HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BZA-1975-06-02 ii
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EC BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA
CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK
JUNE 2 , 1975
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APPEAL 1072 Elizabeth Selvaraja 1
107 Harvard Place
APPEAL 1072 Executive Session 8
APPEAL 1076 Anthony Albanese 9
102 Adams Street
APPEAL 1076 Executive Session 30
APPEAL 1080 Myron Wasilchak 31
110 Hawthorne Place
APPEAL 1080 Executive Session 42
APPEAL 1082 Iry Lewis 43
525 W. Seneca Street
APPEAL 1082 Executive Session 55
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APPEAL 1083 Robert Teeter 56 f
�f 311- 315 Eddy Street
APPEAL 1083 Executive Session 68
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BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA
CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK
JUNE 2, 1975
A regular meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals, City of
Ithaca, was held in Common Council Chambers, City Hall, Ithaca,
New York, on June 2, 1975.
PRESENT: Peter Martin, Chairman
C. Murray Van Marter
Gregory Kasprzak
Elva Holman
John Bodine
Edgar Gasteiger
Edison Jones, Dep. Bldg. Comm. and Secretary
Olga Potorti, Recording Secretary
Chairman Martin opened the meeting listing members of the
Board present. The Board operates under the provisions of the
City Charter of the City of Ithaca and under the provisions of
the Zoning Ordinances. The Board shall not be bound by strict
rules of evidence in the conduct of the hearing, but the deter-
mination shall be founded upon sufficient legal evidence to
sustain the same. The Board requested that all participants
identify themselves as to name and address and confine their
discussions to the pertinent facts of the case under consideration
Edison Jones announced the first case to be heard.
APPEAL NO. 1072: Appeal of Elizabeth Selvaraja for an area
variance to minimum lot size under Section
30.25, Column 6, at 107 Harvard Place in an R-2
District.
Mr. John Nichols will present the case. j
JOHN NICHOLS: I should clarify first that I am now the
amner of that building. The closing was
earlier than anticipated, and so, I imagine
that the appeal should really be in my name
and not that of the Selvarajas. Basically,
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my desire is to add an apartment to the
existing building. The idea is to maintain
the building as primarily a single family
residence with an auxiliary apartment, and
this is to be for income purposes. The
major problem is the size of the lot which
is about 5,500 sq. ft. As I understand the
present zoning regulations, the minimum lot
size required for two dwelling units is
6,000 sq. ft.
MR. MARTIN: The figures in the appeal were 5,036, is
that correct?
MR. NICHOLS: That is correct.
]R. MARTIN: So that you are asking for an area variance
of roughly 1,000 sq. ft.
MR. NICHOLS: Right.
MR. MARTIN: Any questions?
]MR. GASTEIGER: I think he should develop. As I read this,
it seemed as though there would be Some
advantages, at least as you present it, I'd
like to hear this developed.
MR. NICHOLS: Well, in the actual specifics in the way
I'm going to develop the property, the presen
three-car garage which is on the property is f
in very poor condition. My plan is to remove
that structure and to replace it with a two-
car garage. Also, the present back porch i
which is on the building is in quite poor
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condition. That back porch must be removed
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in order to permit the addition of the small
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Ming which will be used as the livingroom
and diningroom of the apartment. This result
in a small decrease in the actual lot coverage,
so that there will be somewhat more open
space in the back. My reason for doing this
is to make a more pleasant back yard basically.
MR. MARTIN: You recently acquired the property. You did
so knowing full well what the Zoning Ordin-
ance required of it?
MR. NICHOLS: That is correct.
MR. MARTIN: So that you bought in the hope that you could
have the area variance to do that which you
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wanted to do.
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MR. NICHOLS: That's correct. Yes.
MR. MARTIN: Further questions?
MR. NICHOLS: May I also state that it is my understanding
that the building next door at 109 Harvard
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Place which belonged to the Cranches, present y
has an apartment in it, as does, I believe, j
on the other side of me. It's so marked, buts
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whether or not it's presently being used that
way, I don't know.
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MRS. HOLMAN: Can you describe how the new garage will sit
on the lot in relation to the wing.
MR. NICHOLS: The new garage will be smaller in order to
permit the wing to come out the rear of the
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building. I believe you have the drawing in
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front of you which shows the apartment wing
coming out. I'm not sure whether the copies
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you have show the garage or not. You see,
the present garage sticks behind the present
building almost this much. That's to be
reduced to make a yard. Right now itb filled
up with a garage. So the wing will come out
this far, but the garage will be reduced 10
feet.
Mt. GASTEIGER: This is new?
MR. NICHOLS: This is new. Right.
]R. GASTEIGER: The living-dining area.
Mt. NICHOLS: The living-dining area, right. And then on
top of that will be the porch for the living-
room of the house.
Mt. GASTEIGER: So this is at basement level?
Mt. NICHOLS: That is correct. The ground slips off quite
steeply. Actually, more level is achieved
about here from the basement and continues
to fall back and then sort of levels out to
the rear of the lot.
M. GASTEIGER: This is the entrance to the new apartment?
Mt. NICHOLS: That is correct. Yes.
Mt. GASTEIGER: And then the entrance to the house is off the
front porch. What is this?
Mt. NICHOLS: That's a stairway down from the deck so that
both units can use the back yard.
Mt. GASTEIGER: So the single dwelling is a two-story?
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MR. NICHOLS: That's correct. The reason that it becomes
attractive to do so is because the basement
has a very high ceiling. It's three feet
clear of the rafters, and is quite dry
because the ground slopes off so rapidly.
MS. HOLMAN: Does denial of the variance of the dwelling
present any difficulties to you?
MR. NICHOLS: Well, it's less advantageous economically.
I can survive, I imagine, but it will be
tighter.
M. MARTIN: Is there anything peculiar about your lot?
From the application one gets the sense that
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the smallness of this lot is shared by lots
around it.
MR. NICHOLS: Yes, in fact the houses on either side of me
are quite a bit larger than my house. Although
they occupy larger lots, I believe they cover
substantially more of the lot area .than mine
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does. Mine is kind of a pie shaped lot. C
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Theirs are pie shaped but less so, and they
are somewhat wider.
MR. MARTIN: Are there other questions from members of i
the Board?
MR. VAN MARTER: I have a question in regard the parking,
please. How much parking on the street can
you provide?
IR. NICHOLS: Well, there'll be two places in the garage
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and then the driveway would in theory accom- j
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modate two more, but the main intent is to
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have two car parking.
NR. VAN MARTER: Can you give me the dimensions of the frontage
of the lot at the street please.
MR. NICHOLS: I'll have to guess at 56 feet. I've forgotten
the specifics.
MR. VAN MARTER: Thank you.
NR. MARTIN: Any further questions from members of the
Board?
GASTEIGER: I guess I don't have a very good feeling for
the hardship here. It's true as I look at
this that 'it will be more attractive and a
better way to use this space, but I think the
ordinance requires something about the hardshi .
MARTIN: Actually, the language is slightly different
in talking about an area variance. Practical
difficulties are special conditions. The
Word "hardship" does not appear in the area
variance section. Any further questions from
members of the Board? Thank you. Our pro-
cedure then asks if there are any others
present to speak in behalf of the appeal.
Are there any others present who would like to
speak in opposition to this requested variance
I would like to read into the record a letter
which the Board received from a Miss Linda
Runyon concerning this requested variance.
It reads: Dear Persons: Concerning the
property at 110 Hawthorne Place, I oppose the
application for an area variance. The propert
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is presently a hazard to the residents of the
neighborhood. The sidewalk is overgrown with
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weeds and there is broken glass. The weeds
also cause a dangerous visual obstruction to i
the numerous cars turning the corner at
Pearsall Place and Hawthorne Place.
MR. VAN MARTER: That doesn't apply to this case.
MR. MARTIN: Excuse me, I've got the wrong one. I was
given the wrong number for this. None of the
correspondence we have applies to this case.
It will be saved for the appropriate case.
That concludes our hearing on this case.
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BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
C ITY OF ITHACA
I� JUNE 29 1975
EIMCUTIVE SESSION
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APPEAL NO. 1072
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Mt. MARTIN: I move . that the requested area variance be
denied.
IRS. HOLMAN: I second that.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1) The deficiency in lot size is nearly
1,000 square feet (nearly 20X).
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2) The evidence presented failed to establis
that the property in question could not
reasonably be used for a single family
dwelling which complied with the Zoning
Ordinance area requirements.
3) Other lots in this area are of similar
size, and if a variance were granted in
this case, it might set a precedence for
similar approval in the future.
VOTE: YES - 6 NO - 0
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BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA
CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK
JUNE 2, 1975
Edison Jones announced the next case to be heard.
APPEAL NO. 1076: Appeal of Anthony Albanese for a use variance
in permitted uses under Section 30.25, Column 2,
at 102 Adams Street, in an R-3 district.
Mr. Richard Albanese will present the case.
W. R. ALBANESE: My name is Rick Albanese. My father owns
the building at 102 Adams Street. It was
originally the Ithaca Clock Factory. We now
have an office and storage area in that
building. We are proposing a use variance
for this building for the following uses:
the storage and sale of books (the Friends of
the Library are interested in space for this
purpose), we would like to make some storage
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cubicles that we would call mini-storage
for persons who would care to store, for
example, summer articles, lawn equipment in
the winter and winter articles in the summer.
