Business growth in Pembroke is keeping Clarence-based engineer Michael Metzger busy.

He had two projects on the County Planning Board agenda on Thursday night -- a new travel center at the Thruway interchange and a 144-unit apartment complex proposed for Alleghany Road.

Earlier this year, Metzger was the engineer who helped present plans for a $142 million distribution center that is currently under construction next to the Thruway.

"Some of it is, quite frankly, driven by STAMP," Metzger told The Batavian after the planning board meeting.  "The apartment project that was presented tonight, by all means. Between the STAMP facility, what's been going on there, what's anticipated to be happening there, and the construction going on now at the interchange that will result in hundreds of new people working in that area, that's what Mr. (Mike) Schmidt (the apartment complex developer) is hoping for and planning for with (the apartment) project."

If approved by the Town of Pembroke, construction crews will build the travel plaza along Alleghany Road. 

Currently, the TA Travel Center, the Flying J Travel Center, and a new Speedway operate in the area.

Planning Board members are scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. on Aug. 10 in the large conference room at County Building No. 2 at 3837 W. Main Street Road in Batavia.  The board's authority is whether to recommend approval or not and whether any modifications should be considered. The Town of Pembroke's planning board has the final say on the application for a special use permit.

According to a Planning Board referral, this travel plaza will sell food and fuel and have a convenience store, a car wash and offer charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs).

The new development will sit on a 49.60-acre parcel, which is currently undeveloped. The site contains several wetlands. The entrance roads must cross over Murder Creek to access the site.

In a separate project, the board is also being asked to consider a special use permit for multi-family development in the same area as the travel plaza.

The area is seeing rapid growth this year.  A new distribution center is currently under construction next to the Thruway.  A mixed-use building opened at Brickhouse Corners (Route 5 and Route 77) earlier this year.

As The Batavian reported in January, the distribution center will take up 100 acres and was pitched as a great location for a distribution center — halfway between Rochester and Buffalo.  

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Public Hearing will be held by the Town of Batavia Planning Board regarding an application by Hix Snedeker Companies LLC, 8727 Lewiston Rd., Batavia, NY for a major subdivision and retail building for Tractor Supply Store.  This is located on approximately a 52 acre parcel (8.-1-7) in the Town of Batavia, Genesee County, New York.   The land is zoned Commercial.

Said hearing will be held at the Batavia Town of Batavia Town Hall, 3833 West Main St. Rd.,  Batavia, NY on Tuesday, March 7, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. at which time all interested persons will be heard.  If you cannot attend, you may send your comments and concerns to the Chairman at kjasinski@townofbatavia.com  before the hearing.  A copy of the application is on file at the Town Hall for review.

By order of the Town of Batavia Planning Board
Kathleen Jasinski, Chairman.

Farmers aren't converting profitable cropland into solar farms, said Tim Call, a Batavia businessman and farmer, after the Batavia Planning Board heard a proposal from New Leaf Energy to install a 5-megawatt project on 20 acres he owns at 7757 Oak Orchard Road.

There's good money to be made off of good land, according to Call, but it's become harder to turn a profit on low-yield land.

New York's new labor laws have a lot to do with turning marginal land into unprofitable land.

"Farmers are getting so good at producing on good acreage," Call said. "You don't need all the acreage that's there. The bad ground is not going to produce a lot of good things. It's just like the dairy farmers. If they have cows that are producing 40,000 pounds of milk a year, and they have one that's producing 10,000 pounds, why are you going to keep feeding those 10,000 pounds? You cull that one and get ones that are going to produce the most and give you the best return. You can't afford to farm bad farmland. It's just not profitable."

The state's increase in minimum wage and new overtime rules for farmworkers are causing farmers to re-evaluate what land they keep in production and what crops they grow, Call said. Out are low-yield acreage and crops that are labor intensive, such as cabbage, and other vegetables. Corn, wheat, and soybeans are favored because those crops don't need to be weeded or picked by hand.  The harvest can be fully mechanized. 

