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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BZA-1981-10-05 I li �l ij BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS it CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK I� OCTOBER 5 , 1981 j TABLE OF CONTENTS i I� 'i APPEAL NO. 1379 H.O.M.E. S. 1 11. 523 South Albany Street .. APPEAL NO. 1379 Executive Session 8 ii ! ii ' APPEAL NO. 1396 Jon K. & Monika R. Crispin 10 !, 111 Worth Street H APPEAL NO. 1396 Executive Session 11 Ii APPEAL NO. 1397 Steven Blais , Richard Genest, 'I Kenneth Klimpel , Christopher Meier, Karen Rachel $ Francesca Verdier 12 I 117 Hudson Street I :! APPEAL NO. 1397 Executive Session 19 i' i 1; ;( APPEAL NO. 1398 Atlantic Richfield Company 20 108-112 South Meadow St. ii APPEAL NO. 1398 Executive Session 25 i` CERTIFICATE OF RECORDING SECRETARY 26 IE I i i i I i jj I I !I (I I i! i' i! it i I) �I is ii !t I'. ii (i I! �i I i1 I i I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK OCTOBER 5, 1981 i ! ACTING CHAIRMAN WILCOX: I ' d like to call the meeting to order. This is the October meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals , City , of Ithaca. We have five mem bers present tonight , out of six. i Ij PRESENT: Peggy Haine Charles Weaver Morris Angell Peter Walsh 11 William Wilcox ABSENT: Alfred Aman, Jr. Thomas Hoard, Secy to the Board 12 Ij Building Commissioner Barbara Ruane, Recording Sec'y i' We don' t really run by exact rules of evidence in these hearings but we do look to the record to make our decisions and we ask i 11people to come forward and state their cases . Please come forward 'i Ito the podium where there is a microphone because we have a record - ,ling ing machine right here and we cannot pick you up in the back of the Iroom. So anybody who speaks on any of the cases will please come forward and speak at the podium. We call the cases in numerical order, we listen to those who are in favor of the appellant or in Ii 11favor of the zoning appeal first and then if there is anyone who wants to speak in opposition, we hear them next then after our E �jmeeting we have an executive meeting and we close the doors and the i public is not allowed in that meeting. Anybody have any questions ; from the audience? Okay I think we will start the meeting then, i if we can have our first case Mr. Secretary? Ii SECRETARY HOARD: The first case Mr. Chairman is appeal number 137 ) : Appeal of Housing Opportunities Management & Essential Services (H.O.M.E. S. ) for an i! area variance under Section 30 . 26 to permit the occupancy of the property at 523 South Albany Street by a Group Care Residence for ten residents . The property is located in an R-2b (.residential) use district in which a group care residence is permitted i; under special conditions specified by the P Zoning Ordinance. The property is defi- cient in the minimum off-street parking, and is also deficient in minimum side yard setbacks and minimum lot size required to �I meet the special conditions for the propose use. This appeal was heard by the Board ! on July 6, 1981 , when variances were granted for off-street parking and minimum side yard requirements , but the requested i' ij i - 2 - ii �I variance for the minimum lot size was if denied, in effect limiting occupancy to i; seven residents , rather than the ten II residents proposed. The appellant has I resubmitted the appeal to request clari- fication of the Board' s decision. i ( CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Okay, is there someone here? Jim, do you want ;I i to come forward and give your name and address? SMR. MILLER: I 'm James Miller of 213 Bryant Avenue and I am here jito speak on behalf of HOMES and their request . Let me first I ;; clarify our position. We came here last July - July 6th, 1981 , in which the various variances were granted for off-street parking an side yard requirements , which we are thankful for. The variance I �;Ifor the minimum lot size which effectively limited occupancy to i seven residents was not granted and there was certain information that was- not given at that hearing - on subsequent discussions with �! Mr. Hoard and the City Attorney it was decided that it would be best if we came back to restate our position as to why we need ten ijresidents there. Primarily the position of HOMES is that it is no ; economically feasible to run this operation with the numbers that i I; have been granted. We 've gone over our budgets and at the very Jlminimum we can operate, if we skimped on our budget , with seven presidents . That is only because of the recent increase in the SSI l benefits to the parties that would be there at the residence . We are committed to this proposal , we would like to go ahead if we don' t get increase in the number , we will stall have only seven - that puts us , however, in a tenuous financial position because of I� the rate of inflation, the increase costs of running a facility at that the anticipated rent increases , utilities , etc. The only i ;; way we could hope to stay alive financially is if somehow we got i� i� additional funding in the future or if we expected or got addition 1 i Ii SSI benefits of the size that have recently been granted. Under the current administration in Washington, that is very unlikely. i ( The bottom line , I guess , is we are saying that we could stay alio for a year or two -after that we would be facing possible bank- ruptcy or severe financial constraints , if we didn' t have the option tout least bring in additional people. This is not to say If i i!I - 3 - i ( that we would always be having ten residents there. What we want i! . to do is at least have the option to have ten, especially if we j need them to stay alive financially. There are two other people lihere if there are any questions on specifics on the operation of HOMES that the Board might direct the questions to. i� ( CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Okay, any questions by the Board? I! MR. WEAVER: What would be the capacity of this house as far as lithe housing code is concerned? How many people