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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPB Minutes 1983-10-18 ti . TOWN OF ITHACA PLANNING BOARD OCTOBER 18 , 1983 The Town of Ithaca Planning Board met in regular session on Tuesday , October 18 , 1983 , in Town Hall , 126 East Seneca Street , Ithaca , N . Y . , at 7 : 30 p . m . PRESENT : Chairman Montgomery May , Carolyn Grigorov , Barbara Schultz , James Baker , Bernard Stanton , Edward Mazza , Peter M . Lovi ( Town Planner ) , Nancy M . Fuller ( Secretary ) . ALSO PRESENT : Arnold Albrecht , Rocco P . Lucente , Robert A . Boehlecke , Jr . Chairman May declared the meeting duly opened at 7 : 32 p . m . PUBLIC HEARING : CONSIDERATION OF SITE PLAN APPROVAL FOR A PROPOSED STORAGE BUILDING OF APPROXIMATELY 5 , 000 SQ . FT . THERM , INC . , 703 HUDSON STREET EXTENSION , TOWN OF ITHACA TAX PARCEL N0 , 6 - 54 - 2 - 1 , 22 . 8 ACRES . Chairman May declared the Public Hearing in the above -noted matter duly opened at ' 7 : 33 p . m . and accepted for the record the Clerk ' s Affidavit of Posting and Publication of the Notice of Public Hearing in Town Hall and the Ithaca Journal on October 7 , 1983 and October 13 , 1983 , respectively . Mr . Arnold Albrecht , representing Therm , Inc . , appeared before the Board and referred to the Site Plan showing the location and. approximate size of the proposed storage building , and the accompanying Environmental Assessment Form ( Short Form ) , copies of which each Board member had previously received with his / her Agenda . Mr . Albrecht stated that at this point he was uncertain as to what size the proposed storage building may actually be , although it is clear that it will be somewhere between 5 , 000 and 10 , 000 square feet . He stated that it will be used strictly for storage , it will be all steel or masonary and steel construction . Mr . Albrecht stated that the proposed storage building will be uninhabited , i . e . , unoccupied space . Chairman May inquired as to the lot lines and the relationship with the fence indicated on the site plan . Mr . Albrecht stated that there was no problem and pointed out that the fence lane is not a property line . Mr . Mazza wondered how close the neighboring houses are to the property line . Mr . Albrecht indicated on the site plan where the houses were roughed in . Mr . Albrecht commented that the fence line varies from 2 feet to 3 feet to 4 feet to 5 feet from the actual property line depending on the slope . Mr . Mazza asked what the slope is , with Mr . Albrecht commenting that there was quite a drop in elevation . Chairman May asked if the neighboring homes would look over the Planning Board 2 October 18 , 1983 top of the proposed building . Mr . Albrecht stated that he did not know specifically what the neighbors would actually see . Mr . Mazza asked if there were trees between the houses and the Therm property . Mr . Albrecht stated that there were but more will be added . Mrs . Schultz asked if the houses indicated on the site plan were located on Pennsylvania Avenue or Kendall Avenue , Mr . Albrecht stated that they were on Kendall Avenue . Chairman May asked why the proposed building was planned to be located so far back from the existing buildings . Mr . Albrecht stated that that was done deliberately so that the building will not be used for anything else but storage . Mr . Albrecht also described the grade on the property and the accessways to the proposed building . Chairman May asked Mr . Albrecht to indicate what the existing Therm buildings shown on the site plan are used for . Mr . Albrecht pointed out the plant , the offices , etc . Chairman May asked what the distances are from the houses , to which Mr . Albrecht replied , over 100 feet . Both Mrs . Schultz and Chairman May wondered how much of a problem it might be for Therm to move the proposed storage building back a little . Mr . Albrecht stated that that would be no problem , except for the fact that the railroad right of way makes a real nice foundation and they also want to be able to drive to the building more easily . Mr . Albrecht stated that the proposed building will be 21 feet high . Chairman May asked Mr . Albrecht when Therm wished to build this storage building . Mr . Albrecht stated that it was not in the plans for this year , however , it would probably be under way next spring . Both Mr . Mazza and Chairman May expressed concern about granting site plan approval based on the information at hand . Board discussion followed with Mr . Albrecht wherein it appeared that there were too many unknowns at this time such as how high , accesses , how big . Both Mr . Mazza and Chairman May stated , however , that they had no problem with Therm ' s request for a storage building . It was the general consensus of the Board that the Therm request for a storage building was fine , however , more detailed information was needed . MOTION by Mr . Edward Mazza , seconded