ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2009
Members Present: Ms. Marteney, Mr. Baroody, Mr. Darrow, Mr. Tamburrino, and Mr. Westlake
Members Absent: Ms. Calarco and Mr. Bartolotta
Staff Present: Mr. Fusco, Mr. Selvek and Mr. LaDouce
APPLICATIONS APPROVED: 45 Clymer Street, 4 Highland Street, 320 Clark Street, 343-345 Clark Street, 271 Grant Avenue
APPLICTION TABLED: 188 Grant Avenue
Mr. Westlake: Ladies and gentlemen, we are a seven (7)-member board; there are only five (5) of us present tonight. It takes four (4) affirmative votes for your application to be approved. If anyone wants to table you have the right to table until next month.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, this is the Zoning Board of Appeals. Tonight we have the following items: 188 Grant Avenue, 45 Clymer Street, 4 Highland Street, 320 Clark Street, 343-345 Clark Street, 271 Grant Avenue
If there are no errors, omissions or additions to last month’s minutes of the meeting, the minutes will stand as written. All in favor.
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188 Grant Avenue. C 3 zoning district. Area variances for construction of two (2) new buildings. Applicant: Nelson Associates, LLC
Mr. Westlake: 188 Grant Avenue, would you please come to the podium and state what you would like to do. No one is here. We will come back to this item at the end of the meeting.
188 Grant Avenue didn’t show up tonight.
Mr. Selvek: Not sure why he didn’t show up I spoke with him last week and he was expecting to be here. Currently going through the Site Plan Review process and will not be able to receive site plan review approval until they receive the necessary variances from this board. Expect them to be here next month.
Mr. Fusco: Steve and I talked about this last week; they are revising some of their plans.
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45 Clymer Street. R1 zoning district. Area variance for garage expansion. Applicant: Daniel and Helen Lenahan.
Mr. Westlake: 45 Clymer Street. Come to the podium, pull the microphone down, speak into it clearly and state your name and tell us what you would like to do.
Mr. Lenahan: I am short 82 feet of storage space; I am putting an addition onto my garage. It is 24 x 20. I think you have all the papers on it.
Mr. Westlake: Any questions from the board/
Mr. Tamburrino: I drove by the property and saw an existing cement slab, are you going to use that as your
Mr. Lenahan: Use it for a pick up truck. The squirrels cost me $300 in July had to get new spark plug wires and everything and also a line going to the oil pump. I would to get out of the weather somewhere.
Mr. Westlake: Any other questions from the board? Is there anyone here wishing to speak for or against? There is a gentleman behind you that wants to speak. If you would sit down now, we are set with you right now. Thank you.
Mr. Wawro: My name is Richard Wawro; I live across the street from Dan ever since he moved in there. Dan has tried to keep his property up, he is there alone, he does a good job of it. He isn’t only fighting the squirrels but the deer eating up our landscaping and flowers and everything else. This is a necessity to have another vehicle inside the garage instead of out there in the weather and all. I am here for moral support.
Mr. Westlake: Thank you very much. Is there anyone else here wishing to speak for or against? Seeing none, we will discuss amongst ourselves.
Mr. Baroody: 94 square feet, bigger garage.
Ms. Marteney: Certainly not excessive.
Mr. Westlake: I don’t think so either. Do I hear a motion?
Mr. Baroody: I would like to make a motion that we grant Daniel Lenahan of 45 Clymer Street, a 90 square foot variance so he can build a garage as submitted in attached plans.
Mr. Hicks: Mr. Chair, if I can jump in here for just a second. We just caught something on the application about the driveway and I would add a variance to be considered at this point, it doesn’t show on the plans expansion of the driveway off and if we could ask the question to see if that is going to happen, if not, we wouldn’t need that variance, if it is going to be expanded we will need a variance for the driveway width according to the Code.
Mr. Baroody: I can amend the motion to include the widening of the driveway
Mr. Darrow: We don’t know if he is going to widen it.
