And The Gun Range Shall Never Die – Grafton Planning Board Action

by Kieron Kramer
Les McDermott is resubmitting his application, with amendments, for a shooting range at 303 Old Siek Road in Grafton. He had withdrawn his application for a shooting range and gun shop at last month’s Grafton Planning Board meeting in the face of severe criticism from his neighbors. He had invested time and energy in landscaping his property with high berms to stop bullets and in filing a Long Form Environmental Impact Statement, which requires lots of documentation. Having no site plan registered meant that McDermott could invite friends and guests to come shoot  as long as they were shooting 500 feet away from anybody else’s building structures, according to the NYS DEC regulations. No site plan review meant, essentially, that the Town had no control over the shooting activities on the McDermott property.
[private]Grafton Planning Board Chairman Tom Withcuskey, who is also the Town’s Code Enforcement Officer, was concerned about the Town’s responsibility in this matter, and he consulted Town Attorney Sal Ferlazzo. According to Withcuskey, Ferlazzo felt that the berms and the shooting range amounted to a change of use for the property. Withcuskey and Ferlazzo met with McDermott and his attorney, Thomas Spain, in Ferlazzo’s office and determined that the application for the site plan review of the shooting range, with amendments, be resubmitted.
At Monday’s Planning Board meeting, Spain formally announced that the McDermott application with amendments is being resubmitted and requested that the Board reconsider it “based on the DEC regulations and the report by the Town’s Engineer” and schedule a public hearing on it. Spain submitted a list of the activities that McDermott plans to have at the proposed gun range. It seems that the only obvious changes from the original application is that there will be no gun store on the premises and that “all shooting will be scheduled through our retail store.” McDermott has a gun store in Green Island. “The hours will be 9 am to 8 pm or dusk, whichever comes first.” When asked by Withcuskey if the hours are for seven days a week, Spain said, “That’s what he proposes although the application doesn’t say so specifically.” Since the noise nuisance and the subsequent supposed loss of property value is, perhaps, the only coherent objection that abutters have, the hours of operation of the gun range promises to be a bone of contention.
The Board voted 5-0 to accept the amended site plan application for review and scheduled a public hearing on this matter for 6:30 pm on October 22 before the next regular Planning Board meeting. This hearing promises to be quite different from the one held on the gun range in July. It is expected to last one half hour. In the hope of avoiding personal attacks, repetition and extraneous, emotional outbursts, Withcuskey and the Board expect to follow the normal procedures for public hearings which means – before the hearing people will sign in to speak, the comments will be limited in time (either three or five minutes per speaker – not decided yet), there will be only one address per speaker and personal attacks will not be tolerated. It is hoped that this will focus the arguments of those who oppose the gun range on informative and factual objections.
Rehash
Two familiar bits of business were addressed at this meeting. One was Rynard Gundrum’s subdivision on Stuffle Street which was approved last December. Apparently, Gundrum was not aware that the County has a deadline to file the survey maps signed by the Planning Board Chairman when the subdivision was approved. At this meeting the Board reapproved the subdivision. No public hearing was deemed necessary. It is hoped that Gundrum will submit the newly signed maps to the County promptly.
The other bit was an application by Planning Board Member Scott Newell to rescind the lot line adjustment on his property on Pondview Road that was approved in March and return the parcel to the old boundary lines. The Board accepted Newell’s application by a 4-0 vote with Newell abstaining, and it scheduled a public hearing on the matter for 6:15 pm on October 22.
Three Public Hearings
Three public hearings were held before Monday’s meeting, starting at 6:15 pm.
The first was a hearing on Brian Block’s and Jamie Perruquet’s application to change the use of the old Grafton Methodist Church building at 2423 NYS Route 2 from religious use to residential use. Block and Perruquet have already received approval from the State for the change in use, Withcuskey said. No other comments were made. Later, in the regular meeting, the Board voted 5-0 to approve the change of use. The old church will become a single family dwelling.
At 6:30 a hearing was held on the two lot minor subdivision application submitted by Vivian Cook and Chester L. Westcott for their property at 1966-1968 NYS Route 2. Surveyor Bill Darling, who is representing the applicants, recapped the application. Cook and Wescott will retain 7.77 acres and convey 1.41 acres to Wescott’s son-in-law. The driveway to the new lot will be located on an easement from Route 2 across the Wescott property. In the regular meeting the Board determined that “there is no significant environmental impact” to the subdivision and voted 5-0 to approve the application.
The third public hearing, at 6:45 pm, addressed the minor 2 lot subdivision application submitted by Norman A. VanDervoort for his property at 74 Clickner Road. Bill Darling represented VanDervoort in the subdivision process and recapped the application. A seven acre parcel will be “cut out” of the existing land and sold to William Crandall, Jr.; 27 acres will remain. No other comments on the subdivision were made during the hearing. In the regular meeting the Board voted 5-0 to approve the application, having determined that “there is no significant environmental impact” to the subdivision.
A Bit Of Whimsey?
The impact of having no comments during the public hearings is that the Board sits around, in this case for 45 minutes, in golden silence. Apparently a meeting abhors a vacuum and so Board Member Owen Grandjean set about to fill it. Waxing sarcastic, Grandjean focussed on the balding pate and the survey map expertise of Bill Darling. “Maybe we can schedule a workshop on folding maps on a Saturday when you can come,” he said. “We treat you like family here,” Grandjean then said to Darling, who didn’t seem entirely convinced. Grandjean took time out from treating Darling like family to marvel at the awesome neatness of Withcuskey’s files.
October Meeting
The public hearings and the regular Planning Board meeting in October will be held on the 22nd, the fourth Monday of the month. The rescheduling is caused by the Columbus Day holiday which causes both the Grafton Town Board and the Planning Board to meet a week later than usual.[/private]