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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BZA-1979-02-05 j TABLE OF CONTENTS MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, ITHACA, j NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 5, 1979 Page APPEAL NO. 1248 Christopher George Corp. 1 111 Dryden Road APPEAL NO. 1248 Executive Session 5 APPEAL NO. 1249 S & M Company 6 315 N. Tioga Street and 412-414 N. Aurora Street APPEAL NO. 1249 Executive Session 23 APPEAL NO. 2-1- 79 John McGee 24 740 C Cascadilla Street APPEAL NO. 2-1- 79 Executive Session 28 CERTIFICATION OF RECORDING SECRETARY 29 i i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK j FEBRUARY 5 , 1979 i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Let me call to order the February meeting of the Ithaca Board of Zoning Appeals . The Board operates under the pro- visions of the Ithaca City Charter, the Ithaca Zoning Ordinance, Ithaca Sign Ordinance. Present this evening are five out of six I g g members of the Board including one brand new member of the Board, Ms . Natalie DeCombray. Ms. Natalie DeCombray PRESENT : Mr. Morris Angell Mr. William Wilcox I Dr. Martin Greenberg Chairman Peter Martin Mr. Thomas Hoard, Building Commissione 4 Secretary to the Board Ms. Barbara Ruane , Recording Secretary ABSENT: Mr. Joseph Gainey I will remind those of you not familiar with the Board ' s procedure that four votes are required under the Ordinance for a grant of a variance or other affirmative action. That means that four out of the five present this evening must act favorably on your request . Let me briefly outline the Board' s proceedings . We take the cases iup in the order that they have been filed, we ask the appellant to present the case and respond to any questions members of the Board may have and then invite anyone else Who has testimony on the case to present it ; first those in favor, then those against . After hearing all the testimony on all the cases, the Board goes into executive session to deliberate and then reconvenes in public sess on to announce the results of the deliberations. Our proceedings are not governed by strict rules of evidence, we do ask all who testify to come to the front of the room and to begin by identifying them- self by name and address , We also ask that they limit their remarks to the issues that are in front of the Board. Mr. Secretary what is our first case? SECY HOARD : The first case, Mr. Chairman is appeal no . 1248 . I Appeal of Christopher George Corpor- ation orp r-ation for an area variance under Section 30 , 251 Column 7 (minimum width of lot at street line) to permit the addition of 3 bedrooms to the four I i' �I l 2 - I apartment multiple dwelling at 111 1 Dryden Road in a B-2 (business) use ii district . The property does not have the required frontage on a public right-of-way. i MR. ANAGNOST: I 'm Chris Anagnost , I reside at 914 E. State Street i i My family and I are owners of a house at 111 Dryden Road. I have a small map here - I don' t know if you have that with the plans . It shows the location of this house with regard to Dryden Road. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: I think that ' s attached right behind the applica - tion. SMR. ANAGNOST: It is? Right , okay. As you can tell by this map , the house which was built in about 1880 , sits approximately 100 an some feet off of Dryden Road and its only access is down a long I stretch of land about 12 feet wide called Eddy Lane. The house is one of several parcels that has a right-of-way to this strip of land. This house is the only house that does not - that its the main access to. It ' s not a rear lane as it is for the houses that front on Eddy Street. The lot size of the property involved is 12 ,787 square feet - 822 feet by 155 feet wide. 155 feet parallel to Dryden and 822 feet parallel to Eddy Street. Presently it' s a 4 apartment house and if you turn the map sideways , with the main entrance facing you, it shows the layout of the present apartments What I propose to do is take the right hand apartments on the firs floor and rearrange interior partitions to create on the first floor as shown on plan 3 - two bedrooms where there now exists one bed- room. in order to do that we are moving the wall of the bedroom north into the kitchen. The same change basically to the apartment directly above it will be made to apartment no. 3 by also moving the kitchen wall in and creating two bedrooms . But in the second floor apartment by taking advantage of the large empty space in the upstairs hall we will get a third bedroom for that apartment. There are nine off-street parking spaces. Under the present zonin ordinance only four are required even with the new configuration - you are required to have only one parking space for every - for th I first three bedrooms in any apartment. But I do have nine. The lot size is more than ample and the only problem is that this I I �i - 3 Inhouse has no frontage on Dryden Road and it never did so I 'm here Irequesting a variance - I guess on the basis that there is no way that it ever could have had a frontage . � CHAIRMAN MARTIN: What ' s going to happen to the occupancy - I mean i what likely effect on the occupancy would the changes . . . ? I MR. ANAGNOST: The total number of people in the house would probably increase by one since the rooms are right now rented to two people - i I will be providing more privacy by giving them single bedrooms i j instead of double bedrooms . I MR. ANGELL : That' s this year or next year? How about next year? I I SMR. ANAGNOST: Well no , the rooms won 't be big enough - they' ll be - whatever the minimum - about 84 square feet so I don't think there twill be more than one person in each bedroom. The left apartment i j the only change I 'm going to make there is one the upstairs kitchen and bath will be reversed. I don't think there will be any change in density. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay and the only zoning problem is one that jus can' t be dealt with and that is that you don't have any frontage on the public right-of-way? MR. ANAGNOST: Right and that ' s why I 'm here appealing to you. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: More than adequate lot size, more than adequate off-street parking? MR. ANAGNOST: Yes . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: All other requirements of the Ordinance complied with? Any questions from members of the Board? MR. ANAGNOST: When you say by next year you mean, would I in- crease it afterwards or . . . ? MR. ANGELL: Yes, after the existing leases are up , when you have new occupants? MR. ANAGNOST: That ' s what i want to do the remodeling for the new occupants , right , But after the new leases come up I won 't - in i other words the two bedroom apartment will still have two people 3-11 lit but instead of having one room shared by two , it would have two � single rooms. The upstairs one will have three, whereas right now � it has two. I iMR. ANGELL: That would increase? I I it 4 - �IMR. ANAGNOST : The upstairs one will increase by one person, right I I keep fairly close tabs on who is - as best I can - as to who is occupying my apartments , as far as the number of people but we 've never had any problem there with lack of parking or anything. In i fact, the house itself really has very little affect on the neigh- borhood - most of that whole area is commercial and the house sits so far back from the street that most people don' t even know it is there. Most of my tenants that T have are either graduate student or teaching assistants - who live there because it is quiet . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: How good is the access across that private land? MR. ANAGNOST: In the winter time or in general? CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Yes , in the winter in particular. MR. ANAGNOST: We've owned the house for ten years and we've plowe the driveway - we 've been the sole people who have done it. We 've had good luck with it. The only time we 've really had trouble was when the bike shop used to be there - they used to load and unload and block it . Most of the tenants who park there don' t use their cars in the daytime - most of them walk to Cornell . It ' s not alwa s the most accessible driveway but I do plow it. It ' s fairly flat. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Do the other properties on Eddy use it some .? MR. ANAGNOST. Yes. Mrs . VanEtten who has the brick building down ( there, she has the garages that she rents and one of the others on Eddy, two of them use it, besides . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Any further questions? Anything you want to add. MR. ANAGNOST: I think I 've said it all . Thank you. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone else who woul like to be heard on this case? First anyone who would like to speak in favor of the requested variance? Anyone who would like t speak in opposition? We' ll move on to the next. I I i - 5 - I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK i FEBRUARY 5, 1979 I I !� EXECUTIVE SESSION APPEAL NO: 1248 : CHAIRMAN MARTIN: I move that the area variance requested in 1248 be granted. WILLIAM WILCOX: I second the motion. FINDINGS OF FACT: 1 . The building with the proposed changes com- plies with all of the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance for lot size and off-street parking with plenty of room to spare. 2 . The only respect in which it fails to comply its failure to front on a public street - is something that is not affected by the change - or by the construction and is something that it is , at this point, impossible to change . 3. The changes will only slightly increase the potential occupancy of the building and pose + ino serious threat to the neighborhood. VOTE: 5 Yes; 0 No ; 1 Absent . Area variance granted. I I 6 - i� i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK FEBRUARY 5, 1979 �y j SECRETARY HOARD announced the next appeal to be heard. APPEAL NO. 1249 : Appeal of S & M Company for an area variance under Section 30 . 25 , Columns 4 and 14 to per mit construction of a two-story building at 312-314 N. Aurora Street and 315 N. Tioga Street in a B-1 (business) use district. Th property would be deficient in off-street parking when the proposed building is completed This project was a subject of previous appeals which were denied by the Board on September 11 , 1978 and October 2 , 1978 ; the appellants are requesting reconsideration of their pro- posal based on the provision of additional off-street parking. MR. GOLDBERG: My name is Stan Goldberg and I 'm a partner in the S $ M Company and I reside at 110 W. Upland Road in Ithaca. Several thingshave happened within the last few minutes that I was not totally clarified on until tonight and that 's - Mr. Hoard indicate to me that under any circumstances an environmental impact study must be made prior to allowing us to build or to tear down the gre n building as it has been referred to and we ' ll get into later in th evening. This is the first that that has been made clear to us an as a result anything that we do tonight here is , in fact, continge t upon the environmental impact study and the public hearing having to do with that, However this Board, as I understand it Tom, does have the ability to approve it contingent upon that happening, if in fact, that is their desire? Is that reasonably accurate? SECRETARY HOARD: That is my understanding at this time. MR. GOLDBERG; Okay, fine. So I have to bring that out as being a fact since Idid not know that it existed and T assume you gentle- men did, but- I just wasn't advised of that until a few minutes ago CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Well we just learned of it in a notice we receiv d along with the packet. MR. GOLDBERG; Okay, fine. I`'m not questioning it, I just - that ' something that positively needs to be discussed. SECRETARY HOARD : It' s new territory for all of us . ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Yes, we have never yet had a variance that re- quired an environmental impact statement so you are breaking groun j� i 7 - �I I on this . ; MR. GOLDBERG: Breaking other grounds as well . Now for most of you 1 I here tonight have been here when I generally discussed this , howev r C there are some new members of the Board and I think I ' ll try to be I has thorough as I can , but if, in fact, you have questions feel fre i j to interrupt me at any point along the way. It is our intention t demolish three houses - 312-314 N. Aurora Street and to build a I I building where those two existing houses are . In addition to that as per the plans that I gave you, there would be a driveway through I to a parking lot which, in fact, would be on Tioga Street and would require the demolishing of another building. The building that - 3, the two buildings that we are talking about on Aurora Street are 312 'I gland 314 N. Aurora, the building that we are talking about on Tioga i Street is 315 N. Tioga Street.. The present zoning is such that it is !! clearly zoned for office buildings . However, the zoning require- ment essentially requires one parking space for every 250 square I feet of office space. It is my contention that that is an unreason- able requirement and as a result the economic feasibility of the project is such that the required parking makes it impossible to build within that block even though it is zoned correctly so we are not really asking for a use variance, we are asking for an area variance. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright, that standard applied to the proposed office building requires something above forty spaces , is that ! right? MR. GOLDBERG : That' s exactly - thirty-eight I believe Mr. Hoard said last time . Now under the plans that I showed you - that you all have in front of you, there is parking spaces on the Tioga Street side for nine cars and then in addition to that we have made arrangements to lease an additional ten spaces at 310 E, Buf- falo Street. Now 310 E. Buffalo � Street is on the uphill side of Buffalo on the North Aurora Street side. Any questions as to that We have made arrangements . . . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Approximate distance between that lot and this? !� MR. GOLDBERG ; 150 feet. ( I i` i I - 8 - i I i ICHAIRMAN MARTIN: It comes in well under . . . IMR. GOLDBERG : Well within the 500 feet. So as a result we have m de i arrangements to then lease an additional ten spacess which gives us nineteen spaces which, in general range is 500 of the parking that is required under the existing ordinance. , CHAIRMAN MARTIN: If I can interrupt with a question. . ? MR. GOLDBERG : Yes , I would like you to. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: In the past the Board, when confronted with such arrangements for parking elsewhere has been quite a stickler for a firm long term commitment. MR. GOLDBERG: Right. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Now this lease arrangement you have for this additional ten spaces - for what kind of term . . . ? MR. GOLDBERG : Okay, fine. We have a lease here and we explicitly requested the time to be left blank because I need direction from you. If that is a fact and if you say we need a ten year lease then we will supply a ten year lease . If we need a five year leas then we will supply a five year lease . At this moment it is writt n on a month to month basis with no time period put in the lease and that was done absolutely on purpose because I felt very firmly tha that would be one of your very first questions and I did not want to tie myself to a time period until that time. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: As it becomes important to the Board, that lease could be set up to provide the kind of long term security . . . IMR. GOLDBERG : We anticipate that , if you are asking me for a twenty- five year lease, I 'd say no I cant do it but I would assume that the person who is, leasing us the land, who is Mr. Patterson from Patterson Mobile Station, has leased this land for a long period o time and he indicated that he would be more than pleased to discus that with us when the time comes , ( DR. GREENBERG : Stan, could I interrupt? Tom, could you give us the zoning on the land that is going to be used is that still B-1 for parking or is that a different zoning district? CHAIRMAN MARTIN: It ' s currently a parking lot without question, SECRETARY HOARD : It has been used as commercial parking by Patter- son for years. 1 9 - i� i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: It ' s probably non-conforming in a residential zone? SECRETARY HOARD: Is that on Terrace Place, Stan? I MR. GOLDBERG: Yes . �iSECRETARY HOARD: So that is in a residential district - R-3 dis- trict - but it ' s been used as a non-conforming use. MR. GOLDBERG: This would not require any appreciable change in I that use and I understand no appreciable change in the useage of f meaning the quantity of useage that it presently has . We would have ten people going in and out on an as needed basis . It would Abe strictly for employees and not for the public, so that I don' t anticipate that as any problem but certainly that ' s for your de- cision. The - we are bounded by a few problems that need to be discussed here and these are decisions that are pre-made because o what we think is an existing tenant , and I want to say that very clearly what we think is an existing tenant. The requirement is that we have roughly 6 ,000 square feet - 5 ,500 to 6 ,000 square fee of first floor office space. Now there are some things that I really should point out here . Firstly, in the entire City of Ithaca as it exists at present, there is no office building that offers five or six thousand : : square feet of office space on the first floor. There just is none in downtown Ithaca and as a result we have felt consistently that we could come back and request this because there is a desperate need in the community for this kind o office space. As I think I clearly pointed out last time, and I certainly intend to do the same here, the land values are excessiv . The land values in downtown Ithaca have not depreciated as in most metropglitan areas. That ' s a very healthy sign. But in doing so , the costs of the land and the need for the huge amount of parking that goes along with that land have caused a fair amount of problems in that there is - it is not feasible to try to build and comply II within the zoning. There is just no way that one could offer forty parking spaces for six thousand square feet - it would mean tearing down a large number of old houses and the acquisition of ( those houses is not low priced and it would not be feasible to tr � Y f - 10 �� to accomplish that. I think this is pointed out by the fact that I ,, if you think about it in terms of downtown Ithaca there have been no 1I new construction that is not publicly funded in some way in many, j' many years . It is my feeling that the zoning has fostered this . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Can I halt you with a question? I hate to keep interrupting the flow but, as you know - you know as well as I that at the time you brought your appeal last to the Board, the Board was moved by many of the things you say about downtown Ithaca and while we felt unable to come together on any particular variance ,iwe urged that Council consider the general problem in that block and others like it and all appearances are that the Common Council , ii realizes there is a serious problem, they have charged Planning & Development to come up with a plan. So I want to know why your plan now can' t wait until Council deals with these general problems? MR. GOLDBERG: Okay, I was - that was going to be my last sentence The problem here is that we were trying to expedite things with a promise from Council that it will be forthcoming at some point , but really nothing very specific. This happened forty-five days ago when we had to plan to go before the Planning Board and then at the same time schedule the Board of Zoning Appeals, etc. etc. In those forty-five days a series of things have happened and that - clearlythat Council has made an indication that they are very interested in rezoning the block, they've made a very strong indication that i j they would like to see our building come to pass , they would like to see the building come to pass where the YMCA is but I was scheduled for this and as a result I didn' t know whether I should not show, . . . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: The question is , what makes sense at this point , now suppose . . . - and Council has put a March 1 date for this re- port back. Suppose Council acts in March or is as expeditiously a possible after that report, will that give you a schedule that you could live with? MR. GOLDBERG: That would be fine. We would be very pleased to have Ii that happen. I 've got to assume that it will happen but I just di n ' t I know- exactly how to handle that . . . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: It 's a bit awkward for the Board to be sort of acting out in front of that . I - i what I was going to re MR. GOLDBERG: Right . I understand that - Ilquest of this Board, very frankly, at the end of this whole thing, that I assume that I should go through, would be to request that this Board table it until after Council makes their decision that that' s really what I felt I should do . But on the other hand if Council does not act in thirty (30) days I felt that it would then be somewhat of a fair request of this Board to make a decision so , that ' s really what I had in mind but I don' t mean to set thirty (30) days as a firm deadline either, I just . . . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Well , why don' t we proceed, I assume there are others here who want to speak on this case this evening, I may b wrong on that, but why don' t we go ahead and develop the record an answer everyone ' s questions and then understand that we will not be making a decision tonight? MR. GOLDBERG : Okay, that ' s just exactly how I ' d planned on ending this whole thing and Mr. Hoard and I discussed that just when you walked in that it was sensible to wait for Council ' s direction and so forth - and then he further threw in the environmental impact problem which then said, they can't make a decision under any cir- cumstances - so that ' s what transpired in that regard. I 'm not su e exactly where to take it because of what we've done, and I don' t know how explicit to be but I think I 've discussed this economic situation and that ' s really the hardship . I think we ought to re- view the demographics of the block in your own mind to see what we are talking about. In the Tioga Street area we presently have the empty YMCA building„ which there is planned an office building there to be started, I would hope , upon the rezoning of the block you've got some very beautiful historical buildings there , in addi- tion to which you've got some buildings that are not so beautiful and are quite run down. Going down Tioga Street you 've got the Reinhart-Weatherby building which is a very well kept old building the next piece of property is a parking lot which is in front of the Thaler building, the next piece is the Wiggins-Tsapis Estate building which now houses a travel agency and was just renovated and it 's certainly an asset . One of the key buildings that we are i+ - 12 - talking about is the Family Children' s Center - that ' s the one ( that we own - that' s on N. Tioga Street and we 've referred to it always as the green building and that ' s the one that will be comm out. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: That has the blue front. MR. GOLDBERG: Right - that has the blue front - the green building that has the blue front, exactly. And that' s the building that w gjwould like to take out and that ' s the building that is in a feder rally designated historic district. I don' t know if that brings any further clarification or - but it is not in a local district and by it not being in a local district we do not need any - until tonight - I was under the impression that we could simply walk into Mr. Hoard' s office and get a building permit or a demolition permit to tear it down. I was informed earlier in the evening as I state previously - that we do have to go through an environmental impact study to tear down a building but that it certainly is feasible to do so. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Now recalling the earlier two hearings . . . MR. GOLDBERG: Right. i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: I 'm right in saying that you would not tear that building down unless you felt you had to because of off- street parking requirements? MR. GOLDBERG: Right. CHAIRMAN MARTIN : If all off-street parking requirements were removed that building would stay up? MR. GOLDBERG: That ' s right exactly. I want you to understand that a whole series of things changed since - I came here with the intent of saying, hey, I 've got ten new spaces and in doing so I now have eighteen spaces and the only thing that you can turn me down on is lack of parking because everything else reasonably well complies . All of a sudden that world changes . If the Council directs us that we do not need any parking spaces then that could change but my presentation here this evening was to offer to you as many poss - ble parking spaces as I could because that was the problem that could not allow you to give me a variance. i ii - 13 - I� !� CHAIRMAN MARTIN: And so the N. Tioga Street property represents i! nine parking spaces? it MR. GOLDBERG: That ' s exactly - in the total picture - exactly. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: In the total picture . . . MR. GOLDBERG: Exactly. And their adjacent spaces . On the other , side of the street we 've got a series of ._-unusual situations . i You've got the Court House which is an absolutely gorgeous old I building and you've got an empty parking lot and you have the H Wiggins building which is a really very modern, and then you have another empty parking lot and then you've got the First Federal Savings and Loan - so you really have a whole big mixed bag of architecture there. This historic district has yet to work itsel out from the point of view that we don' t know what Council is goin to do and if Council says you must have some minimal parking then we must arrange to comply in that regard. If Council indicates th t we need no parking , then that creates a different situation. But all of those things did not exist when we filed this application sometime during the first week in December and so that ' s the reason for - pardon me, the first week of January - and that ' s the reason for what has transpired here this evening. In general the issue comes down to the amount of parking that is needed and I can' t answer that until we get some direction from Council . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright , now assuming that having put this on the table - we have to eventually take it off, in the event that Council does not act , can you tell us a bit more about the tenant and the kind of traffic and parking need that the tenant or tenant will generate? MR. GOLDBERG: I can be as very straightforward as possible. We h d a tenant which was going to be the employment and the unemployment bureau combined and they needed 6 , 000 square feet of space . This ( tenant was essentially combining their efforts which is now being ' done in the major metropolitan areas so that the two functions of government are working together. When someone comes in for an unemployment check they are directed to another area within the same building or within the same floor, in the same general office - 14 - I� ii to get a job - that they have the job offerings at that table - type of thing. Okay. Due to the time constraints, we could not in fac i comply with their needs . So, as of this moment, I think I 'd be lying through my teeth if I said I have a signed lease - I had one when I was here last time . That time constraint is now over and qe I �I anticipate trying to bring that tenant back into our fold but I 'm i not here to positively promise that. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay, so that when you are talking about a con- straint laid down by a tenant . . . MR. GOLDBERG : That was the tenant and that no longer is firm. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: That no longer is firm. MR. GOLDBERG : That' s exactly. . . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: And so as we imagine the kind of traffic and parking needs that this - the occupancy of this building will involve, we are speculating. MR. GOLDBERG: We are totally speculating. That tenant required n parking and asked for no parking. They - their only concern was where would their office people park. They had no concern for anything else. Anything beyond that we really don 't know at this point and I don' t want to suggest that they will positively come back although we fully anticipate that they will but I do not hav a signed lease. I want to point out that we are within the 500 ' of the existing Seneca ramp and that seemed to be a precedent that was set by former situations although I realize that there is nothing in the Ordinance that clearly says that. I want to just generally talk about the downtown situation and the entire parking program. In-ten years ago the downtown Ithaca was very much oriented towards retail - I think Nancy Meyer who just walked in, discussed this with me and I think her concept was very accurate . Ten years ago the business climate in Ithaca was very very much pointed to- wards a retail community and it was the focal point of the community and it brought the people downtown and so forth and so on and that ' s the reason for the B-1 district that exists and the no parking an the ramps . But , in the past five years what has happened is the advent of the suburban shopping centers and the advent of the retail i - is - i Icommunity leaving the downtown - here and certainly in other com- munities more so than in Ithaca, and as a result, in order to keep a healthy downtown - in order to keep a downtown with an expanding tax base, one that has to look for some other source of building and it seems to me clearly that thin block is the right block to accomplish that because the office - the need for offices are there and the location is there and the proximity to the Court House and to the parking ramps and to the downtown is there . And I under- stand that that ' s all been taken by Council and I understand that this is not really within your realm but I have felt very strongly that that ' s what it ' s all about . DR. GREENBERG : Stan, this is probably a low question - when you come up with ten parking spaces in the Patterson place, why didn ' t you come up with twenty? MR. GOLDBERG: He requested that we not take his whole parking lot although he happens to be very anxious to get this building off the ground for other reasons . I didn' t go into the condition of the existing buildings but I probably should. They are terrible. The 312 and 314 N. Aurora Street are just impossible buildings . Un- fortunately, and I am sincere about that, they qualify because the heating is correct and the electrical is correct and the - but we 've had three fires there and he wants to get rid of those building - he has had - and the quality tenant that it attracts is detrimental to everything - detrimental to the area, and so forth and so on. MS. DE COMBRAY: How many offices do you expect to have in this building? MR. GOLDBERG; Well , I think I can only answer in square footage at this point. We anticipate 12 , 000 feet on two floors of offices . I really don' t know, it is anticipated and not firmly and this is not firm but this is what we anticipate. It ' s the entire first floor and a third of the second floor will all go to one tenant and then the rest of it will be broken into potential office space, whatever that may be. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Other questions from members of the Board? Do you i have anything you want to add? MR. GOLDBERG: No , I dust would like to request that this Board, i - 16 - I as we said earlier, consider the matter and table it pending , Council ' s direction and then from there, as I said earlier, we wil have to do an environmental impact statement - an environmental impact study . . . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Assuming that the Tioga Street property has to b demolished - whatever guidelines submerge from the study of the parking problem. MR. GOLDBERG : Exactly, right . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay. Thank you. MR. GOLDBERG: Thank you. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright now, let me invite others who want to speak on this case to do so - let me remind you that we - the under- standing we have is that the $bard will be tabling this case tonightnot deciding it - the Board, in an earlier hearing, did express it concern about the parking situation in that area and urged that Common Council deal with it and that kind of study is going forward. Depending the outcome of that, then, the Board would table this case - would not make a decision on the variance request but anyon who would like to speak on this case is invited to do so. First , anyone in favor of the requested variance? MRS . MEYER: Is it appropriate is it alright for me to speak as a councilman on this? CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Please come forward. MRS. MEYER: I just don' t want to override my council authority. I guess I ' d like to just to give an overview of. . . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: For the record, let' s find out who you are . MRS. MEYER: I 'm sorry. I 'm Nancy Meyer. I 'm a council person an I am speaking on this partly because of a long term involvement I 've had with the zoning. Six years ago or so, I was very involved with a number of people with the first rezoning that took place within this last eight years and then we had another rezoning revi - sion which had to do with the residential zones and we have been considering the rezoning of the business zones as things grow and change . So I would just like to give you a few points of view and , perspective on this for what it may be worth. I don' t remember I i 17 - everything but I do have clear recollection of a conversation we V� had regarding our concern for what downtown businesses would do in I the case of a fire or building whereby there was no way that they I could possibly have all the necessary on the street - off the stre t i required parking . Now this came up in one case I remember very clearly - was the Ramada Inn and the Ramada Inn used then the Wool i worth lot as their support parking system. In talking to a number of other businesses that are - let ' s say a block or two off of the Commons - out of the - that 1-B zone - they could never exist if they had to provide off-street parking and they clearly depend on either street