ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2006
Members Present: Mr. Baroody
Mr. Darrow
Ms. Brower
Mr. Westlake
Mr. Rejman
Member Absent: Ms. Marteney
Mr. Bartolotta
Staff Present: Mr. Hicks
Mr. Selvek
APPLICATIONS
APPROVED: 114 –116 E. Genesee Street
Mr. Rejman: Good evening. This is the Zoning Board of Appeals Tonight on our agenda we have:
114 – 116 E. Genesee Street
Any additions or corrections to the minutes? Hearing none, stand as posted.
ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2006
114 – 116 E. Genesee Street. R1A Zoning district. Gudy and Doreen Aristy, applicants. Use variance for expansion of an existing consumer services establishment to operate a restaurant/carry-out.
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Mr. Rejman: 114 – 116 E. Genesee Street, are you here please? Step up to the podium please, use the mike, and speak loudly. State your name.
Mr. Aristy: My name is Gudy Aristy.
Mr. Rejman: Ok, tell us what you would like to do there.
Mr. Aristy: I am the owner of 114 – 116 E. Genesee Street. I would like a use variance for the property for not only a grocery store/deli but to also have carry out pizzeria at that location.
Mr. Rejman: You did an excellent job on this application, we are going to use this in the future to show people what we would like to have.
Mr. Aristy: My wife did it.
Mr. Rejman: We don’t need to go through every one item line by line, just tell us in general how you came to need this variance.
Mr. Aristy: When we purchased the property in August of 2004 our intention was to run a family owned grocery store there as it was in the past. Soon after we bought it and almost two year into it we find ourselves not having any return from the property. At that point we were forced to close unfortunately. Soon after that we were able to get the property under lease to a business here in Auburn that has been in business for two years now. They want to occupy that premises. We went through the steps with spoke with Brian Hicks to get the permit to get the work started there and we were informed now that we need a variance and we are in front of the board at this point.
Mr. Rejman: Fine. Thank you. Questions from the board?
Mr. Westlake: Pretty straight forward really what they want to do.
Mr. Darrow: Operate as a pizzeria shop. It wasn’t that they were operating and then you came up.
Mr. Hicks: That is correct.
Mr. Darrow: Ok.
Mr. Rejman: All the items that we need, the hardship, the uniqueness, all here.
Mr. Westlake: It is all here.
Mr. Rejman: There are two letters that we have received.
Mr. Hicks: We have a letter delivered this evening.
“Dear members of the Zoning Board:
I am unable to attend the meeting scheduled for December 18, 2006. However, I would like to take this opportunity to express my opinion regarding the project on 114 East Genesee Street.
It is my understanding that Gudy and Doreen Aristy have applied to convert the former grocery on that location into a pizzeria. I understand that they will continue to sell such items as bread and milk at this location.
I believe that this change in use will have a positive effect on the qualify of life in the neighborhood. I have had the opportunity to speak to several of my neighbors about this project. Everyone I have spoken to is looking forward to the business opening up. I also enthusiastically support the project and hope you will allow it to proceed in a timely manner.
Sincerely, Daniel D. Schuster, Cayuga County Legislator.”
Second letter is from Joseph Vitale.
“Dear Board Members of the ZBA:
I am writing this letter in reference to Gudy A. and Doreen Aristy’s application for a use variance in regard to the property located at 116 East Genesee Street, Auburn I am submitting this letter of support to grant the use variance requested.
Although Savannah Bank, N.A. has a special financial interest, as we are the mortgage holder of the mentioned property; we would like to enhance the Aristy’s ability to make this property profitable. Granting this variance will not only benefit them, but for any subsequent owners of this property in future years.
The Aristy’s have vigorously attempted to yield a reasonable return by investing their time, money and effort into the grocery business – Countryside Market. These efforts did not successfully yield the required returns.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me any time at the Auburn Office.
Sincerely, Joseph G. Vitale, Vice President.”
Mr. Rejman: Thanks Brian. OK, questions again for the board?
Any one wishing to speak for or against the application? Yes come forward. State your name first and then go ahead.
Mr. Blumrick: My name is Joe Blumrick and I live basically across the street.
Mr. Rejman: What number do you live at?
Mr. Blumrick: 111 E. Genesee Street.
Mr. Rejman: OK.
Mr. Blumrick: I basically am not against the business. The thing that I am concerned about is that for 50 to 60 years there was a grocery store that opened up at 8:00 a.m. in morning and closed at 8:00 p.m. at night. What concerns me right now if you have a pizza parlor open until 11:00 or 1:00, you are going to have a lot of noise and you are going to have a lot of traffic. You are going to have kids hanging out; those are the things I don’t want. I don’t mind them selling pizzas, delivering pizzas, I am looking not to have an all night party across from my house, there is enough noise on the street as it is with the garbage trucks and the other things going by, the last thing we really want is a lot of kids hanging out there, a
lot of screeching tires, and a lot of noise. Other than that I have no problem with them having a business for pizza whatsoever. It is a $-1 neighborhood and that is what I am looking to maintain.
Mr. Rejman: Thank you for your input.
Mr. Blumrick: Thank you.
Mr. Rejman: Seeing no others.
