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Minutes 5.15.24(Queensbury ZBA Meeting 05/15/2024) 1 AREA VARIANCE NO. 26-2024 SEQRA TYPE TYPE II HILLTOP CONSTRUCTION/LEN ROMEO AGENT(S) ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN PARTNERSHIP ZONING WR LOCATION 282 CLEVERDALE RD. APPLICANT PROPOSES TO DEMOLISH EXISTING HOUSE AND DETACHED GARAGE TO CONSTRUCT A NEW HOME WITH A FOOTPRINT OF 1,990 SQ. FT. AND DETACHED GARAGE FOOTPRINT OF 400 SQ. FT. THE NEW FLOOR AREA IS TO BE 3,725 SQ. FT. INCLUDING THE GARAGE. PROJECT WORK INCLUDES PERMEABLE PAVER DRIVEWAY, WALKWAYS, AND NEW STORMWATER MANAGEMENT. SITE PLAN FOR NEW FLOOR AREA IN A CEA AND HARD SURFACING WITHIN 50 FT. OF THE SHORELINE. RELIEF REQUESTED FOR SETBACKS AND FLOOR AREA. CROSS REF SP 21-2024; AV 5-2018; SP 5-2018 WARREN COUNTY PLANNING MAY 2024 ADIRONDACK PARK AGENCY ALD LOT SIZE 0.3 ACRES TAX MAP NO. 226.16-1-40 SECTION 179-3-040 JON LAPPER & BRANDON FERGUSON, REPRESENTING APPLICANT, PRESENT STAFF INPUT Notes from Staff, Area Variance No. 16-2024, Hilltop Construction/Len Romeo, Meeting Date: May 15, 2024 “Project Location: 282 Cleverdale Rd Description of Proposed Project: Applicant proposes to demolish existing house and detached garage to construct a new home with a footprint of 1,990 sq. ft. and detached garage footprint of 400 sq. ft. The new floor area is to be 3,725 sq. ft. including the garage. Project work includes permeable paver driveway, walkways, and new stormwater management. Site plan for new floor area in a CEA and hard surfacing within 50 ft. of the shoreline. Relief requested for setbacks and floor area. Relief Required: The applicant requests relief for setbacks and floor area for the construction of a new home. The project is on a 13,158 sq. ft. parcel located in the Waterfront residential zone. Section 179-3-040 dimensional The new home is proposed to be 13 ft. from the side yard setback on the north side and 12 ft. on the south side where a 20 ft. setback is required. The garage is to be 5 ft. from the south property side setback where a 20 ft. setback is required, the garage is to be 10 ft. from the front setback where a 30 ft. setback is required. The floor area ratio is to be 28.30% where 22% is the maximum allowed. Permeability is increasing from 70% to 70.91%; a variance is not required for permeability. Criteria for considering an Area Variance according to Chapter 267 of Town Law: In making a determination, the board shall consider: 1. Whether an undesirable change will be produced in the character of the neighborhood or a detriment to nearby properties will be created by the granting of this area variance. Minor to no impacts to the neighborhood may be anticipated. 2. Whether the benefit sought by the applicant can be achieved by some method, feasible for the applicant to pursue, other than an area variance. Feasible alternatives may be possible to reduce the size of the home to be more compliant. 3. Whether the requested area variance is substantial. The relief requested may be considered moderate relevant to the code. The proposed home North side setback relief is 7 ft., South side is 8 ft. The floor area relief is 8.30% in excess than allowed. The relief for the garage South side setback is 15 ft. and the front setback is 20 ft. 4. Whether the proposed variance will have an adverse effect or impact on the physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood or district. The project may be considered to have minimal impact on the physical or the environmental conditions of the area. 5. Whether the alleged difficulty was self-created. The difficulty may be considered self-created. Staff comments: The applicant proposes the construction of a new single-family home with associated site work. The plans show the elevations view of each side and the floor plans for the house and garage. The plans show the location of the new home, existing septic system and well. Site work includes new plantings for the shoreline area.” (Queensbury ZBA Meeting 05/15/2024) 2 MR. URRICO-And the Planning Board based on its limited review has identified the following areas of concern: 1. The floor area ratio exceeds the allowable by 28% which the Planning Board considers to be significant, and that was adopted May 14th, 2024 by a seven to zero vote. MR. LAPPER-For the record, Jon Lapper with Brandon Ferguson from Environmental Design Partnership and the applicants, the Romeo’s, are behind us. The application was submitted on behalf of their