Victor may be changing character again. There is a proposal to add a new development off of Church Street in the vicinity of Hillcrest Drive.
This is a map of the Proposed Gullace Development located at the intersection of Hillcrest Drive and Church Street at the edge of the Village of Victor.
Overview
The first housing section would be 7 homes located to the North of the current Hillcrest Drive tract in a currently undeveloped field just outside the Village border. This section is currently zoned for multiple-family dwellings and must be rezoned to fit the current plan.
The second tract would consist of 15 single family homes with a new cul-de-sac extending from the junction of Hillcrest Drive and Church Street. This section of the development must be addressed by the zoning board as well. The current proposal would annex the North side of the street to the Village of Victor. The Village/Town line currently runs down the middle of the proposed street. To complete this phase all of the houses in this section would need to be inside the Village.
These developments while they will increase traffic at the already stressed junction at the corner of Church and East Main Street, are in keeping with the current feel of Victor. Single family homes.
Of great concern to the neighborhood is the North East section of this proposal. This is planned to be 10 units of 10 apartments each. 100 rental apartments in a single family residential area? This is not in keeping with the current character of the neighborhood where we have 100% owner occupied homes.
Historical Perspective
In 1985 the Gullace family (Mary, Ralph and Dante) applied to have the zoning changed for a planned development on this site. I was able to view the public records for this development but not the referenced map of the development. It was initially proposed for 24.4 acres. (The current development is for 12.4 acres) and had a planned size of 92 multiple dwellings using apartments of 4 units each. The intent of this development was owner occupied senior housing as outlined in the 1985 rezoning proposal. The intent of the current project is vastly different than the condominium complex that was proposed in 1985.
Here is an excerpt from the 1985 public hearing where Dante Gullace outlines their proposal to the zoning board.
After several rounds of public meetings and many discussions and reports, the rezoning was passed with negative declarations.
A conditioned negative declaration (CND) is a form of negative declaration which may be used for Unlisted actions only, and only in limited circumstances. Use of a CND can be appropriate when a lead agency concludes that a proposed action may have a potentially significant adverse impact on the environment, but the impact can be eliminated or adequately mitigated by conditions imposed by the lead agency, without the need for additional environmental studies. Use of the CND acknowledges that without imposition of conditions by the lead agency, the action may have potentially significant impacts. In situations where those impacts are readily mitigated or avoided, use of the CND allows an agency to issue an approval with enforceable conditions. When a lead agency uses the CND process it must consider the whole action and all relevant impacts in identifying appropriate conditions.
The conditions that were deemed important at this juncture were as follows:
Items e,f and g should also apply to the current project proposal and should be addressed by the current planning board.
The Current Project
As outlined in the Overview above, the current project proposal consists of 3 sections. A 15 unit single family home section opposite Hillcrest Drive, a 7 unit single family home section North of Hillcrest Drive and a 100 unit apartment complex North of the current village line and East of Church Street.
As it now stands, there are some hurdles for the developer to overcome.
- The 7 unit section is currently zoned for multiple dwelling use. The developer wants this to be single family homes so this will require modification to the zoning.
- The 15 unit section is partially inside the town and partially inside the village. This means that part of the town will need to be annexed by the village.
- The original project was condominium and targeted to seniors. The new project is apartments and rental units. This will impact the school system differently than the initial proposal. How is this being addressed?
Additionally there are some issues that need to be clarified for the existing home owners
- Drainage. This area is currently sinking much of the runoff from the developments uphill from the proposed area. If the water isn’t allowed to seep in this area it will cause flooding for the existing homes.
- If this is approved as written, what is to prevent a HUD housing development from moving in to the apartments. This would be subsidized housing and provide an entirely different character to the neighborhood.
- Has the impact on the school system been addressed, there is a potential to increase the load on our school system with minimal increase in school tax revenue.
- What studies have been done on the potential impact to the traffic at Route 96 and both Church Street and Lynaugh Road intersections. These two intersections are already at capacity and have no capacity for additional traffic load. Of course, this situation is mitigated at the State level as they are responsible for additional lights and signals. How long would we need to wait to be elevated to have additional lights installed and how long would we need to wait to have the signals synchronized to provide reasonable traffic flow through town. This additional traffic load doesn’t just impact the North side of town but will effect the entire traffic flow through town and create additional dangerous situations at these intersections.
- Will speed control devices (speed bumps)be installed on Hillcrest Drive to control the inevitable shortcutting through this residential neighborhood? Sagamore Drive already has the moniker Sagamore Speedway, do we need to have additional traffic load in this neighborhood? It may not be intended but it will happen.
What Can You Do
Write letters to the planning board outlining your concerns for this development. These can be email. Send email concerns and letters to the Town Planning Board Secretary Catherine Templar. ctemplar@town-victor-ny.us She has assured me that she will pass them on to the concerned parties.
Attend the Town and Village Planning Board meetings. The first one of importance on this issue will be held May 27th 2014. Here is the notification from the town: http://www.victorny.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=238
Here is the agenda for the May 27th meeting: http://www.victorny.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/766?html=true
May 28th is another meeting of concern for the Village Planning Board
When will you stop developing in Victor? There are SO many houses and businesses being built with SO many unoccupied. We moved to Victor for its open land 17 years ago, the construction needs to take a break. Driving on 96 is a nightmare. It used to be slow only during “rush hour” but now the traffic moves slowly for hours! You say taxes don’t go up, but the value of my house goes up (which is more tax $$) and we’re not making any improvements to my house. I’d think with all of these houses being built we’d get a true tax break. I do love Victor, but again, take a break from construction…please! Thank you,
Thanks for your comment Julie.
I agree traffic is a huge issue here in Victor. This has been compounded by the increase in the tolls on the Thruway. Now, it makes more sense to avoid the toll than to avoid the traffic.
Fortunately, the Town Planning Board is looking carefully at the impact that this proposed development will have on the traffic at both the Church Street and Lynaugh Road intersections to East Main Street.
This was addressed at the Town Planning Board Meeting on May 27th. You can find information on this in the follow-up post.
Here is my concern. I just went to a Victor CSD presentation where the superindendent gave an eye-opening presentation about the budget. NYS has frozen yearly aid to schools. Same amount year after year. It’s not based on number of students…. Victor is only one of seven districts growing in NYS. So when the other districts lose students, they get more money per student. But because Victor is growing, we get penalized by getting less money per student. With the budget frozen, every time we add a new student, there is less money on a per student basis. Victor CSD is doing a marvelous job spreading the budget around and making magic happen. Hats off to them. BUT, when you add an apartment complex of 100 units, that may add the number of kids who break the camel’s back. This is when you’ll start to see cuts in programs, activities, sports, etc.. Our community needs to be resoluble and think this through…
Thanks for this comment David,
I don’t think anyone has broached the subject of the school system as of yet.
At the Planning Board Meeting the engineer indicated that the focus of their marketing would be seniors.
I don’t really see how this is true however. Seniors don’t want to walk up a flight of stairs to get to their apartment. So it seems to me that multi-level apartments would be more conducive to another demographic of younger families with children.
This will definitely put additional stress on our schools and their budgets.
I work in the Victor area, a resident of a nearby town for over 20 years. I think it’s a shame regarding all of the over – development of this area. Driving to and from work-home has become a nightmare. It doesn’t matter which way I go now. The only thing that comes out of this – is some folks are just pocketing the lining of their pockets.