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Home My WebLink About2019-12-17 APPROVED ZBA MINUTES APPROVED 1 Town of Lansing 2 Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting 3 Tuesday, December 17, 2019 6:30 PM 4 Present Excused 5 Judy Drake Henry (Hurf) Sheldon, Chair 6 Maureen Cowen Peter Larson III 7 Linda Hirvonen 8 Melanie Malone, Alternate 9 10 Other Staff Present 11 C. J. Randall, Director of Planning Lynn Day, Code Enforcement Officer 12 Katrina Binkewicz, Town Board Liaison Sue Munson, Code Office 13 14 Public Present (2) 15 Jason Demarest, Architect Brian Davis, Architect 16 17 General Business 18 Acting Chair Judy Drake Opened the meeting at 6:30 pm. 19 20 Acting Chair Judy Drake enacted Melanie Malone as a voting member due to excused absences. 21 22 Roll Call for Attendance: 23 Judy Drake—Aye 24 Maureen Cowen —Aye 25 Linda Hirvonen —Aye 26 Melanie Malone -Aye 27 28 Motion to Table the Minutes of August 20, 2019 till the next regular meeting in January 2020. 29 Motion by: Linda Hirvonen Seconded by: Maureen Cowen (Motion seconded and 30 carried) 31 32 PUBLIC HEARING: for Consideration of an Appeal made by Applicant: Jason K. Demarest 33 Architecture, Applicant, on behalf of Lillian Babcock, Owner Location: 30 Ladoga Park, Tax 34 Parcel #33.-1-57 located in the Lakeshore (L1) Zoning District Description: Area Variance from 35 Town of Lansing Land Use Ordinance Section 504, Schedule II which requires a 10' Minimum 36 Side Yard Set Back. Applicant is requesting an Area Variance of 8' from the Minimum Side Yard 37 Set Back requirement to facilitate placement of a 16'-wide stair tower. This is a Type II Action 38 under the State Environmental Quality Review Act 6 NYCRR 617.5(c)(17). 39 40 Pagel of 5 APPROVED 41 Motion to Open the Public Hearing for Babcock Area Variance located at 30 Ladoga Park W, 42 Tax Parcel #33.4-57 at 6:34 p.m. 43 Motion by: Maureen Cowen Seconded by: Melanie Malone (Motion seconded and 44 carried) 45 The Official Public Notice was published on December 5, 2019 as required. 600' parcel notices 46 were mailed on November 5, 2019. 47 48 Brief description from Applicant: 49 - Property Owner recently purchased 30 Ladoga Park W 50 - Owner was considering combining her adjacent lot with the new lot 51 - 30 Ladoga Park currently has two building structures on the property; both structures 52 will be demolished 53 - The property is limited due to 54 o the 50' width of the parcel 55 o a swamp consuming a large portion of the back of the property 56 o a septic system 57 o is in the Flood Zone so no living space is on the ground level 58 - Ground floor will be a garage/storage area with two overhead garage doors 59 - Two-bedroom residence will be located on the second floor and available for year-round 60 occupancy 61 - Didn't make sense to put the stairs in the front of the building as it would take away 62 from parking. If stairs were on the back it would be in the swamp area 63 - They would enforce a negative restrictive easement on the adjacent property next to 64 the stair tower which would act similar as a boundary change but only in the area of the 65 area variance 66 67 Summary of Board Discussion with Applicant: 68 - There are large patio doors of the back second floor leading to a deck 69 - Nothing can be built on the lake side of the road due to the septic system 70 - No plans to build another structure adjacent to the lake to preserve the view 71 - The Health Department has approved the septic system for a two-bedroom residence 72 - The entry stairs are not inside of the garage is the dining room would be eliminated and 73 would use up a large amount of storage 74 - Concern of the stair tower only leaving two feet to the property line. While determining 75 the Area Variance we must disregard the fact that the owner owns both properties as 76 that could change in the future, 32 Ladoga is currently owned by Babcock Summer 77 Hideout, LLC 78 - Stairs by code would need two 3' to 4' sections with a switch back and some room for 79 railings and room to move furniture in and out 80 - The stair tower may not be as tall as noted on the drawings 81 - Only a few neighbors inquired about the variance and no issues were brought up after 82 looking at the plans 83 84 Page 2 of 5 APPROVED 85 Public Comments: 86 - No Public Comments 87 88 Motion to Close the Public Hearing for Babcock Area Variance located at 30 Ladoga Park W, 89 Tax Parcel #33.-1-57 at 6:51 p.m. 90 Motion by: Linda Hirvonen Seconded by: Maureen Cowen (Seconded and Motion 91 Carried) 92 93 AREA VARIANCE FINDINGS AND DECISION 94 TOWN OF LANSING ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS 95 96 BACKGROUND INFORMATION 97 98 Applicant: Jason K. Demarest Architecture Variance No: 19-10 99 950 Danby Road Zoning District: L1 - 100 Ithaca, NY 14850 with lake frontage 101 Public Hearing 102 Published on: 12/05/2019 103 Mailed 600' Notices 104 Owner: Lillian Babcock Sent on: 12/05/2019 105 Property Location: 30 Ladoga Park W 106 Tax Parcel #: 33.