Another proposed use would be for office and
storage space for contractors similar to j
ourselves. Two businesses in the community
have expressed an interest in this, Taughannock
Construction Company and Towner Electric. A
transmission specialist has expressed an inte�-
est, and we have space available for this
type of service in the rear of the building
i along with a, guess you would call it a home
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or custom items for the home, such as railings .
f A Mr. SanSouci is interested in part of this
area to build like stairs, railings, special-
ties for the home. In other words, they would
be small items, and also we have space,
additional space, we have approximately
24,000 sq. ft. There is room for a retail
shop or a type of personal store. Another
individual in town has expressed an interest
in this in the line of an antique shop.
Those are the uses. Do all of you have a
copy of this sheet that I've just mentioned?
We gave them to members of the Planning Board
I believe, and the Codes and Zoning group,
and I believe they passed them out as I
understood it.
Int. MARTIN: What's the sheet you're referring to?
MR. R. ALBANESE: It's a sheet of proposed uses for 102 Adams
Street. I have copies if you'd like one. f
MR. MARTIN: We have a report from the Planning Board
which I think summarizes what you've just
given us. having summarized those uses,
would you care to address yourself to the
sorts of findings which the Board will have
to make in order to grant a use variance, • ,
namely, that their peculiar special circum-
stances, unique hardship that relates to this
property which prevent it from being used in
conformance with the Zoning Ordinance.
M. R. ALBANESE: Well, the building when it was originally
purchased, a variance was granted for apart-
ments, or agreed to for apartments. I belie
33 apartments. After going into the economic
of building apartments and maintenance, it
was totally, economically unfeasible at the
time, and still is. These proposals now are
much more feasible, much mare usable, and
would allow us to make necessary repairs to
the building, and those repairs would include
a chimney that needs to be taken dawn, a
roof that needs to be repaired, the walls
need to be painted and pointed, windows need
to be replaced, there are over 200 windows in
the building, there is a sprinkler system tha
needs to be restored, an elevator that was
certified two or three years ago and needs to
be checked again, repairing of floors, parts j
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of certain floors where the roof has leaked
need to be repaired. i
MR. MARTIN: Can you elaborate on the unfeasibility of the
use for apartments? You say it was originally
acquired with that in mind. I assume you
then explored how much it would cost and can
give us some details on the difficulty of
that kind of use.
Mt. R. ALBANESE: Well, roughly, I was not directly in on the
financial dealings, but it would cost approx. !
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imately five times the amount to build, just
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build apartments in the building. That is,
refurbish it entirely and include heating,
plumbing, all that would be necessary for
apartments, as opposed to some offices and
storage space which would require minimal
amount of plumbing, heating, lighting, genera
exterior upkeep, would be less.
MR. MARTIN: Are there questions from members of the Board
MR. RASPRZAR: I would like to ask a question. I just made
a list of the items that you said are going
to be used for the uses that will be in that
building. Among them, the contractors and
transmission specialists as you call it,
and you're basically in the middle of the
residential area. How do you allow for the
traffic and the noise and things of that
nature? There is also a park right ahead of
you if I remember correctly. There will be
children playing there. With this type of
activity, how do you expect to have this
balance out?
MR. R. ALBANESE: Well, the building itself is about 120 ft. R
150 ft. roughly, and the area around it has
ample off street parking to accommodate more
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than we have proposed. And the transmission
shop, should the area variance be granted,
would be in the rear of the building on the
back side between. There would be a set of
five garages that would be between any shops
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and the nearest home, and this would be away
from the nearest home. I estimate it would
be over 100 ft. to the nearest home.
MEL. BODINE: How much off street parking do you have?
ISR. R. ALBANESE: When we Went over it, I believe there are
30 spaces. Someone from the Planning Board
was down and we talked about it and discussed
it.
TRS. HOLMAN: How many employees does your business have?
IR. R. ALBANESE: At the present time we have five.
MRS. HOLMAN: And how many vehicles?
MR. R. ALBANESE: Business vehicles, three.
MS. HOLMAN: And the transmission shop--would there be
vehicles involved with that? Obviously, then
are going to be vehIcles. I mean vehicles
owned by the proprietors of the business and
used in their business.
MR. R. ALBANESE: Owned by the proprietors evidently. I cant
say for sure.
ISR. KASPRZAK: How many vehicles would the transmission have
to operate?
Mit. R. ALBANESE: If it would have more than one I would be
surprised. I don't know for sure.
AR. KASPRZAK: How are they going to pick up transmissions
and deliver them?
1'R. R. ALBANESE: There would have to be a truck or if it was
a minor repair, the person would bring their
vehicle in to have it repaired.
Mt. KASPRZAK: How many people are you anticipating in the
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building after all these uses are incorporate ?
NFL. R. ALBAMSE: That would depend on the number of actual
offices. We anticipate six different offices
or businesses, with two or three and possibly
as many as four or five employees in each.
The transmission shop would have two and the
employees, and the custom shop has two, and
I'm not sure about Taughannock Construction.
MR. RASPRZAK: In essence, you're saying you will have
approximately 25 people on the premises.
MR. R. ALBAMSE: Approximately that, yes.
MR. RASPRZAK: They all will be coming by car.
MR. R. ALBAMSE: Yes, I believe so.
MR. GAS7EIGER: Will there be a flow of people aside from
those who are permanently working there? For
instance, the library book sale obviously
involves a fair amount of traffic. For each
one of these businesses, is there any estimate
of the flow of traffic to and from?
MR. R. ALBAMSE: As far as the book club goes, they have
explained to me that they will function in a
way that people will drop some books off
during a week and possibly twice a week a
volunteer would come in for a couple of hours
to catorgorize the books. The others would
be similar to our cern business where they
may have two or three, and on a good day,
four or five customers come by.
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BR. BODINE: Would 3ou anticipate any large trucks making
deliveries there?
MR. R. ALBANESE: There may be at rare intervals, rare being
once every couple of months.
MR. BODINE: So they wouldn'-t ordinarily deliver plumbing
supplies there?
MR. R. ALBANESE: No. Large deliveries go to the job site.
M. MARTIN: Other questions? Ed-
MR. GASTEIGER: Will the traffic during the library book sale
come up for discussion? Have you experienced {
that?
Mt. R. ALBANESE: Yes, we had the Friends of the Library rent
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from us last year in our building, in a
slightly different location, but they used a
significant amount of area, and as far as
traffic goes, there was a considerable amount,
but we appreciated the enthusiasm of the
community. There was quite a wide cross
section of the community people that frequent-ad
the book club during the sale.
Mi. MARTIN: Other questions?
MR. VAN MARTER: The number of tenants you have at present,
please.
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MR. R. ALBANESE: We are the only tenants.
AR. MARTIN: And your use is covered by an earlier varianc ?
MR. R. ALBANESE: Yes.
MR. GASTEIGER: How long have you owned the building? j
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MR. R. ALBANESE: 172. It was purchased in the summer of 172.
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MR. GASTEIGER: Since then you've gone through the question
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of apartments. You would like to build them,
apparently that was the intent.
MR. R. ALBANESE: Yes.
AR. GASTEIGER: Then this is three years then before you come
before us with a request. Is it only recently►
that you've made an effort to do something
else with the building?
M. R. ALBANESE: No, we have from the beginning tried to find �
markable and economical solutions to making
the building useful again. We were very
enthused about the apartment idea, but it Jus
proved totally unfeasible and now what work
we have done since that time, this seems to
have boiled down to be the most feasible,
economically possible, and useful type of
thing we can do.
AR. GASTEIGER: Peter, I'd like to get a feel for how restric
tive or definite this is. Are we talking
about very specific uses, each one in tram,
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all uses that he has proposed?
MR. MARTIN: Well, they all of them go beyond the prior
variance, and so each of them constitutes, ifs
you like, a separate variance, or we can deal
with them as a totality, either way you choose,
and I would assume that having granted
narrowly tailored variances if the Board
should grant a variance tonight, subsequent
new tenants who constituted different uses
mould bring you back here for another varianc
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That we would in effect be supervising the
use of this building over a long period of
time.
Mt. GASTEIGER: The reason I asked this is that some of these
things seem somewhat tentative. I mean, there
are no contracts signed.
W. MARTIN: How many of these are definite in terms of
firm leases or firm commitments?
MR. R. ALBANESE: We have no leases with anyone, although four
people have said should a variance be granted
they will definitely move in. The book club,
Towner Electric and Taughannock Construction,
and I'd have to check on the other.
Mt. GASTEIGER: You've mentioned that there was a difference
of about five times for renovating the building
for residential purposes as against commercial
purposes. Do you have any figures in terms
of returns in the residential capacities as
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against the renovating for residential purposes?
Imo. R. ALBANESE: No, I wouldn't have those figures, although
I could call for a little assistance.
MR. MARTIN: It is our procedure to allow other people to
be called when you have concluded. Do you
want to call someone else at this point?
NR. R. ALBANESE: Certainly.
Mt. MARTIN: Wouldou come forward y war and identify yourself?