Mr. Darrow: Recall the applicant please.
Mr. Rejman: Would the applicant please come up.
Mr. Darrow: Do you have an estimated hours of operation as of yet?
Mr. Aristy: Not at this time, I just want to say that we were open from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. at night. We don’t see any excessive noise, but I do see his concern, since they are our neighbors I don’t want to cause them any problems.
Mr. Darrow: Mr. Aristy, are you going to be personally operating, it says you are leasing the store out to Mr. Big T’s who is going to operate it.
Mr. Aristy: That is correct.
Mrs. Aristy: 75% of his business is take out and he goes out and delivers.
Mr. Darrow: Where is he currently located?
Mr. Baroody: Franklin Street, Five Points.
Mr. Darrow: OK, thank you.
Mr. Rejman: We are going to close the public portion now and discuss amongst ourselves.
Mr. Darrow: Mr. Blumrick brought up a valid point, it concerns me somewhat because I can appreciate being in a residential area and not wanting to get hustle and bustle noise at one and two in the morning. Like the pizza shop downtown they deliver like until 3:00 a.m. I can understand that. There was somewhat of a traffic mode when it was the White House Grocery, I remember how quickly the turn over was there. That is my only concern. I think they have truly done due diligence in proving their case, their hardship which was incredibly not self-created, they tired different avenues. I feel it is a balancing act to weigh, we need to weigh that one small what could be possible problem to every thing else.
Mr. Rejman: I have just been notified that the owners of Big T’s are here, so I am going to re-open the public portion. Would a representative of the lease come forward please. Come up and state your name for the record.
Mr. Feocco: Anthony Feocco.
Mr. Marventano: Anthony Marventano.
Mr. Rejman: The only thing that came up, we were discussing is the hours of operation and there was some concern there might be kids hanging or noise at night. Can you address what your business hours are going to be.
Mr. Marventano: From 11:00 a.m. in the morning until midnight, Monday through Sunday.
Mr. Rejman: What portion of the business do you think is going to be delivery?
Mr. Marventano: About 98% of it.
Mr. Rejman: We thought it might be an eat in establishment.
Mr. Marventano: Maybe one or two tables, maybe eight people total.
Mr. Rejman: OK. So that answers a lot. Any other questions from the board?
Mr. Hicks: With the packet that you received you will notice that the floor plan that they show of the interior space, they only have two booths available, that would be a maximum seating of eight people per eat in operation. That would be a pick up situation.
Mr. Darrow: The Fire Department would rate it on square footage not available booths correct?
Mr. Hicks: Square footage for standing rooms and the booths would be 24 inches for seating each person, we maxed it out to be eight.
Mr. Rejman: Good, thank you gentlemen. Close the public portion again. We discussed that, the uniqueness, I have driven by a couple times and I am saying what are you going to do with this building, you can’t turn it into a house.
Mr. Darrow: We have a lot of those buildings in Auburn that were originally the Mom & Pop corner stores and they all stand out because the front windows are so close to the walks. That is another one of those areas where I believe they really prove their point and now hearing that I feel better about people hanging around and loitering and noise. We have to consider the neighbors.
Mr. Baroody: I live on Franklin Street and I am only a few blocks, I am on the corner of Franklin and Perry Streets. I have never seen any body hanging around, I have never seen groups gathering in front.
Mr. Westlake: We need a SEQRA first.
Mr. Selvek: With regards to SEQRA and part II which addresses any possible adverse effect, the possible adverse effects of traffic and noise level have already been pointed out and discussed at length. Must of the traffic will be located on East Genesee which is a major arterial and that should have minimal impact on the remaining residential neighborhood.
The existing structure is appropriate for commercial use of this nature although the use did not fit in the allowed R-1 zone and that was also brought up and other than that I don’t have any other adverse effects. I will answer any questions from the board.
Mr. Darrow: I would like to put forth a motion that we find a Negative Declaration for 114 – 116 E. Genesse Street for the purpose of a restaurant/carry out pizza establishment.
Mr. Westlake: I second that motion.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Mr. Baroody
Mr. Darrow
Ms. Brower
Mr. Westlake
Mr. Rejman
Mr. Darrow: I would like to make a motion that we grant a use variance to Gudy and Doreen Aristy of 114 – 116 E. Genesee Street for the purpose of allowing Mr. T’s to operate a carry out pizza establishment as included in submitted floor plans.
Mr. Baroody: I’ll second that.
Mr. Rejman: OK, I want to stop this for a minute. I like the way that you did that because you locked it into that one, if something happens down the road, another pizzeria wants to come in three years from now they are going to have to come back and do the same thing and if there are issues we can address them at that time.
Mr. Baroody: Very good. Can you explain it to the applicants.
Mr. Rejman: As long as Mr. T’s leases from you, but if they go away and some body else wants to bring a pizzeria in, we are going to do this whole thing all over again. That gives the neighborhood a chance to
Mr. Aristy: If Mr. T’s decides to buy the property from us, would he have to come back to request a variance?
Mr. Rejman: He would not have to come back.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Mr. Baroody
Mr. Darrow
Ms. Brower
Mr. Westlake
Mr. Rejman
Mr. Rejman: Application has been approved.
Meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.
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