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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BZA-1981-11-02 I! I� I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK i j NOVEMBER 2, 1981 I TABLE OF CONTENTS {� Page I ! APPEAL NO. 11-1-81 Isle of You, Inc. 2 i1 133 E. State Street �IAPPEAL NO. 11-1-81 Executive Session 7 APPEAL NO. 1399 JFJ Enterprises POSTPONED 8 920 N. Cayuga Street I i APPEAL NO. 1400 Gregory & Marjorie Katsoulis 12 fi 526 West State Street (Zorba' s) APPEAL NO. 1400 Executive Session 17 APPEAL NO. 1401 Ithaca Neighborhood Housing 18 223 Cleveland Avenue APPEAL NO. 1401 Executive Session 20 lJAPPEAL NO. 1402 Joseph. Ciaschi (Valley House Rest) 21 I; 801 West Buffalo St. APPEAL NO. 140.2 Executive Session 28 i it APPEAL NO. 1403 Old East Hill School Housing Coop 29 105-109 Stewart Avenue APPEAL NO. 1403 Executive Session 44 APPEAL NO. 1404 Mark Waldo Haag 45 105 Dryden Ct. APPEAL NO. 1404 Executive Session 49 i }APPEAL NO. 1405 John & Amy Place (NO ONE SHOWED) 50 (� 107 West Clinton St . i CERTIFICATION OF RECORDING SECRETARY 51 .i I I .I I l i ii i I l i� i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK NOVEMBER 2 , 1981 I! CHAIRMAN AMAN: I ' d like to call to order the meeting of the Novem I fiber meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals. The Board of Zoning ilAppeals operates under the Ithaca Zoning Ordinance and the Ithaca I! ;Sign Ordinance. For those of you who have not appeared before us Hbefore, let me briefly explain our procedures tell you how we proceed here. We call the cases in the order that they are listed �on the agenda that was sent out. We ask that those petitioning this Board for a variance or an interpretation or whatever it is that you may be asking us for, come forth first and state your case and give your reasons why you think you are entitled to that variance or why you are entitled to a particular interpretation. The Board may or may not have questions. for you and assuming the Board does , when the Board is finished asking the questions we will then call on all of those who wish to speak on behalf of the peti- tion. After we 've heard everyone who is in favor of the proposed (petition or variance T will then call on those who wish to speak ,lin opposition to the variance. And that is the order that we follow. We dont adhere to rigid rules of evidence here - we are ( much more flexible in that regard but we do base our decision on 'the record and that record is developed hereat this hearing. The Irecord is compiled or is recorded with this equipment right up her sand therefore we do ask that you make your statements from the i �ipodium on my, left. Occasionally, in the course of a hearing you ifeel that you just have a sentence or two and you will stand up in ithe back and make your point - we may hear it but i,t may be lost 1 Ifor the record and so to be safe , I think it is best that you come ,forward and make your statement from the podium, In doing that i 'fit 's important that you state your name and address for the record land then make your statement. This evening we have a full Board. t' ii PRESENT: Peter Walsh Morris Angell ii Margaret Haine William Wilcox Charles Weaver it Chairman Fred Aman Thomas D. Hoard, Building Commissi ner !I $ Secy to the Boa d 'i I i t 2 I f �j Barbara C. Ruane, Recording Secy. �i ;With that by way of background, Mr. Commissioner, if you would ;.call the first case. SECRETARY HOARD: The first appeal, Mr . Chairman, is appeal number 111-1-81 : Appeal of Isle of You, Inc. for a vari- ance under Section 34 . 6 of the Sign Or- dinance to permit an additional sign t be placed on the rear of the building at !� 133 East State Street in a B-3 (business) use district. As proposed, the total signage on the building would exceed the maximum permitted based on the building frontage on the Commons . The i1 appellant is asking for the additional signage because the rear of the build- ing is on a public right-of-way and what IE will become a public parking area. Under the Sign Ordinance the additional t signage would be permitted if the (cit owned) public right-of-way could be considered as a public street. jIs there someone here to present this case? I !MR. WILHELM: My name is Gary Wilhelm and I am with Robert Leathers , i (;Architect P. C. I am here to represent Sylvester Johnson who is out flof town. He has presented his case on the appeal form. I can summarize it if you like or you can just read it. I ( CHAIRMAN AMAN I think you can go ahead and summarize it. MR. WILHELM: Okay, it is basically that he needs a sign visible from Green Street to identify his store front and comments that he 'is the only store along in the section of buildings that does not (!already have a sign on the building, Therefore he is requesting I i permission to put a sign which is three feet high and eight feet wide and it would be above several silhouettes of people that are already on the building as a mural. It ! s an abstract design and then several figures, We do have a drawing of that. (,Secretary ,Hoard held up the drawing) You can see that the sign itself is �much less significant than the mural , actually, what it does is ! denti the building - the impact of it is much less . He does !identify g P i (mention several instances of other businesses having signs which front on public parking there. I might comment that this has been developed by the City as a pedestrian walkway and the property 11adjacent to his building is city owned. I believe everyone in- ti (volved, the merchants and the city, hopes that it will become a i ii ii - 3 - I ;; sidewalk for shoppers . Are there any questions? CHAIRMAN AMAN: My understanding is that if this were on a public ; right-of-way, the size of this sign and all would be in accord wit if Sithe Sign Ordinance? MR. WILHELM: Correct. It is less than the maximum area for a �Isign. I ,! SECRETARY HOARD: I better clarify that. As this is now, this whole lathing would be considered a sign and that would not be permitted. ij (This proposal is - what ' s on the building right now is this paint- jing - a mural - but not the wording . What he is proposing to do i j !put the wording on a separate plexiglass , oblong or rectangle or 1whatever, that would be set off from this so that it would not be iiconsidered part of this mural but would be a sign by itself. Othe - I �iwise the square footage would be far too much. �iCHAIRMAN AMAN: Are you saying that the addition of the "Isle of it 1you" turns the whole thing into a sign and all of that footage mus !be taken into account? SECRETARY HOARD: Well it depends on the interpretation, what the Sign Ordinance says is it goes by the border and if you look at li ;this white background as being the border, then that' s much more t an I i � 1, square foot of signage for every lineal foot of frontage. But ! if it' s set off by its own little thing then this could be conside ed is mural and the rest could be a sign. CHAIRMAN AMAN: I's your proposal to have it set off? �IMR. WILHELM: I believe that it is , yes n it will be separate from Il the building I think perceptually it reads as separate from the imural. �'MR. WALSH: There is a problem not only- with area but with the I !number of signs that we have here? SECRETARY HOARD: No, He would only have this sign plus one sign ion the front on the Commons side. IJ iiIMR. WALSH: Assuming that we interpret the rear entrance to be a public r ght,of-way - is that correct? SECRETARY HOARD: Right . I ,'i MR. WILHELM: There is a legal right-of-way that extends along tha ;; stretch of property, right now. There is another agreement for th - 4 - i ii 'lithe store owners to be able to use a strip of land for service but ; there is , in fact, a right-of-way that' s 12 ' wide which extends in i ;'back of all the buildings . is IMR. WALSH: And who owns that? f I1MR. WILHELM: The city. Well , yes , the city owns the property and (i there is a right-of-way for all property owners adjacent. 11MR. ANGELL: Tom, am I right that you are saying that if there was i a border around that , it would be alright? i SECRETARY HOARD: Around the wording, right. 1MR. ANGELL: Do you have any plans to put a border around that? � MR. WILHELM: As it stands now it is on a piece of plexiglass it would be separate from the building and to me that would con- stitute a border. You see it is going to be a different . _ . (IMR. ANGELL: But it wouldn' t stand out as a definite border? �JMR. WILHELM: It is a different material � the building is brick land it is painted. The plexiglass is clear . i v MR. ANGELL: Is clear . . . IMR. WILHELM: Is clear and it reflects light therefore it . . . I1MR. ANGELL: So you get the same color behind the plexiglass aroun i { the lettering as the color of the building? MR. WILHELM: Well , no you don' t because you see it through the ,1plexiglass the plexiglass reflects the light in a different (manner . . . that' s one reason for that is that it would pick up ;( the light - these is going to be a light on that building to lig1t ( the sidewalk improvements, , , i MR. WILCOX: is that going to be a public parking lot there? Or 11 alis it just going to be public land? SECRETARY HOARD: Under the parking ramp will be parking for the public, operated by Ithaca Center. MR. WILCOX: Not for the apartments? SECRETARY HOARD:HOARD: It will be for anybody. If you drive in - even I : if you want to go to Woolworths, you can still use that parking lot , �jbut you will pay, Paid parking. !i MR. WEAVER: Your interpretation is that the arrows are not si �l ni- g ii ficant or not a part of the sign? i; I {I S - i i ;' SECRETARY HOARD: My interpretation is that what ' s on the building i i� Fright now is a mural not a sign. Now if what was on the sign was Ijclearly - if this were a bicycle shop and you had a row of bicycle 11painted on it, then I would say the whole thing was a sign. These fare just people. If there were - you know if it were clearly �I ( something that is being sold in the building. I don' t want you jumping to the obvious conclusion just because these are women. i !By setting the sign off, the sign is distinct it would be on a I separate material . I couldn' t draw the line very clearly on what his a sign. MR. WILCOX: How long has that mural been there? ;SECRETARY HOARD: Two weeks . I i MR. WILHELM: Two weeks , yes. �!MR. ANGELL: You wouldnIt consider putting a definite border around that sign? t 1MR. WILHELM: The - well , this is a design that the individual i ,created. I cannot say at this time that Mr. Johnson would not put a border around it I can say that I would not think that fit would be appropriate - it would be detrimental to the mural . MR. ANGELL: Then you are considering the whole thing a sign? iMR. WILHELM: No fi am not. It is also, T think, important to re- member that every other store has a sign. CVS has a plastic neon sign which is the . . MR. ANGELL: We are not arguing the point that you should have a sign or not. i SMR, WILHELM: Okay, then the "Isle of You" - the letters, the word i r that's the sign. I think that there is reason to accept that . � It identifies the store, the mural is not identifying the store , ' �it is just M . Johnson i � r so is considering it as a decorationto a ;drab parking lot. MR.. WALSH: Are the figures represented on the mural used now or ( may they, be used in the future as part of any logo identifying the Y g i store? i SMR. WTLHELM: The "Isle of You" logo, I believe, is the lettering. I !The "Isle of You" that -s, what they use as their logo. .i �I 6 - i MR. WALSH: Is there any plan to include the figures as part of th !! logo? !MR. WILHELM: Not that I 'm aware of, no. I cannot speak to the '; future - not that I 'm aware of. I' ' SECRETARY HOARD: That' s a good point because the point that that ! becomes a logo, then the whole thing becomes a sign. I!MR. WILHELM: That is something which I 'm sure you could comment it , on in your decision. I spoke with Sylvester and he told me - or gave me the write up and said that it was self explanatory - he Masked me to just answer any questions . Basically it' s - as some- �iMR . one who was just involved in the design I wasn' t there. WILCOX: Is this a woman's store? Children, or just women? for men or . . . 