MR. A. ALBANESE.- I am Tony Albanese, the owner. It was my .
night at the Planning Board, so I gave him
i his chance tonight. I went over this whole
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building with some builders, with materials,
and there were a couple of people who sell
lumber, and we arrived at a figure of about
between $350,000 and $400,000 to put in 33
apartments. These plans were made up by Tony
Egner which they gave to me very gladly. I'm
glad I didn't have to pay for them because
I worked on them for about a year and in the
meantime Shulman was in the building, and
they occupied the entire building with the
exception of the little office that we are in
now and the boiler roan, and they got out
last spring, and by the time we got the thing
cleaned up, by the time Shulman moved out, by
the time we got all the pressers, the washers
and all the materials and all the machinery
that was in there, we found the building was
in worse shape than we had anticipated. I
didn't anticipate too much anyway, but the
building was a lot worse off than I thought
it was, and we've opened up the floors and
the walls here and there and we found that
the only feasible thing to do is to leave it
as a commercial thing rather than make it
residential. Its got three floors in the
front of which is Adams Street, and two on th
sides, and two in the rear, and there were
approximately 30 some parking areas, off
street parking, and we weighed this all out
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f just recently and found out we would occupy
about half of the parking areas with less
congestion, and we could salvage the building
with eight rentals. Now this means all on
the first floor. This is what we have to ren
out to maintain the taxes on it and other
expenses, the insurances and the necessary
things like the chimney, and I think we just
elaborated on that, and I figured out it
would cost probably a little over $100,000
to get these people in here, and we have
arranged them as though I were going to live
there myself, the noisy people in the back
and the middle, the quiet ones are on the
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perimeter that were nearer to the residential
homes, and so far we've had about six request
and they vary quite a bit, but basically,
they're not much different from what we have
there right now, and we've minimized the
amount of traffic. We've minimized everything ,,
and I wouldn't think there would be more than
10 or 12 people in the building outside of
the customers. This would minimize traffic,
minimize the noise, minimize everything, and
if there was noise, it would be during an
eight hour day, not nights or weekends, unles
it Was an emergency. The building was a
clock factory originally, and I don't think
there have been too many changes made since
then. It's over 100 years old and we've
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touched a couple of malls there, and they're
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about to come down. We've got one half down
now. That was not intentional, but that's
the way it happened. This is the minimum
requirement to keep that building up or else
we've got to go into something heavier like
apartments, a lot heavier, and in the last
year the cost of materials has risen up to �
30 and 40%, and this is just the materials.
Labor averaged about 107 since last year, so
this comes up over a half million dollars to
build the 30 some apartments in there, over
$350 to $400,000 last year. So if we can
minimise it, a lot of this stuff we anticipate
doing ourselves because we can't afford to
hire it done. I've had a few concrete figure
like tearing the chimney down was $3,000, to
level off the driveway and gravel was $6,000
and they're up in these figures, and I got up
to a little over $100,000 so I quit asking
them, but this is about what it will run, a
little over $100,000 to keep 6 tenants beside
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ourselves there. This is all on the first
floor. The second and third floor I'd like
to utilize it with mini rentals. I don't
mean like having a lot of trucks in there
like we had before. We didn't like that eith
These trucks would come in all hours of the
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night and they'd have these sleepers and
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leave the motors running. They were noisy,
I didn't like it-myself, and I heard a little
complaints. But I think the people will
speak for themselves. We've talked with, I'd
say 25 to 30% of the people in that immediate )
area, and they said, for God's sake, get
those trucks out of there, and that was the
only objection they've had so far, and we've '
been there three years, going on three years.
MR. MARTIN: Questions?
Int. VAN MARTER: I have a question. In regard to the Planning
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Board report. They mentioned outside storage
Can you describe that?
MR. A. ALBANESE: Yes. Outside storage was really there are
five garages in a row at the rear of the
building, nure or less like in the middle of
the block so to speak, and there will be
storage there. I'm talking about, that won't ,
be seen from the street, and this is where
the storage will be, plus the fact that we
propose to put a fence on the end or wherever
there might be anything on the outside. All
this stuff should be covered most of it should
be, or inside. No outside storage unless it
would be a vehicle. Now the proposed vehicle
would be just two for that transmission shop,
that's all.
MR. VAN MARTER: Their report says you would undertake screen-
ing for the outside storage area, so I don't
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think they are referring to the garage. If
you have a welding shop there, there's going
to be outside storage, no question.
MR. A. ALBANESE: No, there wouldn't be outside storage. It
would be inside definitely. Now the way this
works, there is an old boiler roam on the
very rear of the original building which is
separate, and right immediately behind are
the five car garages. They would occupy
one garage for storage, and use the old boiler
room for their shop. The Friends of the
Library will be on the Dey Street side. The
Taughannock Construction and myself will be
in the front on the Adams Street side, and
Towner and myself will take the Auburn Street
side. This is all we have. We'll just fill
the bottom floors with plenty of room without
any congestion. It's about the simplest way
out of it.
MR. MARTIN: Further questions? Thank you. Are there
any others here tonight who would like to
speak on behalf of this requested variance?
Please cane forward.
MS. BARLOW: I am Carolyn Barlow, the president of Friends
of the Library, and I can answer any question .
What we would propose to be doing would be
storing our books there throughout the year
as weather permitted, beacuse we're not going
to have too much heat in there. We would go
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in there and straighten out the books from
time to time, and for a period of six, possibly
eight weeks in the fall is when we have the
heaviest use of the building, and at that time
there wouldn't be any more except for the 10
days of the sale. About 10 people will be
there a day sorting books and some cars coming
to deliver books, and we would be there from
9:30 to 3:30 every day while we were arranging!
for the sale, and during the time of the sale
we would be there from the sale hours of 10
to 8 all week days and on Saturdays they'd I
be from 10 to 4, and that Mould be Just two
Saturdays, and then we'd clean up the Monday
after the sale, and probably wouldn't come
back again much until springtime, and the
question that was asked of me last week was,
did we plan to have the sale if we had a
space, sort of daily or everyday. We say no, l
we have run it this way for 28 years, and this
is the way we'd like to continue to run it,
and we'd like to continue to run it for 28
more years without any worry about where we
could have it, because our sale has gotten so
we need about 4,000 sq. ft. of space to handl
all our books.
MR. RASPRZAR: Did you look for any other location?
I
MS. BARLOW: Yes, we have.
I
MR. RASPRZAR: Any results?
-24-
MS. BARLOW: We tried all sorts of places, like the Family
i
j Bargain Store, and all those kind of places,
and they have not been very hospitable toward
a community benefit operation shall we say,
because we're not in the financial position
where we can pay the rents of those kind of
people would want.
i
Mt. KASPRZAK: You have to pay rent here too?
MS. BARLOW: Yes, but not to what something like the Family
Bargain stores those outside owners would
demand of us.
MR. KASPRZAK: What I'm trying to find out is why did you
choose this one in preference to the others;
you say the cost was the only reason?
y y y
MS. BARLOW: We looked and looked and looked, and this was
the place the day before we more or less had
to decide if we were having a book sale or
i
not, we got Mr. Albanese's place last year,
and we were very happy with it, and we though
if he was willing, this was a good solution
to our problem.
MR. GASTSIGER: It was a little cold wasn't it?
MS. BARLOW: Yes, but we're hardy people, so we can stand j
it. Mr. Albanesewill put in a minimum heatin
system for us with a sprinkling system to I
secure against any fire risk.
MR. MARTIN: Any further questions?
I
MS. HOLMAN: Did you have any problems with parking last �
i
year Carolyn?
i
f
-25-
MS. BARLOW: Not that we were aware. It would be the
people in the community if they complained,
but we didn't hear any complaints from any-
body in the neighborhood.
I
MR. MARTIN`: Further questions? Thank you. Is there
anyone else who would like to speak in behalf
of the variance?
ISR. BERNSTEIN: My name is John Bernstein of 216 Dey Street.
I'm speaking in favor of the variance with
one reservation. This building, the old
clocks works, is a building of some historica
importance. Historic Ithaca has expressed an
interest in it. Many people in the neighbor-
hood would like to see it retained. We don't
want to see it torn down because it would be
very costly right now, and because it might
be difficult to find other uses that the city
would go along with immediately, so that this
building is of importance to the people in the
neighborhood. They want to see it retained.
There's also a park to the south of the build
Lug which they want to see enlarged, and to
the extent to which this use variance conflic s
with the expansion of the park, this proposal
has some problems with off street parking, in
that the street which is proposed for removal
Adams Street, may provide the owners of this
activity with some 14 to 15 parking spaces
which they might lose. This would throw more
E
46-
parking on to streets directly in front of
' the homes. We'd like to see the building
improved. We'd like to see it be made more
i
like other business in the neighborhood, for
instance, Cayuga Electric Corp. has a very
attractive building on Lincoln Street, but
we oppose the use of the building for any
obnoxious activity, and that includes noisy
activity. We spokewith some reservation abou
welding last week. That's been removed from
the list of possible tenants, and we also
oppose the use of the auto transmission of
the building for repairing cars for we felt
that would involve all kinds of people who
like to test their cars on the streets, and
in a residential neighborhood, that doesn't
go very well, so we favor the use of the
building for storage purposes, for office
purposes, for Mr. Albanese's purposes, and f07
any other tenants who can be found who aren't
along this line. It's been a mess so far in
the back. This variance will permit Mr.
