ALTAMONT — How did Stewart’s come up with the idea to expand its space by tearing down a neighboring house now in a residential zone?

​Robert M. Rabbin of 137 Main Street in the village claims in a letter to the Enterprise editor this week that the planning board recommended the all-new store rather than the company’s original plan to renovate.

The new plan requires the village board to make a zoning change — from residential to central business district for one property — stirring controversy.

James R. Greene, who headed the village planning board when Stewart’s was exploring its options said it was “an outright fabrication” that the planning board had suggested purchasing a property in order to resolve issues with their current limited property.

The minutes of the Nov. 24 planning board meeting, at which the idea of building new was broached, state that the idea came up at the end of a long discussion about the many problems that Stewart’s faced if it wanted to add onto the current building and was one of many questions that the board asked.

According to the minutes, the board did ask if Stewart’s had considered “looking at other locations within the Village that a larger Stewart shop might be built on.” The minutes then say that Stewart’s representative Chuck Marshall indicated that he had already spoken with “the adjacent neighbor located on Helderberg Avenue,” which presumably refers to Peter Baumann, owner of 107/109 Helderberg Ave., who now seeks to sell his two-family rental property to Stewart’s.

The board asked a general question about looking at other properties, and Stewart’s responded that it had already considered the idea by speaking with the owner of the adjacent parcel.

According to the minutes, Stewart’s had originally proposed:

— Making a brick-enclosed addition on the east side of the store, extending the roofline by five-and-a-half feet, to cover the sidewalks on the front and side of the building to make it safer for customers and staff during winter;

— Installing metal siding on the west side of the building; and

— Expanding the parking lot along the creek and the west side of the building, to make up for spaces lost by the building’s expansion.

Problems caused by the changes were itemized as environmental concerns about expanding the parking lot closer to the creek; questions of whether metal siding would be out of keeping with the historic neighborhood; and the reduction in mature landscaping that would be needed to add more parking on the Helderberg Avenue side of the store. The board determined that green space would be reduced by 30 percent.

Greene said that it was at a subsequent meeting that Stewart’s presented plans for a completely different proposal than the one the board had been considering to that point. These new plans called for buying 107/109 Helderberg and rebuilding within the larger combined parcel.

The proposed new Stewart’s shop would be larger than the current one. Some residents have misinterpreted the site plan, thinking the new store would be smaller. The site plans for the proposed rebuilt shop state that the current building is 4,351 square feet, but this refers to both the current shop and also the rental duplex at 107/109 Helderberg Ave., combined. The site plans go on to state that the proposed new shop would be 3,992 square feet. According to Marshall, the current shop is 3,523 square feet, so the new shop would be 469 square feet larger than the current one.

Greene also said the board was annoyed to see the new plans late in the meeting, after Marshall had already allowed the board to discuss the renovation plan at great length.

The minutes note that, earlier in the meeting, village engineer Brad Grant had indeed handed out documentation of his review of the renovation plans including “findings and concerns” and that Grant had discussed his findings and concerns in depth. Dean Whalen, a village board member, also offered additional concerns of his own, and passed them on to Grant for “a more formal review.”            

The board had then voted to hold a public hearing to get resident views on the plans. It was only after that point, according to the minutes, that Marshall presented revised plans that were contingent on the chain’s being able to obtain a zoning change for 107/109 Helderberg Ave.

Greene and the minutes both say that Greene then asked Marshall which option Stewart’s preferred, renovating or rebuilding. Marshall replied that the company preferred to rebuild.

The minutes say that the board then discussed what would need to be done to request a zoning change. The board determined that it would need to send a letter of recommendation to the village board, “listing the benefits” and providing reasons for the village board to review the request and decide whether to act on it.

The minutes state that the board then voted to forgo the public hearing that it had just decided to hold.

According to the minutes, “Board member Wilford [Timothy Wilford, who has since succeeded Greene as head of the planning board] made a motion to refer the matter to the Village Board and send a letter recommending that 107/109 Helderberg Avenue be absorbed into the Central Business District for the following reasons: the property is adjacent to the CBD, was previously zoned Business and will expand the CBD within the village.” The board then voted in favor of this.

Rabbin told The Enterprise that village officials are not obligated to try to solve problems from what he calls Stewart’s “poor choice of location.”

He says that the planning board should have encouraged Stewart’s to keep both options afloat and to present village residents with a choice of three options (including renovating the existing building), rather than the current two (change the zoning and rebuild, or do nothing).

Village attorney Jason L. Shaw said that he guesses that the planning board could have encouraged Stewart’s to present village residents with both plans, but that doing so would have been a very expensive proposition for Stewart’s, with costs that would include hiring engineers to study and resolve problems that would arise from both options. “Why would you do that,” he asked, “when you know that you can only go through with one option?”

The village planning board will hold a meeting on Monday at 7 p.m. in the village hall courtroom to discuss several issues including the proposed zoning change of 107/109 Helderberg Ave. The planning board will try to decide on a recommendation to make to the village board about the proposed zoning change.

Shaw said by phone that the village board is not in any way bound by the recommendations of the planning board. The decision, he said, to approve or turn down Stewart’s request for a zoning change is completely at the discretion of the village board.

The planning board meeting, Shaw said, is open to the public but is not a public hearing. The public is invited to attend but not to offer opinions.

There will also be a public hearing on this topic, at the village board meeting at the village hall on Sept. 1 at 7 p.m.