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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6.2.2025 (ZBA) Minutes 1 ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS June 2, 2025 Zoom Link ID 4118425407 Present: ZBA Chair: L. Staley, Members: R. Parker, S. Barnett, M. Tate, M. Friend; Village Clerk Walker; Attorney O. Shah Zoom: Code Enforcement Officer B. Cross, Mayor L. Woodard Absent: Member: D. Szpiro 1. Call to Order- ZBA Chair, L. Staley calls the meeting to order at 7:11 p.m. -ZBA Chair, L. Staley appoints alternate member, M. Fried as a full voting member with the absence of D. Szpiro 2. Approval of Meeting Minutes: December 2nd, 2024 BE IT RESOLVED THAT: The Village of Cayuga Heights Zoning Board of Appeals approves the December 2nd, 2024, minutes as presented. Motion: M. Tate Second: S. Barnett Ayes: L. Staley, R. Parker, M. Tate and S. Barnett Nays: None Abstentions: M. Friend Motion Carried 3. Public Comment- No members of the public wish to speak. 4. Variance Request 2 ZBA Chair, L. Staley stated that an application to construct a new addition at 306 Highland Road has been denied since the addition would result in a lot coverage of 17.1% which exceeds the maximum of 15% allowed by the Village of Cayuga Heights Zoning Ordinance Section 305-29 A: Lot Coverage in Multiple Housing District. ZBA Chair, L. Staley stated that tonight we are going to just consider this a preliminary hearing because we are still waiting for Tompkins County Planning to review the request, because the property is within 500 feet of the City of Ithaca, and therefore the County is responsible for reviewing any application under municipal law 239- M. Village Superintendent of Public Works B. Cross states that the applicant is in the multiple housing district, and that is why it has triggered the GML 239-M request. In our residential district we are exempt from this action. ZBA Chair L. Staley stated that we should identify and review SEQR for this variance request. Village Attorney O. Shah states that he recommends using SEQR 6 NY CRR 617.5 (9) C – exempts construction or expansion of primary or accessory/permanent on residential structure or facility involving less than 4,000 square feet of gross floor area and not involving a change in zoning or use variance. ZBA Member S. Barnett states that this project is more than 4,000 square feet. Village Superintendent of Public Works B. Cross states that the “action” has to be less than 4000 square feet. The specific language is gross floor area. ZBA Member S. Barnett states that we should count each floor as square space since there are multiple levels or floors to this project. Village Attorney O. Shah states that he will follow up to clarify what is considered under this request. Applicant John Guo arrives at 7:18 p.m. Village Superintendent of Public Works B. Cross states this topic will also be brought up at the Village Planning Board Meeting next month. It is possible that the Village Planning Board will become lead agency on this variance request, and they will then have to determine SEQR. ZBA Chair L. Staley updates applicant John Guo on where we are in the process of this meeting. 3 Village Superintendent of Public Works B. Cross states that the Village Planning Board conducted site plan review for this property in July of 2018, since there was the addition of stairwells. There was also a “phase 2” to be conducted in a later point in time. This is a larger version of phase 2. Village Superintendent of Public Works B. Cross states that since the Village Planning Board conducted site plan review then, and this addition is considered substantial compared to the original phase 2, that now they will have to conduct site plan review as if it were a totally new project. Village Superintendent of Public Works B. Cross states that if SEQR review is needed then the applicant would submit that to the Village Planning Board at their next meeting. ZBA Member S. Barnett asks if the Village Zoning Board of Appeals had any role in the first process for this location. Village Superintendent of Public Works B. Cross states they did not, because the proposed addition did not exceed lot coverage. ZBA Chair, L. Staley opens the Public Hearing at 7:28 p.m. Applicant John Guo states that the original thought was to build four-bedroom apartments. Since then, he has learned that it is very hard to rent four-bedroom apartments. Two and three-bedroom apartments are much more desirable. Applicant John Guo would like to propose two, three-bedroom units for three floors. This addition is to make sure the rooms are of a suitable size and space. A stairwell requires more space to move from floor to floor. Plan Drawings Applicant John Guo states that in 2018, he was concentrating on fixing the building up, fixing the roof, and making it livable. He did not have any specific, detailed drawings for phase 2, but now he does. ZBA Chair, L. Staley states that the next step will be for us to hear back from Tompkins County on GML 239- M, then the Village Planning Board will discuss the significance of the addition to determine if site plan review is required. ZBA Chair, L. Staley that we now have a better understanding of the rationale for the five questions we will ask for granting this variance request. 4 ZBA Chair, L. Staley that we will leave this Public Hearing open and continue this discussion next month at the July 7, 2025, Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting. Village Attorney O. Shah states that after looking through the Village Code, and other municipal zoning the square footage is a sum of all the totals, so in this case, that would be 1700 multiplied by three floors, equally 5100 square feet. This would require us to complete a SEQR review by the Village Planning Board. 5. New Business: No new business at this time. 6. Adjournment: ZBA Chair, L. Staley, adjourns the meeting at 7:50 p.m.