could legally be housed there if there were not zoning restrictions? �iMR. MILLER: Mr. Hoard would probably be the one to answer that. i ( I can say that we had an architect come from Albany to look over 1i ! the place with ten residents in mind - and besides that in terms Ijof the physical plant, that would certainly be feasible. In terms I hof what the actual zoning is . . . I �' MR. WEAVER: When listening to your appeal suggests that if you ha li i'; a hard time in the next couple of years , you might want two more I� !land I just wondered what the physical capacity of the establishmen his , if, in fact, that kind of hardship was - or a variance from the restriction (unintelligible) MR. MILLER: The physical capacity, I don't think is a problem just I ,! because of the study that was done by the architect from Albany. i:. Il The reason I guess maybe I anticipate your question - why not colne back in two years when we are faced with severe financial con- i� .1 straints, we'd like to have the option at this point to know that i! i iif we came at a position, we could add one or two more. The probl m i , With waiting until the last minute when we are seeing that we are ; facing red ink all the time puts the agency in a fairly precarious ii position. i I ! MR. WEAVER: You missed my point - my point is , would not the same iargument prevail operating with ten - your budget would balance an ' might there be room for - what will the ultimate capacity of this i 11 be if we don' t use the present restrictions? �! MR. MILLER: Well the physical plan is for ten. I understand your question, I think Mr. Hoard would probably be the one to answer it. SECRETARY HOARD: Based on the bedroom space , there would be a - 4 - !Itotal capacity of eleven - of the rooms that are now designated i; !! for bedrooms . If an office were converted to a bedroom, then that 1i Iwould be another bedroom or one more person so there would be twelve. '! MR. WEAVER: Well do I understand that there will be staff plus I1ten clients? ;! MR. MILLER: This is for residents - there will be always some su- Ilpervision there. There will not be somebody staying there, one ; person staying there twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. ( There is going to be an office there for people to be there in I j, provision so that they can be there to supervise it - with the - 1 jiin terms of having it there. Several staff members staying there ' - twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, that is not in the plan at this time . It. will be staffed to supervise though. SECRETARY HOARD: There is , Jim, one bedroom indicated for staff I? f' bedroom, I MR, MILLER: Right. And that' s for the option of having somebody theme if the need arises , to be there overnight. ii MR. WEAVER; So approval of this appeal then will permit twelve l people to sleep there? MR. MILLER: No we are asking for ten residents. We will have - �! in our discussions with Mr. Hoard it was understood that there i, i would be room right now there are seven - it' s occupied for seven residents, We would still be permitted to put an eighth person, who would be a staff person - who could stay there if the i need arises, and certainly we would figure on having staff members �I there a lot of the time. We are not going to have one staff member there twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. MR, ANGELL*, I thought that was what was said before - that there I would always be at least one staff member there. I I; MR. MILLER: There will always be a staff member - there are going to be a couple of staff members there will not be, is my under- standing, one person there twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. But the idea is to make sure that we do have it staffed an supervision all the time. I! i; MR. WALSH: I call your attention to the fourth paragraph of the i' ; ii - i I� addendum to the appeal which reads : "There will be at least one ji staff member on the premises twenty-four hours per day, seven days a week." Is that correct? i! MR. MILLER: Yes , there will always be , as I said, there will always be somebody there. The current proposal is not for one person - to hire one person who is going to live there all the tim . I! We will always have a staff person. Maybe to clarify - there will Ij always be a person there to staff it - there will always be a pers n I' there to staff it - there is not going to be the same person there twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Does that clarify the ii question? MR. ANGELL: In other words you may have two or three staff person If there at one time? it MR. MILLER: We are not going to have two or three people - staff I people, staying there overnight. I ' MR. ANGELL: I didn' t say that. MR. MILLER: Okay, I know. I know you didn' t say that, I 'd just it ii like to clarify that. i I CHAIRMAN WILCOX, What about visitors - do you have many visitors iI who visit the residents? MR. MILLER: Maybe that question could be - certainly people could i come in and visit - we are not it is not going to be an overnight i accommodation . . . CHAIRMAN WILCOX: I meant parking . . . j MR. MILLER: parking most of the people will not have cars. The only people that have cars will be the staff members . CHAIRMAN WILCOX, Yes, I understand that - I just wondered . . . I I' MR. MILLER; In terms of if family members want to come and visit - certainly there will be visiting. What we are just asking now ' is sort of the we'd like just to keep it to the question of how many people we are allowed to have there . I don' t think that then will be an appreciable increase in visitors from seven residents ,fa to ten residents, And again, this isn't what we would like to do is just have the option to have ten. I� MR. WALSH: Jim, what is the section of the Mental Hygiene law to I� it i 6 - I ij which your letter of August 5 refers? �} MR. MILLER: We've had a number of discussions - I 've had a number of discussions with the City Attorney. Mental Hygiene law - I I I didn' t really want to get into it too much here - Section 41 . 