HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BZA-1976-12-06 l
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BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA
I! CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK
i:. DECEMBER 6, 1976 i
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11A regular meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals, City of Ithaca,
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! was held in Common Council Chambers , City Hall , Ithaca, New York I
lion December 6, 1976.
fI ,PRESENT: Peter MartinChairman
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C. Murray Van Marter
Gregory Kasprzak
Judith Maxwell
Martin Greenberg
Edgar Gasteiger ?
Thomas Hoard, Building Commissioner and
Secretary
Barbara Ruane, Recording Secretary
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Chairman Martin opened the meeting listing members of the Board
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11present. The Board operates under the provisions of the City
!!Charter of the City of Ithaca and under the provisions of the
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{Zoning Ordinances . The Board shall not be bound by strict rules
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jof evidence in the conduct of the hearing, but the determination
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1shall be founded upon sufficient legal evidence to sustain the
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Fsame . The Board requests that all participants identify them-
,,selves as to name and address and confine their discussions to the
spertinent facts of the case under consideration. Secretary Hoard
:!announced the first case to be heard.
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!!APPEAL NUMBER 1144 : Appeal of Family and Children' s Service of
!f Ithaca, for an interpretation under Section
!I 30. 3, Paragraph 55 , and Section 30. 25 , Column
2 , to use the premises at 406 North Cayuga
Street for a medical facility, in an R-3 use
district.
(!MR. WIGGINS : My name is Walter Wiggins , I am an attorney practic-
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;ling at 308 N. Tioga Street, Ithaca, and I am here speaking on
iibehalf of the Family & Children Service. For those of you who were;
iipresent at the last occasion when the Family & Children Service
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jsubmitted their application, you will recall that this concerns an
;!application for an interpretation for the ordinance to permit a
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:dwelling located at 406 N. Cayuga Street to be used to house the
?1facilities of the Family & Children' s Service. This application
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+comes before you with the unanimous recommendation of the Planning
(Board.
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MR. MARTIN: Can I interrupt briefly? In its earlier version
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this was a two-fold request : for an interpretation and if that
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�i should be unfavorable for a use variance. I take it the request
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11 for a use variance is dropped out.
MR. WIGGINS : That is correct, sir. We come tonight on the basis
1j of additional and different evidence than presented on the previous
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occasion. Again, for those who were not present the last time ,
let me briefly refresh your recollection concerning the circum-
stances. The facility at 406 N. Cayuga Street was given by Will
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to the Tompkins County Foundation to be used for charitable pur-
11poses . The Tompkins County Foundation undertook an investigation, ;
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ijsatisfied itself that the Family $ Children' s Service, which had
fa desperate need for facilities , have qualified and the purpose
jjof the application was to satisfy the Board, the Family & Child- I
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hen' s Service and the Foundation that indeed the use of such
;! facilities by the Family & Children 's Services would be com-
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,, patible with, and not in violation of the Zoning Ordinance of the
city of Ithaca. The section with which we are particularly con-
11cerned is Section 55, which provides that in a, I shouldn' t say
that this provides - 30. 3B provides that a medical facility may
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1be used in that Residential Zone and we are concerned here with
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!! the definition of a medical facility, which again to refresh your
recollection, shall mean and include hospital , sanitarium, rest
'jhome, nursing home, convalescent home , medical and dental offices, f
?land other places of the same nature , for the diagnosis , treatment 1
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� or other care of ailments and shall be deemed to be limited to
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; places for the diagnosis , treatment or other care of human ail-
I ments . Upon the initial application before the Board, the parties !
were unrepresented, that is to say the Family & Children' s Service
;1was unrepresented by Council. The number of people who appeared
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ii before you in support of the application, but they addressed
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€sthemselves to the equities and to the justice of the situation as
; they viewed it and not to the legal principals upon which this
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Board was required to make a determination. We therefore come
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?p back to you and have been granted the opportunity to submit the
kind of evidence which we feel supports the application to use
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p this facility and for you to interpret it to be used as a facilityl
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for the Family & Children' s Service and be totally within the
confines of the Zoning Ordinance. I would like to present our
case through evidence which I would like to submit more than
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r' an oratory on my part, if that meets with your approval Mr. Chair- '
man.
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MR. MARTIN: Alright, I 'd further like to make it clear that the
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collectiVememories of the Board are fresh on this case. We were
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all here during the prior hearing and we do also have the trans-
cript of that prior hearing so that we might try-those presenting
testimony on any side, to limit discussion to new matters .
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MR. WIGGINS: Alright, sir, in that regard I would suggest that
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our evidence would indeed be limited to a description of the use 1
of this facility, and I might state at this time that at the last z
hearing-I happened to be here as a spectator - there was a con-
siderable amount of discussion as to what the Family & Children's
Service - what kind of a service they performed and I think there
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i was a gamut of those services which span some twenty or thirty
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years . We are asking that this facility be used solely for the
following purposes : Counseling, Home Health Aid Service, Mental i
Health Information and Referral Service, Child Placement Adoption '$
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s Program, Child Placement Interim Families . That is the only pur-
poses which the facility will be used for if this application is
granted. With the Chairman' s permission I . . . . .
MR. MARTIN: You have omitted the office for the Foundation, is
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ji that being. . .
'i MR. WIGGINS: No, that is unintentional , there is indeed a very
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j small portion of the facility which will be allocated for that
purpose.
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MR. GASTEIGER: Would you repeat those once again, please.
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ii MR. WIGGINS: Yes , Counseling, Home, Health Aid Service, Mental
Health Information and Referral Service, Child Placement and
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I Adoption Service, Child Placement Interim Families Service. And
then if I may, Mr. Chairman, I would now proceed to take testimony
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in that regard. Mrs. Waldman please. And if it is possible
'! that I could have the witness sit at that end of the dias, at
the microphone it would probably be easier for me to conduct the
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j interrogation, if I may. '
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EMR. MARTIN: So that all can hear, could you click on the mike
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there?
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�! MR. WIGGINS: Is it your custom to take sworn testimony or?
! What is your full name please?
�! MRS. WALDMAN: My name is Marjory Waldman. r
�4 MR. WIGGINS: And where do you reside? i
MRS. WALDMAN: At 110 Randolph Road.
MR. WIGGINS: What is the nature of your profession? 1
If MRS. WALDMAN: I 'm the Associate Director of the Family
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s Children' s Service.
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MR. WIGGINS: How long have you been so engaged in that capacity?'
MRS. WALDMAN: Two years and two months.
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MR. WIGGINS: Can you very briefly state for the Board the his- f
torical background for the Family & Children's Service for the
record.
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MRS. WALDMAN: The Family & Children' s Service is a private .non-
I� profit, voluntary organization which was incorporated in 1956 and
!j is , in the broadest terms , primarily to provide for meeting
emotional and physical problems in the Community, thereby assis-
;� ting children, adults , families , individuals with emotional and j
physical problems .
MR. WIGGINS: Where are the present offices located? j
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MRS. WALDMAN: We are presently located in two buildings , one at
EiE 315 N. Tioga and another at 313 N. Tioga.
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IMR. WIGGINS: Have you prepared, at my request , Mrs. Waldman,
a documentation of the programs, the space allocation in the
I! new facility if this application is granted and the funding of
' those programs .
MRS. WALDMAN: Yes, we have.
! MR. WIGGINS: Do you have those with you?
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Ij MRS. WALDMAN: Yes. ;
MR. WIGGINS: Have you also prepared at my request certain draw-
ings which describe the facility at 406 N. Cayuga Street with a
1 designation of the specific areas where the Family & Service in- °
to use
tends/that facility?
�I MRS. WALDMAN: Yes , 1 have.
MR. WIGGINS: Mr. Chairman, with your consent I would like to
Pass copies of these documents to the Board members so they mighti
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follow the testimony of the witness . !
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MR. MARTIN: Do you have a copy you can leave with our recording
I� secretary?
1 MR. WIGGINS: Yes , I will certainly leave one more when we finish.
( We are one short. i
MR. WIGGINS: Mrs . Waldman, calling your attention to the first I
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series of documents consisting of two pages , on the back side of I
i the first page as well , entitled "Family & Children' s Service of
!j Ithaca", was that prepared at your direction and under your
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supervision? i!
{ MRS. WALDMAN: Yes, it was .
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I MR. WIGGINS: And does it describe the services which will be
used by the Family $ Children' s Service at the facility at 406
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iiN. Cayuga Street if permission is granted to do so?
f MRS. WALDMAN: Yes , it is.
!� MR. WIGGINS: Would you very briefly describe the counseling ser
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vices , what they do, how they are supervised at the present
facility and how they will be handled at the new facility.
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MRS. WALDMAN: The counseling service of our Agency provides
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(diagnostic and treatment services to individuals and couples , as !
! well as children who are , as I said before, having difficulties ,
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Ijemotional problems , primarily. We have qualified professional
!;staff who provide the counseling services in our Agency through
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;using a variety of treatment, individual and group therapy, couple
!;therapy, family therapy and, in the case of children - play
11therapy and some activity therapy groups .
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'IMR. WIGGINS: With regard to the staff, can you tell me what pro-
!;fessional staff will be associated with the Family & Children' s
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,.!Service at the new facility?
11MRS. WALDMAN: We have Clinical Psychologists and masters in
;Social Workers and Therapists. The staffing is listed in three
11Clinical Psychologists, four social workers and one family thera-
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il!pist.
1MR. WIGGINS : And how much of the physical space in the new facil-
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' ity will be occupied by that Counseling Service?
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MRS. WALDMAN: 76% of the space that will be used in the total
;! facility will be allocated to the Counseling portion of our pro-
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gram.
MR. WIGGINS: Could you point out to the Board on the blueprint
`,the areas which will be occupied in the facility for Counseling
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;!services and briefly describe what will take place in those various]
therapy rooms .
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' MRS. WALDMAN: The top sheet is the second floor of 406 N. Cayuga,
!land the next sheet is the third floor of 406 N. Cayuga, as we wouldl
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!'envision using the space. As you will see, the major portion of
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';the second floor - four therapy rooms on that floor and five
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fitherapy rooms on the third floor. In addition, we would anticipate'
11renovating the Carriage House which is the other building in back
�land in that - it ' s the fourth sheet in your packet - is the first
','floor of the Carriage House. We envision locating our group
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'!therapy, play therapy and three other therapy rooms as well so i
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'that the majority, as you can see, of the space we are using for
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11treatment. Primarily this would involve Counseling with our
professional staff in individual treatment or, in case of families ,
11working with the total family in the group therapy room and offices
1Ithat are large enough to accommodate small groups , working with thel
;Therapist or Co-Therapists with groups of people as well.
J` MR. WIGGINS: And is that Counseling Service funded as indicated
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IIon the sheet, that is to say, 72% by the United Way, 3% from the
Department of Social Services and 25% from individual fees for
those patients and persons receiving treatment at the facility?
11Calling your attention to the Home, Health Aid Service, which is
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the second service described in the Exhibit, can you again, very
!briefly, since we spelled it out in the report, but could you j
'!briefly describe what that health service is?
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IIEMRS. WALDMAN: Yes , that service is provided - I mean its important
!Ito make the point that the majority of the services that the Agency
provides within the facility, will be Counseling. The Home Health
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( Aid Program is a service which happens in people ' s homes . It' s a
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service sending trained aides to people ' s homes , people who have
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1had health problems primarily - coming home from the hospital or
elderly people who are unable to be, because of health reasons ,
jat home without someone helping them occasionally during the week.
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� I know that we will have some further information on the health part
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of this . E
�'MR. WIGGINS: With regard to the - again - to the Exhibit, there is
Ian indication that there are thirty Health Aids . Do those Health i
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!'Aids work in the facility or outside the facility?
*RS. WALDMAN: They work outside the facility. 1
,�R. WIGGINS : Can you show to the Board what portion of the facilit
,,will be occupied by that use? You have indicated in the Exhibit
1!that some 4% of the space will be allocated for that purpose. Will
!you point that out for the Board?
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IRS. WALDMAN: Yes , on the second sheet , which is the third floor
11of the main facility, you will see the Home Health Aid Administra- i
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.hive Office and Professional Office. That would be the area that
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lwould be Home Health Aid and part of our professional offices .
JIMR. WIGGINS: I 'm calling your attention to the third service pro-
vided - with regard to the funding of that Home Health Aid Service ,1
11the Exhibit indicates that 880 of that funding is provided by the !
;Tompkins County Health Department ; 5% by the Tompkins County De-
!partment of Social Services , 6% by the Broome Development Center I
land 1% in private fees . Is that information which you have ac-
Iquired and do you certify that that indeed is correct?
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?MRS. WALDMAN: Yes.
1MR. WIGGINS: Calling your attention to the third service provided
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Iby the Family $ Children' s Service indicated in the Exhibit, namel ,
jthe Mental Health and Information and Referral Service . Could you
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jvery briefly describe for us what that service is?
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!MRS. WALDMAN: This is a service which is primarily carried out in
ithe Community within the City of Ithaca in the northside and
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11southside areas of the City. The primary purpose being to help
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1people who are not presently making use of Mental Health Services
1if they need them, to find the appropriate service and get to the
'service, who will assist them in finding the help that they need.
} MR. WIGGINS: Calling your attention to a letter which is attached I
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! to that Exhibit and forms the third page of that Exhibit from the
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!,Department of Mental Hygiene, can you briefly describe to the Board
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11what the information in that letter - information - purports to
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IMRS. WALDMAN: Well this letter gives approval to State Mental
f1Hygiene Department of that program as being eligible for state aid
1Ifrom the Mental Hygiene Department . Therefore it is a Mental
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!Health Program.
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'IMR. WIGGINS: And does , in fact, 50% of the funding of that program
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'come from the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene?
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�IMRS. WALDMAN: That' s correct . °
11MR. WIGGINS: And does the balance of the funding come from the
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;United Way?
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IMR. WIGGINS : I 'm calling your attention to the fourth program, the
lChild Placement Adoption Program. Can you tell me what function
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('the Family $ Children's Service performs in that regard?
IIJMRS. WALDMAN: The Family & Children' s Service provides assistance
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11to couples who are interested in adopting children and also assists'
11in placement of children in those homes .
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�MR. WIGGINS: Mrs . Waldman is it fair to say that that particular
j�service is not mental health related or physical health related,
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but indeed is a Community Service rather than a Health related
service?
MRS. WALDMAN: Yes .
�IMR. WIGGINS : And what percentage of the time and effort of the
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alFamily & Children' s Service is devoted to that dimension of the
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( Family & Children' s Services activities?
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MRS. WALDMAN: Well, adoption services in general have certainly
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decreased over the last few years. Our Agency has experienced a
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Isimilar decrease. The monthly activity in office, as one example ,
'under the Child Placement Adoption statistics, our in-office
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liaverage monthly meetings with people is three. This is in working
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ith couples who are interested in adopting. It' s a very small
dportion of the activity of our service. i
R. WIGGINS: Do I understand that that Exhibit indicates that over
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' the course of the average month, not more than three couples would
appear at the facility for the purpose of seeking information or
further investigative efforts on behalf of the Family & Children' s i
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Service related to an adoption.
RS. WALDMAN: That ' s an average figure.
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R. WIGGINS: Can you show to the Board where the services for the E
!Child Placement Adoption and the Mental Health information Referral
Service organizations will take place?
�MRS. WALDMAN: These are not identified specifically on the charts
��ecause the offices are used primarily for treatment offices . Our
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doption staff are also Counseling staff and the majority of their '
'time is spent in counseling. So its part one in therapy, and also
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for adoption discussions in those rooms.
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MR. WIGGINS: Calling your attention to the fourth and last service]
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1which is entitled on the Exhibit "Child Placement, Interim Families"
can you briefly state for us what that program is?
11MRS. WALDMAN: This is a service for adolescents who are in need of
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jjtemporary placement outside their homes and we consider this an
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ladjunct or our Counseling service as an adjunct to this program.
�lIt is an effort to prevent long term family breakup and we have a
1lhalf time person who is responsible for coordinating that program.
, The adolescents whom we deal with are placed in families outside
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] the facility - volunteer families outside the facility.
1MR. WIGGINS : Can you tell me, based on your experience, what per-
pJcentage of those youngsters who pass through your organization finds
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( themselves using the counseling services by reason of difficulties ,'
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iemotional difficulties , which they may be experiencing, prompting
1them to seek your service in the first place?
1,1MRS. WALDMAN: I would say at least 80 to 850 of the youth who come!
! through our program are called to discuss the possibility of place-�
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finent in an interim family. We certainly make use of counseling
' services .
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j; MR. WIGGINS : Alright, I have no further questions . Mr. Chairman
jiif you or the members of your Board would choose to examine Mrs .
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( Waldman, we would welcome that opportunity.
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SMR. MARTIN: Are there questions from members of the Board?
lMR. GASTEIGER: Could we have summarizing percentages now?
iMR. WIGGINS: In terms of percentage of use of the facility?
!IMR. GASTEIGER: Yes, in terms of what you feel are clear cut
'medical uses. For instance, under four you said 500 of that was
snot. . . .
MR. WIGGINS: Yes , the only one which the Family & Children Service!
'] feels cannot qualify as directly as a Health Aid, or Medical Aid,
llor Ailment Aid process would be the child placement adoption pro-
'!gram which occupies an insignificant part of its total facilities
nand program, although it is a distinct and separate program. As
you will see on the Exhibit there is no separate space allocation
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for the staff. There are no specific staff persons but it is a
1program that the Family & Children Service engage in by their pro- q
fessional staff.
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DR. GREENBERG: Mrs . Waldman, can you tell me that nature of your
! referrals , particularly those from mental health professionals?
Why do they refer their patients to your facility?
MRS. WALDMAN: Well, we have referrals from other psychiatrists -
1primarily it would be to work with families. The services that we
; offer would be, either a kind of service that would be most appro-
1I'priate for the particular kind of person they are referring. In
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working with particularly complicated family situations .
HDR. GREENBERG: And the other big grouping is a similar thing
11clergy, courts and lawyers? They refer to you for a particular
type of service?
JIMRS. WALDMAN: Yes , these would all be counseling services .
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yMR. GASTEIGER: I 'm left with a sense of uneasiness . It has to do
; with wanting to know what has changed since last time. Because we
Isought for ways to view this as medical and really didn' t find ,
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sufficient percentage to interpret it as medical . Now this time
Mit seems it is coming out to be about 990 . Can you help me on this
please?
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MR. WIGGINS: Yes, I think I can best help you sir by perhaps ask-
ging you to hold the question until we have completed our presenta-
tion and if we haven' t answered it by that time, I will do my best l
� to justify the reapplication. Thank you sir.
�MR. KASPRZAK: I have one question, maybe it ' s not a fair question f
but I 'm going to ask it. Do you happen to have a geographical
distribution ratio of your patients?
RS. WALDMAN: Yes, the counseling part of our program is a little
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over 700 of the people who use our counseling services come from
the city and town of Ithaca. We are a county-wide program and the
Ibalance of people come from across the county. I would say this is
`�lso true with our Home Health Aid program, although we do reach
perhaps a little further out in the county because of mobility, our
ids are mobile and they do go to the people.
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IMR. KASPRZAK: Thank you.
11MR. WIGGINS : Again Mrs . Waldman, with regard to the Exhibits
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11which we have presented to the Board which relates to not only the
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;funding and percentage of allocated space, but also to the client
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}location source of referral, are these statistics and information
; which you as one of the directors of the organization have pre-
iE, pared and do you certify that they are true and accurate as
isubmitted?
MRS. WALDMAN: Yes .
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IMR. MARTIN: Are there further questions? I guess not, thank you.
IMR. WIGGINS : Thank you Mrs . Waldman. Dr. Taylor please.
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! What is your full name sir?
1DR. TAYLOR: Neil Taylor.
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�MR. WIGGINS: Your address?
IDR. TAYLOR: 124 East Remington Road
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! MR. WIGGINS : The nature of your profession?
DR. TAYLOR: I 'm a physician.
�,MR. WIGGINS : Do you have any specialties?
�EDR. TAYLOR: I 'm an emergency room doctor at the County Hospital
lat the moment. Formerly I was a psychiatrist at the Health Service
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at Cornell .
R. WIGGINS : Doctor have you had occasion to become acquainted
!with the facilities of the Family & Children Service?
iDR. TAYLOR: I had occasion in both of the capacities that I men-
tioned just now. Once in awhile I refer people from the emergency ,
11room, people who present their emotional problems and symptoms I
(refer to the Family $ Children Service. More frequently, when I
as acting as a psychiatrist I would see wives and husbands of
students who were having problems and symptoms and were not eligibl
for our service at the Clinic there and the Family $ Children Ser-
vice was a very useful resource for us. We were able to send them
down there where they would get essentially the same kind of treat-
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� ent that we could have given them had they been eligible. I
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'MR. WTGGTNS: Doctor in order to acquire the skills of a psychia- I
11trist and to practice that profession in the State of New York, is
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11a medical education and license required? r
lDR. TAYLOR: Yes .
,1MR. WIGGINS: And can you very briefly, as an expert in the field i
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lof psychiatry, advise the Board whether or not, at least in your
opinion, the facilities that you use as a consequence of your re-
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lferrals to the Family & Children Service would qualify as being
Hthose where they were concerned with the diagnosis , treatment and
y�other care of human ailments .
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1IDR. TAYLOR: I can really only address myself to the counseling
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1facilities , the rest I don' t have any experience with. But what
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!! I would like to address myself to, are really three aspects of
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;(this question of whether the place is functioning as a medical y
;!facility. First, the question as to what kind of people go there;
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sl,second, what happens to them there ;:. and third, maybe what ' s the
' purpose and function in relation to what they bring. So far as
; the people who are referred to the service, the ones who are re_
Inferred by me, are concerned - I think you have to define them as
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1patients since they are people who felt ill , they have problems in j
living which had caused them to experience symptoms such as
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anxiety, depression - that kind of thing which are commonly defined)
Lias medical symptoms and as a result they have presented themselves
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Ilto a doctor or to a medical clinic of some kind. The question as
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! to what happens to them when they get to the Family & Children
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i�Service is they go through a process of counseling and
psychother-apy, which, as far as I can tell , is not distinguishable from what j
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,a psychiatrist does . I 've never found any way to distinguish be-
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�Itween the kind of psychotherapy that the s
�) p y py psychiatrist does and
what a psychologist or social worker does . They don' t have any
factual physicians at the service it seems to me that they perform
J!the same function. As to the purpose and the outcome, it seems to
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pe essentially what they are doing is rehabilitation. If they are `
i aking people who are in a state of poor health and are restoring
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them to better functioning, to better health, that again, it seems
Ito me to qualify the organization as a medical place.
