SARANAC LAKE - The village wants to partner with Aldi to remove a berm behind the company's grocery store on Lake Flower Avenue - a move that could open up the adjacent village sand pit property for development.
The village Board of Trustees held a work session Thursday to discuss its options for the sand pit property, which at 10.55 acres is one of the largest undeveloped parcels in the village.
Mayor Clyde Rabideau had asked Andy Abdallah and his son Jim Abdallah of Plattsburgh-based Architectural and Engineering Design Associates, who've done prior engineering studies of the sand pit, to give the new board a status report on the property.
"We want to make a decision whether to continue using the sand pit as a municipal sand pit or market this particular parcel," Rabideau said.
Andy Abdallah said the property could yield up to 90,000 yards of sand if the village removed the berm, which runs behind Aldi and McDonald's, and mined other parts of the property. He said the village has a range of options, from closing the site to mining the maximum amount of material possible.
"Somewhere in between is where you guys have to decide what to do," Abdallah said.
Rabideau said removing the berm would make the property more marketable to a potential developer.
"You can see the land better, and you could use some of that fill to make the land more level and more buildable," he said.
A 2007 easement agreement that would allow the village to remove the berm at the back of the Aldi property has expired. If the village secures a new agreement, Abdallah said removing the berm would give Aldi an additional 10,000 to 15,000 square feet of flat space it could develop with another store or additional parking. The village would get 70,000 to 80,000 yards of sand it could use to level out the sand pit property and make it more developable, or the sand could be stockpiled for use on village roads, Abdallah said.
"I think we should link up with (Aldi) and explore the option with them," Rabideau said. "It seems like that would be a simple and practical approach to find more developable land, and also to keep using the sand pit."
Rabideau said the village is saving about $24,000 a year because it doesn't have to purchase its sand elsewhere.
The southern portion of the sand pit property behind Aldi and McDonald's, which is considered the most marketable, is only about six acres. The steep slopes in that area would have to be graded before it could be developed, which Rabideau said would reduce the "buildable" area of the property to about four acres, about an acre bigger than the Aldi property.
A partnership with Aldi could resolve access issues with the sand pit property. The current road into the site is where much of the additional sand is located. If the village wants to mine that area and open the property up for development, it would need a new entrance.
Andy Abdallah said they've considered using a corner of the Aldi property to create a T-intersecton with Will Rogers Drive or creating a Y-shaped intersection using village property only. The village also has a 50-foot right of way to the sand pit from Lake Flower Avenue, between the Carcuzzi and Agency Insurance properties, but building a road there would require construction of retaining walls and other work that Rabideau said would cost at least $500,000.
Another issue the village will have to address is what to do with all the sand it would remove from the property to ready it for development. Village officials said hauling tens of thousands of yards of sand to another location would be costly and unfeasible. Village Manager John Sweeney suggested the village could sell the excess sand to other municipalities.
The board asked the Abdallahs to get estimates on the cost of removing the berm and to determine, more specifically, the maximum buildable area of the sand pit property.
Removing the berm would require a modification to the village's mining permit with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
At one point, DEC had an "unfavorable opinion" about removing the berm, Abdallah told the board. But based on their last meeting with the agency, Abdallah said DEC was "now comfortable with an expansion of the mining permit."
Walmart sought the sand pit property in 2006 as part of a plan to build a 121,000-square-foot supercenter in the village. The Hannaford supermarket chain was also interested in the site last year.
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Contact Chris Knight at 891-2600 ext. 24 or cknight@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
