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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BZA-1983-02-07 BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS I FEBRUARY 7 , 1983 I TABLE OF CONTENTS Page APPEAL NO. 1475 Collegetown Motor Lodge 1 312 College Avenue APPEAL NO. 1475 Executive Session 4 APPEAL NO. 1477 Block 99 Partnership (Ramada T'nn) 5 222 South Cayuga Street APPEAL NO. 1477 Executive Session 35 APPEAL NO. 1479 Joseph Daley 36 216218 South Albany Street APPEAL NO. 1479 Executive Session 39 CERTI'PTCATE OF RECORDING SECRETARY 40 1 1 II i II III BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK FEBRUARY 7 , 1983 , CHAIRMAN WEAVER: I will call this hearing to order. First of all �Ithis is a formal hearing by the Board of Zoning Appeals of the City lof Ithaca held under the provisions of the City Charter of the City( of Ithaca and provisions of its Zoning Ordinance . The Board will 1,' not be bound by the strict rules of evidence in the conduct of the shearing but the determination will be founded upon sufficient legal �I ;evidence to sustain the same and we request that all participants ;identify themselves as to name and address and for remarks or any- ( thing that is to be on the record you will have to come forward and (speak to the microphone here so that all of your words will be Icaptured on the tape system. We will hear these matters in the !order in which they were lasted in the legal notice and now I will i introduce the Board: DONNA WARD BETTE BAGNARDI j MICHAEL TOMLAN PEGGY HAINE BEA BROWNELL CHARLES WEAVER, CHAIRMAN �I THOMAS D. HOARD, BUILDING COMMISSIONER $ SECY TO THE BOARD j� BARBARA RUANE, RECORDING SECRETARY l lWe ' ll have the first case please . SECRETARY HOARD: The first case Mr. Chairman is appeal number 1475. j Appeal of Collegetown Motor Lodge for an area j y variance under Section 30 . 49 and Section 30. 25 ; Columns 12 , 13 and 14 for deficiencies in mini mum setbacks for both sideyards and minimum rear yard setback to permit the construction of a one-story office or retail building adjacentl to the existing motel at 312 College Avenue (Collegetown Motor Lodge) . The property is located in a B-2a use district, in which the proposed use is permitted; however,under Section 30 .49 the appellants must obtain an area vari- ance for the listed deficiencies before a build- ing permit can be issued for the new building. ' This appeal had been held over by the Planning Board in December. I ! Mr. Rosten? CHAIRMAN WEAVER: You need to identify yourself. 1 IMR, ROSTEN: Arthur Rosten at 205 Willard Way in the City. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Do you wish to speak on the issue? I ' MR. ROSTEN: We are applying for a variance because of the - for a ! I li � - 2 - 1 side yard deficiency. The small building that we are installing - everything is pretty much standard - it 's - I don' t know what else to add. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Is there any reason that you could not construct this building without violating the side yard deficiency? R. ROSTEN: Yes it would be infringing on an exit driveway. We went over it with the Planning Board and we had alternatives that e tried and though about and it just wasn't anything practical - I think the side yard requirement is five feet and there is - Mr. anCort and myself and I guess Mr. Meigs tried other means and nothing other than what we planned has worked out . CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Is there a reason the building might not be five feet narrower? R. ROSTEN: Well the building is quite small now - it is twenty- f five feet in width now because of the infringing on the we don' t' ant to infringe on the driveway and to cut it down another five fe t it would just be very narrow. Iwould hate to take from twenty- five feet to cut it down to twenty feet„ the building would be lon and narrow. S. WARD: What will happen to the office that is in the other building - does that ('unintelligib) office space? R. ROSTEN: Oh yes this building isn' t going to be used for the mo� tel - it is a separate retail building rented for it has nothing to do with the motel as such, It' s for either office space or re- tail space - the use that we have a proposed.• tenant who hasn' t entered into a lease or anything we are waiting to find out but here is a proposed tenant for it and it will be a service type of business . HAIRMAN WEAVER: Are there any other questions from the Board? S. HAINE: Excuse me, I 'm just curious to know what kind of servic it will be? R. ROSTEN: Oh, travel agency - that type of a thing. There is nothing firm and final but this is what (unintelligible) Tans would be. S. BROWNELL: You are losing five parking spaces, is that right? ; i - 3 - 1j MR. ROSTEN: We are building over five parking spaces , yes . But Hthat doesn't affect - we went through that - and that doesn' t of- � �I Ifect the parking requirements - we still comply with parking requi r e- {'ments . They were extra spaces that we had. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Then it 's clear that this does notnh n the I l e a ce I 1ioperation of the motel or influence its ability to continue or any- ' thing of that sort? 'MR. ROSTEN: No it doesn't. It is a new enterprise - it has nothi g to do, as such, with the motel . CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Any other questions? Thank you. MR. ROSTEN: Thank you. !CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Is there anyone else who wishes to be heard on j 1ithis matter? Anyone who wishes to speak in opposition to this ij !matter? We' ll hear the next case. There is another matter that i I was negligent in expressing to all of you here. After the Board j ,has heard all of these castes it goes into executive session and then reconvenes after that executive session and after that point !'those of you who wish to remain until then may hear the decision. j i jiff you do not wish to remain throughout the hearing and the execu- tive session, it is perfectly acceptable for you to call in to the HIBuilding Department during business hours tomorrow and you will get! ia verbal and those interested parties will eventually get a written notification as well , i� I i I I I t � `I 1 i �I I I i E 4 - c BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS ii CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK I FEBRUARY 7 , 1983 'I EXECUTIVE SESSION fIAPPEAL NO. 1475 : II I `The Board considered the appeal of the Collegetown Motor Lodge for l;an area variance to permit the construction of a one-story office I' 11or retail building adjacent to the existing motel at 312 College 'Avenue (Collegetown Motor Lodge) . The decision of the Board was ash Ifollows : IMS. WARD: I move that the Board deny the area variance requeste , in appeal number 1475 . � MR. TOMLAN: I second the motion. IVOTE: 6 Yes; 0 No Request denied. I j FINDINGS OF FACT: til) No practical difficulties were demonstrated to show that a i� building could not be erected that would conform to the Ordi- nance . I !12) It is a matter of fact that the approval of this variance would I II reduce the amount of parking available in an area already in difficulty as far as- parking facilities are concerned. i i I i it I i ;i I iI I II I I I �I I i � I I i l' i i � - 5 !I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS j COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK I FEBRUARY 7 , 1983 I� I 1SECRETARY HOARD: The next appeal is appeal number 1477 : i Appeal of Block 99 Partnership for an area variance under Section 30 .49 and Section 30 . 25 , Columns 4 , 8 , 9, 13 and 14 for defi- cient off-street parking , number of stories li and building height exceeding the maximums jl permitted, and deficient setbacks for one ' side yard and the rear yard, to permit the I� construction of an eight-story addition to the existing hotel at 222 South Cayuga Street (Ramada Inn) . The property is located in a �j B-4 use district, in which the proposed use is permitted; however, under Section 30 .49 the appellants must obtain an area variance for the listed deficiencies before a buildin� permit can be issued for the addition. This , j appeal was heard at the January 10 , 1983 meeting of the Board but no decision was mad$ due to the lack of a quorum. i i ! CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Now before we proceed, for the members of the i ; Board both those who were here for the January hearing and those i , who were not here, the January hearing did not constitute a legal +l hearing so your decision should be based upon evidence and informal tion that is supplied at this hearing only. If there are any ( questions you might have during the course of the proceedings be i I sure to ask them again if that happens to be the case because this ! its starting from the beginning on this particular case. Now Mr. i Wiggins if you would like to proceed. SMR. WTGGINS: (unintelligible) the first time but I ' ll cover it !las succinctly as I can. We really are concerned with two matters jlone is the height of the proposal and the other is the question of; . �ICHAIRMAN WEAVER: You need to identify yourself. I 11MR. WIGGINS: My name is Walter Wiggins and I 'm president of the i� company or partnership that owns and operates the Ramada. We are ( really concerned with two matters one is the height of the pro- fposal and the other is always , of course , in the City a question I� of parking. T handed you two documents two pages from the Zon- ing Ordinance - the first one that I 'm particularly concerned with; � is the one at the top of the corner says 30. 