Mii MR. WIGGINS: I have no further questions of Dr. Taylor. Members I
1lof the Board do.
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EIMR. MARTIN: Do members of the Board have questions of Dr. Taylor?
IDR. GREENBERG : Dr. Taylor, when you have the opportunity to refer
I'or the occasion to refer people to the Family & Children Service,
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1you have the same opportunity to refer them to other institutions
`such as the Mental Health Clinic. Why one or the other?
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1DR. TAYLOR: I think in many cases we were happy to send them to I
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ithe Family & Children Service because we found that they got good
results . It wasn' t that they were more or less medical than any
=other clinic but they have good people working there and they do a
good job.
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DR. GREENBERG: It had nothing to do with the fact that the family
9
1
unit was a problem?
' DR. TAYLOR: In some cases I think the emphasis may have been more
on the family, it wasn' t necessarily so. You have to ask the peopl�
l� I
I�connected with the organization a little more about that. I was i
a �
lin the habit of referring people -- the folks of the problem wasn' t
ecessary.
R. GREENBERG: Not necessarily.
R. WIGGINS : Doctor, with regard to counseling and indeed the
i
Family & Children Service has defined its counseling services as
iagnostic and treatment services to individual children, adults ,
ouples or families requiring the use of several treatment modali-
f
Mies , do you see that indeed, based upon your experience and your ?
sjexpertise as a physician, a medical doctor, and a psychiatrist, as "
`I I
,� ndeed being concerned with the diagnosis and treatment and care ofd
1�uman ailments? i
,j
R. TAYLOR: Yes , I do. j
PR. WIGGINS: I have no other questions .
I�R. MARTIN: Any further questions from the Board?
i
J�R. WIGGINS : I ' d like to call Dr. Gaffney please.
�i
1'
'7
�I
i
If - is -
i I
I R. WIGGINS: What is your full name please? j
C
fDR. GAFFNEY: Kathleen Gaffney
i
f R. WIGGINS: Where do you reside?
fDR. GAFFNEY: 24 Renwick Heights Road i
li
SMR. WIGGINS: May I ask the nature of your profession? 1
i
fDR. GAFFNEY: I 'm a physician. I
i
R. WIGGINS: And where are you presently employed? j
1DR. GAFFNEY: I 'm the Commissioner of Health, Tompkins County
I
`Health Department .
fMR. WIGGINS: How long have you been so employed?
DR. GAFFNEY: A little over three years . I
i
MR. WIGGINS: Doctor, are you acquainted with the Home Health Aid
Service which is provided by the Family & Children Service?
1DR. GAFFNEY: Yes , the Home Health Aid Service is part of - is a
llcontract agency of the Tompkins County Health Department. In order
('for us to exist as a Home Health Agency certified for providing car
1by Medicaid and Medicare in the New York State Health Department
i
fwe are required to have Home Health Aid homemaker services as well I
has our public health nursing, physical therapy and occupational
f
therapy services which we provide. It ' s an integral part of our
entire home care program and without it we would be required to
E
Ilfigure out a different way to provide that service. It ' s not I
0
I`
Imerely a relationship of mutual interest, its an absolute essential
service for us. It ' s a service which is over $100, 000. a year and I
I �
provides for, perhaps not a large space allocation of Family &
ilChildren Service but I think a vital part of their program, in our
S
,feyes . The Homemaker Home Health Aid is a person with a background
li
11of good judgment and responsibility, who is trained by a joint
�� ethods with Family & Children and the Health Department to provide
111111 !
1p ersonal care to clients in their homes , usually on a several day al
l�eek basis . This is very definitely a health service. This is notl
I cleaning the dust out of the corners , it is assisting people with I
I
��aths , physical therapy programs , maintenance of function and assis'
stance in activities of daily living and it provides them with the
9 �
�i
i!
V�
;t
f, I
16 -
i
jpossibility of staying at home while recovering from or continuing
it
Into maintain themselves related to a physical and medical problem.
It
11The service is always provided to the Health Department with a
;i
iphysician' s order and under the direct supervision of a public
It j
ihealth nurse. i
�I
;!MR. WIGGINS: Doctor if this service were not provided, where would
1the people receiving the services be required to be housed, cared
1� I
hand maintained?
i
I'DR. GAFFNEY: They would be in nursing homes. Since the kind of
I
'!person who is eligible for health related facility placement which I
i�
is a lower level is not usually qualified for the kind of services
i
1�which we provide at home, so essentially there is some component j
s I
lof skill of nursing care which would be comparable to a nursing
I
i
home level of care that these people are required. ,
I
!SIR. WIGGINS: Are there certain state guidelines which these healthl
fl I
jaides must fulfill in order to qualify the program for funding '.
through the Department of Health?
i
�R. GAFFNEY: Yes. There are New York State, as well as federal
I
l overnment guidelines - HEW Guidelines - for the training program, I
i
0he on-going, in-service program, the basic qualifications and
I
'essentially all around vocation of the service. The Home Health I
ii
� id service is part of an Article 28 service of the Health Depart-
nent. The Home Health Agency is established and operates under a
I
1� icense to operate just like out-patient clinics , hospitals, nursing
r j
Domes , and health related facilities . Many people aren' t aware of
I I
!that but we operate under Article 28 just as other health facilities.
�R. WIGGINS: And are you in any way involved with the overall super-!
+ision of this program in your capacity as Commissioner of Health? j
OR. GAFFNEY: I serve mainly as a resource person and consulting j
When particular problems arise. The program coordination mainly I
Occurs through our Director of Patient Services , Mildred Barnard.
11 I
R. WIGGINS: As a physician what distinction, if any, do you make
" I
13
etween mental and physical health, from a professional point of
I
iew?
'C
I
E
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- 17 - I,
!p
. DR. GAFFNEY: I think the kind of services that most of the Home j
JHealth Aid Service is related to is usually a physical one. How-
i �
; ever, it is quite clear that in the recovery from any physical ill-s
ness the emotional status of a patient is probably the primary and )
determining factor. Other than the additional little kinds of
assistance which one can do in a physical way. We have found that
it is very important to us that the Homemaker Home Health Aid Ser-
vice be provided by an agency such as Family & Children Service i
'1with a different kind of orientation because we can very directly
l�
I1provide the kind of nursing supervision, professional and medical
1
�Isupervision those are sort of bottom lines in the program but
I I �
having in a program which relates more to people ' s emotional status)
Viand mental health has performed as an important adjunct to us and
j� it is very definitely an advantage to us to have it in an Agency
i
like that.
! MR. WIGGINS: Doctor are you familiar with the information which
has been supplied to the Board by the Agency that 88% of that
program is funded by the Tompkins County Department of Health?
'IDR. GAFFNEY: Yes, and I would like to point out that perhaps you '
({don' t see that from the figures but the trend for increasing health
11support of this program is continuing over the years and so, basic-
dally, from years ago when a modest part of the program was health
funding, it is becoming , as you can see from the figures , almost
entirely a health funded program.
MR. WIGGINS: Doctor, also the Exhibit submitted indicates that `
� 94% of the referral to that program is by physicians . Are you
acquainted with that fact and can you briefly tell us how that
comes about?
f�DR. GAFFNEY: Well , any patient who receives services from the
Homemaker Home Health Aid Program that is paid for by the Tompkins
I
County Health Department has to have written orders from a physi-
Ician ordering that particular treatment and care which is being
(iprovided.
jMR. WIGGINS : Do I understand then that indeed if a physician does
;i
I
!' 93,
($ - 18 - (i
$ not refer the patient to the Family & Children Service and the
Home Health Aid Service, that it would not be properly funded by
i.
�Ithe Health Department?
DR. GAFFNEY: That ' s right.
iMR. WIGGINS: I have no further questions of Dr. Gaffney.
I' MR. MARTIN: Do members of the Board?
MR. GASTEIGER: Yes , you have been helpful I think in sort of
defining the medical aspects of the home treatment. We were pre-
sented with the proposal last time that a gymnasium or health spa
for turkish bath might be considered a medical famility under cer-
tain circumstances . I was wondering whether you could help us with
that because. . .
11DR. GAFFNEY: Well , I think the distinction is and it just happened
11in Britain if you have read the papers, the baths of Bath, England,
were just closed. The Health service decided not to hold them any
more. It ' s a question whether or not one choses that in sort of
I
!feeling good, fashion like physical therapy and saying its good fort
limy health or whether its really a treatment which is prescribed by
fa physician. And I think maybe from what I can tell from your
definition you were perhaps hoping to cone in on the latter part
i
and what I am trying to emphasize is very certainly the Homemaker
Home Health Aid Program is essentially physician provide health
I
�Irated service. Does that help at all or . . . the difference really
i
is a prescription for that kind of care, I mean that is essentially
how the services operate .
�R. GASTEIGER: Could we test all of the programs in terms of per-
I
'cent of referrals by physicians or that require a medical physician s
!signature - would that be a fair test?
R. GAFFNEY: No, not in all the programs because I think depending (
n what particular program you are talking about . We were talkingi� `
bout your particular question related to Health Spas , etc. I
kIhink Dr. Taylor has spoken to the issue of comparable kinds of
t�er ices which may not directly depend upon the physician referral
i
�i
i
19 -
i
i
(abut which may be professional activities which can be provided by I
11other people besides physicians, and yet can' t be excluded from
( being basically a medical treatment.
i!
, MR. MARTIN: Further questions?
i
1DR. GREENBERG: Only one simple one, indicated here that the
`supervising public health nurse half time is shared by the Tompkins-
IiCounty Health Department. I assume you have many other nurses on
1i
,1your staff how many are involved in this program of Homemaker
lHome Health aid supervision, other than the half time person?
iI' I
IDR. GAFFNEY: Okay, that' s sort of an administration person. We i
1�
11have one supervisor public health nurse who is a full time employee
1of the Tompkins County Health Department who is assigned as half ofj
I
�Jher time to be spent in coordination and cooperative efforts in
Ithe training and supervision of these aids and assignments . Sort
I
11of the administrative back up and evaluation of the aides . On an
ion-going basis we have nine public health nurses and two registered
Inurses who are supervising these aides in the home on a day-to-day
3
! basis. This particular person does not do that, she merely relates`
.between the two agencies and is sort of a problem solving kind of
$f !
;!person. So there are eleven other nurses who are basically doing
this kind of supervision.
HMR. MARTIN: I think that is all the questions .
$i
11MR. WIGGINS: Thank you doctor . Dr. Racker please. What is
(your full name please?
'IDR. RACKER: My name is Francesca W. Racker.
it
11IR. WIGGINS: Where do you reside?
1DR. RACKER: 305 Brookfield Road, Ithaca. j
��R. WIGGINS : May I ask the nature of your profession?
i!
'}DR. RACKER: I am a physician.
NR. WIGGINS : Where are you presently employed? j
i!
1DR. RACKER: I am employed as director of the Rehabilitation
I
Center of Tompkins County Hospital . I am also a director of the
1
118pecial Children Center.
'MR. WIGGINS: How long have you been so employed?
'i
u
20
I1DR. PACKER: At Tompkins County Hospital for 10 years.
i1
�MR. WIGGINS: Dr. Racker have you had occasion in the course of you
11professional experiences to use the services of the Family and
l
!,Children Service?
I'
�JDR. RACKER: Yes I have.
MR. WIGGINS: Can you tell the Board in what way your association
began and continues with the Family F Children Service?
g y
DR. RACKER: The relationship is mostly two-fold.
MR. WIGGINS: Doctor I think we were asking you, before the tape
'ran out, if you could describe for us the areas of professional
;concern that you became involved with insofar as it related to the
Family & Children Service, p
IDR. BACKER: It is largely two-fold. One is contact over individual
incases, either cases I see whose physical problems accompanied or
�Iconditioned by their psychological state.
ti
IMR. WIGGINS: Doctor could I interrupt you long enough to describe
i! in some detail the nature of your own professional discipline?
DR. RACKER: I am a specialist in REhabilitation medicine which is
lalso physical medicine and rehabilitation.
1�MR. WIGGINS: What does that mean; rehabilitation medicine?
JIi,DR. RACKER: It is dealing with functional problems of patients who
DR.
a number of different diseases, a number of different problems
iIt is an approach geared at functional restoration and many of
1�these patients have, not only physical problems but severe psycho-
illogical problems . Some times the physical problems really grow
lion the basis of the psychological problems . We, in our department
where I work as a physician and we have physical therapists, I
I �
provisional therapist, speech therapists, are not geared to psycho- 1I
!_logical psychotherapy but we may at times need it for our patients I
land this is how I have occasion to refer to the Family & Children I
ervice. I 've also had referrals from Family & Children Service
i� here patients already seen there manifest some physical complaints ]
,which cannot be evaluated there and patients have been referred to
lOe for my evaluation of their physical fitness . The other very
Ilfrequent contact that I have is through the Homemaker Home Health
.j
!1
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i
21 -
i
id Service which was strictly described by Dr. Gaffney. Many of
1
our patients may leave the hospital or even when they have not been
lin the hospital , need the services of the Homemaker Home Health
4Aide in order to be able to function at home. I have made refer-
E
�rals and given orders to Public Health Nurses and Homemaker Home
jealth aides regarding these patients care. +
R. WIGGINS : Doctor based upon your professional experience, how
�i
j�would you characterize counseling that is performed by the Family
Children Service as it might relate to a diagnostic and treatment
(service to the individual?
10R. RACKER: I would characterize it as a medical service in the
�inental health field. I also see it function with children through
� y contact with the Special Children' s center.
J�R. WIGGINS: And briefly, what is that contact with the Special
it
1rhildren' s Center?
i
R. RACKER: Well , I am their medical director and I see patients
16nd be sure they - our young patients, and their families many time]
i
rave multiple problems .
�ii
�R. WIGGINS : What is the Children' s Center?
R. RACKER: The Special Children' s Center is also a voluntary agen y
Ilealing with children who have a variety of difficulties in this
world, physical , psychological, mental and its a diagnostic and
it
treatment service also and an educational service for the pre-schoo�
4ild. i
IR. WIGGINS: Aside from individual professional help that one
ight receive from a psychiatrist for the use of the Mental Health i
Oinic is there any other medical facility which performs the func- 1
i• j
!tion which the Family $ Children Service purports to perform in its !,
kounseling aspect?
pR. RACKER: Only the Mental Health Clinic I would say is an Agency.
MR. WIGGINS : Are there any questions from the Board Mr. Chair-
`' i
pan, of Dr. Racker:
IR. MARTIN: Are there any questions? 4
IR. WIGGINS: Thank you very much doctor. Doctor Speno. 4
What is your full name sir?
'1
I�
- 22 -
f
IDR. SPEND: Anthony Speno
!
11MR. WIGGINS: And your address?
!f
11DR. SPEND: 605 The Parkway.
4IMR. WIGGINS : Nature of your profession?
iDR. SPEND: Pediatrics physician.
'1MR. WIGGINS: And I assume that that deals indeed with children?
DR. SPEND: Essentially, yes. Children and mothers , sometimes
"! fathers .
siMR. WIGGINS: Doctor how long have you had occasion to practice ;
in the Ithaca area?
f
f
"ADR. SPENO: I came here in 1965.
MR. WIGGINS: During the period of the last 10 or 11 years have
you had occasion to become familiar with the services of the
;Family $ Children Service?
i;
' DR. SPENO: Yes , many times . First when I first came here and
r
jreally since then I have taken care of all the babies that they
{have had in their adoption service . This was quite a considerable
i;
i;number in the first five years I was here, but in the last five or
jjsix it has really been quite few. Most of my more recent exper
{;fence has been relative to counseling of both kids and families . !
i
IMany situations arise that I really feel that - say a child, more
i
iicommonly a teenager, needs someone to talk with and someone to
really work out a problem with. This last week I referred a 15
;year old girl who was having trememdous psychosomatic complaints ;
f!
'!headaches and various kinds of things - stomach aches , she couldn't
r
1190 to school, she missed many, many days of school and she just
H
;couldn' t get it _ she knew that she needed someone to talk with.
f
ii
a few hours with her, but these sorts of symptoms had been!
!i
;going on episodically for several years and I really felt, and I
tf
I;jthink she finally felt that she wanted to talk with someone, and
�I
jover an extended period of time. I , therefore, referred her to
Oamily & Children Service. This is not an isolated case - there
4
{ ave been many similar cases . Frequently I have had children who
(have various kinds of physical complaints such as stomach aches ,
!f 1
r;
li
1� I
1�
- 23 -
S!can' t go to school , but the root of it may be a family problem such
as a broken home situation, forcing to live with one parent or cer-
i
1tain visitation problems , but ending up with a lot of physical pro-j
i.
.Ilblems as well as inability to cope at school and other things. Itsl
1i
1more than the one person' s problem, one child' s problem, its an
t
j
lntercomplex of a family situation so there are many, many times
i
'iwhen I 've had recourse to suggesting treatment at the Family &
i!
HChildren Service. I 've had quite good success in many cases . I
11MR. WIGGINS : As a medical doctor, a licensed physician, specialty {
I
` in pediatrics, how would you characterize the counseling which
I!people that you refered there to see, insofar as one would define E
l!! a facility that provides for the diagnosis of treatment and care
ii
Hof human ailments?
, DR. SPENO: To me they are really quite effective and quite prac- I�
S
;; tical . Speaking in terms , say a child' s needs or a teenager' s i
!!needs , I find that they are carried out better in this kind of an i
latmosphere then certainly in our area with any psychiatric care.
i! I feel that most children and teenagers needs are perhaps better j
1met in this way than through deep psycho analysis they really don' t
, need. Also, in terms of looking at it through a family problem
IlI think that in many cases more than one person in the family reall�
1needs continuing care and I have found their approach and the people
i
ion their staff have been very effective in many, many cases.
jIMR. WIGGINS: I have no further questions of Dr. Speno , Mr. Chair-
man. !
SMR. MARTIN: Do members of the Board have any questions?
I i
!IDR. GREENBERG: Dr. Speno, this question has arisen to us twice,
!+ and I am trying to evaluate it and I have asked around a little
i
''bit, I asked a social worker whether he considers himself a para-
Imedical person. I 've asked Guidance Counselors if they do. Their
answer is "no. " Now, it seems to me that , you know, to straighten l
!fit out we have to know, why is a social worker not considering him-
self a paramedical person, why is a Guidance Counselor not consid-
i° l
tering himself a paramedical person and we have to pass . . . .
!SDR. SPEND: That all depends on how you define medical.
Ir
I
' f
- 24 -
IDR. GREENBERG: Alright , this is what I am getting to. It seems
j�to me that the family by the name of the situation, by what you j
I
]say, by the name of the service, by the name of the institution and
I'
Il what you say about it, they are treating a very important entity
11in our society, the family, which makes them somewhat different I
I,
1than your practice and mine. Because when we see, you know we
'Idon' t really treat the family, incidentally, we treat the individ-
Iival and I just wonder if there isn' t this distinction. Could you
I.
'help me on this?
II
11DR. SPEND: Well I can' t separate the individual from the family. j
sjDR. GREENBERG: Well then maybe you are not able to separate in- I
Idividuals from the society?
l
I1DR. SPENO: And I can' t separate emotional problems from physical
ii
,!problems many times because they are interwoven. Because it is a
';person who has the problem and very often physical problems have j
� I
iiemotional affects and emotional problems have physical affects . !
]!You have to deal with the whole person. I don' t practice just
H I
11physical medicine. I deal as much with emotional aspect as I do
with the physical, maybe more most of the time.
1!
;SDR. GREENBERG: I don' t think you are following my reasoning.
jPR. SPENO: I 'm not sure that I am.
i'I DR. GREENBERG : I didn' t say the mental aspects . A guidance f
]counselor in school has a function within the school frame work.
'Pe is working with the institutional school . You mentioned the
11student who misses school. She might be in the hands of yourself
I
pito diagnose whether it is a problem that she is facing, medical
1�roblem, mental problem it might be in the hands of a social
worker who sees a picture that society might have to correct or be
1Lorrected. It might be a problem with a delinquent or whatnot , i
s
,'here is a problem also for an organization who is primarily con-
erned about the health of the family and as a unit in our society. ]
��ow I can separate these out, I can see that the guidance counselors
�i
�s doing counseling but he is really doing it in the context of
I
et ' s get this kid back to school or let ' s get him back to be a
It
ii
E�
!S
- 25 -
student to the calibre that he is competent of, I can see his
1goal and his orientation in the context of the institution he is
i�
;working in. This is what I am trying to find out in my own mind,
3
;will you refer someone who is an emotional problem, per se, to the s
[Family & Children Health Center or would you refer them to an
z
;agency other than that if there was not this complex of family i
;;situation involved.
(1DR. SPEND: I 'm still not sure that I can answer the question.
'DR. GREENBERG: Why don't you refer them to - or you said you
wouldn' t send them to psychiatric care and therefore you wouldn' t I
:'send them to the. . .
IDR. SPENO: There is a rare case that does need psychiatric care. I
;SDR. GREENBERG : You wouldn' t send them to the. . . j
' DR. SPENO: Most cases - I might send them either to the Health
;!Clinic or to the Family & Children Service. 1
if
ti
;!DR. GREENBERG: When do you differentiate where your referral goes? j
i
'IDR. SPENO: It' s a difficult question to answer. I have more -
jperhaps its a question of confidence. I have had more successes
'-in general with the approach that the Family & Children Service hasj
;;taken. Although I also have success the other way and I can' t de-
�� i
;fine why I use one or the other. It was more a "gut" feeling in
a
jterms of how I felt this particular individual or this family would !
':do best, and would be most comfortable with. These people may be
I
from families like your family or my family or any other family in
!� f
town or in the rural areas . There have been many different types
i �
;pf situations. As far as your question about social worker being
;parannedical .
!MR. WIGGINS: Doctor, may I ask, interrupt your thoughts for just a
;moment? As you know the social workers at the Family $ Children
$ervice, Counseling Services are supervised by Clinical Psycholo-
?gists , whereas the social worker at the high school or in the Pro-
$ation Department of the Tompkins County Probation Office would not !
