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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BZA-1982-03-01 f I i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS fI COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS it CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK MARCH 1 , 1982 I TABLE OF CONTENTS i Page APPEAL NO. 1419 Harold H. Robinson I'V 1 410 Stewart Avenue i APPEAL NO. 1419 Executive Session 7 I APPEAL NO. 1420 John V. Murra 8 515 Dryden Road i JNO. 1420 Executive Session 10 APPEAL NO. 1421 Mary Lou Kieffer 11 207 West Clinton St . APPEAL N0, 1421 Executive Session 15 APPEAL NO. 1422 Tom Newton WITHDRAWN 16 702-04 North Aurora St. APPEAL NO. 1423 Gus Lambrou 16 409 Eddy Street , APPEAL NO. 1423 Executive Session 21 APPEAL NO. 1424 Robert Teitelbaum NO ONE SHOWED 22 212 Monroe Street f I APPEAL NO. 1425 Cornell Radio Guild, Inc. 22 227 Linden Avenue i i APPEAL NO. 1425 Executive Session 41 I I CERTIFICATE OF RECORDING SECRETARY 42 I �I , I �I Ii i I it I� BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS II COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK �I MARCH 1 , 1982 ii CHAIRMAN WEAVER: I 'd like to open the March meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals of the City of Ithaca. This is a formal public ifhearing in the matter of several appeals . Those appeals have been listed in the legal notices and are , for your information, I 11 also posted on the entry door. I 'd like to introduce the members � of the Board: Peter Walsh Margaret Haine William Wilcox Elizabeth Bagnardi Donna Ward Charles Weaver , Chairman I Thomas D. Hoard, Secretar to the Board and Build- ing Commissioner Barbara Ruane , Recording j Secretary This Board is operating under the provisions of the City Charter o the City of Ithaca and of the provisions of the Zoning Ordinance. We ' ll not be bound by strict rules of evidence in the conduct of the hearing but the determination shall be founded upon sufficient I legal evidence to sustain the same . We request that all partici- pants identify themselves as to name and address and confine their discussions to the pertinent facts of the case under consideration. I We would also ask- you to come forward and speak at the microphone up here so that Your statements can be recorded. If you later are Il back in the audience and have a second thought and want to add that too , you will still have to come forward and do it again be- cause we need to have a recording of the proceedings , We have , several cases to hear tonight they will be heard in the order in which they> were listed in the notice, Mr, Secretary will you call i the first case? SECRETARY HOARD: The first case that was: on the notice was the appeal for the old Ithaca College dormitory at 115-117 Valentine Place. That has been withdrawn at the request of the appellant . IThe first appeal then is appeal number 1419 ; Appeal of Harold H. Robinson IV for an area variance under Section 30, 25 , Columns 63% 10, and 13, for existing deficiencies I� i II I - 2 - Ij in minimum lot size, maximum permitted lot coverage, and minimum side yard, to 1 permit the conversion of the multiple dwelling at 410 Stewart Avenue from one i; apartment plus eleven rooms to rent to thirteen rooms to rent (eliminating the apartment) . The property is located in an R-3a (residential-multiple dwelling) use district where the proposed use is permitted; however the appellant must ob- tain an area variance for the listed deficiencies before a building permit can be considered for the conversion. Is Mr. Robinson here? MR. ROBINSON: Before I start, I 'd like to hand out kind of an I outline of what I am going to - of the case - to the Board. I ' have a couple extra copies if anybody in the audience wants one. Okay, I am going to start by just giving a little bit of an intro- duction to the house since there is change to one of the rooms . The house is located on 410 Stewart Avenue which is right near the Chapter House it is between the Chapter House and the gorge and it is set up basically now it has one apartment in the basement and then all rooms and if you look on the floor plans to the house that' s on the first page of the outline that i have given you, the basement where it says double bedroom and single bedroom, there was a single bedroom and the double bedroom was the living room to the apartment and what is proposed is to put a wall where that heavy dark line is and make it a double bedroom and a single bed- room. That would make the house kind of the way it is upstairs . The upstairs it is all rooms - double and single rooms and every- body uses the downstairs kitchen and living room and also now that i I 'm also building a second living room downstairs doing some changes so that the house is kind of like - I guess you could say ( like a frat or a dorm in that it is set up with bedrooms and then everybody uses a common area - no one has their own personal kitchen or bath. Each floor has a bathroom - the basement has the bathrooms listed in the first floor you can see the living room the sheets !' by the way are just ordered basement , first floor, second floor, ! third floor. And it shows - the way the bedrooms are set up now - Isingle bedroom and i.t gives the room sizes. ThW s basi..cally the inside of the house The outside of the house I have some pic jtures - the people on the Board have the pictures and that shows i ii !i 3 - I I the parking situation as it is now - the first set of pictures shows the garage with the car parked in the garage - way to the back, ityou can look down the driveway that long column is the driveway i and the picture to the left of that is the other parking area four cars are in there right now and then the fifth car would be in the garage. That's the maximum legal parking place right now and in order for the variance would require two more parking places . The bottom picture - the third picture shows a - the large Cornell parking lot across the street and if you flip over to the Ij next page it just gives a that' s the house is 410 Stewart 11 Avenue and next door I have arranged to get parking the lot to the right is where I have already arranged parking for next year and I can do that on a yearly basis - I 've talked to the j owner of 412 Stewart Avenue. He has fourteen parking places whic ii !I is more than I think the number of people in the house , so that li �I those parking places are available and he has been renting them to the neighborhood for a number of years . So that' s basically I all I have to say about the house and the parking, If you have any questions . . . CHAIRMAN WEAVER; You say you've arranged parking? I, MR. ROBINSON; Yes. I CHAIRMAN WEAVER; Is that a verbal agreement , a written agreement MR. ROBINSON; It is a written agreement with the owner of the house . CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Do you have the document with you to indicate that? MR. ROBINSON,. No I don' t but it was included in the proposal so but that' s next year from September until September of 1983 . My name is Harold Robinson and I live at 410 Stewart Avenue. I forgot to tell you that I live at the house also. j MS. BAGNARDI; How many people currently occupy the basement apartment? MR. ROBINSON: It is supposed to be two but there is only one and I• he was paying the full apartment cost because I switched around a little bit and had we had more people who wanted to live in the rooms instead of the apartment so one down there and then mor li � i I I - 4 - �i upstairs to stay within the zoning. My room is the one on the second floor - the single on the second floor. Okay, the next part of the presentation, if there are no more questions about the i house - is directly - it directly relates to the financial hard- ship which I guess is an important part of the variance procedure i - the first page is heading "Income and Operating Expenses" and what it is is operate only operating expenses from July 15 , 1981 to February 28 , 1982 - that is the first column - the second colu n i? are projected operating expenses from th.e first of March until i August 31 and the last column is just the total .. Basically, this outlines morgage and expenses , repairs, water and, you know, jtypical expenses that the house has to go through.. The loss i� for the first - for July through February is $3, 208 . that' s just operating expenses and then the projected income for the next six months is only $194 . 46 which is , I don' t know, I guess it is plus or minus a little bit, but it seems low to me and then the final profit/loss just from, the operating expenses is $3 ,013. 84 i and that is a loss . So far we are running on a negative cash flow. The next page is an improvement plan for 410 Stewart Avenue - none j of these costs were included in the operating expenses of the house. I 've divided the improvements into four groups I divide �I them up that way because I wanted to show them in order of impor- tance. Th.e first group are absolutely necessary improvements that have already been done and that includes anew heating system a new water heater and a new carpet. And then the second group is i absolutely necessary improvements over the next six months and the the third group is improvements for the next eighteen months and the last group is work that' s underway to finish the downstairs living room. If you have any questions about the cost of all these or anything, I can answer that. The _ so far I have made $11 ,000 . Of improvements, that ' s group 1 , and in the next six months it is pretty necessary to make $4 ,300, of improvements and in the next Ii eighteen months it will be an additional $3, 500, And the final I! page of the plan is just a couple of pictures of the - I chose to take a picture of the gutters to show the type of improvements i that I am making on the house was - it needed things like gutters - 5 - I 'm sorry I don' t have a picture to show you the front. I don' t mean to present the house as a place that needs a lot of improve- .,., ments - it just - like the gutters - there were no gutters on the I! side of the house so what that' s creating is a lot of water runs off the side of the house and leaps into the windows downstairs i the basement so to keep that area dry, gutters have to be put up j� so that the water can be run off somewhere else , other than the ii driveway and the basement . That ' s all I have to say on the improve- ments mpro e- ments and financial hardship. I think that next year for rent my j