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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BZA-1979-04-02 i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK i APRIL 2 , 1979 TABLE OF CONTENTS MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS , ITHACA, NEW YORK - APRIL 29 1979 ! Page i APPEAL NO. 1240 William Lower 2 453 Floral Avenue APPEAL NO. 1240 Executive Session 8 APPEAL NO. 1252 ALbert D. Kelly WITHHELD 9 319 Taughannock Blvd. APPEAL NO. 1253: Lawrence J. Kolar and 9 Daniel Liguori 407 Cliff Street APPEAL NO. 1253 Executive Session 15 APPEAL NO. 1254 W. L . & J. M. Tompkins 16 134 East Spencer Street APPEAL NO. 1254 Executive Session 21 I APPEAL NO. 1255 David &-Seymour Turk 22 323-329 College Avenue APPEAL NO. 1255 Executive Session 34 APPEAL NO. 1256 Cornell Radio Guild, Inc. 35 227- 231 Linden Avenue APPEAL NO. 1256 Executive Session 41 CERTIFICATION OF RECORDING SECRETARY 42 BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK APRIL 2 , 1979 SECRETARY HOARD: We have a quorum so I ' ll call the meeting to order. This is the April 2 , 1979 meeting of the Ithaca Board of Zoning Appeals . PRESENT : Dr . Martin Greenberg Joseph Gainey, Jr. Morris Angell Natalie DeCombray Barbara Ruane, Recording Secretary Thomas Hoard, Building Commissioner & Secy to the Board ABSENT: Chairman Peter Martin William Wilcox SECRETARY HOARD: Because Peter Martin is absent, the first order of business tonight will be to elect an acting chairman for this meeting. Do I hear any nominations from the Board? DR. GREENBERG: I' move that Joe Gainey be elected chairman for the meeting tonight. MR. ANGELL : Second. SECRETARY HOARD: Nominated and seconded. Do we have any other nominations? (none) Alright, nominations are closed. Mr. Gainey will be the chairman. All in favor? Four (4) Ayes . We didn' t find out until quite recently that the regular chairman would not be here so please bear with us while we sort of feel our way through this. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: This Board is operating under the provisions of the City Charter of the City of Ithaca and of the provisions o the Zoning Ordinance. The Board shall not be bound by strict rules of evidence in the conduct of this hearing but the determination j shall be founded upon sufficient legal advice to sustain the same. i The Board requests that all participants identify themself as to name and address and confine their discussions to the pertinent facts of the case under consideration. Please avoid extraneous material which would have a delaying effect. The Board requests that the Building Commissioner proceed with the hearing. SECRETARY HOARD: Alright . The first case we have tonight is - 2 =- Appeal no . 1240 ; Appeal of William Lower for a use vari- ance under Section 30 . 25 , Column 2 to permit construction of a 50 x 100 ' storage building at 453 Floral Avenue . The property is located in an R-3a (residential) use district, in which storage buildings are not a permitted use . Mr. Lower if you could come up to the microphone and tell us about your proposal? One thing I would like to advise all of the appellants tonight is that since there are only four (4) members o the Board here - which is a bare quorum - you are going to need, not just a majority, but you are going to need all the votes . In other words , 1000 of all the members here tonight . Now you have th right , if you wish, to request a postponement to another time when i there will be a full Board or at least five (5) members present. So , if you would all keep that in mind - if you think you can per- suade all four members to give you the variance, why go ahead. Bu if you have a reasonable doubt, you do have the right to bring it up another time. MR. LOWER: When is the next meeting? SECRETARY HOARD: The next meeting would be the first Monday in Mar. MR. LOWER: I don' t see anybody here - it makes me a little leary I don' t see anybody here that I 've worked with in the Planning De- partment and I rather conscientiously worked to try to make this so it would be acceptable to the Planning Department and hopefully the BZA and I guess I ' ve got the approval of all the neighbors because we have no opposition at all . ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Any questions from the Board? SECRETARY HOARD: Maybe you could describe your project briefly for us . When you brought this project before the Board last fall iff ma I think the membership was quite different and so maybe if you could explain it, we do have your map here. MR. LOWER: Well I 'm in the apartment renting business here in Ithaca and I have a great need for storage of things that tend to 1 accumulate around apartment houses which you may very well see around - particularly in the Collegetown area - if you have someth ng like extra furniture that you want to keep and you don' t have a i 3 - place to store it in residential storage rooms , which, of course, I assume it is prohibited - at least I 've been told that it' s not permitted. So - inasmuch as I have quite a number of houses I need a place to store everything and I propose to use this just for my own purpose of storing things that will be used in my rental busi- ness . And of course this building will be a low profile building and it would be built in such a way that I think it would be an asset to the neighborhood and there will be no commercial per se, I mean nothing bought or sold or any transactions made in respect to commercial use - it will be just something that I use for my own storage for my own business. CHAIRMAN GAINEY (ACTING) : How does the size of this building differ from Whin you were here before? MR. LOWER: None, I guess. MS . DE COMBRAY: Why was it denied before? SECRETARY HOARD: Before , it was presented to the Board as being warehouse which has industrial connotations . I think that was the principle reason. Also, since that time Mr. Lower has gone through i the Planning Board and they have worked up some landscaping to go with the property and have determined just where the building would be. When Mr . Lower was here before there were a lot of things that hadn' t been decided yet - that he hadn' t decided - wh re the building was going to be located, how far back from the road and there was some opposition from the County Planning Director i -the form of a letter but he had read the announcement and it sai a warehouse. MR. LOWER: Has he since sent a letter in about that , Tom? Mr . Liguori? MR. ANGELL: Could we see the landscaping? How do you feel about the landscaping - you said you've been working with the Planning I Board on that? MR. LOWER: Well they at first weren' t in favor of it unless they felt that that could be put in that neighborhood and be an asset to the neighborhood. As I said before , I think they feel now that it would be an asset to the neighborhood so that the landscaping - 4 - has been used to the best advantage from the Planning Department which is - it goes down hill in the back and - as a matter of fact, I it goes down hill too much to even put . . . MR. ANGELL : No, but what I 'm saying is , how do you feel about the landscaping that they have proposed? MR. LOWER: Oh. Well I have no objection whatsoever. You know, they . . . I MR. ANGELL : It is their recommendation - is that we make it a con- dition for a variance. MR. LOWER: Oh, Everything that they advise - to me was perfectly acceptable and not unreasonable and I think inasmuch as I live near there I was in favor of it whether . . . I think if it wasn' t contin- gent on - you know, if the permit wasn' t contingent on doing what they said, even if they just recommended - I ' d do it anyhow because they had some good recommendations that I 'm not Qualified to come out with. Maybe I 'm an architect but - in a sense - but not land- scaping - I 'm not good at that so I really think it was very bene- ficial working with them, to be truthful . MR. GAINEY: Is this going to be a one story building? MR. LOWER: Yes low profile. And as you can see there - there is - I think they show where there is some trees there - they've set it right back next to the trees . SECRETARY HOARD: Mr. Chairman, if I may we do have a letter from Prank R. Liguori , the Tompkins County Director of Planning in regard to this application. "Re: Zoning REview Pursuant to Section 239-1 and -m of the Genera Municipal Law. Case : Appeal No. 1212 , William Lower, 433 Floral Avenue, City of Ithaca "Dear Mr. Hoard: "Based upon a re-evaluation of the available information on the above appeal , including discussions with the Zoning Officer of the Town of Ithaca and the owner of adjacent property in the Town of Ithaca, it is unlikely that a granting of the above appeal will have a significant impact upon County, State or Town interests . I there- fore withdraw my previous objections stated in my letter of July 31 , 1978 and the Zoning Board of Appeals may act on the case with- out prejudice from my office. Sincerely, /s/ Frank R. Liguori Commissioner of Planning" - 5 - MR. LOWER: And I believe I had a petition signed by all of the neighbors there. Not that - I didn' t pressure them, I just asked them if they would be objective - I didn' t . . . ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Are there any more questions from the iBoard? DR. GREENBERG: Tom, was there a lot of discussion in the past about the drainage at the site for some reason or other? There was a question that Greg brought up last time . MR. LOWER: Can I answer that? Inasmuch as it was zoned residents 1 there, there was a mention of housing there and of course my answe i to that was that it would not be feasible because the lay of the land was such that sewage would have to be pumped up. So at that time I had to ask City Engineers to go down and give me some shots on the grade and of course they gave them - I think they gave them to Tom - which showed that you would have to pump the sewage in order to use sewer lines there - like 3 or 4 feet or more. DR. GREENBERG: The question is whether the land could be used for residences instead of what you propose and the answer is no , they couldn' t put residential buildings in there? MR. LOWER: Not feasibly, in my opinion. ( SECRETARY HOARD: They would have to pump the sewage uphill and it would add considerable expense. MR. ANGELL : You don' t contemplate putting any facilities in there. MR. LOWER: No sir . ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Any other questions? DR. GREENBERG: Well I think the only other question is , Mr. Lower, since this is a residential area and you want to say - do you want Ito tell something why you feel that we should grant a use variance for the hardship - are you claiming that or just the fact that you had the land and want to put it to use? You haven' t indicated that you have no other options and why you want, in a sense, to say that we should grant the variance. R. LOWER: Well I feel that the land at this time - certainly could not be used for residential use inasmuch as it is residential , the land in my opinion is no good. Of course, in view of the cir- Il i - 6 - cumstances I am greatly in need of something that in my feeling is not - wouldn' t clash with the neighborhood and it is not really a commercial building - I felt that this was putting it to more practical use and would upgrade the site itself somewhat. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Do you have a storage problem as it stand now? MR. LOWER: Oh, absolutely - I could tell you some of the places I ( have stuff stored and I could show you receipts . I have stuff that is stored in John Lowry' s down along the lake of which I pay about $60. 00 a month; I have stuff stored on the Mecklenburg Road and I can tell you what it is - it ' s like on the Mecklenburg Road - it ' s i about 1/2 dozen new refrigerators , I buy directly from GE - I buy under contract sales which makes it so that I can buy stuff cheaper - cheaper even though it may not seem true , but it really is - I can buy cheaper than the dealer can buy. Of course you are tied up in a contract where you don't have any right to resell and then I hav furniture up there on Mecklenburg Road. Again this is all new fur - niture that I buy from Greer, South Carolina from the Runion Manu- facturing Company and you have to buy it by a tractor trailer load in order to be able to get the kind of prices that I feel that helps my business. And I think it helps the Community in a sense. CHAIRMAN GAINEY (ACTING) : You have no storage of your own right now? MR. LOWER: Well I do have storage - as a matter of fact, I have a couple garages that I have stuff stored in and, of course I have b en informed that I don' t have a right to store stuff in those in resi - dential - cause everything I have is in residential zone - so . . . ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Alright, any other questions? IMR. ANGELL: In other words , it ' s a hardship for you not to utiliz this because you can' t utilize this as residential property? So , in other words, that presents a hardship for you, you can't use that land . . . MR. LOWER: That' s two hardships . Number one, it' s a hardship because I can' t use the property for residential use and the other hardship is that I can' t use any of the properties that I own for 8 - i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS o CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK APRIL 29 1979 EXECUTIVE SESSION APPEAL NO. 1240 MR. ANGELL : I move that the Board approve the use variance in Appeal No . 1240 with the following conditions : 1) Landscaping the area as recommended by the Planning & Development Board and 2) the use will be for Mr . Lower' s sole use only. MS. DE COMBRAY: I second the motion. FINDINGS OF FACT: 1 . There is a hardship because of the slop of the land - as far as residential use is concerned. 2 . It is a hardship as far as his storage being in multiple locations . VOTE : 4 Yes ; 0 No ; 2 Absent. Use variance granted with conditions . I I I I � 2 l I 9 I �I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS (I CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK APRIL 2, 1979 I� SECRETARY HOARD announced the next appeal to be heard: APPEAL NO. 1252 : Appeal of Albert D. Kelly for an area variance under Section 30. 25 , Columns 4 , 12 and 13 (_off-street parking require- ments , and minimum side yards) , to permit use of the second story deck at 319 Taughannock Boulevard (Kelly' s Dockside Kafe) for additional restaurant dining space. The property is located in an M-1 (marine) use district, and is defi- cient in both side yards and has no off I street parking. i SECRETARY HOARD: This appeal has been held over by the Planning Board until next month and I read it into the record because it wi 1 appear on our agenda next month. I hope nobody came here tonight i just for this appeal . The next appeal is Appeal 1253 : I� i� Appeal of Lawrence J. Kolar and Daniel F. Liguori for a use variance under j Section 30 .49 and Section 30. 25 , Column 2 (extension of a non-conforming use an permitted uses) to permit an addition to the existing machine shop at 407 Cliff Street. The property is located in an R-3a (residential) use district , in which a machine shop is not a per- I mitted use. I SECRETARY HOARD: Mr. Kolar is here to present this case. Once again I want to remind you that there is a bare quorum here and if you want to hold over your case until next time, you have that op- tion. MR. KOLAR: I 'm Lawrence Kolar . I guess the best way is for me to state our case is , we have a machine shop that we do not intend to enlarge to a great degree but we are attempting to better the con- ditions that we have, enlarging rest rooms , tool kit areas , etc . that - as well as loading dock that will be in behind the building instead of on the end of it . I feel that it is not detrimental in any way to the property that immediately surrounds us . First off, we have a - quite a large area along Cliff Street and it is , of course, bounded on the west side, if you will , by a very steep embankment leading up to Hector Street which is continuous along that whole area. There isn't a house in there for probably - I I 10 don' t believe there is one in what would be equivalent of three ( city blocks on the west side. We are in the center of that . There is only one house on our side of the street, probably within a bloc - T ll take that back, two - one of them which is our neighbor to the north and he is probably, I would say 150 - 200 feet away from our line and the building that we are talking of putting up is not on the end of the lot , it will be behind the existing structure. It will be the same construction as the existing building which is a steel, frame building and the exact same roof line will continue to the rear. It will be away from the street - be approached around behind the building so I don' t feel that it is a detriment to any- one and it shouldn' t be a - any change in the appearance whatever as you go up and down Cliff Street. We feel that the space is need d. I suppose lake many businesses as you you really don't try to put anything on until you have already found out that you need it befor you make the move, in a sense. So this will enable us to continue with better facilities then we have internally, then we do at the present time. It isn' t really feasible for us to consider - well , could we go to a different location because there is a very large investment in the existing structure, power-wise, etc. And it' s al odern equipment , etc. It ' s very _ it ' s not a noisy type of an operation. I don' t feel that there has been any criticism of our being there because we try to keep the place cleaned up and we have a few shrubs planted around the front of the building, etc . And as II say, with no immediate neighbors , even though it is strictly a residential classficiation, I don' t believe it is a detriment to be , there. We would like to feel that it ' s an improvement actually to the area and - because before what was there originally was a ste p ank. and it has been filled in and it should be a better spot. Previously like there was no area there hardly at all on that side of the street. Now we have a general area where you can pull off i the line of traffic probably one of the only places on the street that you can do that. I would certainly appreciate any questions rather than to just sort of ramble on about it, and I hope I could answer them correctly. I I ' ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: What type of equipment and manufacturing process is going to be in this new addition? i 1:MR. KOLAR: I don' t actually anticipate we will put new machinery I� Alin this building. We had the building, when we designed the ! original building the concept was to have all the main machining (centers and this is what we call tape control machinery - it' s a ; numerical control equipment and that ' s in line . What we have done his taken part of that floor space that we wished we had and devoted Flit to - in inspection giality control , etc. and shipping and receiv- ing and that ' s really what we would like to move to the other area. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Let me reword my question. What type of 11 new equipment are you going to add to the entire manufacturing i facility? MR. KOLAR: If we did buy anything extra - it takes quite awhile to I ! get it, for example, I think the present delivery schedule on the equipment that we use is something like S8 weeks . So anything that you do you have to plan well in advance. It ' s a long lead time and +iif we were to put one of those machines in, it probably would take - oh - in an area the size of this room you could probably put two or three units but you would only buy one of those at a time. iACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: What type of machine was this again? IMR. KOLAR: This - the terminology that they use is a machining I center - it means that you can take a specialized part - casting or hatever, and perform twenty operations possibly on it - all at one setting, you know, without removing - what it is supposed to do is instead of having six or eight machines in line to produce a part , with this you can produce it on one. CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: So your proposed new area then is just ainly going to be a receiving and shipping area? R. KOLAR: And inspection and a tool area for storing tools , jigs and sharpening, etc. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Is this going to involve hiring more peopl ? Is it going to create a parking problem? R. KOLAR: I don' t think so because as I say the normal concept of his is that one machinelike this is a one operator type of set up. - 12 The stand by or supporting equipment or mechanism is all in place at the present time, I mean you have to have what we call tape prepara- tion equipment, computors , control , etc. This is all available I 'presently. The one piece of extra equipment would possibly mean just one operator or two. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Any questions from the Board? MR. ANGELL: I notice that they've made the contingent - the one i fire building contingent upon landscaping and the one - and they seem to imply that you haven' t complied with the landscaping and your answer was that it is green in the summer. Now have you actu- ally landscaped it or is it just whatever grows? IMR. KOLAR: No , across the front of the building, which is the part that you would see from Cliff Street, we have planted these yw e bushes completely across the front of the whole building for the total length. On the back side which is shielded by the trees supposedly from when they are in bloom, is where we have been fill- ing this . Our attempt has been always not to have anything except hard fill . We police the area very carefully on that so that ob- viously - well , in that particular area where the building is going now - that has been filled in in the last five years so we really can' t landscape, I guess is the word, until you feel that that is at its extremity, which we do now. I don' t think that they felt that we hadn' t done anything to spruce it up, if you will . I think they wonder if you could do more to the back. My comment the other night to the Planning Board is that we have - if this building goes in, we will not be able to put any fill directly behind there. This is the appropriate time to cover it, if you would, with crown vetch or whatever - that would be more of a permanent nature . MR. ANGELL: I see that' s one of their objections is that it is fairly unsightly I guess from below. And you would be willing to cover it with the . . . ? MR. KOLAR: Oh yes I feel that, again, that we prefer to have it that way. Obviously while you are moving the fill around and that, that ' s impossible at the exact moment that that ' s capped coming out , I mean by exact moment whatever time it is being converted. What i► 13 - j the position is of the land behind the building where this would be - lit would be able to be landscaped now or covered up, as you say. jAnd we would be happy to do that . i, ' CHAIRMAN GAINEY (Acting) : You also state that you are going to use the existing roof slope? i MR. KOLAR: Yes . ( ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: So that you are not going to have a multi- level? MR. KOLAR: That' s correct. The building is a republic steel build- ing and the architect is Tallman $ Tallman and they have continued the level line of the roof - completely across so that that will be one unbroken line. One roof level will suffice for the whole thing . iThat' s the south view that you have there - (pointing to a blueprin which the Chairman was looking at. ) ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: That ' s as you come up Cliff Street? SMR. KOLAR: Yes. I ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: That ' s what will be visible? MR. KOLAR: Yes . Actually you won' t see it quite from that angle because that is a direct south view and you would be looking at it from the southwest actually, so you shouldn' t see the building at all as you come up because it is 40 feet from the end of the existing one. Behind it . ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Siding and everything is going to match what you have now? MR. KOLAR: Yes it would. CHAIRMAN GAINEY (Acting) : As close as possible? R. KOLAR: It will be the same material - that has been all checked out - steel building - same color, same trim, everything. CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: If I am correct, there is nothing directly underneath. here , right , down on Taughannock Blvd? Just open land? R. KOLAR: No, that is correct . Actually our whole land parcel is surrounded by open on all sides . That is sort of an area there that hasn' t been suitable for development for any other reason. CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Are there any questions from the Board? R. GREENBERG: Are you going to lose some parking space by this . . ? - 14 - i MR. KOLAR: No this building will actually take up what we have Milled. We have probably now at least doubled the parking space we've ever- had in the last - we have been very fortunate to have I� been able to fill that in. DR. GREENBERG: What kind of parking do you have or did you have? I How many spaces? R. KOLAR: Originally - when we probably started that we may have had - I 'm picking a figure loosely - 8 , 10, 12 places and we prob- ably have 22 times that now. R. GREENBERG: So you have enough to cover all your employees? R. KOLAR: Yes sir. CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Any other questions? R. GREENBERG: How long have you been there? R. KOLAR: Well , a long time. Thirty-five (35) years I guess. CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: This is the second variance that you have ome before the Board for? R. KOLAR: Yes sir. CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Any other questions? Thank you. R. KOLAR: Thank you. CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Is there anyone else in the audience who would like to speak in favor of Mr. Kolar' s project? (none) Okay, Ls there anyone who would like to speak in opposition to Mr. Kolar ' project? (none) Okay, we will move on to the next case. 1 i 15 - Ii ! BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS �t CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS APRIL 2 , 1979 !' EXECUTIVE SESSION I APPEAL NO. 1253 MS. DE COMBRAY I move that the Board approve the use variance in appeal no . 1253 with the following conditions : 1) that ground cover be planted in the back of the building and 2) the expansion is to match the existing outside structure as far as siding, color and roof slope. MR. ANGELL: I second the motion FINDINGS OF FACT: 1) Mr. Kolar has agreed to do any necessary i landscaping as proposed by the Planning Board. 2) He showed in his drawing that he intends to meet the existing roof slope of the structure. E 3) The addition is within the "L" of the building so it is not visible from the street. 4) It is a pre-existing non-conforming USE . VOTE: 4 Yes ; 0 No ; 2 Absent Use variance granted with conditions . i� 16 - BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS ii COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK APRIL 2 , 1979 I SECRETARY HOARD announced the next appeal to be heard. APPEAL NO. 1254 : Appeal of W. L. & J. M. Tompkins for an area variance under Section 30 . 