Rezoning for new business will go to public hearing

With several residents in attendance objecting to the project, the Town of Fredonia Plan Commission last week voted 4-2 that the Town Board hold a public hearing on rezoning a corner lot at highways H and A from residential to manufacturing.

Most of the residents who indicated their opposition are homeowners and neighbors of the lot.

Plan Commission Chairman Rich Mueller limited comment, however, saying the time for residents to express their opinions would be at the hearing, which is required before rezoning could be approved by town supervisors.

“The proper place for your comments would be at the public hearing,” Mueller told the residents.

Scott Paulsen is asking for a zoning change on the lot so he can build a garage and shop for his sheet metal fabrication business. 

Paulsen told commission members the garage would mainly be used for storage but would involve some fabrication of heating and ventilation ducts. “There would be very little manufacturing,” he said.

The only employees are his son and himself, Paulsen said.

Paulsen said his former shop in Newburg burned down last year, and he hopes to re-establish his business in the town.

Commission member Chris Janik said town ordinances require a manufacturing facility to be connected to a sanitary sewer system.

“When do you expect Waubeka to get sanitary sewer?” Mueller asked Janik.

“Not likely in the near future,” Janik answered.

But Mueller, citing another ordinance, said the property could be serviced by a holding tank, as proposed by Paulsen.

Asked later to clarify the apparent contradiction, Town Clerk Bob Eichner said in an email that both commissioners were “technically correct. We have conflicting ordinances.” 

Mueller asked someone on the commission to make a motion to either reject the proposal or to recommend that it go to a public hearing before the Town Board.

When none came, Mueller took the unusual step as chairman to make a motion to recommend going to public hearing. His motion passed on a 4-2 vote.