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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BZA-1974-03-04 BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA, CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK, MARCH 4i 1974 --------------------- moi--------r--------•---------+.►------------- At a regular meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals, City of Ithaca, held in Common Council Chambers, City Hall, Ithaca, New York, on March 4, 19741 PRESENTt PETER MARTIN, Chairman C. MURRAY VAN MARTER GREGORY KASPRZAK ELVA HOLMAN `,. JOHN BODING EDGAR GASTEIGER EDISON JONES, Building Commissioner & Secretary DAILEEN LISK, Recording Secretary Chairman Martin opens meeting, listing members of Board pres- ent. This Board is operating under the provisions of the City Charter of the City of Ithaca and of the provisions of the Zoning Ordinancesl the Board shall not be bound by strict rules of evi- dence in the conduct of this hearing, but the determination shall be founded upon sufficient legal, evidence to sustain the same. The Board requests that all participants identify themselves as to name and addressf and confine their discussions to the pertinent facts of the case under consideration. Please avoid extraneous material which would have a delaying effect. Commissioner Jones lists what case No« 1038 is to be. APPEALNO. 1018# The Appeal of RHP, Inc. for a variance under Section 7, Column 2, at 201 Prospect Street in an R-3 zone. CHAIRMAN MARTIN# I have a letter here from Mrs. dolman which I would like to read before we proceed with this case. 141 Pearsall. Place Ithaca New York 14850 March 4, 1974 Mr. Peter Martin Chairman, Board of Zoning Appeals City of Ithaca Ithaca, New York, 14850 Dear Peters Because of my interest in the case I wish to be excused from participation .r'Lw in deliberations on Appeal #1038. I will, however# participate in the hear- ing and deliberations on cases #1.039 and. #1040. Sincerely, Elva W. Holman. ROBERT WILLIAMSONs I am Robert Williamson, attorney for RHP, Inc. This is an appeal by my cli. ent, RHP• Inc. of Terrace Hill here in Ithaca, for a variance on a use which under the old Ordinance is Section 7, Column 2. We wish to use the parking lot owned by RHP# Inc. at the Intersec. tion of Aurora Street and Prospect Street for parking on behalf of our tenants at Terrace Hill during the day. time business hours during the business week Monday through Friday inclusive# and on weekends it is for the public and also for the public in the eveningar that basically is the sum and substance of our request. I would like at this time to call as my first witness Cdr. Burns. Mr. Burns would you please stat your full name for the record? ROBERT BURNSs Robert Burris. IR. WILLIAMSON# What is your address? MR. BURL* 203 South Hill Terrace. MR. WILLIAMSONs What is your employment? MR. BURNSs I am a bice President for Real.. Mate for RHP,. Inc. NR. WILLIAMSONs For how long have you held that position? ER. BURNSs 5 years. R. WILLIAMSON# In connection with your employment did you some time ago on behalf of RHP. Inc. I ..3_ purchase the property at the intersec- tion of Aurora Street and Prospect Strut known as 201 Prospect Street? { ISR. BURNSr That's correct. MR. WILLIAMSONs Do you recall when that property was purchased? DSR. BURNS t It was in 1971• } MR. WILLIAMSONs Do you recall the month? MR. BURNS# I believe it was in November of 1971. BR. WILLIAMSON: At that time did you contact the Build- ing Commissioners' office here in Ithaca Now "York concerning your intended use of that lot? BURNS s Yes I did. R. WILLIAMSONs What did you advice them at that time? R. BURNS# I told them we mere contemplating pur- chasing the property and that we would I desire to construct a parking lot on that site. ,MR. WILLIAMSON# On that site at the time you purchased it, what was the building at that time? BURNS# It was a two-otory dwelling, originally it was a one-family home that had been converted and it was actually rented out as two units at the time that we purchased it. . WILLIAMSON# What was the purchase price of the Prop ? BURNS $17,500. WILLIANSONs Can you give me the dimensions? BURNSr The lot frontage on Aurora Street it f 107 feet and on Prospecr it's 96 feet. . WILLIAMSONs When you purchased the property back in i I _4,. the fall of 19.71. can you describe for us its condition both on the exterior I and i*terior? I MR. BURNSt The property had been on the market for , approximately seven years* on and off the market, and the main reason I be. i lieve that the property didn't sell was that it was in poor conditions the roof l was leaking in several spots, and this had been going on for quite a few years ) prior to our purchase andconsequently the interior showed some signs of damage from the roof leaking. It was an older home and the bathrooms were i old# kitchens were old. The exterior I of the property, was in need of new eaves, new corners and a complete paint job. It just wasn't in very good condition# poor condition. I would say. MR. WILLIAMSONr Again, what was the purchase price? MR. BURNSs $17#5©Q. MR. WILLIAMSON$ At the time of the purchase did RHP# Inc. take out a mortgage on the premises? MR. BURNS# Yes we did. MR. WILLI;AMSON# With whom did you take out a mortgage? R. BURNS# The Savings Bank of Tompkins County. R. WILLIAMSON& What is the current balance of that mortgage? . BURNS: Approximately $12#000,, 00,, R. WILLIAMSCN# For how long a period of time? . BURNS# Fifteen years. R. WILLIAMSONs Do you recall, the interest rate on that? . BURNSi I believe it was 8 . i r5- MR. WILLIAMSON# Mr. Burns, did there come a time in the fall of 1973 when you went to City Hall for a demolition permit of that premise at 201 Prospect Street? MR. BURNS# That's correct. MR. WILLIAMSON# When did you go for that permit? DSR. BURNS# This was in October of 1973• MR. WILLIAMSON# Whom did you see to get the permit? MR. BURNS# I saw the Building Commissioner. MR. WILLIAMSON# Was that Mr. Jones? MR. BURNS# That's correct. I MR. WILLIAMSON# Was Mr. Jones the Commissioner back in 1971 when you approached the office here concerning your purchase of the premises at 201 Prospect Street? R. BURNS# Yes. WILLIAMSON# Did you obtain a demolition permit in the fall of 1973? R. BURNS# That's correct. 70 WILLIAMSON# At that time when you discussed the mat- ter with Mr. Jones was there any discus- sion concerning what you intended to use this premises for? BURNS# Yes sir. R. WILLIAMSON# What did you tell him? R. BURNS# We were going to tear the building down and then I was going to apply for a building permit for a parking lot and on that basis the permit for the demoli- tion was granted. WILLIAMSON# Then did you hire someone to demolish the building? R. BURNS# Yes sir. 11 IR. WILLIAMSON# Whom did you hire? i .6- MR. BURNSm We had S & S Demolition Service from Slaterville. MR. WILLIAMSONs Do you recall the price they charged you for demolishing the premises? MR. BURNSs It was $20000. MR. WILLIAMSONa Thereafter, did you come to the Build- ing Commissioners* office ins specifi- cally, October 25 of 1973 and request a building permit for the construction of the parking lot? MR. BURNSi That's correct. MR. WILLIAMSON* On that day do you recall about when you came to the City Building Commisio signers` office?. MR. BURNS# It was in the mQ►ftir" MR. WILLIAMSON# On the 25th of October? MR. BURNSt That's correct. IMR. WILLIAMSONi who was present when you came for this permit? MR. BURNS: We met with the Building Commiissioner# the Mayor# the Planning Director. the Assistant Planning Director and the City Attorney* R. WILLIAMSON* What was your discussion at that time concerning the building permit and what you intended to use this lot for? R. BURNS& I told them that the building permit which I was requesting was for a parking lot which O%W tenants would use the parking lot during the working hours and working day and that the neighbors could use it in the evening and on weekends and this permit was granted on this basil and this understanding. i MR. WILLIAMSONs Haw long did this discussion take place on the 25th day of October 1973? MR. BURNS: It was about an hour or an hour and a � half.:. MR. WILLIAMSONs was there complete discussion on your Intended use of this lot? MR. BURNS: That's correct. MR. WILLIAMSON# Was there any doubt in your mind what you could use this lot for your tenants when you left this office? MR. BURNSs Absolutely not. MR. WILLIAMSONs Prior to going to the Building Commis• sioners' office on the 23U day of ` October 1973 had you done any prelimi- nary work with regards to plans for this parking lot and the spaces you wished to use or have used for the parking of cars? MR. BURNS# We had two plans drawn# one was for approximately 28 cars which was a three rows of parking with two drive• ways between the three rowst and the Cather one was for approximately 20 cars with gust two rows of parking and a greater set-back from the existing build Ings to the east and to the south. We chose to go with the 20 car parking. R. WILLIAMSON# Who drew these plans for you? R. BURNSs We had a member of the City Engineers' office, on his own time# he drew the plans to the specifications of the City. WILLIAMSONs Do you have those plans with you or does Mr. Jones have them on file? MR. BURNSt I filed the original ones for the 20 cars with the building permit. MR. WILLIAMSONi Had you discussed anything else with the City concerning the construction of this lot? MR. BURNSt do had the curb out approved by the Engineering office and I met with Mr. Schl.i`ede3r and he went to the lot and he showed me where the curb out should be and at a later date when we were under construction,, we constructed the curb in the exact location where he specified. . WILLIAMSONt Did you start out with more than 20 spaces originally? R. BURNSa Yes$ WILLIAMSONs What did you originally start out with? BURNS# We were talking between 28and30 cars and that was putting them in pretty tight gat we decided to go to the lesser , figure. WILLIA,MSON# You went to 20 spades? R. BURNSt Right. WILLIAMSONs Thereafter did you contact anyone in Ithaca to contract with them for the construction of.this parking lot? L14R. BURNS# Yes we had contacted several contractors we finally gave the bid to construct the site to Giordano Construction Co. of Ithaca. R. WILLIAMSONt What was the price on the construction of the lot? i R. BURNSt This was a little bit under $6;000. I �1 i -9- MR. WILLIAMSON# In your plana and in your discussions with Mr. Schliederdd you talk about i exits on Aurora Street and/or no exits on, Aurora street and/or exits on Pros. pect Street? MR. BURNS# Yes, they recommended that we have a curb cut just on Prospect street and clogs the one off on, there was an existing entrance on Aurora Street, we closed that off. MR. WILLIAMSONs were these -discussions following the issuance of the permit to you on Octo. ber 25, 1973? MR. BURNS# Yes. MR. WILLIAMSON# Thereafter did you proceed with the construction of the parking lot? MR. BURNS# That's correct. MR. WILLIAMSON# In fact, where is the curb out on this particular lot? MR. BURNS# It';s on Prospect Street. MR. WILLIAMSON# Tell me how one would enter this lot? MR. BURNS# Well Prospect Street is a one.