ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2005
Members Present: Ms. Marteney, Mr. Baroody , Mr. Darrow, Ms. Brower, Mr. Westlake, Ms. Aubin, Mr. Rejman
Staff Present: Mr. Leone, Mr. Hicks, Mr. Selvek
APPLICATIONS APPROVED: 210 Osborne Street, 20 Mattie Street, 180 North Street
Mr. Rejman: Good evening, this is the Zoning Board of Appeals. Tonight we have the following items: 210 Osborne Street, 20 Mattie Street, 180 North Street. Before we start that, the minutes of the last meeting, are there any corrections? No corrections? Stand as printed.
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210 Osborne Street, R-1, Use variance for consumer service business (hair styling) at site. Yantch Plaster and Stucco Systems.
Mr. Rejman: 210 Osborne Street, are you here please? Step forward and state your name. Tell us what you would like to do.
Mr. Yantch: Chris Yantch. We have a commercial/industrial building there and we put a beauty salon in, thinking it would fall under it, but it is not in the right zone. So we are asking if we could have that section of the building – a variance for it.
Mr. Rejman: Do you have any additional handouts for us?
Mr. Yantch: Yes.
Mr. Rejman: Good. Let’s go through what you gave us. (Board reviews handouts). Questions from the board?
Mr. Darrow: Last meeting did we adopt a short form SEQRA review or didn’t we do that yet? We have to do one for a use variance.
Mr. Selvek: It was not done.
Mr. Westlake: We just tabled it.
Mr. Rejman: The information you gave us tonight helps us a lot. It touches on the items that we need to touch on for a use variance. Every is fine? Looks good to me. Let me ask the question. Is there anyone wishing to speak for or against this application? Hearing none, we will come back.
Mr. Westlake: We do the SEQRA first, correct?
Mr. Rejman: Yes. Close the public portion and have a seat.
Mr. Darrow: I feel the important part is where now he shows where he is losing $1280 a month in rent from other tenants and I can understand it is a larger building, the overhead operating costs must be astronomical up there and every little bit helps and the rent from the hair salon can help.
Mr. Rejman: It does have unique, he speaks to the unique floor plan, and it is not a general run of the mill building.
Mr. Westlake: Actually less traffic than what was there before to now. It is a win-win.
Mr. Rejman: Steve, can you help us with the short form SEQRA?
Mr. Selvek: What I passed out was the short EAF for the SEQRA review itself. The first page is just a transcription of the Part I as submitted by the applicant. On page 2 and 3, I will go through this real quickly with regard to the potential impacts.
C1. Existing air quality, surface or groundwater quality or quantity, noise levels, existing traffic patterns, solid waste production or disposal, the potential for erosion, drainage or flooding problems?
No impact. The proposed action is a continuation/adaptation of a pre-existing, non-conforming use and will not require new construction. Therefore it can be assumed that there will not be any additional environmental impacts.
C2. Aesthetic, agricultural, archaeological, historic, community or neighborhood character, or other natural/cultural resources?
No impact. Given that the proposed use will occur within a portion of an existing building, there is no anticipated impact to the aesthetics or character of the neighborhood.
C3. Vegetation or fauna, wildlife species, significant habitats, or threatened or endangered species?
No impact. The site is a previously developed, light industrial/warehouse site situated within a developed urban area. It does not contain any significant habitats.
C4. A community’s existing plans or goals as officially adopted, or a change in the use or intensity of use of land or other natural resources?
No impact. Although this site is zoned residential, the existing structures on the site are not appropriate for residential use. These structures have been and continue to be used for non-residential purposes. The Zoning Board can therefore make a reasonable determination that the proposed use variance will not change the intensity of use or impact other natural resources.
C5. Growth, subsequent development, or related activities, which are likely to be induced by proposed action?
No impact. It can be considered a stand-alone action with regard to cumulative or future impacts. Other uses variances for this site that may come before the Zoning Board will each be considered based on its own merits.
C6. Long term, short term, cumulative or other effects not identified in items 1-5 above.
No impact.
C7. Other impacts?
No impact.
With that, staff recommends a Negative Declaration. Any questions?
