Minutes of May 15, 2012, Town of Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals, held at the Town Hall, Accord, NY.
Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Chairperson, Beatrice Haugen- De Puy.
Present: Absent:
Beatrice Haugen-Chairperson
Cliff Mallery, Vice Chair
John Dawson
Troy Dunn
Elizabeth Kawalchuk
Also present in the audience was alternate, Charlie Fischer.
Pledge to the Flag.
ACTION ON MINUTES
Board Member Dawson motioned to accept the April 17, 2012 minutes. Seconded by Board Member Dunn. No discussion.
Vote:
Mallery: Yes Kawalchuk: Yes
Haugen De Puy: Yes Dawson: Yes
Dunn: Yes
Motion carried.
PUBLIC HEARING
PHILLIP CHRISTOPHER– 350 Mettacahonts Road, 2’ Area Variance for 6’ high privacy fence in the front yard, Tax Map #68.16-1-11, R-1 Zoning District
Mr. and Mrs. Christopher were present on behalf of their application.
Chairperson Haugen De Puy noted that this was the applicants’ Public Hearing. She asked them to repeat their request for their need for a 2’ Area Variance to have a 6’ high privacy fence in the front yard in an R-1 District.
Mr. Christopher noted that the home is located at 350 Mettacahonts Road and is built very close to the road. The porch is 20’ from the road. There is an existing 5’ high fence and he would like to replace that with a 6’ fence and extend it across the font of the house. There are bushes that will be removed and he’s already spoken with the Highway Superintendent and he was glad to hear they’d be removed because they were encroaching on the road. The Highway Superintendent was also found it acceptable for the fence to be placed 10’ from the road.
The road gets a fair amount of traffic because of the store on the corner of Store Road and Mettacahonts Road named Star Grocers- the former Duffy’s Store. There is a considerable amount of pedestrian and vehicular traffic in front of their house.
PUBLIC HEARING
PHILLIP CHRISTOPHER (cont’d) – 350 Mettacahonts Road, 2’ Area Variance for 6’ high privacy fence in the front yard, Tax Map #68.16-1-11, R-1 Zoning District
Chairperson Haugen- De Puy noted that the Board was in receipt of a letter from Wayne Kelder, Highway Superintendent dated April 26, 2012 saying what the applicant indicated. There were also 3 letters from neighbors in favor of the variance request.
Board Member Dawson wanted the applicants to be aware that even putting the fence 10’ from the road and having the Highway Superintendent accept that, there was still a good chance of the fence getting hit by a snow plow. That is always a concern and he wanted it on record that the ZBA has informed the applicants of this and that they knew that they couldn’t hold the Town responsible for something like that.
Chairperson Haugen- De Puy noted that she had consulted the Town Attorney, Mary Lou Christiana, Esq., regarding what Board Member Dawson was saying and she confirmed that they could never prevent someone from suing, however the Town wouldn’t be held liable if damage occurred to the applicants’ fence during the course of maintenance.
Mr. Christopher understood this and he was hoping for more winters like last year’s mild winter.
At 7:10PM Chairperson Haugen- De Puy opened the hearing to the Public.
Neil Cohen of 38 Store Road was recognized to speak. Mr. Cohen wanted to state that he has seen Mr. & Mrs. Christopher fixing up their property and it looks good. It was a very busy road.
At this time Chairperson Haugen- De Puy went over the criteria in which the ZBA determines an Area Variance request:
- whether the applicant can achieve this request by other means.
- The Board determined that because of the slope of the land and the proximity of the home to the road that the applicant could not achieve privacy by any other means.
- whether the application will cause an undesirable change in the neighborhood character or nearby properties.
- The Board determined that this request will be consistent with the neighborhood.
- whether the request is substantial.
- The Board determined that this was not a substantial request as they have granted similar fence height variances in the past for unique situations.
- whether the situation is self created.
- The Board determined that this was not self created as this home is over 200 years old and the Oak tree that used to help create privacy came down during Hurricane Irene in 2011.
- whether the request will have an adverse impact on the environment.
The Board determined that this variance would not have an adverse impact on the environment
PUBLIC HEARING
PHILLIP CHRISTOPHER(cont’d)– 350 Mettacahonts Road, 2’ Area Variance for 6’ high privacy fence in the front yard, Tax Map #68.16-1-11, R-1 Zoning District
At 7:13 Mr. Dawson motioned to close the Public Hearing. Seconded by Mr. Dunn. No discussion.
Vote:
Mallery: Yes Kawalchuk: Yes
Haugen De Puy: Yes Dawson: Yes
Dunn: Yes
Motion carried.
Chairperson Haugen- De Puy noted that once the Public Hearing was closed the Board had 62 days to render a decision. They could do one tonight if the Board felt it was ready to act on the application.
Board Member Dawson felt that the Board was ready to render a decision.
Chairperson Haugen- De Puy motioned for the Town of Rochester ZBA to act as Lead Agency and for an Unlisted Action and that this application will have no significant environmental impacts and therefore is rendered as a Negative Declaration under SEQRA. Seconded by Board Member Kawalchuk. No discussion.
Vote:
Mallery: Yes Kawalchuk: Yes
Haugen De Puy: Yes Dawson: Yes
Dunn: Yes
Motion carried.
Board Member Dunn motioned to approve the Applicant’s request for a 2’ variance for fence height to construct a 6’ fence in the required front yard setback measuring 10’ from the edge of Mettacahonts Road in an R-1 District of the Town of Rochester with the following condition:
1. The fence shall be maintained in good repair.
Seconded by Board Member Dawson. No discussion.
Vote:
Mallery: Yes Kawalchuk: Yes
Haugen De Puy: Yes Dawson: Yes
Dunn: Yes
Motion carried.
ADJOURNMENT
Board Member Kawalchuk motioned to adjourn the meeting seconded by Board Member Dunn. No discussion. All members present, in favor.
As there was no further business to discuss, Chairperson Haugen- De Puy adjourned the meeting at 7:17PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Rebecca Paddock Stange, Secretary