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Home My WebLink AboutZBA Minutes 2014-04-21 TOWN OF ITHACA ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS Monday April 21, 2014 Minutes Present: Rob Rosen, Chair; members Chris Jung, John De Rosa, and Kirk Sigel Alternates - Christine Decker and George Vignaux Absent: Bill King Staff— Bruce Bates, Director of Code Enforcement; Paulette Terwilliger, Town Clerk and Susan Brock, Attorney for the Town Mr. Rosen opened the meeting at 7:02 p.m. Appeal Ecovillage TREE, LLC, owner and Jared Jones, applicant, requesting variance from the requirements of Chapter 271-9 D III (15) "Special Land Use District No. 8" to install a 3600 +/- sg ft ground mounted solar collector which exceeds the 1,000 sq ft of surface area limit, located at 215 Rachel Carson Way, Tax Parcel No. 28.-1-26.22, Planned Development Zone No. 8 (PDZ) Jarrod Jones representing Eco Village, was present to answer questions and gave a brief overview of the request. The Board discussed the reason why a variance is needed and Mr. Bates and Ms. Brock responded that there is a limit of 1,000 square feet allowed for solar arrays and more importantly, this one is proposed on an accessory structure and the Planned Development Zone for Eco Village lists permission only for arrays on principle uses. They thought it was clearer to get a variance. The Board discussed their visits to the site and noted that the proposed array cannot be seen from the road and after some clarification, it was noted that there is a buffer of at least 350 feet and a hedgerow between the array and any property not owned by Eco Village or its associated organization, EV. The Board was satisfied that the array would not impede on anyone's views. Mr. Rosen opened the public hearing at 7:18 p.m. There was no one wishing to address the Board on this appeal and the public hearing was closed. Ms. Brock stated that SEAR was required because the size of the array is significant versus what is allowed. Ms. Brock suggested minor changes to the SEQR form which were approved by the Board and made. ZBA Resolution No. 2014-007: SEQR —Area Variance 215 Rachel Carson Way, Tax Parcel No. 28.-1-26.22, Planned Development Zone No. 8 April 21, 2014 Motion made by Rob Rosen, seconded by Chris Jung 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, Sigel, DeRosa, Decker and Jung Nays— none Motion passed unanimously. ZBA Resolution No. 2014—008 Area Variance 215 Rachel Carson Way, Tax Parcel No. 28.-l-26.22, Planned Development Zone No. 8 April 21, 2014 Motion made by Rob Rosen, seconded by John De Rosa Resolved that this board grants the appeal of Ecovillage TREE, LLC, owner and Jared Jones, applicant, requesting variance from the requirements of Chapter 271-9 D III (15) "Special Land Use District No. 8" to install a 3600 +/- sq ft ground mounted solar collector which exceeds the 1,000 sq ft of surface area limit, located at 215 Rachel Carson Way, Tax Parcel No. 28.-1-26.22, Planned Development Zone No. 8 (PDZ) with the following: Conditions 1 That the solar array be installed substantially as shown on the documents submitted to the Zoning Board of Appeals for this meeting. With the following Findings 1. That the benefit to the applicant does outweigh any detriment to the health, safety and welfare of the community, specifically that the benefit that the applicant wishes to achieve cannot be achieved by any other means feasible given that it will not fit on the roof of the building; in addition, the roof is going to be used for a solar thermal array and dividing the array between the building roofs, garage roofs and other structures is not practicable; and 2. That there will not be an undesirable change in the neighborhood character or to nearby properties given that the proposed array is not visible from a public street or from any neighboring properties given that the distance to the nearest neighboring property is approximately 350 feet and the array is shielded from the public