Just how much power does a site plan review have in Queensbury?
That may be the key question to come before the Town of Queensbury Board as they consider whether to add a new definition of an “allowed use” to the town’s Rural Residential zoning code.
The code currently has no definition for a landscaping or tree service company, and a code proposed in December would define that term and would create an allowed use in RR zoning for a tree company to have an office and storage buildings and to complete equipment maintenance and temporarily store logs or wood chips.
Not allowed under the new code would be noisier processing such as chipping, grinding, and trimming.
[See our previous coverage here.]
A tree service company would have to receive a “special use permit” and go through a site plan review, according to the resolution proposing the change.
“If it’s allowable, it’s going to be allowed,” said resident Bob Bowman, one of three people arguing against the change during the town’s public hearing on the matter Monday night Jan. 11. He was skeptical that the planning board would be able to stop commercial entities from encroaching on residential neighborhoods. No residents spoke for the code change.
Part of Bowman's argument, along with that of Jane Mackintosh and Nora Buck, said tree service companies own large equipment, such as cranes and trucks. Their storage facilities are large, and the clear-cutting needed to create the driveway and building is not conducive to a neighborhood, even one with houses on plots three or more acres large. He also cited noise concerns along with hours of operations.
“You’re kicking the arguments down the road,” to the site plan process, Jane Mackintosh told the town board. “Is there a compelling need for the town to create a zoning allowable use for this particular kind of business in RR areas?” Move the use to commercially- or industrially-zoned spaces, she argued.
Strough explained during the meeting that RR designations can have residential uses, such as single family homes and children’s schools or camps, but current RR zoning also allows some industry and even a sawmill.
However, the process of approval can stop those property uses in neighborhoods, Strough said, “So it’s not an automatic that it would be allowed.”
Glens Falls attorney Mike O’Connor represents a client who wants to purchase 19 acres at 159 Sunnyside Road, the former location of the McDermott’s Harley Davidson dealership.
The current owner Robert Wing runs his company, Volt Landscaping, from that RR-zoned property.
O’Connor’s client owns a tree service company and the question is whether the new owner could continue to operate similarly to the current owner.
O’Connor said that some of the fears about traffic and hours of operation were dealt with as part of the old site plan and presumably would need to be part of the new.
Board member Bob Hafner agreed that the site plan review could keep industry from encroaching too much on neighborhoods.
“Even [Mike O’Connor’s] client would have to go through the approval,” Hafner said.
The proposal goes before the Queensbury Planning Board on Jan. 19 and comes back before the town board on Jan. 25. The public will be allowed to weigh in then.