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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-BZA-1970-11-02 BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA, CITY HALL, ITHACA, NEW YORK November 2, 1970 APPEALS NOS. 8890 899 & 900 PRESENT: JOHN BENTKOWSKI, Chairmam ANTHONY PET ITT I JAMES ROGAN RALPH P. BALD IN I BEVERLY MARTIN FRANK AIA EDISON JONES, Building Commissioner & Secretary THE CHAIR: Opens meeting, listing cases to be heard, with the infor- mation that he himself, will present Case No. 900, with- drawing as Chairman and appointing Beverly Martin Chairman Pro Tem in Case No. 900. THE CHAIR: The first case to be heard is the Appeal of Bruce Wilson, Case # 889, of 754 South Crouse Avenue, Syracuse, New York, for a special permit for sign at 405407 College Avenue, Ithaca, New York, under provisions of Section 7, Column 4, in a B.•2 district. Who is appearing'! GEORGE HOVANEC: I am here for Bruce Wilson. Bruce is interested in getting a sign a little larger, 125 square feet, to be exact. That would be two signs combined. It goes on a store front up at 405 College Avenue and is to be illuminated. MR. ALO: Why such a big sign? A. That isn't large. MR. ROGAN: Would the sign hang out over the sidewalk? A. One sign Would, about 50 square feet. The other sign would be 75 square feet. DR. BALDINI: Is there any sign there now? A. No, it is a new business, moving in where the Quick Beauty Shop was. This is a rough sketch of the proposed sign. (Indicating) There are no signs there now. This store is for a new discount record shop. The large sign is a facia sign the whole front of the building. Both signs would have a plastic front with plastic cut out letters, both illuminated. -2- DR. BALDINI: Would the sign or signs be illuminated all night long? A. I wouldn't say so. It might be open until midnight. Certain days they do keep them open quite late. Usually they are regular store hours. DR. BALDINI: Is there some place for a time clock? A. Yes, there would definitely be a time clock on this. THE CHAIR: Would both signs be illuminated? A. Yes, both illuminated, with interior lighting. THE CHAIR: Is there any one here to speak'An favor of this special permit? None. Is there any one here who wishes to speak in opposition to this application? None. THE CHAIR: Thank you. "3- THE CHAIR: The next case is No. 899 the Appeal of Marianna Lucente, 343 Spencer Road, Ithaeq, New York, for an interpretation and an exception at the above address under Provisions, Section 7, Column 8, in a B-4 district. Who is appearing? WILLIAM SULLIVAN: I am Bill Sullivan and I am here for an oppor. tunity to try to point out a couple of problems with a piece of land lying between Spencer Road aid the Elmira Road. This land was bought by Frabk and Marianna Lucente back in 1964 and owned by the family since then, and Frank being since deceased. At present Rocco Lucente is using the land under an agreement drafted and approved by the City Attorney under a lease arrangement with Mr. William Card, who is the owner of certain frontage at 217-219 Elmira Road, which was the site of a former gas station just south of the Dairy Queen. Rocco has rented a portion of frontage under an agreement attached to the petition tonight. In the source of the hearing I think the evidence will show that the piece of land in question is landlocked with the exception of a 15 foot right of way which runs to the Elmira Road. It does front on Spencer Road; however, the Zoning map shows a part of Spencer Road which has a 50 foot spread, zoned residential, used by another mamber of the family pursuant to a non-conforming use. I do not know that it is available to Rocco Luenete to use this non- conforming use. I call Rocco Lucente. ROCCO LUCENTE, having first been duly sworn, answered as follows: By Mr. Sullivan: Q. What is your full name? A. Rocco P. Luoente. Q. And your address? A. 506 Warren Road. Q. Do you have any interest in Lucente Holdings, Icnorporated? A. Yes, President. Q. Directing your attention to late this summar, in August, did you have occasion to have discussions through myself, with the City Attorney? A. Yes. Q. As a result was a certain agreement entered into between you and the City of Ithaca. A. Yes, there was. Appellant's Exhibit A, marked for identification, con- sisting of three pages p!f Y Q. Is this the agreement you entered into? A. Yes. i Q. Who operates the business at 219-221 Elmira Road? A. Empire Mobile Home Sales, a division of Lucente Holdings. This is sales of travel trailers and mobile homes. Q. When was the business established? A. The preliminary work, the latter part of July, but we opened the doors in August to the public. I Q. Have you entered into an agreement with any persons regarding the fronts e on Elmira Read? A. Yes, with Bill