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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEisner1appl.pdf Reason(s) that the requested variance should be granted: 205 Oak Hill Road was built in 1928 and modified in 1932 and 1952 prior to the establishment of zoning in Cayuga Heights. Due to the character of the house, there is only one area that can accommodate the expansion that will provide the applicant with sufficient space for her primary occupation as an amateur artist. That area, a former dog run on the southwest corner, is adjacent to the small studio that the owner’s work has outgrown. The exterior of all other portions of the house is either too close to the property line or too special in character, or both, to accommodate an attached space. The architect, Andrew Rappaport of HOLT Architects, has designed an addition that is set back farther from the west property line than the current west side of the house, and is as far from the property line as feasible if a useful and harmonious structure is to be built. The proposed addition is a single story with a low roof, slightly lower than the main floor of the house and substantially lower than the adjacent two story portions of the house. It will not be visible from the street. It will have high windows on the west side for the privacy of both the occupants and the next door neighbors. To the extent possible, it will be in character with the existing historic structure, which was occupied by a Cornell President, visited by Dwight Eisenhower and written about by Thomas Pynchon. The applicant has lived in the house 15 years, and she and her husband are the 5th owners. From the aerial photo below, it is clear that the west side of the original 1928 house was closer to the property line than permitted by the later zoning ordinance. Modification of the house (by Cornell) in 1952 added a patio and expanded the kitchen, both over a second street level garage, bringing the house even closer to the property line. Either at that time or earlier, a small maid’s room, now the applicant’s studio, and an adjacent bathroom were added. The southwest corner of the maid’s room is 7’ from the side lot line. The front corner of the garage is 6’ from the property line, while the rear corner of the garage is 4’ from the property line. At 9’ from the property line along nearly all of its 18’ length, the proposed addition is set back farther than the current structure. This setback requires a 6’ variance. Moving the west side of the addition 6’ farther to the east is not feasible. Moving the whole addition that far to the east would block the dining room windows. Alternatively, narrowing the addition by 6’ would make less useable than the current inadequate space. Either modification in the plan would make it impossible to enter the addition from the current studio (the bathroom is in the way). The proposed addition will neither produce an undesirable change in the character of the neighborhood nor a detriment to nearby properties. As noted, there is no feasible method for the applicant to obtain suitable studio space at her residence other than by locating the addition as designed. The requested variance is substantially less than required by the preexisting setback of the garage and maid’s room. Neither the variance nor the entire addition will have an adverse effect or impact on the physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood. While it is true that the difficulty that the variance is intended to relieve is self-created in that the applicant could forego expanding her studio, this should not preclude the granting of the variance. Photos and plan documents follow. 205 Oak Hill Road: Aerial photo from series published in 1938 (taken prior to 1935) 205 Oak Hill Road floor plan, current studio, bath and proposed addition. 205 Oak Hill Road, south ‘elevation’. Addition would be on the left . 205 Oak Hill Road: rear of bathroom and current art studio: location of proposed addition. 2 205 Oak Hill Road: current southeast perspective. Addition would be on the left. 205 Oak Hill Road, current northwest perspective (street side, from neighbor’s driveway). Addition would be to the right.