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2001-07-24 ~ '-' '-'- - ~ MINUTES Zoning Board of Appeals July 24, 2001 Summarized Minutes Members Present Mr. Fanuele, Vice Chairman Mr. diPiemo, Member Mr. Warren, Member Absent: Mr. Lehigh, Mr. Prager, Chairman Member Others Present: Mrs. T. Lukianoff, Zoning Administrator Mrs. M. Gale, Secretary - ZBA MINUTES APPROVED Page 1 of7 P'. ; q 1 ..~, "'\:~:~~;'l rl..JJ _ '..: LvU. Town OfWllppinger Town Hall 20 Middlebush Road Wappinger Falls, NY SUMMARY Discussions: R.B. Hettinger Set PH Aug. 14,2001 John & Eileen Fusaro Set PH Aug. 14,2001 Minutes to be approved: May 15,2001 June 12, 2001 June 19,2001 June 26,2001 June 16,2001 (Site Inspection) Motion to Approve Minutes - Mr. diPierno Second motion - Mr. Warren All present voted: Aye '-' '-" \..- -i DRAFT COpy Page 2 of7 Next Item: Appeal No. 00-7071 R.B. Hettinl!er. Inc. - Seeking a use variance for property located at 51 Myers Comers Road, is identified as Tax Grid No. 6157-02-899988 located in the Town of Wappinger. Mr. Fanuele: I have two letters stating that, from Mrs. Hettinger that either Keith Carlson or Jon Adams will be representing her. Mr. Adams: Mr. Chairman, I'm going to ask that you simply set a Public Hearing tonight, I can't say much because Richard Cantor cannot be here tonight, he represents one of the interest neighbors and he I have an understanding that obviously, I'm not going to try to say something where he's not able to hear and consider what I say, if we set a public hearing we'll have a structure for this application we can move it forward, based on the public hearing date that you set. Now, Mr. Carlson is prepared to give you some background tonight, if the Board wants to consider that, but beyond the remarks that Ijust made, I don't want to make any further remarks for the reason, I just don't want to. Mr. Carlson: (Passing out documentation to the Board members). What we're looking for. . . the business has been in operation there since approximately 1950 and it's been several business' over the period of years. It's the type of place that a new business really doesn't want to go in, because it does need work, as you well know, which we give you different proposals, now this could be, the building be fixed up. As a real estate broker, it's a very tough building to sell, people would not put a home there, number one - you've got the highway there- number two - the lot is too small and the expense of tearing down the old building and putting up something new, would be strictly prohibitive in an area like that, therefore it's got to set down and remain some type of professional type building. I don't want to see a retail building there, and I don't think Mrs. Hettinger does either, we'd like to see a doctor, lawyer or maybe a real estate company, some type of professional or service organization in there. The building, right now has become quite a hardship for Mrs. Hettinger - as you know, many big business' have come in the area like, Office Max, Staples and quite a few others, it's really drained her and she's in a situation now, she's having a hard time paying the bills. It used to be a good business, everybody in town used to go down there years ago, but not anymore, they all go to big places, and that's true of all small business' - they built this town and it would be sad to see it go. \.,. \.,. ~ . DRAFT COpy Page 3 of7 Mr. Carlson - Cont'd. As Chairman of the Board of Assessor and Review in Wappinger, I would hate to see any type of commercial building go off the tax rolls because this puts more of a burden onto the residential properties. As you well know the commercial business building will pay a lot higher rate of taxes than any type of residents will and by taking this off as commercial building, it's going to cost all the citizens maybe a little more in taxes, which I really hate to see. We've made several proposals, which you could look over here, which we fell would be adequate to the town, change the fa9ade of the building change the rooflines, kind of make it look like a ranch to kind of fit in with the communities, sign posted which would fit in to the building, so it wouldn't be obtrusive to anyone driving by down there. But the area is a very good area for a business, because there's 20,000 plus cars a day going up and down Myers Comers Road and it's a very busy road - it's really not.. . even those residential homes.. ..it's really not a good residential road. So, as Jon said, we'd really like to see this gets on for a hearing, if at all possible. Mr. Fanuele: I've got a question, you talk about the driveway and parking would remain the same - ..... Mr. Carlson: There are two driveways, there's one in the front and there's one in the back, and there's not a tremendous amount of parking, from what I understand I think the members have gone out there and visited the premises and there's not a tremendous amount of parking - so, say there's an attorney, a couple of attorney's, a few secretary's that's four cars right there and clients - you have six maybe eight cars, there's not a lot ofroom - you need a little extra room in front for parking, by taking out the two storage buildings in the back, this would give them a little more room for parking, but you need to only get in there park and turn around and that front driveway would be kind of nice to make a quick turn around getting in and out for people. Also, we proposed some shrubbery going out to make it look nice and fit in the neighborhood. Mr. Fanuele: Since we do not have a print of what is in mind for the area, we would have to deal with setting conditions. Mr. Carlson: That's correct.. Mr. Fanuele: Once it gets