BALDWINSVILLE — East Genesee Street, the center of the village of Baldwinsville, has seen numerous industries, businesses and homes come and go over the last two centuries. Baldwinsville Village Commons, LLC, the owner of 19-21 E. Genesee St., is looking to continue the plaza’s evolution by revamping the carport and ATM into another commercial building.
However, residents of Elizabeth Street shared their concerns about the proposed renovation at the March 23 Baldwinsville Planning Board meeting, held over Zoom.
Several homes on Elizabeth Street abut the property line with Village Commons. Adding more commercial business, the residents said, would exacerbate existing issues with light, noise, trash and suspicious activity.
Joseph Hucko, president of the real estate firm Washington St. Partners, delved into the details of the new Village Commons site plan. The plaza is currently home to Kinney Drugs, Empower Federal Credit Union and Riverside Fitness Center.
Proposed improvements include the addition of retail space, sidewalks, an outdoor seating area, removal or salvage of existing trees and landscaping, and fencing and screening to camouflage mechanical elements such as air conditioners, ventilation units and dumpsters.
Elizabeth Street resident Carl Pelcher said the planning board would be approving a nonconforming use for the space if Village Commons is allowed to build more retail space.
Village Attorney Jamie Sutphen disagreed with Pelcher’s reading of the code.
“What the code is not meant to do is to take a structure that is there and not allowing a use to go in,” she said.
Code Enforcement Officer Gregg Humphrey explained that it is the carport structure itself that is nonconforming, but the code allows for both the current and proposed uses.
“The nonconformity is its rear yard setback. The rear yard setback is zero because of the way the property was developed before our zoning code,” Humphrey said. “As that building exists, it’s allowed to continue to exist. The use as a parking canopy or garage is an allowed use — it’s a preexisting use as well — and the conversion of that into another allowed use for retail or office space is allowed under our code.”
Humphrey said Village Commons can alter structures within the existing footprint, but they cannot alter the footprint or cross the property line.
Hucko asked the Elizabeth Street residents why they are opposed to the Village Commons renovation.
“Why is what we’re proposing considered adverse to the community?” he said.
Pelcher said ATM traffic and snowplows already generate noise in the neighborhood.
“I have lights that shine in my house. The ATM, people drive up at 4 in the morning with their stereos blasting. The ATM is so loud you can hear the beeps inside my house,” he said.
Resident David Weaver said he was concerned about excessive lighting and sound as well.
“It’s adverse to us because we border 180 feet of that property and [would] have lights that are going to light up the entire side of our house,” he said. “We already have the noise pollution. It’s going to increase that and it’s going to be a mess.”
Carrie Weaver expressed aesthetic concerns and said the mechanical equipment on the roof of Riverside Fitness Center have not been camouflaged with fencing or screening, which would help with sound from HVAC mechanicals.
Hucko said Village Commons has improved the area by bringing businesses to a former industrial site.
“I remember you folks when we went through this many years ago and it was a factory when you bought that house, so I would argue that what we did would diminish whatever adverse effects that all the neighbors had,” Hucko said. “You abut a commercial district, which to me is an exciting thing because it means you’ve got activity going on there.”
Hucko acknowledged that the neighbors’ concerns — intrusive light and sound, unsightly mechanicals and trash — should be addressed.
Melinda Shimer, a veteran of both the Lysander Town Board and the Baldwinsville Village Board of Trustees, lives on Elizabeth Street. She complained about the accumulation of trash on the Village Commons property.
“Where there’s currently a heap of trash and disgusting broken fences, that’s currently your property? It’s been that way for a long time,” she said.
Hucko apologized for the mess and said it would be cleaned up.
The meeting became heated when an off-camera resident expressed his concerns about suspicious activity. In an outburst laced with profanity, he said he did not want a sidewalk behind the building to attract “creepy people” smoking marijuana and drinking.
“Please stop with the profanity. You may continue your thought, but please let us be civil,” Planning Board Chair Nate Collins said.
Planning board member John Tonello said the board has to balance residents’ concerns with the rights of property owners to improve their parcels according to the village code.
“I recognize the concerns of some of the neighbors, but at the same time I believe it’s the obligation of this board to adhere to the code as it’s written. There is an obligation of the village to provide fair use of privately owned property,” he said. “Some of the things you discuss are moving beyond the planning board and into the permitting process.”
The board asked Hucko to revise the site plan for the April meeting. The revision will include these additions:
- A new sidewalk from the north exit of Riverside Fitness to Virginia Street
- Maintaining the grassy area north of the fitness center (with removal of the gate/fence on Virginia Street)
- A new fence behind the garage/carport to shield residential neighbors from HVAC/commercial activity
- Screening of mechanicals
This revision removes a proposed sidewalk on the north side of Riverside Fitness and walkway lighting there as well as a retaining wall along the Riverside-Virginia sidewalk.
The Baldwinsville Planning Board next meets at 7 p.m. April 27. The meeting will be livestreamed on the Village of Baldwinsville Code Enforcement Facebook page. Residents who would like to attend may email Code Enforcement Officer Gregg Humphrey at [email protected] for the Zoom link.
