeting to get our ruling. All in all:

• No futher environmental review
• Must make updates to comply with town engineer comments (need easement language, steep slope labeling, etc.)
• Must also comply with Monroe County Department of Planning & Development comments, when received

On those conditions, our application request is approved! So moving forward, we have to wait for our surveyor to make some updates, and for the Department of Health to approve our plan, and then we should be able to get our subsequent permits (driveway, building, etc) after all the necessary signatures. I fear that this may be a long process despite sounding relatively straightforward, especially considering the fact that it has taken months to even get to this point. Thankfully, we don't need another review at a Town Board meeting, which is welcome news since you have to wait one month from submission to actually be reviewed (i.e., our plan was actually submitted back in February, and wasn't on the agenda until now in March).

Overall, the meeting was very interesting, and it was very nice to meet the gentlemen who sit on the board. They were very friendly and welcoming, and actually seemed rather excited about our little project. In fact, one member of the board also has geothermal, and was very excited to tell us how great it is - and it turns out, his was also installed by Roth Green Energy! He is very happy with it, which is reassuring for us (not that we had any doubts). All in all, an encouraging and exciting meeting - we can't wait to get moving! But for right now, we still have to...

Updated budget:
+$125.00 - Rush Planning Board Site Plan Hearing Fee
+$300.00 - Monroe County Department of Health site plan review fee
+$50.00 - Monroe County Highway Department site plan review fee
+$3,265.00 - Balance to surveyor
TOTAL SPENT SO FAR: $36,328.29