by Mr . James Baker : RESOLVED , that the Town of Ithaca Planning Board adjourn and hereby does adjourn Public Hearing in the matter of consideration of site plan approval for a proposed storage building on Therm , Inc . property , 703 Hudson Street Extension , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 6 - 54 - 2 - 1 , until Tuesday , November 15 , 1983 at 7 : 30 p . m . , Town Hall Meeting Room . There being no further discussion , the Chair called for a vote . Aye - May , Grigorov , Schultz , Baker , Stanton , Mazza . Nay - None . ;• The MOTION was declared to be carried unanimously . Planning Board 3 October 18 , 1983 . Chairman May recommended to the members of the Board that they go up and visit the site and the general area . NON -AGENDA ITEM - - COURTESY DISCUSSION WITH ROCCO P . LUCENTE , OWNER , AND ROBERT A . BOEHLECKE JR . , ARCHITECT , IN RE PROPOSAL WITH RESPECT TO APPROPRIATE CONVERSION OF 14 TWO - UNIT DWELLINGS AT 108 - 230 SAPSUCKER WOODS ROAD . Messrs . Lucente and Boehlecke thanked the Board for permitting further discussion of the proposal which had been been discussed at the June 7 , 1983 meeting of the Board . Mr . Lucente presented to the Chair a Petition signed by 54 persons , 52 of which were in support of his proposal and 2 of which had no opinions no signatures appeared in disagreement . Chairman May requested that the Secretary read aloud the Petition - - as follows : " We the undersigned neighborhood residents support Lucente Homes in their effort to convert the existing student housing on Sapsucker Woods Road to four - plexes with the possible subsequent conversion to condominium units for families . It is our understanding that this will be accomplished by converting each house from two five -bedroom units into a house which contains two two - bedroom units and two one - bedroom units . In doing so , this would maintain the single family house appearance and reduce • parking from an area that accommodates fourteen vehicles to one suitable for six vehicles . As an additional protection to the neighborhood , a restrictive covenant in the deed would limit occupancy to no more than one unrelated person per unit . We agree that: such an action would foster the following positive aspects : - Reduced population density by 40 % , also resulting in reduced area traffic by more than 50 % , thus generating an enhanced atmosphere of suburban living . - An upgrading and improvement of existing dwellings resulting in increased property values for the immediate and surrounding areas . " Mr . Lucente commented on the Petition , noting that none of the signatories are the students living in the subject properties but some of those signing do rent from him . Mr . Lucente noted that some live in the Town of Ithaca and some in the Town of Dryden , since one side of Sapsucker Woods Road is in the Town of Ithaca and the other side is in the Town of Dryden . Mr . Lucente expressed his personal opinion that it was quite significant that Mrs . Ostrander signed the Petition even if she did so in the " no opinion " section , and added that Mrs . Carlson , who did not sign the Petition , informed him that she would not balk it . • Mr . Boehlecke stated that the purpose of this informal discussion was for Mr . Lucente to bring in the Petition and to w Planning Board 4 October 18 , 1983 . have some further discussions with the members of the Planning Board , Mr . Lovi suggested that it might be useful to discuss some of the differences between the proposal as submitted in June and that which may be submitted at some point in the future . Mr . Lovi noted that the proposal discussed earlier was some sort of nebulous condominium arrangement with no apparent sense of restrictions such as there were in , for example , the Commonland proposal . Mr . Lovi stated that , since that time , he thought the understanding to be that there should be some sort of restrictive covenant arrangement as indicated in the Petition just presented and that the initial proposal is not so much as a condominium as a conversion to four - unit apartments with restrictions on density . Mr . Lovi noted that at some point in the future , if the marketing suggested so , a conversion to some sort of condominium might be in order and stated , insofar as the first phase for conversion to a four - plex , that , in his opinion , is an improvement -to the earlier proposal in June . Mr . Lovi stated that he had suggested that Mr . Lucente come in and discuss matters as they have evolved to this point with the Board informally . Mr . Lucente stated that he thought , probably , he would be able to phase out the students now residing in these 14 houses . over a period of two to three years . He stated that he would start in and this year renting , maybe , half of the units , start the process and the second year , if anyone wanted to renew , and then phase out the 14 buildings . Mr . Lucente stated that he was thinking