Grube resigns as Gaines town supervisor due to demands with full-time job
Joe Grube takes the oath of office on Jan. 2, 2018, when he started as Gaines town supervisor.
GAINES – Joe Grube has resigned as Gaines town supervisor after almost three years as the town’s top elected official.
Grube submitted his resignation at the end of the Gaines Town Board meeting on Monday. He was promoted in February as Northeast regional manager for 911 solutions for Motorola. That job keeps him very busy.
“My new duties just don’t leave me enough time to do justice as town supervisor,” Grube said this morning. “I’m the type of person if I can’t put in a hundred percent I don’t want to do it.”
Tyler Allport, a town councilman, was appointed by the board to step in a town supervisor. The position will be up for election in November 2021. Allport works as the Hazard Insurance Manager at KeyBank.
Allport vacated councilman’s position was filled by Kenny Rush, who works on a farm with his father, Gregg Rush.
Grube was first elected town supervisor in November 2017, defeating Carol Culhane, for a two-year position. He didn’t face opposition when he was re-elected last November.
Grube said the town was able to update its zoning in his tenure and was able to bring back its Plannign Board. The Planning Board had been abolished with its duties shifted to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Now the town has a ZBA and Planning Board like most other municipalities.
The Grube-led Town Board formed a Zoning Advisory Committee to review the zoning. That committee worked with LaBella Associates on the project.
The new zoning regulations and map include an expanded commercial district on Route 104, from the Cobblestone Museum going east to Brown Road. That allows for more options for development on Ridge Road that aren’t in a historic district.
The town also eliminated a commercial zoning district in the Eagle Harbor hamlet, while keeping the commercial district at the 5 Corners and expanding the district at the routes 279 and 104 intersection.
The project updated a comprehensive plan for land use, that Grube said was originally adopted in 1983.
The revisions include more detail on development in the commercial districts, especially with signage, and includes samples in the zoning code for signs that fit the historic district.
Other highlights include:
- Established regulations for R-1 Residential District and Planned Development District as floating zones. They are not specified on the zoning map, but can be added to rezoned land if the Town Board deems either district appropriate.
- Established new regulations for the Commercial Historic District, including standards for building design, building placement, parking and landscaping, with a goal to prevent incompatible development with the historic district.
- Added provisions for farm labor and agricultural packing and processing facilities.
“The end change is very good,” Grube said about the zoning regulations. “We solved issues with historic district. We have the Planning Board back. The Zoning Board of Appeals is fully functional with processes more in line with other towns.”