options are clear -- without the variance I would have three less i people and the only way to cover the cost would be to increase the 'i rent by a very substantial amount which I think would bring the I !I house way over the competitive value of the rooms in the area ! which I don' t think is fair to me because it makes it hard for me to find tenants and it doesn' t make the house a very desireable I pl ace to live and it would mean that I would lose the existing ii tenants that are planning to live there next year for sure . With I� the variance, and the rent increase planned for next year , the i� rental income would go up a total of $7 ,000. which would allow me to pay for the improvements and the operating expenses with a se- I Gond mortgage on the house which is what I plan to do for next it l ! year with a variance . I� MR. WALSH; Mr. Robinson, the parking - lease you have is for a if single year did you say,? i i MR. ROBINSON: it ' s definite for one year. The way it' s worked out, Ican renew it every year because he will always have the parking places. But I only have a document for one year. If he li were unable to give me parking places I could go to the parking I lot across the street which is pictured in the booklet that I handed out . That is rented by Cornell . CHAIRMAN WEAVER; On that total income is that cash income or does that also include your rental? I MR. ROBINSON; That doesn't include my rental .. MS. BAGNARDI'; You don' t have property taxes on here either do yot ? Ii( MR. ROBINSON: I think that ' s under taxes . It is going to seem !i I� i' - 6 - i Ijfunny that I don' t it is under taxes - like Ithaca - taxes in- '; cludes I think, the school taxes and the . . . you see , I 'm not - this !' is my first year renting the house so I 'm not - you know, the taxe , i! bias you know - you see it doesn' t have anything for the next six months - I 'm not even really sure if it is going to go up for the i (next six months, so I decided to just go with the low value - the costs that I know have been incurred. These are all the costs for Il the last six months everything that I have paid for. !MS. BAGNARDI: I see. I! , CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Are there any other questions? Anyone on the Board? SIMS . HAI'NE: Have you been operating this at full occupancy? 'IMR. ROBINSON: Yes. SMS. HAINE: Since all through the summer? SMR. ROBINSON: The summer - it was only being rented for a month 1� and that was: fifteen people were living there instead of eighteen. I iIThat made a difference in rent of about $180., 00. with three less ( people. In the summer you can only get $60. 00 a month. The way I Ijhave it set up now the leases start in September and are twelve i ' month. leases so for this corning summer , it is already a full occu pancy and full rent. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to �ispeak in favor of this appeal? (no one) Anyone else who wishes Ito speak in favor of this appeal? Is there anyone that wishes to , speak in opposition to this appeal? (no one) Anyone who wishes ito speak in opposition? We 'll have the next case. f� I i I it I i! 7 _ �I Ii BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK �r MARCH 1 , 1982 I I {f EXECUTIVE SESSION (APPEAL NO. 1419 The Board considered the appeal of Harold H. Robinson IV for an 1 area variance to permit the conversion of the multiple dwelling at ji x;410 Stewart Avenue from one apartment plus eleven rooms to rent to ,;thirteen rooms to rent (eliminating the apartment) . The decision I: Iof the Board was as follows: IMR. WILCOX: I move that the Board grant the area variance re- quested in appeal no, 1419 conditioned upon the owner giving written evidence of a lease or other provision for the required two additional off- i1 street parking spaces on an annual basis , with the I j Certificate of Compliance to be issued upon presen- tation of that evidence . �IMR. WALSH: I second the motion, IIVOTE: 6. Yes ; 0 No Granted w/cpndition i {�PINDiNGS OF PACT: 1) This would not adversely effect the character of the neighbor- hood. 12) Would not significantly increase traffic in the neighborhood. i i �i i i I{ I I it l - 8 - I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS ii CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK 'i MARCH 1 , 1982 �ISECRETARY HOARD: The next appeal , Mr. Chairman, is appeal number �11420: Appeal of John V. Murra for an area variance under ) Section 30 . 25 , Column 11 , for an existing front ya d j1 setback deficiency, to permit the conversion of th j single family 'house at 515 Dryden Road to a two- family house. The property is located in an R-2a (residential one and two-family dwellings) use j district where the proposed use is permitted; how- ever the appellant must obtain an area variance fo the deficient front yard before a building permit 1, can be considered for the project. ;i MR. MURRA: I am John Murra, I live at 515 Dryden Road and have been living there since 1971 when I bought the house . Occasionall �I when I leave town on a leave, I have rented the house - always to i a family and the present proposal is related to my forthcoming re- I1tirement this summer. I expect to continue living there - if I go ioverseas , as I sometimes do , I will continue to rent it as I have Ii done all along. The only new element involved is the need to pro- vide for a net to catch people in cases of hardship after retire- Iment and since conditions are unsettled, my provision was to �Itransform the present basement it is a cellar-basement , into an i Ijapartment which would then become my own residence. Dr. Cross , I Ithe previous owner had two small hobby rooms built , the bath, the freezer, washing machines - the cellar has been in continuous use I 've kept some of my files down there , some of my stationery stackEd down there what would be new is that this occasional use would b transformed eventually some day, if necessary, into my personal I ' dwelling which would permit me then to rent the present house to somebody else. As has been said, the area is zoned for two family loccupancy, I have a plan for what it would look like if it were built, if anybody on the Board is interested. i1 MS. BAGNARDI : This is the outside entry to the house? IMR. MURRA; Yes there i,s a separate outside entry. Yes , and we 'd i rebuild that - in the present, we plan to strengthen it and have i open outward instead of inward, And the cellar has five windows fall of which open outwardly and provide both the necessary light i i; ii �i 9 - I and emergency exit . SMR. WALSH: I have one question about this - the deficiency that i !; listed on Frank' s information is in the front yard set back? I i' ! see also in the application an indication of a deficiency with i jirespect to basement ceiling height? That does not go to the I10rdinance. . . . if SECRETARY HOARD: No. That does not go to this Board. i ii MR. WALSH: Okay. f MR. MURRA: The houses in that district were all built together an they are all lined up at less than 251 . Parking has also been mentioned since there is a garage and a driveway and at present both are unused since I don't own a car but if it was occupied by I itwo people, the other family would have probably a car and there i 1 ( both a driveway and a garage available for them. The chances that iin years to come I will start owning a car r if I manage to reach I 165 without owning one, are remote but possible of course. CHAIRMAN WEAVER; Any questions from the Board? (none) Thank you I lIs there anyone who wishes to speak in favor of this appeal? Is there anyone who wishes to speak in opposition to this appeal? (no one) The next case. I i I I i i I f i I 1� it I I I !1 -10 it BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS j; CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK MARCH 1 , 1982 EXECUTIVE SESSION APPEAL NO. 1420 : The Board considered the appeal of John V. Murra for an area vari- I lance to permit the conversion of the single family house at 515 I, Dryden Road to a two-family house . The decision of the Board was , as follows : I IMS . HAINE: I move that the Board grant the area variance re- quested in appeal number 1420. MR. WILCOX: I second the motion. VOTE: 6 Yes ; 0 No Granted FINDINGS OF FACT: I11) The proposed use is a permitted us.e in the zone . 1 ' 2) Owner--occupied house , ; 3) Would not adversely effect the character of the neighborhood. I' 14) Practical difficulties in regard to complying with front yard I set back have been shown, it i i i I 1 (i I i i A �I I I I� 11 I) I I I I ii BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS i CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK �f �I MARCH 1 , 1982 11SECRETARY HOARD: The next case is appeal 1421 , appeal of Mary Lou Kieffer: Appeal of Mary Lou Kieffer for an area variance under Section 30. 25 , Columns 4 , 6 , 7 , 11 and 13, for deficient off-street parking, lot size and width, front yard setback, and one side yard setback, to I` permit the conversion of the single family house a 207 West Clinton Street to a medical office and apartment . The proposed uses are permitted in the R-3a (residential-multiple dwelling) use district in which the property is located; however the ap- pellant must obtain an area variance for the liste i deficiencies before a building permit can be con- sidered for the conversion. IMS. HOLMBERG: I am Laura Holmberg, attorney and I am representing Mary Lou Kieffer who is purchasing or hopes to purchase property fat 207 W. Clinton Street for use as a medical office. To orient you the 207 W. Clinton Street is between the Red Cross and Leonard ! Snow' s law office, there are just the three buildings facing Clint( n ,IStreet on that block, It's not far from the St . Johns School and, of course , the reconstruction home along W. Clinton Street. I ' didn' t realize that we were deficient in front yard set back but I understand that it ' s 916" instead of 10 ' back. We are deficient o one foot on the west side of the house it 's a four foot from the ! line and the overall area is deficient - it' s deficient for a single family house now as a matter of fact, Lot size is approxi- mately 4 ,000' - T think it is 3, 993 feet to be exact. It has a i jigarage and a long drivewayand there is space probably not there isn't 180 square feet but there is space for another car on a presently black topped area next to the driveway, Mrs . Keiffer specifically does not want to secure this variance on the condition ii that she convert the back yard to a