North East apartment conversion moves to public hearing

MILLERTON — The Greyhouse Apartment conversion occurring on 181-185 Route 44 made progress this week toward bringing the first housing to the Town of North East’s boulevard district following the area’s rezoning in April.

The North East Planning Board continued discussions on site plans for the apartments at their meeting on Aug. 12. The project, proposed by local petroleum distributor GRJH Inc., seeks to convert a former office building into eight apartments. Plans call for five one-bedroom apartments, two two-bedroom units and one studio.

At the meeting, mother-and-daughter duo Lauren and Lilly Simons presented on the changes made to plan drawings following the board’s last meeting on July 22. Since the meeting, the owners have agreed to install one EV charging station per the zoning requirements. Additionally, an inspection was done and concluded that the septic tank is not compromised in any way.

Despite these changes, there is still more that must be done in order to finalize the plans.

The town’s zoning law requires that a sidewalk be installed in front of the complex because it is in the boulevard district. However, there currently is no sidewalk along Route 44 to connect to at either edge of the property.

“We really can’t incorporate sidewalks without the rest of the development happening alongside with our budding property,” said Lauren Simons. “Do you want us to put a four foot sidewalk in front of our property going nowhere?”

Without existing sidewalks to connect to, consistency and location are large issues if individuals decide for themselves where and when sidewalks are installed.

“You’re basically saying whoever does it first decides for everybody where it’s gonna be,” said Dale Culver, chairman of the board. “What if the guy that finally starts the sidewalk decides ‘I don’t like their trees so I’m gonna put the sidewalk here,’ and then they are forced to take out those trees. I can see it happening.”

To curb this confusion, the board will draft an addendum for all plans moving forward until grants are found to create a pathway across Kelsey Brook and to install sidewalks on the road. The passage will state that property owners understand that they will be financially responsible for adding sidewalks in accordance with what the town decides in order to ensure consistency.

“Until we have a way for crossing Kelsey Brook, it is ludicrous to talk about putting sidewalks in,” Town Supervisor Chris Kennan said.

There was significant debate on whether or not the complex is required to provide an affordable housing unit. The zoning law states that if a complex has 10 apartments there must be one affordable housing unit. Beyond 10 a rounding system is used, meaning if there are 16 apartments that translates to 1.6 which would then be rounded up, requiring two affordable units. Confusion stemmed from whether or not the rounding applied to properties with fewer than 10 apartments which would then require the Simons to include an affordable unit.

“It’s just common sense to me that the language is crystal clear,” said Board Member Leslie Farhangi. “Less than 10 means no affordable housing unit needed therefore it stops, you don’t even go to the next section to consider rounding.”

The plans also include an office space on the first floor. The board stated that because the complex is not to be used for business purposes, it must be clearly defined that the office will not be rented out and will be used as a leasing office.

The board directed that before the next meeting, GRJH Inc. must present clarified information about the proposed lighting. Additionally, they must add the phrase “on site rental office use” to the plans to specifically define the proposed leasing office.

A public hearing has been set for Aug. 26 on the condition that the outlined changes be made to the plans with submission to the board at least a week before the hearing.

“We don’t want to hold the project up if it is going to create sorely needed units in our town,” Culver said. “But knowing on your end that the details have to be there.”