Last year, New York adjusted the overtime threshold for farmworkers to 40 hours per week. That's made it harder to hire workers who can migrate to other states with more worker-friendly laws, Call said.

"The overtime rule is really crippling everybody," Call said. "Plus the minimum wage that's out there. When we're trying to compete against other states where the minimum wage is $7, $8 and our minimum wage is $14.20, almost double, and then you can't get the farm or the migrants to come in and work because they can't get the hours that they want. It's just crippling. How do you compete?"

The proposed solar farm came before the board on Tuesday so the board could appoint itself lead agency for the environmental review, which it did.  The board will later be asked to vote on a proposed special use permit for the project.

This new solar installation will go on an 85.5-acre parcel that is just south of Daws Corners, which already contains a 15-acre solar farm on the back portion, along with some wetlands left undisturbed by either project. The two projects will cover 39.6 percent of the parcel, which is below the allowable 50 percent threshold.

New Leaf will plant about 153 trees to help visually screen the array.

The topsoil from the project area will be stored in a berm along the front of the property, which will make it available to redistribute on the parcel once the solar array is decommissioned.  The land could potentially, then, become farmland again.

Call noted during an interview with The Batavian that a solar installation doesn't permanently take the acreage out of agricultural use.

"The thing is, if it doesn't work out, you take the panels off, you pull it out of the ground, you pull the wire up, and you go back to farming," Call said. "You can't do that with some of these other things that they're doing. This isn't blacktop. It's not concrete, you know. You don't have a 40-by-40 pad that's 10 feet down in the ground. You can go back to farming."

Photo: Will Nieves, project developer for New Leaf Energy, and Mark Kenward, project engineer with Erdman Anthony, make a presentation for a solar project on behalf of property owner Tim Call, in the background. Photo by Howard Owens.

At the 2022 Upstate Chapter Conference of the American Planning Association (APA), the Genesee County 2050 Plan was awarded the excellence in comprehensive planning award. The award was presented by the Vice- President of the Upstate APA Chapter, Sean Maguire, to representatives of the Genesee 2050 planning team present including Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein, Planning Director Felipe Oltramari, Deputy Highway Superintendent Paul Osborn, Deputy Planning Director Erin Pence, and members of the consultant team including, Mike Kane and Jenny Mogavero of Prospect Hill Consulting, and Joy Kuebler and Eve Holberg of Joy Kuebler Landscape Architect.

Genesee 2050 offers a new perspective on comprehensive planning and includes a comprehensive plan update and recreation plan. The new plan is designed to be used as an online document and focuses less on an exhaustive inventory – which is always out of date by the time a comp plan is published anyhow – and more on what the county’s data indicators mean.

Genesee 2050 was developed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and so necessitated creative solutions to gather public input. An engagement process was designed that included safe in-person gatherings, online engagement, phone and in-person interviews and extensive public and stakeholder surveys.

Genesee 2050 is written for quick reference and ongoing implementation. There are no lists of recommendations. Instead, a smaller and more general set of recommendations focuses on preparing for the future based on what has been learned from the past in each of the 10 elements. There are a very select few overarching recommendations focusing on the process and this vision and three succinct goals.

The planning process continues in 2023 and is open to all residents, landowners, businesses, or anyone interested in Genesee County. Please visit: https://www.genesee2050.com/pages/get-involved to get involved. You can provide written input or be put on a notification list of any meeting or events related to the planning process. You can also join any of the 10 focus groups that will help chart the future of Genesee County. These are:

• Agriculture & Food
• Arts, Culture, Parks & Recreation
• Community Wellness
• Economic & Workforce Development
• Education & Government Administration 6. Housing Opportunities
• Land Use, Environment & Placemaking 8. Technology & Utilities
• Transportation & Mobility
• Safety, Security & Justice 

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Public Hearing will be held by the Town of Batavia Planning Board regarding an application by Rochester MHP Portfolio, LLC (Jeffrey Cook) for the expansion of Country Meadows Manufactured Homes Community with the construction of 76 new mobile home lots within the existing community. The project also involves construction of internal private roads, utilities and stormwater management areas.  This is located at 5121 Clinton Street Road, Town of Batavia.  This is in an area zoned Mobile Home Park (MHP) District.