Card. Q. What is the nature of that agreement? A. Leasing an additional 25 feet of land to make a total of 40 feet. Q. Where did the other frontage come from? A. We already have a 15 feet right of way. Q. Aside from that is there any other access from this property to the Elmira Road? A. No. Q. Does this property front on Spencer Road? A. Yes. Q. Is there a business establishmment run there now? A. Part of it, Empire Building Supplies, Q. When was that established? A. About 1952 or 1953. Q. Is that a non-conforming use now? A. Yes. THE CHAIR: You will have a total of 40 feet fronting on Elmira Road? A. At the present time I do have a total of 40 feet from the north to the south boundary. It doesn't work out directly from Kuhary's line. Q. Do you know off-hand how far back across Card's land you have to go? A. It must be 40 or 50 feet. Q. 60 or 70 feet maybe? A. possibly, but not too far. k� A I -5- 0 9 MARIANNA LUCENTE, having first been duly sworn, answered as follows: By Mr. Sullivan: Appellant's Exhibit B. consisting of three pages, marked for identification I Appellant's Exhibit C, consisting of four pages, marked for identification Q. Will you state your name? A. Marianna Lucente. Q. Where do you live? A. 343 spencer Road. Q. Do you recall when you bought that property? A. Yes. Q. When was that? A. 19649 I think. Q. Back in 1964 do you remember whom you bought it from? A. Mr. Marsden, the one that owned the house. Q. The house you are talking about, where is that located? A. On the site of Empire Building Supplies. Q. Do you know whether before you bought that property, Mr. Marsden bought it from some one? A. I don't know. Q. Are you familiar with your chain of title or not? A. No, I am not. Mr. Sullivan: Offer Exhibit A in evidence. THE CHAIR: Received. Mr. Sullivan: Exhibit B is the right of way given to Herbert Marsden by Wayne Edwards who was a predecessor in time to Mr. Card. He gave the right of way to Mariden in 1962 across the property. Exhibit C is a second right of way given by Mr. Edwards to Mr. Marsden over the same piece of property. There was a problem with a drainage ditch there and this second right of way was given so as to have right of ingre s and egress to the property now owned by Mrs. Lucente. Q. Mrs. Lucente, do you lease certain of this property fie Lucente Holdings, Incorporated? A. Yes. Q. For the use of their trailer park? A. Yes. Mr. Sullivan: Mr. Card is the owner of property along the Elmira Road. In the course of the hearing here I think the evidence has shown that this parcel is a landlocked parcel and as you will determine by reading the petition, the reason we are here tonight is to ask one of two things; to determine whether or not Section 7, Column 8 apply to a landlocked piece of property. You will recall Rocco indicated that the property had frontage along Spencer Road but that it was residential property and had a non-oonforming use. The property along Elmira Road belonging to Mrs. Lucente has no frontage with the exception of 15 foot right of way. According to Exhibit B these premises were conveyed for a right of way for ingress and egress over and above the aforle- said right of way. Now the premises formerly of Herbert Marsden are owned by Mrs. Luoente and she leases this to Empire Building Supplies. If this body says you have to ' have a 40 foot right of way on Elmira Road is to say to Mrs. Lueente and in turn to Mr. Lucente that you can not use this without a lease arrangement. The Planning Board said, "Use of property for frontage concerning rights of way do not satisfy the frontage requirement." There were negotiations between the City Attorney and myself and Mr. Weinstein said this was apermissible use. It is the positiDn of Mrs. Lucente to require such an agreement is something that is not necessary because the property is land looked, because you can not get to it either from Elmira Road or Spencer Road. If this Board holds tonight that you de nee a 40 foot frontage to operate from Elmira Road, then the appeal petition indicates that we have asked for an excep- tion to this requirement, which basically is on the same grounds, namely, the landlocked piece of property to prevent Mrs. Lucent* leasing this property is depriving her from use of this property. One other thing I would indicate is that at the Planning Beard meeting a spokesman for Spencer Road Civic Association appeared and spoke in favor of-this proposal, to use the Elmira Road access without going thro h the Spencer Road property. The Spencer Road Association i very happy to have the access come through the front from KUdra Read and would like to divert the traffic from Span r Read. This seems a hardship created on Mrs. Lucente over law which does not deal with this problem.,and I think it warrants yem consideration for