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Minutes McCormick 4.21.21(Queensbury ZBA Meeting 04/21/2021) 1 OLD BUSINESS: AREA VARIANCE NO. 14-2021 SEQRA TYPE TYPE II ROBERT MC CORMICK AGENT(S) JOSEPH J. BIANCHINE, PE OWNER(S) ROBERT MC CORMICK ZONING WR LOCATION 18 DARK BAY LANE APPLICANT PROPOSES A 110 SQ. FT. PORCH ADDITION TO THE MAIN HOME AND A 116 SQ. FT. PORCH ADDITION ALSO ON THE MAIN HOME. THE PROJECT INCLUDES A 500 SQ. FT. CARPORT ADDITION TO THE EXISTING 624 SQ. FT. GARAGE AND CONSTRUCTION OF A 1,995 SQ. FT. GARAGE WITH THREE BAYS. SITE WORK INCLUDING A NEW SEPTIC SYSTEM AND A WELL. SITE PLAN REVIEW FOR NEW FLOOR AREA IN A CEA, EXPANSION OF A NON-CONFORMING STRUCTURE, AND PROJECT WORK WITHIN 50 FT. OF 15% SLOPES. RELIEF REQUESTED FOR SIZE OF GARAGE AND SECOND GARAGE. CROSS REF SP 13-2021; SP 15-91; SP 59-88 WARREN COUNTY PLANNING MARCH 2021 ADIRONDACK PARK AGENCY ALD LOT SIZE 4.69 ACRES TAX MAP NO. 239.18 -1-45 SECTION 179-3-040; 179-6 -065; 179-5-020; 179-13-010 JON LAPPER & JOE BIANCHINE, REPRESENTING APPLICANT, PRESENT MR. MC CABE-We’ve already read part of this into the record. So our reading tonight is going to be abridged. STAFF INPUT Notes from Staff, Area Variance No. 14 -2021, Robert McCormick, Meeting Date: April 21, 2021 “Project Location: 18 Dark Bay Lane Description of Proposed Project: Revised: Applicant proposes a 110 sq. ft. porch addition to the main home and a 116 sq. ft. porch addition also on the main home. The project includes a 500 sq. ft. carport addition to the existing 624 sq. ft. garage and construction of a 1,995 sq. ft. garage with three bays. Site plan review for new floor area in a CEA, expansion of a non -conforming structure, and project work within 50 ft. of 15% slopes. Relief requested for size of garage and second garage. Relief Required: The applicant requests relief for size of garage and second garage in the Waterfront Residential zone –WR. Section 179-5-020 –garage The proposed second garage is to be 1,995 sq. ft. and to be 3 bays. Relief is requested for the second garage, garage greater than 1,100 sq. ft. The garage was reduced from 3,113 sq. ft. 8-car garage. 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 considered to expand the existing garage. 3. Whether the requested area variance is substantial. The request for relief may be considered moderate to substantial relevant to the code. Relief is requested for a second garage and 895 sq. ft. in excess. 4. Whether the proposed variance will have an adverse effect or impact on the physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood or district. Minor to no impact to the physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood may be anticipated. 5. Whether the alleged difficulty was self-created. The difficulty may be considered self -created. Staff comments: The applicant proposes to construct a second garage to store classic cars and antique boats. The new garage is to be 16 ft. in height and have 3 bays. The plans show the revision of the size and appearance of the garage on the site. The garage has been located closer to the home with a shorter driveway and smaller disturbance area.” MR. LAPPER-Good evening, everyone. For the record, Jon Lapper. Nice to see everyone in public. (Queensbury ZBA Meeting 04/21/2021) 2 MR. MC CABE-So our procedure is the way it used to be. When you’re done, plea se wipe down the podium and the microphone, and then the next person that comes up will have to do the same. MR. LAPPER-The next person that comes up will be Joe Bianchine, the project engineer. I just want to make some preliminary comments before J oe shows you the changes. Based upon the comments of the Board at the last meeting, the proposed garage has been substantially reduced in size. So what Rob was hoping for was an eight bay garage for his car collection. Now what’s proposed, as Roy read, is a three bay garage. It was over 3,000 square feet and it’s down to, the number that was on the agenda is wrong. It’s actually 1995 square feet. It’s correct in Laura’s Staff Notes, but it’s come down over 1,000 square feet. The building was m oved closer to the driveway, Dark Bay Road, so that the driveway is substantially shorter, which was one of the issues for you, and it’s moved closer to the main house as well. It’s very well shielded from neighbors and the garage is in character with th e neighborhood. My best argument here is because this is