APPLICANT OF PROPOSED RETAIL DEVELOPMENT ASKED TO BE EXCLUDED FROM BUILDING MORATORIUM
PUBLIC
HEARING SCHEDULED FOR
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24TH AT 6:15PM at Town of Ballston Meeting Room as well as
via Zoom
The Town Board passed a temporary Moratorium in the Town of Ballston on September 22, 2020 effective retroactive to July 17, 2020.
The
Moratorium Local Law No. 5 of 2020 as written does allow for builders to file for
a variance with the Town Board under certain circumstances.
The law as written states; The Town Board shall have the authority, after public hearing to vary or modify the application of any provision of this Local Law upon its determination that strict application of this Local Law would impose practical difficulties or extraordinary hardships upon an applicant and that the variance granted would not adversely affect the health, safety or welfare of the citizens of the Town or significantly conflict with the general purposes and intent of this Local Law. For purposes of determining whether “practical difficulties or extraordinary hardships” exist, the Town Board may consider whether the applicant has sustained any serious loss as a result of prior expenditures made in reliance on the zoning law or previously issued permits.
On October 8, 2020 Augant Holdings, LLC filed a variance request from the moratorium for a 60 x 100 foot two story retail building. Augant Holdings, LLC was before the Planning Board for the first time on February 26, 2020 presenting a site plan for 183 – 185 Church Avenue, Ballston Spa, NY.
In the presentation the narrative described the project being located at 183-185 Church Avenue. This property was originally Augie's Restaurant before it burned and had to be demolished several years ago. The site plan was for the construction of a two-story building of approximately 8,500 sq.ft. to be used as retail space.
The problem was the lot is not big enough to meet the Town of Ballston’s code so the planning board ruled it was not within their purview to review it since it was a non-conforming lot. After months of correspondence, the last attempt to go before the Zoning Board to request a zoning variance was halted by the moratorium.
The
following statement was included in the variance
request letter to the Town Board of the Town of Ballston:
“This letter and accompanying materials,
project narrative and site plan, are our request to the Town of Ballston Town
Board to respectfully grant us this variance /exclusion from the current
moratorium. As you can see, we started this process in
February, 2020 long before the moratorium date, and through no fault of our own
have been held up by government shutdowns and a Town official (the Building
Zoning Administrator) not following through on their duties and promises.
So, we respectfully ask that you approve our
request for this variance/ exemption and allow us to proceed through the Zoning
and Planning Boards to bring our project to completion.”
The
Building Zoning Administrator mentioned above resigned from his employment with
the Town of Ballston. The entire letter to the board can be read on the town’s
website and a link can be found at the bottom of this article.
A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, November 24, 2020 at 6:15 in the Town of Ballston Meeting Room. This public hearing will also be live on Zoom and interested parties can speak in person at 323 Charlton Rd or virtually by joining the Zoom using the link information below:
Topic: AUGANT HOLDINGS, LLC VARIANCE REQUEST FROM MORATORIUM
PUBLIC HEARING AT 6:15
https://zoom.us/j/94687785594
The Town of Ballston Town Board Agenda Meeting will following the Public Hearing
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