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Rome planning board OKs VarFlex warehouse expansion with pedestrian, lot conditions
Summary
The City of Rome Planning Board recommended a SEQR negative declaration and approved site plans for a roughly 4,400 sq. ft. expansion to an existing VarFlex warehouse at 511 Court Street, imposing conditions on parking striping, lot merger and sidewalk continuation to address pedestrian safety and creek-edge risks.
The City of Rome Planning Board on May 6 recommended a State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) negative declaration and approved the site plan for a roughly 4,400-square-foot expansion to an existing warehouse occupied by VarFlex at 511 Court Street, subject to conditions requiring parking striping, an administrative lot merger and sidewalk work.
The board approved the SEQR negative declaration unanimously and then approved the site plan with conditions 1 and 3 from the Community and Economic Development comments. Community and Economic Development staff had recommended the negative declaration and listed several conditions to address pedestrian safety and shoreline risks along Wood Creek.
Why it matters: The expansion triggers environmental review because it exceeds 4,000 square feet. Board members and staff focused on mitigating pedestrian risks created by a longstanding, 113-foot curb cut and by parking that currently abuts Wood Creek.
Paul Schlag, the applicant's representative, described the project as “just a simple addition to an existing building that they put up in ’97,” and said no additional parking would be needed because VarFlex uses a separate employee lot. Community and Economic Development staff noted the site’s existing 113-foot curb cut substantially exceeds the 24-foot maximum width under current code and recommended narrowing or other safety measures.
Technical and safety conditions required by staff include: amending the site plan to show parking striping meeting zoning-code requirements; installing wheel stops, curbs, railings or similar devices for any parking facing Wood Creek to prevent vehicles from rolling onto the bank; narrowing the primary Court Street driveway to a maximum of 30 feet (the board did not include this narrowing condition in its approval); and completing an administrative subdivision to merge multiple existing lots into one parcel prior to occupancy.
Contractor Tim Hogan, who developed the plans for VarFlex, told the board that tractor-trailers have used the opening for about 20 years and that reducing the driveway to 30 feet could affect truck turning without additional data. “Reduction of 30 foot may impact their particular driving,” Hogan said, adding he could supply turning-radius drawings if the board wanted to calibrate a standard tied to DOT tractor-trailer requirements.
Board members pressed for concrete pedestrian protections. Garrett Wyckoff of Community and Economic Development emphasized the pedestrian-safety benefits of reducing the curb cut width and showing a continuous sidewalk. The board attached conditions that require striping of all on-site parking per the zoning code and continuation of the sidewalk from the existing segment along Court/J Street to the project frontage; the board explicitly excluded the staff recommendation to narrow the curb cut to 30 feet.
The board recorded unanimous votes for both the SEQR negative declaration and the conditional site plan approval.
What’s next: The applicant must amend the site plan to show required striping, incorporate wheel stops or similar devices where parking abuts Wood Creek, and complete an administrative lot merger before receiving significant occupancy. The building permit and any further site-plan submissions will be reviewed by city staff under the conditions set by the board.
