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Home My WebLink AboutMN-BZA-1977-12-19 i f! t BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS !` DECEMBER 19 , 1977 ; Secretary Hoard announced the next case to be heard: jAPPEAL NO. 1162 Appeal of Mark A. Clemente and Wayne D . Stokejs for an area variance to convert premises at 305 Stewart Avenue from a garage to a tavern , in a B- 2 use district . This appeal was heard; by the Board in July and special conditions were set by the Board concerning parking. The appellants are appearing with a proposal for ; meeting this condition for the Board' s consi-' deration. This will be the only matter in this case being heard by the Board at this li time. ( MARK CLEMENTE: My name is Mark Clemente . This is Wayne Stokes . This is our third appearance before the Board of Zoning Appeals . At lour first appearance in July we requested a variance of the back yard depth and that was granted subject to a condition requiring a ten year parking lease . Key to our lease on the building. At our second ( appearance in September we approached the Board with an offer of a ! parking license from Cornell University who owns the parking lot in (; that area and an offer to close if the license was terminated and there was no alternative parking available . This was rejected . Wei then approached Cornell about a ten year lease and they agreed to this ten year lease . This is the letter that we got at that time . ', You will all be supplied with copies of that letter. "September 20 , 1977 "Mr. Wayne D. Stokes and Mark A. Clemente H305 Stewart Avenue IlIthaca, New York 14850 HT'Dear Mr . Stokes and Clemente : i I "This is to inform you that Cornell University will lease to you lispace on the Cornell University owned property located at the corner '' of Stewart Avenue and Williams Street. i ! "The lease will be for 10 years and the space allocated will be such Ilthat 30 vehicles can park in the area . The University Counsel will; 11draw up the formal document for the lease . �` "I will inform you when this will be ready for review by your attor- lIney and for your signatures . 6 I! "Sincerely yours , " 1 /s/ John A. Bentkowski ! John A. Bentkowski , Manager "; Cornell University Real Estate" j' Between the time we received this letter and the formal lease was I1drawn up a great deal was done to improve the building. We were I� 9 +i s — 2 — 'i H lacting in good faith assuming the lease would meet the BZA' s require- t 'Iment and aware that many of our renovations would have to be complee 11before the winter weather set in. A great deal of money was put i4 1 $into the renovations with the informal approval of the City Building Department . The lease was completed at the end of October. At this time the Building Department told us that the lease had an unaccept fable clause that would allow Cornell to cancel should they want to 3 sell or develop the property. Cornell ' s position is as follows : s ;i !"James J. Clynes , Jr. , Esq. 0Seneca Building 121 East Seneca Street ,Ithaca, New York 14850 €Dear Jim: � s "Please find enclosed a draft of a ten-year lease for 30 parking j spaces on the University's property located at the corner of William �IStreet and Stewart Avenue which we have prepared for your review. ��,"Note that the lease contains a 90-day termination clause should tho iUniversity decide to sell or itself develop the property. As we di,k- cussed earlier, the University is willing to provide a letter indi icating that we have no present plans to sell or develop the properti , , nor do we expect any to necessarily develop during the period of the Pease . We cannot , however, have the property irrevocably tied up or the ten-year period. "On the practical side, your client would have notice of any sale Viand/or development of the property and could, therefore , have an inopportunity to negotiate a parking accommodation within the bounds hof any new situation. My personal impression is that a developer ! of the property would more than likely want to negotiate a finan- cially beneficial parking arrangement with your client to help amortize a fair share of the construction costs . IR"I have explained the Universitys position to Thomas Hoard but it ib really up to you to negotiate this situation with the city. f "Sincerely, 2 Joseph B. Bugliari Director of Legal Services" EThis leaves us with two clear alternatives to the problem that we now face .face. Firstly, we can ask the BZA to accept this 10 year that is written with a clause allowing cancellation in light of the fact that Cornell has no plans for the property. I 'm sure that you all {will agree that it isn' t realistic to demand a firm, uncancellable 11ease for a ten year period on an undeveloped piece of property. I Ejaddition any development of that property under its present zoning I i would allow ample parking for our patrons as well. Any other it i! - 3 li �i !;development for that property would require supervision by this Boalyd. Ijf the lease is unacceptable our only alternative is to amend our jjlease with RHP to parallel a firm uncancellable lease for a period � of one year that Cornell is willing to grant for the parking. If the parking condition was keyed to the building lease as Mr . Martin! told us some time ago this would, we assume, remove the condition !since we wouldn' t be required to have parking for a longer term that I for our lease on the building. At the same time it would take the duty of policing the parking situation off the city and place it on! our landlord. Since the landlord deals with the city on a number ohf properties , neither would wish to jeapordize that relationship and ( the landlord would provide some alternative parking so as not to i jlose this commercial property. Obviously the landlord wants this I ( venture to succeed and if the parking were terminated it would have; lisome affect on the profitability of the property. The affect might' not be too great since it is a walk-to location but still the long +run picture is brighter with parking. Therefore , we think the most i reasonable of these is for you to please accept the ten year lease ! as written by Cornell University. I 'WAYNE STOKES: In addition to what Mark has said, we approached Mr. Bob Johnson of the Triangle Book Shop who is the Business Develop- ment Director of the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce . I ' ll pass these letters out. "December 4 , 1977 "To : The Board of Zoning Appeals ! City of Ithaca, New York I "From: Robert G. Johnson "The potential proprietors of the Stumble Inn, to be located on Stewart Avenue , have recently contacted me to ask me to speak or write on behalf of their plea before the Zoning Board. This letter; then expresses my feelings as a proprietor for twenty years of a College Town business and also that as the Business Development Director of the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce . "I must admit that I am not as fully informed about all matters in this case as I should be before taking a position, but there are some aspects in this situation which are known to me and which make'; me very sympathetic to the cause and effort of these two young men. "From what I understand, there has not been much protest from those; ( who might be most intimately affected by this new business or any �� I Ij 4 - l I1new business in this area. The parking stipulation seems to be they I�major stumbling block, and this only because of a time technicality. �' It is my opinion that 90a or more of the potential customers will ;walk, not drive, to this restaurant ; just as they presently walk toi ureach other establishments on Stewart Avenue and all of East Hill . I �1 "I must also admit that I am almost blindly on the side of small Ibusiness , young people in business , any legitimate enterprise that further encourages the principle of free enterprise. I am contin- ' lually disappointed and frustrated at the ever mounting obstacles it ! every shape and form which seem to confront efforts of free enter l�prise to merely exist , let alone to begin. I. i1110ne fact is certain. If the Stumble Inn is permitted to proceed, ! land if they then do not produce services and products to the satis faction of their customers , the parking problem will be of no con- I sequence . No one will want a place to park. I would like to see that these two young Cornell men have a chance to succeed. It would seem from an economic standpoint that our Ithaca citizens have the (most to gain, and these two men the most to lose . " iAt the last zoning meeting we were confronted with some pictures that seemed to present the fact that that lot at Williams Street anjd i Stewart Avenue which Cornell does own, the one that we are interested in, was full , conflicting on what we had commented on from Cornell ,! being that Cornell hasn' t fully rented out the spots in that lot . IThat lot is deceiving unless you've actually gone up and driven through it . From street level it appears to be full since the first row of cars or the first row is where the students will park to i !begin with. If you go up in the lot there is quite a bit of depth i �to it . It ' s a 110 cars large and I 'd like to pass these pictures around that were taken a week before school ended when classes were! still in session and at the times of the day when we felt that Stu-' (dents would most likely be occupying these spots , considering that most of them live in the downtown area and drive up to Stewart Avenie I land park their cars and then walk on to campus . f i MR. CLEMENTE: The time these photos were taken is noted on the back iof each photo and the date. There are a few other neighbors that I Idid want to come here tonight but couldn' t make it , unfortunately. One of them lives right up the street, is Mr. George Patte. He wil 1The sending a letter instead, tomorrow. I realize that ' s a little i ( late but he ' ll be sending a letter on our behalf tomorrow to Mr . Hoard. He is a neighbor and a property owner and has no objections! jjto our starting this enterprise . At this time I would like to !introduce the next person who would like to speak on our behalf and; 11 I f - 5 - '� f ;, that is Mr. Ralph Jordon the Executive Director of the Tompkins j `` County Chamber of Commerce . 1RALPH JORDON: Mr. Chairman and members of the Board I have a i (' letter that I would like to leave with the secretary this evening, 1but I would like to discuss some of the comments that I have made i lin this letter. I do want to speak out very positively in support ; lof the request of the subject individuals to renovate the old i carriage house on Stewart Avenue. I did personally visit the i property. I did observe the parking facility on several days at different times and I must say that at no time that I drove by the e ' or drove in there was there an problem in terms of having thirty Y P g Y Ii x (30) cars park in that parking space that they've talked about . Sq i I back up the statement that was made and the pictures that have i been handed out in terms of the traffic - parking that would be I available in that parking lot. To the best that I 've been able to obtain the business that they propose is conforming to the area . 1It is a distinct benefit to the City of Ithaca and, in my humble opinion, it is unquestionably a vast improvement to the building al lit now exists . If the request for a variance , as I understand it , !, l rests on the proof of adequate parking, and this is what I have beon fled to believe, I really question this Board' s refusal to grant th jrequested variance. Having served on a Zoning Board of Appeals foi three years in the town of Enfield, Connecticut I have always been ; hof the opinion that a decision legally should be based on the cond- i tions as they exist today and not basically what we think or anti - cipate what might happen tomorrow. MR. KASPRZAK: May I stop you right there Ralph? MR. JORDON: Yes . MR. KASPRZAK: You are saying the wrong thing, right off the bat . MR. JORDON: Well then the laws have changed because they always Iwere that way in the past . �l I IMR. KASPRZAK: Zoning is a part of future planning, and don' t argu4 I about that . jl i i r 6 - ii MR. JORDON: Oh that - I don' t question that . . . iIMR. KASPRZAK: You just did. ii IMR. JORDON: But then you build in if that is the question, then y04 i 11build in your provision you don ' t deny it because you think it might Ihappen. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: May I point out and then let me urge you to con- tinue Mr. Jordon. The Board has already granted the requested areal i variance required for this use. It was granted subject to the con-i Idition inspired by the Ordinance itself which requires when the spae is not on the property in question that there be assurance from thele towner, in writing, indicating the continued availability of such i jspace. And it is the interpretation of that condition and the lease Icoupled with written assurances from Cornell which the Board is now confronting , not more global issues about zoning or the merits of Ithe proposed business . i1MR. JORDON: That ' s my understanding too and that ' s why I think we ,are a little bit off on a tangent on the other conversation, I agree . I 'd like to reiterate the request if I might as concerns this var- iance and that is that if indeed the codes do permit this type of business and if indeed the area is conforming and hopefully through the comments that have been made here this evening that the parking is granted, at least in terms of one year or possibly ten, as far as anyone can determine , it would seem to us that this request would ble i lin order. We certainly would hope that the variance as is requeste4 would be granted. I think the problem that the City of Ithaca faces i and this is another concern of the Chamber and the business community (and that is that we do have a very serious situation in the City that I iwith too little property on the tax rolls . Here is a piece of !property that would be put on the tax rolls and it would be positively Iso and which would again help to alleviate the tax burden as it sexists to the individuals within the City. And I think, too , at ii I� least I feel very strongly that as was mentioned in Mr . Johnson' s l� I letter , we have to look forward to the young people in this City iI i� t � 7 - I !' that want to go into business , that want to be constructive in this! i f ;City and I think it is within reason when people of this nature i a Icome forward that it ' s a very positive approach on our part , this is one of the reasons tonight that we have come before this Board I i because we look very positively upon the presentation as it has beein made to you and I would very strongly urge you to consider this proposal . Thank you. i �MR. GASTEIGER: I 'd like to comment that I don' t think that you hae ! I1heard the objections to it. The old folks - say - in the neighbor-I hood and I find as though the fellows are getting 3 or 4 times I `,around where the other side of it is not being heard and I don' t knjow Iwhat provisions have been made for the other side can actually be heard but since you represent the Chamber of Commerce I would think! l�that you would be interested in that, also even in Johnson' s case I,'d think that he would want to look into how the neighbors consider this situation. I personally have never been for this and I don' t j �!hesitate to say so , so I feel very uneasy when I am hearing what looks f to me to be a very one-sided representation. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Well , let me remind us where we stand procedurally. That is to say, the Board has heard this case, not on one full head- ing, but two full hearings . The initial hearing the conditions ° attached and there was an effort for reconsideration or an attempt I oto get the Board to interpret it ' s original condition. And on the basis of those full hearings the Board granted the variance with I lthe condition that we've spoken of, a condition that in the Board' s! , judgement reflected the concern about parking in the neighborhood i l�so if its not too single minded of me what I would like to do is folcus Dour attention on parking condition that the Board laid down and what it is that the appellants now have by way of demonstration that the 'VE I got sufficient assurance from the owner of that property, in writinlg, E that the parking will be available for ten years . The Board did noit I lsay in its condition "A ten year lease was magic . " The Building iCommissioner was offered a ten year lease within which he found a I j,clause which permitted Cornell to cancel for whatever reasons by .j i I� ! li i ! s - ;' giving - what is it - 90 days notice? I; !; MR. CLEMENTE: It wasn' t for whatever reasons - excuse me - it wasi I � for the reasons they stipulated in the condition that if they should 1 1 lever want to sell , develop or mortgage the property. ICHAIRMAN MARTIN: Do you have a copy of the lease? I IMR. CLEMENTE: Yes I do , would you like to see it? CHAIRMAN MARTIN: The copy of the lease that I saw in earlier time i added on at the end of that "for any other reason" . MR. CLEMENTE: As far as the parking situation in the neighborhood goes , several of the owner residents did come . . . i , CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Can I pursue this point? The lease, I gather it , I { was the basis for Mr. Hoard' s decision that you had not complied with our condition had this in the last clause : This lease is sub 'Iject and subordinate to the lessor' s right to develop, mortgage or sell the premises" . That ' s what the impression you have created �ithis evening . . . "and/or lessor retains the right to unilaterally terminate this lease at it ' s option without circumscribing conditigns , without incurring damages to lessee. " I MR. CLEMENTE : That is what the conditions are , they just named ( them should they ever want to sell , develop or mortgage the property. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Well , if Cornell is willing to assure us that th� 11only circumstances under which the lease will be terminated on 90 IIdays notice are those listed ones , then the case takes on a new I ` posture. Whether or not the Board would find that that satisfied the ii ! condition or whether Mr. Hoard, in the first instance would, is a Iinew case. SMR. CLEMENTE : If the parking situation does go in the neighborhood - there have been problems in the past and those problems have been ! generated by the Chapter House which is another tavern across the ! street . The problem there is that the tavern is grandfathered in j ! land no provision was ever made for parking. They have gotten them-! selves into a bit of a problem in that they have created a great !Ideal of negative feelings in the neighborhood because they've neve I I ! really tried to do anything about the parking situation. We 've had �s f !� I i 9 I - - 4people here complain that cars were parked on their front lawn on l Saturday night. I don't think that we should be held responsible j i 1+ for the actions of students who have done something like that at i 1janother property. What we are trying to do is provide parking forj i !lour tenants is obviously going to help us but the fact is the ii !; Chapter House has made no effort , even after zoning was passed to �ak �1any kind of commitment to the neighborhood as far as parking goes . , Does that explain the question? that was rasied as far as parking i goes? I � MR. GASTEIGER: I was raising the general question that this taking on almost a full hearing without the opposition being notified. � MR. HOARD: They were notified. OMR. GASTEIGER: About tonight? ! I MR. HOARD: Yes . I � MR. GASTEIGER: We weren' t notified. I wasn' t notified. i I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there questions from members of the Board? MR. CLEMENTE: Okay, I think the next person who would like to speak is Mr . Robert Burns who represents our landlord, RHP, Inc. MR. BURNS: My name is Bob Burns , I 'm manager of the Real Estate al RHP and I 'm sure you all know the history of this piece of propert . This was a carriage house for the Gauntlett family and as we stand right now my understanding that in accordance with the zoning law j i the only use that we can have for this property without a variancellis using it for storage of animals or for car parking, automobile parr- . I ling which has been done in the past. Right at the present time wel I I jhave no income on the property. Our greatest income in the property ! was $380 . and that was two years ago . IICHAIRMAN MARTIN: Mr. Burns , how much off street parking would you ' i be able to create on property that you've got right there? I mean,j i there is some off street parking . . . i IMR. BURNS : I 'd say probably five, maybe five cars . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Inside and outside? i ,1MR. BURNS: Oh, inside and outside? s I I11CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Yes , how much outside and how much inside? i J r r �j I i'• - 10 - ij 11MR. BURNS : Okay, we had five cars inside the building and I suppos Iwe could have five cars outside the building. I 'm not - I haven' t li !;measured outside but I know for a fact . . . ii ;CHAIRMAN MARTIN: So that you would be able , in theory, to do somei ;things with that building? With the upstairs for example . � i; INR. BURNS : Well , I 'm not sure, I - you know, for the last seven years a i jwe have been trying to do something with the building and it 's been Han eyesore, no question about it , and we 've had no takers on the I ?building . Now Mark has come in and they've made a proposal , they Dave �i ja commitment from the bank to invest a large sum of money in the ! building . I have made commitments between 20 and 30 thousand dollars i ! for renovation of the building . We 've probably spent seven or eight ;i right now, already, with the new roof and siding, etc . I think thajt +i the question of parking here is - it ' s a little baffling to me toj E, I� tell you the truth. I - in seven years I 've leased over 70 ,0000uare feet of space at Terrace Hill and each tenant has a lease and ,i q P the - each tenant gets so many parking spaces and the parking spacos ( run concurrently with the lease . Now I might give somebody a six i Month- lease, he' ll have six months of parking . If I have a one �Ryear lease , he is guaranteed one year of parking for so many cars . , What we are talking about here, I 'd like to - if these people are ii i guaranteed one year of parking or ten years of parking, if its ! available, I am willing to give them a lease : If its one year.. I li am willing to spend the money and renovation of the building and g1ve them a lease for that one Year or whatever period of time they have . I just think that this is the way the I 've lived in Ithaca all my life and I think that every any lease in development in Ithaca is jbased on this, whether its a residential apartment house that they!; 1 have a year lease, they, are guaranteed a parking space or two parking spaces for that period of time . