Car lot mulch hopes dashed
The owners of a small used car lot at 1057 Arsenal St. have angered City Hall to the extent that the city will not allow them to landscape roughly 70 linear feet of the city's right-of-way using mulch.
The Watertown City Council on Monday night unanimously voted down a resolution that would have allowed Alton C. Sharlow, Adams Center, to change a condition of the property's site plan to keep the existing mulch, instead of adhering to the previous agreement to plant grass. The decision hinged on what council members said was the owner's lack of effort to comply with other conditions within the site plan approval.
The owner has not yet planted trees along the property's southern border to act as a buffer with a neighboring home, and the lot does not contain the proper parking spaces, council members said.
"I really think they should be held to the standard they agreed to," Councilman Jeffrey M. Smith said.
The council's disdain for the property's condition is also being felt by the city Planning Board, which suggested the council vote down the owner's request.
"Mr. (William R. "Randy") Fipps said that he went by the property, and the area in question that the applicant wanted to change from grass to mulch looked very bad, very unkempt and very unfinished," minutes from the Aug. 4 Planning Board meeting state.
City Attorney James A. Burrows said a temporary certificate of occupancy has been issued for a garage constructed last summer at the lot, although it was unclear Monday night when that certificate will expire.
A permanent certificate of occupancy will be issued when all of the conditions of the site plan are met.
Until then, the city can withhold a permit that allows the owners to construct a sign advertising their business, the attorney said.
"I'm not dead set against mulch, it's just that they need to get everything in order first," Mayor Jeffrey E. Graham said.
Also at the meeting, the council appointed Councilman Joseph M. Butler Jr. to the Empire Zone Administrative Board. A Sunday article incorrectly stated he would be considered for the city Zoning Board of Appeals.