Mr. Darrow: I would like to put forward a motion that we accept a Negative Declaration of SEQRA for 210 Osborne Street.
Mr. Westlake: I second that motion.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Ms. Marteney, Mr. Baroody, Mr. Darrow, Ms. Brower, Mr. Westlake, Ms. Aubin, Mr. Rejman
Mr. Darrow: I would like to put a motion on the floor that we grant Yantch Plaster & Stucco Systems LLC of 210 Osborne Street, a use variance for the purpose of creating a hair salon as depicted in plans submitted with application.
Ms. Marteney: Do we want to say hair salon or Consumer Service Business?
Mr. Darrow: Let’s amend that for Consumer Services to allow for the use of a hair salon.
Mr. Baroody: I second that.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Ms. Marteney, Mr. Baroody, Mr. Darrow, Ms. Brower, Mr. Westlake, Ms. Aubin, Mr. Rejman
Mr. Rejman: Application has been approved. Good luck.
Steve, could you have Chris sign this so it can be part of the record. Thank you.
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20 Mattie Street, R1A. Use variance to change existing use of retail shopping establishment to a consumer services establishment. Area variance for 9 parking spaces. Mark Locastro.
Mr. Rejman: 20 Mattie Street, are you here? Yes, come down. State your name for the record.
Mr. Locastro: Mark Locastro.
Mr. Rejman: OK, Mark, what would you like to do there?
Mr. Locastro: I am in the process right now of purchasing 20 Mattie Street. Most of you I am sure are familiar what it was use for in the past an ice cream dairy bar/grocery/hardware store. My intentions now are to open it as a sit down ice cream parlor, 1950’s style ice cream parlor. Because the use is obviously different than it was in the past, I was told to come here.
Mr. Rejman: That is why you are here.
Mr. Locastro: That is right.
Mr. Rejman: Do you have any handouts for us?
Mr. Locastro: Yes.
Mr. Rejman: OK.
Mr. Locastro: Here is what I am faced up against. The property has some problems with it. It has been pieced together over the years. I am sure by the looks of it is pieced together that building permits and codes were not followed, so I am stuck with fixing those problems.
The other problem I have is this. The building the way it stands, the way it is laid out, will not pass Health Department standards. The Health Department will not let me conduct business. I found this out, I bumped into Scott King from the Health Department one day and I said how did that get a Health permit, and his comment was, it never had one. In the old days you could go under the Farmers’ Markets Law and get a permit that way or you could get one at the Health Department. But if you are preparing ice cream on site, you need a commissary area, you need bathroom facilities and you need prep areas, which are strict by the Health Department all of which is non-existent in this building the way it is now.
Mr. Rejman: OK.
Mr. Locastro: My intentions are and I have some pictures I would to pass them around also. I will do it however you want to do it.
Mr. Rejman: Go ahead and pass it out now. That would be good.
Mr. Locastro: For the sake of speed, what I will do, I will pass these around and kind of explain them, I will give each member a chance to look at them, while I talk, does that sound ok?
Mr. Rejman: Sure.
Mr. Locastro: OK. My intentions are, the pictures you are looking at here, if you are familiar with the old Pooles’, that is the actual soda bar and fountain area from Pooles’. I took those the other day, that is the way it is actually sitting in the basement of St. Alphonsus Church right now in the cafeteria. They use it as an ice cream social for the students. I approached them on buying that, they will not do that, I don’t blame them, that thing belongs in a museum, but they did let me take pictures and I plan on duplicating that as close as I can. The other pictures you are looking at and I have part of the aerial view, some of the pictures here that I have. Parking is an issue. They brought it up at Code Enforcement and I have pictures in
there, couple of them with four cars parked in front and if you look at the one picture, there is a little child on each end, those are my kids, they are actually standing on the property line. This property is bigger than it looks. So I have plenty of spots, I have four already build right now, because that is one of the things you are going to be questioning me on, so I figured I would address it right now.