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Can I point out that our problem is in part created i; by the ambiguity of the Ordinance? It says , dealing with off street ! �I parking that there be firm assurance of the continued availability; of the parking when it is some other property. How long?, It doesni' t �! p g p p y,. g � say. And so the Board, in the earlier version of this case looked; � i ,I i pito the term of the lease in creating detail , where the ordinace did ;I ; 1not . Now it does not follow from that , that if you offer a one year lease that the Board would automatically find that that satisfies ij } the condition. Certainly if a use variance were proposed and it wap ;this kind of parking arrangement with only assurance for one year j �ithat was offered, the Board, I am quite confident would not find the- condition met . But , of course , a use variance is not involved herey i fit ' s an area variance with parking involved. . . really its an area problem. w IMR. BURNS : I think the point that I was - I came up for was to sayl it that not only do they perhaps have a hardship in parking , to the leiter lof the law, the interpretation of it , but I have a hardship in trying I to make ends meet on the building and when the highest income is $3�0 . �la year, this doesn' t pay the taxes , insurance or any kind of repair Ithat we have to put into the building and I think it just goes to 1 show that if we do have somebody there, we have refurbished the building, replaced the glass , put a new roof on, we plan to do more, and I think this is going to help the whole neighborhood. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Now in the initial presentation this evening some 11thing was made of the point that the appellants may have been misled Eby a letter they received from Cornell dated September 20th, into I I believing that they could get a lease that would satisfy the condition !and they then invested substantial monies . At the second hearing on i this case you assured us that the work that was going on in the j building was work that you, as the owner, were doing simply to rest6re f 4 hat needed to be restored. i,MR. BURNS : Well , we were told - well , we weren' t told, we were I I advised by the Building Commissioner that the little garage next door had to be fixed up or torn down. We tore it down. While we were jdoing it we had workmen there we said let ' s go ahead and do somethipg 1lI because we thought that this might be coming through. We didn' t I, really know, but it is an eyesore , we wanted to go ahead with it . Now we are prepared to go and spend another similar amount of money; i1to finish up the job . j I� i I i I i i !I i - 12 - s j I i !', CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright, but the investment in the building and k ;` the work that ' s been done has been done eyes open by the owner of the ;! building knowing the situation. �IMR. BURNS: Oh yes . That ' s right l CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Questions from members of the Board? IMR. BURNS: Incidentally that made the neighbors very happy, I wound I say. I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there further witnesses you have for us? i MR. CLEMENTE : No , not as far as . . . 1lCHAIRMAN MARTIN: Now, let me again, harping on the point , go back �I to what you have at this point from Cornell . The lease , as I would; I yread it, and I have simply read it this evening appears on its face] I Ito give Cornell the right to decide for whatever reasons to cancel (that lease on 90 days notice . Now you also have , and you read into' Ithe hearing tonight a letter from Cornell that I had never seen and! I l�don' t think members of the Board had ever seen, that sort of puts al Ilgloss on that lease , explains - it says what Cornell intentions are;. JDo you have anything more on the point that you can give us? I I IMR. CLEMENTE : We don' t, we are just free to answer any questions I ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay. Is there anyone from Cornell here able to li resent what they mean by the lease and what their intentions are? I�NIR. CLEMENTE: No , I spoke , I talked with Mr . Matyas today, who is {vice president and he said the letter I read from Mr. Bugliari , he i was willing to back that up entirely. I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay. Further questions from members of the I �oard? I think that what we are being asked to do is to interpret II I the condition we imposed way back when, in the light of the new in- ormation that you presented to us . Okay, I don' t see anymore i questions from members of the Board. . . Are there any others here this I vening who would like to be heard on this point , that is , whether 6r dot the parking arrangements and assurances satisfy the condition I hat the Board laid down earlier? INCENT GIORDANO: I 've spoken before this evening and this is the eason I 've come . I 've grown to know these two boys over the past �I S 13 - f� f !; five, six years that they've been in Ithaca, through football and i i 1hockey and actually I 'm here to - I know tonight is strictly parking, i; 11the variance has been granted and it ' s strictly parking and I thou !Ot hI they were all set when they got the assurance from Cornell . I don' t !blame Cornell one bit , I think they are very smart giving the leasqi gas they did with a cancelable clause because anyone who would give ` ( anyone a ten year lease without a cancellable clause is out of theijr mind but I 'm sure that Cornell respects these two young Cornell (graduates and especially knowing that Mark is giving up an awfully lot . He had a serious accident up the street from this and his lifli time savings that are coming forth, he is willing to gamble on this. E �He is willing to gamble so much on this parking and the fact that he Twill be able to rent spaces from Cornell enough that he will let thiis , tonight, as I understand from him and from Mr. Burns , go on a one , I (two , three year lease when Cornell or , in essence, they lose their �1parking , they know they lose their lease , and they better have a pl4ce to put that restaurant equipment and things they are buying because! they are willing to gamble that much. I 'd like to speak that much 1£or them. Since the second hearing I 've walked from the corner of I f Stewart Avenue and Buffalo Street up to the top of Eddy Street and � ,V( ldriven it with the car , it ' s 1/10 of one mile . There is approximately 137 parking meters just at the top of Buffalo Street hill . Going upli I illiams Street, I walked it - it ' s an awful steep climb , I don' t s now how I made it . I drove back and it ' s less than 2/10 of a mile ; Ito the Dryden Road parking lot , in the event that there is extra sp ces i ` eeded besides the 30 or something happened and they couldn' t find ! arking in the neighborhood. That has nothing to do with this be- ause it is 1S0 yards over the limit of the Board but I think if tho Cids - the students do like this establishment, and I think it woul e a student establishment, that they will walk a tenth of a mile !fo park a car . I also went from No . 9 ' s fire station where there i� lso no parking to the Dryden Street lot and that was exactly 1/10 Of mile and there again that has no bearing on the case . I think mainly I � 'm appealing for these two young graduates such as Bob Johnson was ; i I' I ii - 14 - i i ` doing and Bob was the president of the Businessmen' s Assn. of :; College Avenue until he had his coronary. I also would like to see 's I lithe enterprise of these young fellows proceed if you can see it in jiyours hearts to grant them this exception. I realize that it ' s all, I ' conditioned on this parking but somehow or other they are going to have to work this parking around and they are not going to get ten f !years from Cornell , so there is no use kidding about it . Let ' s hope they can go from year to year and keep it going . Thank you. E !CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there any further questions? Is there anyon ' +who hasn' t been heard who would like to be heard on this case .? This concludes this part of the public hearing of the Board this j !1 i Ijevening. As you know we 've had a large agenda. The Board will goj ! into executive session to consider all of those cases and will them i ilreconvene to announce the results . We ask those of you who choose � to wait around for that latter part of the meeting to do so outside , the doors . E yl s= ij ++I I� i� I+ i j j � I I 1 I �I I i i I I� , ii �4 1 if it i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS CITY OF ITHACA la DECEMBER 19 , 1977 I EXECUTIVE SESSION APPEAL NO. 1162 CHAIRMAN MARTIN: 1 . I will move that until the Board receiv s satisfactory evidence that the lease between the appellants and Cornell Univer- I sity for the off-street parking required �i by the Ordinance , cannot be revoked by i I I I ; the University at its sole discretion, the Board finds that the condition i �i li attached to its original area variance I� is not complied with. 2 . The evidence presented at the December II hearing of the Board did not provide i that assurance . i � MR. KASPRZAK: I second the motion. j i (VOTE : Yes 5 ; No 1 i I� I �i ii 1 i I! II !i li I i i� I� it i! 1 is I �e i E II I 1 I I,. I II , Barbara Ruane, Do Certify that I took the minutes of the Board,, of Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, in the matters of Appeal num- jI bered 1162 on December 19 , 1977 at City Hall , City of Ithaca, New k '," York, that I have transcribed them and the foregoing is a true i ` copy of the transcript of the minutes of the meeting and the Execu�. Itive Session of the Board of Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, on th� above date , and the whole thereof to the best of my ability. �i I /1 Barbara C . Ruane i Recording Secretary I Il� i i I Sworn to before me this i I day of �v-�, � 1978 . C � I s Notary Public Not3rrxl T to P l\uw York County i TerinI., .c'u �, 19 �� f i i I I N I�I � 1 I I! i I�I� f! �i if I i 0 ii (; TABLE OF CONTENTS ' JIMINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS , ITHACA, f' 11NEW YORK - December 19 , 1977 Page i ;;APPEAL NO. 1174 Tompkins County Mental Health 2 is Assn. 222 S . Geneva Street ';APPEAL NO. 1174 Executive Session 10 if 1,1APPEAL NO. 1178 Ballet Guild of Ithaca 11 504-506 N. Plain Street ;APPEAL NO. 1178 Executive Session 23 i ii j ;!APPEAL NO . 1179 Ida Webber 24 402 Third Street jAPPEAL NO. 1179 Executive Session 27 EI ,!APPEAL NO. 1180 Robert Mix & W. Seneca St . Corp . 28 i 707- 711 Willow Avenue IIAPPEAL NO. 1180 Executive Session 34 Ii 11APPEAL NO. 1181 Richard Dennis 35 121 Hudson Street ii jjAPPEAL NO. 1181 Executive Session 44 APPEAL NO. 1182 Benedetto & Filomena LaRocca 45 908 N. Tioga Street : APPEAL NO. 1182 Executive Session 52 i i 11!APPEAL NO. 1183 Beverly & Bill Everts 53 406- 408 E . Lincoln Street ':jAPPEAL NO. 1183 Executive Session 58 j +APPEAL NO. 1184 Albert D. Kelly 59 319 Taughannock Blvd. .i k' "APPEAL NO. 1184 Executive Session 64 ii �1APPEAL NO. 1185 Dr . Louis Nezvesky 65 129 W. Fall Street it EAPPEAL NO. 1185 Executive Session 74 ti ii .Certification of Recording Secretary 75 r' !i J I! i i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK DECEMBER 19 , 1977 {{ !!A regular meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca , `1was held in the Common Council Chambers , City Hall , Ithaca, New York on December 19 , 1977 . ;' PRESENT: Peter Martin, Chairman Gregory Kasprzak Judith Maxwell `! C . Murray VanMarter Martin Greenberg Edgar Gasteiger Thomas Hoard, Secretary to the Board Building Commissioner Barbara Ruane , Recording Secretary i ° Chairman Martin called the December meeting of the Ithaca City Zon-' ;, ing Board of Appeals together . A full Board is present this evening . !This is not a meeting on Community development , if there are any of you here looking for that meeting, it is on this same floor in the !Mayor' s Conference Room which is at the top of the stairs . This is ! the Zoning Board meeting. This is the meeting originally scheduled ;' for two weeks ago that had to be postponed because of heavy snow ; fall . The Board operates under the provisions of the Ithaca City Charter and the Zoning Ordinance of the City. Our procedure is fairly ; straight forward. Let me run down it for those of you who have not been present for a zoning meeting before. We hear all the cases iri the order in which they were - the notice of the hearing was pub- (+ lished, according to the number that they were given when the appli- 'cation was filed. We hear first the appellant , the person seeking tithe variance or other relief from the Board, we then invite anybody ;else who would like to present evidence, testimony relevant to the ; ;;issue the Board has to face, who is in favor of the variance , to ;!speak and then we invite those who wish to express views or present {;evidence in opposition, to speak. We hear the cases in order, fol-I ;;lowing that basic procedure. We ask that all those who speak come jlto the front of the room to this mike , identify themself by name and !(address and limit their remarks to the issues that are in front of lithe Board. After hearing all of the testimony on all of the cases ,) 1the Board then goes into executive session, inviting all of you to ;;leave so that we can deliberate on what we 've heard. We then re- i ;)convene in public session, inviting those of you who have stayed ;;around out there in the hall , or beyond , to come back in to hear !;the results of those deliberations . Mr . Secretary what is our first I ;;case? �i i' (j ;i i �? I 2 - I ` Secretary Hoard announced the first case to be heard. ;;APPEAL NO. 1174 Appeal of the Tompkins County Mental Health Association for a special condition permit to use the premises at 222 Southl Geneva Street for a group care residenc� for a maximum of twelve residents . The ; building which has been used as "Kline ' s �! Home for Adults" for the past fifteen 'f years , is located in an R-3a (Residentia;l) �i use zone , where group care residences arlie i permitted under special conditions as �i prescribed in Section 30 . 26B of the City of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance . The property i( in question does not meet the requirements II� for minimum lot size , width, side yards , li and rear yards ; the lot coverage also exceeds the maximum permitted. (CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Is there someone here presenting the appeal? Pleajse ,i come forward. DAVID SCHWARTZ : I 'm David Schwartz , Director of Community Residences for the Tompkins County Mental Health Association. The facts , I i� `think in the interest of your long agenda, I ' ll be quite brief, our; I� lAssociation currently operates a community residence for ten (10) IIldevelopmentally disabled adults ; that includes mentally retarded �; 11adults , at S18 E . State Street . We have been in operation a little; j'more than a year with good reaction from our neighbors and I think i (people in the area are pleased with the home that we have created. i� IThere are a number of additional families here in town and the county 1who need this type of residence for their children - for their grown ,children - and also for individuals who have been in state care, so �i 1we , because of this our association has moved forward to create a ,second residence and for this we would like to use what is now known i; j!as Kline ' s Home for Adults at 222 S. Geneva Street. It has been, E Dover the years , renovated to this type of use and is ideally suited; i (for it . The exceptions are the facts that under the new zoning or- ' Idinance the limitations for side yards and front space - basically Ithe house is large for the size of lot that it is on. That ' s { Lsically the question. We hope to open in the spring if . . . HAIRMAN MARTIN: Can I interrupt for just a moment? We have joini#ig i, Jus at the table , not formally part of the deciding body this evening , 1�ut to take part, to join the Board in January, Mr. Wilcox who has I i �i �I i h 'i 'e .t IE If - 3 - ,i just been appointed to the Board of Zoning Appeals . Why don' t youl iIsit there and join us in our questioning , although we still have H.Mr. Gasteiger to complete the Board for decision making this evening . f iExcuse me , Mr. Schwartz . I 11MR. SCHWARTZ : I might just add that we have taken great pains to fItalk with all of the neighbors that we could contact in this area tjo acquaint them with our purpose, with our plans and to answer any of Itheir questions and to get any feelings that they might have on it .1 .And generally we feel that we would be an addition to this neighbor- E hood and in keeping with what Mrs . Kline has added to the neighbor-; i 'hood over the past fifteen years . Is there any question or anything. . i iCHAIRMAN MARTIN: Right . Now, let ' s try to fit this into the or- 1 11dinance and the particular provisions of the ordinance that we are ; ; i� 11working with are new. This is the first case that the Board has `!had involving a special permit for a group facility. I understand none possible way to fit this into the ordinance suggested by the iPlanning Board is to say that the, Kline ' s Home is a group facility '- f Iit meets the definition of the ordinance and therefore is an exist-` i) Ping use that doesn' t comply with the new requirements - it ' s an iexisting, non-conforming use , you are continuing that use and so not `I particular permit or variance is required from the Board. If that (!doesn' t fit then we are obliged to say this is a group facility wit ( the area requirements laid down in the new ordinance not met and jipresumably we then have to grant an area variance to allow you to j' lgo into that facility. At least that ' s how I see it fitting. Could you help us out on the first point describing the current use being made of the structure that you' d like to occupy? i MR. SCHWARTZ : The current occupancy of the Kline ' s home? CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Yes . ,MR. SCHWARTZ : The Kline ' s Home operates as a proprietary home for '' adults . She currently has there sixteen (16) adults , most of them I' �jare elderly and many of them are not capable of self preservation. .i ! These are people who need a lot of care , twenty-four hour supervisibn. Many of them are in the house full time . What we propose to changed 4 i ;E i i !s i I f - 4 - pi �it to is to lower the occupancy from sixteen (16) to eleven (11) , 6 i I ;,actually we are asking for a close occupancy of twelve (12) to take ;;care of emergency - family emergencies . And to deal with people whJo I. I ,are capable of self preservation who would all be out of the house ! �1during the day at work, usually at Challenge Industries . So it is !ja lower number of people who would be in the house and also in terms �of capability, they would be of a more capable level . I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: And they would be of a different age . I . . � MR. SCHWARTZ : Absolutely, right . i� iCHAIRMAN MARTIN: But that, of course , is something that doesn' t I feature at all in the ordinances definition of a group care residence . MR. SCHWARTZ : I think that one thing that might figure is that w ; certainly the occupancy is less - is significantly less - is five 11persons less . Also, leaving out people who have their own cars , ; the traffic does not change at all . We have one car for the resi- dence thus far and since people are walking or using public trans - portation I don' t think that that should change the type of any i Il strain on the neighborhood in terms of parking or . . . I! i4 CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay, do you want to elaborate on the - I mean, 1you've said that you are asking for up to twelve residents of the c I 11facility, how many staff members would typically be there in addi i1 j tion? iMR. SCHWARTZ : Okay, at any one time there is one or two staff mem+ i� bers there. What we - how we operate is that there is a live-in house parent there all the time . We have a live-in house parent ' there - who is there during the week and a live-in houseparent also ! on the weekends to relive - we also have auxiliary staff that come " in lat extra times to help out when someone is sick or when someone neods la little extra attention. But it is fully supervised. There is someone there all the time . Since these are people that - this is Efprimarily a home we consider it completely a home - it is not a training program primarily or any kind of a medical facility so we 1don' t have medical personnel there, nursing personnel , it ' s the kijd .I �i jlof a structure that you would have in a home . if I; � r i I; 4 5 :' CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there additional questions from members of .i lithe Board? {DR. GREENBERG: These people you are referring to that will occupy Ii �Ithe residence , were completely institutionalized up to this point? ? I MR. SCHWARTZ : No , not all of them. Some of them have been. We j I operate under certification from the New York State Department of 'Mental Hygiene and basically the agreement for certification and I partial funding is that 50% of the people that our admissions com- Imittee approves are from state developmental centers . Now the 4 I 'people that are given first weigh is if there was someone who grew i s ► up in a Tompkins County family then later went to - say - Newark f ' iiState School or Broome Developmental Center, they might come back. �f ISo part of - we are trying to do two things one thing is to try I to reintroduce the people who have been institutionalized, into i.family life again and into the community life . But the other 50% fare people who have never been in this system. For instance , in our current house we have a number of people who grew up with their 1 f families right here in town or in other places in Tompkins County �ho, when they got to be young adulthood or when their parents were; I i etting older and starting to wonder about what would happen to the hen they passed on. Now we have taken a number of these people who ow, since they have some place that they are assured to live in loig term in town they do not have to , any longer, enter a state school . his is the whole meaning of what we are trying to do . Is that . . . 