25 , Columns 4, 11 and 13 to permit conversi n of a dining room to a bedroom in the f rear house at 134 East Spencer Street . I The property is located in an R-3b (residential) use district, and is de- ficient in required off-street parking, and the front yard and rear yards do no meet the minimum set back requirements . With the additional bedroom, the property will be deficient by two parking spaces SECRETARY HOARD: This is Mr. Tompkins . R. TOMPKINS: My name is Bill Tompkins , I live at 6 Eagleshead Roa , I Ithaca, New York. Are there any questions? CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Why don' t you give us a brief description of what you are trying to do? R. TOMPKINS : Alright. As part of the documentation which we sub- mitted - we submitted a portion of the survey of the site . I don ' t know if each of you Board members has a copy of that or not . CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Does everybody have a copy? (yes) MR. TOMPKINS: The way I interpret the difficulty we are having with the zoning now it' s three-fold. One - on the clearance between the building right on Spencer Street and Spencer Street, we have approximately three feet rather than the prescribed 10 feet . I don' t know what we can do about that, short of moving the building or the ' street. Now, one side lot - there is two feet of clearance between that building and the side lot line . Again it poses a problem of moving something which is a major move and obviously quite a hardship to get into . The third part concerns the parking. We are short tw parking spaces. You will notice there are two buildings on this on lot . There is a three---story frame in the front and a two $ one-hal story frame at the rear. What our intention was when we first bought this property back in the fall was to just try and develop it as a piece of income property. As we started getting further into that building in the rear we got into a lot more work than we anticipated. - 17 - { ' To date, we've reinforced the main framing in the basement , the I �Imain joist, the main beams have been reinforced, and new columns have been installed. We had to jack the building to take some of the sag: out and we knew pretty well what would happen then - we popped most of the plaster upstairs . Since then we 've had to put i new dry wall on all the walls in the three bedrooms , living room and dining room as well as putting new dry wall on all the ceilings . I.This has since been done and has all been taped and spackled and we are in the process of painting it now. The building has been com- ipletely rewired and brought up to code. Within the next week or two we will be starting a major plumbing job on it. In short we are getting into a lot higher investment in this piece of property than what we anticipated. One way of getting around that and trying to make ends meet on any investment , you have to look at the options - would be to take the dining room in there, and consider that as a bedroom. It would not change anything in the outward appearance o the building and no outside construction required to do this . To do it requires hanging a door . The doorway is there now between the two rooms - between the living room and the dining room. As far as the parking goes , I can handle that myself and not have any problem with the Zoning Ordinances. If you will notice on that sur- vey drawing in front of you there, the property is fenced and it does provide two yard spaces. There is a yard space between the two buildings which has a couple of trees on it now, as well as grass . There is also a yard space in back of that smaller building which also has several trees on it and grass . I could take the option of just taking the fence down, throwing gravel in there and chopping down a tree and saying, here is a parking lot. We 'd rather not do that, it would destroy the character of the house and the neighbor- hood, so we are asking for a variance to allow us to do this , realizing that we are short two parking places. However, the city parking lot on the corner of Cayuga and Clinton is less than 500' from this piece of property, within easy walking distance for anyo e who cares to park there and walk over. I think that' s about the main thrust of our position on this. 18 - CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Any questions from the Board? S. DE COMBRAY: You' d be making the two bedroom apartment into a three bedroom apartment? R. TOMPKINS: It ' s a three bedroom now. S. DE COMBRAY: So you are making it a four bedroom? ; NIR. TOMPKINS: It would go to a four , yes . There are three normal i sized bedrooms upstairs now. S. DE COMBRAY: And the other apartment would be a . . . . ? DR. GREENBERG: How many residents would be located in the building as is and the building after the bedroom is . . . . ? MR. TOMPKINS: Probably one more. DR. GREENBERG: Only one more person? IMR. TOMPKINS: Yes. I DR. GREENBERG: How many in there now? t 11MR. TOMPKINS: There are none in there now. The house is . . . I 11DR. GREENBERG: How many do you expect to have in there? IMR. TOMPKINS: Probably four. There are three bedrooms now, what ewe anticipate is renting it to three people now. If we can get tha other bedroom approved, then there would be four. DR. GREENBERG: So let' s hear it again. You would have four in total and at present you would only have three? MR. TOMPKINS: Yes . At present we would only have three. !`MS . DE COMBRAY: What is the occupancy of the two structures or what ! is the intended occupancy? iMR. TOMPKINS: The building in front would be eleven, and the build- ling in the rear would be four. This is where we get into the number � of required parking places . ' MS. DE COMBRAY: And at the moment you have only parking for two? iMR. TOMPKINS: Four. i ! MS. DE COMBRAY: Where do the other two go? M. TOMPKINS: Well you notice there is a two car garage there whic I Ican take two cars and the space between the street and the garage 1 can take two more cars. jMS. DE COMBRAY: Is that a driveway? iMR. TOMPKINS: Yes. As I said we could very easily put a lot more I li I� I - 19 - (parking by tearing out the yard areas of the house there but we ( would rather not do that. SMR. ANGELL : Where is this? DR. GREENBERG: How would you get to that? ; MR. ANGELL : Where would you tear out the . . . ? MR. TOMPKINS: Take out the fence along the north side there and just let them drive right in on the lawn. MR. ANGELL: I don' t understand. IDR. GREENBERG: It doesn' t give that appearance on the map. It looks like the two car garage and the building are so close to one another that you wouldn' t have a driveway between the two. MR. TOMPKINS: Okay, maybe I can explain it better this way. If you have that map in front of you there is a parcel 81-10-1 - that ' s la public lot, it ' s a city lot right across the street from the police station, so you could drive right in off from Clinton Street into this lot. You can' t go any further because of that fence lin there, but if I took that fence out then the tenants could drive right into the yard area and park there. If we get into that . . . DR. GREENBERG: I 'm not sure that would be legally accepted driveway? It' s a public lot, I don' t know why not , I can' t give you a legal answer to it , because I don' t know. Ggrnlry ACT CHAIRMAN . We ' ll sit on that one . Were there any complaint from any of the neighbors? MR. TOMPKINS : No. We notified all of the neighbors as we were required within the 2001 . I had a telephone call at home from one who had a few questions and apparently was satisfied with the answer - I have since met him down here and no further discussion on the subject . MS. DE COMBRAY: And the hardship is that, because of the expense of fixing the buildings up you feel that to make more income you must have another bedroom? MR. TOMPKINS : Yes. That is correct. MR. ANGELL: Do you live here? MR. TOMPKINS: No. DR. GREENBERG: Is this dining room, or bedroom-to-be , in a kind o - 20 - i through-way to the dining room, the kitchen or any other room? � MR. TOMPKINS: No it can be completely closed off from the rest. DR. GREENBERG: It would be completely separate and wouldn' t have Ito be gone through to get into any other par z of the house? MR. TOMPKINS: No , anyone in the living room can get to the powder ( room or the kitchen without going through this other room so it could be completely private. ACTING Chairman Gainey: Any other questions from the Board? None? Thank you. IMR. TOMPKINS : Thank you. jACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Is there anyone in the audience who would I like to speak in favor of Mr. Tompkins ' s proposal? (none) Anyone who would like to speak against Mr. Tompkins ' s proposal? (none) We will go on to the next case. i i �I - 21 - I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK APRIL 25, 1979 EXECUTIVE SESSION APPEAL NO. 1254 R. GREENBERG: I move that the Board grant the area variance requested in appeal no. 1254 . S. DE COMBRAY: I second the motion. INDINGS OF FACT: 1) This is largely rental occupancy - it will not change the character of the neighborhood. 2) Public parking is available at night. 3) =The dining room in question is not a "pass-through" to other rooms in the building. OTE: 4 Yes ; 0 No; 2 Absent. Area variance granted. !i I I I �I 22 - i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS I COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS �i CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK APRIL 2 , 1979 �SECRETARY HOARD announced the next appeal to be heard: 1APPEAL N0: 1255 : Appeal of David and Seymour Turk for an area variance under Section 30 . 25 , Columns 4, 10 , 12 and 14 to permit 4 construction of a new two-story buildin with three retail stores and six apart- ments at 323-329 College Avenue, in a B- 2 use district. The proposed struc- ture will exceed the maximum lot cover- age permitted, the property will have no rear or side yards , and no off- street parking is provided. This appea j is identical to Appeal No . 