Warehouses have not been an easy topic of discussion for the Village of Montgomery, especially after tense public hearings concerning four warehouses being constructed on one site, with two up to 80,000 feet in size. After another discussion with the same complaints from residents, one local stated he was going to get 500 signatures to call for the removal of Planning Board Chairman Kevin Conero.

Jeff VanZandt, a Weaver Street resident, approached the Montgomery Village Board of Trustees following a heated planning board meeting on the heavily debated project, KSH, which is four warehouses along the northwest side of 211 by Union and Weaver Street. The project includes two 60,000 square feet (35 feet high) warehouses, and two 80,000 square feet (45 feet high) warehouses. The uses are unknown, but various, and the project has been in the works for years. The applicant had to receive a height variance in order to do it.

Many residents concerns have been the sight of the warehouses from their own homes. Conero, at meetings, has stated that the planning board isn’t trying to hide the warehouses, but to mitigate them based on code. However, at the end of March, many residents didn’t feel like they were being heard at all.

Over 1,000 people tuned into the most recent planning board meeting, on April 26, where more concerns were heard, as well as an update to the project. Attorney for J&G Law, John Cappello, represented the applicant at this meeting, stating that an engineer conducted a full sound study for the project. To ease sound and lighting, they will construct several walls, and have also removed windows facing Weaver Street to have no light shining out.

They also discussed how they will ease truck traffic and stated they’ll create non-reflective roofs with dark panels so it won’t reflect on nearby residents.

However, residents still took time to state their concerns with the planning board, addressing property value decreasing, traffic, ample parking, noise, lighting at night and more. The meeting was similar to previous ones, with someone stopping it to ask everyone to speak one at a time.

VanZandt recently took his frustration to the village board where he spoke during their public portion.

“I’m making a public request tonight that this board consider removing him [Conero] as the chairperson for the planning board, and by the next meeting, a month from now, I will have over 500 signatures on a petition to back it up,” said VanZandt to the village board.

VanZandt, a contractor, has spent the past few weeks obtaining signatures. He is hoping to collect more than 500 by June 1.

When discussing why, VanZandt mentioned that he doesn’t feel like Conero is qualified for some of these decisions.

“I don’t feel that the planning board chairman is acting in good faith. I don’t feel that he’s qualified, nor do I feel any of the other planning board members are qualified to look at a scope of warehouses that encompass an eight acre footprint,” mentioned VanZandt.

He continued, noting that this doesn’t necessarily apply to everything. “It’s one thing if these planning board members want to approve a small subdivision in somebody’s backyard and a village, or an addition in someone’s backyard in the village, but these are gigantic buildings, and they’re not asking any questions from what I can see that would lead me to believe that they’re concerned about the quality of life for the people who live here,” said VanZandt.
VanZandt also stated that he would like the village to make things more accessible, especially trustee members communicating their feelings about a project.

“When do the residents get to know how you feel about a project, right? When you vote, right? No, that’s how you know there’s no transparency,” said VanZandt.

At the same meeting, residents decided to share their concerns with the village board. Many asked for transparency about the project, as well as asking the board to really hear and listen to them. During an hour long discussion, Mayor L. Stephen Brescia wanted to make sure locals knew his history with the project, stating that he worked with a committee to reduce the size.

“Originally there could have been a 200,000 square foot building on that property plus a 100,000 square feet [building]. That’s why we reduced it to no more than 80,000 and 60,000. We worked hard on changing that zone,” said Brescia.

Conero did not respond for comment on the signatures, and as of now, there is no decision on the KSH warehouse project.