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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BZA-1978-07-31 !i ii I ii Ij I� I TABLE OF CONTENTS MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, ITHACA, !i NEW YORK - JULY 31, 1978 i� Page j� APPEAL NO. 1212 Milliam Lower (warehouse) 2 i. 443-463 Floral Avenue APPEAL NO. 1212 Executive Session 14 APPEAL NO. 1213 David & Louise Minks 15 ?� 207 W. Court Street I' I ,!jAPPEAL NO. 1214 Anthony J. Albanese (.Clever Hans) 15 � i� 102 Adams Street ; APPEAL NO. 1214 Executive Session 21 i .i ;! APPEAL NO. 1215 Norman C. Long 22 208 Stewart Avenue I ;! APPEAL NO. 1215 Executive Session 29 ( APPEAL NO. 1216 Philip Kaplan 30 t j 211 Williams Street ;; APPEAL NO. 1216 Executive Session 38 1! I jCERTIFICATE OF RECORDING SECRETARY 39 ;I ii I i ii 'i I i !i i 'I i 1 i I i II � ,I I I i i !I I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS ;g COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS j CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK JULY 31 , 1978 i I' CHAIRMAN MARTIN: The August meeting of the Ithaca Board of Zoning! Appeals, City of Ithaca, was held in the Common Council Chambers , ! i !! City Hall , Ithaca , New York on July 31 , 1978 so as to accommodate i? vacation schedules of members of the Board. The Board operates i ii !j under the provisions of the Ithaca City Charter, the Ithaca Zoning= I Ordinance, the Ithaca Sign Ordinance and other Ordinances that ask{ E il i the Board to interpret or grant variances from their provisions . I Let me outline briefly the Board' s proceeding before we start hear ing the cases this evening, for those of you who are not familiar with them. The Board hears the cases that are before it in the i order in which the applications have been filed. We ask all those I who are present wishing to present evidence on a case to come for ward, up to the front of the room, identify themself by name and i 'I address and then limit their presentation to the issues that are j ! before the Board. Our proceedings are not governed by strict rule$ I i of evidence and you are likely to be interrupted by members of the Board with questions but we do ask that you limit your remarks to !1 the issues that confront the Board in a particular case . We invito i those who want to speak on behalf of an application or variance re� li quest to do so first. We then ask anyone who wishes to speak in i Opposition to do so . After hearing all testimony on a particular j I j case we move on to the next. After we' ve heard all of the cases 01;� our docket for the evening in open public session the Board then goes into executive session to deliberate, asking the public to it I absent themselves from the room. We then reconvene in public ses- 1 sion at the end of that period to announce the results and the reasons for the Board' s decisions in the cases . j fiff II I' ij i ti (; I ! i i� i %� i �I i {I 2 - ii PRESENT: Peter Martin, Chairman Judith Maxwell Dr. Martin Greenberg Gregory Kasprzak Joseph Gainey, Jr. William Wilcox Thomas D. Hoard, Bldg. Comm. & Secy to the Boa--d Barbara Ruane, Recording Sec 'y CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Mr. Secretary what ' s our first case? MR. HOARD: APPEAL NO. 1212 : Appeal of William Lower for use variance under Section 30 . 25 , Columns 2 and 3 to I permit construction and use of a warehouse building at 443-463 Floral Avenue. Ware - houses are not a permitted I primary or accessory use in l the R-3a (residential) use district in which the proper y is located. �i j! MR. GALBRAITH: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, my name is it !! Dirk Galbraith and I am Mr . Lower' s attorney. I 'm appearing with f� him this evening to help him explain his application to the Board. illWith the Board' s permission I 'd like to have Mr . Lower answer a ;, couple of questions. that I am going to direct to him about the i! ;inature of his application so you can understand what it is that hel Il wishes to do on the property and we ' d like to show you the map ;! that we have here showing what some of the surrounding uses are an i� '! why Mr. Lower doesn' t believe that his proposed use would adversely Ilaffect the character of the neighborhood. Mr . Lower are you the ;towner of certain property located on Floral Avenue in the city whi h ;i i itis the subject of this zoning variance application? i` t I � i MR. LOWER: Yes . HMR. GALBRAITH: Okay. Can you tell the Board approximately where (! that property is located in terms of landmarks? 1MR. LOWER: Well its located just north of the fish ladder on the west side of the flood control channel and on the east side of {{ i Floral Avenue, just across approximately from the Glenside Monument ;!Company. j SMR. GALBRAITH: How long have you owned the property? i 'I ;1MR. LOWER: About ten years. IMR. GALBRAITH: And how big is the total lot area that you own? f I� I ; li i , II 3 - SMR. LOWER: Somewhere in the neighborhood of five acres - maybe a 41ittle more - probably more than five . ,,MR. GALBRAITH: Okay. Would you tell the Board what the character ,of the land is now in terms of elevation, soil type , what' s going !!on in the land? ; jMR. LOWER: Well the land, as most people who live around that area] , !would know that it was rather low land and you might consider it as jswamp land. When the Flood Control Channel was built there they paid to fill that land and they filled about four feet of it on the ;rear part which would be towards the Flood Control Channel leaving !,the part near Floral Avenue a wide strip down through there not i 'filled and made that more of a swamp area than it was before . How- , ever there is no water that runs through it , it just drains towards i! 'it so in the last four or five years we have been able to fill that !'and level it so that its all level from the channel up to the stree ;except most of the land that is there now is about from three to to ';!feet below the actual grade of the highway. ' MR. GALBRAITH: Bill is that land economically suited for residents 1 iidevelopment? 1 1MR. LOWER: In my opinion - it would not be because you would have tol I' pump sewage up to get it into any sewage system there . 1MR. GALBRAITH: Okay. Can you tell me what residences are located : in the area of the 'land at the present time? , MR. LOWER: Residents? �IMR. GALBRAITH: Yes , !MR. LOWER: Well there is not very many residences that are real !!close to that with the exception of a house that was built new ij ;;several years back - like eight or ten years ago , right across the i; jroad. That of course is used - I consider it ' s commercial use but hit ' s a matter of opinion. MR. GALBRAITH: Why do you consider it a commercial use? ! MR. LOWER: Well, I don' t know- several times a week or sometime i ! during the week I see six or eight or ten cars that , as a matter oft I i i 1 � 4 - I Ilfact, park over on my piece of property across the street because i ;; they have no parking and they have ceramics there that either the ;' sell or they teach ceramics or something like that but they have it jquite a lot of people there. Not that I 'm saying that it' s commer- cial use, it isn' t supposed to be used, I 'm saying that it is some- thing other than just a nice, residential home . It is a nice place ; and nice people, they never bother me and I 'm not complaining. I 'm ust saying that it is used other than for a nice looking house . ,�j Y g g i� 11MR. GALBRAITH: If we could display this . . . i MR. LOWER: I have some more maps here. I brought quite a few so 'Ithat I could show them if you would like . is (CHAIRMAN MARTIN: One question. t� 1MR. KASPRZAK: Do you know whether the property in question is in a I1designated flood plain area or not? R. LOWER: In the flood plain area . . . I don' t know. MR. KASPRZAK: I believe the Corp of Engineers indicated that a cer 's Iltain area within the City of Ithaca which is classified . . . ISR. LOWER: To my knowledge it is not - I have not been notified of jj ilthat, no. '? I *R. KASPRZAK: And you were talking about pumping of sewer. Can yo4 I ;hell us the difference between the elevation of the road and the too 'I l;�f the soil? HAIRMAN MARTIN: You said what - from 3 to 10 feet? I I�R. LOWER: Well I 'd say from 3 to 10 feet and as it goes further I ;youth, which there is about 5 or 6 more acres that doesn' t belong tc� i ne, it belongs to my neighbor Bernard Carpenter, and that , of course , i Is as much as 20 feet below the road, the actual . I+IR. KASPRZAK: Do you know whether there is a public sewer line in here? �R. LOWER: There is one next to the street, yes . ' MR. KASPRZAK: And how deep is that located, do you know? i MR. LOWER: I think it 's about four feet. I 've seen it dug up ;$everal times. i 'I ( kI � I Ii II i i it i u i - 5 - i IMR. KASPRZAK: It has to be at least four feet. ;MR. LOWER: As a matter of fact I put in a sewer - well I live just ! four or five houses below that so that - as a matter of fact - we !;put in a new sewer line in my house about seven or eight or ten years ago and at that time it was , in my opinion somewhere 's around I �Ifour feet. Now it could have been a little more or a little less . ,MR. KASPRZAK: Well it couldn' t be less . No one would permit that . I ;SMR. GALBRAITH: We have several tax maps here showing the location j i of the property. Would you prefer that we pass one of these out to, beach individual member or would you prefer that we display the one that we 've got marked up here? j 1CHAIRMAN MARTIN: You have sufficient copies to leave with members . . . ? � MR. LOWER: I made extra copies so that - I 'd like to show them. i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright . Maybe you could leave the copies and th n !I ; use the one that you've got marked to sort of speak from and identi y i! lithe various points on it . We need to get it on the record - so if you have another copy of the same map that you could leave over there : and then do your descriptions up here so that we can all hear them !:together . ii ,MR. LOWER: The reason I 've got some other maps here is because thi parcel of land that I own goes across the flood control channel and i is small piece of that property is on the other side landlocked, but, !lit belongs to me, and it is industrial it is zoned industrial. ;CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Why don't you - if you can, get up here in the front . I' IMR. GALBRAITH: Bill , if you could just step up here we could expla_ n Eito them using the tax parcel numbers on what is going on the adjoin Ming property. First of all , Bill , the property that you own i+ here is, on this tax map designated parcel no . 13, is it not, and 11it ' s a fairly large parcel . In terms of . . . I I IMR. LOWER: There are two parcels here. lJMR. GALBRAITH_: Okay. 12 . 2 and 13? IJMR. LOWER: Yes. MR.. GALBRAITH: Okay so that th-e entire five acre parcel then is co - jprised of those two. There is a small creek that appears to be i - 6 - i 'i running through parcel 12 . 2 . Can you describe , in relation to that !! creek on the map where the building is going to be located? f IMR. LOWER: Well the building will be approximately thirty to forty i?li, feet south of that creek but it will set approximately 150 feet bac from the road. The building will start 150 feet from the road. No 11a few feet more or less . f ;SMR. GALBRAITH: Now where is your own residence? Which one of thes ` tax parcels? it !'MR. LOWER: I live at number 8 . 11MR. GALBRAITH: Okay. Now referring to parcel number - looks like '119 which is in the lower left hand corner of this map - the rectangli- ,11ar parcel there - can you tell me what the nature of the use of that Ri ;property, is? ';SIR. LOWER: Well that is Glenside Monument Company. MR. GALBRAITH: Okay. Is that a commercial use? R. LOWER: Yes it is. VR. GALBRAITH: Okay, now just off of this map, where it would be � irectly below parcel 14 , can you tell me what use is going on on 'that land? I R. LOWER: That , of course, isn' t in the city it' s just outside is pf the city, but that is Madison Electric of which bought a piece �pf property that was used by a gas company originally - Elmer Hurst :- , � 1�nd he just since in the last year or so , built a big addition ons fo that . I think they are offices for his business . f0R. GALBRAITH: Okay, that ' s Madison Electric? 1' LOWER: Contractor. �HAIRMANMARTTN: Okay. Nov ;the proposed building is completely on I jhe parcel that is 12 . 2? R. LOWER: No, it isn' t completely on it . As a matter of fact - �rould you like to see it. T can show you here? aI �HAIRMAN MARTI=N: Well - all you have to do - it extends on to the one designated 13? j R. LOWER: Yes . It ' s just about right here (pointing) . i 1(HAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright. i f a �� E it ;I - 7- i i MR. LOWER: I wanted to run it right straight with - or pretty much i:straight with . . . !;CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay. i ,jMR. LOWER: Now I might add that there is a little old house that i �I ;fright here in the front on the same parcel, which is right here som ;1wheres (pointing) that, if anybody has ever went out Floral Avenu ii 'II 'm sure they are aware of it . The guy used to sell wood there - a i ,,guy by the name of Snyder. For many years he sold wood there - of ;;course, I owned the property and it ' s pretty run down and I 'd use i!it of course, pretty much for storage now. It' s not a very pleasant i !hooking house and when - or if I can build this , I propose tearing that down. It ' s an eyesore. I;MR. GALBRAITH: Bill , can you tell me what tax parcel this Pottery ;!Business that you described, is located on. IMR. LOWER: It' s right here (pointing) . I ;SMR. GALBRAITH: It! s 17 . 1? I ! MR. LOWER: Yes. i 11MR. GALBRAITH: It' s right across the road from your lot. 1MR. LOWER: Yes . 'MR. GALBRAITH: Are there any other commercially uses in this area? 11MR. LOWER: Well my fathers - Lower' s Sporting Goods which would , iibe on - right here, no S . ,I M. GALBRAITH: Alright, that i,s parcel 25 - then. It ' s on the same iiside of the road. JMR. LOWER: Yes . 11MR. GALBRAI'TH: I:n back of the property, of course you've got the Cayuga Inlet there, can you tell me how the property across the ;unlet is zoned? IMR. LOWER: Industrial - all of it - to my knowledge, all of it is I !industrial. i( 1MR.. GALBRAITH: Across Cayuga Inlet? Okay, i i � I 1MR. GALBRAITH: Now, if you are given permission to build this I Ibui.lding, what exactly are you going to use it for? 1IMR. LOWER: Well, I have - I''m in the renting business and I have i ;'between 30 and 40 apartment houses and most of them are quite large ii ,i i i� I. I i - 8 - ,,apartments - most of them are around the Cornell Campus , some of ;them are downtown but there doesn' t seem to be very much storage r ;,around the places and the past few years it' s always been feasible I 1for me to buy my supplies and - like my carpeting, in quantity so , ;that I 'm able to furnish my apartments nicer than some landlords , and be able to buy my supplies to make repairs cheaper so that it I{ !makes my operation - I think a good operation, in view of the builds '111ing enforcement now-a-days it ' s a little more stringent than it f, used to be and, of course we require a few more things than we used dto and I think its nice to be able to have that stuff so that I can comply with the Building Department and do what I 'm supposed to do . 1�I didn' t mean to imply anything to you Tom. I think that if an - I� P Y Y g Y Y i ; body would like to ask Tom sometime , he will say that my property i 'lin pretty fair condition and I think it is all as a result from me ;being able to buy in big quantitites and buy it cheaper. I might s� !add that I went to Georgia and I go to - every once in a while I ;!,bought - like a tractor trailer load of carpet - like $7 ,000. worth Mand store it down at John Lower' s of which I have to pay storage levery month on it. Of course I bought it for a fraction of what yo Could buy it up here for - so that ' s the kind of thing that really (helps my operation. f �R. GALBRAITH: Bill , would you be renting out space in this build; g o anybody? R. LOWER: Oh_, absolutely not. I R. GALBRAITH: So there wouldn' t be any commercial traffic? i R. LOWER: No, as a matter of fact I 've got in mind building it an I 1�h_ink_ing that if it came to where I no longer would use it or no i �longer had a use for it or I no longer wanted to use it that I would ,�esign it somewhat so that it would be easier for me to convert it 11 lover into housing. I think it could be built in such a way that it I might be able to be used, if not for housing itself, residential us , �t might be able to be used for like a laundry room and recreation room or something for - like a complex but - in the back of my mind ,doing something to design it in such a way that it as a matter of i I I� I fl II 9 i! lfact, the biggest reason that I put it toward the lower end in bac ,, was that if it were to be used as a laundry or a recreation area i' for maybe 50 or 75 housing units - that it would be , not in front of them but would be at the lower end and nearer to that stream th re ; which is not particularly a pretty looking stream and I think it would be best place for it. MR. GALBRAITH: Are you planning presently to put any housing unit � on this property? ' MR. LOWER: No I don' t think its feasible to be truthful . I think that it ' s not only undesirable place in respect to the grade of i - � it ' s an undesirable respect inasmuch as the traffic is very bad I 11down at the Octopus there which, of course, everybody knows . I I think that if that problem were eliminated, that it would also be i again would still be a real problem. Now we have that - that' s a o truck route there or an alternate truck route - the trucks just go � by there - it' s busy all the time . It ' s loaded with trucks . You H wouldn' t have to go down there very long before you would be aware �iof that. It not only is loaded with trucks - all the school buses i. ego up and down there all the time and many of the county trucks go j up and down there all the time. So it' s a very, very busy street for trucks, believe me. jCHAIRMAN MARTIN: But you do find it ourself a tolerable lace to � y y P j� live and you do entertain the possibility of putting residential j� development there that would use this as a laundry and recreational . . MR. LOWER: I don' t honestly feel that it' s the best place to