Said hearing will be held at the Town of Batavia Firehall, Station #2 on 8535 Stringham Drive, Batavia, NY on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. at which time all interested persons will be heard.  If you cannot attend, you may send your comments and concerns to the Chairman at kjasinski@townofbatavia.com  before the hearing.   All correspondence will be acknowledged.

By order of the Town of Batavia Planning Board

Kathleen Jasinski, Chairman.

A public hearing is not required for approval of a 76-unit expansion of the Country Meadows housing community at 5121 Clinton Street Road, Batavia, but since some residents of Stringham Drive might be concerned about it, the Town of Batavia Planning Board agreed at Tuesday's meeting to hold a hearing.

A public hearing requires notification to neighboring residents and gives them an opportunity to express concerns or ask questions.

The hearing will be at 7 p.m., July 19 at the Batavia Town Hall.

Country Meadows is operated by Rochester MHP Portfolio LLC and owner Jeffrey Cook.  It currently contains 174 manufactured homes.

Stringham Drive is immediately to the south of the 75-acre parcel.

Engineer Glenn F. Thornton presented the development plans to the board on Tuesday and said steps are being taken to address any potential concerns of Stringham Drive residents.  

He said there is an additional 50 feet of separation between the new home lots and the property lines of Stringham Drive homes.

"It's heavily vegetated over there (along the southern boundary of the development), so we're proposing to leave all of the vegetation in place to kind of screen the two properties from each other," Thornton said.

The new lots will be slightly more spacious than the existing lots, he said. The current lots are about four to an acre, he said.  The new lots will be 2.5 per acre.

Much of the reason for the larger lots are the constraints imposed by the geography and infrastructure of the area being developed.   There needs to be proper stormwater drainage and there is an existing "fairly wide" town sanitary sewer easement through the property.

"I think everything we're proposing is within the 6,000 square foot minimum lot size," Thornton said. "The separations between the homes, the setbacks from the property lines, I believe everything is code compliant, so we're not looking for any variances."

Much of the discussion Tuesday was about stormwater drainage.  The plan includes a swale, already a natural feature of the property, to drain water into a retention pond so it can be slowly drained into the town's stormwater drainage system, as well as berms to help channel runoff.

The new development will not increase runoff on Stringham Drive, Thornton said.

"Stringham Drive's drainage is coming our way actually," Thornton said. "We're actually capturing the runoff from Stringham Drive that's coming out on our property and routing it around our home sites, trying to get it up into this swale (pointing to an architectural drawing) up in here. Really, anything within the development area we have to capture and route into our stormwater management areas. So anything we have is going into those areas where we'll mitigate the flow to existing conditions as it leaves the property."

There are currently three driveways serving the development.

Planning documents submitted by Thornton's firm state there will not be a significant increase in traffic as a result of the additional pre-manufactured homes. It states there will be 275 additional vehicle trips daily, with 19 additional trips during the peak morning hour and 42 during the peak afternoon hour, and most of those trips through the property's western driveway.

That driveway can easily accommodate the additional traffic, the report states.

Photo: Glenn Thornton. Photo by Howard Owens.

Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

Byron resident Terry Speed learned that about his impromptu turnaround at a home on Oak Street, Batavia. He and his wife Dawn purchased the one-family building in 2016, complete with a small turnaround in the front yard. The soil settled and it became a small pond, he said.

