I'm going to call to order the zoning board of appeals meeting of September 4th.

Uh first order of business is to approve the minutes from the July twenty-fourth, twenty twenty-five meeting.

Uh is there a motion to approve?

So moved.

Second.

Uh all in favor.

Uh any against?

No?

Great.

Moving on.

Um the board will now conduct the public hearings on today's agenda.

First, the applicant or applicant's representative will state the reasons for the requested variants and present any material or documentation which is to be considered regarding the proposal.

Next, persons wishing to speak in favor of the proposal will be given the opportunity to address the board.

Then persons who wish to speak in opposition will be allowed to address the board.

Finally, the applicant or representative will be given the option to make any closing arguments or comments to the board.

Following the public hearings this afternoon, the board may make a decision on each application heard.

The board may also decide to hold its decision until the next public hearing.

If the hearing is closed, no additional information will be allowed into the record except for information that the board may request.

That information will be available for public review at the zoning office in one park place, 300 South State Street.

Would staff introduce V2506, please.

This is in the R2 zone district.

And we thought it would be more economical to have a c and closed porch where we could move everything upstairs.

The distance that we needed and I didn't know that until we applied for the at my age is not easy for me to go up and downstairs.

And at uh at my age is not easy for me to go up and downstairs.

Now my wife, we'd have to one of the kids who'll have to go on my wife would have to make our way down there because up and down the stairs is not easy for me.

That's why we needed the back porch.

And uh being can I um I just have one one question regarding that.

So you're saying, just so I'm clear and I'm looking at the photo of of what you're what you started.

You're saying instead of going into the basement for the food pantry, it would be limited to just going out the side door and up a couple stairs into the side porch.

Is that is that accurate?

Say what now?

And because it looks like you would still need to walk upstairs to get into this side porch that you want to finish constructing, either from the exterior or from the side door, it's elevated.

No, I don't have to walk upstairs.

So I woke up two steps to get to the porch from my kitchen.

But if that was the question, you're you're saying you're comparing walking up just a couple stairs to the porch instead of the basement, is that what you're saying?

Yes.

Okay.

All right, understood.

So the height of this door is not going to change.

The side door.

On the side of the house.

Side door onto the porch there.

No, the side door is it's not gonna change.

Okay.

So there would be some steps up from the side door in two steps up to the okay and then there would be a rear door.

Is that what looks like is framing?

It would be a real duel.

Okay.

Excuse me.

Now is this going you're calling this a porch?

Is this a porch or a room you're putting on?

That's the poor desk of the addition that it was putting on.

And my son was helping me do it.

And uh we needed to get different permits and stuff that I wasn't aware that I had to get to do it, and that's why we here fully enclosed.

It's gonna be fully enclosed.

Will it be heated and cooled?

Will it be heated?

Was it connected to your furnace system?

I don't know if there's any more work under here.

Just curious.

Any other questions from the board for the applicant?

Uh who decided on the maximum width of the patio originally.

Was that just standard lumber or no?

Well, we had a a deck there the same size.

And uh when all the kids got grown and left except my granddaughter, we decided we didn't need the deck anymore.

We needed a porch where we can move everything upstairs, or we wouldn't have to go down up and down the stairs to a pantry and get our supplies and and utensils and stuff to cook with.

And as I got older, my legs was not good.

But I think it was noted the original porch was smaller.

So when you went to and you went to a large porch.

When we 51 years ago it was smaller.

We had a deck the same size as what we added in.

Got it.

It was just a little stooped when we bought the the house.

And we took that down and put a deck out there, the same size as the porch.

Then we decided we didn't need the deck anymore.

We needed the enclosed porch more so than we needed the deck.

As we got older, it just didn't.

She's one year behind me and her understood.

Thank you.

So let me get this clear.

You're gonna go out there door, then you gotta go up two steps to get to the floor.

Yes, and then you're gonna go to that other opening, and then if you want to go outside, you gotta go down more steps about three.

We gotta go down four steps, just like the entry.

Yes.

Okay.

Uh Liam, Karen, Otis?

No, I'm good.

Uh thank you.

You don't want to hear from my wife?

Not unless she wants to speak more.

You're welcome to.

Any other folks who wish to speak in favor of the application?

Sure.

Good afternoon.

My name is uh Phil Prayne.

I'm an organizer for Syracuse United Neighbors.

Uh we work on the uh South and Near West Side of the City.

Could you share the at your address, please?

Sure.

Uh 1540 South Line.

Thank you.

Uh I'm here for two reasons today.

Uh first of all, um Mr.

Thomas came to us and and asked for advice on this, and we looked at it and we're just puzzled that uh six inches is causing such a problem.