58 and refers to vari- I I' ance . Some times the Board and the public and the applicants get i i' it �I - 6 - ;; confused between a use variance and an area variance . We are not H here concerned with hardship because that is related to a use vari+ I " ance. We are concerned with an area variance and we have to demok- ! strate to your satisfaction a couple of things as you read that ar a i �ivariance language . One that there are either practical difficulties I dor special conditions which are concerned in this application and if ; that if you grant the variance it doesn't violate the spirit of the C ilregulation because that ' s the very essence of that section of the ? i �� law. Let me first address the question of the parking. And I I �Ithat' s on the second piece of paper that I gave you which indicates ; that off-street parking may be provided in a public area within s00 ' of the subject property. Now this becomes relevant because i� 11, the development of this project which came about incidentally as Ii { I Vindicated last time at the solicitation of the City. That is to say that it was at the invitation of the City that this motel-hote ( property was developed at a time when Urban Renewal project was in r trouble - the land where the Ramada sits had been vacant for many , r` years. The mayor at the time was Mayor Conley, had asked if there I ; wasn' t some way that a hotel couldn't be developed in the City and Ithat I had had some modest experience in the development of hotels II - and he wondered if I would be willing to tackle the project. Up , !i I ` until that time the Urban Renewal plan was for the development of Ilhotel where the old Ithaca Hotel was and every time someone at :, tempted to do that they ran into the parking problem. The cost ofj .1 1provding parking at that space was beyond the private developers F 1� capabil ties. So I looked at the site of the whole. Urban Renewal �1plan and said if the plan could be modified to permit a hotel to bo Ideveloped where it now is constructed, it would be feasible becaus ! there was already existing parking across the street in the Wool- worth lot . That was the basis upon which the application was made �fI � LV Urban Renewal - it was the basis upon which -we constructed the i j' facility, wiht the understanding that indeed we could not comfort- 1 I !jably and easily provide the parking which a going hotel would re- iiquire , if we had to provide it on site. We provided I think some lthing like eighty-five or ninety parking spaces on site - during I! 7 - i the course of construction we obtained permission to build an IIadditional twenty-two rooms so that we now have something like one hundred twenty rooms and somewhere in the neighborhood of eighty- five or ninety parking places . Parking was never a serious proble because under the law, as we understood it then, and as I would understand it now, as long as there was adequate parking within five hundred feet of the facility we would not be restricted to the one space in a hotel one parking space for every hotel room. Of course since that time the parking within the five hundred feet or I think it is within a thousand feet over the roadway, has ex- panded from the several hundred that were on the ground floor of + Woolworth parking area to something now in excess of seven hundred fifty spaces which are provided in the Green Street parking ramp and the Center Ithaca parking facilities. It is a symbiotic rela- tionship because for the most part -= then I' ll address the problem of the Wednesday noon Rotary luncheon that one of the opponents ha wrote about in his letter to the editor. With the exception of Wednesday Rotary lunch, the night time parking availability opposi e the Ramada is tremendous - way beyond what may be required. We di� a little informal research study of it and of the seven hundred eighty spaces available at night in the evening especially except for special events, there arenot more than one hundred peop�e using those seven hundred eighty parking spaces . Of course it is at night when we require them - for the hotel guests: for the most part. Now it is certainly true that at noon time on Wednesday afternoon when Rotary is there and when downtown is jumping it can ; The difficult to find a parking space. I suppose that ' s there arl exceptions in every rule and that ' s one of the exceptions and I suppose we could solve that problem by suggesting that the Rotary i go up to the Sheridan outside the City or go up to the Holiday Inn outside the City, but T would like not to do that - I 'd like to ha e some general understanding that it is a fleeting and transient problem which need not be considered in the overall concerns that we address here tonight. So it ' s truly my feeling that in terms o parking we are really not even required to ask for a variance but ,I 8 - 1! l " to explain what the circumstances are so that you can feel comfor- I I' ! table in that area of concerns . The height variance is another kind i ,f of a problem and there is some historical basis which I would like ; I you to consider. If you look at the zoning map - do you have one , ! of those that is large anywhere at all? or do they each have ja zoning map? Do you have a zoning map so that maybe I can orient ] !] you as to where we are and what we are concerned with? I have ones lextra. Okay. We are concerned about this area - zoning - and thete his a kind of a large cross hatch which covers the area. Now ori- ! (! �jginally and that is a B-4 zone . Now motels are permitted in a I B-2 zone so the zone is way beyond what may be necessary and in �f attempting to address the concerns of the people whom I see here j tonight and I 've been her before , for McGraw House - I think as yoju listen to their concerns they relate to the fact that we are a ' hotel more than they relate to the fact that we are talking about i the variance to build an eight story tower on the facility. Be that as it may, this is a B-4 zone . It used to be gasoline alley ; where there were garages and automobile agencies and that 's re- 1 flected in the Zoning Ordinance because you will see that a B-4 zone is for gasoline stations, garages , for recycling - I suppose ! scrap steel - so that indeed the Urban Renewal concept which up- 1 graded the area from gasoline station or gasoline alley to a hotel facility is indeed an upgrade. Now we are concerned about whether ! i or not the introduction of an eight story tower is a reasonable j transition between downtown Ithaca - B-2 district that permits - I incidentally, the B-2 district where a motel is ordinarily built or hotel is ordinarily built , permits an eight story facility - SO � that this eight story tower could be built across the street in j the Woolworth parking lot by a matter of right as opposed to being I� iiasking for a variance . Now the - again looking at the area variance requirements which say practical difficulty or special li conditions the practical difficulty to the City of Ithaca, is , I� of course , there is only so much of the city there is only a certain direction you can go in, if you choose to grow and Ithaca,; I! I 11 like all cities , can only grow up and we were faced with that prol - 1 I lem in order to continue to make Ithaca downtown a viable and I �. g i - - 1 i F ! F exciting place within which to do business and keep the Ramada I I , �I ) progressing, we tried to find a way that we could add some addi- tional rooms that were required - we believe they are required - I; � j; that was compatible with the neighborhood in the area. When we j I examined every conceivable way that we could proceed the one that ! seemed to make the most sense - that would be the most compatiblei- 1 that would be the least offensive to our neighbors, was to go eigl�It � I stories . Now, it 's interesting that when this Board different i members , I assume , but when this Board passed upon the variance I Ifor the McGraw House - at that time , and still represented by Mr. I Buyoucos and Mr. Barney, except at that time they were asking for a variance and tonight he will be opposing the variance - but then; we attorneys are hired guns and I can occupy the same position, I suppose - that the logic of their position then seems equally logi- li cal whatever number of years later it is that we are now. addressing I f the problem. The resolution which was passed, and I 've asked Tom I for it - to give that to you - unanimously, included the following; i I language ; that the height exception is reasonable in consideration; i' of the special design whereby the four story proportion is adjacent i l and facing the residential and the six story portion adjoins a bus;- I �I iness district. So indeed they recognized that they were moving I �I to a - on the west side of that facility - to a business district I l and could expect business neighbors. We like to think that we are i !� good neighbors and the same transition of space and height applied: I� to them those number of years ago - should apply to us - that they;, I I� as a not for profit corporation shouldn' t be treated any different'- i 1y than we it is a profit corporation -• paying taxes to the City; and the federal and state governments . Now the question is , is li II it offensive and if so , in what way i.s it offensive? We put in the packet for you to see the - a couple of proposals . Incident- ally y �' p .. i ally in that regard, I would ask you to consider this that the I' height of the McGraw Tower is 66 . 8 feet, The height that we are �I asking for in an eight story building is 78 feet. That 's to the tep I, of - to the roof. So there. is something like twenty-two feet dif, I ference in the height, but as you will see, because of the eleva- tion - if you will look on page 2 , there is relatively minor j I - 10 - I significance to the heights of the two buildings - from an overall) viewpoint perspective of anyone who lives in the general vicinity.! In fact, certainly the McGraw House obstructs the view of many mor residences than this Ramada Tower which is - occupies a very small portion of its land than the McGraw House . Now I put on the - or i asked Mr. Downing to draw what a six story facility would be like and certainly if you granted McGraw the right to go six stories in a residential area, it wouldn' t seem unreasonable to grant us the right to go six stories in a commercial area. But the problem is ,+ and the practical difficulty of that is that the cost of the founda- tion for the six story facility is the same or almost the same , II within a few percentage points, of the cost of the foundation of al eight story building and if that cost were minimal it wouldn' t be a matter of deep concern but the cost is $250 ,000. just to build the foundation that cost obviously has to be spread over the cosi of the rooms - the rooms have to be competitive with our neighbors outside the city of Ithaca, namely the Holiday Inn and the Sheraton and the Howard Johnson and none of whom, of course, are restricted in the way that we are - with the land costs. If they chose if they need another acre up there it will cost them ten to twenty thousand dollars for the acre . Down here if we were to try to i expand on an acre the cost is horrendous the only direction we can go in, is to the east there is a four story apartment - or six apartment dwelling there that was for sale at one point for $180,000 . and that would give us a 50 x 100 ' lot or 40 x 100 ' lot which would enable us to park a few cars . Now the gentleman who is here - Mr. Place, T' understand is his name , and he is con- cerned as a resident, He says he is in a residential area and I somehow misrepresented to this Board or to the Journal or some-, thing. I would like to address that question, He is not in a resi- dential zone - he is in a commercial zone . An R-4 (sic) zone i which