15 months later, controversial business continues to operate without site plan

BY FRANCES RUTH HARRIS
CHESTER — The town of Chester has not yet issued a stop-work order for violations at the electrical contracting business at 191 Lehigh Avenue, which for 15 months has been operating with no site plan and in defiance of the town's Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA).
Supervisor Alex Jamieson says he will defer to the judgment of the planning board attorney, David Donovan, who is now reviewing the project.
Donovan has on multiple occasions refused to speak to The Chronicle about the matter.
In the persistent absence of information from town officials, some local residents are wondering if somebody is being "paid off" to accommodate an illegal business.
Operating without a site plan is against the law. Town officials will not say why the business was able to bring its project before the planning board after the ZBA denied its application for a variance last year.
On May 18, 2017, the ZBA decided that 191 Lehigh's 1.2 acres was insufficient for the business's proposed uses, which, according to code, would require five acres. Since then, neighbors have been complaining about the business continuing as if nothing happened, transforming their quiet residential neighborhood into an industrial site, with cables and other equipment stored outside, overflowing dumpsters, and noisy truck traffic.
At the Aug. 15 planning board meeting, chair Don Serotta scolded the project manager, Amador C. Laput of Fellenzer Engineering LLP, because the planning board's landscape architect, Karen Arent, wasn't there. Serotta said the meeting had to be rescheduled for September or November.
Serotta made clear he was irritated and disappointed that 191 Lehigh did not do what the planning board required of them to complete the site plan.
The attorney for 191 Lehigh, Rick Golden, said there was a miscommunication between the planning board and the engineer, who did not think he was tasked with reaching out to the landscape architect.
Laput did not return a call for comment.
Jamieson said he trusts Golden.
He has "a solid reputation and expertise in zoning," Jamieson said. "He believes that they can still run their office from the building. They just can’t have any equipment there. We have forwarded his concerns and his position to the planning board attorney and are awaiting his response, which I think will concur with the attorney for 191. The owner is three weeks from getting final site approval and the ability to run his business fully out of Lehigh as well. Will keep you posted once I hear of any updates."
Jamieson declined to say why the business has not in the meantime received a stop-work order, or any kind of citation.
Golden said the business is up and running because town building inspector James Farr wrote a letter saying the site's pre-existing and non-conforming use allowed the business to continue. They just can't have outdoor storage, Golden said, although he and the owner are now working with the board to allow an outdoor use.
The owners of 191 Lehigh paid a $750 fine for the mess on their site. They put groundcover over the weeds and added rock to the parking lot and driveway, and over a sewer system. The garbage containers are not yet enclosed.
Joel Schreiber owns the site. He's the third owner in a year.
Neighbors frustratedSome of the public's distrust stems from go-ahead given by Farr, who said the site has a long history operating as a business and so should be grandfathered in. He wrote to the town board in May that, although the minimum lot size for a professional office on Lehigh Avenue is five acres, "in 1974 the premises was located in an 0-M Zoning District which permitted the professional office use and required a minimum of one acre in bulk area....I have determined that the structure and property constitute an existing nonconforming structure and use and thus the use may continue and that the property need not conform to the current minimum setback requirements in the I Zone so long as there have been no additions to the structure."
However, the site's neighbors, some of whom have lived there their whole lives, say no legal business ever operated at 191 Lehigh.
Tom and Cindy Becker own the farm next door to the site. They say 191 Lehigh has always been a residence, and that Orange County records back that up. The Beckers said Jamieson and Councilman Robert Valentine promised to check into their complaints and get back to them, but they never did.
A search of Orange County's real property database reveals that the property was continuously classified as a one-family residence going back at least 25 years (please see sidebar).
The database shows that the house has four bedrooms and two full baths. Improvements over the years include a porch and screened deck added in 2002 and two machine sheds added in 2006.
Residents Kristi Kerns Greco and Mary Conway Luciana have complained on social media that Farr will not be able to handle the Greens of Chester, a much bigger project — 431 residences on 110 acres currently under construction — should problems arise. The electrical contracting business at 191 Lehigh is expected to do much of the work at the subdivision.
"How can we trust building inspector & engineer to make sure Greens of Chester follow all codes when they can’t control just one parcel???" Luciana wrote.
Jamieson told The Chronicle that "you people" don't want to give Farr a chance.
Farr did not return a call for comment.
Al Fusco reports for the building inspectors, Farr and Joe Mlcoch, at town meetings, which Farr and Mlcoch do not attend. Fusco did not return a call for comment.
Councilwoman Cindy Smith said at the last town board meeting that board members get a weekly report from Farr. The report was not read or discussed.
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