Albanese to get to work on fixing up the
building in the front and back, removing
the safety hazard, the chimney, which is
cracked, but I urge your consideration on
the question of the auto transmission facility
which a number of people in our neighborhood
oppose, including me. Thank you.
' 1
I
-27-
M. MARTIN: questions?
Mt. KASPRZAK: Has there been any reaction to, ,you say
certain uses like an auto shop use? I agree
i with you that it would be 'rather uncomfortable
to have it there. What about the building
contractor and people of that nature?
Mt. BERNSTEIN: Well, office activity, it seems to me, would
not require large customer turnover. It
would require two to three employees which
we can handle in terms of noise and in terms
of parking. We're okay. Taughannock Con—
struction would not be storing equipment there.
They would be keeping the equipment elsewhere
I'm led to believe they would be just keeping
their office equipment there. That would be
part of their heated facility. In other
words, that wouldn't be cold storage, that
would be a heated activity.
MR. MARTIN: Yes, do you want to verify that?
MR. A. ALBANESE: The gentleman who wants to rent it came in
today from Taughannock Construction and all
they do is remodel homes, so they have storag
and an office there. They have their place
on the lower end of State Street now, up on
the second floor, and I don't think it's
there because they can't store too much up
there, but my understanding is they do repair
work and remodeling - no construction. O
M. BERNSTEIN: So they're not a heavy construction company.
i
-28-
We all know V9hat they do. They do light
remodeling, so they're going to be storing
i
i
stuff. They're going to be bringing trucks
through there and to that degree, it will be
a problem for us.
IR. MARTIN: Are there further questions?
MR. GASTEIGER: I'm a little confused about this park versus
the Ithaca clock building. Can some further
statement be made about it so there is some
competition here for space. I don't have a
good picture yet.
i
MR. BERNSTEIN: Very well. The park we're talking about is
called Auburn Park and it's earmarked by the
1968 city planning study as a site for im-
provement as a neighborhood park. It hasn't
been touched for the past six or seven years.
There is no other neighborhood park that
serves children of Fall Creek other than
Tompkins Park, from Cascadilla Creek and
Cayuga Street, and proposals to the city
favor improvement to this park. The city is
currently planning on making these improve-
ments themselves. They also want to give
lengthy consideration to expanding the park
northward toward the factory. This would
involve removing all or part of Adams Street
which lays between Auburn Street and Dey
Street. I would be glad to draw you a map ifI
that's needed.
I
-29-
MR. MARTIN: The consequences you have already pointed out
is that if and when that becomes a reality,
that removes some of the parking that current1y
exists and will throw that same parking eithe
on the off street parking available at the
clock factory or on the surrounding streets.
Mit. GASTEIGER: Is the park the little triangular three-sided
piece?
Mit. BERNSTEIN: Yes sir,
MR. GASTEIGER: Does Mr. Albanese own this fullarea?
MR. BERNSTEIN: There is the sidewalk on the north side of
Adams Street at Mr. Albanese's. He owns up
to one foot from the sidewalk.
MR. MARTIN: Any further questions?
MRS. HOLMAN: Did the Friends of the Library sale have much
impact on the neighborhood? As far as incon-
venience, I mean.
MR. BERNSTEIN: That was very temporary and a number of us
were happy to see more people in the neighbor
hood. We don't oppose the use of the building,.
We are concerned about noise and our feeling
is that a transmission shop would be noisy.
MR. MARTIN: Are there others who would like to speak in
favor of the requested variance? Is there
anyone here tonight who would like to speak
in opposition? If not, that concludes our
hearing on this case.
i
-30-
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
CITY OF ITHACA
EXECUTIVE SESSION
APPEAL NO. 1076
MR. MARTIN: I move to grant a use variance permit for
sale and storage of books, sale of antiques,
and professional and business offices.
MR. BODINE: I second that.
Subject to the following conditions:
1) Owner will complete within two years the
removal of the existing laundry power plant
smokestack and clean up visible portions of !
the property. E
2) Owner provide the amount of off street
parking required fac tenant uses.
3) The requirements of the Sign Ordinance
for an R-3 district will be complied with.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1) Evidence presented indicated that the
building which was not designed for a resid-
ential use, could not reasonably be converted
to such a use.
2) The proposed uses for which the variance
is granted are similar to the current use
being made of the building or otherwise have
a limited impact on the residential area.
VOTE: YES - 5 NO - 1
-31-
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA
CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK
JUNE 29 1975
Edison Jones announced the neat case to be heard.
APPEAL NO. 1080: Appeal of Myron Wasilchak for an area variance
to lot size in front and side requirements under
Section 30.25, Colum 6, 11, 12, 14, 15 at 110
Hawthorne Place in an R-2 district.
Mr. Michael Pichel will present the case.
MR. PICHEL: This is strictly an application for an area
variance. No use variance is requested. The
use is a two-family dwelling which is allowed
in an R-2 zone. The lot is on the corner of
Hawthorne and Pearsall. It's an approved
sub-division lot. " It presently has a, I
believe it's a five-car garage being used for
storage. The lot is 110 X 55, not including
any of the roadway that's owned. So there is
over 6,000 sq. ft. of area which would allow
the two-family dwelling, and there is 110 ft.
of frontage on Hawthorne Place which, I believe
is the front yard, which would give enough
frontage along the road. There is a 55 ft.
frontage on Pearsall. It's a earner lot, and
the Ordinance as read strictly requires two
front yards of 25 ft. each, and the side yard
and the back yard requirements, if you read
the Ordinance strictly, would only allow a
building 10 ft. deep and 70 ft. long, which I
don't think anybody would want. So I think
this comes under the area variance where there
is a practical difficulty of an unreasonable
-32-
impossible situation to comply with. The lot
is about the same size as all the other lots
in the neighborhood, and I think most of them,
if the buildings were required to meet the
side yard and front yard and back yard require-
menta, they wouldn't comply either. He wants
to retain this pretty good concrete block
structure. It's solid, the foundation isn't
cracked, and the walls aren't cracked, and
add on to it. There's a picture of the plot
plan and a sketch of the elevation with the
application. I think the lot is not terribly
attractive now, and having a residence on it
I think it would be better kept up and in
keeping with the neighborhood. There was
another application once before I understand,
by someone else who wanted to put a four-twit
apartment on top of this garage, and that was
opposed by the neighborhood, and I guess it
was disallowed, so there is this application
which I think would make better use of the
land. It would be in keeping with the neigh-
borhood. It would be a residential use just
like the rest of the neighborhood. Are there
any questions I could answer?
MS. HOLMAN: Are you planning to retain any of the existing
garage stalls as garage stalls? That's not
clear to me.
MR. PICHBL: No. he wants to have the garage changed into
-33-
residential and the parking would be on the
side yard off Pearsall. There's ample parking
to meet the requirements of the parking reg-
ulations.
HRS. HOLMAN: Parking off Pearsall?
Mid. PICHEL: Yes. Calling Hawthorne the front, Pearsall
the side yard. Right now it's graded sort
of funny. It cases up and then it drops
down. It would be smoothed off there, having
parking off Pearsall.
M. GASTEIGER: The 45 X 20 structure is the garage?
IR. PICHEL: That's the existing building. The roof would
be taken off and a new roof would be put on.
The concrete block would be parget and brought
up to look like a brand new structure with
the other building the new construction.
MR. MARTIN: Other questions from members of the Board?
MRS. HOLMAN: The existing garage would be one unit and the
new structure a second?
IR. PICHEL: Right.
1R. MARTIN: Other questions?
Mit. PICHEL: The back yard would be more than the back yard
we have now. The side yard would be just
about right and the front yard would be just
about right, but we need this variance to
leave the existing garage there.
MR. MARTIN: We have, and I've already read part of two
letters that concern this case. They both of
them begin by describing the current situation
-34-
as unsightly and unsafe, and arguing that it'
likely to continue, and that is inappropriate
to incorporate the garage in a new structure.
Would you like to comment on that? I will
read them in their entirety later on, but I
thought it might serve to..(interrupted)
MR. PICHEL: Might now it isn't very attractive. It's an
old garage and looks to me like there was at
one time most of the lot was covered with a
blacktop parking area, and the garage struc
as I said is perfectly sound. There's nothing
wrong with it, so that if it were polished up
and a new roof put on it, and it was landscape
properly, I think it would be a large improve-
ment. I think it would be wasteful to tear
down this structure. I don't know what you
would tear down. If you just tore it down to
get a little bit back from the road, you
wouldn't gain very much, I think for the
neighborhood. I think it would just be waste-
ful to require him to tedr it down and build
something else in its place when that building
can be refurbished. It isn't very attractive
now, and I think this application would improve
it.
MRS. HOLMAN: Has there ever been any attempt to rent the
garage to the neighborhood for storage or as
garages?
PQ. PICHEL: I don't know the history of this lot. I reall
-35-
can't answer that. Mr. Wasilchak has been
using this as storage, business storage, ever
since he had it, and that will cease if this
were approved.