parking area. She feels that Ithat would detract more from the area than any other use of the property and she would really is asking for a variance from the jparking requirements which would mean doing away with that back ;! yard. As we've noted - the proposed use is permissible and I might point out that Dr. Keiffer' s practice i.s a family practice - he � is a single practitioner - he has one employee in his office . It' i i! 12 - �a '� - there is unmetered parking across the street - almost never are Il'the parking places filled. There is also public parking within 63 feet from this property There is the adjoining property is used 4 for an attorney' s office with an apartment upstairs , I point out s; '1has less parking space than this property. I believe that the Planning Board' s rejection of our - refusal to recommend this was 11based on a feeling that they didn't want the use there - rather than ii anything to do with the area deficiencies . All I can say is that I' it is a permissible use that the that it will probably not in- crease parking problems in the area T might point out that Dr. i jKeiffer' s office is presently on W. Buffalo Street and he has no f parking for either for patients at his present place. I would i think that having a family doctor in this area would be a benefit f as far as I know there has been no practice of this kind. You've Thad specialists in the area but not a family doctor. Mrs . Keiffer is here if you have any questions of her - and I 'd be glad to answer f anything that you may have. I believe you have a plot plan of the property. CHAIRMAN WEAVER; Question. On the decision of requiring or not �irequiring the necessary off-street parking, it seems that the f � Ordinance speaks to that question but does not speak to the ques- I 'Ition of preserving pretty back yards. I am not sure that this ' Board has within its perview that kind of choice. The - as you express the appeal - are you saying the appeal is limited to the structure and the parking as it now exists? MS. HOLMBERG; Yes because she does not want to destroy the back I yard. Thank you. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Anyone else that wishes to speak in favor of this appeal? (no one) Is there anyone who wishes to speak in opposi- tion to this appeal? Yes six , come forward. J1 MR. HERSHENSON; My name is Michael Hershenson I live at 334 S. iiGeneva Street, around the corner from the property in question . R You may recall that I was here last month about the property at i 329 S, Geneva Street and T should like to commend the if I may I� take the liberty - the Board of Zoning Appeals I thought the decision was an equitable one because a variance was not granted - ii i 13 - !I ;, the variance which runs with the land was not granted and this (! special case and special conditions of this - that particular group ; was considered. In this instance, you are asking for a variance !Iwhich will run with the land forever so the issue , in my mind, is not Dr. Keiffer' s particular practice, but rather the fact this i ; house is going to be changed forever into an office from a single f ; family house into an office and apartment representing the loss of �1, yet again, another single family house in the area closest to the downtown when there is lots of space in Ithaca Center that needs ` offices when there is lots of space along Green Street that need offices , and we do not need the loss of another single family ` residence in our neighborhood. So this will extend the office zone - there will be an impact on the quality of neighborhood life - we will lose space for a large family or a reasonable in size family R - the house is very, very small - the apartment would be minimal therefore we are going to lose a family house n we are going to have somebody renting on a short term basis , I: should like to point out there is an error in fact in what Counselor Holmberg has reported this evening, She says that there is no family practice Iin the area. I should like to point out that one block away is th family medical associates who are my family practice and I am over - joyed verjoyed that they are quite as close as they are to our house so it' s within a block and one-half is another family practice one which was very much supported by the City of Ithaca when it con- t jverted the gas station on the corner of State and Geneva Streets i ` to that purpose about four years ago. T should also like to point out that in your file on this case you will find that I have writ- ten a letter to you as a member of the Community and Government Relations Committee of the Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Service and that Committee has asked me to point out to you that this pattern ' of converting single family houses to medical law- and other professional uses seems to be increasing n we seem to see a lot of � this we are concerned with protecting the residential quality of Ithe neighborhood, Lawyer awyer Snowwho has that office that Counselor Holmberg mentioned a few moments ago - has no off-streetarking. P o I� 11 ii - 14 - I I! That seems to be even the office exists in violation or it would i seem, of the Zoning code. So that we do have this encroachment jof offices upon our neighborhood. I think that if you are going to make a decision tonight to convert that building to office uses you should perhaps make a decision to convert the neighborhood to office uses and eliminate the idea that variances are happening !! there. Variances are not happening a pattern is evolving in i ; which our homes are being converted to office uses . Their value is certainly increasing because they can be used as offices but th I residential quality of the neighborhood is being lost and that is what we want to protect, so I thank you. I ICHATRMAN WEAVER: Ts there anyone else who wishes to speak against this application? (no one) We' ll have the next case. it I i i i i Ii l! 1 �I i Ii i Ii f� �i �I i II �! BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS ii CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK r MARCH 1, 1982 Is EXECUTIVE SESSION it APPEAL NO. 1421 : The Board considered the appeal of Mary Lou Kieffer for an area ii variance to permit the conversion of the single family house at jI 207 West Clinton Street to a medical office and apartment. The decision of the Board was as follows : MR. WALSH: I move that the Board deny the requested area variance in appeal number 1421 . MR. WEAVER: I second the motion. VOTE : 5 Yes ; 1 No Denied FINDING OF FACT: 1) Although the list of deficiencies of front and side yard are relatively minor, the deficiency in parking spaces for the proposal by the applicant is not - being a deficiency of two from what is required on a highly traveled street. ; 1 i i I i I� I I, ;i - 16 - r BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK it MARCH 1 , 1982 SECRETARY HOARD: The next case on the agenda was Appeal No, 1422 , i appeal of Tom Newton for a new hearing for a use variance under Section 30 , 25 , Column 2 , to permit the use of the property at 702-04 N. Aurora Street for the non-conforming use - that appeal i� has been withdrawn. It will probably be heard next month. Then the next case is appeal number 1423 : i �j Appeal of Gus Lambrou for an area variance �i under Section 30 . 49 and SEction 30. 25 , Column 6 and 14 , for deficiencies in minimum lot size and minimum rear yard setback, to permit the partial reconstruction of the building at 409 i Eddy Street . As proposed, the two upper stories j containing four apartments will be removed, and four stories containing eight apartments will be constructed on top of the lowest floor containing a tavern, which will remain. The uses are permitted in the B-2b (business) use district in which the property is located; I however under Section 30. 49 which � , prohibits enlargement of a non-conforming structure , the appellant must obtain an area variance for the listed deficiencies before a building permit can be considered for construction, j MR. LAMBROU: Good evening. I'm Gus Lambrou, T'm the owner of 409 I Eddy Street and I would like to bring my architect to explain to you the technicalities of, what this whole thing is about . If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call him. Thank you. MR. SHARMA: Good evening. My name is Ja,gat Sharma, I live at 110 Maplewood Drive, I 'm the a,rchtect on the project, The project before you is an addition and alteration at 409 Eddy Street, The building is located at the intersection of Eddy Street and Dryden Road, It is a sloping site. The building is three stories high at Eddy Street and two stories high at Dryden Road. It has a bar on the lower floor that is facing Eddy Street - it has two floors of apartments, a total of four apartments. The ground floor where li the bar is is of masonry construction, stone walls , concrete floor while the upper two floors are type 5 ordinary wood frame constr - tion, If the building is to be built today in a B-2b fire limits iiii it would be non-conforming because the type 5 wood frame construc- tion that is not permitted within the Br2b zone - it is also not permitted to have that kind of construction for a mixed occupancy. i 17 - ii 't So our proposal basically is to demolish the upper two floors of I the wood frame construction and using the masonry walls of the 11 existing first floor, build four new floors of apartments with an lexit from Dryden Road, with two apartments per floor - a total of eight apartments. At this time I will pass on some drawings and I' ll explain graphically what we are saying, The first drawing, ! unfortunately, does not have photographs - shows the condition of the existing building. It is , at best, a sub-standard wood frame building R it is a Very important location within the redevelopment of the collegetown area - if anything is going to happen within th 's lCollegetown area, the intersection of Dryden Road and Eddy Street �lplays a very important part from the design point of view. It does not conform to any requirement of the building code, zoning I ( requirements - as the floor plan on the drawing indicates a very II ilinefficient layout. The rooms are either too big or too small and i flat some point they are unsafe to live in, The building as it stands today cannot be modified or rectified because the amount of modi- ,Ification required will exceed 50o and a type 5 wood frame construc tion cannot be modified within a B-2b zone unless we have to tear !, down everything - that is what we are doing. Drawing number two i Vindicates basically the location of the site, Buffalo Street , Eddy ( Street, Dryden Road and the importance of this particular building within the overall redevelopment plan of the Collegetown area, Th jdrawing on the right shows basically what we are doing = we are ii going to retain the lower floor as it is and, using the foundation i walls , build four stories of new construction, It will be fire rated construction, The total project will meet all requirements i Ilof the building code in terms of separation, (unintelligible) and construction requirements . Drawing number 3 shows the new i ii floor plans . On the lower floor we will enter - almost at grade I I at Dryden Road with a central hall , one apartment on the lower , on i 11apartment on top, A total of eight apartments, nineteen rooms . The drawing on the left shows a typical floor, second, third and 11fourth floor - three bedroom and two bedrooms apartments. With tw ' 'means of egress, one coming out on Dryden Road and the other one i I� - 18 11going into the alley between 409 and 407 - we will construct a '; fire - two-hour fire rated fire door, connecting the building to i H Eddy Street. The last drawing indicates our proposal as it will stand - a four-story building and you can see how important the site i is - we had tried to relate the building with its surroundings in jiterms of window heights and window bedrooms n at the same time ltrying to manipulate them and create an elegant building. It will jibe a modest building on a site because you always have a tempta- tion to do a lot of other crazy things and we have kept it very i simple because it will allow future development in the area. We are here for two things. For an area variance for two deficiencies one is the lot area, The lot area right now is 1 , 798 square fee , and the minimum required in the B2b zone is 2500 square feet. As you can see there is nothing we can do about it. That 's the way it , the lot is and we are making the best use of the lot. We are pro- 3 ;ividing two new apartments per floor. The second deficiency that I1we have is the rear yard requirement of ten feet. At present there is no rear yard. The building they go back to the drawings here i � goes all the way to the back - there is no rear yard as such. Our cost estimates at this point take into consideration the use of lexisting walls, If we were to leave a ten foot rear yard, 1) the cost would go up very high, building a new wall , and new foundatio s Ii and 2) we will simply not have enough room to put two apartments , per floor so the project you know, we would forget the project , the money would not pay for the investment (unintelligible) . So , basically, what 1 am saying is we are not doing anything new, we fare using what exists on the grounds R we are not adding even an ! inch more on the ground we are not increasing the ground coverag , we are using what exists we are demolishing the non-conforming, subgrade building we are providing a news- building 7 it will up grade the Collegetown area it will ? I think within the overall ( plan of the Collegetown redevelopment - it is going to play a very important part, We had a meeting here last week with the Planning iBoard. They gave us their approval subject to the condition that we meet the Design Review Board before we come to this Board. We i ii - 19 +i ;` did that - we went last Friday - we had a meeting with Design Re- 1view Board - they recommended it subject to some recommendations li jabout use of material. I have been an architect for seventeen years � - I 'm very sensitive to the area and the owner, Mr. Lambrou, is very isensitive he owns several properties in the area. We will work and cooperate with the Design Review Board and working on details i i and selecting materials and if they want brick to be used(unintell . I" jIThis Board is for two area deficiencies - we have worked with the (IDesign Review Board, with the Planning Board and we will meet ever i ( requirement as far as the building construction code departments are concerned. SECRETARY HOARD: Mr . Sharma I have a copy of the Design Review Board' s recommendations . I don' t think you received your copy yet MR. SHARMA: No I have not. SECRETARY HOARD: You might want to look that over to make sure inhere aren' t any surprises . 11MR. SHARMA: Well there is a recommendation here by the Design and Review Board that bricks are to be used in exterior facing materia � - we at this point, have nothing against using bricks . Another on is the detail for facade design be brought to the Design Review Board we would certainly do that. It would require to submit detailed drawings and design for the building permit of the Build, ing Commissioner ' s office and then go to the Design Review Board and prior to that we will be working with the Design Review Board because we realize how important this building in, (unintell . ) the site plan, there is a piece of property that does not belong to Mr. Lambrou but the area between the sidewalk and building - it does not belong to Mr . Lambrou it is city property but we agree I kthat we will study %t, present sketches to the Design and Review Board for landscaping but I can say here that it is only about i� eight feet and very (unintell) and a sloping ground so whatever ljbest we will work out, we will do the work too'. There is another I 1 point that £ would like to make here, We want the decision to be Imade as soon as possible because this is the month when most apart - ments will be rented out for the next year r so the client would I ij 20 - I Mike to know which apartments he will be renting, and that is why it Iwe hurried and we went to the Design & Review Board on short notic on their part and our part both, and - we are working with every jlagency and more with sincerity. Any questions I would like to have . i (! CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Thank you, Is there anyone that wishes to speak I iin favor of this appeal? (no one) Is there anyone who wishes to speak in opposition to this appeal? (no one) ( SECRETARY HOARD: Mr. Chairman, I do have a letter sent to use jifrom Mr. Jason Fane of Ithaca Renting Company: "Board of Planning & Development "Board of Zoning Appeals j "108 East Green Street "Ithaca, New York 14850 �! "Subject: 409 Eddy Street t �IDear Sirs : �i 'll am writing in my capacity as owner of real estate within 200 'Ifeet of the subject property. I "Mr. Lambrou' s application to modernize , reconstruct, and extend his building would not be detrimental to my property, I { "I hope you will approve this application. I "Very truly yours, /s/ Jason Pane" MR. SHARMA; Thank you, CHAIRMAN WEAVER: We' ll have the next case please, i ,I I I I i v it I� I f it 21 - ii i �i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS I COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS j CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK L j MARCH 1 , 1982 li EXECUTIVE SESSION APPEAL NO. 1423 ; The Board considered the appeal of Gus Lambrou for an area variance to permit the partial reconstruction of the building at 409 Eddy I Street. As proposed, the two upper stories containing four apart- ments will be removed, and four stories containing eight apartments will be constructed on top of the lowest floor containing a tavern, i which will remain, The decision of the Board was as follows : ,1 MR. WILCOX: I move that the Board grant the area variance requested in appeal number 1423 . MS. HAINE ; T second the motion. VOTE: 6 Yes ; 0 No Granted. FINDINGS OF FACT: 1) Improving on a sub-standard building and at the same time add- ing more apartment spaces in an area which is predominantly used for apartment dwellings. 2) Using the existing foundation it would not be possible either to increase the lot area or the set back requirement, i 3) Parking is not required, 4) The nature of the property would make it a hardship for the owner to do otherwise, 5) It would be conducive to the character of the neighborhood providing better Housing. it I I - 22 i. 'i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK MARCH 1 , 1982 �I SECRETARY HOARD: The next case is appeal number 1424 , appeal of Robert Teitelbaum: Appeal of Robert Teitelbaum for an area vari- ance under Sections 30. 49 and 30. 25 , Columns 6, 11 , and 14 , for existing deficiencies in minimum lot size, minimum front yard setback and minimum rear yard setback, to permit the enlargement of the second floor of the non- conforming single family house at 212 Monroe Street for additional family living space. The property is located in an R,3b (residen^ tial multiple dwelling) use district which permits the use as a one family dwelling; r however , under Section 30. 49 the appellant must obtain an area variance for the existing deficiencies before a building permit can be considered for expansion of a non-conforming structure. IIs there anyone here to present this case? (no one) CHAIRMAN WEAVER: We ' ll hold this until the last case if there is no one here to present that case. SECRETARY HOARD: Alright, then the next case is appeal number 1425 : Appeal of Cornell Radio Guild, Inc. for a use variance under Section 30. 25, Column 2 , and a area variance under Section 30 . 49 and 30. 25 , Columns 4 , 5, 631 93, 10, 115, 12 , 13 and 14 for existing deficiencies in off-street loading, maximum lot coverage, front yard setback, side yard setback (both sideyards) , and rear yard setbacks , and additional deficiencies which will be created in off-street parking, minimum lot size, and building height , to permit the addition of two stories containing sixteen apartments to the existing non-con- forming building at 227 Linden Avenue (WVBR Radio Station) . (An alternative plan would be tp replace the existing building with a new four story building, but most or all of the listed deficiencies would remain) . The property is located in an R-3b (residential-multiple dwelling) use district where apartments are a permitted use ; however under Section 30. 