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Home My WebLink AboutMN-BZA-2023-11-07City of Ithaca Board of Zoning Appeals Minutes – November 7, 2023 Board Members Present: David Barken, Chair Andre Gardiner Joseph Kirby Michael Cannon Staff Present: Megan Wilson, Deputy Director of Planning Sam Quinn-Jacobs, Planner Applicants: Bruce Adib-Yazdi, Sara Hayes, Jacob von Mechow, Yifei Yan Craig Modisher Chair D. Barken called the meeting to order at 5:32 pm and read the opening statement. He announced that appeal #3259, 413 N. Tioga Street, was removed from the agenda due to an error in their mailing to nearby property owners. I. NEW APPEALS BZA #3246 120 E Green Street Appeal of Whitham Planning and Design on behalf of property owners Asteri Ithaca, LLC and Asteri Conference, LLC for a sign variance from §272-6B, Signs Permitted in a Commercial Zone, of the City’s Sign Ordinance to allow the installation of 9 signs for the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center and two signs for the upper-level residential use. Conference Center Signage The applicant is proposing a total of nine building signs for the conference center use, and a maximum of two buildings signs are permitted by the Sign Ordinance. In addition, the Sign Ordinance limits each building sign to a maximum of 50 SF, and proposed Sign C (corner wrapping building sign) will be 118.4 SF. The proposed sign will be 237% of the allowable size and exceeds the maximum square footage by 68.4 SF. The overall proposed square footage of all signs is within the building’s overall sign allotment. Residential Building Signage The applicant is proposing two building signs for the upper-story residential use. Sign E is a 4-SF projecting sign featuring the building’s logo. The sign will project 28” from the building façade, and the Sign Ordinance limits projection of any sign to 18” from the building. This sign will project an additional 10” beyond the permitted distance. The second sign, Sign F, does not feature the building name, logo, or other branding and is not counted toward the maximum number of permitted signs for the residential building. The overall proposed square footage of all signs is within the building’s overall sign allotment. Yifei Yan presented the proposed sign package on behalf of the project team. The proposed sign package includes signage for the Ithaca Downtown Conference Center and the Asteri residential building. Board members asked questions about the future naming of the conference center and its impact on the signage; signage allowances for individual uses; sign lighting; and the purposes of the various signs. Public Hearing Board of Zoning Appeals November 7, 2023 Meeting Minutes 2 Chair D. Barken opened the public hearing. There were no comments in support of or in opposition to the requested variances. Staff read the Planning and Development Board’s recommendation on the appeal: The Planning and Development Board worked with the applicant on the building signage and approved the proposed sign package on August 22, 2023. There being no further comments from interested parties, Chair D. Barken closed the public hearing. Deliberation & Decision The Board determined that the requested signage was appropriate for the use and massing of the building. The conference center will bring many visitors to the area and wayfinding will be of particular importance for this use. The Board did note that the signage may not exceed the approved dimensions if the name of the conference center should change in the future. On a motion by M. Cannon, seconded by J. Kirby, the Board of Zoning Appeals voted 4-0-0 to approve Appeal #3246. ______________________________________________________________________________ BZA #3261 408 E State Street Appeal of property owner, Avi Smith, for an area variance from Section 325-8, Column 14/15, Rear Yard, requirement of the Zoning Ordinance. The applicant proposes to demolish an existing 1800 SF terrace to the north of the Argos Inn and construct a 5135 SF 3-story addition to the existing building at 408 E. State Street. The required Rear Yard for this zoning district is 20’and the existing building is located 19.2’ from the property line, resulting in a 4% deficiency. The proposed addition will increase the occupancy of the building, thus triggering the need for a variance for the existing rear yard. This is an existing deficiency that will not be exacerbated by the proposal. The new addition is compliant with the regulations of the B-4 zoning district. Craig Modisher of STREAM Collaborative presented the appeal on behalf of property owner Avi Smith. The new addition will meet the requirements of the B-4 zoning district, but the property has an existing rear yard deficiency. This requires