1 MR. WILHELM: I've shopped there. They do sell women' s apparel , lyes . , MR. W'TLCOX Do they sell men' s too? 11MR. WILHELM: I don' t believe so, no. I don't really know - I 've Ii ' shopped there for my wife. Is that . . . ; CHAIRMAN AMAN: Any further questions? Thank you Mr. Wilhelm. 'Anyone here who wishes to speak on behalf of the requested varianc ? 1 (no one) Is there anyone here who wishes to oppose it? We do hav i ala letter. 11 ' SECRETARY HOARD:HOARD: This is a letter from Mr. Jason Fane - it is in f reference to the subject Isle of You, Inc. sign application. "Dear Sirs : This letter is to express my support of the applicati n lof Sylvester Johnson for permission to install a sign on that part jof his store facing Green Street . This sign would have no detri- ` mental effect on my property located at 101-107 East State Street !land I do not believe it would have any detrimental effect of any it !! kind. It is important for the City to create a favorable business �Iclimate and approving Mr. Johnson's application would help do this 1I hope you will approve this application. Very truly yours, { /s/ Jason pane" , CHAIRMAN AMAN: Tf that completes the record, we' ll call the next i� case. I! ii I, i� - / If I! BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS !i COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS i CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK i NOVEMBER 2 , 1981 ;;APPEAL NO. 11-1-81 : ;Ili The Board considered the appeal for a sign variance to permit an ,; additional sign to be placed on the rear of the building at 133 ( East State Street. The decision of the Board was as follows : I CHAIRMAN AMAN: I move that the Board deny the sign variance requested in appeal number 11-1-81. MR. WEAVER: I second the motion. �IVOTE: 5 Yes; 1 No . Denied. �I FINDI'NGS OF FACT: jI 1) Interpretation is made of Section 34. 6, subdivision C of the i; Sign Ordinance that frontage on a public walkway built and maintained by the Municipality shall qualify as frontage along a street, public highway or waterway. I 2) Under the circumstances in this caste, withthe frontage as Iinterpretated above, the Isle of You would be entitled to put t up another sign. 113) We would find that the design presently- in place on the south face of the building constitutes pictorial and/or lettered �j matter which makes it a sign within the meaning of Section I! 34 . 3-A-1. 4) That being the case, the sign for which the variance is sought �i exceeds the maximum permitted for the frontage as interpreted Iby a substantial amount. i jl f I I� I� Ij Ii I i i' i li i; - 8 - I� BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK I I! NOVEMBER 29 1981 1, SECRETARY HOARD: The next case is appeal number 1399 : Appeal of JFJ Enterprises for a Special Permit i; under Section 30. 26 , Paragraph C-4 to permit conversion of the existing gas station at 920 North Cayuga Street to a convenience food store i! and self service gas station. The property is located in an R-2b (residential) use district i which a neighborhood commercial facility re- quires a special permit from the Board of Zonin Appeals. The existing building will not be ex- tended for the proposed use , other than a small addition for a built-in cooler. i SMR. HINES : Mr. Chairman, my name is Bob Hines and I represent the I applicant. Following the meeting of the Planning Board last week we surmised that there was a good deal of interest in the neighbor- hood in this application and an effort was made to meet with the ( Fall Creek Civic Association and through the good office of ,i ! Carolyn Peterson, who was kind enough to come here tonight. Need.- less to say on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning we had some rain down ini:the Fall Creek area and there hasn't been any meeting of ( the Fall Creek Civic Association as a group but there is a meeting i ( scheduled for next Monday night . We would like to request an adjournment of this appearance. We really don't want to wait any longer than necessary and if things hadn't happened of a calamitou mature we very likely would have been ready to go ahead tonight . We ask your consideration of adjourning not to the regular meeting but to a possible special adjourned date if that' s at all within the Board' s desires . We expect to be ready with. whatever community support we have within a week and one half, possibly two weeks . I I any event we are not prepared to go ahead tonight. CHAIRMAN WILCOX: Let me catch the last part of it. You are sug- Besting a special meeting of this Board for this case-? �, MR. HINES: We realize this is up to you - I 'd rather not wait a I ( month. We will know within ten days whether we have the requisite + community support for this permit , which we need. If we don' t hav � t it is apparent ,to us that we think we do have it - it should i Ii fbe apparent to us within that time limit. Ifit's the Board's de ,, sire that we can' t meet until December that ' s when we will meet . i - 9 - I If the Board possibly might consider meeting earlier because of th !; fact that we have a time problem, which may or may not be relevant ! to their considerations . Mr. Hallem has terminated his lease at his present facility and wants to - if it is at all feasible - to ;!move ahead as quickly as possible and although I don't represent j him as an individual - I represent the applicants - I want to try e pito accommodate him if I can. i 1CHAIRMAN AMAN: Given the nature of a special permit and given the i ; input that is necessary from the community, it seems to me that it jwould make sense that you have the opportunity to meet with the i Fall Creek Association to discuss this and to solicit the neighbor- hood' s views. So unless the members of the Board have any strong i feelings on this T would be inclined to grant the postponement, On the other hand, this Board does meet once a month and it is a very !difficult thing to get out and get the group together on a more frequent basis and - if it were to transpire and this has rarely !happened in the two-one-half years that I have been here that we 1have ever really come back even to consider cases other than the I ;evening on which we sit. I suppose if it were to happen that we for some reason felt we were going to come back to consider cases and the opportunity presented itself, we might be able to schedule something, but but I don't - it strikes me that it would be difficult lto schedule an interim meeting. (,IMR. HINES: Well I' understand and I want to emphasize that Mr. I� 1Hallem has made a commitment which makes it more difficult. I ' ll I defer to your executive session - you may want to discuss it then aid I I Mr. Hoard can let me know tomorrow what you decide and I will ! advise my client accordingly. IICHAIRMAN AMAN; I'f that ' s agreeable to the Board. Yes sir? If � QICE I'N THE AUDIENCE; Does this mean that Mr. Hines wishes to 1withdraw his appeal and resubmit? ( CHAIRMAN AMAN: My- understanding is that he wishes to postpone it ! for at least a month r preferably, a couple of weeks so that he wo ld gave the opportunity to meet with the Fall Creek Civlc Association ,Ito discuss the project and, as I say, given the nature of a special �I I! +i i I. - 10 - i !,, permit I think that ' s - he needs some support to do that. (,! VOICE IN THE AUDIENCE: It is my understanding that the most impor '' tant input would be from those property owners within 200 ' from th i. ' boundaries of the subject property that is seeking this appeal . !" CHAIRMAN AMAN: Yes , but there are other procedures that go with a ,i ' special permit including writing of a letter to each of the resi- dents within a specified area and the determination of whether or not there is a substantial support or lack thereof. . . `IVOTCE TN THE AUDIENCE: I' think we have such evidence here , right i now. MR. HINES: Well as T pointed out, I would like to have the oppor- I, tunity to speak with the jury also. Mr. Rosenblum has had that (' opportunity and IId like the opportunity myself so I request that, CHAIRMAN AMAN: I really don't want to argue the case here because �� it sounds to meas if we don't have the record that is necessary t � decide a special permit proceeding. MR. WALSH: In view of th_e request of the applicant, T would move Ithat the Board adjourn consideration of this matter one month, par ilticularly in view- of the unfortunate weather conditions that have 11prevented the meeting of th.e Civic Association to consider this matter. �IM'R. WI'LCOX: Are the residents here now? � SEVERAL IN THE AUDIENCE.; Yes . I CHAIRMAN AVIAN: T's there a second? i IMR. ANGELL: Second. I ' CHAIRMAN A14AN: All in favor? 3 Ayes . I heard 3 ayes - lis there a fourth aye.? It seems to me under the rules , the ; appellant - the petitioner has the right to withdraw or postpone his i petition, in any event. I don' t think this Board would be able to render a decision in the special permit proceeding which goes beyo d the input of the neighbors in the oral hearing. It requires Mr, I, Pines to send letters to solicit letters from the neighborhood lIand I don' t think I' ( 'VOICES IN THE AUDTENCE: It has been done. ( SECRETARY HOARD: The appellant always has the right this is not I! I! i I tan enforcement action - he can postpone indefinitely - he is the !;one who is losing out if it delays - he is the one who wants to move into the building, so by delaying it - doesn' t really grant him i !;:anything. But the Board has to give him his right to prepare his I I case . ICHAI'RMAN AMAN; Well , I 'm willing to grant that adjournment and Ij 'move on. IIVQI:CE IN THE AUDIENCE; May I ask a question? For those of us who might not be able to be here a month. from now, can we submit our objections by letter? CHAIRMAN AMAN; Yes , and Mr. Hines to the extent that he cannot ( produce letters from, the neighborhood indicating their agreement 1with this proposals then at that time , after he has had a chance �to speak. with. the neighbors at this Fall Creek Civic Association eeting , which. he seems to want to do , then he simply wouldn't have lthe record necessary to sustain a special permit . �OLCE IN THE AUDIENCE; It is. my understanding , and correct me if Xm wrong for a special permit you have to contact the home owner *,thin 2GV of the projected site . He has done that - he has got very, li,ttle support from the community. One of the residents - one of the homeowners in the area went around and contacted all of the 1h.omeowners. Has thirty-three of the forty-one homeowners against the special permit. This was all presented to the Planning Board last week the delaying action, as far as 1 can see as a resident in the immediate area,, i;s to include a larger area of Fall Creek - Lf !the thing is not right next door to you it doesn't look as bad and 11it i.s my understanding as a public hearing n I didn' t mean a public 'I �iearing that said, this is a public hearing unless the applicant fishes to withdraw his statement. He knows he doesn't have the upport so he is delaying it. R. WILCOX; Mr. Chairman, the minutes of the Planning Board meetin Days that Ms . Nichols suggested that tabling the appeal pending Iurther discussion between the appellants and the residents so I lihink probably the appellant was under the impression that he should 1talk to the neighborhood association before he came before this Board i I! ii ii i - 12 i� i; ipso I think he probably It ' s too bad that it is inconvenient ;! because it looks like a lot of people are here but those are his I rights. !! CHAIRMAN AMAN: I 'm going to grant the adjournment - it doesn't have anything to do with the merits of the case. On the other it hand, the neighborhood should feel assured that if he can' t pro- duce the record that is necessary to grant the special permit , then this Board can' t grant the special permit, But Mr. Hines is asking to address the neighborhood and that might be beneficial . ( Sometimes proposals come out of meetings like that that are helpful and if they don' t then we will decide the case next month. I 'm sorry for the inconvenience it has caus:edthe residents , We will call the next case. SECRETARY HOARD: The next case, Mr . Chairman, is appeal number 1400 : Appeal of Gregory and Marjorie Katsoulis for an area variance 'under Section ij 30, 25 , Columns 4 , 7 , 12 and 13 and Section 30. 