Mr. Westlake: Mr. Lenahan, could you come back up to the microphone for a minute? The question was brought before us are you going to widen the driveway also or just the garage? Are you going to leave the driveway the width it is or are you going to make the driveway wider?
Mr. Lenahan: No, the driveway stays the same. I have an approach coming in because it is a little off the driveway going to have a little concrete there off of the blacktop where the garage door would be.
Mr. Westlake: OK.
Mr. Baroody: So we are going to make it equal where the garage is going?
Mr. Lenahan: Yes. In other words the blacktop driveway is right in where this drive is and of course the garage I got now is 16 feet attached to the house and about 7 feet of that is the entrance way going up into the kitchen and an entrance out to the back. Even with the car I don’t have much room because I have it pretty well stacked with stuff. I would like to get the truck inside for the winter.
Mr. Westlake: Thank you very much, we appreciate it.
Mr. Baroody: We will amend the application to include the widening of the driveway to equal the garage.
Mr. Lenahan: Yes.
Mr. Baroody: OK. Thank you.
I would like to make a motion that we grant Daniel Lenahan of 45 Clymer Street a 90 square foot variance for the accessory structure submitted per plan and to widen his driveway to equal the concrete floor on his structure.
Ms. Marteney: I’ll second that.
Mr. Wawro: Can I ask a question?
Mr. Westlake: Yes.
Mr. Wawro: How much wider is the driveway going to be?
Mr. Westlake: Not really widening the driveway, just where it goes into the garage, I am going to call it the apron.
Mr. Wawro: OK.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Ms. Marteney, Mr. Baroody, Mr. Darrow, Mr. Tamburrino and Mr. Westlake.
Mr. Westlake: Your application has been approved, good luck with your project.
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4 Highland Street. R1 zoning district. Area variance for new garage. Applicant: Joseph Piwinski.
Mr. Westlake: 4 Highland Street. Come to the microphone, state your name and speak clearly into the microphone.
Mr. Piwinski: I am Joe Piwinski, 4 Highland Street. I would like to build a 24 x 36 garage in place of a one and a half garage that I have now. It is going to be build block wall, 2 x 6 construction 5/12 pitch, sided to match the house. I have pictures of my neighbors in back of me that have a 24 x 30 pole barn and there is a three (3)-car garage across the street.
Mr. Westlake: What you are asking for is 114 square feet?
Mr. Piwinski: Yes.
Mr. Westlake: OK. Any questions from the board?
Mr. Darrow: Mr. Piwinski, it is going to be detached right?
Mr. Piwinski: Detached garage, yes.
Mr. Darrow: And you are going to demo the current garage?
Mr. Piwinski: Yes.
Mr. Darrow: Are two of these walls going to be on the footprint of the current garage or are you expanding or are you going closer?
Mr. Piwinski: On the neighbor’s side there is a 3 foot side that is going to be in line with the garage is now. The new garage will be about half way where the old garage is. Right now the old garage is poured on a slab, it is cracked, I have pictures of the door, I am going to replace the garage door a couple year ago and the guy laughed at me because it is so far out of whack.
Mr. Darrow: OK.
Mr. Westlake: Any other questions from the board? Is there anyone here wishing to speak for or against this application? Seeing none we will discuss amongst ourselves. Thank you very much.
Mr. Darrow: This is another one when you look at families with kids, two cars and the size of cars now, storage for lawn furniture, that is something that should be re-looked at as 750 isn’t good enough any more.
Mr. Tamburrino: That is a good point. You look at the garage and it is small. What he is asking is very reasonable.
Ms. Marteney: It is behind the house too, not visible.
Mr. Darrow: I would like to make a motion that we grant Joseph Piwinski, 4 Highland Street, a 114 square foot area variance for the purpose of constructing a new garage 24 x 36 square feet as submitted on plot plant.
Mr. Tamburrino: I second that.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Ms Marteney, Mr. Baroody, Mr. Darrow, Mr. Tamburrino and Mr. Westlake.
