Photo of John Harrower at Tuesday night’s City Planning & Development Committee meeting at City Centre Council Board Room/photo by Mike Pettinella
By Mike Pettinella
For Video News Service
The City of Batavia Planning & Development Committee on Tuesday night asked the developer of the North Pointe Patio Homes Subdivision in the city’s northeast sector to resubmit his plans, including sidewalks, for review at its next meeting on July 16.
The PDC and John Harrower, president of Batavia Homes and Development, Inc., have been going back and forth for three months about the issue of having sidewalks as part of a proposal to divide a 10-acre parcel at the northwest end of Garden Drive for the construction of 30 single-family patio homes.
Although a 2009 revision of the city’s municipal code calls for the inclusion of sidewalks in new subdivisions, Harrower contends that the North Pointe plan is a continuation of previous development on Carolwood Drive and Harold Square, where no sidewalks were required.
“My proposal is to not have sidewalks,” Harrower said. “I sent a letter, requesting a waiver … I did not put that (sidewalks) in my proposal because there are none within a half-mile, except on North Street Extension on one side of the street. They lead to nowhere.”
Harrower mentioned the code change of 15 years ago but noted that his company has put housing on three other sections since 2009 and the issue of sidewalks “never came up.”
He said that when he put his plan together, he left sidewalks out “because it is a significant cost … and a precedence has been set.”
“They won’t lead anywhere, and no one is going to use them, I don’t think.”
Harrower said he’s worried “about the marketability” of the North Pointe subdivision — a “high rent project” where homes are expected to start around $300,000. He said sidewalks would add $10,000 to $15,000 per lot to the homeowner’s cost.
“If it’s that important, you can say, ‘Yes.’ But that doesn’t mean it happens, the project. It’s not a threat, it’s just that I’m saying why now?”
He added that it was a matter of “common sense – having to put 2,400 feet of sidewalk, 1,200 per side … when there’s 24,000 feet worth of sidewalks needed to be put in before we even get to those sidewalks.”
Harrower said having sidewalks “doesn’t seem to make sense to me” and said having to install them is “a waste of money.” He said such a requirement could affect future plans of developing 10 to 12 acres on Carolwood Drive and Harold Square.
PDC member Ed Flynn responded by stating that the city’s comprehensive plan requires sidewalks on all building in the city.
“Even though that area doesn’t have sidewalks … they should have been put in,” he said. “Ninety percent of the city has sidewalks … and sidewalks where I live, people walk on them. They use them a lot.”
City Code Enforcement Officer Doug Randall seemed to agree with Harrower, calling the installation of sidewalks “a practical difficulty.”
Randall said that sidewalks in the proposed development would be “at the end of a development, so they won’t ever continue.”
“The city has no long-term plans to pay to put sidewalks in throughout that community,” he said, adding that it would be a different story on large, self-contained tracts with multiple streets.
PDC Chair Duane Preston said he doesn’t see the need for sidewalks since “we’re connecting to older sections.”
Committee member Jim Krencik said it was important for the PDC to protect the city code, adding that Harrower’s plan is a “major subdivision.”
Randall said the board has the flexibility to decide if requiring sidewalks is “an unnecessary hardship” and not “force someone to fit into the cookie cutter that the code says you should have this and you should have that.”
“The board is allowed to … vary that and do whatever they can do to make it cohesive, to make it work.”
The other PDC members present weighed in briefly, with John Ognibene stating he didn’t see the need for sidewalks and Elizabeth Thompson saying she is for sidewalks “that add a measure of safety.”
Prior to the sidewalk discussion, Flynn and Randall expressed their views about Harrower’s tree plan, seeking clarification on the type and placement in the development.
Harrower said that he would plant two trees per unit, possibly red maples or crab apples, with at least one in the front yard – and the PDC seemed to agree to that.
Going forward, the PDC is unable to proceed with its State Environmental Quality Review and, ultimately, voting on the site plan until the State Historic Preservation Office approves the archeological study of the area.
“SHPO has to sign off on that,” Preston said. “We need that office’s report.”
Harrower said his firm spent $27,000 to have a company dig 156 holes, 18 inches deep and 50 feet apart, continuously through the entire 10 acres.
“They dumped the dirt, sifted it all and there’s nothing, just like the whole rest of the area all around it,” he said, adding that his report is being sent to SHPO.
Graham Mfg. Plan Moves Forward
In other action, the PDC approved, with one abstention, a site plan submitted by Graham Manufacturing for the construction of a 28,895 square-foot production facility on the southeast portion of its property on Florence Avenue.
Thomas Bock, civil engineer at CPL, Rochester, said the new building, to be designated as Building 14, will expedite expansion of production for U.S. Navy purposes by primarily moving equipment currently housed on Harvester Avenue.
The committee said it was satisfied with plans to remove an existing asphalt parking lot as well as the corporation’s commitment to having the required fire apparatus access, satisfactory landscaping and stormwater management facilities to manage and treat runoff from potential additions to the structure (Buildings 15 and 16).
Construction (by Montante Construction, Kenmore) will begin next month, Bock said, and continue for about a year. Estimated cost of the initial work is $6.5 million.
Krencik, who also is the senior director of Marketing & Communications for the Genesee County Economic Development Center, abstained since Graham Manufacturing is seeking $404,226 in sales and property tax abatements.
Graham also is requesting an area variance because the proposed height of the building is 47 feet – 7 feet higher than the permitted height of 40 feet. That is scheduled to be heard by the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals on June 27.