street; and 3. That the request is substantial given that the allowed expanse is 1,000 sqft and this is 3,500 sqft but nonetheless, this is mitigated by the fact that the applicant is placing it on a 150 acre site and it is located in such a way as to not be visible from any neighboring properties; and 4. The request will not have adverse physical or environmental effects; in fact, to the contrary, this will help the environment by reducing the use of fossil fuels and the collectors will not produce any glare, noise or other off-site impacts that could affect the neighborhood; and 5. That while the alleged difficulty is self-created by the applicant's desire to have a solar array larger than 1,OOOsgft, but nonetheless, the benefit to the applicant does outweigh any detriment to the health, safety and welfare of the community. Vote: Ayes— Rosen, Sigel, Decker, De Rosa and Jung Nays — None Motion passed unanimously. Other Business Mr. Bates reviewed the agenda for the next meeting. Discussion on whether the minutes should be approved by the board as a whole instead of just the Chair. Board agreed. The process will be to send them to the Chair when they are finished for an initial review and then send them out with the packet for approval at the following meeting. Meeting wa adjourned upon motion and a second at 7:43 p.m. Submi Paulette Terwilliger Town Clerk Approved by: Zoning Board of Appeals Date: TOWN OF ITHACA AFFIDAVIT OF POSTING AND PUBLICATION I, Lori Kofoid, being duly sworn, say that I am the Deputy Town Clerk of the Town of Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York that the following notice has been duly posted on the sign board of the Town Clerk of the Town of Ithaca and the notice has been duly published in the official newspaper, Ithaca Journal: O DVERTISEMENT NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARINGS ,,TOWN OfffMCA' zr�s�ss� ssaa�rs er:,;, A,Pi 0 E L� N 1, I u p Location of Sign Board Used for Posting: 1"�;� � sie"t Town Clerk's Office '"' 215 North Tioga Street YA�E, Ithaca, NY 14850 jone% 00011cIn Yelp'POt iny,varlance'66661 OV, r� ,qt iaientn(if a{atfr2 Date of Posting: April 2, 2014 ��Qli�_ cso, ground rraOwit ds'btOr 001- s the Date of Publication: April 4, 2014 o�nanr ,�rrinN, cor d; ��aCJ 5iv Pt 4Su+Ea+e area rerr lir ik,focated 1"t f azdr I' Cursor%Vri�„ fax,P,nrcel` 6,g TF�jnrle Makes Lori Kof id olrrc � edd. ��nfrsvner+ierrt Deputy Town Clerk Dora_,i� 1AP612 �ar�Apria 2,20144/4/2014 STATE OF NEW YORK) COUNTY OF TOMPKINS) SS: TOWN OF ITHACA) Sworn to and subscribed before me this day of 201 . Notbry Public Debra DeAugistine Not"Public-State of New York No.01 DE61 Q-8035 Ouallfied in Tompkins County My commission Expires June 19,20 AFFIDAVIT OF SERVICE BY MAIL STATE OF NEW YORK ) SS.: COUNTY OF TOMPKINS ) 1, Lori Kofoid,being duly sworn,deposes and says,that deponent is not a party to the actions,is over 21 years of age with a professional address o£215 North Tioga Street,Ithaca,New York. That on the 2"d day of April 2014,deponent served the within Notice upon the property owners of the following Tax Parcel Numbers: 215 Rachel Carson Way.,Tax Parcel 28.-1-26.22,Area Variance Franziska Bedzyke Robin Botie EcoVillage at Ithaca,Inc. 1343 Mecklenburg Rd 1341 Mecklenburg Rd 100 Rachel Carson Way Ithaca,NY 14850 Ithaca,NY 14850 Ithaca,NY 14850 EcoVillage Song Coop Inc. Peter Towbridge&Nina Bassuk YMCA 200 Rachel Carson Way 1345 Mecklenburg Rd Graham Road West Ithaca,NY 14850 Ithaca,NY 14850 Ithaca,NY 14850 EcoVillage TREE LLC Attn:Jared Jones 215 Rachel Carson Way Ithaca,NY 14850 ;om"Ry depositing same enclosed in a postpaid addressed wrapper, in a post office under the exclusive care and custody of the United States Post Office ,epartment within the State of New York. Lori Kofoid,Deputy Taw Clerk Town of Ithaca Sworn to before me this 2"d Day of April 2014. N4ZLag Rublic Debre DeAugistine Notary Public-State of New York No.01 DE6148035 Qualified in Tompkins County My Commission Expires June 19,2