Webster ZBA meets Tuesday with solar challenge, 56-unit apartment variance on the docket
The town's Zoning Board of Appeals takes up a dispute over the Xerox campus solar farm's permit type and a 56-unit apartment complex that would need substantial front and buffer variances. Here is what to expect Tuesday night.
Webster's Zoning Board of Appeals meets Tuesday, June 9, at 7 p.m. at 1002 Ridge Road with two contested items anchoring the agenda: a formal challenge to the permit process used to approve the Xerox campus solar farm, and a request by Legacy Development Co. for the variances it needs to build 56 apartments in the town's Medium High Residential district.
The solar farm challenge
The project is called the Webster Solar Garden. Developed by Montante Solar in partnership with Xerox, it sits on about 19 acres at the former Xerox campus, in and around a capped industrial landfill north of Caracus Drive. The Planning Board granted final site plan approval in January 2026. After panels were removed from the capped landfill portion, the project's capacity was reduced by about 20 percent.
On April 2, the Webster Town Board voted 3-2 to issue an Industrial Use Permit authorizing the project. The vote was contested. At the March 19 Town Board meeting, during public comment, residents testified in opposition; some cited prior campaign statements in which approving board members had opposed similar projects.
A resident identified in town records as Debby Rice is now asking the ZBA to determine whether the Town Board used the correct permit type. Rice contends the project should have been reviewed under a Special Use Permit rather than an Industrial Use Permit. The distinction matters because the two permit types run through different approval bodies and carry different procedural requirements. Rice's application cites three sections of the Webster Town Code governing large-scale solar energy systems, industrial district uses and supplementary use regulations.
Before reaching Rice's question on the merits, the ZBA may first have to address a threshold question: whether the ZBA has authority to second-guess a Town Board permit decision at all. That procedural question could shape the entire June 9 hearing.
Rice's application was scheduled for the May 12 ZBA meeting and tabled at her request; June 9 is the rescheduled hearing.
Waterview Phase 3: 56 units, significant variances
The other significant item is a proposal by Legacy Development Co. to build Phase 3 of the Waterview Apartments complex at the northwest corner of Willow Point Way and Nautical Mile Drive. The proposal calls for six buildings and a community center totaling 56 units on 13.15 acres zoned Medium High Residential.
Legacy is seeking two area variances. The first is a front setback variance: the proposed buildings would sit 18.7 feet from the front property line where the code requires 75 feet. The second is a buffer variance: the development would maintain 38.5 feet of separation from the adjacent single-family residential district where 100 feet is required. Both shortfalls are substantial, and the buffer reduction from single-family neighbors is likely to draw public comment.
Other items on the agenda
The Bay-Ridge Corner Resubdivision at 423, 425 and 429 Ridge Road and 1036-1036A Bay Road is a resubdivision of five lots into four, applied for by Scott Measday, that is running on two boards simultaneously: the ZBA must grant area variances for nonconforming setback and lot conditions before the Planning Board can finalize subdivision approval. The Planning Board took up its portion of the application on June 2.
Three other residential items round out the agenda: a front setback variance for a 480-square-foot pole barn at 101 Midnight Trail, a 1.7-foot side setback variance for an attached garage at 514 Klem Road, and a lot-width variance for a proposed two-lot subdivision at 1640 Lake Road.
Christian Lyke is asking the board for a special use permit to keep up to eight hens in an 8-by-8-foot chicken coop on his 0.42-acre parcel at 1813 Halesworth Lane, zoned R-2. The town's supplementary use regulations require board approval for backyard poultry in residential districts.
How to attend
The ZBA meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 9, in the Town Board Meeting Room at Webster Town Hall, 1002 Ridge Road. Members of the public may speak during the public hearing portion of the meeting. The full agenda is posted at websterny.gov.
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