Mr. Westlake: Your application has been approved. Good luck with your project.
Mr. Piwinski: Thank you.
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320Clark Street. C zoning district. Area variance to replace garage. Applicant. Mark Storrs.
Mr. Westlake: 320 Clark Street, come to the podium, speak clearly into it and tell us what you would like to do.
Mr. Storrs: My name is Mark Storrs, what I plan on doing is looking for an area variance, I am going to demolish the existing 20 x 20 garage and put up a new one in the same footprint.
Mr. Westlake: Any questions from the board?
Mr. Darrow: Your current garage when I viewed it seemed like it was higher than 16, is it?
Mr. Storrs: The current garage?
Mr. Darrow: Yes.
Mr. Storrs: Yes.
Mr. Darrow: So you are actually going to be lowering the ridge height.
Mr. Storrs: Yes.
Mr. Darrow: That is what I thought because yours is a two story.
Mr. Storrs: Yes. It will be replaced with a brand new pre-fab garage.
Mr. Fusco: The non-conformity would actually be less.
Mr. Darrow: One foot, I was just checking to see if this was a mistype or not, knowing that the current garage the peak has got to be 20 – 22 feet.
Mr. Storrs: Oh yes.
Mr. Baroody: Going in the same spot. Pre-existing non-conforming now.
Mr. Darrow: But as soon as you tear down you lose your pre-existing non-conforming status.
Mr. Westlake: Is there anyone here wishing to speak for or against this application? Seeing none, we will discuss amongst ourselves. Thank you very much.
Mr. Tamburrino: It is an old garage.
Mr. Westlake: It is going to enhance the property.
Mr. Darrow: It is going to be the exact same footprint.
I would like to make a motion that we grant Mark Storrs and MaryLynn Lauckern of 320Clark Street a 1 foot side yard set back variance and a 1 foot minimum height allowance variance for the purpose of erecting a 20 x 20 foot new garage in the same footprint that the current garage sits in.
Mr. Baroody: I second that motion.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Ms Marteney, Mr. Baroody, Mr. Darrow, Mr. Tamburrino and Mr. Westlake.
Mr. Westlake: Your application has been approved. Good luck with your project.
Mr. Storrs: Thank you.
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343-345 Clark Street. R2 zoning district. Expansion of a use variance. Applicant: Paul Diffin.
Mr. Westlake: 343 – 345 Clark Street. Go ahead and explain what you would like to do.
Mr. Diffin: My name is Paul Diffin and what I am here tonight to do is request an expansion of my use variance that I currently have for property at 343 – 345 Clark Street. The property is currently use for a used car/used vehicle sales, storage and detailing of vehicles and what I would be requesting would be an expansion of use in order to lease a portion of this building to other company. It is a company that maintains, sells and services medical equipment. They are in need of 2,000 square feet in the City of Auburn and that is what they are proposing to lease from me out of 25,050 square feet of the building that sits there now.
I have given everyone a packet with all the information, there is a two page letter that pretty much describes, I have a situation I am in as far as the used car sales aren’t what they use to be, not really caring the overhead and all the expenses on the building and a lot of the building is currently not being used, if I can lease some of it to cover some of this overhead and try and turn things around a little and once I decided to do that I found out that I would have to get an amendment or some type of expansion to the current use that I have down there.