permits gasoline stations to be built . He was in that zone ±- the zone was there when he bought his house - the Ramada was there, when he bought his house. He is next door to a gasoline station -� he has a commercial business himself and when I' said it wasn't a - f I 11 I, I was not contiguous to any residence - that ' s true . Across the ,i I 1Istreet there are these two residences - 107 and 109 which have a school on one side of them, a gasoline station on the other side I jland a used car lot and new car agency at their rear and I am sug- ligesting that indeed it would be unreasonable and unfair in the spirit I I ! �lof the Ordinance to say that this eight story tower would somehow l l constrict or unreasonably restrict his use of his property and inded lin trying to determine whether or not this eight story facility I I would do damage to the residential neighbors we did a sun study, i l we have a beautiful big map somewhere - apparently we can't show you i lbecause it isn' t here but if you can look on _ about the 4th or 5th page in, in the little packet of materials we gave you, we 've loutlined where the shadow of this eight story building would fall . Throughout - it shows you down to date in March and December and you can see that indeed the shadows from the eight story Ramada in no Tway impinge upon any of the residential areas. None of the resi- IIdences can see the tower because they are blocked by the McGraw i building with the exception of Mr. Place and his neighbor and a portion of the sky would be blocked out because of the existing i facility blocks their view of downtown - and it is only an X por- tion of sky that he would not be able to see if the eight story i I I !! tower were to be built . Recognizing , of course , that a four story tower could be built without a variance , I am prepared to propose ! to you, if indeed you feel that the eight story variance is an i ( unreasonable request, that you modify it to six stories . My hope l then would be that I would go to the Common Council and ask them to rezone this particular area into a B-2 which is less restrictive I, than what now exists but permits eight story buildings so that by the time we reach the six story we might have the right to proceed and building eight stories. My hope is that you feel the eight stories i's is not unreasonable so that we could proceed immediately I1 with, that plan. But if that 's not palatable all things taken !i into consideration - I would ask you to grant us the right to pros I Geed with six stories. What it would mean is we would lose the jbenefit of the conference center and the executive suite on the to I' floor and make six stories all of rooms which is - makes a problem i I i� !I - 12 - II � j I for us in terms of competition because the cost of this is sub- - ;'; , 11 stantially greater per room than our neighbors and but it is something we had to live with we could live with and if the Com-! I' mon Council turned us down why that would be a gamble that we I would take. I don't think there is anything else that I can speci�- I I i I. fically say, except that we want to grow— it seems the most rea- ! i =I sonable place for us to grow without damaging our neighbors in any, H �i conceivable way we hope that you see it that same way. We think! the special difficulties and the special considerations which the Statute mentions are indeed there because we must compete and we �j are in the City - we want to stay in the City and the only place i i ?� we can go is up. Are there questions that I might respond to? jMS . WARD: You cannot put you have to go up, you cannot put another level on everything that you have? �f MR. WIGGINS: We cannot put another level on the existing buildiniF The problem here is that there is a lot of underwater activity ink i this: area - apparently there is an underwater stream of some kin i ! and you can' t go over two stories without tremendous expense in j foundation costs . That ' s why, the original facility was built as i i a two story building. �I MS, WARD: Okay, it is seventy-eight feet from the ground to the very top of the tower on the eight story? if MR. WIGGINS: No, it is- seventy-eight feet to the midpoint of the j pitched roof which I understand to be how those things are measured by law, 1I r MS. WARD: So what is the total from the ground level to the very top of the tower? I MR. WIGGINS: Bill? �! MR. DOWNING: Eighty-three feet. j I ' MS, WARD: Now, I also notice here that it says the (linin e11 . ) would actually contribute to th.e City's revenue by using the lot during off peak hours. Is there some kind of an agreement with the City? '� MR. WIGGINS: Here i,s what Mr. VanCort has proposed which is ac.. i il .ceptable to us. But first of all , any guests who stay there and it 'If13 - �1 +' do not leave before the man comes in in the morning - pay and we absorb that cost now. Mr. VanCort has suggested that if we apply ; for a UDAG loan and I don' t even know what UDAG stands for - some kind of a government agency if we borrow that money at something less than standard commercial rates through UDAG - when the money is repaid it doesn' t go back to the government who lends it , it goes to the City to accommodate whatever needs the City might have i that were compromised in any way by this new variance that is to say by parking - so if, indeed, at some future date this tower had compromised the parking - the facilities here, by its existence , ithe City would have a fund from which they could then go out and use that money to acquire additional parking facilities . And I have agreed thatwe would be willing to take such a loan if it were granted, pay the difference in interest between the interest that ! they would charge, and the interest which the commercial interes would be and that money, would then go into a fund for the City for this purpose . I don't know understand the details of it it wa his proposal it 's perfectly acceptable to us to do that . We do have one other thing that we can do - if indeed in terms of I parking if a problem is created, we own the house which is next , to us where it says Ramada Staff. That house was acquired so as to provide the possibility of additional parking if at some date it became essential and to provide staff residences in the interim. If, essential , someday indeed that house can be destroyed and made into parking. I think its - because there are so many empty place available for us , it seems not necessary now but that could be done and we are willing to do that if we had to, It would povide I think, an additional thirty parking spaces. Are there any other questions? In terms , I guess, in terms of special consideration i and in the spirit of the Zoning Ordinance, T mentioned last time , the addition of this facility will provide forty-six additional f jobs . When I presented that matter to the planning Board I indi- cated there were only thirty-•six jobs but I forgot that there is a cafe attached to this an outdoor - a sidewalk cafe - which is part of this project which provides an additional ten jobs , And o it i 14 - 1 course it brings into the City of Ithaca on the average - it would, I� bring in an additional eight-five to ninety people per day. And { at a time when the City - the center or the heart of Ithaca is o I troubled - this is a, we feel a substantial asset which doesn't f it violate the spirit or the purpose of the Ordinance but, rather it enhances it . I MS. WARD: Mr. Wiggins, where is the sidewalk cafe going to be? MR. WIGGINS: Do you have a larger print that would show it Bill? MR. DOWNING: On this plan that we have > it would be . . . li !i MR. WIGGINS: Bring it to me Bill and I can hold it up for everyone I i to see if you would be so kind. MR. WIGGINS: It is a glass enclosed I think it accommodates fifty seats . Are there any other questions . i. �i CHAIRMAN WEAVER: There was a - at the former attempt of a hearing , l+ and it was this document that you supplied to us at that time i there was a challenge to some of the information on the parking !� I i survey. From my own observation, some of that area that you had included in the survey has been fenced off all summer which puts i` some question in the validity- of the study. You said that those spaces were not occupied at night r well they are not occupied in j f the daytime either because there is a fence that prevents that . MR. WIGGINS: That 's true but of course it is irrelevant to the i ; study because the number of cars that are there at night don't come �I anywhere near filling the existing spaces, And it't true that part of the problem of the Wednesday noon time Rotary is the fact that for the past six months or more, half that parking lot or i' varying percentages of that parking lot have been occupied by con-!; I struction equipment and have been fenced off and not been able to i be used. �i i j� CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Understanding that, that will be part of your application. j i il MR. WIGGINS: Yes indeed, I don' t think the objection is relevent; because there aren't enough parking spaces there to - and it isn't; i I relevent to the study - and it' s not a formal study - we went out i I I� at night, every night for about ten or twenty days during the I - �� I i (!Christmas period and there were never more than a hundred cars parl�ed `!in that lot - some of which were ours and some of which were there !for whatever reason. iMR. TQMLAN: Looking at the section in your page 2 , where you i (j (unintell) eight story building and the six story building - lam I correct in assuming that there is a one story linkage between j I {the front which is a two story or two and one-half story and the rear (unintell) two story? iMR. WIGGINS: I've lost the question, I 'm sorry. MR. TQMLAN: Looking at the . , . ,MR, WIGGINS: That 's this profile? IMR. TQMLAN: Yes . i IMR. WIGGINS: Yes, okay. MR. TQMLAN: Either in the eight story proposal or the six story proposal . I note that in the existing building there is a two nand one-half story front and the rear is about two stories high but' ` there is a one story link in between, is that true? i IMR. WIGGINS: That 's where the Gazebo dining room is . These has ,!to be air and light between these two buildings there are windows' lfor the rooms on the second story above those windows so that can' t i The closed off - at least that was the design function of that one I,story unit there. ,CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Are there any other questions? I see you waving j ,your hands, Bill , we' ll give you a chance to come up hese and clay-' i lif anything that is disturbing you when we get through with Mr . I j lwiggins and the Board. Is there anything else