Sarah Taddeo

@sjtaddeo

Over 100 residents and neighbors packed a Penfield town planning board public hearing Thursday on a proposed cider house project that would bring orchards, a cider manufacturing facility and tasting room to a rural intersection in town.

Christian Krapf of Rochester has made small-batch cider for years, and this year he proposed to open a cider production business at the corner of Dublin and Sweets Corners Roads, to be called Oak and Apple Cidery. That land is covered by a conservation easement, created in 2002, which gives the town development rights to the property. This allows the town to restrict the area to certain types of development — in this case, only agricultural use. The property is zoned RA-2, or rural agricultural.

Krapf owns about 27 acres of property near the intersection, and hopes to plant a total of 530 apple trees of different types on the property and operate a 2,600 square-foot building, which would contain a tasting room, manufacturing spaces and office space.

Both the applicants and neighbors had legal representatives speak at the public hearing, followed by comments from residents addressed to the planning board. Based on a show of hands during the meeting, about 30 percent of the room was for the project, while about 70 percent of attendees were against the endeavor for various reasons.

Here are some of the residents' major concerns with the project.

Does it fit the character of the area?

Neighbors noted the rural character of the area and concerns about an initial commercial enterprise opening the door for other development to crowd into the area.

"East of (Route) 250, there's not a single place to buy a bottle of water," said Susan Foor, a longtime Penfield resident.

This project may be more of a determent than a boon to east Penfield, said Georgena Terry of Penfield.

"Oak and Apple is a substantially different kind of operation in this community than we're used to, and in that sense I feel it is not consistent with community character," she said.

Krapf's legal counsel, Jim Bonsignore of Woods Oviatt Gilman, emphasized that the applicant was eager to keep the project from disturbing the neighbors around it.

"The project is designed to minimize the impact that the site plan will have," he said.

Does it fall within the easement rules?

Neighbors brought up concerns having to do with the easement's criteria for development, such as whether a cidery is the same as a winery. Krapf has argued that it is, but neighbors like Kevin Gallagher say that is a key piece of the easement that is overlooked.

Also, the easement dictates that 5.4 parking spaces are allowed per 1,000 feet of building space used "for wine sales on the site." Neighbor Chris Mazur argue that this designation should be placed on the appoximately 540 square-foot tasting room, which would allow for four parking spaces — the applicant applied the clause to the entire 2,600 square-foot building, which would allow for around 14 spaces.

Bonsignore noted that some of the easement parameters allow for much more than what Krapf is proposing, making the point that Krapf is attempting to mitigate the project's footprint in the area.

Traffic and alcohol concerns

There have been several car crashes in this general area in past years, giving neighbors pause about an establishment serving alcohol in the area, said Mazur.

Board members asked about restrictions on alcohol service during the meeting, to which the Krapf and Bonsignore said that most of the service would be in the form of tasting flights, or series of small tasting glasses full of different ciders.

The cider house will have a limited alcohol license to serve small amounts of alcohol, which is different than a liquor license that a regular bar might have, said Bonsignore.

Bridget O'Toole, a lawyer representing neighbors, noted that there would be no restriction on the amount of alcohol any one customer can consume.

Will it impact the environment?

Neighbors and O'Toole brought up issues with the project's potential impact on the area's drainage, nearby Environmental Protection Overlay Districts, and amount of light and noise pollution.

While the applicant said that music will only be used inside, but "if they open the windows on a 90 degree day, that sound is going to travel," said Foor.

Different elements of the proposed plan, such as the orchards and an irrigation pond, may infringe on EPODs in the area and the applicant would therefore need permits to develop in those areas, said O'Toole.

Several speakers suggested that this project should be designated as a "Type 1 Action," or one that would have "significant adverse impact on the environment than other actions or classes of actions," according to the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation. This would require the applicant to submit a full Environmental Assessment Form to the town — the applicant has only submitted a shorthand version of this form to date.

The planning board tabled the project Thursday, putting off a decision to approve the project's the Preliminary and Final Site Plan until after future discussion.

STADDEO@Gannett.com