1�ave that kind of supervision. Would you see a distinction in that !,
1�egard doctor?
f
i
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� E
ii
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i€ 26 -
' DR. SPEND: In some ways . Dr. Hamlis in the Mental Health Clinic
for example looked upon his whole staff as equally capable of
`dealing with patients . In other words he, I don't think, except
Ifor his ability to write prescriptions and send people to an in-
11stitution or whatever, he looked upon abilities dealing with a per-i
llson and a person' s problems as being handled as well by himself or b
1!a psychologist or a social worker that is trained properly and I
1think this is the kind of situation we have also in the Family &
!Children Service. We are dealing with people and people problems
Mand these are both physical , individual and in a setting of family.
i
RMR. WIGGINS: Thank you very much Dr. Speno. Dr. Ferger please.
if
ijWhat is your full name sir?
I'DR. FERGER: John H. Ferger .
i,
11MR. WIGGINS: Your address?
11DR. FERGER: 10 Union St . , Dryden.
I
!�R. WIGGINS: The nature of your profession?
'�R. FERGER: I 'm a physician and a specialist in family medicine.
10R. WIGGINS: Are you acquainted with the Family & Children Service
IbR. FERGER: Yes, I have been referring people to them for a long
14R. WIGGINS : How long have you practiced in the Tompkins County
E, y
{{area?
PR. FERGER: Somewhat over twenty (20) years .
PR. WIGGINS: Doctor, can you briefly tell to the Board the manner
!in which you have employed the services provided by, the Family $
;i i
1�hildren Service, especially as it would relate to your profession.
PR. FERGER: Well , as I see it the Family Medicine is, excuse me,
`'
he Family & Children Service, is an extension of the Family Medi
-ine which I practice in my office.
R. WIGGINS : Can you tell us doctor, excuse me for interrupting
ou, what you mean by Family Medicine?
i
R. FERGER: We. . . , family medicine is the specialty which, not onl
takes care of the individual but tries to keep in mind the relation i
f the individual to his family and to the society of -which he is
i
— —
27
ila part. The family and the society influence the health, the
i
jphysical health as well as the mental health of the individual and
jthe individual in turn influences the physical health as well as
lithe mental health of his parents , also teachers and society in i
,general. And so that is, I think, the basic concept of family
lmedicine.
MR. WIGGINS: How do you see that in its relationship to the ser-
;!vices provided, counseling services especially, provided by the
ilFamily $ Childrens Service?
aE
I$DR. FERGER: Well , as I see it the Family & Children Service does
the same sort of thing as I do in my office and I talk with parents
;about the problems that children have, I talk couples about the
Iproblems they have getting along with each other, I talk with
;i
11people who have migraine headaches or who have stomach aches or who
(have a variety of other symptoms which I have to investigate to
i
find out if these are primary symptoms in nature and origin or
whether these are primary mental or emotional in origina and some
iFof these people I treat entirely myself on the basis of my know- i
;ledge of their emotional background, their family problems , etc.
iThis is a time consuming thing and I just don't have time to
�Itreat all of these people and I also have to admit that I don't hav
ii
111the training or the expertise in some of the areas of emotional
1
I1counseling and so these people who I don' t have the time or the
: training to take care of myself, I refer to other agencies within
I
; the community and in my own estimation it is a toss up as to
iwhether, not a toss up, but there are various factors to deter
i
'mine whether I send the person to the Family & Children Serv. , to
the Mental Health Clinic, or to a private psychiatrist or psycholo-
j`gist. One of those factors is medicine - is the cost of the servic,,
,land many people cannot afford the fees for a private psychiatrist
Ior psychologist but even some people who can afford the fees , I
f)
think the Family & Children Service is better for them because they
have group therapy or they have a person who specializes in play i
therapy or they have other facilities which cannot be offered by an �
i
s
- 28 - I
(
find vidual practitioner and so I choose the Family Children Ser-
E1vice in preference to a private individual or sometimes in prefer-
;;
fence to the Mental Health Clinic for these reasons . In my own
i1 1
lestimation there are all types of medical practice and there are
jtypes of medical practice which, as I say, I do in my office all
i'
)!of the time. A third, a quarter of my practice has to do with
Itrying to deal with people' s emotions , the effect that these emo- j
Ijtions have on their bodies and this is the type of thing that I
joften refer to the Family & Children Service in addition to things
;dike marital discord and problems with sex and that type of thing.
IjMR. WIGGINS: Doctor except in extreme cases , is it not so that
the kind of case which you would refer to the Mental Health Clinic
i
could be equally well treated at the Family & Children Service?
,i r
1IDR. FERGER: Yes, I consider the two to be interchangeable and I
=lknow the number of the people on the staffs of both institutions an
I sometimes send both agencies, they aren' t really institutions ,
j
';but I sometimes send a person to one or the other depending on
I�
*hich person on the staff I think can handle the problem the best.
;And I also have to admit that the word mental health has a certain j
H
connatation in some people' s minds that turns them off. So for
;(those I don' t need to say mental health, or emotional problems , I
i
Illsay Family $ Children Service as people who specialize in dealing
with problems like you have, your family, that everybody has in
this family and I think they can help you deal with these problems
,more effectively than I can or than perhaps you can by yourself. j
VR. WIGGINS: Doctor, Dr. Greenberg raised an interesting question
;
'Concerning whether or not the Family & Children Service might be
;
Oerforming a very special - I thought he was suggesting, medical
$ervice by reason of the fact that they are treating the family as
f
unit as opposed to treating individuals. Do you see some merit
i
Ito that line of thinking and the direction of that approach to the
i
jreatment of human ailments?
� R. FERGER: Yes , indeed I think many of the problems , many problem
i
(i I
t'
�l
's! �
- 29 -
'� I
� of the individual do stem directly from the family and they cer-
+Itainly influence the family and so quite frequently it is necessary,
j�to see perhaps the individual first, but sooner or later involve
I
Hall the members of the family so that they can all interact to-
I 0
11gether and all sort of see the problem together and perhaps hope-
;fully solve it together,
I
j�MR. WIGGINS: Doctor, are you well enough acquainted with the staff
I
j�services at the Family $ Children Service to be familiar with the j
fact that there are indeed three PhD clinical psychologists who
1supervise the counseling services at the Family & Children Service?i
I
.j. DR. FERGER: Yes, I speak to them on the phone very frequently.
,IMR. WIGGINS: And has that been over some extended period of time?
i
!SDR. FERGER: Yes .
SMR. WIGGINS: And do you see it as stationed between a social worke�
who may be wroking the streets of New York City or the streets of
i
11Ithaca in a drug program under the supervision of someone other
than a clinical psychologist as performing a different kind of i
i1function than a social worker who worked directly under the super- II
Wision of a clinical psychologist holding a doctor' s degree in
his discipline?
�I
�DR. FERGER: I don' t think it is a different kind of function, I
�i
,think it ' s an old kind of healthy individual perform to live more y
1�
ineffectively. I think the results that they get may be different
I;
!4nd that the social worker does have indeed a more highly trained,
more highly qualified person directing him, or her, then perhaps
Ithe results that are obtained will be more effective in the long !
i
Hrun. j
I�
R. WIGGINS : I don' t have any other questions for Dr. Ferger.
�R. MARTIN: Are there questions from the Board? Guess not.
I
R. WIGGINS: Mr. Chairman, I have no further witnesses to present
t this time. I would be happy to try to respond to any other
I
�uestions the Board might have with respect to the evidence which
�as been submitted and I would like the opportunity perhaps at the
I
I
f�
f
I
F
{ - 30
{
iclose of any other evidence which might be submitted, to respond.
a `
,IMR. MARTIN: . I have only one question. There are two functions
11thathave not been described or gone into in any detail , one is the
i
!!administrative support functions for the total Family & Children
Service Agency. I take it that that will take whatever hew we
I
determine the line functions of the agency do, that is it is neces-
eIsary support for the rest of the services, if that is medical then
lthis is medical , But then there is the matter of an office for the
foundation. How much space will that occupy?
tjMR. WIGGINS: Calling your attention to the blueprints, you will
1find on the next to the last page - is the second floor of the
Carriage House and it occupies what appears to be about 20% of the
li
( second floor. I don't think we've , I think there is 8% sq. ft.
i
in direct administrative, which includes the records room, the
Sstorage areas and the office for the Tompkins County Foundation as
shown on the Ex:':ibit previously submitted. Also, indeed, with
egard to your question relating to administrative allocated space,
e attempted to secure, and hoped to have one extra witness for
jIyou this evening, namely the administrator of the Tompkins County
Hospital who could give you some sense of the amount of administra-
tive spacc which is required to permit that facility to function
� as a medical facility. It is substantial - I don' t know if we havel
Ithose percentages buty my recollection is to the neighbor of 20% ,
Ii is that. I am advised by Mrs . Waldman who has undertaken that
investigation that approximately 1/3 of the space at the Tompkins
�lCounty Hospital is allocated for administrative use and I think our
I
�Ispace is a total of 20% , somewhat less .
R. MARTIN: Are there questions from members of the Board? i
I
0R. GREENBERG : Not a question but a point of information. We may
Has well know that there is a clinical psychologist at the school �I
I
� ho is a resource person for the social workers and for the guid-
�Z
nce counselors .
R. WIGGINS: Thank you, I assume they perform a somewhat different
�I
I�
�I
i!
w
31
i
j unction than the clinical psychologist at the Family & Children
i
ervice, but I assume there is also certain compatibility in their
a
�iscourse.
I�R. VAN MARTER: Can I go through here and put together by numbers
�ithe total number of personnel that might be there on an average?
R. WIGGINS: Yes, I think that you can indeed and - Mrs. Waldman j
J�hat is the total number of staff? Nineteen, and are they all
i It
listed on the exhibit? For the record, six full time therapudic !
(R
1 taff, six part time therapudic staff and seven administrative
support staff, The one other item, Mr. Chairman, that we have not
1
!submitted evidence for, except as you see it in the Exhibit, is thef
1parking requirements. It is possible to provide the parking as
I
l�Shown in the Exhibits. We would hope that indeed you would find !
i�he interpretation permits the use of this facility, that we could s
{ xamine the wisdom of providing those numbers of spaces so that I
indeed it would be only those spaces required for the actual use of
the facility, although the square footage being occupied would call ]
1� or the numbers of spaces shown on the exhibit. I would also add. . ]
t� 1
OR. MARTIN: That examination would be on another occasion rather
1�han
this one?
I�R. WIGGINS: Indeed it would seem to me that it would be more appr -
i
�riate to examine that question at another time, however I wanted
jo at least advise you that the applicant is concerned and aware ofl
hat part of the problem,
I4R, MARTIN: I see no further questions ,
R. GASTEIGER: May I come back to my question for a summary? Can
ire run through this quickly and say what percentage of numbers in
roman numeral 2 is claiming to be medical . . .
R. WIGGINS: Yes sir, if you will look for example, on number one
ou will find that 76% of the space allocation is for counseling
�nd it is the claim of the petitioner that indeed that is without !
�{uestion a medical service.
R. GASTEIGER: Okay, but now 57% of the people that are seeking f
!e
ase of that space are non medical in origin, presumably, from your
e
�i
r - 32
,statistics there, 21% are self-referred and 36% are clergy, courts
Eland lawyers.
' 1
MR. WIGGINS: Yes I think so. . . so that one thing one must examine I
�; is that if we wereto examine the percentage of persons who recom-
mended that someone go to a doctor or go to the hospital we would
I1find that a very large percentage would be non physicians . If R
(someone is sick it doesn't always take a doctor to recognize it so
1�that it might be a family member, a teacher, a lawyer, who would
j�indeed see that this person needed the kind of medical treatment
which the Family $ Children Service provides . That does not mean `
; that the ailment is not medical because the person referring him
did not have a medical degree.
MR. GASTEIGER: They would be received initially, presumably by
;;licensed, medical personnel?
I
�MR. WIGGINS: No, they would be, if they came in for counseling
E
services , they would be received by someon under the supervision of�
la clinical psychologist who would possess a doctor' s degree but itI
I; I
�is indeed unacademic, not a medical doctor 's degree.
R. GASTEIGER: Could we look at number 2? `
R. WIGGINS: Yes, number 2 indicates that 4% of the actual space
Ioccupied in the facility is devoted and allocated to the Home
ealth Aid Service, and of course Dr. Gaffney has described in some
I
flletail the medical aspects of that service. The mental health in-
��ormation and referral service, number 3 , you will note that it is
Merely a space allocation but it ' s clearly, at least I hope that f
I
11ou will find, that it is clearly a mental health oriented function.p
he Child Placement is the one that we do not suggest except in the
I
" ery broadest sense as a medical foundation but it also occupies a
�iniscule portion of the concerns and activities of Family & Child-
en Service. Number 4, the Interim Family Service, again is merely
hared space with the other services , and indeed as Mrs . Waldman
as described, the young people who come through that program are
disturbed, emotionally disturbed children, that 's how they find
i
hemselves in the situation that brings them to the Family & Childre
i
i+
I�1
- 33 -
4=
jService. But again a very small percentage of space is occupied,
insignificant by that program so that the main programs are 76%
1
I
� of counseling service and 4% of the Home Health Aid Service leaving
i
;some 20% for administrative staff primarily related to those two
i
programs . Indeed we would suggest to you that 80% is directly re-
ilated to medical health oriented programs and 20% of it is admin-
i
istrative of which, if we were to follow the general patterns of th
ITompkins County Hospital , a third of the space is actually occupied
�1by administrative staff, so a third of 80% could be allocated for
Ithat service. That is to say medically oriented, health medically
oriented service.
I
IMR. GASTEIGER: Peter, I feel that before all the M.D. s, for in-
i
11stance, get away there are some aspects of this that are very im-
portant and has to do with recognition by insurance agency, what is
Imedical, what has to do with government control in some ways , it ha
to do with the tug of war between licensed personnel and unlicensed
personnel -- I have some uneasiness here and was just wondering if
there are any general statements that any of the professional peopl
care to make because I am bothered by 57% of the people not being
Ireferred by medicine in the first case and that these people are
eeting non-medical personnel in the M.D. sense.
R. MARTIN: My only response is that there is plenty of opportunity
�Ifor people who would like to speak on this issue after the main
1�case is closed. Whatever definition medical applies in licensing
R
!or other upsettings we are confronted with the definition of
4
edical facility in our own zoning ordinance and that may well be
Idifferent from definition of medical for insurance purposes or
1Others .
i
R. WIGGINS: Yes, if I could respond in that sense , as you look at
our definition it includes rest homes , which indeed do not require
i
Jany medical facilities of any kind. It includes convalescent homes
�l�which do not require physicians, nor licenses of that kind. It
includes dental offices which do not require the services of a
it
i
i'
I
i
j
34
i
;;medical doctor and indeed the people who would make referrals to
0
'Inursing homes, rest homes, convalescent homes and dental offices i
1 I
! would not necessarily be doctors .
E,
lMR. MARTIN: Do you have further testimony to present?
MR. WIGGINS: No sir.
IMR. MARTIN: Alright, then I think that we might ask if there are
i
any others present this evening who would like to be heard in
(favor of the requested interpretation by Family & Children Service?
�iAre there any here this evening who would like to be heard in oppo-
Isition to the presentation that we have heard?
I
(SMR. SCHECHTER: Good evening, my name is Richard Schcchter, I am i
!Ian attorney from Syracuse, New York. I am here this evening repre-
'senting Mr. & Mrs . Frank Kavanagh who reside immediately next door !
jito the property in question this evening. I think after this i
.i
�plengthy discussion it would be very useful to go back and perhaps , I
i
1[without being too repetitive, to repeat the definition that is in ;
the ordinance of medical facility. It states : "Medical facility
11shall mean and include hospital , sanitarium, rest home, nursing
;home, convalescent home, medical and dental offices and other
places of the same nature for the diagnosis, treatment and other
care of ailments t and shall be deemed to be limited to places for
m
'the diagnosis, treatment or other care of human ailments ." I think
11I would like to make one point immediately. The last phraseology
11"shall be deemed to be limited to places for the diagnosis, treat-
I'
j ent or other care of human ailments" should be interpreted as a
limitation upon the rest of the definition rather than an expansion)
11of that definition. Now there are two . . .
R. MARTIN: That limits it to humans rather than other creatures . j
OR. SCHECHTER: Well , no, I mean to expand on that - perhaps I
!t ;
ent a little too quickly there. The definition gives a list of
( number of instances in which a facility could be considered a
medical facility and then it says "along with these risks" - these
I
!!it says other places of the same nature" so that 's a group, includ- 1
ling other places of the same nature and then there is a further
i'
i�
i!
II
li
(! i
35 -
t
j!limitation - another sentence, another phraseology which limits
i I
�'further limits, the definition. Rather than expanding beyond the
ilistof places, including other places of the same nature.
�1
,MR. MARTIN: My only point is the only thing I see new in that
i+ I
IIlast phrase is the word "human" otherwise we 've got diagnosis,
$treatment, etc. Okay, proceed.
11MR. SCHECHTER: In any event, I think that you will note that there!
1E
;are two different types of uses listed in that list on the medical
Is
�Ifacility. There are - as to hospital , sanitarium, rest home, nurs-!
bng home and convalescent home , they are all resident, in-patient
9
lIfacilities . They are all facilities where the patient is living i#
ii
!lthe facility and he is being taken care of on a day to day basis
lin that facility. The only instance in that ordinance - in that j
!`definition - which is not a resident in-patient facility, are
! i
!medical and dental offices . Now, to my mind, a medical office is
i
j?the office of the physician and a dental office is the office of
(� I
!jthe dentist. Those people are licensed by the State of New York
'Ito practice medicine or to practice dentistry and it is an entirely
;!different kind of use then the use that we are discussing this i
li
i!
Ilevening, the use that has been illustrated for us this evening.
i
;!The type of office use that has been suggested here is entirely l
I a
Ildifferent from either of those two groups . It is not a medical or
;;dental office specifically, nor is it a resident in-patient
!
;! facility and therefore it is not another place of the same nature. 1
';There are only two groups of places listed in the ordinance and
4
:'this is a third category entirely unrelated to those two . I think
� J
jIit is very important to note that when a zoning ordinance is inter-
preted the legislative intent of the ordinance, the intent of the I
lllegislative body in passing that ordinance, has to be taken into I
inconsideration. In viewing that legislative intent you can see that,
'3
jthere are really only two groups that were intended; one, medical I
!land dental offices and two, resident in-patient facilities and this!
l
;his a third category which does not in any way fit the other two j
ii
s
e� !
I� �
9
- 36 -
;I �
Hcategories . It is also important to note that when a zoning ordi-
iInance is interpreted, it is not the definition that the applicant I,
places on his use which is important, rather, the actual and true
fuse that is in question, Now, I think that the discussion here has
! indicated that basically there are only two uses at Family Chil-
I
pdren Counseling Service which can in any way come into this health I
!!related definition or health related grouping that is being pro-
{ !
Iposed. One of them is the counseling service and the second one is
11the Home Health care. Now I think that, as to the Home Health care,
!(it is very important to note that only the administrative function
11is proposed for this facility. The witnesses have indicated that
f
; the entire - whatever health related functions are going to take
s
!!place will take place outside of this facility, in the homes in thel
ii
community. Now I think that if we took a hospital and divided it
lup, one-third is administrative and the other two-thirds are re-
(�lated to health care. If you took the administrative function and
N
!!put it entirely in its own building and then moved it somewhere
;else so that it was not in the same building, it would not be a
!
l�medical facility under this ordinance, it would be an administrativ
'i
'!facility, an office building - when it is in the hospital perhaps
f,
!lit is . Now here we have the situation where the entire health re-
ii s
plated usage under that Home Health Care is taking place elsewhere.
Consequently the only real question that comes up is whether this
;counseling service is somehow a medical use . I think t;at the dis- i
{1cussion of the witnesses so far seems to indicate that in instances )
l�when a physician is not required that they are referred to a group
j'
11such as Child & Family Counseling Service . I think that it very 1
� f
iimportant to note that there is a very significant distinction
�3 1
jkahich I will try to develop as I go along, between the activities of
I '
physician and the activities of a mental health counseling ser-
I
�� ice. We do not propose that the activities of the Family & Child
I
ounseling Service are not somehow health related. I am sure that
I
1khey are in some way or another significantly related to health.
ikowever, all activities which are related to health, including the
f
t!
- 37 -
I
I;
;,activities of the Family & Children' s Counseling Service are not
i
medical activities . Medical activities are very specific, well de-;
fined activity which are conducted by physicians . There is not a
jiphysician in this operation. The day to day activities of the
1IFamily & Children Counseling Service are not supervised by a physi-
ii
E
11cian, they are not supervised by a psychiatrist, there may be. . . .
'IMR. MARTIN: Is that what is critical in your view? That is to
tl E
'say, suppose you had an office that was a psychiatrist' s office,
nand the function - I mean what went on was primarily counseling ;
i1of individuals and families with emotional problems . Would that
;;not qualify as a medical facility?
i�
MR. SCHECHTER: Why, I think that as far as a legal definition is
11concerned a psychiatrist, being a physician, it would certainly
;qualify. In addition I think it is very important to note. . .
i
JIMR. MARTIN: Our ordinance doesn' t define in terms of the credentia,li
r
sof the person, it defines in terms of the function, and so, what I
!,want to know is whether, if it were a psychiatrist performing that
l
i
(function it wouldn' t meet the task?
E
!IMR. SCHECHTER: No, and I think that I will , through the use of a
!(witness, develop that idea quite a bit further in a few minutes . I
1.
ii
just wanted to briefly lay the foundation for that thought and
(briefly try to begin to answer that question. I think that the I
i
;!activities of a psychiatrist undertakes a much broader in scope
=and in nature than the activities of these counseling services pro-
ljvides. It very well may be that a psychiatrist does undertake some!
!jof these activities. However, a psychiatrist - his whole exper-
i
(Bence in practice and purpose is much broader than that of the chip
Oamily Counseling Service , I think right now, I would like to call "
i
E
I r. Ronald Leifer and ask him a few questions . Would you state
E ;
1 our name for the record?
I;
PR. LIEFER: Ronald Leifer.
!�R. SCHECHTER: And your occupation and place of. . . .
PR. LEIFER: I am a physician, specializing in psychiatry. I
is
MR. SCHECHTER: Could you briefly summarize your experience iii that
E
;field?
!
I I
j - 38 -
I
lDR. LEIFER: In psychiatry?
MR. SCHECHTER: Yes , in psychiatry.
(DR. LEIFER: I was trained at the Upstate Medical Center in Syra- I
1jcuse for my specialty training in psychiatry. I taught for six
;iyears on the faculty of the Upstate Medical Center. I was consul-
i+
Htant to several state hospitals in this area, which I wont bother
i
lgto mention. I've been in private practice since 1961 . I have been)
I
;'associated with the Children' s center in Syracuse . I was a psychi-,f
�fatrist at the Tompkins County Mental Health Clinic. I am presently
',I,in private practice at 320 the DeWitt Building.