about selling to individuals , that is , the main units and rent out the other three . Mr . Lovi stated that it had been his suggestion , with which Mr . Lucente does not entirely agree , that the buildings could be modified to three units , such that the owner lives in one larger unit upstairs and rents two downstairs . Mr . Lucente stated that that idea could be done with one building and see how it goes - - like a model , adding that there could be different ways of handling different buildings for different people . Chairman May inquired as to the phasing and Mr . Lucente indicated that the students would have to be in or phased out probably by January of each year . Mr . Lovidescribed what he thought were the three options available to Mr . Lucente through which his goal might be achieved . ( 1 ) through an attachment of additional land and a cluster type of arrangement , ( 2 ) through a rather elaborate series of variances , ( 3 ) through a rezoning with conditions , adding parenthetically , similar to the project that Mr . Wiggins brought in for discussion recently such that the Town has some • clear idea what the Town expects from the developer and vice versa . e Planning Board 5 October 18 , 1983 . Chairman May questioned Mr . Lucente as to his ( Lucente ' s ) feeling that in order to make this project economically feasible , he has to have four units instead of three . Mr . Lucente indicated that he did feel that way essentially . Mr . Mazza asked how many people were in each building , to which Mr . Lucente replied that 7 persons are permitted in each of the two presently existing units , thus 14 in each building . Mr . Lucente explained further that the actual number of occupants varies from year to year , but presently the occupancy ranges from 5 to 7 persons in each unit . Mr . Mazza stated that he would strongly suggest that the matter of the restrictive covenants , as mentioned , be discussed with the Town Attorney early on , in that it was his understandings under certain circumstances , parties to restrictive covenants may release themselves therefrom . Mr . Lovi stated that he did not want to get into a situation where the property involved was rezoned to a multiple residence district and then someone gets hold of a lot of these buildings and then tears them down and puts up an apartment complex . Mr . Lucente commented that that would certainly be a pretty expensive way to get apartments and so was probably unlikely to occur . Mr . Lucente stated his willingness to cooperate fully with the Board and offered * to prepare a statement to the effect that the lessees would be out in three years . • Chairman May directed Mr . Lovi to contact the Town Attorney , Mr . Buyoucos , and bring him on board and have him here at any of the future meetings and be present at any meetings with Mr . Lucente , Chairman May stated to Mr . Lucente that the next meeting with the Board would not be a public hearing as such and that Mr . Buyoucos would be present . He noted that the Board meets next on November 1st , adding that he could not guarantee that that would be the time when further discussion would take place . Both Mr . Lucente and Mr . Boehlecke thanked the members of the Board for their time . NON -AGENDA ITEM : MINOR CHANGES IN PHASING AT COMMONLAND COMMUNITY - - :POINT OF INFORMATION ONLY . As a matter of information for the Board and noting that Phase I with 33 units is almost completed , Chairman May listed slight changes in phasing at Commonland , as follows : 1 . At the end of Phase II , there will be a total of 61 units instead of 65 . 2 . At the end of Phase II , there will be a total of 30 carports instead of 33 . 3 . At the end of Phase II , there will be a total of 70 parking spaces instead of 68 . Planning Board 6 October 18 , 1983 4 . At the end of Phase III , there will be a total of 99 units • instead of 102 . 5 . At the end of Phase III , there will be a total of 53 carports instead of 55 . 6 . At the end of Phase III , there will be six lift stations completed instead of seven . 7 . At the end of Phase III , there will be 113 parking spaces instead of 119 . The members of the Planning Board did not indicate that they had any problem with these minor adjustments . APPROVAL OF MINUTES - OCTOBER 4 , 1983 MOTION by Mr . Bernard Stanton , seconded by Mrs . Carolyn Grigorov : RESOLVED , that the Town of Ithaca Planning Board approve and hereby does approve the Minutes of the October 4 , 1983 meeting of said Planning Board as written , with thanks . There being no further discussion , the Chair called for a vote . Aye - May , Grigorov , Schultz , Baker , Stanton , Mazza . Nay - None . The MOTION was declared to be carried unanimously . ADJOURNMENT Upon Motion , Chairman May declared the October 18 , 1983 meeting of the Town of Ithaca Planning Board duly adjourned at 8 : 35 p . m . Respectfully submitted , Nancy M . Fuller , Secretary , Town of Ithaca Planning Board .