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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZBA Minutes 1994-10-12 FINAL TOWN OF ITHACA ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS AGENDA WEDNESDAY , OCTOBER 12 , 1994 7 : 00 P . M . 1 ) Appeal of Ralph Varn at 1598 Slaterville Road . 2 ) Appeal of Christine A . Smith at 6 Schickel Road . 3 ) Appeal of Elsie McMillan at 812 Elmira Road . 4 ) Appeal of First Assembly of God at 197 Bostwick Road . 5 ) Appeal of William Kellner and Camille Tischler at 124 Pine Tree Road . • 6 ) Discussion of Cornell University ' s proposed use of the former Ridley Printing building at East Hill Plaza . Andrew S . Frost Building Inspector/ Zoning Enforcement Officer 273- 1783 Dated : October 4 . 1994 • FINAL FILED TOWN OF ITHACA TOWN OF IThIACA ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS WEDNESDAY , OCTOBER 12 , 1994 'Date I Clerk � �rrm The following Appeals were heard by the Board on October 12 , 1994 : APPEAL of Ralph Varn , Appellant , requesting a variance from the requirements of Article IV , Sections 14 and 16 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance and Section 280-A of New York State Town Law , to be permitted to create a parcel of land ( through subdivision ) which does not have frontage on a Town , County , or State highway , at 1598 Slaterville Road , on a portion of Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 56 - 3- 14 . 2 , Residence District R- 15 . GRANTED WITH CONDITIONS . APPEAL of Christine A . Smith , Appellant , requesting a variance from the requirements of Article V , Section 21 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance , to be permitted to construct a 24 ' x 27 ' garage with a second story living area having a proposed side yard building setback of 19 ' ( 40 ' setback required ) at 6 Schickel Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 36 - 2 - 13 , Residence District R- 30 . GRANTED WITH A CONDITION . APPEAL of Elsie McMillan , Owner , Historic Ithaca , Appellant , requesting an extension of a time- limited use variance granted by the Zoning Board of Appeals on April 10 , 1991 , to be permitted to use a barn as an architectural parts recycling warehouse at 812 Elmira Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 33- 1 - 7 . 2 , Residence District R- 30 . Article V . Section 18 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance does not permit an architectural • parts recycling warehouse in Residential District R- 30 zones . GRANTED WITH A TIME -LIMITED CONDITION . APPEAL of the First Assembly of God , Reverends Robert Lovelace and Barry Shepps , Agents , requesting a Special Approval under Article V , Section 18 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance , to be permitted to construct a multi -purpose religion building at Lot #2 of the Tomlinson subdivision at 197 Bostwick Road , on a portion of Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 31 -4 - 1 . 2 , Residence District R- 30 . A variance from the requirements of Article V , Section 18 , Paragraph 10 is also requested to construct a sanctuary with a building height of 44 + feet ( 30 ' maximum building height permitted ) . SPECIAL APPROVAL AND VARIANCE GRANTED . APPEAL of William Kellner and Camille Tischler , Appellants , requesting a time - limited variance from the requirements of Article IV , Section 11 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance , to be permitted to maintain a single - family residence by four unrelated persons at 124 Pine Tree Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 58- 2 - 18 , Residence District R- 15 . Said Ordinance limits such occupancy to no more than three unrelated persons . GRANTED WITH CONDITIONS . • TOWN OF ITHACA FILED ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS TOWN OF IT�— WEDNESDAY , OCTOBER 12 , 1994 Date • Clerkk�.�- PRESENT : Chairman Edward Austen , Edward King , Harry Ellsworth , Pete Scala , Town Attorney John C . Barney , Building Inspector/ Zoning Enforcement Officer Andrew Frost , Town Planner Jon Kanter . OTHERS : Ralph Varn , Christine Smith , Jim Stubbs , Sean Livingston , Paul Pedersen , James Munson , John Schultzel , Elmer S . Phillip , Albert George , Amy George , Carol George , Ed Franquemont , Elsie McMillan , Dave & Eloise Blanpied , Gary Myers , Bill Kellner , Camille Tischler , Martha Turnbull , Bruce Turnbull , Hans Fleischmann , Shirley Egan , Roy Colle , Susanna Colle . Chairman Austen called the meeting to order at 7 : 10 PM and stated that all posting , publication , and notification of the public hearings had been completed and the same were in order . The first appeal to be heard by the Board was as follows : APPEAL of Ralph Varn , Appellant , requesting a variance from the requirements of Article IV , Sections 14 and 16 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance and Section 280-A of New York State Town Law, to be permitted to create a parcel of land ( through subdivision ) which does not have frontage on a Town , County or State highway, at 1598 Slaterville Road , on a portion of Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 56- 3- 14 . 2 , Residence District R- 15 . • Chairman Austen stated that Mr . Ralph Varn had already been to the Planning Board and invited him to speak about his appeal . Mr . Varn stated that he is representing Mrs . Eleanor Foote ( who is the property owner ) and he is trying to purchase from her a parcel of land designated as Lot 1 on the map he had provided to the Board which is in the Town of Ithaca . Mr . Varn said he is also purchasing a parcel of land ( which is next to Lot 1 ) that ' s in the Town of Dryden . He said he is one of the partners in the Peregrine Partners and they own the land next to Mrs . Foote ' s parcels . They ' re buying Mrs . Foote ' s upper land which , for all practical purposes , is land locked because there ' s no access to it from Route 79 . Lot 1 and the other parcel in the Town of Ithaca will become one big lot owned by Peregrine Partners . They will have frontage on Snyder Hill Road in the Town of Dryden . Mr . Varn said he thinks basically why he ' s here ( he thought it ' s kind of a technicality ) , but they ' re splitting off a piece of land in the Town of Ithaca that doesn ' t have road frontage in the Town of Ithaca or on a state or county road . However , they ' re making it part of their parcel and they ' ll have road frontage on Snyder Hill Road . Mr . Varn said they ' ve gone through the Town and received preliminary approval of this subdivision of Mrs . Foote ' s land , contingent upon getting a variance from the Zoning Board . Of course , the hardship of it would be Mrs . Foote not being able to sell her land . Mr . Varn then asked the Board members if there were any questions . Mr . Frost said he would like to add , for clarification , that the Planning Board is considering subdivision and the concern is to create a subdivision and create a building lot that doesn ' t have frontage and that ' s essentially why Mr . Varn is appearing in front of the Board . Mr . Kanter said , basically , the Board would see in the Planning Board • conditions in the preliminary approval alot of verbiage that would prevent any future subdivision of Lot 1 or any future sale separately from any of the other Peregrine Town of Ithaca 2 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 Partners properties so that , for all purposes , nothing could be done with that land until either access is provided through the Peregrine Hollow development or , if that isn ' t able to happen , the Planning Board required that an easement , as another option for access to that parcel , be provided through into the Town of Dryden that would lead to Snyder Hill Road . So , before any building permit could even be issued , at least some minimal access through that easement would have to be provided . Mr . Frost said he would like to bring the Board ' s attention to their packet for this particular case to note the conditions of the subdivision approval , as proposed by the Planning Board , Mr . Kanter stated that Mr . Varn is scheduled to come back to the Planning Board for final subdivision approval at the October 18 , 1994 meeting . Chairman Austen asked if they did have the necessary frontage on Snyder Hill Road and Mr . Varn replied yes , they have approximately a total of 300 feet of frontage on Snyder Hill Road in two different locations . Mr . Varn said they plan to do a subdivision and have final subdivision approval of a subdivision in the Town of Dryden which will show roads that come in and connect to the Town of Ithaca parcel that they ' re purchasing from Mrs . Foote once they get down that far . Mr . Varn said they have approval of the first forty- four lots . Chairman Austen asked if the parcel they were purchasing from Mrs . Foote was split and if they were buying what ' s in the Town of Dryden as well . Mr . Varn said yes , they are buying that as well . Chairman Austen asked if the total then would be around 13 or 14 acres and Mr . Varn replied yes . Mr . Frost said he would like to clarify for the Board , since the question had been • raised , that - - by definition of the zoning ordinance - - a front yard is the land between the street right- of -way line and a principal building ( once you have a principal building on the building lot ) . Since there ' s no street right- of-way , he has no front yard and that ' s also part of this variance ; by definition , there ' s no front yard for this building lot . Mr . King asked Mr . Varn if he would be planning more than one lot out of this particular portion in the Town of Ithaca . Mr . Varn said yes , at some future time ; as they develop the roads in the Town of Dryden and connect to Lot 1 , then they ' ll come into the Town of Ithaca and go through the subdivision process . Mr . Varn said , in the top area of the map , the Board would see an area of open space which is going to actually be dedicated to the town park and that it connects to the Eastern Heights Park there . They would probably be planning approximately 15 lots in there , depending on how the subdivision process goes . Mr . King then asked Mr . Varn if he wanted the subdivision approval from both townships before beginning any construction . Mr . Varn said no , they ' re not planning on coming in for any subdivision approvals on Lot 1 in the near future . They have 44 lots to do in the Town of Dryden , so it would be awhile before they get the roads down to that lot . Mr . King asked Mr . Varn if he had applied to the Town of Ithaca for subdivision approval and Mr . Varn stated that they had applied just for the two lot subdivision approval for Mrs . Foote and not the 15 lots . Mr . Scala asked , looking at the map attached to the appeal entitled " Subdivision Plat , Eleanor Foote Lands " ( map prepared by Lawrence Fabbroni , P . E . , L . S . , and dated May 19 , 1994 ) if that was the proposed road that is drawn with the dash lines . Mr . Varn • said yes , that ' s part of the preliminary approval with the Town of Ithaca that they provide access from Lot 1 to Snyder Hill Road as a minimum requirement . Mr . Scala said , so nothing has been done along that line yet and Mr . Varn agreed and said , once they get the approvals and close on the land , that right- of-way will become part of the deed . Town of Ithaca 3 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 Mr . Scala noted that Number 2 of the above mentioned map read , " There shall be no further conveyance of Lot 1 until such time as a public road has been constructed and conveyed to the Town of Dryden . . . " and Mr . Varn said , meaning that he can ' t sell it to anybody else ; it has to be sold as an integral part of the whole property above . Chairman Austen noted that the Town of Ithaca Planning Board has given preliminary approval subject to the four conditions listed in the adopted resolution for preliminary subdivision approval and dated September 20 , 1994 . ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT Chairman Austen read Parts II and III of the environmental assessment form prepared by JoAnn Cornish , Planner 11 and dated September 28 , 1994 . Mr . Kanter noted they had found one typo correction on Page 1 of the short environmental assessment form completed by Ralph R . Varn and dated September 21 , 1994 , On Question #6 , Amount of Land Affected , there should be a figure in the acres checked after - Initially ( 0 - 5 years ) , that should make it 20 . 