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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BZA-1973-01-08 n i' BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA, CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK, JANUARY S, 1973 j II ------------------------------------------------------------ At +sr--sws..+.—ww.r—r..wr—w--r---s—r—r--wwa..o—..----w.r—wr+a—saryirrwr—mow—At a regular meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals, ! City of Ithaca, held in Common Council Chambers, City Hall, j Ithaca, New York, on January B, 1973: PRESENT: II j EDISON JONES, Building Commissioner ;I & Secretary I! GEORGE HARPER, Chairman HARRY BORTZ � i. C. MURRAY VAN MARTER GREGORY KASPRZAK J PETER MARTIN Ii ELVA HOLMAN i! DARLEEN LISK, Recording Secretary 4 Commissioner Jones opens meeting, ladies and gentlemen of j the Board, I think the first order of business is that you 11 i 1 have to elect yourselves a new Chairman for the year 1973. Mr. Kasprzak: I move we nominate George Harper. I� Mr. Bortz: I second that. it !i Mr. VanMarter: I would like to nominate Gregory Kasprzak. Mrs. Holman: I second it. l Mr. Kasprzak: I move the nominations be closed. Commissioner Jones: There is one abstention so I declaro _ that George Harper has been elected ;; i Chairman. VOTE: YES - 5 NO - O ABSTENTION - 1 i I� it i -2_- i f Chairman: I call this sheeting to order, by the rules and regulations of the Board of Zoning Appeals of the City of Ithaca the Chairman will slake the following announcements; E 1) Call to order; 2) The duly appointed Board of Zoning jI Appeals, meeting in a formal public hearing is now in order;', 3) Lists members of Board present; 4) This Board is open_', ating under the provisions of the City Charter of the City !j of Ithaca and of the provisions of the Zoning Ordinances; the Board shall not be bound by strict rules of evidence in I is the conduct of this hearing, but the determination shall be i founded upon sufficient legal evidence to sustain the same; The Board requests that all participants identify them- selves as to name and address, and confine their discussionst f r� to the pertinent facts of the case under consideration. ;i i! Please avoid extraneous material which would have a delaying?; effect. � i ji Tonight I believe we have only one case to be heard; it it �i is case #992 for Kallstrom and Bradley for a variance at u 326 East Falls Street. Who would like to present the case? j APPEAL NO. 992. The Appeal of Lars Kallstrom and H. Hunt Bradley Jr. for a variance under Section 7,i' Column 2, at 326 East Falls Street in an R-3 zone. H it LARS KALLSTRCM: My name is Lars Kallstrom from i! Slaterville Springs, New York. We E i' are just after a variance to open anj! Ice Cream Shop at the former Fall View Ski Shop. It has been commer- cial in the past, and we thought it , i would be a good location for an old I i -3r ,i i ,i i li li fashioned type neighborhood Ice j Cream Shop. .i H. HUNT BRADLEY JR. : My name is H. Hunt Bradley Jr. from j East Shore Drive, Ithaca, New York. !� We would also like to serve light II sandwiches in there such as Roast- li ii beef, Chicken Salad, maybe some I Hamburgers. We are basically comingl� j on as an old fashioned Ice Cream j Shop. The main interest is ice crew, milk shakes, sundaes, sodas and so on. We feel that there is a need there being close to the high school they really don't have any place to jl j go. We have talked to the neighbors and most of them feel that it is a �i good idea, they have children who j could just walk up there and things.�1 j We feel that it is a good idea, and we are here to ask you for the varir1 1� ance. i{ �1 11 W. BORTZ; What are your hours of operation? �i is ii MR. BRADLEY: At the moment they are right up in the air, we sort of tentatively figured from ten in the morning to �j ten in the evening, maybe daylight hours- we dontt want to stay open ii i" too late, but you know in the suter�! it is daylight longer and being basically an Ice Cream Shop we feel that people would come in, say after; ji dinner for ice cream- whereas duringIll i! the winter say as now it wouldn't II make much sense to be open for ice cream like on a night like tonight. i jj MR. BORTZs Do you intend to serve hot