1245 which was denied by the Board of Zoning Ap- peals on January 8, 1979 ; the appellant f have refiled on the basis of a rezoning proposal now before the Common Council . , SECRETARY HOARD: Are you aware that there are only four members of the Board and that you have the right to withdraw? R. DI PASQUALE : Yes, you see time is of the essence , that ' s the treason why we have to gamble on it. I am Ray DiPasauale , represent - ing the Turk Bros . If you will recall the appeal was denied becaus f the fact that the Council had to look at the Zoning problem in ollegetown as a city problem, which they have done and it has been recommended that the zoning be changed to permit actually the kind f building which we propose to put there. And if everything had one according to plan, then it would have been passed or would be assed this Wednesday and we wouldn't have to worry about this . How- ver., we know that it 's not going to be passed this Wednesday and i fight be two or three months before it' s actually passed, because now I understand that an Environmental Impact Assessment has to be ( filed, in which case the City Planning Department has to prepare this and, according to Mr. . VanCort , it will take at least two i` onths to do this. The appeal that we are making right now is so I that we can begin construction immediately, in view of the fact that it is already a known fact that the Council will approve the kind of zoning which will permit us to do what we want to do. So iI think really our appeal is one of timing and one of very great financial hardship which I ' ll illuminate in a minute. And so we 23 - are making this new appeal without changing the plan at all but because there is a financial hardship involved, that if we don't get started right now, we are going to be losing over $3, 500 a month until this project gets started. CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: How is the $3, 500. . . . ? R. DI PASQUALE: Alright , I will explain how that is . The propert Ihas been purchased at a cost that is over a million dollars an acre . The interest and the taxes and the insurance on this property, along with the loss of business that these people have undergone or will undergo with this project not being started, in the sense that the project in the place that they now occupy is first of all too small the building leaks - not enough space to do what they want to do , there is no display room and that ' s the whole purpose of them spend- ing this kind of money to buy this property. So when you add this all up, and we can show you the figures , it' s over $3 ,500 a month i losses if they don' t get started right away. So , in view of the fact that we know it ' s going to be passed, we ' d like to appeal to this group to pass the variance for those things that we have to get a variance for, so that we can begin construction immediately be- cause time is of the essence and that' s basically what we are trying to do. DR. GREENBERG : Excuse me sir - I don' t know if you gave your name to the . . . R. DI PASQUALE: I 'm Ray DiPasquale , I 'm the architect involved in the project. I represent the Turk Brothers , right , I 'm sorry. R. GREENBERG: Thank you. R. DI PASQUALE: Now, there are ways that you could - there was - art of this zoning proposal is also a Design Review Committee and if this is a factor that is part of your deliberations then I 'm willing to work with any stipulation about the design and review of this building if you so dictate . As long as we can begin design and the construction immediately. That' s what we are looking for. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: It seems to me that the last time you were ere that we offered suggestions in the type of design that you wer oing to do and the type of building that was going to be built. I - 24 - seems to me that you've come back with no change in design. SMR. DI PASQUALE: No , there' s no change in design because . . !ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: But now you tell us that you would be 1 willing to work with us . . . IMR. DI PASQUALE : I 'm willing to work with you people , that' s why . ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Why haven't we done something on this over �Ithe last couple of months . . . ? MR. DI PASQUALE: Because we don' t even know if we are going to get I � a building built. If this zoning does not pass we won' t have a building, the way we propose to do it . And we are not about to spe d a lot of time and money and energy, talking with people getting all kinds of input until we know we have a building. We are not going to get a building until we get the zoning changed. You know, desig is a very subjective thing and a lot of people have ideas about what should happen in this building but the zoning ordinance, if you know, doesn' t say that design has to be of a particular character or not. So, I mean . . . ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Alright. MR. DI PASQUALE: I mean, the criteria - what do you mean Morrie? (MR. ANGELL : - There is a set back requirement from the corner . . . MR. DI PASQUALE: I know that, that ' s why we are here. SMR. ANGELL : You haven' t met that. MR. DI PASQUALE: I know it , but the new zoning change is not going to - it doesn' t require that . MR. ANGELL: How do you know? MR. DI PASQUALE: Because its already been drafted. MR. ANGELL: Well how do you know you say you know it ' s going to Ibe passed? You don' t know that unless you have some insight that we don' t. MR. DI PASQUALE: I know but it 's a - there has been no opposition to the fact that the zoning has to be changed in that area. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: It seems that we are going on a fallacy. DR. GREENBERG: Ray, are you saying that if we give you the zoning variance vto build the building, you won' t need an environmental impact statement? I 25 - I I IMR. DI PASQUALE: We don' t need one anyway. DR. GREENBERG: So what ' s holding up the Council then? Why will the Council need one? i MR. DI PASQUALE: Why don' t you talk with the Council and find out ( what' s holding up the Council? DR. GREENBERG: Well you are speaking for the Council now. , ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: You are telling us that it is going to be i ( passed? MR. DI PASQUALE: It ' s not going to be passed this Wednesday - it ' s not going to be passed. I ' ll tell you that right now. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: You just gave . . . MR. DI PASQUALE: It' ll be delayed for two or three months until there is an Environmental assessment . . . ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Excuse me just a moment, but you just told lus that the zoning was going to be passed. Now, we are asking the ( question, how do you know the zoning is going to be passed? I thin you are jumping from one article to another now. �MR. DI PASQUALE: If the zoning is not going to be . . . ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Let ' s go back to where we brought it up a few months ago and we asked you at the time and Morrie brought it u , las well as myself, that we asked you at that time if the building ( could be altered to set the building back from the face of the street . And at the time you said it was possible, that it could be done. Now you are coming back and you are asking for the same variance , that you asked for before and you haven' t done a thing other than y u are going on something that you are hoping is going to happen, whic may not happen. The law states still that we can not grant you a variance because of what - parking, set back, numerous things . . . IMR. DI PASQUALE: What was the decision of this particular Board at the time that they denied the variance? That it was going to be deferred to Common Council for action on zoning in the whole area, is that correct? ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Right and this has not been accomplished. R. DI PASQUALE : But it has been referred to Council for action. They have all agreed on it but they have not passed it yet so what - 26 - we are saying is that because it is a foregone conclusion they should pass it - they probably will pass it . They are going to pas fit, I feel they have to pass it. You know they are going to pass Jit. So what we are saying is that we want to get the variance be- cause there there is a financial hardship. If we conform to the variance as'. it is right now then we don' t have a building project we' ll build fthe building that will conform with the Zoning Ordinance - it ' ll be Ia one-story concrete block building. That 's what we are going to build. Then you will have missed a chance to do something with that particular corner . I know it' s going to happen. It doesn' t take many big magic to figure that out, Morrie - come on. It is just - 1you know how these things work . . . MR. ANGELL : But you haven' t done a thing. You haven' t even con- i Isidered setting that building back as I see it. MR. DI PASQUALE: We have to fill that site 100% for it to work. MR. ANGELL: You submitted the same plan that you had. MR. DI PASQUALE: Right . That ' s right. Because the way the zoning is proposed to be changed is to allow us to build the building ex- fjactly as we had proposed it, which is what we wanted to do to begin with. MR. ANGELL : I don' t agree with that . You don' t know that . MR. DI PASQUALE: I don' t know it . MR. ANGELL : Well then how can you say it? ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Let' s go back and read why you were denied . SECRETARY HOARD: Okay, this is the letter of January 9, 1979 add- ressed to David and Seymour Turk on Appeal No . 