A local florist and nursery is one step closer to getting final approval for its Selkirk expansion as it prepares to move from Delmar.
Robert Verstandig, owner of Verstandig’s, longtime local floral shop on Delaware Avenue, presented his Selkirk site plan to the planning board on Tuesday, Aug. 5. Verstandig plans to sell his property in Delmar to local builder Keystone Builders, who has plans to construct 40 condominiums on the land.
Verstandig plans to build a 3,968-square-foot building in Selkirk to house his offices and retail and wholesale plant materials. At a previous planning board meeting, Verstandig was asked about parking, blacktop, landscaping plans and signage.
The plans now call for the entrances and exits of the Creble Road site to be black topped, but that the main driveway will not get any asphalt until a later date.
At some point we’ll probably do more on the blacktop issue, Verstandig said. `The handicapped parking has also been moved closer to the building’s entrance.`
As for the landscaping, Verstandig said, `We’ve been in business for over 40 years so we’re all about landscaping.`
One of the things Verstandig said he wanted was to keep some of the trees smaller in the landscape plans in order to allow for sunlight onto the property for the greenhouses and possible solar panels.
The business will have a 4-by-6-foot sign that will be externally illuminated, according to the plans.
Planning Board member Nicholas A. Behuniak said the town is always looking to make sure that signage is `commercially tasteful,` and thanked Verstandig for keeping his sign below the town’s code requirement.
`I certainly appreciate that you accommodated that,` Behuniak said.
At a previous planning board meeting, Verstandig said that as he gears toward a more wholesale operation in Selkirk, the biggest change will be discontinuing the gift shop.
`Right now our whole [Selkirk] operation is 100 percent wholesale, so what we’re essentially doing is starting a new business,` Verstandig said of the proposed new building. `It will probably be more in line with a farmers market kind of deal like the Carrot Barn up in Schoharie.`
Verstandig said, `The gift shop is a thing of the past.`
Assistant Director of Economic Development and Planning Michael Morelli said that Verstandig’s proposed building has adequate parking and does not need a variance.
`They have around 48 acres over there between Jericho, Elm Avenue and Creble Road and the building is being proposed along the Creble side,` Morelli said. `It’s zoned rural light industrial, which is a permitted use compliant with the zoning.`
Morelli said that Verstandig basically needs a building permit and he can start.
However, Verstandig said everything is contingent on the approval of the Keystone Builders project in Delmar and then ultimately the sale of Verstandig’s Delaware Avenue property to Stephen Bolduc, Keystone’s owner.
`This kind of dovetails together,` Verstandig said of his Selkirk project and Bolduc’s Delmar condominium project. `One is contingent on the other.`
Bolduc is also designing Verstandig’s new building.
The board unanimously approved Verstandig’s site plan and Planning Board Chairman Parker Mathusa said that the next step for Verstandig is to continue working with the town on finalized details and to get final site plan approval.“