from the Board? (Alright, I thank. you. MR. WIGGINS: Thanks very much, sir. j i CHAIRMAN WEA'V'ER: Alright , now Mr. Downing. You must come up here dor you might as well go out in the corridor and talk. Please identify yourself. &R. DOWNING : Alright thank you. I 'm William Downing and I'm the ,architect on this project. And my client is a lawyer and he said �Isomething that I didn't think was right and I thought of crying outs I objection. Fortunately you have given me this opportunity, thank I�you. I 'd like to point out a few characteristics of the construction II I i - 16 - and clarify the difference in height between the towers . McGraw ,House was built with a greater floor to floor height than we are proposing for the Ramada Tower - if you grant us the permission to build it. As a consequence the six stories of the McGraw House totll 6618" plus , I might add, if you were talking about the real total , there is a stair and elevator which projects on further up another 6 ' above the parapet so we are saying we call that 721 . The eight story Ramada which is being built with an 8 ' 6" floor to floor instead of a ten foot plus floor to floor differential , would only be 78 ' - a difference not of the 22 ' which was on the record - but an actual 1114" - so the only difference between our building and the building in the residential zone behind us is - which we are proposing that is anyway, our building is that 1114". I might l point out to you that the lot coverage of the proposed addition to the Ramada is about one-sixth of the lot coverage of the Tower of McGraw House so it really is not a very big building in fact as you can see on the plan, proportionate to the rest of the Ramada it is really a very small building. Recently I have been approache I to be the architect on a luxury - proposed luxury motel/hotel proje t - not in the City, I rejected that opportunity because , of course , y loyalty is on this particular project. But I' know of another one , in addition to that one which is being considered in the city so the center city competition fQr business in the center city cer tainly applies also to the motel business . One of the problems wit respect to foundations: there is that we did borings -- went down som 751 or so . We anticipate that there will have to be roughly 75 ' deep pilings underneath the tower, regardless really of whether it is six feet or six floors or eight floors and so you see that the cost effectiveness of six floors is seriously in question because our fi st floor we are driving under to provide a portico for which we enter the building so in effect a six story tower would only give us five stories of rooms - the eight story tower would give us six stories f rooms plus the villa on the top which would consist of a confer- ence center and a executive suite. With respect to the parking situation I was active in the - as a member of the Board of Public II it If - 17 i! ii Works some years ago during Ed Conley's regime and I had occasion i;;recently to raise this question with him. He pointed out to me *hat at that time during the Urban Renewal heydays and during the ays when Mr. Wiggins was trying to develope a motel - the Common i I council passed a resolution accepting the responsibility in this j i' 'Fommunity for parking in the business district . A lot of discussion I ad been taking place at that time about the businessmen going out f 4nd building their own ramps or providing their own parking and zon+ Ing , of course , regulations were more restrictive in those days . i i Where are now new zones and new regulations and I am sure you are a of more familiar with it than I am - which recognize the problem �f people in the business district and their relationship to parking. o the Mayor and Common Council passed a resolution recognizing that I4nd accepting that responsibility and Mr. Conley confirmed that two ; I j lays ago and it certainly is on the record if you care to search it hut. I 'd hoped that Mr. Conley would be here this evening but I i i uess the weather has kept him away. He also confirmed the fact that his conversations with Mr. Wiggins , urging Mr. Wiggins to undertake ; �o build the hotel , following something like six or eight failed j efforts in the downtown area. It did include a commitment on the art of the Mayor and presumably on the part of the City as a con- equence of that resolution to take responsibility for the parking. I t seems to me that, in all fairness , that that is not- really- an Issue that should prevent development in the downtown area. I might �dd that as a member of Rotary I have occasion to drive but mostl walk but occasionally I am out of town or T am late and I drive ver. I have never, ever failed to find a parking place in the pari- ng lot behind Woolworths when I wanted to go to Rotary and I' was I sually late so I was one of the last ones to go in so it may not bo s convenient as I would like n I may have to park a few rows over tut (here has never ever not been one available. If these are any ques Kions T would be most pleased to answer them. �S. BROWNELL Can you tell me the height of the si.x story it ��eems to be (unintell :g ble) , I R. DOWNING: No I cantt. The six story tower would be fifty-nine 1 f I i - 18 - { jfeet up to the parapet plus , in this case we would then have - in mother words we would be eliminating our - my treasured villa - on I ' top - where the sloping roof and the sort of dramatic concept . We ! ,, would be eliminating that but we would by code have to let the star !' tower and the elevator project up above the top floor which would I add six feet so we would be sixty-five feet yes that' s right . In the case of the tower - in case of the tower where we have the j ! villa since the - we would only be at 6618" to the top of the mid Il point of that slope 78 ' T mean 78 ' to the top of the midpoint. ! I! ` McGraw is 6618" - eight story Ramada would be 78 ' according to the ' ' 1ega1 way of measuring it which is at five feet for the rest of f, I that pitched roof. So we would be 59 plus 6 so there you have 65 ! - we have thirteen feet more to put one more floor on. You under- � stand that - when you, you can't measure up to the eave line or yo would normally think of the height of a house is up to the eave I i where the gutter is - you would have to go part way up the slop Ong roof. Of course down from below the building you could look up and you won' t see that just hope that from distance you would ! s iljsee it . The impact it is not so very good. � I i CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Other questions? Thank you. �! MR. DOWNING: Thank you. I i' CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Is thereanyone else who wishes to be heard in jfavor of this application? I's there anyone who wishes . . . yes . 11MR. DILLON: My name is William Dillon and I am one of the people Oho i received notice as within 200 ' of this proposed project. I 'm sort ) fof a loss as to why I 'm here , actually, Mr. Chairman - we all know ,; that downtown Ithaca is I guess a mild word might be - in disarray ' The economic conditions in our community and the nation are in sad �Ishape. Many businesses are in big trouble and here we have in ours I ' community a man who has been willing to bit the bullet and I 'm sure probably during these recent hard economic times has had to bit it � !; real hard and and yet he is willing to take on this additional i l� project which will do nothing for our community except provide job u hbring business - bring people to center Ithaca and to be a product-- 1E 1tive effort in behalf of our community and for all of us and all o i i� I� 19 - i us and all of you fine people on this committee to have to weigh this decision I guess one would say - is byond me - we should all be ) out there waving flags and saying let' s go and let ' s do something � _ t Flet s get the downtown moving let' s do it let ' s go. God knows Mthe City needs it and I don' t know about the technicalities of what Mr. Wiggins is proposing or Mr. Downing I do know Ithaca and if I were to ask for a raise of hands of everybody who is sit- ting - maybe even in this room as to who is a native Ithacan, I might be the only one , I 'm not sure. But anyway I do know Ithaca, + I 've lived here all of my life until now and I would hope that all + of you with all of your wisdom and clout that you have , would see that a project like this that should be good for our community - sure there are technical problems - which I 'm not familiar with - I look across the street - I've been to the Ramada - and I 've looked across the street and seen that empty parking lot over ther most of the time - I would certainly hope that the Ramada and Mr . Wiggins would be allowed at least his eight stories and provide something ongoing and forward for our community because , as I say again, God knows we need it. Thank you very much. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Thank you. Is there anyone else that wishes to be heard in favor of this application? Is there anyone who wishes to speak in opposition to the application? Yes . MR. PLACE: My name is John Place and I live at 107 W. Clinton Street. And I have a number of concerns some directly affect m and I think some that I see are community concerns just like other people see that there are community concerns, I think I just come from a different place maybe than they do . I think maybe a good place to start is that - just in response to a statement about residences. Yes I do live in a B-4 zone and it ' s my home and I 'm i glad to live there and I do believe that someone can reside in a business district and call it their hoarse and be concerned with the quality of the neighborhood, which I believe I am. And being a re5i dent of the neighborhood T think I have privy to what goes on and do see a number of things in terms of use of that particular block and how it affects my life and how I imagine it affects other i - 20 - 'j ;i I peoples lives in the vicinity. Plus I have some concerns I think h from my profiessional background as a consultant in stress reduc- tion. Some of the questions - I still have a lot of questions aboiut ii 1 the planning of this particular eight story addition and it has more , I think, to do with the impact of more use vs particularly maybe height of the building. Some of the things , you know, that i iI see right off is in terms of parking I do see I think I have; � I personal impact on the parking because I have clients who come in all the time and say they can't find a parking space . Well they cin go over to the Woolworth parking lot and they may be able to find j some. One of the problems that has existed in our neighborhoods and anybody who lives in the two hr, parking limit blocks of down i i town knows that almost every parking space - free parking for 2 hr� parking is taken which happens to exist across from my house . Andl I the City of Ithaca does not enforce these parking regulations and I I have called upon them numerous times to enforce them and the �i assistant police chief has commented to me that that 's a very low ,I !