-1-57 107 108 Requirement for which Area Variance is requested: Town of Lansing Land Use Ordinance (the 109 "Zoning Ordinance"): Section 504, Schedule II: Area, Frontage, Yard, Heights and Coverage 110 Requirements. 111 112 RESOLUTION AND FINDINGS 113 114 WHEREAS, Applicant Jason K. Demarest Architecture, on behalf of Lillian Babcock, Owner of 30 115 Ladoga Park W, Tax Parcel No. 33.-1-57 located in the Lakeshore Zoning District(L1 —with lake 116 frontage) applied for an Area Variance from Town of Lansing Land Use Ordinance Section 504, 117 Schedule II requiring Minimum Side Yard Set Back of 10'; and 118 119 WHEREAS, Applicant is requesting an Area Variance of 8' from the 10' Minimum Side Yard Set 120 Back requirement to facilitate placement of a 16'-wide stair tower; 121 122 WHEREAS, on December 17, 2019 the Town of Lansing Zoning Board of Appeals (the "ZBA") 123 thoroughly reviewed and analyzed: (i) the information and evidence submitted by the applicant 124 in support of the requested area variance; (ii) all other information and materials properly before 125 the ZBA; and (iii) the issues and impacts raised for consideration by neighbors, the public, and 126 the ZBA; and 127 Page 3 of 5 APPROVED 128 WHEREAS, this application is classified as a Type II Action under 6 NYCRR Part 617.5 (c)(17) (such 129 that no further environmental review is required) and this matter also does not require a GML 130 Section 239 review; so, upon due deliberation upon the foregoing, the application, and all 131 evidence and testimony presented to the ZBA, 132 133 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED AS FOLLOWS: 134 135 1.The Town of Lansing Zoning Board of Appeals ("ZBA") hereby makes the following findings with 136 respect to the specific criteria for area variances as set forth in Town Law§ 267-b(3)(b), and other 137 applicable provisions of law and of the Zoning Ordinance: 138 139 a. Whether an undesirable change will be produced in the character of the neighborhood or a 140 detriment to nearby properties will be created by the granting of the area variance? 141 142 Yes X No Findings: TOO CLOSE TO ADJACENT PROPERTY; CONCERNED WITH SETTING A 143 NEGATIVE PRECEDENT THAT WOULD UNDERMINE EXISTING ZONING REGULATIONS IN THIS 144 AREA. 145 146 b. Whether the benefit sought by the applicant can be achieved by some method, feasible for 147 the applicant to pursue, other than an area variance? 148 149 Yes X No Findings: THERE ARE OTHER DESIGN POSSIBILITIES OR ADDITIONAL LAND 150 READILY AVAILABLE FROM NEIGHBORING LAND. 151 152 c. Whether the requested area variance is substantial? 153 154 Yes X No Findings:THE VARIANCE REQUEST IS SUBSTANTIAL 8' OUT OF 10', EXPECIALLY 155 AS THIS IS NEW CONSTRUCTION ON AN ALREADY SUBSTANDARD LOT. 156 157 d. Whether the proposed variance will have an adverse effect or impact on 158 the physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood or district? 159 160 Yes X No Findings: THE EXISTING DESIGN IS CLOSE TO THE WETLANDS AT THE REAR 161 OF THE PROPERTY. 162 163 e. Whether the alleged difficulty was self-created? 164 165 Yes X No Findings: PROPOSING A NEW BUILDING. 166 167 2. DETERMINATION BASED ON THE ABOVE FACTORS (choose one): 168 169 It is hereby determined by the Town of Lansing Zoning Board of Appeals (the "ZBA") that the 170 following area variance is DENIED, with any conditions hereafter stated (if any), it being further 171 found and determined that (i) the benefit to the applicant outweighs any potential negative Page 4 of 5 APPROVED 172 impacts or detriment to the neighborhood or community; and (ii) such area variance is the 173 minimum necessary as adequate to grant relief and, at the same time, preserve and protect the 174 character of the neighborhood and the safety and welfare of the community. 175 176 DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC VARIANCE GRANTED: 177 178 DENIED 179 180 THE VOTE ON THE FOREGOING DECISION, DETERMINATIONS,AND RESOLUTION OF THE TOWN 181 OF LANSING ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS WAS AS FOLLOWS: 182 183 Motion by: Linda Hirvonen 184 Seconded by: Melanie Malone 185 186 Maureen Cowen -Aye 187 Judy Drake—Aye 188 Linda Hirvonen —Aye 189 Melanie Malone—Aye 190 191 Dated: December 17, 2019 192 193 Received and filed in the Lansing Town Clerk's Office 194 195 Motion to Adjourn Meeting at 7:05 p.m. 196 Motion by: Linda Hirvonen Seconded by: Maureen Cowen (Seconded and Motion 197 Carried) 198 199 Minutes executed by Sue Munson Page 5 of 5