Two applications move ahead, Yesterday’s lingers

Yesterday’s owner John Christison voiced his frustration over having to continually appear before the Warwick Village Planning Board, during their January 14 meeting.

“I don’t understand why I have to come back to another meeting,” said Christison. “I’m running on eight years now and it’s just mind-boggling, all of it.”

While the initial Yesterday’s site plan was approved in 2018 and reapproved in 2021, in 2024, Christison sought to amend the previously approved site plan to address some field changes made during construction, changes to stormwater management, fire access and parking, among other issues.

Christison claimed that whenever he came before the board, new issues seemed to come up that needed to be addressed, further delaying the approval process. Planning Board Chairman Jesse Gallo responded that many of the board’s comments on the amended site plan had been there from the beginning and the concerns being addressed had been brought up at the prior meeting.

Elm Street

During the meeting there was some discussion over whether an application for a proposed mixed-use building at 15 Elm Street met the requirements for their flood plain application approval. Planning board secretary Kristin Bialosky countered that the planning board told the applicant that they were going to be ratifying the resolution and that the plans were approved to be signed. She added that the applicant was not invited to the meeting on the assumption of this approval.

Ultimately, the board voted to approve the flood plain application for 15 Elm Street, which authorizes them to place additional fill within the designated flood plain. The applicant was previously before the board in 2021 for their proposed development located in the Central Business District within the regulated flood plain.

Welling Place

The board also approved the site plan and conditional use permit for the development of an existing structure at 19 Welling Place into a mixed-use building consisting of two businesses on the first floor and three apartments on the second floor.