` priority and they don 't have money to do that. And this also af- fects the parking regulations in terms of Woolworth because Wool- worth's parking lot - one of the things that overnight parking is not permitted there without a permit that is what I was told by i the parking people in City Hall you need a permit and it costs `{ $20 . 0.0 per month to park there overnight or $1 . 50 if you don't andi, that was something fairly recent that they started charging $1 . 50 . I I Unfortunately what they do is they don 't necessarily always they': j take your word on i,t for one thing - if you park there overnight or not, you say, I 've been here an hour or I got here before you = manned the booth , so I see that there is a real problem with the fact that there is a kind of - what 1 see as a double standard. I �i do not have a driveway and T' do try and find parking that doesn't j l� cost me a whole lot of money - and unfortunately if I want to be I; legal I am going to have to pay the shot the $2,0 ,00 bucks a , month and I get very upset to think that essentially that the park I Ii ing law is tilted enforced so that people really well it says no� ! parking overnight - you really can park there overnight. What I 1 li I li - 21 - ! would imagine should happen - what my understanding in terms of l± the Planning Board some of the things that were discussed there wa i` an agreement might be worked out where some of the rules might be i; changed or whatever so that some kind of an agreement to how park- !` ing is enforced in the city could be carried out . You know it it is going to cost the City much more to have somebody enforce park-I I ing so that some of us don't have to go through hardship . I mean i I will admit there is probably always an empty parking psace but i i there isn't always an empty parking space within three or four I within a reasonable walking distance from my house certainly. So Ithat ' s some of the issue . I think one of the things that I see Mr. Wiggins doing he is separating issues , he says well parking is one issue _ height is another issue . I think that they are both i the same issue, they are both a variance and when we put that in t 'jper11 spective - increased use of the block - I think that is my big- I! i �Igest issue. Now just to give you some facts on noise for instancel + and a little bit on stress and put some of my concerns into perspe - �Itive . Three people talking quietly reasonably quietly produce about 60 decibels and that is not stressful in research_, Sixty !Ifive decibels though. actually is stressful - it actually stimulates I) y physical responses ,our h sical A bus ride is about 80 decibels or a l ` truck passing within about ten feet of where you are standing is I� somewhere between 8Q and 1GG decibels -, that causes , in long term i exposure , damage to the ear. You lose your hearing. It is also i every stimulating to the sympathetic nervous system which causes us ' ( to experience a heightened level of physiological functioning which is generally called excessive wear and tear. Now obviously � being in a downtown situation we cannot control noise all the time ; i 1IThere is going to be trucks going by, there is going to be buses ! iI i there is going to be noise . But a critical factor in how we ex perience stress as individuals is the predictability - the social 11 ;; contacts and how much control we have over i,t. Now one of the i! lthings 1 find in living in the neighborhood now is that the noise �l r ijis very predictable . it starts about 7 ,30 in the monring and ends ; Iabout 5 : 30 and that' s characteristic of the downtown neighborhood. ' I I� - 22 - IThe social context of it is that it 's trucks and everything servic- ing things . I know what' s going on in other words and control over iit as I have control I - I can manage it - I can do something - I c n g g I � quiet my room, or whatever. Now in the evening - later hours - I noise, unfortunately, in my neighborhood tends to be something that is usually a negative one in other words , it might be somebody !screaming or yelling across the street that would disturb me and I have very little control over it . So that it elevates the stresses considerably. Now one of the - I think a real design flaw in terms 4 jlof, for instance, this eight story building is that they are going i to put on balconies off of each room and one design flaw I see thati is - is those balconies are going to be literally hanging over a lace where pedestrians will walk and within a very what couple three feet of where the sidewalk is now? And I think that that 's azardous and it ' s also a source of noise . Now presently I don' t experience any noise from the Ramada in terms of from the rooms and that is because most of the rooms have air conditioning people don' ave a need to open their windows. Yet you put balconies there and hat's an invitation to go out and enjoy the fresh. air of Ithaca bul it is also an invitation to create potentially some unpredicable - robably unacceptably socalable noise that one has very little con rol over. So I see it both as a dangerous thing as it is also an increase to the noise. Now- as far as use of the neighborhood I seel ince I have been in Ithaca, some changes in that neighborhood I remember the previous gas station, for instance , that was on the corner of Green Street and Cayuga and how much - let's say impact that was and now that there is an AM/PM whi.ch. has been fairly re i ently put there R and I assume the land that that AM/PM own is own�d by Mr. Wiggins . , . R. WI'GGINS: No , it isn' t . R. PLACE : It 's not owned by Block 94? Okay. Well what I am point- ing out is that that is an area where there is an increased use in he last few years and it has impacted certainly the traffic in the neighborhood, And one of the things that I haven' t heard spoken to is the impact of what these forty-six rooms is going to have in - 23 - (terms of the use. I certainly know - not because I read the paper I�- know that it ' s graduation at Cornell or I .C . - I know because I ; there is increased use on my block because of the Ramada Inn - it i$ li something that I can accept and see that when there is graduation 1that for instance the gas station next to my house generally has three or four cars parked there because they are staying at the l�amada Inn and there is no - and the people find that that 's an easier lace to park perhaps than Woolworth 's parking lot . So that doors ] I I J�pen ng and closing next to the house certainly I find somewhat 1�tressful . I 'm talking, I think, from some of my experiences . While i' 4 believe that -- sure any kind of building in downtown Ithaca may, I, , elp the downtown area financially - we are talking about a proposed i ui,lding that borders a residential area and the quality of -- while i! I am in a B-4 zone , I see -- I benefit from the fact that there is residential zoning there and certainly when the school if the pro4 �osed plan of the school becoming apartments and essentially resi ential that will change the quality of the neighborhood even furtYjer- ng towards what I would see as a nice blend between commercial and ! I esdential . And I - my personal belief is that the impact of this I as not been spoke to and I think that I am seeing a potential prob-j I j em. I in doing consulting with the State of New York and other laces , one of things that we find consistently, is that they try and', jut too many people in a small space and there is volumes of evidence o say that what this does is cause people to change their behavior �nd often times this behavior is towards the negative spectrum in erms of actually increasing noise while we pay for our room and we ,,an do anything that we want off our balcony or whatever. 1 occas- � Tonally walk my dog in the neighborhood, T Have picked up a paper aft he AM/PM and walked through the alley bye the Ramada and had beer 1 (Jans thrown at my dog from the second story balcony off the back there ithe McGraw House. 'm not going to say that 's going to happen of ' I he eight story but if it did it could certainly be dangerous . I 'm j lust very, very cautious because what I find is that we are seeing a I ,lan proposed from the point of view of just the architecture and th lusiness impact and we are not taking into any consideration the � I i �y 1! ,I + i 24 �j , human impact and I think that putting this many rooms into a facilijty (!that was originally designed for one hundred rooms is going to create more problems for the neighborhood and for just the general; i 11downtown area and I think - I know the McGraw House people are goin ij Ito speak but one of the things that a lot of the stress research has shown that some of my concerns is that old people - are the most jlolnerable people to stress. Stress being adaptation to change . i ny change in our lives causes us to experience increased wear and r ;tear. An example of a statistic that might be interesting is that I eople whose spouses die have ten times greater chance of dying wit 'jin the year of their spouse dying because of the added stress . I also find that in nursing homes, for instance, that when somebody i "s changed to a room the probability - you know, if they have been i� ilin a room for a year and they move to another room, the probability; � f them dying sooner is increased substantially - they have lots of vidence of the vulnerability of older people and T think that the ;McGraw House is a concern of mine in the sense that it is a resi- ence for many older people who are going to be directly impacted �Inot only ,by the building of the building but the increased use of t�e i lock and at this point if, you know, from my as I view the j �-lock, is that it' s got more than adequate use it ' s not under used I don't think anybody could stand on the corner on any given day I i find say, that the traffic patterns, or anything like that is under I� sed. T think that Mr. Wiggins is making a proposal on the use as I well as on the height and as well as on the parking and while it is i - and those concerns haven't been spoke to and I think that really hose types of impact studies really need to be made before an ade- j i uate decision can be done and then other issues of just the design ; 'really have to be que$1tioned their noise and in terms of how they! Iran be controlled in terms of predictability and things like that , th�nk, everybody knows that a hotel i.s not like a residence . It i �-,s not predictable people come in at 4 ; 0.0. o 'clock in the morning I nd f they have to parkway over in Woolworth-Is and drag their � :.0 tcases over they get upset and everybody will know it , Because 11already, I: know ,t when they park next to me over the weekend - they i �i 4 25 - Tare not happy because then they have to walk all the way around to the front door - so I wish the Board would give some consideration Ito the problems of increased use and how, in looking at the spirit I of the zoning I think that this business district in the original plan is going to be altered considerably by almost what we could E say - almost increasing the use by over 500 . So I think that is all I have to say. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Is there anyone else who wishes to speak in oppo- sition of this application? Come forward. R. BARNEY: My name is John Barney and I am a hired gun for McGraw) Housing and I say that with some jest I enjoy the times that Nally and I have spent being hired guns for respective clients on ccasions. and T like to think that over the years we have main ained a fairly professional ability to deal wth. each other in hose circumstances so Wally, there is nothing personal about my standing up here today it is strictly in my capacity as hired gent. I might also add that from an economic standpoint I think hat the outcome of this meeting tonight is going to have a much Lighter impact on my economic situation as a hired gun that it is Likely to have on Mr. Wiggins" situation as an owner of the propert nvolved. I'd like , if I could, at the expense perhaps of repeat ng myself to some of you who heard the last meeting, talk with you little bit about the history of McGraw House . I think that that ears some looking at in connection with this application. McGraw i Ouse is an apartment unit - or units consisting of one hundred nd six apartments . There are approximately one hundred twenty residents in that building, McGraw House is constructed through and with the assistance of the State of New York. It 's a kind of i springboard or outgrowth, I should say, of the Ladies Union Bene- 1 olent Society which was a group that goes back, 1 think, something ike 110 115 years or perhaps even more wh-o at one time owned a i achy> on South Aurora Street where they had made a home for old ladies who weren't able to make it on their own and they were .asi,cally an organization to provide a kind of an old ladies home. hey had a fairly sizeable endowment and they took that endowment o 1� - 26 - i is good piece of it and used it as the seed money to build McGraw I House and the balance of the money came from a mortgage obtained through the New York State Housing Finance Agency. It ' s a non- ;profit enterprise - it has been ever since its inception. The rents I) I I�that they are allowed to charge are regulated by the State they are; 11not allowed to alter their rents at all without going through an I it application process and hearing for all of the tenants to attend, I i to make a determination as to what they can charge . They set their +rents and they are set by the State of New Yorkin such a way to �! t cover their costs , it is not a profit group. When the Society � wanted to get into this kind of a project back in 1968 or 69 , I 1ithink it was , they looked around for a number of sites and were ! (able to assemble, I think it was six parcels of land on which the I building is presently located. At that time they were all small I jisingle family houses some of them not in the best of condition and 111they put that together into the project that you see now. They hir6d flan architect and in order to be an economically viable proposition �I the architect and indeed the State of New York that was going to doh i the financing said that they had to have somewhere around a hundreds apartments . It didn't make much. sense for them to finance anything uch_ less than that . So they worked at great length and time with II ! 11the architect, who Was Tony Egner, in trying to come up with a �esjgn that would accommodate one hundred apartments but would also , i ccommodate the fact that it is: being placed in what is principally! I� a residential area, You see the results of that in that the front I� Mend of the building is a four story portion of the building and they 1 emain there as a six story building built back from the road in ani! rq 'J ' ffort to minimize the: impact of the entire pect on Geneva Stree�t 1 hich was then a res ,denti,a,l r, is still today - a residential streei . J�o the history here is of a organization that build a one hundred �ide uni, apartment house for which theyare getting no profit and to p$�o- a service to the City of Ithaca and principally to its older II 1�es :dents. I say principally - it 's limited by age T think it i,s *ge 55 or up in order to be eligible to live in McGraw House so we i 1 ave one hundred apartments occupied by one hundred twenty people 1 I I� i' Il - 27 - 'i that are fifty five years or older and who also meet certain incomei .requirements in order to qualify. It is not available to just any body. Now behind them, at the time , was I think gasoline alley whe lthis was built and then the Ramada Inn was constructed.. I 'd like ,Ito talk now a little bit about the history of the Ramada Inn becaus�l jwhen that came it was initially proposed as a one hundred unit motel land indeed I think that was the initial construction - was for a II Ione hundred unit motel . As Mr. Wiggins has suggested, I think I wring the course of construction or certainly not too long after +it was, constructed, an application was made to increase the size to �ne hundred twenty rooms. And that ne_cess.itated the obtaining of a 11VIariance. At that time the variance was for a setback. requirement , a ear yard requirement that the building di.d not meet when they anted to put the additional twenty units on so it was necessary to ome to this Board and seek an exception in order to put the twenty; f ddi,tional rooms. It is a little unclear from the records that I' w�s I ble to see as to what the situation was with respect to parking t that time because. it may be the Ordinance had a different requiro ent than it does today , certainly there was not one room or excus4 e - one place for each- room in 1973 when the twenty room addition as. placed on it, I'n any event up until the present time today, i � . have a one hundred twenty, unit motel with Mr. Wiggins suggest , think, eighty-five parking spaces . The Zoning Ordinance calls for line parking space per room or, if fully complied with., would require i6ne hundred twenty parking spaces which are not there now. Now, i �Ihat Mr . Wiggins would suggest doing or the group of people that owl `I !the Ramada is to increase its size again by another forty-seven I ooms bringing it up to a total of one hundred sixty-seven rooms hich, under the Zoning Ordinance would require , under normal cir- umstances , one hundred sixty-seven parking spaces,. They have i eighty-five so they- are asking, really, for your assistance or for Oriance for parking where they have less than half of the amount What would be required or just half, I should be more accurate , ,ust half of the number of spaces that the Ordinance would require , 3o this is a fairly significant deviation - it ' s not a situation j � I - 28 - where you have a four or five - requirements of four or five park- ing spaces and somebody is asking to get by with three - they are ( asking you to let them get by with eighty-five parking spaces wher El i ' one hundred sixty-seven would be required. Now with the Ramada there, the McGraw House people have had problems and I think Mr. Wiggins is absolutely correct when he said if they had their pre- ference they would prefer that there wouldn' t be a Ramada Inn ther - it would be nice to have a vacant field or a garden but the Ramada is there and they've attempted to live with it, deal with it - + they've had some of the experiences that Mr. Place has alluded to with bottles being tossed from the Ramada premises through apart-- iIment windows and that sort of stuff but on balance Mr. Wiggins I I! think has made every effort to be as good a neighbor as is possibl� with the type of facility, that he is operating . However a motel i� , by its very nature an intensive use of land and one hundred twenty i rooms is already, under the Ordinance, some twenty to thirty rooms more intensive than the Ordinance would provide or permit , given what he has in the way of space available for parking. The inten- sity, of that use is shown by the number of activities that they do For example in the wintertime they run ski trips from the Ramada Inn, I, guess, out to Greek Peak or someplace in that area whichre quire buses to start up at - to my mind an ungodly hour of 5 ; 30 or 6 . 0.0 or 6 : 30 in the morning and to somebody who is older and re- tired probably an even more ungodly hour and creates a noise , some , I fumes, some odors , They have the Gazebo room of which we are all somewhat familiar with perhaps . That runs until fairly late in thl evening - sometimes I' guess until 1 or 2 in the morning. Mr. Wiggins quite properly pointed out that we can't hear the band I think you are right but what I was suggesting when we last met was that just by the very nature of the Gazebo room running those hour , there is traffic in and out of that building, The bands that are playing there act as an attraction to bring traffic in , that 's what among other things, they are there for so that there is a constant activity in that facility that runs, almost around the clock. That creates noise - it creates problems for these people living in back. If you add forty-seven more rooms to that you are !i l II - 29 - I ,!, intensifying that use - that ' s what a Zoning Ordinance is aimed to ) egetat - it 's really to regulate a little bit of the density or th ' I1intensity of the land and I think Mr . Place has dwelled at great ilength on some of the stressful situations that result from that . I( jlYou are , in effect, adding a third more rooms and increasing the I intensity of the use by at least that amount, if not more. The mother variance of significance that is being requested, of course , ! ( is the height variance and this does impact on McGraw. The old addage of one who lives in a glass house shouldn't throw stones � is one that Mr. Wiggins , I am sure, would bring to your mind fairly quickly. We do have a six story building and we do have a building I ! , that is probably seventy some odd feet - I have no reason to quarr l i, �1with the