The Lloyd Planning Board’s granting of additional time to the Views at Highland, despite provisions in the town code limiting site plan extensions, has raised questions about how the board handled the project.

On March 25, 2021, the Planning Board approved a site plan for the Views at Highland, also known as the Commons at Highland, a two-story mixed-use residential and commercial development proposed for Route 9W, just north of Chapel Hill Road.

On March 24, 2022, project attorney Alec Glad requested and received a one-year extension of the site plan approval. A year later, on March 23, 2023, Glad returned and received a second one-year extension.

On March 21, 2024, just two days before the second extension was set to expire, applicant Gregory Sims asked the Planning Board for additional time.

Minutes from the meeting show that Sims said he was unaware that $55,000 in recreation fees was owed. Town Code Section 100-53(F)(5) states that all fees owed to the town must be paid in full before the Planning Board chair signs an approved site plan.

The Planning Board’s attorney at the time, Paul Van Cott, proposed allowing the applicant an additional 90 days to pay the recreation fees and have the site plan signed.

“In order to avoid their having to reapply for approval of the same project, what was suggested to them is that staff would recommend to the board a minor amendment to their site plan approval that would grant them 90 days to pay their recreation fees and to get the site plan signed by the chairman,” Van Cott said. “The recreation fees do need to be paid before the site plan can be signed.”

Planning Board Chairman Scott McCarthy expressed reservations about the request.

“If the board wants to entertain it, it’s up to them,” McCarthy said. “Something coming in at 5:30, the board is blindsided by what is going on and to make an immediate decision on something of this nature. The board doesn’t want to hurt anybody. They understand they are here to help, but they can only help those who help themselves.”

Glad told the board he had informed his client that the March 2023 extension was the final extension available.

The town code provides that a site plan expires if it is not submitted for stamping and signature by the Planning Board chair within one year of the board’s approval. It also expires if construction is not commenced and diligently pursued within two years of the chair stamping and signing the site plan.

According to the March 21, 2024, meeting minutes, the Views site plan had not been signed and the recreation fees had not been paid.

Van Cott said the proposed action was not an extension because, in his view, the zoning code did not au-thorize another extension. Instead, he characterized it as an amendment clarifying that the recreation fees were among the fees required before the site plan could be signed.

Van Cott described the situation as a “procedural glitch” and a “misunderstanding,” adding that town staff would “rather not put the applicant through an entirely new application and approval process.”

The minutes, however, show McCarthy referring to the additional time as an extension rather than an amendment. McCarthy said that without the additional time, the applicant would have to repeat the ap-proval process.

“He will have to do this all over again and will screw up their sale of the property as it won’t be ap-proved,” McCarthy said, according to the minutes. “It will have to be done all over.”

McCarthy also pointed out that the applicant did not have a signed site plan map.

“So they must have known something was missing,” he said.

The Planning Board voted to grant the additional 90 days. Members voting in favor were McCarthy, Charley Long, Carl DiLorenzo, Lambros Violaris, William Meltzer, Franco Zani and alternate member Fred Pizzuto. Gerry Marion was the sole dissenting vote.

The records show that Sims paid the $55,000 in recreation fees on June 18, 2024. The property ultimately did not sell, however, and the site plan approval expired.

The project resurfaced before the Town Board this summer over a separate issue involving a developer’s agreement.

At a July 1, 2026, Town Board meeting, officials said a signed developer’s agreement with the Views at Highland could not be located. The agreement could not be found in the offices of Supervisor Stu Weiss, town attorney Sean Murphy, the Town Clerk or the Planning Board.

Former Supervisor Dave Plavchak said he had signed the agreement and forwarded it to Weiss.

A resolution was presented July 1 to approve a replacement agreement. At the next Town Board meeting, Weiss said the board would review the matter.

“We’ll take up looking into signing that contract,” Weiss said.

At the July 15 meeting, Weiss said the agreement still had not been located. He also said Building De-partment Director Dave Barton had determined that the timeline within which the developer needed to act had expired.

“The file still hasn’t been located and as far as doing anything with the file, Dave Barton has established that the timeline in which they needed to act has expired,” Weiss said. “So I don’t intend on extending anything or ratifying any agreement that may be construed as extending a timeline.”