Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutZBA Minutes 2019-08-13Town of Ithaca Notice of Public Hearing Zoning Board of Appeals Tuesday, August 13, 2019 @ 6:00 p.m. 215 N Tioga St. 0005-2019 Appeal of Aiden Moyer, owner of 699 Coddington Rd, Tax Parcel 48.-1-12.1 is requesting relief from section 270- 19, Size and area lot, of the Zoning Code of the Town of Ithaca, to allow them to subdivide the property and have a portion of the property in the conservation zone to be 23,900+- square feet where seven acres are required. 0006-2019 Appeal of Aiden Moyer, owner of 703 Coddington Rd, Tax Parcel 48.-1-12.3 is requesting relief from section 270- 19, Size and area lot, of the Zoning Code of the Town of Ithaca, to allow them to add to this parcel, by subdividing 1.9 +/- acres from the neighboring parcel which will create a 9,900 square feet portion of the parcel in the conservation zone where seven acres are required in a conservation zone. 0008-2019 Appeal of Kimberly Michaels, TWMLA, agent for Ithaca Community Childcare Center, 579 Warren Road, Tax Parcel 73.-1-1.4, is requesting variances from section 270-68, Permitted accessory buildings and uses, and 270-71, Yard regulations (2) of the Code of the Town of Ithaca, to be allowed to have 4 accessory buildings on a parcel where only 3 buildings are allowed, and to have 3 of those 4 accessory building in the front and side yard where they are only allowed in the rear yard. Contact Bruce Bates @bbates@town.ithaca.ny.us or 273-1721 ext. 2 with any questions. Bruce Bates Director of Code Enforcement Town of Ithaca Zoning Board of Appeals Tuesday, August 13, 2019 @ 6:00 p.m. Minutes Members Present: Rob Rosen, Chair; Chris Jung, Caren Rubin, Bill King, Gorge Vignaux, and Alternate David Squires Absent: David Filiberto Bruce Bates, Codes; Susan Brock, Attorney for the Town and Paulette Rosa, Town Clerk Meeting called to order at 6:03 p.m. 0008-2019 Appeal of Kimberly Michaels, TWMLA, agent for Ithaca Community Childcare Center, 579 Warren Road, Tax Parcel 73.-1-1.4, is requesting variances from section 270-68, Permitted accessory buildings and uses, and 270-71, Yard regulations (2) of the Code of the Town of Ithaca, to be allowed to have 4 accessory buildings on a parcel where only 3 buildings are allowed, and to have 3 of those 4 accessory building in the front and side yard where they are only allowed in the rear yard. Ryan Wright, Landscape Architect and Sheri Koski, Executive Director gave an overview of the appeal. The issue is that there are small storage sheds in the playground area that are located throughout the play area by classroom and have to adhere to State regulations of having a certain ratio of teachers to students so moving them and accessing them would require all the students to follow the teacher any time they wanted to retrieve something from the shed. One is a maintenance storage unit and the other three are the classroom sheds. The Board discussed the fact that the orientation of the building is such that what would usually be the back yard is technically the front and side yard and the area is not residential but educational and large scale apartments and the sheds are shielded from view from the road by shrubs and a fence and they do not impact the sightlines at all. The sheds are very small in size and the lot size of the school is very large compared to the minimum needed in the Medium Density zone which also mitigates the number of sheds allowed. The site is 4 acres big and the minimum in MDR is 1/3 of an acre. They fit the character of the neighborhood and the impact is very low. Mr. Rosen opened the public hearing at 6:10 p.m. There was no one present and the hearing was closed. Ms. Brock stated that there is no SEQR required given this is an educational use involving less than IOk" sqft and is therefore Type 2. ZBA 2019-08-12 Pg. 1 ZBA Resolution 0008-2019 Area Variance 579 Warren Rd, TP 71-1-1.4 August 12, 2019 Moved by Mr. Vignaux, seconded by Ms. Ruben Resolved that this board Appeal of Kimberly Michaels, TWMLA, agent for Ithaca Community Childcare Center, 579 Warren Road, Tax Parcel 73.