TOWN OF GRANBY ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
Meeting Minutes
July 19, 2017
AGENDA: Sliva Public Hearing
Borasky Public Hearing
Regular Meeting
MEMBERS: Michael French, Chairman
Peter LeoGrande
Patricia Simmons - Excused
Tom Thompson
Sandra Farrands
ALSO PRESENT: Thomas Sliva and Michael Borasky.
Chairman
French opened the Regular meeting at 7:02 pm.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
PUBLIC
HEARING
Thomas Sliva – 1339 State Route
176, Fulton
Tax Map #253.00-01-09.02
Chairman
French opened the Public Hearing at 7:03 pm and asked Mr. Sliva to present his
variance request. The applicant
explained that he would like to add a 6’x16’ addition to the side of his house
which would encroach on the side setback by 2.5’. The front section (6’x6’) would be a mud room
to enter the house and leave wet shoes and such, while the remaining section
(6’x10’) would be for outdoor storage.
The addition would not have heat but would have electrical for
lights. The neighbor that he would
encroach upon is his daughter’s house, his granddaughter visits often and would
have a straight line to the door. The
Board asked Mr. Sliva why he had chosen that location, and he replied that it’s
near the driveway and is where the door had been to enter the house. He also said that the property is wet on the
west side (especially this year) and the septic and leach system is behind the
house. Member Thompson commented that
the survey map has a dimension at the rear corner of the house to the side
property line, is that the closest point along that side of the house. Mr. Sliva stated that the line skews as you
go towards the road so the encroachment decreases. Without further discussion by the Board and
no attending public, Chairman French closed the Hearing at 7:10 pm.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
PUBLIC
HEARING
Michael Borasky – 103 State Route
48, Phoenix
Tax Map #302.00-01-27
Chairman
French opened the Public Hearing at 7:10 pm and stated that Mr. Borasky was
requesting two Area Variances for setback regarding a proposed garage and a Use
Variance to extend the non-conforming status of his property by adding a
residential accessory structure (garage) to a property that is zoned CIT. Mr.Borasky stated that he had purchased his
home and moved his family from the city more than 14 years ago, before it was
zoned CIT, to have room in the country to do what he wanted. He offered photos from Google to the Board
members showing that the neighboring properties were residential and possessed
garages and sheds similar to what he proposed.
Mr. Borasky explained that he had originally planned to place the garage
further back on the property but had a septic line break which forced a new
septic system with a raised bed leach area and a new 1,000 gallon tank. He also stated that the garage is needed
because he and his wife are older and need both of their vehicles inside during
the winter months. He has a work truck
and can’t be out in the cold for as long as it takes to clean the snow off and
would also like to get his snow tractor inside for the same reasons. His daughter lives on the neighboring
property and depends on him to clear the snow from her driveway as well. The original location for the garage
submitted with the building permit was much closer to the road than the drawing
he prepared for the ZBA. He explained
that he couldn’t come closer to the house and shed than 15’ for the fire code
and needed some maneuverability to get in and out onto the driveway. The Board members stated that the requests
were substantial. Chairman French
suggested placing the garage in front of the existing one and attaching it to
the house, the driveway at 20’ wide would need only a little widening nearer to
the house and wouldn’t require a variance.
Mr. Borasky replied that the electric meter and gas main is located in
that location and he didn’t know if that was possible. Members Thompson and
French stated that his contractor could remove the existing garage roof and tie
the new structure in with a common roofline.
Mr. Borasky was not in favor of this suggestion because of the
additional cost, he stated he had only so much money to work with and additional
costs would eliminate the project.
Member Thompson suggested moving the shed which would allow the garage
to be moved much closer to the house.