11MR. SCHECHTER: Dr. Leifer can you briefly explain to the Board andl
;lin your own opinion the difference between the practice of mental
E
,`health counseling and the practice of psychiatric medicine?
IDR. LEIFER: In my opinion the practice of medicine as a whole is
lidefined by its relation to the individual ' s body. That is , what
!
the physician is doing is diagnosing and treating diseases of the
body. This is not to say that emotional factors may not be relevant
to that diagnosis and to that treatment but its primary and definin
Junction is in relationship to the individual ' s body and in the sam�
1way I would say that the distinguishing factor of psychiatric prac- 1
ltice is that the psychiatrist is legally entitled to and in entitle,
11by his training to prescribe drugs and other physical remedies such!
'gas are often used mostly in hospitals but also in private practice
s
11such as shock therapy. The defining feature of the medical aspect
j!of psychiatry being, in my opinion, the relationship to the patient
}
!ito the individual ' s body. Wehreas in counseling practices , on the
1contrary, the counselor dare not touch the individual ' s body, g
examine the individual ' s body, diagnose illnesses of the body or
�rescribe or engage in any treatments which are relevant to the
,'individual ' s body, per se. What he does , what the counselor does,
!!
;lis deal with what you might call , problems in living, which we all
,more or less have, to one extent or another, which involve individ-
14al ' s relations with his fellow humans, his relationship with sociefy,
i!
i�
�i
- 39
it
jto his work, to his family. His feelings about himself, his atti-
!i I
etudes, his values , all of which could just as easily be sustained
i
'i,iunder a religious activity I think, in my opinion, as psychological)
li I
!;or social activity but is far afield, again in my opinion, from
jlmedical practice, as defined by its primary goals. j
,,MR. SCHECHTER: Just to interject for a moment, Dr. Leifer, I would`
j,like to note a statement that I had previously placed in the records'
!!on the last occasion that we were here, the Zoning Ordinance itself!
Hdoes not define human ailment, however, Webster' s Third New Inter-
! national
nter- !�
' i
! national Dictionary Unabridged, on page 45, does define the word
i s
"ailment" to be bodily sickness, disorder or chronic disease.
IlDr. Leifer you have heard the activities of the Family & Childrens I
r
!!Counseling Service described here this evening, I understand that
f�
°you have also had some previous relationship with the Family &
lChildrens Counseling Service, is that correct?
�1DR. LEIFER: Yes , a very minimal relationship. When I was at the
!Tompkins County Mental Health Clinic, I believe I visited there on I
I; s
Pne or two occasions as a consultant and supervisor. !
r:
�R. SCHECHTER: I see, but you did listen to the testimony here thi�
I
evening of all the witnesses and based on that testimony and your
f�
��wn brief prior knowledge of the activities of the Child and Family !
)Counseling Service would you be of the opinion that they are per-
1�forming a medical activity, that their activities are of a medical
I
9hature?
I!
R. LEIFER: In my opinion their activities are not of a medical
I
1 ature. I would like to add just a personal note that this is a
lyiew which I hold, based, not on my judgment of Family $ Children
l�ervice, but based on other considerations within psychiatry which
i
�
!f1�re really not relevant to this hearing and that I hold Family &
l hildren Service in the highest regard and I think they are an im- I
I; I
ortant function in the community and would like to see them do well
ut on this issue alone which I seperate from all of those consider-!
.tions , it is my opinion that they do not perform, strictly speaking
I
f
s I have defined it, a medical function. I
i
.i
40 -
S'
iMR. MARTIN: As you defined it doctor, but how about as our ordi-
nance defines it?
JIDR. LEIFER: That is up to you.
i.
;!MR. SCHECHTER: Thank you, Dr. Leifer. I
I'
;!MR. MARTIN: Dr. Leifer I have a question. We had just one case
"
';described for us this evening. A pediatrician who had a patient
i
�!with what he judged to be psychosomatic, physical symptoms . Would
flit be possiblethat a physician with such a patient might refer
;them to you? Would you get such a case on referral?
i;
HDR. LEIFER: Yes.
IMR. MARTIN: What might you do with such a patient?
1
1DR. LEIFER: Talk to him. I would not examine physically.
j
;iMR. MARTIN: Alright, would you consider yourself, as you did that,
I"
to be diagnosing and treating a human ailment?
1'!DR. LEIFER: Not in a strictly medical sense , no.
!MR. MARTIN: I haven' t understood that word you slipped in. Why
i�
karen' t you diagnosing and treating ailment?
SDR. LEIFER: Well first of all, personally I don't make diagnoses ,
'Second of all it would be irrelevant I think to the individual situ
Iation and predicament to make a diagnosis , it ' s just my way of k
;;thinking not a relevant activity when someone is coming for help
jwith his life situation. You can use the work diagnosis in a broad!
;;term. I want to understand him and I want to be able to pinpoint
;'his problem and help him with his problem by my mechanic can
, diagnose the . . what ' s wrong with my car without that being a medi-
a,
,cal activity and the word diagnosis has a medical connotation and
i
z,
I 'd like to separate the medical connotation, which I believe
!!applies to making a judgment and understanding about a malfunction
in an individual ' s body as opposed to the general process of talk
11ing to somebody and finding out what the trouble is . Now you couldi
ljcall that a diagnosis but I don' t.
iMR. MARTIN: Such a case though might come to you and you would try'
�i
lito understand the patient and try to help the patient become better}
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1DR. LEIFER: Yes. I think we are little bit confused here on the
I
Tissues by the language that we are using. Is the individual a
!;patient? What makes him a patient? That is , is he a patient only
f
IEif he sees a doctor, or is he a patient if he also sees someone
jwho is not a physician? That ' s one point. The second point is ,
,that when somebody has a psychosomatic problem and is referred to
ila psychiatrist for a so-called psychosomatic complaint , what we
I�
1have the word somatic throws us off, a psychosomatic symptom is
1I
1simply a complaint . It doesn' t mean its a complaint about the f
�jbody. Now we can complain about our bodies without having any j
{{!
jphysical illness. If there is a physical illness associated with
11the complaint, the proper approach would be medical treatment . If s
11it is a complaint about the body based on an individual ' s feelings
iabout his body, that, to my way of thinking is not a medical prob-
lem but a psychological problem, perhaps a social problem, and I j
`would make a distinction between those two because the concepts arel
different, the approach is different, the techniques are different
!so that the word psychosomatic complaint, I think might throw us
i
Hoff into thinking that it is a medical activity because we are usin�
Imedical language but what we are talking about actually is somebodyl
11who is complaining about his body. Perhaps . . .
!
MR. MARTIN: So, striping all of that terminology aside, a person
`;experiencing stomach aches or headaches might be referred to you j
! I
�1by a medical doctor?
DR. LEIF,ER: Yes . i
I
11MR. MARTIN: We have also heard they might be referred to the I
!Family & Children Service .
� DR. LEIFER: Yes .
i.
f�MR. MARTIN: Alright.
!I
11MR. GASTEIGER: Excuse me but are there not a set of psychiatric
I I
i
diseases , such as schizophrenia, that are not known to have a basis !
I
in bodily malfunction? §
i
R. LEIFER: Well , yes , and that is a secondary use of the word I
isease. The primary use of the word disease is with reference to
I�
(1the body. In every other medical specialty but psychiatry the dis- (
r!
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Lease is referred to the body. Psychiatry is the only specialty !
lin which it doesn' t. I might add, parenthetically, that within
!psychiatry itself there is some controversy about what to call
i
these diseases and in my opinion they are not diseases until and
;sunless some specific biochemical or some other physiological or
}body related phenomena can be associated with these problems which,
f
11to this point , they have not. i
!IMR. GASTEIGER: But they are serious and incapacitating ailments
!lori
whatever you want to call them.
i
�JDR. LEIFER: Yes , they are seriously incapacitating . There are
Ei
!various ways of being incapacitated - you can be incapacitated by
!not having money, by not having an education, by being confused
i
$about our lives and by having a broken leg. Of those, I would say j
only the latter is medical.
MR. SCHECHTER: I think if I could make a very simple analogy, if
a person is obese and goes to a physician and the physician diagno- 1
( sis that obesity for being not, for instance, directly glandular
i1
!!related or whatever, that physician might prescribe a diet and
i
Verhaps some supervised physical exercise, physical activity and he
it
Hmight refer that patient to the European Health Spa or the Y.M. or
i1W. C.A. for the type of programs that they have there which are
!!supervised physical activity. That activity that takes place at s
jthe Y. may be the treatment of some human health problem, however,
it is not a medical activity. The only medical activity that took
i
'place was the diagnosis and prescription by the physician.
R. GASTEIGER: Well , I am worried about your example because I 'm
of sure that obesity is considered a disease in many many cases .
k
�lIf it is then I would have to pleas that schizophrenia is a disease !
Land to a degree I believe that it is .
SMR. MARTIN: Are there further questions from the members of the
I
oard for Dr. Leifer? i
! R. VAN MARTER: Would you agree that those that come to you under
this circumstance, the psychosomatic that was referred, is it an
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ilment?
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PR. LEIFER: Loosely defined I would say it was an ailment, yes .
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1MR. VAN MARTER: Thank you.
+ i
1IDR. LEIFER: Not as it is defined by the Webster's dictionary
elthough. I could say my car is ailing.
ii
11MR. MARTIN: Are therefurther questions from members of the Board?
i1MR. SCHECHTER: Thank you Dr. Leifer. With the Board's indulgence
f
! I would like to read a letter from Dr, Wendell Bryce which I will
;submit to the Board. Dr. Bryce couldn't be here this evening so hel
11submitted this very brief letter:
E� I
!'Wendell I . Bryce , M.D. I
1916 North Aurora Street
?Ithaca, New York 14850
�1Telephone 272-3350 December 6, 1976
IlTo Whom It May Concern:
I am a physician practicing in Ithaca, New York at 916 North Aurora(
j
11Street. I have had patients who have been counselled at the Family!
"
�I& Childrens Center. I would hasten to add that the patients were
well cared for and the organization does a real service,
However, it is my opinion that this service rendered is not truly I
11medical . Medical care must be given by a physician or under his
`ldirection. If this is permitted in a R-3 zone , then all other i
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;counselling services Store Front , TM, Yoga, etc. are equally
+4
!qualified. I must admit that there are differences in training
11between these groups but none are medically trained.
Wendell L. Bryce, M.D.
!E
; This brings up a very important point which I really want to I
i
demphasize. We were talking about a use in an R-3 residential
11district.
It may be that this use, and I am sure it does provide i
1's 1
Ila very valuable service to the community, however, if the definition
1
ii.
!hn the ordinance is so expanded as to include all sorts of health
!lrelated sery ices , counseling services , rather than medical offices !
r �
bias it clearly states in the Ordinance, a Pandora' s box is opened.
hj1There are a whole wide variety of uses , all sorts of, as was just
is
1�tated in the letter, encounter groups , Transecendental Meditation
;!;clinics, Yoga societies , various religious groups , sexual encounter
1
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1clinics , and the wayt, of which. I make no I 'm not disparaging j
jIthose groups, but just stating that they don't necessarily fit I
I
under the definition of a medical facility. Apparently in Cali-
3i
Z,fornia they are having a lot of trouble with various sexual en-
1coun1
ter groups which are not easily distinguished from houses of
!`prostitution. They got into that situation exactly in this manner
i
11by slowly but steadily expanding their definitions . They got to a
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ipoint where all sorts of groups that they didn't intend to be
I�
;within the definition, are there. Now here we have a group that
i
practices various various. counseling services which are related in some
' fashion to mental health. There are all sorts of other uses which
i
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lIcan make the same claim but which may very .,cell not be beneficial
i
Ito the community and whether they are or they aren't certianly are +
111not intended by this Zoning Ordinance to be present in an R-3 resi-
dential district. I think the responsibility of the Board here is
every grave to be very careful not to so loosely interpret the Or-
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,¢dinance as to allow all sorts of peripheral uses in. I think it is
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1very important to know the equities that actually appear here. It R
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His true that the Children & Family & Children Service will derive
lisome benefit by using this location because apparently they are not
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�1,going to have to pay rent for it. However, there are a large number
{
11of other uses - other buildings - in the community near by that
}I
'would be equally well suited. As a matter of fact at the Planning
ilBoard hearing one of the Council women was present, I 'm sorry I f
I�
11don' t remember her name, but she mentioned that the City of Ithaca
+
1has an abandoned public school which they are attempting to develop
into various similar uses . And apparently she felt that the charge
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�ould not be very high. So that , on the one hand, it isn' t a matte
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+of Family & Children Service going up in smoke. Rather it is a ,
atter of whether such a high density use with so many parking
spaces and so many people going in and out which is so peripherally
�i
�Irelated to a medical facility as should be allowed in a residential )
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�4istrict, I think something that was raised by the Board very
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Ibriefly which I would like to reiterate relating to the Tompkins
3
County Foundation. I have in my possession a document which is ,
11to my knowledge , is the last Will $ Testament of Ruth B. Rodgers , I
+Which I did not obtain myself so that I can 't testify to its accur-1
llacy, but my client obtained it from the Surrogate 's office. I 'd
Abe happy to let Mr. Whitney take a look at it if he would like to
verify that it is the correct Will , and I will submit it to the
'Board as evidence. The 35th paragraph is the relevant paragraph
I
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sand it states :
}� I
"I give, devise and bequeath my home at No. 405 North Cayuga
!Street, Ithaca, N.Y. , including all buildings thereon, to the
11ITompkins County Foundation, to be used as an office for said Founda
lltion, and to be known as the "Blackman Memorial Home ;" and the sum
i
Hof Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15, 000), to assist said Foundation in
j1the renovation to suitable office space."
lNow there is no mention of various charitable uses or anything like
that , it just says an office for the Tompkins County Foundation.
I ;
Now let' s consider arguendo that the Family & Children Counseling =
t
! Service is an allowed use in the district and the Tompkins County
Foundation is not an allowed use in the district. They have no
relationship, they are not an accessory use of the Children $ Famil�
Counseling Service and, to my mind, they cannot use this building
4 I
' for their office irrespective of whether the Family & Children
(Counseling Service can use it, unless they obtain a use variance
from this Board which they have not at this time requested. Now,
�as far as I can tell from the Will , if the Tompkins County Founda
tion does not use this facility as an office, which it cannot under
the Zoning Ordinance then the facility - the building, will revert
to the residuary of the Will . I don' t know what the answer to that
lis but apparently there is some significant legal questions that
,have to be resolved here. In addition, apparently the only way that
'the Family & Children Counseling Service can come any where near
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� neeting the parking requirement of the Ordinance is to black top th
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!entire back yard and side yard, of this facility. That flys right I
lin the face apparently of the new historical district which has
;;just been passed and certainly would be very detrimental to the
1=
,neighbors , all of whom have, except for one building , all the rest
is
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'Jof the buildings on that street have very nice , well developed lawn
11 1
land is a very highly developed residential neighborhood. I think
!that when the equities are viewed here there certainly are a lot of{
very strong equities on both sides. I think just looking through
,some of the comments that weremade, it was interesting to note that
it
IDr. Racker, I hope I pronounced her:;name properly, stated that when
�hysical complaints carne up at Family & Children Counseling Service
;they referred the patient do Dr. Racker which I took very much to
i
I1nean that when a medical activity was required that a physician was
G
icalled in. I think that the whole tone of all of the witnesses cam
jro that. When a real true honest medical activity was required that
physician was called in, and that when counseling service and non
edical activity was required that the Family & Children Counseling ,
service took over. I think that basically I will close on that
i
oint . This is a counseling activity, it is somehow related to j
E
1�ealth. The definition in the Ordinance does not speak of health. 'I
� I
��t does not say human health, it does not say health related }
Ictivity, it doesn't discuss health at all . It says a medical facil�-
�� ty. That term in common usage is meant to mean doctors , physicians.
� I
!�t says medical or dental offices which couldn' t be any clearer,
�f I
hey mean physicians or dental offices. There really is no room in '
--he Ordinance to include various counseling service and traveling
I
round Home Health Aid services as a medical activity. I 'd be
appy to answer any. . . .
R. MARTIN; Are there any questions from members of the Board?
R. GREENBERG: I don' t think there is any doubt in my mind or the
embers of the Board that if an Optometrist wanted an office there
I
e would be eligible to have it although he couldn 't give drugs or
I
ouch thepatient or anything of that sort. So I just wonder if your!
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Pefinition isn' t too narrow.
i
i R. SCHECHTER: Well , to be frank with you, I don't, not being a
hysician myself, I don't exactly know what the distinction is be-
ween optometrist and an ophthalmologist, for instance , or an opts
ian. I think that an optician performs most of the same services
s the other two, but I don't think that an optician would be allow
'fed in this district.
�R. GREENBERG: An optician doesn' t perform optometry, and an op-
I
ometrist doesn't perform identically to an ophthalmologist who is
n M.D. but he does see patients , he treats them for correction of
I�roblems with vision and that is considered a practitioner I think
E
nder this definition, and of course , we have other . . . I meand, I '4
II �
lad they included dentists there, I mean I feel better that they
I
E id, but expressly, you know, podiatrists would be permitted becaus
I
Ihe can dispense drugs but an optometrist definitely falls into the
ategory which was disallowed. I mean, he is treating - is he
reating a body ailment . . . I suppose he is . if someone can't see
ell its an ailment . By the same token it 's not a direct therapy,
ts an indirect therapy and I personally believe that if a group or
II
I�ven a single clinical psychologist wanted to open up an office I
1� here, I don' t think we would have any debate. I think that a
i
�linical psychologist is differentiated from a psychiatrist but if
clinical psychologist or two or three wanted to use this facility
don' t think there would be any question so I think that we have
o define what is the difference between a social ag encu a medical
iractice . but I think that what you presented isn' t very convinc1
i
('ng to me personally.
R. GASTEIGER: Can you comment on the convalescent home and the
ursing home which doesn' t have a resident physician . . .
R. SCHECHTER: I think, that as I said in the first instance, each
and every one of those facilities is a resident in-patient facility.
Those are facilities where the patient is living there and being
ared for there and supervised by the staff. Most of those facilities
J
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!i if not all of them, I'm not certain, but most of them are licensed
' by the state. I think that all of the various individual profes-
sions that were just mentioned are people who are licensed by the
11state to conduct the various activities that they conduct and are
:! supervised by this State Board of Regents to carry out their
� s
,; functions whereas this facility to the largest extent is not. I
i,
I
'Ithink that when you draw the line sometimes it is true, it is very ;
!'hard to specifically draw a line. On the other hand, the line has
f
to be drawn on the side of protecting the community. If the line
' is drawn too broadly then all sorts of uses can come in which are
;'not intended in any way, particularly because if uses are kept out
i
I'which the legislative body intends to have in they can amend the
'; Zoning Ordinance to allow them to come in and provide a remedy in
;; that fashion. But if the Ordinance is too broad and there is no
�f
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11protection for the community because once that Ordinance is too
;broad there is nothing anyone can do. And once it is interpreted
1; too broadly there is no way that you can stop anybody that has a
i� somewhat similar use that is similarly defined to come in. Now,
;!apparently in this instance most of the activities that take place
I
,,at Family $ Children Counseling Service are not conducted by a
11clinical psychologist and certianly are not conducted by a physiciaO.
;;Some of the activities apparently are in some way supervised by a
11clinical psychologist. The clinical psychologist himself is not a
f
;;physician and if he opened an office I don' t think that it would bel
;;considered a medical office and, in point of fact, I don't have the!
it
:;citations right in front of me, but in communities where medicine
!kis allowed, medical offices are allowed as a home occupation, there}
, are plenty of cases that say that a psychologist is not a physicians
it
Ijunder those definitions. That basically is , I think, where you have
;t
to try to draw the line. The activities that have taken place are
:not medical activities and they are really not even very much relat�d
Tito medical activities . They are health related activities and they!
;fare related to mental health, there are various physical therapy
;;activities which are exactly in the same fashion related to physical
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Ij €
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!health. It really is true that a gymnasium or the European Health
'ISpa or the Y.W,C.A. or various other activities undertake a lot of
physical therapy activities which are very similar in the analogy
! to the counseling activities of the Children & Family Counseling !
i
!i Service.
! MR. MARTIN: Thank you. Are there any others here this evening
11who would like to be heard in opposition to the proposed interpre-
;station? Are there others who would like to be heard? Please come
jforward. Could you tell us who you are?
+ k
;!MRS. MORRIS BISHOP: I 'm Mrs. Morris Bishop and I live at 106 E.
Court Street, I 'm one of the neighbors . I would like to say that
lithe discussion this evening has, of course, been confined to very j
f
legalistic definitions which are extremely interesting but I think }
it s
I11that the efforts of the Family & Children Service to prove themselves
11a medical facility has not been proved. They are a very active,
every valuable organization for social service and the reason that i
:I
i'there is opposition in the neighborhood is that we see this extremej-
Illy active activity coming in causing congestion, parking problems,
'a great many more peovle on the streets . It is not because we
:think the organization is anything but very, very valuable. We j
i
jisimply think that it is wrong in a private home , in a residential
s
Harea where part of the area has been zoned as a historic monument i
;;for the town. That 's all I have to say. Is that all right?
i
MR. SCHECHTER: Thank you, Excuse me Mr. Chairman, I wanted to i
11submit this copy of this Will to the Board members . I had previous{-
lily mentioned it. j
1MR. MARTIN: Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to be
1�heard in opposition? Yes , please come forward.
1CHARLIE BROWN: My name is Charlie Brown, believe it or not , a
�f
practicing podiatrist in the City of Ithaca for the past 36 years . 4
A neighbor of this at 415 N. Cayuga St. , also my residence as of I
hast Thanksgiving day. Now, I have listened to an hour and one 'I
i
half discussion and there is no denying that the Family & Children
I
iService is a terrific asset to the Community. From all of the y
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' discussions from what you have said. My interpretation is , does it
�Iqualify for a resident? I spoke to this Board several weeks ago , II
I
��told you what I went through to become active down there, to have
!m practice and the only reason I of in was because m mother was
Y P Y g Y
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I'the tenant. Now let 's go back. The State of New York license to
,,diagnose, prescribe and treat five categories of people . The physis
E1
jlcian, the osteopath, the dentist, the optometrist, that you have
e�
(spoken of, and the podiatrist. Now, in the last few years they
s;
'jhave included one more, the chiropractor. Now, those are the ones
'Ithat are diagnosed to treat and prescribe. The psychologists are
`licensed to counsel. You are aksing for an interpretation of a
11physician in the broad sense those are the ones that are classi-
c;
fied as physicians. That was the question that you asked earlier.