MR. MARTIN: Further questions? Are there any others
present tonight who would like to speak in
favor of the requested area variance? Any
present this evening who would like to speak
in opposition? Would you come forward?
While you come forward let me continue with
the letters. The first is from the one I
started to read before, Miss Linda Runyon of
118 Hawthorne Place, who opposes the applica-
tion for an area variance, the property is
presently a hazard to the residents of the
neighborhood, the sidewalk is -overgrown with
weeds, has broken glass, the weeds also cause
dangerous visual obstruction to numerous cars
turning the corner at Pearsall Place and
Hawthorne Place. With the many children of
this neighborhood, it is truly .an unsafe place .
The present structure is an eyesore. I under-
stand it's to be included in the proposed
building. The view of this from my living.
room is most unpleasant. I object to the use
of this building as a permanent structure. I
hope the Board of Zoning Appeals will take
into consideration the opposition to this
application. The second is somewhat shorter.
46-
It's from Mrs. Helen Goodman, 117 Pearsall
Place. Dear Board Members: I am writing
to oppose the proposed construction at 110
Hawthorne Place. Presently, the garage and
lot are unkept and in an unsafe condition.
I can only feel that any future construction
by Mr. Wasilchak will be managed in a sub-
standard way. All right, we have those two
letters on this case.
IR. CULLIGAN: Thank you Mr. Chairman. My name is Don
Culligan. I live at 627 Hudson Street. My
property goes through on to Hawthorneand
borders the north end of this property that
is being talked about here tonight. I'm
actually representing myself, but I am rep-
resenting quite a few people in the neighbor-
hood who were not able to be here tonight,
although there are a few here. This has been
contested, I think for the fourth time now on
various reasons. It was a beautiful piece of
property 15 years ago. Every garage was used.
They were built at the time it was called
Cornell Housing, which was the Hawthorne,
Pearsall and Crescent Place project, which wa
built in 1947. An attorney bought them up,
not the present attorney, but an attorney
bought them from Mrs. Pearsall through her
estate and doubled the rent on everybody, and
everybody roved out of their garages, so they
-37- i
stood empty for quite a long while, and the
conditions even then were like they are some-
what now, unkept property, dangerous corner.
Mr. Dahman bought over, I would say, five or
six years ago, and has used ,it for his per-
sonal storage of business property, which no
one in the neighborhood objected to. His
trucks came there from time to time, but
there was no problem and why this doesn't
continue to be a business property for him
under those aspects of storing things, I'm
not quite sure. The neighborhood is one
residency neighborhood. My property is
135 X 210, Dr. Visnyei's is larger than that.
The lady in one of the letters, Mtn. Goodman,
her property across Pearsall is large. The
Normans are here tonight, their property is
right across Hawthorne and is equally as large
if not larger, but these are all one residency
homes, families, this is the neighborhood
characteristic. People pay extra taxes. I'm
assessed for my land, and I pay for that
little extra privacy, and to see a two unit
structure trying to be, it's prosaic to me
to believe that the existing structure which
is not good, even the gentleman ahead, who is
probably not an architect, may say it is, it'
not good structure, and how anybody could
conform this property with no cellars, into
i
i
-38- I
i
a formidable type living dwelling, I just
cannot no see. The only thing that I can see in
that corner lot would be a good one structure )
home built by somebody or kept as it is as a
storage place or restored to garages. There
are no garages. I have one, I'm lucky I guess.
It's been there a long while, but there are
very few garages in the entire two and one-
half to three block area from that spot. Of
course, people park in the streets for free,
but I'm quite sure that if the garages were
restored and were made available, the people
would use them.
Mt. MARTIN: All right. Now the precise nature of the
requested variance in this case is that we
waive the setback requirement imposed on
corner lots, that they have in effect two
front lots. A similar request would have to
be made before a single family residence
could go in here, at least as I understand the
arithmetic. The essence of your objection is
not to the variance, but to what is going to
end up being put there, namely, two units
rather than one.
Mt. CULLIGAN: I'm not sure. Two units rather than one. I
would say I would not be here tonight if one
unit was being appealed to before the Board
tonight. I wouldn't be here as a citizen or
representing any.
-39-
MR. MARTIN: The request is not for them to be able to do
two rather than one, but for them to be able
to do it without the required setback.
MR. CULLIGAN: In no way should the existing structure be
considered in the use of any building there
for human occupancy. I'm not sure if the
Board ever goes to visit these places, partic
ularly to view personally, but it is an eye-
sore.
MR. MARTIN: Questions from members of the Board?
MR. CULLIGAN: There are a few others here who might want to
speak. Thank you.
MR. MARTIN: Are there others who would like to speak in
opposition? Let me simply remind you again
that we don't count votes. We'd like to hear
the evidence. Please limit your remarks to
the issue that is before the Board.
W. VISNYEI: My name is George Visnyei and I live on 631
Hudson Street. We have three lots on the
west side of Wasilchak's property, and we use
all three lots for our residence and home.
It's a single residence and basically, I thin
Mr. Culligan has put most everything on the
line here. We've gone through this before
for variance of one sort or another for a
four apartment unit, and Mr. Gersh presented
the case, the size and so forth of the lots,
and I'm sure you have that factor with you, s
I'm not going-Into__that,_ but I object to the
-40-
variance for the simple reason that there is
a factor in the zoning there which whether it s
a single unit or two units home that's going
to be built on there, it should meet the re-
quirements of zoning. There's no sense in
presenting any more facts other than that. I
think that as far as multiple units are con-
cerned in that area, knowing the situation
with the University and the student rentals
that we have here, I'm sure that isn't going
to be an asset to the neighborhood if it's
going to be more than one unit, so I oppose
it on that basis.
MR. MARTIN: Any questions? Thank you. Anyone else who
would like to speak in this case, please
come forward.
MR. NORMAN: My name is John Norman. My address is 122
Pearsall which site right across the street
from this piece of property now. My main
objection to this piece of property for being
used as a double dwelling property is the
noise aspect. If there is visitors, the
streets are narrow. As they are right now,
off street parking causes quite a hazard.
We have a church up there now that I believe
is up for sale, and on Sundays and during the
week nights when they do congregate there,
it's kind of hazardous to weave through there
so if there is any kind of visitors at all at
-41-
this double dwelling that he proposes to buil
there, it would be still quite a hazard for
the parking and off street parking. I can't
see where the lot is. My lot is bigger than
that, not much, but it's a little bigger.
Most of the properties up there do have small
lots. Now if there are any children that
this double dwelling is put up and families
move in there, where are the children to
play except in someone elses yard. There is
no parks up there. There's a school about
two blocks down, so I'm in complete oppositi
to the variance.
HR. MARTIN: And again, the essence to your objection is t
the two units. If this were a single residence
being proposed you wouldn' t be objecting. It' s
not the waiver of the setback that you're
objecting to, but what's going to be putthere
MR. NORMAN: Right. If it were a single unit and if the
dwellings that are there now, the garages,
were removed, I could see where they would
have plenty of room for a single dwelling.
MR. MARTIN: questions from members of the Board? Anyone
else to speak on this case? That concludes
our hearing on this case.
i
ii
-42-
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
CITY OF ITHACA
.TUNE 2, 1975
EXECUTIVE SESSION
APPEAL NO. 1080
is
HR. GASTEIGER: I move that the requested variance be denied.
MR. VAN MARTER: I second that.
a FINDINGS OF FACT
is
1) While the lot in question may well require
'! an area variance in order to accommodate a
residential structure, the requested variance':
i! which would provide for no setback from
Hawthorne Place for part of the structure
.i
does not adequately comply with the spirit
C
of the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance.
i
j Some reasonable setback is necessary even
i
though full compliance with the setbacks in
4 the ordinance may be unreasonable for this
lot.
2) Evidence presented did not establish that
the compliance with some reasonable setback
i with Hawthorne Place would be unreasonable or
impossible.
3) It also seemed quite likely that the
proposed structure would require a variance
to the percentage of lot coverage requirement
of the Zoning Ordinance.
it
VOTE: YES - 6 NO - 0
i
-43-
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA
CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK
JUNE 2, 1975
Bison Jones announced the next case to be heard.
PEAL NO. 1082: Appeal of Iry Lewis, Inc. for use variance for
permitted uses under Section 30.25, Cob= 21,
at 525 West Seneca Street in an R-2 district.
