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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-12-06 Town of Dryden Zoning Board of Appeals ' December 6" . 2005 Members Present : Chair Oers Kelemen , Tom Quinn , Paul Lutwak , David Sprout and John Goodrow Others Present : Applicants Thomas Cleland , Jeremy Stiles (Crown Construction , Contractor) Robert Ross , TC3 Foundation Sponsor, Henry Slater and Kristin Strickland Agenda; 1 ) Area Variance Cleland / Linster 2 ) TC - 3 Variance of Section 1401 . 1 (Off- street Parking) Cleland / Linster O . Kelemen : 7 : 39 pm the public hearing was opened by reading the legal notice . He then asked if the applicants were present and if there was anything they would like to add . T. Cleland Presented pictures showing what was proposed along with the closeness of the road and the slope of the land . J . Stiles Contractor for Crown Construction (Contractor for this project) . Explained the construction of the project to the Board . R . Marcus Requested more explanation . The reference to the steep bank, J . Stiles pointed out the slope of the land on a survey map . P . Lutwak According to the survey map the site is no further than the house or the porch? J . Stiles It is staying in line with the front of house where the brick chimney is . P . Lutwak In reading the survey it is 32 ' is actually to the front of the porch . O . Kelemen Are there any further questions? J . Goodrow Yes , 1 have a question based on the photos . There seems to be some railroad ties here and some gravel . Is this a typical parking arrangement for vehicles for the house as it is now? So the intent for the carport will give you a better parking area farther from the road . T . Cleland Yes O . Kelemen In the picture is what looks like the road is that the road? J . Stiles Yes T. Quinn In the area where the cars are currently parked will you then landscape that area? T . Cleland We will leave that as driveway . T _ Quinn Were there any neighbor response ? H . Slater No . 1 O . Kelemen Closed the public hearing and explained to the applicant the next process . 7 : 47 pm R. Marcus Brought to the Boards attention that he would have to excuse himself from the next public hearing for TC3 Foundation . Stating that he was the representative for TC3 . AREA VARIANCE APPLICANT : Cleland / Linster A. IN CONSIDERING WHETHER AN UNDESIRABLE CHANGE WOULD BE PRODUCED IN THE CHARACTER OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD OR DETRIMENT TO NEARBY PROPERTIES WILL BE CREATED BY GRANTING OF THE AREA VARIANCE THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS FINDS AS FOLLOWS . There are no negative comments in the record the neighborhood is sparsely populated . The proposed project would be no closer to the road than the existing structure . Motion : T . Quinn Second : J . Goodrow In Favor: 5 Be IN CONSIDERING WHETHER THE BENEFITS SOUGHT BY THE APPLICANT CAN BE ACHIEVED BY SOME OTHER METHOD , FEASIBLE FOR THE APPLICANT TO PURSUE, OTHER THAN AN AREA VARIANCE, THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS FINDS AS FOLLOWS : The location of the project within zoning would require significant alteration of the grade resulting in severe changes to the environment and substantial cost to the owner . Motion : T . Quinn Second : P . Lutwak In Favor : 5 Co IN CONSIDERING WHETHER THE REQUESTED AREA VARIANCE IS SUBSTANTIAL. THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS FINDS AS FOLLOWS : Yes , See A Motion : D . Sprout Second : J . Goodrow In Favor : 5 D . IN CONSIDERING WHETHER THE PROPOSED VARIANCE WILL HAVE AN ADVERSE EFFECT OR IMPACT ON THE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OR DISTRICT. THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS FINDS AS FOLLOWS . 2 The project will not result in an adverse impact see "A" Motion : D . Sprout Second : J . Goodrow In Favor: 5 E . IN CONSIDERING WHETHER THE ALLEGED DIFFICULTY WAS SELF- CREATED . THE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS FINDS AS FOLLOWS : Yes Motion : P . Lutwak Second : J . Goodrow In favor : 5 THIS VARIANCE IS AN EXEMPT/ NON-EXEMPT ACTION UNDER SEQR SECTION 617. 5 ( c ) 12 & 13 and 239 L&M Review Motion : Paul Lutwak Second : Thomas Quinn In Favor : 4 Opposed : 0 DECISION : VARIANCE GRANTED , as requested , Motion : David Sprout Second : Paul Lutwak In Favor : 5 R . Marcus excused himself from the next public hearing on the TC3 Foundation variance request . O . Kelemen asked the Board if they thought there should be some sort of Legal representation at the January Board meeting when the decision on the Public Hearing for the TC3 Foundation is rendered . The Board discussed the reason for legal representation and Henry Slater indicated that Attorney Mahlon Perkins could be present for the rendering of the decision if the Board requested so . It is the sense of the Board that we would like legal representation in the rendering of the Decision on the TC3 Foundation Variance and would Henry Slater, Town of Dryden Zoning Officer please see to it . TC3 Foundation / Variance request O . Kelemen Opened the public hearing by reading the legal notice published in the paper . ® B . Ross TC3 Foundation sponsor would like to put the project in perspective . 