34-E jstates and I quote : "A community resident established pursuant to this section shall be deemed a family unit for the purposes of loc 1 ; laws and ordinances. " There are a number of cases that suggest j that we didn' t even need to come to this Board in order to have ( this organization and indeed we wouldn' t have to come to this Boar n and just put ten people into it. The City Attorney disagrees with that interpretation of the cases - we decided we didn' t want to go over anybody' s head or cause any undue concern by not being polite i' !! - if you will - in coming and publicly asking for your support f r i jthis project. ' MR. WALSH: To how large a unit does that section apply? i; ' MR. MILLER: I'm not sure if I understand your question Peter. 'i MR. WALSH: I understood you to say community unit would be a family unit under local zoning? ! MR. MILLER: No - and again, I don' t want to get into a whole lot hof legal interpretation but Section 41 . 34 talks about a community residence, ,e. , a community residence for handicapped people, l� (, mentally disabled persons that shall be deemed a family unit. In lother words , the way a lot of the cases have been interpreted, any jtime you can put a family unit into a neighborhood, you can put 'lone of these community residence into that same neighborhood you can' t . . . IMR. WALSH: Not to belabor the point - what is the maximum number ! of residents under the Mental Hygiene Law would be considered to l constitute a community residence? iIMR, MILLER: There is no maximum number that I know of. MR. WALSH: You are not suggesting that a Mental Hygiene facility �jof 300 people would be considered a community residence? l MR, MILLER; I see your point and that is why I didn't want to get I1into all of the legal interpretation of . . . Oh, 4 to 14 , Excuse ki lime, I should have looked this up beforehand. Section 41 . 34 sub ' paragraph A, subsection 1 , says community residential facility for 7 i disabled means any facility operator is subject to license by the I� Office of Mental Health - the Office of Mental Retardation Develop- ment Disabilities provides a supervised residence for four to i v fourteen mentally disabled persons. We are asking for ten. CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Okay, any other questions? Would somebody else like to come up and speak in favor? Just come up and state your i name and address please? MS. ROSSMAN: My name is Shelly Rossman, my address is 108 Eddy I! li Street, I am the new director of the HOMES Mental Health Community Residence and really what I want to do is offer to you - I 've brought along copies in case we needed to clarify anything from the state law which we weren't sure we would have to get to , but I I ; brought along a copy that you can add to your pack there. Also i just to reiterate and to support that which Mr. Miller presented that being that we are really just trying to leave ourselves a ilittle bit of leg room for down the road. Programatically I think ; that we would all agree that we would prefer to maintain an on-goi g I� occupancy of seven individuals . However we are really trying to b a little bit prudent and look ahead of ourselves considering what might be economic, i CHAIRMAN WIUM Okay, anybody on the Board have a question? Oka is there anyone else who would like to speak in favor of this ( proposal? Is there anyone here who would like to speak in opposi- tion to this proposal? is there any other discussion? May we have the next case please? i� i, I Ij I i I. li i I II _ 8 _ �I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK OCTOBER 5 , 1981 'i EXECUTIVE SESSION ' APPEAL NO. 1379 I IThe Board reconsidered the appeal for an area variance to permit i1the occupancy of the property at 523 South Albany Street by a Group Care Residence. The decision of the Board was as follows : SMR. WALSH: I move that the Board affirm its previous moti n I to grant the area variance conditioned on a maximum occupancy by seven (7) residents . SMR. ANGELL: I second the motion. VOTE: 4 Yes ; 1 No; 1 Absent Granted w/conditio FINDINGS OF FACT: i i 1) The Board found that the number of parking spaces proposed to ibe provided for ten residents was three short of the number re quired by the Ordinance. 11 112) The Board found that the total area of the lot is deficient by 11 almost half the requirement of the Ordinance, 4 ,158 square fee G where the Ordinance requires 7 ,000 square feet. 3) The building as presently on the site exceeds by 20o the maxi- mum permitted lot coverage. 4) The site of this present building is deficient in both side yards and the required rear yard depth. i 15) The Board found that the proposal for ten patients in fact i i means continued occupancy of this structure by at least eleven I i� persons and occasionally more , when staff are considered. ! 6) The requirement of the code for geographical dispersion of SUCH i facilities is met by use of this location. � 7) Practical difficulties exist with regard to the side yard A deficiency. i8) The sponsors program director has indicated that it is unlikel 1; that any but staff would have cars at the site, ii 19) We conclude that the deficiencies of this application from the i� jl requirements set forth by the Ordinance, taken in combination, f ;i I� i - 9 - ( require limitation of the number of residents permitted in the facility to seven because the clear intent of the Ordinance to i! �! minimize impact on neighborhood would be otherwise violated. I� The Board is particularly concerned that permitting more than �! seven residents in this facility, as proposed, would exacerbate jj existing neighborhood densities . i i i! it it i� I .i r i' .i i' i I I I' i ;I I i I i I i J �I ;I ii �j i I: i 10 I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK I OCTOBER 5 , 1981 is i {E SECRETARY HOARD: The next case is appeal number 1396 : �i Appeal of Jon K. & Monika R. Crispin for an area variance under Section 30. 25, Columns !