a 4.7 acre site in a two acre zone, this could be subdivided, going down the middle of the road, so that both parcels would have frontage. I talked to Craig about this. This is not what he want s, but if the variance were denied, he could have two principle structures, which he would have to have a kitchen and bedroom to make it a principle dwelling, and he could have his three car garage. So what you’re actually voting on tonight is less than what he could have as of right if we did a two lot subdivision because it’s a 4.7 acre site, but I think more important than that to you was that you felt it was too large, and it’s substantially smaller than what came in, but this could be done as a secon d residence with a three car garage. So, Joe, if you could just give them the details of what’s changed on the site plan. MR. BIANCHINE-I’m Joe Bianchine with ABD Engineers, representing Rob McCormick. The McCormick family now lives at 18 Dark Bay Lane. Jon covered most of, when we were on the Zoom meeting a little over a month ago we had a 3,100 square foot eight bay garage. The McCormicks have agreed to reduce the size of that from a little over 3100 down to 1995 square foot. They moved it from the east side. There’s a basketball court as you can see that’s there, from the east side of the basketball court to the west side of the basketball court, which puts us closer to Dark Bay, which also reduces the amount of pavement we have to do. It reduced the stormwater runoff. It does a lot of things that are good for the site. It’s less impact on everybody. We’re at three bays. It’s a nice looking garage. It fits with the house, Adirondack type architecture. As Jon indicated, it’s a 4.7 a cre parcel. It also should be noted that the McCormick’s own two parcels just to the west of this that are each a little over a half an acre. In total they do own more than five acres. The two lots to the west are undeveloped. He doesn’t intend to de velop them. There is over five acres of land available there. It fits in to that site. It’s not in a 15% slope area, but it’s right adjacent to the 15%. So we have three sides there that are 15%, but right where we’ve got a garage is less than 15% slope. We’ll just have the garage there. Mr. McCormick’s not doing any work in the garage. He has classic snow mobiles that he’ll put in the garage. There’s no bathroom. We had a bathroom the last time. We had a well and we had to have a septic tank to pump it up to his septic field. Those have all been eliminated from the site. So it’s been greatly downsized and reduced in scope. We will add landscaping. There was one comment on the Staff comments about a possible alternative would be to expand the existing garage. We really can’t do that because the only way to expand it would be towards the lake and it drops off quite steeply towards the lake. So he really can’t do it there. On the other side is where we have our carport and the carport will take us just about right to the setback line on that side. So there’s no room to expand the existing garage. That’s why he’d like a new garage on the site. I think that pretty much covers it. Jon, do you want to wrap up some things. MR. LAPPER-Any questions? MR. MC CABE-So do we have questions of the applicant? It seems pretty straightforward and quite a change from the original asking. No questions? So a public hearing has been advertised, and so at this time I’m going to open the public hearing and see if there’s anybody in the audience who would like to speak on this particular application, and invite anybody from the outside that wants to provide input to give us a call at 761-8225, 518-761-8225. Anybody? So we just have to wait for two minutes, Jon. PUBLIC HEARING OPENED MR. MC CABE-So at this particular time I’m going to close the public hearing. PUBLIC HEARING CLOSED MR. MC CABE-And I’m going to poll the Board, and I’m going to start with Jim. MR. UNDERWOOD-Yes, I think unfortunately here I still feel that you’re building a garage that’s way oversized. It’s oversized by over 800 square feet from what the allowance is for garages in size. I think that if you’re realistic and you look at this garage as proposed here, it’ll still hold up to six vehicles, you know, on top of the three cars that you could store down at the other garage with the carport. So I’m still not in favor of it. As far as the rest of the project goes, I’m in favor of the rest of it. MR. MC