a ruling to that law. THE CHAIR: Is there any one else to speak in favor of granting this? None. • Anyone to speak in opposition? None. i -7- MISS MARTIN: As I understandq Mr. Card has given a right of way twice to Mr. Marsden? THE CHAIR: No, Marsden conveyed the permit for the right of way. Mr. Sullivan: When the property was sold to the Lucentes part of this sale included the original right of way. So what Mrs. Lucente owns today includes this 15 feet and she has clew title to it. R I i i -8- MR. BBNTKOWSKI: Case No. 900 involves myself as the appellant and here Beverly Martin takes over,and I also will be a non- participant in any deliberations. BEVERLY MARTIN: The third case tonight is No. 900, the Appeal of J. D. Gallagher Company, Incorporated and John Bentkowski, property manager, 227 Linden Avenue, Ithaca, Now York, for a variance for use as offices and technical school at above address under provisions of Section 7, Column 2, in an R-3 district. JOHN BENTKOWSKI: My name is John Bentkowski and I reside at 108 Treva Avenu , Ithaca, and I an presently employed as Property Manager for the J. D. Gallagher Company. In the course of my employ- ment, this company had a piece of real estate for sale or for rent at 227 Linden Avenue. I recall it was the Linden Hills Apartment Development, and before that the Linden Avenue Supply Company. I looked to see what could be done to rehabilitate this Aand and building and advertised for possible tenants. The only way to put a tenant into tbic; building without going into a large expense, was by par- titioning off the building and repairing it. We are after a permit to repair the building, replace the windows, cement blocking the windows in the back of the building, which are always being damaged by ice and snow, provide lighting, repairing the upper door frames, all the windows throughout the building where they are very large, in effect, show place type windows. These will be replace where feasible with glass and where not feasible, with glass brick. The front doors entering the building both will be replaced by overhead doors. We have at the present time a contract to replace these with the OverHead Door of Cort .land, New York, with also one side door. The windows will be replaced by plywood to prevent further breakage. In looking for possible tenants we tried to do this as economically as possible and at the same time fully utilize the building and provide a source of revenue for the presext owner. The ad we ran brought in innumerable responses an we had to screen out the type of individual which would be a detriment to the neibhborhood; a discoteque and gift sho are taboo as this is an area which would not lend itself to large volume of traffic and cars and we also thought of possible noises. This would have to be of such a space that you could rent it at a reasonable rate. The three possible tenants we got very strong responses from were from a print shop, which woudl specialize in quality printLng that would be similar to old press printing where the page would be manuscript type, and repairing books. Another printing convern that showed a keen interest was an offset -9- printing shop. We have had a request from a film processtig laboratory to process video film for New York State and also 15 m-m. for sport events. We have had a request -for possibly WVBR. Because of the great expense involved in getting into any kind of enterprise which would encompass a large expenditure of capital would be prohibitive and ob viously a radio studio would demand this. At present we are still negotiating as to this possibility. I doubt very much that capitalization arrangements can be worked out in the near future at the high cost of interest. The company is very reluctant to putting large sums of money into the venture. What we propose is offices and a technical soboo . We expect sufficient revenue from the leasing to renovate at a minimum coat, re-roof the building, patch up the ballas do the necessary repair work. In our seeking of a possible tenant, one of the responses was from a group of students interested in forming the Community Automobile School. At that time there were four students who proposed a type of service garage to teach people some of the basic fundamen- tals in the sense of car repairs, what to expect when you go into a garage and a man says, "You need to have your radiator inspected", or "You have to have a brake job", or for minor repairs. They use the repaieting of the oars as a teaching device, not as a repair shop per se. We tried to arrive at a reasonable rent and these students were be- ginning the operation and were hard3pressed for funds. solution was, "You can work the rent off by helping us re- habilitate the building, clean it out, the glass from aroxtid the building, remove