live i for residential home . If I thought that was a good place - my wif has been looking for a nicer home and a bigger home in a nicer are She has looked at property with pretty near every realtor in town. l (+ She has looked all over in the Cayuga Heights area and I might add ! �ithat I could buy a piece of property any place in the city. Therei is no place that I couldn' t buy it so I 'm, saying that no I 'm ;, not trying to impress you with that I 'm just saying that if it jImeant for us to go into Cayuga Heights , we' d go there to live . If 3 I ii f 10 - ,lit meant that it was a nicer place down there or that it was a nice) i !!place to live, I would take that five acres of land of which mean .!nothing to me in dollars and cents and put a house there and have .;five acres all fenced in. I could have a beautiful place with a I I 'fence all the way around it. If it was a good place to build. I 'v I� dlived there forty-seven years and I know that you can' t tolerate itl iin the summer time . The mosquitoes eat you up there - so that is I ! just one of the very few things that would be a problem in my opini n. ' MR. GALBRAITH: Is what you're saying, Bill , at the present time „ ;'that, in your judgment the property is not well suited for residen- 1tial purposes? IIMR. LOWER: If it was I would build a home there myself, believe me� ! MR. GALBRAI'TH: You're a life-Tong resident of that area? IMR. LOWER: I 've lived there forty-seven years - where I live right 1now. ' CHAIRMAN MARTIN: I'm having a little trouble now reconciling that ;with your notion that this is designed and cited so that it might 11conceivably someday be the laundry and recreational space for a ,,residential complex with fifty to seventy-five units? JMR. LOWER: I'm not saying to you that if I put this up that I 'm 11goi,ng to put it up to encourage myself to build houses. I 'm saying i that if it came to where . . . ! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: It ' s not inconceivable to you that such a resi- dential development might not occur there? i�MR. LOWER: Yes, that ' s true, that ' s true. I 'm saying that if it i ( came to - the only thing that could be built there or that somebody! I I !wanted to come along and buy it - which I think is very, very remot jand build housing there, I could build housing there but I wouldn' t ! : If it came to where somebody else knew more about it than I did and Ij ;,felt that it was a better place I ' d sell it and they could build !1housing. I don' t think that - I think that this would be an asset, rather than something that would have to be torn down and hauled i jiaway. I think that it would be worth something to a housing develo - Iment there. it I iI it j i! tt fl II i I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Mr . Gainey has a question. 1 � MR. GAINEY: How large a warehouse are you talking about? it f '1MR. LOWER: 50 x 100 . I have a building that is in the rear of my I '.f ; house where I live now - it ' s primarily a garage . It' s about 20 x j30 . It' s stored with quite a number of items now but it ' s way, way, I � ;;way too small . I have several antique cars , I try to keep these I' ; stored in there too - I 'm not going into the antique car business i !,!but I have oneof the late Cadillac convertibles , one of the last I i ;; ones made, that I don' t - it' s only got 4 or 5 hundred miles on it,l ; Ibought it new and I stored it in there. That and I have a Cor- II � vette that' s one of the older ones in mint condition. And I also i I ;have that stored in there. I have two Lincoln convertibles , so - ; it' s just that I have to have a place for those - I 'm not building ! a garage to put those, but the garage in back of my house is a i ; garage but it turned out to be something that I have to store my ;;materials in. I just don' t have any place. ! !,MR. GALBRAITH: I have a question to the Board, if I could. It is i Imy understanding that the Board has received a letter from the ; County? ii CHAIRMAN MARTIN: I was going to read that into the record at the ! ;' appropriate point and this might as well be it. As you no doubt j 11know, the Planning Board has recommended denial in this case - pri-I ; I 'Imarily on grounds that it would indeed be detrimental to neighbor- !' hood quality and that the residential designation of that area is I ;; seriously intended and with the - would be interrupted or disturbed!, jby the proposed variance. Pursuant to state law and our own ordi- i i 1 finance which implements it, notice was sent to County Commissioner o�, I Planning because of the proximity of the city boundary in this casei. We have received the following letter from Frank Liquori which I 'twill read into the record: Tompkins County Dept. of Planning July 31 , 1078 I Mr. Thomas Hoard, Building Commissioner City of Ithaca 1108 E. Green Street ." Ithaca, New York 14850 i I I i� I+, - 12 - I I 'i "Re: Zoning Review pursuant to Section 239-1 and -m of the General Municipal Law. Case: Appeal No. 1212 , William Lower, Use i j� Variance. '; "Dear Mr. Hoard: 4"We have reviewed the above proposal in relation to the potentia l impact upon the State, County and Town of Ithaca. I f"I find the following: j"The proposed warehouse will be located within a couple hundred fee (sof residentially zoned land in the Town of Ithaca. Also , the light! ! industrial zone in the Town of Ithaca just south of the City will 1;1soon be upzoned to residential. i E"In view of the above, it would be undesirable to allow warehousing! or other similar uses to become established in the neighborhood. I ! is therefore recommended that the appeal be denied. " i 1Sincerely, j /s/ Frank R. Liguori ! Frank R. Liguori !Commissioner of Planning 11MR. GALBRAITH: I guess my Question there was the distance which wa� ';mentioned or represented as being the distance from the proposed ;improvement to the residential zone in the Town of Ithaca. Mr. ,s !;Lower has indicated to me this is approximately 600 feet. ;;NIR. LOWER: Well, no it would be if I build this in here but you se - 'in other words I 'd put this over on the other lot. If I put it on 1this lot it would be 600 feet from there but I put it over on this Ilot thinking it would be but if I put it . . . I i IMR. GALBRAITH: As it is depicted on the map here - how is the dis- 1 stance between the closest corner of the building and the town line? l s ;OR. LOWER: Oh, I ' d say a good 6001 . That' s 400 ' frontage there an ; 200 here - and 273 feet here and the frontage is like 5 to 6 hundred feet back there . INR. GALBRAITH: Okay. I would suggest that the character of the ! peighborhood right now is not primarily residential but at most a ; nix of light industrial and residential and that Mr. Lower proposed ; ,ase wouldn' t seriously interfere with that , that he' s got a piece o '; .and here that he has owned for ten years , he has not been able to ;�evelop it residentially. I think there are a lot of things about '1the property that do not make it a good prospect for residential i development although Mr. Lower can see that it would be possible j ii '� I - 13 - 1 perhaps at some future date and, in aDnclusion the only use to whicho i i?Mr. Lower can put this land to derive any economic benefit from it is for storage for his own business . ii ,CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there any more questions from members of the l ;!Board? i +MR. LOWER: I somehow feel that this is not commercial use . I meani - a I can' t understand why they have taken it as a commercial compared ,ito a residential - I 'm certainly not going to be doing any commer- cial building there, I 'm just going to be storing things in relatio - ship to my business . i 1CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Right - well we' re working with the categories cr - If dated by the Zoning Ordinance and not by us. I have a question whic i� lis what kind of traffic to and from the warehouse would you antici- i 1pate? How frequently would you be . . . Picking up material there or! ;;putting material there? IMR. LOWER: Probably once or twice a day at the most. It' s not the 'Imost convenient place for me to have a storage house, I 'd rather 1have it on east hill but unfortunately I don' t have any property up ;!there and there is fewer places up there that it would be permitted ,CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright. No further questions from members of th JBoard? Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to be heard pion this case? First anyone who would like to add their voice in rfavor of the requested variance? Anyone who would like to speak i i ' ' opposition? Well move on to the next case. f I i I� 1 f it ii i I i i, I i j I E , i i� ii �I 1 I - 14 - BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS i? !i COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 �3 !; JULY 31 , 1978 i EXECUTIVE SESSION APPEAL NO. 1212 : j ;SMR. GAINEY: Motion is made that we deny on the groun s I i j that it is bordered entirely by residen-, i tial zone. The residential zoning of the town will shortly be upgraded. !! DR. GREENBERG: I second the motion. ' FINDINGS OF FACT: 1 . The factors which the appellant argued make it unsuitable for residential use j apply to a substantial parcel on i' Floral Avenue and are not peculiar to the location for the proposed structure ) 2 . The Planning Board and the County Plan- ning office both advised that the pro- i posed use would be detrimental to neigh;- ', borhood quality - present and future . (VOTE: 5 Yes ; 1 No . if !j Use Variance Denied. if I I Il I1. I i� i rl 1� i I ({ I 1� I i ii i � I S .I I` I� 1 - I I " BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 JULY 31 , 1978 f SECRETARY HOARD announced the next appeal to be heard: (APPEAL NO. 1213 : Appeal of David and Louise Minks for an area variance under Section 30 . 