County approves four story hotel site plan

PENN YAN—The Yates County planning board approved a site plan for an 11,000 square foot hotel to be located at 124 Elm St. in Penn Yan during their regular meeting Thursday, July 25. The village planning board will also be reviewing the site plan during their Monday, Aug. 5 regular meeting at 7 p.m.
Development Manager for the Indus Company Kip Finley said they picked Penn Yan as a good area for the hotel due to the need for more beds in the area. He said they do not have a brand approved yet, having applied to many who are interested in the project so far. Finley said it would be an upper scale hotel with free breakfast, an indoor pool on the first floor along with 75 to 78 rooms.
Finley said they do not have an architect assigned to it yet, but they have the land under contract. He said the buildings located there are a former car dealership (McCredy) and service area that have been vacant for several years. Finley said there are only a few places in the community for a hotel and this is their favorite because guests will be able to walk to downtown without having to drive.
 Finley said from a site planning perspective it will be a four story building that the group intends to have blend in with the village aesthetic as much as possible. He said he already met with the village planning board chairman master plan and talked about aesthetics and land use.
“Visual character is very important to the planning board and me too,” Finley said. “We want it to fit in.”
Finley said he hopes the building will be big enough to bracket off its part of Main Street and make a statement there is a business district.  He said the site has plenty of water, electric and sewer utilities available to it as well.
Finley said  everything outside of the building footprint has been remediated, although there are a few “hot spots” inside the building where the lifts are that need to be cleaned out. He said they did take out a huge oil tank but they cannot remediate the rest until the building comes down. Finley said they are buying five parcels in all, which include the main dealership, the storefront with an apartment and the body shop.
Finley said the group needs to know what hotel brand will be pursued before they design anything because each one has different standards. He said most want their hotels to have some sort of “local flavor,” but each has different square footage and layout of rooms as well as quality standards. Finley said the Hilton brand generally has the most stringent set of standards.
“If you built it to a Hilton standard, anyone else would take it,” Finley said.
Finley said their goal is to get the site plan approval, then through fall and winter remove the buildings and begin remediation. He said they would then let things sit and build into next year. Finley said there would be a gravel lot for some time in between remediation and construction.
Finley said they will have the outside look enough like the brand where people recognize it, but will try to make the front fit in with Main Street and Elm Street. He said the side that faces the drug store and Route 54A is where they would have their signage while trying to keep the Main Street side low-key. Finley said they are considering using antique light fixtures and might do some storefront on the downtown side.
Finly said the Indus Company owns and operates their hotels and will be own this one for “a long time.” He said a 75 to 78 room hotel will usually have about 15 employees who get paid a decent wage. Finley said this is only the first step in the project and they still need to get some things sorted out before a shovel is actually put in the ground.
In other business:
• The board approved a subdivision application allowing Larry Knapp to divide a 27.5 acre parcel in Barrington into three four-acre lots.
• Eugene Hoover was granted an amendment to a special use permit to allow firearm restoration and repair in addition to his current cabinet shop business at 4741 Route 14A.
• Chester Sauder was granted a  special use permit allowing for a 10 dog kennel at 3720 Himrod-Lakemont Road in Milo.
• The board granted a use variance to Peter and Rebecca Parshall at 1283 Route 245 in Middlesex for the keeping of four goats to be used primarily for milk.
• The town of Italy was granted an amendment to their zoning chapter requiring mandatory training for planning board and zoning board members.
• William Remery was granted an area variance for the construction of a detached garage at his property at 312 Route 54 in Milo.