{ 12, 13 and 14 and Section 30.49 to permit the construction of a raised deck between the existing house and existing garage at 111 I: Worth Street in an R-1b (residential) use district. The property is deficient in one front yard and one side yard setback, and if II the deck is constructed, the rear yard will j also be deficient. I CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Okay, is there someone here for this case? Come i' forward please and state your name and address . 3. MS . CRISPIN: Monika Crispin, 111 Worth Street. It is my under- standing that the existing house and garage are not conforming, i therefore to add a deck onto that non-conforming structure would i! also be non-compliant and basically I think the deck doesn' t , since it is an outside structure, it doesn' t really change the use of the back yard. It is a back yard that we use for outdoor i'. living and the location that we have chosen for the deck is the most practical , architecturally. It provides easy access from li �{ the dining room that we would puha door in to and it also is !{ the best area in terms of privacy. On the west side there is I! approximately a 12 ' hedge and the north and south sides would be if j� bordered by the house and the garage and the east side would be open but we have plans to landscape that so that it wouldn' t be totally open. Are there any questions? �i i, CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Do you have anything in the record from neighbo-rs? SECRETARY HOARD: We did have one letter in response from a neigh- i. i! bor up the street, Mr. Chairman, but it was only - the Crispin' s letter triggered her to think about a deck up a block away, so it is really not pertinent to this property or this appeal. I 've i, !:. heard no opposition from the neighbors and I live next door. ii I CHAIRMAN WILCOX; This is entirely an uncovered deck? Ii �{ MS. CRISPIN: Yes . We have no plans to cover it . l CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Any questions by the Board? Okay, thank you. !! it li - i�; Is there anyone else here who would like to speak in favor of this ;' proposal? Is there anyone here who would like to speak in opposi- �i ition to the appeal? (no one) If there is no other discussion, �I ! we ' ll take the next case please. ji BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK I OCTOBER 5, 1981 i EXECUTIVE SESSION I APPEAL NO. 1396 : fThe Board considered the appeal of Jon & Monika Crispin for an ! area variance to permit the construction of a raised deck between �I the existing house and existing garage at 111 Worth Street in an IR-lb use district. The property is deficient in one front yard nand one side yard setback, and if the deck is constructed, the real it 1yard will also be deficient. I ! CHAIRMAN WILCOX: I move that the Board grant the area varianc !; requested in appeal no. 1396, IIMR. WALSH: I second the motion. i NOTE: 5 Yes ; 0 No ; 1 Absent Granted I I II FINDINGS OF FACT: 1) The addition of a deck between the garage and the house will �i not adversely affect the character of the neighborhood. i2) There were no objections expressed by neighborhood residents . i 13) The area variances are not excessive. I! l r i� I ,I i� I I I I j L� I i i ,i i {Ii i i - 12 - .i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK I OCTOBER 5 , 1981 ! SECRETARY HOARD: The next appeal is appeal number 1397 : li Appeal of Steven Blais , Richard Genest, Kenneth Klimpel , Christopher Meier , Karen Rachel and Francesca Verdier for an area variance under Section 30. 25 , Columns 4 , 11 , !! 12 and 13 and Section 30. 49 to permit the conversion of the two-family dwelling at !' 117 Hudson Street to a multiple dwelling. Multiple dwellings are permitted in the R-3b use district in which the property is located; however, the property is deficient in required off-street parking and setbacks for front and side yards. !! CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Okay, is there someone here for this case? Stat your name and address please? iMR. BLAIS: My name is Steven Blais and I live at 117 Hudson !! Street, as do Mr. Klimpel , Ms. Verdier , Ms . Rachel and Mr. Meier , back there. We bought this house on September first and about that time I had a conversation with Mr. Hoard about modifications iiwe were considering in the attic . He pulled the file on the build u ng and informed me that it was classified as a single family �I ! residence. Before we purchased the house it had been occupied as ,! rooming house by - rented out by the person we bought it from so Ilwe had understood that it was already in use as a multiple resi- ldence and we didn't anticipate this kind of problem. But as I ' understand it, the problem is that our front yards and side yards pare non-,conforming and that we don' t have enough parking spaces ! on our site. There are six > well the house is divided into two I� parts the upstairs we are occupying as a cooperative , in other ; words there are six of us who own it and live there and we are renting a two-bedroom apartment in the basement. The Zoning Ordi- is nance requires there to be one parking space for every two persons !! living in a cooperative house and one parking space for a two !! bedroom apartment , so that leaves a total of four parking spaces. ! Currently we have two parking spaces we have the garage and the !! driveway in front of the garage. Also the driveway in front of I the garage is 15 ''3" wide and 24 ' 8" long so it can be divided into two 188 square foot spaces , so it' s possible to park side by side , I I Ij ii - 13 - I' as well. Now I would like to present a couple of arguments . Sinc ": the Planning Board meeting, I believe the Planning Board recommendEd I ! against us getting the variance because we didn' t have adequate ii �' arkin spaces . We have obtained �� P g aces p permission to lease two parking iispaces at the RHP Inc . lot at the corner of Prospect and Aurora .. Streets and I have a letter here if anybody would like to look at !i i; it. CHAIRMAN WILCOX: We should have that for evidence, yes . li !MR. BLAIS: Is a xerox of it good enough? CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Fine , yes . We need to keep one though. i i,MR. BLAIS: That is from Mr. Burns of RHP. i !CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Okay, if you would like to read that for the record. IMR. BLAIS; Sure . The letter is addressed to me. "Dear Mr. Blais . �I This is to confirm our agreement that RHP Inc . will lease two park- ming spaces to you in our parking lot at 201 Prospect Street, Ithaca, ilNew 'Y'ork. It is understood and agreed that you will pay RHP, Inc. 1!