-way stree . MR. WILLIAMSON# One.-way in which direction? MR. BURNS# Going west# So in order to reach the lot they would come off of Hudson Stree onto Prospect Street and go into the lot from that direction and leaving the lot they would go west from the parking lot to Aurora Street. MR. WILLIAMSON# Would there be any entrance whatsoever from Aurora Street in or out? MR. BURNS# No sir. MR. WILLIAMSON# Did youalso consider landscaping this parking lot? i -10- MR. BURNS: Yee, we have left our side yard re- quirements, we made those larger so we could bank it and put it into shrubs and landscape the whole area. We have retained the stone wall on two sides so this would present a more astatic look to the parking lot. MR. WILLIAMSON# Did you have a sketch prepared: by an architect for your future plans and I landscape of this parking lot"? i DSR. BURNS: Yes. Enter Exhibit #1 Sketch of the lot. MR. WILLIAMSONs Mr. Burns, is this a view and a sketch of the parking let looking to the southeast? MR. BURNS# That's correct. MR. WILLIAMSONs This would be looking diagonally oppo. site the eornero in ether words from your property to the southeast? MR. BURNSs That's right. MR WILLIAMSONs Does this sketch show the wall that's presently there or one that you propose to build and/or would you describe the other landscaping to the Board? MR. BURNS: The wall is existing, the shrubbery alo Aurora Street much of that is existing 7 u we tried to save that when we were demolishing the structure and construct. ing the parking lot. The landscaping on the east of the property will be new# and there will be quite a bit of now i� landscaping we have to move some dirt around and we have to do some planting. I� _11- MR. WILLIAMSON# When you say to the east would that be bordering; the Rumsey home? MR. BURNSt That's correct. MR. WILLIAMSON# Is that landscaping and shrubbery shores the onAsketchilandscaping and shrubs that are not there at the present time? MR. BURNSt That's correct. MR. WILLIAMSONt What about the trees shown on the sketch to the south on the south line of, the property? MR., BURNS: These would be planted. . WILLIAMSON# The wall you say along the street on the west side is presently there? . BURNSt That's correct. . WILLIAMSON# Is the wall there that is shown on the north side of the property? BURNS: That's correct, that's there. R. WILLIAMSONt hoes it keep the sight and visibility open as one goes west on Prospect Street and looks up Aurora Street? R. BURNS: Yes, WILLIAMSONs Mr. Burns in your calculations and in your capacity as Real Estate Manager at RHP, Inc. have you calculated what the rental would be if you are authorized ` to rent the property to your tenants, II what would be the rent you would charge your tenants for space? BURN:: Well we would be asking $15 per month per space. R. WILLIAMSON: That would be included in the overall lease with the tenants# 14 that correct? . BURNSt That'$ correct. `.12.. MR. WILLIAMSON# Mr. Burns at the present time, do you charge any individuals in your neighbor hood for parking in the Terrace Hill complex parking lot evenings and/or on weekends, at the present time? MR. BURNSt No air. MR. WILLIAMSUNt Have you ever charged anything? MR. BURNSt No sir. MR. WILLIAMSCNt Is it your intent not to charge any neighbors for parking in the evenings in this lot or on weekends? , MR. BURNS# We have no intention of charging our neighbors. MR. WILLIAMSONt Mr. Burns, following your application to have this parking lot and its denial on or about February 15 of this year did you obtain any petitions or signed statements from persons who visit the Terrace Hill complex and those who work there? MR. BURNS t Yes sir. MR. WILLIAMSON* First of all incase there is any doubt in anyones mind about khat the Terrace Hili complex includes would you pleasa describe it? MR. BURNS# The Terrace Hill complex is located on the corner of Aurora and Prospect Streets, 1 this would be the northwest corner, and it comprises four buildings. the Whitan House, Babcock Hall, Tower Building, and the Carriage House. This was the orig ,- i nal location of Agwayp Inc. before they left Ithaca to go to Syracuse. i *-13- MR. WILLIAMSONs Did you, at my request, formulate such a petition and if so do you have it with you now? MR. BURNSs Yes air, I have it with me. � MR. WILLIAMSONs Do you have one that relates itself to the tenants and visitors to the Terrace Hill complex? MR. BURNS: Yes. Enter Exhibit ,#2 a copy of same is attached herewith. MR. WILLIAMSONs How many signatures are on this petition? MR. BURNS r .' Over 170 people. MR. WILLIAMSONs Did you fix the petition so that those who signed could check off whether they were visitors and,/or tenants? MR. BURNSs Yes air. MR. WILLIAMSON# First of all would you please tell me how many persons signed the petition? MR. BURNSs Again$ 170. MR. WILLIAMSON# Would you please calculate for me those who signed as visitors and then those who signed as tenants? MR. BURNSv There were 53 that were visitors and 117 that would be tenants. R WILLIAMSON# Did anyone sign 'a petition or make any remarks in a manner that was against y such a parking facility? R. BURNSs No air. . WII LIAMS ON s Mr. Burma,, how long has RHP I Inc. owned the Terrace Hill complex? . BURNSs A little over five-years. R. WILLIAMSONs was it empty at the time it was purchase ? BURNS& Yee air. f I E MR. WILLIAMS€?Nt Do you know, or can you calculate for me orgiveme an estimate of the amount of money that has been invested in the complex by RHP, Inc.? DSR. BURNSs Well this common knowledge what the property was sold for, I would guess it would probably be total, we have done an awful lot of remodeling in the propertyp I would say it would probably I be $840p04 to $900,000. I MR. WILLIAMSON# From being empty five years ago, would you please tell us is it full, half fu , or throeoquarters full at the present time? MR. BURNS& The Whitan House which is on the corner + of Prospect and Aurora Street is empty. I' and we have around 3,500 square feet of empty space within Babcock Hall. MR. WILLIAMSONi What firms occupy the complex? MR. BURNSt We have Ithaca Gun Co. p Park Broadeastirg,, Tool Shed Corp. $ NCR Corp. , New York j State Employment Agency, New York State ) Conservation Department, Internal Revenue Servicer IBM# Social Security, National Time and Data, New York' Telephone Co. , Selective Service, FBI, Tompkins County Veterans, New York State Veterans, More Business Forms# I think that is most of ttetm. SMR. WILLIAMSONi2s^your intent to continue to attempt to fill the complex with tenants? MR. BURNS t 'les sir, MR. WILLIAMSONo Is it your intent to continue to invest in the building and update it at all ti s so it is a fine asset to the community? MR. WILLIAMSONa qtr. Burns, in your project shown on Bxhi.bit ll which is the landscaping of the parking lot what would be the estimated expenditure to complete the. landscaping? MR. BURNS# I would say that we would probably have somewhere between $30,000 and $35,000 into the lot by the time we finish landscaping and black tapping the area. Of course with the city law we have to fence the area, and I think that's about all we have to do now to complete the lot. MR. WILLXAMSON# $259000 is your current expenditure? (MR. BURNS# Right. MR. WILLIAMSON# In the work that you have done on the lot, have you taken care of drainage? MR.. BURNS:s 'Yee si.r, we installed two catch basins directly into the storm sewer. MR. WILLIhMSONs This was under the contractual arrange- ment with Mr. Giordano? MR. BURNSa Right. � MR. KASPRZAK# I just want to clarify something# the property is located on the corner of Prospect and Aurora, right? MR. BURNSt That's correct. �.. MR. KASPRZAKt In your p&Ution number, Exhibit number 3, you did state that this intersection Is dangerous? MR. BURNSE 'Yes# I would say so. KASPRZAKs Okay, a number of people signed that is what I`m saying. BURNS& I think what the paint was that not hav- ing the house there would give greater "17- visibility. MR. VAN MARTERj On Prospect, parking on one side only, and that's which side please? MR. BURNSs That's on the South side. MR. VAN MARTER# can you suggest what might have been the Front yard of the existing dwelling that was there before it was removed? MR. BURNSt I would say that the front yard to the porch would be 12 to 15 feet on Prospec Street and then on Aurora Street it would be just a little bit more, it would be probably about 20 to 25 feet. MR. VAN MARTERi Has there been regularly a stop sign at that corner as it meets South Aurora ASR. BURLS s Yes sir. MR. VAN MARTER# And anybody entering that intersection would be; required to stop, right? MR. BURNSR That's correct. MR. VAN MARTER: Yet you say the removal of the house did something for improving the visi- bility of the intersection? MR. BURNSc Yes# that's correct, I think if you are driving west on 'rospect Street and for almost 100 feet you can look up Aurora Streets I think this definitely adds to the safety of the Intersection. MR. VAN D9ARTERs Mr. Williamson# do you intend to show something in relation to hardship to this land or building's MR. WILLIANSONt Yes, Mr. Gallagher will testify. Mr. Gallagher would you please state your full name? JOSEPH GALiARHERs My name is Joseph Gallagher, Jr. MR. WILLIAMSON#-' Do you live in theCity of Ithaca? MR. GALLAGHERs At 3 Cornell Walk. MR. WILLIAMSONi What is your occupation? MR. GALLAGHER* My occupation is a real estate broker. MR. WILLIAMSONs For bow long have you been engaged in the real estate business as a broker? MR. GALLA:GHER: As a broker I have been licensed in the City of Ithaca since 1950. MR. WILLIAMSONt Have you handled real .estate transac. tions and made appraisals of property in the City of Ithaca since 1950 when you :Mrst opened your business? MR. GALLAGHERt Xes, we have. MR. WILLIAMSON# Are you familiar with properties in the City of Ithaca? MR. GALLAGHERs Yes. MR. WILLIAMSONs Are you familiar with the intersection of Aurora Street and Prospect Street in the City of Ithaca? MR. GALLAGHER# I am. MR. WILLIAMSONs Are you familiar with the southeast corner of that intersection? MR. GALLAGHER: Yes. MR. WILLIAMSONs Can you tell me what zone the southeast corner is located in? ,MR. GALLAGHER: That is zoned Rw3. MR. WILLIAMSONs Is that so in the now and the old Ordi- nance? MR. GALLAGHERt To my understanding, yes. MR. WILLIAMSONt What's allowed in R»3 nines? I MR. GALLAGHERs Multiple housing and residential. R. WILLIAMSONt Is there any limit in the height of I buildings that can be placed in the R-3 j zone? fj i MR. GALLAGHER# I believe it's 40 feet. MR. WILLIAMSONs What are the side lot and front lot requirements? MR. GALLAGHERs I believe the front sftt-back is 10 feet and the side set-back is 15 feet. MR. WILLIAMSON# Do you know about parking spaces re- quired for apartment dwellings in an R-3 sone? MR. GALLAGHERs One parking space for a housing unit. MR. WILLIAMS4N: At my request did you make a study as to what, in your opinion, would be the best use that this property could be used for under an R-3 sone district? MR. GALLAGHERs Yes I have. MR. WILLIAMSON# What would that be? MR. GALLAGHERs Allowable in that particular location It would be a six apartment unit. MR. WILLIAMSONt Did you compute for me the costsand the debt service and the anticipated expense In connection with a six unit apartment house at that corner? R. GALLAGHERs I prepared a proforma statement, yes, WILLIAMSONs Would you give me the details of that and your computations? GALLAGHER# I prepared an income expense analysis for 201 Prospect Street which would be a six unit apartment house and two bedrooms in each apartment and the approximate rental of each unit would be $200 a months the bAtaeme of this property would be $1,200 a month or on a yearly basis it would be $14,400 a year# Less expenses. 