contractor, Hilltop Construction, but the Romeos are the owners. So they’re long-time local residents, Romeo Toyota of Glens Falls, and they’re moving, selling their home in Glens Falls and moving to Cleverdale as their permanent home and that’s why they purchased it. It needs to be replaced. It’s a 1940’s very tired home. I know that you’ve all been up there, and when you’re on Cleverdale Road all you see are garages. Almost every house is the same. So even though the garage is close to Cleverdale Road, that’s how that whole area was developed. They also happen to be right across the street from Boats By George marina. So it’s a heavily commercial area with a lot of traffic, boats and maintenance and a lot going on, a lot of noise, only in terms of what they’re asking for, which we’ll get into, for a little bit larger house. There’s not going to be any impact on the neighborhood, and in fact they’re, they have significant stormwater problems that we’ll go into in some detail. On balance I think this is going to be a major benefit for the neighborhood, but we had an interesting discussion last night at the Planning Board and they were very supportive of certain aspects of the application. One of the Planning Board members said the footprint is essentially the same. What they’re really doing to make this their full-time house is staying pretty much on the same foundation, which is six inches one way or another, but going to a full second floor, and that’s why there’s the extra floor area variance. The garage is actually coming down, but nobody, it doesn’t affect anybody to have a full second story here. The site is very well buffered. Again, there’s the marina property just across the street and one door to the north. I know that they have neighbors that are in support of this, and all the properties, these are all 60 foot wide lots. So in terms of the side setback, if you maintained a 20 foot setback on either side, you’d have a 20 foot wide house, which doesn’t work. Nobody has a 20 foot setback on this area of Cleverdale Road. It’s tota lly in character. Many of the houses have been re- built because like this one they need to be and new houses are much more attractive, as this one will be as well, but another big aspect, in terms of the impact on the neighborhood, as I mentioned, is that there’s basically all the stormwater from that area free flows across this property in major storms, which we know happen every month these days. Laura, could you put up the picture from last night? So this is just, Lenny took a picture of this just on a typical storm everything comes. The top area is where the garage and the parking area are. Right now, and they just bought this a few years ago. This was pre -existing, but right now, although it looks like pavers, it’s stamped concrete. So it’s completely impervious. All of this is a low spot on Cleverdale Road. So all the water comes down and sheet flows directly into the lake untreated. A lot of this project, and Brandon will go through the design, is a raised area with parking areas to completely change that with permeable pavers, twelve inches of gravel, and then a big stormwater settlement basin which will settle out the solids and then a six inch pipe towards the lake which is going to daylight 100 feet before the lake and the Planning Board asked us to add a bunch of riprap which of course we’ll deal with when we get to the Planning Board. This is going to be able to not only capture but treat the stormwater that is with a typical storm going right now right into the lake that they have to deal with, but also not good for the lake. So in terms of the environmental and on balance the impact on the neighborhood, where this is, you know, with all the houses on top of their side setbacks just going up to the full second floor isn’t going to look different to the neighbors. It isn’t going to look different from the lake. It isn’t going to look different from the road because everyone’s looking at the garages anyway, but they’re going to do a lot. They’re going to do a lot of plantings on the lake and with this, you know, expensive stormwater system, which is necessary, that’s going to improve this for everybody. Again, having Boats By George, this isn’t a typical place on Cleverdale. This is right in the heart of a busy commercial area with boats. Let me hand it to Brandon to talk some more about that. MR. FERGUSON-Good evening. Brandon Ferguson from Environmental Design Partnership. I think Jon covered