dimensions that are suggested. However that was built at a time when you had nothing but really a strip kind of commercial development behind there and it was built in a way that they did j i inot impact - the six stories did not impact on what was behind McGraw House. That' s not the case today with what the Ramada is j doing . They are building an eight story building that does impact ; ion the people around them and impacts on the people at McGraw House very much. There were a couple of questions that were asked `! of Mr. Wiggins at the last hearing which T would like to just allude Oto if I could and maybe Nor. Wiggins could confirm that they were j i substantially accurate but one of them that I think you asked Mr. � I 11weaver was, is the economic situation of the Ramada Inn such that this is required? In other words are we losing money at the Ramada, I! Inn? Mr. Wiggins very candidly and I think forthrightly indicated that no, the Ramada I'nn is a flourishing Inn, it doing well . II think in the minutes to the Planning Board meeting there is an in- dication - correct me if I misread it - but that something like one hundred nights out of the year the Ramada is turning people I; I` away, - that they don't even have the rooms for them. And that I ( there is about an 800 occupancy rate year around --if I: read my l► ( statistics correctly. So that you don' t have a situation here I ;(where we have a failing motel by all rights and by all indications ;( w I(if anything - it 's the contrary it ' s a good business it 's one li �that is doing well . Which brings me then to the question which I 1 - 30 - '� I I �Ithink you need to consider when you make your decision on this ;matter is where is the practical difficulty? Yes it would be nice .!to build another eight stories - maybe next year it would be nice to build another eight stories on the other end of the building or i I ! the year after that but that ' s not the test that you should be looking at - the test is where are the practical difficulties? Wel �1have an operating motel and it ' s functioning it is making money ] Ilfor its owners . There is no real practical difficulty at present Iiwhy create difficulties for everybody else around there that are I concerned, so that I submit that not only do we have a situation : where there is no real practical difficulty and therefore no basis jlon which to grant an area variance but also what is being posited j Where with, in effect operating a facility with half the number of I parking spaces required and operating a facility with double the , height that is authorized by the Ordinance is not in the spirit of Ithe Ordinance either and those are the two prontests that I think I ! ]you will be considering in your executive session and I would sug-' Igest that those tests indicate that this variance should not be I granted. Thank you very much. (CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Are there any q,uesti,ons from the Board? Thank : you very much. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak in opposi-I �Ition to this appeal? j�MR. SCHROEDER: My name is John Schroeder and I live on 618 Steward { :Avenue, in an apartment house that has a view CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Mr . Schroeder, what is your interest in this par-) 11ticular appeal? Are you - do you have property in the neighborhoo1? �iDo you have an interest in the neighborhood? !�MR. SCHROEDER: I am a resident of Ithaca and this affects my feel-I MI ing of what Ithaca is to me . I do not live directly in the neigh I lborhood, no. �ICHAIRMAN WEAVER: You don' t live in the neighborhood nor do you represent anybody that has an interest in the neighborhood? IMR. SCHROEDER: No, I do not. I do, however, have an apartment I I ;window that looks out over Ithaca and this building is in the area ( that looks out of my window. I� j 31 - ( CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Well I appreciate that and we would like to hear ,you but the rules of the Board limit these hearings to parties that have direct interest or represent direct interest in the property or those properties located in the area. I MR. SCHROEDER: Okay. I feel that I am being affected however. (CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to (speak in opposition to this appeal? Yes . Please . MRS. ROSTEN: I 'm Ellen Rosten, I live at 205 Willard Way and I too am not in the neighborhood. I just feel that I want to correct something thate was implied that I don't think is accurate. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Well the same rule applies , Mrs. Rosten. We are a Board that is involved with the interpretation and application o I the Zoning Ordinance and those parties that have a right to this proceeding as a matter of right are limited to parties who are property owners or residents of the immediate area. MRS. ROSTEN: Okay, just something was stated that was not quite !accurate. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Well we are burdened with that with all of the Istatements that have been made here tonight . Thank you. Is there anyone else here who wishes to speak? No other questions from the Board? We 'll have the next case please. (MR. WIGGINS• May I have an opportunity to respond - is that per- missible missible in the rules? i CHATRMAN WEAVER: Yes. MR. WIGGINS: It has been a long hearing and I will be brief. I Ilthink that there may be a misunderstanding as to the rights and what a use variance may be . We are not asking that the use be varied that is to say, we have the right to operate a hotel i there there is nothing that says how many rooms can be there s (provided, of course , we comply with the rules and regulations of the Zoning Ordinance , none of which constrain the number of rooms . Now if we had started with a four story building to begin with and built it within ten feet of the boundary lines, we could probably have a five hundred room facility on that site , The practical dif- ficulties here relate to the fact that in order to expand and make - 32 - the - permit the project to grow in accordance with the City's needs we 've got to go up and John Barney has indicated that he feels tha the parking situation - we only have half of the parking that the I law requires . Well , if I understand the section of the law which gave to you, that ' s not so - we are not asking for a variance for I parking because I think, as a matter of right, as long as there is parking within five hundred feet we comply with that phase of the law, but even if that were not the case, when the - when John's la ' firm, representing these people - representing McGraw came before this Board they were only able to provide one-third of the parking required for McGraw and, indeed, the Board in its wisdom felt that that was appropriate - they Mr. Buyoucos responding here said, we felt these factors tend to reduce the requirements we have provided thirty-three and one-third percent off-street parking and that 's not unreasonable given the facts and circumstances as they i then existed. But I suggest that it is not unreasonable for us to say look, there are seven hundred eighty parking spaces across the street, and we ask you to take that into consideration - even if you were to find that that 's a requirement , which we submit it isn't because the law says that we are within five hundred feet . What we are really talking about is an eight story building which does not occupy the entire lot size but only a very, very small portion of it -- is that an unreasonable request? I't would be dif ferent if we were coming here and saying look. we want a variance , 100% variance to build an eight story building throughout the whole site - we are taking a very tiny piece of it to try to preserve as much green space as we can T to preserve as much parking as exists r to put it as far away from the McGraw people as possible - and it seems imminently fair and imminently reasonable if the McGraw House when the McGraw House was built it was an empty lot . There couldI have been gas stations and they could have been recycling steel but linstead I think there is a reasonably attractive and productive business and I strongly and sincerely urge you to give us the right to continue . When we first built this , the rule in the industry was you had to have one hundred rooms in order to make a hotel viable . You couldn' t even get a franchise for a hotel if you were it I l 33 _ Mable to build or willing to build one hundred rooms . That is now up to two hundred and fifty rooms because the cost of producing i space for travelers has gone up - that the only way to cover that �! space is to increase the number of rooms so that now you can 't getl ' a franchise in most of the big chains for less than two hundred an ' Ofifty rooms , the Ramada is now up to one hundred fifty rooms and we are trying to keep pace with our competitors who have - who can go laterally in ways that we can ' t. The only way that we can go is i u �jup and we hope that you would recognize the reasonableness of it. �! Thank you so much. .' CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Thank you. Mr. Barney. Come forward. I �i �IMR. BARNEY: Just very briefly. Mr. Wiggins is correct - when the � McGraw House went in they did not require or felt they needed all the parking that the Ordinance would have otherwise required . In 1practice it has worked out. I want to say that they have elderly jpeople - many of whom don't drive and the requirement at that time i ! I forget what it was it was one per - two per apartment? Two aper unit, okay and now they came up with a third of that. Fact . . . MR. W'IGGINS: They came up with a third of one. i I ; CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Please , I don't want a floor debate . I 'd like t hear each one of you twice. i !MR. BARNES': I appreciate that. CHAIRMAN .WEAVER: T intend i•t to be that way yes , !MR. BARNEY; What I was going to get at and what I would like to say jis that in practice it has worked out R there has not been an over- 11flow at McGraw House with respect to their parking because of the ( nature of the facility - it was an elderly facility and many elder- Illy people , particularly, of low to moderate income living in the I I City— do not have cars and therefore do not need the space . Ther I lis no Rotary meeting at the McGraw House there is no overflow on Rotary days at McGraw House - there is no overflow in the evening j i nor is there much activity in the parking lot in the evening so I think that there is a difference of use that has to be taken into account. Thank you. MR. PLACE: Can I also, CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Is this a matter of fact that you add to your i - 34 - I ,{ I j rather exhausting recitation? I ii MR. PLACE: Yes . I would like to comment on Mr . Wiggins ' last I comment - I thought T had the right . �ICHAIRMAN WEAVER: Come right up and we ' ll exercise it . Please tryl I Ito keep I I MR. PLACE: Okay - excuse me I think the one thing that I wanted oto comment was - is that I think Mr . Wiggins talks about his busi- ness - he hasn't given us any facts on the amount of use that is presently being used - what his facility can accommodate on the i Il inside in terms of the Gazebo -- in terms of all of the different i ,conference rooms and the proposed conference rooms . And when he i i makes and he made a comment that this is the use that it was untended for, he hasn' t really shown us how it impacts and I think that is important for the Board to really understand it. That 's a i ,missing link at this point. Thank you. 'CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Thank you. We ' ll have the next case please . I i i I. I I I it �I jE it I� ! t ,c I r ' ,i I ! I I - 35 - BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK FEBRUARY 7 , 1983 EXECUTIVE SESSION f APPEAL NO. 1477 : The Board considered the appeal for an area variance to permit the construction of an eight-story addition to the existing hotel at 222 South Cayuga Street . The decision of the Board was as follows : MR. TOMLAN: I move that the Board deny the area variance requested in appeal number 1477 . MS. WARD: I second the motion. VOTE: 3 Yes; 1 No ; 2 Abstentions The application for relief from the administrative decision failed for lack of four (4) votes necessary to reverse that decision. FINDINGS OF FACT: 1) The height of the requested building is 100% over the maximum height allowed in the Ordinance. 2) Although the Board is aware of public parking in the neighbor- hood, the zoning at that location requires that the applicant provide his own parking. The parking that is already deficient i will become further deficient going from a twenty (20) space deficiency to a sixty-nine (69) space deficiency if the appli- cation were approved. i 3) In response to the applicant' s proposal that, lacking approval of an eight-story addition, the Board consider a six-story ad- dition in its place, the Board found that this was a wide variation from the height requirements of the Ordinance and also did not speak to the requirement of off-street parking. � I i .I - 36 - I j BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK FEBRUARY 7 , 1983 ! SECRETARY HOARD: The final case is appeal number 1479 : I iAppeal of Joseph Daley for an area variance i under Section 30 .49 and Section 30 . 25 , Col- umns 6 , 10 , 11 and 12 for deficiencies in minimum lot size , maximum lot coverage , minimum front and one side yard setback to permit the conversion of the existing two- family dwelling at 216-218 South Albany t Street to a one-family dwelling plus one j� Cooperative Household of four to five unrelated individuals . The property is located in an R-3a use district , which alto s I the proposed use ; however under Section 30 . 49 the appellant must obtain an area variance for the listed deficiencies before ! a Certificate of Compliance can be issued. MR. DALEY: I 'm Joe Daley, 218 S. Albany Street and my appeal is ; dwarfed by the case before . All I am requesting is continued use 1jof the existing situation in which the previous owners lived in the ilarger unit and rented the smaller unit . I have no need of the space in the larger unit and would rather rent that one , At the Board of Planning - Planning appeals it was arranged that I move one space I 'm allowed six unrelated adults in the building as it ; now stands - if I subtracted one from my unit in other words , f have two unrelated adults in my unit, 1 would be then allowed four unrelated adults in the unit in back and that would be perfectly acceptable to me . It would not increase the density in the neigh- , lborhood or in the building for that matter, And I ' ll answer any i ! other questions I can. i CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Question on the property over there now. My ! observation - the back yard isn't being used for parking for but one car? MR. DALEY; That ' s right at this time. ICHAIRMAN WEAVER; Is there some reason the garages cannot be used? j i �) MR. DALEY: No, none at all , CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Are they full of storage? MR, DALEY: No, it 's just at the present time it is more of a hass e to open them every time I go to use them than to park in front of it. The spaces are there to use . �I iII I I { - 37 - I CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Is there no one else in the building that has a i scar? i 11MR. DALEY: There are two - the current tenants have two vehicles . IICHAIRMAN WEAVER: In regard to that parking, is it possible to parr iia car directly in front of the southern half of the garage and not ! ,project into the right-of-way? MR. DALEY: Yes , to the best of my knowledge there has never been any problem in fact I've parked my truck in that space, which is i ! about as large a vehicle as I can imagine and have never had any problem as far as I know. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Any questions from the Board? MS. BROWNELL: How many total cars do you think there would be ford the entire house? i I IMR. DALEY: I don't know. As far as the parking , I am not request! li I ing a variance for parking. I have adquate parking spaces for the ! intended use . ! CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Any further questions? Thank you. Is there any done else who wishes to be heard on this matter? Anyone who wishes ; I! � to speak in opposition? i !! SECRETARY HOARD: I have a letter . . . ( CHAIRMAN WEAVER: We have a letter to be read in the record. i I SECRETARY" HOARD: This letter is from. Jean M. Cookingham, Attorney At Law - Ithaca address: 109 E. Seneca Street, Ithaca, New York. I ! "Dear Mr. Weaver: I represent the Estate of Audell I . Smith, ownel ! of the fee in the property at 225 South Albany Street, and the life I ! tenant of that property, Esther Cookingham. In addition, I also reside at that address. The purpose of this letter is to state out I i opposition to the granting of this variance . The owner of the i } {( property, has stated: FI intend on renting to only 4-5 people. ' As ! III understand it the le � ssees of the proposed four bedroom apartment will be unrelated adults. The square footage requirements of the i zoning ordinance specify 7000 square feet for a four-bedroom unit land parking space for two cars plus one space for the other unit I in the house, or a total of three spaces . The driveway at 216-2181 i ; South- Albany Street is a common driveway that cannot be used for ' I ! i Ii I i 38 sparking. There are two garages at the rear of the house which, it has been alleged, are not being used for parking cars . The remaining space at the rear of the house does not appear to be of sufficient size to park three cars. Furthermore, the occupants of 216-218 South Albany Street, even at its present occupancy level , have froff time to time parked on the lawn and walk on the 216 South Albany Street side of the house . The granting of this appeal would have an adverse affect on the neighborhood. This block is already saturat d with multiple dwellings and the number of non-related adults living as ' family' units is increasing, Although the owner represents his intention to rent only to four or five unrelated adults , the potential exists in a four-bedroom apartment for rental to eight adults . Although, as the owner mentions , the Cains , the previous owners , had a large family, they did not have nine children as he states . The granting of this request for a variance will impact an already congested parking situation in the 200 block. You should note that this block has parking on only one side of the street and that parking during the day is limited to two hours. A walk or ride through the neighborhood will testify to the congested parking situation as indicated by the parks legally- parked as well as those illegally parked on lawns and over sidewalks. Accordingly, it is respectfully requested that the request for a variance by the owner �of 216-218 South Albany Street be denied, Very truly yours , /s/ ,lean M. Cookingham" R. DALEY: I would just like to emphasize that Iii. not asking for n increase in the density. I am allowed six unrelated adults in y building at this time and the agreement that I came to with the Planning Department would only allow me to move one of those unrelated from my unit to th.e back unit and the parking situation is not in need of a variance, 1 do have enough parking spaces for the intended se that I 'm asking, HARMAN WEAVER: Thank you. That concludes our hearings for toniglit . he Board will now go into executive session so those of you who are of members of the Board will please excuse us we have the use of he room. i 39 - �i � jt BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS j COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK ' 1 FEBRUARY 7 , 1983 A I EXECUTIVE SESSION ! li ,APPEAL NO. 1479: The Board considered the appeal of Joseph Daley for an area vari- � lance to permit the conversion of the existing two-family dwelling at 216-218 South. Albany Street to a one-family dwelling plus one 1Cooperative Household of four to five unrelated individuals . The decision of the Board was as follows: R. TOMLAN: I move that the Board deny the area variance requeste in appeal number 1479 . S. HAINE: I second the motion. OTE: 6 Yes; 0 No Denied. 1 � f INDINGS OF PACT: I No practical difficulties were shown nor special conditions E shown which make compliance with the Ordinance impossible. } Would increase the density in the neighborhood. { i i E l� 1 i j I 1 � �I (I l i I t 1 j �l � I ! - 40 - i f i� ! I , BARBARA RUANE, DO CERTIFY THAT I took the minutes of the Board jof Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, New York, in the matters of i Appeals numbered 1475 , 1477 and 1479 in the Common Council Chamber i 3rd floor of City Hall , 108 E. Green Street, Ithaca, New York; tha I I have transcribed same , and the foregoing is a true copy of the transcript of the minutes of the meeting and the executive session ! Iof the Board of Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, New York on the date of February 7 , 1983, and the whole thereof to the best of my ability. j Barbara C. Ruan �I Recording Secr ary I i i Sworn to before me this I day of 1983 i I � ( i r j Notary Public JEAN ! NOTARY PUBLIC, STAI.-L OF NcW YORK C7o. ..,.x_..;;800 i QUA!1F1ED tF: T.;;...%KINS CCUAITIG / MY 6`I".'v;i 31iih7 FX?IBES UARCH 30,19 � I i i it +` I i