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Seneca Terrace Apartments get go-ahead from Planning Board

WATKINS GLEN, April 17 -- After 15 months and many Watkins Glen Planning Board sessions, the proposed Seneca Terrace Apartments behind the Elks Lodge at the north end of Watkins Glen are a "go."

The Planning Board Wednesday night gave final site-plan approval to the 24-unit complex following a public hearing at which the project drew both support and concern from neighbors.

With the way clear now to build -- following months of numerous revisions requested by the Planning Board, the Watkins Glen Fire Department and the state Department of Transportation -- the group representing the project, led by owner-developer William Frandsen, was looking forward to breaking ground.

"In about 10 days," said Attorney Charles Guttman, a project spokesman and frequent visitor to Planning Board sessions since the Jan. 16, 2013 meeting at which Frandsen and Binghamton engineer Ted Lauve presented the concept -- which at that time called for 28 apartments in sections of 16 and 12.

One of many changes since then had been a reduction to 24 units -- 12 apartments in each of two buildings, one high on the sharply slanted property, and one downhill from there.

Ground movers will start shaping the hillside soon to accommodate the structures -- one of which will be built before the other. Once the land-shaping and infrastructure work is done, construction will begin with an eye toward "closing in" the earliest structure before winter. Occupancy, said Frandsen, could be in the fall of 2015 -- assuming separate Certificates of Occupancy can be obtained for the two buildings, and the earliest structure filled first. Guttman was more optimistic, saying he thought apartments in the first building might have occupants in the summer of 2015.

The Planning Board approval, without dissent, came following a public hearing that saw a couple of Elks Lodge representatives support the project, with one saying he spoke for the club's many members. A retired Watkins Glen resident just back from wintering in the south backed it, as well, saying it was exactly the sort of housing the village needed for people like him and his wife.

And former Mayor Bob Lee weighed in with the argument that the project is needed to increase the tax base of the village.

Concerns were expressed by several residents who live near the planned complex -- the concerns focusing on the effects of increased traffic, on the effect of the complex on their property values, and on the matter of whether traffic would be excluded, except in emergencies, from the complex's North Jackson Street access. The answer to that was "no" -- but that an effort could be made to discourage use of that roadway through signage, an issue that the Planning Board will take up with the Village Board. The main access point would therefore be from North Monroe Street.

In the end, after the public hearing had been closed and the final site plan approved, there was a smattering of applause from the audience, and one low "boo."

And Frandsen, Lauve and Guttman adjourned to the hallway outside the meeting room -- perhaps to get their footing after a long, long rollercoaster ride to approval.

In other business:

-- The Planning Board gave final site-plan approval to a proposal by Seneca Physical Therapy on North Franklin Street to add to the front and rear of its building. The approval came after a public hearing at which no opposition was voiced.

-- Code Enforcement Officer Greg Larnard told the Board the Villager Motel is looking at expanding its office space.

-- Larnard told the Board that he was going to meet with Dunkin' Donuts personnel the next day to discuss demolition of the house that Dunkin' Donuts has purchased on the north end of its parking lot -- with an eye toward expanding its parking. The meeting, he said, would include demolition contractor T. Shaw, Inc. of Tully. The house, Larnard said, will be razed "pretty soon, but no date has been set. We'll figure that out" at the meeting.

Photos in text:

Top: Binghamton engineer Ted Lauve outlines the apartment complex project during Wednesday's Planning Board public hearing.

Second: Developer-owner William Frandsen at the meeting.

Third: Former Watkins Glen Mayor Bob Lee, who said the increased tax base offered by the complex is needed by the village.

Bottom: Planning Board member Amedeo Fraboni makes a point.