a lot of it, but from a stormwater perspective, like he said, that driveway now is stamped concrete as well as a concrete sidewalk. It kind of funnels all the water down towards the house and towards the lake. So we’re proposing to replace that. They still need a spot to park off the road there. So we’re proposing to replace it with permeable pavers with a large stone reservoir underneath it to try to collect as much of that runoff as we can, get it into the ground. Then there’s an overflow structure that would allow, you know, have a sump in it to allow additional sediment to get in there before biking it down and stopping a little short of the lake so we can get some additional treatment before it gets to the lake as well going down to the grass property line. The sidewalks on there will also be converted to permeable as well. So that’ll help if any water does flow down, that gives it another chance to get into the ground compared to flowing down a pervious sidewalk. As far as the structure goes, there’s an existing four bedroom house on the property now. They’re replacing it with a four bedroom home, and it is a small lot. It’s only a little over 13,000 square feet. The side yard setbacks now are like nine and a half and thirteen and a half. We’re going to thirteen and twelve. So we’re maintaining and actually improving on the one side. As far as shoreline setback, we’re actually pulling it back slightly from the lake, 51, 52. So that’s the only compliant, and actually pulled back a little bit, and then for a floor area ratio, Jon kind of mentioned, I mean it’s not really that out of character, the size of the house for the area. We do have a garage there, which a lot of these homes along there do have garages. This garage that we’re proposing is actually slightly smaller than the garage that’s existing there now. We’ve also pulled it a little bit further off the road. The existing garage now is only like six feet off the road. We’re going to 10. So I think that’s also an improvement. So (Queensbury ZBA Meeting 05/15/2024) 3 there’s a lot of improvements being made to this property for the stormwater to some of the setbacks. So I guess I’ll turn it back up to you if you have any questions. MR. LAPPER-Just one other thing. So what I didn’t mention, when you have a less than a third of an acre, site, you know, when you’re talking about percentages, the upstairs area, we’re talking about approximately 700 square feet of extra space. So it sounds like a lot, 28%, but when you’re talking about a 13,000 square foot lot, you know, it’s not a lot of square feet, and I know you guys have recognized that in the past when it’s a really small lot and this third of an acre is nothing. So it sounds l ike, 28% sounds like a lot, but it’s not a lot of square feet. It’s just we’re building up on a small lot, but that’s that whole neighborhood. They’re all the same sized lots. So I don’t think that’s substantial while at first blush it sounds substantial. MR. FERGUSON-Brandon again, yes. As far as FAR, too, obviously the garage, as well as what’s also counted is the covered patio area on the lakeside of the house. So that patio area has got a stone reservoir underneath it, plus stormwater from the roof and everything, but it’s just a cover over that patio. So it’s not an interior living space of the house. So that’s also included in that Floor Area Ratio. MR. MC CABE-Do we have questions of the applicant? MR. HENKEL-Since you do have that covered area, could you reduce a little bit of the permeable pavers that are so close to the lake? You’re out pretty far there. I mean, you’ve got a nice covered area there close to the lake. Do you really need that extra? MR. FERGUSON-Yes, we could definitely look into reducing some of that patio space. Between the lake and the covered patio you’re talking:? MR. HENKEL-Yes, it’s something I’d want to consider. If you didn’t have that covered porch, then I’d understand that, but now with that covered porch area, and then you’ve got a deck above it that you can see the lake from, too. So you’ve got a lot of area that you can enjoy the lake. You don’t really need all that area there. That would help your permeability, which you’re not asking for, but. MR. LAPPER-The applicants just said that they could pull that back. MR. HENKEL-How much? MR. FERGUSON-Right now we’re at about 35 feet. You see where that curb is, we can kind of pull it back to there and just cut it straight across. MR. HENKEL-Okay. That would be