4 1 i . 2Or MR. WILLIAMSONs What would those expenses be? MR. GALLAGHERs The taxes would be approximately $2,400 the insurance would be approximately $300, the heat and lights would be approximately $850, the caretaker would oe $1,200, repairs and maintenance would be approximately $1,400, and management approximately $700 for a total expenses of $6,850. MR. WILLIAMSONs Dial you calculate the debt service in connection with Ahy construction of a i sixunitapartment? MR. GALLAGHERs It would be less a debt service of $14,400. AIR. WILLIANSONj On what is that based? MR. GALLAGHER# That is calculated on the fact that it would cost approximately �►� MR. WILLIAMSONj Let me withdraw that and phrase it another gray, did you calculate what it would cost per unit for the construction of a six unit apartment house? MR. GALLAGHER: $169#000 which includes land at $25,000, MR. WILLIAMSON: Then on that basis what did you use in computing the debt service and the amortization? MR. GALLAGHER* Using the lot as a dawn payment, a $25 ,000 lot, and obtaining a mortgage at $ interest for a 20 year term, a mortgage in the amount of $344,000 the yearly payment would mount to $14#996.16. WILLIAMSON& How much would that total when taken in connection with the expenses which you have testified to? E i -21- MR. GALLAGHERs The total expenditures, this ranging from taxes down to management, was $6,850, the debt service would be $14,404 totaling $21s250. MR. WILLIAMSONc What was the calculation of income under your computation at $200 per unit per month? MR. GALLAGHERs $140440 a year. MR. WILLIAMSONc What would that result in as far as a cash flow? MR. GALLAGHERs There wouldn9t really be any cash flow at all there would be a minus cash loss MR. WILLIAMSONt Of haw much? MR. G.AIJ AGHERv ; $7t446.16. MR. WILIIAMSONe Assuming that naturally in a mortgage pre prepayment equity is being^paid but still bearing in mind the interests can you tell me what the interest would be In the first year, approximately in the first year of a mortgage in the amount of $144#000 at 8 ? MR. GALLAGHERt The approximate interest charge would be $1109004 MR. WILIIAMSONc That amount added to the $6,800 of expenses you testified to would be how much? MR. GALIAGHER# It would be about a minus f00 cash lass. MR. WILLIAMSON# Are you saying the c"hK loss would then be a minus $4,400 as compared to $7,400 actual cash output? . GAIJ AGHER: That is correct. WILLIAMSONt Mr. Gallagher did your at mfr request, compute the return in using this corner i as a parking lot in accordance with the requested variance? MR. GALLAGHERi Yes I did, I worked a proforma state. ment on the parking lot too. MR. WILLIAMSON* What did you use as the costs involved in the construction of the parking lot? DSR. GALLAGHER& I used a dost of $32,500. MR. WILLIAMSONs What was that made up of"? MR. GALLAGHERs That is the cost of the property with the house demolished of $25,000 a $7#500 for improvements, landscaping, black topping. etc. MR.- WILLIAMEONs These are thefigures you obtained from Mrs Burris? MR. GALLAGHER* That's right. for a total oast of $3295( 0, i MR WII AMSON s Did you use Mr. Burns' :figures of $15 per tenant per month in calculating gross income? MR. GALLAGHERo You I did. NSR. WILLIAMSONe How much would that amount tot MR. GALLAGHER s8 r The gxro income running the parking to on a yearly basis would be $3,600 a year I I or $300 a month. We used a less 5% vacancy of $380 assuming that not every. body is going to be in It all the time during the 800 30 to 500 basis or 5130 for an adjusted grass of$3,4201 Lose expenses, taxes approximately $420# repair$ and maintenanceapproximately $500# Insurance approximately $75, for a total on expenses of $995• The adjusted grass was $3,420 minus expenses of $995 leaving $2,425. Howevor this is before debt service, we have another les I ..23,. figure here on debt service, there is on record a $129000 mortgage at 8 interest for a 15 year term payable at $1.18.17 a month times 12 cues out to $11,418.04. Take this away from the balance of $2,425 you leave a net cash balance of $1,006.96 to the corporation, This figures out to be about, with the debt services approximately a little less tha* 3% on the overall investment of $320500. ISR. WILLIAMSON# Mr. Gallagher did you also inspect the parking lot within the last two weeks at my request? ISR. GALUGHRR s Yes I did. MR. WILLIAMSONs Did you inspect the area surrounding the lot? MR, GALLAGHER# Yes I did. MR. WILLIAMSONs Can you tell me what you, in your opinions as an expert in real estate field feel that this lot will do as it regards the area around it? SIR. GALLAGHERs It is my own opinion that it will enhan the neighborhood for night parking, I think the entire area definitely needs the 20 spaces for night parking. Then coming up and coming down south hill, I think the visibility is extremely impor. Cant. I spent quite a bit of time just looking at this one points visibility, which south hill I think needs that I think the parking lot will eliminate a lot of congestion in that particular are where there is a high traffic count. . ..24• MR. WILLIAMSONc Mr. Gallagher what do you feel is the highest and best usetbd this particular parcel can be put to? MR. GALLAGHER# I think the highest and best use of the existing parcel is the parking lot for 20 cars. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Did you Mr. Gallagher or anyone else investigate the possibility of using it as a neighborhood parking lot and charging rent to those neighbors who use it as a possible use? MR. GALLAGHERs . No I did not I think it would be very easy to calculate, we could use the same figures. Mkt. WILLIAMSONt I would have to recall Mr. Burns and I would like to remind the Chairman that RHP doesn't want to charge the neighbors. They haven't in the past. (CHAIRMAN MARTINI I appreciate that but what we have to Find and lets for the moment focus on the limited competence of this Board, we have to find that the property cannot be used for the use prescribed by the Zoning Ordinance: cannot reasonably be used and that it would be consistent Wath. the Zoning Ordinance to use it for a parking lot charging rent and having that parking lot used by the neighbors, those occupying the dwellings. . WILLIAMSONs Number one, we don't want to charge the neighbors, we haven't in the past and we, don't want to in the future. Number two, when you have tenants who want Parking it is far more easy to have them pay for parking In your parking lot. Number three, I don't know who would want to pay as a private individual for' parking when them: is allowable off-,a el parking and we have rude no surrey nor would we wish to as regards having pri- vate persons pay for parking because it was our attitude all along, has been an will be that we don't want to charge the neighbors =Ilial MARTINI It appeared to me Mr. Gallagher that In calculating the f` V e l in calculat- ing ing the possibility of a Bic unit apart ment f perhaps you could explain to mea how you came up with the land cost# is f there any amount in the land cost which Is attributable to sums expended for a parking lot that would have not been expended for a six unit apartment house MR. GALLAGHERt Not necessarily# it is what the IAVOato r and Park being the investor, has in the property .that I come up with that cost, that's what he has in It and you ,got to way get it out: 'l'h'hat#s the only he's going get it out is if you convert it into an income property and use that as a base. He could have used that $25#000 as a down deposit to get his mortgage. IMR. VAN MARTERs Joe, the cost per living unit on the basis of the $144#000 would be on the order of $241000 per living unit? Could you give us a couple of words in the relationship to the number of units reo quired to make that a buyable proposition? I -2b-» MR. GALI,AGHER# I think that's a good question and you would have to sit down and work that outbut I would say gust From my experi- ence that when you are building apart-o, � meat ay , houses on tod s marketyou bette a build a lot of them to make some money. I don't think a 14 apartment house wain. carry it and maybe a 24 will., I would start with 20 and move ups I dont see how you could put anything less than certainly 15 and I bet that would be marginal.. MR. GASTEIGER# For clarification, things became much worse on February 12. MR. WILLIAISaN# I was going to shy that z' application should be modified on page Sc and the basic reason is that in calculating the calculations in paragraph 5G I omitted the current mortgage of $1.2,000 which is the debt on the property at the present time. That's the current balan approximately which reduces the return to the approximate figure of 3%. CHAIRMAN MARTIN# You stated that in your opinion, Mr. Gal.l.agher, the highest and best use of this lot is a parking lot, could you indicate what your ,judgement would have been if you had been asked that question about the lot before the house was de. molished, that is the lot with the house on it before RHP proceeded with the plan under the understanding that they could put a parking lot there? 