CABE-Michelle? (Queensbury ZBA Meeting 04/21/2021) 3 MRS. HAYWARD-I agree with Jim. I think it’s still too large. It’s a nice looking project, but it’s more than I think is needed. MR. MC CABE-Cathy? MRS. HAMLIN-Yes, I’m kind of not happy about going down this road. It’s not the size so much, although it is a second garage. He does have an option like you said. He could subdivide and have a guest cottage with a garage. There are options available. So I think I would not be in favor of this application. MR. MC CABE-Ron? MR. KUHL-I’m in favor of this project the way it is. I think the land supports it. I think the area supports it. We did give a three car garage down the road. I do agree with the other Board members about the square footage. Forty-one feet is awful deep, but I’d be in favor of it the way it’s presented. MR. MC CABE-Roy? MR. URRICO-Yes, I’m also in favor of the project as presented at this time. I think it’s an improvement over what was there before or what was projected before, and I don’t think having a second residence close by is a solution. I think it serves to make a crowded situation worse if there were another building there. So I would be in favor. MR. MC CABE-John? MR. HENKEL-I still think it’s a little big. I wish it was a little smaller, and I wouldn’t mind seeing the bathroom being put back in it. I can see where a bathroom would be needed and water would be needed that far from the house. So it’s tough. I think the property does warrant a garage of that size. Maybe not quite that big, but like I said I’d like to see that bathroom back in there, and water in there, but I guess I’d be on board with the project as is. MR. MC CABE-And so the way I look at this is, one, I think the size of the property c ertainly warrants a second garage. The argument could be made that the garage is a little bit too big, but if you consider the alternative, splitting the property in half just to achieve the second garage, I think that okaying a project as presented is a much better alternative. So I’ll vote in favor for the project. So it sounds like we’ve got a four to three here. So at this particular time I’m going to ask Ron for a motion. MR. KUHL-Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Zoning Board of Appeals of the To wn of Queensbury has received an application from Robert McCormick. (Revised): Applicant proposes a 110 sq. ft. porch addition to the main home and a 116 sq. ft. porch addition also on the main home. The project includes a 500 sq. ft. carport addition t o the existing 624 sq. ft. garage and construction of a 1,995 sq. ft. garage with three bays. Site plan review for new floor area in a CEA, expansion of a non -conforming structure, and project work within 50 ft. of 15% slopes. Relief requested for size of garage and second garage. Relief Required: The applicant requests relief for size of garage and second garage in the Waterfront Residential zone –WR. Section 179-5-020 –garage The proposed second garage is to be 1,995 sq. ft. and to be 3 bays. Relief is requested for the second garage, garage greater than 1,100 sq. ft. The garage was reduced from 3,113 sq. ft. 8-car garage. SEQR Type II – no further review required; A public hearing was advertised and held on Wednesday, March 17, 2021 & Wednesday April 21, 2021. 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 applicant not only owns this property but neighboring properties. It’s a large, large piece. 2. Feasible alternatives are really limited. They’ve been considered and we believe that they’re reasonable and have been included to minimize the request. (Queensbury ZBA Meeting 04/21/2021) 4 3. The requested variance is not really substantial due to the properties that this applicant owns. 4. There is not an adverse impact on the physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood or district. 5. We could suggest that the difficulty is self -created as this applicant already has two garages and a carport on the house. 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: a) 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. 14-2021 ROBERT MC CORMICK, Introduced by Ronald Kuhl, who moved for its adoption, seconded by Michael McCabe: Duly adopted this 21st Day of April 2021 by the following vote: AYES: Mr. Urrico, Mr. Kuhl, Mr. Henkel, Mr. McCabe NOES: Mrs. Hamlin, Mrs. Hayward, Mr. Underwood MR. LAPPER-Thank you very much. MR. MC CABE-Congratulations.