Empire Village Planning Commission reviewed conceptual drawings for two projects within the village.

At its meeting Tuesday, chairman Paul Skinner said local developer Fred Salisbury and Robert Ffolkes of Quercus Alba, Inc., presented conceptual drawings for small additions to existing uses.

Skinner said Salisbury is interested in putting up a storage building on his Fisher Street property, next to a Cherry Republic facility. “He didn’t present an application, he was just looking for input from the commission on what they thought,” Skinner said.

Salisbury’s property is zoned Light Industrial. The revised Village Zoning Ordinance requires a special land use permit for Salisbury to put up a storage building on the site. A special use permit requires a site plan review by the planning commission.

While a site plan review for putting up a storage building on property zoned for industrial uses may seem extreme to some, Skinner said it is easier for the Planning Commission to require more review of smaller projects than to list every possible allowable use in district language. “Inevitably someone comes up with something you didn’t think of,” he said.

Ffolkes came to the commission to discuss an idea Quercus Alba partners had for a multi-unit development on lots 48-50 of the New Neighborhood planned unit development. Skinner said the partners’ goal is get a plan approved, then sell it to another developer for construction.

The question for Skinner and the commission: is this a simple special use permit, or is this a change to the development’s PUD agreement? “I’m going to ask the village attorney about this one,” he said.