1AR. GAUA.GH.ER# I would say the highest and best use was the house that was on it. X27,* MR. WILLIAMS ONt Mr. Jones would you please take the stand. Your name and address please. EDISON JONESt Edison Jones# 428 Floral Avenue. MR. WILLIAMSONt `:'hat is your position Mr. Jones? MR. JONES# Building Commissioner of the City of Ithaca. MR. WILLIAMSONt For how long have you h6ld that positio ? MR. J8NES t About 4 years. MR. WILLIAMSON# Do you recall when you first took office approximately? MR. JONES# Around January of 1969. I'm not sure. MR. WILLIAMSON* Do you recap. when Mr. Burns of RHP, Inc . came to you for a demolition permit for this structure that was located on the southeast corner of Prospect and Aurora Street? MR. JONES t Yes I do. MR. WIxLLIAMSONt Did you have discussions on what he was going; to put there on the lot? MR. JONES# Yes we did,. MR. WILLIAMSOH# Did he discuss with you the fact that. he was proposing to build a parkin lot for his ferraae Hill complex? MR.. JONESt A neighborhood parking area. MR. WILLIAMSONt Did you know who Y.r. Burns worked for? JONES s Yes I dial. WILLIAMSONs Dial Mr. Burns explain to you that he was doing it for the employees? JONES: Not when he got the demolition permit. WILLIAMSON# mid there come a time when he came to yoll for the building permit? . JANESt Yes. . WILLIAMSON# What day was that? i NIR. JONES&JONESI don't know the exact date I mould have to get my records downstairs but I think it was about 2 oe 3 day's later. MR. WILLIAN3S©N s Was it about October 25 of 19737 NIR. JONESt I think that$s correct. PSR. WILLIAMSONs At that time did he come to your office MR. JONESc Yes. MR. WILLIAMSONs `Sas there anyone else present in your office with you and Mr. Burns? MR. JONES riot when he first come in there, he asked for this permit to build a neigh. borhood parking area and I told him exactly what a neighborhood parking area was and the next thing I know I had the Mayor and I had the Planning Director, the Assistant Planning Direc- tor and the City Attorney in the office. MR. WILLIAMSONt Did you discuss the parking lot request MR. JONESt Yes. NIR. WILLIAMSONs Were all those gentlemen present? MR. JONES x Yes. MR. WILLIAMSONs liras it made clear that whet RHP wanted was parking for its tenants in the day. time and neighbors at night? MR. JANESt Yes. � MR. WILLIAMSONs e'r'as a building permit then issued? NIR. JONES t Yes. MR. VAN MARTERt Has the Mayor ever issued a building Permit to your knowledge? . JUNES t No. VAN MARTM Does the Planning Director? I JONESt No. VAN NIARTER: Does the Assistant Planning Director? JONESt No. i I� E MR. VAN DLUTERs Does the City Attorney? MR. JONES1 No. MR. VAN MTERTo the best of your know.Ledge who has that authority? MR. JONESa The Building Commissioner. MR. WILLIAMSONs And did you issue the permit? MR. JOVES a Yes I did. CHAIRMAN MARTINS I would be prepared to ask Mr. Jones to say whatever el ev he feels moved to say to explain further the situation. MR. JONESe The building permit was issued after a letter was drafted and signed by Mr. Burns and myself outlining exactly what their proposal was to be used for park. ins; for their tenants and a neighborhood parking area to be used by the neighbour... hood nights and .weekends. M.R.. WILLIAMSON'e I would like to start my summarization by saying that briefly the applicant must -show the uniqueness of the situa. tion involved in requesting the variant that it would in fact not harm the area and that there is a hardship on the applicant. I would like first to speak to the hardship that we are incurring as it pertains to the seasonable value that we can expect from this property. First of all if we are forced to use thisin accordance with Rw3 requirements, as Mr. Ga1 .agher has testified in his opinion the best use would be an apart. ment building but ever, then limiting yourself because of the Ordinance to 40 feet in height and the fact that you 1 have to have one parking space per apartment up to 3 bedrooms and then as. I understand the new ords.nance if you have more Char. 3 bedrooms you have to have another parking space. Xouare limiting yourself to approximately six units of apartments and as Mr. Gallagher has testified `when you have those six u unite and yon take into consideratlQn tree cost of the land at approximately $25,000 now and the cost of $20,000 per unit or whatever Mr. Gallagher testified to you come up with a net cast outflow of at the moment $7,400 per year, there Is no return, it's a loss of cash out of pocket, not depreciation, not a paper lass, $7,400 cash out of his pocket. If you take into consideration the fact as I asked Tdr. Gallagher that some of the payments would apply toward equity in the apartment unit then your interest expense at least Initially your first year is of approximately 912#000 which even then will result in a cash loss of $4#400, 4ow compared to that we can have a parking lot for all the residents of the area which they can use nights and on weekends without cost, we will have it attractive, we will build it in accordance with the Cit specifications which we have already complied with, but we will also seek their assistance if a;.lowed to go forwaril and complete this lot. we will get a -31- return based on the figures that Mr. Gallagher had and based on the actual investment of RHP, Inc. in this lot at the present time of about 3%. It is unreasonable, I feel, to ask us to lose $7,400 cash at this particular location and I think it' s reasonable when in fact it' s a parking lot already; it seem reasonable to me to complete it and make it as attractive as possible and where all the neighbors and RHP, Inc, can both derive a benefit. It does, certainly enhance the site as far as traffic is concerned; when one comes down Prospect Street you come to a stop but you can now have clear visibility before you reach' the stop sign, looking to the south and certainly it opens it up wide, we do not intend to have any shrubs and/or other objects blocking the total view to the south up the hill. It also as we have had testimony provide additional off-street parking for those people who live on Prospect Street who wish it in the evening to get their car off the street or on weekends to get it off thestreet. It' s parking available there as well as at the present Terrace Hill complex, which I would repeat we have always opened to the public, we don't want to shut it down to the pub- lic, we have had it open on weekends and evenings ever since we assumed owner- ship. Let me conclude with the unique I -32- circumstances; the unique circumstances i I feel are the fact that Mr. Burns in good faith obtained a building permit and proceeded with the work; he consulted city officials, Howard Schlieder on the curb cut, he wanted to do this parking lot in accordance with what the city would request and started out that way u and he has gone forward and spent these monies relying on the statements made to him on October 25, 1978 and I contend before that, that this was allowed in this R-3 zone, this neighborhood parking I area, to have parking for RHP-, Inc, and its tenants during the daytime during normal business hours Monday through Friday and to allow all residents in the area to park other than during the day- time hours and to park there all week- endst RHP, Inc maintaining it and keeping it in good condition at all times. Let me just in conclusion cite one case whish is a court of appeals case decided July of 1968 Jayne Estates against Rayner and it' s the discussion that' s interesting. They talk about vested rights not being required where one builds a reliance on an invalid permit of course ours was valid, but the court of appeals went on to say this and it' s important: "It is beyond the exigencies of the situation to say that expenditure cannot be considered on an application for a variance if the property owner has i _33_ acted in good faith. Further, the court said where the owners seek a variance he is in effect only arguing that there is no way for him to recover his loss under existing zoning but also that his proposed use will not be inconsistent with existing uses and the danger to the existing zoning scheme will be mini- mized. The court continued, a strictly applied good faith test should be suf- ficient to deal with the problem." And then cited other cases. I would also like to point out that this Board has had before it the CO-OF case several years ago which is very similar and in my opinion on all fours with this case which was decided in favor of the ap- plicant unanimously by that Zoning Board of Appeals. ITHE CHAIR: ', Are there any questions that members of the Board would like to direct at Mr. Williamson? None. Are there any of those present here who would like to speak on behalf of the petition? ANCY FALCONER: I am Nancy Falconer and I own 315 South Aurora Street, 230 Pleasant Street and I live at 105 Hudson Street. I dial not sign the petition, I didn't know of the petition at the time but I did want to speak in favor of it. Just living in the area is a hardship as far as parking goes; I have my own place but I constant y -34- find it occupied by other people who drop in and I have to go up to Terrace -Hill to park myself. I really don't se what is to be gained by not granting the variance to RHP. I think it would be really an advantage to the neighborhood. HOWARD SCHLIEDER: My name is Howard Schlieder and i live at 511 Linn Street and my title is City Engineer in the City of Ithaca. I am ` ncu concerned tonight with zoning i problems, my major problem in my job is to handle the traffic and street problems and Prospect Street has been one of our biggest and most difficult parking and f traffic problems in the City of Ithaca. The street is 22' wide and we have houses on both sides and driveways on both sides and cars find difficulty in backing out of their driveway for the car parked on the other side. Several years ago we reversed the direction of that one-way street to try an experiment to see if we could handle traffic better in that neighborhood. In fact we went through an experimental process this last year on the streets of Columbia, Pleasant and Prospect to try to regulate u and help the flow of traffic through the area. With all of this Prospect Street has been one street in which we have had a steady flow of complaints, they j park to close to my curb cut, they park across the way from my curb cut, I don't have no room to get in my property, and -35- we have been up there as short ago as three months. Streets are primarily for the movement of the general public from place to place. By custom short term temporary storage of vehicles is allowed during the visit of a citizen to the adjacent properties. Our City l Ordinances recognize this practice. u These Ordinances, however, strictly favor tt.e movement of vehicles and impose strictly controlled on parking. At one time overnight on-street parking was prohibited completely throughout the entire city. With the arrival of the automobile and the recognition of the problemthat we do have more automo- biles than we have space to park them alternate side, overnight parking plans were devised as an Ordinance in Sec. 15145. The alternate side plan isJW admittedly a cop-out to the overall problem of parking in the City of Ithaca We just don't have the place to park cars. What does a 19th Century designed city do with 20th Century demand for living, parking and traffic. One of the major solutions which I think has been in the back of my mind are vest-pocket i parking areas like the one before you tonight. It should be built in every corner of the city. Parking, unfortunat - ly is restricted in Collegetown, the Bryant track, downtown, on any owe: street and on south hill. And if I can quote -36- problems, Turner Place has been a major bone of contention for parking, we put in 24 hour parking, we put in 2 hour parking, we put in limited parking of all types in order to try to satisfy the, ldemand for parking in the area. When p this proposal came about which bordered on the business district, and mind you one of the neighbors to this lot is a business zone, I thought