old doors, dirt, roofing, broken win- dows and doors and generally rehabilitate the building." We would provide partitioning of a certain area for the garage, and lighting and heating. After they were estab- lished, we would start asking them for a minimal rent. We would attempt to keep the downstairs area for a parking ar3a for the tenants of the building, just a section downstairs to be wholly used for tenanta, with additional parking on the second floor also for tenants, in this case, delivery tructs or their own individual cars. Major construction, as far as the second floor, would be moving a lavatory facility. At the present time there is none; they were there but the were damaged. We closed that off and will provide these facilities on the second fl000r for the tenants, sanitary facilities. There will be a minimum fore-proof partition surrounding the lavatory and stairway area per the Fire Code, a cinder block partition, also between the majority of the sections. Appellant's Exhibit 1 marked for identification, being schematic drawing of the second floor area i� d �f -10- I MR. BENTKOWSKI: This is a schematic of the proposed Community Auto School a two-bay area diwbstairs, the lower floor. That is the extant of the partitioning on the lower floor. Again on the south and there will be two bays. And at the present time the company is reluctant to go ahead with this. DR. BAUM: How long would it be for the revenues to come flowing in? A. We have just begun cleaning the place up. The constracti n will start with the granting of the permit. We expect the partitions to be finished by December 1st, including the roofing and heating, ready for occupancy. BEVERLY MARTIN: How do these cars get there? A. There is a ramp. Q. We had this building before and there was a problem with the neighbor being so close. A. We intend to cement block or glass block it off, these windows. The building will be repaired on that south side of the building. Q. What will happen to the parking? A. Well, we seethat the Community Auto School will bring in probably four cars. Most of the people who would go the do not know anything about an autoafsbile and want to lea what makes the thing work. Det. BALDINI: You keep talking about a "school". Let's say I have a problem with my car. If I bring it in, they will teach me on my car? A. Yes. Q. They would teach me about oil changes and things like that? r A. They do not necessarily have to use your car. They are going to have classes. Q. I do not see any place for a class room here; for example, where to give a lecture type thing. A "garage" seems a more apt description of it. A. Two of the boys are here and I think they can tell you. MR. ROGAN: They aren't doing any work on repairing cars? A. Yes, but only from the standpoint of an instructional tyTe of thing. They will show you how to do it and you would be working with them. You would have to purchase the parts yourself or oug . i! -11- BEVERLY MARTIN: Is there a precedent for this kind of school? A. As far as I know, no. DR. BALDINI: How about the State Education Department? I do not know about this particular type of work but I do know in my profession there is a desire for a school of Dental Assis- ting. There is an attempt afoot. Even though they do have fine credentials they were not looked on with much fai or. Bryan Stratton is a fine company but the Department was con- corned with this. I wonder, if any institution wishes to call itself a bona fide school, if it doesn't have to be registered with the State Education Department? MR, BENTKOWSHI: I envision it as a self help type of school. I was trying to secure tenants for this building and here is a group of individuals who want to give us a hand as far as repairing the building. It is a matter of economics. DR. BALDINI: But is this strictly a school? I could set up a school of dental assistance. Am I a school then? A. You can call yourself that but your accreditation would be another matter. I would not pre-judge it. DR. BALDINI: Well, I might be helping them by keeping them out of trouble ! with the State Education Department. I think all schools I should be regulated. I am just raising the question of using the word "school". I realize that this certainly is not , going to give any academic credit. A. It's a matter of semantics. M. BALDINI: It is not an academic thing. THE CHAIR: Is there any one who wishes to speak in favor of this appeal? ROBERT OLM: 5 Burns Road, Brooktondale. I stood up because I wanted people to be clear on the idea of the school. I am speakirg in behalf of this appeal, and I do stress the point that tie name "school" is chosen because it is an education to a pe son because that was the basic idea of the school, to educate people to know what they are getting, to be able to spot certain service which could be done to cars and they should be advised. I MR. ROGAN: Have your mechanics been to school for any type of instruc tions they have received? A. Not other than the fact most of us are engineering student at Cornell. This is based more or less on personal experi. once. Nothing is going to be major, simple tune-ups, oil • changes, brake checking, and so forth. All Saturdays we do I hold class. Our first class was on winterizing the car, battery and anti-freeze. 