49 to permit the expansion of the existing restaurant at 526 West State Street (Zorba's) . The property i! is located in a B-2a (business) use dis- trict in which a restaurant is a per- mitted use , however the property is non-conforming in that it is deficient in required off-street parking, lot width and setback for both side yards . A variance was granted for this proposal in May of 1978 (Appeal No. 1197) , but construction did not begin within twelve consecutive months , so the variance expired. i MR. KATSOULIS: My name is Greg Katsoulis , I own Zorba' s , 526 West I { State Street - I 'm planning to expand the kitchen about five feet ; back to the north side and another five feet to the west side and in Ithis way I am gaining some more space for dining room and make the r ! kitchen more workable - easier for me . IMR. WILCOX: Is there anything different from the May application? MR. KATSOULIS: No. i MR. WALSH: Mr. Katsoulis , how many additional persons would be i ( able to be seated under what you are asking? I IIMR. KATSOULIS: About twenty-seven more people. 11MR. WALSH: Twenty-seven more? fj MR. KATSOULIS: Twenty-seven more. There will be about eighty li J 13 - i altogether with the whole dining room. l;MR. WALSH: Tom, I can' t tell from this - how deficient is parking �lunder the proposal? I !',MR. KATSOULIS: Well , I have the street parking right now which I ,I �1have no problems because most of the business is after 5 : 00 o ' cloc , so I have no problem about the street parking . This is enough fo ;Inow. But besides that I have the parking places on my east side o ' the building on the Ceracche Enterprises building which he offered �me - I can use it after 5 : 00 o' clock until midnight - takes then (another fifteen parking spaces there . I can bring that in writing too from him but he wasn' t available this weekend. lMR. WALSH: Do you have any firm arrangement with Mr. Ceracche or Ceracche Television for that - it is not Ceracche anymore - it ' s the . . . IIMR. KATSOULIS: No the original Ceracche is the next building. i MR. WALSH: Okay. '!MR. KATSOULTS; And that next building is the parking lot he owns the parking lot so I can use his parking tot (;unintelligible) IlAcross the street is the Ceracche Television. They have nothing to Ido with this business. I�MR. WALSH: And that is fifteen spaces you said? !!MR. KATSOULIS: Yes about fifteen spaces. IIMR. WALSH: Do you know how many parking spaces would be required Iloverall for the seating capacity of the restaurant as it would be altered? !MR. KATSOULIS: Well I think another ten spaces would be just - '[which I have in the street. R. WALSH: I'm sorry I don' t understand that. R. KATSOULIS: You asked me if I had how many spaces I can have Ito cover my seating capacity, right? iI SIR. WALSH: How many would be required in the normal course to cove I�hehseating capacity you have in mind, right.. IRKATSOULIS: I don't know how many. ,�R. WEAVER: I can't read this print. Commissioner, can you explai Il io me whether the building on the west side will be closer to the I. �I IE - 14 - I i !' lot line when the project is completed than it is now? i 1' MR. KATSOULIS: The west side is the building right ii g ht in next to me.g i' Ii The Geological Service of the Government. That ' s the east side wi h i! !; the parking spaces . !i MR. WEAVER: I 'm not interested in the east side at the moment. !! It' s the west side that I am talking about. I, SECRETARY HOARD: The west side - this is the plan as I understand � it (holding up the blue print) this is the existing USGS building �I (pointing) - the wall there. You would come across like this with j' the addition, is that right? MR. KATSOULI'S: Yes. ! SECRETARY HOARD: It would expand this way ; MR. WEAVER: Completely filling the open space? SECRETARY HOARD: Right, SMR. WEAVER: On the east side that is all parking? HMR. KATSOULIS: Yes. I MR. ANGELL: How do the doorways face? � MR. WEAVER; T don' t know they would have to meet the building I code requirements. ' SECRETARY HOARD; As it is now - as your design is now you would have !la problem you would be limited to fifty people. u MR. KATSOULIS: Yes , right now. l� SECRETARY HOARD: Well, but I mean as even with this proposal you would have people exiting through this kitchen - that ' s not a ;; permitted exit so you would be limited to fifty. �I MR. KATSOULIS: That' s right but - I did plan on going inside - in I h the kitchen - extend the dining room too. (I MR. ANGELL: That' s not the right plan then? LMR. KATSOULIS: This is existing that you have right now. I , SECRETARY HOARD: This is? I, 11MR. KATSOULIS: Yes , that is the existing right now. The proposed Ij I is some place —other than what you have there. MR. WEAVER: As a matter of clarification, I am, hearing a zoning I� I1case here but, granted the zoning variance, can it be built? , SECRETARY HOARD: Will you come over here and look at this? (aske i I' 15 I i,,of Mr. Katsoulis) (Discussion between Mr. Angell , Mr. Katsoulis ii Mand Secretary Hoard, which wasn' t picked up by the tape recorder) i .;CHAIRMAN AMAN: Assuming the plan that you have is carried out, i1 !chow much farther to the line will this building extend? In other jiwords , will there be any set back at all - will there be any side , yard at all? How much does it eat into what is already there? ii ijMR. KATSOULIS: How much space? CHAIRMAN AMAN: Yes . 1MR. KATSOULIS: Generally from both sides there is going to be up to 200 square feet inside the building. If we are talking about chow far we are going out - about five feet on each side. CHAIRMAN AMAN: So the side yards which were already deficient will �be deficient by five more feet when you are done with this? MR. KATSOULIS: Yes about that, on both sides . CHAIRMAN AMAN: On the north side? iMR. KATSOULIS: Yes . I CHAIRMAN AMAN: How much space does that leave? ,MR. KATSOULIS: 5 x 20 is the north. side, I.a,nd 5 x 20 again for thel !west side. About 200 square feet altogether. CHAIRMAN AMAN: I know but once the extension is comp]stehow much ,free space is there between that wall and the property line? i !MR. ANGELL: Zero, ! CHAIRMAN AMAN: Zero, Right up to it? i iiMR. KATSOULIS.: Yes . I CHAIRMAN AMAN: Any further questions from the. Board? (none) SECRETARY HOARD; Who owns the parking lot's ' MR. KATSOULIS: Ceracche owns it. MR. WEAVER: Does the appellant own the land on the west the i southwest side of the building? South of the rest rooms? I iMR. ANGELL: In here (pointing to the blueprint) what's in there? �IOh, there is a building there? Oh, it goes right up to here? i There is an empty space there between the building so you could !conceivably put a door in there in this area? I '!MR. KATSOULIS (unintelligible) !IMR. ANGELL: There is no open space out on State Street here? So i li `i i 16 - lithe only open space is on this side into this parking lot? S. HAINE: Would it be possible to build an exit on that side? ;SMR. KATSOULIS : I would have to ask the landlord - I can't tell . !EMS . HAINE: Ceracche does not own the land on that side? jMR. KATSOULIS: Well he does park there (unintelligible) +parking on the other wall on the other side . He already has some plans there on that wall (unintelligible) CHAIRMAN ARAN: Any further questions? Thank you Mr . Katsoulis . IiAnyone here wishing to speak on behalf of the requested variance? (no one) Anyone here who opposes it? (no one) Alright, hearing 11nothing further we will call the next case. i I �I I �i 17 - I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK i NOVEMBER 2, 1981 �I ii EXECUTIVE SESSION ( APPEAL NO. 1400: ' The Board considered the appeal for an area variance to permit the lexpansion of the existing restaurant at 526 West State Street (Zorba' s) . The decision of the Board was as follows : �MR. WEAVER: I move that the Board deny the area variance requestEd in appeal number 1400 . CHAIRMAN AMAN: I second the motion. ! ;VOTE: 5 Yes ; 1 No Denied �I FINDINGS OF FACT: �I 1) The existing structure provides no parking and the proposal i to increase the capacity of the public area without providing ii additional parking is directly opposite the requirements of the Code. 2) The proposed addition on the west side would eliminate all sid I� yard on the building where five feet is required. There would be no separation between the proposed building and the adjacent I property. 13) In the absense of a firm lease agreement providing the requisite I number of parking spaces and alternative plans which would not seriously increase the area deficiencies that presently exist i! this Board denies the variance as requested, NOTE: An earlier variance (#1197) was granted for this proper y I and was based on evidence presented that there would be no increase in customer seating. The current appeal is for an I increase from 50 to 80 person seating. i I i I { �I i ii l - 18 - BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK !i NOVEMBER 2, 1981 !!SECRETARY HOARD: The next case is appeal number 1401 : I Appeal of Harrison Rue of Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services , on behalf of Ertherlee Broughton for an area variance under Section 30 . 25 , Columns 7 , 11 , 12 and 13 to permit the construction of a small addition at (I the rear of the one-family dwelling at 223 Cleveland I' Avenue. The property is located in an R-2b (residen- tial) use district, and is deficient in lot width and minimum setbacks required for the front yard and one side yard. (Also Section 30. 49) i IMR. RUE: Mrs . Broughton wants to add on a sun porch at the back of T�I her house. It is to replace a somewhat dilapidated porch that is about half the size of the porch that we plan to construct . The !porch is intended to contribute a substantial amount of heat to the jNouse but it will primarily have the appearance of a normal porch. It will match, in terms of siding details and trim details , the jIrest of the house. The only different thing about it will be that I� ! the back wall of the proch will be primarily glass. 1 I !!SECRETARY HOARD: Harrison will you identify yourself for the !i �Irecord? t RUE: Oh, sorry. I am Harrison Rue of the Neighborhood Housing IServices. CHAIRMAN AMAN: Does the adddition the property is now deficient I in width and minimum set backs required for the front yard and one side yard. By going out in back. are you running up against the bac line or . . . ? R. RUE: No the back line, if you look at your base there - I thin it is measured , the back line is about another two-thirds of the space occupied by the house. so there is visually and in terms of Space, quite a bit of space . And the houses behind there have Similar large lots in the rear so there is quite a bit of space �iehind. ICHAIRMAN AMAN: Given the deficiencies that presently exist on the Ouse as it stands right now, does this addition in any way add to l those deficiencies? 