10R. GREENBERG: Does that answer the question? I just wondered whether �I �he screening is done carefully enough so that the community, the mmediate community, wouldn' t have problem with the lack of screen- 1 i kg of some of those people . R. SCHWARTZ : We do our screening through an admissions committee s �omposed of representatives of all the local agencies that deal with I eople , for instance, Challenge Industries , the special Children' s enter, BOCES, Meadow House, also a pediatrician and parents of de- i elopmentally disabled persons and the screening process is a very ntense one and we have a number of requirements such as the person ; i �I � I jS i 6 - i i 3 its free from any psychotic symptoms , in other words , we don' t accept ;;people who have behavioral problems who might have some type of ;;mental illness or in other words , might be a hazard so the screening is a very thorough one , we feel . And we haven' t had any difficulty! ' in this first house anywhere along that line . As a matter of fact II might mention, I know that you have letters that you . . . that ar . , `CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Yes , I do have letters and at the appropriate poi.k I 1II will read them into the record. But I save letters until after Il we have had a chance to hear from people who are present . j MR. SCHWARTZ : Right . 0 CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there further questions from members of the i Board? IMR. KASPRZAK: Yes . Could you explain a little bit about the actual appeal itself? The lot size and the rear yards and things like that i ! affect your appeal? � MR. SCHWARTZ : Basically the question is : if the house were smaller :i �lor the lot were bigger it would go through a procedure of - it is Amy understanding - it would go through a procedure of a special i permit which would not be a formal zoning appeal . The questions is! when we started looking at houses in Ithaca and for these two house ewe have looked at 75 houses to date . For the second one we have II !hooked at about thirty. We found that predominately houses here ini Ithaca were built very large in terms of the lot size so that this j i iiis the entire question. If there are a couple of different ways you can look at it . One in terms of the density requirement of the zoning !!the new zoning law and perhaps , Mr. Hoard, you could correct me if the density is a little bit too high in terms of the number of resi i dents . HAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright, the place we are in the Ordinance is 3 �Istandards for special conditions and special permits , Section 30 . 26 v 1rhich says - I mean, it is a new provision that entered the ordinance lifter the residential zoning study of this past year and it lays dojvn i ertain criteria for the Building Commissioner to approve a group `care residence and among those criteria, the ones that are giving ypu !1 I i i c 's - 7 - I I ` problems are the ones that lay down special yard size and density I " requirements for a group care residense - it would not apply to t, , ;! other permitted uses in the district . If you met those , then the 1! hBuilding Commissioner would simply issue the special condition - I would find the special condition met, and issue the permit . Sincel you don' t meet that, then either we say that the pre-existing Klin Home means that you don' t need any permission from this group or i , alternatively we would have to find that you've qualified for an !urea variance, as I understand the new provision. IMR. SCHWARTZ : Our Association Board of Director ' s feeling when wel l l started the search for a second building was to aim for something �Ithat complied with the density requirements and the spacing out oft kthe new Zoning Ordinance in which we were all in agreement . It ' s Idesigned to provide proper spacing. This is where we found that wOI i jisimply could not find this in town here and it was our observation ] from looking at the current Kline Home , since it had been operatedll i 11with a larger number of persons in residence, at one time it was even twenty-two , successfully in the neighborhood for a number of �lyears , we didn' t anticipate - we drew from that the conclusion that slit was not a problem in the neighborhood and in talking with neigh-j I i l`bors it apparently hadn' t been. The fact that the density was not i what was in the zoning . ICHAIRMAN MARTIN: Greg, do you need more information? IMR. KASPRZAK: No . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Any further questions? Murray? j I pMR. VAN MARTER: None of the proposed residents are licensed to drive or own a car, is that correct? MR. SCHWARTZ : Yes . Let ' s see, we have one person in our hostel f know who actually does have a driver ' s license but doesn' t drive . i , It ' s our feeling that with some persons , we expect will eventually ;- i with a great deal of intensive work, in some years move out into i !their own and we are working in this direction with some of the !Hostel people . Some of those people might eventuallyg et driver ' s E i licenses and have their own cars but by the time that they reach I I f �C !j 8 - that level of competence they would certainly be living on their oign i i! and not in the Hostel . i �!MR. VAN MARTER: Thank you. ;(CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Further questions from members of the Board? Seeing none then we will move on to testimony from other people in ! the audience and if any of that raises question for you Mr. Schwartz we will invite you back . f MR. SCHWARTZ : Thank you. ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Let me now call for anyone else present who would (like to speak in favor of the requested area variance or interpreta;- tion that none is required in Appeal 1174 . Is there anyone here who would like to speak in favor? This is the point then, that I feel j yit appropriate to read in the letters which do speak in favor and then I will invite testimony in opposition. First is a letter fromi jDr . Kingsley whose address is 527 E. State Street : I "November 23, 1977 I Mr. Peter W. Martin Ithaca Board of Zoning Appeals i �f608 East Seneca Street ((Ithaca , New York 14850 PDear Mr. Martin: On behalf of the Tompkins County Mental Health Association I am ple4se( to write of my experience with the operation of Hostel No . 1 of the! (Association. The Appeals Board is aware this facility is located at 518 East State Street in the former home and medical office of my colleague , the i elate Dr. Frederick Asher. It is across State Street from my office building at 527 East State Street . Maintenance of the property has been excellent. The public life of the eleven residents is orderly!, quiet , and unobtrusive . (Day-by-day living in our area has not been] affected. ) I know of no complaints by anyone in our neighborhood. The Hostel residents are good neighbors . Their management is pro- fessional , thoughtful , and worthy of praise . It is difficult to se how property values would be adversely affected. i The Mental Health Association now hopes to establish Hostel No . 2 at 222 South Geneva Street. The building meets the special physical needs required by the Association for a successful operation. It i� y understanding that the two areas - Hostel No . 1 and the proposed! (Hostel No . 2 - have the same zoning rating. There are some minor requirements that would need a variance . It has occurred to me 4that the Board of Appeals could find substantial help in reaching an equitable decision for Hostel use by examining the first Hostel . Our neighborhood has benefited by its existence. 'I (Thank you for your consideration. 'Sincerely yours , I !/s/ S. B. Kingsle ��S.B. Kingsley, MD �' {j f �I Ij �E + 9 - V is l "Nov. 12 , 1977 V I!Mr. Peter W. Martin ;608 E. Seneca Street �iIthaca , New York !JDear Mr. Martin: I IIt has come to my attention that the Mental Health Association is 'negotiating for property in the downtown area to open another com- munity residence for the retarded. I understand that there is some` + apprehension amongst property owners of the effect on the neighbor-! hood. From my experience of the past year I should like to allay I their fears . ! I live in close proximity to the hostel at 518 East State Street. I have found the residents there well behaved, unobtrusive and qui�teY than the former tenants . The property is well kept us , the lawns imown and the walks shoveled in the winter (which is more then can �be said for most walks on East State and East Seneca Streets) . i I trust that the Zoning Board will consider the reactions of an old, resident and give these handicapped people a chance to live in a l good neighborhood which I am sure they will honor. i Sincerely yours , l /s/ Ethel Poe Bailey" (1"September 27 , 1977 `I IMr. Peter W. Martin 1Chairman, Board of Zoning Appeals ! City of Ithaca 608 East Seneca Street fjIthaca, New York 14850 i IlDear Mr. Martin: � At the September 22 , 1977 meeting of the Board of Directors of the ! Tompkins County Senior Citizens ' Council , the Board voted unanimously to support the request being made by the Tompkins County Mental Health Association that a variance be issued to allow the use of the proper- ty located at 222 South Geneva Street (Klines Home for Adults) for a special group home . i !We do not feel that such a home would impact adversely on the neigh- lborhood, and the projected use is not too different from that already I!in effect. We commend the work of the Mental Health Association, and !feel that it deserves this community vote of support . Very truly yours , I /s/ Dorothy D. Spencer Dorothy D. Spencer Director" w CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Those letters will become part of the record of �jthis hearing. Now is there anyone here who would like to present j i jtestimony in opposition to the proposed use? Is there anyone who ljdoesn' t wish to ally himself pro or con that has anything further tjo I 1say on this case? We will move on then to the next case . i! � f� ! s 10 - BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS i CITY OF ITHACA i DECEMBER 19 , 1978 �1 EXECUTIVE SESSION (I I APPEAL NO. 1174 : CHAIRMAN MARTIN: I will move that in Case 1174 that it is! I the Board' s interpretation of the defin-j i ition of group care residence that the i Kline Home for Adults which preceeds they I appellant at this location is an alread established group care residence so that I the proposed change in ownership neither represents a change of use or a change of the structure . Since the only difficulty under the Ordinance is with the yard dimensions , ' the pre-existingstatus means that no i ! variance for area or for use , is required. MRS . MAXWELL : I second the motion. `VOTE : YES 6 ; NO 0 . I I ! I �j i I I !E I Ii i I Ij .r I I! I ! i I� I! � i I� j !SECRETARY HOARD announced the next case to be heard. i 'APPEAL NO. 1178 : Appeal of the Ballet Guild of Ithaca, inc . for a use variance , area variance , and parking variance under Section 30 . 25 , Columns 2 , 4 , and 10 , to add a new, one-1 '! story ballet studio to the existing strL�c- ture at 504-506 North Plain Street . The! I� property, located in an R-2b (Residential) use district , is deficient in off-street! parking spaces , and with the addition the maximum lot coverage permitted in the district will be exceeded. IMRS. REID: I 'm Alice Reid, Director of the Ballet Guild of Ithaca � s !I don' t think the mike is on - it doesn' t sound like it ' s on. Is ift? I II believe you have copies of the plans - does somebody on this Board have copies of the plans - you do? .I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Yes , we have copies . IMRS . REID: You have copies of the plans . Then I will explain about the Ballet Guild. At this point we are desperately short of space .!!! ! WE've been rheearsing our Nutcracker - and even this summer , re- ! i ' hearsing our fall show, we have had to cancel classes to make re- ! �hearsal time in our one studio which is in this little church on I I 'North Plain Street. It used to be a church . We bought it in 1968 .1, � It had been on the market for , I believe three years . John Vasse who is the real estate person who sold it to us , I think is here I ,and he may tell you the exact time . But it was not a saleable prop- erty at the time , therefore we got a variance to have the Ballet ! there. It has always been a public building. It was at first a i little school on N. Albany Street and in 1919 it was moved over to !north Plain Street by the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church.! They outgrew it so they built a new big church up on, I think Hon-} Less Lane, off Slaterville Road. They had it on the market for three years because it was too small for a church that could afford it ano w !too much money for a small church that could afford it , it was on 1 the market for three years . We bought it for the Ballet . There wajs fat that time a little house on lot 304 . We own 304 and 306 . Now ,the little house was immediately vandalized when the Sunday school ( kids were no longer in it , they started smashing windows and even ! there was a fire there and a fire engine so we tore it down and j} :I i ` - 12 - Ij I ;;that ' s where our parking lot is . That is on the lot that we would I like to build the additional studio . Would you like this Mr . Martin? ,}CHAIRMAN MARTIN: If you are able to leave it with us , that would �jbe helpful . !MRS. REID: Yes , fine . I 'm sure I can get another copy. As I said;, the Ballet is desperately in need of another space . We have been i existence since 1959 - we were the first persons to be displaced by urban renewal in 1965 from 119 S . Tioga Street , I 'm sorry tosay. jTehn we were gypsies in the Youth Bureau which was then in the old i Eagles Building which is now T.G . Millers . Then we were on the 4th floor of Weinsheimer Building at 119 S . Cayuga Street . I am gettinlg too old to carry up umptie-eleven boxes of costumes up four flights! of stairs anymore so in 1968 when we found this little church and it �i was available to us , we bought it . Now we have outgrown it . Our (needs are very special . We cannot have a big room with a pole in Ithe center because the dancers will bump into them. We have to hav a high ceiling because when the male dancer lifts a girl in the airl, she cannot bump her head on the ceiling. We need two big spaces . We have one now which is perfect but we need another one . This kind ! of loft space we cannot afford, we cannot compete with commercial j ! profit making people for this kind of space like downtown. There are i lofts I know on the third and fourth floors of downtown Ithaca but we simply can' t compete economically because we ' re a non-profit chartered organization - we have 25 to 30% of our students on schol�ar- li l�ship - we give free tickets to our performances to the elderly, to j lIthe Big Brother, Sister Program, to the handicapped Big Brother/ I Sister Program so we don' t make as much at box office as we might i!f 1we were crassly commercial . I have some letters here of neighbors . (Most of the neighbors in the neighborhood are elderly people . I have (!a letter from Mr. $ Mrs . Wilcox at 509 N. Plain Street . I have a li Metter from Anne Smith Riley at 512 North Plain Street , I spoke with i jiMr. $ Mrs . Goss who live at the corner of Esty and Plain Street , ,i they said they prefer us to a bowling alley or a bar in the building , I !since it is not saleable for any other use , I guess , I don' t know, i i i' �e - 13 - ; but they like us there, we are nice quiet neighbors they say. Mrs .! is ;; Nobles at 5 something N. - I don' t have her address - it ' s on Esty ;: Street. She is a widow in her 80 ' s and she said if she were able Ilshe would come and speak for us but she cannot because she doesn' t ! ,! go out at night. I 've already spoken of the Ballet Guild being ta:G w exempt . We were chartered in 1965 , got our tax exemption in 1966 ! from the IRS. The parking should not be a problem. Where the housje I (was torn down is a parking lot but for some reason our people don' t - f1we don' t have that many people who park anyhow. Theyare mostly :children who walk over from Boynton Jr . High or the high school or ' from Central School or they take a bus down from South Hill or their (!parents drop them off in front and they feel safer letting their �I! children off in front of the building, they see them go into the 1 �1front door rather than leaving them off downtown where they go into .j !! a doorway and maybe have to walk up two flights of stairs . The few ( cars that park in our parking lot , there may be two or three . Most of the cars you will see parking in the parking lot are actually �I 1 �Ineighbor' s cars , who asked to use the lot because we don' t use it iithat much. So with the new addition we plan to build there will ii, ' be four parking spaces which is as much as our people actually evet use. What else can I tell you? iCHAIRMAN MARTIN: You can tell us a bit about dimensions of Ballet ; ( Studios and why you need an addition to get a second studio - it has to be this big? ii MRS. REID: Oh it has to be that big. Absolutely. Because the i studio we have now is 25 x 30 , roughly, plus there is a gallery j !!where the choir was plus there is a little waiting area. Now, 'ii ithat is too small for a class of fifteen people , they are on each iother' s ankles and you can only run across the floor, for instance ,; if! you are doing center work you have two lines of people across . I� �iWell , we have classes that have as many as twenty people . We have ; !had to split classes and bring some of them up to my house . Now I ! ?have a studio at my own house up Cayuga Heights , near the Cayuga 11 Heights school for over twenty years . That ' s where the Ithaca Bali et ijactually was born - in 1958 - and then I met other people - Vergia I 'j i E - 14 - i� ;3 1 ,1 :!Cornea, Daffney Sola, Benta King , and we formed the Ithaca Ballet i- 1Sue Pennsy, who is now one of the Dancemakers . We formed the Ithacja i IlBallet but the nucleus of the performing group came out of my school ;lin Cayuga Heights and I always try - I keep my school open, I still! f� 11do - for children in the neighborhood who can walk over from Cayuga] 'I 11Heights School , but I get the kids out by 5 : 30 when my husband comes ;!home . Now I 'm finding classes at night - my husband is angry, there � is thumping around, there is people in the house and he deserves ai !,quiet evening. You know, this just can' t go on. We have rehearsall,s jup at my house in the evening, the noise bothers my husband, I - algid the deserves peace and quiet when he comes home and the only alter- native is to rent another room. I 've looked at East Hill School , Pave looked at GIAC , there is no room suitable , walkable , available , liwith a high enough ceiling with private toilets , I cannot have my ' children leaving their boots and stuff in the hall in a place like !- well in any place because they are not supervised. We - you know ( things walk off - you know this , from public schools - things walk ) I , off. You cannot leave the children' s down coats and their boots iii 11the hall - it ' s impossible so we really have to add on another ' studio - otherwise I don' t know what the future of the ballet is . Now, I should tell you about the ballet . We have a nationally knoi4n company. In fact we are better known in New York than we are in { Ithaca. We were one of seven companies from the whole northeast ch.osen to perform in the northeastern regional ballet festival . Now, the northeastern area extends into two companies in Canada down linto Virginia, west into Ohio . people in Ithaca don' t seem to t realize that a performing company has to have rehearsal time and the i' 1classes run from 3 : 30 in the afternoon until 9 : 00 every night . ! Saturday morning we begin at 9 : 00 in the morning and run until 2 : 00 l jlin the afternoon then we hope to have a little rehearsal time . On ] Sundays we begin classes at 10 : 00 in the morning, hoping the kids ;! can get out of Sunday School or something now that ' s not right - i lf and run classes until 2 : 00 in the afternoon. Now this is a solid ! class schedule . It leaves very little time for rehearsals . We hate I !! had to cancel classes for our fall performance and for our holiday ; iE 1 � i �i i ( Nutcracker show. The ballet has just gotten too big . Now if Ithaca ;;wants a ballet , I don' t know what in heck we are going to do , really. !?CHAIRMAN MARTIN: My original question went to a narrower point. Il 11think of a recent - somewhat similar case in which the Ithaca Gym- i �Inastic Center had enjoyed similar success and was pressed in its i if existing facility and wanted to expand. The Board was quite uncom-1 Ifortable with the original proposed addition in terms of the very !!substantial inconsistency between it and the area requirements of ai jthe ordinance and did not grant the original requested addition but; !subsequently granted an area variance for a smaller one . What you propose also is quite in excess of what the ordinance permits and so ( I wonder again if compromise - justice doesn' t lie somewhere shy of (that and wonder whether an addition of half the size wouldn' t do lit for you . . . or . . . two thirds . . . or . . . !i MRS . REID: Oh, absolutely not , no, no . (CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Tell us a bit more about what . . . jMRS . REID: Our studio now is 25 x 30 - the studio area. Now the i area of the church proper has a gallery up at the end and then it Chas a waiting area which is not part of the area proper - that ' s an ,absolute minimum. It really is much too small . We need a space at i least 20 x 40 . We absolutely do - if you understand the requirements . ! l�Like our space as it is now, you take an adult dancer, we have about 1300 children in our school , children, adults . Okay, you take a man I I i - well , our tallest man is about 614" . He takes two run run ,6 ' and he is across the floor. Now, no stage in the world would you I ever do a thing that small - you know - it ' s just . . . the Bolshoi i�stage is 90 ' x 1001 . If any of you saw the Nutcracker, the Bolshoi Nutcracker last night you saw they had lots of room to make their libeautiful big, jumping turning - the big circles of jumps so if we Aare going to do anything at all its got to be bigger than our preset ;space and its got to be a minimum of 30 x 40 feet. I think Barbara ! has a space at least 40 ' long or 50 ' . !MRS. THUESON: Yes , actually it ' s 701 . I wish to speak for you. i! i j! 3 f� - - 16 I� 1HChairman MARTIN: Yes , but that will follow. Are there further iquestions from members of the