4 I w�� f -12- MR. ROGAN: Do you have heat? A. Not as yet. MR. ALO: Who conies to this class? A. The majority have been students and high school kids and quite a few girls and a couple of professors from India are coming in to learn something about the basic needs of the car. This is definitely not a student oriented thing Q. Would you have an inventory of things people could purchase? A. No, nothing more than anti-freeze. Bat most of us working there have a large amount of tools and these are made av t- able. Parts we just buy at the store at discount. MR. ROGANI Do you sell them at discount price? A. No, we are making a profit to pay our rent and we have to charge a New York State sales tax. We don't do any body work. Four or five of us started this and about twenty- five are coming to our meetings. THE CHAIR: Is there any one. else who wishes to speak in favor? None. Is there any one who wishes to speak in opposition to this ? PAUL ST93DER: 935 East State Street. My wife and I own the premises directly south on the same side of the street of the prolxrty we are discussing here. I think all of us have an interest in rehabilitating that property but I have some reservations. First, relative to the noise: our property is ten feet from the wall of the building and our wall ten feet from that building. There is no soundproofing whatsoever and any noise would be readily audible in our property. Seo d, I am concerned about what hours they would function there Third, about whether the-,plane is going to be rehabilitat4d. I realize the intentions are good but realistically speak ng, will the place be rehabilitated? FbArth, the parking situa- tion is most on my mind. We provide parking places for t oars. You will see, if any one in the vicinity had visit rag they would have no possible place to park. I can not hel but feel that this will hamper this situation. Anything that comes in should provide parking, and these four t s are mfr points. EUGENE PAINTER: 217 Utica Street. I have had many problems with that apart. ment development. It never was that. At one time Mr. i Anderson said he wanted to develop it into apartments and 6 the Zoning Board turned him down and then he wasn't into ested. I am one hundred percent for developing it, to gel, something in there that doesn't bother the rest of the neighbors. It originally was built for a storage garage and on the permit that is all that could go there. When -13— we asked for the permit it had disappeared out of City Hall and no longer existed. Then it moved into a storage and repair garage and it bothered the neighbors, working all hours of the night, parked all over the sidewalk. You had to walk down the road. It was just something that was not desirable. There have been several Owwould-be" garages in there and we never had one that went; we had to come to City Hall and ask for a relief from that. I would not be in favor at all of any garage because you will get into trouble with no parking places. It is a one-way street an very narrow. To be bringing in twenty-five fellows could mean twenty-five cars and you could not park them. The rasp on the north side, as I understand, it doesn't belong tot e garage anyhow; it belongs to Mr. Howser next door and Mr. Dean leased that land and put that ramp on it and I believe the lease runs out within a year or two, and the last time I talked with Mr. Howser he wasn't going to renew the leas after that. I am one hundred percent in seeing something go in there that would be good for the community. The building is there; there isn't an inch of land that belong to them on the outside. They have built over their line and I think now is the time before we get anything also in there that is going to disrupt the neighborhood that you act. I lost tenants up there every month when that laundry came in; they had a steam furnace in there that you could hear all the way up on Harvard Place. That was used for heat and also for the laundry. I would ask that anything to do with autos be out. The rest sounds good. I bought some of the glass bricks myself and put in there as they were driving my tenants out. I don't think at this point anything to do with cars should go in there. There is no place for a oar, no parking, just nothing. The rest soundg good and I would be in favor of