W. Iry Lewis will present the case.
Lewis: I'm Mr. Irving Lewis, corporate officer of
Iry Lewis, Inc., who owns the property at
525 West Seneca Street, and we are here tonight
to request a variance. The building is zoned
for business, but the present tenant that we
rented the building to is a bike and hobby
shop. In addition to. a bike and hobby, he is
planning to add a kindred line to his sales,
which is motor scooters. The Planning Board
denied this request, and I read this in the
paper, because they said it was going to be a
motorcycle repair shop on the end of a resid-
ential neighborhood. I want to correct that
because it is not going to be a motorcycle
repair shop. Mr. Button who has been identi-
fied with bicycle sales, first on West State
Street, and then on the 100 block where the
former Shulman property was located, has
always been in the bike and hobby business,
and he found that it was to his detriment to
stay at the 100 block of West State Street
because there was a problem in traffic in
unloading bicycles out of the back of a car
�44-
with parents bringing bicycles down and young
eters standing there getting the bicycles out
and he was able to secure this building
which is an ideal location for this type of
business. Now on the east of this building
there is the Geological Survey building,
which in itself does some motor repair work
to their own service cars, and on the west
side of this building there is a paint shop
and a gas station, which of course is a motor
vehicle operation. Both of these places in
my estimation and you can even question
Mr. Button because he would know more about
it than I would, both of these places would
be much noisier than the type of business
he is going to operate. Now in the front of
this building, he is going to sell his bicycles
and there is a driveway there, which has a
side entrance that he will entertain any bike
or motor scooter repairs. Before I rented
this building to Mr. Button, when we drew our
lease and without knowing that we would even
have to come here for a variance on this part
icular phase of the business, we included
about 11 things that were agreed upon between
Mr. Button and myself, and they were the gen.
eral things that you find in a lease, such as
paying utility bills and such things like
that, but three of the things I really wanted
-45-
to point out here because I think it is con-
ducive to what would happen down here because )
this is on the edge of a residential area
and one item was that Mr. Button agreed the
tenant would maintain the building and ground
including snow removal, grass cutting, garbage
removal, and the other item was, there are
12 items and I'm only going to recite three
of them here, the second is that the tenant
will keep the outside area immediately ad-
Joining the premises in a neat manner so as
not to destroy the character of the neighbor-
hood, and the third item, the eleventh one,
tenant will provide elimination of noise,
garbage and scrap material without disturbing
neighborhood and adjoining businesses. We
thought of this because we just want to have
a good relationship with our neighbors where
we own any properties, and we thought this
would probably be an ideal location and an
ideal area for Mr. Button. Mr. Button runs
a family oriented business. He operates it
with himself, his wife and two sons, and I
believe that noise problem which is what we
are talking about here and only that, is not
going to be a detriment to the location of
the building down there. If there are any
questions, I'll be very glad to answer them.
MR. KASPRZAK:. You said that he's planning to add motor
scooters. Is he going to test them before
-46-
he sells them?
HR. LEWIS: Is he going to test them? No, if it pertains
to that, I'm going to have Mr. Button answer
that question because I think he'd be in
better position to answer that than I would,
but if any questions are pertaining that I
can answer, I'll be very happy to.
HR. MARTIN: This is a use variance again and when we are
talking about a use variance, we have to,
in some fashion find that the building as
it exists can't reasonably be used for the
purposes listed in the Zoning Ordinance.
Could you give us the ammunition with which
such a finding might be made?
Mit. LEWIS: If you're thinking of the motor scooter
portion, not the bike portion, because it is
a business . . . .
IR. MARTIN: We would have to find, and I'm paraphrasing
now, roughly that the building cannot feasibly
be used for those limited uses listed in the
Zoning Ordinance before we would be permitted
to grant any variance.
MR. LEWIS: I don't know. I understand that the building
can be used as a business because it is in a
business area zone. We're talking about this
noise area. I was very selective in finding
a tenant for this building. The building has
been empty for about two months and I made
notes of some of the people who had inquired
about the building. We had an auction house,
-47-
a
47_a furniture auction house where they have a
I
couple of auctions at night, an I suppose
they would have to come in here and ask for a
variance, I don't know, but we didn't want
that because there is a church across the
I
street, up a little ways, and across the
street, and we didn't think that would be
very desireable because most of their auction
are done at night and that wouldn't be very
good, and usually I don't know why, but with
some of the real estate I own I always get
requests for bar rooms, and I haven't yet
rented one, and we turned that dowry because
we knew there was a church across the road.
I really didn't know I had to ask for this
variance until I spoke to Mr. Jones, and he
said that I would have to because we were
dealing with motors, and I spoke to- Mr. Buttor
about this and he told me that at no time
would he operate his business after regular
business hours, which I had assumed would be
i
around 5:00 or 5:30 or whatever time you clos�.
There would be no noise back there, and then
the work they would be doing would be in the
i
rear of the building which would be quite a
ways away. I question whether any of the
residents in that area across the road would
hear a motor scooter-running any more than the
could a lawn mower. I mean this is the way I
feel about it. We're not talking about motor.
I
i -48-
cycles, we're talking about a motor scooter
which is a smaller motor and everything else,
but I think Mr. Button here would be glad to
iI answer any questions pertaining to the mech-
anical portions.
MR. MARTIN: Any questions of Mr. Lewis before we hear
Mr. Button?
MR. GASTE ICER: Is the business operated under a variance now
MR. MARTIN: No. It's a B-2, and an appropriate B-2 for
the bike and hobby shop, but sale and service
of motor vehicles is a use permitted in B-4
but not in B-2, and a motor scooter I assume
is a motor vehicle.
MR. GASTEIGER: Is it operating as a retail store now?
MR. LEWIS: Retail, yes.
MR. MARTIN: The business without the motor scooters would
qualify for a B-2. All right, it might be
appropriate to call for Mr. Button then.
MR. BUTTON: I'm Ralph Button, the operator of Ithaca Bike
Just a little bit, I'll try not to take up to
much time, but what we had planned an doing
or would like to do is by adding motor scoote3s
and small motorized bicycles, the service on
these, Mr. Kasprzak asked the question, are
we going to be testing them. Naturally, it
has to be done. We're not going to go racing
around the countryside. This I won't tolerate.
MR. KASPRZAK: You will possibly go out into the street.
MR. BUTTON: Can't put it out on the street without a license.
MR. KASPRZAK: I presume you have a license.
i
4 -49-
HR. BUTTON: As a vehicle, unless it has a license on to it.
We do have two of the fellows, my boys, who
are working for me, do have motorcycles
themselves, bigger motorcycles. They are
licensed to operate them as am I, but I don't
have a motorcycle. I'm not that fond of them
Yes., we would have to test them to make sure
they are operating properly, I grant you that
We do service work on bicycles and we intend
to carry it over. If you grant the variance
we would like to carry it over into this same
type -of work than we're doing now in the
motor scooter, the smaller mo-pad type of
motorcycles, not motorcycles, but motor bikes
with the effort geared more for bicycles than
anything else. We are not goingto take motor
cycles and motor bikes off the street to
service unless we sold it. We're not going
to open up a motorcycle repair shop. There
isn't quite room enough to do it, to carry
all the parts that would be required to try
to service every make of motorcycle. You
can't do it and this happens. Even the large
motorcycle shops run into this problem. They
have to service only what makes they sell,
and this is why, because there are so many
different parts. We're not going to be oper-
ating other than one night a week we'll be
open until 9 o'clock and this is Just strictly
sales, not service and no Sunday operation.
-50-
We're not going to create any problems as far
as the neighborhood is concerned. We'll be
Ij
�) making less noise actually than the Geological
i
Survey next door. Our store waslocated on
the other end of that building about three
years ago, and we did run into some problems
there, where the fellows who were working
there worked on their own cars and used the
driveway for testing, to which the black marks
attested, and created some real problems
even with the neighborhood, which I don't
know the problems as far as zoning and things
like this, we're just looking at our own
building and we're hoping that you're going
to look at it favorably.
MR. MARTIN: Could you help someone who doesn't know the
terminology all that well, in understanding
the difference between a motorcycle and a
motor scooter and what you refer to as a
mo-pad?
MR. BUTTON: Okay, a mo-pad is something you don't see
here at all. You haven't seen them yet.
Everybody has been a little bit afraid of New
York State regulations. We have checked into
it and found out that a mepad is legal on New
York State highways. They are small motor-
cycles, but actually 49 CC engine. They will
get a speed of maybe 35 MPH if you push hard,
i
a down hill tailwind. They are used very
much in the Orient and in Europe for transpor
-51-
tation. They'll give you about 128 miles a
gallon of gas. If we get this next price
increase on gas, seventy-five cents a gallon. i
It's a real feasibility. It's going to be a
perfect thing for commuters. Motor scooters,;
4
we've all seen these, the Cushman motor scoottrg
a
this type of an outfit, either two wheel or
three wheels. None of these make a tremendous
;a
amount of noise. They have good equipment asp
i
far as mufflers and things of this nage.
MR. MARTIN: So the requested variance you're seeking is
for sales and service of mo-pads and motor
scooters, but not motorcycles?
a Mit. BUTTON: That's right.
MR. MARTIN: Questions from members of the Board?
o
MRS. HOLMAN: I guess I'm still not comfortable with where
you're going to do the testing.
i! MR. BUTTON: Motor testing is going to be done in the shopy
making sure the motor operates properly,
i' getting the fuel it should, should we have a
y
problem in the gearing clutch mechanism,
brake mechanism, yes, we're going to have to
test it either in the driveway or as second
recourse or last recourse, on the highway.
Then again, the vehicle must have New York
State license tags on to it, and the operator
must be licensed, helmet and all.
