HomeMy WebLinkAbout117 Cayuga Park Rd Applicaiton.pdf illag* *f Cayuga Heighrs
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We are requesting a variance in order to construct an addition to our house at II7
Cayuga Park Road' The existing structure is a 1"700-square foot, two bedroom
house which we share with our two children, who u.. nin. and three years old. The
Proposed addition would entailthe building of a bedroom-bathroom iuite above aone car garage, with additional storage space. This would allow our children to havetheir own bedrooms, and it would provide storage which is especially desirable
because the house is a single story house and has no attic or basement. Theseupdates will increase the appraised value of the house and will also make the housemore comparable other houses in the neighborhood in terms of square footage andamenities. we feel committed to the neighborhood, and to cayuga HeightsElementary School, and see the addition is an expression of our enthusiasm fbr andcommitment to the community.
The proposed addition requires a variance that would permit us to build anadditional 5 feet past the 15' rear yard setback line, at the northeast corner ofthelot, behind the house. This part of the lot, which at present is covered with
unlandscaped brush, is a good distance from the neighboring houses, but it is veryclose to our property line - and here some history miy be hJpful. The original lotfor our house extended from Cayuga Park Road all the way back to Highland Road.Previous owners []oni Carroll and Michael lreton) sold off a parcel or itre land fromthe back of the house to Highland [this is the lot now owned by foan Halperin whorecently completed construction of a house on that lot). Parceling up the lot in thisway left our house closer to the rear property line than is customary. Though ourproposed addition would take us past the setback line, it is in a relaiively tucked
away part of the lot; we believe the addition would be unobtrusive and would notaffect our neighbors' enjoyment of their yards or views.
Working with our architect, Bert Fortner [who was a student of Canfield and Wel]s,the architects who designed the house in L949),we have made every effort to avoidundesirably altering the character of the neighborhood, or negatively impacting
nearby properties. The three houses of our immediate neighbclrs arl all briented
away from this corner of the lot. Our next door neighbors to the south have a
vegetable garden at the southeast part of their property. A digital model of sun andshadow movement over the proposed addition indlcates that the vegetable gardenwill not lose any sunlight as a result of the new construction, The proposed additionfits in with the character of the existing house, and like the existing house is pulled
back at considerable distance from the street.
We have seriously considered a number of other possible designs. One of these didnot provide the desired amount of storage; we decided against another because itwas more ostentatious, was located closer to the street, and inconveniently adjoinedthe kitchen and dining room, rather than adjoining the existing bedrooms. Anotherproposal was for adding a second floor; we felt that this design would significantly
alter the unique architectural character of the existing house and would likely makethe house far more prominent from the road and from the vantage point of ourneighbors. One of the things we love about our house is that it ii unobtrusive; we
selected, from our architect's proposed plans, the addition that we felt was also
most unobtrusive and most in character with the rest of the house.
The requested area variance is sufficient to accommodate the existing plans, but we
do not believe that it substantially subsumes the existing lot. There ii ilready anexisting structure [a small utility shed that is adjoined to the house) on the areawhere we propose to build. We would remove this structure and part of our currentdriveway in order to build the addition. We believe that net effecCwill be toimprove the aesthetic appearance of that side of the house. The existing shed has afootprint of L56 square feeU the total new construction is 661- square f..t. W. u..therefore proposing to add 450 square feet to the house's footprint,
The proposed construction will require the removal of two trees but it otherwisewill not have an adverse impact on physical or environmental conditions in theneighborhood' This includes the small creek that runs between our house and that
of our neighbors to the north. Additionally, we will perform landscape work thatwill enhance the environmental and physical conditions of the lot.
This difficulty was not self-created. We note again that the house originally sat on alot that extended east to Highland Road. The difficulty was created when a previous
owner sold a portion of the lot, and created the new border to the east. Ouiplan
seeks to respect these margins as much as possible. Our proposed plan adds on to
the house at the most logical site, putting a garage at the end of the driveway and
adding a bedroom adjacent to the existing bedrooms.
Jeremy Braddock and Rayna Kalas
L17 Cayuga Park Road