$30 . 00 per month rental for these two spaces. Cordially yours , /s/ Robert M. Burns" And it is signed at the bottom by myself, as accepted. t 'CHAIRMAN WILCOX; Okay_ , there i.s no . . . I MR. ANGELL: Do you have a lease for that - incorporated with that I!or duration of the extent of time that you have those spaces? I` SMR. BLAIS: No duration is specified. Mr. Burns said that he nor- ally doesn t write leases and rents from month to month. That' s 16s normal practice. So there is no limitations as to how long � ve could lease them. 19R. ANGELL: Could be one month. or ten? INR. BLAIS: °Y'es . This is to the extent that we have a contract but ii ��t any rate we have this statement that he will lease these spaces Ito us and I presume indefinitely. I would like to point out with i xegard to the parking si,tuati.on that these spaces are within 500' .i Of our property line and within a 1 , 000 feet distance along public ;pedestrian thoroughfares , In fact they, are well within those ds ,Fances - so as I understand the Zoning Ordinance with the two space it 14 - on our property and these two spaces we are in compliance with the i' Zoning Ordinance. We are within a zone that permits use as a 1cooperative house so in essence, by renting these spaces and with .i ,, the spaces on our property we are satisfying the requirements of ;; the Zoning Ordinance. SMR. ANGELL: How long do you intend to keep this house? MR. BLAIS: Well I would say indefinitely. We own it and I don' t think anyone has any intention of moving out within say five years ! The house might potentially continue indefinitely as it were set i ! up as a cooperative with by--laws and provisions for people buying in and out but the number of persons in the house would remain the I! is same. I fMR. ANGELL: At 8? MR. BLAIS: Well yes , two renting the apartment below and six up- i� stairs. It ' s an extremely large house it' s about 4 ,700 square feet and there are five bedrooms each of which is around 200 square i ! feet. In addition to a study and a library - a large kitchen, dining and living room. Tt was on the market for quite awhile i ! before it was purchased. I think largely because most single jfamilies couldn' t afford to pay the utility bills and upkeep a hou e , of that size. I guess there mostly remains the issue of the side ! yards and the house , of course, existed long before the Zoning i ! Ordinance was put into effect so it may be considered to have grandfather rights in that respect. It' s 130 years old but I I1would also like to argue hardship in that case r we !d have to tear l Ijdown our boiler room and our library and our garage and everything I! Ito obtain that kind of - those kinds of side yards and that would devalue the house significantly and likewise , if we are not per- 11 mitted er- iemitted to continue to occupy our house -, the house in which we are i ! already living and have already made a substantial down payment IT guess you can imagine the inconvenience and expense that we ,! would go through in trying to find a new home at this point . So T ; guess that' s all T have to say on it, T would be happy to answer ii any questions. ! MS. HAINE: I notice that there is a car in the photo that is ',; parked between the house and the house next door. Is there access i I. ( ii - 15 - ,, to the back yard? IMR. BLAIS: On the side . . . MS. HAINE : Yes, is there any possibility (unintelligible) i! :iMR. BLAIS: No there is not enough space and . . . '11MS. HAINE: (unintelligible) 1! MR. BLAIS: Oh, that' s the neighbors car and their driveway - in I' addition to the fifteen and one-half feet that we have in our I 1ldriveway, they have another seven feet or so , so that is their car ! MS. HAINE: And that doesn' t go back any further . . . I' . MR. BLAIS: No that runs into a - I 'm not quite sure what a shed I� Il or something. ii 11MR. WALSH: What is the form of ownership of this dwelling? !,! MR. BLAIS : What is the form of ownership. There are six of us 11 ;! who jointly own it. All our names are on the title to the propert !: and then we have a contractual agreement amongst ourselves — sort ii ,lot an unincorporated cooperative. 1 MR. WALSH: Okay. What is the maximum number of individuals that could be accommodated in that dwelling without regard to the side i yard and parking requirements. MR. BLAIS: You mean in the sense of if every room that was con- Ijsidered a double bedroom had two people in it and that kind of ! thing? i ! MR. WALSH: Well having regard to the space in it and the multiple residence law how many, persons can accommodate a givenarea. MR. BLArS: Legally I think that ten persons could be housed in Ithe two upper floors and two persons in the basement of course, we are not asking that ten persons be allowed to be housed there. IWe are only asking that we be allowed to live there and get the number of parking spaces that match up with our number of selves. MR. WALSH: Of course, I am concerned with about how many may be I sought to be accommodated there at some point. i 11MR. BLAIS: Well we are certainly amenable to the number of person i jin the house being restricted based on the number of parking space3 . I! 11We are amenable to that because from our experience at the Planning !! Board - ?meaning we don't seem to have any choice . We would really !! ,,I I - 16 - I! ;! like to stay in our house and we are willing to go to the extent i !' of some extra expense to rent parking spaces. I MR. WALSH: Did you explore with Mr. Burns the possibilities of a specific lease for a definite time? i ! MR. BLAI'S: I asked him if he wanted to sign a lease. He said 1111we don' t normally use a lease - we just rent from month to month. " I, MR. WALSH: I have a recollection that there is a house on the I ; corner of Aurora and Hudson a a white house on the southeast cor er I 11 where parking space was rented I think from RHP, wasn't it Tom? i SECRETARY HOARD: Yes. ' MR. WALSH: That was on a one year basis. I , MR. BLAIS: Another- point about the RHP situation is that there Iseems to be quite a bit of available parking lot for them to rent . I�1The two spaces specified there - we have twenty-four hours a day, lilI seven days a week. They also have other available space that is { available after working hours and on Sundays but I think maybe I 11two hundred and fifty parking spaces or something so I think that If ilwe could continue such an arrangement T dontt see any problems witli I i continuing an arrangement like that indefinitely. SECRETARY HOARD: Are the spaces actually marked so that . . . I �IMR. BLAIS: The ones at Prospect and Aurora are marked "reserved". 1Mr. Burns was out of town today so I didn' t - wasn' t able to dis- I licuss with him putting a sign or putting signs up. All the ones there are not marked. ! CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Any other questions? Anything for the record? I ! SECRETARY HOARD: We do have a letter - are there other people I in support first? �i ' CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Any other questions? Is there anyone else who would like to speak in favor of this application? Just come up and stat your name and address please. SMR. KLIMPEL: My name is Kenneth Klimpel and I live at 117 Hudson ,! Street too and I just wanted to point out that in public discus 1sion since our advisory board meeting it has been brought up that Hwe might be students and therefore transients , I think is implied. I I' am ;the only, student and I am also employed full time at Resen- ! tial Services in town and the rest of us are people that live and i� - 17 !i !!work in the community. Richard Genest is a worker and owner of ;the Apple Blossom Cafe and I think that indicates a permanence too. ii II know that was a concern of some people in the community and I just wanted to bring up that point. ;CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Okay, how many cars are there right now - owned ,right now by the group? IMR. KLIMPEL: Pour cars and one motorcycle which goes in the garage . MR. ANGELL: How about the apartment? I MR. KLIMPEL: I believe they have, I believe one car - a 1948 I 'Dodge. CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Don' t they keep that in the garage? ,MR. KLIMPEL: T 'm not sure where he keeps that - I haven' t seen ht. He did a brake job on it about two months ago and I haven' t ; seen it since then. i ICHAIRMAN WILCOX: Well it ' s always been a hassle in that area - .1 parking. MR. KLIMPEL: There is , on Giles Street , which is just down from I' there - an easy walking distance there is a lot of parking - 11 Ji (twenty--four hour parking, That usually doesn' t get too congested and we have been living there since August we rented one month +before we bought it and we 've never had any problem getting a i l�parking space at night even since the students have been back. (More than, maybe 150. yards down the road it curves just before that on Giles Street. l CHAIRMAN WTLCOX; Any other questions? (none) Okay, thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to speak in favor? (no one) I IlIs there anyone here who would like to speak in opposition? (no Ione) Is there any other discussion? I SECRETARY HOARD; We have a letter from Richard Holgate . It was !addressed to the Board of Planning & Development. "Dear Sirs : �iFirst, I regret I was unable to attend your meeting tonight, Second I am the owner of the apartment building immediately adjacent to lithe west (down Hudson Street) , number 115 , and have experienced th ! I continuing annoyance of occupants both past and present of 117 'Hudson parking in my driveway. I feel if the variance is granted I i k' i I� i is ii j - 18 - ii �1 ; the problem will worsen and force me to install stand pipes , chairs ;; and a lock in order to preserve my own tenants ' rights . That is rot ,, only an inconvenience but an expense for me. Third, it strikes me i ! as quite naive , perhaps intentionally, that anyone would buy a piece of real estate without fully understanding the implications of the zoning problems . Sincerely, /s/ Richard G. Holgate" I would com- ment on that that a year ago Mr. Holgate was in the office asking me i jiabout the possibility of converting 117 Hudson Street to five apart - 11 11ments . par - !Iments . I pass that along without comment. �f ICHAIRMAN WILCOX; Any other discussion? MR. BLAIS: Is it possible to respond to the . . . . Mr. Holgate' s I'i j letter? '(CHAIRMAN WILCOX: You can respond to that , sure . Please come up here. '( lMR. BLAIS : During the month we were renting the apartment and be- fore we got our hands on the copy of the deed, we thought that the .!driveway adjacent to our house on the west side belonged to the i {property since there were two driveways side by side there and we jlearned that it was Mr . Holgate ' s driveway and it also took us a i , couple of weeks to train our tenant not to park his car there and I '11iso that problem is , in effect, solved, now- that we understand that it is not our driveway and we have asked our tenant not to park there. , That is all I have to say about that. IICHAIR,AN WILCOX; Anyone else? Can we have the next case? I i �i ii �I 'i f V �i 1; 1i i' it i'. i I j! i !j 19 - is BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS OCTOBER 5 , 1981 '! EXECUTIVE SESSION !APPEAL NO. 1397 : ;!The Board considered the appeal of Steven Blais , Richard Genest, " !Kenneth Klimpel , Christopher Meier , Karen Rachel and Francesca i Xerdier for an area variance to permit the conversion of the two- !family dwelling at 117 Hudson Street to a multiple dwelling . Mul- 'I,tiple dwellings are permitted in the R-3b use district in which ithe property is located; however, the property is deficient in re- 11 hquired off-street parking and setbacks for front and side yards . The