that this would be a excellent solution, or the start of an excellent solution, to a major problem; in fact, this should be just one of many such parks developed for the use of the area around it. I came tonight purposely with this note in mind to exprs3s my pleasure and approval at this sort of development and I feel that you people should look to the idea that we are mobile by automobile only, we do not have mass transportation suf- ficient from any portion of this country to any other portion of this country and the automobile is here to day and we have got to make provisions for it. KASPRZAK: Mr. Schlieder, could you please tell me how the 20 parking spaces of commercial nature in a residential zone will alle- viate the problem of parking in the south hill area or Prospect Street itself? SCHLIEDER: There are 20 less cars on Prospect Street at any time; if there were 20 parking places on Pleasant Street, and on Columbia Street, there would be 20 less i -37- there too, we need them all over; I was just confronted this very morning with a major problem that we have on Sundays and probably two nights a week because a church on Hudson Street dumps some 200 cars in the neighborhood for their services. What do I do about it, I have but no way,Ato prohibit them from parking on street because they block areas. HARVEY R'UMSEY: I am Harvey Rumsey and I own the property at 203 Prospect Street. I have heard a lot of complaints about that, I've lived there over 30 years and they say with that house being down now it enhances' the view up the street, by golly it' s much better: with the house gone and if you do not allow Mr. Park to use this now as he has suggested, who is going to take it over the city. You people have enough to do without running another parking lot. Mr. Park will make it a nice beautiful spot I'm sure, look at the rest of his property. Aside from that I guess I have nothing more to say only that I am very much in Favor of Mr. Park being permitted to use this, and as to the number of cars, as Mr. Schlieder said, every morning there is 13 to 20 odd 'cars in there they're even taking their leisure time and just driving into Mr. Parks' barn and by golly if they drove in my car garage just because it' s open I'd raise the devil about it. And I might say one other thing ften you i i -38- speak about paying, I won' t quote any names but one of my neighbors told me one day that he has this parking space and one of the students said I'd like to rent a space, he says yes you may have it at $10 a month, no takers. THE CHAIR: Are there anymore speakers in behalf of the petition? None. Any one who would like to speak in opposition? ARTIE VAN TIENHWEN: My name is Artie VanTienhoven and I live at 9 Hudson Street and I represent the South Hill Civic Association of which I am president. On behalf of the South Hill Civic kssociation I urge you not to grant the variance which has been asked for by RHP, Inc. If I later refer to Parks, I refer to the corporation and not to Mr, Parks personally. When I refer to Mr. Burns I do this with respect to his function as vice-presiders of MP, Inc. and not to Mr. Burns per- sonally. The grounds which I use to make this request not to grant the . variance are as follows: In the first place legal grounds. The difficulties in which RHP, and Mr. Burns find them- selves are the results of not under- standing the Zoning Ordinance, I want to recall to you that on a previou' _ occasion when I talked to you about this, I pointed out that the Zoning Ordinance was written in plain English, so plain n and clear that I whose native language is not English and I who have no legal training, could understand it, and unde stand it correctly as your Board and G the Planning Board have confirmed by their previous actions. We wish to poin out that the Planning Board did not wish to send a recommendation to you at-,this time because the parking lot is already there and it now is a matter of Legality but the Planning Board also emphasized the importance of the explicitness =F the Zoning Ordinance with respect to neighborhood parking Lots. The second ground is hardship. It is our under- standing ti_at a variance may be granted if the petitioner can show hardship, we wish to draw your attention to several aspects: In the first place, RHP is in Usituation they are in because they followed the advice given by city offi- cials. This advice was erroneous and may reflect upon the competence of these officials. However, nothing prevented Parks from reading the Zoning Ordinance themselves or from obtaining competent advise, in other words the trouble of u RHP is their own making. We want you to distinguish between a hardship and a financial loss. These are not synony- mous in spite of what Mr. Gallagher said. Any business may make mistakes and sustains financial losses and it would be nice for businesses to be I ..too.. bailed out every time such a loss oc- curred. . It is difficult for us to imagine that RHP would go bankrupt if the variance were not granted. In ad- dition, there are several alternate solutions for RHPt for instance, they could donate the lot to the city to make a small neighborhood park, I mean a green area, such a gift can probably be written off for tax purposes# or they can# as you havepointed out, main- tain it as a neighborhood parking lot and they can charge for it which would at least partly diminish the losses and probably make a gain for them# finally the main point is that the variance even if it removed the hard- ship from Parks and I reiterate that we do not believe that, it would make it l a harftip for the residents and the property owners of south hill. Let me outline these hardships. In the first place it would be another step in the erosion of a residential areaq anther encroachment by a commercial torte on a I residential areas such encroachments almost always mean a loss of property values. fir. Burns, and to a certain extent Dir. Gallagher, have argued that the parking lot is a matter of fact increase property values We argue the contrary. Now who is right. One way to settle this would be to take the arguement and to carry it to its i I I -41- ridiculous extremes. If you follow Mr. Burns or Mr. Gallaghers arguements and if you follow that another Udit oral parking lot would increase property values, and I think this has been hints at by one of the former speakers. if I this is sothen more houses would be built, especially multiple dwellings, because there would be more parking lotse this would mean we would have to tear more houses down because we need more parking lots, etc. until south hill consists only of parking leas and multiple dwellings. MY question is, is it still a residential area. If you follow our argaements to its extreme you end up with a parking lot that can- not be used by anyone which may be bad but I don't think itlb ridiculous. Another hardship for the neighborhood Is that the use of this parking lot will contribute to more congestion in an already dangerous area and especially about 51001, 4e30 and so forth. ,All kinds of promises have been made that this parking lot could be used by the neighbfts and I'm perfectly willing to accept the statements by Mr. Burns or by Mr. Williamson# however, the variance goes with the lot and eventually it may very well be that RHP sella the lot to somebody else and then it is entirely up in the air whether that parking lot can be used by the neighbors. Another -42- ground might be repercussions for the cityo I read in the paper that RHP, Inc probably will sue the city. we want to point out that this should not be a consideration for you because the city, it would not mean an increase in taxes for all the tax payers, because the oil Is covered by insurance. They petitions that have been submitted to you# the first set of petitions was so clearly self-servant that I don*t even want to discuss them, it is clearly for the people who Ott a parking lot to their advantage to have additional parking, regardless of therepercussions for the property owners on south hill. I think that the people who lives in the area of the parking lot who have signed the petition probably did so in good faith, I think it was short-sighted, I think that this :'ful4illa an immediate need but it forgets what will happen to the whole area of south hill# which I have already pointed out to you. The area of the fairly complete, we are of the opinion that RHP uses the area of the fatly t;omplet* as an arguement in favor Of Ming the variance and I think Mr. Williamson more or lose pointed that out and also the agaruem+ent that Mr. Gallagher ,gave you now that it isa fairlir complete it would cost so much to build something else theare# as if that were the Only thing that could be built there .r43. It is our opinion that this is one of the weakest arguements that can be used and Jjh addition it is a dangerous argue ment. For many of us it would be trans Uted'"' follows a If you can one way or another do something illegal and then plead it is a fairly complete and then you plead a hardship and you can then get it granted then you can continue for ever and ever, especially if you c hire the expensive attorneys. Finally I want to use the arguement of a slice of salami.. We urge you to look at this problem with the man who has a huge salami, somebody puts it on a slicing machine and takes a little Slice and the owner doesn't want to say anything because after all he has the huge salami and it's only a small slice, but then pretty Boron a second man comes around and he also wants a slice but now he can't say anything because there is a precedent, healready let the first guy have that little slice. Well you can see ghat pretty soon happens# the salami is gone and he has northing left. I don't have to drag you a picture of this but the same thing would happen if you granted this variance, the same thing would happen with respect to south hill. Finally I Just want to be very old fashioned and i want to involve the golden rule, l want to ask you and I would like to ask lir. Parks, and here Y { I .» 44. am personal, how they would feel if this parking lot was in their back yard. { So:..