01 + acres indicated as the number there . Chairman Austen read into the minutes the letter from the Tompkins County Department of Planning signed by James Hanson , Jr . , Commissioner of Planning , dated October 6 , 1994 and directed to the attention of Mr . Andy Frost , Mr . Ellsworth stated he did not understand Condition 4 on the map entitled , • "Subdivision Plat , Eleanor Foote Lands " because he did not see Blue Heron Road on the map . Attorney Barney said Blue Heron Road is on another map which is a proposed subdivision map for the 15 lots and all the Board was really concerned about here was making sure there would be a designation of some park land but they didn ' t want to lock the developer into a specific size lot . Mr . King said he gathered , from the conditions as adopted by the Planning Board , that they didn ' t go along with the idea of an easement to this lot . Attorney Barney said he thought the theory of the Planning Board , because this is what the applicant presented , this is all going to be one subdivision . Mr . King noted that all of the conditions depend upon it being a subdivision with a public road and Attorney Barney said , however , an escape valve was built in such that ( he thought ) the 6th or 7th condition allows the Planning Board to modify the conditions on circumstances that pertain . The Planning Board requested the showing of this potential road but , if for some reason it never develops , someone can come in with another way to provide access and the Board can look at it and then impose whatever conditions might be appropriate at the time . Mr . King said , if the Board approved the variance at this time , they weren ' t approving with the idea of an easement being used to develop these lots before the rest of the project was done and asked if that was correct . Attorney Barney said it depends , the variance is to say that they can have a subdivision without frontage and you ' re not really committing one way or another to an easement or to any kind of road circumstanc - es . The conditions that the Planning Board imposed would be the ones that would govern the proposal for the near term . Mr . King said he thought the Zoning Board would adopt the same conditions and Attorney Barney said yes , except he would suggest it would be • useful to allow the Planning Board the flexibility to modify the conditions if it became necessary at a future date . Attorney Barney said Mr . Varn is optimistic and hopes there will be developments in the near future but , 30 years from now , if it never gets Town of Ithaca 4 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 • developed and someone has a way to put a road in there that is different than shown here , we might want to provide for somebody - - whether it ' s this body or the Planning Board , or both - - to be able to modify those conditions . Attorney Barney added that he would think , in these circumstances , it ' s pretty much a planning issue and would be a process of the Planning Board at that junction . Mr . Kanter said the other thing that entered into the access question is that there are some additional private lands to the west of the Foote parcel - - the Blanpied property and Foote property and ( he thought ) one other . Condition 4 at the very end on Page 3 of the Conditions from the Planning Board Preliminary Subdivision Approval dated September 20 , 1994 says that the developer should make reasonable effort to explore the possibility of access to Lot # 1 being provided by a road or roads leading westward to Park Lane and / or Slaterville Road . The idea of that condition was , hopefully , if this was developed in conjunction with the Peregrine Hollow subdivision , there would be a road coming in from Snyder Hill Road through Peregrine Hollow and then the road could be built through . Out the west side of the Foote property through the Blanpied and the adjacent private lands , you could have additional access going down back to Slaterville Road and the Planning Board felt that would be desirable to try to work something like that out . Chairman Austen then asked for a motion on the Environmental Assessment form . MOTION By Mr . Edward King , seconded by Mr . Harry Ellsworth . • RESOLVED , that the Board adopt the recommendations of JoAnn Cornish , Planner II dated September 28 , 1994 and find a negative determination of environmental signifi - cance for the appeal by Ralph Varn for the property at 1598 Slaterville Road , on a portion of Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 56 - 3- 14 . 2 , Residence District R- 15 . With no further discussion , Chairman Austen asked for a vote on the motion which resulted as follows : AYES - Austen , King , Ellsworth , Scala . NAYS - None . The motion was carried unanimously . Chairman Austen opened the public hearing . Since no one appeared to address the Board , Chairman Austen closed the public hearing . Mr . Ellsworth asked if the power line was north of this property and Mr . Varn showed its location on the map . Chairman Austen asked if the property is adjacent to the Eastern Heights properties so that their border line is common . Mr . Varn said yes , to the Eastern Heights Park up there and to the west is the Eastern Heights subdivision . Chairman Austen asked how many lots are intended for this area and Mr . Varn replied that , for the first Phase , they have approvals for 44 lots in the Town of Dryden and then there are Phases 2 , 3 , and 4 which encompass 200 units all together for future development . However , they have approvals only for the first phase . • Mr . Scala asked if they already owned that parcel of land and Mr . Varn said yes , the Peregrine Partners parcel which is 115 acres . Mr . Scala asked if that included the Foote parcel and Mr . Varn replied no , the Foote parcel they do not yet own and they are not allowed to buy it until Mrs . Foote gets the subdivision approval . Town of Ithaca 5 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 • Chairman Austen asked if there was any roadway started on any of it yet and Mr . Varn replied no . Mr . Scala asked where the park is to be and Mr . Varn pointed it out on the map as a dotted portion which is part of Mrs . Foote ' s land that will become part of the Eastern Heights Park which is right above it . Chairman Austen asked if that joins right on to the present park and Mr . Varn said yes and then the Blue Heron Road will join on to that , giving the park another access from the south side of the park . Mr . King said Mr . Varn stated in his application that this subdivision in the Town of Ithaca is part of a bigger subdivision ( obviously , a dividing line ) and if this subdivision is not allowed in the Town of Ithaca , could that make the upper subdivision impossible . Mr . Varn said that was correct and stated the reason they ' re purchasing this portion of land is that it ' s part of an overall agreement to have an easement from their land through the land they ' re buying from Mrs . Foote and , also , through her Lot #2 which is her parcel . They ' ll have an easement through there to connect to the sewer line which is on Route 79 , so they ' ll have gravity feed sewer . Otherwise , they would have to put a pumping station down at the bottom of their land and pump it up to Snyder Hill Road , and that ' s not the most desirable way to accomplish this . Mr . King said it would then cause them great financial hardship if this subdivision were not approved and Mr . Varn said yes . Mr . King asked if he had said they had agreed not to build a house or apply for a building permit on the Town of Ithaca land until adequate public road access is provided to that lot and Mr . Varn agreed that is true . Mr . King then asked if they were making this lot part of lands owned in the Town of Dryden which has road frontage on Snyder Hill Road and there was no change in that , and Mr . Varn said that is correct . • MOTION By Mr . Edward King , seconded by Mr . Harry Ellsworth . RESOLVED , that the Board grant the Appellant , Ralph Varn , a variance from the requirements of Article IV , Sections 14 and 16 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance and Section 280-A of New York State Law , to be permitted to create a parcel of land ( through subdivision ) which does not have frontage on a Town , County , or State highway , at 1598 Slaterville Road , on a portion of Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 56 - 3- 14 . 2 , Residence District R- 15 , with the following findings and conditions : 1 . Upon the understanding that the Board is adopting the conditions of the Planning Board preliminary subdivision approval dated September 20 , 1994 . 2 . There will be no development nor application for building permit for building on Lot # 1 until access by public road has been provided through the Town of Dryden lands . 3 . With regard to the four conditions the Planning Board has set forth in the Preliminary subdivision approval dated September 20 , 1994 , with the proviso that the Planning Board , during final approval or subsequent consideration of construction on Lot # 1 , may modify those conditions without the consent of this Board . • With no further discussion , Chairman Austen asked for a vote on the motion which resulted as follows : AYES - Austen , King , Ellsworth , Scala . NAYS - None . Town of Ithaca 6 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 The motion was carried unanimously . • The second appeal to be heard by the Board was as follows : APPEAL of Christine A . Smith , Appellant , requesting a variance from the requirements of Article V , Section 21 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance , to be permitted to construct a 24 ' x 27 ' garage with a second story living area having a proposed side yard building setback of 19 ' ( 40 ' setback required ) at 6 Schickel Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 36- 2- 13 , Residence District R-30 . Mr . Jim Stubbs ( who was speaking on behalf of Christine Smith ) stated he drew up the sketches attached to the appeal and realized , in talking with Mr . Frost , that he will need an engineering stamp or an architect to draw up something more elaborate . However , he had thought it would be ok to proceed with this just for approval for permission to build . Chairman Austen said , originally , the setback from the line for the house was 47 ' and Mr . Stubbs agreed that was correct . Mr . Frost said , if there was no living space on top of the garage , then there could be ( in an R- 30 zone ) 15 ' . What we have here , though , is a living space above the garage which now requires a side yard setback of up to 40 ' . Mr . King asked if Mr . Stubbs owns the property adjacent east to this property and Mr . Stubbs said yes , he does . Chairman Austen asked Mr . Stubbs if he would be the builder and Mr . Stubbs said yes , he would . Mr . King asked if he had a house on his lot • and Mr . Stubbs said that he ' s building one right now . Mr . King asked if the house was far enough back so that the proposed garage wouldn ' t bother him and Mr . Stubbs said it was 95 ' from that property line . Mr . Frost asked if the house under construction that Mr . Stubbs is building was in an easterly direction and Mr . Stubbs said that ' s correct . Mr . Frost said Mr . Stubbs also resides further down towards Danby Road and Mr . Stubbs agreed . Attorney Barney asked , if Ms . Smith wasn ' t hiring him to do the building , would Mr . Stubbs still not object to her putting up a garage and Mr . Stubbs said he would not object . Chairman Austen said the 95 ' kind of limits that area so that nothing could be built in between there and asked Mr . Stubbs if that was a building lot that was left in between the two properties ( Mr . Stubbs said no , the house that he ' s building is 95 ' from that property line so there ' s plenty of setback on his side ) . Attorney Barney asked who the prior builder was and Mr . Stubbs said it was Mike Hovanec . Mr . Frost said he ' d like to verify that Mr . Stubbs had indicated he would need engineering plans - - he may not need architect or engineering plans , but he will need something more elaborate than what the Board is looking at for the building permit . Attorney Barney asked Mr . Stubbs if he was pretty comfortable with the plot of the lot line on the east side of the line and if 19 ' was going to be right or , when he went to build it , he wasn ' t going to need another 6 " or so ( in other words , how precise is that 19 ' ) ? Mr . Stubbs said he found pins so he would like to say it would be within 6 " . Attorney Barney said it makes a difference because , if the Board chose to grant a variance and there ' s the possibility of a problem there , they probably should grant the variance for 18 ' 6 " or something like that so there ' s a little room for shifting or whatever . • Chairman Austen said , if it had not had the living space above , it would have been legal anyway . Mr . Frost said , if just the garage was constructed , it would be compliant . Chairman Austen said , apparently , that ' s what the previous builder had indicated . . . that there was nothing said about it ' s being a two story , just a garage . Town of Ithaca 7 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 Mr . Scala asked how they had access to the next floor and if there ' s a connection to the existing house . Mr . Stubbs said there will be a stairway from the existing house to the back section of the garage . Mr . Frost noted that the Board has a sketch showing this . Mr . Stubbs said the stairwell will be in the addition but the actual entrance will be from the existing . Chairman Austen said he ' s looking at the one drawing and it ' s showing a window on the side by the existing house - - Mr . Stubbs said that will be the second floor above the existing house . Mr . Frost said there was a picture being passed to the Board members and asked if the roof line of the existing house will then be lower than the edge of the addition to which Mr . Stubbs replied yes , that ' s correct . Mr . Scala said , out of curiosity , would one of the options be to flop the design over and put it on the other end of the house ? Mr . Stubbs said there ' s not really an option there due to the septic system being on that side so it ' s really out of the question . Mr . Scala if the added rooms were for rental or expansion and Mr . Stubbs said not for rental , just for living space . Chairman Austen