49 than appellant must obtain a use variance to expand the Radio Station use (which exists under a variance) , and an area variance for the exist- ing area deficiencies before any changes can be made in the building. The area variance must also include the new area deficiencies which will be created by the project before a building permit can be considered for the project. i MR. WILSON; I 'm Bruce Wilson, I 'm the counsel for the radio station WVBR. The problem I have is I was not the one who was supposed to be making the presentation. I expect him shortly. I can go into ,I - 23 - i !!it or I can start that - I don' t know what the Board' s desires are I� cif there is any concern I can go on and make a complete presentation jas best I can. The concern is not so much . . . !!CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Wait, wait just a moment. Ii MR. WILSON: I am expecting Mr. Taube of O'Brien & Taube Architect Ito make the presentation, If he is not here in a short period of ; time, I would be happy to do so . He has the information regarding �jthe specific structural aspects of the - and since this involves - , at its initial phase the problem that construction has to be done to this „ its about 75 to 100, 000 dollars of structural repai i� , that has to be made to make this building safe that's what initi- fated WVBR getting into this study as to what can be done with this , building and at that time WVBR contracted an engineer for that purpose and the architects for the purpose of coming up with alter- native plans here. I believe it will meet the use variance - of course there has been multiple variances for use granted there lis a lot of inconsistent - it started out as a car dealership and �iI don' t know what, Mr. Chairman - you want me to go into at this point or whether you want to adjourn for five minutes . . . CHAIRMAN WEAVER: No, I was just concerned with the fact that we ay have a rather disorderly presentation of the case and there are iI ia number of people here, apparently, that are interested in this case , and until it has been presented by the appellant with some degree of success. , . R. WILSON: Iwould expect that in about five minutes the architect on behalf of the appellant and then Mr. Geller will be here also from WVBR. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: I ' ll take you at your word, we are going to adjourn for a five minute break. BOARD ADJOURNED AT 8 : 30. RECONVENED AT 8 : 40 P.M. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Mr. Wilson, the Board has reconvened and we are I repared to hear your appeal . R. WILSON: David Taube is here for the presentation and we apolo- gize for the delay. R. TAUBE: I took a leisurely drive along Linden Avenue to see i (i - 24 ii ii ,what things were like there. !CHAIRMAN WEAVER: We need to have you identify yourself for the ;records. 4' � MR. TAUBE: I 'm David Taube, O' Brien F Taube Associates , 106 E. Court Street, I'm representing Cornell Radio Guild on behalf of �WVBR. Could I ask if Mr. Hoard has presented the issues or . . . SECRETARY HOARD: I 've read the description of the appeal , yes , MR. TAUBE: The presentation that Cornell Radio Guild wishes to jmake is for the building on Linden Avenue. It' s a concrete struc- ture, probably about 40 or 50 years old, originally built as a two- story garage for auto sales. It has a brick veneer on the front o Ilthe building. First floor currently is vacant towards the north ll1jside of the building, on the south side on the first floor it is ' used for parking. The second floor is almost entirely used by l. !`WVBR - about 2 , 500 square feet of space right now is vacant for I storage for WVBR' s purposes. Late fall - early winter, a study by i Raymond DPasquale Structural Consultant was performed on the buil ((ing to determine what repairs were necessary to some serious struc- Iltural defects to both the beams and the floor construction. As i flit turns out there is considerable cost . it is estimated at ($75, 000. worth of repairs using an apoxy injection method to (strengthen the beams and then to strengthen the old waffle floor (slab construction. The cost of the renovation as well as much other needed renovations to the exterior of the building and the ; interior as well , and to put to better use the available space I within the building , it was felt that apartments could be built on , top of the structure to further Droduce income and would also, I ; within the structure of an eight unit apartment building be able to help support the much needed funds for the structural rehab and the !exterior rehab, Design was put together showing eight apartment ;units that would have thirty-four rooms , thirty-six beds on a new ; third and fourth floor. The Zoning Ordinance for that district i 1iallows for multiple dwelling construction. The problems that Mr. Hoard must have addressed regarding the project relate to a number � of items from the Zoning Ordinance. They include set back, side �j - 25 i Iyyard, front yard, and rear yard set backs. The building is built jIto the property line, within inches all the way around. The two !additional stories would total four which are allowed in the area, the building height would be within 2 feet of the required height of forty feet. We would be asking to continue the building straight Iup on three sides , the south, north and west. The east side - the design shows that the building would be held back approximately twenty - twenty-five feet from the farthest point of the property, reflecting the buildings that are behind it, up the hill towards the east . The parking, which is shown in the material given you ' and is also the upper left hand drawing first floor shows that par ing within the structure would accommodate approximately twenty- ,three vehicles. The eight units of apartments would require fourteen spaces based upon two four bedroom, four five-bedroom units which would each require two spaces - that would be twelve and then two 6three-bedroom units would each require a space. Therefore the f .twenty-three spaces , fourteen would be utilized for the apartments land that would leave nine spaces for WVBR. At present WVBR has japproximately nine to ten spaces within the building that they I utilize. As T understand it , never to its fullest extent - there are often two cars just sitting idle in this building they have only two part time - paid clerical - the rest are students - the location for the WVB.R offices is such - is in Collegetown primarily because they wanted to be within walking distance of campus and ( allow students that come and work in the facility to be able to walk. to campus, The proposal , therefore , intends to very importantly upgrade the existing structure that is in desperate need of upgrading, { appearance as well as structural . We intend that the parking that is jbeing provided would not impact the required parking for the build- i ling because we would be providing all the required parking for the ( apartments , continue to provide the same nine spaces that VBR cur- rently provides . Our examination of the properties that are adja- iI1cent to and surrounding the property on Linden Avenue show to us I�almost entirely rental apartments, non owner-occupied and we feel that this is of importance relative to the fact that we are con- tinuing to add apartments to this facility in an area that already i` i 26 j ; has been established as student rental . The - my experience along I , the street certainly isn' t nearly as much as others along that i, jlarea - again, because of the proximity, we don' t believe - in our Clopinion - that this will greatly impact the area with regard to 1parking or traffic and it certainly seems every time I 've been up i 'there either morning, late afternoon - there hasn' t appeared to be I parking I�a p g pxoblem. I've been able to find a spot readily. I 'used public parking along the street. The building a addressing the Ordinance directly now the building certainly presents lipractical difficulty to client with respect to the fact that it is built to the property line and is a substantial structure that cannot readily remove a porch or remove a portion of the building 1from one side or another. The Planning Departments report to the +IPlanning Board pointed out both that the upgrading -- the addition I'of housing stock ., of quality nature was important in this area an we believe that this project would be beneficial to Collegetown and would be important to the area and 'important also, of course, Ito 'VBR. , and we would certainly appreciate your blessings on this , i � Do you have any ques,tions? MR. WALSH: Is repair of the building as it presently stands impossible without the proposed change? MR. TAUBE: The study that we were called upon to perform was a direct result of WVBR's first indication regarding the costs . The i costs were considered, clearly, enormous and we were asked then, after some consultation on their part, whether or not we could take la look at the feasibility of putting apartments on to offset those costs. I can't speak directly for WVBR but I don't believe $753,000 f $75, 000 may be able to be raised as far mortgage but serious roblems relative to just a normal cash flow, I would believe rela- tive to payments on a $75 ,000 costs and I think what else is impor- tant is given the context of the structural rehab it became logical nd feasible then to go ahead and say not only adding two floors but how can we fix up the entire building? It is a student run rganization, with local individuals to serve on a Board and past anagement decide I know from my experience with the present li ll - 27 - I i r i' ii I�management is that they would like to do something with the build- I ling and certainly improve it. I, i ! MR. WALSH: Speaking as an architect, what is your opinion of the 1, future of that building if it is not repaired? MR. TAUBE: There can be serious concern - there are certain areas ( of the first floor you walk very carefully around regarding the I Istructure there is - concrete is actually falling down from the , floor slab. It ' s not an unsafe structure but the moisture and oil 1� that had gotten into the concrete during its use as a garage even- 1Itually corroded the bars - the reinforcing bars and the concrete ij !lis now popping away from those bars so the structural integrity is ,'certainly going and it 's also visible on the exterior and - al 'i though Mr. D Pasquale' s comments probably are much more relative .!to this, I would have to agree that I wouldn' t want to see anyone I in there over a year to two years without repairs. And again it is a very hard thing to determine whether or not something goes suddenly. T don't think there is any danger of any sudden collapse of the structure or the floor structure. f CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Does your study include costs? MR. TAUBE: For what , the rehab work,? CHAIRMAN WEAVER; For rehab and costs for the extended space that you propose to . R . MR. 