IINow, the use of this particular property has been discussed many
,Itimes . I doubt in my own mind, because it is not being used by a
i
practicing one of the six that are listed by the State of New York
Ilas the ability to diagnose, prescribe and treat. It ' s as simple asj
i�
11that - this is what your question is - not the good of the Childre�
Family Service but do they qualify under your present zoning laws
jjNow, if you want to get down to the nitty-gritty, like you have beef
;discussing here tonight the legal profession you have been denying 1
Luse of the same building as an owner operator and yet how much
',counseling do they do under family style, particularly in divorce
s:
(cases? Give that some thought. Thank you.
iR. MARTIN: Is there anyone else who would like to be heard in
opposition? I think then that concludes our hearing on this case,
,jare there any questions that members of the Board, excuse me, yes ,
jlyou wish to be heard? Please come forward.
I!7OSEPH SADY: My name is Joseph Sady, I live at 412 N. Cayuga Streef.
!I 'm one of the newcomers there, I 've only been there 20 years. I
fl
j,1t`hink what we should also consider here, at the risk of repeating
lli
'what' s been said before, nobody is denying the Family Service is a
kronderful thing for this Community but I think there is another
a
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;side here too. Hose are some neighbors if they didn' t want the
!'thing next to them they wouldn't be here now. They have been therel'7
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;for a long time, they've kept their homes up , they are pillars of
i
;,the community and I think they should be taken into consideration
;;also.
MR. MARTIN: Do members of the Board have questions for any who
I
(have spoken - excuse me, you wish to be heard?
t
IMR. KAVANAGH: My name is Frank Kavanagh retired trainor, Cornell;
t
11'University. I 've worked all of my life for my home at 408 N.
;;Cayuga Street. I have spent a lot of money on it to keep it up
hover all of these years . I don' t want grand central station stuck
'i,,:next to me , cars flying in and out like over on N. Aurora Street.
c
' I don' t want that, I want a nice quiet home where I am proud and Il
E
:;can be happy until I die. I have worked all of my life for this ,
,'this is why I am here. It ' s the second time I am here and I 'm
! getting damned sick of it. -
Ir BROWN: I have one question.
",MR. MARTIN: I 'm sorry sir, members of the Board ask questions here;.
;;Are there any other people who have not yet spoken who have addi-
' tional information to present to the Board in this case? Seeing
none, then I ' ll ask members of the Board whether, after having
iheard the initial case, and then those in opposition, if they have
I
Jany questions that they would like to direct to anyone who has
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4previously spoken. Hearing none, then I will aks us to move on to
'Ithe next case which is what, Mr. Secretary?
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52
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
CITY OF ITHACA
DECEMBER 6 , 1976
EXECUTIVE SESS'I'ON
6PPEAL NO. 1144
o
it
IDR. GREENBERG: I move that we deny the interpretation of the
Family & Children's Service as a medical facility.
!kR. KASPRZAK; I second that.
FINDINGS OF FACT
The evidence presented does not convince the
majority of the Board that it is in fact such a
facility.
it
YES 4 NO 1 ABSTENTION 1
Miss Judith Maxwell abstains because she is a
member of the Board of the Family & Children
Service.
!j
- S3 -
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA
CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK
DECEMBER 6, 1976
i
! Secretary Hoard announced the next case to be heard. !
11APPEAL NO. 1140 : An Appeal of Teen Challenge of Ithaca, Inc.
for an exemption from Sec. 30. 59 temporary
moratorium on certain buildings , permits and
certificates of occupany to convert a single
family at 412 N. Aurora Street to a multiple
1 dwelling in an R-3 use district.
IIMR. MORRISON: My name is Richard Morrison, I am a lawyer practic-
e
ling at 103 W. Seneca Street and I represent Teen Challenge.
IMR. MARTIN: Could you please be quiet in the rear, we are trying
€toet going on our next case? Why don' t you just speak u
g g g Y Y J P up. . . a
HMR. MORRISON: I represent Teen Challenge, of Ithaca, Inc, which is
!a not for profit corporation organized in New York State. They nowt
f
I+own the property at 412 N, Aurora Street. Hopefully our presenta- i
'Ition will be mercifully brief tonight. We have one question which
1I would like to raise. . Before we talk about the mechanics of hard
,Iship, etc, in this case I would like to pose one question to the
'I
?;Board for resolution, which may resolve the issue. This, as I
11understand from the City Clerk, I am now referring to Section 30. 591
of the Municipal Code. . . this was enacted and became effective on
11/6/76. Is that correct - upon publication?
'i
!IMR. HOARD: That is correct.
i
MR. MORRISON: Rather than upon the date at which it was first enac�
13ted - which was several days previous .
;1MR. MARTIN: It takes effect on 11/6/76 .
OIMR. MORRISON: Upon publication. These particular individuals Ted
JChallenge - by Pastor Richard Thomas who is director, had contracted.
lion 10/5/76 to sell this property to James Iacovelli . Mr. Iacovellil
11who will testify tonight, came to the Building Department for a
;!building permit on 11/4/76 and was told that he could not have one,!
Iso perhaps that .was a premature determination in itself, in that
!the Ordinance wasntt even in effect on that date.
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!MR. MARTIN: Well ,, so that one issue you would like to present to
, us - I mean, this is here in the form of an application for - if
t. 1
jyou will , a variance from the Moratorium - j
, I
1MR. MORRISON: Right, an exemption from it.
,1MR. MARTIN: An exemption from it but you are also suggesting that
'Ithe Moratorium doesntt even apply since there was a request for a
,;building permit by the contract purchaser before the effective datel.
MR. MORRISON: That ' s is correct. This is something I just learneds,
MR. MARTIN: Alright, so that, since that issue was raised we would'
;like to hear some testimony on that point of view.
,MR. MORRISON: Right, you will . I don' t propose to put any testi-
I
,mony in the form of interrogation, I 'd like to have the principals
',just simply speak to you, to alleviate a lot of time problem. You j
i
!'will also hear from Pastor Thomas tonight, who, as I said, is the
IlDirector of Ithaca Teen Challenge - also pastor of the First Assem-!
t
' bly of God. He will speak to you on the physical attributes of the;
i4roperty and just exactly what hardship this particular determina-
;;tion may work on his organization as it seeks to unwind its function
I
!'here in Ithaca. Also, from Mr, Iacovelli who is the contract pur-
i
?;chaser, speaking to you on what he envisions as his plan for the
;!building and how he would change it in order to develop it and also]
,from Gerald Frand from Hewitt Realty speaking on mechanics of the
'
transaction. So if I could just call Pastor Thomas now, we will
„let him speak.
,;PASTOR RICHARD THOMAS: My name is Rev. Richard Thomas , pastor of
!'First Assembly of God church here in Ithaca and also president of
tthe Board of Directors at Teen Challenge of Ithaca, Inc . The partit
cular hardship that it would work upon the organization of Teen
r i
,'Challenge, if the moratorium were deemed to be in effect, thus
!,limiting our ability to sell it, would be basically this : since
;;Teen Challenge has had to close as of 4/30/76 we have, along with
lithe mortgage, the balance of the mortgage, outstanding notes and
;!other debts having an outstanding indebtedness of between $32 ,000
1`
1,�and $40, 000. thus the asking price . The $40,OOO is needed in order :
t
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,Ito retire these debts and because of the physical plant of the i
i
building, it doesn' t lend itself to being sold as a single-family
lresidence. In fact we 've only had one offer for purchase as a sin-
3
`�gle-family residence . In fact we've only had one offer for purchase
ilas a single-family residence since it was put on the market . There
3 I
,have been other offers for purchase but not for single-family resi-4
dence. The building itself is a three story building with four
I
i
l;bedrooms on the second floor and with three bedrooms on the third
;
; floor, two of which can legally be occupied as bedrooms . The third
i
I; room has no windows in it, thus wouldn' t technically be allowed as la
I 1
! bedroom and most individual families would not be able to purchase
!! this or would not want to purchase it as a single-family residence
I
lwith some six bedrooms in it. The cost of upkeeping a building of
!! this size and nature wouldn' t lend itself as a single family resi-
!J �!Jdence. Thus we are applying - I know the hardship really doesn't
!, apply - the technical definition of hardship before this Board,
I
but we are asking that you allow us to be able to sell this building
!lto Mr. iIacovelli so that we might be able to retire the debts that
i
flare facing us . Since most of the debts that we owe have long since
(been due, for the good name of the organization we 'd like to be I
I
`i 4
Mable to retire these debts and we can't do it unless we can sell J
, the building.
I �
11MR. MORRISON: Rev. Thomas , how many people live there - perhaps II
j? (9 the Board. . . . It would be helpful - how many live there?
' REV. THOMAS: Yes , Teen Challenge has occupied the building since ,
i;
I believe, 1971 , until April of this year . The total capacity of j
the building as used by Teen Challenge was 11 girls (it was a girl "
'!center) plus staff members and there were 2 staff members that werel
(lresidents there . There was also a non-resident staff.
I
l
11MR. MORRISON: So there were thirteen people actually living in thef
home when it was being used by you?
a
�IMR. MARTIN: When was the property acquired by Teen Challenge and
E
how?
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11REV. THOMAS: I 'm not sure of the exact date but I know it was
ii
jin 1971 . . . . I believe it was October.
NR. MARTIN: 1971 . . . .was it purchased? i
I I
; REV. THOMAS: Yes it was.
HIMR. MARTIN: Do you know what the purchase price was?
rREV. THOMAS: I ''m not sure exactly— it was in the $30,000 's .
1
MR. MARTIN: You say there has been one offer for it while it has j
;'been most recently on the market, as a single family home? j
i
!MR. MORRISON: I think the purchase price was $31 ,000.
1,1MR. MARTIN: $31 , 000 was the purchase price. Are there further
I
questions from members of the Board?
F
!!MR. VAN MARTER: I think I would like to return to the basic about
;, the effectiveness of the effective date of the Moratorium and why
a permit was denied. It is either effective or not.
'DR. GASTEIGER: Yes, who go further?
i
3MR. VAN MARTER: I 'd like to clear that up before we go further.
MR. MARTIN: Before we go on, alright. Were you part of the appli-�
L,
1cation for the building permit or do we need someone else to go int
f's
;' the details?
I F !if
': MR. MORRISON: Mr. Iacovelli , the buyer.
's
=MR. MARTIN: Alright, and then we ' ll hear from our Building Commis-I�
I
Hsioner, Mr. Hoard.
MR. IACOVELLI : My name is Jim Iacovelli. The building permit, we
I
i=shave letters when the property was purchased through the bank and
I
lils
it was dated before the moratorium took effect. I came in on a
jjThursday and the meeting was Wednesday, to see Mr. Jones and he
i1said that the building permits were not issued as of last night j
i
'fbecause of the meeting - so. . .
�IMR. MORRISON: This was Thursday the 4th of November.
SMR. IACOVELLI : This was Nov. the 4th - Thursday, right? And then
' I think one of your men came over to see if I could help put the
ii
�Irest of the house in as it was. He came over on a Thursday and toIld
me this was a family home and not as a multiple dwelling. It was
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��iever registered as a dwelling and that was before. . .
�{ 4
41MR. HOARD: He was over on November 5th.
R. KASPRZAK: When did the Ordinance become effective?
i
�R. MARTIN: Saturday, the 6th. Do you have anything Mr. Hoard,
{' M
( that will illuminate this for us?
i
R. HOARD: Okay, the reason a building permit was not issued was
;that a building permit for change of use involved, eventually, a
i
( Certificate of Occupancy. The moratorium applied to Certificate ofl
jOccupancy which would in cases where there was an increase in the
;fuse of the residential use of the building and that is why there j
;;was no point , if you will remember our discussion, there was no
i
;:point in issuing the building permit because any work you would do
'would be illegal under the terms of the Moratorium. j
!JMR. IACOVELLI : Moratorium - well that was it , I was in before the i
i
;'6th.
I1MR. HOARD: Yes , since then - well at that time we were operating
funder the City Attorney' s opinion that we could not issue a building
1permit knowing that we wouldn't be able to issue a Certificate of
ccupancy. Last Wednesday the Common Council clarified the ordi-
i
finance or the moratorium saying that if someone had a building per-
'mit prior to the moratorium that we could issue a Certificate of
I'
il0ccupancy. However, he is ill and he has not been able to clarify.;
!What happens now in your case where the building permit was not i
�l issued. . . i
dMR. IACOVELLI : Right, but we was in before the 6th. f
ilMR. MORRISON: How many people were you going to - in your conver-
1sion of the property, how many people would be living there?
i`
:IMR. IACOVELLI : Probably about nine. i
1IMR. MORRISON: Nine. So that would be less than - this would not
H
11be in fact a case where
f{ you were increasing the residential capa-1
licity of the building anyway, cause there were thirteen people in
I
I1residence with the Teen Challenge use and there would be nine in
" the converted use. �
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� MR. HOARD: At that time that Mr. Iacovelli was in it was unclear
11
Ilhow many units he was going to put in the house. My understanding
I
=iwas that he was going to put in at least three which would make it. .
i
IMR. IACOVELLI : Now 2 . I was upset I could have 3 but I didn't
;want 3, the house - you couldn' t put three in it.
ppMR. HOARD: Well , there was talk of a basement :apartment . 1
II
iIMR. IACOVELLI : A basement apartment - which is what I want to put
ilin it.
! MR. HOARD: Which would make it a multiple. The building was listeid
� in our books and Teen Challenge had at one time appealed this on j
jlthe basis that they wanted to leave it on the books as a single-
! family rather than under the definition of a single-family, as
;F
lbeing two adults acting as parents and the girls acting. . . .
111MR. MORRISON: Guardians .
MR. IACOVELLI : All of our commitment letters from the banks and
everything are all dated prior - it was , I think, about the 3rd of
November, long before that - so this has been going on for over a
E
Lonth - the process of this thing. It isn' t something we just
1
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i�went out and bought.
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, MR. MORRISON: I don' t think there is any question that the trans-
action was in progress at the time the Ordinance was passed. It ' s
I
Ijust a question of what the clarification means at the Common I
Council.
JIMR. MARTIN: Alright, so that if I have understood what we 've just
1�heard by action last week, Common Council has indicated that where
1 I
iia building permit has been issued before the Moratorium the corres-
�1 I
ponding Certificate of Occupancy would not be affected by the
Moratorium. Right?
If
+SMR. HOARD: Right. p
MR. MARTIN: And in this case a building permit was requested I
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jprior to the effective date of the Moratorium and was denied. So
one thing the Board might do with this case is conclude, in its
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; capacity as interpreter of the Ordinance, that the Ordinance does
Pinot apply, that the building permit, having been applied for before
i
the Moratorium, it should have been issued. Now, rather than take
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�p time with the deliberations by the Board on that point now, un
FI
ess we are of a unanimous mind on it, I think we might go ahead
nd hear the rest of the case and then we will resolve that point
�n our deliberation. Okay, so why don' t you continue?
o
R. MORRISON: Pastor Thomas , do you want to come back up?
an you expand a little more for the Board as to what the situation
�as when you listed this with the realtor - what kind of a response
�I
ou had on it?
I� EV. THOMAS: You mean when we listed it for sale at first? Alrigh
1�rhen we first listed the building for sale, I believe it was in
i;
?'ay, we had one response to buy it as a private - as a single-family
:.welling and that one family was unable , at that time, to sell their
11home, thus causing them to be unable to purchase it. So it was off
the market for a number of months and then was placed back on the
�� arket, I believe in September and since it has been placed back on '
11the market in September we have had two or three offers to buy but
tithe individuals who offered to buy it did not want to buy it as a
single - you know, private family residence ,
iR. MORRISON: Those have all been offers to convert it into I
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ultiple residents?
REV. THOMAS: Well , either converted into multiple residents or fort
I
a commercial office type of thing.
IIMR. MORRISON: Then you would say that there isn 't any feasible wa
1you could sell it as a single-family home to you knowledge now?
; REV. THOMAS: Well , not to my knowledge. First of all, I don' t
! really see how a single family, unless they have quite a lot of in-
come , could really even consider that type of a home . Not only the;
i
purchase price but the upkeep. I
IMR. MORRISON: Do you have any idea of what the actual overhead
1
Iwas in operating that home?
iREV. THOMAS: I have the figures , but I don't have them with me.
1MR. MORRISON: Okay thank you. Questions?
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This is Gerald Frand from Hewitt Realty. He has the listing of the
Ilproperty.
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- 60
I�R. FRAND: Okay - taxes are $1 , 200 . roughly - almost $1 ,200. The
�� i
Ilutilities are $1,000 a year not counting the purchase price of
it
'1$40 ,000 which Teen Challenge- it has already been testified - that'
Ween Challenge needs to get out of the property, to at least break +;
( even. The property needs extensive renovation in terms of inside
;sand outside paint, new hardware flooring has to be done, a brand
ii
jnew kitchen, there is no kitchen in it hardly, except a sink. No
'stove. Bathroom is very antiquated and very run down and a good
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!1part of the wiring has to be redone and removed and service be j
,
11brought into the building for renovation of somewhere in the neigh- 1
Iborhood of 10-12 thousand dollars - so we are talking a $52, 000
j�piece of property at 412 N, Aurora Street which, right across the
Ii i
�Istreet is Wagner's funeral home and another lawyer 's office.
R. MORRISON: Can you tell the Board a little more about what the
i
'character of the neighborhood is? What kind of buildings are aroun�
t
this house?
i R. FRAND: Well, right behind it is a six unit apartment house, I
i
elieve, that used to be the old Ithaca City Hospital . Again, ther+
alis quite a few multiple family houses in the neighborhood, I don' t
i
�Cnow the exact figure but across the street T know., j
�EV, THOMAS: If I might just interject here, just walking around
hhe area today, I counted with two blocks around that area - some
��twenty-two multiple family dwellings . By that I mean more than one !
amily in a home - at least counting the mail boxes on the door,
jiIf that would be a general assumption and eight offices of either !�
i
eal Estate or doctors, dentists, and i
{
R. MORRISON: Questions?
I�R, MARTIN: Are there any questions? It seems to me that there it
slight inconsistency that I would like to direct to somebody.
is argued on the one hand that a single family would not be in-
1� erested in this, and yet it said that you had an offer from one )
14nd that fell through only because of their failure to sell there
rior home. Can you help us with that?
i
R. FRAND: Since then they have bought another property and it could
have been, because in the sales contract - the purchase contract, i
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'Ecvas stipulated that they had to seel their home before they bought
this piece of property, which they tried to do. Since then this
11has been rectified, Now, I 'm not to say, but you don't know, maybe
11that was a reason to get out, too , at the same time for these peopl .
I�Again, since then the house has sold and they bought another proper+
� ty and this one was still on the market, i
,
HREV. THOMAS: T think maybe I could bring to light a little bit of
; the reason why this particular family wanted to buy 412 N, Aurora
11St. as a single family dwelling, It was a relatively small family
I
I1husband, wife and two children, but they wanted the extra space in
the home because both the husband and the wife were artists and E�E
Iwanted the extra room for their avocation.. The husband was going
ito use the basement area and the wife was going to use the third 1
1floor area. They were going to use the second floor for their liv-
1'
ding and their bedrooms .
I �
IMR. MORRISON: Thank you. I think I just want to sum up, I don't
; think it would serve any purpose of any more testimony here. It
( seems that it is just a question of a huge house - I think there ar�
(seven bedrooms in it now, which is arguably not going to be able to
� be sold at a reasonable return, for a single family dwelling.. We
have the hardship which is worked on Teen Challenge personally j
,
their personal financial dilemma as well as their hardship which is
,
the property. There is this large home that they are not going to
The able to sell. They are not going to have a feasible economic 1
jreturn out of it. This is a neighborhood that is full of similar
,
uses to the proposed use. I don't think it is a case where the
I' 1
licharacter of the neighborhood is going to be adversely affected,
�IAlso, of course, we have this additional issue of the clarification
`10f the Ordinance - what actually is the intent of it? i
i
1MR. MARTIN: Is it clear that the Moratorium, if it applies , is ally
that is at issue here? What is proposed is consistent with the
Zoning Ordinance but for the Moratorium?
�IMR. MORRISON: Yes.
� MR. MARTIN: And what precisely is proposed? I
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MR. IACOVELLI : .rust a basement apartment more, is all I want,
Ii
MR. MARTIN: Are there any further questions from members of the
Poard?
SMR. VAN MARTER: I read only in the Ithaca Journal that there were
words from the Common Council that in case of, this would not pre-
, clude the issuance of a permit or certificate, Was that ever pub-
dished, do we know what the measurements are, do we know what the
requirements are, do we know what is necessary to be found?
C
'SMR. MARTIN: For us to hear and appeal?
!jMR. VAN MARTER: No, to act on a request from relief of the Mora-
I
Iltorium.
13
MR, MARTIN: Right. The copy of the Ordinance which we received
�£rom the Building Commissioner says as follows : "If an individual
applying for a building permit or certificate of occupancy covered
Eby this Moratorium can demonstrate hardship as a result of the
Moratorium, he or she may appeal to the Board of Zoning Appeals
k1which, at its sole discretion, upon recommendation of the Board of
i
Planning $ Development may exempt the individual from the provision
� of this Moratorium. '' That's it.
MR. VAN MARTER: Do you know what Common Council means by hardship?
li
SMR. MARTIN: They have not given us any further explanation then
the word and saying it ' s upon our sole discretion.
MR. VAN MARTER: Do you think it ' s fair for us to apply the word i
"hardship" the way it is described in the Zoning Ordinance for this
kind of an application? I can see where it could be totally irrel-
�l evant.
i
(MR. MARTIN: It is certainly quite different because this is a time
himited Moratorium rather than a permanent prohibition in the Zonin
(Ordinance. Well, in any event, that no doubt will bear upon our
deliberation.
SDR. GREENBERG : Could I ask a question? Tom, if there were no Mora
torium, would have issued the permit for the basement apartment?
lIs that correct?
{`MR. HOARD: To convert to two units.
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HDR, GREENBERG: You would have if there was not other problem than
,,a conversion or did you make no check to see because of the Mora-
;.
3
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torium?
l !
