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Zoning board approves Verizon use variance for 121 Parker Avenue, asks for clearer site plan and more screening
Summary
The Poughkeepsie City Zoning Board of Appeals approved a use variance for a proposed Verizon wireless tower at 121 Parker Avenue but pressed the applicant to reduce the number of area variances, add screening or landscaping and return with a detailed site plan at the May 13 meeting.
The Poughkeepsie City Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday approved a use variance for a proposed Verizon Wireless tower at 121 Parker Avenue but instructed the applicant to narrow requested area variances and provide a more detailed site plan and screening proposals before the board takes further action.
The decision came after legal and planning staff explained that federal law gives strong weight to requests by public utilities to fill gaps in cellular service. Joanna Longcourt, assistant corporation counsel, told the board that "a use variance ... is something that a board must grant if the public utility demonstrates a need," subject to avoiding "a very . . . serious detriment to the community." The board then voted to adopt the use-variance resolution as written.
The board’s action clears the path for Verizon’s project to move forward to the planning-board site-plan review, but members repeatedly urged the applicant to eliminate or limit several area variances the application sought and to propose on-site or nearby landscaping and a less-visible fence to reduce visual impacts along the adjacent pedestrian trail.
Scott Olsen, representing Verizon Wireless and identifying himself with the firm Young Summer of Troy, New York, described the company’s plan and the reasons for the variances. He said the proposed tower would sit well back from the road — "we're 134 feet back" from the front property line — and that the equipment footprint would be small, about 2,500 square feet. He told the board that Verizon originally proposed a chain-link security fence but was willing to substitute a board-on-board fence to provide screening. "We can change that to be a board-on-board fence," Olsen said.
Board members focused on landscaping and long-term visual character along Parker Avenue and the adjacent trail. Several members said landscaping beds and shrubs on at least three sides of the fenced compound would reduce the industrial appearance over time and that the owner should commit to maintenance. One board member noted that the property owner currently rents parking to employees and that a donation toward plantings on the trail right-of-way had been suggested by the applicant, but board members said on-site screening would still be required.
Tom McGraw of City Planning and the applicant said an approved site plan exists in Exhibit 6 of the application package, but board members said the site plan lacks sufficient detail for the board’s remaining area-variance determinations. The board asked the applicant to return with a revised site plan that shows planting depth and species, the fence type and exact setbacks.
Planning staff told the board the planning board had already issued a negative declaration for environmental review, allowing the zoning board to act on the use variance. Board members nonetheless voted to keep the application open for the area-variance discussion and to continue the application review to the board’s May 13 meeting so the public and the board can review the revised site plan and proposed screening.
Votes at a glance - Motion to approve the use-variance resolution for 121 Parker Avenue: passed, unanimous (5–0). The board adopted the resolution as written. - Motion to continue/adjourn the application review for 121 Parker Avenue to the May 13 meeting: passed, unanimous (5–0).
The board’s instructions to the applicant were procedural rather than prescriptive: members asked the applicant to "cross off" variances that could be eliminated by small expenditures (landscaping, fencing) and to provide a clearer, dimensioned site plan for the planning-board packet and the zoning board’s next review. The board made no final determinations on the specific area variances pending receipt of revised plans and detailed screening proposals.
The board closed the public-hearing portion of the 121 Parker Avenue item at the meeting because no members of the public were present to speak; however, members left the matter open for continued review at the May 13 meeting.