I do have a letter that I did not include in your packet from this company, they are a national company with local franchise people out of I believe Syracuse or Utica. They do operate currently in Auburn; their support comes out of Syracuse for running their business. They are in need of more space, I think they currently lease a second floor office in the downtown area and they are looking to expand their workforce as well their production in the area. In order to do that they need a facility that store their equipment and also they do have patients that come into the office, limited amount. I think it will be a great tenant as far as not disrupting the neighborhood or flow of anything that is going on there now. Per the letter here what they describe what they did, I could read it or hand out copies of it, if anyone
wants to look at that. (Pass out copies). The letter basically states that they are looking for 2,000 square feet within the City limits of Auburn, they are a national home oxygen and equipment company that delivers and services home medical equipment in private homes, they do need some office space, a secretary, phone, everything that is associated with an office of that nature. A place where people can come in, they mentioned to me, 2, 3 or 4 people a day the most. Most of the business is loading up the truck and delivering oxygen and medical things to people’s houses in Cayuga County. A company that has been around for a long time, they have had presence in Auburn even thought it has been operated out of the Syracuse office for over twenty (20) years. If you have any questions, I will be glad to answer. I don’t have anybody from the company here tonight, but I think the letter pretty much describes what they would like to do.
Mr. Darrow: Are you intending on running your use cars and this out of there at the same time?
Mr. Diffin: Yes that is what I am looking for.
Mr. Darrow: What about are you going to split office space in your front or so that they have office space and you still have office space?
Mr. Diffin: Exactly how hasn’t been determined yet but the idea probably will be most of the office space up front that they would want. They did talk about expanding some of the office into the storage area but they would probably wait to do that after they have established themselves and needed more space. They are looking at a three (3) year lease, with two (2) one (1) year options and that was discussed on a one (1) year option possibly I will be expanding that space more at some time, not really something that is on the table at this point. It will bean open office of about 750 square feet, dividing that into a couple different offices and a waiting area.
Mr. Darrow: I have a question for Brian. How do we calculate what kind of parking spaces are going to be required when you consider you don’t really know how many are going to be used up by a used car lot by how many he is going to have on the lot at a time.
Mr. Hicks: Well at this point in time he has his business we would take his business first, to figure out the amount of space, we would use the square footage for the proposed business to calculate the needed parking
Mr. Darrow: Then the remainder would go to him.
Mr. Hicks: Then he would only be able to utilize what is left.
Mr. Darrow: OK. You are aware of that.
Mr. Diffin: I have no problem with that.
Mr. Darrow: OK. I also noticed you finally have your buffers in after we gave you a variance five (5) or six (6) years ago.
Mr. Diffin: Yes.
Mr. Darrow: A little delay in that wasn’t there?
Mr. Diffin: Yes there was. I have included my financials for the last three (3) years; it is not what it was.
Mr. Darrow: I can understand your predicament because it has been a tough year and a half for everybody. I am also a neighbor; I am on the corner of Wheeler and Clark. I think it will be a great fit for there, I really do. I think it will well; it is a waste of a nice piece of property. I notice how many cars you have on your lot, I know when things are slow you move a couple up to your place on Grant Avenue. I can appreciate it.
Mr. Diffin: I do have some letters, I don’t know if we are at that point or not.
Mr. Westlake: We have them in the packet. Any other questions from the board?
Mr. Baroody: You are going to rent this space out, gain some relief, market stinks, end of story.
Mr. Westlake: Is there anyone here wishing to speak for or against this application? Seeing none, we will discuss amongst ourselves. Thank you very much.
Mr. Darrow: First of all, this is an extremely well prepared packet it speaks volumes. We have an applicant that has put everything in there we requested, the hardship is numbers and dollars, it is in black and white, we are not taking somebody’s word for it.
Mr. Tamburrino: No issue with this, it is an existing building basically splitting in half for two offices. This is a home medical business how much traffic are you going to get in there.
Mr. Darrow: I think it sits on two (2) City lots.
Mr. Tamburrino: Nice lot, I drove by, very nice.
Mr. Westlake: We will need to do a SEQRA.
Mr. Selvek: With regard to SEQRA you should find enclosed in your packets a copy of the short form EAF Part I completed by the applicant and Part II for which I have drafted answers for the board’s consideration.
Specifically I would like to call your attention to Part II C-2 that deals with aesthetics, agricultural, historic, or cultural resources including community and character, I note that although located in an R2 zone, the property is adjacent to a commercial zone. The area is comprised of a mix of residential, commercial and industrial uses.