! MR. HOARD: Well, the inspector went down to look at the building y
ft
1
nand to explain to Mr. Iacovelli about the Moratorium, and I don't
1
€think they ever completed looking at the building
1DR. GREENBERG: So in a sense we are giving if we do approve of!this . . .
Ij
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11MR. HOARD: It would still be, if there are any other zoning prob- f
i.
1lems, it would still be subjected to that. i
JMR. VAN MARTER: Was there in fact a valid application made for a
j'building permit?
3
�f
HOARD: There was none filled out.
!i
"K. IACOVELLI : I could have filled one out but they wouldn't let
1ke.
!�R. VAN MARTER: This comes about only as a result of something
,
hike that. We are out of step I think, very clearly.
!
i�R. MARTIN: Are there further questions? Alright , let me invite
Hanyone else here who would like to be heard in favor of the requested
1�exemption from the moratorium. Is there anyone who would like to 4
speak in opposition?
FIRS. CARLSON: My name is Patricia Carlson and I live across the !
I� treet from the property in question at 407 N. Aurora Street. I
I
ave a couple of questions -- I didn' t realize before that this appli,
ation had been made before the Moratorium was into effect, I do
i'
bonder however, in terms of a basement apartment if this would be a4
!I
(allowed use since it is very clearly a basement, at least from the
�utside it seems to have very tiny windows and may well not be a i
, I
!
�� alid - a legal use of that particular area in any event. 1
R. MARTIN: Whatever we do this evening, we would not be granting j
pproval to deviate from anything other than the Moratorium. So
r�
that if there are other problems with the Zoning Ordinance or others]
!they would have to be dealt with. . .
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1MRS. CARLSON: I guess what worreis me, though, is that if this f
14ii
application is now changed in some way and it is . . . . I guess I 'm
i(
1worried that the application will not be made for the particular
lbasement apartment which then could be refused on those grounds..
i
�iSomething else could go in which would be against the spirit of the
Moratorium but which would not have been applied for before. Okay
11that 's only a side issue, but if it turns out that the Moratorium
;does apply to this , I would like to urge that it be upheld. I
believe that this group has testimony that was offered before the
i
HPlanning Board from other members of the community regarding the
:!
Treasons for the Moratorium in the first place, which include basi-
0
,cally the encouragement of family uses in this particular area for
various reasons, including that of preserving the schools , etc.
i
1!
lThe main point I would like to make however, is that I dontt be-
lieve that this is an actual hardship for Teen Challenge as has
; already been pointed out - of the three or four offers they have
1
'Jalready had, the first one - which was genuine, was from a family
and a small family, indeed, for their own personal use. I would
i
hike to submit to the Board a map of the area showing Court Street
g ,
here, Aurora Street, here and Linn Street here. The properties
outlined in orange have changed hands in the past five years or so .
: The property in question is up here in purple. The point I would
Pike to make is that all of these properties are now owner-occupied
including the lawyer' s office across the street, and that the famil�
uses have been major, in fact in two cases these properties outlined
i
i1here have been changed to owner-occupied residential use from other)
uses. The building here on Court Street was changed from a multiple
family dwelling to one in which the owner now resides , and while it
Iwas at it, it received an award from Historic Ithaca. The building
here was converted from a doctor's office to a family residence
i
' again and this also received an award for rehabilitation so I would
just like to point out to the Board that singlefamilies are inter-
ested in purchasing homes in this area and that there should be a
demand and perhaps the Realtors would find this demand if they
jllooked a little harder. That is the main point I would like to
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- 65 -
make that there is no particular hardship on Teen Challenge if they;
Ijust look a little bit longer. The building has not been on the !
I
market for a very long period, chiefly due to the period of time I
�1spent in between while the family was attempting to sell its other
Hhome. I don't believe that there is any particular hardship that
Twill be suffered here that's unique to this property. j
jJMR. MARTIN: Questions?
MR. GASTEIGER: Over how many years has this "orange" change taken
'A
jplace?
j
JMRS. CARLSON; This is just since we've been there , approximately
!i
pthe last five years or so.
'1 4
1MR, MARTIN: Further questions? Thank you Mrs , Carlson.
1Are there others who vuld like to be heard in opposition?
!Hearing none, that conlcudes our hearing on this case, Our next
1!
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pcase. . . , j
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;R
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
CITY OF ITHACA
DECEMBER 6, 1976
i
i
EXECUTIV E *SESS-I`ON�
;
t PPEAL NO, 1140
's
Mr. Martin: I move that the requested exemption from the
Moratorium in case #1140 be denied. !
j
SMR. GASTEIGER: I second it,
I
FINDINGS OF FACT
1, The Moratorium has effect for a seven month
period. Testimony presented at the hearing indi -
cated that the property may indeed be attractive to
s� families desiring to occupy it as a single-family
residence. As a consequence there is an inadequate
demonstration of hardship to justify exempting this
property from the Moratorium,
YES 5 ABSTENTION 1
,E !
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- 67 -
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA
CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK I
DECEMBER 6 , 1976
�4
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sISecretary Hoard announced the next case to be heard: !
( APPEAL NO. 1142 : The appeal of Thomas Hanna and Katherine
!+ Hanna for an area variance under Section
30. 25, Column 13, and for an exemption
from Section 30,59, Temporary Moratorium on
Certain Building Permits and Certificates
i1 of Occupancy to add a basement apartment to
the single-family dwelling at 210 Eddy Street,i
in an 'R-3 use district,
it
jIMR. HANNA: I think wel-ve come with the unanimous support of the B
jJPlanning Committee on both the Moratorium and the area variance tha
Tom has described. I think we also have two letters and a copy of
i
; the letter that - two letters that you have received would like to
add them from among our neighbors and people we notified in the
inormal process on this question. I
SMR. KASPRZAK: Excuse me, could you please identify yourself, be-
Icause you didn't and the tape recorder may not have the informationl'. . .
I
IMR. HANNA: Excuse me, I 'm Thomas Hanna, I live at 210 Eddy Streeti.
( MRS. HANNA: I 'm Katherine Hanna, and I also live there.
SMR. MARTIN: In the prior case we discovered that there may be some
problems with the timing of the effectiveness of the Moratorium.
Could you give us the sequence of events? When did you apply for
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, a building permit for this apartment?
IIMR. HANNA: We applied for a building permit originally and it wash
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subject to the same area in question, in August and received such
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building permit, We applied for an apartment - a building permit
for the basement apartment on the day before the Moratorium went
Illinto effect and I guess no action was taken on the building permit
13 at that time, although it was pointed out to us that we had an are
problem because we did not have the 5 ' side line.
11MR. MARTIN: Right. So this is a case in which not only the Mora- I
" torium but area is a problem, so that an area variance would have i
; been required in any event. But you applied for your building
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!permit on the 5th the date. . .
HMR. HANNA: Yes , obviously in good faith, thinking that it was allj
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; going to be very simple.
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11MR. MARTIN: Alright do you have additional information to present ,
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[ to us? l
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SMR. HANNA: What people have submitted in writing and what you have
Alin reports from other sources are what we have .
MR, MARTIN: Alright. Are there any questions from members of the
! Board?
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11MR. VAN MARTER: No other deficiences other than the side yard?
;!MR. HANNA: As far as we know. Our intention in applying for the
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japartment permit fit exactly into our own personal plans that put-
ting a considerable amount of investment into the property to reno-
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'vate it and to take care of deferred maintenance that is described
las pride in and improvement of property, we realize from our own
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personal point of view that the apartment was a keystone making it
financially possible for us to do so. This was our motive .
SMR. VAN MARTER: There is adequate off-street parking?
! MR. HANNA: Yes, there is , We have provided for that.
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! MR. MARTIN: Any further questions? I guess not. Thank you. Is
there anyone else here this evening who would like to be heard
Ein favor of the requested area variance and exception to the Mora-
torium? I
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SUNNY GOODING: I am Sunny Gooding , I live at 105 Eddy Street whic
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is a block away. My husband and I have written a letter to you in j
i� support of this application of the Hannas under the name of David
land Sinima Gooding and I just wanted to reiterate what was stated I
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jin the letter that I am familiar living in the neighborhood as anj
owner-occupier of a two-family resident, the Hanna's proposed use
iiwould be very much in keeping with the rest of the neighborhood,
isince very few of us live in single family dwellings anymore and I f
,think, for the good of the neighborhood it is particularly impor-
tant to encourage the use of owner-occupied rental facilities
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3!rather than absentee landlord rental facilities and they have done
konsiderable renovation on the exterior of the house which has
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dconsiderably enhanced teh esthetic joys of the neighborhood and '
;'the side lot variance which they require is certainly not excessive!
;lin teras of most of the other properties on the block would not com!
Iply with the present zoning ordinance. I am sure ours would not
'jcomply at this point as a pre-existing use so I am fully in support'
of their application and they did apply in good faith before the
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,;Moratorium went into effect and I urge that you grant their appli-
;;cation.
?MR. HISTED: My name is John Histed and I live at 209 Eddy Street,
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across the street from the Hannas. I 've lived in that particular
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,larea in the upper Buffalo Street area and Eddy Street since 1941,
I am quite familiar with the problems, the parking and the apart-
' ments all through town, all property, landlords and ownership and
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PI think our particular area on Eddy Street, particularly from the
1400 block down anyway, has gained over the last few years in its f
! appearance. Landlords - those off-premise landlords anyway r seem
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'Ito be taking very good care of their properties and I feel that
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'iIMr. Hanna, having only been there six years and the amount of money;
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,: that he is putting into his piece of property, which is a late 1800'
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;!piece of property, really is enhancing the neighborhood. I 'd like
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'Ito see him be able to carry through his plans . Thank you,
;SMR, MARTIN: Is there anyone else who would like to be heard?
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II will acknowledge that we have received, not only letters from
Mr, Histed, but also the Goodings and a number of other people in
!' the neighborhood, I will not bother to read them since they, in
; simple terms, express their approval of the requested relief. Thede
is a rather more extensive letter from Jason Fane, also expressing
.' his support. I won't bother to read that either. Is there any-
; thing more to be said on this case? Then we will move on the the
6lnext.
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Ij BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS L
s� CITY OF ITHACA
i DECEMBER 6, 1976
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EXECUTIVE SESSION
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IAPPEAL NO. 1142
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SIMR. MARTIN: I move that the area variance requested in
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i€ Case 1142 and the exemption from the Moratorium
to the extent it necessary, be granted.
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11MISS MAXWELL: I' second the motion.
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FINDINGS 'OF FACT
}j 1, In connection with the Moratorium the facts
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it
that the property owner had already started on
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jl substantial rehabilitation and had requested the
a building permit prior to the effective date of
II the Moratorium, warrant an exemption if one is j
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required.
2 , The only deficiency under the Zoning Ordinance
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concerns the side yard. The proposed apartment I
'? will not make that problem of the side yard worse. 1
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3. There is adequate off-street parking.
YES 6 Unanimous
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BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA
CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK
DECEMBER 6, 1976
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1Secretary Hoard announced the next case to be heard, i
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1APPEAL NO. 1143 : An Appeal of Catharine S, Detweiler, for an
area variance under Section 30 , 25 , Columns
6, 7 and 13 , for an area variance to subdivide
ii the property at 229 and 231 Valley Road, in an�
! R-1 use district,
BUYOUCOS: Mr, Chairman, itis kind of late. If you have all
decided in favor of this application we don't want to take your
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;time here in putting all of this evidence before you.
IIMR. MARTIN: For the record, at least, we might include some evil
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I�dence.
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NR. BUYOUCOS: Thank you. I've got some exhibits that I would like
�! to . . . Now this appeal on the part of Mrs . Detweiler in effect is
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1Ifor a subdivision or a division of all the property that has been
;occupied by Mr. $ Mrs . Detweiler in this area so that two houses
can be sold. What I am going to do is begin first with their ac-
quisition. If you will look on the map you will find some dotted
lines and these dotted lines represent the lots as they appeared
ion the Bryant Park subdivision map which was a subdivision of this
I;area and other areas Ridgedals Road, and I will give you copies
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:lof that map in a minute .
IMR. GASTEIGER: Are these the fine dots or the broken line?
MR. BUYOUCOS: The broken line dots . If you will look down at the
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;!bottom, for example, you will see Lot 74 and Lot 73. Then you wills
�jsee Lot 73 and Lot 72, then you will see Lot 72 and Lot 71 . Are
Iiiyou oriented Mr. Gasteiger? That map up there shows it much better
11with the yellow lines but your set up here doesn't permit me to
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hold it up here very easily so you can all see it. The yellow
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Mines on the map on the board, which is going to be exhibit 1A,
! indicates those lots . Now Professor Detweiler and Mrs . Detweiler,
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(actually the title being solely in the name of Mrs , Detweiler
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j�bought Lot 74 in 1942 , At that time there was a dwelling on it
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,'land that was known as 229, That lot was in all respects a valie
11lot at the time and today, in all respects , it is a valid non- con,
lforming use, That lot can legally be occupied as a lot because j
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lthat pre-dated the zoning law, At the same time on March 27 , 1942 ,1
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11Mrs. Detweiler bought Lot 73 and at that time there wasn1t any
34dwelling on it, Now the house at 229 was occupied by the Detweiler
1for their family up to about 1968 , In 1948 a two-car garage with
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;Ian efficiency apartment on top was built on Lot 73, Now this was
`done pursuant to a building permit issued 11/6/47, On 6/24/63 a
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'.permit was obtained for an addition to the garage and dwelling whic�
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consisted on an addition on the west end of the garage. As a j
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,;result the building at 231 'Valley Road consisted of a two-car
dgarage and a 4 room apartment. On 3/3/67 a building permit was
Jissued permitting additional remodeling, And this was done so that
ijone garage stall was removed and an additional bath and room were
11added in place of the garage stall, So you have the house as it is1
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lnow. In 1968 the family having moved away, the Detweilers , Mr. &
lMrs . Detweiler moved to the smaller house at 231 Valley Road and
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'Ithey rented the larger house. In 1970 Professor Detweiler died andl
i1Mrs, Detweiler has continued to live in 231 but now the time has
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( come when Mrs , Detweiler must think of disposing of her property '
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land this is where the problem arises . You will see on your map tha
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lia proposed division line has been placed beginning at the North East
lcorner of Lot 74 which places it a little bit to the west of where
;Jit says West for South 740 20 minutes west, do you see that? That
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jlline runs in a southerly direction, heading straight for the North
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asterly corner of the shed. Then it runs westerly so that it is
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lin line with the South Easterly corner of what appeared there as
teps coming from the rear of the porch. And then the line continuos
n Southerly to the common corner of Lot 74 , the S.E. corner of Lotl
1,74 and the S,W, corner of Lot 73 . Now some additional acquisitions !
ere made, namely of Lot 72 and also of Lot 71 . Ultimately in 1959 ;
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here was a division line which separated the Detweiler properties .
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1pn the west and the Pauk properties on the east, Now under the
1950 zoning law, if
you consider Lot 229 being on lot 74 and 231
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i!being on Lot 73 and spilling over in part on Lot 72 , there was a
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11valid compliance with the zoning law as it existed in 1950 because
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lithe side yard area requirements by the express terms of the 1950
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zoning law did not apply to pre-existing dwellings . That was a
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dpolicy that was adopted by the city when they amended the zoning lar
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1which, I believe was their first wholesale amendment of any kind j
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,'after its adoption.. So that, in effect, these houses have been in
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I1compliance with the law except for the most recent revisions , that
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jiffs if we were to separate them.. I have no doubt in my mind that as1. �
1a matter of law we could sell Lot 74 right now as a valid non-con-
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E1forming use and give the owner of 229 the right to have the encroac -
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1ment continue where it has encroached, as shown on the map, and I
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11think we could do the same with 231, But we don 't want to get in a
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3 hassle with the purchaser at the last minute, so we 've come in here
!to ask for your approval and in effect to ask for a variance so that
1we will be permitted to sell these properties. I think the only
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variation under the present law, if I'm not mistaken Mr. Hoard, is
11that if we make the present division we will not meet the frontage
IErequirements or the area requirements , forgetting for the moment
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9'that we have what I believe to be valid non-conforming uses in the
jside yard requirements , But I do wish to point this out that if
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11you give this approval you are not bringing one more house into this
ljarea than was the case in 1948 . If you give this approval you are 1
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not bringing one more additional occupancy, one more person into thps
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,area than has been the case since 1948 . These two houses have been
j�in this same position for all of this time. Mrs . Detweiler put this
jhouse on the market in April of 1976 trying to sell it as one unit. .
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IShe has been unable to do so and there are practical difficulties
in trying to sell the entire property as one unit. I think that
�Eshould be quite obvious because, assuming a value of about $45 , 000
for 229 and a value of about anywheres from 32 to 36, 000 for 231,
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most of the people, indeed all of the people who are buying proper- i
ties up in this area are buying properties for a single family
house, That means if they buy a house such as 229 for their family'
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74
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;;they are going to be forced to give an additional $35, 000 as an
411nvestment . Well they don't want that kind of an investment be
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flcause its not a good investment to put $35, 000 to buy thiw whole +
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, property so that they can have 231 as a separate rental unit just
1Idoes not Make any financial sense. And this is separate which crer�
j�ates additional problems, You have an additional separate house to
hake care of. The practical difficulties are apparent, Mrs . Det
iweiler wants to stay at 231 as she does for awhile, that means that
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she has to find someone to purchase both of these houses so that
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11they will agree to her terms as to occupancy for an indefinite
�Iperiod, It might be three years, it might be six years , it might
,be two years , at a rental that is going to be fixed in advance .
INow you can't tie in most people into that kind of an arrangement
! especially when you have this very uneconomic situation of a pur-
chaser who wants to live on the Valley Road area buying 229 and
! being forced, in effect, to buy 231. The economic hardship to
IMrs . Detweiler is that her market becomes limited for that reason. 4
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Ultimately you might find someone who would be willing to buy both
231 and 229 but that certainly hasn't happened, The real estate
(firm of Stage Realty, and Mrs . Bette Bagnardi, the salesman and the
next door neighbor, is here, They have tried to sell it since
4/30/76 and Mrs. Warren of Warren Realty certail very active
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Realtors have tried to sell it as one unit since April 30, 1976 andl
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they have not been able to do so . So we think that , on that basis
alone, we Qualify for practical difficulties and I might add that
in the letter that I gave to the Board of Appeals T used some lan-
guage which is more applicable to the variances requested for use
variance. We are not requesting any use variance here. This will I
` continue in the same residential condition as is required of all
Mother houses in an R-1 area. Now what about the affect of this
proposed division on the area, Well, you know there just isn't
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any affect because this condition has been there since 1948 . Out p
I,of all the people within. , .who have had to be notified, within 200 '
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!`there has been not one objection, in fact, all of them have con
,sented with the exception of one family and that one family is not
11appearing here in opposition tonight, nor will they appear, So a !
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;;very significant test of whether or not this division will adversely
11affect this area simply vanishes when you think the people who
11would be concerned are not concerned. Now the second thing is that
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iP f you will look at the map, and incidentally the . . . Mrs . Bagnardil
11is here tonight to testify - not only as areal estate expert but
J� also as a next door neighbor and the Pauks have indicated that the
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;! are acceptable to this, In terms of the open air which is required
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'Iby the side yard requirement which is the reason you do have side
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jyards, just think of this . If you will look at 229 and then look
jlat the adjacent property which is Bagnardi property, that is the
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property to the west there is actually 231 width distance - be_
tween 229 and the Bagnardi property, 231 width, The width from
the 229 to the west line of Lot 74 is 181 plus or minus . So in
1 terms of a side yard requirement we certainly meet that side and
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, we meet the total for both sides except that on the east side we
11have a porch- not a living area but simply a porch which is 41
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` from the proposed side line to that extent we do not meet current f
ilrequirements. But I do want to point out to you that there is 231
�fof space between 229 and the Bagnardi house. Now if you will look
ljover to the right, I can tell you this . The Pauk house is so situ
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dated so that most of it is the north of 231 . If you will look at
that. The distance between the 229 dwelling and the Pauk house is
X1661 so there is 661 of open space between those two houses - there
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� is 661 of space between those two houses - so the intent of the
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zoning law in that respect is helpful and we are going to show you !
1pictures also will give you pictures , showing how this other house ;
is set back. If you will look across the street at R. MacDowell , IIi
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ii J. Lynch and A. Newhall , we measured the distance both Mrs , Det., I
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weiler and myself and the distance between the MacDowell house and
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f� the J. Lynch house is 7 . 51 . The distance between the J, Lynch hou e
!, and the bay window of the A. Newhall house is 9F . In effect the
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ilcurrent status of the Detweiler property and in its relation to
' Bagnardi.. and Pauk gives more space, The area north of 231 is going+
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!to be used as a parking lot and as a driveway, so there will be nol
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!(dwelling, no building of any sort. In bask, there is plenty of
Ilspace - quiet space which you can tell from the map. Nothing is
, going to be built in back, The land slopes down from that dotted
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! line which is indicated as crest and it slopes down toward the
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slope. From 231 looking west that back yard is not affected by
lithe dwelling at 231 r it ' s not close to 229 so that open space is
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!preserved there , If you come up State Street and turn left on
Valley Road and it goes for a short distance northerly - maybe two
�Ior 3 lots 300 ' or so and then turns to the right, you are faced
immediately with two houses on the corner that are just like a
'couple of little pilgrims budling in their little beds - they are
Iso close and snug together. That 's the way it seemed to me the
other night when I drove by there. So I don't think we are changing
I�the character of the neighborhood. One more thing, I told you abou
�jthe poor economics of an owner owning 229 and having to buy 231 .
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�lHe ' s going to rent 231 or vice-versa, I submit to you that it wills
improve the character of the neighborhood if 231 is owned separately
land 229 is owned separately because each owner then will have the
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pride of ownership and will not look upon that house in terms of th
economic return but certainly 231 will be very attractive and it
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jlwill attract a type of occupant for which there is a great need
jlespecially in this particular area, as Mrs . Bagnardi will testify
if you need this . Because this house cannot be occupied by more
!!than two persons. One person, a single person or one couple can
occupy 231 . This is near to Cornell University, easily accessible
Ito Ithaca College and there is a great demand for houses for single
Ipersons, especially in this particular area. The price would be
much cheaper now than what it cost to buy a condominium unit or a s
unit in the cluster development say such as the Schickel develop-
ment.
evelopment. When you put all of these things together, and when you put
€�the unfairness and the economic hardship and the practical diffi,.