parking, or they depend on the ramps . Now in view of that - well going back to that conversation, I remember saying well then we have to allow some of these businesses to consider public parking as their parking. Now, I understand that that ' s clear in the charter - in the zoning - when it speaks of the B zon i that encompasses the Commons . When it gets to the B zone that' s ( right outside of the Commons block then - and I keep forgetting those numbers - one is B-1 and one is B-2 but the second B zone has ! a clause that says it has to be 500 or 1000 feet. Now, unfortunately, Ithis building is just, I think a little short of that, so it does not actually come within it. The other building that is under con- cern is a building which is within the 500 feet. Now the reason I think this is important is that I do think Council has an obligation Ito clarify this and to allow business , with not just opening up the doors totally and I think that what was said in the paper or the quote that was in the paper might have led some to believe that I am just for a cart blanche opening of off-street parking - of loosening of the parking restrictions - and I 'm not in favor of a total loosening I think that we have to deal with one thing as it comes but with long term planning and - so Council has in its reso- lution that should be on the agenda Wednesday so that they do have a long term commitment to have the planning Department work with whit inds of requirements are going to have to be necessary. Now the ther reason I am sympathetic to the double bind that S & M are in I s that they could facilitate more parking if it were not for the i �I I i 18 - fact that there are some concerns about the street facade of Tioga Street and there is some concern about taking down the one house 1which would allow some more off-street parking . So that puts them in an unusual position to have to also deal with that. So that al! o has been discussed in committees as to what is the possible - what is the growth concern that we have? Do we somehow work this all out so that there can be new business growth at the same time we preserve our historic areas and deal with the facade? That' s just an issue that is under discussion. Okay, I guess to sum it up - oh, there is one other point that I think is important. Over the year as I have been on the Planning Board there is grave concern on the part of the neighbors north of Court Street - they do not want tha neighborhood to become businesses . Now there is a lot of pressur on them for those houses to become businesses and I guess I would ladvocate that we even be firmer in not allowing that area to becom businesses , that we maintain as many houses - family residences th re as we can. And I think that the development of these two building perhaps can protect that better than not allowing the buildings to go - you know - up. I think the buildings going up and then a clear demarcation is a possibility which, and I would support a ve y firm stand on the Board of Zoning Appeals to keep that residential area and I think it' s for the protection of everybody that people live that close to downtown. Most healthy cities have downtown residences. So I guess I 'm sort of saying that I will give my assurance that I will work very hard to make sure that we have as �Igood parking as we can, at the same time I really advocate or supp rt the growth of this block in business ways. The buildings are - a d particularly this building. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: AS the Board' s earlier action in this case made clear, the Board urges Council to deal with what the Board sees as a general problem so that the Board is not forced, in an ad hoc fashion, to work some solution for that block. Mrs . Meyer : And that ' s why I 'm here. ICHATRMAN MARTIN: Yes , so that we are urging you and the other 'members of your Committee and Council to deal with this clear problem llII iI ii - 19 - f jin a prompt manner. And we are tabling this case this evening on lithe understanding that it goes on the table because of our expec i tations that Council is going to do something on the problem. MRS. MEYER: Alright, now, if you table it , when will you bring it back to the Board? CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Only if it should appear that Council is not acting on the problem. Mrs . Meyer: I 'm not sure that I 'm clear on that. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: We have a copy of a resolution from your commit- tee that asks for a report no later than March first . MRS . MEYER: Right. I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: And I presume that when that report is received then it will move ahead quickly. And Mr. Goldberg told us this evening that if Council moves with dispatch on this there is no reason why a variance has to be pushed through ahead of it. And I the Board is in an awkward posture of its being asked to anticipat what Council ' s going to do . MRS. MEYER: I understand, so the onus is back on us to clarify what we are going to do with the parking . . . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Well to do what you are going to do . MRS. MEYER: And to do what we are going to do . Now, does that i mean, if there were any kind of a zoning change - that takes a couple of months . . . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright. If it gets out there too far , then Mr . Goldberg is going to be back here asking us to liven up this vari- ance request and if its simply a matter of procedural delay in doing something that Council has clearly firmed out then maybe we i would grant a variance to anticipate that outcome but at the moment it ' s not at all clear exactly how Council is going to be acting on this . �iMRS. MEYER: Okay, so we have some work to do as to how we are going to deal with the long range concern at the same time . � MR. GOLDBERG : Excuse me Nancy, what would be your best estimate i ! time? I realize March lst has been bandied around but . . . IMRS. MEYER: The thing is then that the Planning Department needs I i I� - 20 - I I' to formulate some policy that Council can react to that is clear, by March 1st. Now that doesn' t mean that Council - that the Plan- ning Department and Council will necessarily have all the pegs in order because I think the Planning Department wants to do an in depth study and that usually takes about a year. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Well , Mr. Goldberg wants to know when Council ' s going to be clear in its head what the answer to this block is down there, because you not only have his project but you have the "Y" lot project that aren' t going to wait a year or more for construc- tion. MRS. MEYER: That ' s right. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: So that at least something has to be done on a fairly short term basis . MRS. MEYER: At least with that block. You are saying let us deal with that block and make a policy decision on that block at least regardless of the long term problems of parking. MR. GOLDBERG : Can I rephrase so that I clearly understand? CHAIR: Sure. MR. GOLDBERG : We are going to then request from Council a policy decision on that specific block. If, in fact, it looks like that will be forthcoming within thirty to sixty to ninety day range , everybody can live with it . If, in fact, it looks like that that particular block is being tabled to be part of the overall progravi, , then we do have the right to come back and request a variance, is that . . . ? CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Well you have requested a variance . We are putting it on the table and you will come back and say the time has come when you really have to face up to MR. GOLDBERG : T see, so you've left that onus on us , which is fin . . . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Yes . MR. GOLDBERG: As to - so that continues to hopefully apply some pressure on Council to make some decision as soon as possible. Th t certainly seems like a reasonable solution to me and I assume so t you (Chairman Martin) and I assume so to you (Nancy Meyer) .. MRS. MEYER: I and I think what Mr. Martin is also saying is that 21 - Iwe don' t like spot zoning - the City doesn' t like spot zoning be- cause it becomes - it shouldn' t be put into the political football I �Irealm, it should be put on the basis of good planning for the long term problems and this is why . . . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: But even worse is to have a series of variances effectively rezone that block. It is far better for Council to face up to the general issues in terms of the long range commitment to public parking and the other planning ramifications . MRS. MEYER: To rezone, that ' s right. And at this point in time those parking ramps aren' t both of them are not totally full and I think that ' s an interesting point. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright, we 've had some exchange on this case, are there others who would like to testify, first in favor of the re- quested variance? MR. LYNCH: Good evening, my name is Robert Lynch, let the records show that I am Operations Manager of radio station WTKO, which is located at 317 N. Aurora Street, across the street from the two brown houses which are partly at issue in this matter . At a pre- vious meeting I spoke out in opposition to the development plan, I spoke at that time as an individual. However, at this time I am speaking in favor of the plan, as spokesman for the radio station. We regard the two brown houses, the houses at 312 - 314 North Aurora Street at this point, as eyesores and detriments to the community. The buildings , while I said at a previous meeting that they might be rehabilitated, it appears that the owners of those properties are not willing or ready at this time to rehabilitate them or improve them. They said in the past that they were beyond hope - beyond saving. At present those houses appear to be fire traps , there have been, as Mr. Goldberg said tonight , three fires i,n those houses at about 11 : 00 o ' clock at night. We all wondered whether our own facility was on fire that night, until we went out in the street and found out it was the neighbors across the street So it ' s a problem we wonder what ' s going to happen if some day one of those houses does go up in flames - it could take the whole block with it I suppose , if the wind were blowing in the right I{ _ - 22 direction. So we regard it as a fire hazard, we also regard the nature of the residents of those brown houses as Somewhat a detri- ji Iment, too. We've been, on more than one occasion, bothered by some I ;Jof the people who reside there. And as a business that has a se- i. curity problem 24 hours a day, we are somewhat concerned about the nature of the residents of those buildings and I think a nice modein two story office building would be an improvement in that block ov r what exists there now. As far as the Family & Children' s Service the old Family & Children' s Service building , which is now the temporary location of Meadow House, we really have no opinion on whether that building should stay or come down. However , we would say that we 'd have no objection to a variance that would require n off-street parking there, in fact, it would allow people to use th ramps or street side parking as opposed to having that old house ( come down for the sake of a parking lot. Any questions? i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Any questions? Thank you Mr. Lynch. Is there anyone else who would like to speak in favor of the requested var- iance? I have a letter that I want to note receipt of from Mr . & ! Mrs. Marvin Carlson. It is sufficiently long that I won' t read it into the record, but note that it notes improvements in the design of the building over earlier versions and expresses strong opposi- tion to the demolition of the building at 315 N. Tioga. It con- siders that the harm caused by the destruction of that building more than offsets the limited amount of off-street parking that it would furnish. I note the receipt of that letter from the Carlsons . Is. there anyone who would like to speak in opposition to the re- quested variance? I believe then we 've heard from everyone on this case. The understanding is that the Board will not decide it tonight but rather table decision until some later event . The Board hopes that it would not have to deal with this as a variance Ibut rather that the variance request will be mooted by action from Common Council . I I I it n j - 24 - I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK FEBRUARY 5 , 1979 i� SECRETARY HOARD announced the next appeal to be heard : APPEAL NO. 2-1-79 : Appeal of John McGee for a variance of Sec- tion 34 . 6-A of the City of Ithaca Sign Ordi- nance , to place a second sign on the property at 740C Cascadilla Street in an I -1 (indus- trial) use district. The second sign would be on the side of the building, facing Meadow Street (Route 13) ; the Sign Ordinance permit signs only on the front of the buildings in this district . MR. MC GEE: Good evening, my name is John McGee, I reside on I Route 13 in Cortland, New York. I own and operate a new business here in town, Ithaca Wholesale Electric Supply, located at 740C Cascadilla Street. I am requesting a variance to the Sign Ordinance in that I would like to place a sign, as he has told you, on the side of my building facing Route 13 , due to the fact that I would have more recognition that we are there. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: The problem is not the size of the sign, but rather that it is not on the front of the building? MR. MC GEE : That is correct. The size of the sign would be well within the bounds of the limitation of the sign in proportion to . the total building. That is correct . It was pointed out in the previous meeting that I could erect a billboard outside the build- ing and it would not be illegal , facing Route 13. The problem is that there is an ordinance stating that there cannot be signs on i building, only facing the road that the building is on. However, if you are familiar at all with the rest of that area, every buil - ing on that block has a sign on both sides of the building, includ - ing the one that we occupy. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright, tell us about the difficulties that you face without the sign that you are asking for. Because it has to be on some kind of ground of peculiar difficulty or hardship if th Board would grant you such a variance. MR. MC GEE: That is correct. We have been - it has been brought pIto our attention by several of our customers that they had a very I i �i - 25 - ( hard time finding our business . It ' s 740C Cascadilla Street , how- ever , the Cascadilla Street sign there is no sign stating that this is Cascadilla Street coming toward our establishment. CHAIRMAN MARTIN; So you've had people say that they couldn't - they had difficulty finding you because of the lack of some identifying sign? MR. MC GEE: That is correct , several people, indeed and the sign that we have on the front of our building cannot be seen from 13 . That ' s the only reason for putting the sign up. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Do you need the sign on the front of your build- ing, I mean suppose the Board would say, alright move the sign from the front to Route 13 side - would that . . . ? MR. MC GEE: Okay, I wouldn't object to that except for the fact- that the sign that is on the front of the building is only about half the size needed to make it obvious that we are there. The sign that I am proposing on the side of the building is the same type of sign that exists on the front of the building with the ex- ception that it is twice the size. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright. So its a larger sign than the one you now have on th-e front that you want on the side? MR. MC GEE: That' s right, that ' s correct. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: With the one on Route 13, would you need the one still on the front? MR. MC GEE; No, no we would not . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: You have a sense that the principal side on which you need the sign is Route 13? MR. MC GEE: That is correct. CHAIRMAN MARTIN; Questions from members of the Board? MR. ANGELL : In other words , you'd be willing to remove the sign that is facing Cascadilla Street and put it on the other side? MR. MC GEE: I wouldn' t be willing to put that particular sign on the side facing 13 , no , because it wouldn't be any more obvious than it is now. The object is . . . MR. ANGELL: But you could put up a new sign? MR. MC GEE: Yes . MR. ANGELL: Conforming to the Sign Ordinance? 26 - MR. MC GEE: Yes , yes , absolutely. MS. DE COMBRAY: How big a sign would you need . . . ? MR. MC GEE: I believe you have a sign . . . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: There is a diagram on the back of the application. MR. MC GEE: It would be 4 ' x 81 . It would be the same design as the one that is on the front of the building. It would not be illuminated in any way. There is no need for that, we are only open in the daytime from 8 to 5 , during the daylight hours so ther is no need for any illumination at all . DR. GREENBERG: Mr. McGee , your customers are not the public - I mean, they are contractors , right? MR. MC GEE: My customers are the public as well as contractors . We are strictly wholesale but we will sell to the retail customer. But the problem being that I am not catering to the retail cus- tomer. The idea is that the contractors are having a difficult time in finding the building even though it should be very simple . DR. GREENBERG: I think Cascadilla Street is marked - I live in the area and I know Cascadilla Street so well , but I can' t vll you whether there is a sign indicating Cascadilla from Route 13 , I jus assumed there is one . There is none? MR. MC GEE: There is none on the corner that we are on. There is no sign there and there was a lady at the last meeting who said that she had lived in the area for fifteen (15) years and didn' t know where we were either . So it is obvious that, you know . . . DR. GREENBERG: Maybe we should have two requests, one for the . . . MR. MC GEE: One for a sign on the corner and one for the building right . Well that ' s not necessary. MS. DE COMBRAY: Coming along Route 13 there is a sign that says Cascadilla but you go to the right. It doesn't . . . show Cascadill continues on the other side. MR. MC GEE: That is correct. Well, it depends on which way you , are coming from - that is correct . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there other questions? Do you have anything fl you want to add? jMR. MC GEE: No . ii ,f I i I� - 27 - i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright. MR. MC GEE: I have a very simple request. i i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright, you have a simple request and I think I 've heard you say that if it was important to the Board to condi- tion our allowing you to put the sign up on Route 13 that you want, that you would take down the one that ' s on the front , that ' s fine with you? MR. MC GEE: I would be willing to do that but I - it would leave four holes in the building where I have attached the sign. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay, thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to be heard on this case? That concludes this part of the Board' s public hearing, we will go into executive session, and whelk we have reached our decision we will reconvene in public session. i I I i I �j i i 28 - BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK FEBRUARY 5 , 1979 EXECUTIVE SESSION APPEAL NO. 2-1-79 : CHAIRMAN MARTIN: I will move that the variance from the Sign Ordinance requested in 2- 1-79 be granted. MR. ANGELL : I second the motion. FINDINGS OF FACT : 1 . According to the testimony presented to the Board the location of the property makes it difficult to find if sole reliance is placed on the front of the building. 2 . The proposed sign facing Route 13 will give the building necessary identification but no more signs or larger signs than the Ordinance would permit. 3. This property will not be unusual in the are in having a sign facing Route 13. VOTE: 5 Yes ; 0 No ; 1 Absent. Variance granted. �I �I ! - 29 - i I I I , Barbara Ruane, Do Certify that I took the minutes of the Board 1of Zoning Appeals, City of Ithaca , in the matters of Appeals num- bered 1248 , 1249 and 2-1-79 on February 5, 1979 at City Hall , City of Ithaca, New York; that I have transcribed same, and the fore- going is a true copy of the transcript of the minutes of the II meeting and the Executive Session of the Board of Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, on the above date, and the whole thereof to the best of my ability. I Barbara C . Ruane Recording Secretary f Sworn to before me this Ly day of 1979 . No r Public JOSEPH A. RUNDLE Notary Public, State of New York No. 55-4507134 Qualified in Tompkins Count Term Expires March 30, 19 i it I� i �I