In your packet, when I prepared this little presentation here, I know one of your concerns as being a board member is how is the neighborhood going to be affected by this. How are they going to take this change? So what I did, I spent four to five nights the last couple weeks and I surveyed and I had a petition presented to everybody on Mattie Street, from one end to the other and I think I probably hit between 90% and 95% of the residents, because I kept going back and knocking. Some people are just away on vacation and I couldn’t get a 100%. They all signed that petition that you have in front of you, they all were in favor of it and their responses were very positive. They want the store opened up; they think this is a great idea what I plan on doing with it. I
have a couple of the residents here behind me that actually showed up tonight to speak in favor if you want to hear from them also. At this point, I have kind of jumped around a little bit, if you want to direct any questions to me, I will be glad to answer them.
Mr. Rejman: I have been sitting on this board about 15 years or so, have we ever seen a petition with these kind of signatures on it before? There is a lot of work in this. A lot of work in this whole presentation.
Mr. Locastro: I could have had a lot more signatures. Do you want signatures from people on Grant Avenue? I would say no, they would not be affected by this change.
Mr. Rejman: So we are dealing with two items here, a use and the parking issue?
Mr. Darrow: That is what I am trying to decipher right now. I only see a use variance in my packet, is there some supplemental on parking spaces?
Ms. Aubin: There is an area variance.
Mr. Locastro: I was called back in to amend my application because
Mr. Darrow: Yes, it is supplemental on the area.
Mr. Baroody: You are putting up an addition but you are also making the building smaller as well.
Mr. Locastro: That is my plan, yes. I talked about how the building is pieced together
Mr. Rejman: Yes, we have this picture here; this is what we are talking about.
Mr. Locastro: Yes. Looking at that picture on the left that is a garage, it was connected to the store and has a couple walk in coolers in there, bit is piece mealed together and it is a real problem with architecture for one. I propose when I keep upgrading this property my intentions are once I get running is to actually tear that down and rebuild it smaller. I can actually rebuild that area smaller and have more use of my space because of the way it was pieced together, so much unusable area because of supporting walls inside there because it wasn’t build to code.
Mr. Rejman: What percentage of the building would you say you will be using total for the business.
Mr. Locastro: As you are looking at it now, not knocking the existing garage down.
Mr. Rejman: Discount the garage out back, just the building what percent would you be using?
Mr. Locastro: I would guess, definitely less than 50% because I would only use one-half of the store anyways and that area is going to be cut up with commissary area, the soda fountain bar area that you saw, refrigerators, my wife is behind me, we also plans on making ice cream cakes, so we are going to have to have a freezer to display the cakes.
Mr. Rejman: Fully operational, how many patrons would be in at one time do you think?
Mr. Locastro: You mean fully packed? Capacity wise?
Mr. Rejman: Yes. Seating.
Mr. Locastro: We haven’t actually calculated that yet. We are estimating, I have actually talked with Officer Weed on that; we set it at maximum capacity right now, maybe 30 people.
Mr. Rejman: All right. Considering the nature of the business all 30 people are not going to drive a car, maybe a bunch of kids packed into one.
Ms. Marteney: People come together.
Mr. Darrow: I think it is a neighborhood sort of walk to
Mr. Rejman: A lot of walk-ins after it gets started.
Mr. Darrow: It is a neighborhood store; it is not like we are talking about a main route.
Ms. Marteney: Other services too, like water
Mr. Locastro: Being a police officer, I can’t have a liquor license, so I am not selling beer, I am not selling cigarettes, I am not selling soda or chips or that type of deal, bread or eggs. Some of the neighbors did ask that we at least carry milk, which would not be difficult to do because I need milk products on board to do what I am doing anyways, so as a convenience to the neighborhood I might do that.
Mr. Rejman: As you move forward and as you shrink this garage, will there be opportunities to have parking out back, if needed?
Mr. Locastro: Right now as you are looking at that diagram, I have a bigger one here, right here, this is very, very big. The property line is way over here (points to diagram), we have probably 15 to 20 feet, so there is already plenty of space to come through here with a car, there is also plenty of space on the other side, this use to be a drive around driveway here.
Mr. Rejman: OK. Looks likes we have 9 spaces. I am confused; can you help us on the parking or no?
Officer Weed: When we talked the Chief and I went to the place of business with him, we figured the driveways on both sides and the area he has in back, if his employees parked out back, he would have more than enough spaces.