Board? Ha MR. GASTEIGER: Are you enlarging the choir gallery? i iMRS. REID: No , that ' s a very large structural problem and the money - �Ithe space gained would not give enough additional plus it would talde away seating space for waiting people . MR. GASTEIGER: Does the gallery now stick out beyond the roof which iwe see on this . . . ? I IMRS. REID: Oh now, it' s on the back here. The church proper is this area (pointing) , there is a little choir room where the choir would have sat - at the back of this room. This is essentially one large room with a little entry hall . i MR. GASTEIGER: What I 'm wondering is , is this necessary? MRS. REID: This is a waiting area - definitely necessary. That ' s I Iwhat we have been lacking . i v MR. GASTEIGER: Does it exist now? i MRS. REID: No , no . This is the present building and this will be lithe i additional building. It ' s not very high. We 've kept it low so j�that it wouldn' t obscure the neighbor's view, and it ' s . . . � MR. GASTEIGER: Doesn' t increasing the gallery area imply that you will hold performances here? MRS . REID: Oh. no, no . You have to have a stage to perform and an i iauditorium with seating. No this is just a studio where . . . �ICHAIRMAN MARTIN: If this is important it should be going on in a i r� way that we get it in the records . f i MRS. REID: I 'm sorry - I 'm just showing him from the blueprints . Could I hold up what he is holding up and explain . . . i ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Why don' t you do it , if you can be reference to o ithe plans in words so that we can get it in the record? IIMR.l GASTEIGER: I guess the question is , are you enlarging the gallery and if so what . . . !MRS . REID: No . We are adding an additional studio room. No the li ligallery is rather insignificant in our present room. It wouldn' t add enough more to make anything any better. f I I i �I I ' 17 - .! MR. GASTEIGER: What is this studio room? .i HMRS. REID: Well , it ' s the - imagine the church with pews in it . j We took the pews out, the gallery is a raised space such as this i-9 i land the choir would sit up here . You see what I mean? It ' s a ' raised space with a little altar rail and so people wait there - = they sit in chairs and wait . Which space we also need - you know, i iiwaiting space . I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there further questions from members of the 11 Board? i �MR. VAN MARTER: I ' d like to hear something relating to the Zoning (Ordinance that has to do with hardship, that relates only to the existing building or land. iCHAIRMAN MARTIN: Let me correct you - just a moment - we are not oitalking so much about hardship , this being an area variance . . . I i;MR. VAN MARTER: I 'm reading the application which says "Use and �i 'Area" . Am I correct? CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Right , okay. And you are correct because this is �an expansion of a previously granted use variance . MRS . REID: Yes , I think. our hardship is that it is not a saleable ''; property. The fact that it was on the market so long before we e bought it shows that we would have a heck of a time selling it. I Now there is a minister who lives acorss the street from us who E c would very much like to buy it but it ' s on the tax rolls at $34 ,000 . his congregation cannot afford it. The replacement value on our I insurance policy is $70 ,000 . and, of course , that ' s way out of sigh1t j�for his church. It would be the size for his congregation but they ; I (simply can' t afford it . And that ' s why it was on the market for so long before we were able to get a variance to buy it . It was on I hardship that we first bought the building, I believe - I mean, �ithat ' s why the seller couldn' t sell it . !CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Further questions? DR. GREENBERG : Do you put your performances on right there or do you I� i1hold . . . I� 4 I� !i i it �1 - 18 - i :!MRS. REID: Oh, no , no , no. It' s just a studio, classroom and re- i flhearsal space. No , we perform at the Strand, we used to perform at I{ the Statler. You have to have a stage and an auditorium with seats , , you know - the Statler seats 923 people . We will fill it or half 11fill it - no there is no possible way to perform there . 11 I SMR. GASTEIGER: But those are your grand performances . How about , for parents of children? �IMRS. REID: 0 we do those in the theatre - we do them all in the 11theatre because we would not possibly have space . For the student ; irecitals we usually get the Kulp Auditorium at the high school I lbecause it has a band room behind for all the little kiddies to Ij change clothes in - get into their costumes . j i' # MR. KASPRZAK: Do you anticipate further growth of the Ballet Guild � ; and then - in say three years or five years - you are going to comei i before us and say can we have another . . . ? �I MRS. REID: Well , at the present time there is no place to go from ( there - there is no place to go . I don' t know, I just don' t know. II didn' t anticipate the growth - since 1968 - that' s what , about ! ten years - eleven years , we have about doubled. I think we have �1 � Ireached the saturation point, because , you see the Dancemakers used I, to be our modern dance wing and then they - we didn' t have enough I , rehearsal time for them so they made their own place in DeWitt Mall (, and then out of the Dancemakers has come the Kolaidescope Group whoI have again made another space and now that the Strand has another 1 flschool , there is the Ithaca Academy we ' re probably the strictly j classical ballet school . I don' t really - you know - if we grew i !beyond that Mr. Kapsrzak , I don' t know- what in heck we would do . I� ] just don' t know. I can' t anticipate it . It ' s been ten years that ] ( we 've reached this point . In another ten years I ' ll be dead and I gone so somebody will carry on for me and I ' ll let them worry about ' that . I ii CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Do you envision this bringing more people and j I1 i' parents - or this is to accommodate people that are already coming ] ;Ito the building? ii is �I i' 19 - i ;;MRS. REID: That ' s exactly it . We ' re so overcrowded they are coming ;yup to my house - we ' re so overcrowded and we have to cancel classes iwhich is our chief source of income - is the tuitions . When we cal- cel classes we lose , you know. I'CHAIRMAN MARTIN: So in terms of traffic in the neighborhood you i don' t see the likelihood of this increasing it? MRS . REID: Oh, no , I don't think so . Oh, no - no, no . I doubt it (!very much. IMR. GASTEIGER: But you will put on the street more cars in terms i of parking? i ( MRS. REID: They' ll be the same cars that are there now . i f I�I MR. GASTEIGER: But they will not have parking space - the neighbo�is jhave been using the area so they will have to park on the street? ( MRS . REID: Well they park on the street anyhow - the few that do spark. You see most of our students are children who do not drive . They either walk over from school or are dropped off by parents . The adult classes are the evening classes and there may be , I don' t iI �1know - six cars at the most . But they don' t use our parking lot - ! I, Ifor some reason, I don' t know why. It ' s not very inviting. j ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN; Will your new one be more inviting? i MRS. REID: Well , there won' t be - well , there are the two - the four parking spaces . Well , it will be the same way that are there . i I don' t know if they will be more inviting or not . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there further questions? I see none . Thant i ! you. Is there anyone here now who would like to speak in favor of I� the requested variance? Yes . ( MRS. THEUSON: I 'm Barbara Theuson and I am here to speak official ily 11for the Downtown Ithaca Business Women' s Organization and for the i ! Tompkins County Center for the Performing Arts , commonly known as the Strand, and also for two national dance organizations - the ( Association of American Dance Company and also The American Dance Guild. We are very familiar with the large growth and contribution that the Ithaca Ballet has made, not only to our community but also} I l II ii - 20 - ijto the nation. They are one of the honor companies in the northeast . '!It is very necessary and, I personally know, as having been the con- i' ti5ultant on the Kennedy Center floor, how valuable and important it !t i jos to have a good wooden floor for dancers to be able to rehearse and perform on. We have a first class company in this town and we ould like to keep it that way and we would also like to have them e able to have the amount of space that they need to do their per- ' i � ormances and to do their rehearsals for their performances and I - 1 i or the four organizations that I am officicially representing to-fight - would like very much to ask you to please put through their ! �I I ariance for their additional studio . Thank you. j HAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there questions? j II � R. DAITCH: My name is John Daitch. I have been a resident of I 1�thaca for 61-, years and have lived in the neighborhood of the Dancej ompany for about 2Z years since I bought a house down there . At l, ne time I was principal of a Junior high school in that area and we hared facilities with the Dance Company in a kind of "give and talo" i l�ituation. My daughter has danced with them for 22 years . . . I 'm � pany of a professional dancer - I don' t know thing about ballet but � j an say that I watched them rehearse there and it is rather like practicing baseball in a singles tennis court . There literally is of enough space and if you go down and see the Nutcracker next weel - I nd - this coming weekend - you' ll get an idea of the kind of space �Lhe dancers need to rehearse . But I 'm not here to speak professions illy in favor of them, I 'm delighted to have them in the neighborhood, i s a resident and that is what I ' d like to speak to . I think we 've ` done a long way in this country to segregate neighborhoods , not onl long the more well publicized lines of race and ethnic groupings , Put really along the lines of use and as a resident of that neighbot- I ood, I am delighted to see an integration of a kind of economic and purposeful nature . We have stores , we have schools , we have community I Renters, or perhaps in singly we don' t have community centers or tures necessarily, but we do have at least one of each of these H {3 f 'I �I SI � I i I - 21 - �, i Ithings and I think that if the Ballet is not allowed to expand - Heventually and I think probably within a year or so , they are going] it I Ito have to move out of there somehow or other and I , as a resident,] E �jwould be sorry to see that. I live about a half a block from where) �Ithey are - just around the corner - as far as I can tell , traffic i;s 1 Inot a problem, there are cars that stop , that pick up and drop kids off - there seems to be no lack of parking spaces around the studio! - ! in terms of sort of the throb of the neighborhood, I don' t see that] t the studio distracts but certainly contributes and I would just encourage this group to the extent that it is possible to consider , the sort of salutory effects that integrating a neighborhood on a j I I use basis has for that neighborhood in terms of the variety of t people that have contact with one another, the children in the neig - borhood see a lot of activities , see a healthy, vibrant area - I just think it is extremely useful . And so , as a resident of that i neighborhood and one who has purposely purchased a house in that area i , because it represents a convenience to the rest of the city and it irepresents a fairly well integrated neighborhood along a number of f (dimensions, including racially and socially, I strongly encourage j ') t jIthat whatever action is necessary for this group to take to allow I,, this studio to be built, that this group take it. Thank you. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Any questions? s OR. KASPRZAK: How late did you observe the rehearsals go to in the ) r ievening? j R. DAITCH: Well , I know that my daughter is - the latest she has ever come home from a rehearsal - it ' s been around 7 : 30 or 8 : 00 . lI don' t recall her : being any later . I don' t know what the articu} I I p lar schedules are. I have driven past there, perhaps 9 : 30 , or 10 : 0 e clock and have seen lights on and familiar cars parked there that IQ II know might belong to some of the people who work there . I guess ou would have to ask Alice . r �HAIRMAN MARTIN: 9 : 00 o ' clock. you say, is the . . IRS. REID : 9 : 00 o ' clock is the official last hour . . . sometimes dater. Not midnight. .I i I� I I� - 22 I 11CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright . Further questions? Are there any other] i I i,persons present who would like to speak in favor of the requested j ;variance? Yes . f 3MS . FINLEY: My name is Jean Finley and I live at 211 Schuyler Place 11and I have five children who attend lessons at the Ballet - some of 1�whom are in the Company. I would like to speak - we are one of thel i iifamilies that' s on scholarship at the Ballet and Alice mentioned that there are 25 to 300 of her students are on scholarship . We feel that it has been an extremely beneficial youth activity for e i our children and they have enjoyed it, they've grown from it - one ; i � of our children is so interested in it that he is planning to go into A flit professionally and I really can' t say too much for the good wort (l they are doing as a youth activity, in the community. I can also I I i I ] say that my son sometimes leaves at 9 : 30 . i II' CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Thank you. Are there questions? Is there anyond else who would like to speak in favor of the requested variance? MR. VASSE : I 'm John Vasse, the Realtor that sold Alice Reid that "dog" down on N. Plain St . When she took it over it had some brok9n windows in it and the building next door was ramshackled. Alice cleaned the place up , put in the windows , tore the old building docn, i cleaned up the lot next door and I think she did a tremendous job . ! 1If she' d be forced to leave there I am afraid there is going to bei ,Ia limited functional use for that structure . We could probably put ilthe Holy Rollers in there and rent it to them on a night by night land have bands in there until 10 or 11 o ' clock at night. But I think if Alice is permitted to continue on this site with her new , structure that she will be doing the community a service and the neighborhood a great favor. I i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there questions for Mr. Vasse? No . Is them ! anyone else who would like to speak in favor of the requested vari; ance? Is there anyone who would like to sepak in opposition? Seeing �jnone we will move on to the next case . l �I �' i i! I' - 23 - !i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS CITY OF ITHACA ii DECEMBER 19 , 1978 f' 0� EXECUTIVE SESSION APPEAL NO. 1178 : I DR. GREENBERG : I move that we approve the addition as j� requested by the ballot build of ithaca II J for an area variance and a use variance . jCHAIRMAN MARTIN: I second the motion . FINDINGS OF FACT: 1 . The use will be the same . �I 2 . It enhances the neighborhood. I I 3. The addition will not have a deleterious impact on the neighborhood. j 1( �6TE : S Yes ; 1 No . Area and use variance granted. l I I I �I I I 'i Ij I, I ii i I I( l it �I i I I! I li 0 24 :a 3' ;SECRETARY HOARD announced the next appeal to be heard. IAPPEAL NO. 1179 : Appeal of .Ida Webber for an area variance' ii under Section 30 . 25 , Columns 12 and 15 , to construct an addition to the building r i at 402 Third Street. The construction will be within one required side yard and li the required rear yard. The property is '! located in a B-4 (Industrial) use districit . jjMR. GERSH: Members of the Board, my name is David Gersh, I am here; l this evening on behalf of Ida Webber and the Ithaca Scrap Processing iCenter. In 1974 we received permission to construct a large and II new building on that site and through financial constraints and, I frankly not being able to foresee the tremendous need for recycling �of celulose products which is upon us today, we left off a corner of that building. That is to say, we did not enclose a corner and e; las you can see in the diagram that is a part of our application, the present appeal asks only that we be permitted to build two walls tol square off the building which now makes a jutting angle . To build l � those two walls to enclose that area. The net result of this addi-i ' !tion which is very modest - 28 x 38 - would be to enable us to stone some two trailer loads of scrap paper . There is , of course , a tre-1 Imendous interest in paper drives in the community, the Kiwanis j people just concluded a very successful drive and without having ('adequate storage facilities the papers are exposed to the weather, 1, create somewhat of an eyesore . So simply, what we are request�- ling is permission to complete the construction that probably we i ,would have done back in 174 had we foreseen the tremendous need for! the processing of paper products . The situation that now exists ori �jthis site, this corner location is that of a somewhat delapidated sh-ed which has been partially torn down and there is some debris there - all of this will be cleaned out and these new two walls built in its place . The result, we sincerely feel , will be an improve- f Iment, both aesthetically and in the functional utility of the buil :- ing. The request being made is very minimal . As Mr. Hoard pointed Mout the building is entirely within one side yard and, in fact , Ii !! understand in an B-4 zone, which is where we are located, the require- i f.! lment is that one side yard be 10 ' and we have 12 ' and that the othIr i i� !� I 25 I !;side yard be 5 and there we are deficient, we have only 31/3 feet . � So the variance is only perhaps 118" deficient . This proposed addiL H !:tion, or shall I say the construction of these two walls would have, Ian affect on, we believe, only our immediate neighbor, which is NYSE&G Corporation. I am pleased to say that NYSE$G has cooperated' i 1100% with us - they have given us an access agreement in writing ,permitting our construction people to go across NYSE$G' s land to i complete this construction. We 've had nothing but favorable comments from NYSE$G. I 've spoken personally with their right-of-way agent , ] I their real estate man and NYSE$G has no objection whatever to this i land I think that the fact that they have executed, not just verball but in writing , they've signed an agreement agreeing to permit us t� ,use their property, is strong evidence of their desire to have this! , variance granted. The result of all of this will be to permit Itha�a Recycling to better serve a community need, to improve the aesthetics land it will not in any way be a detriment to the community. It wil I (fit in with the community very well , located as it is in a B-4 zone! I and I think you are familiar with the immediate neighbors in that !area, the fuel tanks and the NYSE&G substation and similar installaL ' tions . I 'm also happy to say that the staff and Planning Board, j flafter considering this proposal very carefully has indicated their llunanimous approval of this proposal . We urge you to approve our� 1I ( request. I ' d be pleased to answer any questions you may have . I ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there any questions from members of the Board? i IMR. GASTEIGER: The xerox copy doesn' t enable us to tell which two l�walls exist and which you are going to build. i i MR. GERSH: I 'm sorry, that ' s exactly it, yes (pointing) . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Could you i I,MR. GASTEIGER: So the ones along the fence are the ones to be built? ' MR. GERSH: That ' s right . �iMR. KASPRZAK: Is this area roofed, David, or am I . . . I, SMR. GERSH: It will be. ff fMR. KASPRZAK: Were you asking for the walls so that it can support' ithe roof? f! { 26 - ! ! i'. 1MR. GERSH: Let me just verify this . Mrs . Webber, is that roofed at the present time? Is there a roof over this corner now? No . t ;;Yes , two walls and a roof. !;CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Two walls and a roof. E lMR. GERSH: The floor is there, the other two walls are there . i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there any further questions from members of ! the Board? I see none . I !`MR. GERSH: Thank you. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Is there anyone else here this evening who would ! I like to be heard in favor of this requested variance? Is there j i anyone who would like to be heard in opposition? We will then move on to the next case. !� I i! 1 i 1. ii j I i i i i ! �! I f I i i I I I i! �i ii i ii (i f ii - 27 - ;I 1 BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS j CITY OF ITHACA 4j DECEMBER 19 , 1978 !� I EXECUTIVE SESSION APPEAL 1179 : CHAIRMAN MARTIN: I move that the area variance re- quested in Case # 1179 be granted. I MR. GASTEIGER: I second the motion. FINDINGS OF FACT : 1 . The enclosure of the area described I will have , according to testimony presented, no adverse impact on the neighborhood; the surrounding proper- i !� ties being devoted to industrial use,. I� The adjacent properties on the south, and west have no structures . 2 . According to the testimony presented!, I II providing the required amount of (! space within the yard requirements i i !I of the Ordinance would be difficult . (VOTE : 6 Yes ; 0 No . Area variance granted unanimously.1 6 ! 1 1 i I I i! I � I� I' I !� 1 I, ; i I i r i! �j ! i 1 II - 28 - I I j SECRETARY HOARD announced the next appeal to be heard. j ;APPEAL NO. 1180 Appeal of Robert Mix and West Seneca Street Corporation for an area variance j +f under Section 30 . 25 , Columns 10 , 11 , 12 i and 13, to permit subdivision of the ji property at 707--711 Willow Avenue into two non-conforming parcels . The resulting parcels will be deficient in minimum front and side yard requirements , and exceed i the maximum lot coverage. No change in use is contemplated for the property, which is located in an I-1 (Industrial) use district. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright . I want to remind all of us that this case was before the Board in November , that the Board denied by a as I recall - by a split vote of 3 ,3 , the requested variance so I that this is technically here in a posture of request for reconsid-�� i eration by the Board of that November decision. MR. BARRETT: That' s my understanding, Mr. Chairman. I am William ] iBarrett, I am representing the appellants in this case . The - I lbelieve there were some specific questions raised at the prior I i�hearings , requests for information, that perhaps we can clarify at this time . I have a sketch of the property produced by the owners .! Would it be helpful if I pass it out among the members? I don' t know whether you have access to this or not. ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Well let' s see . We did have one plan available tjo I !us last month. Why don' t you pass it around. i MR. BARRETT: There is an extra copy. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Now, are you at this point inviting questions from the Board or do you have additional information you want to put in ilbefore us? i IIMR. BARRETT : I am somewhat at a disadvantage since I wasn' t here previously. Let me perhaps refresh the recollections of the members I � of the Board. This property is owned by Donahue-Halverson, Inc . Mr. Mix is the contract vendee and we are here requesting an area I variance and we are also pursuing the permission of the - I think it ' s the Planning Board - for a subdivision of this property. I ' CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright, so whatever this Board does has - I mean - i ,1has no affect on the approval or lack of approval from the Planning IBoard for a subdivision. i• , � I i �I !� I i 29 - I I IMR. BARRETT: That is correct . i j,CHAIRMAN MARTIN: What you are asking us for is an area variance . I , 1IMix is currently the tenant in that property; has been occupying j i; that property and now would buy it . f +�MR. BARRETT: That is correct . �iCHAIRMAN MARTIN: In that sale - there is no change of occupancy involved but it' s a sale which creates a subdivision and also creates the area variance problem. j I IMR. BARRETT: And I understand also from Mr. Mix that there is no anticipated change in use . I believe he said that they might - it ,i is presently an auto body shop and they would anticipate doing some] machine work that they are not doing now, but I don ' t think that !would essentially change the character of the use to any significant lextent. There is a real problem here for Mr . Mix. He feels that I� I economically it is disadvantageous for him to continue on a lease j I lbasis . The advantages of owning the land are very, very important �i Oto him to the extent that if he cannot do his business at this loca- I� ; jtion as a fee owner of the property that it will be almost essential to him to move elsewhere and he has investigated the possibility of, 1moving elsewhere and there appears to be little or no possibility � I of such a move . He has no alternative that is comparable at all toy This present situation. We ' d like to point out to you that those arle the practical difficulties - also that Donahue-Halverson, a businesls , can' t really use this land in the rear or the auto center to any advantage in their own business so they really would have to look I !to a tenant and it would be an advantage to them to sell it . The I buildings are entirely separated there is no logical connection between the two buildings - the problem here, I believe , is that it! !;exists on a right-of-way — however it is sort of a unique situationl - I Fit ' s a very short street - there are , I believe, other, at least one other business that uses this right-of-way and exists at the end 11of the short public right-of-way - this Lansing Research Corporation I; Iparcel at 705 Willow Avenue . There would be no effect upon the E �I I� � iG ii - 30 - character of the neighborhood by granting this variance or changing '!the ownership - dividing the ownership between two separate owners ; Mand, as I said, the difficulty does not appear to be able to be Hobviated by some other feasible method . It really calls for a � N !!division of ownership of the property into two separate parcels . The affect upon the available government facilities is practically 1 nil . I believe a letter of the fire chief was issued to the Planning I & Development Board. Chief Weaver indicated that there was nothing E in the present operation that violates the fire prevention code andl in view of the proposition that nothing other than ownership is pr�- I posed that they say - the Fire Department saw no objection to the subdivision. It is anticipated to service the property separately ,�y - for water and sewer, I believe at least sewer by granting a I �fsmall easement to the north end of the existing Donahue-Halverson building - there was just a short distance to get from Willow Avenin Iver to this property. Mr. Vasse , the realtor has prepared some hotographs which we would like to submit to you as exhibits - upon ; 1 hich he has indicated some distance - dimensions which I believe 1i ere questions that were raised at a prior hearing. The distance rom the edge of the right-of-way to the building, the existence Between the two separate buildings , the existence of a certain drivl- ay running between the Lansing Research Building and the Mix' s Autq I enter, which I ' d be glad to circulate to the Board. I HAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright so you have those photographs which you can �eave with us? R. BARRETT: Yes . I HAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright. R. BARRETT: Now, we have a list of examples of other similar situ-! i tions that presently exist in the city where buildings have been i llowed to be placed with only right-of-way access and the property I s bounded by an access road from Route 13 on one side where the ilight-of-way is and the property is so shielded and protected by the; eadow Street Route 13 access road that there really isn' t any adja-! ent owner that would be affected. It ' s difficult to see how this {j I I ' � I I i 31 - ' would have any affect on the neighborhood at all . There is no oppol- j 11sition to this , it is just a situation where we are dealing with !1 ! lexisting buildings . It involves no new construction and it isn' t (!anticipated that the building would be expanded at all and if that's II I is problem I think that restrictions could be placed on that by the Board in granting the area variance . It is anticipated that the property would be divided by a line running equal distrance and I parallel with the north face of the Donahue-Halverson building and I�the opposite face of the other building which is occupied by Mr. Mix. If there are any questions , Mr . McGee of Donahue-Halverson I � is here, Mr. Mix is here , Mr. Vasse is here who did some of the ! , measuring and produced some of the information and, I believe , who j , spoke on behalf of the appellants at the prior hearing. MR. GASTEIGER: What is the distance between the two buildings? MR. BARRETT : I confess that I find it difficult to read on that one i photograph . John, the distance between the two buildings? Is it j i about 6 ' ? i MR. VASSE: 3z' between the metal building and the existing structure i !which Mr. Mix is trying to buy. MR. BARRETT : 32' so it ' s a . . . i SMR. GASTEIGER: Measured on the diagonal as drawn? �MR. BARRETT : Is that at right angles John? It ' s at right angles . { Illt ' s a short distance. I would anticipate then - I 'm sure that I i Ithere is no eave over hang on the quonset hut, Donahue-Halverson i (building and I 'm not sure whether there is an eave on the other I +building, John is there? There isn' t any eave on either building? �So it' s anticipated that the line would be about a foot and one-haljf then from the existing buildings on each side . And there are no enl- trances or doors or windows , I believe on either side of those i buildings so that the walls would oppose each other without any difl- iIficulty. There is no reason for access . t IICHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there any further questions from members of tihe IlBoard? I don' t hear any questions . �I I f l I� i4 i - 32 - IMR. BARRETT: I believe the Planning Board has - sees no objection Ito this and I believe no objections have been raised any of the i (Government bodies that would be involved with this and I see no I iw F,practical problems in dealing with the division of ownership . The ,use is divided now and it is always anticipated that the use would be r+ I , idivided. SMR. KASPRZAK: Bill , this public right-of-way is registered in the deed, you say, right? Has it been dedicated to the city or is it I s ; intended to be or . . . ? �MR. BARRETT: No , I 'm sure the adjoining owners would be delighted , to dedicate it and have it paved. I doubt that there is any real i i 11need for it . There certainly, I 'm sure , be no opposition to it . Ads i'1I say, the other building at the end of the street apparently has ;lis dependent upon this entirely for access . Historically the Sproperty was divided, I 'm sure , before the inactment of the zoning ; ordinance with the property ownership divided, all using a common right-of-way. It is used by the public now and there is no reason for the public to go in there except to have access to these busi- nesses , which they do now. ! MR. KASPRZAK: How long did you say it has been used as a right of- 9' I Tway? I 'm sorry I missed that point . iIMR. BARRETT: I - as I remember the history of the title and this �1has been several weeks ago that I looked at this to see how the Iroertiepps were divided up they have been divided in this manner, �'I would say for the last thirty (30) years anyway. I 'm sure that ' d , isnot an exaggeration. John, do you remember? ( MR. VASSE : I don' t know when the division of the property was made, , we have a right-of-way indenture in here - back to April 21 , 1945 . j 1i MR. BARRETT: Alright at least it goes back to 1945 - 30 years Iwasn' t bad, that ' s from my memory. 1CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there any more questions? I think not . Than�C I; I!{tl you i ;SMR. BARRETT : Thank you. i , I l Ij F - 33 - 1 i ,CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Is there anyone else here this evening who would 111like to be heard on Appeal 1180? Mr. Vasse , could you come forward? f MR. VASSE : Mr. Mix is one of four towing services in the City of 3 + Ithaca that has some sort of an agreement with the Police Department i hand the Public Works to tow cars from streets , be they snow bound, �1 accidents , or whatever. It is essential that he is within the city limits for his base of operation. It would really be a hardship if he is forced to leave the city, he ' d lose the connection with th city. I have looked with him for other properties , as I did locate Hap Perry' s Wrecker Service down on the island, it ' s very difficult Ito find lands that have either a business 5 zone or an industrial 11 ikzone where these fellows can operate their towing service from. I� i just want to bring out that it is essential that he stays in the I �Icity. IMR. BARRETT : I have one other picture showing the entire area if i{t j `would help for anyone to have an over view and that could be sub- mitted also . i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright. MR. BARRETT : We would hope that in the interest of justice you f people could see your way for granting this variance and we , frankl� , can see no reason why the interest of justice wouldn ' t be served in 1 , fallowing this division due to the factors that we discussed. Thank 1 you. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Thank you. Now, I ' ll invite once more , anyone else who has something to say on 1180? We will move on to 1181 . s i� .I i I ` 1 I� it i j I i 1; 'fl +� I i 34 f I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS CITY OF ITHACA DECEMBER 19 , 1978 I� f !� EXECUTIVE SESSION � I I APPEAL NO. 1180 : iCHAIRMAN MARTIN: I Move i ! 1 . That the Board reconsider its case in the iappeal by Robert Mix and West Seneca Stret Corporation. Additional testimony was presented this evening concerning issues raised at the earlier meeting, namely j access and the distance between buildings . I 2 . That upon reconsideration that it grant I, the area variance that it requested. The! two buildings which it is proposed will bo severed in ownership have for some time been used for different businesses . The s !f severance in ownership will simply continue ! I a use already established by Mr . Mix as a tenant . The two buildings were laid out I in the current fashion without zoning re- 1 quirements in mind and the severance cou1 i not practically be accomplished in com- pliance with the area requirements of the Ordinance . C 3 . The proposed severance will not , accordin� to testimony presented, create any seriou� f problem for the neighborhood. Access to the rear parcel is available across an existing right of way. UDITH MAXWELL : I second the motion. OTE: 6 Yes ; 0 No . 6 Yes ; 0 No . I t Area variance granted. 4 11 I �1 M i 35 - `, i ;' SECRETARY HOARD announced the next appeal to be heard. ,;APPEAL NO . 1181 Appeal of Richard Dennis for an area variance under Section 30 . 25 , Columns 7 , ' e 11 , 12 and 13 , to permit use of a second i; dwelling unit in the structure at 121 I Hudson Street . The second unit had been added by a previous owner without a variance or building permit . The propertiy is deficient in width at street line , front yard, and both side yards . The property ; is located in an R-3b (Residential) use district . MR. DENNIS : The set back requirements for the width and the - at lithe street line - is 40 and we have 35 . The required minimum front, yard is 10 and we have 5 . One side should be at least 10 and we !have 8 . The other side should be at least 5 and we have 2 . These fi fare on each one they area little bit different - it ' s up to you Ito judge whether they are wrong. We bought this property as two g i !units and we think that we need the income from both units to make ,the payments and the taxes and do to the bank and all that kind of thing. The second unit has been completely separated from the other I unit and to integrate it back would be very difficult ; you would I !have to rip out one of the furnaces , you'd have to rip out - it doels 1have two furnaces - you' d have to rip out bathroom fixtures , kitcheln appliances and many pipes and wires that are presently in there , soi Ith.at stairs could be built down to put it back. I have seen many i conversions and I can usually tell why they are converted and how they have been converted. I find it very difficult to see how this; 11one was converted. I know it was but both units look like okay unijts i J!they don' t look like many conversions which are very unpleasant . This one looks like a normal house up and looks like a fairly normarl ; apartment down. The second unit has been here for longer than we can determine. At least four years . Citizens Savings made a loani ifour ears ago on it as two units . The area is presently zoned for' y P y I emultiple dwellings . This building has been used for two units ford �Iat least the time for four years . The building has been allowed to, is + deteriorate. I have already - the last two years it wasn't occupield I fat all , it was in foreclosure and it was in bad shape . I have �i i �I t i i? - 36 - ;! already put in a new furnace and I 've repaired many things that it !' needed repairing. I am waiting for the decision on this to com- ' pletely put it up to code which is to do some more wiring and a ;! few other things that are required. Now when I brought this up atj �Ithe Planning Board before there were some neighbors who came up and everything they said that they didn' t like about two units 1coming in, was congestion as of people and cars . Now , there is i two garages at the back and those are perfectly acceptable , good garages - I just have to make the driveway better . It ' s just like ! 4 ; everything else, it ' s deteriorated. But they are perfectly opera+ ! good garages which I ' ll make totally up to city code requirements . ; I I �IThey are good now, they just require windows in them. But because ! lofwhat the neighbors said, I listened to it and I thought that fiseemed reasonable , I suggested, and the Planning Board heard it an� 11liked it I think, that to make the neighbors feel comfortable I I ''I Iwould guarantee that no more than four people would occupy the en- 1 ' tire( structure , as tenants . One of the Board members - the Planni*g t I ! Board approved it one of the Board members was concerned as to ( whether legally that was possible and I have been told that it is jpossible for me to say and for you to grant this variance based on ` there will only be four people there . So based on that we would II only have four people , we would only have and we have the two cars ! i Ilparking, in fact , I 'm going to put gravel in all the way down so I Bit ' s got two cars - definitely two garages and there is even another , spot that could be used as a parking spot because there could be even three parking spots . Well , mainly that ' s it . The building has deteriorated. I 'm fixing it up . The only things that the (' neighbors brought up were the congestion, I 'm saying that if I usej I it as a single family dwelling I can have more than four people if I want and that ' s what the Planning Board was very aware of and I ' ll ! guarantee to keep it down to four or less and so I think that I aml I !! satisfying all the neighbors , I think. They might want to come UP ! - there were three or four before - and all their things were aimed 11at there would be more congestion. I 'm saying that I am willing to i ') f i (� I l - 37 - 1put it in any agreement with the city that there will only be four 11 iE Ilpeople or less occupying the building at any time . jE I ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: I 've had a little trouble following the condition �I �� that you are willing to have imposed on you. Is it occupancy of apart of the building by no more than four tenants and occupancy of E ithe other part . . . ? IIMR. DENNIS: No , the entire thing be no more . . . ii CHAIRMAN MARTIN: The entire thing will have no more than four people in it , including yourself. Do you live in it? MR. DENNIS: No , I don' t live in it . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: You don' t live there , you simply rent out . 1 MR. DENNIS : Right now it is totally unoccupied because it is in ( very bad shape . As I said I put in a new furnace and I 'm putting I it up to code as quickly as I can but I can' t do more until I know ) 1what this Board says because of the wiring situation. I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright . ! MR. GASTEIGER: The question of the practicality of using the driv�- � way was raised by someone on the Planning Board. Can you comment �i Il on that? ,1MR. DENNIS : Well I ' ll comment on the fact that , as Mr . Hoard know , ; I tried very hard to abide by everything the Building Inspectors want and if I can' t provide at least two car parking , I ' ll agree that I shouldn' t have another apartment . There is two garages down Ith_ere and all I have to do is just repair the - you can drive a ca� Idown there now. i E MR. GASTEIGER: Is it steep? In the winter is it impossible to use? i MR. DENNIS: Well , I drive my car down there now. I have a small ; i Icar, I have a dodge colt - it ' s a smaller car. I think that - I I (I have already talked with the man who lives on the left of me and - 'if i you are looking at the building from the street, it ' s the building E ' ion the left of me. He has repaired his side I already talked with (; him - he wants he and I to get together and repair that together i i land then we can share it going down. There is enough room without !! the sharing but he has agreed - in fact, he suggested it to me . H� I li it !� E i 38 - I� � �i i !;was here last time . We got together and we talked about it and he ! Ilagreed that we would get together and resurface it with concrete nand make it very serviceable for any kind of cars . My car can getl E; !! down now. I 'm not sure about a big American car, but I ' ll make iti- !j , I ' ll guarantee to make it so we can get any car down there . And i . it ' s not so steep that you cannot get out in the winter. ! + CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there further questions from members of the ( Board? f � DR. GREENBERG : I would understand from the Planning Board discus- sion that four people could occupy this if it were a one unit buildl- I ing. j I MR. DENNIS : Well there is no actual , as far as I understand it, I 11there is no limit I 'm saying because of what the neighbors said, � I 'm quite willing to limit it because I don' t like to over occupy �1places , and it ' s not a thing I like to do , and so I 'm quite willing f i {to make them feel better because it won' t hurt me because that ' s what I would do anyway but I wanted to make everybody feel comfor- ,jtable , I 'm quite willing to write it into any agreement that we have . !, It' s more or less to please other people , I would do it that way an�y- jIway.. f CHAIRMAN MARTIN : Further questions? It should be clear that what €ewe are talking about is a bit more than an agreement because if the' jjBoard did impose it it would be a condition on the variance which would be more than binding on you but any subsequent owner of that i !property. MR. DENNIS : That ' s fine . I �IMR. VAN MARTER: The two living units as they exist consist of what , I 'unit 1 and unit 2? i i MR. DENNIS : Okay. Unit 1 is three (3) bedrooms upstairs , a living! room, dining room, kitchen and a porch on the front and the back. jThat ' s upstairs . The unit downstairs consists of a kitchen, a f ; living room and a bedroom. JIMR. VAN MARTER: I guess my question would be how reasonable would flit be to try to rent a three bedroom apartment to two persons? Canj i! i! f - 39 - 's `! I get any more basic than that? f 1I IMR. DENNIS: No . I would rent the three bedroom apartment to three ,people and I would not rent the lower one to more than one person. ' l ",IMR. VAN MARTER: I 'd like to stick to the ordinance instead of what, it } ' the neighbors are suggesting how you design your house . Can you a ! give me any background on how you got into this kind of a bag? i IWhat did you do apply for a occupancy permit? ? IMR. DENNIS: No . I bought the building and inquired of the building ( department as to what the situation was . They told me what the ,i situation was and that the unit was in there but it was illegal as , such and that I could apply for a variance . They didn' t say that Il would get one or that I wouldn' t get one - they said that I should 1present it to you and declare what I was going to do and I will i find out when it happens . I MR. VAN MARTER: The bank held a mortgage then on a piece of property that wasn' t eligible for a certificate of occupancy. Is that right ? I MR. DENNIS : yes , I think they used to do that. { f CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there any further questions? Thank you. Is there anyone else here this evening who would like to speak in 11favor of the requested variance? Is there anyone who would like td speak in opposition? I; } IMR. BORDONI : Mr . Chairman, may we ask this gentleman one question', or isn' t that . . . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Why don' t we allow discussion with others present_ !ling testimony develop and no doubt questions will arise , we will collect them and then will ask Mr. Dennis to return to the podium Is i and we ' ll ask him altogether rather than have a back and forth. IMR. BORDONI : Thank you. i IMR. LAMBROU: My name is Gus Lambrou, I try to represent the case lof Mr. & Mrs . Nestopoulos . They cannot speak English very well . JI Our problem is that Mr. & Mrs . Nestopoulos live at 119 Hudson Stre4t ! next to this house that Mr. Dennis wanted to buy. I would like to ; I ! tell you a little history about this house, if you please . When i� " 3r j3 E tr } If {I {I II i 40 - I s this house was for sale , Mr. Nestopoulos approached the bank be- l; ; !; cause he would like to buy it for income since he lived next door. i i jlHe would fix the property and take care of it . The bank okayed E lithe finance and then we approached the Building Commissioner 's office to ask for variance to have two apartments . The Building I i Commissioner' s office told us flatly that we cannot do this becaus Ilof certain violation of this existing properties . So we are sur- { prised that Mr . Dennis started to work in the house . We don' t ;; think it is proper for renting to two families . Also it cannot bel jas I understand Mr . Dennis said, that two garages and enough space � to park the cars there . There is not room for two cars unless you ; I have small cars . Larger cars cnanot go through this driveway with+ lout going on Mr. & Mrs . Nestopoulos ' property. It always will create problems . So , let me ask Mrs . Nestopoulos what else she j �Iwants to say and I will try to tell you. She feels the same probl�m Pias before, it is impossible for a big car to use that driveway. ; i ! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Can you cast any light on when the conversion �joccured that created the problem, when the second unit was created ) i in what was initially a single- family house? MR. LAMBROU: Five years , although I 'm not sure . ; ICHAIRMAN MARTIN: Now- since you and your husband considered buying ; the property perhaps you can help us understand whether it would b4 Deasy or extremely difficult to reconvert it back to a single-family { ( structure , to take the second unit out . Mr. Dennis has argued tha it would be very difficult to do . I I �IMR. LAMBROU: Of course , for income property, for them it would bej 1 I ivery difficult to make the payments . This house is , to our estimas i+ �Ition, should be only family. And also when we (they) were interested in buying the house , they are next door as the landlords , they would ( take care of it much better than some other who is not there so ; that ' s the only problem that they were interested in. And also i ; they knew about that they could not pass a car to the garages so { when they bought both of the houses they and buy the rights they j I I 11close the property and they could not pass a car through the housef i ' {, j ii ii I' it li 41 - I ;CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Any further questions from members of the Board? ; I j I Thank you. I i !JMR. LAMBROU: Thank you very much. !CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Is there someon else who would like to be heard? � I Yes. I I MR. HINMAN: My name is Don Hinman, I live at 135 Hudson Street !!which is just up the street from the existing property. The only thing that I said at the Planning meeting was that I felt that the south hill area was in dire need of parking area as it is and that this might add to the congestion. Mr. Dennis has said that he will ! take care of the parking problem if that indeed can be done . That 'IS (alright with me . I don' t see how that can be done seeing the i 1property - it looks to me like a normal width car could not pass f fon the driveway, so if it can' t pass I can' t see the use of the I drive. Thank you very much. I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Is there anyone else who would like to be heard of I this case? Mr . Bordoni you had a question that you wanted to put to Mr . Dennis : i MR. BORDONI : Yes . I ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: why doesn't Mr. Dennis come back up here so if there , are any further questions from . . . I j MR. BORDONI : Just one quick question. Mr . Dennis , a point of ! interest, you were asked to describe the rooms on each - apartment i 11 and apartment 2 . 1 believe you said three bedrooms up , one livinig I ( room, one dining room, one kitchen, one bath, upstairs . Okay, the j I�downstairs apartment, you said one bedroom, one living room, one � �ikitchen. I don' t think you mentioned that there was a second bath? i � MR. DENNIS : Oh, well I 'm sorry it was . . . I 'm used to, when I des -1 Icribe properties as having rooms , if someone says a six room house ,! they say, three bedrooms , living room, dining room, kitchen, they don' t mention the bath . It ' s understood that there is a bath and i ( it ' s an error - there is a bath in the second unit . I i� I ,I I i( �f r ? 42 _ E �iMR. BORDONI : Okay, thank you. 11MR. DENNIS : Could I say one thing? j 1ICHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright . Perhaps you could say something more 'about the driveway which has come up. Can you, on your own propert� . ake a driveway that a normal width car could go down to the garage Pr SIR. DENNIS : This is the thing I stated before . Unless I can satisfy lathe building inspectors that I can do that , they aren' t going to let 1me have a second unit . I 'm sure that I can, okay? And if I can' t Ahen I can' t put the other unit in, it seems . I 'm sure I can, I �ould like to say in response to the lady who came up to talk - I 'talked to this lady' s husband, he bought a piece of furniture from j �� e and he also said that he would cooperate with the driveway so I I i iIdon' t understand why they are saying - I don' t need it - but it I ould clearly be a good idea if we concreted it together but I don' t I� 1�need it and if I can't satisfy the building inspector then I (shouldn' t have it , but I know that I can. 'I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright , so that if we do not grant you a variance (that concerns parking it perhaps need not be said but you certainly; from what you have just now said, shouldn' t find any offense if the , oard imposed as a condition, if it granted a variance that you be �4ble to satisfy the Building Commissioner that a driveway provides kdequate access to those garages down there before anyting further lake place. I R. GASTEIGER: What ' s the distance between the buildingand Your of line? R. DENNIS: 8 ' . 0AIRMAN MARTIN: 8 ' between building and lot line . 8 ' is the width f a driveway. JqR. DENNIS : As I stated, if I can ' t satisfy the building inspector8 I 'm quite willing to agree that we shouldn' t be . I I�HAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there further questions? y q � I; '� R. VAN MARTER: I didn' t get a clear answer on the date of the con' li iIIyersion. . . . the date it was talked about before. It , EI{ �! I i f ii - 43 - s �j I; MR. DENNIS: I don' t know about that . ' MR. VAN MARTER: Okay. In the range of four years , right? ' , (SMR. DENNIS: Well , I know because Citizens told me that they lent MM fI i on it four years ago as a two unit building . That' s the only ex- perience I have had. I IMR. VAN MARTER: Okay. There is no parking available on your lot other than using the driveway to get to the two garage spaces? i !SMR. DENNIS: Unless you park in the driveway. i MR. VAN MARTER: That cannot be counted as . . . w , CHAIRMAN MARTIN: No . Right. MR. DENNIS: When you drive down, there are two very useable - the 1have overhead doors that work fine , they just need . . . IMR. VAN MARTER: I 'm interested in only the driveway space . � I IMR. DENNIS: Well , you can' t park there . 1 ! MR. VAN MARTER: Right . Okay. 1 ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright. Mr. Lambrou, you have a question? � MR. LAMBROU: Yes I do . I 'm speaking for Mrs . Nestoupolous - I E; don' t think Mr . Dennis is stating well Mr. Nestoupoulous ' thoughts ; I ! He did not say to him that he would give to him his driveway for i !this convenience . Without Nestoupoulous ' s consent he cannot put ani iidriveway (unintelligible) , please. I would like to say as stronily as I can. I! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there further questions from members of the 11 Board for Mr. Dennis? Thank you. I think now we have heard from ! everybody who wants to be heard on this case. Have I missed anyon4? ! That brings us to case 1182 . s !I ' I1 I� i I �i l 44 - P i BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS i! P �P ii CITY OF ITHACA DECEMBER 19 , 1978 i, EXECUTIVE SESSION j APPEAL NO. 1181 : P CHAIRMAN MARTIN: I will move that the area variance re- quested in Case 1181 be granted subject to two conditions : i i 1) That the building be occupied by no more than four (4) persons and , 2) That access to the off-street park- I ing to the rear of the building , satis- factorily complying with the Ordinance , be provided. P IMR. KASPRZAK: I second the motion. P Ii FINDINGS OF FACT : 1 . According to testimony presented to return the building to a single family i dwelling would require major structural j changes including the removal of a second. P; I' furnace . E i� 2 . The proposed use is permitted and the deficiency in lot size which are the ; only zoning problems are relatively minor . 3 . With the conditions attached there should be no problem of parking or excess sive density created by the use of both units . r P ! VOTE: 5 Yes ; 1 No Area variance granted. I� f' I� N i i is i i i - 45 - H iSECRETARY HOARD announced the next appeal to be heard: i1APPEAL NO. 1182 : Appeal of Benedetto and Filomena j LaRocca for an area variance unde4 ii Section 30 . 25 , Columns 10 , 12 ands li 13 , to convert the single-family dwelling at 908 North Tioga Street to a two-family dwelling . The j property is deficient in both sid yards , and the lot coverage by tho existing buildings exceeds the mayi- �' mum permitted in the R-2b (Resider - tial) district in which the propety is located. i MR. THALER: Mr. Chairman and members of the Board, my name is j I I ii Louis Thaler and on this appeal I represent the present owners of I the property. At the time that they purchased it they were repre- i sented by Bruno A. Mazza, Jr. who prepared the appeal which is be- i jfore you and they swore before him as a Notary Public in which he tset out that the lot and the existing buildings have existed in their present status for over fifty (50) years . Well , they have I I existed longer than that because Miss Freese who last owned the 11property, whom I represented and handled her estate , her dad bought j IIthe property over one hundred (100) years ago, as shown by the j ' abstract and title . And he further states it does not affect the i ; character of the neighborhood since multiple family dwellings are I permitted in this zone . Not only that , but based on my investiga- ` I tion, there is a two-family house at 904 N. Tioga Street on a lot considerably smaller than this one . There is a barn on this lot which I scan very easily accommodate at least two automobiles . There is a I, driveway and there is something that I did not have an opportunity i1 to investigate but I 've been informed this evening that there is a 'I plumber there working in the upstairs on the second bathroom P oo and I! that he said that he had a permit . Is that true Mr . . . . ? � MR. HOARD: A permit to add a bathroom? i i MR. THALER: Yes sir. For a second family. MR. HOARD: Well , I think he had a permit to add a bathroom, but nct ii to add a second unit . s JMR. THALER: Is that what it was limited to? Well that was the pu ; 11pose of it; now there is a hardship in this case for this reason f i � hii As I stated, T represented the executor of the estate ,�! e , Mr . Kermit i i I . i I I� �i l 46 1 Dean, Fanny Freese was the last of her family, she was a maiden llady, previously worked up on the hill and it came to the point dwhere he needed, because of the deadlines that we had in paying the ; inheritance tax, paying the people who were mentioned in the will , ! one of whom is here this evening. I won' t mention the name of they main beneficiary but I will say it ' s a charitable organization - (, fax free - got half of the estate and we had to liquidate in order ; i to make those payments . So the pressure tonight as well as the I � slaw put it on the executor to dispose of it and he , after trying Ifor a great many months within the limit , finally found these folk- who bought the property. Now they own a two-family property at 9201 t 11N. Aurora Street which is in the next block, they own one at 711 iNorth Tioga Street where they have two apartments and I 'm informed ; that there have been no complaints on their operation of those ! properties . They've operated them well and this will be an improvo- Iment if they are permitted to continue with the plans which they have . As a matter of fact, even before the closing I went down and in- ' i spected the property and I found that they had already nut in I plantings that hadn' t been there before , which improved the appearI i jlance of the property. Now since there are other two-family dwell- 1 ings in the proximity of this property and since these folks have �Ishown that where they own other two-family houses they operate i i them well and are a benefit to the community rather than hurt i� anybody, that it would be better to permit them to complete their i improvement which is already been started than to put the burden � j� upon them since they help the estate to continue it as a one-family! II i ItAther than a two-family dwelling. Now if anybody has any questions II 'm willing to answer them. ' I` i ' CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Well , we have, as you know, limited scope of vision with n I I� a area variance. This is a structure which is currently !! configured for use as a single-family home? I I if , MR. THALER: I didn' t quite get your question? 11CHAIRMAN MARTIN: It ' s at the moment got one kitchen, and one set If if I bedrooms and one living room and one dining room? Tell us about tie 11 ' house. 1 1 !s ii ii 47 - ? i IMR. THALER: Well , in all my visits to the house while Miss Freese i ; was still alive I never got beyond the living room and the dining room where she and I attended the business . Once I did get into 6e ; kitchen, because I had to help her into it . What the situation isl I I upstairs - of my own knowledge, I can' t say. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: What I 'm asking is , what case is there that this ! i building cannot continue quite appropriately to be used as it has in ! the past and that is as a single family rather than a two unit structure? I IMR. THALER: Except that it would be a hardship to the people who i 1bought it . They bought it in good faith expecting that they would be permitted to develop it into two-family house as they had on th previous two that they own in that vicinity. iCHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there questions from members of the Board? iMR. GASTEIGER: As a resigning member of the Board I 'd like to pro- j� test the principal that you put forth that since they are already involved in the conversion, that the Board of Zoning Appeals shoul4 ! approve of it . I � MR. THALER: I 'm sorry six , I didn' t say it quite that way. ; MR. GASTEIGER: That ' s pretty much how I heard it and I find that I + disturbing. MR. THALER: Well , I didn' t mean to hurt your feelings . That isn' � - that was not my contention. I feel that since they were led to be� i � lieve that they could do it when the plumber got the permit and th n they were upset when they found out that they couldn' t because theT �lbought it with the intention of converting it into a two-family house . i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Now, who told them what about their being able tc convert? MR. THALER: I didn' t. Now whether their attorney did or not I doi ' t know. Nor do I know why it is that I am now appearing instead of the except that I was told that he couldn' t, he was not available td) (' appear. . And I felt that it was my duty since I represented the ! estate, that I should represent them. i ii f! u r i i - 48 - i ;;CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright. �,MR. GASTEIGER: Could we hear the basis for the second bathroom? j li I IIMR. HOARD : For the record, Mr. Thaler , no permit has been issued bly Ilmy office for a second bathroom. Now, you may have gotten a plumb-! I Ding permit. . but you still should have had a permit - a building I I permit . When Mr. LaRocca, I believe he was brought to my departmenjt �in by the building inspector when he found out the bathroom was going PMR. THALER: Well as I understand it was Hull Plumbing and they undiler. I stand building and they should know what ' s required of them. I hadl nothing to do with that Mr. Commissioner. I ! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there any further questions? Thank you Mr . {) i Thaler. Is there anyone else here this evening who would like to b� heard on this case? First , are there any who would like to be hear E'in favor of the requested area variance? Are there any who would like to be heard in opposition? Please come forward. i �I I �IMR. BORDONI : Mr. Chairman, members of the Board, appeal 1182 , property owned by Mr. & Mrs . LaRocca is requiring or requesting an I area variance to convert a single family dwelling at 908 N. Tioga yStreet into a two-family dwelling. I will remind you first that th� ! existing building exceeds the maximum permitted in the R- 2b zone . � I would like to remind the chairman and the Board members of the 1977 rezoning process we- went through to protect the residential I I�areas from past excessive conversions which have helped to deteriorate �th.e neighborhoods . This feeling was expressed by residents of the I Fall Creek Community who are all , mostly, life time residents and h ive watched what was once a very pleasant residential area turn into a I , Area where neighbors no longer know each other. Crowded parking an4 , iving conditions are an irrevocable problem. We have a good new esidential zoning ordinance, please support it and help us to im- rove our neighborhoods . I also have a letter written b another er �eighbor that I would like to read if I may.Y• This gentlemen was nod 1 ble to make it tonight because of an illness but it is from a Mr . J�red A. Miller. l� I� l i' - 49 - �' I i PIDecember 19 , 1977 i! "Gentlemen, 1111 "My name is Fred Miller and I reside at 707 N. Tioga Street , here 11in Ithaca, I have asked that Mr. Bordoni read this letter to you it '11my absence as it is impossible for me to state my thoughts person- i ally. j i "My comments are in regard to Appeal # 1182 . This concerns the I�property at 908 N. Tioga Street . I object to the aforementioned property being made into a multiple unit . i' "The property (as a multiple unit) would be in violation of the zoning laws recently passed. We in the fall creek area worked very hard to get this zoning and we did not do so with the idea that its would be violated. "I object to this appeal on several other grounds . Namely that I live next to a house owned by the Loracas and I can testify to the Irun-down condition of the house . The properties they own are not j (taken care of. Also , there is rotting garbage in the house next to! Imine (709) and even the UPS delivery man can' t tollorate entering the house ! ! ! I .E . the Loracas apparently don' t care enough to see to it that their tennents dispose of their garbage properly! ! I 1 "In addition, there is already an on street parking problem, and th latenight noise associated with it. We don' t need any more problems in this area. 1 "My last statement concerns the house itself. The house has the original wiring in it . (I believe the house was built in 1926) . The timber is basically sound, however the wiring is so old that itl definately is a health hazard. The other main problem is that the furnace pipe (converted coal) winds its way through the house-- j unshielded, with creosoate running all over. I personally can' t believe that the Loracas would make all the improvements needed on the house to make it safe ! ! ! I state this because they have not cared for their other properties. l "I urge one and all to refuse their appeal . !"Sincerely, /'s/ Fred A. Miller i Fred A. Miller" R. BORDONI : I can turn this letter over to you. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there any Questions from any of the Board? f R. VAN MARTER: Yes , what ' s the reference to a multiple dwelling? R. BORDONI : The reference to a multiple dwelling is the house, I j ielieve , would be 709 Tioga Street whichis next door to Mr . Miller' s 1 .ouse. Mr . Miller lives at 707. The LaRocca 's own the house at 709 . They are attempting to purchase the house at 908 and convert i (that, li HAIRMAN MARTIN: But it was simply a reference, I think. . . R. THALER: They own at 711 , not 709 sir. I� i �I i 'f i I so - I I ,i " I ! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: I think it was merely a reference to the conver- I 11sion from a single family to a two-family unit which is not technic 11cally a multiple . j MR. BORDONI : I may not have the numbers correct, but the story is ] there . Thank you. j DR. GREENBERG : Mr . Bordoni , I think we should get it straight . A liV �Iitwo-family house is permitted there. f i� MR. THALER: That is correct. ; = DR. GREENBERG : I mean you seem to imply that the Zoning Board would I ' The in violation by a two-family structure or that the variance is IIgiven because it is a two-family structure in violation of zoning i law but that' s not quite true . i MR. BORDONI : Dr . Greenberg, I 'm approaching this from a lot usage ' size and the size of the buildings that are on the lot now and its ; �jpast use only. I am very familiar with the neighborhood, I 've gro�n , jup there all my life , the rest of the homes around there are very 1pleasant homes . There have been some conversions which have alreay f added to crowded conditions both on the street and living matters . ] So that ' s my reason for being here. i i MR. THALER: May I point out to the Chairman of the Board that , th' barn on this property which will accommodate at least two cars . There is an adequate driveway from the street . So there will be n� V street parking at all . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: The only problem as we understand it , and as the case has been presented are with the lot size requirements . j H i �jMR. THALER: Well , that ' s a technicality. That ' s why we are here ((II 1 1` tonight . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: It ' s part of the Ordinance , too . Alright are there I , further questions for Mr. Bordoni? Are there others who would liko ito be heard? f1 IMR. CORNELIUS: My name is David Cornelius , I live at 109 Farm Street and am a member of the Fall Creek Civic Association. We work very , hard trying to come up with an equitable zoning ordinance for the I I� residential neighborhoods of the city of Ithaca in the past year . I ' It ' s true that an R-2b zone will permit a two-family dwelling unit ) , f i j - 51 - i� {; But along with the use of the two-family dwelling unit it permits E ilsix people total in those two dwelling units . We have heard that ; there is ample parking off-street parking for two cars , if there i5 I ,1six people in that house there is a possibility that four cars are ' l ; going to have to park on the street. So my feeling is since the i1property would not permit a two-family house with the present lot lisize, with the possibility of having the extra cars on the street , j !!which the streets cannot tolerate, I would like to see this request u E� ' denied. Thank you. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there any others who would like to be heard lion this case? We move on then to case 1183. �I I II i'. [i i' li +i t� EE i. E� 1 I +4 !j 1� It i! 1 'i j 4j .E !i j� I C� ii j+ Si IG j' !i i Ei l ti 3j E f� IS II I� 1; °i I� 52 - BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS i CITY OF ITHACA i' DECEMBER 19 1978 EXECUTIVE SESSION �I �1APPEAL NO. 1182 JUDITH MAXWELL : I move that the variance be denied. IICHAIRMAN MARTIN: I second the motion. j9 ;!FINDINGS OF FACT : 1 . The deficiencies , including lot coverage ,, 1 Ilare not insignificant. 2 . The conversion is not supported by any jl i, I testimony that the building cannot con- tinue to be used as one unit and raises 11 potential problems of density on a lot ij that fails to comply with the area re- quirements of the ordinance . li NOTE 5 'Yes ; 1 No . I i jf � Variance denied. i I� ;i i f 1 i ,j ii i i I I . I i, j �i j� �j i i li - 53 - 11SECRETARY HOARD announced the next appeal to be heard, Appeal 1183 li Appeal of Beverly and William Everts for ' an area variance under Section 30 . 25 , Columns 11 and 13 , to restore the building Ei at 406-408 East Lincoln Street to a two- , ii family dwelling. The property is defi- cient in required front yard and one sid$ yard. One unit , the 408 side , has been condemned by the Building Department j' since October 10 , 1974 , thus losing its status as a legal non-conforming structu4e . I' The property is located in an R- 2b (Rresj- dential) use district . I' MR. SELDIN: Mr. Chairman members of the Board my name is Bill 1 Seldin and Mr . & Mrs . Everts have asked me to speak on their behalf i tonight concerning this application for a variance . I ' ll try to mlae ; my comments as brief as possible . I think that I can add to what you have before you with respect to the application by pointing out that this particular residence was initially constructed, based upgn i our investigation, as a two-family residence by Mr. Wilson' s fathe�. Mr. Wilson continues to reside there in one section of the residenge , Ithe 406 half of the residence if you will , while the other section at the time it was condemned, became vacant. So that, and I might ; jadd that Mr. Wilson was born in this structure as well . We are faced, I think, with a unique situation in that if the Board denieA, i the variance the half of the structure that is unoccupied is in isuch a state of disrepair that the Everts , I think, would be forced to do something with respect to the entire residence itself. In ; other words , there is no way to really go about the business of re i ; pairing a half of the structure . The structure itself entails rep4ir i' throughout and when the Everts bought the property, and I representied them at that time , it was done with the understanding that Mr. WilsIon would retain a life interest in the premises so that he could con- tinue to reside there for his lifetime . Now the - to aid the Board ,I 1 would like to submit as exhibits , I don' t want to deluge you with] 1, these things but if I might some small glossy photographs here just hto give you an idea of what the place looks like . We also have pro- ; jjpared the Everts prepared at my request - some sketches to show JJ I1) the distance in the side and front yards . Now the portion of th:e ii i if II I Ii �i � i i 54 side yard - there is one side yard that is three (31 ) feet and that , portion is - the 3 ' distance is from the portion of the residence I j that is occupied by Mr. Wilson at the present time . While the port I! `Ition of the premises - the two-family residence that is unoccupied ( i ;! there is nine feet (91 ) and the Everts own the property on which side? The unoccupied, isn't that correct? Okay so Bev and Bill j Everts own the property adjacent to the 9 ' side - unoccupied side �lof the residence . There is approximately what - 26 ' from the edge ', i �lof the occupied residence to the edge of the joining residence and ! I I 'Jas I said before , I would like to submit this sketch if I might aslan � ( exhibit. Concerning the proposed repairs the unoccupied section oi this two-family residence is constructed with two bedrooms and the ; proposed repairs which the Everts are on hand to discuss with you, would not entail an increase in the original occupancy of the resit i, dence . Now these should represent that (pointing) . I would just like to point out a couple more things if I might . The only re- �iaction that the Everts have had to this application for a permit t� revitalize this structure as a two-family residence is a response troii + the people that live across the street - do you know what their �laddress is Bev? Their name is Hollander? Okay, Andy and Nancy �IHollander write and I ' d like to read this into the record. This i$ lapparently an unsolicited remark that they put on the back of the Inotice that was given all the property owners within 2001 . They ; state as follows : j {{3 �i "May you have all the success due you. Your efforts are greatly i ; appreciated. As owners of 405-407 we too have spent considerable II i effort in improving the appearance of our home - we applaud your i , efforts : : I I "/s/ Andy and Nancy Hollander" I MR. SELDIN: Naturally I wouldn' t read anything derogatory into the ',', record but they haven' t received anything, to the best of our know} I ` ledge, although there might be people here tonight who object, I j don' t know. I ' d also like to add that I think it ' s important to ', understand what the Everts propose to do with respect to this I I i S5 - i + i i ; property is to improve it by its appearance. It should be self ; evident that they would suffer some obvious hardship in the event ii ijthat the variance is denied in that one half of the structure woul� t �1continue to deteriorate and also would cause an apparent hardship i i to the remaining resident of the other family dwelling unit , Mr. 4 Wilson. As I stated before , the Everts are on hand to give you mo*e i ; specifics then what I have enumerated and to answer any questions you may have pertaining to the exact nature of the repairs that ar� proposed. I might also add that it occurred to us that this might I be a situation calling for an interpretation of the Board as a non' i conforming use. But I understand that 1/2 of the residence , the 408 section was condemned in 174 , thereby terminating it as a non- conforming use. Nevertheless I stress the point that this building swas in existence as a two-family dwelling unit for well over some 1 ; sixty or seventy odd years according to the Everts and we have the i � I iabstract to title and based upon people that they have spoken with t and they' d simply like the opportunity to rejuvenate it , if you will and so as not to cause any hardship obviously to themselves and to ! i Mr. Wilson the present occupant . Thank you. ( MR. THALER: Mr. Chairman, may I interrupt for a second? That ' s all ,lit will take . I want to point out Mr . Chairman and the Board, that there was a very serious misstatement made in that letter and also �iby the gentleman who spoke. My clients do not own 709 N. Tioga Street . As they said, it is a dump . Their place is 711 and it is1 clean and kept up . (,CHAIRMAN MARTIN: That refers to the prior case. �iMR. THALER: N. Tioga Street property. MR. SELDIN: That wasn' t the letter I read was it? MR. THALER: No . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Does the Board have questions for the Everts? I fiiMR. VAN MARTER: I ' d like to keep this down to just the things con 4 �Itained in the application and this is Section 11 and Section 12 and', it has to do only with front and side yard. Is there any possibility of acquiring any land adjacent to this to cure the situation? f t 'I I i ii S6 - ' 9 SMR. SELDIN: Well the Everts own. . . �IMRS. EVERTS : We already own one part . . . MR. SELDIN: Yes , they own the side that ' s next to the unoccupied j { section which is 91 . Lacking a foot so yes , I guess there is a way, 11!to cure that - they own the adjacent property but I 'd also like to i !point out something that I failed to mention that there is enough 1 room behind the residence for off-street parking and there is more ! Ei r ? , than enough width between the Everts two properties s e to accommodate ' ; ; a driveway and, of course , the Board, they would consent to the i Board imposing a condition of the variance of that nature without i any question. Now the other side which is three feet , I don' t knob quite frankly, we haven' t explored the possibility of obtaining a (right-of-way or easement or what have you from the adjacent property owners on the other side. ! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: That ' s the side on which you tell us there is sore it E26 ' between . . . MR. SELDIN: Right and that ' s the occupied side . 1CHAIRMAN MARTIN: That' s the occupied side . I.MR. SELDIN: That ' s where Wilson lives at the present time . MR. VAN MARTER: hat distance of 26 ' is to the next building , not i the property line? I IMR. SELDIN: That ' s right. I f MR. VAN MARTER: Distance to the property line is 31 ? MR. SELDIN: Exactly. MR. VAN MARTER: Did you ever hear of acquiring property to cure a problem like this and have it amount to anything constructive? 1MR. SELDIN: If there is a question in that I 'd be happy to answer ; it . f CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there further questions from members of the i ilBoard? The use of the unoccupied side ceased in 174 or so when it ! was condemned, and it has been vacant . iIMR. SELDIN: Yes, sir. i CHAIRMAN MARTIN : And how recently did you acquire it? i !!I! MR. SELDIN: About two months ago , right? t i? I i I 57 i ii i! I ii MRS . EVERTS: In July. j . MR. SELDIN: Two or three months ago . i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: And Mr . Wilson has been i n the occupied side ali (I This life? �� MR. SELDIN: He was born there and he continues to reside there . ` CHAIRMAN MARTIN: The unoccupied side, how much space does it have �! in it and - we have diagrams going around but perhaps you could de4- � cribe them to us . What do you plan to put in there in the way of ' rooms? What is in there now? MRS. EVERTS: Alright. What is in there now? First floor consist Ii {jof two bedrooms , a very large living room, a dining room and a veri ` small kitchen. There is a staircase going to a half portion up- ! stairs . There are two bedrooms upstairs . They do not comply with � the ceiling height . There is a bathroom on the second floor whichjis second open right in the middle of the room. We plan to take the se � floor out toally, not to do anything - eliminate the staircase and ; just have the first floor occupied as a one-bedroom apartment - i bedroom, bath, kitchen, dining room combination. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright. i MR. GASTEIGER: With a high ceiling, crawl space? I MRS. EVERTS : The ceilings are high enough on the first floor. Th re lis no problem as far as that is concerned. I' I� CHAIRMAN MARTIN: But the current second floor would become just . MRS. EVERTS : The current second floor - and and it would be eliminate 1 totally. i 'i MR. GASTEGIER: I don' t know what that elimination means . High ceiling or storage space . MRS. EVERTS : Well , in other words , that no one would live up them it would not be occupied by anyone . The staircase would be taken �ut i totally. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Something like attic space? MRS. EVERTS : Yes, that ' s about it. ! I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Any further questions? Thank. you. i �IMRS. EVERTS: Thank you. BILL SELDIN: Thank you very much e1CHA.IR: Is there anyone here this evening who would like to speak In i !! favor of the requested variance? Anyone in opposition? None . i ii I! f� ]I i - 58 - , i i fi BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS I CITY OF ITHACA it DECEMBER 19 , 1978 i' EXECUTIVE SESSION APPEAL NO. 1183 : i CHAIRMAN MARTIN : I move that the area variance requested j in Case 1183 be granted. �MR. VAN MARTER: I second the motion. ( FINDINGS OF FACT : 1 . The building was originally constructed 1 as a two-family dwelling and could not , without difficulty, be turned into a j I� single family unit. 2 . The proposed restoration of the currently 9 unoccupied unit will have less occupied I space than the prior unit on that side . I 3. The deficiencies involved do not , accord! {I � ing to the description of the adjacent properties , raise any thought of adverse impact on the neighborhood. ( VOTE: 6 Yes ; 0 No . �! Area variance granted - unanimous . E i I I� 1l li I) I �I i) $i c ii f i 59 - i= i SECRETARY HOARD announced the next case to be heard: jIAPPEAL NO. 1184 : Appeal of Albert D. Kelly for an area ij variance under Section 30 . 25 , Column 12 , ! �j to expand the restaurant at 319 Taughan- nock Boulevard on the south side , result-, ing in a three foot wide side yard. A minimum of five feet is required for a I side yard in the M-1 use district in whi h the building is located. I MR. HOARD : As you may remember , Mr. Kelly was not here last time . i 4He is here now to shed some more light on it . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: If we can focus things since this has been here i before , Mr. Kelly. One of the questions and no doubt there are others too , on the Board' s mind at the November meeting couldn' t explain to us what requirements there were that forced you to make ! i the addition? i MR. KELLY: Well the Health Department , you see I own like a cafe and I have a counter, and for people to work in there you have to have an area of 36" of walking area and so to put my new addition I on I have to go to a total of 13 ' which is in my property line whigh I could show on this diagram here . I 'm not cutting into anybody I else ' s property and what I 'm adding on would not be shown because i there is already a wall - it ' s 9 ' high already. MR. GASTEIGER: But as you exist right now there are no Health De- i j � partment problems? II iMR. KELLY: Yes there is . I only have a 24" walking space in the counter now which is supposed to be 36" which is unbearable to wall i in and work at the same time. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Now, can you tell us about off-street parking? You are, I gather from your application requesting only an area variance not now pertaining to parking but pertaining to side yard) i That leads me to assume that you have adequate off-street parking? � MR. KELLY; Yes . It used to be Lehigh R.R. - Lehigh Valley Railroiad I� used to be across the street - it ' s all torn down now. The city owns, which is just a vacant lot and the Farmer ' s Market parks over there too . , CHAIRMAN: So it ' s that public parking space just across the street I1that you rely on to comply with the off-street parking requirements ! of the ordinance? i! i ,I is I� I - 60 - !i IMR. KELLY: Right . ' CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Further questions from members of the Board? �' MR. GASTEIGER: If that parking space vanished would you have the I 'lpossibility of other parking arrangements? I IMR. KELLY: Yes . I 'm on a deadend street which there is only two iother businesses in 200 ' of me which is Ridley Printing which onlyi takes a couple customers at a time and there is a Hands place just ; next door to me which is just an old warehouse or shack or whatever jyou want to call it , and that' s it . MR. GASTEIGER: So you have to rely on on-street parking? I MR. KELLY: Right. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there further questions from members of the Board? 'MR. GASTEIGER: Yes , I , we asked the question last week - that this] did not realistically mean an increase in the amount of seating space? IMR. KELLY: Will it increase seating? I MR. GASTEIGER: Yes . i (MR. KELLY: It will increase twenty (20) more seats . ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Further questions? How much traffic do you draw 1 ; now? IMR. KELLY: Very busy that' s the reason why I 'm expanding because the way I have it now, it ' s hard to work behind - I mean, we are I call small people who work there so it makes it easier, but if I jihad somebody who was 250 pounds I couldn' t hire them, right? Because I � J don' t have the area, I couldn' t have Mayor Conley come back there Land work for me . 4 11CHAIRMAN MARTIN: One option with cramped quarters and a thriving business is to find more space elsewhere . I IMR. KELLY: Right . iiCHAIRMAN MARTIN: Have you explored that? Why is this more attrac- , l�tive? 11MR.IMR. KELLY: Well I have outdoor -• I 'm across from Old Port Harbour iiI have an indoor/outdoor cafe which you know - I could not move I� Ilmy business any place else and have the same kind of business - whalt ii � i 1 i - 61 - jE II strive on. 1 IICHAIRMAN MARTIN: Further questions? DR. GREENBERG: Only the clarification of something in the applica- tion and something you just stated in the answer to a question, I Iwhich is a little bit of a variance, although not completely. It ' S only an extra width addition - it would be no change - the extra two Meet required necessary for more working area and cleaner faciliti ;s . !And then you say that you have twenty (20) additional seats . Now that seems a little bit . . . I i IMR. KELLY: Alright , I 'm building onto a non-conforming building j las it is , alright? It ' s 14 ' wide and what I 'm putting in now is I lljust putting a counter by itself over in the new addition which E �1would give me the extra walk-feetage that I need for customers andj Ifor working area . The only way I could show you is by the plans . t � ( You know I can tell you all day but I can show you better. The way, Ith.e operation is now - there is a counter right through here (pointl- ing to diagram) and this is back where I work so I only have 2 ' inI �1here where the working area is . Now with the new addition - I will( root put any tables over here, it will just be counters and there a ' cooking area, a walking area and that will be it. I cannot take this wall down because it has to be a two-hour fire wall rating . I MR. GASTEIGER: But you could meet the Health- Department require- ments by simply reducing your seating and moving the other way, k right? SMR. KELLY: Right. Otherwise I . . . MR. GASTEIGER: The important thing to you is to expand your busi- ness . I I IMR. KELLY: Right - if I did it the other way, if I tried to do it lin the area I already have , I would cut twenty (20) seats . I ' MR. KASPRZAK: Are you talking about the seating around the counter, ,bather than table seating? IMR. KELLY: Around the counter what - now? IMR. KASPRZAK: Counter seating or table seating you are talking abolut? I= `� I !!I i{t 1 !1 I �! 62 1� ! iMR. KELLY: It' s counter seating. What I am doing is taking my Iicounter and put in a 14 ' area or a 13 ' area where now I 've got a counter, tables , booths in a 13 ' area. I don' t know whether you I have ever been in my place , but if you try to get in there you can t pass each other walking up and dow the aisle . I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there any further questions for Mr. Kelly? } � Is there anything further you want to add? MR. KELLY: No. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Thank you. Is there anyone else here this evening who would like to speak in favor of the requested variance? l , MR. BORDONI : I l appear again - Mr. Kelly is not in my ward so it ' s ! i Isnot a political thing or anything but I 'm a customer of his - I 've ? ,!been to his restaurant over the years and in the past it was quite la bit smaller operation and he has over the years increased it , dressed it up an awful lot - I don' t know how many people here are � familiar with exactly where the cafe is , but as you go down Taughanl- nock Boulevard and stood out in the street and were facingthe I1 l ( building he ' s gambling - he ' s got a building on his left that looks) like it was made out of used billboard and that ' s exactly what I I think it was made out of and the building on his right is a very 1 Rnice appearing building - it belongs to Ridley Printing, I think it! I fis . As you enter Mr. Kelly' s cafe the passage into the seating area is a little bit restricted because of the narrowness of the ibuilding at that point and what he is attempting to do is to move the existing wall that is on your right as you enter the building { I which borders his counter and work space over to an existing line i that would correspond with the existing building, as you probably saw that on his chart here . He ' s made substantial improvements , I I think he has been a credit to that community down there and anybody! that goes down there and tries to improve any building in that areab 1! I think we should give them every opportunity that we can because Ii Sincerely believe he is a credit to the businessmen in that end of j 11town. Thank you. }, 1 I! it I if 1 I ' IE 63 - i! j;CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Is there anyone else who would like to be heard of i; i !!this case? Yes . HMR. GIORDANO: My name is Vincent Giordano , S7 Woodcrest Avenue , i; !local taxpayer and general building contractor. I didn' t come here! Ifor this case , I came for the last one, but I 'd like to back up thei E !words said by Alderman Bordoni . The place down there was a shack, I E Elit was a dump. Kelly took that over, he did a wonderful job on the! !!front of it, the interior of it and the rear of it . You sit over at Old Port Harbour and look across there you see where he has really done a job , and it ' s an asset to the front down there that has a lot of dollars spent . I think thatwhat he wants to do and what he till do will improve, not only the property, but the area in genera . e has done everything that he can and I am sure that every dollar e has made in the place he has put back in the building and I 'd (like to see him get this variance. (! HAIRMAN MARTIN: Any further testimony on Case 1184? ' ! I i E E ! I I I I 1 I !!E i 3i I i I I I i �E �I I ! I k I i i I i +I i Ei! I! i fi l E� i i i' ! - 64 - �i 1 BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS CITY OF ITHACA f i j DECEMBER 19 , 1977 I{ i! � EXECUTIVE SESSION f� APPEAL NO. 1184 : !! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: I move that the Board reconsider Appeal I { No . 1184 . MR. KASPRZAK: I second the motion. j' VOTE : 6 Yes ; 0 No . i ` MR. GASTEIGER I move that the area variance in Case No i 1184 be granted. 11MRS. MAXWELL I second the motion. (l FINDINGS OF FACT: 1 . The current building already borders on the lot line at the distance of 2 ' and I' ii l the proposed addition simply carries tha4 la I line forward. jl2 . Meeting the needs of the business and {{ complying with health requirements would be difficult within the requirements of the zoning. i! j VOTE: 6 Yes ; 0 No . I Area variance granted. I! I I I {i I; I I' 1� l I i� t� fl f ;j ii 65 - I ! SECRETARY HOARD announced the next case to be heard: 1IAPPEAL NO. 1185 Appeal of Louis Nezvesky for a use variance under Section 30 . 25 , Column 2 , to use the premises at 129 West Fall Strolet it for a veterinary clinic. The property i-I located in an R-2b (Residential) use district . lMR. MC ELWEE: I ' ll speak for Dr. Nezvesky. Dr . Nezvesky is on his way - he was delayed. You have before you the copy of the letter , that he wrote to the adjoining property owners , as required. I think the important things in this letter has to do with the pro- posed usages of the various properties involved. While the appli ;kation is for an expansion of 129 W. Fall Street, Dr . Nezvesky is 11also buying 119 W. Fall , 121 W. Fall , 123 W. Fall , 214 and 216 it �1W. Lincoln Streets . This property comprises about 70 , 000 square feet. He proposes to retain the existing use at 119 W. Fall , to '; continue the existing use at 121 W. Fall , to remove a warehouse an4 small shed from 123 W. Fall Street and to expand the existing office I ; building at 129 W. Fall Street and use the two buildings behind that , lone for storage and the other for employee parking. He states in i I; h.is letter that he has approximately 20 to 25 clients per day by �Jappointment only, his staff consists of six people . He states also las I have indicated that he will provide off-street parking for ; his staff and for his clients . He guarantees that there will be no offensive noise or odors in the conduct of the business . He also, ! under General on page 2 - 7 said that he could clean up shrub and �Ilandscape the property to be compatible with the area . He is a �tl Iveterinarian of long standing, is now located at 700 W. Buffalo I, lStreet and has been there , I believe, for five years —perhaps mord . �! Attached to the letter are several other documents , the first I 'd r ; like to refer to is the one with the W. D. McElwee $ Sons , General ; �lContractors , attachment . Since we are the owners and are selling o i Il Dr. Nezvesky, I thought it would be appropriate to update the pre- i I I i,1sent usages and the acquisitions thereof. Starting at 119 W. Fall ' Street that is a single lab with a small shed at the rear - that ;1was acquired by my father in 1940 . The house at 121 and shed were �i � j I I I j: 66 - i• ; erected in 1927 , prior to the establishment of any zoning ordinance. 'i ' The warehouse at 123 was originally a block - concrete block manu- j! lfacturing plant - later occupied by Ames Welding - later occupied by Caster Cabinet Shop and subsequently by Buckingham & Olsen Cabin ; net Shop and acquired by my brother and me in 1964 . 129 W. Fall Street was bought in 1950 . The office was built in 1964 on a var- iance . The shop was built in 1954 on a variance . 138 was bought by my father in 1930 at which time the shed at the rear was erected. I 207 - the little triangle at the lower, at the left was acquired bye 1my brother and me in 1957 . Dropping down to the bottom of that i sheet, 214 and 216 W. Lincoln Streets were purchased by my brother ' s plin 1958 at that time there was a house and a garage on that land , which we demolished in 1972 . Going back to the area noted 129 , 13� 31 1207 . If you would turn to the next sheet you can see the proposed ; jjuseage is for that area. 129 is proposed to have a 13 x 40 addi- i I �Ition. That is all that is proposed for that piece of land. You I ,' will note that the designations 138 and 207 no longer exist . We fare taxed as 129 for that total piece of land as outlined on the second map. Adjacent to that the building that I referred to as '1having had multiple uses over many years would be demolished and lIth.e small shed at the rear of that lot would also be demolished. IjAn area at th-e front of the lot prepared for customer parking. From i 11927 then until this spring these properties were used as contractor, I: warehouses , office, shops , and storages . At one time there was as many as 65 men working out of the office and shop and storage areas! , I including all of the cars , trucks , deliveries , etc . that went with ! that . Recently, for perhaps the last seven (7) years , perhaps a jf( little less , there have been an average of about 25 men working outs it i1of that construction office , shop , storage and warehouse. Presently 1It1i.e house at 121 is occupied and has been rented to the same person f ; for a considerable period of time , If you' ll look at the bottom of ' the proposed use map , you' ll see the footages involved in this and ' s under the 1977 zoning ordinance the building does fall - building, ' � I i� a i I 67 - ', together with the addition - does fall within the permitted area of �� I 's35% occupancy, not including the lot at 123 . As to the logic of t*e Muse of this building, Dr. Nezvesky has just arrived - the property ! ;1 i; has been vacant since this spring, the present owners - one retired and one operating a building construction business at another local i Ii tion have actively tried for a year and one-half to sell the propetty i to a person who would continue its present use . There have been nd l} buyers . These land parcels - some used fifty years for business a4d industrial purposes are now designated R-2b . A change which would ' I conform more nearly to this desired residential status while con- currently yielding a fair return to the present and prospective o Downers would be a logical constructive step . A veterinary clinic would well serve this transition purpose . 129 W. Fall Street lies ' , immediately adjacent to Route 13 as indicated on your maps and is , i ' therefore , not suitable for a residential property. This existing , ioffice building erected in 1964 is the only such structure in the neighborhood. It merits retention as an office , its proximity to jRoute 13 is not a negative factor for an office . The neighborhood '; ! has lived for thirteen years with this office building and its jpresence has posed no problems . We feel that the proposed use of the office fits into the neighborhood, the proposed use would resuljt lin less traffic than has existed here for years . Fewer employees , 1'people in cars . No truck traffic would be involved. Attached be- i I � (hind the maps are several letters received from adjoining property (owners - one signed by Blache Rychlick at 121 W. Fall , who lives in �lone of the pieces of - one of the properties involved, "I would welcome having a veterinary clinic as a neighbor . " The second one (from Herbert McGraw at 220 W. Lincoln Street, immediately adjacent Ito the 216 property "As regards the proposed veterinary office at i 129 W. Fall , I feel it would be a welcome addition to the neighbor-; I .i ljhood. " The last letter from John Listar at 210 W. Lincoln Street I "In answer to your letter relating to your development of W. Fall li Viand W. Lincoln Street area for your business I find no objection to �I I� ,I ,; r j i i' I - 68 j3 : your plan. I have talked with several neighbors of mine in the W. i ; Lincoln Street area, none of them objected to your plan to improve ! [ that area as stated in your letter, in fact they all felt it wouldil Abe an improvement for the area. " Now I ' ll step aside for Dr. i lNezvesky, if he would like to make any further comments . i SMR. MC ELWEE: I would suggest then that we are ready for questions . i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there questions from members of the Board? IMR. VAN MARTER: That' s the most complete presentation we have had [ i � in twelve years . I guess I have one question Ray - the large exist!- � ing shop building is not designated for other use or am I missing an I arrow? IMR. MC ELWEE : That is indicated as - in the write up - as the shop {I at the rear of 129 W. Fall would presently be used for storage . �IMR. VAN MARTER: Okay. Now does that indicate the Doctor ' s storagq' i for storage for another tenant possibly? [ I iMR. MC ELWEE: I ' ll let the doctor speak to that. DR. NEZVESKY: That ' s 3000 square feet . �MR. MC ELWEE: Yes . I i ! DR. NEZVESKY: Essentially we would be using it for ourselves . I i don' t quite know what I would be using 3 ,000 feet for, at the moment but I would say we would probably be using it for ourselves . ! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Any further questions? i IMR. KASPRZAK: I presume that the operation will be from 8 til 5 or ( whatever hours the veterinary people operate with? It is not goin� to be a hospital . . . ? � DR. NEZVESKY: Would you repeat that please? I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: The hours of operation? f � DR. NEZVESKY: We normally run from about 7 : 30 in the morning until i about 5 : 30 - 6 : 00 and we do cover emergency calls . In other words , if you called in 2 : 00 in the morning - 3: 00 in the morning . . . MR. KASPRZAK: My main interest is that you are not going to house ; Many small animals in the premises over a period of time like a I ' hospital does? �i ii I' ,I 69 - i �' DR. NEZVESKY: As we have indicated here , everything would be under 1cover, it would be strictly medical , surgical , we would not be boarding animals . . . i I ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: But you would be keeping animals for medical pur4 jposes over a few days? IDR. NEZVESKY: Yes sir - medical surgicals . `; MR. GASTEIGER: How many animals would you anticipate . . . ? I DR. NEZVESKY: Maximum of 15 to 18 . SMR. GASTEIGER: Is this about what you do on State Stree or - now? ! � DR. NEZVESKY: On West Buffalo we house 8 - 10 maximum. IMR. GASTEIGER: Have there been any difficulties there at all? IDR. NEZVESKY: We have never had a formal complaint from anyone . { I No one has every complained of our activities there. I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: How many people will be workin in the Clinic? I DR. NEZVESKY: Our present staff consists of 5 - 6 people . I imagne with the expanded space that we are going to be using we could i account for 6 or 7 people - some of our people stagger - such as the I� laboratory technician comes in late in the afternoone and then we have our X-ray technician. Usually we are not all in the building ; at the same time so we would have between 7 and 8 full staff. MR. MC ELWEE : I think the staggering would be the result of the I hHAIRMAN ether? MARTIN: Are there further questions? Thank you doctor. I Is there anything further to be said as part of the original pre- sentation? Alright . We will now invite anyone present who would like to speak in favor of the requested variance to speak. I IMR. GIORDANO: Again I am not here for this - my name is Vincent i Giordano . I worked out of this warehouse from 1946 until 1957 - 5d9 I as a construction man and the area has always been kept nice . I I� hate to see Dr . Nezvesky not buy this and buy out of town. I have ' looked at a piece of property for him out of Ithaca - in the out- skirts . We seem to be losing all our enterprise to the outskirts I i and I 'm sure that Dr. Nezvesky will improve this property - not th4t I� I Ij I I' f 70 - ii it Ithe McElwee ' s haven' t kept it in fair shape , they have - I don' t �Imean that but I ' d like to see this enterprise stay in Ithaca and f i 9; as long as there is no neighbors here arguing against it or anything from our alderman down there in the north end against it , I 'd like ! i IIto see him go with it because I think we would like to keep this i business in Ithaca also . I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Is there anyone else who would like to speak in i favor? Mr. Bordoni . I ALDERMAN BORDONI : I circulated around the Fall Street area last ° Sunday or two Sundays ago , I guess it was , and I saw some of the neighbors that live very close and they all seemed to be in favor I �lof it. They are sort of looking forward to it , they look at it as , somewhat of a convenience . A couple of questions that they did asl, I• lime to ask they are covered somewhat by Dr. Nezvesky' s very com- I �Iplete summary of what he intends to do , which is more than I 've j i ever seen anybody prepare for us at a Planning Board level anyway, ] but the questions somewhere on here it does say that you plan to totally enclose, to keep the noise down for any animals that may 1 l !have to stay there for recuperation after an operation - they are asking this , will it be the type of total enclosure that would necessitate air conditioning so that that would cool the building 1! din summer and prevent open windows where dogs may cry out in the i !night from pain or whatever? Am I in point of order, can I ask !!question while I 'm 'given a for statement? I. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Go ahead. Ask your question and, Doctor do you i have an answer to the question? 1 IDR. NEZVESKX: The building is now air conditioned. The entire i unit would be air conditioned and I see no need to keep windows l `s open such as we have at our present place now - at our present site]. I I There is no need to have windows open. i �MR. MC ELWEE : There are no operating sash in the building. �,MR. BORDONI : That sounds very satisfactory and that takes care of ` I4that question. The next questions would be - by refurbishing the i ome would you intend to keep that six, a one-family house? !1 I i! - 71 - f lIDR. NEZVESKY: Yes - it would stay as a one-family. 11MR. BORDONI : And, I guess I 'm asking the same question that was Masked earlier but this pertains to 121 W. Fall Street. There is a ! i ( storage building there . There is concern that it may be the type of storage operation where people may flow in and out of there quire frequently, causing a traffic problem for the children on that j i street. There are around eight small children living on that bloc ii of Fall Street . MR. MC ELWEE : Who like to play stick hockey in the middle of the I street. I MR. BORDONI : Most likely - my own children are guilty of that so s but the question was brought up and I do have to ask it . DR. NEZVESKY: I really have no special plans for the storage . Ca� j I offer a thought here? I was approached by one of the members re� I garding this empty lot here which is 119 with the storage there . ! i ! I indicated that they could use that for a playground instead of i out in the street at the deadend and I would provide them with Ilocust posts - they could fence the whole thing in for a play yard ) if they will pay me a fee of $1 . 00 per year. That would get the lchildren off the street . l' IMR. BORDONI : I guess I can confirm that because I also heard from ! 3 ! this neighbor that this agreement was talked about so . . . ' DR. NEZVESKY: I have no plans on that lot and I have no immediate ; i plans for the storage . ! MR. BORDONI : Well that ' s it for my questions - they've all been i s i answered. ! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright, is there anyone else now who would like ! I ! to be heard on this case, first we are asking those who are in favor to speak? Yes sir . . . I ! 1 MR. GROSSER: My name is Ernest Grosser, I live at 102 W. Fall i 'IStreet . I happen to be on a corner so I was not involved - I undei- f �`! stand people , some of the property owners received this printed i i !fletter that were within 200 ' of the property that Dr. Nezvesky wants I� Ii i {I E S i± 1 Ifo 1 11 - 72 - I w Ii po buy. Now I - Mr. Bordoni and I went on a tour on W. Fall Streei , ; about a week ago . We tried to get reaction of the property owners ] las to how they feel about an animal hospital on the street . Now I ! lbelieve the questions that were raised were answered when Mr . Bor- i I Idoni brought them up . Now these were the questions - I ' ll just go over them quickly and then I ' ll continue . What they were concerne �9 �, in was on 121 W. Fall Street - refurbish existing house leaving .i !!!, shed, rear, for rental storage . Now, what they had in mind was - i ( they tried to have more of an explanation of what the word rental meant. I believe it was answered here tonight that the Doctor has no present plans of using that shed. Is that correct Doctor? I �1DR. NEZVESKY: That is correct. I � MR. GROSSER: You see what they were a little inquisitive about, I Idoctor , was the word rental there - that you might rent to a place , that might put in heavy equipment or something and have that rollilg down the street. DR. NEZVESKY: This is the 45 x 24 size building 121 correct? I g ! 3' 1IMR. GROSSER: Yes that ' s the one right behind the house there , doctor. i DR. NEZVESKY: We really couldn' t do much with it. I MR. GROSSER: No, I don' t think there is any problem but the word ' rental had them confused. That you might rent it to somebody that is going to store heavy equipment there or something, which I be- i i lieve was . . . i i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: While understanding the concern that - with the ] ; wh-ole property - as I understand it that particular is not part of �Ithe requested variance . E iMR. GROSSER: I told them that but it is in the letter so . And the I other question was traffic which Mr. Bordoni and I went very thoroughly right through with every one of those property owners a4d they all came to one conclusion that there will be no traffic problem. And the third was the noise . Now right here in his letter "I guar4n- 11tee there will be no offensive noise or odors in the conduct of my I I r r I ,� I l" j It - 73 - 1 business . " If Dr . Nezvesky makes that statement I ' ll go with it 1ibecause he is a man of high honor, he ' s got a good reputation. I ' ll 11go with that. In the words doctor explained these animals - way i1down on the end there is an enclosed section and I believe you arej jjgetting in some kind of containers there , I understand where there lis no problem at all . May I add this , I 've been going to Dr. I ! Nezvesky with my animals for the past four years and he 's got a k! 1 spotless place there and furthermore he has what I claim we need i# i the Fall Creek area to take the place of the construction company i I! that is somebody that has a good reputation and good character. !i ! 'IDr . Nezvesky possesses those qualifications . Therefore I firmly ask the Zoning Board to grant the variance . Thank you. j liCHAIRMAN MARTIN: Is there anyone else who would like to be heard f! Iin favor of the requested variance? Is there anyone who wishes toy lspeak in opposition? I think that concludes our hearing on case j II MR. VAN MARTER: I have a question. jCHAIRMAN MARTIN: Question, yes . MR. VAN MARTER: I would like to have the owner indicate here what attempt has been made to dispose of the property and the period of time . Was that covered? j I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Yes , it was covered in the original statement - ! it had been on the market for a year and one-half as you stated, lefforts to sell th-e property to persons who would continue the I I I present use . Any further questions? That concludes 1185 . ( !I i l i I i j ! i I j r � i I I ' !f i I' 74 - I I If I 1I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS I I CITY OF ITHACA J I i! DECEMBER 19 , 1977 i I; ! EXECUTIVE SESSION I APPEAL NO. 1185 : MR. VAN MARTER: I move that the area variance be granted ', in Appeal 1185 . I IMR. KASPRZAK: I second the motion. FINDINGS OF FACT : 1 . As stated in the application, the propos�d use involves fewer persons than the con- i struction business did employ at one ii time . + + 2 . There would be no outside storage . ' I `! I +� 3 . Testimony showed that the animals would be confined within the main building andl its proposed addition. i I i¢ 4 . This variance is granted with the express iunderstanding that all the activities in the land and buildings at 129 W. Fall I relate to the applicant ' s veterinary I I practice . I S . This variance, like the request , is limited �) to the property at 129 W. Fall Street . I I�VOTE: 5 Yes , 0 No ; 1 Abstention Area variance granted. + I i I j; I Ii ! ii I 75 - I i( { ii +i � I Barbara Ruane , Do Certify that I took the minutes of the Board of Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, in the matters of Appeals �numbered num be e 1174 , 1178 1179 , 1180 , 1181 , 1182 , 1183, 1184 and 1185 , Ion December 19 , 1977 at City Hall , City of Ithaca, New York , that 1 i 41I have transcribed them and the foregoing is a true copy of the transcript of the minutes of the meeting and the Executive Session i 'of the Board of Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, on the above date , ( and the whole thereof to the best of my ability. l iI i I I ` Barbara C . Ruane Recording Secretary I ,I ii `Sworn to before me this I� I •; day o f�. . ��:�,,,•.�.�; 1978 . INotary Public i RUTITANN BROWN i Notrr pc,i State of i',ew York ' »; l. ns Coun19t i I f I I + � I I i i �f I