Planning board approves site plan and multiple variances for landscape business at 10108 Sweet Valley Dr.

The Village of Valley View Planning Board on June 18 approved a site plan and several variances to allow a landscape contractor to use 10108 Sweet Valley Drive as a vehicle and equipment yard.

Applicant Massimo Asturi told the board he plans to park six to eight 20-foot enclosed trailers attached to landscape trucks, with 25–30 employees reporting there daily during the landscaping season (he said winter staffing rises to 60–70). Asturi said topography and the need for a retention basin led him to abandon earlier plans for an on-site building and instead proposed a screened yard with a 10-foot top mound and six-foot arborvitae planted on the mound to block views from the road.

The board approved a variance to permit trailer parking, a variance to allow three material storage bins (green, brown and black mulch), a variance permitting a 6-foot metal gate controlling ingress and egress, and a variance to use compacted street grindings (geotech fabric with #2 stone and crushed asphalt) rather than concrete or asphalt for the parking area. Asturi also described a 50-foot concrete apron and driveway so truck-trailer combinations do not overhang the public street. The board emphasized that required stormwater controls, including a retention basin, remain necessary because of the amount of land disturbance.

Votes were recorded for each variance and the overall site plan; Commissioner Mike Bertovich recorded at least one dissent on specific items but the site plan and variances carried by roll call. Board staff and the engineer advised that scaled site drawings and stormwater plans will be required before any construction or surfacing occurs.

Asturi told the board he intends to be a “good neighbor” and offered to have his crews clean any streets that get dirtied by operations. The board approved the site plan with standard follow-up requirements for engineered drawings and stormwater permitting.