The village planning board came close to triggering the mechanism that would require Key Bank to complete a draft environmental impact statement for its proposal to establish a drive-up ATM.

The proposal's impact on traffic and lighting at the corner of Chestnut and Beaver Streets concerned not only the planning board, but a number of residents who spoke out against it during a public hearing Tuesday afternoon.

Bev Hargrove reminded the board of the petition she had presented earlier with the signatures of almost 20 of the neighbors in the area.

"One of the largest concerns in the neighborhood is pedestrian traffic at an uncontrolled intersection," she told the board. Hargrove also questioned the bank's need for the automatic teller machine.

Milo Stewart Jr., a member of the board of trustees and the streets and buildings committee, said there is talk of making the intersection a "T" instead of the angled roadway that currently exists. He said it could be as long as five years before any changes are made, however.

"The intersection needs to be addressed before adding congestion," he said. "I don't think the area can handle the pressure of this right now."

Residents also expressed concerns about their property being devalued as a result of increased traffic in the residential neighborhood.

After the hearing, the planning board began the required State Environmental Quality Review of the proposal.

The board expressed concerns about the completeness of the traffic study submitted by Key Bank.

"To be honest, I don't have a lot of confidence in this (the study)," chairman Paul Kuhn said.

"Our ATM is not going to be the straw that breaks the back of that intersection," said Ned Walker, who represented Key Bank.

He suggested the board ask the village's consulting engineers to review the study. "I stand by it. It's a good study," he said.

Walker added that the police committee is on record as having no specific public safety concern about the ATM proposal.

But board member Joe Siracusa commented that he thought the bank had put the cart before the horse by asking the police committee to comment before the traffic study was done.

Walker explained in reply that police chief Michael Crippen had helped to gather the more than 20 accident reports included in the traffic study.

The study also relied on the most recent traffic data available from the NYS Department of Transportation. He told the board the kind of study they were talking about far exceeded what should be required for a project like there's.

The board initally decided that the impact of the additional lighting, which has been redesigned three tiems, would be potentially large for the purposes of the SEQRA review. That determination could have required the bank to do a full environmental impact study, but the board decided to back away from that decision.

Instead, the board will take more time to study the lighting and look at examples at other bank installations. The minimum amount of light at an ATM is governed by New York State banking regulations.

Kuhn told Walker that in all good conscience to call the impacts of traffic and lighting small to moderate would be "shirking their responsibility."

He told Key Bank representatives that the board will hold open the two final questions on the SEQRA form in regard to traffic and lighting while it looks more closely at both issues.

"There are 18 people (who signed the petition) that are scared to death. You have a lot of public opposition to your project. These people have serious concerns and they have to be addressed," Kuhn said.

The planning board meets again on January 11.