sand- � wiches as well? MR. BRADLEY: If we do serve hot sandwiches, it j will only be hot dogs and hamburgers we thought more in the lines of Road - beef sandwiches, Tunafish, Chicken Salad sandwich; but if we do serge hamburgers, some french fries, it would be a very limited menus Ob- viously no dinners, we are just ii iii jj -4- ii i coning on as an Ice Cream Shop. i. MR. MARTIN: What seating capacity do you contem-i plate? i MR. KALLSTROM: We would have forty (40) to fifty (50) seats depending on the table sire we decide to use. We are thinking about 36" or 30" tables right now; one offers more seating, and the other offers more space to the customer. !' ice. MARTIN: The recommendation we have from the Ij planning Commission suggests that it we be concerned about off street parking; do you have arrangements for off street parking, j MR. BRADLEY: 'des we do. What we did about that, {j I don't know if you are familiar i with the building at all, but right I{ down there, there is no driveway, ii 1! there is really no off .treat parlor► ; but across the street there is an establishment called the Fall Creek !' House and they have a vacant lot thee. 1 It is right across Falls Street goino south and they have a pretty good sire lot there. Well as an example, ' we went down to see how many cars we ll could actually put in and we were able to put, there is a fellow who has two (2) big heavy trucks that. !j are parked there most of the time, well we were able to put in twelve (12) cars and Just sort of scatter I+ -, then in there, so we feel there is enough parking. We talked to the ii yowner of the Fall Creek House today, and although he doesn't want to put i ii it in writing, he said it was alrigh II for us to say that we had permission ! j. to park there. R. MARTIN: I have not been by there at all time of the day, is that lot generally fairly open? i I !' ,I j r it !� MR. BRADLEY: It is fairly open except when there s� is a busy crowd over at the Fall �i Creek Douse which usually is on a Friday or Saturday night very late, I; say from ten o{clock on and needless ) to say we wont be conflicted. Our feeling in regard to the parking is that we believe it is going to be a walkin business with the high school'! iV across the creek. Being a neighbor, !j hood type operation, we feel that we are not going to be drawing people say from all over the city to dive down there. Granted I believe we j will be drawing some people from the high school that will walk over them during noonhours. We feel. very ( honestly that it is going to be basis► j cally a walkin crown. 'We have tried ii lj our best to get the parking and as I{ !� say we have a verbal commitment; it (! !j would be nice if we had it in writin i or contract. I am convinced that people will park across the street ff and I think we will probabl put up I° a little sign saying something to the extent of parking for the Ice i Cream Shop. j ISR. MARTIN: Two of us are new on the Board and ;I I note that there was a request for I� an appeal as recently as September o 1972, can you fill us in on the back i ground of this property? THOMAS PARKIN: The reason that the previous vari.anc s ii were turned down was because the peo4 ple in the neighborhood were against' i� the type of business Which vias to go jj in there. i ii t. MARTIN: You own theert ro P P Y are You going to be leasing it to these gentlemen? , i; Ate. PARKIN: Yes I am the owner, and I am selling i{ it to them. . MARTIN: What would be the cost, in your judg i ment. of- conversion back to residence i i I'j ii b- i! i it ij i! ij I MR. PARKIN; It would be considerable since it wa� j� constructed basically for use as a Ski Shop. ii MR. MARTIN: You are going to have to spend sub- stantial money to convert to a Res- taurant? W. BRADLEYi We are going to have to spend a good: deal of money. MR. MARTIN: What in very simple terms do you hav to do to it to turn it into ,a Res- taurant? I MR. KALLSTROM: The major expense will be to comply �! with the fire codes that is fire i proof the first floor and then after! that is the equipment and furnishing4, new bathroom; wail to be blacked off'I MR. BRADLEY: Basically as Lars said, just doing along with the codes; and the equip ment. �I MRS. HOLMAN: Do you expect to include anything !