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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BZA-1971-01-04 a.� BOARD OF ZONING APPEA139 CITY OF ITHACA, CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK JANUARY 49 1971 As Scheduled for Cases No. 910 and 911 PRESENT: RALPH P. BALDTNI, Acting Chairman ANTHONY PETITTI GEORGE HARPER FRANK ALO EDISON JONES, Building Commissioner & Secretary The CHAIR: Ralph P. Baldini, as temporary chairman introduces new Burd Member, George Harper. Inasmuch as the first order of business is election of a permanent Chairman, names are now in order. FRANK ALO: Nominate Ralph P. Baldini Chairman. ANTHONY PETITTI: Second. FRANK ALO: Moves that nominations be closed. EDISON JONES: One ballot has been cast for Ralph Baldini. Ralph Baldini unimously elected Chairman THE CHAIR: Points out to those in attendance that for an appeal to be granted, the Board must have a minimum of four affir- mative votes, and in view of the fact that only four mem- bers are present and voting, if any appellant wishes to postpone his appeal, he may do so without prejudice. MR. JONES: Case No. 911 has been withdrawn and so will not be heard. THE CHAIR: Who is here for Case No. 9109 the Appeal of John E. and Beryl Paige? WALTER O'CONNELL: I am here tonight in the matter of this appeal and I would like olarification, if this appeal is not successful tonight, if there may be a further hearing? THE CHAIR: Yes, but you would have to go through the entire procedure for another hearing. MR. O'CONNELL: Well, we are here and I shall present it. THE CHAIR: We will hear Case No. 9109, the Appeal of John E. and Beryl J. Paige, 425 North Aurora Street, Ithaoa, New York, for a variance for-,use as antique furniture repair at above address under provision Section 79 Column 29 in an R-3 district. L, MR. OOOCNNELL: What Mr. and Mrs. Paige are seeking is a variance from what is not permitted in that district, and this is desired for one Mr. Jordan's use. Mr. Paige and Mr. Jordan are here tonight to answer any questions you may have. The request is quite simple and it is as it is set forth in the application and as set forth in the notices given to all property owners pursuant to your statute. _ Mr. O'Connell subunits the affidavit of mailing. The Planning Board has approved this variance subject to the approval of the Fire Department. I have a letter here from the chief of the Fire Department as follows: FIRE DEPARTMENT City of Ithaca, N.Y. To Whom it May Concern: On January 1, 1970 we inspected the barn owned by John Page, which is located in the rear of 425 North Aurora Street. We found no fire hazards existing and have no objections to its being used for the repair of furniture. /s/ C. M. Weaver Fire Chief " As I mentioned a notice has been mailed to all property owners within 200 feet of the property. Also I would like to put in the record that probably the most concerned property owner next door is Mrl Wagner, and he seta forth in his letter that there is no objection on his part to the operation. Mr. Jordan would like to run a quasi business of repairing and refinishing furniture. Mr. Page has a large barn on the premises and would like very mu much to rent it. There would be nothing obnoxious about it at all, no noise, no smells, no fumes, a one-man opera- tion. Possibly on occasion a man might help him some - his brother-in-law. We respectfully request that this Board grant this variance. And as I said, Mr. Page and Mr. Jordan are here and would be glad to answer any questions. MR. ALO: & wants to rent it - who? MR. 09Cf7WELL: Mr. Page wants to rent his barn to Mr. Jordan to repair antique furniture. It is a large barn. There would cer- tainly be nothing to cause any extra traffic. �J4 `-' MR. ALO: Is this right next to the creek? MR. OICONNELL: No, right next to Wagner's. THE CHAIR: Is there an adequate dAiveway to get back to this barn? And will this be large furniture? MR. O'CONNELL: Mr. Jordan is here to answer any questions. MR. JORDAN: My name is Jordan and I live at 408 University Avenue. The question is, I guess, can you get in there with a truck. I went in, I turned around and came out again and it will create no problem for me at all, nor cause any sutra traffic. There is no smell to this operation and no sound, and it will not be connected to the sewer. There will be no waste problem. I might add that I work for the State and the most I will be there in a week is two days working. I am home two days in other words. I will work only during daylight hours. I can not work at night. There will be nothing connected