'TAUBE; No we have not completed the cost analysis or financial proforma information. The concern of WVBR when we were presented with this was an 'interest to get into construction as soon as possible to tie in with school years and we wanted to get before the Planning Board and the Board of Zoning Appeals. i CHAIRMAN WEAVER: You mentioned one figure that there is an estima e of some sort that „ just simple repair to the building for structu al integrity will be about $75 ,000. With the same kind of casual ap- ! proach to estimates , about how much money does it cost to put two 1 stories of apartments on top of a newly rehabed foundation? SMR. TAUBE: The entire project I see could run upwards of a millio l. dollars. That would include not only the two floors of additional construction and the structural rehab but it would also include ne I' ij �I 28 i' I I, jfacing material around the entire existing structure , sprinklering iiof the first floor for garage facilities , updated heating systems , `i etc. i !'CHAIRMAN WEAVER; Are there any questions from the Board? IMR. WI'LCOX: Do you use the parking garage now for parking? MR. TAUBE: Just the southern portion 7 the area to the right of I lithe plan is currently occupied - as I said, I believe they can fit lin about eight cars in there now and they have two or three out in �Ifront, The northern portion of the building was used as meeting i grooms or offices of some sort. They almost entirely closed down i. jwith the exception of one space which is rented as storage by Tech IHi-Fi and that' s the area where the concrete has been falling, IMR. WILCOX: You'd have fourteen parking spaces? SMR. TAUBE: There would be a total of twenty-three spaces in the Inew . . . IMR. WILCOX: T here is a bicycle shop or is that bicycle storage? IMR. TAUBE : Bicycle Storage for the people living there. jMR. WILCOX* Was there a bicycle shop in there? jCHAIRMAN WEAVER; No, just storage, MR, TAUBE: If I could defer and just see if anyone else from �iWVBR would like to add to this. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: No other questions from the Board? MR. WILCOX: What was the total elevation again for the new plan? I J, MR. TAUBE: The height of the building? It would be approximately 411-,.' - possibly 42 - the existing structure is 22 , no 23 . MR, WALSH: Mr, Taube, under the proposal as you have drawn it with eight apartments, what would be the number of persons you would reasonably expect to occupy that number of apartments? SMR. TAUBE: Thirty-six. MR. WALSH: Okay. MR. TAUBE: Thank you. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Is there anyone else who wishes to address the IjiBoard in support of this appeal? Is there anyone who wishes to lspeak in opposition to this appeal? Yes I' MR. STETGER: Mr. Chairman, could I use that blackboard to try to I 1 I 29 give the - I think I can handle it here. . . 'ICHAIRMAN WEAVER: Before you do will you please introduce yourself. !MR. STEIGER: Yes , I am Paul Steiger, we reside at 935 E. State �IStreet and we own an apartment house immediately to the south of t e Ilproperty in concern here and I ' ll diagram that for you in a moment JI ' ll try to get this blackboard around so everyone can see it. To give you a prospective of what we are talking about here - Linden IlAvenue and this is WVBR's building and our building - 221 to 223 I Linden Avenue is just south of it and there is ten foot between th i! jitwo buildings and the property line is right on or within an inch for two of the building, WVBR. T understand a similar situation �' lexists on the north side with Mr.. Lower so that gives you a per- spective of the layout there and I want to talk to you from the I standpoint of both. the impact on the community , the community of �I Linden Avenue that is � and then admittedly from a selfish standr i jpoint of the impact that it will have on us as an adjacent property II on �jowner. Brom the standpoint of the impact/the community, there are three major adverse impacts that I see, one is density, the other 11s parking and the other is noise. If you travel down Linden Ave. anytime the weather is warm now, you know there is plenty of noise land there will be additional noise there if they are allowed to 9 , occupy this, building with thirty-six plus tenants, I don' t need I to tell most of you becaus-e T know most of you or many of you any i way are from that area - i don't need to tell you about the density that we are faced with already in the entire collegetown ' section but those of you r for those of you who are not familiar with Linden Avenue , specifically, it is a one-way street with I� ,, parking only on this side and the density there, I would say, must i be the population density, must be near the highest in the city. , There are apartment houses there galore and students galore and it' s a very highly densed population and we simply don' t need it's intolerable now the density we simply don' t need more den i I1s1ty of population on Linden Avenue.. Then the parking issue - 'lalready we have a situation where - 1i contrary to what was said �Ibefore by Mr. Taube, there is not parking there . When I take my i ii 30 - j i' j truck up there to do maintenance on our apartment house, I park o ii it our front lawn and get tickets . You cannot find parking on i Linden Avenue unless its mid-summer when the students are out, i ;I because of the situation that there is parking only on one side . �I So from a parking standpoint for the community also , it presents a very congested situation now which would be worsened if we I f added to that population. I suggest, based on the size of those i rooms 7 if I am correct on the size of those rooms - that addi- tional beds could be added so we are not talking about thirty-six people long range - we are talking about something up to sevent two people. Probably legally, if the city were to forego the j parking aspect of it. Secondly, from the standpoint of adding i I ii beds to rooms , the city does not monitor that I speak from ex- perience that we 've had students move beds into bedrooms without our knowledge and it can be done and I find I 'm hard put to believe that with rooms that size that there is going to be one I I bed per room on a long range basis. Now looking at it from the I standpoint of our selfish view point as a property owner, with i this distance here P these walls cannot be maintained or construe !� ted without working on both sides of them that means that they f have to work on our propertr or on the adjacent properties to do the construction and then to maintain the building.. And I stood here many years ago - several years ago , rather, and supported I W,VBRcoming in to there because we felt that something productive needed to be done with that building and something productive has been done with- the building , although I must say, that I 've lived to regret supporting ilt because they rebuilt this wall , this last year, and without permission from me , they blocked this driveway, - I have parking up here - ample parking for our tenants that, without choice, is shared with WVBR and often the sharing comes right here 7 where an automobile parked there, of people i ill visting WVBR that's presently - what kind of a situation would we have i.f thirty,-six more units or thirty-,six more people plus I to that building situation. But they took the liberty to recon- struct this wall - they took the liberty to put a fire exit door n I ij ii 31- - I jy that exits people, in the event of an emergency, onto our property a steep incline - a liability situation which we can' t tolerate �I We've asked them several times to remove that door without succes they blocked this driveway for a period of two to three days ii II without ever any notification of us . This gives you some idea of the credibility of the applicant and what we would have to deal with admittedly selfish - not from the standpoint of the 'impact on the community admittedly selfishly - what we would have to deal with in addition to what we deal with now if they were allowed to go ahead with this additional construction. With l� these things in mind I ask the Board of Zoning Appeals not to i' I` grant this appeal. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Is there anyone who wishes to speak in opposi- tion to this appeal? Yes. I+ MR. GALBRAITH: Good evening. My name is Dirk Galbraith, I 'm an I� attorney, I have professional offices at 308 N. Tioga Street and �i I am speaking on behalf of William and Patricia Lower, who are �! adjoining property owners both on Linden Avenue and on Bryant Avenue which is somewhat to the east. First thing I would like ii to point out is that the proposed addition of two stories to the WVBR building is going to impact more than just Linden Avenue in �I th.is area. The houses to the east on Bryant Avenue are built quite close to the property line. Mr. $ Mrs. Lower have recently i upgraded one of these properties by the installation of a large ' picture window which. they thought was going to overlook scenic Ithaca.. Instead apparently it is going to look right into the back of this building if these additional stories are projected i upward.. These buildings on Bryant Avenue are quite close to that property line and even with a setback here - I think you are going to find an undesireable density situation created there. I i would second what Mr. Steiger has said concerning Linden Avenue j itself it is a very narrow one�wa,y street at the present time which I think can scarcely accommodate the present flow- of traf, �I fic over this, The building itself, as presently structured , an 1 think the aerial map illustrates this very well , is totally !i - 32 li incongruous to everything else is on Linden Avenue - it is an enormous brick building which is built completely to property j! line. The adjoining structures are residential type dwellings which have side and front yards and are all set back significant) from the street . What is sought to be created here is not in !! any way in harmony with the rest of the neighborhood and is simply i! ii going to be larger and more inconguous . Now apart from the obvious impact on the neighborhood, which I think is substantial here, I think everybody that speaks is going to say that , my understanding of the function of this Board is that you must consider the need for the variance that is sought here. If this is an area vari- ance that is sought, and T think