ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
TOWN OF ROCHESTER
ULSTER COUNTY
ACCORD, NEW YORK
(845) 626-2434
torpbzba@hvc.rr.com

MINUTES of May 18th, 2017 the Town of Rochester Zoning Board of Appeals, held at the Town of Town of Rochester Community Center, Accord, NY.

Chairman Mallery called the meeting to order at 7:00PM.

Pledge to the Flag.

PRESENT: ABSENT:
Cliff Mallery Greta Baker
Steven Fornal
Rebecca Collins
Charles Fischer

Also present:
Erin Enouen, Alternate. Shaye Davis, Secretary.

At 7:00pm the alternate Erin Enouen

Continued Application
Mara Kearney
96 Krum Road, Tax-Map #68.3-3.13 R-2 Zoning District. 3.8 acres.
Area Variance – – Lack of Density according to schedule of district regulations
Proposing to add a second dwelling unit on 2nd floor of the storage building

Mara Kearney was present on behalf of the application.

Chairman Mallery stated that the board has a completed application. Chairman Mallery apologized to the applicant due to the fact that they believed they were coming for a public hearing but since the Board did not make a motion to set the application for public hearing they could not send out notices for the hearing. Chairman Mallery asked the Board if they had any questions and asked if the applicant had anything they would like to add.

Ms. Kearney stated that at the last meeting there was an issue about the side yard setback. She stated that that was now fixed and the map was incorrectly marked.

Chairman Mallery stated that there was also an issue with whether or not there were certificates of compliance for the garage and it turns out there was.

Mr. Fornal motioned to set the application for public hearing for the July 15th 2017 Zoning Board of Appeals meeting. Ms. Collins seconded the motion.
All in favor. Motion carried.
5 ayes, 0 nays, 0 abstain, 1 absent
Mallery: Yes Enouen: Yes
Fornal: Yes Fischer: Yes
Collins: Yes

Ms. Kearney stated that she was confused about the process.

Chairman Mallery stated that there was a pre-application. At the pre-application meeting the Board and the application discuss what the application wants to do and the Board give the applicant some indication on if it would be favorable or not and if there are issues, they try to resolve them and talk about if there’s any other way to do what the applicant wants other than a variance.

Ms. Kearney asked if there was any other way she could go about her project without obtaining a variance.

Chairman Mallery stated that he did not think so. He also stated that in order to grant a variance the Board has to consider a number of factors and he believes they have considered the factors and he does not see the application as a substantial request. He stated that at the early stage of the process it looks like there should not be any problem with obtaining the variance.

Mr. Fornal stated that there is a procedure. He stated the Board has a pre-app. He stated that in order to set the application for public hearing they need to have a completed application and not just a pre-application. He stated that the Board is required to have the actual application.

Chairman Mallery stated that the secretary will mail everyone within 500 feet of the property and will have the public hearing next month.

Chairman Mallery spoke to the Board about the minutes. He stated that if there are corrections to be made in the minutes to email everyone on the Board including the Secretary so that everyone is aware of the changes.

Mr. Fornal stated that he would like to explore setting up rules of procedure for the Zoning Board of Appeals. He stated that one of the items would be that on the pre-application they allow the application to file an application without filing a fee. That would allow the Board to set a public hearing at the pre-application meeting and contingent to the applicant paying the filing fee before the public hearing. He stated that Attorney Christiana may have a problem with that due to the fact that what if the Board sends out the notices for the public hearing and the applicant does not pay. He said but if it’s noted that so if the Board sends out notice and the application doesn’t pay or show up for the public hearing it wouldn’t be a legal thing that the Board would be held responsible for.

Secretary Davis stated that the Board could set a date that the applicant has to pay by so then the Board won’t send notice out until they get payment for the application.

Ms. Enuoen stated that what she understands was that the applicant had their pre-application and they heard what they needed to do and they filed their application but then because the Board hasn’t met and voted it couldn’t be posted for public hearing. She suggest that in a instance like that could the Board meet and vote for a public hearing if the application got their application in within a week or something.

Mr. Fornal stated that he already ran that through the Attorney for the Town years ago and the Attorney said no. He stated that Michael Baden helped come up with this way of handling the pre-application process.

Ms. Collins stated that this process sounds like a great idea and would help the applicant.

Mr. Fornal stated that when they were looking at the law it’s mostly case law that states a Board cannot hold a public hearing without a complete application but it was listed in the case law that the Board has 62 days from the application to set a public hearing. He also stated that on variances for yards that the Board maybe not require, but set up the Board will get a survey map or something similar that will definitively show the variances needed. He stated that the Board should have a meeting at the end after the process was run by the Attorney for the Town to discuss the procedure.

Chairman Mallery stated that there is a couple ways they could go about doing all of it. The first way would be that Mr. Fornal could sit down with Chairman Baden from the Planning Board and go over potential rules and procedures and possibly have a committee of two to help come up with the rules and procedures. He asked if anyone on the Board would be interested in helping. Mr. Fischer stated that he would be up to being on the committee as long as it doesn’t interfere with his work schedule.

Mr. Fornal motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:13pm. Mr. Fischer seconded the motion.
All in favor. Motion carried.
5 ayes, 0 nays, 0 abstain, 1 absent
Mallery: Yes Enouen: Yes
Fornal: Yes Fischer: Yes
Collins: Yes

Respectfully submitted,
Shaye Davis, Secretary