MR. MARTIN: Further questions? Thank you. Are there
any others present this evening who would
like to speak on behalf of the requested
-52-
variance? Is there anyone who wishes to be
heard in opposition?
ii MR. LEE: Mr. Chairman,, members of the Board,, I'm
Boardman Lee and I'm appearing in opposition
to this variance on behalf of Mr. Edmund
Clynes. He owns three houses across the
street from this property, which are in a
residential zone, and while of course, the
other side of the street is business, this is
a distinct departure from the kind of business
that's been there before, namely, as you all
know, entrance into the motor vehicles sales
and service deal which is allowed under B-4
but not under B-2,, and so it's very well to
say that the noise won't be obvious, there's
ii
going to be testing, there's.
going to be
running of motor vehicles out in front of
that shop and around that establishment
which is just going to depreciate the value
of the residential properties across the
street just that little bit more. Now the
constitutional issue which has been raised
by Mr. Clynes is this point., and I'll just
refer to it very briefly. I. myself, have
been opposed to the idea for a long, long,
time of making it a zone, especially
if you're in a business and residential zone
down the middle of the street, because one
side is going to be developing in a way that
will be obnoxious to the residents on the
-53-
other side of the street, and you've got a
built-in deterioration of that residential
neighborhood by reason of the business of
occupancy of the other side of the street, soj
this is our point here, so I think you ought
to be particularly careful in a case like
this not to make the situation worse by
is permitting even a slight variation of the
strict letter of the ordinance. Furthermore,'
as you, Mr. Chairman, I think pointed out, I
would say that the proponents have not satin��
factorily raised any question of hardship.
There are plenty of other places around town
where they could rent and so I ask you sir
to kindly deny this request.
'1 NR. MARTIN: Any questions from members of the Board? The
Board received a statement from Mr. Clynes
which I might at this point then read into
the record. He opposes the granting of the
variance for the following reasons: it would
generate traffic and be conducted in an atmos-
phere which is depressing and injurious to
the residential environment across the street.
Said use would be unconstitutional and void
where a commercial use faces a residential
tract. In such circumstances, a variance
cannot be granted citing several decisions.
The gas station and dry cleaning establish-
ments were non-conforming uses. They existed
before the Zoning Ordinance was drafted, and
-54-
finally, traffic on Meadow Street north and
Seneca Street west is very hazardous and
dangerous and will further depreciate the
neighborhood. That's the statement which we
,i
have, and I read into the record. Thank you
Mr. Lee. Anyone else who would like to be
,
heard on this appeal? That concludes then
our hearing on case 1082.
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-55-
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
CITY OF ITHACA
JUNE 2s 1975
EXECUTIVE SESSION
APPEAL NO. 1082:
MR. MARTIN: I move that the variance be denied.
Int. KASPRZAK: I second that.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1) The owner of the building seeking the
variance failed to present evidence adequate
to establish evidence of inability to use
the building for the use specified in the
Zoning Ordinance.
2) No showing that there was anything special.
or unique about this property which prevented
it from yielding a reasonable return under
the requirements of the Ordinance.
VOTE: YES - 6 NO - 0
ii
-56-
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA
CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK
JUNE 20 1975
'i Edison Jones announced the final case to be heard.
APPEAL NO. 1083: Appeal of Will Robert Teeter for area variance
under Section 30.25, Column 4 off Street parkingi
to convert two apratments to 4 efficiency apart-
ments at 311-315 Eddy Street in a B-2 zone.
AR. TEETER: I'm Bob Teeter. I have a building at Eddy
Street, 311-315. It consists of two stores,
'. a restaurant and Gnoman Press, and seven
F� apartments above. I bought this building
about four years ago, and it was put up about,
eight years ago after the building which had
been there had been destroyed one night in a
fire. When I bought the building it had
these code violations, and they were built
into the building; they were perfectly okay
at the time. What I'm concerned about are
i
two apartments - a number two and a number 3
;1 and you have these drawings in front of you.
There are spiral staircases.
} MR. MARTIN: I don't think we have your drawings.
MR. TEETER: The two apartments, one consists of four
bedrooms and a kitchen and bath, two bedrooms:
up and two down, and if you notice they are
virtually nothing but cells, they have no
windows and the two upstairs are blocked off.
This is a sort of artist's window. They are
F
I
blocked off from any ventilation except for
air vents, and actually these rooms shouldn't
'r
be there as they are in the present stage,
!i
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°! -57-
and what I'd like to do is convert them into
two apartments, each with one bedroom, one
livingroom, which would mean involving taking,
out that spiral staircase which was very
attractive. The students seem to like it.
The inspectors do not at present time at least
and therefore, have one apartment on the
first floor and another apartment on the
it second floor. In the back apartment we have
i the same situation where we have again the
two bedrooms upstairs and a large livingroom
downstairs, and again the spiral staircase,
and taking out thespiral staircase making
this an efficiency apartment downstairs, liken
putting in a bath, and upstairs putting in a
kitchen where the spiral staircase would be,
o and making one of these bedrooms into a
livingroom and the other one could be a bed-
i1 room, but as it is now, the way it's set up,
i
i! it over heats in the summer and is extremely
difficult to ventilate. In this apartment
there is a fantastic waste of space besides
the fact that the spiral staircase is closed.'
Sometimes there are four or five students
living in this part apartment, and three or
i
four living in the back apartment, and by
changing we will be reducing the number of
participants. There isn' t any off street
parking, there never has been. There wasn't
j
any when the old building was burned down,
i
-58-
and when this building was put in, Mike David;
from whom I bought it, it covered such a little
lot space.
MR. MARTIN: Code violations referred to are primarily thee.
I circular staircase or are there other problems?
MR. TEETER: The staircase and also the fact that you do
not have any windows which open right into
the bedrooms in the front apartment.
MR. GASTE ICER: Are there windows in the back in the bedrooms?
MR. TEETER: Yes, there are windows in the back. If you
I
know where Gnoman Press is, its that huge.
'i
fantastic black window which is very attractive
i
put in by one of the clients.
4
HR. KASPRZAK: Sir, you talk about the Building Code, it's
one heck of a thing to keep in operation.
You are here strictly for another reason, am
IF
!j
E I not correct?
�r
MR. TEETER: What other reason?
il MR. KASPRZAK: Well, you're talking about staircases which is
something else. It's not part of this Board's
responsibility.
!1 MR. TEETER: Well, I requested a building permit and I was
j told I had to come to the Zoning Board to
i
request permission to do this.
MR. MARTIN: But the precise nature of the area variance
that you require is what? What about the
4
proposed new set of apartments will not comply
with the Zoning Ordinance?
;SMR. TEETER: The new apartments will apply.
-59-
iS
MR. MARTIN:
Not as far as parking. The continued absence;
of off street parking is the only thing that
is a problem under the Zoning Ordinance.
MR. GASTEIGER: Presumably that is being reduced.
NR. MARTIN: And that problem is being reduced.
MR. BODINE: The lot size is large enough then?
MR. JONES: Yes, the building is already there, no problem
with that.
MR. VAN MARTER: We're talking about density then.
�4
MR. JONES: This building covers the total lot.
;s MR. MARTIN: Right., but the number of units is increasin
i g � 8
MR. TEETER: But the amount of space is not. It's the
same amount of space. We're not adding on to
the building, we're not pushing up nor out,
ii
we're just rearranging the space.
MR. MARTIN: The question is take the number of units and
ask what size lot that requires. Do we have
i
an adequate size lot? It's the size of the
lot and the parking. What is the size of the:
inadequacy of the lot under the Ordinance?
i
We're moving from two units to four, increasing
by two the number of units.
MRS. HOLMAN: The lot is completely covered. . .
HR. TEETER: Yes, except for a wee piece in the back.
MR. BODINE: There are how man a
y par tment
sin the building ;
li
I now?
INR. TEETER:
There seven apartments and two stores.
I MR. BODINE: Right now?
i
j MR. TEETER: Yes.
MR. BODINE: So we're talking about making a total of nine
�f
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-60-
apartments.
MR. TEETER: Nine apartments within the space which is
occupied presently by seven.
Mit. VAN MARTER: There are seven units at the present time?
MR. TEETER: Yes, plus one restaurant and one store, or
two stores, one being used as a restaurant,
it's the Blockley House and the other is
the Gnoman Press.
Mit. VAN MARTER: It's been converted then from when it was
originally built.
MR. TEETER: No, it hasn' t.
Mit. VAN MARTER: I promise you sir. . . . . .
MR. TEETER: Well, this is the way I purchased it.
MR. VAN MARTER: Right, okay, let's get that in the record.
MR. MARTIN: When built it had what?
MR. VAN MARTER: Two living units up and down, that's what
made the spiral stairs acceptable. It was
not a multiple dwelling, and the spiral stairs
occurred within a living unit.
MR. TEETER: It's still within a living unit. There are
two bedrooms upstairs and two bedrooms down..-
stair, the kitchen down and the bath up. It'js
still one living unit, the spiral staircase
is the connecting. . . . .
MR. VAN MARTER: There are seven separate tenantcies for residj-
en tial use in the building.
Aft. TEETER: Yes, there are seven apartments.
MR. GASTEIGER: Is it a four-story building?
MR. TEETER: No, it's a three-story building.
MR. GASTEIGER: Then on the first floor there has to be how
many units?
