Public hearing remains open until the Oct. 10 planning board meeting
The proposal to build an Aldi in the Village Edge South development district off Route 20 continues to work its way through the site plan review process before the village planning board. The board has held meetings most recently on Aug. 8 and Sept. 12, as well as a special work session on Aug. 23. The public hearing on the site plan review, special use permit and architectural review remains open until the board’s next scheduled meeting, at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 10, in the village office, at which time it may be closed and the board could even take a vote on whether to accept or reject the Aldi proposal.
Over the past two months, members of the planning board have made numerous requests for clarification and site plan changes from the developer, including major items such as drainage and sewage, amount of parking, amount of green space and whether or not Route 20 is considered a “village street” and Aldi can therefore “front” on it or should face another direction. Overall, the disagreements and discussions have centered mainly on whether the proposal aligns with the village’s VES design guidelines.
According to planning board minutes and documents, as well as statements by Greg Widrick, a partner in the developing firm of Sphere Development LLC, the developer has recently agreed to multiple changes in the site plan, including:
∙Looping the water and sewer system provided they can get easement.
∙Addition of several new sidewalks and pathways.
∙Removal of approximately nine parking spots between the proposed pharmacy and Route 20
∙Repositioning of proposed building “retail 3” to abut village street C with parking on the opposite side.
∙Addition of directional signage to the link trail.
∙Removal of the previously proposed traffic circle in the street plan.
During the planning board’s Aug. 23 work session, professional planner Dan Kwasnowski, who developed and authored the village’s VES design guidelines, was consulted via conference call to offer his opinion on the disagreements over certain interpretations of the design guidelines. He said, in essence, the guidelines can never be “perfectly implemented” but are a foundation on which to give developers the vision of the community. The guidelines leave room for developers to be creative to solve problems and address issues as they come up in the planning process. He offered multiple suggested revisions to the developer’s proposal.
In a Sept. 9 letter to the planning board, Kwasnowski said the developer had “made significant progress toward meeting the intent and specific requirements of the design guidelines with its recent revisions.
Mayor Kurt Wheeler, originator and chair of the Economic Health and Heritage Committee, and the person most directly involved in the final editing of the VES zoning guidelines, reiterated those statements at the Sept. 12 meeting and in a letter to the planning board on Sept. 22.
At the conclusion of the Sept. 12 meeting, the planning board voted unanimously to consult further with their board attorney and to continue evaluating the comments and reports submitted to the board, and to hold the public hearing on the proposal — which includes site plan review, special use permit and architectural review — to the board’s next meeting on Oct. 10.