From there C-4 with regards to the community’s existing plans. The proposed use is not allowed in the R2 zoning district therefore that is why he is here requesting the variance, so that should be kept in mind.
Finally with regards to C-6 long term, short term, or other effects not identified. Granting this variance may set future expectations regarding the granting of multiple use variances for a given property.
With that staff’s recommendation is for a Negative Declaration. Any questions I will be happy to answer them.
Mr. Baroody: I would like to make a motion that we grant Paul Diffin a Negative Declaration for SEQRA.
Mr. Tamburrino: I’ll second that.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Ms Marteney, Mr. Baroody, Mr. Darrow, Mr. Tamburrino and Mr. Westlake.
Mr. Darrow: I would like to make a motion that we grant Paul Diffin of 30 Green Links Turn, Auburn, for property located at 343 – 345 Clark Street an expansion of a use variance to allow for a medical equipment retail facility at mentioned Clark Street address.
Mr. Baroody: I’ll second that.
Ms. Marteney: Is that what we want to do or is it the addition of the space?
Mr. Tamburrino: It is a use variance.
Mr. Darrow: To allow it.
Ms. Marteney: But use to make it into two not necessarily for that use.
Mr. Darrow: No, use variance for specific use, don’t want to grant any type, specific.
Ms. Marteney: OK.
Mr. Westlake: I agree with that.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Ms. Marteney, Mr. Baroody, Mr. Darrow, Mr. Tamburrino and Mr. Westlake.
Mr. Westlake: Your application has been approved. Good luck with your project.
Mr. Diffin: Thank you very much.
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271 Grant Avenue. C3 zoning district. Area variance for a shed. Applicant: David Kreydatus.
Mr. Westlake: 271 Grant Avenue.
Mr. Kreydatus: Hi, my name is Dave Kreydatus; I own a collision shop on Grant Avenue. I am requesting a variance to put a 12 x 28 storage shed behind our building. The storage shed is going to have an overhead door on it, like an overhead garage door. Our thoughts are to use it for cold storage and parts that come into our business.
Mr. Westlake: Any questions from the board?
Mr. Darrow: Trying to figure out where he is going to put it.
Mr. Tamburrino: Could you down size the shed a little bit? Why that size?
Mr. Kreydatus: Mainly because our in-flow parts, sometimes we have three (3) weeks of parts of coming in, there is a small shed there that we also use that is going to be going and this is going to go in its place. From there it goes into the garage and the Fire Department really doesn’t like us to have parts in the garage so, it is kind of a win-win situation for us, we won’t have to open up any overhead doors in the winter time and lose the heat to bring the parts in and the parts will be put out back until they are ready to come in.
Mr. Darrow: What is the size of the shed you are going to be removing?
Mr. Kreydatus: 10 x 15.
Mr. Baroody: You don’t have a lot of room to jockey around there.
Mr. Kreydatus: Actually I did a little measuring between the existing building on one side will be 10 foot, I have a privacy fence around the back of the building and then right against the back of the building 25 foot, in front of where the overhead doors going to be facing 40 foot to the other end.
Mr. Westlake: OK. Any other questions from the board? Is there anyone here wishing to speak for or against? Seeing none, we will discuss it amongst ourselves. I see no problem with this; it is a very well kept area.
Mr. Darrow: He is taking down 150 square foot shed.
I would like to make a motion that we grant David P. Kreydatus of David’s Collision Body Shop, 271 Grant Avenue a 186 square foot area variance for the purpose of erecting a 12 x 28 pre built shed as submitted on plot plan and contingent upon removal of 10 x 15 shed after the new shed is in place.
Mr. Tamburrino: I’ll second that.
VOTING IN FAVOR: Ms. Marteney, Mr. Baroody, Mr. Darrow, Mr. Tamburrino and Mr. Westlake.
Mr. Westlake: Your application has been approved. Good luck with your project.
Mr. Kreydatus: Thank you.
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