[Editor’s note: The headline for the July 17 print edition of this story is incorrect. The Van Buren Zoning and Planning Board voted July 9 to send the Seneca Neighborhood Planned Unit Development back to the town board to amend the PUD. The town board has not yet voted on this amendment. We apologize for the error.]
By Ashley M. Casey
Associate Editor
The plans for the proposed development of the Seneca Golf Club continue to evolve. The Van Buren Zoning and Planning Board voted July 9 to send the matter back to the town board to amend the Seneca Neighborhood Planned Unit Development.
Brolex Properties acquired the golf course, located at 7360 State Fair Boulevard, with the intent of building 172 homes, including 72 attached “zero lot-line” homes, 16 “premiere” lots and 84 traditional lots. This proposal is considerably different from the last iteration of the plans, which showed 193 total homes.
Now that Brolex has tweaked its plans once again, the town board will need to amend the PUD, which it approved June 18. Van Buren Code Enforcement Officer Dave Pringle said the town board erred in accepting the developer’s map with the PUD resolution.
“He would have to have a public hearing every time he wanted to make a change,” Pringle said.
Brandon Jacobson, of Brolex Properties, said Brolex is no longer working with Ryan Homes and will build the houses itself. He said this would allow for more green space and different configurations of lots with better pricing for homebuyers.
“This was a project we wanted to do ourselves. The Baldwinsville school district is an attraction,” Jacobson said. “The best thing for us is to move the lots to homeowners and not sit on them and get a high price point.”
Jacobson said the duplex or zero lot-line homes will start at around $250,000, and detached homes will start in the low $300,000s.
Residents oppose storage facility
The July 9 ZPB meeting also included a public hearing on a proposed self-storage facility on State Fair Boulevard.
Doug Henry is seeking a special use permit to build seven self-storage buildings. The town board voted June 18 to add indoor storage as an allowable use in BRB zones, a transitional zoning classification between business and residential.
Henry owns a storage facility in Warners.
Several residents voiced their concerns about Henry’s proposal.
“I have a beautiful setting. I don’t want to look at metal containers,” said Donna Branch, who lives on State Fair Boulevard.
Branch said she is concerned about her property value degrading. She also asked if Henry plans to clear all the trees from the property, but ZPB member James Bowes said Henry’s plan did not show which trees would stay or go.
Several people said they were concerned about the effect of traffic on Route 48. Cheryl Ratliff, who lives on Mann Drive, said there are several businesses, trailer parks and other residences in the immediate area.
“We already have all that congestion trying to get in and out onto the main route itself,” she said.
Dave Sheridan, also of Mann Drive, agreed that it would exacerbate traffic.
“I really don’t want another commercial business to go in,” he said.
“That right there is a racetrack as it is,” said Larry Clark, who owns a commercial property nearby.
Another Mann Drive resident, Amy Serzanin, said her property borders the site and she is concerned about aesthetics, property values, drainage and wildlife.
“It’s a wooded area. There’s a lot of wildlife in that area. This morning I had a coyote sitting at the end of the fence,” she said.
Henry said drainage would likely be a bigger problem for him than for other residents.
“This piece of property is lower than every other property in this area, so I’ll have to deal with my water and everybody else’s,” he said.
Serzanin added that she has safety concerns about people coming and going at the storage facility.
Henry said his storage facility in Warners draws fewer than 10 vehicles a day. He said people can only enter the property with a security code they get when they rent a storage unit.
As for residents’ other concerns, Henry said he does not intend to clear trees all the way to the property line and believes trees act as a natural fence.
“It’s my belief that fences stop vehicles, not people. People can climb over fences,” he said. “What stops people is security cameras, and I will have a lot of them.”
In addition to neighbors’ protests, the zoning and planning board had reservations about the proposal. ZPB Chair Tony Geiss said the town requires a minimum 50-foot setback and he would like to see a 20 to 25-foot buffer as well.
“75 all the way around leaves me with no real estate,” Henry said.
Henry will revise his proposal for the ZPB. While the public hearing is closed, the board decided it will accept written comments about the proposal until July 23.
