MINUTES OF July 16, 2013 the Town of Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals, held at the Town of Rochester Town Hall, Accord, NY.
Chairperson Haugen De Puy called the meeting to order at 7:00PM
PRESENT: ABSENT:
Beatrice Haugen- De Puy, Chairperson
Cliff Mallery, Vice Chair
Troy Dunn
Charlie Fischer, Alternate
John Dawson
Also present:
Rebecca Paddock Stange, Secretary.
Because there was not a full Board, Alternate Fischer was asked to join the Board.
ACTION ON MINUTES:
Mr. Fischer motioned to accept the February 19, 2013 minutes. Seconded by Mr. Dawson.
Discussion:
Mr. Dunn wanted to table to minutes until the Board had a chance to look them over a little better.
Mr. Fischer withdrew his motion. Seconded by Mr. Dawson. All members present in favor.
The Board would further discuss minutes later on in the meeting.
APPEAL OF CEO DETERMINATION
ZBA #13-01APPL, Applicant- Joseph Grasso– Appeal Code Enforcement Officer Determination of Zoning Permit #132 of 2013- Ulster Green ARC Building Permit for 112’ x 91’10” One Story Single Family Residence, Tax Map # 68.3-5-5
Chairperson Haugen De Puy noted that the Board would schedule the Public Hearing for this application. She noted that the Town Attorney has a running conflict with the Town of Wawarsing and therefore the Town Attorney asked if the ZBA would schedule their meeting for August 19, 2013.
At this time there were many comments from the public.
The ZBA Members and Chairperson reiterated many times that this was not a meeting where public comment could be heard and therefore, public comments would not be made part of the record at this meeting. The Board was here tonight to schedule the Public Hearing and to determine who they wanted to attend the Public Hearing.
Mr. Fischer motioned to schedule the ZBA’s regular August Meeting for Monday, August 19, 2013 at 7PM at the Town Hall as opposed to the Board’s regular meeting date of Tuesday, August 20, 2013 with the understanding that the reasoning of the rescheduled date was in order to have the Town Attorney present. Seconded by Mr. Dawson. No discussion.
Vote:
Haugen- De Puy, Chairperson- Yes Mallery, Vice Chair- Yes
Dunn- Yes Dawson- Yes
Fischer- Yes
Motion carried- 5 ayes, 0 nays, 0 abstain, 0 absent
Chairperson Haugen De Puy motioned to schedule the Public Hearing for application #13-01APPL, Applicant- Joseph Grasso- for August 19, 2013 and to notify bounding owners by mail, publish in the Shawangunk Journal and post notice at the Town Clerk’s Office. Seconded by Mr. Dawson. No discussion.
Vote:
Haugen- De Puy, Chairperson- Yes Mallery, Vice Chair- Yes
Dunn- Yes Dawson- Yes
Fischer- Yes
Motion carried- 5 ayes, 0 nays, 0 abstain, 0 absent
Chairperson Haugen De Puy noted that she appreciated the amount of people who came out to this meeting. Although the Board was not able to hear public comment at this meeting, she noted that people could submit written comments to the Board between now and the Public Hearing if they wished.
PRE-APPLICATION PRESENTATION
Albert Stephenson– Area Variance for lot density, proposed .81 acre lot in a 5 acre district, Frankel Road, Tax Map # 69.1-1-20.9
Bill Eggers, Land Surveyor was present on behalf of the application. Mr. Eggers explained that this property was off of a private road. Mr. Stephenson owns a significant amount of property, 44-45 acres. He has two homes on the property. One of the homes is that of the caretaker of the property. Over the past 20 years or so the caretaker has become like part of the family. The applicant told the caretaker that they would deed him the house one day. Now they want to follow through with that, and they always thought that the caretakers home was on its own land. It turns out that it was added to the main parcel over the years. It once was its own parcel years ago—Mr. Eggers has old deeds that show this. It was about ½ an acre. They now want separate it back. The current zoning is 5 acres and he understands that subdividing out only .81 acres is quite a variance, however this property has special factors being it was once its own parcel and was combined somewhere over the years for tax purposes. It is true that they could take other adjoining lands of Stephenson and give this parcel 5 acres to comply with the zoning district, however it would create something that didn’t make any sense. It currently looks like its own parcel surrounded by stone walls which defines its feel as a separate lot. It also fits into the charater of the neighborhood as it won’t look any different thanit does now.
Chairperson Haugen De Puy read the criteria of granting an area variance to Mr. Eggers:
- 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
Mr. Eggers noted that the .81 acre proposed parcel does have its own well, septic and electric separate from the other lands of Stephenson.
Mr. Dunn noted that this .81 acres having all of those things and surrounded by the stone walls, is really self contained and appears to already be a stand alone peice of property.
Chairperson Haugen De Puy asked if Mr. Eggers could supply the Board with a time line of how the parcel was once separate and then how it was combined over the years.
Mr. Eggers would supply this.
Mr. Dunn questioned if this combination was the owner’s intent?
Mr. Eggers responded that the owner always thought that they were separate already and was very surprised to find out that they were combined. Mr. Eggers was aware that if the variance was granted by the ZBA, this would still need to go to the Planning Board for further review and Subdivision Approval.
Mr. Mallery and Mr. Dunn asked if Mr. Eggers could show the well and Septic locations along with a time line of the deed changes. This would help show the intent that the parcel was always intended to be a stand alone parcel. A lot of times adjoining parcels in the same ownership are combined for tax purposes. This may go to prove that this hardship isn’t self created.
Mr. Eggers requested that the Public Hearing be scheduled for the September meeting.
OTHER MATTERS:
Mr. Mallery wanted to discuss the format of the Minutes. He has seen many other Board Minutes and they are usually very brief. He thought that too much detail or an inadvertent omission in the Minutes could hurt the Board.
Mr. Dawson agreed that they should be much briefer.
Chairperson Haugen De Puy noted that she has seen the Minutes being done in greater detail have helped the Board.
Mr. Dunn noted that there was no right answer. They could find out if they could store them digitally as the tapes are only required to be held for 6 months.
Board Members agreed that Minutes were needed, but couldn’t agree as to what degree of content they needed.
They would look further into this matter and discuss it further at the next meeting and they would table all of the minutes until then.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Dunn motioned to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Dawson. All members present in favor.
Since there was no further business, at 8:15PM Chairperson Haugen De Puy adjourned the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Rebecca Paddock Stange, Secretary