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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975-06-16 ' V TOWN OF GROTON ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS PUBLIC HEARING - Held at the Town Hall , Groton , N . Y . Monday - June 16 , 1975 PRESENT : Gordon Hoy - Chairman* OTHERS PRESENT : George Lawrence* Seth Coombs* Floyd Fouts* Richard Bell D . Snell - Zoning Enforcement Office Josephine Bell - Recording Clerk . * - Denotes those . present . Two Public Hearings were scheduled for this evening - one for Marilyn Hulbert at 7 : 30 PM and one for Seth and Dorothy Coombs at 8eOO P . M. However , due to a misunderstanding , Marilyn Hulbert was not officially notified of the hearing so after discussion it was decided to table this for future action . Mr . Hoy officially called the public hearing for Seth and Dorothy Coombs to order at 8 : 30 PM and read aloud the Notice of Public Hearing for a variance for Seth and Dorothy Coombs , a copy of which is attached hereto and made a part of these minutes . G . Hoy : We ' ll hear from you first Mr . Coombs . S . Coombs : I don ' t know if you ' re acquainted with my place or not , - - concrete block lower storey and upper storey is of shingles . Sort of gray hard shingles and the steps at the front door are a long way down . I. thought it would be an improvement , not only to the looks of the house , but would make it so we "could 'get in and out of the front door and take care of some of that south wind so it would be easier to keep the house warm . On the other side the wife kind of likes flowers and would like a closed - in porch . D . Snell : It ' s the front porch . G . Hoy : Everything else meets the requirements . S . Coombs : I received approval for the garage . It would be 10 ' x 121 . I feel that was only thing that would be closer to the road than the law would allow . G . Hoy : The law allows 50 ft . D . Snell : 30 ft . back from road driveway . Easier way for me to figure , - - it ' s hard to tell where right of way at ditch line is . G . Lawrence : So it ' s 55 ft . from the center of the road ? - 1 - G . Hoy : The only variance he needs is S . Coombs : 10 ft . D . Snell : 55 from 10 would be 45 . G . Lawrence : So would still be 10 ft . , - - that ' s what you ' re asking for a variance for ? G . Hoy : Without a variance could come out with a 5 ' porch and he has 55 . 3 now . D . Snell : 55 from the center of the road . S . Coombs : That would just make an entrance though , - - I want to put a cellar under it for vegetables and so forth . It would be a sunroom and basement . D . Snell : He wants to enclose it . S . Coombs : And have a big picture window on the front , - - it would make the house look a lot better , too . G . Lawrence : In other words you would be putting an addition on to the cellar you have now . S . Coombs : I thought that if I build on a front porch might as well have a cellar , too . A 5 ft . porch would just be a porch . G . Hoy : The only variance you needed is for the extra 5 ft ? D . Snell : No , 10 ft . G . Lawrence : There ' s nothing on the application here about a cellar , is there ? Just a variance for the porch . S . Coombs : I don ' t know whether I said anything about a cellar under it or not . D . Snell : That maximum 55 . 3 is from the center of the road . G . Hoy : According to the ordinance isn ' t that where they start the - - - - - - - - - to ? D . Snell : No . G . Hoy : Oh , you said 30 ft . back from the road right of - way , - -now I see . G . Lawrence : Sun porch enclosed with a large front window , - - there ' s nothing like that here . S . Coombs : I didn ' t say anything about making a cellar . D . Snell : That isn ' t going to bring it any closer to the road . G . Lawrence : No . G . Hoy : But it does make the situation a little different , - - see . Do you have anything you would like to ask , Floyd ? 2 - F . Fouts : How far is he out of line ? G . Lawrence : 10 ft . actually . D . Snell : This house was built there before any of this zoning existed , which you have to think about , - - see . G . Hoy : : F think myself that before we can act on this , it would have to in- clude the basement on the request form , wouldn ' t it ? G . Lawrence : That would be my thinking . G . Hoy : Would you like to put that in a motion ? S . Coombs : I could put that on the form now if it ' s allowable . G . Hoy : Well , - - I don ' t know how you would put it in there , - - only in writing . G . Lawrence : You ' re more or less extending the house towards the road 10 ft . further by putting a basement under it , isn ' t that correct ? S . Coombs : I could get along without a basement as far as that ' s concerned but I thought I might just as well have one . G . Hoy : Did you think about that before you made the application ? S . Coombs : No . D . Snell : I didn ' t think it made any difference as it wouldn ' t bring it any closer to the road . In other