Lighting & Subdivisions

The March 17 Town of Wappinger Planning Board meeting began with a short discussion on the application to reconfigure lot-lines in a 1980s subdivision for 4 lots in a agricultural district location on Smith Crossing Road and Ostuni Way. The application requested that the discussion be removed from the March 17th agenda, but the board members spent a few minutes discussing the application.

Bank of America - at 1469 Route 9 would like to update their external lighting. NY State has requirements for lighting at external ATMs and other areas requiring additional security, of which the minimum lighting requirements is the same as the town's maximum. The Engineer representing the project explained that some leaway would be asked for because often the acutal on-site reading can vary from the manufactures specifications. The current lightpoles at the site are higher than the town's new lighting code allows, so there was a discussion if a new pole should conform to the new code, or be installed at the same height as the current lightpoles. There was discusion of glare, the position of the property in relationship to surrounding properties (discussions which did not happen for the Hughsonville project). The engineer accepted the board's comments and will refine the lightining design.

It is disappointing when members of the board ask questions about the site that clearly show that they haven't taken the time to at least drive by the sites that are on the Planning Board agenda. Making decisions which affect the property owners, the users of the property and the town residents should mean that the Planning Board Members have an understanding of the site being discussed and decisions made.

The draft response to the town board about the Planning Board's assessment of the site plan for the proposed Acadia Subdivision on Cedar Hill and Old Hopewell Road was discussed. Making the language tighter and relying on the facts in the Zoning Code were suggested changes. The Planner will update the draft and will be reviewed at the next Planning Board meeting.

Extensions for two Verizon Wireless projects were granted, one at Spook Hill and Nancy Aleen Drive and the other at Kent Road and Baldwin Drive.