1, R. RUE: No, I don' t believe so. CHAIRMAN AMAN: It doesn' t create any new ones? {i 'i - 19 - i I MR. RUE: No. The line wil follow the same line - there will be I� , the same four foot dimensio on that side . I should mention that ithe lot on that side occupi d by the neighboring house has nearly ja full width - a full lots idth between the two houses on the Mother side so you are not r nning into a house that is very close i on that side. � MR. WEAVER: That' s the sid that has the shared driveway? IMR. RUE: No, the shared dr veway is on the other side of the house from the addition. MR. WEAVER: Let's talk wes and east and then I ' ll know what you are talking about. MR. RUE: Okay. The shared driveway is on the west side, The east side which the addition is on has a close to a full lot' s width between the two house!;. I, ! MR. WEAVER: On the east side the nearest structure is ten or more feet from the lot line? MR. RUE: No.. The shared d_ veway is IMR. WEAVER: On the east si e MR. RUE: Oh., on the east sale on the east side is fifty feet. i MR. WEAVER: Fifty? ii MR. RUE: Yes , MR. ANGELL: Fifty feet fron the lot line or fifty feet from the next house? MR. RUE: Fifty feet between the houses . T didn' t measure the - I only measured from this house to the lot line -- there is close to maybe forty feet between the two houses on the east side , which � is owned by the other house . MR. WEAVER: On the sketches, the dilapidated porch is the solid line portion that is next to this house? MR. RUE: Yes . I �MR. WALSH: And the proposed addition is that represented by the ! dotted line? MR. RUE: By, the dotted lines, j MR. WALS'H The porch is to e one story only? I! SMR. RUE: One story only, ye . i i ii it II - 20 - I !ICHAIRMAN AMAN: Any furthe questions? Thank you Mr. Rue. Anyone I There to speak in favor of his appeal? (no one) Anyone here to oppose it? (no one) Hear ng nothing further we will go on to the ;;next case. l BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMO COUNCIL CHAMBERS I CITY F ITHACA NEW YORK N VEMBER 2 , 1981 I I I EX CUTIVE SESSION ,i 1APPEAL NO. 1401 : The Board considered the appeal of Ithaca Neighborhood Housing I�Services , on behalf of Ert erlee Broughton for an area variance to permit the construction of a small addition at the rear of the one I family dwelling at 223 C1ev land Avenue. The decision of the Board was as follows : i IMS, HAINE: I move that t e Board grant the area variance re- quested in ap eal number 1401 . i MR. WALSH: I second the otion. i VOTE: 6 Yes ; 0 No Granted FINDINGS OF FACT: 1) The proposed addition w 11 not increase the density of the j� neighborhood or adverse y affect any of the adjacent properties . i 12) It doesn' t exacerbate a y of the existing deficiencies of what I� is a non-conforming str cture that it adds only approximately 44 square feet of lot c verage . I I I, i l ,I i it i i l= - 21 - BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS I CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK NOVEMBER 2 , 1981 i ' SECRETARY HOARD: The next case is appeal number 1402 : 'l Appeal of Joseph Ciaschi for an area variance ii under Section 30. 25, Columns 4 , 6 , 10 , and 14 to permit the conversion of the upper two floor of the building at 801 West Buffalo Street I� (Valley House Restaurant) to ten apartments . I� The upper floors are currently unused, but con- tained hotel rooms when the building was used a the LeHigh Valley Hotel . The property is located in a B-4 (business) use district where the use is permitted; however the property is deficient in lot area and rear yard depth, the maximum per- mitted lot coverage is exceeded, and the propos d additional use may be deficient in required of - street parking . Ij �! MR. BLAIS: - My name is Steven Blais of 117 Hudson Street and I yam representing Mr. Joe Ciaschi, the owner of the Station Restaurant Band now the owner of the 'Valley House Restaurant, Myself and Bob Leathers are employed by Mr. Ciaschi in the design and preparation it of working drawings for the conversion of the upper two floors of i Ithe Valley House into apartments , I have a couple of drawings her ! that might help you to become familiar with the project. I have a i Ii' floor plan and a cross section. The second and third floor plans I 1would be nearly identical and would include two two-bedroom apart- 1�ments , one three-bedroom apartment and two one-bedroom apartments cn I reach floor with full kitchens , new stairways - fire resistant staff - ways are planned as well as a light court with possibly some llandscaping amenities , There is a cross: section as well so if y u �Iwould . like to look at these . . . As the renovation of the exterior is liplanned - Ms, Vicki Romanoff has assisted Mr. Caschi in preparing l 'Isome sketches showing how the upper floors would be restored. I IjPretty much to the way the building looked in the 189.O1s = so you lmay, look at those drawings if you like, i �ICHAIRMAN AMAN: The ten apartments , how many residents do you esti i1mate they would hold? !MR. BLAIS; I will do a quick calculation - one person per bedroom f 11would make eight persons per floor - sixteen persons . The Zoning I lOrdinance would require one parking space per apartemnt so there a e I, i ii �i I I! - 22 - (! ten apartments so it would require ten parking spaces . Currently J i; '! Mr. Ciaschi owns the substantial parking lot of the Station Restau ;grant and jointly owns another adjacent parking lot with Mr. Peter 1i ; Zaharis and currently the parking needs of the Station Restaurant ;hand the Valley House and Pete ' s are handled by these parking lots , i reportedly with no problems of overcrowding. What Mr. Ciaschi would like to do is designate ten of the existing spaces as re- served parking spaces for the apartments and I have a site plan �ihere. The Valley House is to the south here - the Station Restau- 6 irant is shown here . The reserved parking spaces would be the firs I spaces in from the street and this is the parking lot that is shared by Mr. Zaharis and Mr. Ciaschi, Mr. Ciaschi. and Mr. Zahari i plan to make some improvements to the parking area as it would hav Ito do with signage and landscaping and possible expansion of these i 4 `parking areas, in the future possibly in the spring and what es- sentially is being asked for here is permission to go ahead with ! the plans for the apartments based on the belief of the property i owners that the construction of additional spaces isn' t necessary at �I this time though with the intention, on their part, of possibly expanding in the future. The other issue is the rear yards the (' lot coverage and one side yard deficiency and I believe that there lis very substantial precedent for granting variances to well the size of the building isn' t going to be changed at all by the re- f modeling into apartments so the substantial precedent for grand Ifather rights on the side yard should prevail . !MR. WEAVER: I have a question about that very point. You won' t change the outside dimensions of the existing structure in pro= viding exits for the upper floors, are they going to terminate at some common area on the first floor? Are you creating some lobby for something? i IMR. BLAIS: Okay, the exit stairs are going to be enclosed to the jIoutside. Currently there is a vestibule - I haven 't shown you a i (drawing of the first floor but currently there is a vestibule that Ijserves the bar to one side , dining room to the other side and istairs to the upper floor and that would be . . . . i i; I� ;f - 23 - w � MR. WEAVER: The corner vestibule? ; MR. BLAIS: No, it is on the north side of the building. And that !'vestibule - at least as we see it now would be closed off so the ii !stairs would go directly to the outside and another stair - another !fire retardant stair would be built - it would go through what I ,believe is used as reserved dining room on the southeast corner - i I (would also be enclosed directly to the outside so there wouldn' t Abe an intermingling of traffic between the apartment residents and ! the restaurant customers . The exit would be straight and clean in that respect. �R. ANGELL: Is that the only exit entry and exit? MR. BLAIS: There would be two. In other words , there would be one (through the existing vestibule and there would be an entirely new stairway, built going through the reserve dining room. I could show Ii lyflu on the Plans if you'd like. R. WALSH: Mr. Blais, addressing the question of parking, the (charge given us in setting out the parking requirements indicates !+that there are extent eighty-two spaces , the Station requiring ; fifty-three, Valley House, forty-seven. R. BLAIS: Right. SIR. WALSH: And the store five that 's already in other words Ijthe existing uses on that chunk of land, or chunks , are already s substantially in excess of the number of spaces that exist there . II ��R. BLAIS: Right. i IR. WALSH: Who is deficient? 1rR. BLAIS: Well that is a good question. It is also - and please I!- this isn't meant flippantly at all it 's also a good question �hether Kelly' s Dockside Cafe or the The Angler Pro-Angler shop, I I�or whatever it is called or the other businesses on that street are deficient in their parking. But essentially the Valley House , whic (has been in existence since the 19th century has never had exclu- I 11sively reserved parking spaces except inasmuch_as the previous owner 11 bf the Valley House previously shared ownership of the easternmost arking lot shown here with Pete Zaharis and traditionally all the f !�arking needs have been adequately met . From what I 've heard, the i I� I! - 24 - lonly time there was ever any trouble finding a parking space in , that area was when the then president-elect Carter visited the Station Restaurant and occasionally during graduation times when both restaurants might be filled to capacity. Neither restaurant factually has the number of tables and chairs in it that the maximum i occupancy, according to fire regulations , allows . iMR. WALSH: But the Valley House , at any rate , is and has been defi - cient as to the number of parking spaces allocated to it, according to the Zoning standards, MR. BLAIS: Right , It' s deficiency predates the zoning standard. 'MR. WALSH: Is there anyway to squeeze more than thirteen parking 'Ispaces out of the area owned in common there? SMR. BLAIS: It hasn' t been thoroughly studied. Essentially - if you look at the drawing you' ll see that what is happening is that seven spaces that are running on the east-west access up at the no th lend of the property are being eliminated and twenty spaces are bei g I Iput in so, twenty minus seven equals thirteen. Right now there is an ownership problem in that that grassy strip actually belongs to the city. MR, WALSH: This is the strip - looking at the diagram you supplie US iMR. BLAIS: I' think I can point it to you this strip right here. (pointing) MR, WALSH: This strip between the forty-two space and the forty space parking lot, is that correct? I� MR. BLAIS: Right, MR. WALSH: And that grassy strip is owned by the city? MR, BLAIS: Right, MR. WALSH: Is that being presently employed for parking? MR. BLAIS: There is about a five foot wide strip of it - if what lHave been told is correct that belongs to the city and is being 11was improved and is maintained and being employed as parking space j1with full knowledge and permission of the city. !i �IMR. WALSH: Addressing that same diagram and moving to the west of !j the forty space lot around the Station, is there any room for park ding moving that way? i i i - 25 - ii MR. BLAIS: I believe Mr. Ciaschi would have to answer that ques- tion is i) tion because I am not aware of the full extent of his property. jl MR. WALSH: Does his property extend at least to the tracks on j which he is located (unintelligible) ? MR. BLAIS: I believe (unintelligible) certainly, yes . ii MR. WEAVER: Will you clarify that statement about using city land i with full permission what kind of full permission, is there a 'I j lease or resolution by somebody? I! j MR. BLAIS: Mr. Ciaschi approached the city, desiring to lease or buy the property and because, I believe, the city obtained the l property prohibiting the city from selling it or leasing it except i for some restrictive purposes and I believe Joe might know more about the history of that than I do, so I will step down and let him answer your question, if you are still curious about that issue. I� MR. WALSH: Does the parking that is projected take into account I! that city land in other words , is it anticipated that you will ii continue to use the city land? ,I MR. BLALS; The same five foot strip, as far as I know, would con- tinue to be used, although Mr . Ciaschi is anxious for the city to come to some resolution about how it wishes to employ that land. So far, and I speak of the city as if it were a monolithic object ! - I don' t know which particular administrators are involved but !I �i apparently there is some difficulty- in obtaining a legal resolu- tion on the part of the city. The city would like , again I say, i j the city, the city would like to sell the land to Mr. Ciaschi , I believe, and support