read Ms . Smith ' s statements from the appeal dated September 2 , 1994 as far as hardship , then said he assumed the two sons mentioned are adults . Mr . Stubbs said one is ; Chairman Austen said at least of driving age , and Mr . Stubbs agreed that ' s correct . Mr . King asked what the nature of the living quarters was to be and Mr . Stubbs said it would be a bath and a family room , he would say , not a bedroom . Mr . King asked if he was doing the interior finishing of the walls and Mr . Stubbs said nothing is set in stone , they haven ' t made a contract or anything on it but he hopes to do this for Ms . Smith . Chairman Austen then read into the minutes the letter dated August 30 , 1994 from James Stubbs . He also read a letter dated September 20 , 1994 from the Tompkins County Department of Planning by James Hanson , Jr . , Commissioner of Planning . Chairman Austen then opened up the public hearing . With no one present to speak , the public hearing was closed . Chairman Austen also stated there was no environmental assessment required . With no further discussion required , Chairman Austen asked that a motion be made on the variance . MOTION By Mr . Harry Ellsworth , seconded by Mr . Edward King . RESOLVED , that the Board grant the applicant , Christine A . Smith , a variance from the requirements of Article V , Section 21 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance , to be permitted to construct a 24 ' x 27 ' garage with a second story living area having a proposed side yard building setback of 19 ' ( 40 ' setback required ) at 6 Schickel Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 36 - 2 - 13 , Residence District R- 30 , with the following condition : 1 . Construction will be permitted no closer than 18 ' to the east property boundary • line . Chairman Austen then asked for a vote on the motion which resulted as follows : Town of Ithaca 8 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 AYES - Austen , Ellsworth , King , Scala . • NAYS - None . The motion was carried unanimously . The third appeal to be heard by the Board was as follows : APPEAL of Elsie McMillan , Owner , Historic Ithaca , Appellant , requesting an extension of a time- limited use variance granted by the Zoning Board of Appeals on April 10 , 1991 , to be permitted to use a barn as an architectural parts recycling warehouse at 812 Elmira Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 33- 1-7 . 2 , Residence District R- 30 . Article V , Section 18 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance does not permit an architectural parts recycling warehouse in Residential District R- 30 zones . Mr . Ed Franquemont , Executive Director of Historic Ithaca , stepped to the microphone and stated he would be speaking on behalf of the applicant . Chairman Austen said he had a question - - how successful is this parts warehouse ? Mr . Franquemont said there are lots of ways of looking at it . On a money basis , it ' s about a break even operation which is all right for them as they ' re a not for profit organization . The main thing they ' d like to do is make sure that things that are being torn down have a place to rest while they ' re looking for somebody who knows how to re -use them in the buildings in Ithaca . On that basis , the business is fairly active ; they ' re open one day a week regularly and they also have appointments , if necessary . They tend to have a fairly brisk business of people walking through and looking . It depends on the season ; the building season is quite a bit more active than it is during the winter time . In fact , during the winter time , they used to keep it closed unless somebody wants to come out • there and look for something . Chairman Austen said he noticed there were some windows and other things , so they do have people coming and looking for these things . Mr . Franquemont said , actually , they have a fairly large amount of interest in it . In the past year , their staff has been fairly small and they ' ve had a difficult time keeping track of what they have in there . They ' ve just kind of taken the reins in hand in the last month . They ' ve done a new inventory and used the Cornell volunteer students to clean it up and inventory it all , gotten rid of the things that have been around forever that aren ' t going to move and have them taken to the dump ( although their trash hauler is a week late getting them out of there ) . Now they have a good list so that people can look without having to physically go to the building ; they can get an idea of what is available in the building . Chairman Austen said he was at the location today and noticed there were some things outside that they don ' t normally permit . Mr . Franquemont apologized for that and said he realizes it ' s very bad to have this come up now . They took advantage of the Cornell program on the 1st of October which is called " In The Streets " and it ' s quite a nice program . They had fifteen volunteers inventory the entire thing to see what was in bad shape and not worth selling , etc . They had a trash hauler who was supposed to come last week and pick it up and he had an equipment failure so didn ' t do it . Mr . Franquemont said he didn ' t actually realize that until someone told him on Wednesday and he again apologized for leaving the mess outside . Chairman Austen said what he saw was recent and hadn ' t been there very long , so he wasn ' t as concerned as he might have been otherwise . Mr . Franquemont said it ' s a nice area and highly visible from the road ; they would like to have everybody know what they ' re doing there , but they certainly do not • want to have a pile of junk laying around . Town of Ithaca 9 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 Mr . Scala noted it says one of the provisions is that there be no outside storage • on the site . Mr . King asked if he was saying that isn ' t a storage place outside and Mr . Franquemont said no , all the stuff outside is on the way to the garbage and it was supposed to be gone approximately three days after they had cleaned it all out . He said he was gone over the weekend and they didn ' t have it open over this past weekend , so nobody actually went out to the site to check and verify that it had been hauled away until they got a phone call on Tuesday afternoon that there was still a pile of trash there . Mr . Franquemont said he had talked to the hauler this morning and he would be coming on Friday morning to pick it up . Chairman Austen said the grass wasn ' t going up through it , so it hadn ' t been there that long but the Board does like to look and see what ' s happening . Mr . Franquemont said this is a nice program , it ' s an opportunity for both builders and homeowners to take an advantageous part of Ithaca ' s past which - - perhaps , for some people - - doesn ' t serve right now , but it ' s too good to throwaway . Mr . Franquemont said he thinks everyone knows the kind of stuff they ' re talking about and , if it just has a place to rest for a few months ; sooner or later , somebody comes along and finds a use for it . This program has been very successful over the years . Chairman Austen said he noticed one improvement to the building that they were thinking about was that a new roof had been put on ; the owners said they couldn ' t do that unless there was some means of income . Mr . Franquemont said they also had put a new door and door hardware on this year , they had trouble with it sliding so they had improved that . They don ' t expect to put alot into the building ; it ' s an agricultural , rural setting building and they like it that way . It works very well for what it is and they like to keep it looking tidy and keep it accessible . iMr . Scala said he knew he was on the committee , but why did they have a time limit on the variance ? Mr . Franquemont said he has no idea , he wasn ' t here at that point and he supposed they wanted to have a certain time frame to review what it looked and felt like to have this operating and see if there were any problems . Chairman Austen said the reason for the time limit was so they could review this periodically and , if it wasn ' t somewhere up to what they intended , they could then revoke the variance . Chairman Austen read into the minutes a letter dated October 8 , 1994 from Mr . Bruce Brittain . Chairman Austen then opened the public hearing and asked if there was anyone present who wished to make comments on this appeal . Elsie McMillan , owner of the property , then spoke to the Board saying they ' ve had a very happy relationship with Historic Ithaca and it ' s made her feel good to think the barn could be useful . It ' s an historic structure itself , a tobacco barn , and there are very few of them left . She feels a structure like this does better being used than being left vacant and hopes that the variance can continue , Because they ' re at the property more than the Historic Ithaca people are , they ' re probably more aware of the number of people who come . Ms . McMillan said there ' s plenty of parking for people but she thought the most cars she ' s ever seen parked there ( perhaps when there was a work party ) is five or six and there ' s ample place for them to be well off the highway . Normally , it ' s one or two cars at a time at the most and one of them is usually the Historic Ithaca staff person . There haven ' t been any problems that she ' s aware of at all . Mr . King asked if they have a long- term lease with the Historic Ithaca people and Ms . McMillan replied no , they ' ve been doing it on a year- to- year basis . She said it ' s helpful if they pay some rent but she ' s not quitting her day job for that rent . Mr . Scala asked if she owns the barn and the property and Mrs . McMillan said yes , she and Town of Ithaca 10 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 her family do . Chairman Austen said he was pleased to see the new roof on it because those structures don ' t last long if they don ' t have a good roof on them . Mr . Franquemont said it ' s also important to keep using them for something because that makes them worth saving and they like to see that . Chairman Austen pointed out that the structure is well screened from the highway with trees in front so it ' s nothing that everybody thinks is an eyesore ; in fact , it ' s quite attractive . Ms . McMillan said , because of its construction , it ' s really not adaptable for use with livestock so it really was spared some of the wear and tear when their family had horses and cattle because of the proportions - - the beams were really too low except for very young animals , but it works fine for this . Mr . Scala asked if they were going to make it a historic building and Mr . Franquemont said it is an historic building and they like to keep it being used , they think the key to keeping historic buildings around is for them to have some vitality in the town . Mr . Scala asked if they were going to get a plaque for it , and Mr . Franquemont said they ' d probably like to take some pictures of it . They do have a nice little study of it that their technical person , Glen Cunningham , did ; and , at some point , they probably will try to generate a little more publicity about it because they think it is a very nice building and something which is disappearing from the Ithaca area . Ms . McMillan said the original had two cupolas and , when her father had to have a roof put on the last time , the cost of redoing the cupolas was enough more than he felt he could afford to roof it , so the cupolas came off and they ' ve always regretted that had to happen . Chairman Austen asked if there was anyone else who wished to speak . With no others present , he closed the public hearing . Mr . King asked if they recalled the various limitations that were put on the variance before it was passed the first time . Mr . Franquemont said the one they really remember is not to put anything outdoors and he thought that was really the key and , also , they ' re not supposed to put signs on the building . Mr . King noted that there were also limitations on the number of cars and the number of days open and said he wondered if there had been any problems with the limitations other than the pile of trash outside . Mr . Franquemont said they ' ve had no difficulty other than last year , when the snow melted , the water ran inside and froze again and froze all their stuff to the ground . They were shut down for awhile until it thawed out . They ' ve had no trouble with public use of the building , and their biggest difficulty has been keeping track of what ' s in there so they don ' t have to send someone out to answer every question . Now they ' re computerized and the Cornell students have given them a good start in terms of the inventory completed and they ' ve also produced inventory forms so that , every week , everything that goes in and out should have some paperwork on it . Mr . Franquemont thought they ' d be able to do a better job with it , but he didn ' t expect it would ever be a land office business . It ' s a nice , small program for them and keeps a historic building that ' s in the Town of Ithaca in use , keeps it in repair , and makes it worthwhile for Ms . McMillan to take care of it . They have put some money in the building too , and it ' s a service more than anything else . Mr . Franquemont said he didn ' t believe that the Town of Ithaca had received any complaints about it over the years and they certainly haven ' t . ENVIRONNENTAL ASSESSMENT Chairman Austen read Part III of the environmental assessment form reviewed by JoAnn Cornish , Planner II and dated September 22 , 1994 . With no further discussion , Chairman Austen added that it is a very low key operation and he ' s heard no complaints , then asked for a motion . Town of Ithaca 11 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 MOTION • By Mr . Harry Ellsworth , seconded by Mr . Edward King . RESOLVED , that the Board adopt the recommendations of JoAnn Cornish , Planner II dated September 22 , 1994 and find a negative determination of environmental significance for the appeal by Elsie McMillan , Owner , Historic Ithaca , Appellant , for the barn being used as an architectural parts recycling warehouse on the property at 812 Elmira Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 33- 1 - 7 . 