great. MR. FERGUSON-I don’t know what that distance is. MR. KUHL-He might get a lot of people when he has his barbecue. He might need that. MR. HENKEL-Yes, but like I say, he’s got the deck above there, the second floor. MR. MC CABE-Anybody else, any questions? So a public hearing has been advertised. At this particular time I’m going to open the public hearing and see if there’s anybody out there who would like to address us on this particular project. Chris? PUBLIC HEARING OPENED CHRIS NAVITSKY MR. NAVITSKY-Thank you. Chris Navitsky, Lake George Waterkeeper. I appreciate the description of the stormwater. I think that’s a good aspect, but thank you, Jon, for that, but that was our concern again. We thought that that the hard scape was expanding towards the lake because we did calculations and we understand the Town’s policy regarding the permeable pavers that are considered 50% permeability, but the vegetative cover actually on this property is decreasing by six percent once you factor that credit out. So in theory the property’s getting more hard scape. So by reducing that I think that brings it more into balance so we appreciate that consideration, and that was really our concern, that permeable patio and, again, that hard scape going to the lake. So thank you. MR. MC CABE-Sure. Is there anybody else out there who would like to comment on this particular project? MR. URRICO-I have one letter. “We are the owners of the residence at 280 Cleverdale Road. Our property is located immediately to the south of 282 Cleverdale Road. Regarding the setback variance, site planning request for 282 Cleverdale Road, we have had opportunity to discuss our concerns with the (Queensbury ZBA Meeting 05/15/2024) 4 applicant, Len Romeo at Hilltop Construction. We believe that the visual drainage and impacts of the proposal can be mitigated through landscaping and site grading. In light of the assurances we have received from the applicant that he will, one, have the property professionally landscaped to maintain privacy, and, two, address any drainage impacts resulting from the proposed addition, we support the proposal. Further we will be out of Town during both the Zoning Board and Planning Board and we ask that our comments are included in the record.” And that’s William and Diane Karafanda, 280 Cleverdale Road. MR. MC CABE-So, John, what was your point? MR. HENKEL-What is the agreement as to how much of the pavers they’re going to take out and how much pavers are going to be there as far as the size? We won’t know. MR. KUHL-I have a question. Are you going to get the answer to that, John? I mean, how would you like the answer? MR. HENKEL-I’d kind of like to have an idea how much we’re going to be back from the setback here? Right now it’s almost 35 feet, the one edge there. MR. KUHL-Could I have a question of Staff? Mr. Navitsky talked about the 50% permeable. I thought it was 62%? MRS. MOORE-It’s always been 50. I would have probably said, when I first started it was zero, and then we graduated to 50%. MR. KUHL-Okay. MR. FERGUSON-We can pull it back about five feet. MR. MC CABE-Five feet from the lake? MR. LAPPER-Yes. MR. MC CABE-Okay. MR. KUHL-What does that do for your six percent, Chris? Hard scape. MR. NAVITSKY-I’m not that quick. MR. KUHL-Okay. But I mean it reduces that number. MR. MC CABE-Well, we’re not approving permeability. MR. KUHL-No, I understand that, but I mean Chris brought up a point about hard scape versus. MR. UNDERWOOD-It’s probably 90 square feet, 90 or 112. MR. MC CABE-All right. So at this particular time I’m going to close the public hearing. PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED MR. MC CABE-I’m going to poll the Board, and I’m going to start with Ron. MR. KUHL-Any time that we improve the septic and the environment it’s a good thing. On these small lots there’s not much you can do with it. If the applicant chooses to live in, as Mr. Lapper said, a very busy area. I don’t see that that should add into this whole thing. I mean that’s just what it is. It’s that block. It’s that kind of traffic. I think the improvements that they’re making to the property are valid and there’s not much you can do with a lot this size. I’d be in favor of it the way it’s presented. MR. MC CABE-Roy? MR. URRICO-I’m in favor of the project with the revision that were suggested. MR. MC CABE-Bob? MR. KEENAN-I recognize the size of this lot just makes things very difficult, but I think you have a good project, with John’s suggestion in