PLANNING BOARD PLEASED BY NEW PRICE CHOPPER DESIGN
Mike McCagg
ccSCOOP News
01-16-10 - 5:10 p.m. - The proposed new Price Chopper store would be largely shielded from Route 66 by trees and landscaping according to a new design submitted to the Ghent Planning Board this week.
Planning Board Chair Jonathan Walters told ccSCOOP that the board met with developers of the store, Schuyler Companies, during a special meeting on January 11. Golub Corporation, which owns the Price Chopper chain of supermarkets, is seeking approval to construct a new store, approximately 43,000 square feet in size, on land adjoining the existing Price Chopper Plaza. The new store would be adjacent but separate from the existing plaza.
During the meeting, Schuyler officials outlined a plan to plant trees and undertake other landscaping that would screen the view of the store from traffic on Route 66. “They have some nice oaks and other trees proposed to be planted,” Walters said.
The new proposal comes in response to Planning Board demands that the store not be designed like a “cookie cutter” big box store. “We told them to come back with something nice or don’t bother,” Walters said, adding that the developer was not pleased with the directive but apparently understood the Planning Board’s position.
Included in the drawings for the new proposal was a delineation of the Harlem Valley Trail— a measure that Walters said would ensure the ability of hikers to use the trail should it ever be extended beyond its current northern terminus in Copake to Chatham. The stretch would pass in front of the store since the former railroad bed parallels Route 66 as it enters the Village of Chatham. |
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Site of the proposed new Price Chopper as viewed from the parking lot of the current store
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While Walters said town planners are generally pleased with the proposal as it stands, the project still has some major hurdles to clear. Among them, developing a plan to deal with the wetlands in the area to satisfy the State Department of Environmental Conservation, traffic entrances and exists that meet with the Department of Transportation’s guidelines, and the extension of water and sewer lines from the Village of Chatham. The latter has been the subject of great debate among village leaders, some of whom are supportive of extending the lines for a fee and others who question the ability of the current system to handle a new demand.
Calls to Schuyler officials for comment were not returned.
The public’s first chance to see the plans will be at the Ghent Planning Board’s next regular meeting on February 3 at 7 p.m.
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