Mr. Rejman: Right, that is what I am thinking. So do we still need the variance to be on the safe side?
Officer Weed: Didn’t Planning call for a variance for parking?
Mr. Selvek: The reason for the variance, although the spaces in the rear would be used for employee parking, they are not available for customer parking and because of the egress and ingress out of the site makes that area difficult for customer parking, therefore consideration for the 9 parking spots were the spots that were available in the front.
Mr. Locastro: They started big, I told them there was no way I could do 9 spots, I think it was to be on the safe side.
Mr. Rejman: OK.
Mr. Darrow: He proved parking for 4 cars on the street.
Mr. Rejman: That’s right, more than that.
Mr. Locastro: On top of the diagram, I took the picture with the 4 vehicles parked there because then you can see not on top of each other plenty of space and I still am not on the property line.
Something I also want to mention that I forgot to mention, in the back of that petition are letters, I have three letters, from the people directly adjoining my business, I feel those were the three most affected neighbors and they wrote me letters specifically to the board that they are not against this use change. 16, 18 and 22 Mattie Street. I think they are attached to the back of the petition.
Mr. Rejman: Let me ask this, is there any one wishing to speak for or against this application? Yes, come forward please.
Mr. Stiver: My name is Gene Stiver and I reside at 10 Mattie Street, which is just about half a block away from the establishment and I have been there for 31 years. I have been through the Fred Hosford era, the Lynn Hosford era and Charlie Arnold, God rest his soul. I have talked with the neighbors in the area as well as Mark has gone around and all of the people I have talked to up and down Florence, Mattie and Swift and all the streets around all are in favor of him bringing this establishment in here. Knowing Mark, if he is going to do something, it is going to be done correctly, it is going to be a A-#1 establishment, it will be an asset to the community and certainly an asset to our neighborhood. I am solely in favor of it as well as the neighbors that I have talked to.
Thank you.
Mr. Rejman: Good. Thank you very much. Any one else wishing to speak for or against this application?
Ms. Craner: Hi, my name is Sandy Craner and I resident at 90 Hamilton Avenue; I am just around the corner from the proposed business. I haven’t been in the neighborhood for 30 years but we have been there for about 3 years now and I loved to go in there with my son when it was open as the Mattie Street Deli and I think it will be a big asset if they opened back up for the area. I have nieces that come in and they were sad when they couldn’t stop and get their ice cream when we took them out for a walk to the park. It is just what he said exactly, it is character part of the neighborhood and to have something back in the neighborhood in that fashion, I think it will be great for the people that live there and you guys are right, people walk. We don’t drive our car
around the corner, you talk a walk to Mary Street park and you are going come back and get an ice cream, so it is an establishment that a lot of people will walk to.
Mr. Darrow: Does your back property abut this property?
Ms. Craner: There is a green area and then that.
Mr. Darrow: So you are that close?
Ms. Craner: Yes.
Mr. Darrow: Thank you.
Ms. Craner: You’re welcome.
Mr. Rejman: Thank you. Any one else wishing to speak for or against this application?
Ms. Oropallo: My name is Betty Oropallo and I have lived at 48 Mattie Street for 11 years. During those years I have never had any reason to have a problem or incident at Mattie Street Dairy Store and that includes parking. They also had very large trucks delivering soda, but there was never any problem with traffic there.
I think we were very fortunate to have Mark to make this decision to use his funds and time to develop this project, which certainly is compatible with the neighborhood. As the lady said, there is not much parking needed because it is a neighborhood store and people walk to it and from it so I don’t think that is a real priority at this stage of the game. Hopefully it might get better because his business gets better and I myself look forward to the return of the neighborhood store because I miss the hot fudge sundaes. (Every one laughs). They are my favorite. I am certainly in favor of it and I thank you for the opportunity to support Mark in this endeavor.
Mr. Rejman: Thank you Betty. Any one else wishing to speak for or against this application? OK. Let me call the applicant back. Closing questions from the board? None? Close the public portion, discuss amongst ourselves.
Ms. Marteney: It is wonderful.
Mr. Rejman: I think this is great.
Ms. Marteney: What a wonderful renaissance going on there.