MR. TEETER: On the first floor, on the ground floor,
street floor, you have the restaurant and
then in the back there is one small one
bedroom apartment, and then on the next floor
you have two apartments plus the lower half
of two apartments, and then on the next floor,
t
you have two more apartments and the upper
half of two apartments.
MR. GASTEIGER: In rentals do you indeed control numbers. Iti,
seems to me that you go to efficiency apart-
ments and one bedroom apartments, that you
can have two people in there.
MR. TEETER: Well, as it is now, sometimes I have five in
k
that large apartment, and the year I bought
it, the gentleman had six in there. It depends
on the number of students who want to live
together because two of the bedrooms are
quite large, and they can be used as double
bedrooms as it's presently set up, but none
of the bedrooms in the front apartment have
any ventilation, which would mean an open
window. In fact, two of them are just cubicles.
MR. GASTEIGER: Do they have mechanical ventilation?
MPP. TEETER: Not the bedrooms, no. The kitchen does and
the bathroom does.
MR. KASPRZAK: The bedrooms have no ventilation at all?
MR. TEETER: Well, they have ventilation but the ventilation
comes through this long sliding window with
vents built underneath, but you cannot open
-62-
a
62-a window into the bedrooms. You can in all
the other apartments in the building.
MR. GASTEIGER: The question is, is there an open window or
not, and you said there is no ventilation.
MR. TEETER: Well, ventilation in the sense that you can
open a window.
Mt. KASPRZAK: There is no natural ventilation?
MR. TEETER: Right.
MR. KASPRZAK: And you say that you have seven units that
i
you've converted to nine?
Mt. TEETER: Yes, that would be converting from presently
seven to nine.
Mt. KASPRZAK: Okay, so that you have basically seven tenants
in one unit. How many tenants do you have
all together right now?
Mt. TEETER: I have, let me see. .one.
M. KASPRZAK: How many individuals?
' MR. TEETER: That's what I'm just counting right now.
Seven, eight, ten, twelve, thirteen, fourteen
MR. KASPRZAK: And with those nine units you have probably
more tenants.
MR. TEETER: Not necessarily because these one bedrooms
might rent just to one person, because the
one bedrooms right now are all . . .
ML. KASPRZAK: Not necessarily, but if possible. . .
`' Mt. TEETER: There is a possibility that you might have a
couple taking one bedroom, but on the other
hand. . .
MR. VAN MARTER: I have a question sir. The first floor is
t
-63-
being converted to two apartments?
ISL. TEETER: Right. The first floor would be one apartment
here in the front.
Mgt. VAN MARTER: You're eliminating the two commercial occu-
pancies then?
MR. TEETER: No. They're on the street floor.
MR. VAN MARTER: The second floor as marked is in fact the
third.
MR. GASTEIGER: I think Greg's question is a good one, because
as I read this, it looks to me as if you'll
be cutting yourself off of rents by going in
this direction. Either he wants more per
unit, or you'll end up with more occupancies.
Will you change the density of this area?
MR. TEETER: We 11, I get much more for a one bedroom apart
meat than I can for a four bedroom or a three'
bedroom.
MSR. BODINE: Do you have any idea how many sq. ft. the
lot on one floor of the building might be?
MR. TEETER: I think the lot is about 60 X 80.
MR. MARTIN: I assume the original building, the new
building, the one that replaced the one burned
down, was built under a variance.
ISL. TEETER: I don' t know sir, I can't answer that. All
I do know, it was a huge brick building which
must have been three or four stories tall.
It was very much like the present Hunter
building which is right next door. I lived
at East Seneca Street, I lived at 805 when
that went up one night.
-64-
MR. MARTIN: Any further questions from members of the
Board? Thank you. Is there anyone else here
this evening who would like to be heard on
behalf of the appeal?
MR. BAR?: I am Bruce Bard and I prepared the plans that
you have in front of you, or you had in front;
of you a few minutes ago. I'd just like to
say that I have accompanied the city inspectors
through the building and gone over the whole
building with them as to what was needed to
make it an improved habitation, and then with
those ideas and some of Mr. Teeter's, and some
that I came up with myself, I put together
a set of plans which would meet . the city code.
and also provide a better situation for Mr .
Teeter who has difficulty sometimes in renting
an apartment that requires four compatible
persons to live together for a year. Very
often one person will default, flunk out of
college or whatever, and that leaves the
burden on three other persons. Maybe they
can't find another person, maybe they decide
they can't pay the rent and leave Mr. Teeter
in an awkward situation financially. He's
got two apartments in that category. The
other apartments in the building are very
up-to-date and there's no problem with them,
but these two he does have difficulty keeping,
them filled with people that are compatible
and can make use of an awkward situation.
`f
-65-
MR. KASPRZAK: Mr. Bard, I understand that you're implying
I think, if I'm wrong, I'm sorry, that the
!! city is making the request that you convert
!i this apartment, or is it the incompatibility
of Mr. Teeter's tenants that makes you convert
it?
MR. BARD: We have some of both. In other words, the
city code requires a certain amount of light
in each habitable room, each bedroom, each
livingroom. Now, whoever built this building'
i
originally built it without sufficient light,
p•
)1
and what light there is in there, was kind of
}
an invention. It was not a practical means.
II
There is a large window 16 feet high up the
front and it is an overhang over the sidewalk,
i�
and it is constantly a maintenance problem,
}
jbut also because the room that is in the front
end of the building is 16 feet, all the heat
`E goes up to the top and makes a heating problem
j and the light goes into the bedroom on the
second-hand light. In other words, it goes
IE
through a second set of windows in order to
reach the bedrooms. Now this is kind of a
contrived way to beat a code in the first
place before Mr. Teeter ever bought the place,
MR. KASPRZAK: Did this get the code approval before it was
'F built?
j MR. JONES: I have no way of knowing-it was before my time.
!
' MR. VAN MARTER: I think if you removed those protections that
are parallel to the sidewalk you end up with
the original one room the way it was designed
-66-
when it was built new.
j ]MR. BARD: That could be, because the construction that
is there now is. . .
MR. VAN MARTER: The reason it was limited to two units was to:
avoid all those requirements for a multiple
dwelling.
rj MR. BARD: Right.
! lit. VAN MARTER: This was precise and clearly understood in
the beginning.
; MR. BARD: Well, now on the first level which is marked
;E
first floor there, it's the first floor of
this apartment, are two cubicles there which
are barely right size for a minimum bedroom
J
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according to the codes that we operate under,
is
and the only windows in there are some that
i
open to a livingroom, the livingroom has
!' light, and so this is an undesireable situation
and what we are trying to make is a better
building, a better city, and so by tearing out
those cubicles and laying out the rooms
differently so that they do have outside light,
they do conform, you can make the rooms larger
by the new layout, and make a situation where '
Mr. Teeter can rent the thing as a single,
more advantageously than he can trying to
i
squeeze all those students into those oversized. .
jMR. KASPRZAK: I wish you didn't use that word 'squeeze' .
IMR. BARD: Well, maybe I should use another word, but they
apartments are kept well, and if you had a
lower number of occupancy as possible, in
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-67-
other
67-other words, you've got to have one occupancy;
for each bedroom in the present setup. If
you change the number of occupancy to four
singles, you may have a few doubles, but
you'll probably have a few singles too. You're
actually going to have a tendency to reduce
j your density and you're not in a location
's there where you're so far away from the
University that you're going to be renting to
persons who have cars as a general rule.
They may or may not, but there's a tendency
to rent them to people who don't have cars,
and I do the largest share of Mr. Teeter's
remodeling and maintenance work, and I'm
familiar even with the students that live in
his property.
I MR. MARTIN: Any further questions from members of the
Board? Thank you. Seeing that there are no
others to speak on this case, that concludes
our public hearing for this evening.
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-68-
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BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS
CITY OF ITHACA
.NNE 22 1975
EXECUTIVE SESSION
APPEAL NO. 1083
!1 MR. GASTEIGER: I move to grant the requested area variance.
NR. MARTIN: I second that.
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!' FINDS OF FACT
1) The requested variance is limited to
it variance from the off street parking require
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ments of the Ordinance. The existing building
has no off street parking, and a proposed
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conversion would seem to have no more serious
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parking effect than the current building.
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2) The practical difficulty which makes it
impossible to comply with the off street
jparking requirements of the Ordinance was
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recognized at the time the existing building
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was put up.
I VOTE: YES - 2 NO - 4
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-69-
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C E R T I F I C A T I O N
I, OLGA POTORTI, DO CERTIFY That I took the minutes of the
Boardof Zoning Appeals, City of Ithaca, in the matters of Appeals
Nos. 1072, 1076, 1080, 1082, and 1083 on June 2, 1975, at City
Hall, City of Ithaca, New York, that I have transcribed the same,
and the foregoing is a true copy of the transcript of the minutes
of the meeting and the Executive Session of the Board of Zoning
Appeals, City of Ithaca, on the above date, and the whole thereof
to the best of my ability.
Olg9orpotorti
Adm nistrative Secretary
Sworn to before me this
lam,_ day of- 0"' , 1975.
N Public
JOSEPH A RUNDLE
Notary Public, State of New York
No. 55-4507134
Qualified in Tompkins Count
Term Expires March 30, 19'��