Page 1 Proceedings DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND BUILDINGS: CITY OF YONKERS -----------------------------------------------------x ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010 6:00 P.M. City Hall Yonkers, New York ----------------------------------------------------x PRESENT: JOSEPH CIANCIULLI, Chairman ANTHONY LANDI, (Member) JAMES BLANCHARD, Member DIANE PEARSON, Member NANCY LITTLE, Member LEVAR BURKE, Member HARRY SINGH, Member WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, Building Department CHRISTOPHER FELDMAN, Asst.Corporation Counsel DOUGLASS REPORTING COMPANY 50 MAIN STREET WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK 10601 914-946-1276 Page 2 1 Proceedings 2 INDEX 3 DECISIONS 4 #5157-Smith Buss & Jacobs, 322 Yonkers Avenue 8 #5192-Andrew Romano, 115 Beech Street 142 5 #5203-Luis Saiz, 1 Plymouth Avenue 13 #5204-Andrew Romano, 10 Lanark Road 151 6 #5211-John Michael DeGennaro, 760 Warburton Ave 78 #5212-Louis Spizziro, 37 Orchard Street 18 7 #5213-Wally Sinclair, 13 Vineyard Avneue 25 8 ADJOURNED CASES 9 #5177- Snyder & Snyder, 1-3 Remsen Road 7 #5206-James Veneruso, 792 McLean Avenue 7 10 #5207-Andrew Romano, 153 Warburton Avenue 7 #5215-Andrew Romano, 28 South DeVoe Avenue 7 11 #5216-Andrew Romano, 251 McLean Avenue 7 12 13 CONTINUED HEARINGS 14 NEW HEARINGS 15 #5218-Andrew Romano, 263 Plymouth Avenue 71 #5219-Andrew Romano, 1323 Nepperhan Avenue 44 16 #5220-Mitchell Koch, 166 Gailmore Avenue 83 #5221-Walter Gorman, 145 aka 143 Bronx River Road 87 17 #5222-James Veneruso, 68 Durham Road 102 #5223-Andrew J. Balint, 132 Frederic Street 31 18 #5224-James Veneruso, 900 Central Park Avenue 131 #5225-Alfred DelBello, 808 Central Park Avenue 170 19 20 EXTENSIONS #4773- 32 Tompkins Avenue 21 #4837-1589 Midland Avenue #5156-2 Scarsdale Road 22 #5183-105 Candlewood-Changed Condition #7 #4971 & #4972-Sommerville Place 23 #4602- 1 Webster Avenue 24 25 Page 3 1 Proceedings 2 THE CHAIRMAN: Ladies and 3 gentlemen, the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting 4 for April 20, 2010 is now in session. Will the 5 members please introduce themselves starting with 6 Ms. Pearson. 7 MS. PEARSON: Diane Pearson. 8 MR. BLANCHARD: James Blanchard. 9 MR. LANDI: Anthony Landi. 10 MR. BURKE: Lavar Burke. 11 MS. LITTLE: Nancy Little. 12 THE CHAIRMAN: I'm Joseph 13 Cianciulli, I'm Chairman of the Board. Mr. Singh 14 is not here, I don't know if he's going to come 15 tonight. To my immediate left is Corporation 16 Counsel represents the Board, Christopher 17 Feldman. To my right, Deputy Building 18 Commissioner William Schneider. And I think 19 Commissioner Ellman is coming in a little while, 20 he's the Planning Commissioner. 21 Would everybody please stand for 22 the Pledge of the Allegiance lead by 23 Mr. Schneider. 24 (Pledge of Allegiance) 25 THE CHAIRMAN: I just wanted to Page 4 1 Proceedings 2 say I think we have Councilman Terrero here, the 3 Councilman from the Second District who is here 4 tonight. Thank you for coming in. 5 Just a few rules, rule number one 6 is we don't allow talking in the chambers. If 7 you're going to talk in the chamber, even 8 whisper, I'm going to ask you to get out. Go 9 outside and talk. There is no talking in the 10 chamber. Next thing is if you have a cell phone 11 put it on buzz, vibrate or turn it off. If it 12 goes off and I hear it it's coming up here with 13 me and you will get it back when I go home 14 tonight. The way the schedule looks tonight we 15 will probably be here until 10:00. You people 16 don't want to stay with me until 10:00. As 17 Chairman of the Board, I reserve the right to 18 take the cases in any way I choose. 19 Do I have a motion to accept the 20 minutes from the last meeting, Mr. Landi? 21 MR. LANDI: Mr. Chairman, just a 22 few minor corrections. 23 THE CHAIRMAN: Okay. 24 MR. LANDI: On page 17, line 23; 25 page 26, line 21; page 31, line 17; page 53, line Page 5 1 Proceedings 2 six, the number 13 should read 30. On page 104, 3 line 15 the number 13 should read 18. On page 4 117, lines two and three, page 119, line five, 5 the number 13 should read 18. On page 154, line 6 13 the number 25 should read 0.25. Thank you, 7 Mr. Chairman. 8 THE CHAIRMAN: Do I have a motion 9 to accept the minutes as amended? 10 MR. BURKE: Second. 