a variance because the project results in an increase in occupancy on the property. Board members had no questions for the applicant and noted that they did not have concerns with the requested variance. Public Hearing Chair D. Barken opened the public hearing. There were no comments in support of or in opposition to the requested variances. Staff read the Planning and Development Board’s recommendation on the appeal: The Planning Board does not identify any negative long-term planning impacts and supports this appeal. They determined there are positive planning impacts that support this adaptive reuse in this location as it activates downtown and is supported by Plan Ithaca. The Board finds the variance is very small and does not negatively affect neighboring properties as it is an existing condition that is being reconfigured on the parcel. Staff read the Planning and Development Board’s recommendation on the appeal: Board of Zoning Appeals November 7, 2023 Meeting Minutes 3 The Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Commission (ILPC) reviewed the proposed expansion of the Argos Inn and issued a Certificate of Appropriateness for the project as currently proposed on January 17, 2023. There being no further comments from interested parties, Chair D. Barken closed the public hearing. Deliberation & Decision The Board noted that this is an existing deficiency on an historic structure. The deficiency is proportionally small. The project team made a clear effort to ensure that the new addition is zoning compliant. On a motion by A. Gardiner, seconded by J. Kirby, the Board of Zoning Appeals voted 4-0-0 to approve Appeal #3261. BZA #3262 401 E. State Street Appeal of STREAM Collaborative on behalf of property owner Frost Travis for a sign variance from §272- 6B, Signs Permitted in a Commercial Zone, of the City’s Sign Ordinance to allow the installation of four signs advertising “The Dean”, a residential building at 401 E. State Street. The applicant is proposing a building sign above the west entry that will be 19.8 SF. Two additional window signs will be located near the north entry (1.3 SF each), and an awning sign will be installed over the building’s east entry, adjacent to the parking lot. The City’s Sign Ordinance allows 1 sign that is a maximum of 12 SF to advertise the name, logo, or other branding of a residential building. The applicant seeks a variance to install 3 additional sign, including one that exceeds the 12 SF maximum size. The applicant is also proposing one sign for the ground floor event space, “The Chapman.” The event space is a separate commercial use that is permitted up to two signs. The signage for “The Chapman” is compliant with City’s Sign Ordinance. Craig Modisher of STREAM Collaborative presented the appeal on behalf of property owner Frost Travis. The proposed sign package includes signage for “The Dean” residential building and “The Chapman” event space. Board members asked questions about the purpose of the various signs and the existing signage. Public Hearing Chair D. Barken opened the public hearing. There were no comments in support of or in opposition to the requested variances. Staff read the Planning and Development Board’s recommendation on the appeal: The Planning and Development Board worked with the applicant on the building signage and approved the proposed sign package on September 26, 2023. There being no further comments from interested parties, Chair D. Barken closed the public hearing. Deliberation & Decision The Board noted that they did not find this sign package particularly useful for wayfinding. However, there were no concerns with the proposed signage. Members noted that several of the new signs are similar in size and location to the existing Gateway building signage. On a motion by J. Kirby, seconded by A. Gardiner, the Board of Zoning Appeals voted 4-0-0 to approve Appeal #3262. Board of Zoning Appeals November 7, 2023 Meeting Minutes 4 II. CONTINUED APPEALS - None III. PRELIMINARY PRESENTATIONS - None IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES On a motion by M. Cannon, seconded by A. Gardiner, the BZA unanimously approved the September 12, 2023 meeting minutes without corrections. V. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS A. Zoning Permits: Staff gave an update on the legislation to allow zoning permits for certain area deficiencies. The draft ordinance will be presented to the Common Council in December 2023 or January 2024. B. Next Meeting: The next BZA meeting will be held on December 12, 2023. VI. ADJOURNMENT Chair D. Barken adjourned the meeting at 6:23 pm. Respectfully submitted, ___________________________ November 7, 2023 Megan Wilson, Zoning Administrator Date Secretary, Board of Zoning Appeals