- Click here for previous Sidewalks reports
Zoning Board Bulletins:
Board Kills Hall Avenue deck variance requests when they fail to appear.
Church Street Close apartments approved.
German School cap increase adjourned to February 7. More time needed to respond to comments.
By John F. Bailey
CityLine: January 5, 2001 - City Hall
It is not politically correct not to appear before the Zoning Board when they ask you to.
Three owners all requesting variances on deck extensions that violate setback requirements in Woodcrest Heights will learn that because the Zoning Board voted unanimously to strike the requests from the February calendar Wednesday evening.
The three properties, all adjacent to each other at 280, 286 and 290 Hall Avenue had negotiated extensively with the planning board to find a solution to their deck problems. Briefly, the problem they have is that their builder constructed each of their homes out to the maximum dimensions of the house "footprint," leaving the second stories of their homes inaccessible by a deck according to the zoning.
The residents each wanted to build decks leading out from the second story of their homes, but to do so would violate the zoning requirement of a 25-foot setback. Previously the zoning board had pointed out that landings leading down to a three-foot high deck could be a solution to their problems. The Zoning Board had expected sets of new plans to be presented Wednesday evening from all three owners.
Robert Krauss, Secretary to the Zoning Board of Appeals, had written the attorney representing all three owners, informing him that they were expected to appear for the January 3 meeting with revised plans. Larry Fleishman, ZBA member, expressed annoyance that the matter had been before the Zoning Board for about six months and that they as late as Wednesday afternoon had said they did not have their plans ready. The Zoning Board voted "without prejudice" to mark all three requests for variances off the February calendar. The residents may reapply at a future date with new applications.
In other Zoning Board Actions...
The ZBA approved construction of a 13-unit apartment complex at 300 Church Street, with the recommendation that a second handicapped parking space be included underneath the apartment complex, if the Planning, Traffic and Building Departments approve. This had originally been planned to be an 18-unit complex, but upon working with the Planning Department and the Conservation Board to preserve trees on the property, the number of units was reduced. This included a 10-foot setback variance in the rear of the apartment complex.
The German School request for a lifting of an enrollment cap and construction of an entrance to the school through the property at 800 North Street was postponed until the February 7 meeting to give the school more time to respond publicly to comments.
The White Plains Ford proposal for rooftop parking was postponed until February 7.
.