there are certain aspects of it that are an area variance, then the applicant must show practical difficulties if the variance is not granted. There is also aspects of a use variance here inasmuch as the present use of the property is a radio station, is by variance itself, and therefore the ex- I pansion of that use requires a further use variance which is a somewhat stricter standard T, I think it is styled unnecessary hardship, I think what the applicant really has to show here is that from an economic point of view, it simply can' t run the prop, erty unless this variance is granted. I am going to respectfully submit that no such showing has been made by this applicant, Now perhaps I should put this in the form of a question to the repre- sentatives of WVBR - obviously as building owners here and you are an owner-occupant, you dont rent, you have certain carrying ! costs associated with this building which T presume would show up it on a financial operating statement perhaps for the last year and that would also indicate Perhaps what your costs per square foot for running this building is, Now, if what is sought here the difficulty is that you have a somewhat deteriorating building , I i guess V d like to know what is the effect of borrowing $75 ,000. , performing the repairs to the existing structure , without going up two more stories, In other words, what does this cost you mor per square foot? Because right now there really isn' t any proof !I before this Board of what that impact is going to be, It may be r _ 33 ! that that' s quite within the realm of possibility for these people i, 1i - that it wouldn' t increase the cost per square foot dramatically. ii !( On the other hand, what has been suggested here is to invest a �Imillion dollars in a building by expanding it upward two stories to justify a $75 ,000 repair to the existing portion of that build- ling and from a business point of view, I am going to suggest that I� !:,! those numbers just don't make any sense. If the real purpose of !jthis application is to permit the rehabilitation of the old, and ;! somewhat deteriorating structure, then I think the focus of the �7plicant ought to be on those repairs and not the dramatic expan- I. lision of the building as a purported justification for that . Thank you. IICHAIRMA,N WEAVER; Is there anyone who wishes to speak against the appeal? WIGGINS, Members o£ the Board, Mr, Chairman, my name is Walte!,MR, Wiggins, I am an attorney with offices at 308 N. Tioga Street, I appear on behalf of Professor Moss Sweedler who has property at 308 Bryant Avenue and if I could follow the first gentlemen' s lead, show you a little bit about ghat that means in terms of my ( client, might help, Bryant Avenue is there (showing on the black ` board) , The gentleman who just spoke n Mr. Lower 's property, as I understand it , Mr, Lower has three properties that are related to this proejct ., this is VBR, Mr. Lower has a property here - the gentleman who just spoke has a property there - and my client has a. property that runs from Bryant Avenue to Linden. It ' s designated as 308 Bryant it' s a single family residence with a substantial yard on Linden Avenue and I think, although I certain! share and I would like to reemphasize the points made by previous speakers - my prime concern on behalf of Professor Sweedler is that , indeed, to permit such a project to be built would substan- tially change the character of this neighborhood, If you are i familiar with the area and drive along Linden and down to State !` Street and back along Bryant , you will see that there are nothing but one, two and three story frame dwellings that are all occupied as residences. To begin with,, as the other gentleman has indicate Ii i; - 34 - lithe VBR building is totally out of character. To elevate that building by an additional two stories , as Mr. Galbraith has sug 11 lgested, totally blocks the view of the people on Bryant Avenue so ,we have a view problem, we have a light problem, we have an air ! problem, we have a traffic problem and we have an unreasonable ii infringement on the what I would consider to be the rights of ; those people who enjoy the residential character of that neigh- i ilborhood, To further the thoughts that Mr. Galbraith expressed, with regard to the reasonableness of this request from a business ' point of view- and assuming for the purpose of this discussion anyway that Mr, Taube' s suggestion that it would cost about a million dollars, we are talking about an investment for eight apartments - an investment of $130, 000 per apartment . It doesn' t take much mathematics for the Board to understand that in order for $130, 000_ apartment to produce - to be economically viable lit means it must be filled with. as many bodies as possible, There is no way in the world (Mr. Wiggins continued talking while the tape was being changed this wasn't picked up by the tape) amount to seventy some students and obviously this project would I be earmarked for students and T think it is an unreasonable ap- proach to the resolution of a problem which certainly this company � y I+ could have considered and anticipated at the time they built the building. One other factor r my understanding is when this when I1VBR was granted the privilege of doing business there, there was already a variance for parking I'm not sure that that is so I think it would have required about thirty parking places and be, cause of the size , the square footage of the building r that a Ivariance was granted to reduce the required number to nine. So i we are really building on that nine so now he only needs twenty or sixteen or whatever it is for the new apartments plus the nine but if you examine the Ordinance it would be unreasonable i think �inot to recognize that we are starting from scratch here with a building , a two story building, adds two more stor�,es of apart i+ I� ments, that the number of parking places required for such a build ing would be substantially, greater than that which- they are offer- ing to provide. I think the last factor that z would like to i i� - 35 - �i to mention briefly is that _ recognize please that there is not 11 done inch of yard space for the existing building. We are now llgoing to put an additional minimum of thirty-six and in all i ( probability seventy or more young people in a building that has not one square inch of back yard, side yard or front yard and I i �idon' t think that that' s fair to the neighborhood or the community fi know Mr. Sweedler - I guess I have spoken to the legal parts of it - would like to briefly address you with regard to the human aspect as a resident some fifty feet away from the boundary line and I think he has filed with you a letter which expresses some of his views. Professor Sweedler? May I ask him sir? CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Yes , come forward. �IMR. SWEEDLER: I'm Moss Sweedler and I live at 308 Bryant Avenue ;land my house and lot goes all the way through and I really do use ( this back yard and already there is certain problems that have to Ido with. the high density in the area. For example people cut through this yard quite frequently - use it as a short cut - I 've i! fenced it - people still cut through it , jumping the fence or i ( finding ways to circumvent it. Additional people mean additional jipeople cutting through- What was said about no parking problem just isn't so. I have a driveway - I still have parking problems ' because I have to have cars towed out of there when I want to use jlit at times or cars parked r blocking it and I have to get them gout of there. I know other owners - I don't know if Ann Snipper ( got a letter to you she expressed to me that she wanted to get I here and wasn' t able to she lives on Bryant and is opposed to ;lit. There are other problems as well . If you are familiar with i 1Dryden Road, the intersection just above College Avenue there frequently are traffic jams there so that ' s just so this is ; around the corner right here - that is in front of Tech Hi,Fi and �I ( Johnny' s . The roads are pretty narrow there - sometimes there "will be trucks that are pulling up sometimes just when the city bus is coming down and a car is trying to get up - it can be prett ( tight and that's an area that frequently has traffic jams just as it is. They are not real big ones that are over in a few i� is - 36 - I� ; minutes and putting those many more people there are just going to liincrease the traffic problems we have in that area. From where I live I can see the VBR building when I am outside or even from inside and raising it two stories more is just going to cut down � my view that way just be a further irritation of that building I hand its over-sized character. There are plenty of people other I� 11Ithacans who work in the collegetown area that pass by there and i fits even going to be a disservice to them I' feel , for them to have to walk by a four story eyesore instead of a two story. So I think on all scores, as somebody who lives there r this would be undesireab.le and T hope that this is not granted. CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to laddress the Board in opposition? Yes . i� SMR. STILES: My name is Lawrence Stiles, I have a letter - a peti- tion from the residential home owners who live on Linden Avenue. "We are resident home owners on Linden Avenue who are concerned I about the appeal of Cornell Radio Guild, inc. for use and area i variances at 227 Linden Avenue. The building has been allowed to Ideteriorate , but as yet no truly viable plans have been presented I Ifor a use that would fall within the R-,3b zoning definitions allowed for the site. While we recognize that the owners of 227 Linden Avenue have a legitimate right to receive an equitable I return on their investment , the existing scale and congested , character of the street make it unsuitable for such a large apart- i Lent development. "We object to the present proposal . Linden Avenue is a narrow one Iwar street which- is already congested with student traffic and parking. The addition of multiple units with the possibility of ! two or more car-owning occupants per apartment would unbearably overtax this street which. has long since reached a traffic s tura= ( tion point. While the owners of 227 Linden Avenue naturally have ; their own expectations for -monetary returns, we , as property I +owners who live on this street, have an equally important invest- Im,ent in our own homes. This investment would be seriously com- ii (ipromised by a four story,, multiple unit structure with inadequate parking facilities. I 1 �! 