GLOVERSVILLE – A group that provides counseling services wants to combine two adjacent buildings into one.
The city Planning Board was presented site plans Tuesday for the building connection for Life Saver Ministries, located at 16 E. Pine St.
The organization provides counseling services for pregnant women and offers life-enrichment classes to about 75 local men and women, Client Services Director Anne Morgan said.
The ministry owns two adjacent buildings at 14 and 16 E. Pine St. and would like to combine the two to create additional space in one of the buildings for storage.
The project would involve the construction of a 590-square-foot addition to connect an adjacent residential building with the brick building currently used for the counseling center.
If approved, the work is expected to start in the spring.
“Currently, with the two buildings unconnected, we have to leave one building to go to the next building to get the benefit items or things the guys or girls might need,” Morgan said. “Which means we have to leave our offices unattended and we are currently outgrowing the space we already have, so we need more space.”
The Planning Board decided to schedule a public hearing for the building connection for its next meeting April 2.
Morgan said on its busiest days, the organization will have up to 60 people visiting, including three staff and four volunteers who work for the organization.
The county Planning Department reviewed the site-plan application and made the following recommendations to be addressed before the public hearing in April: the approximate number of off-street parking spaces that can be provided behind the two existing buildings, the location of any outdoor storage areas on the property, and the hours of operation for the counseling center.
Morgan said there are no plans in the budget at this time for additional landscaping or new signs or lighting.
Gas station curbing
Also Tuesday, the Planning Board reviewed changes to curbs at the site of a Country Farms expansion.
The Sohum and Shivam Corp. received a site plan approval for the expansion along South Main Street from the Planning Board on May 3, 2011.
The approved site plan for the expansion identified two 30-foot curb cuts along South Main Street and the curb-cut issue was discussed by the board at its April 5, 2011, and May 3, 2011, meetings.
The Sohum and Shivam Corp. said it would like to change the location and size of the curb cuts along South Main Street to a 60-foot curb cut on the west side of the property, 198 S. Main St., and a 30-foot curb cut on the east side of the property.
Larry McGillis, a contractor representing the gas station, said it would like to change the plans for the curbing to allow both merchandise and gas delivery trucks more space on the west side of the property and to eliminate the blind spot that would have been created due to a telephone pole on the property.
In addition, he said, this new plan would prevent congestion at the gas station if a gas tanker was using the filling station at a point in the day when the business was busy.
The 60-foot entrance would start on the west side of the property near the diesel pump and the 30-foot entrance would be on the east side next to the pizza shop, McGillis said.
Chairman William Ferguson questioned whether 60 feet of space was really necessary for that entrance. McGillis said a typical gas tanker will take up 30 feet of the entrance by itself during a delivery, which would create congestion in the parking lot.
“If you have a truck in the lot, you can’t get in and out of there with a 30-foot opening, so that is why they want to extend it to a 60-foot opening on that end,” McGillis said. “If there is a truck there for deliveries or at the pumps, you still will have room for an exit and entrance with the 60-foot cut; a 30-foot space wouldn’t work because people wouldn’t be able to leave the store.”
He also said having a larger entrance on the west side of the property would entice more people to use that entry and exit, preventing the “close calls” that often occur in front of the property.
As the plans stand, McGillis said, he plans to put in a 16-inch curb that is 6-inches thick along South Main Street.
The Planning Board told him to speak with DPW Director Kevin Jones to determine the exact curbing specification he would like to see on the property.
The Planning Board said this change wouldn’t require another public hearing.
The board could grant approval for the curbing changes at its meeting in April.