Mr. Borasky didn’t want to move the existing shed and stated that the
CEO had told him he needed to maintain a 15’ fire separation. He was told that a firewall consisted of
different drywall along the closer side of the garage, but Mr. Borasky couldn’t
add any additional cost – if he were to exceed the $15,000 construction cost he
would need engineered plans which would be more money. Member Thompson asked if he would be willing
to move the garage 3’ closer to the driveway which would be a 50% variance
instead of the current 68% request. Member
Thompson found that the survey dimensions and the dimensions on the submitted
drawing conflicted for the 44’ front offset.
It appeared that the offset was 27’ and not 44’, which would make the
variance request close to 50%. The Board discussed the Use variance request
with trepidation as to the precedent it could set and thought that maybe the
Planning Board process of Special Use Permit should precede the Use Variance
determination. It was resolved that a
Use Variance, or permission to enlarge a non-conforming use (accessory
structure for a residence in a CIT district), would be needed before the
Planning Board could impose conditions upon the use. With no further questions from the Board,
Chairman French closed the Hearing at 7:43 pm.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
REGULAR
MEETING
The
Regular meeting was reopened at 7:44 pm.
Thomas Sliva– The Board members felt that the
request was minimal at 3’ relief and replaced an existing entrance with little
disruption to the property.
Without any further discussion
from the Board Members a motion was moved by Member Tom Thompson and
seconded by Member Sandra Farrands to accept the Area Variance request of 3’
relief for side setback requirement for the construction of a 6’x16’ addition on property located at 1339
State Route 176, Fulton, NY 13069; Tax Map # 253.00-01-09.02 is hereby GRANTED.
A roll call vote was taken:
Michael French, Chairman Aye
Peter LeoGrande, Member Aye
Patricia Simmons, Member Excused
Tom Thompson, Member Aye
Sandra Farrands, Member Aye
4 AYES 0 NAYES – Resolution 2017-05 – APPROVED
Michael Borasky – The Board members discussed
previous applications that had been before the Board which asked for less
relief and were denied because they were substantial. The applicant is asking for 17’relief on the
side (68%) and 23’ relief from the front setback (46%) for an additional garage
on a CIT zoned property. The members
thought that the applicant could place the garage in other locations that would
not require as substantial variance requests making the current situation
somewhat self-created. They explained to
him that he could resubmit a new plan for them to consider if he would like to
consult with his contractor, but Mr. Borasky was not inclined to do so because
of expense.
Without further discussion a
motion was moved by Chairman French and seconded by Member Farrands to accept
Area Variance requests for 23’ relief of front setback and 17’ relief from the
side setback requirement for construction of a 24’x28’ garage, as submitted on
site plan dated 7/19/17, on property located at 103 State Route 48, Phoenix, NY
13135; Tax Map #302.00-01-27 is hereby DENIED.
A roll call vote was taken:
Michael French, Chairman Naye
Peter LeoGrande, Member Naye
Patricia Simmons, Member Excused
Tom Thompson, Member Naye
Sandra Farrands, Member Naye
0 AYES 4 NAYES – Resolution 2017-06 – DENIED
Without further discussion a
motion was moved by Chairman French and seconded by Member Thompson to accept
Use Variance request to extend a non-conforming use by building a 24’x28’
personal use garage in a CIT district, as submitted on site plan dated 7/19/17,
on property located at 103 State Route 48, Phoenix, NY 13135; Tax Map
#302.00-01-27 is hereby DENIED.
A roll call vote was taken:
Michael French, Chairman Naye
Peter LeoGrande, Member Naye
Patricia Simmons, Member Excused
Tom Thompson, Member Naye
Sandra Farrands, Member Naye
0 AYES 4 NAYES – Resolution 2017-07 – DENIED
MINUTES
A motion was moved by Member LeoGrande to approve the meeting minutes for June 20, 2017.
The motion was seconded by Member Thompson, all were in favor without
further discussion and the motion
carried.
ADJOURN
With
no other business before the Board a motion
to adjourn at 7:58 pm was moved by
Member Farrands and seconded by Member LeoGrande, all were in favor and the motion carried.
Respectfully
submitted by:
Lisa
Somers
ZBA
secretary