the business development in that area by doing so, but is unable to because . , ! + MR. WALSH: They just haven't found a war around that covenant in other wards? MR. BLAI'S; Exactly, MR, WEAVER: Would it be more accurate to say that neither the city nor Mr. Ciaschi has the right to use that as a parking lot under the covenant? MR. BLAIS: I havenIt seen the deed for that property s,o I don' t really know what the covenant says on it. Mr. Hoard do you know i - 26 - i anything more about that particular piece of property? SECRETARY HOARD: All that I know is that it was purchased with Bureau of Outdoor Recreation funds and the covenant is that the property be used for recreational purposes - not be leased and it not be sold. II MR. CIASCHI : On that strip - my name is Joe Ciaschi on that strip Hunna and Mr. Dingman came to me one time and wanted to know if I wanted to buy that or lease it or - and I said, yes , sure - i, so he said why didn' t you get the land appraised by two competent i� realtors , which I did at my expense , and he said submit them and i we ' ll see what we can do. I did, I submitted to the city and that! s the last I heard of it. So now I!m getting to develop the i Valley House and I !11 just have to do what I have to do whatever has to be done, if it can be done . But that's all I know about I� �I that. This was all before the canal the new flood control pro- ject wasn't even in there then so there was a lot of charging of , I hands , so I think maybe th.at!s what happened, I don' t know, I just don't know- but I'm not opposed to cleaning it up and maintaining it or leasing it or buying it or whatever. But it 's a narrow spot it isn' t good to anybody really, other than Pete or myself. MR. WALSH: Mr . Ciasch , is the area on your property which is immediately to the north of the Station Restaurant that back i section is any of that employed as parking or is it useable for that purpose? ! MR. CIASCHI: No. That also was another part in Question, When I �i had the property surrounding me appraised, that section was ap i 1prai.sed separately along with- the strip and r but all that was f back there was an old ramp and it was just a complete mess with tweeds and some old scrub trees and at that time I asked Mr, Dingma jii if I cleaned that up and maintained it - would it be alright? �jHe said yes it would be a great improvement but he said that would 11be as far as we can go with it and I said fine but right to the - l there is a hangover on my building where people used to stand and 1wa .t for the - and board the train well that 's where my property `! ends directly behind that building, ! MR. WALSH: And to the north of you is city owned property all �� Y i' i it 27 - along that inlet? MR. CIASCHI : Back, yes . MR. WALSH: Is there any prospect of parking that could be at- tached to the Valley House on the west of Valley House anywhere Ij there? MR. CIASCHI: No. Where the laundromat is you mean - the new laundromat? I� MR. WALSH: 'Yes sir . i MR. CIASCHI: No. I� j� MR. WEAVER: You are both speaking about the car wash aren' t you? MR. WALSH: Yes. E I! MR. CIASCHI: Yes. I CHAIRMAN AMAN: No further questions? Thank you Mr. Ciaschi . ( Anyone here wishing to speak on behalf of the requested variance? i (no one) Is there anyone here wishing to speak in opposition? E( (no one) Alright , if that completes the record we will call the next case. �I i �I I I I� i I� w If I I i I i i! ( i i I! ! i it i 28 - �j j BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK NOVEMBER 2 , 1981 I' EXECUTIVE SESSION I APPEAL NO. 1402 : !! The Board considered the appeal of Joseph Ciaschi for an area I variance to permit the conversion of the upper two floors of the building at 801 West Buffalo Street (Valley House Restaurant) to ten apartments . The upper floors are currently unused, but con- tained hotel rooms when the building was used as the LeHigh Valley Hotel. The decision of the Board was as follows: MR. WALSH: I move that the Board deny the area variance ii requested in appeal number 1402 . MR. WEAVER: I second the motion, VOTE: 4 Yes; 2 No Denied FINDING OF FACT: 1) The Board found that the parking situation in the area is i heavily congested from time to time , particularly on weekends , and that the deficiency in spaces on the proposal as pre- sented leaves too great a burden on street parking in an area I where there is a heavy and steady flow of traffic . 2) The proposal presented is entirely deficient as to the maxi- mum lot coverage and set back and lot size requirements . it ! f I� i I 29 - I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS " COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS �! CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK �! NOVEMBER 2 , 1981 i• 1SECRETARY HOARD: The next case Mr. Chairman is appeal number 1403 n Appeal of the Old East Hill School Housing j Cooperative Incorporated for a use variance under Section 30. 25 , Column 3 to permit the I use of portions of the former East Hill School at 105109 Stewart Avenue for an artist ' s studio !! and a meeting room for tenants or neighborhood residents . The property is located in an R-3a (residential) use district in which such uses are not included as permitted accessory uses . ! Mr. Cottrell? ! MR. COTTRELL: My name is Jonathan Cottrell and I am president of Ithe Old East Hill School Housing Coop. I would like to give you a f ! little background information about what has transpired over the ,ilast year, since we were named preferred developer by the Urban Renewal Agency to redevelop the Old East Hill School . Initially ; we proposed that the gymnasium space, which is the area that we are i idiscussing now, be us=ed as: either a community center or as an artist ! studio for a local metal-sculpture, Jason Seeley. During the past 11 ! year we have discussed with- the neighborhood possible ways of I ; trying to finance the community center and this fall it became if iapparent that there was no really financial feasible way of pro- Iiducing the kind of start up capital plus the on-going financing Ito establish such a community center. However it became, during these discussions , a possibility of a portion of the space being used as a common room for the cooperative, there is going to be eight residential units in the older part of the building and this . room would be made available to the community and that the commun- lity would possibly have some funds to help finish the room and !; furnish it. So in discussions with the Co-op and the community land the banks we came up with this alternative plan whereby - I it �Idon' t know if you have seen the plans that we have submitted but l . . . this is the gymnasium itself (_pointing to the plans) or !' space itself and this is a site plan for the entire building, This !i ' is Quarry Street here, State Street runs here, Stewart Avenue is ! I� here this i,s the buildi=ng P this is gymnasium space this is a �I i I� II - 30 - larger view of the gymnasium space. There is a common hall this is up above here would be the rest of the building - this would be the community room in this area - this would be Jason Seeley' s i working studio and his study. What we plan to do interior-wise is remove a section of the floor - there is a wood floor over a poured concrete floor - replace that with tile that would become his work surface. The other part of the gymnasium floor would become a display area for a lot of work that he has done in the fl past, that he has now stored all over the place. This area of the !i stage would become his study and what is now an existing kitchen, i! we would put a ramp in and there is a large window here we would I i remove the window and put an overhead door in to give him access directly to the parking area and the driveway which is at the rear i, of the building on Quarry Street. The community room, right now �i there is existing offices and storage space which we would remove it �s the walls and turn that into a room that! s approximately 20 x 18 . i� The community space would also have access to a large common kind Ij j� of entry/foyer/hallway out here and two bathrooms that are exist- ii ii ing now. There is we are providing some parking here for the common room. We see the common room as being used by the Co-op for meetings and a variety of things like that , plus the neighbor- i hood for meetings of the Civic Association, a variety of things �I of that sort. The parking we feel is adequate because most of i) the people who will be using the room either live in the Co-op I �lor will be within easy walking distance of the building itself. In the gymnasium space, Mr. Seeley uses oxycetylene to do welding I he welds, I guess everybody knows bumpers together into vari-ous shapes , forms, sculpting and what we are doing there is we are i providing we are maintaining the existing sprinkler system the building is of fire proof construction -, is metal joist and con- crete the - on the wall here we areproviding two racks one '! he can use his tanks that he is using and the other tanks that he i stores so when he runs out he has extra ones on hand will be r bolted to the wall to prevent any accidental turning over or any jthing like that. So we feel that we are providing a very safe ii i ii I� 31 - situation for this kind of thing. It will be for Jason Seeleys personal use only - it will not be in any way commercial welding I shop or anything - we are not looking for that , we are looking 1; specifically for a variance for an artist studio. We 've looked at i �j a couple of other possibilities in the gymnasium - one of them is i' converting it to residential space which would comply with the izoning variance. The problem is that the building or the gymna- sium. space is basically a masonry brick structure with no windows li in it. There is one large window along this wall that is �! brick - that is translucent brick glass and it starts at about iieight feet and it goes to about thirteen - fourteen feet. The ceilings are sixteen feet high there are no existing bathroom facilities that make it easy to convert - it would be very expen= sive to convert it into residential housing, Other uses that we j� looked at to conform doctors offices, things like that, seemed i to provide a lot of additional traffic in the neighborhood and i 'i things like that which people in the neighborhood have expressed j real concerns about so in our estimation, this was the most feasi- ble financially alternative for use of this space that basically complied with what we felt were the main sort of interests in the neighborhood and provided the neighborhood with. some access on jan ongoing basis to the building - which is something they have also expressed a great deal of interest in, Mit, WEAVER., What kind of a separation is there between -- in the proposal -• is there between Mr. Seeley' s studio and the exit-way for the (;unj tel'Li` ible) . � MR. COTTRELL: Alright, right now there exists - there is metal fire doors here. `` MR. WEAVER: That wasn' t my question. My question was between that and the exit-way for the . . . . IMR. COTTRELL: Now here, alright - this is - we are going to put a two-hour firewall here (pointing) and this is the only other access I Onto the dwelling units is through here (pointing) - direct access. This is a foot thick masonry wall here that separates them. i �IMR. WEAVER: In other words , you are going to prevent egress i - 32 - I ';from the housing back into the parking lot? jMR. COTTRELL: Well we are going to give people an option, alright? ' It is that they can come through fire doors here and go out this jway (pointing) because we have to maintain that as a second means ,i {of exit to provide exit from the second floor because this is a ;Ifire escape here . This way through here (pointing) I had anticipat d ,using it as a way for people , Mr. Seeley included, to get down into jithe community room and the common space - that they would be i! basically a panic bar situation going through there - coming out 4 Mand back through. In other words , what I would want to prevent i happening is the possibility for someone coming down through here , opening these doors, alright? Forming a fire in here and the doors I shutting behind them and not being able to go back out. Do you ` understand what I''m saying Chief Weaver? I IIMR. WEAVER: No. But the exit into the from the studio go to the wall of the studio the north wall of the studio. I IMR. COTTRELL; Right here? ' MR. COTTRELL:IMR, WEAVER: Yes . /Those are - they are fitted with panic hardware oIright now they are solid core, wood doors as existing. This door here also is fitted with a self-closing device it ' s a solid core door with a knob on it. And there is panic hardware on these doors here, as well, As well as these doors (pointing) All the doors in Ilthis area - all the exist doors are fitted with panic hardware. MR. WALSH: Is the definition of an artist' s studio sufficiently recognized as to circumscribe the activities that might be conducte ( within it? MR. COTTRELL: Well last week the Planning & Development committee came up with a resolution that they felt was: fairly - was specific band T feel too which fairly defines, a metal sculpting studio as Ithe specific use that is what this variance is being requested for. l�And that also to give the community some on-going input into what y room Cappens in the community o they- also specif •callY said that if fthe community is denied access to that community room that it would ;have to come back to the BZA for a determination of why, It ' s my, �junderstanding that there is - originally we were hoping�j p g that we could I' is - 33 - i' get a variance length to Mr. Seeley but in discussions with Mr . ,i ;Hoard, he said that you had to give the variance to the building, lMot to the individual . We recognize the interest that the commun- ility has and the Co-op will have in having a strong control of ii 11future use of that space. The Co-op, within its by-laws has this it (twill be offered as the 9th unit in the Co-op - this space here , and 1`in the by-laws of the Co-op it requires that any individual who I disposes of their shares in the Co-op, so we feel that within the lCo-op there is a fairly large amount of equity interest that people i are going to have in their units that they are buying and that they ill want to strongly control what happens in that space in the lfuture. The community, as T said, wanted also to have some input I�On that space - recognizing that there was always the sonario where i �, he eight members of the Co-op to get together and possibly in their nterest , try to act in some way that would be in the detriment to �he community so they asked that the BZA also be required to have �ontrol over any future change in existing status. �R. WEAVER. Let's assume that the variance is granted I don' t it lee what language can be immediately conjured up that will say }aumpers okay but no other kind of artist or no other kind of a com- II' ercial use - thatts a residential neighborhood but it has demon trated its sensitivity to invasion by one and all , even further residences and this is clearly a commercial rental regardless of iI he aesthetic sensitivity of the commercial tenant. As a use vari- Ince what else can be okayed, what book do we look. in to deter- mine which is: nice and the next fellow isn't? If we allow a use ariance, what uses are described in the Zoning Ordinance that are convenient list of approved non-conforming uses? R. COTTRELL: My, understanding is that if the resolution says that person who is a metal sculptor wants to rent that place or to buy 'that place when Mr. Seeley no longer wants to use it, that that would le in compliance with the existing variance. However, beyond that IJ they were a potter or something else, my understanding is that t would not be in compliance, now 1 !m not , Tom may be able to she I, 1�ome light on that. ii �f i' - 34 - !!MR. WEAVER: Possibly the next artist blows a tuba or something. !IMR. COTTRELL: I think that if its defined as a metal sculptor - i luny mind tuba blowing does not . . . i "MR. WEAVER: That' s not artistic? SMR. COTTRELL: Well it may be artistic but it' s not metal sculptin . 1IMR. WALSH: You would immediately find ourself in the position �, y Y ti lithen - if the next artist, might be . . . ; CHAIRMAN AMAN: He might make tubas . MR. WALSH: Or who might just be a painter, would require an addi- ' tional variance. 1MR. COTTRELL: That is correct. That' s my understanding of it - jthat ' s Mr. Seeley' s understanding of it and we feel comfortable i ! with that . I think we feel comfortable for a couple of reasons , ,lone is that we 've always felt that the biggest control in this i Ilproperty is the Co-op their equity interest in it. That they ar jnot going to approve the use of it as something that is going to - not only disturb them but also reduce their equity value in their i residences . And beyond that, it' s our feeling that generally that is we are dealing with reasonable people and that - an alternative Buse, let' s say, is not metal sculpting - but that is painting - a �� painter who wants to come in there, who paints - whatever , would �jalso be something that would be a possibility for the use . We ,Iwant something in there that is going to ensure, as we say in the Iby-laws, the quiet enjoyment of the residential space. And we fee ' that this is th-e kind of thing that will do that. It also provide i Ila financially feasible use for a fairly unusual space I mean it' �Ia gymnasium right now and to redo that into something else is 1i difficult, SECRETARY HOARD; Would you agree to ti.e in that the artist-tenant ii of this space would also be a tenant of the - a resident of the Co-op? I! MR. COTTRELL: I think that is in the proposed resolution - correc I1 ; me if I 'm wrong - I may have it right here, as a matter of fact . .No I don' t r I think it is on page 7 of the . , , SMR. WALSH I't says , be it resolved that the Planning Board recom- mends the granting of a variance for the construction of a metal i I; - 35 - ,I sculptor studio, to be used by a member of the Co-op. it jMR. ANGELL: Then he has two votes in the Co-op, is that right? MR. COTTRELL: That is correct . And normally what - normally jthere is no distinction on equity interest in a Co-op - at least that we establish and but in this situation because there is ; such- the two spaces , Mr. Seeley is anticipating living in one of the units in the building, as well - that since the uses of the I� �Ispace are very disparate in that we could see a situation where , Iin the future, the Co-op might want the option of ie. , selling the unit - that Mr. Seeley lives in - to a, one individual - or individuals - family and the possibility of the gymnasium space be ,i ing utilized then as a living space where it would have to be con- verted at that time for a working artist who wanted a living space rand a studio space as well. We are trying to keep some of the financial options open for the Co-op in the future . There is not many people who are as successful as Mr. Seeley and who are able to take on this kind of economic investment . CHAIRMAN AMAN: Any further questions? Thank you Mr. Cottrell. i IlAnyone here wishing to speak on behalf of the requested variance? I MR. KI'LLEEN: My name is Shane Killeen, 111 Orchard place. For the past five or six years I have been a member of the East Hill !Civic Association. For the last two years we've tusseled with the �lendless ramifications of this East Hill School . Our primary con- -cern for the past two years was revitalization of the building its 'utilization in an effective meaningful sort of way that was - that 1�suited the parties concerned. A major interest was that a community Ispace ommuni y space use could be effected within the building, The presentation i ( that Mr. Cottrell is seeking is generally supported by the East Hill 11iCivic Association, once the arrangements which are somewhat finan ii jcially dictated -- though there were many, many other concerns that I we explored in endless conversations -� generally% satisfied all i (parties , Once the plan was developed with. the studio - and a couple i of points that T am not quite certain in terms of the resolution it was our general understanding that the studio would not be inhabitated and I don' t know whether that is recorded in that i' 36 - 1 !! resolution - I don't have it in front of me and the use of the i; studio is tied to a resident-member of the Co-op, not just a membe which could be an associate member and lots of things . With that '; understanding, we then, in rec ent weeks explored the safety - i, 11Ithe equity - and again the community use aspect . The safety and ; iequity features of the property owners surrounding East Hill - and some were indeed concerned but there has been - in conversations i lrecent weeks - a certain degree of satisfaction or reassurance that provision particularly for adequate fire wall and T am not quite ;! certain of all the technicalities - but particularly in the proper I sties adjacent to the gym structure beyond the East Hill School i� �I !! property where it cojoins with the next property owner that that s ! would be determined that there is sufficient provision and a margill ' for safety in whatever technical requirements are required, be the i' ci,nder block reinforcement or whatever T just don' t know those ! aspects - what we assume that both a housing commissioner and a I !; fire commissioner - safety inspection, it would be pursued, becaus it , of the gas and other materials used in the welding process of this i bumper art. On that basis , we the East Hill Civic Association � - is supportive of the resolution that I believe you have in front � of you and the hopeful resolution of this issue . IMR. WEAVER; Your presentation raises a question in my mind the Civic Association is opposed to any residential use of that space is that . . . ? IMR, KILLEEN; Yes , The gymnasium-studio, � MR. WEAVER; You realize that the area is zoned for residential I use MR. KILLEEN; Yes. We were I would call upon Mr, Cottrell, to supply further details on this that it would be financially un- � feasible to try and equip that gymnasium with living units on a I' par with the other eight units in the rest of the building. We were then concerned about the possible propensity for that gym - you, of course remember the facility and know ghat the gym looks like - it is excellent for a kind of an artist' s loft type of �i construction and then the capacity to put an awful lot of people j f; !i .i - 37 - in there - could easily arise - so it was in that regard that we i !were concerned about - from a neighbor, neighborhood point of vie i. �i , a bit of jamming up on existing space there . And it is in that (regard that we have somewhat taken the position and with a great ideal of support, particularly by surrounding neighbors of the East Hill School property that' s approximately an acre of land - who '�are concerned about the number of individuals who could be concen- t �Itrated in there and therefore - and the deal seems to be set also I don' t want to say, to be set - but the expression of interest �I in acquiring equity in that building seems somewhat to be willingly !undertaken by Mr. Seeley, both in terms of a condominium unit and !i coupled with a studio facility. �I 'MR. WILCOX: How big is the common area do you know? MR. KILLEEN: The common room? IMR. WILCOX: Is this what the community is going to be able to use . MR. KILLEEN: The community space? MR. COTTRELL: Yes , the comm unity space is 20 x 20. It' s really agoing to function mainly as a meeting room with, a possibility for I �Igatheri.ngs that are more social in nature that will spill out into fthe hallways there. It' s we are not anticipating a full blown ` community center. The Co-.op needs a community room to meet in and we felt that this would be a good alternative. How much furnish- lings and things like that the Co-op is 'going to initially be able to provide for that room remains to be seen because we are already ( locked in to a given development. MR. WILCOX: No charge to the neighborhood? i MR. COTTRELL: We are going to charge them on a probably on a pa as you go basis - very much like other facilities of this sort - � where they charge $15. 