-1-1.4, is requesting variances from section 270-68, Permitted accessory buildings and uses, and 270-71, Yard regulations (2) of the Code of the Town of Ithaca, to be allowed to have 4 accessory buildings on a parcel where only 3 buildings are allowed, and to have 3 of those 4 accessory building in the front and side yard where they are only allowed in the rear yard, with the following Findings That the benefit to the applicant outweighs any detriment to the health, safety and welfare of the community, specifically: 1. That the benefit to the applicant cannot be achieved by any other means feasible given the school has to abide by NYS Office of Children and Family Services requiring certain ratios of teachers to students, and 2. There will not be any undesirable affect to the community or neighborhood given that the area is zoned Medium Density but is predominately educational and large scale apartments and there will be no impact on sightlines and they are not visible from the public road given that 3 out of 4 are shielded by a fence and they are very small and on a very large lot and given the orientation of the building, the area where the sheds are located is for all intents and purposes the side lot, not the front lot, and 3. That there will not be any adverse environmental impacts as evidenced by no SEQR being required, and 4. That the request is substantial in that there are 4 sheds where 3 are allowed and none are allowed in the front yard, and 5. The alleged difficulty is partially self-created in that the maintenance shed could possible be relocated but the other sheds have to adhere to State regulations. Vote: ayes — Rosen, King, Ruben, Jung and Vignaux Mr. Rosen noted that the next two appeals will be discussed jointly with separate resolutions for record keeping. 0005-2019 Appeal of Aiden Moyer, owner of 699 Coddington Rd, Tax Parcel 48.-1-12.1 is requesting relief from section 270- 19, Size and area of lot, of the Zoning Code of the Town of Ithaca, to allow them to subdivide the property and have a portion of the property in the conservation zone to be 23,900+- square feet where seven acres are required. ZBA 2019-08-12 Pg. 2 0006-2019 Appeal of Aiden Moyer, owner of 703 Coddington Rd, Tax Parcel 48.-1-12.3 is requesting relief from section 270- 19, Size and area of lot, of the Zoning Code of the Town of Ithaca, to allow them to add to this parcel, by subdividing 1.9 +/- acres from the neighboring parcel which will create a 9,900 square feet portion of the parcel in the conservation zone where seven acres are required in a conservation zone. Neither the applicant nor a representative was present. Mr. Rosen summarized saying this was an appeal to allow two parcels to be made of equal size taking a portion of a larger and adding it to the smaller. The issue is that a small portion at the back end of the parcels are in the Conservation Zone (CZ) and there is nothing in the Code to say that one zone outweighs the other so the subdivision will make two lots that will not meet the minimum lot size required for Conservation Zone. The Board discussed at length and felt that the size of the area in the CZ was very small proportionately to the overall size and there would be no chance for an increase in development since each lot has a house on it and neither would be permitted to add another house or subdivide further. The Board felt that this was a very unique situation in that the property lines straddle two zones with one having a very large minimum lot size but for practical purposes, the lots were in Low Density Residential. The Board felt that given the Code is silent on which zone takes precedence and therefore both sets of requirements apply, this is unique and only small slivers are in the Conservation Zone which requires significantly more area, but in a practicable sense, this is a Low Density Residential zone and everything else fits those requirements, they were in favor of the appeal. It was also noted this is the first time anyone recalled having this type of situation. Mr. Rosen opened the public hearing for the joined appeals at 6:33 p.m. There was no one present and the hearing was closed. ZBA Resolution 0005-2019 & 0006-2019 SEQR 699 Coddington Rd, TP 48.4-12.1 703 Coddington Rd, TP 48.4-12.3 Area Variance — Subdivision/Consolidation August 12, 2019 Moved by Rob Rosen, seconded by George Vignaux Resolved that this Board makes a negative determination of environmental significance based on the information in the Parts 1 and 2 and for the reasons stated in the Part 3 environmental assessment form. Vote: ayes — Rosen, Vignaux, Ruben, King and Jung ZBA 2019-08-12 Pg. 3 ZBA Resolution 0005-2019 Area Variance 699 Coddington Rd, TP 48.4-12.1 August 13, 2019 Moved by Rob Rosen, seconded by George Vignaux Resolved that this Board grants the appeal of Aiden Moyer, owner of 699 Coddington Rd, Tax Parcel 48.