(Credit: Courtesy Kickstart Cafe via Schuylerville
(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2022)
(Credit: Steve Thurston 2022)
A sketch plan for a coffee shop at 33 Ferry St. in Schuylerville is expected to undergo examination at the next Village of Schuylerville Planning Board meeting, scheduled for later this month. Planning Boards in the area generally allow an applicant to step forward with a sketch plan once or twice before officially submitting a full application. Also, a parking lot repaving at 22 Church St. may be on the agenda as well.
The owners of what will be Kickstart Cafe on Ferry Street are Raymond Newberry and Jamie Rock, according to a document presented to the village.
In the submitted document, the two write that they have long had the idea for a venue where vintage motorcycle enthusiasts could gather, trade information or find friends to ride with. That plan grew as Rock became an accomplished barista, and the duo created and ran the popular 518 Motorcycles Instagram and Facebook pages, the document said. The Facebook page has 3,700 members, and 1,611 accounts follow their Instagram.
“Coffee and Motorcycles shared so many fundamental values; everyone has their own personal taste, and to perfect a great latte takes skill and dedication, just like building that 70's chopper. ‘Kickstart Cafe isn't just coffee, it's a lifestyle’," they wrote. Kickstart refers to the days before electric starters on motorcycles.
Their chosen location at 33 Ferry St. sits inside the city’s newly-zoned Historic Main Street District. This means it will get more scrutiny than other locations might. The space is a former liquor store, and changing the use of the space from retail to restaurant will likely be considered.
The dirt parking lot on Walnut Lane is a slightly different matter.
It has been a point of contention between planning board member Leona Colvin and the Chair Bob Foster.
Foster maintains that the parking lot on private property already exists and therefore a repaving, so long owner Nelson Soracco installs stormwater catch basins, is not the purview of the planning board to consider.
In emails between the two, released to FoothillsBusinessDaily.com, Colvin counters that under city code the project must go before the planning board because it is commercial property.
Village attorney David Klingebiel believes this, too.
In an email responding to Colvin, he wrote: “You have asked me whether converting a dirt parking lot to a paved parking lot and installing a dry-well at an approximate 12-unit apartment building is subject to Planning Board jurisdiction and site plan review. My response is that it is, pursuant to Section 134 of the Schuylerville Village Code…Site plan review is required for ‘All land use activities for commercial, business,…..multifamily…’, and I do not believe that any of the exemptions set forth in 134-3.C.(3) apply.”
In the interview, Foster said: "I don't agree with the village attorney in that particular case." He said he believes the code enforcer and the newly-forming Zoning Board of Appeals could handle any issues.
Even there, Klingebiel, who has not seen the full project and was not privy to any particular details, was wary.
“What’s the code enforcer going to enforce?” he asked. Generally the enforcer compares a property to an approved plan, he said. Without a plan for reference, the code enforcer, “He’s got no guidance.”
Klingebiel added: “The ZBA is not a board of first impression.” That is, the plan goes first to the planning board and then, if there are questions with enforcement of zoning code, it goes to the ZBA.
Foster said in an email to Colvin and during the interview, he would add the item to the board’s agenda if a majority of board members want it.
“I trust that the board will move in the correct direction that protects the village,” Mayor Dan Carpenter said. “I know that there’s votes to get it on the agenda.”
A man who answered Soracco’s telephone said they were still looking for contractors and had not been told to go to a planning board meeting yet. In an email to the village, he asked for guidance.
The meeting had been scheduled for Monday June 20, but that is Juneteenth, a federal holiday.