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Zoning Board Minutes 04/15/2002
ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2002
 
Members Present: Mr. Hare, Ms. Marteney, Mr. Temple, Mr. Westlake, Mr. Rejman
 
Members Absent: Mr. Darrow, Mr. Gentile
                            
Staff Present: Mr. Moore, Mr. Leone, Ms. Hussey
                                     
APPLICATION APPROVED: 62 Owasco Street
                  
Mr. Rejman: Good evening, this is the Zoning Board of Appeals.  Tonight we have one item: 62 Owasco Street
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62 Owasco Street, C-1 district, area variance for signs.  Twin Oaks Properties.
 
Mr. Rejman: 62 Owasco Street, are you here please?  State your name for the record. 
 
Mr. O’Neill: My name is Mike O’Neill, I am with American Group One and we are representing my client, Kinney Drugs and we want to respectfully request a variance for a couple of signs at the Owasco Plaza.  I have a copy for Lydia that she can color.  (Everyone laughs). 
 
We are actually putting up three signs.  One sign is permitted, that would be the drive-thru pharmacy sign that would be located on Walnut Street.  Actually we do have a permit for that particular sign. What occurs in the C-1 zoning district in the City is it allows 2 square feet of sign per lineal foot of frontage which is the same as C-3, except that C-1 has a maximum size of 50 square feet.  The sign that is in the package that we presented will be on the front of the store is actually 58 square feet, but if you measure it according to the letter of the zoning requirements it is 72 square feet and that is because the “K” is so big.  So we are asking for a variance for that particular sign as I said it is actually 58 square feet, but the Zoning Ordinance limits us in C-1 to 50 square feet, but that is not measuring the “K” it is actually 72.5 square feet. 
 
The second sign we would like to install and I will pass these out.  Essentially the pylon sign is an existing non-conforming sign, we asking basically for two variances; one is the height of the sign as it currently exists and we would like to put back as you see in your package, basically three signs, one that says Kinney Pharmacy, one that says reader board sign One Hour Drive-Thru sign, I believe that is in your packet.  So again the pylon sign, the pylon sign exists currently says True Value Plaza, we would like to change that to Kinney Pharmacy and we would like to add a second sign so basically what we are putting back is less than what is there in terms of square footage.  So basically we are asking on that sign, there are two variances one for the height of the sign as it currently exists and the second is for the square footage of the sign.  I believe we are limited to 100 square feet I think in C-1 for the pylon sign.
 
Mr. Moore: Usually yes, I would have to look that up.
 
Mr. O’Neill: So essentially we are putting up three signs one sign on the Walnut Street side is the Drive-Thru Pharmacy is less than 50 square feet and we do have a permit for that.  Actually that sign is smaller than the beer on the front of Jim Moore’s tee shirt.   The sign on the entrance that you see to Kinney Pharmacy again it is the second sign we need a variance for that sign as it is actually 58 square feet we are limited to 50 square feet by the Zoning Ordinance and if you measured the highest letter it comes to 72.5 square feet on that particular sign.  The existing pylon sign again that says True Value Plaza, we would like to change that to Kinney Pharmacy and keep everything basically as it is.
 
Mr. Rejman: Questions from the Board at this point?
 
Mr. Hare: I have a question about the square footage.  You said it is going to be more than what you thought, is that more than what is listed down here, 8 square feet more then what had originally been listed?  Down here asking for 341 square feet, but you said when you measured it _ it came out more.
 
Mr. O’Neill: I am sorry, that is referenced to the front sign to the building that is actually 58 square feet the way we measured it. 
 
Mr. Hare: So you are asking for a variance of 341 square feet?
 
Mr. O’Neill: Yes. 
 
Mr. Rejman: Any other questions from the Board?   OK, hearing none we will close the public portion and discuss amongst ourselves and come to an agreement.
 
Mr. O’Neill: Thank you and thank you for everyone coming in.
 
Mr. Rejman: Discussions, comments, concerns.
 
Ms. Marteney: Replicating what was there, not changing the look of the neighborhood, in fact I think it will clean it up a bit. 
 
Mr. Rejman: I think it will.  You are right it is just extending what is already there the use of it.
 
Mr. Moore: Next month in Planning we are visiting the C-1.  C-1 has got to be changed.   C-3 you are allowed unlimited signs for the frontage and two signs per use.  For some reason C-1 got hooked with C-4 and C-5.  C-4 is South Street right past City Hall and C-5 is North Street.  Those should be limited to 50 square feet.  But you have other places like State Street, by the way there probably will be another Kinney Drugs going in there too.  We are going to change this section because this really doesn’t make any sense to have restrictions on a C-1 because there is a lot of business in C-1 we feel we made a mistake and it should be changed.
 
Mr. Rejman: Good input Jim, thank you.  Any one wish to make a motion?
 
Mr. Temple: I would like to make a motion Mr. Chairman, that we grant an area variance of 341 square feet, also an area variance for one sign and also an area variance of 19 feet in height of the pole sign and we grant that to the property located at 62 Owasco Street, owned by Hart, Meath, LLC a/k/a Twin Oaks Properties.
 
Mr. Hare: I’ll second that.
 
VOTING IN F AVOR: Mr. Hare, Ms. Marteney, Mr. Temple, Mr. Westlake, Mr. Rejman
 
Mr. Rejman: Application has been approved.  See Mr. Moore in the morning for any permits that you need.
 
Mr. O’Neill: Thank you to the Board for coming in on a special occasion and we will probably be here in another month for another sign at State and Seymour.  Thank you.
 
Mr. Rejman: Very good.  Any housekeeping?
 
Meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m. Next meeting April 29th.