1245 : "Gentlemen: "The decision of the Board was as follows : "Motion was made that the Board deny the area variances requested in appeal number 1245. "The requests encompass very substantial deviations from the zoning requirements . Those deviations may make sense for this and other properties in the inner-part of Collegetown but this Board is not I the proper vehicle for redoing the Zoning Ordinance there. In this and other recent cases it has been argued that the yard requiremens and the off-street parking requirements are inappropriate for that part of Collegetown. The arguments have considerable force and th y should be directed to Common Council rather than this Board. Pro- posals reflecting substantially less deviation from the requiremen s of the Ordinance for this property would be grounds for a reconsi- deration by the Board of this action. I I - 27 - i "Vote : 5 Yes; 0 No; 1 Absent "Area variances denied. "Very truly yours, /s/ Thomas D. Hoard, Secretary Board of Zoning Appeals" MR. DI PASQUALE : Okay, since that happened there has been a recom- endation by the Planning Department to the Common Council for a zoning change which you've seen, I know you've seen it. Have you seen it Morrie - what they propose to do? R. ANGELL: Right. R. DI PASQUALE: Now have you seen any opposition to that particul r thing? It' s been discussed, it ' s been brought up . . . R. ANGELL: But we don't - I don' t know all the zoning requirement that are going to be drawn up in that proposal . . . R. DI PASQUALE: It spells it right out and it allows us to do exactly what we wanted to do to begin with. That ' s the reason why e did not make the changes because we are saying okay, let ' s wait ntil they pass it, then we will submit it - then we won't have to ave a variance. But now we can see that it is going to take more han just a month to do it. You know things in government don't move that fast. So now the Environmental Impact Statement for the Zoning - as the zoning change is now being considered, so therefore e are talking 2 , 3 or 4 months down the road before this thing is passed. And what I 'm saying is that this fellow right here can' t afford to spend $3, 500 for nothing when he is waiting for that to appen - when you know what is going to happen, because something as to take place up there. Now that 's as simple as I can say it, ou know, and, sure, if I didn' t have a case I wouldn't be here . I 'm here to appeal on the basis of financial hardship. That ' s the ew information. And the delays that have taken place . R. ANGELL: Well in my opinion, and it ' s only my opinion - is that orner is a dangerous corner. And you stated . . . R. DI PASQUALE: You've got four corners there. Right? CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Yes sir. R. ANGELL : Yes you have . The bank is set back from that corner. R. DI PASQUALE: It' s on a bigger lot. R. ANGELL: Regardless. 1 28 - I ISEYMOUR TURK: The previous . . . CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: What we are going on here is what we asked I ou to do. We asked proposals reflecting substantially less devia- I jtion from the requirements of the ordinance for this property wouldl e grounds for reconsideration by the Board. What we are looking for and what we talked about with you people at the time was not a sub- stantially smaller building, just a smaller building to get it away from the corner so that there was view from both directions and there as access . Now you are coming back to us with a hardship and you re coming back to us with no . . . R. TURK: Because we do have a hardship . CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Well we realize that. R. TURK: Previous to this there was a building on that corner, fight to the property line. SECRETARY HOARD: Could you identify yourself for the record? R. TURK: My name is Mr. Turk and I own it with my brother - this Ipiece of property. Previous to this piece of property was changed into a gas station which made it a much more environmental impact in the area there was a two-story building with four stores right r to the building line . CTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: That was before we had zoning laws . R. TURK: I don' t know what was on the zoning board but that was n the property before. In order to make this piece of property feasible also , I do have to come out to the complete property line . R. ANGELL: You have 7 ' on the other side of that building. Mr. iPasquale said that he could move that building over that 71 . R. TURK: Move it over which 71 ? R. DI PASQUALE: Towards the liquor store . R. TURK: That piece is not mine, I want to leave a spot that' s between me and the other piece - that ' s why I want to leave it ther . hat piece don't belong to me. That ' s why I want to leave a 7 ' i iece in there. R. ANGELL: I don' t have the property plan here . . . TURK: But that' ll be definitely in the deed. MR. ANGELL: Then it ' s changed from the description we have of the property? h j - 29 - il ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: I was with the understanding that you owned that 71 . MR. TURK: With the understanding that it will be left empty for that reason. MR. DI PASQUALE: They have agreed on a mutual right-of-way between the properties . ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: So the liquor store is the owner of the 7 ' or you are the owner of that 71 ? MR. TURK: It' ll be split down the middle and be left empty. CHAIRMAN GAINEY (Acting) : Who owns the property now? MR. TURK: We bought it from ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: You own it now? MR. TURK: Right. It ' ll go right down the middle, right. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: You own up to his wall? MR. DI PASQUALE: No. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Or you own up to 3, feet of his wall? MR. TURK Right - 32 feet and that' s - it ' ll be in the deed. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: So you' ll have 32 feet on your property line and 32 feet on his property line? MR. TURK: Right - so we ' ll leave it empty so we will have access through it. MR. DI PASQUALE: It will also allow for exit off our building. MR. TURK: Right. MR. DI PASQUALE : From off that back one store. MR. TURK: If we could change it we would definitely change it but I do have to make it feasible in order to rent the piece of property and have a return on it. There is nothing I can do with my own piece, where I am right now - I don' t own it and these are actual figures what it will cost m e - taxes , insurance, whatever goes with it and my interest. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Well my personal opinion is I realize your problem with the parking and we have that problem all through Collegetown, we have that problem downtown, but I don ' t realize the problem. . . MR. TURK: But there isn' t one building that isset back from the building line. 30 4� 1 I ji ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Pardon? I X I MR. TURK: There isn' t one building that is set back from the building line all through College Avenue . A small business cannot I operate like a bank can. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: If I 'm not mistaken the new Hills Drug Store is set back from the property line , isn' t it? MR. TURK: No , it' s right up to the front. Right up to the side- walk. SECRETARY HOARD: They got a variance here. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: It ' s set right up on the sidewalk? You' ve got us on that one. MR. ANGELL : But how wide is the sidewalk at that point? i ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Well I think our argument - the thing that c we were looking for was on a corner lot. We wanted to set you back. . MR. TURK: I know what you were looking for - if I can do it I would definitely do it but I do have to make in order for it to pay for itself. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Well my feeling, I don' t know about the rest of the Board, I don' t see where you have proved to us that you can't do it. MR. TURK: What do you want me to put in there? ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Pardon? MR. TURK: First of all I'm going to eliminate some apartments , I 'm going to eliminate a store . . . ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY. How many square feet are you going to eliminate by setting that 5 ' back from the curb - from the sidewalk? MR. TURK: 5 ' back from which sidewalk? ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Both sidewalks - so you've got . . . MR. TURK.: Both sidewalks? ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY. : Yes , on the corner . That ' s what we asked. . . MR. DI PAS UALE: Almost 100 of the ' Q property. We've got a very small lot there . . . MR. TURK: It ' s only 60 x 70 . What do I have left? MR. ANGELL: I don't think we asked that, i ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: We wanted a set back. l� it 31 - i 1 j MR. ANGELL : Yes , we asked that as much as possible , but we did definitely ask a set back from that corner. DR. GREENBERG : We may be arguing in vain because - you know - t it doesn' t mean that the entire Board would approve even if they did say to us right at the moment that they would set it back, you know, with four members here there is still the question in th original statement that the Common Council has to change the zoning, and not the Zening Board and that question isn' t answered and the practical matter of it, Ray, is that if we say yes to you, we woul have to say yes to about four other people who are waiting for the ! Common Council to change the zoning law - which means that we woul pre-empt Common Council ' s decision and I don' t think that we want to do this in the first place. I mean, that ' s our real problem. I know that there is a hardship, I know that the City may suffer and we all may suffer by the Council ' s delay. My feeling is that we' d be remiss by taking any action in this case which would set a precedent for all those who come to us and there are not less than ! three others who are waiting for this decision and I think you are laware of this . f MR. TURK: It' s not really a precedent we are trying to set here . I 'm coming up with a hardship and I can prove it - that' s why we are here . DR. GREENBERG: I 'm sure that all the other property owners , as you well know, have a hardship in waiting for their construction to be started - the land and property which you have purchased at a sub- stantial prices in all these cases - - MR. DI PASQUALE : I doubt very much that they have paid the kind o money that was paid for this property. DR. GREENBERG: That I don' t know. MR. DI PASQUALE: When you look at hardship, it' s a matter of degr e. i You know, why not just an approval subject to setting back the corner or provided for -- or make it contingent upon something? At least that gets us going off dead center. Right now we don' t know what to do. Because it takes time to develop the scheme once we eget the approval . Now if the corner is really the hang up and you - 32 - are willing to go along with the fact that there is no parking, i then make it subject to setting the corner back 5' from each di- rection so that we can provide, perhaps , the first level to be ope - and the second story would stick over and you would have a first story that would stick back so that you would be able to see the I corner. MR. TURK: What would I have left then? i MR. DI PASQUALE: Well , I 'm just saying that at least it 's a direction we could move in. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY; We are not stating you to 51 , we are just using that as an example. MR. TURK: Well I feel I 'm losing too much, I ' ll be honest with you. And . 1 don' t feel that it ' ll be a detriment, what I am putting up there . Thelace needs stores , it needs apartments on the p p Avenue . It has nothing there right now. Has anybody seen the place? Well I think everybody has seen what ' s doing on College Avenue rig t now. Right now you are going to have the other building - it will be vacated too, right? The triple - what ' s the name of the buildi g? Sheldon Court. What do you want to go in on the Avenue? We do it come before the Board because you are supposed to be flexible, rig t? If I can credit - there is a hardship here. You did say you wante the Common Council to pass something definite. I think they are I pretty definite about passing it, but it is a question of time. And time - I can' t wait . It' s going to be costing me close to $3, 500 a month, I figure. I know it . I can prove those figures with you, if you want to figure it out . Now what more of a hardship can I have? ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Any other questions of the Board? I 've gotone . . . MR. TURK: And we will also be paying taxes , Mr . Angell , on it . MR. ANGELL: I understand that . I certainly understand that. MR. TURK: I 'm not asking the City to come with a big sum of money to help me out. I 'm doing it on my own and the City is going to be getting something out of it. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY You have purchased the property? i - 33 - �I MR. TURK: Definitely. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: $31500 is what you propose you are going to lose? I I MR. TURK: There are taxes , insurance and my costs to borrow money for this - to purchase it. I do need apartments up there and I do need stores to carry me. And there 's nothing I can really do with the place that I have right now. Not when I have two pieces . I have to get out , I can' t do nothing with it . I cannot expand. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Where you presently are? MR. TURK: Right. It' s impossible. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Any other questions? Thank you. MR. TURK: Thank you. ( ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak in favor of David and Seymour Turk' s proposition? (none) Anybody opposed? (none) Let ' s move on to the next case !i 34 - COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK APRIL 2 , 1979 EXECUTIVE SESSION i j APPEAL NO. 1255 : ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: I move that the Board deny the requested � area variance in appeal no . 1255 . MS. DE COMBRAY: I second the motion. I� FINDINGS OF FACT : 1) Findings from the January 8 , 1979 meet- I ing have not been satisfied. At that time the Board asked for proposals that would show less deviation from the re- quirements of the Ordinance . They have ii merely resubmitted the old plan. 2) At this time Common Council is still considering off-street parking changes . It would be presumptuous of the Board to anticipate Common Council ' s decision on the off- street parking. 3) At this time the Board will give the appellant the right to an appeal after a decision has been made by Common Council as to the off-street parking amendment . VOTE: 4 Yes ; 0 No ; 2 Absent . Area variance denied. �f - 35 - 1 BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS APRIL 2, 1979 j SECRETARY HOARD: The last case we have before us is Appeal No . 1256 : Appeal of Cornell Radio Guild, Inc . , for a use and area variance under Secti n 30 . 251 Columns 2 and 4 to permit use of parts of the property at 227- 231 Linden Avenue for 1) customer service office i� space by the New York Telephone Company and for 2) storage space by Tech HiFi . The property is located in an R-3b (resi- dential) use district in which such use i are not permitted; the property is also I� deficient in required off-street parking. DAVID GOLDSMITH: My name is David Goldsmith, I 'm the president of the Cornell Radio Guild. We have been before this Board many, man times in the past year. And really it was last year at this time when one of your Board members advised us not to try to lease spac to Cornell University. You were right, it didn' t work out - it was supposed to be a long term lease and they never signed the lease. They finally paid what they owed us and they have moved out so we' ve had to find new tenants . We 've been very fortunate in coming up with a combination that we feel provides a good source of income for us and at the same time matches present uses of the building and will fit in with the neighborhood. New York Telephone, as you heard, wants to use it as a customer sery ice facility. We expect the traffic generated by their presence there to be very minimal and it ' s a good location for them also as it will allow them to serve the student population at Cornell University in a very con- venient way. Tech HiFi wants to strictly use this space for storage. They - one problem that many people think is - when you get , when you have storage you have large tractor-trailers coming in to unload goods . This space has a large amount of space in the front of the building, as the building is set back just a little bit, which will allow tractor trailer to park up on the sidewalk as opposed to blocking the street while unloading. So if there is any unloading or loading operation there should be no problem at all with block- ing the traffic on the street. Other traffic besides tractor I - 36 - 'i i! trailer deliveries would be minimal . Tech HiFi ' s use and we expect 1 j traffic, except for occasional times during the year, to be very I light for New York Telephone. As far as the parking problems go , the building has very few parking spaces in it. There are some spaces inside in the garage and they have five spaces in front . We will be leasing roughly four or five of those to New York Tele- phone. In addition at the same time we will be securing additiona parking spaces for use by our staff down the street and other plac s around the Collegetown area. There is virtually no other place on the street to put parking spaces . I have talked with Mr. VanCort in the Planning Department about trying to create some other space on parts of the property which he says would be practically impos- sible and would set a bad precedent for the rest of the City so he advised not pursuing that . As you know we have had a hard time finding tenants that will stay in the building for a long time . W hope to sign five year leases with both of these tenants so we wil not have to come back and bother you again in the future . We probably havetaken more of the Board of Zoning Appeal ' s time than any other organizations in town. We feel both tenants will be compatible. We are very excited about the prospects of leasing th { space to them and hopefully we can get your approval . i ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: What is New York Telephone going to do with this? MR. GOLDSMITH: They want it to be a customer service facility. They anticipate a variety of uses . They' ll have roughly five or six employees there to handle customer change orders , new orders in the fall when students arrive. As you will recall , this past September they set up a trailer in a parking lot on Dryden Road which was very inadequate for the, it did not provide the kind of use they needed. So a couple of times during the year this will be a place where students can pick up telephones and changes and things. Most of the stuff that they do though, will just be on the phone with people, corresponding by mail and telephone. There will be very little traffic except for a couple of times during th year. If i - 37 - L ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: How much space are they going to take up? MR. GOLDSMITH: They have roughly 1,600 square feet in the building. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: And Tech HiFi? How much space will they use? MR. GOLDSMITH: About 1, 800 to 2 , 000 square feet. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: This all show room space or is it storage? MR. GOLDSMITH: No , it is purely storage. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Just purely storage? MR. GOLDSMITH: The owner may set up a desk in the back of it for him to put his papers on but there will be no show room space, no customers going down there - this will be strictly a place to put his equipment. MS. DE COMBRAY: How often do these tractor trailers make deliveries? MR. GOLDSMITH: Roughly about five times a year - five or six times a year. It ' s not that often. And currently this will actually alleviate - help alleviate problems in the Collegetown area. Cur- rently when there are deliveries made on Dryden Road the truck blocks one-half of Dryden Road off and during a very busy time. So only one lane of traffic can get through and it ' s very difficult to see around it and the traffic is very blocked up on Dryden Road during that time so it would help alleviate that problem also . A far as getting the merchandise from the warehouse back to the sto e that would be accomplished in cars and it can be carried. The space is only about 1 ,000 feet down the street from where they are now. MS. DE COMBRAY: And the New York Telephone , are they going to us their little buses or vans or is it just going to be the employee' s cars in the parking lot? MR. GOLDSMITH: The vans will be parked at their normal place . There will just be employee' s cars there. The van may be there once in a while to drop off some equipment but, or pick up things but there will be no vans parked in there or going back and forth at a rapid pace. It will be almost strictly office space . DR. GREENBERG: When you mention that other parking spaces will b sought. You kind of slurred over it - for other people and your staff, because you are giving up that many of the spaces to the i i - 38 - 1 Telephone Company? MR. GOLDSMITH: Right . DR. GREENBERG: You have to be more specific on whether you want the variance to be conditional on your obtaining parking spaces . MR. GOLDSMITH: The parking spaces elsewhere would be more of a i convenience for our staff than they would to create a hardship in the neighborhood. People cannot physically park their cars in the street. If there are no parking spaces then they will just have t I park further away. The reason that we would want to find closer - rent other parking spaces would be convenience for our staff. DR. GREENBERG: Do you have any in mind, where they would be located? MR. GOLDSMITH: There is a lot about a block down the street which used to be owned by Auto Salvage . We've been trying to find the current owner - which holds about fifteen or twenty cars . We have previously rented space there. DR. GREENBERG: You haven' t actually contacted anyone yet on the arrangements? MR. GOLDSMITH: I haven' t been able - I am unable to find them. The last time we had a tenant in the building who took up some of our parking spaces , we had rented space down the street . We had rented a few additional spaces to make it easier for our staff. Because what will just happen if we don' t have the parking spaces we' ll just require that our staff not drive their cars there , we will tell them to park in other places . ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: How many people are on your staff? MR. GOLDSMITH: Well , we are a student organization and if I gave you the total number of people on our staff it would be very mis- leading number. We currently have about 120. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: How many there on a regular basis? MR. GOLDSMITH: On a regular basis? It would be more in the order of roughly thirty. And I 'd say that less than half of those drive cars. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Is there any other businesses in this establishment? ii i - 39 - i; J MR. GOLDSMITH: The only other current business is the WVBR radio station on the second floor. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: How many people are employed, do you know? MR. GOLDSMITH: Employed by WVBR? We have one full time employee . WVBR is the student radio station, which is the student organiza- tion that I spoke of before. There is only one full time employee there. There are other full time people who work there but there is only one full time paid employee. ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Any other questions by the Board? Thank you. MR. GOLDSMITH: Thank you. 1 ACTING CHAIRMAN GAINEY: Is there anyone else in the audience who would like to speak in favor of the requested variance for Cornell Radio Guild Inc. ' s proposal? (none) Anyone who would like to speak against? (none) SECRETARY HOARD: We do have a letter from Ben V. Boynton: "City of Ithaca Zoning Board of Appeals City Hall Ithaca, New York Re: 227-231 Linden Avenue "My Greetings : "I do not object to the proposed use of the WVBR building as a commercial building but I do object to the changing of the zoning of the plot without the following : "There should be good traffic circulation on Linden Avenue. If intensified use of the area is made there may be serious delays of traffic. i "There should be better arrangements of parking and more off-street spaces made available before intensification of use is permitted.. "A general rezoning of the area would permit better commercial de- velopment. I suggest Bool Street as a natural place to permit commercial use. Any development should be under rigid require- ments to improve the commercial climate of collegetown. Sincerely /s/ Ben V. Boynton, Sr . " DR GREENBERG: Is he addressing that to us as a realtor or as a property owner? SECRETARY HOARD: He owns property in the area. I 'm not sure just what the address is - he doesn' t say on this , but he did say at the Planning Board that he owns some property up in the area. i I� I i - 40 - I 1MR. GOLDSMITH: I believe he owns some property next door to our building. He has several apartments in that building. He raised an objection about the VBR cars at the Planning Board, for some reason or other block Linden Avenue on a frequent basis. I take issue with that in that we don' t sit in the street or block the I street. I don' t really know on what basis he is complaining. There are other people who block the street that aren't associated with BVR at all , who pull up on the sidewalks in front of his i building but several neighbors have never complained about parking in front of or around the building and we 've never had any com- plaints from neighbors in terms of cars blocking it. The only other problem we've ever had in terms of parking of cars was with our other neighbor on the other side, Mr. Hauser. We share a driveway with him and occasionally cars parked in there but that has been the only problem -- there has been no problem with traffic circulation on Linden Avenue. And for the most part traffic cir- culation on Linden Avenue is very light, as it should be. It ' s a residential area. Traffic circulation created by Tech HiFi or New York Telephone will not really increase that much. New York Tele- phone will drive there in the morning and leave at night. There ' 1 be occasional deliveries by Tech HiFi and once in awhile there wil be customer traffic to New York Telephone a couple of times during the year but nothing on a regular intensive basis , as he speaks of in the letter. ACTING CHAIRMAN GATNEY: Okay. Thank you. At this time the Board shall adjourn to executive session. We will make our decisions and then after we have made our decisions we will open it back up to the public. ii i i i j - 41 - BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK APRIL 2 , 1979 I� EXECUTIVE SESSION i APPEAL NO. 1256: MS. DE COMBRAY: I move that the Board grant the use and area variances requested in appeal no . 1256 with the condition that five (5) extra parking spaces be provided. DR. GREENBERG: I second the motion. FINDINGS OF FACT: 1) The Board has determined in previous cases that the building is not suitable i for residential uses . 2) They are trying to conform to parking regulations . 3) The use as a storage facility presents no problem. The question of the Tele- phone Company hinges on their finding five (5) additional spaces off the site i VOTE : 4 Yes ; 0 No; 2 Absent. Use and Area Variances granted with condition. I I� I I i -42- I, Barbara Ruane , Do Certify that I took the minutes of the Board II of Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, in the matters of Appeals I numbered 1240, 1253, 1254 , 1255, and 1256 on April 2 , 1979 at City i Hall, City of Ithaca, New York; that I have transcribed same, and the foregoing is a true copy of the transcript of the minutes of ' the meeting and the Executive Session of the Board of Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, on the above date, and the whole thereof i I to the best of my ability. I Barbara C. Ruane Recording Secreta y Sworn to before me this day of APRIL- 1979 . or . No r Public JOSEPH A. RUNDLE Notary Public, State of New York No. 55-4507134 Qualified in Tompkins County Term Expires March 30, 19X1!