3 O . Kelemen Was there any public comment? ® H . Slater No . B . Ross Presented an aerial photograph to the Board to help the Board identify where the project is . Pointing out the exact area for construction and previous construction and parking . This project is off of Far View Drive and it is to create 3 Buildings and we are asking the Town to approve the entire site package . We will be seeking to put up this one building now and would like to start construction as soon as the final approvals are in place . The goal is to have this building ready for occupancy in mid. August 2006 . This road is fairly steep with 11 % grade , which gives you some idea of the terrain . This is the issue we are working with . We have to do a lot of cut and fill in here . We need to bring utilities with the sewer line being fairly lengthy. The reason why we are looking at this now is that the cost of developing the site is very high and eventually we will be spreading that cost over the 3 buildings . When the first building goes in we are trying to mitigate against cost on that one going in as much as possible . It is both the operation of cutting expenses and if we can save some money on that end of it as well as actual creation of the parking lot . The Topo map shows how much we really need to cut out of the hillside about 25 to 30 feet . What we propose to do is to excavate and establish grades for the creation of the first building and we are looking to establish parking in front of the building. When the other building is to go in (The second Phase) we would continue the excavation work . The third phase would be to put the final building in place and then there would be another parking lot formed . At that time we would have added 402 beds and 412 parking places . Which means we would have more than the 1 / 1 ratio that is required . At the present time our existing parking lots are nowhere near full . We ran through and did a census count at different times day and night for the purpose of an area that I provided you I used a high number of 227 vehicles parked in the parking lots which left over 70 empty parking spaces at the present time . When the first two student housing building was put up the Town approved a variance and we built one parking space for every two beds . The next to buildings we built at the 1 / 1 ratio . We are in about 54% of the number of beds in terms of actual utilization at the present time . We feel that our needs for this area could easily be met with the number of parking spaces at 84 represents 63 % of the capacity of the building we are running about 54% utilization rate at the present time . 4 If there is not enough space there is essentially 70 spaces in the lower parking lot available . O . Kelemen Is that the nearest overflow parking area available ? B . Ross Yes P . Lutwak That is pretty far away isn 't it? B . Ross They have to walk through that parking lot on their way to campus every day . P . Lutwak Why is it that the parking is so underutilized? B . Ross Not all the students have cars . P . Lutwak Being that this is a community college it seems a low. B . Ross The students here are the students who reside here . We are speaking strictly about the parking lots associated with the housing . The campus parking lots are a different area. As it is now we are meeting our demand with parking lots 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 is being used for constriction staging area for the work on the athletic fields . The report I gave to you speaks strictly of the dorm parking . T. Quinn Is there a time line for when all three buildings will be finished? B . Ross No , I do not I think the intent for us is to take this one step at a time and we tend to be fairly conservative in putting these up . O . Kelemen Is there a sticker program for parking? B . Ross Yes the student that park in these lots are required to have ® stickers for their cars . O . Kelemen That location could be considered preferential to parking out in another further area. How do you keep other cars from utilizing that? B . Ross It is not a problem . «That I showed you was the peak day and I don 't hear of people commuting and parking in the residential lot . 0 . Kelemen do you patrol the area to make sure that people do not park along side the road? I think that is a concern of ours . B . Ross We do not have issues of people trying to park on this road . This a fairly steep road and they are not going to want to park on this area . If this is a concern we can address that . H . Slater We can have the Town post " NO PARKING SIGNS" . P . Lutwak The overflow lot is basically the last stage so if all funding and everything stops this year there would only be the one building . B . Ross Yes that is correct . O . Kelemen Is there any forbidding factor to becoming closer to the required space? B . Ross The main thing is economics . The cost of the initial site development getting utilities and so forth is pretty pricey and anything that I can do to keep a little bit of the cost off of the project in this first phase would be helpful . O . Kelemen To add the 50 spaces in question what would the cost be . P . Lutwak It is a lot more site preparation . B . Ross In fact by building only 84 spaces we would be disturbing less land . We are creating less impervious surface area but 5 on the other hand as we develop the site we will develop the Stormwater Management Program as if all three buildings are going there . It will be designed for that as part of the cost that we will have up front is to actually do all of the Storm water management programs building the retention ponds and so forth and if we had to put the parking lot in we are now going to have an issue in terms of downstream problems with water. It really just helps us a little with the cost of the project . I think that we are saying that we do not see that there is a need to put that extra parking in . I think your concern is that you do not want anyone parking on the roads or in the neighborhoods . O . Kelemen Any more questions? Further discussion on the Dorms and what is making TC3 expand , financing and education and what is bringing students to this school . O . Kelemen If this is the only building built would you be willing to live with the window that if construction of entire project does not happen by this time then you would be required to add the parking spaces needed . B . Ross If that is what you want to do we would have to live with it . P . Lutwak There is a current lot that could be expanded if needed . J . Goodrow If there were to be a condition it would be there may be a parking problem that needs to be dealt with . O . Kelemen The public hearing will be left open until next meeting . Consensus of the Board is this will be approved with possible conditions . Meeting adjourned 8 : 52 PM 6