The Milan Planning Board scheduled a site visit to inspect a 119-acre property on Cold Spring Hill that the owner is seeking to subdivide into eight lots.
“Everyone please wear your hiking boots and roll up your socks, it’s tick season,” board chair James Jeffreys said at the board’s May 6 meeting.
The property is currently vacant but has been tested for septic viability and mapped in relation to nearby wetlands. Engineer Brian Hildenbrand, who attended the meeting, will stake out the driveway and cul-de-sacs before the board’s inspection. After the visit, the board is expected to set a public hearing and begin the environmental review process.
In another subdivision matter, the board approved a two-lot subdivision for Michael Ortiz’s property at 16 Quartfelt Road after engineer Brian Stokosa received wetlands clearance from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The board also authorized Gutchess Lumber Co. to resume timber harvesting on an unnumbered property on Turkey Hill Road. The company had previously received a stop-work order from former Milan building inspector Jake Exline for lack of proper permitting. With the required permits now in place, the company may resume harvesting.
According to Gutchess representative Austin Williams, the property owner plans to use the land for hunting. Williams said trees measuring more than 16 inches in diameter, mainly red and black oak, will be cut to support understory growth for deer browse. Roughly 600 trees will be cut on the 114-acre property.
During the communications portion of the meeting, Peter SennYuen appeared before the board to discuss possible solutions for building workforce housing at SennYuen Farm on Read Road, an emerging farm and fermenting facility in Milan.
SennYuen said his vision combines agritourism with housing for full-time farm workers, using one part of the business to help support the other. The goal, he said, is to offer more affordable housing to full-time farm workers while also providing farming experiences and education to visitors.
“It’s trying to come up with creative ways to subsidize things so they’re actually affordable,” said SennYuen.
In discussing the proposal, SennYuen and the board reviewed code provisions that allow only one accessory dwelling unit on a property and permit short-term rentals only if the owner lives on the parcel. One possible solution discussed was renting the units, which have not yet been built, for periods longer than 30 days.
The final site plan includes a farm store and education center, which the board is expected to review at upcoming meetings.
“It’s a really exciting idea,” said Jeffreys.
TD Contracting was also on the agenda for a proposed subdivision at 1180 Willow Brook Road, but representatives did not attend the meeting, and the board took no action.
The next Milan Planning Board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on June 3.