� like pinball machines or is it stric+ - I' ly Ice Cream Shop business? !i !i i ! Appellant's Exhibit 1 !marked for identification. MR. BRADLEYt This is a very basic drawing of the !! inside set-up for putting in machines and a juke box and where ! they would be placed in the Shop. NE. MARTIN: As you may know, under the Zoning ordinance we are permitted to attach(! l conditions to the granting of a varix ance; would you be seriously incon- i! !' venienced if we restricted you to !i daytime operation? i i1 MR. BRADLEY: I believe we would be, as I said ij earlier I believe we would 'want I! to go at least until ten o•clock in j the sumer anyway because we fel that we would have quite a bit of i� ! i'. -7- I 'I i �I i! after dinner business with famii4e or perhaps Just kids out playing or II Ij for a walk since it is going to be ;, a neighborhood Ice Cream Shop. !! I Ij . MARTIN: You mentioned the neighbors are hap p` with this idea, how Much talking hav j you done? ij Appellant' s Exhibit 2 marked for if identification. !{ MR. BRADLEY: We talked to the majority of the neighbors and sent them all a .copy of the letter we are now showing you. They all seemed to be agreeablO I to the idea. 11 I KASPR What will happen if the gentleman across the street says no more park-1 ing because I am going to sell that piece of property? What do you do then, since you have no guarantee 'i from him anyway? if i MR.. BRADLEY: I would say then we would have to H renego ate, if he sells the building{ u with the new owner or personally I feel that if he doesn't sell the it building, we wont have any problem. i i .. KASPRZAK The ,duke box and things like that, the noise factor might not be ds- burbing at the moment; but neighbor€ change tori and you might have a probl� lem with that: I would like to guard against this if at all pos- sible? ii MR. BRADLEY: Well our feeling, You know we sant to please the; neighborhood obviously and if it is too loud for them, we if don't even want to have it too Loud j ai in the first place; we will takeif !j steps to control the loudness of it and if they don't want it, then I guess we Front have it. MR. VAN MARTER: Do you feel you would be able to operate without any sign? i i MR. BRADLEY: 'Well we understand by Code we can halve �i 5 sq. ft. and believe ate that is all" we want, we don't want a great big II neon sign or anything like that or I guess we would have asked you for it but we don*t think it is necessar*, I donet think it blends in with the rest of the neighborhood so to speaks ii MR. PIAN MARM: This is not a franchise package? f M.. BRADLEY: No it is not. �I . MARTIN: To return to the parking, suppose well, ;( were to grant a variance on conditi.o that you get some written assurance that you have the parking for satse reasonable period of time? I ti MR. BRADLEY. I don't feel that we could. Try put* ting the situation in reverse. If i I were the owner of the Fall Greek House, I don't think I would sign anything legal because if I were in that position and I was thinking of !i the future I would think of the pos-j sibility of wanting to sell and that;; a written agreeatent with someone for!! q! parking in the lot would perhaps put;; a restriction on the sale because I the prospective buyer might want to �( build on the land used for parking. 41 So I just don't think we could. it �I THE CHAIRt I ate quite familiar with that area j down there, and there is not that much need for parking. STAN CARTER: In every case he has made an endeavo ! to find a tenant first that could us j the place some that would detract th least from the neighborhood and in every case he has found them, anytim he has been here he has represented himself or been represented by some-- II i body who did not provide those bind 11 of things which the Ordinance requiros Ij be shown to establish hardship. ,I 11 j� -9- il l it ' 1 MR.. PARKIN; I feel. that I definitely have a i! hardship in the fact that to revert � l it, first of all it has been em ty j I have been trying to sell the prop-i erty since last April, it has been it empty since last April, and I have been snaking the payments on it which! I! are really strapping the heck out of me it would cost me approximately r I feel $5,000 or better to