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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-11-16-BZA TOWN OF ULYSSES BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS 11 /16/2005 PRESENT : Chairman George Tselekis, Members Carl Mann, Joel Warren and Gerald Van Orden; Code Enforcement Officer Alex Rachun; and Zoning Typist Karin Lanning. ALSO PRESENT : Brenda Evans, Applicant, Stephen Gibian, Architect for the i Applicant, Phyllis McNeill, Amy Yale-Loehr, Andrew Yale, Werner Goehner, Johanna Goehner, and David Holmberg. Chairman Tselekis called the meeting and a duly advertised public hearing to order at 7 : 30 pm . The purpose of the public hearing was to hear comments on an area variance requested by Edward & Brenda Evans for the purpose of constructing an accessory building at 1101 Taughannock Boulevard, Tax Parcel 31 . -2-29, a lot that lacks the minimum 250 feet of frontage. Chairman Tselekis called upon the Applicant to describe the proposed project. Brenda Evans — My Architect is here, and he will be able to better explain the plans, but basically the purpose of the proposed project is storage for cars and boats . Stephen Gibian, Architect - I prepared the previous submittal and have some plans and elevations to add [distributed copies] . I was called by the Evans ' in August and walked the site . Basically, they proposed a "bank barn", where, because of the slope of the land, vehicles can be stored in the basement level from the lower side and on the first floor level from the uphill side, and he suggested a cross-gable roof similar to one they had at a previous property in Martha ' s Vineyard, Cape Cod . We walked the land and there was a fairly flat spot nearer to the highway, but it was too close to the highway for a front-yard setback, and when you have a building with access to two sides you really need 36 feet of 3 access on either side, so when you add 36 feet to 36 feet to the building itself, you 're talking about a 100-foot clearing, and I didn ' t like the idea of putting a clearing in the woods . Then, there was this spot [indicating on plans] , which was between an existing driveway to an existing garage and an existing lower driveway to the house. Given that these two driveways existed, this was really an ideal location in that there would be no need to create new driveways and the grade changes between the lower and upper driveways was just about perfect for the proposed bank barn. The other thing is, by putting vehicles on both the basement level and the first floor level the same number of vehicles can be stored within a smaller footprint. The proposal is for a new accessory building to be located between the existing garage and the existing house, with a two-bay garage on the basement level and a two-bay garage on the first floor level . The second story is in the roof itself; there is enough space that will have the minimum 7-foot ceiling height to accommodate a studio or a workshop . This proposal disturbs the least area because it uses existing drives and the bank barn approach reduces the footprint . Chairman Tselekis — Will there be any plumbing or living space in the garage? Brenda Evans — No, except that the workshop or studio will probably be my knitting/felting studio . Chairman Tselekis — Any comments from the public? Amy Yale-Lot — My brother and I are just to the south of this property, and we just recently got the notice. My brother and husband have discussed this and I called Alex Rachun and spoke to him at some length, but this is the first chance I ' ve had to look at the plans . It ' s a big building in a spot where there ' s not been a building before. We 're country folk, and we like fewer buildings rather than more buildings, but I guess the reason we came is just because we feel we need to be educated about this and understand what ' s going to happen. It looks to me like the roofline of the new structure will be at the same level as the existing garage, and the structure on this plan is going to be a fairly substantial building. Town of Ulysses 2 Board of Zoning Appeals 11 / 16/2005 Werner Goehner — The four-gabled roof is what makes it big. It makes it not just a garage but a garage plus . It will be substantial . David Holmberg — Just a question. Can you explain to me the technicality under which the area variance is required? Chairman Tselekis — It ' s a non-conforming lot, just barely, in that a lot is supposed to have 250 feet of frontage and this lot has 227 feet along Cayuga Lake, which we can count as frontage . It ' s just a little bit off, and actually most lots along the lake are nonconforming, and that means any major construction requires a variance. Code Enforcement Officer — That ' s correct. Any structure with a roof over it is defined as a structure and would need a variance. David Holmberg — And these are fairly new regulations, correct? Code Enforcement Officer Alex Rachun — Yes, they' re more severe now. It used to be 1 acre with 200 feet of frontage and a 200-foot diameter circle of usable area. It has been increased significantly to 2 acres, 250 feet of frontage and 250 feet of depth, and about 95 -97 percent of lakefront properties do not conform to that. Chairman Tselekis — Anything else? Any questions from the Board? It does not appear that the variance will be very substantial : 227 feet versus the requirement of 250 feet, with the exception of the height issue. Mr. Mann — Alex, would the proposed project have needed a variance under the old Zoning Ordinance or would it have been a legal lot? Code Enforcement Officer Rachun — It would have been a legal lot, but the height would have been in question. The maximum height in the new Ordinance is double what it used to be, so they j robably would have needed a height variance as opposed to an area variance. Brenda Evans I just wanted to say that we love that property because it ' s very natural and wooded. We looked for a location where we won ' t have to take any trees out; we don 't want to disturb the natural appearance . And, from the lake, the house will cover most of the garage. We love being on the lake and we don ' t like to disturb it, but it ' s hard when you have to pay for boat storage and we also have a couple of cars that we need to get undercover. That ' s why we want to do this, but we don ' t want to disturb the lot. Chairman Tselekis — It did look like a fairly empty area of land. Brenda Evans — We recently had to take down some trees because of rotting and such, but in that particular location there shouldn ' t have to be any trees removed. Chairman Tselekis — Any more questions or points from the Board? Code Enforcement Officer Rachun — Although this property is quite a bit larger than most lakefront properties and the Architect has designed a building that is under the 5 % lot coverage that is now the maximum in the R1 District, most lakefront properties will be confronted by. this 5 % rule. Just a heads up . On this particular property, they were able to stay under the 5 % . Hearing no further comments, Mr. Warren moved to adopt the following resolution, which was seconded by Mr. Van Orden : Whereas, there will be a minor undesirable change to the character of the neighborhood', in that there will be a building where none has existed before, and there will be a minor detriment to nearby properties resulting from the requested variance for this 28 ' x 28 ' garage/storage facility, and Town of Ulysses 3 Board of Zoning Appeals 11 / 16/2005 Whereas, the benefit sought by the applicant cannot be achieved by a feasible alternative method other than an area variance, and Whereas, the variation is not substantial in comparison to the requirement, and Whereas the variance requested will not have an adverse impact on the physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood, and Whereas, the alleged difficulty was not self-created, Ik I Be It Therefore Resolved that an area variance be granted to Edward Evans and Brenda Evans from the requirement for 250 feet of frontage for the purpose of constructing a garage at 1101 Taughannock Boulevard, Tax Parcel 31 . -2-29 . Mr. Tselekis aye Mr. Mann aye Mr. Warren aye Mr. Van Orden aye The motion carried and the variance was granted. Mr. Mann moved to approve the minutes of the October 19, 2005 meeting and public hearing as presented . Mr. Van Orden seconded . Mr. Tselekis aye Mr. Mann aye Mr. Warren aye Mr. Van Orden aye Adopted. i Hearing no further business Mr. Mann moved to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Warren seconded. Mr. Tselekis aye Mr. Mann aye Mr. Warren aye Mr. Van Orden aye Chairman Tselekis adjourned the meeting at 7 : 50 pm . Respectfully Submitted Karin Laming Zoning Typist KL