words if you build on a room , - -you could build a room on and not have any basement under it . G . Hoy : But it seems like it would be specified amen isn ' t that the purpose more or less of zoning , - - to keep track of all the building that is going on for assessment reasons , too . Wouldn ' t that change the value of it quite considerably if it had a porch under it ? D . Snell : I doubt that assessment would pick that up . S . Coombs : The main thing , as far as I ' m concerned , is to have a front porch there but it would be nice to have a basement under it . G . Hoy : That ' s for sure . G . Lawrence : This could pretty nearly classify it for a hardship case to keep the house warm with a porch there . S . Coombs : It would make quite a little difference . G . Lawrence : But when you dig a basement , - - that ' s extending the house , amenthat ' s the way I would classify it . Extending it that much closer to the road and this is one of the things the ordinance is for . This is my idea , keeping back from the right of way . G . Hoy : Right . S . Coombs : It wouldn ' t be any particular inconvenience to me not to have the basement . It would be just a place to store vegetables and things . - 3 - G . Lawrence : But you do have an existing basement in your house ? S . Coombs : A full basement under the main part of the house . The furnace is there and it ' s a little warmer than you would like for vegetable storage . , Do use the cellar for canned goods but if I had basement there would probably keep canned goods , as well as vegetables , there too but it wouldn ' t be any particular hardship for me to leave the basement off but would like to have the porch on there . G . Lawrence : Well , do we have to vote on it at this time ? G . Hoy : That ' s the proper procedure , I think , but we could table it . S . Coombs : Wooden floors don ' t absorb so much moisture three or four feet off the ground . G . Lawrence : I think I would vote in favor of passing the variance for the porch but , - -with the basement under it , - - I think it probably would have to be on the application and maybe I might reconsider my thoughts of issuing a variance on it with the basement under it . S . Coombs : There wouldn ' t be any objections to my running a hot air pipe through the wall into the porch , would there ? G . Hoy : Not that I can see . S . Coombs : Well , it would be easier for me to build as far as that goes . G . Hoy : What ' s your feeling on it ? F . Fouts : I don ' t know , It don ' t seem that it would make much difference , really , but it should be done . G . Hoy : Well , then , Mr . Coombs , it ' s up to you . We can vote on this now but if you want the cellar , then I say it would have to be tabled and run through again . The cellar is a good idea if you want it , - - it would probably be worth the time to run it through again . F . Fouts : If you have the wall exposed in a good cold winter it might freeze on you . S . Coombs : There wouldn ' t be too much exposed , - - about 3 ft . , - - something like that . G . Hoy : 3 ft . above ground . G . Lawrence : In other words you would have 6 ft . , - - right ? So if you just dug the dirt out you would have 6 ft . regardless . G . Hoy : So would you like us to hold up on it , or would you like us to vote on it as is ? S . Coombs : Well , what do you think ? I want a porch on there if I can , - -would rather be sure of a porch than say I want the cellar under it and not get anything . Do you see what I mean ? G . Hoy : Yes . - 4 - G . Lawrence : What are your feelings on it , Gordon ? G . Hoy : My feelings are the same as yours . If he wants a cellar under it , it should be in the application but if you want to go ahead with it , as is , I would go along with it . D . Snell : Might I say something ? G . Hoy : Yes . D . Snell : When an application is put in to build on a bedroom or two , we never mentioned basement on there . G . Lawrence : We can vote on this as stated and then it ' s up to Mr . Coombs and the zoning officer to go from there . G . Hoy : And his conscience ! G . Lawrence : It really wouldn ' t make that much difference , when you think about it , but , thenragain , if someone else would like to make a basement 10 ft . less than what there should be from the setback , we probably or you probably wouldn ' t be in favor of it - - no one would be in favor of it with the ordinance we have and we are turning right around and doing the same thing here if we allow a basement to be put there and go closer to the highway than it is supposed to be . As his application is written , I make the motion that we accept it and grant the variance . F . Fouts : I second the motion . Motion was carried by an unanimous roll call vote . G . Hoy : This hearing is now adjourned . G . Lawrence : And you can start your sunporch . S . Coombs : Thank you . The meeting adjourned at 10 PM . Respectfully submitted , I - &)M Josephine Bell - 5 -