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1pculties which will be engendered if Mrs . Detweiler is not permitted]
Tito make the division as weave suggested it, I think that on that
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jlbasis there can be no other decision but to grant the sought for
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�ivariance. Now, if you wish, I can put Mrs. Bagnardi to testify
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�jsubstantially what I've told you,
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11MR. MARTIN: What ''s the Board' s pleasure?
� MR. VAN MARTER: A couple questions? The existing driveway and
f�paved area in front of 231 exist?
11MR. BUYOUCOS: Yes, its there.
MISS MAXWELL: W'herei.s the driveway for 229?
jMR. BUYOUCOS: There is no driveway for 229, there is space for a
carport or not a carport but for parking a car in front of 229 r
i� there is space for that and if need be, Mrs , Detweiler can give an
Jeasement in the nature of a permanent easement or a long term re
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vocable easement, say ten years or something like that for parking
for the owner of 229 if he should desire . We have askedthat this
Inot be made a condition because we don't want to be tied in to tha
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because there may bepurchasers who do not require this , In any
event to have a car parked in front of a house is not an unusual
isituation on Valley Road, Indeed, I think next door in the Pauk
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lhouse, a very splendid house, there is a parking space out in the
I( open, in front.
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MRS. DETWEILER: There is parking space for four cars for those
two houses. Five cars, counting the one in front of 229 .
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MR. BUYOUCOS: Because also you can put a car in the garage, Ther
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is plenty of parking space.
MRS. BAGNARDI : I did want to say that not only Stage Realty and
Warren Real Estate were advertising, . , .
MR. BUYOUCOS: This is Bette Bagnardi.
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MRS. BAGNARDI : I'm Bette Bagnardi and I'm the west neighbor of toe
Mrs. Detweiler, I have lived there for thirteen
I years and I just
wanted to say that not only Warren Real Estate and Stage Realty
; were involved in marketing of the property, Gallagher, Margie j
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jRumsey, the Smith Agency, Esther Martin and Ben__ Boynton Real �I
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;;Estate Agents were also involved in the marketing of Mrs . Detweilerhs
jproperty. Each one of these agencies had brought someone in and
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they were not interested in buying this complete property. There
is a need in the area for single family units , it 's a prime location,
;!houses don't come on the market very often on Valley Road and when
,!they do, they are sold very', very quickly, I sold a house on Valley
?;Road last year and I think that year there were two houses on Valley
JRoad. This year there was only one , and the proximity to Cornell,
:;Ithaca College, walking to town, walking to college town area, its
ja very prime location, and I think to separate the houses , they can!
be sold very easily.
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MR. BUYOUCOS: Mrs, Bagnardi you heard my statement in which I said'
dthat the separation of this property into the two lots would not
.have any adverse affect on the neighborhood, Would you as a Real
;'Estate Salesman agree with that?
MRS. BAGNARDI: That 's right, I would. As I say I have lived therei
Hfor thirteen years and most of the houses are very close, as Jim
if
3has pointed out and Catherine has been renting this property next
'idoor for I don' t know how many years, , .
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' MRS. DETWEILER: Since 1968 .
IMRS. BAGNARDI: And it' s still a very quiet and peaceful and lovely!
;;neighborhood to bring up children. So if that house was sold to a j
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' family I see no change whatsoever.
11MR. BUYOUCOS : 229 with being a larger house would have a family
i' with children in it but 231 would not be conducive to a house with
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jchildren. I might add, incidentally, that 231 is a most tastefully;
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constructed house.
1MRS. DETWEILER: I might say also I 'm getting awfully tired of keeps
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!!ing that big house going. The tenants never do anything with the
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11yard other than cut the grass. It ' s hard to get them to do that .
, And I have spent a great deal of time trying to keep the outside ofi
lithe property looking decent . I would like to be relieved of some
+ of that work.
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1�MR. GASTEIGER: I was wondering if Mrs. Bagnardi could comment on
1the salability of 229 without parking,
11MRS. BAGNARDI: But there is parking there. f
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;SMR. GASTEIGER: You would have to put a driveway in. Where would
1!the parking be guaranteed just in the street? 0
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1MRS. BAGNARDI: No, no, i
'MR. GASTEIGER: I don't understand.
'jMRS, BAGNARDI: I thought Jim had Mr, Buyoucos r had explained
Ethis.
'SMR. BUYOUCOS; Yes, I would like to answer that , Mr. Gasteiger,
11there is room in the house for a parking space in front of the hous
!on the north side, on 229, I
!MRS. DETWEILER: The photographs show that.
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R. GASTEIGER: There is no driveway for it.
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!MRS. DETWEILER: However, there used to be a driveway in the front
korner of the house because the big house, 229, used to have a
Igarage on the front corner so the curb has a broken place for a
1drive to go in and the driveway, although it was sodded over is '
11still very firm and you can park a car on it, j
R. KASPRZAK: There is a depressed curb?
IRS. DETWEILER: There is a depressed curb.
�R. KASPRZAK: Which allows for direct access to the property?
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; IRS. DETWEILER: Right.
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VR. KASPRZAK: It ' s not a "legitimate driveway and a parking space" ,
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$ut there is that possibility.
IMRS. DETWEILER: It can be used as a parking space.
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PIR. KASPRZAK: Yes, I appreciate that, but it is not right now ;
designated and used as such,
IRS. DETWEILER: Not, no because the people who live there use
1�he big parking area in front of 231 .
,OR. GASTEIGER: Would the spruce tree have to come down?
IRS. DETWEILER: No, it would not.
R. GASTEIGER: The other question was , what do you consider a hard-
hip period of time to have a house on the •market? j
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MRS. BAGNARDI : Well , according to some of the Real Estate Board' s
' statistics an average house is on the market for about 72 days .
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1MR. GASTEIGER: in the Ithaca area? I
MRS. BAGNARDI: Yes, the house that I, I'm sorry I didn't bring
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! this information with me but there was a house down the street on
,!Valley Road a small house two bedroom, one bathroom house and I
I1believe that was on the market for about eight weeks - and that
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(sold this year.
1lR. BUYOUCOS: Mrs, Ba nardi I would also like to ask again, is
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, there a demand for a small house for a single person occupancy or
! couple ' s occupancy? I
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MRS. BAGNARDI : Oh., definitely so.
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I�MR. MARTIN: Are there further questions from members of the Board?
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jiDo you have anything further to present? l
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IMR. BUYOUCOS: Well, I would like to present certain exhibits whic
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' I have marked in pencil but I will just read them very quickly,
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exhibit lA is the map which is on the Board which shows the pro,
! posed division line and the original Bryant Park subdivision lines
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Iin yellow. Exhibit 1B is the consent of all but one of the
( families which have to be notified, Exhibit two is the Bryant Par
subdivision map. Exhibit 3 is a statement by Kiely Realty Co. whi h
i
! had appraised the property. I took the liberty of omitting the
�i
liiappraisal I don't want anyone snooping around and finding it on i
,
t
° record. If you want to, we can give you an approximate figure as o
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'what the appraisal would be. Exhibit 4 is a statement of the buil
I
ding permits which had been issued on this property and a tabular
Hstatement of the zoning affects with respect to side yard, front
ilyard,, area occupied, etc. and Exhibit 5 is Mrs . Bagnardi 's letter
i
aIto the Planning Board, Exhibit 6A, 6B and 6C are the three houses
i
Ion the north side of Valley Road immediately opposite which have
j
ithis short distance, 7. 5 ' between one house and 9 ' between the I
! I
' other which you should contrast with the data I gave you with re-
1! spect to the Detweiler property and Exhibits 7A and 7B are the j
�IDetweiler house two pictures of the Detweiler house and the Pauk
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+ house showing the recess and the set back provision of the Situation
with respect to 231 and showing how much space there is between they
;houses as they are now.. We submit these. I
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lJMR. MARTIN: Questions?
;!MR. VAN MARTER: The Planning Board report requests that the var-
I
: iance be not conditional on furnishing parking, That is for 229?
i
!MR. BUYOUCOS: That is right.
MR. VAN MARTER: In other words , hopefully you could work some kind
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jof a proposition where they could use the space that is existing
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at 231.
!iMR. BUYOUCOS: Mr. VanMarter there are four parking spaces on 231,
,, one in the garage and three in front and for that reason I think
,, that what will determine it ultimately will be the particular need !
s
Jof the person who is buying 229 and there will be no reason to havel
I
;; four parking spaces for 231 except we don't want to be locked into
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1� a situation.
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1MR. VAN MARTER: I understand that. You further explained that
;; there is space available and there is a curb cut and if it were re-!
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'1quired and was desirable, it could happen.
11MR. BUYOUCOS: It could happen.
11
11MR, VAN MARTER: I understand, thank you.
11MR. MARTIN: Any further questions?
{
,'MR. GASTEIGER: Suppose the condition were put in that - I guess I '
o
;don' t see this as a parking space, that 's my problem, j
;,MRS. DETWEILER: Which one? The one in front?
1MR. GASTEIGER: The one on the grass. I understand its a curb cut
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'Ithere. j
MRS. DETWEILER: Can't you find the curb cut in one of the pictures?
l�Because I know, . . .
`(MR. GASTEIGER: No, it1s there, therefs no question about it, but
i see them parking in the street instead of parking u there, !
P g P g P ,
,`MRS, DETWEILER: WeI1, it is available and then there is all of
`that space in front of 231 which I have no use for,
1
11MR, MARTIN: Are there any further questions?
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�JMR. BUYOUCOS; There is one thing, Mr. Chairman, that just occurred
!
Zito me that I have indicated to you on Exhibit 1 where the division j
I
Iline will be between the two properties , We will have the surveyor
{ go up there and make a final survey - revise it to show that divi- 1
i
; sign line. Itts quite possible that there may be some problem
coming up. I caW't foresee it now. If itis possible and I make
it
11this very conditional , trying to think of all contingencies in
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#representing my client properly, if we have to go back to the Plan-
lining Board because of their subdivision regulations , if it is i
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, possible I would like to have any favorable opinion of this Board
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4nclude a statement that there may be slight variations of theli�
boundary line as it appears in Exhibit 1 , if it is approved by the
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111Planning Board so that we would not have to take a two-step process
li
again if it became necessary to come in front of you, I am not
�I
saying that this is the only way that we will accept your favorable
i
decision but it just occurred to me that over many years of repre-
senting many buyers and sellers and representing one of the banks j
in town, that sometimes problems come up at the last minute and
pfsince we have to go back to the Planning Board and the Planning
II !
Board' s interest 'is very much in this _, then it seems to me if we
(have to vary slightly one of the lines coming down from Valley
lRoad for example, to the shed or vary the line perhaps going south-
erly from the shed to the creek, depending on what a particular purl
;;chaser wanted, who was otherwise ready to buy the place, then it
11seems to me that you would be protecting the neighborhood and pro-
{
tecting everyone concerned and upholding the integrity of your
Tanning and zoning laws if any variation from what I have proposedl
P
Ion that map had to be approved by the Planning Board because, in
I
ffect, that would be some kind of a re-subdivision, Again, I donli
nticipate it, it just occurred to me tonight after listening to
i r. Gasteiger on the question of the parking and it seems to me tha
i
prospective purchaser might come up there and say, well if you j
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wing this line over to the east a little more it won't harm you I
nd it will be alr,ight so long as we don't change the width, in
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Mother words there might be just a substantial change, I 'm suggest-
ling it to you to avoid a lot of difficulties and red tape later on.
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' MR. KASPRZAK: If such a change happens or if it happens to happen,
ithis will altar the size of the lot and it is still under the super
l�vision part of the Planning Board to say yes or not You are making
lan appeal to us is what I am trying to say, but I believe that we
�Idon' t have to , we would not have that jurisdiction.
IMR. MARTIN: Well he was suggesting that if that should occur it
nought to be a one-,stage rather than a two-stage process . The one,
It
Istage Ibeing the Planning Board rather than, . , !!
1
11MR. BUYOUCOS: Absolutely, absolutely, . .but we have come here in
1
1affect to you tonight saying approve that line as we've got it on
{!
{11that map and we can't anticipate, , .
I!MR. KASPRZAK: I read you loud and clear.
i�
SMR. BUYOUCOS: Right T thank you.
I
jMR. HOARD: How many bedrooms are there in 229?
I
MRS. DETWEILER: There are eleven rooms in the house. There are
four bedrooms upstairs, there are two dens or studys so sometimes E!E
lthey are used as bedrooms so you can. . . .
� MR. HOARD: It does apply as far as in an R-1 district the number ojf
parking places that are required on the property. I
,,MR, BUYOUCOS: So what would that result in?
;i
MR. HOARD: There's one space for up to three beds or sleeping rooms
i� !
.for dwelling in or two spaces for four or five sleeping rooms , [!
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;MRS. DETWEILER: We11 , we have the extra parking at 231 , . . f
11MR. BUYOUCOS: If it becomes necessary for that we understand what
11you are saying.
IMR. MARTIN: Okay, I have a letter if we are finished with those
�1who are here, any further questions? Then I have a letter that is
, pertinent to this case from a neighbor. About your sense of no !
opposition there is apparently one,
E
IMR, BUYOUCOS, Well, then they sand-bagged us,
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11MR. MARTIN: I will not read the entire thing but I will summarize.'
;!The letter is from Jerald Salton, 221 Valley Road,
4
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"I am writing about a petition to subdivide a property.. . . , The main!
; issue is not Mrs. Detweilerts property but rather the general dete-
I�rioration of conditions in our neighborhood over the last ten years;.
' !
;About the facts there is no doubt there are more buildings on sub- I
I�standard lots, many more people live in the area, more cans parked
Erin the street at all hours of the day and night. There have been
lgbreakins and theft. I need only site three specific cases all in- j
j1volving variances of the zoning rules - all within 200 ° of my own
house and all occurring over the last ten years, l wontt go into
'! E
1them all but P11 list the first : Mrs , Detweiler's husband at 229
Ireceived permission to convert his two-car garage into a house.
!This converted garage is the house at 231 which Mrs. Detweiler
i'
1,1now wishes to separate from the main house, If a family moves into
i
Ithe converted garage after- Mrs . Detweiler leaves , the crowding in
our neighborhood will worsen. There is not enough frontage or
jlenough parking space for the inhabitants of two separate properties!.
Frankly we already have too many houses on substandard lots in our j
!'street. We like our neighbors but we dontt have zoning rules that j
are broken at will whenever they become inconvenient for someone.
�iThe one -family areas in Ithaca are to be preserved, a halt must be
1put to the continued granting of variances of the type requested
here. T appreciate your consideration. " Sincerely, Gerald Salton.
s
;;Dated 11/22/76.
1
;;MRS. BAGNARDI : May I say something? The Saltons are my neighbors I
Ei
lIto the west. They have a two-car garage and they have three cars. '
;Their third car is parked in the street most nights . That makes
flit difficult for me to come in and out of my garage. The robbery I
!that occurred, occurred at the Salton house. They have a son who is
about 22 or 21 and we don't know what connection that would have
!!with the robbery but apparently whoever knew what they wanted to
Ei !
eget in that house, found it very easily like tape recorders and
!'bill folds and I know of no other robberies. . , . i
lIMR. MARTIN: T simply wish to complete the record without getting
E
Hinto impeachment of sources back and forth,
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igRS. BAGNARDI: I don' t know if I 'm out of turn or out of order by
!saying this, but 1 am familiar with this particular . ,
IR. MARTIN: Alright,
IMR. BUY'OUCOS: T also wish to say, Mr. Chairman that my representa- 1
tion was based upon Mrs. defweilerls statement to me from Mrs.
I.
'EE i
IlSalton and Mrs, Salton said "We don't believe in giving consents
r
jin writing but we will not come down here to oppose. "
I !
RS. DETWEILER: That' s what she said. I wish to point out and I
tried to point this out to Mrs , Salton that it didn't change the
11situation at all on the street because one family would be living
jlin the big house and one family in the small house. She evidentall
�, is afraid that when I vacate the small house it' s going to be fille
up with kids.
! MR. BUYOUCOS: It can' t be.
i
11MR. MARTIN: Thank you. I believe that that now concludes this
'Iportion of the public portion of our hearing, We will not go into
ii executive session.
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86 -
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
CITY OF ITHACA
DECEMBER 6, 1976 f
� IIS
!i 'EXECUTIVE SESSION
i
! APPEAL- NO, 1143
MR. MARTIN: I move that the requested area variance be
i
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I granted,
,i
MR, KASPRZAK: I second that,
FINDINGS' OF FACT
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1, At the time the two structures were
E� built, they conformed to zoning requirements ,
i
according to testimony presented; while divid-
ing the two creates lots which fail to comply
with current area requirements , it does not
increase the density in the area and indeed
may improve the property by enhancing chances
that bath structures would be owner-occupied.
2 . Testimony presented indicated that the
area requirements applied to those properties ,
Fi
create practical difficulties since, as a
E' single package, the market for the property
I!
!� is quite limited. i
i 3. This area variance does not extend to the
off-street parking requirements of the Ordi-
nance which must be complied with for both
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lots ,
i� YES 4 NO 2
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- 87 -
C E R T I F I C A T I O N
I , Barbara Ruane, Do Certify That I took the minutes of the Board
of Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, in the matters of Appeals Num-
;hers 1144 , 1140, 1142 and 1143, on December 6 , 1976 at City Hall I
City of Ithaca, New York; that I have transcribed same , and the
foregoing is a true copy of the transcript of the minutes of the
meeting and the Executive Session of the Board of Zoning Appeals ,
City of Ithaca, on the above date, and the whole threrof to the
best of my ability.
Barbara Ruane
Recording Secretary
Sworn to before me this
6?/,12,k day of ( 1976.
�" 5 -A.,,
Notary ublic
MARY L BENSON tlo. 55 5270900
Newry"ic,State of New York
Qualified itt Tompkins County
AV Commission Expires March 30,19�Lf
__ ,.
X .� -. `7 .Y^.des,2h��r�t_�
LIBER 16 i AGE ,70. v� i
LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
I
I, RUTH B. RODGERS, of the City of Ithaca, in the i
County of Tompkins and State of New York, being of sound mind and
memory, to make, publish and declare this my last Will and Testa-
ment, in manner following, that is to say:
I
FIRST. It is my wish and I direct that my body be
cremated, my ashes placed in an urn, and the urn placed in the
family plot in East Lawn Cemetery, Ithaca, New York. I further
direct that Wagner Funeral Home make all arrangements.
SECOND. I direct the payment of all my just debts and
funeral expenses as soon after my decease as may be practicable.
THIRD. I give and bequeath to the Reconstruction Home,
Inc. , of Ithaca, New York, the sum of Fifteen Thousand Dollars
($15, 000) , to be used for medical purposes and primarily to enable
the corporation to provide medical attention, treatment and
Il service to indigent children.
FOURTH. I give and bequeath to the American Institute
i! for the Blind, New York City, New York, the sum of Five Thousand
Dollars ($5,000) , the same to be used solely for the purposes of
the corporation.
I� FIFTH. I give and bequeath to the American Red Cross,
National Chapter, Washington, D. C. , the sum of Five Thousand
IDollars ($5,000) , absolutely.
SIXTH. I give and bequeath to my cousin, Eleanor Dise
Trontl, of 3269 Ellwood, Berkley, Michigan, the sum of Twenty
Thousand Dollars ($20,000) , absolutely.
SEVENTH. I give and bequeath to my cousin, Joseph Ivan
Dise, Jr. , 20451 Cheyenne Street, Detroit, Michigan, the sum of
I
Five Thousand Dollars ($5 ,000) , absolutely.
EIGHTH. I give and bequeath to my cousin, Dorothy Post,
of Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars
($10,000) , absolutely.
� NINTH. I give and bequeath to my cousin, Frederick Post
I .
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LIBER �� PAGE
of Shickshinny, Pennsylvania, the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars
i
($10,000, absolutely.
TENTH. I give and bequeath to Besse A. M. McMillen,
the following: (a) Any automobile which I may own at the time
of my decease; (b) The sum of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10 ,000) ;
(c) A total of five hundred (500) shares of stock of Tompkins
County Trust Company, or of its successor, together with all
dividends declared thereon at the time of my death and all rights
and benefits thereof.
ELEVENTH. I give and bequeath to my executor all of my
furniture, furnishings, household goods, silverware, china,
jewelry, ornaments and works of art, for distribution by my said
executor in his discretion or as I may list in a letter to my
said executor.
TWELFTH. I give and bequeath to the Damon Runyon Cancer
Committee the sum of Five Thousand Dollars ($5 ,000) , to be used
for research purposes in .the field of cancer.
THIRTEENTH. I give and bequeath to East Lawn Cemetery
Association, of Ithaca, New York, the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars
i
($10,000) , absolutely.
FOURTEENTH. I give and bequeath to First Presbyterian
Church of Ithaca, New York, the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars
($10,000) , said sum to be used for the advancement and maintenance
of some recognized project or charity of the Church, and shall not
be used for maintenance or for any foreign mission of the Church.
FIFTEENTH. I give and bequeath to Cornell University,
Ithaca, New York, the sum of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25 ,000 ,
to be used to establish a permanent scholarship fund in the School
of Law, to be known as the "John Keith Blackman and Mary Etta
Blackman Scholarship Fund" . The interest from said fund shall be
awarded as a tuition scholarship to a student or students in the
second or third year at the School of Law, talented and needy, to
be selected by the Faculty of the Law School.
SIXTEENTH. I give and bequeath to Ithaca College, of
!{BEP PAGE 74
Ithaca, New York, the sum of Five Thousand Dollars ($5 ,000) , to
�I
{+ be used to establish a permanent scholarship fund in the School of
Music, to be known as the "Ruth Blackman Rodgers Scholarship Fund" .
II The interest from said fund shall be awarded as a tuition scholar-
ship to a student or students in the third or fourth year at the
School of Music, talented and needy, to be selected by the Faculty
(lof the School of Music.
SEVENTEENTH. I give and bequeath to the Ithaca Chapter
of the Salvation Army, Ithaca, New York, the sum of Two Thousand
Dollars ($2,000) , absolutely.
EIGHTEENTH. I give and bequeath to the Tompkins County
i
IlChapter of the Heart Fund, the sum of Five Thousand Dollars
($5,000) , absolutely.
I
NINETEENTH. I give and bequeath to the Tompkins County
Chapter of the American Cancer Society, Ithaca, New York, the sum
of Five Thousand Dollars ($5 ,000) , absolutely.
TWENTIETH. I give and bequeath to the Blind Work
+ Association, Binghamton, New York, the sum of Two Thousand Dollars
( ($2 ,000) , absolutely.