00 a night fee or something like that . So that there is some proportion to carry the cost of heating and renovating the place. +IMR. KILLEEN: T should say originally - a year or one-half or so ago we had thought that it might be - the East Hill Civic Asso l I; cia.ton might have thought that we might be able to come up with ' sufficient funds to play a real role in acquiring some community space I! Nand cover its maintenance but that proved, frankly, unfeasible. j li 38 - ;; Operating charges and running charges and even the basic acquisi- !! tion, truly was beyond the means that we could realize there on ! the hill and there was no point in continuing that kind of a dis- Jcussion because it was a log jam , frankly. MR. ANGELL: In this resolution which is not binding on anybody, lat this point, because of the Planning Board - you mean that if ,;Mr. Seeley - at some date in the future - say in a year or two yeais Elfrom now or five years from now says I no longer want to use that i as a studio you would object to a man or a family buying that fr m him and converting it to a living quarters? iMR. COTTRELL: I wanted to speak to this before. I think my under !standing and correct me if T am wrong, is that the big concern i i I1the neighborhood was that the fact that what happens if Mr. Seeley jdecides to go on sabbatic for a year or two and work in Europe or !!wherever? What' s the possibility of him renting that as student Or ! some other high density type of housing? And I think that there was =a strong interest in the neighborhood in being able to control that I' I think we discussed this at the meeting last week. My under- ;standing of it was they did not want someone living in that space as it is now, as an artist' s studio , However 1 , at that time, ex !pressed just what I did earlier that if there was an individual who was a working artist who wanted to convert a portion of that space i to. housing space that would be in comformance with housing codes and that we would want n the Co-op would want to have that option. Or it could be to convert the whole space to housing.. MR. ANGELL; That's what Iam saying, suppose You can' t get another ! rtist to move in there? IM-R. COTTRELL; Right, but l thank that there was some wa that the Y 1communi:tY wanted i don't thank under the zoning code that there is a way that it can be prevented from going into multi-family, ' owner-occupied situation which is consistent with the way the rest hof the Co-op would be. But there wanted to be some language in I !!there that i -IMR. ANGELL: There would be if you incorporated it into the itivar ance, i, I ii �i - 39 - ;IMR. COTTRELL: Right but again saying that we felt that there was (heed for it to be - you know - understanding that most people are ; reasonable and if your sonario is correct that there is no other lartist and somebody wants to convert it to an unusual living unit land that it is done in compliance with the housing code then there : would be no objections from anyone , I don' t see anyone objecting to that. is WILCOX: Could someone be a member of the Coop just by owning is studio - not by living there. ! MR. COTTRELL: No . i 1MR, WILCOX: I thought somebody said he had two votes , one for the r studio and one for the 11MR. COTTRELL: I never quite finished my thought on that actually. ;( Because of Mr. Seeley's tremendous equity involved in the Co-op libetween the two spaces , we felt that we had to give him a - in thi P g' i ( case - a larger vote because hi.s equity interest is so disportion- mate to everyone elses. And that the Co-op wanted also to be able 11to establish the two units separately so they could deal with them as separate units in th.e future within the by-laws and there i Twill be a structure there so people will understand in the future how it is going to be dealt with, .IMR. WILCOX: But could this read m I think. maybe you said this instead of to be used by a member - could it read to be used by a i (resident-member? MR. KILLEEN: That ' s what I thought it should have read. !MR. COTTRELL: That' s my understanding that it was . . . (!MR. WILCOX: When you say member, from what you say, that means a resident: �IMR., COTTRELL: Right, right. c MR. KILLEEN: T would add the word just to MR. COTTRELL- That ' s fine, MR. KILLEEN: A word about five years from now which is difficult i , to conceive of but in view of the energies that have been poured Minto trying to make this work and the additional energies that five i ,lyears from now will be contained in the individuals having equity ii Ij - 40 - ' or the Cooperative members as well as the neighbors that still sur iiround it - in the likelihood that Mr. Seeley retires or whatever, ii I don' t see why there won' t be the same groundswell of support to Lcontinue to make it work as those who are closest to it wish it to i work. i SMR. ANGELL: You can' t make it work because supposing there is - � he discontinues use of the studio . . . there is no available resi- dence available in the Co-op, then what happens to that - it is (laying there idle. !MR. COTTRELL: That , frankly, at that point is when I talked with I �JMr . Seeley about this he said that' s my problem and he recognizes �Ithat and he is , frankly, looking at this as his retirement housing space to work in when he retires . He presently does most of his i jwork at a studio that he has in a building across from the Archi- itectural School at Cornell and he plans on continuing that until - fat least until he retires. MR. WEAVER: Question here Mr. Commissioner, an application to con- vert this to housing units will require no appeal or no variance, (lis that right? ISECRETARy HOARD, That is correct. MR. ANGELL: Even though this resolution is incorporated in the 11variance? ,SECRETARY HOARD: That would be - he could add units as of right, MR. ANGELL So in other words this resolution doesn1t mean a thing? CHAIRMAN AMAN; It does as long as they are using it as a . . . MR. WEAVER: 1 hope not, In other words as long as we are operat cling under the rules of the Zoning Ordinance I would assume that some �IBoard other than this will take it upon themself to change the Or- ( di,nance not legal - and under normal circumstances residential use is allowed so I would be opposed to anything that would turn us li Minto a Board that says you can' t turn that into residential use. ( Regardless of what anybody wants, (.unintelligible) ((CHAIRMAN AMAN: Are we all set? Any further questions? Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak on behalf of the variance? i�S. SCHULER: I'm Nancy Schuler one of the aldermen from the ward. r I� i .s i 41 - I �1A question of the Building Commissioner , Mr. Weaver has mentioned lithat this is in a residential area - it is zoned R-3. We had it zoned public but it was a school . It is zoned R-3 now. Legally, i ijgiven the size of that property, how many people could be housed I, lin that unit? Not the gymnasium unit, in the building - could we estimate? SECRETARY HOARD It would be limited - with the existing building I MS. SCHULER: Not with Sawtooth in there. Since this is a resi- I; Ildential - an R-3 neighborhood - given the size of that property. . . �ISECRETARY HOARD: Dozens and dozens . iIMS. SCHULER: Dozens and dozens we had talked a number like it ! seventy had come up I think, when we had talked. SECRETARY HOARD: At least seventy dwelling units . MS. SCHULER: Okay. SECRETARY HOARD: And that ' s not even counting numbers of people . !IMS. SCHULER So when we - I just wanted to somehow when we've been talking about residential use and the concern of the neighbor- hood for keeping the density as minimal as possible, that ' s some '; thing that has been . . . IMR. WEAVER: I 'm glad that you are speaking to this because this , Board is constrained by the Zoning Ordinance which your, Board lpasses and if you would like to prevent additional density in i 1 residential neighborhoods, your Board should go to that task and i rewrite the Zoning Ordinance and give us a change rather than by i� some kavi,ot on one property because to grant this in this particu Ilar case has a restriction - would not grant it to other R-3 neigh borhoods in a like manner. Not all of those neighborhoods are burdened that are R-3 and I just say - don' t put it here - put it �Iback where it belongs into the Ordinance rather than try to do it iIon a variance at a time, It' s just an unreasonable burden on this jBoard. IMR. WILCOX: Do you mean as a positive remark that it could have !; as many as seventy people but there is only eight apartments? Is Hthat what you mean? ! MS. SCHULER: Yes. fi just realized that - it 's a given - so the ii i u ii 'I 42 - i (neighborhood when we talk of uses for this property, the neighbor- lhood looks on this as a positive use, knowing that there could be ;;seventy bodies or more. ii ty- 'ISECRETARY HOARD: There could be nine/four to ninety-six units in i' 11that property. I'MS . SCHULER: And the neighborhood does have the new Sage Infirmar I conversion and the other ones on College Avenue so, from what we have heard from the Civic Association and the letters that I think I you have in your packet, this is an acceptable use of the area. I know I hear what you are saying, Chief Weaver. And the other - ' I think the only other thing that should be mentioned that was in your resolution - I don' t have a copy of does talk about the housing Co-operative and the community working out the use of this �i space. Does that appear in your resolution it was discussed las week - by any chance? ( CHAIRMAN AMAN: You would be restricting it to a metal sculptor Istudio or . . . ? IMS. SCHULER: The last paragraph should talk about a working - tha I the aspect of the combined use should be worked out so the com munity and the (:unintelligible) SMR. COTTRELL- I think what it addresses the community use of that is assured unless the Co-op comes back to the Board and says my God they are throwing horrendous parties every night - you've got to stop this . I think that there is continual use guaranteed lin the variance for access to the community so that that in a sens almost - it requires . The other thing I want to say is that in , restricting it to a member of the Co-op R the use of that space to jIa member of the Co-op, almost by - not almost , it does require that an individual be living there and if they are going to use that ( space as both living and studio space, they are going to have to j; be an owner in the Co-op and a resident in the Co-op so that its i Inot going to be able to be converted on that basis into rental housing or some other higher density housing. (` CHAIRMAN AMAN; Anyone wishing to speak. in favor of the variance? IIs there anyone wishing to speak in opposition? Alright , the i� - 43 - i ,, record is complete we' ll call the next case. ( SECRETARY HOARD: Well, we have three letters here Mr. Chairman. I� j;They are quite lengthy so I would just say that one is from Reeve L jTarker who is a resident of 123 N. Quarry Street who is "recogniz- e Jing as we do that the proposed variance is crucial to the success of the comprehensive development of the entire property the long bilines that are in the interest of maintaining East Hill as a di- verse neighborhood attractive to families like mine we urge you I to recommend the variance favorably to the Board of Zoning Appeals . " ; The next one is from Jason Fane who is the owner/resident of 133 N. Quarry Street. "It is my opinion (to summarize this) that the jproposed variance will have no detrimental affect on the use , value I or amenity of surrounding properties so long as there is adequate control of noise and a restriction to prevent the subject property from becoming a traditional auto parts junk yard at some future date, accordingly I recommend approval of Mr. Cottrell 's applica I�tion, Very truly yours, /s/ Jason Fane" He has always got to get ia shot in. And another one from Margaret Liguori who owns property � at 110, 112 and 113 Stewart Avenue . And she ends up saying "I would like to go on record as being very much in favor of the ,present owner' s request being granted - I feel it provides an ex- icellent solution to what may otherwise become a very unwieldy property if it is- not properly developed," I I i II LI !f i� I!j i! �I ij it i II �j �I I' I i 44 - i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK ;I NOVEMBER 2 , 1981 EXECUTIVE SESSION i ;APPEAL NO. 1403 : I The Board considered the appeal of the Old East Hill School Housin ; Cooperative Inc. , for a use variance to permit the use of portions iof the former East Hill School at 105-109 Stewart Avenue for an i artist' s studio and a meeting room for tenants or neighborhood residents. The decision of the Board was as follows : IMR. WALSH: I move that the Board grant the use variance I requested on the conditions that (1) the studio jspace be used only by a resident member of the if Co-op and (2) that the community room would con- tinue to be available to the public for commun I ity meetings of the surrounding East Hill neigh- borhood. 