-on the basis of all this evidence, In the first place that there were legal grounds which the applicant could have known for not building a parking lot. Secondly for pleading hardship when he i confuses hardship with financial lose, and finally for the damage that it does to the neighborhood and probably will do to the neighborhood bath from an oeonomic point of view and from a p,+,int pf view of traffic congestion and danger for children that have to go to school, I urge you to reject the variance. MR. VAN MARTERt Gould you describe to us what hardship means to you as defined in the Zoning Ordinance? MR. VAIN TILNHOYEN: Yes, a hardth�p to me would be, if for instance samebodles very livelihood would be .n danger, in ether words, if they couldilt possibly live under this condition and ig ;,here was no other solution for this particular problem, I think I have outlined to you that there are at least two other possibilities, one is that they donate this lot as a green area which I think they can probab y write off as a tax lovas, and the other one is that they really use it in conformity with the rule's and that is that they use it as a neighborhood park. ing lot and they can charge $15 or what. ever it is that .the need to Y get their ..45.. Investment bock. I think if it was really a matter for RHP they either go broke or they gat this parking lot then S think We a hardohip• To just take a mistake and then say well we made this mistake and-made a bad investment and now somebody has to bail us out, good grief if everybody could come to u some governmental agency to bail you out where you made a. financial judgernen that was wrong, I think a, lot of people probably would came to you because they made losses on the stack market. MR. VAN MARTEM I would like to mention that our purvie dues not at all cover the wade range which you have described, this Board is charged with looking only at the hard• ship as it relatda to the land and building. No personalities, no corpora tions, anything. Entirely different th= the lescription which you have given us; we cannot entertain those kin of things, we cannot judge on it, the 'hd9dmMtt is based on the hardship of the land and the building as it did exist. .VAN TIENHQVENt But if that's true and I wasn't aware Of that, shouldn't that betaken into account then at the time that the former structure was still on the premises and then I think that Mr. Gallagher has give you the answer. 4N ZAAHARISs ley name is Leon Zaharis and I live at 412 South Aurora Street. I would like to ask the Board a question if I could. t �� x t c i t ` �./ C t I .46. THE CHAIRS You can ask any question, whether you'll gat an answer I can't promise you. MR. ZAHARIS: What is something like this going to do to the next Baan, now I know a man that says well my wife can have her beauty shop in our home# this is next door. One other things this allows anybody that has property to open it to a park- ing lot, you have gone from a residentigl zone to a business zone and no one else on that block would have protection by the Zoning Board, anybody could put in anything they wanted. Another thing is that you are going from an R-3 and my understanding is that it is to be an R-►2 zone scheduled under the new Ordinance. THE CHAIR# It is R-3 under the currently enforced Zoning Ordinance# the Ordinance adapted by Council but not yet in effect and not in effect until it's published whic has not occurred would make it, as I understand, R-2f although that's subject to amendment or whatever else might happen in the interim. MR. ZARARISs They aren't looking ahead then when something like this happens and what*s going to happen in the futures I mean if they have already got this scheduled as R--3 and then R-2 later on they're going to just destroy the whole system right there before they start. I am really concerned about the protection the rest of the people have with putting lot in that's geeing to be used for the I .,4"j 0. benefit of a B-1 none, they have no protection at all. MARTLYN NORTONs Myr name is Marilyn Norton and I live at 207 South Hill Terrace. an a personal. basis I find this very threatening be. i cause I live one block from Roy Parks Terrace Hill offices and one block from Morse Chain and our streets are very congested and the house next door to me is up forsale and I can just see the same sort of thing happening there and we live on a very nice, strong neighbor• hood street. I am also here speaking as president of the South Hill PTA and the officers of South Hill PTA wanted to go on record as opposing the granting of this request for a variance. when family residences are razed for parking lets or subdivided for student rooming houses our school loses population and when we lose students we lose teachers and the flexibility and choices for parents and we also lose programs. we i are also concerned with the additional safety hazard created for pedestrians especially children by the creation of parking bots in residential areas. CAROL BONNICHSBN: qty name is Carol. Bonn chsen and I live at 507 Turner Place. I have a couple of questions that I wish would be i answered# they have some what to do with the question of hardship, before you consider hardship you have to think what was the intent of this property and why did It come to a case of ha 0hi.p. May I ask somebody a question. . Burns# you stated that you met with the Building Commi,ssioner, the Mayorp the Planning Director# the Assistant Manning Director to get the building permit# is that correct? IMR. BURNSs Yes. MRS. BONNICHSEN# You stated that you went to get a build- Ing permit, can you tell me what date that was? MR. BURNSs That was on the 25th of October. BONNICHSEN# 1.9734 . BURNS# Right. BCNNICHSENt At this time did you go to the building to ,get a building permit or were you called to the office? BURNS* I wont to the office. RS. IONNICHSENt Did you go to the office at your initial tion or did you receive a call to come to the office? BURNSs That day? BONNICHSEN# Yes. BURNSs No I went to the office on my own. . B€?NNICHSENi while you were at that office during that meeting did you sign a letter? L...- BURNS# Yes. BQNNICHSEN s Fid you introduce]as evidence? BURNS Did I ton ht? IRS. BONNICHSEN# Yes. . BURNS# No. [RS. BONNICHSEN# Is that around, could that be introduced as evidence? }iE CHAIRt Do you want to make your point about the letter? i �49,. QRS. BONNICISENt I just want to make a point that when you're deliberating this case I want you to take into account the full."prior.: :. history before Irou decide the questions can whether or not there is a hardship. I want you to take nate of the fact when the Building Permit was applied 1 for# when the letter of Intent was signed, were these at one and the same time, think about the time relationship there and read exactly what it says in the letter. THE CXkXR s Reads letter from Building Commissioner Janes to RHP# Inc. , a copy, of the same is attached herewith. MR.S. B€INNICNSENs Mr. Burns was this letter typed while you were in the office? MR. BURNSr It was handed to me. MRS. BaNNICHSENr It is very coincidental that it was written on the 25th and you went up there on the 25th. MR.. BURNS The building was down at that point and that*s when I went to apply for the building permit for the parking lot. BONNICISEN# Did you talk to the Mayor on the 23rd# the 24th or the 25th about this or the Building Commissioner? . BURNS I did not. W. BONNICHSENs Did you talk to Mrs. Anne Jones? i . BURNS= No. WRS. BONNICHSENt You had no idea of the fact that the people had brought the issue before the Planning Committee of the City of Ithaca . BURNS a On the 25th? r.50— MRS. BONNICHSENs On the 23rd, on October 23rd? MR.- BURNS it No# I had no idea of this« You had g+on to the Planning Board on the 23rd bei. fore I had my permit? MRS. BONNICESENs Yes. MR. BURNSs No, I had no idea. MRS. BONNICHSBNt The Mayor did not mention this to you? MR. BURNSu He did not. MRS. BONNICHSENt Do you understand what the term means all users shall have access at all timeg? MND. BURNS# Let -me just clarify this, it was the interpretation of the Planning D9irector# the Building; Commnfi.ssioner, the Assistant Planning Director and the City Attorney that there was, there could be a comms ci,al use of the property and they said this area was sort of fuzzy and so when that statement was given to me to sign I did question either No. 2 or 3 and I said this will allow me to use the, parking lot during the business hours and let the neighbors use it at night and on weekends and I was assured that this would and that's why I signed it. BONNICHSEN# Roes the neighbor have equal access to the lot at all times If he can only have it at night? BURNS ss No. SONNICHSEN t Well you understood this. . BU'RNS sr I understood that our people could use it during the business hours and the neighborhood people could ase it at night and weekends. MRS, BONNICHSEN& Well I would just like to say that I thin* that this is a self-imposed hard ship, and I oppose the granting of this variance and I oppose it as a citizen and a resident of the area. VIRGINIA LRONARM My name is Virgi& Leonard and I live at 501 Turner Place and I would like to add my opposition to the granting of the variance on the grounds that we have quite a lot of business conges- tion already in this area and I think we tend to encourage that kind of thing, about the congested parking on Turner Place I might paint out that it is not the residents cars that are causing parking problems it's the employees of Morse Chain that are causing problems on Turner Place and I'm not sure that aEf._to what the situation might be on Prospect Street but 2 wonder if it isn't scm' ewhat similar. BILL BONNICHSEN# MW name is Bill Bonnichsen and I live at 507 Ferner Places I would like to add my name as one of these in opposition to the granting of this variance tonight FLORBNGE FINCH► My name Is Florence ?inch# I own property at 519-521 Hudson Street having lived there 17 years and I oppose the variance N JACKSONt I am Helen Jackson and I own property on Prospect Street# I find it almost impossible to get dorm across aurora Street at certain hours of the daffy and to throw in 24 more Gars I don6t know how it can possibly be done. G ILEO GEORGIOU# My name is Leo Georgi.ou and I live at 601 Hudson Street, I want to go on record ascpposing the granting of this variance# I would like to ask the Board { of Zoning Appeals what would happen I If tsar. Parks or someone else, or say he sold the property to someone ease and they buy the adjacent property and tear .... it down would they grant a larger park• ing area there, the city would lose tax money. 