25 , Columns 4 , 7 , 11 and 12 to permit con- version of the single-family house at I 207 West Court Street to a two-family ji house , in an R-3a use district. The 'i property has no off-street parking, and ' is deficient in the required footage , front yard and side yard. �! Is there anyone here to represent Mr. Minks? I !CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Anyone here to represent the Minks? We will pass Mover that case and call it again before the end of the hearing. i HSECRETARY HOARD announced the next appeal to be heard: 1JAPPEAL NO. 1214 : Appeal of Anthony J. Albanese for a use variance under Section 30 . 25 , Column 2 I to permit the enlargement of the Clever j! Hans Bakery in the building at 102 Adams Street. The property is located in an ! R-2b use district; the bakery is operat- 1 !! ing under an existing use variance. i ;( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Mr. Albanese, so that we can conserve your time ;; and ours let us assume that the Board is familiar with the buildin l hand that we don' t have to concern ourselves with the matters of 111hardship but - those findings having been made in a case some year !! ago - and that all we are concerned with is what is proposed here E precisely in terms of how much space and what it will be used for and fits likely impact on the building and neighborhood. J MR. ALBANESE: I 'm Mr. Albanese , the owner of 102 Adams Street, jin which the Clever Hans Bakery is presently located. They want a� I, I jadditional 900 square feet - that used to be previously occupied bye lithe Cayuga Industries that went out of business about two years ag !i ljand' to my surprise to hear that Clever Hans is growing so rapidly ,, that they need more area and they are not making any changes to the '; building at all, all they are going to have in there is a little ii joffice and mostly storage and it is located right on the corner of i , Dey Street and Adams Street and there will be no physical changes ; made to the building outside specially. Inside there may be some i i ! ' 11 - 16 - '' i lipartitions changed around - maybe lessen the size of the offices . !' CHAIRMAN MARTIN: How many square feet , I missed that? i I MR. ALBANESE: About 900 square feet . ' CHAIRMAN MARTIN: 900 square feet. i� MR. ALBANESE: And it' s right adjacent to the existing bakery now !, and this has been quite a problem because they were using the ele- ! vator access for an access to the rear of their existing bakery 1 ! shop which made it very inconvenient because the elevator has two i ;, different elevations - one that comes in on the ground floor and about a foot higher it comes into the third floor and they propose ,; building a little ramp on the existing hallway that will enable them to bring in their stuff right in from the thing without going thro gh the elevator. So this kind of gives us a little bit more access t i !, the elevator if we decide to renovate that. JCHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay and the reason the case is here is that in II lithe initial variance for Clever Hans there was very focused discus- � sion about the size , the number of square feet and so a reasonable interpretation of that variance was it was conditioned on certain ;I 1understandng about square feet and now its getting bigger althoug i! no use is changing, is that right? }} ' MR. ALBANESE: Right. (, CHAIRMAN MARTIN: And the proposed use of the additional 900 square E, Hfeet is office and storage. jMR. ALBANESE: Right. 1MR. PARKHURST: If I can interject - I 'm Michael Parkhurst, I 'm one (i 'lot the owners of Clever Hans, one of the bakers of Clever Hans , ;, besides office and storage there will also be some production taking , place in that space. There is no activity that will be going on ,` there that is not going on now with the space that we have . i ! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Your sales area will remain the same? j MR. PARKHURST: The sales area will remain the same, no change at all . j CHAIRMAN MARTIN: So there is - this will simply increase your capa- ' city to handle the business which you've got rather than in some wa ! 1make it likely that you would be generating more business? sE f` 'i �i i 17 - !i i I MR. PARKHURST: Right , it' s basically to let us work more easily n1i and to store more conveniently and we 've increases the number of ; employees quite a bit in the past ten months or so. i, CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Could you give us some sense of the current scale j� of the business in terms of traffic that it brings to the building !land the number of employees. I know from personal observation that ;' it exceeds the initial picture that we were drawn when this vari- 11ance was first before the Board. 1MR. PARKHURST: The business has gone beyond what our original pro-1 it jljection would be in terms of the amount of traffic generated. The traffic is limited though, it appears to me , to the space directly 'Iin front of the entrance to the bakery. The parking, etc . takes ! ! place on Adams Street. It doesn' t really bother the people on Dey ;,Street or on Auburn Street. I I�CHAIRMAN MARTIN: And again nothing is happening that would change ;(:where that traffic comes . . . 'JMR. PARKHURST : Nothing is happening that will change that. Retail i ;will still be through that one entrance and intended to keep it that ;!way so there would be no impact on this . ,,CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Would you have more employees after the addition .? 1�R. PARKHURST: Possibly. ii ?(CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Bringing you from what to what? l �i 'MIR. PARKHURST: Well , counting the two of us , the two co-owners , 11there is twelve people now. j (CHAIRMAN MARTIN: That might go up by. . . . ? '�R. PARKHURST: That might go up by one or two. R. GAINEY: Are all twelve there at one time? f R. PARKHURST: No , all twelve are not there at once. We have two ,People who come in at midnight and leave around six in the morning; i *e have other people who come in around noon, two people come in is '4round noon and stay until maybe 8 : 00 o 'clock or so . THAIRMAN MARTIN: So at your peak, how many employees do you have I :in there? s li I 'i l it i� i - 18 - I it MR. PARKHURST: At our peak we ' ll have about six. Six to eight . CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Now there is some 'mention in the minutes we have I I of the Planning Board meeting about a proposal for a cafe outside. I Now that clearly is a separate matter which is not before the �iBoard now, having not been advertised or processed in the form of i variance request. I do want to know though how this proposal re- lates to that. That is to say, are they really independent things or is this someway going to serve the cafe proposal? 1MR. PARKHURST: This issue is a separate issue from the cafe pro- ' I ijposal. You will be getting a separate request . 'I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: So you will need this additional office and ware-, I house for the business as is . j�MR. PARKHURST: Oh, yes, this has no relation to the cafe . f CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay. Any other questions? I 111DR. GREENBERG: Was there anything previously about the parking ljspaces allotted to this: enterprise and the number of employees all ;Ito that original feature? ;CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay, could you run through your parking space 11inventory for us again? I� ! MR. ALBANESE: Well the last we knew we had a variance proposal where we could generate up to thirty-nine parking spaces - off-stre t !i parking and they are not all developed yet so , as I said, we 've got , at least half of that left yet to do and the parking is definitely 11no problem because there is only about half. . . 'CHAIRMAN MARTIN: How many spaces are allocated to Clever Hans? ,I R. ALBANESE: They had two spaces. I !CHAIRMAN MARTIN: They have two spaces . E � 'kR. ALBANESE: Right - two employees . HAIRMAN MARTIN: And how many spaces were allocated to Cayuga i i, ndustries? Did they have any for their . . . ? I I �R. ALBANESE: They had two . R 0AIRMAN MARTIN: They had two and will they now fall to Clever Hans Tor their use with this? i ii it i' - 19 - !, MR. ALBANESE : They should, right . it ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: So Clever Hans will increase from two to four i Nith this addition? IMR. ALBANESE : That ' s right. Of course , they haven' t mentioned it to me yet but . . . !e CHAIRMAN MARTIN: The issue just came up . MR. ALBANESE: Well , no , we know about the issue but we don' t know ;where. There ' s plenty of room there for that. ;! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there other questions? Do you have anything i 11that you want to add? IIMR. ALBANESE: No I can' t think of anything else . The - I might I I ! add about this additional thing on the front of the building was a ;matter of design and - with- the Historical Society - and there will I I '!be a - as I understand there will have to be a new application made I I out. ii , CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Right. is MR. PARKHURST: As a matter of fact Vicki Romanoff is meeting with is !us tomorrow to give her suggestions on what would be appropriate ;; for the side of the building. �l II,CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay. This being a designated landmark it requir s !the approval of the Landmarks Commission. MR. ALBANESE: Well I 'm not quite up to date on that because we are ,,':.not sure of the nature of the structure, whether it is going to be 1permanent thing or whether temporary. 'CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Right. IIMR. ALBANESE: But that will be brought up later. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone else this even'ng !who wants to speak on this case, first anyone here who wants to i i ;speak in favor of the requested variance? 1AR. PICHEL: My name is Mike Pichel and Itd just like to state that I 've driven past this building and I 've seen it when it was vacant i Hand I think the man has done a good job in trying to get some 1i I1tenants in there. I believe that I have read about it being a i { i; �i i 4 ! - 20 - i f historical landmark and I would think that he ' s got a problem and ! that he can' t do away with the building and he has to put somethin in it, and I think if this building is useful and this bakery is r � j growing, I think it ' s something that should be approved. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Thank you. Is there anyone else who wants to be ; heard on this case? Who wants to be heard in favor of the requestEd variance? Is there anyone who wants to speak in opposition? We ; will move to the next case. t v i l � I 'I 4 !f ii i I i, 1 t i i ii ii I i' i 4 { si i j - 21 - i I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS i ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 'p JULY 31 , 1978 i EXECUTIVE SESSION 3 ! APPEAL NO. 1214 : i i { CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Motion is made that the variance re- quested in appeal 1214 be granted. ; MR. WILCOX: I second the motion. FINDINGS OF FACT: 1 . The proposal does not represent an expan- sion xpa -sion of the sales area of the bakery but simply gives it increased space to serve the business it presently enjoys . i• Consequently it should have no adverse impact on the neighborhood. 2 . Those living in the area have in the i past objected quite forcefully when uses proposed for this building promise ad- verse impact on the neighborhood. There I were no such objections at the Board ' s j hearing tonight. 'iVOTE: 6 Yes ; 0 No., 1 Use Variance granted.. ii t I' i! li i ;I. II 144� fI 0 i I! i it 1 �I �I �I i! i! i� i i it iIi; I� I I 22 - i (' BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS 3 COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS j ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 ii JULY 31 , 1978 j !` SECRETARY HOARD ANNOUNCED the next appeal to be heard: I ji 11APPEAL NO. 1215 : Appeal of Norman C. Long for an area variance under Section 30 . 25 , Columns 'f 4, 6 , 10 , 11 and 14 to permit expansion and enclosure of a rear porch, connection of the main building and an accessory structure , and addition of a carport at 208 Stewart Avenue. The property is located in an R-3a use district , and is legal non-conforming as it now exists ; the proposed work will increase the living space in the building, increase the lot coverage , and reduce the rear it yard depth. li I� SECRETARY HOARD: Mr. Long is here. 11CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Will you come forward Mr . Long and present your appeal? I � IMR. LONG: My name is Norman Long and this is my wife, Mary Ann who, stepped in for meat the Planning Board hearing when I was out of ,! town on business , What we are attempting to do - this is a duplex i, 'fuse on 208 Stewart, which is a multiple family resident zone and : we bought it for our family to have income unit upstairs . There is Is ja five bedroom apartment upstairs . The downstairs unit , which is �II two floors was also a five bedroom and five bedrooms , as I under- ;g !;stand the zoning law, is what is authorized for each of these l ; duplexes . What we have done since January with a great deal of ;work and money, has been to open up the downstairs apartment, in- ! creasing the size of the individual rooms and essentially redesign liit for a family type of a use - more open space, more compatible fjfor that, and as a result need, in order to fulfill or complete our i. ; redesign of the project - need more living space for the family and I las a result have requested the ability to take the rear porch area I +�we want to tear it down and rebuild it because it' s not terribly sate �l.either for ourselves or for the tenants upstairs - to expand the re r ii ;'porch laterally so its co-terminous with the building itself and to ! ;connect the secondary building which is sits about two feet from jI f l f' �i - 23 - �) .i as you can see on the map - connect that with the main buildin !iso we make one continuous building and then, once that connection his made to level off the roof to make a - like a patio deck on top ;hof that building and convert that interior of the secondary building, I� jwhich right now is 18 x 18 and is insulated and wired, to convert ( that for a bedroom/guest room and put a bathroom and perhaps a wet 1bar in that facility to use either as a bedroom or as a guestroom. s lSo in terms of its effect upon the zoning laws , as I understand it ,j ii ;ewe would be extending our coverage, our lot percentage coverage fro i � 35 to what I calculate to be 37 . 50 of the property and would have :!some impact upon the rear yard set back in the areas where that building now exists . In terms of parking, as I understand it, when I bought the building there was no legal parking space behind the ;building and we would like to do some improvement to stabilize the fl !(back slope so that we could bring perhaps two cars down the drive- ; 1way for our use or for the use of our tenants . That's essentially i hat we are requesting . In terms of intensity of use there is no ! change in the intensity. As I understand it we are allowed to have i ,five bedrooms in each duplex and there is no request to increase IIthat. We wish to keep it as a duplex, we merely are trying to expand 11t he amount of living space per room so it is much more compatible or ourselves . HAIRMAN MARTIN: You say when you bought the building there were ! five bedrooms in the downstairs unit and you have since rearranged I, 4nd opened up . What do you have now? ��R. LONG: Essentially I have four rooms - we 've taken out the - a allway, put in a spiral stair case , took out the regular staircase, ��ut in a spiral stair case , so we essentially have two 15 x 1S rooms jpstairs and a kitchen and an expanded hallway that' s been made ider so it is kind of being used as a sitting room or living room .Out it ' s really part of a hallway. And downstairs there are two roo s ,end a bathroom. So essentially what we have now is four rooms , four` I�edrooms and what I consider an expanded hallway. 'I I is I i i 24 li 1 I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: How will the back separated building integrate with .j i; what you have downstairs? Will it fit in? i MR. LOWER: It will be connected in two places , one it will be i� connected on - it ' s sloping property - if you look at the map - it s a sloping property so that the roof of the first floor will walk 'i out to the top of the building and then the rear porch on the base jment level will connect with the hallway to that back building so that �i 1! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: So that you would go through the basement to get to this 'guestroom/den? i MR. LONG: That is correct. ;! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: What has the use of that building ` been previousl ? i1MR. LONG: It was used as - it was rented out to students as two it separate apartments . As I understand . . . !ICHAIRMAN MARTIN: I was talking now about the separate back buildi g. ljMR. LONG: Back building? It's got an interesting history. As I understand it it has been at one point in time it looks like it j� might have been a garage , at what time it was converted to other i !1types of uses I am not sure. Right now- it is an enclosed building f` 11with. a doorway - it ' s heavily insulated and heavily wired. I thin ! at one time it was used as a workshop and I understand it was also ; f used as living quarters as the fifth bedroom to the downstairs , an they used one of the rooms for a living room, when they rented out 1th.e downstairs - the duplex. So it ' s been years, as I understand Et, as a garage, as a workshop and as living space - as a bedroom to � I fulfill its five bedroom allotment under the zoning, ICHAIRMAN MARTIN: Okay. In your application you speak of partial ;! enclosure of the back porch. Could you elaborate on that? How Iimuch of the back porch , how, I mean will it be an enclosed porch or wial it be indeed an adjunct of, I mean, simply expanded rooms? „MR. LONG: The use of the back. porch - the upstairs - the upstairs 11unit - the second and third floor - the second floor has a porch 'urea, the third floor does not. The existing back porch_ has three �l Illevels to it, the second floor, the first floor and the basement. ; I� j '� I 1j �I j - 25 - fi I What we plan to do is to continue the use except to put a screen 1 C! for the continued use as a porch on the second floor which the �i l tenants use. �E CHAIRMAN MARTIN: But you would of course, expand it to be co-exte - l ii sive with the building? j1 MR. LONG: Right, co-extensive with the building. The first floor f 11 we want to turn part of it into a utility area which goes off of 11 the kitchen, for washer, dryer type of use and then on the other J II part of it which is consistent with what will become the master be - f 'j room because it has a fireplace, we want to perhaps add a sitting I I s area because it overlooks the city and then that will have access jto a sliding door to the deck area on top of the roof. i II, I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: So on the first floor it may be completely enclo ed' iI I� MR. LONG: Yes, on the first floor, in all probability it will be enclosed. On the basement level we want to keep that as a entranc j way or way of moving from the rear secondary building in through ,I the hallway system of the basement and right now there is a sliding I' it glass door opening up on the lower corner of the building right next 1 j to a secondary building and that will be a little step deck out there Ij Ipso there is movement from the rear to the side yard. The only ! functional yardage on the property is the side yard which is fifte n I, Ifeet wide - the other side is totally consumed by a driveway. I� CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Let me pursue the driveway and the question of Eoff-street parking. In your original application you spoke of there �Ibeing adequate off-street parking and now we are talking about there jI ! being no legal off--street parking, I MR. LONG: I don' t recall ever making a statement of adequate off- I !l street parking for this property. There is no parking. It' s a �1 I� legal non-conforming on this property. 1 CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Well the document I have, I don't have your fulll I ' documentation on the original appeal is a reference in the original Ihearing of the Planning Board on 3 March 78 . There is sufficient �i off-street parking says the Planning Board, in speaking of this ca e . �I MR. LONG: That ' s interesting, I don' t recall that I . . . if f 'I ii i I - 26 - j CHAIRMAN MARTIN: There is a driveway that leads down to the space it i! in the back that structure was originally garage down there - that has since been enclosed. The driveway is so steep that it would b f somewhat difficult to get up and down . . . r I MR. LONG: Very. And the driveway itself, the surface of the :i driveway is in an advanced state of deterioration and would have t be completely resurfaced in order to make it functional . it CHAIRMAN MARTIN: But it - I mean, you do have cars parked down there occasionally now. MR. LONG: I have people that do go down there but at their own risk. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Right . So assuming the driveway was brought up .I to driveway standards , how many parking spaces do you have back f there, two? j ! j MR. LONG: Two . Yes , two would be the maximum - small cars . The is no real turn-around space so it would be a challenge to go down ,i You would almost have to back up the driveway to get back up. It ' a very steep driveway. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: What would be - would it not make sense to redee ! i that as a garage down there? ?' MR. LONG: Not in order to accomplish the desire for added living space. ! i ' CHAIRMAN MARTIN: No I understand that, it would be fighting with the desired living space. But help me think. about that as a garag . ! MR. LONG: You would have to restructure the building in order to convert it back to a garage because it has been completely - the I door is gone. i I ; CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Right. v IMR. LONG: It has been filled in and insulated and there would be ! '! structural change. ; CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Right, whereas now there is no coverage there an lyou are talking about putting in a carport. } MR. LONG: Possibly, yes. ;I t I; ii I II - 27 - I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: So that, I mean, you are feeling the need for covered parking maybe down there and I was suggesting the garage {� might be it. �IMR. LONG: It would be nice. MR. GAINEY: Your intent for this secondary building is just for living space for your family? MR. LONG: That' s right. If ! MR. GAINEY: It' s not to rent out or . . . ? �� i ' MR. LONG: No, but I would not want to downgrade the use of the ;! property in case I were to sell it. I would like to continue the I I ;' existing allotment of five bedrooms per unit just from an invest- lment point of view. 11CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Other questions from members of the Board? Any lquestions from the Building Commissioner? ,I ? MR. HOARD: One thing I would just like to clear up , you made i ! reference to - several times that an allotment of five bedrooms pe jjapartment at the time you bought the property we issued a certif' - i; I dcate or a letter to the prev�i,ous owner and it was talking about fie I 1junrelated persons per unit. There were four bedrooms - with one I I !! four bedroom apartment in the basement and first floor and one five! = bedroom apartment on the second and third floor. It was being ;; rented to six unrelated individuals in the upper apartment which we `; had told him was illegal and then we had five in the lower one which I was alright. That, you know, I just don' t want a misunderstanding on jthe allotment of five bedrooms . �I IMR. LONG: They were utilizing five rooms on the lower apartment f I I ' bedroom space. I. don' t know whether you are distinguishing people ; 8 �� or bedrooms but I suppose 3t ispossiblein College town to have I; i two students in one room. It just semantically makes more sense toy I Ime to talk about if five people are allowed, five bedrooms , maybe I that ' s a semantic difference but . . . !! CHAI'RMAN MARTIN: Well this describes it as having four bedrooms , ! What I mean, how many rooms were there in the . . . ? I' Ii MR. LONG: Five bedrooms . Five rooms used by students as living it ; quarters . j !j I 2s - CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Were there also - was there also a space that cold „ P be described as a living room or was it five bedrooms and kitchen l ,i and bath? MR. LONG: Five bedrooms , kitchen and bath - was I think how it i was - the layout was , right and five students were in there. r CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright, okay. And now you've got four rooms an� kitchen and bath? I !' MR. LONG: Right . ( CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there other questions? Okay. Is there i i anyone here who would like to add additional testimony on this casq !, either in favor or against the requested variance? IMR. LONG : Thank you very much. 'I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Let' s go on to the next case. I i; ii " i i' i !i I I i! 1 �f ii 1 1 I if ,f r I i I '' i f - 29 - BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 JULY 31 , 1978 I i EXECUTIVE SESSION i 9j APPEAL NO 1215 MR. GAINEY: I move that 1) we approve the expan- sion of the porch enclosure and 2) we deny any work on the sec arndary ;i building. DR. GREENBERG: I second the motion. I I FINDINGS OF FACT: la. That by extending the back porch to i the outer limits of the house it will create a larger living area for his ii family. Jj b . The use of an existing porch to creat i! that additional space works no eviden adverse impact on the neighborhood. EI 2a. Our ruling is against a secondary I j building addition of bathroom and wet ! 4` u bar which could create a third living area. ii b . This proposed additional habitable i ;i space is accessible only through the basement and therefore not closely i integrated with_ the downstairs apart- ment, therefore increasing the threat it of an eventual separate rental . VOTE: 5 Yes ; 1 No. i1 I �I ii i; � f �j I !{ f - 30 - BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 JULY 31 , 1978 fSECRETARY HOARD announced the next case to be heard: 'i APPEAL NO. 1216 : Appeal of Philip Kaplan for an area variance under Section 30 . 