Fishkill Denies Self-Storage Plan

Applicant argued project would be 'low intensity'
The Fishkill Planning Board earlier this month voted unanimously to deny an application to build a 51,500-square-foot self-storage facility just outside of Beacon, ending more than three years of review.
The project sought to construct a two-story building with 333 self-storage units on a partially wooded, 4.7-acre parcel at 1292 Route 9D, between Van Ness Road in Beacon and Interstate 84. It would have required a special-use permit because the site is in Fishkill's restricted business zone, which does not permit self-storage facilities. To receive the permit, the Planning Board had to determine that the use is "substantially similar" to others allowed in the district, such as hotels, restaurants and offices.
The board's attorney, Dominic Cordisco, explained during its Oct. 2 meeting that the application failed to meet any of the four criteria required to establish similarity: consistency with the town's comprehensive plan; consistency with the intent of the restricted business zone, which limits uses adjacent to neighborhoods; no adverse impacts to public health and safety; and no greater intensity of traffic, parking, noise and other impacts than allowed uses.

Because it failed the substantial similarity test, the application was ineligible for Planning Board review. "It is, in effect, a denial, but it is the process that is laid out in the [town] code," Cordisco said.
Cordisco said that the applicant had argued that a self-storage facility would be "low intensity" compared to uses allowed in the zone, "but that's not the test. The test is whether it's substantially similar and compatible with the district."
Many residents, including from Beacon, had opposed the project. Beacon Mayor Lee Kyriacou last year asked the town to investigate alternative entries, saying that southbound drivers on 9D would likely make illegal left turns or U-turns to get into the facility. Kyriacou and others predicted that traffic would increase on nearby residential roads as drivers turned around to get to the site.
To allay concerns, project officials said they would post directions online and petition GPS providers to use routes avoiding residential streets.
A consultant hired by the town said that self-storage businesses are typically located in commercial or industrial zones. There is a self-storage facility on Route 9D, about a half mile from the proposed site, and another nearby on Route 52.
After voting, Planning Board Chair Jonathan Caner noted that 1292 Realty LLC's request for a refund of $30,820 in application fees had been referred to Town Supervisor Ozzy Albra. Albra said on Thursday (Oct. 23) that the request was denied because, according to Cordisco's review, the costs incurred by the town and its consultants were "reasonable and necessary given the procedural and substantive issues and concerns posed by this application," including, in June, the unusual step of the Planning Board authorizing the town planner to finalize an environmental impact statement on the project.