1 don*t think they would ,het the money in taxes in a parking are as they would from a property. BOB NIBLOCKc I am Bob Niblock and I live at 325 Hillview Place and I oppose it. IELSIE HAYNESs I am Elsie Haynes and I live on South Aurora Street about two blocks from the Agway property and also want to go on record asapposing It and wonder why a tax payer who has been there for 35 years wasn't asked to sign any petitions and never contacted concerning this but a tenant I have who has lived there one month has signed the petition in favor of this. VII ] ULLERt I an David Puller, I live at 316 Turner Place and I would like to have this variance request rejected, I would like to address a couple of remarks. the City Engineer has indicated that the need for some parking facilities in the area of south h .11f I think the problem is if we Increase IndustrW and commercial parking are we heaping the residents in E� -53- there ,gain parking, I suspect in the course of time we would help them be. cause they wouldn•t be there. Another aspect of this Is hardajp# as I under. stand it the Zoning Ordinances are directed toward trying to protect the interests of the people in the eommun by establishing the nature of .what can be done in that area and that when you take some sort of action in that com- munity it is wise to find out what l you can do, or if you don't you may suffer some sort of hardship. There may be hardships coming to people who own homes in the area. I suspect the question of hardship is if 50 people living in that area had invested one to five thousand dollars over the last few ye in the improvement of their property how much is the grand total that is that is threatened in this case. south Hill Civic Association, of which I am vice-president* has I think $20 in its budget which limits the amount of legal advice and counsel we can obtain. We do not have a petition of any sort, with �... your permission there are some people who are a little shy Of coming up before a microphone I would like to ask those who would like to make a standing pati. tion against this variance if they could Please stand. MRSHALL DOWNEYt I am Marshall Downey of 321 Pleasant Street and I oppose it. 1 -54. J NNE J©NMt Ll name is Anne Jones and I live at 02 Turner dace and I would like to make it very clear that although my remarks will be construed again I am not taking any position at this time in view of the fact that this may well ,jeopardize any further even legislative action by the city or any legal action relative to this case* it is inap. proprate for me to take a positions however, my position as a representative of the residents on south hill, it really is incumbent upon to me to conve to this Board that all the opinions expressed by my constituents indicate an overwhelming feeling which is agains granting this variance and a. request that a strict enforcement of the Zoning Ordinance be adhered to. THE CWRs Does that conclude then the remarks of those who want to speak on this case? No more to speak. If sq, a:ccord3mg to our procedure we will move on to the next case. 1 EXECUTIVE SUSION, BOARD OF ZONI14G "PEALS# CITY OF ITHACA* LARCH 4, 1974 AUJQ Na, 12281 MR. MARTINI I move a denial of the proposed vari. ance. MR. QASTRIGERe I second that. FINDINGS OP FACT: 1) Arw special circumstances or unique conditions making it impossible to obtain a reasonable return from this property appear to be a result of actions taken by the petitioner whether or not encouraged by city officialst such actions contemplate► ing a use not authorised by the Zoning Ordinance do not, in our vie Justify a variances 2) The possibility of using the property for a neighborhood parking area was not considered as is by the expert testifying on the possibility of achieving a reasonable return on the property as is for a use permit- ted by the Zoning Ordinances 3) There was substantial evidence that the use requested would pose problema of traffic safety and impose other harms on the surrounding neighborhooll. QTR a YES » 4 NO - 1 -55- BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA, CITY HALL, ITHACA. NEW YORK, MARCH 4, 1974 i.11111�riMM+IPA/1WifM M111riY1M.MjU1►wir�IIKMr MtNYi�1.MIlY.�iY�MiiMi MSM"'M��k'�'M{IsM'nM4li.4M�iifiMY 4WU i.IbiilYyii W111.M Commissioner Jones lists what case No. 1039 is to be. APPEAL N2. 10390 The Appeal of Sidney Saltzman for an exception under Sanction 7, Columns 7 & 8 at 112 Delaware Avenue in an R-1 zone. SIDNEY SALTZMANt Nay name is Sidney Saltzman, I liveat 112 Delaware Avenue and I don't have any additional remarks to make other than what is in the petition for the variance. I would just hire to spend two minutes summarizing and then respond to any questions you may have. I would like to point out that the character of our neighborhood is already a very mixed one, we have rental units on both sides of our house at 1.12 Delaware Ave. and rental units across the street, there are other mental units on Delaware Avenue within the same zone as the houses I live in. The composition of the neighborhood, there are young families with youngchildren, families with older children# college students renting aparl. meats there and retired people all livirg on the same street. What we are asking permission to do would not change the character of that neighborhood one bits, it isn't at all, I don't believe, like the previous case that you just had the hearing about. If we do get permission to put the apartment in and go ahead an do that, you won't be able to tell from the front of the house or either one of the sides of the house that in fact there I f .•56.• is an apartment in the basement. The entrance to the basement would be in the back yard. The final point is that we in fact can provide off-street parking since we have a driveway that can take at least two care and we only have one car in the family now. with respect to need for the variance, what we are trying to do is to plan for a situation that may well arise in the near future In terms of apartment for either my wifes parents or my mother before the costs become prohibited for us to do so if that didn't work as an alternative we would provide a place for our children to live while they were in college or working in Ithaca if they chose to do so and only if neither one of those two conditions existed wouldve rent out the apartment. As we indicate in the peti.. tione we live in that house„ we have lived there for 15 years# we have been very active in terms of trying to main• tain the character of the neighborhood, we like it, we appreciate it the way it is and we would only rent the house to people who would not detract from the neighborhood. I think the next statement will be an accurate one although I don't know for sure I don't think there is any opposition from anybody in the neighbor. hood to our doing this, we circulated a notice about the meeting according to la as Mr. Jones explained to us and we di& cussed this with our immediate neighbors .i en and nobody seems to oppose our request. MR. VAN DARTER: You .have less than 1/3 of the required lot sine, in granting an exception there i are measurements of degrees and this looks quite excessive on paper= are there anythings about the shape of the lot or the house design that might make this different from some other property that is adjacent? MR. SALTZMANw Not that I know of$ S guess the point I would like to mare is that as Z under-. stand it the existing Zoning Law was passed after all of those buildings were built and it was essentially set at 15,400 square feet, if that neighbor hood tried to abide by the existing Zoning Laws there would be virtually, all of the houoes on the block would have to be torn down because they're al approximately 4#400 square feet in area. MR. GASTEIGERs Other apartments have been added since the current zoning? MR. SALTZMAN# I don't know when they were added in relation to the existing zoning, when we moved into the neighborhood a number of years ago these apartments dial in fact exist, but what they werep were essentially a one-family house that had been made over. �p �`tea �7�y BIR. KASPRZAKt How longhave you .. lived.,in this house? MR. SALTZMANe 15 years. MR. KASPRZAKs How come you did not wish to convert this before? i ..58,. MR. SALTZMANt Well we have talked about it for a while but the question of our parents age wasn't as pressing as it is at the moment. There was also a financial question in terms of our ability to do so. THE CHAIR: Any other questions from the Hoard? None. Is there anyone else to speak in favor of this appeal? i Is there anyone wishing to speak in opposition? There is one letter, a copy of the same is attached herewith. We will now go to the next case. L EXECUTIVE SESSION* BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA* MARCH � 4* 1974 AP,P.W NO. 10393 MR. MARTIN: I move that we deny the requested ex. ception. MR. KASPRZAK& I second that. FIppims OF FACT i 1) There is a large discrepancy between the lot size required for the _addi- tional- unit and the actual lot size so it is hard to say that AV grant ing the exception would be consistent with the Zoning Ordinance) 2) There was no showing that there were deficiencies or problems peculiar to this lot making compliance with the Ordinance unreasonable, VOTES YES - 5 NO - O I -59- BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA, CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK, MARCH 4, 1974 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Commissioner Jones lists what case No. 1040 is to be. APPEAL NO. 1040: The Appeal of First & Adams Inc. for an exception under Section 7, Columns 14 & 16; Section 9, Sub-section f, at 200 Hancock Street in a B-2 zone. ANTHONY CERACCHE: At a recent meeting approximately a i month ago we did request an exception to build- an expanded building which woul be a replacement for one that was burnt out approximately five years ago, an A&P store. At that time we came to you and asked to be able to rebuild this store except at a slightly greatersize which is a trend now days and this is what these companies now require and the Board was kind enough to grant us this exception that we required but there was a condition imposed which when it was made known to prospective tenants, it was gust an impossibility as far as the building being able to properly be used due to the fact that there could be no deliveries made on the Adams Street side and I'm here this evening hoping that you can reconsider the matter and make another determination as to whether or not this condition could be deleted from the other exception that was grante at the last meeting. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Could you exphin what the nature of the deliveries that will be made on Adams Street if the condition is removed? -60- MR. CERACCHE: Well the nature of the deliveries would be identical to what occurred on that street when the previous store was they before the fire and this would consist of all kinds of vehicles, I'm sure some of them might be tractor trailer trucks but it would be no different than prior to the fire. In other words we weren't really requesting a change in the loadin and unloading from the way it was before the fire. The street that these deliv- eries would be made on, this particular street has practically a zero traffic count. The street runs from Adams to Lake Street, rather it runs right angles to First and Lake Street, but it really goes nowhere, there is no homes on either I� side of it, at the present time it' s two vacant lots and the one vacant lot is where the previous A&P store used to be. If the Board sees it fit to grant this request that' s being made now there will be a new store on that site this year. We have looked into the availability of materials and we talked to the parties that are ready to sign a lease with us and we can provide that area with a new store before the end of this year if that' s the desire of the Board and I do feel it' s something that the area resi- dents do desire and it' s a need; it' s sometYing that existed until they had a disasterous fire. Good building sites in the City of Ithaca are very hard to find for that type of purpose. The ` -bl- factthat it, the radius that it would ` cover as far as services it would have to offer to the residents in the city are such that in this day when there is an energy crisis, here is a