2 , Residence District R- 30 . Chairman Austen then asked for a vote on the motion which resulted as follows : AYES - Austen , Ellsworth , King , Scala . NAYS - None . The motion was carried unanimously . With no further discussion required , Chairman Austen asked that a motion on the variance be made . Attorney Barney suggested that the motion might be in the form of extending the variance previously granted under the same findings and conditions . He noted the variance was for a period of three years the last time , but the Board may want to make it for five years this time as it hasn ' t appeared to cause any problems . Mr . King said he thought it ' s a good idea that it comes up for review in case the intensity or nature of the operation should change . • MOTION By Mr . Edward King , seconded by Mr . Pete Scala . RESOLVED , that the Board grant Elsie McMillan , Owner , Historic Ithaca , Appellant , an extension of a time - limited use variance granted by the Zoning Board of Appeals on April 10 , 1991 , to be permitted to use a barn as an architectural parts recycling warehouse at 812 Elmira Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 33- 1 - 7 . 2 , Residence District R- 30 , with the following findings and conditions : 1 . That the barn to be used is the southernmost barn on the property . 2 . That all findings and conditions included with the previous variance granted on April 10 , 1991 be adopted , a . that the structure has a unique and historical value to the community . be that the barn has no economic use at the present time . ce that it could be a hardship to the owner which is alleviated by a quasi - commercial lease to Historic Ithaca . d . that there is no finding of activity which is incompatible with the neighborhood . • e . that the activities are fairly consistent with the rural character of the community in which it is located , and there will be a very low impact on the use of the property . Town of Ithaca 12 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 f . that no one appeared in opposition to the proposal . go that access to the public be limited to no more than 2 days a week . h . that adequate access be provided from the old road to the site . io that there be no outside storage on the site . 3 . That this variance will be in effect for a period of five ( 5 ) years and three months and will expire on October 1 , 1999 . A vote on the motion resulted as follows : AYES - Austen , Ellsworth , King , Scala . NAYS - None . The motion was carried unanimously . The fourth appeal to be heard by the Board was the following : APPEAL of the First Assembly of God , Reverends Robert Lovelace and Barry Shepps , Agents , requesting a Special Approval under Article V , Section 18 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance , to be permitted to construct a multi-purpose religion building at Lot #2 of the Tomlinson subdivision at 197 Bostwick Road , on a portion of Town of Ithaca No . 31-4- 1 . 2 , Residence District R- 30 . A variance from the • requirements of Article V , Section 18 , Paragraph 10 is also requested to construct a sanctuary with a building height of 44 + feet ( 30 ' maximum building height permitted ) . Mr . Gary Myers introduced himself , stating he is a trustee and the secretary of the church board . Chairman Austen asked that Mr . Myers tell the Board what they ' re planning to do . Mr . Myers said the church , at present , is located on Seneca Street . It ' s a small building and they ' re running two services so what they ' d like to do is to relocate . They have ( approximately ) a little over six acres of land on Bostwick Road they have purchased and would like to build a sanctuary there which would have an education wing of classrooms and , also , a multi -purpose or fellowship hall . The idea being , they would build the fellowship hall and the education or Sunday School classroom wing as the first phase and then a main sanctuary as the second phase at a later point . Chairman Austen asked if the classroom was a day class and Mr . Myers said no , this is Sunday School . They ' re not talking about day care or christian education as an alternative to public school - - this is just Sunday School . Mr . Ellsworth asked about the toddlers and crib room and Mr . Myers said that ' s just for services , whether they be mid-week services or Sunday services . Mr . Scala asked if there was any planned day care and Mr . Myers said no . Chairman Austen asked if their church is in the 500 or 600 block of West Seneca Street and Mr . Frost said it ' s almost to Route 13 . Mr . Myers agreed and said it ' s across from visiting nurses services and the building , at one time , was an orphanage quite a few years ago . • Chairman Austen said they ' re talking about a height variance but the structure being proposed right now does not exceed the limit . Mr . Myers said the height variance deals with two things : 1 ) They ' re looking at a building that could be 50 ' to 60 ' wide and , because it ' s a church , they want to have a roof slope that ' s in the 8- 9 to 12 pitch . Town of Ithaca 13 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 So , with a wider building , it goes up higher . 2 ) Another thing that would come under the height variance would be some kind of a pre - fab steeple or spire that would help delineate it as an ecclesiastical building . Mr . Frost said that ' s not necessarily depicted in their drawing and Mr . Myers said that ' s correct . Mr . Ellsworth asked what height is shown on the drawing then and wondered if that was the 44 ' dimension . Mr . Frost said they ' re showing approximately 44 ' now to the ridge of the sanctuary addition absent of a spire ( Mr . Frost noted he was not aware there was going to be a spire nor was it properly advertised for that ) . Attorney Barney said he thought they would have to come back regarding the spire when they were ready to put it up and Mr . Frost said he assumed , when he advertised this with the hearing notice , that they were looking at basically the sanctuary addition as shown on these plans ; therefore , it was advertised for 44 ' and not counting for any additional height needed . Mr . Myers said that ' s not a problem because the idea is that would be a future item , also ; obviously , economics comes into the whole project . Chairman Austen said , if he ' s looking at the drawing right , the multi - purpose room will become their sanctuary temporarily and Mr . Myers said that ' s correct . Chairman Austen asked if the elevation on that is as high and Mr . Myers replied no , that ' s not as high because that ' s not as wide . Mr . Frost said , since this is all one attached building , he would presume that , though they ' re building in phases , the variance the Board is granting would accommodate the sanctuary addition when that gets constructed . Mr . Ellsworth said , in other words , if the Board grants it , it ' s for both phases . Mr . Frost agreed and said the whole building , the multi - purpose room is 36 ' and that ' s still going to be lower than the sanctuary which , when that ' s built and attached to the rest of this , will be 44 ' . Mr . Frost said his intention was to deal with the plan the Board is looking at which has a height of 44 ' , though it ' s in Phase 2 . Mr . Kanter said this has also come before the Planning Board and received preliminary site plan approval for the same plans the Board sees here and , also , that was given for Phase 1 and Phase 2 . Chairman Austen asked if they also had seen anything on a steeple and Mr . Kanter said no , that was not discussed . Mr . Myers said that wasn ' t shown on the plans by the builder they ' re dealing with because that was an option and it wasn ' t an option that was reflected in the costs that they ' re dealing with now . Mr . Scala asked about the color of the building ( and wondered if it would be all white ) and Mr . Myers said the idea is that it would be brick with some kind of siding for the education wing so no , he does not see it as a big white building . Mr . Scala asked Mr . Myers if he is familiar with the one in Cortland on Port Watson Street ( the Assembly of God ) and Mr . Myers asked if it was the one made out of metal panels . Mr . Scala said yes , that ' s the one he ' s referring to and Mr . Myers indicated he has been in that church . Mr . Scala said he didn ' t know who had picked the colors on that building and Mr . Myers said that ' s more of a butler type building and he has a vested interest in what this looks like because he ' s an architect and does not like metal ; a metal building has its place . Mr . Scala said they put some kind of tiles or simulated brick over the outside and the reason he is saying that is because that ' s really what makes that building stand out so much , it ' s not the size . Mr . Myers said what they ' d like is to have something with a brick facing with some siding that ' s thrown in as accent pieces . Chairman Austen said they have substantial parking there and what about drainage as it certainly won ' t drain towards Bostwick Road , Mr . Myers said that ' s something that has been figured out and it was dealt with in the Planning Board as far as how the drainage was taken care of . Chairman Austen asked if it was going to flow down to the creek to the south of it and Mr . Myers said he hasn ' t actually seen the drainage plan . Town of Ithaca 14 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 They do have Ernie Bayles who is an architect dealing with that for them and he knows • the environmental impact did address the drainage . Mr . Myers said one of the reasons the building is oriented the way it is to take care of the way the slope is so that it will reduce some of the cut and fill that ' s required . Chairman Austen said , as they ' ve shown on the drawing , the parking will be to the left of the church and Mr . Myers said yes , more to the high side . Chairman Austen wondered if this includes the lot on the corner of Seven Mile Drive and Bostwick Road and Mr . Myers said no , he doesn ' t believe that ' s part of it , that this is a separate parcel . Mr . Scala asked if it was going to be a paved parking lot and Mr . Myers said he thought , at some future point , it is but they ' re concerned with costs right now . Mr . Scala asked what the time schedule is and Mr . Myers said right now , they ' re not totally sure . They ' re at a preliminary standpoint of getting the drawings set and purchasing the land and then , once that ' s set , they ' ll begin fund- raising . They would like it to go as fast as possible but alot of it is going to depend on funds and , also , the sale of the existing building they ' re in . They do realize there are some limitations on any approvals they get , that there ' s a time frame on them for when they have to break ground that they ' re aware of . Mr . King asked if they were planning on developing Culver Road separately along the west quarter . Mr . Myers said that ' s not anything they ' re doing , there was some talk ( when they were dealing with Mr . Tomlinson and they purchased the land ) about Mr . Tomlinson thinking about doing that in his subdivision at some point . That ' s not anything that ' s part of their project and , in fact , Mr . Myers said he ' s not sure where their land actually falls in reference to Culver Road . That was something Mr . Tomlinson talked about at one point but never something they were thinking of doing . Mr . King asked if they were planning on having the main entrance then on Bostwick Road and Mr . Evans said that ' s correct . Chairman Austen asked Mr . Kanter if there ' s a park scheduled somewhere on that property also , and Mr . Kanter said the future park is basically right behind this parcel and down slope from where the church building will be located . Mr . Myers agreed that ' s correct and said , if you look at the site plan , the green space that is actually in front of the church itself ( to the back ) is what would border what is going to be the at that in conjunction park land . Mr . Kanter said they looked7unction with the site plan review and the drainage that goes down there is basically sheet drainage that basically goes over the surface on the existing mild slope of the property , down to the soil that ' s behind this parcel and really doesn ' t drain onto the future town park site . Also , in terms of the parking area they were mentioning would have to be paved , as far as it was presented at the Planning Board , it was set to be a gravel surface parking lot and there had been no talk at the