to the sewer. The tank will be connected to the service that comes around. MR. PETITTI: Will this create any parking problems from the front? MR. JORDAN: I do not foresee any. This isn't a kind of business that everybody runs to. It will be by appointment only. This can not be a factory. How can one man fun a factory? It is a limited thing and only what I can do myself. MR. O'CONNELL: This is not a vocation of Mr. Jordan's. It is more of an avocation; he is not depending on it to make a living. He hopes to make a dollar on the side. It will not run forty hours a week. I would like to reiterate the point he made. People are not going to be running in and out of his driveway hauling furniture. It will be a very high-class antique furniture repair. And now I would appreciate it, for the benefit of the Board, if the Chairman will read Mr. Wagner's letter. THE CHAIR reads as follows: " January 4, 1971 To Whom it may Concerns I, Elwood C. Wagner, have no objection to John E. Paige using his barn at 423 North Aurora Street, Ithaca, New York, for wW purpose he deems necessary. Sincerely, /s/ Elwood C. Wagner" -4- THE CHAIR: Is there any one who now wishes to speak in favor of this application? None. Is there any one who now wishes to speak in opposition? MRS. FRANCIS: I am Mrs. Franois, 436 North Aurora Street. Mx. Wagner doesn't live there - we do. When you buy in a residential zone you expect a residential zone. When you re-finish furniture things that can be inflimmable can be used. LAWRENCE SPENCER: 435 North Aurora Street. I would Like to question what might happen in the future. Suppose Mr. Jordan gets a little more work than he can handle„ or decides to sell the business. If you grant this variance does that mean it can still goon? MR. JORDAN: This is a franchise. This will be the Houck Process. There are three processes of taking paint off wood. This is high steam with a tank maintained by electric heat to a temperature of 140 degrees. The paint disin- tegrates like snow and you just wash it off. There is no smell. I have checked this out fairly and fully and this is good. I would not consider the other two pro- oesses. And I can not sell this franchise to another person. MR. O'CONNELL: Mr. Spencer's question is that Mr. Jordan might got in there and all of a sudden he has one, two, three men there. We are asking for a variance only within the terms which we have asked for, for a one-man operation on a limited basis. Mr. Paige does not want a big operation in the rear of his home. Mr. Wagner certainly does not went any big operation close to his business. So any restrio- tions that fall within what we have asked for, we would certainly accept and comply with. MR. SPENCER: We are concerned in maintaining what property value we have if we can. We hate to #et something started there that is going to keep increasing. Then the first thing you knm it is commercial. MR. JORDAN: The only thing I am interested in is the building. This is vacant. If there is another location in that area I have not found it and I have been all over this town and there are no locations available to do this sort of thing. DAVID MURRAY: 437 North Aurora Street. Johnny Paige is a personal #Neral of mine, has been, and I hope he will bei but I am opposed to this sort of thing; always have been u and still remain so. I am perturbed this evening because -5- DAVID MURRAY: there are not enough of you gaitleamen present to make a proper investigation of this thing. What guarantee do we have that this is the way this is going to be? To review for a minute, we had the Odd Fellows who Wanted to come dorm in our area and we had a hearing before this Hoard, and you know what happened. We have traffic problems already and anything added, theret will be a problem, Mr. Wagner's operation or business is conducted there and at times I can not even get out of my own driveway. As Mr. Spencer says about the value of our proporty, it will tend to depreciate it. We are gun-shy and we do ndt want to relax. THS CHAIR: Is there wW one else who wishes to make a statement against this application? None. If nod, that concludes this meeting and we will go into executive session. EXECUTIVE SESSION, BOARD OF ZONING APPEALSO CITY OF ITHACA9 JANUARY 49 1971 APPEAL NO. 910: ALO: Move that the application be granted with the following restrictions: That it be limited to a one-man operation with an occasional helper, and that it is not connected to any sanitary sewer systems, and that the applicant will attend to disposal of any waste from the Houck Process., HARPER: Second. VOTE: Yes - 4 No - 0 L