-1-12.1 is requesting relief from section 270- 19, Size and area of lot, of the Zoning Code of the Town of Ithaca, to allow them to subdivide the property and have a portion of the property in the conservation zone to be 23,900+- square feet where seven acres are required with the following: Condition 1. That the subdivision be as described in the application materials Findings That the benefit to the applicant outweighs any detriment to the health, safety and welfare of the community, specifically: 1. That the benefit cannot be achieved by any other means feasible given that the applicant wishes to create two lots of equal size where neither of the lots meet the required minimum 7 acres of the Conservation Zone and there is no other way to subdivide the property given the limited road frontage and meet the 7 acre minimum, and 2. That there will not be an undesirable change to the neighborhood character or to nearby properties given that both lots currently have a single residence on them and neither lot would be able to be further subdivided without action from the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals and the lots are significantly larger than the minimum lot area required in the Low Density Zone and as they exist match the character of the neighboring properties, and 3. That the request is substantial in that each lot will be approximately 3.5 acres where 7 acres is required, and 4. That the alleged difficulty is self-created in that the applicant wishes to make two insufficient lots, but this is mitigated by the fact that the increased lot size is solely due to the fact that a very small portion of the properties is in the Conservation Zone where the large lot size is required and the Town Code is silent on which Zone takes precedence and therefore the larger of the requirements holds, and 5. That there will be no adverse physical or environmental issues as shown in the SEQR form Parts 1 and 2 and for the reasons stated in Part 3 and the decreased developmental potential. Vote: ayes — Rosen, King, Jung, Ruben and Vignaux ZBA Resolution 0006-2019 Area Variance 703 Coddington Rd, TP 48.4-12.3 ZBA 2019-08-12 Pg. 4 August 13, 2019 Moved by Rob Rosen, seconded by George Vignaux Resolved that this Board grants the appeal of Aiden Moyer, owner of 703 Coddington Rd, Tax Parcel 48.-1-12.3 is requesting relief from section 270- 19, Size and area of lot, of the Zoning Code of the Town of Ithaca, to allow them to add to this parcel, by subdividing 1.9 +/- acres from the neighboring parcel which will create a 9,900 square feet portion of the parcel in the conservation zone where seven acres are required in a conservation zone. Condition 1. That the subdivision be as described in the application materials Findings That the benefit to the applicant outweighs any detriment to the health, safety and welfare of the community, specifically: 1. That the benefit cannot be achieved by any other means feasible given that the applicant wishes to create two lots of equal size where neither of the lots meet the required minimum 7 acres of the Conservation Zone and there is no other way to subdivide the property given the limited road frontage and meet the 7 acre minimum, and 2. That there will not be an undesirable change to the neighborhood character or to nearby properties given that both lots currently have a single residence on them and neither lot would be able to be further subdivided without action from the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals and the lots are significantly larger than the minimum lot area required in the Low Density Zone and as they exist match the character of the neighboring properties, and 3. That the request is substantial in that each lot will be approximately 3.5 acres where 7 acres is required, and 4. That the alleged difficulty is self-created in that the applicant wishes to make two insufficient lots, but this is mitigated by the fact that the increased lot size is solely due to the fact that a very small portion of the properties is in the Conservation Zone where the large lot size is required and the Town Code is silent on which Zone takes precedence and therefore the larger of the requirements holds, and 6. That there will be no adverse physical or environmental issues as shown in the SEQR form Parts 1 and 2 and for the reasons stated in Part 3 and the decreased developmental potential. Vote: ayes — Rosen, King, Jung, Ruben and Vignaux Other Ms. Ruben moved to recommend that the Town Board review the provision in the Town of Ithaca Code to add a provision to the Code that states whether a parcel that has two zoning districts must comply with the requirements of both zones and if not, which zone takes ZBA 2019-08-12 Pg. 5 precedence and how to, cloerniine which zone takes precedence; seconded by Mr, Rosen, Unanimous. Mccting was Zl(�OUrned ai 6AO pxvi� Subinitte �Yl Pattlette Rosa, Town Clerk ZB A 2019-08 - � 2 Pg, 6