case where people can walk and do their shopping or drive maybe a mile or less and have access to a full service facility which really isn' t available in that area. MR. KASPRLAK: Since the petition has a letter included with it and it does single out my name in it, I would like to ask one question and that is that the evidence will show that at the last hearing the question had been asked of the petitioner where the deliveries will be made and he specifically answered they will be made on the east side of the building, why now this big to do about restrictions that had no original meaning with you at all? W. CERACCHE: Actually that was the lack of sufficient information of the part of Mr. Petito, the only reason he' s not here tonight is he is ill otherwise he would be here, but after your meeting he did get together with the people from A&P and they stated that they had always used Adams Street to do all their loading and unloading and that' s the way it had to be and so this is why we came back to you. GASTEIGER: Vfiat is the use then of the space along Lake Street which was represented as the i� -62- loading space? MR. CERACCHE: Actually it' s just an open area, I don' really know what it' s going to be used for. What the purpose of that is for i I don't really know and that I can' t answer. DOMINIC ROSICA: My name is Dominic Rosica and I live right straight across from the A&P and that area there along the Lake Street side was used for the meat trucks to bring in their meat. As far as tractor trailers, they came in at two o' clock in the morning right in the A&P lot and that' s what they used, they unloaded right there in the A&P lot. MR. CERACCHE: We need this on Adams Street because of the fact that we, since then we have received more detailed plans from A&P and they have also instructed us and told us that with that condition they are not interested. JOSEPH GALLAGHER: The lease arrangement I think is in Jeopardy if this exception is not grante . I think I can speak with a certain amoun of authority about it, I think everybody should be aware that we tried for many years to find a purchaser for that lot and it stood empty for a long time. It was detrimental to the area I thought and now we do have a chance to put the same A&P back with the same loading platform although it' s not identical because the new store is larger. I want -63- to speak, I know it isn't time to speak in favor of, but as long as I'm here I want to warn you that it could jeop- ardize his lease. MR. CERACCHE: Actually it was Mr. Petito that had been informed by the A&P Co. that they require that street for unloading. Now to what degree they're going to unload there, I don' t know but he has been told that we cannot enter into a lease arrangement with them with that condition so this is where we stand. In the mean while we have checked with suppliers and told them that we may be able to proceed this spring but we are not committed to any- body at the present time but we do know that if we do not have this condition where loading cannot occur on Adams Street we will have a valid lease and we will be able to build this year. This I can assure this Board if that' s what the Board so thinks that this is what the area should have and I haven' t heard of any area residents opposing it as you meet various people in that area they are all just waiting to see it happen. It is a site which really doesn' t have any real practical purpose it isn' t a site where anybody is going to build homes on it, this is certainly putting the site to a very good use and a necessary use where the public is really going to benefit from it and it' s ( _6._ i something the city no longer has and they did have a few years ago, now you have to go out into Lansing to do business with the same company which certainly many people do go to and do business there. I hope to be able to bring this back into the city. MRS. HOLMAN: Are these the final plans? MR. CERACCHE: We have a plan that is really a final plan lan and the way it has to be positioned on that site, they do have doors for receiving deliveries on the Adams Street side. Now this plan is not one that was designed specifically for Ithaca, it' s one that they have found very suitable and satisfactory else where and normally these A&P stores are built in large enough open areas where they can hand this plan to a developer and that' s the way it gets built and this is the way they want it, they know it' s a proven plan, they've worked with it, it' s proven itself as far as being suitable for their use and this is reall what they want and for us to ask them to redesign it with a different traffic pattern and so forth so that the deliveries could come from another direction they really aren' t that interested. In fact they haven' t been interested until just recently in re- locating on that site. Now after the fire they expanded their other store up i -65- at Triphammer and that' s the way things i have been and now they feel that they: i would like to relocate again in the ciNy and we have a lot that' s been sitting there and we hope to make use of it for that matter and we hope the Board feels that it' s a good use and proper use for it and that our request is reasonable and also meets the requirements that it has to meet as far 'as the Zoning Board is concerned. MR. VAN MARTER: I have a work sheet that shows an 8' rear yard, is that correct? MR. CERACCHE: I believe so yes. MR. VAN MARTER: Did we have that information last time? MR. CERACCHE: Yes. It' s the same back foundation wall that was there before and they also did I their loading and unloading on that rear side before and it' s really one of the best streets in Ithaca to partially block maybe when it comes to loading or unloading compared to other streets especially when there is no traffic on it really at all. It isn' t that we are creating #any kind of a problem and certainly the building is going to con- tribute to the area, so if the city street is being partially blocked for unloading the property is certainly paying its share of taxes to off-set whatever costs it might be to the city, so it isn't that the property is unfairl� using the public property. .i � -66- MR. GASTEIGER: You designated a platform at that side where you want to load, how wide is that? MR. CERACCHE: I'm not really sure, it' s really the same as what they had before, actually all that would really be I believe is pretty much just a slab of concrete with the rear doors right at that point, now whether it has to be raised or not I don' t know but it would be really identical to what was there before. The only thing we are really doing there compared to what was there before the fire is to expand the number of square feet of the building in order to permit for a larger variety of items that are now currently available in these stores compared to. a few years ago, a few years ago they didn' t have the selection of goods that are now available and it take this many square feet to do a proper Job, at least that' s what A&P thinks and this is what they want and if this was only a much larger site maybe outside the city there would be no problem but when you are on a physically limited site of this nature there is a problem. E CHAIR: Are there any further questions by the Board? None. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak in favor of this petition? OMINIC ROSICA: As far as traffic is concerned on the Adams Street side there you can count -67- them on one hand how many cars go throug there in a week because I face it every day, six days a week and you hardly ever see a car through there. Once in a while you get a hot-rodder going up through there but that' s about all. LOUIS HORVATH: I am Louis Horvath of 318 Lake Avenue. 1hy just a block away from there the �..r Victory Market uses Adams Street to unload and that' s just a block away from there. The A&P always used to get their produce on Adams Street. HARRY BORTZ: I am Harry Bortz of 110 Lake Avenue and I'm in favor of granting this to the A&P store and the one factor that may have been overlooked is the fact that the public housing which now exist on Third Street, so when you come in off of 13 you have to go by the public housing which houses children of course on to Hancock and up Hancock so there i are the two alternatives and of the two alternatives it would seem that Adams Street would be the logical and the safest for all concerned. MR. GALLAGHER: Now that the time is appropriate, I woul like to go down as being in favor of it. MARY LOIS TOUNTASAKIS: I am Mary Lois Tountasakis and I live at 411 Willow Avenue which is directly across from where the loading platform would be across the creek and I'm con- cerned about the additional noise there might be from these large trucks backing it _6g_ in and out and making the turns at two o' clock in the morning trying to get on Lake Avenue rather than on Adams which seems like it would be an easier place to get at. The people there say there was no problem before but they're all assuming it will be like it was before and I don' t think the people all along ^tillow ,'venue really understand situation. EARL ANDREWS: I am -arl Andrews of 601 Turner Place and I would like to speak in support of it as a shopper of A&P. I don't know how many times I've heard the wife say I wish the A&P was still down on Hancock. FRED HOLTHAM: I am Fred Holtham of 313 1t1illow Avenue and I would like to speak in support of this appeal. THE CHAIR: Are there anymore speakers in support of this appeal? None. Is there anyone who wishes to speak in opposition? None. That concludes the public hearing and the Board is now going to go into executive session. EXECUTIVE SESSION, BOARD OF 4:ONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA, MARCH 4, 1974 !APPEAL NO. 1040: MR. MARTIN: I move that upon reconsidering and upon receipt of additional information, the action taken at our last meeting which was to grant the exceptions requested subject to a condition that there be no deliveries to the property from Adams Street; we have decided that the condi- tion is not necessary and therefore can be removed. MR. BODINE: I second that. FINDINGS OF FACT: 1) The market on this site before the fire received deliveries from Adams Street without apparent difficulty; 2) Testimony showed that Adams Street has little traffic and those residents testifying indicated that the con- templated deliveries would not like! create a problem. OTE: YES - 4 NO - 1 !I I I 1 C E R T I F I C A T I O N I DARLEEN F. LISK, DO CERTIFY that I took the minutes of the Board of Zoning Appeals, City of Ithaca, in the matters of Appeals No. 1038, 1039, and 1040 on March 4, 1974 at City Hall, City of Ithaca, New York; that I have transcribed the same and the fore- going is a true copy of the transcript of the minutes of the meet- ing and the executive session of the Board of Zoning Appeals, City of Ithaca, on the above date, and the whole thereof, to the best of my ability. barleen F. Lisk Senior Stenographer Sworn to before me this , L, -4 day of �' a-c 19� J k