Planning Board on the basis of paving . Mr . Myers said correct , at least preliminary . Mr . Kanter said , if that were to be a future consideration , it would have to be presented back to the Planning Board because there was some concern over that in terms of drainage . The additional paved area would probably be a different drainage situation than simply gravel . Mr . Ellsworth asked what the dimensions of this property are and Mr . Myers said it ' s a little bit over six acres ; along Bostwick Road , the frontage is in the range of 700 ' . Mr . Myers said he believes , the way the subdivision was originally set up , this was going to be five or six building lots and they were planning on 125 ' of frontage for each building lot . Attorney Barney noted the correct dimension is 750 ' long along • Bostwick Road and Mr . Myers said , therefore , that would be six lots . Just as a reference to what ' s across the street from there , the Ithaca City School bus garage and the Highway Department are there . Mr . Ellsworth asked if the nearest property owner was down on the corners and Mr . Myers said yes and , when they had approached Mr . Tomlinson , Town of Ithaca 15 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 the idea was that would be an area less desirable for building lots because of what ' s across the street than some of the area that he had up above . Mr . Ellsworth said it ' s quite a ways to the left before there are any property owners and Mr . Myers said he believes Mr . Tomlinson has sold other parcels up there . Attorney Barney said there had been other subdivision lots sold and there ' s a strip of land about 60 ' to the west of this and a series of lots ( about five or six ) going in . Mr . Myers said , so the land that ' s about 60 ' is probably what he ' s thinking if there was an extension of Culver Road . Attorney Barney said part of the subdivision approval is the condition that it be conveyed to the Town , the potential extension of Culver Road or , actually , access to the back to the Mancini property . Mr . Myers said that ' s not anything they planned on when they set up the building plan . They weren ' t planning on frontage on two streets or anything like that . Chairman Austen asked if the proposed roadway would only go back into that Mancini property and Attorney Barney said he thinks that ' s the reason they preserved it . Chairman Austen said Seven Mile Drive is roughly only a couple hundred feet further up . Attorney Barney said , without having a whole map right in front of him , he forgets exactly but some of the title papers are in his hands right now to go ahead and do the title . He thought it ' s just a reserve to get back to the property that ' s behind here and the thought was to be able to get through behind there , if necessary . Chairman Austen asked if the Planning Board has given preliminary approval to this and Mr . Kanter said yes , subject to a number of conditions . Mr . Kanter said the Planning Board , in deliberating the preliminary site plan , made a specific recommenda- tion to the Zoning Board regarding the special approval and concluded that the recommendation from the Planning Board should be positive . There was no specific recommendation on the height variance but there was reference to that in the conditions such that , prior to granting a final site plan approval , the applicant would have to obtain any height variance necessary for this building . Chairman Austen read from Page 2 of the Preliminary Site Plan Approval and report to the Zoning Board of Appeals by the Town of Ithaca Planning Board dated September 6 , 1994 , Chairman Austen then opened the public hearing . With no one present to speak , Chairman Austen closed the public hearing . ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT Chairman Austen read the staff recommendation from the environmental assessment form reviewed by George R . Frantz , Assistant Town Planner on August 30 , 1994 . Chairman Austen noted that Mr . Frantz listed the largest proposed structure as having a height of 50 ' in his review ; possibly , that would be the steeple if there was one , but that would have to be brought up at a later date . Chairman Austen then asked that a motion be made . MOTION By Mr . Harry Ellsworth , seconded by Mr . Pete Scala . RESOLVED , that the Board adopt the recommendations of George R . Frantz , Assistant Town Planner dated August 30 , 1994 and find a negative determination of environmen- tal significance for the appeal by the First Assembly of God , Reverends Robert Lovelace and Barry Shepps , Agents , for the property at 197 Bostwick Road , on a portion of Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 31 - 4 - 1 . 2 , Residence District R- 30 . Town of Ithaca 16 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 It was noted that the plans presented with this appeal are identified as follows : • Barden Commercial Division , Drawing No . B17 . 94 ( Sheet 1 is dated 6 / 27 / 94 and Sheets 2 and 3 are dated 6 / 24 / 94 ) with a revision date of 8 / 25 / 94 on all three sheets . With no further discussion , Chairman Austen then asked for a vote on the motion which resulted as follows : AYES - Austen , Ellsworth , King , Scala . NAYS - None . The motion was carried unanimously . Chairman Austen read into the minutes a letter dated September 20 , 1994 from the Tompkins County Department of Planning by James Hanson , Jr . , Commissioner of Planning . Chairman Austen asked what the schedule is for the church to be built and Mr . Myers said they have no actual schedule as far as a ground breaking at any certain time . Once they get the special permit , they ' ll begin fund raising and put the building they presently occupy and own up for sale . A large portion of the seed money they ' ll need to break ground and beginning work will come from the sale of the building . Mr . Scala asked , roughly , what are the numbers in terms of finished cost and Mr . Myers said Phase 1 was between the $ 600 , 000 and the $ 800 , 000 range . With no further discussion required , Chairman Austen asked that a motion be made on the appeal . • MOTION By Mr . Pete Scala , seconded by Mr . Edward King . RESOLVED , that the Board grant a Special Approval for the appeal of the First Assembly of God , Reverends Robert Lovelace and Barry Shepps , Agents , under Article V . Section 18 , Paragraph 3 , Subparagraph a of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance , to be permitted to construct a multi -purpose religion building at Lot #2 of the Tomlinson subdivision at 197 Bostwick Road , on a portion of Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 31 - 4 - 1 . 2 , Residence District R- 30 , with the following findings : 1 . This Special Approval is in compliance with Section 77 , Paragraph 7 , Subpara- graphs a- f of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance . 2 . There may be a subsequent requirement for a spire considerably higher which would require an additional appeal . 3 . Construction of the building is permitted substantially in accordance with the plans which have been presented , with one phase of it going up as high as 44 ' and the other phase somewhat lower ( 36 ' to 37 ' ) but , nevertheless , in excess of the 30 ' as shown on these plans . Maximum footage of the structure will be approximately 21 , 500 square feet . 4 . The site plan approval is based on the drawing submitted with the appeal so , if there is any significant deviation , approval would be denied . The final • location and details are to be worked out as part of the final site plan approval with the Planning Board . Town of Ithaca 17 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 Chairman Austen noted that the Planning Board did not place any restrictions on this case that he saw and Attorney Barney said there were about four conditions which really related to submission of additional documentation or planning , or both . Mr . Scala suggested that a time limit be placed on the variance and Mr . Frost noted that is already a set period of 18 months . With no further discussion , Chairman Austen asked for a vote on the motion which resulted as follows : AYES - Austen , Ellsworth , King , Scala . NAYS - None . The motion was carried unanimously . The last appeal to be heard by the Board was as follows : APPEAL of William Kellner and Camille Tischler , Appellants , requesting a time- limited variance from the requirements of Article IV , Section 11 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance , to be permitted to maintain a single- family residence by four unrelated persons at 124 Pine Tree Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 58-2- 18 , Residence District R- 15 . Said Ordinance limits such occupancy to no more than three unrelated persons . Camille Tischler stepped to the microphone and Chairman Austen requested that she tell the Board the circumstances of the appeal with regard to the four unrelated persons . Ms . Tischler said she was renting the house last spring and these four men requested that they be able to rent it . She said she was concerned about the fact that they were four men who wanted to rent the house and subsequently spoke to them about it • and voiced her own concerns about cleanliness , noise , and also about the reputation the college students have . They said they were really looking for a place that was quiet , that they were very concerned about their studies , that they ' d been very unhappy with the dwellings they ' d had in Ithaca previously because there had been so much noise , and that they didn ' t want to live in the Collegetown setting . Ms . Tischler got references from their landlords . She called them and they had good references ; they looked and seemed responsible ; and she was unaware of the ordinance and it never occurred to her that there would be an ordinance against it . Ms . Tischler said she is not an experienced landlord and they don ' t have any other properties . The only thing that did occur to her was about discrimination laws and she wondered how she was going to explain to them that they couldn ' t rent it and what excuse could she give them for telling them no . It seemed to her that she should rent it to them , so she did . Chairman Austen said the excuse is that the Town of Ithaca has an ordinance against it . Ms . Tischler said , at the time , she was unaware of that and she would have preferred to rent the house to a family herself . Mr . Frost said he believes this came to their attention because they had a complaint ; just because of time constraints , he did not do one of the violation letters often seen . However , his office did receive a complaint , they investigated and discovered the occupancy was exceeded , and Ms . Tischler chose to come before the Board to request a time - limited variance . Ms . Tischler noted that she is just requesting a variance until their lease runs out which is July 31 , 1995 - - this is a one - year lease which began August 1 , 1994 . Mr . Frost said ( just for the benefit of some of the newer members on the Board ) in past years , when they discovered these kinds of violations , if there is a lease or no lease and they can achieve compliance within a 90- day period , he generally does so • without bringing it to the Board . When he has a situation such as a lease that goes well beyond what he ' s comfortable allowing without any Zoning Board involvement , he refers it to the Zoning Board . Town of Ithaca 18 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 Ms . Tischler noted they have put alot of money into the house as the Board can • probably see from the material she had submitted . They put in a new roof and took care of the drainage problem , did the floors , painted the outside , and have really done alot to keep the house up and to have it looking good . Mr . King asked how they had come to buy the house since they had never lived in it and Ms . Tischler said it was a personal story and she would really rather not tell it . Mr . King said it wasn ' t required that she tell them and said her list indicates about $ 14 , 500 of improvements made in the past two years , then asked to whom did she rent the property two years ago ? Ms . Tischler said she rented it to a retired couple who moved up from Long Island ( the Cramers ) . They lived there for a year , and then she rented it to two women - - one was a graduate student at Cornell and the other was a teacher of special education at BOCES ( they were there for a year , also ) . Mr . Scala asked if Ms . Tischler lives there as well and she responded , no . Mr . King asked if Ms . Tischler knew how many automobiles her tenants own and she said she believed they have one apiece but doesn ' t know for sure . Mr . King then asked if the automobiles are parked on the premises and Ms . Tischler said yes , there ' s plenty of space there for four cars . Mr . King said it ' s probably not the prettiest sight to see four cars parked there and asked if there is a garage . Ms . Tischler said there is a garage but there are glass doors in front of it ; it was used as a playroom by the people who owned it years ago , so it ' s not really useable as a garage at the present time . Mr . Ellsworth stated he lives in that neighborhood and the garage door is still there but the glass doors are on the outside so , as far as you can tell from the outside , it ' s living space . Mr . Frost said they went in and it ' s basically a storage area . When they investigated the complaint , that area is being used for storage right • now . Mr . Frost said he didn ' t know if the Board has any interest , but it appears that Ms . Tischler ' s tenants are in the audience right now and the Board may wish to direct some questions to the tenants . Ms . Tischler said she wanted to say one other thing about the garage . She did attempt to have a structural estimate done on it , and it would have cost thousands of dollars to determine if the garage is actually strong enough to have a car in there . That ' s why she hasn ' t taken the garage doors down because she doesn ' t know whether or not the garage is structurally sound enough to hold a car . Mr . Frost asked if there is living space underneath the garage and Ms . Tischler said yes , there is . It was built to have cars in there and she believes there are other houses in the neighborhood built at the same time and in the same style that still have cars in their garages . However , this was a question she didn ' t know how to answer so that ' s why it ' s not being used as a garage . Mr . King asked if she didn ' t know if it was ever used and Ms . Tischler said it was definitely used as a garage at one time . Mr . Frost said , not to take a position on this appeal but , as Building Inspector , he would certainly be concerned where they get building permits and have cars being parked over living space below and he believes that is a legitimate concern . For the minutes , Chairman Austen noted that there had been two letters received concerning this appeal : 1 ) Letter dated October 5 , 1994 from Leland E . and Mary Margaret Carmichael of 122 Pine Tree Road , Ithaca , New York . 