1�i CHAIRMAN AMAN: I second the motion. �i VOTE: 6 Yes ; 0 No Granted w/conditions FINDINGS OF FACT: 1) The proposed use of the gymnasium area to provide an artist studio and a community room is consistent with the neighborhood and it would impose no burden on it. i � 2) There is no indication that the proposed use would cause any increase in traffic congestion or noise. 3) That the applicant stipulated that the variance might be con- ditioned on use of the space as a studio only by a resident- member of the Co-op. i� 4) The applicant further stipulated that as a condition of grant- ing the variance the continued availability to the public of a ii room for community meetings of the surrounding East Hill neigh I boyhood would be guaranteed. it i( i. f a I� i. I 45 - BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS I COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK i NOVEMBER 2 , 1981 i SECRETARY HOARD: The next case is appeal number 1404 : Appeal of Mark Waldo Haag for an area variance under Section 30 . 25, Columns 4, 6 , 7 , 13 , and 14 to permit the subdivision of the property at 105 Dryden Court so that a portion of that property can be redeeded as part of an adjacent Ii property at 113 Oak Avenue. The property at 105 Dryden Court is located in an R-3a (reside - tial) use district and is non-conforming in that it has no frontage on a City street or public right-of-way, is deficient in off- street parking, minimum lot area and width at street line , and the rear yard will become ii non-conforming if the lot is divided as pro- posed. MR. HAAG: On what is called the location map . . . SECRETARY HOARD: if you would identify yourself for the record. . . MR. HAAG: I'm sorry my name is Mark Haag and I'm -- I guess ap- pearing for Bill Lower who owns the property at 105 Dryden Ct. If j you can find it in the middle of that location map you' ll see that it is an "L" shaped lot with a long tail behind what is labeled as the White Barn there. That particular portion of his lot has been for years and years , just a trash accumulator - it was a kind of no-man' s land for everyone . There was a fire at the 117 Oak I Avenue building that I own two years ago and it took us a year to rebuild it. During that time I had asked Bill , a number of times , if he would sell, lease or in some way make an arrangement for part of that L shaped tail on that parking lot diagram it would be where the spaces are labeled 7 , 8 and 9 and as we were working there with the bull dozer and all that sort of thing, he climbed over the i dirt pile one day and said "yes we can do it", so what we did was we took dirt from the east side of the lot - that would be where spaces 14 , 15 , 16, 17 are , and filled in that hole and we built a retaining wall which went on the 113 Oak Avenue property in front 3f spaces 4, 5 and 6 next to 6 , next to 7 , and then in front of 7 , 8 I� and 9 - to contain that dirt . What that allowed us to do at that point was to completely resuffle the amount of parking that had been i! contemplated when the original building permit was obtained we were I! ii 'I - 46 - jI required to have six spaces for 117 Oak Avenue in the rebuilding and there were, in fact, five or four and one-half spaces behind 1 3 11 Oak Avenue which was a Co-op and they - that particular lot was ; legal under the grandfathers clause. We gained, really eight i 1ispacesdue to building the walls and having a place to put the 'I ,ldirtthat came out and ended up really with 18 or 19 - there is 'fan angled spot between 13 and 14 which is in use at this point - + and got substantially more parking off the street and a better J� arrangement so people can get around, as a result of doing this . What I am asking now is that you grant variances for Mr. Lower for that 105 Dryden Ct. whish is a building which is deficient, as Mr. Hoard said, in pretty much of everything depending on how you li count the rear yard the rear yard only extends across half of the property anyhow and when you takeoff that chunk we are speak- ing about, it becomes deficient. It was deficient right on the i i! done side of the building in any case or probably five to eight feet to the property line ,, then it dropped back that forty feet into that no-man' s land sort of space so I think if I read here correctly that for an area variance you should demonstrate that there are practical diff cult�es „ well there are in the fact Il that that particular area was of no use to Mr. Lower - the topo- graphy made it impossible to use from the other lots without the I retaining walls r access to it was barred by the positioning of that 105 Dryden Ct. on the lot and the fact that their building is built on all the other things R those are also special condi- tions . 1 don' t think that it certainly does anything but help the it j, s:ituati,on in that neighborhood as I said in the written part = 'i lit gets a large number of cars off the street that would not have i ijbeen otherwis-e. The other point, these are required for subdivi- J ( cion which the Planning Board has granted - a preliminary approval i , of the sub-,division of Mr. Lower ' s lot and the merger of it into !i that 113 Oak Avenue lot. Now whereas 113 Oak Avenue was in fact i legal with the five or now six spaces that are on that particular slot under the grandfather clause, it would be in full compliance hwith the parking requirements as a Co-op with the nine spaces that it I i! f! - 47 - {i it would then have as 113 Oak Avenue and I think the arrangement i; of the lot even with that - I keep calling it no-man' s land - li stuck onto the end of the access is clearly possible - entirely i from that 113 Oak Avenue lot - but, in fact that whole parking ii lot works together - I think very well at this point. j CHAIRMAN AMAN: So the upshot from all of this is that by re- deeding the land in this manner you are creating additional de- ficiencies on the 105 Dryden parcel? i ;i MR. HAAG: No additional deficiencies. The deficiencies were they and this particular piece of land was in no way able to help those deficiencies I 'm talking about parking , I 'm sorry, and you are i I talking about the rear yard. I� �! CHAI'RMAN AMAN: Everything. i MR. HAAG: Okay. li CHAIRMAN AMAN: But on the other hand you are eliminating defi- ciencies that existed although they were grandfathered in as to �a �I parking on the Oak Avenue, 'ili MR, HAAG: On the Oak Avenue property, yes sir. 11 CHAIRMAN AMAN: As I hear you saying, your main point is that now it there is more parking than there was before? MR. HAAG: Yes . There are really by having done this we have �jnineteen spaces before there would have been a total of eleven I Iso its really a net gain of eight , By utilizing the turn=-around space, utilizing the, as I say, taking the dirt under spaces 14 , 153% 16 and 17 and putting it into that pit that was there =, into fi' the area that it just kind of flowed down into it - and it was � I� overgrown with weeds: and trees and tires and beer cans , I know l you are familiar wth. that sort of - how that can happen and and + ,t certainly did there , The other thing that was brought up at 0 the Planning Board meeting n which T should mention is that perhaps j T !ve made a mistake in being so precisely specific with the re- quest for the 24. 6 feet is what is is right off of the city maps iiin Mr. Hoard! s office - the thirty-two feet was where we presumed I� the corner of right behind parking spot number ten to be over to I� the wall . They require a survey for subdivision and it may turn I i i' i' 48 - r out that when the survey is done it' s not exactly thirty-two feet it may be thirty-two and one-half feet - it may be thirty-three i. feet at the other end - but in concept is what I guess I 'm asking i; not knowing what a surveyor would actually come up with in terms i lof so many feet point so many. I don' t know if that complicates matters. i ICHAIRMAN AMAN: Any further questions from the Board? Thank you i� very much. I! MR. HAAG: Thank you. CHAIRMAN AMAN: Is there anyone here wishing to speak on behalf of the requested variance? (no one) Is there anyone here who oppose i� lit? (no one) Alright the record is complete so we will call the ilast case. I I �I ii l i I I I i I I I� I If i i i ii li I i `I ii i Ij i� 1 - 49 - BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS j' CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK NOVEMBER 2 , 1981 i EXECUTIVE SESSION ,i APPEAL NO. 1404 : ; The Board considered the appeal of Mark Waldo Haag for an area variance to permit the subdivision of the property at 105 Dryden I jiCt. so that a portion of that property can be redeeded as part of flan adjacent property, at 113 Oak Avenue . The decision of the Board ! was as follows: 1 '' CHAIRMAN AMAN: I move that the Board grant the area variance requested in appeal number 1404 . !( MS. HAINE: I second the motion. I VOTE: 6 Yes ; 0 No Granted ! FINDING OF FACT: 1) it improves deficiencies of the adjacent properties without i, exacerbating the existing deficiencies on the subject property i �I I i I i i! i ( �i i� �I i i� I it i , i' 50 - !' BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS I� ChTY OF ITHACA NEW YORK NOVEMBER 2 , 1981 SECRETARY HOARD: The last appeal is appeal number 1405 ; Appeal of John and Amy Place for an area vari- ance under Section 30. 25 , Columns 4 , 6 , 7 , 12 , �i and 13 to permit the conversion of the exist- ing two-family house at 107 West Clinton Stree I to two offices and a single dwelling unit. The property is located in a B-4 (business) use district , where the uses are permitted; however the property is deficient in required off-street parking, minimum lot area and width and minimum side yard set backs. I� is there anyone here to present this case? (no one appeared) I i CHAIRMAN AMAN: Not seeing anyone here to present this case, that I concludes the public portion of our meeting. The Board will go into executive session and deliberate and we will reconvene after we've made our decisions in this case and they will be announced at that time if you wish to wait. If you do not wish to wait , I �f imagine you could call Mr. Hoard' s office in the morning to find �I Lout the results and of course the orders that the Board writes i twill be sent shortly, The executive session is in private so you will have to clear the chamber and then we will reconvene at a dater time Idon't know when it will be when we finish. I I ii i 1 i i it I i i i' 1 I� - 51 - i( ;: I BARBARA RUANE DO CERTIFY that I took the minutes of the Board 1of Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, New York, in the matters of i ! Appeals numbered 11-1-81 , 1399, 1400 , 1401 , 1402 , 1403, 1404 and 1405 on November 2 , 1981 at City Hall , City of Ithaca, New York; �ithat I have transcribed same, and the foregoing is a true copy I 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 to the best of my ability. I� �I Barbara C. Ruane Recording Secretary i I i � Sworn to before me this I �. � . . day of1981 I 1� Notary, Publ c JEW'' :v"Klid` ON NOTARY PUCLL'. ,TaYF OF NEW YOR= N.. .s QUALIfIEO IN - COUNTYr I MY COMMISSION EXP' `. R..? '0'1°_a 4 i I ( I �j I it II I Ii i' i f I 0 I� i I, is