TWEENTY-FIRST. I give and bequeath to the Tompkins
County Senior Citizens Council, now of 213 S. Geneva Street,
Ithaca, New York, the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) ,
absolutely.
I
TWENTY-SECOND. I give and bequeath to the Special
(� Childrens ' Center, Ithaca, New York, the sum of Three Thousand
Dollars ($3,000) , absolutely.
ly.
TWENTY-THIRD. I give and bequeath to Boys ' Town, the
sum of Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000) , absolutely.
TWENTY-FOURTH. I give a nd bequeath to the Ithaca
,+Chapter of Disabled American Veterans, now of 324 West State
Street, Ithaca, New York, the sum of Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000)
'{absolutely.
�I TWENTY-FIFTH. I give and bequeath to the Young Men's
.Christian Association of Ithaca, New York the sum
of One Thousand
USER 16 PAGE ,(_
Dollars ($1,000) , absolutely.
TWENTY-SIXTH. I give and bequeath to the Louis Agassiz
Fuertes Council, Boy Scouts of America, the sum of One Thousand
Dollars ($1,000) , absolutely.
TWENTY-SEVENTH. I give and bequeath to the Girl Scouts,
Inc. , Ithaca, New York, the sum of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) ,
I
! absolutely.
(I TWENTY-EIGHTH. I give and bequeath to the Women ' s
( Community Building, Ithaca, New York, the sum of Five Thousand
Dollars ($5 ,000) , absolutely.
TWENTY-NINTH. I give and bequeath to the Tompkins
County Library, Ithaca, New York, the sum of Three Thousand
Dollars ($3,000) , to be used for equipment to be used by blind
persons such as records, listening equipment and Braille books.
I I
THIRTIETH. I give and bequeath to the National Institut
for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New
! York, the sum of Three Thousand Dollars ($3 ,000) , said sum to be
used in education of deaf persons.
THIRTY-FIRST. I give and bequeath to the Seeing Eye
Dog Foundation, specific title: Guide Dog Foundation for the
Blind, Inc. , now of 109-19 72nd Avenue, Forest Hills, New York,
the sum of Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000), in furtherance of the
purpose of the corporation in providing "Guiding Eye Dogs" without)
( charge to the blind.
THIRTY-SECOND. I give and bequeath to the Industrial
Home for the Blind, 520 Gates Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, the sum
of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) , absolutely.
THIRTY—THIRD. I give and bequeath to Bruce G. Dean, of
Ithaca, New York, the sum of Five Thousand Dollars ($5 ,000) ,
absolutely.
THIRTY-FOURTH. I give and bequeath to my executor herein-
after
ere! -after named, the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10 ,000) , for the
i purpose of selecting a suitable piece or pieces of equipment to be
presented to and used at the Tompkins County Hospital, Ithaca, New
I
I
LIBER 16 I AGE 74
York, the selection of which shall be in the sole discretion of
my said Executor.
THIRTY-FIFTH. I give, devise and bequeath my home at
No. 406 North Cayuga Street, Ithaca, New York, including all
Ibuildings thereon, to the Tompkins County Foundation, to be used
as an office for said Foundation, and to be known as the "Blackman
Memorial Home" ; and the sum of Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($15,000) ,
to assist said Foundation in the renovation to suitable office
space.
THIRTY-SIXTH. I give and bequeath to the Guthrie
Clinic, of Packer Hospital, Sayre, Pennsylvania, the sum of Five
Thousand Dollars ($5,000) , for the general purposes of said Clinic
THIRTY-SEVENTH. Any and all federal, state, foreign or
( other inheritance, estate, transfer, succession, death or similar
duties and taxes levied, based or imposed upon or measured by
property that passes solely by my Will, shall be paid out of my
residuary estate and shall not be equitably pro-rated or charged
against the gifts provided in my Will.
THIRTY-EIGHTH. All the rest, residue and remainder of
my property, of whatsoever kind and nature and wheresoever situate
real and personal, I give, devise and bequeath in equal shares to
the following, or the survivors of them at the time of my death,
1 ` Eleanor Dise Trontl, Dorothy Post, Frederick Post, Besse A. M.
McMillen, Tompkins County Chapter of the Heart Fund, Bruce G. Dean,
Tompkins County Hospital [under the same terms set forth in para-
graph Thirty-Fourth herein] , Tompkins County Foundation [for the
same purposes set forth in paragraph Thirty-Fifth herein] , and
i
llJane G. Dean, share and share alike, absolutely. �
LASTLY, I hereby appoint BRUCE G. DEAN, of Ithaca, New j
ork, and in the event of his prior decease or inability to act, I
appoint JOSEPH M. HARTNETT of Ithaca, New York, executors of this
y last Will and Testament, to be appointed to serve without bond,
with full power and authority to sell and convey, lease or mortgage
` i
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LIBER 16 PAGE
.75
real estate; hereby revoking all former Wills by me made.
I direct that my executors perform any steps necessary
with respect to the maintenance of the family cemetery lot in
i
East Lawn Cemetery, and I direct that my said executors provide
for my grave a memorial of the same type and description as now
I
! mark the graves of my father and mother.
it IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto subscribed my name I
I
the 1 day of MaftcH, MY , in the year Nineteen Hundred and
I
Seventy-Four.
i
S.
7
We, whose names are hereto subscribed, DO CERTIFY, that on the
! jam- day of MY *%JN , 1974, the testatrix above named, subscribe
her name to this Instrument, consisting of six (6) typewritten
pages, in our presence and in the presence of each of us, and at
the same time, in our presence and hearing, declared the same to
be her last Will and Testament, and requested us, and each of us,
I
to sign our names thereto as witnesses to the execution thereof,
which we hereby do in the presence of the testatrix and of each
other, on the day of the date of the said Will, and write opposite
our n s our respective places of residence.
residing at
- ----- `�-------- residing
? gat
-------- ----------- residing at --#/---------------
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• It
Kiely Building Organized 1917
KIELY REALTY CO.
401 N. Aurora St. Ithaca, N. Y.
REALTORS - APPRAISERS
REAL ESTATE CONSULTANTS
%Urfi uatp of Appraisal
Paul J. Kiely of Kiely Realty Co. does hereby certify that upon application
for valuation by 'Ars. C.S. Det-,iei ler,
the undersigned has personally examined described property:
Reside iti:- ' i. ,.nnove��ents ars-- lots
located at 22>-231 Valley Road,
ltrz,ca, Toam iris County, �;ew 'ork;
and that Paul J.Kiely is of the opinion that
t.rne fair n r >et v .lue of t'e n rein
.;__ crioea_ oronerties ave aee_� - ,r-
�i eu in 'an "as is" co--.ai:,ion and as
of t''ne o.n-)raised fate.
3n Mums 11herraf, Paul J. Kiely has caused these present to be signed
this t day of ;.rcr_ 1�7c' A.D.
1
of Kiely kealty Co.
" l
KIELY REALTY COMPANY
KIELY BUILDING REAL ESTATE - INSURANCE APPRAISALS
401 NORTH AURORA STREET
ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 MULTIPLE LISTING SERVICE.
Telephone 607-272-2833
vouw�
icuiaur �►oe►rr
n
t't C: 7, 1976 REALTOR w �.
CF z*L_\'D
:firs.
229 Vara- Ro It:--.c.., o� niils County,
_aew
0 T ly• Leasee ri n
TY-_-L .::_iC _:L?_'gTY: lj_a' e F:a- i 1 y t^'6, i d ntla 1.
"� 3 �: L_oproxi na.tely '�yca.le ;'^c npkins Count,
Issessor' s Gffice) 60`- x 114' x cl ' x 111. 3` .
Fronta_--e of 60' is non.-confor:-2_n- under cur-
rent existing zoninv rules .w. reSulations for
this area wnich calls for a ininimun frontaue
of 75 ' . '«ere are however ot�.er �rooerti es n
this ��_^ea wita the sa.ne pro':)Ie_n and the City
of it acs sees no --'^cn-
lean in its sale either �s :a. se-ara.te ec_tity
or as a joint sale wit'.'! t�ie aJoinin:;': oroparty
at 231 Valle,., oai, It'_i0,Ca, _ et;T cork. ' Ct i s
slo-oin in contour rrita shall creek at rear of
lot. I,;ell landscaped, a ioininS 'blacktop yes rk-
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KIELY BUILDING REAL ESTATE - INSURANCE - APPRAISALS
401 NORTH AURORA STREET
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KIELY BUILDING REAL ESTATE - INSURANCE - APPRAISALS
401 NORTH AURORA STREET
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401 NORTH AURORA STREET
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GERARD SALT(NV
2k Vailey Ri*d
ftca, New York 14850
November 22, 1976
The Board of Zoning Appeals
City of Ithaca
108 East Green Street
Ithaca, N.Y. 14850
Dear Sir:
I am writing about a petition by Mrs. Catharine S. Detweiler to sub-
divide a property with a total frontage of 110 feet located at 229-231
Valley Road in Ithaca. I understand that the petition is to be discussed
at the meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals on December 6.
I should mention first that Mrs. Detweiler is a gentle lady to whom
everyone wishes well. The main issue however is not Mrs. Detweiler's pro-
perty, but rather the general deterioration of conditions in our neighbor-
hood over the last ten years. About the facts there is no doubt: there
are more buildings on substandard lots; many more people live in the area;
there are more cars parked in the street at all hours of the day and night;
there have been break-ins and thefts.
I need to cite only three specific cases all involving variances of
the zoning rules, all within two hundred feet of my own house, and all
occurring over the last ten years:
1. Mrs. Detweiler's husband of 229 Valley Road received permission
to convert his two-car garage into a "house". This converted
garage is the "house" at 231 Valley Road which Mrs. Detweiler now
wishes to separate from her main house. If a family moves into
the converted garage after Mrs. Detweiler leaves, the crowding
in our neighborhood will worsen. There is not enough frontage or
enough parking space for the inhabitants of two separate proper-
ties.
2. Mr. Bagnardi at 227 Valley Road was allowed to build a huge garage
which does not meet the separation requirements to the adjacent
property line. This garage has upstairs storage rooms that can
easily be converted into an apartment some day, using the model
followed by Mrs. Detweiler.
3. A large house was built at 220 Valley Road even though the front-
age is barely 50 feet. The family living there maintains at least
three cars with no space to put any of them.
Frankly, we already have too many houses on substandard lots in our
street. We like our neighbors, but we can't have zoning rules that are
broken at will whenever they become inconvenient for someone. If the one-
family areas in Ithaca are to be preserved, a halt must be put to the con-
tinued granting of variances of the type requested here.
I appreciate your consideration.
Si cse�re�ly,�
Gerard Salton
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BUYOUCOS & BARNEY
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
SAVINGS BANK BUILDING
JAMES V. BUYOUCOS ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850
AREA CODE 607
JOHN C. BARNEY
PHONE 273-6841
December 6, 1976
Board of Zoning Appeals
City of Ithaca
108 East Green Street
Ithaca, New York 14850
Re: Application of Catherine S. Detweiler
for a variance affecting premises known as
229 and 231 Valley Road, Ithaca, NY
Gentlemen:
Catherine S. Detweiler has made an application to
the Board of Zoning Appeals, City of Ithaca, for a variance
affecting premises known as 229 and 231 Valley Road, Ithaca,
New York, with respect to the following:
a. Areas in square feet (Section 30.25:District Regulations
Chart, Column 6) .
b. Minimum lot size, width at street line. (Section 30. 25:
District Regulations Chart, Column 7) .
C. Side yard requirements (Section 30.25 :District Regulations
Chart, Columns 12 & 13) .
FACTS: '
F 1. The house at 229 Valley Road was purchased din March 27 ,
1942, being all of Lot TTo. 74.
2. The adjacent lot, Lot No. 73 , on which is now
located the bulk of the dwelling known as Lot 231, was purchased
on March 27, 1942.
3. A portion of the adjacent Lot No. 72 (10 feet in
width) on which is located a portion of 231 Valley Road, was
purchased in 1947.
4. The remainder of Lot No. 72 was purchased in
1951. (The remainder of Lot No. 72 and a portion of Lot No. 71
was sold by Detweiler to Professor Pauk, present owner, of adjacent
premises on the east, in 1959 with the new division line being
established as shown on the survey map updated August 3, 1976,
made by R. L. MacDowell.
Board of Zoning Appeals
December 6, 1976
Page 2
AS TO CONSTRUCTION:
1. The house known as 229 has been in the same location
ever since its purchase. Additional construction was done by adding
a porch on the east, in the summers of 1943 and 1944 .
2. In 1948 a two-car garage with an efficiency apartment
on top was built on Lot No. 73. This was done pursuant to a
building permit issued November 6, 1947.
3. On June 24, 1963 a permit was obtained for an
addition to the garage and dwelling which consisted of an
addition on the west end of the garage; as a result the building
at 231 Valley Road consisted of a two-car garage and a four-room
apartment.
4. Pursuant to a building permit issued March 3, 1967 ,
additional remodelling was done by which one garage stall was
removed and an additional bath and room added in place of the
garage stall.
Each of the lots,namely Lots 74, 73, 72 and 71, were lots
on the Bryant Park Subdivision map and these lots were valid
nonconforming uses in existence before the adoption of of a
Zoning Law in the City of Ithaca. However, if we consider the
building known as 229 as occupying Lot No. 74, it complied with
the 1950 Law, because Section 3 relating to yard area and height
requirements did not apply to existing dwellings by the specific
provisions of the Zoning Law adopted in 1950. In any event ,
229 Valley Road complied in all respects with the 1950 requirements
except as to the east side yard.
As to 231 Valley Road, if considered as occupying Lot No. 73,
complied with the requirements of the 1950 Zoning Law for the same
reason.
It is respectfully submitted that a variance should be
granted for the following reasons which we believe will be
demonstrated at the hearing.
a. There are practical difficulties in selling the two
dwellings, which are separate in all respects, in one parcel to
the same purchaser in one sale. This will also cause economic
hardship to the owner Mrs. Detweiler.
b. Because of the width of the original lot, and the
location of the dwellings which were constructed by Professor
Board of Zoning Appeals
December 6, 1976
Page 3
Detweiler pursuant to building permits duly issued, there have
been created special circumstances or unique conditions applying
to such land or the buildings and not applying generally to the
land or buildings in the neighborhood which would prevent the
land or the buildings from yielding a reasonable return on the
sale. It is understood,of course, that the use of the dwellings
will be for residential purposes as permitted in an A-1 district.
c. The granting of the variance will be in harmony with
the general purposes and intent of the Zoning Law and will not
be injurious to the neighborhood or otherwise detrimental to
the public welfare.
d. The variance will merely confirm a situation which
has existed for a long time. There will be no additional buildings
built because of the granting of the variance. There will be no
additional occupancies because of the granting of the variance.
Thus, the existing character of the neighbor will not be changed
in the least.
e. Other dwellings in the area, especially three dwellings
directly opposite the subject property, have very little distance
between them and thus there is no problem of the variance creating
a physical density of buildings which is alien to the neighborhood.
f. If the two buildings are sold as one unit, the owner
will undoubtedly occupy one of the- buildings and rent the other.
It is submitted that individual ownership of both dwellings will
result in much better care and upkeep of each house.
g. The small dwelling at 231 Valley Road will be an
especially attractive dwelling to a couple without children or
to a single person and such dwellings appear to be in demand
for occupancy and ownership by persons on the faculties or staff
of Cornell University or Ithaca College.
h. Lot 231 is set back from the general plane of 229
Valley Road and the adjacent premises on the east, 233 Valley
Road. Thus, there is a distance of open space of 66 feet
between the dwelling on 229 Valley Road and the Pauk dwelling
on 233 Valley Road. Since the bulk of the dwelling at 231
Valley Road is set back, there is open space between the west
side of the dwelling on 231 Valley Road and the west line of
the Bagnardi property, at 227 Valley Road. In other words,
since the dwellings are not in line, the purpose of the Zoning
Law to provide open-air space, will not be subverted in permitting
the creation of a new division line between 229 and 231 Valley
Road so that each may be sold separately. This appears on the
survey map of Mrs. Detweiler's property offered as an exhibit to
the Board of Appeals.
Board of Zoning Appeals
December 6, 1976
Page 4
i. One of the best evidences of the fact that the
proposed division will have no impact on the neighborhood
is that all of the persons who are required to be notified
have consented to the proposed division line and to the
granting of the variance by the Board of Zoning Appeals
and it is anticipated that such owner will not enter an ob-
jection to the granting of the release sought by Mrs. Detweiler.
AS TO ECONOMIC HARDSHIP:
Because of the provisions restricting the
occupancy of houses in this area to be single-family
occupancy, the return on this dwelling is not sufficient
to enable the owner to make the repairs necessary to maintain
a separate subordinate unit. Individual ownership of each
dwell
—nq results in each separate home owner keeping up his
or her dwelling in a neat, comfortable and reasonably well
repaired condition.
Yours very tru4y,
/James V. Buvoucos
JVB/jkl
November 23, 1976
City of Ithaca
Planning Board
City Hall
Ithaca, New York 14850
Re: Catherine S. Detweiler
Gentlemen:
I live immediately adjacent on the west to the
property of Catherine Detweiler which is the subject of
a proceeding before you.
I am writing this letter to inform you that I do not
have any objections to the proposed division of the Detweiler
property so that each of the two dwellings on the property
will lie within the boundaries of a separate parcel which
may be separately owned.
I consent to the proposed division for the following
reasons:
1. I believe that it will not have the least adverse
effect on the neighborhood. On the contrary, I believe that
it will enhance the preservation of the two dwellings on the
property. The smaller dwelling will undoubtedly be owner
occupied. Owner occupied property is much better preserved
than property owned by a person holding it for income purposes.
In Ithaca, at the present time, there is a need for the older
couple or a single person who do not wish, to live in an apartment
or a condominium or cluster-type unit. This property can be
described as classic colonial type with a rustic back and side
yard. Practically no ground upkeep is required for lawn or
shrubbery. It is conveniently located to the University and
to East Hill shopping areas.
2. The proposed division merely perpetuates a condition
which has existed for many years.
3. The distance between the dwellings on the Detweiler
property and Professor Pauk's property on the east and my property
on the west is not less than the distance which exists between
several other separately owned dwellings within the radius of two
to three hundred feet of the Detweiler property.
City of Ithaca Planning Board
Page 2
November 23, 1976
4. I am a real estate salesman and agent. I have been
in the business for many years of buying and selling property as
a real estate agent. The Detweiler -property has been on the
market gince last spring in the year 1976.. I can advise this
Board that it is difficult to sell the entire property with.
both dwellings as one unit to one owner. It is my opinion that
it will create an economic hardship for Mrs. Detweiler if she
is not permitted to divide her property and sell the two parcels
as separate parcels.
Yo very ly,
Bette B gnar
BB/jkl
i
The undersigned hereby inform. the Board of Appeals
and/or the Planning Board of the City of Ithaca that they have
no objection if a variance is granted to Mrs. A. Henry Detwiller
to subdivide her properties at 229 and 231 Valley Road, Ithaca,
New York, in accordance with her letter of October 12 , 1976 ,
provided that each of the two dwelling units on the Detwiller
property will continue to be used as a one-family dwelling only
in accordance with the regulations permitted by the Zoning
Regulations in the City of Ithaca for R-1 Districts (see column
2 -- District Regulations Chart) .
Dated: �c' f�- l li ?/ 7 ✓ ,c 1 \
Of
y[
Valley Roati
Dated:
of
.r L Vallev Road
Dated: �_ �• > �u <_ '
of �; G;
Valley Road
Dated:
Of
Valley Road
I
The undersigned hereby inform the Board of Appeals
and/or the Planning Board of the City of Ithaca that they have
i
Ino objection if a variance is granted to Mrs. A. Henry Detwiller
to subdivide her properties at 229 and 231 Valley Road, Ithaca,
New York, in accordance with her letter of October 12 , 1976 ,
provided that each of the two dwelling units on the Detwiller
property will continue to be used as a one-familv dwelling only
lin accordance with the regulations permitted by the Zoning
Regulations in the City of Ithaca for R-1 Districts (see column
2 -- District 'Regulations Chart) .
Dated: -&
of
7 Valley Road
Dated: i i•� _. 76 �.r��. ./(� .
of
Vallev Road
Dated: ZUn �
of
,L3x--j Vallev Road
Dated:
of
, y� Valley Road
I
f
The undersigned hereby inform the Board of Appeals
and/or the Planning Board of the City of Ithaca that they have
no objection if a variance is granted to Mrs. A. Henry Detwiller
I
Ito subdivide her properties at 229 and 231 Valley Road, Ithaca,
1New York, in accordance with her letter of October 12 , 1976 ,
,! provided that each of the two dwelling units on the Detwiller
I
l' property will continue to be used as a one-family dwelling only
in accordance with the regulations permitted by the Zoning
Regulations in the City of Ithaca for R-1 Districts (see column
2 -- District 'Regulations Chart) .
Dated: Ooijez' IFI l q 7
of
3 Valley Road
Dated:
of
vZ Vallev Road
Dated:
of
Valley Road
Dated:
of
Valley Road
I
I
The undersigned hereby inform the Board of Appeals
land/or the Planning Board of the City of Ithaca that they have
Ino objection if a variance is granted to Mrs. A. Henry Detweher
to subdivide her properties at 229 and 231 Valley Road, Ithaca,
New York, in accordance with her letter of October 12 , 1976 ,
�1 provided that each of the two dwelling units on the Detw& .ler
I
( property will continue to be used as a one-family dwelling only
Iin accordance with the requlations permitted by the Zoning
Regulations in the Citv of Ithaca for R-1 Districts (see column
2 -- District 'Regulations Chart) .
Dated: IeO0074
I
Of
Valley Road
' ► Y
Dated:
Qf
Va-1-1-ev Road`��
Dated:
of
Vallev Road
Dated:
of
Valley Road
l
I'
i
The undersigned hereby inform the Board of Appeals
and/or the Planning Board of the City of Ithaca that they have
no objection if a variance is granted to Mrs. A. Henry Detwiller
to subdivide her properties at 229 and 231 Valley Road, Ithaca,
New York, in accordance with her letter of October 12 , 1976 ,
provided that each of the two dwelling units on the Detwiller
property will continue to be used as a one-family dwelling only
in accordance with the regulations permitted by the Zoning
Regulations in the City of Ithaca for R-1 Districts (see column
2 -- District 'Regulations Chart) .
Dated:
of �G�
Valley Road
./� Z- /, I
Dated:
30
of.
2�rS" Valley Road
Dated:
of
Valley Road
Dated:
of
Valley Road
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