Developer outlines new site plan changes, board introduces new counsel
The village planning board last week continued its discussion of the Route 20 redevelopment proposal in Village Edge South with the introduction of a new board counsel and a presentation from the developer concerning changes to the proposed site plan. The board then voted unanimously to close the public hearing on the proposal.
The project, which is a mixed use proposal of commercial and residential buildings, anchored by an Aldi grocery store, has been a controversial topic in Cazenovia, especially after the Madison County Planning Department issued an overwhelmingly critical review of the plan earlier this month. That review concluded that the proposal was merely “a start” that is so developer-driven as to be nowhere near approvable. Mayor Kurt Wheeler fired back at the department with a letter calling their review inaccurate and biased against the project.
At the village planning board’s Oct. 24 meeting, Greg Widrick, a partner in the developing firm of Sphere Development LLC, said they have accepted some of the county planning department’s site plan revision recommendations from its GML report. Those changes include making road “D” more like a village street, changing the linear park pathway, adding more greenery to the overall plan and increasing the height of the wall that will cover the Aldi loading dock from 3 to 9 feet. County recommendations the developer has rejected included reducing the number of curb cuts along Route 20 and making the four separate residential apartment buildings into one continuous building.
“We tried to look at [the MCPD report] fairly, and anything we could change we would change,” Widrick said. “We’re looking forward to the next meeting to see what the next step is.”
The meeting continued with extensive public comments about the proposal and concluded with the board voting 5-0 to close the public hearing, although the board will still accept written input and incorporate into record, said planning board Chair Rich Huftalen.
The board will continue to deliberate on the proposal at its next meeting, which is scheduled to occur Monday, Nov. 14.
Also at the meeting, Huftalen introduced the board’s new counsel, Amy Kendall, from Rochester, who is taking over the Route 20 case from board attorney Jim Stokes. Stokes recused himself from the case recently to avoid any appearance of impropriety regarding an issue before the planning board about which Stokes had already advised the village board.
That matter concerns a letter the planning board received from the state Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) noting that the defunct Route 20 hotel property is eligible for listing on the historic registry. Such a listing, which would have to be requested by the landowner — in this case developer Dave Muraco, who is involved in the Route 20 redevelopment project — could constitute a potentially significant adverse environmental impact from the project. The SHPO letter arrived after the village board completed its determination that no major negative environmental impacts would result from the project.
The planning board, after advisement from its new counsel, made a formal request of the village board to consider the SHPPO letter and determine if they have the authority to reopen State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) process, then, if so, determine if the SHPPO letter constitutes a potentially significant adverse environmental impact.
Wheeler said the village board will review and reply to the planning board’s request, and the subject will be discussed at the board’s Nov. 7 regular monthly meeting.