Mr. Darrow: When you look at what it is now when I visited the property today, what it could turn into if somebody wasn’t willing to take the time and invest time and money it and what his vision is turning it into.
Mr. Rejman: A few years ago we got all backed up with Bed and Breakfasts, remember that?
Mr. Darrow: Yes.
Mr. Rejman: Now this, I would like to ask Codes if they do us a favor and copy this whole application and hand it to somebody who is going to do this in another area because when we think about it there are these Mom & Pop groceries that tucked away here and there, that could be used for some neighborhood function like this.
Mr. Westlake: It is all positive.
Mr. Rejman: This is great; we need to do it a few more times in other areas.
Mr. Darrow: We have a short form SEQRA again. Will Steve help us again?
Mr. Westlake: We have to vote on both because there are two.
Mr. Rejman: We are going to do the use and then the area.
Mr. Westlake: OK.
Mr. Selvek: With regard to the short form EAF, I am going to direct your attention to the second page. Again, we will go over the adverse affects associated with the proposed action. The SEQRA itself is completed for the use variance itself not for the area variance. Area variance does not require one.
C1. Existing air quality, surface or groundwater quality or quantity, noise levels, existing traffic patterns, solid waste production or disposal, the potential for erosion, drainage or flooding problems?
Other than possible issues with traffic and noise levels, no other environmental impacts are expected. The impacts associated with traffic and noise are directly attributable to the number of patrons this business draws. Parking would likely become a problem if this business served a City wide population, instead of the neighborhood population (may patrons being in walking distance) as intended.
C2. Aesthetic, agricultural, archaeological, historic, community or neighborhood character, or other natural/cultural resources?
The existing residential structure has been modified to the extent that it is no longer appropriate for use as a single family residence. Changes to the structure affect the rear of the building and its interior. Adverse effects to aesthetic, historic, cultural, or community resources are not anticipated.
C3. Vegetation or fauna, wildlife species, significant habitats, or threatened or endangered species?
The is a previously developed site in an urban setting; it is reasonable to assume that there is no significant vegetation or wildlife.
C4. A community’s existing plans or goals as officially adopted, or a change in the use or intensity of use of land or other natural resources?
Although this use is not permitted in the R1A zone, it is appropriate in this existing commercial structure. If the intent of the business is to service the neighborhood and not the whole City, it may prove to be a valuable asset to the community.
C5. Growth, subsequent development, or related activities which are likely to be induced by proposed action?
This can be considered a stand-alone action and is not likely to induce subsequent development.
C6. Long term, short term, cumulative or other effects not identified in items 1-5 above.
None
C7. Other impacts (including changes in use or either quantity or type of energy)?
If this structure is not used for a commercial activity it would most likely become vacant, because generally the economic conditions do not exist to convert the building into a marketable single-family residence.
D. Will the project have an impact on the environmental characteristics that caused the establishment of a critical environmental area (CEA)?
No.
E. Is there, or is there likely to be, controversy related to potential adverse environmental impacts?
Yes. If area residents express concern with parking and traffic issues, the ZBA may wish to weight those issues heavily in their decisions. It has pretty much been shown to be non-existent because of the petition that the applicant had go around, but the concern would be with parking and traffic issue. Doesn’t seem to be an issue at this time.
With that, staff recommends a Negative Declaration. Any questions?
Mr. Rejman: Thank you.
Mr. Westlake: I would like to make a motion that we grant 20 Mattie Street a Negative Declaration for a SEQRA.
Ms. Aubin: I’ll second that.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Ms. Marteney, Mr. Baroody, Mr. Darrow, Ms. Brower, Mr. Westlake, Ms. Aubin, Mr. Rejman
Mr. Darrow: I would like to make a motion that we grant Mark Locastro of Locastro Enterprises doing business as Poppy’s at Mattie Street Dairy of 20 Mattie Street a use variance to create the use for consumer service establishment to allow for customer seating for the purpose of opening said dairy at above address.
Ms. Aubin: I’ll second that.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Ms. Marteney, Mr. Baroody, Mr. Darrow, Ms. Brower, Mr. Westlake, Ms. Aubin, Mr. Rejman
Mr. Darrow: I would like to make a motion that we grant Mark Locastro of Locastro Enterprises d/b/a Poppy’s at Mattie Street Dairy, 20 Mattie Street, a variance of 9 parking spaces for the purpose of operating a dairy at above address.
