Village Board Requests Green Space Be Maintained
Representatives for the Garden City Golf Club recently attended a board of trustees meeting to request final site plan approval to build a new 12,000-square-foot indoor storage facility and a reconfigured new parking area. In order to complete the project, the Club is also requesting to remove 47 trees from the grounds.
Currently, the site consists of an outdoor storage area where equipment and machinery are stored under blue tarps. “What we are proposing to do is build a new structure to store equipment and machinery inside the building,” Michael Rant, an engineer representing Bladykas & Panetta explained to the board. Also being proposed is a new defined parking area that would allow employees to park their vehicles and curbing for safer, easier access to the maintenance facility. In conjunction with the application, Rant also said the project will require the removal of 47 trees and all the necessary permits have been obtained.
Construction is anticipated to take three months to complete and traffic will be rerouted to the south of the building and connect to the exiting driveways and paths. All access to the facility will be from 14th Street. “The project is not to expand any existing employees or the existing machinery or equipment,” said Rant. “It’s simply to improve what’s there. We want to take the existing outdoor storage area and we want to bring it inside. We want to improve and enhance the aesthetics of the building and the property and clean things up.”
Mayor Robert J. Rothschild and members of the village board raised questions about the number of trees that are being removed in order for the project to be completed. “I didn’t see a landscape plan in here that we are being asked to approve as part of this project. Is there a landscape plan for what the final product would look like with the landscaping in place?” the mayor asked. Rant said that there isn’t a formal landscape plan or additional plantings in the current proposal. “The club has a full-time staff that actually maintains the grounds so for them, they are just as concerned as the board of what everything looks like,” Rant added. The mayor also asked if the building construction would be hidden from residents’ view. Rant assured the board that the closest residence was 600 feet away.
Trustee Dennis Donnelly expressed his concerns that 47 trees would not be replaced. “I would like to see us have a landscape plan in place before we approve this,” Donnelly said. Trustee Andrew Cavanagh added that he would like to replace as many trees as feasible in their budget in order to help the environment. “We are trying to maintain the totality of green space,” Cavanah said.
The contractor for the project, Richard Morandi of Cook and Krupa, Inc., said they have prepared a preliminary schedule for construction and once they get a building permit approved, they will start excavating within two weeks. “It’s a very simple building and should be of minimal impact to the community,” he said.
The board voted to approve final site plan, which they agreed would be contingent upon the board’s review and approval of a new landscape plan. Once the trees have been planted, the Buildings Department will then issue a Certificate of Occupancy.