25, Column to permit the issuance of a Certifica e of Occupancy for the property at 211 Williams Street. All but two of the 'j required five off-street parking spaces have been leased to an adjacent prope ty owner, rendering the property deficient in required off-street parking. The ti property is located in an R-3a use district. i MR. PICHEL: I 'm Mike Pichel and I 'm appearing for Phil Kaplan. I ;,; would disagree with the conclusion that was drawn there that the ;; place was rendered with less than enough parking spaces , but let ,ime give you the history of it so you will understand what happened ; a Phil Kaplan bought this property in 1973. He bought it by land ; contract and as part of the land contract he leased the back parki g spaces - there were , I believe , three parking spaces to the rear o the house , to the person that he bought the property from, and the adjoining land owner said that those could be used for the adjoin; g 1:1property. That left parking on the side of this building - two 'Ispaces . At the time that he made this purchase , he and his attorn y, I .pit was Walter O' Connell at the time, investigated the zoning ordi- I finance and inquired of the City of Ithaca Building Department whether '! there was any problem with that. At that time the ordinance was A i interpreted by the Building Department so that no parking space wa�. ,I needed for this property and it was left with two . The interpretal tion was based on the public parking area on the Dryden Road - the 1 City of Ithaca public parking area. At that time the Building De- 1 I 11partment interpretation and the Ordinance allowed those parking I' E spaces to be substituted for parking spac es on the premises . None] f 4of the properties on Williams Street have parking except for this f ;; property which has now two spaces and the property across the streelt f ;i i1 which has a small parking lot, all of the other properties on ! p 4 - 31 - 4 Williams Street are left without any parking at all . So Kaplan, I before purchasing, checked to see that this was okay. I believe that leaves him now with a non-conforming use but the Building Com ,I missioner suggested that he make application here for a variance . My position for him is that what he did was absolutely proper at I i{ that time and that he - its been like that since 19731 although in 1977 the lease was recorded - not by Kaplan but by the lessee . But 4 ,4 the lease was given and acknowledged in 1973 when the property was purchased. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: It ' s spoken of as an oral lease in some of these — MR. hese . .MR. PICHEL: No , no. It ' s not an oral lease, it` s a recorded leas i 'I I1 and I have a copy. It ' s recorded and its recorded. . . �i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: And it was executed and acknowledged in 1973? i� I MR. PICHEL: It was executed and acknowledged October 3, 1973. ii CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright . �I �j MR. PICHEL: So the lease sought - I. feel that what he did then was I proper and there is really - shouldn' t be any application here but ! '= the Buillding Commissioner said that to make it crystal clear we ought to apply for a variance. E j CHAIRMAN MARTIN: So your first position is that this is a legal non-conforming situation because there are only two spaces now, I the three having been rented and the requirements of the ordinance4 j have changed or the interpretation of the requirements of the or- dinance have changed. I MR. PICHEL: Both. The Ordinance was changed. i itCHAIRMAN MARTIN: It was changed. I MR. PICHEL: And the new Building Commissioner interprets it dif- ferent in any event. jf CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright MR. PICHEL: But I have the Building Commissioner here, he is willing to be examined as to what the interpretation was then. The Buildi g I� 11Commissionerdoes not remember any phone calls from O 'Connell or f from Kaplan in this regard but there wasn' t any requirement that ay application be made . He ' ll testify as to what the interpretation if was. There was no application at that time for anything because, 4 I i i� I� 31 i - 32 - ,i as I understand it the inquiry was made if these spaces are leased i does that leave the place okay and the answer was yes . That' s what I understand so there was no application and I 've asked the Building, l the former Building Commissioner if he remembers any inquiries fro IIO' Connell or Kaplan and he says he doesn' t. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Well, he is here and he can testify for himself. ! 4i MR. PICHEL. Okay. CHAIRMAN MARTIN: How does the issue arise now? I !j MR. PICHEL: The issue arises now because Kaplan, when he purchase ii the property - there was a Certificate of Occupancy in 1973. Late �I !� in ' 77 , I believe it was , he applied for a Certificate of Occupancy Cin order to obtain a considerable mortgage from the First National it Bank of Ithaca and he received a Certificate of Occupancy which is still in force. Then he offered the property for sale, this last couple of months and he got a purchase offer on the property and , the attorney for the purchaser was also the City Attorney, asked I him to get a brand new Certificate of Occupancy so that it would last three years into the future for the purchaser. So we applied for a new Certificate of Occupancy and we received it . Now, that i j was just about a month ago . In examining the title , Shapiro saw Ii the recorded lease and he called it to question and that' s how thel i` �j issue arises. I don' t believe that the Building Commissioner was !� specifically aware of the rec-orded lease at any time when it made the Certificates of Occupancy that it did issue , although it was i i I lrecorded but I don' t believe they knew about it , I don' t think the i! i� checked. There are two parking places . Now, I would like to go or� j from my idea that this is a non-conforming use and okay it on that ` 1basis fine, otherwise I . . . I i CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Well if it is a conforming use it would require � an area variance, not a use variance if I 'm not mistaken. Off-str et parking falling under the area requirements of the ordinance. It ' iia lesser standard so that . . ! MR. PICHEL: I 'm not sure - what I meant by a non-conforming use w I i j i i1 i 33 - 4 1, was if this parking is indeed required now I feel that this property '7' was a non-conforming use when the ordinance changed and it should 'i be permitted. But let me go on since the Building Commissioner has suggested that we get a variance - if that' s the easiest way I d like to go on for our reasons for a variance . As I said, all the I� properties in the area are without parking. This one has more I parking than any other street on Williams Street except the one that l� Mr . Johnson owns across the street which has a small public parkin I area. I believe that your Board has had evidence presented to it recently, the one that I know of was the application of Student Agencies that my associate Connie Miller did, where there was I Ifevidence presented that there are parking spaces available for I lease in the college town area that go begging and I confirmed this I myself with John Bentkowski who is the manager of Cornell Real i' Estate , he says that he has got a parking lot on Stewart Avenue with I available spaces all the time . We surveyed the premises in questi n i and it ' s a five bedroom unit - there are five one-bedroom or effi- ciency apartments and only one tenant has a car . So what Kaplan has been doing now is renting out one of his two parking spaces in I any event and the spaces in the back are available for lease excep 'I I believe one of them is used for a storage tank for propane for a �j restaurant facing on Eddy Street. So I believe that the tenants it {� in this type of a building are college - Cornell college students . 6 l This is the closest building to Cornell University on Eddy Street similar to the application that we made for Student Agencies on College Avenue and if the students rent this property because it i, j� adjoins Cornell - so that they won' t have a car. I myself have properties outside of the Cornell college town area and my student i I, have cars but Kaplan' s tenants don' t have cars except for one. j Depending on how you look at this building, if you were to look at j� it as a five-bedroom rooming house, which he hasn' t chosen to have j� it approved in that manner, he has enough parking also. The ordi- i t nancy calls for one parking area for each three residents and he h s five and he has two parking spaces. So I don' t really think that ail jl �i i, ' - 34 - E no matter how you look at it - the other three parking places beifig taken away from this , cause any increase in parking. Whatever the situation is the parking is still available there. Kaplan applied for and got a considerable mortgage on this premises , based upon F what he thought was his right to continue using it and he also agreed to sell it and agreed to provide a Certificate of Occupancy +j I based upon his belief that he had a Certificate of Occupancy and I ! , i, have discussed this with- the Building Commissioner and I don' t thi k jhe intends to cause any problems for Kaplan if this thing weren' t turned down except that the purchaser ' s attorney wants this thing i taken care of in advance. Am I correct in that? 11MR. HOARD: Well , I think that the burden on the property should �f ! be resolved somehow. That' s my point of view. ii MR. PICHEL: Yes , I understand but as I said, I believe that you i ; don' t plan to bring any action against it , or do I misspeak? Did Hyou just want to get it straightened out? 11MR. HOARD: Right. i lfMR. PICHEL: I can answer any questions if . . . i H CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Are there questions from members of the Board? , MR. PICHEL: Could I have the Building Commissioner . . . ? ' CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Please do, I was . . . Mr. Jones would you come I forward and fill in some history? jjMR. PICHEL: Do you want me to ask him questions or however you wart ;1 me to proceed? CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Well, why don' t we let him speak for himself. H� d heard the case and if you have questions for him you can ask them. IIIf we have questions we can ask. them too. IIMR. JONES: My name is Edison Jones , I 'm the Deputy Building Com- 4 ilmissioner, was the Building Commissioner. The rules that we used ifn :� 1 ! the late 60' s and through 73 says that parking off-street was one ij Espace per dwelling unit . In 1974 that was amended to require one i space for the first three bedrooms, one for the next two bedrooms i ;land one for each bedroom thereafter. That was in 74. Also in 74 ,i lithe Ordinance says that available off-street parking within 50.0 fo t i j I - 35 - ; satisfied the requirements of off-street parking for units . In 1977 that was changed so that you had to have in writing the availability of off-street parking other than on the premises . An that is what the Building Department operated on in those days. Now if there are any questions other than that, I 'd be glad to ! answer them. ; CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Alright, so that on two counts under the pre-74 it !; Ordinance, the one that was in force in 173 as then interpreted, 1i ;! having two spaces for that place was alright. First of all it was i !1one per unit? 'i 4MR. JONES: Right. ,! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: And you didn' t even need those because you could f 1count the public parking areas so long as it was within the 500 !I foot radius? !1MR. JONES: That is correct. ; CHAIRMAN MARTIN: So that under the then ordinance it was alright? ij IIl' MR. JONES: Agreed. ! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Any further questions? !f `,1 MR. HOARD: May I cross-examine? CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Please. MR. HOARD: Not to put you on the spot Ed, but were you ever familiar with Section 15-151 of the Municipal Code? ! I MR. JONES: Is that traffic? i r MR. HOARD: Yes . i� MR. JONES: I have no knowledge of it. ' MR. HOARD: Okay. Just for the record, one of the reasons that I il felt that this was not allowed was that in the Municipal Code at tY at It11 ! 11 time under Motor Vehicles and Traffic , it said that repeat parking iiin metered spaces was not allowed, which meant that you couldn' t 11feed the meter. Rendered metered parking lots useless as far as i I :, residential parking . You would have togo out and move your car t !lanoth.er spot every time it expired. ' i' !! CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Which has bearing on the counting of the public lot It ;! for this parcel but, if I 'm not mistaken your testimony about the I� I ! prior ordinance is that two spaces would have been enough-t- even I. I li - 36 - without counting that - you had one space per unit under that . . . prior ordinance which sufficed. � MR. JONES: That ' s correct. I have it right here to substantiate t. 'I CHAIRMAN MARTIN: Mr. Pichel, you have a Question, statement? I JMR. PICHEL: The point that I wanted to bring up is that I don't ; dispute what Mr. Hoard said but I believe that everybody was in th ,; same boat back in 73 that they were all - that this is the way the jordinance was interpreted, that the public parking - let me get 11back, I agree that we have one point, bu-t I think we even have the (i 11two, that the parking area of the - on Dryden Road also belongs to i { the city metered parking - was considered by the Building Depart- I ment to be approved and I think if he did that in good faith back ; then that he shouldn' t be penalized now that either he should get a �lvariance or this should be considered a non-conforming use on both j� basis . 11MR. GAINEY: I think what Mr. Hoard is getting at - we are not backs jin 1973, we are in current 1978 and laws have changed. That' s why ! he brought it before us . IMR. PICHEL: I understand that but I don' t think there is any dis- Jpute here - that this happened in 173 and there are hundreds , if no thousands of properties in Ithaca that were taken that they were ,,within the Ordinance back. then and I think. as a matter of law and !!pursuant to the Ordinance that if they were proper` then and the i 11,0rdinance changed then or the interpretation changed since then, i� IIthat they can' t be penalized and go backwards to make it come up to i date now. There ' s no change that ' s gone on since ' 73 and there is ! �Ino change now. 11MR. HOARD: This was the Municipal Code that was current then. I I'II +was just pointing out that Mr. Jones was not aware of this section. hat ' s the only point that - so that he did operate in good faith. MR. PICHEL: Okay. !i �ICHAIRMAN MARTIN: Is there any further testimony on this case? :�R. EISENACH: I 'm Eldon Eisenach, I live at 115 Glen Place on East Dill . It' s about a block and one-half from the foot of Williams i j8treet. I 'm speaking because I happened to run into Phil Kaplan in +i i - 37 - j :i Ithe Hill Drug Store a few days ago and he was very worried about ;!the problem of having to have a zoning variance, particularly in th I I ;;midst of a sale or what he thought was a valid sale, so I said, if i;you are so worried, I ' ll talk to Thys VanCort who is a neighbor of ;Imine and ask him about it and said it seemed to me that it was a ;,very fair or an unfortunate situation that he was in and I had hope 1that the Planning & Development Committee would recommend a variance . II don' t know what they have done. I think they have made some !jrecommendation. i� IICHAIRMAN MARTIN: They have. They recommended approval . IMR. EISENACH: So then I said that perhaps I would come down and say I' 11a few words because I knew him as a landlord, he rented to a col- I�league of mine in the Government Department. He was a very good i llandlord and I just felt he was somehow in an unfortunate situation 1�and thought that I would speak for him as a good landlord and as an I�i East Hill neighbor. I know Williams Street , I walk up it every few ljdays and I know that parking is at a premium but I also know that ;students don' t buy houses - or don' t rent there unless they are alkers anyway and no facts are being changed, no parking places ar eing added or taken away, no numbers of residents are being increa ed �r decreased so I don' t think his sale of that house ought to be p'eopardized and therefore I hope he gets his zoning variance. I HAIRMAN MARTIN: Thank you. Is there anyone else who wants to peak on this case? Let' s see, we go back and ask if there is any- , II bne here to represent the Minks in case 1213? There being no one I jhere we will , as is our custom, hold that case over for our next j eeting, we will take up the Minks case at the next meeting, they �should be notified so that they may be present . We now go into executive session to deliberate on these cases . We will reconvene hen we have reached our decisions and explain our results . i i' j I ii .A i i ,i I I� E - 38 - if I BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS �f !! COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBERS ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 I ! JULY 31 , 1978 EXECUTIVE SESSION 1' 4 PPEAL NO. 1216 �C HAIRMAN MARTIN: I will move that in Case 1216 , the Board adopt interpretation of the I� I' Ordinance that finds no variance I I necessary in this case . According i i� to the testimony presented there ar ytwo spaces not counting those under 99 year leases with the property at 11 211 Williams Street. Those two spaces met the off-street parking requirements of the Ordinance in s j; effect in 1973 and consequently this �1 is a legal non-conforming situation. R. KASPRZAK: I second the motion. OTE: 6 Yes; 0 No. i I i' I i� it I� it I.I i! i '•E it i I I� +f iIt I� ,I - 39 - ij ii I� I , Barbara Ruane, Do Certify that I took the minutes of the Board r !Eof Zoning Appeals , City of Ithaca, in the matters of Appeals i1numbered 1212 , 1214 , 1215 and 1216 on July 31 , 1978 at City Hall , j ,.City of Ithaca, New York; that I have transcribed same , and the foregoing is a true copy of the transcript of the minutes of the 'i +'meeting and the Executive Session of the Board of Zoning Appeals , JjCity of Ithaca, on the above date, and the whole thereof to the l ;best of my ability. i, k� �� Barbara C. Ru ne Recording Secretary I I' i 3 ;I i:lSworn- to before me this �I day of 1978 . �i I� " Notary Public CALLIST k F. PAOLANGELI Notary Public, State of New York. No. 4664561 Qualified in Tompkins Count `i Term Expires March 30, 19 � !I ii I �I II i I i I I� t f •I i, 'i