Ms. Aubin: I’ll second that.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Ms. Marteney, Mr. Baroody, Mr. Darrow, Ms. Brower, Mr. Westlake, Ms. Aubin, Mr. Rejman
Mr. Rejman: Applications have been approved. When might grand opening be?
Mr. Locastro: We are shooting for Memorial Day next year. I just would like to thank the board for its cooperation at this time. I would also like to thank the neighbors that showed up too.
Mr. Rejman: Thank you. Good luck.
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180 North Street, R1. Area variance of 18 feet for 42 foot buffer zone where 60 foot is required for parking lot expansion. Cayuga/Seneca ARC.
Mr. Rejman: 180 North Street, are you here?
Mr. Smith: Good evening, my name is Paul Smith, representing Cayuga/Seneca ARC. We are looking for an area variance. We have approximately 84 lineal feet in our buffer zone. I looking to put a 42 foot by 150 foot for 15 additional parking spaces. Looking for a variance of 18 feet that the Code requires 60 feet, we only have about 42 feet. We are using a small portion of the buffer, the buffer is a round 650 foot wide, unfortunately where we want to put it is in the narrow spot around 100 foot probably down that would not be advantageous to us.
Mr. Rejman: OK, do you have any handouts for us or not?
Mr. Smith: Just what I gave to Codes and Planning Board.
Mr. Rejman: The reason you are here is you want to extend the parking lot 42 feet by 150 feet.
Mr. Smith: Yes sir.
Mr. Rejman: That is the issue.
Mr. Selvek: I have a site plan for this upstairs for the Planning Board; I didn’t realize that it didn’t go out in the Zoning packets. I can get that.
Mr. Rejman: Would you, just take a few minutes break while Steve gets that.
We are back and we have the site plan, provided to us by Planning which is nicely done for us. So all the expansion is in this area right through here?
Mr. Smith: No, this is the darken area.
Mr. Rejman: Just this area (points to plan). All right.
Mr. Smith: The buffer goes over to the other parcel, but we didn’t show all three parcels.
Mr. Baroody: What is south of it?
Mr. Smith: To the south is the cemetery. North is the white house. We own them.
Mr. Rejman: This clarifies what the application is about. Is there any one here wishing to speak for or against the application? Yes?
Officer Weed: One quick comment, I worked the last couple of years with the people in this organization to help them straighten out the problems with the parking because they are really limited up there and this will help them tremendously, and will help over all in the safety issues in their parking lot.
Mr. Rejman: Thank you, appreciate your input. Questions from the board?
Ms. Brower: Can you tell how much grade there is, is it much of a hill?
Mr. Smith: It is built into a hill, it will all be graded into the current parking area, and nothing will go back to the residential areas. We do have a retention area so nothing any run off will not go into storm drains, will be held off and then go into the storm drains, which is angled to us which is actually angled to North Street.
Ms. Brower: You don’t need a retaining wall or anything?
Mr. Smith: No
Ms. Brower: Not that steep?
Mr. Smith: No.
Ms. Brower: I couldn’t tell.
Mr. Smith: It will be graded, the contractor we are going to be using is Upstate Paving and they will be grading it towards the balance of the parking area.
Ms. Brower: Sounds great.
Mr. Rejman: OK any further questions?
Mr. Westlake: I don’t think there is any problem.
Mr. Rejman: None. OK, we will close the public portion, have a seat please. Discussions, comments, concerns.
Mr. Darrow: I think the most important thing what Officer Weed did.
Mr. Rejman: Yes. Safety concerns.
Mr. Westlake: I would make a motion that we grant Seneca/Cayuga ARC at 180 North Street a 18 foot variance for required 60 foot buffer at the rear of the property for a parking lot expansion.
Mr. Darrow: I’ll second that motion.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Ms. Marteney, Mr. Baroody, Mr. Darrow, Ms. Brower, Mr. Westlake, Ms. Aubin, Mr. Rejman
Mr. Rejman: Application has been approved.
Mr. Smith: Thank you very much.
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