2 ) Letter dated October 11 , 1994 from ( Mrs . ) Nancy L . Krook , 113 Pine Tree Road , • Ithaca , New York . With regard to the letter from Nancy Krook , Mr . Frost said he felt it should be made clear that this letter makes reference to a re- zoning and this appeal is not a re - zoning issue . Town of Ithaca 19 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 Mr . King wanted to point out that , as an attorney , he has represented both the • Carmichael ' s and the Fleischmann ' s . They being owners of the property adjacent to that which this appeal concerns so , therefore , he will not take part in any voting . However , he does feel it ' s proper that he be allowed to ask questions . Chairman Austen opened the public hearing . Mr . Roy Colle , residing at 121 Pine Tree Road , said he had a statement he ' d like to submit which has been signed by thirty ( 30 ) people , some of whom are in the meeting room tonight . The statement was addressed to Chairman Austen and read as follows : "We , the undersigned , are homeowners residing in our own homes on Pine Tree Road . We do not wish to have any change in the present zoning law or any variances granted regarding the number of occupants per home . If more than three unrelated people were permitted to occupy one housing unit , the family character of the neighborhood would be eroded , quality of life would be diminished , and property values would go down . We request that this letter be read into the minutes . " Mr . Albert George of 119 Pine Tree Road then stepped to the microphone . He said the applicants have been renting this house for two plus years and it seems to him that ignorance of the law is never an excuses certainly , someone who has been renting for that long should know what the rules are about renting . Mr . George said he thinks any extension of non-compliance is just encouraging other people to rent with the idea that they can do the same thing for a year and make a little more money than they would have otherwise . This would be detrimental to their neighborhood which is a neighborhood of families and older couples and he doesn ' t see any reason why there should be an extension of this because the housing market in Ithaca right now is such that there • wouldn ' t be any hardship to the men who are renting . The owners of the house could then perhaps rent to others , perhaps with not as high of a rental but that , of course , is the idea why things are zoned differently because land values depend on the usage allowed to them and you might want to invest differently in different areas . They don ' t want their area to be an area which is used for housing large numbers of people . They ' d like to stay zoned the way it is and allow that zoning to be enforced . Mr . Hans Fleischmann of 126 Pine Tree Road stated he is the next door neighbor to this property . Initially , he thought , for a short time , maybe this isn ' t so bad but he really thinks , with all the cars around and so on , it really can be a serious headache . He frankly would like to know why the applicants didn ' t know this was not allowed by the zoning ordinance and said to Ms . Tischler that he understood someone with her same last name in this area is a realtor . Chairman Austen reminded Mr . Fleischmann that he was to address the Board members only . Mr . Fleischmann said he doesn ' t quite understand if it happens to be a coincidence as far as the same last name or , if the realtor is really a relative , why Ms . Tischler wouldn ' t be aware what the ordinances are as far as not renting to four unrelated persons and , therefore , would not be in favor of any time - limited variance . Mr . James Munson stated he was one of the four members of the household and was a second year graduate student at the Hotel School at Cornell University . He is originally from Virginia and came up last year and said he would be happy to testify that he had no idea as to the zoning law at all . He is only here for two years ( this is his second year ) and was completely unaware of it , as were his other three housemates . They ' re all graduate students and , at this stage of the process in their • second year , they ' re extremely busy and actually spend very little time in the house as it is . As their letters to the Board indicated , they really do believe it would be quite a hardship for them to take the time aside right now that it would require to find alternative places to live and move into them . Mr . Munson said he has a job as well as Town of Ithaca 20 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 a full - time position as a graduate student and his time is very precious to him . As the Board members might have noticed , most of them have been studying while they ' ve been at the meeting . Mr . Munson said he ' s missing a class as it is and has to give some sort of a reason to his professor . He again said his time is very valuable to him and they ' re very focused on their studies , they ' re all paying for this program themselves which is a great deal of money and , right now , their goal is to simply finish their studies and graduate . Mr . Munson said they would like to ask the Board to please let them finish out the year at their residence and complete their studies , and he ' s sure this would not have to happen again . Mr . Munson said he doesn ' t like this any more than anybody else does , they do not mean to cause any trouble , but they sincerely didn ' t know about the ordinance . This works out economically for them and is a good situation , so they decided to do it and there ' s no complicity or malice involved in any of the actions which have taken place . Especially since they ' ve heard about this , Mr . Munson said they ' ve been very careful about their noise levels and would be more than happy to pledge whatever kind of behavior the Board would like to have from them in order to make people comfortable in the neighborhood . They haven ' t had parties before , they don ' t intend to have any , they ' re not big noise makers , and certainly , if there are any problems , they ' d be happy to address them and do whatever the neighborhood would feel comfortable with . They do feel it would be a considerable hardship at this time for them to have to relocate . Mr . King asked if each of the renters own a car and Mr . Munson said yes , they each own a car and there are four total . They ' re all parked very comfortably in the driveway and certainly don ' t cause them any trouble getting in and out so they ' re not badly packed in there . The driveway is certainly large enough for all four and none of them are eyesores by any stretch of the imagination . None of the cars are new , but they ' re not eyesores either . Mr . Frost said , in his travels as a Zoning Officer , he frequently sees cars parked on the shoulder of the road on Pine Tree Road . He asked Mr . Munson if they, or their visitors , have ever had occasion to park on the shoulder . Mr . Munson said never has anyone visiting their house ever parked on the shoulder of that road . He said he ' d be happy to see that never happens ; alot of people do park on the shoulder of that road but , in all honesty , they do not frequent their house . They ' re very busy and don ' t have alot of people over . When there are one or two extra people , they can all park right behind them . Two cars could park behind the four there , effectively blocking them in but being able to stay off the street and leave after they visited . Mr . King asked if they each used their cars every day and Mr . Munson said three of them commute to school daily . Mr . King asked if this was in three separate cars and Mr . Munson said yes , his job requires him to be on campus from 9 : 00 AM to at least 6 : 00 PM in the evening five nights per week . From there , he does studies and projects and what not so he doesn ' t have the flexibility to be able to go with other people . Attorney Barney asked what rent they ' re paying and Mr . Munson said it ' s $ 1 , 600 plus utilities . Ms . Tischler corrected him , saying the rent they ' re paying is $ 950 plus utilities ( Ms . Tischler said it ' s the same rent she had been getting , she didn ' t charge them any more because there were four of them ) . Mr . Munson said he found the rent to be a very fair price and , obviously , at $ 950 per month , she was not jacking the price up on them . He said the reason he had brought up $ 1 , 600 was , when they were house hunting to begin with last spring , they decided that $ 400 per person would be as much as they ' d want to spend so their limit was $ 1 , 600 and this fell well within it so they were quite happy to find it . Town of Ithaca 21 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 Attorney Barney asked what the utilities run and Mr . Munson ( and Ms . Tischler ) said they were about $ 200 and then there was water and garbage , not more than $ 300 altogether . Chairman Austen asked if this was the first year of their lease there and Mr . Munson said yes , they just moved in on August 1st , Attorney Barney then asked how long a lease it is and Mr . Munson said it ' s for one year . Attorney Barney asked if it ' s a signed , written lease and Mr . Munson said yes , and all four of them signed the lease as far as July 31st . Mr . King asked if they all planned to stay until July 31st and Mr . Munson said , most likely , no . Two of them graduate Memorial Day ( at the end of May ) and then they have one Ph . D . student who will find a place to live elsewhere over the course of the summer . Mr . Frost asked if he was saying , effectively , that three of them would be out May 31 , 1995 then and Mr . Munson said , yes . Ms . Tischler said she would attempt to rent it to someone before that to help them out if she can and Mr . Munson said , quite honestly , they ' d be happy to see the lease end earlier . The only reason they signed the lease for a year is because that ' s the standard lease in this town . Ideally for them , they would have taken a 10-month lease but it ' s impossible ; so , basically , they had to carry the other two months . Mr . Munson said , as far as he ' s concerned , he ' ll be leaving by early June . Attorney Barney asked , when they were renting to the elderly couple mentioned earlier , what the rent they paid was and Ms . Tischler said they bought the house in July and then were not able to rent it at that point . The elderly couple didn ' t come until November - - she had the rent at $ 900 per month , but they couldn ' t pay more than $ 650 so that ' s what they paid . That didn ' t even pay the mortgage , and they have been losing money on this house like crazy . Attorney Barney asked if they were under a lease at a . $ 650 per month and Ms . Tischler said she believed they did have a lease and that it ended in the summer but couldn ' t say exactly for sure . The next people moved in during August and paid $ 900 per month plus the utilities . Ms . Tischler said it really has been alot of cash out of their pocket ever since they bought the house and , actually , it ' s been a real trial . Mr . John Schultzel then stepped to the microphone and stated he ' s also one of the gentleman living at 124 Pine Tree Road . He asked to make some additional comments and said Ms . Tischler already voiced some of the sentiments they were expressing to her when they looked at the place and decided to lease it . One of these was the actual location and nature of the neighborhood . That was actually their choice , and it ' s not at all in their invested interest to change the dynamics or the environment of that neighborhood . The parking of the cars aside , Mr . Schultzel said he thinks anybody who has driven by has seen that they ' ve maintained the exterior of the building