37 "We strongly encourage the owners of 227 Linden AVenue to seek I { advice from appropriate city planning agencies in order to find a i� !solution which will be compatible with the mixed multiple dwelling and residential use of the street. We do not oppose development of this site. However, we ask for a well-conceived plan that will , help to enhance the use of the street. " Ligned: Mr. $ Mrs. Lawrence A. & Julia Stiles 119 Linden Ave. Laura, Nalehoff 123 Linden Ave. Michael Brown 123 Linden Ave. Robert Keiffer 117 Linden Ave. Marylou Kieffer 117 Linden Ave. Mary S. Ryan 210 Mitchell St. T. A. Ryan (corner Linden with 1S0' frontage on Linden) Mrs. Paul Gillette 202 Linden Ave . Fred Schwart 110 Linden Ave . Mrs. Harold L. Utter 214 Linden Ave. Harold L. Utter 214 Linden Ave. i This is signed by the six resident home owning families plus a family with a corner lot of 130 feet that fronts on Linden Avenue. IIFd also like to add that the American Cities Corp. , together with Cornell and some city funding have started a tentative plan for the I I collegetQwn area and the owners I think feel that the area along Dryden Avenue and College and probably Eddy are going to be targeted for high rise housing. Wetve already seen an example of that this �ievening, that had passed the Planning hurdle. While this has not been really discussed in open meeting or no decision has been ;made on it, that we feel that it would be inappropriate at this time to make such an extensive commitment to Linden Avenue whose very character is so opposed to any further congestion of that nature that its a narrow funnel R. it gets a tremendous amount of traffic (and that it is barely able to sustain what it has at the moment. The parking question is almost at the point of being ludicrous for lanyone who lives there that this proposal for housing has no indi- cation that it is going to have a resident manager who is going to I somehow police the traffic that going by on Sunday morning about 1(10: 00 there were already two cars that were ticketed there and it I� ,is a standard policy that seems to be that people are ticketed and I still park. any place they can in front of the radio station, There is ample student housing of one form or another in that area, it i' i I - 38 - !! Cascadilla is in the process , Sage Infirmary is completed, Sheldon ii 11Court is occupied and there is also talk about Valentine Place ;; being used for student housing, I think it would be appropriate I to have some sort of moratorium on housing - certainly on Linden Avenue for awhile until the city can come up with a clear and de- i I; fined policy and I' d like to submit this petition. Thank you. ; CHAIRMAN WEAVER: Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to 'Ispeak in opposition to this application? Yes . MR. TOMLAN., My name is Michael Tomlan, I live at 200 Delaware that is, I 'm a property owner and seeing as how most people seem t drive through this area, I thought I ' d correct the map just a little bit and show you where Delaware is . Bryant swings this way - Dela- ware from henceforth and ever more goes this way. I live here and I walk I walk to school - that is Cornell twice a day. I know that is rare but I am one of those rare birds that walk. Seems Ito me quite obvious that every time I walk day in and day out - that is Saturday and Sunday as well , there are more than enough cars on Delaware Avenue and T ask myself, say I, where do the cars come from? Well they come from this area down here and why do I say L how can I tell that? This is a one way street and if you were a student looking for a place to park you would start off and you would go around n you would come down to State Street and you would turn left and you go right on up Delaware , it is perfectly clear and obvious . And you can watch it, as I have, from my back yard, I see the car down on Linden and then it goes- by in front of your Ouse 7 strange how, it happens , but it' s true. The plain fact of the matter is, no matter what you do to that area, you can't control the number of beds you are going to have more and more cars and Fust to let you know- 7, T think there is somebody in here that should be a representative from the Police Department =. in the wing I� I''m the fellow who continually complains about the fact that thro gh- but that area people are parking across the sidewalks day in and i� Ir ay out, It seems to me that this is just one more" case where he aggravation is going to become apparent. Now I wish, for jgoodness sake, that if you've got any sense, you just stop the ii - 39 - i jjmatter. Thank you. �i jCHAIRMAN WEAVER: Is there anyone else who wishes to speak in l jopposition to this appeal? We have some letters . if ( SECRETARY HOARD: The first letter is from Mr. Sweedler. "I am j� jjwriting to vigorously protest this appeal. Adding two floors i', jof apartments to 227 Linden Avenue would have a seriously detri- i !mental effect on the neighborhood. The additional foot traffic i itis undesirable. The additional automobile traffic will compli- cate an already bad situation. Dryden Road just above the College Avenue intersection is too narrow and at present tie-ups there i Ii are not unusual. Parking in this area of Collegetown both by day i and by night is a major problem which will be made much worse by the proposed addition, The existing two-story structure is a main eyersore in the neighborhood. Adding two stories to that already ' oversize building would be a gross detraction from the appearance lof the neighborhood, This detraction would be felt by the many i ( neighbors who, as I, live within eye-shot of the WVBR building, as ; well as those Ithacans, who pass by on their way to work. Help i' keep Ithaca as beautiful and liveable as possible, do not grant �Ithis appeal , /s/ Moss E, Sweedler"' The other letter is from Ann I Snipper of 212 Delaware Avenue : "Dear Board Members , I would dike to register my strenuous objection to the proposal to add , two stories to the VBR building on Linden Avenue. I understand the two new stories would contain apartments, I' object for ( aesthetic reasons and for qual ty,of ,l ;fe reasons. Aesthetically, the neighborhood consists primarily of two or three story frame buildings. The proposed addition would make it higher than sur- rounding buildings as well as uglier. More important are the quality of life considerations . This neighborhood is already very I� high density with not enough parking space to go around. About ; every three months T have to call a tow truck to remove a car from Amy driveway so I can get out and go to work, Adding to the density i jlwill only increase parking problems, In addition, I have personal I! Ily had many complaints regarding noise about my Linden Avenue nei:- I jghbors. At least two households nearby have, over the four years i !I - 40 - 1 i! !! I 've been on Delaware Avenue , regularly set up stereo systems out- , doors and played them endlessly (or so it seems to a neighbor trying to concentrate on work) . T cannot welcome with open arms t e ;,possibility of eight more apartment dwellers to add to the auditor ;hash. Spare me , please! Sincerely, /s/ Ann S. Snipper" ;CHAIRMAN WEAVER: The Board has now heard all cases scheduled to be heard but the one . Is Mr. Teitlebaum here now? (no) For thos jof you unfamiliar with the Board procedure , we will now go into ;!,executive session so we' ll have to ask the rest of you to leave 11 room. We w111 reconvene after our deliberations and if you jiwish to wait you can get a verbal accounting of our proceedings immediately after the meeting . However , you can also call the Department tomorrow and get a verbal (by phone) tomorrow during Ilbusi iness hours at City Hall , I' d recommend the latter procedure �(unless you have a lot of time on your hands, i f� i 1 i !i l it li ii ! I, i !I l i' i i ii f it it I� �i i' I I� ,i I i C I 41 - it BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS I! CITY OF ITHACA NEW YORK I' MARCH 1, 1982 L EXECUTIVE SESSION APPEAL NO. 1425 : The Board considered the appeal of Cornell Radio Guild, Inc, for a use variance to permit the addition of two stories containing eight apartments to the existing non-conforming building at 227 Linden Avenue (WVBR Radio Station) . The decision of the Board was as follows : MR. WALSH: I move that the Board deny the use variance re- quested in appeal number 1425 . MS. WARD: I second the motion. VOTE: 6 Yes ; 0 No Denied FINDINGS OF FACT: 1) Linden Avenue is a narrow, one-way heavily trafficed street j which already is over-extended in terms of parking which can be provided to residents of the neighborhood. 2) The proposal is deficient by 25 parking spaces beneath what the Ordinance would require for the proposed use, The injec- tion of that number of cars to the neighborhood on a continu- ing basis would be a great imposition. 13) The neighborhood is already densely ,populated and the con- struction of eight additional dwelling units with a possible occupancy in excess of thirty-six persons would add to existing congestion in the neighborhood. 4) That adding to the density in the neighborhood would be incon- sistent with the recent zoning changes which provided a high density area in Collegetown without affecting the immediate area in which this proposal is situated, S) That the building is also seriously deficient in every other applicable category but two and that these deficiencies , are i� apparently irremediable. 6) That there was substantial neighborhood opinion expressed, all to the effect that the proposal would negatively affect the character of the neighborhood. t� ii 42 - I! �i i i I , BARBARA RUANE, DO CERTIFY that I took the minutes of the Board hof Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, New York, in the matters of i' HAppeals numbered 1419 , 1420, 1421 , 1423, and 1425 on March 1 , 1982 Ii ! at City Hall , City of Ithaca, New York; that I have transcribed ,! same, and the foregoing is a true copy of the transcript of the I minutes of the meeting and the executive session of the Board of jiZoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, on the above date, and the whole li ( thereof to the best of my ability, Barbara C. Ruane Recording Secretary I i i i ISworn to before me this j day of ay���-- 1982 j Notary Public I JEAN J. ! �.,;..,,,30N NOTARY FJ LiC. �_ ..ESV YORK c01114TYS,3 M. c I i i(