11 THE CHAIRMAN: Everybody in favor 12 say aye. 13 (Chorus of Ayes) 14 THE CHAIRMAN: Opposed? Motion 15 carried 6-0. In order to get to some of the 16 hearings tonight I spoke to Mr. Romano a couple 17 minutes ago, usually we do decisions first thing 18 at night. Is there anybody here tonight on 322 19 Yonkers Avenue? Mr. Simari is here, that's the 20 motel. We will put that decision over until the 21 end of the meeting. Is there anybody here 22 tonight on 5177, 57 Newport Road, that's a cell 23 tower, we have been putting that off for the last 24 six months. That's over also. Anybody here on 25 5192, 115 Beech? Nobody, okay. Is anybody here Page 6 1 Proceedings 2 tonight on Plymouth Avenue? Okay. We will have 3 a decision on that in a little while. I see 4 Mr. Snyder just came in so we will have a 5 decision for you in a little while. Is there 6 anybody here tonight on 10 Lanark Road? We will 7 put that over until the end of the hearing. 8 Anybody here tonight on 792 McLean Avenue, 5206? 9 We will have some questions for that in a few 10 minutes. Anybody here tonight on 5207, 153 11 Warburton Avenue Warburton? Anybody here tonight 12 on 760 Warburton? Is there anybody here tonight 13 on 5212, 37 Orchard Street? We will have a 14 decision in a little while. Anybody here on 63 15 Vineyard? Anybody here tonight on 28 South 16 DeVoe? Anybody here tonight on 251 McLean 17 Avenue? 18 So the decisions tonight will be 19 one for Mr. Simari, 322 Yonkers Avenue, one for 20 Mr. Saiz, 1 Plymouth Avenue and 1740 Central 21 Avenue. And one for Mr. Spizzirro, 37 Orchard 22 Street. The rest of them we will wait until the 23 end. 24 I'm going to make a motion to put 25 case 5215 over to next month; case 5216 over to Page 7 1 Proceedings 2 next month; case 5177 over; and case 5207. Do I 3 have a second? 4 MR. BURKE: Second. 5 (Mr. Singh is now present) 6 THE CHAIRMAN: Everybody on the 7 motion say aye. 8 (Chorus of Ayes) 9 THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Singh would you 10 introduce yourself please? 11 MR. SINGH: Harry Singh. 12 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. 13 The lawyer representing 792, can 14 I see you please, Mr. Simari. 15 I will make a motion to put case 16 5206 over. Do I have a second? 17 MR. BURKE: Second. 18 THE CHAIRMAN: On the motion 19 everybody in favor say aye. 20 (Chorus of Ayes) 21 THE CHAIRMAN: Opposed? That case 22 is over. The first decision tonight, Mr. Romano, 23 we're going to put some of these cases over, you 24 heard that? 25 MR. ROMANO: Yes. Page 8 1 Proceedings 2 THE CHAIRMAN: First decision 3 tonight is going to be Mr. Simari, 322 Yonkers 4 Avenue, case 5157. 5 MR. LANDI: Mr. Chairman? 6 THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. Landi? 7 MR. LANDI: Case number 5157, 8 Smith Buss & Jacobs on behalf of Bharat Gandhi, 9 owner, to create 14 new suites and a storage area 10 to the existing motel. Exceeding maximum height 11 of retaining wall within minimum side yard per 12 Section 43-43F and 43-41D(3), six foot required, 13 18 foot plus or minus proposed. Exceeding 14 maximum height of fence, as per Section 43-43F 15 and 43-41D(3), four foot maximum permitted, six 16 foot proposed, on premises known as 322 Yonkers 17 Avenue, Block 388, Lot 100, Zone I. 18 The premises is located on 19 Yonkers Avenue adjacent to an unimproved woodland 20 area owned by the County of Westchester and the 21 exit ramp from the Cross County Parkway. This 22 property is currently proposed to be a three 23 story hotel which has been operation for many 24 years. The Board's previous decision had 25 concerns regarding parking. However, the Page 9 1 Proceedings 2 following decision is strictly addressing the 3 request for the area variance with regard to 4 retaining wall and fence heights. 5 I make a motion to approve the 6 request for area variance subject to conditions 7 based on facts, findings, information and 8 testimony presented to this Board at the public 9 hearing, site visits by members of the Zoning 10 Board or otherwise obtained. 11 In making its determination, the 12 Zoning Board of Appeals shall take into 13 consideration the benefit for the applicant 14 and/or owner if the variance is granted as 15 weighed against the detriment of the health, 16 wealth, safety of the neighborhood or community 17 by such grant. In make such determination the 18 Board shall also consider the following: 19 One, whether undesirable changes 20 will be produced in the character of the 21 neighborhood or detriment to nearby properties 22 will be created by granting of the area variance.