revert �j it back to an apartment house which I do not have the money for and I i; don't feel that at this point I can borrow the money for. ijM MARTIN: What do you calculate the property i is worth? MR PARKIN: $20,000 to $25,400, Z personally have $35,000 of my own money in the building which I am not able to get i. out. I i! MR. BORTZ; During your span of business, did yob II have a problem with parking? MR. PARKIN I never haw a problem with parkingit. I never had anyone come in the Shop l and say that they couldn't find parking room or knee that there were: any parking problems existing there.h 'i H I( MR. BORTZ: 4f course, yours was pretty such j seasonal, wasn't it? it j MR PARKIN From the first of November to the end of February you were very busy i and m had as many as 20 or 25 cars there easy at one time. j MR. BORTZ: Did you have any neighbors complaining 'j about this? fMR. PARKIN: I never had a neighbor complain. ,f Ate . MARTIN 'Why are the apartments not ranted, ;, ji because you have been unable to or I because you have not tried? ----- ----- --- ---- - -- ii l !I -10-- i � ll - --- f ASR. PARKIN: I have not tried, but mainly becausell they are in a state of needing repai„ jj badly. Ali.. MARTIN: Areou the one who obtained the i !i ori nal variance? it AR. PARKIN: Yes. ij I� IjMR. TIN: Can you go back that far and explainl I; to us on what grounds that variance li was granted? i MR. Pte, Again it was a hardship; we wanted it ii to go in business and start the i! business and we didn't have the Il !! money to go out and rent a building. ii !I ii i W. MARTIN: It was your home? Alm. PARKINa It was wV home at the time and I ii moved up on the second floor and we '. redid the first floor for business. I think the main reason that the variance previous to this was turned ] down was because of the neighborhood ! !l complaints. !; �j THE CHAIR; Any other questions? i! . VAN MARTER: The only reason he mentioned that th variance was not granted last time !1 was on account of the parking prob- (� l' lem,, and I think there were three orli four others? l j� Imo. PARKIN. I think the main reason the variance ! was turned down previously was becau e the neighborhood just didn#t want that type of business and they were here showing that they did not want ! that type of business. !� i� . VAN MAR.TER, If you can offer anything else to !; show what you need to shov4 and you ;! owe it to yourself to think of any- I' thing that you can think of, that �! would be of help in relation to the I' cost per living unit, the investmentl to re-establish the first floor as all it i i, !i II �i I, ! !i I� ii I'I living unit, to remodel the second and third floors so that it returns to a permitted use, MR. PA€KINz The reason that an attempt has never been made on my kart is that I donttl have the money to do it. - If ISR. VAN ITER; JusI�mttry �c�etraosaye�.sun o.that If some- body body sat dawn and looked at this I, objectively for an investment purpoO6 what it would take to accomplish, 3 living units or whatever to come out(! I! with some kind of figure pper living unit with a certain anticipated Inc... ii It either makes or it doesn't: make _ If you can relate just that much to us, we don't need anything else. If you can relate that to us and indica e l this shows it is entirely infeasible I impractical, and unreasonable you ;j i have established all you need to establish. PETER SAMS: My name is Peter Sarkus and I work II II for Kimball, Real Estate and I am the broker in the deal so that .is �I my interest. When I first took a look at the Fall View Ski Shop, I !( looked at it from the viewpoint that�l You are bringing uPtight -now whl , I couldn't the first furor be convert back to a living unit and then also { take the second and third floors andl it put those into living units as well i and then you would have a 3 unit i! apartment house. Now my experience in this, I have 9 units here in Ith ca and I am a partner in 59 units i Herkimer County so I think that I c speak with some authority as to the i rent ability, the market ability,tandI ii also feasability from an income ap.. paoach and you have a building which�s 1 you start out with a cast of $2O,O003 probably it would cost over $10,000 I' j� to put the place back into tip top 1 shape and you are int^ the $30,000"s I� ii -12- II i! ! {i MR. MARTIN; -- Is it possible to split out the costl! 