Star of the West scope approved

Concerned residents crowded the village of Churchville Planning Board meeting October 6 to keep up with developments in the Star of the West Milling Company’s application for site plan approval for the addition of eight, 110-foot grain silos on its South Main Street site.

The board voted unanimously to approve the four-page draft scope, submitted by the Star of the West in early October, for the environmental impact study the board is undertaking--after making some additions.

“It has been a fairly….interesting process,” Planning Board Chair Charles Daniels said, to laughs from the crowd, as he explained it to one resident. “This is a step in the direction toward completion,” he said.

In New York state, all projects requiring discretionary approvals from a unit of local government, in this case the Churchville Planning Board, require an environmental impact assessment as prescribed by SEQR, according to the website for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

The planning board is required by SEQR to identify and mitigate the significant environmental impacts of the activity it is permitting.

The first steps in this process were for the planning board to decide whether the Star of the West’s proposed addition would impact the environment, to identify that impact, and to issue a positive declaration--meaning prepare a document stating that the board will require a full environmental impact statement (EIS.)

These steps were all completed this spring, when it was decided the project would have a visual and noise impact on the environment.

The next step the board took, “scoping,” is not required by SEQR, but is highly recommended by the DEC for all EISs. Scoping is the process by which the issues to be addressed in the draft EIS are identified. It is this draft which was accepted by the board last week.

In addition to the four-page draft scope prepared by Star of the West, the planning board added these eight requirements: the projected noise level be reduced by six decibels at property lines; noise level at the site be reduced; mitigate noise level at higher elevations (grain elevator); conduct a noise level test to segregate the noise of the elevator from that of the mill operation; consider the visual effect of reorienting the silos north to south, rather than east to west, including the current silos in the photo simulations; provide photos and elevation views of the conveyance system; provide photos with the silos superimposed on the site from various views around the village; propose landscaping to soften the impact and redirect attention from the silos.

Star of the West will now prepare its draft EIS, addressing all of the concerns of Churchville’s planning board. “This is what we have been waiting for,” Mill Manager Francois Lachance told the board at the meeting.

The board had sixty days to act on the draft scope, but Daniels said, “We are not up here to delay a process. We’re up here to move along the process as information ...is submitted to review.”

The final steps required by SEQR are: once the draft EIS is completed the board must decide whether it is adequate and accept it (or determine it is inadequate and reject it, requesting more information), publish a notice that the EIS is complete and ready for review, receive public comment and decide whether to hold a public hearing on it.

Lastly the final EIS is prepared--and the planning board is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the final EIS, regardless of who prepares it, according to the DEC website.

Findings are made after all agencies review the final EIS. A positive finding can be made if it is demonstrated that the action taken will avoid or minimize adverse environmental impacts presented in the EIS, and balances them with the social, economic and other essential considerations, according to the DEC. If the action is not approvable, a negative findings statement documenting the reasons for the denial must be prepared.

This concludes the SEQR process, and only then can the Star of the West and the planning board return to the question of site plan approval for the modifications to the mill. “It would be up to the applicant to modify plans,” to satisfy board members, Daniels said. “If it could not meet the requirements, the site plan would not be approved.”

The height variance required to build the silos in the village, which has a 50-foot height maximum, was granted by the zoning board of appeals March 13.

“I am very proud of the board,” said James Wilkins, of Royce Dr. Wilkins is a builder in the village who said he is well aware of the challenges in meeting the concerns of a community, and hopes Star of the West owners will compromise.

Addressing Lachance, Wilkins said, “What I’d like is to have you leave here knowing I have never gotten 100 percent of what I asked for (from a municipal planning board). I had to come to what ‘City Hall’ wanted. Sometimes that means backing off....sometimes leaving the community entirely and I understand that.”

Wilkins said he hoped Lachance was misquoted in an article in the Nov. 4, 2002 Suburban News when he was quoted as saying the mill had the variance it needed and the silos would eventually be built. Wilkins ended by telling Lachance he has a long way to go “before you get that final approval,” earning himself a round of applause from the room for his comments.

In a telephone interview Thursday morning, Lachance responded to Wilkins’ comments. Lachance said he had not been misquoted, but wished to clarify his statements.

“If we satisfy the concerns of the planning board, and that’s what is in the draft, then I would expect them to approve our site plan. We are going through the process, we are not fighting the process,” Lachance said. “We want to be good neighbors.”

Lachance said he thought the meeting went well. “The planning board did their homework. They did what we were hoping would happen. We’ve got our work cut out for us. They’ve given us the blueprint and now we need to go through the necessary steps so they can make an educated decision,” he said Thursday.

Editor’s note: Next week -- Star of the West’s impact on the village tax base.