Grafton Planning Board Action – Horseback Riding In Grafton

by Kieron Kramer
At the Grafton Planning Board meeting on Monday, March 19, a site plan was filed by Richard Lundy for the Board to review. Lundy wants to start a horseback riding business on Kautz Hollow Road. He said there will be a one mile riding trail loop over 135 acres. Most of his property, including his house, is in Pittstown, but the barn, from which the horseback riding business will be run and where the horses are stabled, is in Grafton. Withcuskey said he would contact Pittstown to apprise them of the site plan review and that Grafton will be the lead agency in the review. No problems are expected.
[private]Lundy had presented Withcuskey with a plot map showing signage, parking and other siting issues earlier Monday before the meeting so he could be on the agenda this month. Lundy wants to get the project running in May, and Withcuskey obliged by speeding up the process. Lundy presented a check to the Planning Board for his application fee at the meeting, and the Board accepted his application in a 4-0 vote. Withcuskey said after the meeting that this was good for the Town because it will provide residents and visitors with another outdoor activity to enjoy in Grafton.
Public Hearings
Two public hearings were held before Monday’s regular monthly meeting.
The first hearing, at 6:30 pm, was on the 2 lot subdivision application of James Wagar. Wagar wants to subdivide his property that straddles Owen Road into a parcel of approximately 1.25 acres and one of approximately 15 acres. The small parcel is a triangular piece lying between Owen Road and Simon Road. Wager had lived on this parcel. His house was damaged by fire, and he now wants to sell the parcel with the damaged structure and build a new house on the 15 acre parcel. The public hearing was closed at 6:44 without any comments made by the public.
The second public hearing began right away at 6:45. This hearing related to the 2 lot subdivision application from Planning Board Member Scott Newell, which is technically a lot line adjustment. Newell had already subdivided his property on Pondview Road in 2010. Now he wants to extend one of the lot lines so that the lot will include a garage that already exists. There were no questions or comments from the public regarding this application, and the hearing was closed at 6:59. A this point Newell, who had been seated in the audience to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, took his seat on the dais with the other Planning Board members.
During the regular meeting both these subdivision applications were approved by the Board in a 3-0 vote with Newell abstaining from both votes and with Board Member Arthur Surprise absent. Planning Board Chairman Tom Withcuskey had reviewed the short Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and issued a negative declaration for both subdivisions. A negative declaration means that there is no significant environmental impact; that’s good. (Does anybody besides George Orwell know why government jargon is so misleading?)
The approval of both subdivisions was contingent upon some easily resolved issues. In Wagar’s case a maintenance easement for the road, extending 15 feet on each side of the center line, needs to be written by Town Attorney Sal Ferlazzo and signed by Wagar. Normally the Town would like to have an easement that extends 25 feet on each side of the road’s center line, but this roadway is too narrow. The Wagar subdivision is also contingent on the completion of the survey map, presumably to include the easement. In Newell’s case his subdivision map in 2010 was accidently filed as a three lot subdivision so his approval is contingent on “the filing of a corrective map to alleviate the problem,” Withcuskey said.
Not a word was mentioned about the Patrick Halloran and Linda Andriano 2 lot subdivision on Clickner Road which was the main issue at the February meeting and which was tabled until this meeting. Presumably the responsibility for the upgrading and maintenance of Clickner Road is still being worked out between Halloran/Andriano, the neighbors on the road, Grafton Highway Superintendent Herb Hasbrouck and Attorney Ferlazzo.
For the first time in seven months hardly anyone attended the public hearings or the meeting. The interested parties were there, that is – the applicants, and Town Board Member Rick Ungaro attended as he does on a regular basis.
Fire Department Fund-Raisers
Since there was no discussion during the public hearings various topics of community interest were discussed informally. Planning Board Member Jim Goyer, who is also the Grafton Fire Chief, was asked how the Fire Department’s St. Patrick’s Day corned beef and cabbage dinner went. Goyer said he and his dad had cooked 188 pounds of corned beef with plenty of cabbage and potatoes. They started cooking at 5 am. He said 125 people attended the meal; so, there was more than a pound of meat eaten per person. The dinner only cost $9, and by the end of the evening the Fire Department made $125 from the meal. “It was a lot of fun,” Goyer said.
Six people had to be turned away, and they wandered the countryside looking for another corned beef dinner that would take them in. Most of these dinners were packed. This was one of the largest turnouts ever in Grafton, and Goyer thought that was because of the perfect weather. “Every time in the past it either snowed or something, and we lost money,” he said.
There was also a 50-50 raffle run by the Ladies Auxiliary to raise money for a girl in Petersburgh stricken with cancer, Goyer said. The Ladies Auxiliary will match the money raised in the raffle, but he doesn’t know how much was raised, Goyer added.
Goyer also mentioned the garage sale that will take place on March 24 at the Grafton VFW (Fire Hall) on County Road 85. There are a lot of people coming to that, too, he said. Forty vendor tables at $10 each have already been rented for the sale.
Horseback Hearing
A Public Hearing on the Lundy business site plan review was set for 6:45 pm before the next regular Planning Board meeting on April 16.[/private]