— Nicole Fay Barr

GUILDERLAND — Plans for a gravel mine on Becker Road are progressing. The town’s zoning board last Wednesday heard a town-designated engineer’s analysis of the proposal and continued the discussion for more questions to be answered.
The 10-acre property, on Becker Road near Route 158, is owned by Charles Desch. He first appeared before the zoning board in April of 2003, asking for a special-use permit to mine gravel on a 4.8-acre area of the property located on a plateau above Becker Road.

Desch plans to mine gravel for at least three years, his project manager, John DeMis, said earlier, and the gravel would be sold for construction projects along routes 146 and 155.

DeMis told the zoning board last Wednesday that he addressed all of the town-designated engineer’s concerns. He created a profile of the proposed mine and did a traffic analysis, he said.

R. Mark Dempf, the town-designated engineer from Vollmer Associates, told the board that the main traffic problem with the plan is sight distance. Drivers usually go faster than the speed limit on Becker Road and Route 158, Dempf said, and it would be difficult for the drivers of trucks leaving the mine from the proposed exit to be seen by oncoming cars.

DeMis said the mine will usually have five trucks entering and leaving per hour and, at maximum, will have 20 trucks per hour. Dempf pointed out that this is 20 trucks leaving and entering, so it’s really 40 trips in and out of the site per hour.

More questions were also raised about noise, dust and pollution from the mine, and the town’s weight limit on Becker Road.

At a public hearing in December, Susan Green, of Route 158, said she worried about the amount of traffic that a gravel mine would generate. Green said she sat near the intersection of Becker Road and Route 158 from 7:15 to 8:20 a.m. and counted cars. Almost 300 cars drove by in that amount of time, she said, not including eight school buses.

Green had concerns about added gravel trucks and the increased likelihood of accidents, she said.

Last Wednesday, Green said she counted 147 cars in the parking lot of nearby Orchard Creek Golf Course.
"This used to be a country road, but now it’s a minor thoroughfare," she said.

The board tabled the discussion so that more engineering questions could be answered.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Continued Sunburst Association’s request for a special-use permit to add two tanning beds in the basement of the business and for a parking variance, to excuse the business from having four additional spaces that are needed with the two beds.

Owners of neighboring stores, near the tanning salon at 1726 Western Ave., raised concerns about parking. They said tanning customers already use their parking spaces. Michael Vilardi, who owns the business, repeatedly said that he can’t control where people park; most people are lazy, he said.

The zoning board also had questions about safety; customers who use the two tanning beds in the basement may have trouble getting out of the building in case of a fire.

The board then tabled the application so Vilardi can talk to neighbors about parking and to address the building’s exit plans;
— Granted a special-use permit to Verizon Wireless, for "the collocation of telecommunications antennas and their supporting accessory equipment" on the roof of a 10-story office building, at Stuyvesant Plaza.

Barton and Loguidice, the town-designated engineer, approved the proposal. Verizon will now be the fifth company to have an antenna on the building; there is a five-antenna limit;

— Granted a variance to Edward Goosmann, of 1 Tower St., to have four pet dogs. The zoning code does not allow Guilderland residents to have more than three dogs, in order to keep kennels out of residential neighbors.

Three neighbors of Goosmann wrote letters in favor of his request, saying his dogs are the quietest in the neighborhood. Chairman Bryan Clenahan pointed out that Goosmann’s newborn baby, who laid quietly in a cradle for almost two hours at the meeting, was equally as well behaved.

The board also allowed Goosmann’s variance because, members said, he rescued the dogs from abusive homes;

— Granted a variance to Jeffrey Quinn, of 3240 Lydius St., for the construction of a two-car garage in a front yard on a corner lot. Quinn’s garage will face Lone Pine Road;

— Continued an application of Renaissance Floral, of 1561 Western Ave., to amend its special-use permit to display garden statues and products outside.

As did the planning board, the zoning board discussed emergency-vehicle safety, with many of the products near the entrance to the business and in its parking lot. Board members also said that the business looks cluttered and, when owner David Schmidt obtained his special-use permit, he did not specify this type of use.

Schmidt admitted the property looked cluttered and said he was working on it. The board continued his proposal, saying that more than an amendment to the special-use permit may be required; and

— Granted a special-use permit to Besco Metals, of Depot Road, to use a portion of its rear yard for storing equipment and materials. A representative of the company said that the items would be shielded from neighbors’ views with a fence.