very neatly ; there ' s never been garbage strewn in the driveway , they ' ve maintained the lawn and the hedges , and they keep their outdoor lights on in the evening and turn them off in the daytime . It really is their main concern that they keep the environment in the neighborhood as it is ; that ' s why they chose to live there . Collegetown , as most of the Board knows , is a zoo and is poorly maintained and not a condition for any student to live in . Mr . Schultzel said they also do not mean to establish a trend by moving there . It is difficult for them to get another spot to live and they ' d just like to quietly and peacefully keep the terms of the lease until they ' re over and , by all means , not inform others of the possibilities of living arrangements in this area . Mr . Schultzel said they understand why all the neighbors like it , they like it themselves , and please rest assured that they ' ll do everything in their power to maintain the element that ' s there . Town of Ithaca 22 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 Ms . Susanna Colle of 121 Pine Tree Road was the next to speak . She said they have nothing against students but would like the zoning laws to be respected . They had a similar case a few years ago . Her husband and the rest of her family was sent on assignment to the South Pacific . Her son was at Cornell and stayed in their house ( 121 Pine Tree is a much larger house than this one ) . He invited three other Cornell students to live with him ; there was a complaint like this , and one student moved out . That left three , and they stayed within compliance . That ' s what they would like in this case , they ' re not asking major things but that the applicants stay within the law . The issue isn ' t that the renters are students but that there are more people than is legal and Ms . Colle said they think everybody should live by those laws and someone ' s business interests shouldn ' t be an excuse for not staying within the rules . Marty Turnbull of 118 Pine Tree Road said she would like to echo what a number of her neighbors have said about the character of their neighborhood . With all due respect to these students ( they don ' t have anything personally against any of these students ) , but she wanted to point out that the nature of their neighborhood is important and they do understand the characteristics that develop in Collegetown , South Hill , and other areas and they don ' t want to see this happen to their neighborhood . Ms . Turnbull said she also wanted to mention that it ' s not a pretty sight seeing four to six cars in the driveway ; that may not be something that ' s noticeable to them , but it is noticeable to the neighbors . Lastly , Ms . Turnbull wanted to mention to the Board - - if they were to question Ms . Tischler on her background - - it is her understanding that Ms . Tischler does have experience in real estate . If that indeed is the case , it seems to her that , as the renters mentioned , it ' s taken time for them to come to the meeting tonight and she thinks this should be rather a straight forward matter . Ignorance of the law is not an excuse and , in her particular case , Ms . Tischler certainly should have been aware of what this ordinance involves . Mr . King asked Ms . Turnbull if she had said six cars and. Ms . Turnbull said , yes , four to six cars ; it ' s not unusual to see the driveway filled with cars . Mr . Paul Pedersen then stepped to the microphone and stated he is one of the tenants at 124 Pine Tree Road . He thought both of his roommates had previously stated to the Board what had to be said in terms of their position , but he just wanted to respond to a couple of the remarks that were made after his roommates spoke . First of all and just to emphasize , there were four people who were looking for a place where all four of them could live , The property was inspected and there ' s ample room for four people there , and it ' s not as if they ' re cramped in by any means . It ' s a big house that ' s well maintained , there ' s ample room for all of them , and the price was not raised for the sake of four people . They decided to rent this property because of the location , price , and because there was ample space . To respond to the statement that there are four to six cars ; occasionally , when somebody comes by to visit , they park in their driveway but that ' s already been pointed out . There ' s plenty of room in their driveway for people to park and it doesn ' t happen every day ; it ' s not as if they have visitors every moment of the day . Mr . Pedersen said he also wants to emphasize that it would be an incredible hardship at this point in the year to move in terms of interfering with their studies ; all of them are very busy ; they ' re all graduate students , are responsible , and not into partying . Had they been aware of the ordinance in the first place , they would never have rented the property . They were trying to find a place where all four of them could live comfortably and , indeed , they did find it . In closing and as has already been pointed out , Mr . Pedersen said they are all responsible people , are graduate students , and intend to keep the property well maintained ( it is maintained now and the lawn has been mowed and everything has been well taken care of ) . He can understand some of the Town of Ithaca 23 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 concerns that people have in terms of this starting a trend but , in terms of their particular situation , he doesn ' t think they should be made sort of the sacrificial lamb . To force one of them to leave at this point would be unduly harsh to everybody concerned , especially since they went in not intending to do anything wrong , they were just trying to find a place to live . Mr . Frost asked if all four of them use the address of 124 Pine Tree Road as a permanent address or if they have legal addresses elsewhere outside of Ithaca . Mr . Pedersen said they do have legal addresses elsewhere . Chairman Austen said he took it that Mr . Pedersen is the one who stays longer and the other three are the ones who will be graduating in May and Mr . Pedersen agreed and said he ' ll be at Cornell for awhile . Mr . King asked Mr . Pedersen if he , or any of his roommates , received any complaints personally about noise . Mr . Pedersen said none at all and , if there ever was a problem , they would be happy to comply . He said their landlord did point out the fact that this is a family neighborhood and environment , and they began to rent knowing it was this type of environment and that ' s why they chose to live in this type of environment , because it ' s conducive to helping them maintain a serious level of study on their part . Mr . Scala asked if they all had their own rooms and Mr . Pedersen said yes , they converted one den into a bedroom so they all have their own room and there ' s plenty of space . Mr . Frost said this was perhaps a procedural question for their attorney and asked if a hardship was solely on the part of the landlord or do the occupants have a role in the hardship . Attorney Barney said it ' s really the landowner where the test is directed as to whether it ' s possible to make an economic return . Mr . Kanter said he didn ' t want to pretend he ' s an attorney but , in the recent uecodified state enabling laws dealing with use variances , there ' s a provision dealing with self-created hardship which basically says that - - where self- created hardship was shown in a case , the use variance should not be granted - - and lack of knowledge or not having read the zoning ordinance in a town cannot be argued as hardship . Basically , you ' d be in a situation where you have created hardship on yourself by not having read the zoning ordinance . Mr . Kanter said that ' s just something they need to consider in terms of procedures and law . Attorney Barney said he realizes Ms . Tischler didn ' t want to get into her personal reasons for the history of the house but , when she bought it , did she buy it with the intention of moving into it herself ? Ms . Tischler replied yes , she did . Attorney Barney said her intention had then changed , obviously , and Ms . Tischler agreed . Mr . King asked Mr . Frost , as the Zoning Officer , about the nature of the complaint they had received . Mr . Frost said , to his recollection , there was just one complaint that occupancy was being exceeded . They actually had taken several similar complaints that day and not just for Pine Tree Road , Chairman Austen asked if there have been any other calls that Mr . Frost knew of on this property for any other reason and Mr . Frost said none that he was aware of . Mr . Elmer Phillip of 131 Pine Tree Road then introduced himself and said he had not intended to speak at all , partly because he hadn ' t been able to hear only about one - tenth of what was being done at the meeting tonight . He is hard of hearing , his eyes are not good either ( he ' s had two implants and can see alot better than he can hear ) . Mr . Phillip said he thinks that ' s something that might be looked into in the future . . . that , if they ' re going to include the audience , they might also include them in some of their discussions ; not all , but some . Chairman Austen said they hope they spoke loud Town of Ithaca 24 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 enough so that everyone can hear and Mr . Phillip said , from his viewpoint , they did not . • He could never hear one word Chairman Austen said . Mr . Phillip said , having sat on this same Board , he realizes there are four good looking fellows behind him and one of them from Virginia is quite persuasive . However , he does not know any reason in the world why the applicant would rent other than living in the house unless she bought it for an investment . Mr . Phillip said that , he couldn ' t comment on , because he didn ' t hear it and couldn ' t hear the comments that were made . However , all he wanted to say was , from the Board ' s viewpoint , they need the wisdom of Solomon because they ' re going to hurt somebody and they can ' t help it but he also wanted to say that variances are the breakdown of zoning . . . always . Mr . Albert George of 119 Pine Tree Road said there was some implication in the previous conversation that the zoning office had only gotten one complaint about this case . That ' s because everyone on the road knew there had been a complaint made and knew something was going to happen ; therefore , they didn ' t all write letters . Mr . George said he believed they also had some letters in addition to the one complaint from other people . Mr . King explained that the question was in regard to the nature of the complaints ; whether the renters were being rowdy , etc . Mr . George said there ' s going to be some hardship on one side or the other either way but he would suggest that January is the time between terms when there aren ' t classes , there ' s a turnover in housing , and we ' re talking about one person of the three to make this a legal arrangement . Certainly from his viewpoint ( he didn ' t know about the other people on his road ) ; if it was January , they wouldn ' t feel quite as badly as if it was a one year thing that went on like this . • Mr . James Munson ( one of the renters ) asked if he could say one more thing and Chairman Austen granted permission . Mr . Munson said , in the interest of negotiation , maybe they could all leave in June when they graduate and meet the community halfway . He suggested that they could all vacate June 1 , 1995 and end the lease upon graduation and perhaps that would be a reasonable compromise for everyone . Mr . King asked Mr . Munson , in light of what the previous gentleman had said , is there some period ( like January ) between terms when it would be easiest for one of them to move out so that the occupancy would be legal . Mr . Munson said they have 2 - 1 / 2 to 3 weeks ( he wasn ' t exactly sure ) after the Christmas holiday and before they have to return to school . For himself ( and he was sure for the other two graduating tenants ) , he has a number of interviews lined up with companies in January during that period of time so that he can get a job and cover his student loans . That is the time he ' s allotted to himself to do his interviewing outside of the Ithaca area . Moving could be done then , but it ' s a time when he was certainly hoping to have to further his career and his situation . Mr . Paul Pedersen said the fact there are four of them sharing the rent as it is , even if one of them moves out and finds another place , everybody will lose . Everybody will have to pay more rent , that would be a hardship on all of them financially . The remaining three renters will still have to pay $ 950 per month and whoever finds another place will have to incur that amount of cost . The hassle and time of moving to find a decent place will be great . They chose this location for certain criteria and , to find another place that meets this criteria , would be very difficult to do , especially in mid- semester , that ' s the worst time to find a decent place in Ithaca let alone the beginning of the year . Mr . Roy Colle of 121 Pine Tree Road wished to make some additional comments . The • hardship issue is important , obviously , but he thought he had heard early in tonight ' s discussion that the persons renting the property were