decision of the Board was as follows : !MR. WALSH: I move that the Board grant the area variance I ' requested with occupancy limited to no more than �i eight (_8) persons , at least one of whom must it be an owner of record; the issuance of a Cer- tificate of Compliance to be conditioned upon I I a showing that there exist at least two off-p e- i !I miser parking spaces within the distances l established by the ordinance expressly dedicated for a period of at least one year to the use of residents of the dwelling g at no additional it i� rental cost to them. Annual renewal of the �j " Certificate of Compliance shall be required. `i MS. HAINE : I second the motion. I VOTE: 5 Yes ; 0 No ; 1 Absent Granted with condi- tions FI'NDI'NGS OF FACT: 1) That the neighborhood is sadly deficient in off-street parking which shows in extreme congestion and illegal parking . I 112) The deficiencies of the front and side yards of this premise a e Ii not able to be practically remedied. i! i 1' jl i i! i i' 20 - i! BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS i' COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS ij CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK OCTOBER 5 , 1981 i SECRETARY HOARD: The next and final case is appeal number 1398 : i Appeal of Atlantic Richfield Company for an area variance under Section 30. 25 , Column 14 and Section 30.49 to permit conversion of the existing gas station a 108-112 South Meadow Street to a conven- ience food store and gas station. The property is located in a B-4 (business) use district where the use is permitted; however the existing building is too I close to the rear property line. !! CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Okay, is there someone here for this case? iMR. DE LAURENTIS: My name is Vince DeLaurentis and I am with the !Atlantic Richfield Company, located in Dewitt , New York. As was i ! stated by the Zoning Board, the use is not a vioaltion, however 1�our building is three feet from our property line. We don' t think �4 �Ithat the use that we are requesting is in any way a violation since { the business across the street already has a very similar operation . i� The Planning Board has expressed a little apprehension at some of our signage use , which we would be willing to discuss , at this i ( point, and what I welcome are questions basically on the issue. The convenience foor store concept is the same as across just ( diagonally across from City Hall here. A little different opera iition but the same basic layout, limr. walsh: Is it intended that this store would replace outright lithe use that is presently on the premises or is it through existing i 1combination with- the gas station that is there? ,,MR. DE LAURENTIS; It is actually a combination use , The service 'end of it would be - that is the bays, The gasoline would ( still remain but the , instead of becoming a repair shop or being a repair shop it would become a food store . Similar to a 7/11 - lithe same as the one across the street. iMR. ANGELL: Are they now doing oil changes , service repairs of some nature there? ,'MR. DE LAURENTIS: Not we have the dealer here - Mark Metzgar, and basically what he has done is closed off the bays to repair work ii �j 21 - I in anticipation of becoming a food store, quite frankly. !'MR. ANGELL: Isn't that depriving the community of a service that I!is sadly needed, as I see it? iMR. DE LAURENTIS Well we have found, and I don't mean to sound iI !like a corporate official , but as the cars become more and more I (complex, we have found a dire need for mechanics and, unfortunately li ;!the average business man does not want to get into that type of busi- Iness for the investment level that is required. Either computerize analysis machines that are required - our company happened to come lout with a franchise that is geared for technological advantage in (;the near future. It is located in Boston - it' s a repair type i 1facility. i IMR. ANGELL : You mean we take our cars to Boston to be repaired? MR. DE LAURENTIS: No, not at all but what I am trying to get at is the inability of most service station mechanics to fix the car - �Ithe brand new car - 1981 , 1982 and that ' s not I don't mean to i I' 'Isay that is a sure fault of the individual r but most new cars ' require that you take the car back to the new car dealership. iMR. ANGELL: Why? !!MR. DE LAURENTIS: Warrant work, basically. Even for existing Ij l!well for old cars there are so many specialty shops like Cole �MUffler Shops , 380 of general public are now having do it your .j self tune-ups. The way the -- most business men have found that j 11gasoline is not a profitable item for them, so in order to make i (additional revenues, groceries have replaced what the mufflers and i ( spark plugs used to generate as far as revenue is concerned. R. ANGELL: Then why don't you do away with the gasoline pumps? �R. DE LAURENTIS: It ' s a leader item to get people in , quite �i 1frankly. The company makes money on the gasoline R the dealer , lI MR. ANGELL: I 'm sure they do. I!IR. WALSH: You don' t have any problems with the signage staying 11within the existing limits? What the Sign Ordinance says? SMR. DE LAURENTIS: No , not at all . Whatever we could do for the 11Zoning Board would be fine - though it is a national franchise, I! I{there is some flexibility into the height of the sign or the i it I� 22 1 Ii ; overall dimension. i; MS. HAINE: Does the food service - is that also part of the ;' franchise? I !; MR. DE LAURENTIS: That is the national franchise. The food ser- i! vice is the national franchise . 1IMS. HAINE: Did you do a marketing survey in that area? I. MR. DE LAURENTIS: Yes . i. 1MS. HAINE : Do you know there is a Bryne Dairy Bar opening about a 11 Iblock away? i ' MR. DE LAURENTIS: Yes . 'i MS. HAINE: There is one there is a gasoline and food thing I I across the street - one around the corner and another one down the block. MR. DE LAURENTIS: Yes. IMS. HAINE: And you still think that is going to go? i (MR. DE LAURENTIS: Well we do quite an extensive survey and I !ll ! give you a little background on it . We do everything from aerial (i j1photographs to shipping a guy down here for literally two weeks an iI ! all he does is that particular site, We know that there is a ltremendous amount of competition. One of the differences though i . 