Speed then dug a channel through the sunken area so that water could escape. He has applied for a variance to add 12 feet of loose stone to his existing 23-foot-wide driveway. That would make a 48 percent lot frontage at the Oak Street property. According to city code, “the width of driveways and parking spaces may not exceed 25 percent of lot frontage,” prompting the need for a variance.

“We needed to come and speak with you people.  I was told to apply for a variance,” Speed said during Tuesday’s City Planning & Development Committee meeting. “I would like to have a proper turnaround. I jumped the gun, it’s my fault.”

He has a business variance for his wife’s beauty salon to operate in the back of the home, he said. Customers usually arrive one at a time, but there are occasions when there are three vehicles (including his wife’s) in the driveway at one time. Given the amount of traffic on Oak Street, which is state Route 98, it’s difficult for customers to back out of the drive, he said. He added that he also thought it was illegal to back out onto a state roadway.

“People in and out of there are having a hard time,” Speed said. “Something’s going to happen. She’s hearing horns blow.”

In his application, Speed said that this issue is “due to bumper-to-bumper traffic on Oak Street weekdays,” and is therefore not a self-created problem.

As for the legal aspects of backing out onto Route 98, according to New York State’s vehicle and traffic law, there are limitations on backing up a vehicle. Section 1211 states that “the driver of a vehicle shall not back the same unless such movement can be made with safety and without interfering with other traffic. The driver of a vehicle shall not back the same upon any shoulder or roadway of any controlled-access highway.”

Still, allowing for the turnaround proposed by Speed “seems like an excessive amount, and sets a precedent for neighbors,” committee member Ed Flynn said.

He and fellow members discussed the options and issues with such a set-up, and eventually recommended a compromise: a 10-foot by 18-foot turnaround that is at least 18 feet from the road and 10 feet from the sidewalk.

Speed will continue the process with the Zoning Board of Appeals later this week.

For anyone who lives on Oak Street or other similar streets that coincide with busy state highways, how do you get out of your driveways? The Batavian would like to know your solutions for a follow-up article. Email them to: joanne@thebatavian.com

Illustration: Satellite view of Oak Street property requiring a variance for a larger turnaround area. Heavy traffic on Oak Street (Route 98), Batavia, prompted the variance request to create more space for visitors to turn around versus backing out onto the street. Illustration provided by City of Batavia Planning & Development Committee.

On behalf of New York Green, CC Environment & Planning and LaBella Associates are holding a Public Input Meeting on Tuesday, April 19, to discuss the Draft Genesee County Resiliency Plan. The Draft Resiliency Plan provides an overview of current and future climate trends and impacts in Genesee County; identification of County assets, risks, vulnerabilities, and opportunities; development and prioritization of local resilience strategies; and projects designed for immediate implementation. The Draft Resiliency Plan is available for public review and comment at: COUNTYWIDE RESILIENCY PLAN (ny-green.org).

The Resiliency Plan is being developed in partnership between New York Green and Genesee County, with funding from the NYS Department of State.

The Public Open House will be held on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, at the Innovation Room in the Genesee County Economic Development Center Office, located at 99 MedTech Drive in Batavia. There will be two sessions to facilitate participation. The first session will be held from 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm. The second will be held from 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm. A presentation outlining the Draft Resiliency Plan will be provided, followed by an open discussion.

For more information, contact Sheila Hess at CC Environment & Planning, at (518) 219-4030 or visit COUNTYWIDE RESILIENCY PLAN (ny-green.org).

The current plan was approved in 2003.

A comprehensive plan is a document that is created by a community to help guide future planning and zoning decisions, setting goals for growth and defining the kind of community its members desire in the future.

Miller said potential members of the comprehensive plan committee include planning board members, zoning board members, along with representatives from key businesses in the community.

Anybody in the community can apply to serve on the committee.

Those interested in applying for a seat on the committee should contact Town Clerk Shannon Tiede at townclerk@townofalexander.com or (585) 591-2455 ext 101.