designed... Mr. Carlson: We could give you the design, but no matter who comes in they would probably want to make their own design, I believe it should look like a home, like a ranch, not any bigger than a ranch, one level. You've got approximately 1,500-sq. ft. in that building. DRAFT COpy Page 4 of7 \.... Mr. Adams: I think you're correct, the press of this would be to set conditions so that when an applicant, any applicant who wants to chance the would have to go before the Planning Board, so the objective here in part, would be set a frame work within which that applicant would have to respect the surrounding residential neighborhood in any design factors and so forth that would better articulate at the public hearing, would have to be sensitive to in conformance with the surrounding residential properties. Mr. Carlson: Any type of professional building or people come in would want to make that attractive because that brings in more business, we're looking to you for guidelines so we can tell you what maybe some proposals should be. Every one here wants it to look nice, and I think it will be, the problem now, is we just can't sell it - it's been on the market for quite a long time - we just can't get anyone to buy it because of the conditions, so anyone who comes in will fix it up, but mainly it's because of the zoning and right now the only way we could sell this is for residential homes and it's just not going to happen in the Town of Wappinger. Mr. Fanuele: What's the size of the property? '-" Mr. Carlson: Fifteen hundred square feet on approximately a third of an acre, it's narrow - the lots maybe 125 ft. - it's not a real deep lot, you don't have a lot of room. Mrs. Hettinger: Keith, I've had seven buyers. Mr. Carlson: Yes, and we lost them all because of zoning. Mr. Fanuele: Can you document that. Mrs. Hettinger: I've got all the paperwork for every single one of them. Mr. Adams: Do you have a surveyor a map? Mr. Carlson: Yes, I have it here. Mr. Fanuele: If you could document all these buyers. Mr. Carlson: It definitely is a hardship, there's no question. Mr. Fanuele: (We have a lady in the back, raising her hand) This is not a public hearing, but we'll listen to you. \.... DRAFT COpy Page 5 of7 '-' Mrs. Pace (Audience): What were those buyers - one was a meat packer..... Mrs. Hettinger: I've had a psychiatrist, a chiropractor, an upholster, a beauty parlor a construction gentleman, the planning board passed. . .. Mr. Fanuele: We're going to set a public hearing for August 14th - will Mr. Cantor be back by then? Mr. Adams: I believe so. Mr. Fanuele: OK we will hold the Public Hearing on August 14th. Next Item: Appeal No. 01-7097 John & Eileen Fusaro - Seeking an area variance that an attached garage 24'x38' be located 14.5 ft. from side yard setback. Section 240-37 requires 20 ft. from side yard setback, applicant can provide 14.5 feet, thus requesting a variance of5.5 feet. The property is located on 71 Losee Rd. and is identified as Tax Grid No. 6157-02-808797 in the Town of Wappinger. \..... Mr. Fanuele: Come up and explain what you're asking for. Mr. Fusaro: It's only one comer in the back, the property lines don't run square with the house - the further back you go on the property, the closer it gets to the neighbors - the front of the garage will be 20 feet without a problem, but as it goes back, it gradually tightens up to 14 'l'2 feet. Mr. Fanuele: The property separated - what's there? Mr. Fusaro: My driveway and then.. . actually there's not much just a couple scrub trees, you couldn't really tell the boundary line unless it was pointed out, the comer of my driveway. Mr. diPiemo: Do you have a schematic? Mr. Fusaro: We did drop off a couple of drawings to you - then you have that. . ... Mr. Fanuele: I have a question for the Zoning Administrator - you have a half bath with heat and electric - he wants to include in the garage a half bath with heat and electric. \...- \..- \..r \..... . DRAFT COPY Page 6 of7 Mrs. Lukianoff: If you would notice on the drawing, I notice also, that there is a breezeway. Mr. Fusaro: Yes - because I want to connect it to the house. Mrs. Lukianoff: By using that breezeway, in fact it becomes part of the house, so it no longer is just a garage it becomes part of the house, unless you change your mind. Mr. Fusaro: Yes Mr. Fanuele: Ifit's part of the house, then it needs house setbacks. Mrs. Lukianoff: That's what we're going for. Mr. Fanuele: The 20 feet is the house setbacks? Mrs. Lukianoff: That's correct. Mr. Fusaro: The reason I'm putting in a bathroom is because I'm a plumber it would be nice not to have to run through the house, I do intend to re-do the lower floor of the house, sheet rock it, carpet it and so forth. Mrs. Lukianoff: Because in effect, this becomes an addition to the house. If it was a shed or a freestanding garage it would still have the setback because it's over 200-sq. ft., by having that breezeway it becomes a house addition. Mr. Warren: What are you going to store in the garage? Mr. Fusaro: A car and a truck, lawn equipment and I was hoping to have room where I could work on the lawn equipment or do a house project, set up a saw or something. Mr. Fanuele: That's for yourself not as a business. ~ " . . '-' \. \...- DRAFT COpy Page 70f7 Mr. Fusaro: Right, not as a business. Mr. Fanuele: Want to go see it? Saturday - set for August 4th 9:30AM, have the Public Hearing on August 14th - when we come out, would you put some stakes to see where you want to put it. Mr. Warren: Motioned to close meeting. Mr. diPiemo: Seconded motion. All: Aye Meeting ended at 8:00PM Respectfully Submitted, ~~~ V.cJ/~ Michelle D. Gale - Secretary Zoning Board of Appeals