1Ithe way that we compete, I 'm not trying to make us sound great , but the Bryne Dairy does not have gasoline we do, The Mobil ( that is across the street from us is what's called the Snack Shop 1Iwhich is a very small scaled down version of what we have, Even I 111though they sell gasoline , we sell more products R we: are basi,cal.l ja twenty-four hour convenience store for the general public, like , the Pizz Shop isn! t, again - as you go up and down the streets ! there is very little that would appeal to the same person that we I fare appealing to. The Mobil would be the closest thing that we wo ld i 11think as competition and they are not even in our leaguer so to speak. Yes , we are banking on it - we are putting in a lot of 1idough. ii 'j MR. WEAVER: You do not propose to increase the size of the i1structure? i� jIMR. DE LAURENTIS: The only extension is - it' s s a storage facility, I� I: 23 !'! for milk, soda, bread - not bread - soda, eggs , cooler items but ` I think one of our big problems has been the fact that we are only '! three feet from the property line - in the back of the building. ;SMR. ANGELL: You don' t see yourselves contributing to a congestion ,Ito the area - contributing to possibly more accidents in that area ii or whatever? You are going to have how many customers do you f '. anticipate in a day pulling in and out in addition to what you I have as a normal gas station operation? MR. DE LAURENTIS: Well if I may, just for a moment the dealer o record who does about 100 on an average of 100 thousand gallons 'I if the average car takes 10 gallons , which is a little less than a ! fill-up - that' s a 1 ,000 cars a month, 300 a day are gasoline cus- 'Itomers - one out of three are purchasing food. ,MR. ANGELL: Wait a minute - you've got 300 cars a day pulling in there? MR. DE LAURENTIS: Yes - that' s the present condition - that' s not. . I' EMR. ANGELL: 300 a day with ten gallons average is how many? t IMR. DE LAURENTIS: 3, 000 a day times 30 days is 99 ,000. ,MR. ANGELL: Alright. And you've got 300 a day. How many more do you anticipate with this operation? lMR. DE LAURENTIS: We - a very small percentage is drive-in traffic jIsolely for food - it' s a combination sale, When your person com s I�in and plops down money for the gasoline that 's when he buys his beer or milk or soda. So really the increase in just food traffic as far as drive-in i.s concerned, is negligible - 15 , 20 cars just ; for food but beyond that point, we do generate a lot of walk-in i traffic - local neighborhood traffic - so 350 would be a, high side figure for car traffic. i CHAIRMAN WILCOX; Okay, any other questions? Any letters? (SECRETARY HOARD: There is only a letter from the County Planning Mr. Liguori and he is acknowleding receipt of the proposal for review, as required by State Law and he says : "The proposal as I� 11submitted will have no significant deletorious impact on inter ,community, county or state interest. Therefore no recommendation '!is indicated by the County Planning Department and you are free to act without prejudice. " - 24 - i! CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Okay, any other questions? (none) Thank you it ! very much. DE LAURENTIS: Thank you. l ! CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Anyone else here who would like to speak in I! !favor of this application? (no one) Is there anyone here who would like to speak in opposition? (no one) If there is no other (discussion - that ends the public session of our meeting and the 1 !board now will go into executive session. For those of you who I' r .want to wait to find out the results , I wouldguess it would be Ilin the area of an hour and one0half, an hour at the most. If you Iwant to know, you can just call the Building Commissioner in the ,i ,;morning to find out the results . I( i i I s i i i! j �I 6 i I I I �I! i i l li i ii 25 - k I ji BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS Ei CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS OCTOBER 5 , 1981 E l EXECUTIVE SESSION i ii APPEAL NO. 1398: ! The Board considered the appeal of Atlantic Richfield Company for Ian area variance to permit conversion of the existing gas station 11at 108-112 South Meadow Street to a convenience food store and gas station. The property is located in a B-4 (business) use district 1where the use is permitted; however the existing building is too i close to the rear property line . The decision of the Board was as I follows : ! MR. WALSH: I move that the Board grant the area variance i requested in appeal no. 1398 . i. CHAIRMAN WI'LCOX: I second the motion. 1VOTE: 4 Yes ; 1 No ; 1 Absent Granted I 111FINDINGS OF FACT: ii ill) The use sought to be made of the property is permitted and would represent virtually no change from that presently made of the premises. 112) The deficiency which relates to the rear yard requirement, is �i minimal and, as a practical matter , cannot be changed. 1' 3) there were no objections from neighbors. l 4) The variance sought would not result in any appreciable change i' in the character of the neighborhood. it `I i i i I� �i I! i` i Iti I li ;I i; i; 'i i i'' i - 26 - i! i' I I , BARBARA RUANE, DO CERTIFY that I took the minutes of the Board of Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, New York, in the matters of ;; Appeals numbered 1379, 1396 , 1397 and 1398 on October 5 , 1981 at ! it City Hall, City of Ithaca, New York; that I have transcribed same , i 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 C to the best of my ability. I �i it 'I Barbara C. Ruane Recording Secretary �l I I Sworn to before me this i I" I`% day of <_ ; 1981 pNotary Public Ji--'N : iJKINSON NOTARY P. �,OTE OF NEW YORK 't.. _. .oG•^300 QUALIFIED IN T: ` " '.AS COUN I My COMMIS M, EXPI'.�.E �..'..P'CH 10,191' i� ii { ,I ii I i i' it �i �i I iii,