seeing it go in. Nothing has ever been done to that building since it was built except Ripley tore the front wall out so you could get in to the gas pump under the building. I know what it is; I lived with it add, raised a family there; I have now turned the property over but I still have an interest in it and hope you take a second look before you put anything in the to do with cars. Anywhere you turned would be noise to disturb the tenants. Offices would be fine but I question whether any printing press or anything like that would be loud enough or big enough to bother anybody. I would put my seal on anything to get that property fixed up. East i Hill needs it; the City needs it, but gentlemen, that is n a place to put anything that has anything to do with a garage or a gas station or repair shop because there is just no r om. -14- i BEN BOYNTON: 212 Linden Avenue. Just a few brief points. The rental space is 10,000 square feet approximately. The size of my office with three of us would make about about twenty offices and that would mean about sixty cars and when all employees are parking is a problem in that area. Also, there is surely a possibility of odors from paint, and so forth. If this spot is given a variance for business I ask that other properties in the area be considered for tho same type of thing. I think if you are going in that direction we should go all the way as far as business is concerned. I feel that there are other areas in the City that might be more appropriate for this type of thing in the City. MR, BENTKOWSKI: Mr. Jones, how much space is figured for a ear? A. 180 square feet. MR. BENTKOWSKI: The present garage is allowing the tenants approximately 10,000 square feet for parking by utilizing the garage. Mr. Boynton inferred the fact 'let's not do anything about it. Let it just stand there". For myself as a property manager I look at it as a challenge; that this is an ab- sentee landlord property that we can rehabilitate and put to use. It isn't a matter of making a grandiose scheme; our expenditure is minimal so that we can obtain a func- tional building. The two gentlemen who owned the property next to the Linden Avenue garage question the fact of par g. It is not a one-way street but a two-way. Agai*•we_Lempha- size that we provide more than adequate parking. MR. ROGAN: What are the hours to be open with this garage? MR. BOYNTON: Is it possible to restrict the number of hours? MR. ROGANs I just want to know the hours anticipated. A. Noon time to five and from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. closing on Saturday and 5:00 on weekdays. MR. PAINTER: I think this is a non-conforming use. MR. STEIGER: There may be 10,000 square feet of parking but the people who come there to do business will not readily drive into the garage to park. They will park somewhwere else. MR. BOYNTON: You mentioned 180 square feet for cars. That means the actual parking? MR. JONES: Depending on where you park. You might have to move three or four cars to get one out. MR. PAINTER: The only way you can get cars out is with jacks. SE r15r MR. ALO: Are you going to pump any gas? A. No, sir. There are two large overhead doors giving acces to the ground floor where there will be parking to give use access. As far as noise level the inside will be partitioned off by separate walls so it will be a buil within a building to eliminate noise. MR. EMKOWSKI: It has to be sheet rock. d 4 NI i, z EXECUTIVE SESSION, BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, CITY OF ITHACA, NOVEMBER 29 1970 CASE NO. 889: BALDINI: Move that the application be granted as to the one sign as overhanging the sidewalk with a total of 48 square feet (a two-sided sign 4 x 6) because it is only 23 square feet over the maximum allowed, as contrasted with the 50 square feet overage on the 75 square feet sign. ROGAN: Second. VOTE: Yes - 6 No - 0 N--Y-N-N--N-N---N-M--N----N-/-�-N-NN-N----N----N-N------NN CASE NO. 899: The consensus of the Board is that this Board can not become a third party in any lease agreement; that this matter is not a proper matter to be brought before this Board. The Board feels that the Department of Public Works should investigate the problems of development and provisions of access and service to such properties. -------------------------------------------------------------------N--N--- CASE NO. 900: ROGAN: Move that the application be denied for the following reasons: 1) That parking would be inadequate. 2) That such operation could create noise. 3) That there is considerable objection by neighbors. PETITTI: second. VOTE: Yes - 5 No - 0 Application denied. -------------------------------NN--------------------------------NN-N Yp I Next meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals: December 8, 1970 F, i I