willing to pay up to $ 1 , 600 ; and , if he is figuring correctly and using those figures , three people would be willing to pay $ 1 , 200 . Chairman Austen noted that the Board is aware of that and Mr . Colle said he just wanted to point out that it ' s not the hardship that it ' s made out to be . Toon of Ithaca 25 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 • Ms . Tischler then said she just wanted to say that she ' s in complete sympathy with the people who live in the neighborhood . She really understands their concerns completely with keeping the neighborhood intact and nice and that ' s one of the reasons why they put so much money into the house . She totally supports them on that level , but the house isn ' t paying its expenses as it is . There ' s no way they ' re going to be able to continue to keep it up ; they ' re not even breaking even . The house looks so much better than it did two years ago and it ' s in better condition on the inside and on the outside . Ms . Tischler said she ' s totally wanting to go along with this ordinance after this lease is up , but it would be really helpful to them if they could just come close to breaking even and it ' s going to be really hard if they can ' t . Attorney Barney asked Ms . Tischler where they lived and she said on West Hill , on Taylor Place . Attorney Barney asked if that was in the city or the town and Ms . Tischler said in the city . Mr . King asked if she had tried to sell the property and Ms . Tischler said yes , they did try to sell it . Mr . King asked how long it was on the market and Ms . Tischler said it was on the market in the spring of 1993 and she couldn ' t say for how long that was , she didn ' t remember . They did have one offer on it , they accepted the offer and it was signed , then they broke the deal the next day . Mr . Frost asked if there was a " For Sale " sign on the front yard and Ms . Tischler said she believed so . She does have a sister who ' s a realtor ( that had come up previously ) ; she doesn ' t know about this ordinance ; maybe she should , but she doesn ' t , and she didn ' t tell her about it . Chairman Austen asked if she had a copy of the lease and Ms . Tischler said no , not with her . Mr . Frost asked if Marie Tischler was her sister and Ms . Tischler said yes . Chairman Austen then closed the public hearing . • ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT Chairman Austen read Parts II and III of the environmental assessment form reviewed by JoAnn Cornish , Planner II dated September 23 , 1994 . With no discussion required , Chairman Austen asked for a motion . MOTION By Mr . Harry Ellsworth , seconded by Mr . Pete Scala . RESOLVED , that the Board adopt the recommendations of JoAnn Cornish , Planner II dated September 23 , 1994 and find a negative determination of environmental significance for the appeal by William Kellner and Camille Tischler for the property at 124 Pine Tree Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 58- 2 - 18 , Residence District R- 15 , and noting that this . is for a temporary variance . With no further discussion , Chairman Austen asked for a vote on the motion which resulted as follows : AYES - Austen , Ellsworth , Scala . NAYS - None . ABSTAIN - King . The motion was carried . • Attorney Barney said he had a question he ' d like to address to the neighbors if he could . Under the zoning ordinance as it ' s presently constituted , this is an illegal or improper occupancy . However , if this variance is denied and if Ms . Tischler were to come to him as a private attorney ( which he couldn ' t be because he ' s the Town Attorney ) Town of Ithaca 26 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 and she wanted to ask how she could accommodate these four gentlemen , the answer would probably be to shut off one room and put in a kitchen . Then you ' ve created a second dwelling unit and you ' re allowed to have two unrelated persons in each dwelling unit for a total of four in the building . Therefore , the question he wanted to address to the neighbors is : Do you really want to force somebody to make that kind of an accommoda- tion or is it better to go with the temporary variance for the period of a year or until the lease expires with the hope that it would then revert back to a three unrelated persons situation? Mr . Colle said this is a very hypothetical question , she would have to invest several thousand dollars to do that . He thought the logical solution to this would be much more along the lines of when are these people moving and can some other arrangement be worked out between the students and them . Attorney Barney then asked if it would be Mr . Colle ' s preference to go ahead and deny the variance and see what chips fall . Mr . Colle said he was just one person present at the meeting and Mr . Fleischmann asked if the variance being granted would prevent anything of that type happening . Attorney Barney said no , but there ' s a situation now where we have a commitment that it would revert back to three unrelated persons renting the house next year . Mr . King noted that it would be a temporary variance and such a variance would expire and not be permanent for the property . Attorney Barney said he was just trying to think , if he were a neighbor , which way he would want them to proceed . Mr . Scala said there are two options right now . One is to go ahead with the 90 days and somebody has to move out in January and the other one is to wait till May , 1995 to have someone leave . He said there is a difference of four months and it ' s obvious • what ' s being invited is a third option ( as Attorney Barney pointed out ) and where the owner can proceed to make it a two- family residence which will guarantee four unrelated persons can live there and there ' s nothing you can do about that . It doesn ' t require anything other than whatever investment is involved . Mr . Scala then suggested they proceed with the motion and Chairman Austen agreed and asked him to proceed . MOTION By Mr . Pete Scala , seconded by Mr . Harry Ellsworth . RESOLVED , that the Board grant the applicants , William Kellner and Camille Tischler , a time - limited variance from the requirements of Article IV , Section 11 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance , to be permitted to maintain a single - family residence by four unrelated persons at 124 Pine Tree Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 58- 2 - 18 , Residence District R- 15 , with the following findings and condition : 1 . That one of the present renters must vacate the premises on or before January 15 , 1995 such that the occupancy will be in compliance by consisting of only three unrelated persons after that time . 2 . That the variance be granted for a period ending January 15 , 1995 and , thereafter , the property must revert to compliance with the zoning ordinance . 3 . That , if the ordinance were enforced now , it would create a situation where the ability to make any income ( for at least a limited period of time ) would be severely damaged because of the phases here in Ithaca of rental seasons . is 4 . That it ' s a hardship upon these tenants to move out at this particular point in time given that it ' s basically the beginning of their semester and they don ' t have the time to devote to finding an alternate residence . Town of Ithaca 27 Zoning Board of Appeals October 12 , 1994 • 5 . That housing options for one of the students to find a new place of residence would be more ideal during the Christmas holiday break and assuming the students would have more time during the semester break which is what the January 15 , 1995 date is aimed at . 6 . That , without the income created by this particular tenancy , this will create a severe economic hardship with respect to carrying the cost of the house for this period of time . The three month period of time would allow for an opportunity to re- rent to someone else with ( hopefully ) a more favorable economic situation than would be available if they were forced to rent at the present time . Mr . Scala said , if Ms . Tischler can ' t change the lease , then she ' s trapped with the lease until June . Attorney Barney said both the owner of the house and the tenants are trapped with the lease because both are in violation so it would be up to them to work out the details . With no further discussion , Chairman Austen asked for a vote on the motion which resulted as follows : AYES - Austen , Ellsworth , Scala . NAYS - None . ABSTAIN - King . The motion was carried . Chairman Austen advised Ms . Tischler that she must have one tenant move by January 15 , 1995 and said , hopefully , he can find something suitable . Ms . Tischler responded by saying that she knows this is a long- term process but is wondering if some changes in their procedures might not be helpful in these cases . She wondered , if she and the neighbors had an opportunity to talk to each other ahead of time , if it would have come out this way . She said she thought the amount of money they ' ve put into the house makes it clear that their intentions in the neighborhood are good and that they ' ve done what the could to keep the neighborhood up , much more than anyone else who has lived there in the last ten years . She said she ' s really sorry that it ' s turned out this way and that the neighbors are so antagonistic . Chairman Austen pointed out that they do have an ordinance that they do have to uphold and that it ' s primarily a single family neighborhood as such . Ms . Tischler said she understood and was really speaking to the tenor of the exchange . Mr . Frost pointed out that there was nothing that would have prevented her from approaching the neighbors prior to tonight ' s meeting and Ms . Tischler said she did try to , actually . She went around from house to house but didn ' t have time to go to every house , it ' s difficult that way but easier in a forum . Chairman Austen adjourned the meeting at 10 : 05 PM . 0 Yq#anda M . McLaughlin CT Recording Secretary crard Austen , Chairmygn TOWN OF ITHACA ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS FINAL . NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARINGS WEDNESDAY , OCTOBER 12 , 1994 7 . 00 P . M . By direction of the Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Public Hearings will be held by the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Ithaca on Wednesday , October 12 , 1994 , in Town Hall , 126 East Seneca Street , ( FIRST Floor , REAR Entrance , WEST Side ) , Ithaca , N . Y . , COMMENCING AT 7 : 00 P . M . , on the following matters : Appeal of Ralph Varn , Appellant , requesting a variance from the requirements of Article IV , Sections 14 and 16 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance and Section 280-A of New York State Town Law , to be permitted to create a parcel of land ( through subdivision ) which does not have frontage on a Town , County , or State highway , at 1598 Slaterville Road , on a portion of Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 56 - 3- 14 . 2 , Residence District R- 15 . Appeal Christine A . Smith , Appellant , requesting a variance from the requirements of Article V . Section 21 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance , to be permitted to construct a 24 ' x 27 ' garage with a second story living area having a proposed side yard building setback of 19 ' ( 40 ' setback required ) at 6 Schickel Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 36 - 2 - 13 , Residence District R- 30 . Appeal of Elsie McMillan , Owner , Historic Ithaca , Appellant , requesting an extension of • a time - limited use variance granted by the Zoning Board of Appeals on April 10 , 1991 , to be permitted to use a barn as an architectural parts recycling warehouse at 812 Elmira Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 33- 1 - 7 . 2 , Residence District R- 30 . Article V , Section 18 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance does not permit an architectural parts recycling warehouse in Residential District R- 30 zones . Appeal of the First Assembly of God , Reverends Robert Lovelace and Barry Shepps , Agents , requesting a Special Approval under Article V . Section 18 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance , to be permitted to construct a multi-purpose religion building at Lot #2 of the Tomlinson subdivision at 197 Bostwick Road , on a portion of Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 31 -4 - 1 . 2 , Residence District R- 30 . A variance from the requirements of Article V , Section 18 , Paragraph 10 is also requested to construct a sanctuary with a building height of 44 + feet ( 30 ' maximum building height permitted ) . Appeal of William Kellner and Camille Tischler , Appellants , requesting a time - limited variance from the requirements of Article IV , Section 11 of the Town of Ithaca Zoning Ordinance , to be permitted to maintain a single - family residence by four unrelated persons at 124 Pine Tree Road , Town of Ithaca Tax Parcel No . 58- 2 - 18 , Residence District R- 15 , Said Ordinance limits such occupancy to no more than three unrelated persons . Said Zoning Board of Appeals will at said time , 7 : 00 p . m . , and said place , hear all persons in support of such matters or objections thereto . Persons may appear by agent or in person . Andrew S . Frost Building Inspector/ Zoning Enforcement • Officer 273 - 1783 Dated : October 4 , 1994 Publish : October 7 , 1994