pulling back five feet the permeable pavers from the shoreline, I’d be in favor of the project. (Queensbury ZBA Meeting 05/15/2024) 5 MR. MC CABE-Mary? MRS. PALACINO-I would be in favor with the condition of reducing that patio space. MR. MC CABE-Jim? MR. UNDERWOOD-I’m in favor of it with the five foot cut back on the patio. MR. MC CABE-John? MR. HENKEL-As Mr. Lapper has explained about the size of the house related to the footprint’s not getting any bigger it’s just putting on a second story which is needed for the family, the growth of the family, I’m on board as is. MR. MC CABE-So normally I take a pretty hard stance on floor area, but in this particular case I think there’s a lot to be gained by improving the stormwater collection and mitigating it. So with that in mind I, too, approve the project. So, Ron, I wonder if you could give us a motion. MR. KUHL-Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Queensbury has received an application from Hilltop Construction / Len Romeo. Applicant proposes to demolish existing house and detached garage to construct a new home with a footprint of 1,990 sq. ft. and detached garage footprint of 400 sq. ft. The new floor area is to be 3,725 sq. ft. including the garage. Project work includes permeable paver driveway, walkways, and new stormwater management. Site plan for new floor area in a CEA and hard surfacing within 50 ft. of the shoreline. Relief requested for setbacks and floor area. Relief Required: The applicant requests relief for setbacks and floor area for the construction of a new home. The project is on a 13,158 sq. ft. parcel located in the Waterfront residential zone. Section 179-3-040 dimensional The new home is proposed to be 13 ft. from the side yard setback on the north side and 12 ft. on the south side where a 20 ft. setback is required. The garage is to be 5 ft. from the south property side setback where a 20 ft. setback is required, the garage is to be 10 ft. from the front setback where a 30 ft. setback is required. The floor area ratio is to be 28.30% where 22% is the maximum allowed. Permeability is increasing from 70% to 70.91%; a variance is not required for permeability. SEQR Type II – no further review required; A public hearing was advertised and held on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Upon review of the application materials, information supplied during the public hearing, and upon consideration of the criteria specified in Section 179-14-080(A) of the Queensbury Town Code and Chapter 267 of NYS Town Law and after discussion and deliberation, we find as follows: 1. There is not an undesirable change in the character of the neighborhood nor a detriment to nearby properties as this is a small lot and they’re adding new systems, and the footprint of the house is reasonably the same. 2. Feasible alternatives have been considered and have been included to minimize the request. 3. The requested variance is not substantial due to the fact that, again, it’s a small lot and there’s only so much you can do with it. 4. There is not an adverse impact on the physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood or district. 5. Although we could say the alleged difficulty is self -created, but it’s created because of the size of the lot. 6. In addition, the Board finds that the benefit to the applicant from granting the requested variance would outweigh (approval) the resulting detriment to the health, safety and welfare of the neighborhood or community; 7. The Board also finds that the variance request under consideration is the minimum necessary; 8. The Board also proposes the following conditions: (Queensbury ZBA Meeting 05/15/2024) 6 a) That the permeable pavers towards the lakeside would be reduced by five feet away from the lake. b) Adherence to the items outlined in the follow-up letter sent with this resolution. BASED ON THE ABOVE FINDINGS, I MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE AREA VARIANCE NO. 26-2024 HILLTOP CONSTRUCTION/LEN ROMEO, Introduced by Ronald Kuhl, who moved for its adoption, seconded by John Henkel: Duly adopted this 15th Day of May 2024 by the following vote: MR. HENKEL-We have to add the condition. MRS. MOORE-You have to add the condition, please. AYES: Mr. Keenan, Mr. Kuhl, Mrs. Palacino, Mr. Urrico, Mr. Henkel, Mr. Underwood, Mr. McCabe NOES: NONE ABSENT: Mr. Cipperly MR. MC CABE-Congratulations, you have a project. MR. LAPPER-I really appreciate it. Thanks, everybody. LEN ROMEO MR. ROMEO-Thank you.