'I of just refurbishing the upstairs which I am not sure is relative cost!l and the cost of putting the downstairs bask into residence. The owner stat�d a figure of $5,000 for putting the first floor back into a residence; II is that high or law? I{ j ii MR. SARKUS: I think that figure was low. At onek ifil point I looked at the building from an investment standpoint myself on `! a residential basis, and it didn't i Ij work out because the account of cash i investment when you finally put the place into shape and then getting your rents out, it didn't work out to a marketable deal that a prudent person would enter in as an invest- !i ment property. Another factor to ' take a look at too, is that most of 3 your homes in that area are in the i' if neighborhood of $13,000 to $18,000. i It would be absolutely foolish for I one to put $10,000 or more on top of ! a purchase price of $20,000 and own a piece of property worth $30,000 jl plus in a neighborhood surrounded by homes in a $13,.000 to $18,000 range; '! because when you came to sell you would be in bad shape; so it really ii makes that kind of conversion back !i rather impractical from a prudent j investors standpoint, and I am sorry;! { that I don't have the figures with . I have gone through them and I have 11 looked at it from an investment stand- point and it just wouldn't be any- ;{ thing near that could lure me or a j r± good many of my colleagues here in 11 ! town who are also in the rental in- !I come business in Collegetown and in ; �i the Heightb. It just wouldn't work. !; 3' MR. VAN MARTER: This 3s exactly what I had in mind; I; if thank you. f I', THE CHAIR: Any other questions? ! None. ----- -------------- I II i THE CHAIR Is there any one who wishes to speakll in favor of this appeal? None. Is there any one who wishes to oppos� this appeal? i None. �I k� I I� f� I� fp I iI I! 1 �E �; II it _ I I. i q �i {I �i i I. !i EXECUTIVE SESSION, BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA* JANUARY S, 1973 I After discussion, the Chairman de- clared a recess in the Executive Session in order to reopen the Publi" j Gearing for the f ollowing clarifi- cation. i At the reopening of the Public Hear-i ii Ing the Chairman asked the following question. THE CHAIR: Are you applying for this variance as agents for the owner? MR,, BRADLEY! Lars Kallstrom and H. Hunt Bradley are applying as agents for Toga I� Parkin who is the owner. l i i The Chairman then declared the Publiio j Hearing closed and reconvened the E Executive Session and the following ;; action took place: i ii APPEAL NO. 992: q MR. KASPRZAK: Move that the case be granted if a ii legal commitment be brought forwardl for parkin for a period of at least,1 twelve (12? Months in a written ;I agreement. ' ii 11 i� MR. MARTIN: Second. j FINDINGS OF FACT: 1) The testimony showed that a har4 I ship applied to the property ins; relation to the initial invest- vent, the written down invest- ment, the cost of borrowing, the! I' cost of reconversion to recon- j struct three (3) dwelling units 2) Consistent with the original grant of variance which found I! i! i is i i !i that a Ski Shop would not be j injurious to the neighborhood, we find that the proposed use limited by the conditions attach�d to this variance will be no morel; serious an incursion of the resit dential neighborhood. VOTE: YES 6 NO - 0 i MR. KASPRZAK: I move that the existing rules u and regulations of this Board be adopted as valid for the yeatl� j 1973. , THE OAR; I second that. � All in favor... ,Yes So moved. li ;� le �I �I it it i it It ii i ii �I !i i !i u I,I 'I i 1 i I I;• :I I, I !I I� Ij i. .i C E R T I F I C A T 1 0 N j I DARLEEN F. LISK, DO CERTIFY that I took the minutes of the Board of Zoning Appeals, City of Ithaca, in the mat- ters of Appeal No. 992, on January 8, 1973 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 minute of the meeting and executive session of the Board of Zoning Appeals, City of Ithaca, on the above date, and the whaleit It thereof. j! l Dar leen F. L sk Stenographer itd i Qwti�.e w i fl �Co.�o�Expi� 30,0'7 '! II I, I II it I� 'I r I I I i! I i! , it i'