But we understand the need to go through proper procedures.

But that's why we're here today to speak in favor of this, which is generally being done for reasons of accessibility.

As Mr.

Thomas mentioned, he's 86 years old, and this is going to help him regardless of the fact that there are still a couple stairs or not.

It's a lot better than having to go all the way down to the basement and back.

And I would also, and the second reason I'm here is I've been uh working at Cyracuse Neighbors as an organizer for 25 years.

And Mr.

Thomas predates uh his membership, it's on predates my being there.

Uh he's always been a passionate uh supporter of our neighborhoods, uh coming out to meetings, speaking at public hearings.

Uh I would urge you to give him all uh due consideration of this uh project, which would be an unalloyed benefit to our neighborhood.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Anyone else who wishes to speak in favor of the application?

Wouldn't be the same with that.

Well, Disney do be home to say my knees bad now.

But yeah, we support it, we know Phil, we know the family, I know who they are, and it's a great opportunity for them to continue to still be busy.

So you inspire me today.

Staying busy.

Thank you.

Can you well can you just give us your ad an address, please?

Uh 119 South Air.

And your name, please.

I don't know who you are from Adam.

Well, Dixie.

Who Walter Dicksey?

Okay.

Thank you.

Thanks well.

Anybody who wishes to speak against the application.

No.

Okay.

I'm gonna call that public hearing closed then.

All right.

Discussion.

Do you want do you want to do both the public hearings?

Do you want to discuss now?

Uh no.

Can we do them one at a time?

Sorry.

Uh discussion from the board on this matter.

I just don't see where six inches is a major issue here.

So we're running out of my menu.

Agreed.

It's a weird design, but on the other hand, six inches, like you say, it's not a lot.

Okay.

Uh does anybody want to make a motion?

What is happening?

Seeker.

Oh.

I'll make a motion that we approve the requests.

Anyone want to take a second?

Second.

Great.

So um subject to the conditions.

Yeah, staff just has uh a couple of recommendations uh for the board for conditions.

So um if you are going to choose to recommend uh conditional approval, um the applicant should apply for and obtain a building permit, but I would also strongly recommend uh they engage with a design professional so that they can appropriately comply with the New York State Uniform Code, the residential code, the energy code.

So the six inches, it it matters for fire separation distance to the adjacent house, and that that wall has to be has to meet certain standards, and they you know I would strongly urge that they get help to do so.

Thank you.

Okay, so given that additional condition on your motion, Otis, would you like to take us through the standards of proof?

Sure.

Thank you.

Uh neighborhood character.

Describe whether an undesirable change will produce in the character of the neighborhood, or a detriment to the nearby properties or create by granting this area variance.

And I do not see that the proposed enclosed porch will alter the essential character of the neighborhood.

Feasibility of alternatives.

Describe whether the benefits sought by the applicant can be achieved by some other methods that will be feasible for the applicant to pursue, other than the area variance.

And in my opinion, there are no other feasible alternatives outside of tearing down the whole porch and starting from scratch.

And uh given the age of the house and the neighborhood.

And uh substantiality, describe whether the request area area variants is uh substainable excuse me.

And substantiality, describe whether the request area area variances substainable excuse me substantial.

And the variance request is a modest one.

And I think they look at some of those recommendations that were uh put forth to make sure that uh going forward they meet all the other criteria.

I think it would uh be very effective.

An adverse effect describe whether the proposed area variants will have an adverse effect or impact on the physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood or district, and there will be no adverse effects.

Self-created difficulty, describe whether an alleged difficulty was self-created, with consideration shall be relevant to the decisions of the Board of Appeals, but should not necessarily preclude the granting of the area variants.

Now true that uh was six inches short, but uh the need for this area variance, and once again, in my uh opinion is not self-created.

I believe that uh once again, given the age of the home and neighborhood.

I think uh we could live with the six inches.

Anything to add?

I would say that it is self-created, uh, but I don't think that's against the project in that sense.

You you just are creating a balancing test based among the five factors, and it sounds like um three of the factors are are met.

So you're safe even with that.

Excellent.

All right.

All those in favor of the variance, including the conditions as outlined by staff.

Hi.

Anyone against all right.

Thank you very much.

Uh would staff prep uh please introduce the next agenda item.

Next is an area variance to exceed the 180-foot maximum building length for a newly built multi-unit dwelling building at 680-682 South Ave, owner Gerter Syracuse Property Development Corp.

Uh representative and applicant is Keplinger Freeman.

This is in the MX2 zone district.

Um other thing, the planning commission has finished and deliver uh deliberated a motion for a negative seeker seeker declaration uh for the proposed apartment project, uh which includes the major site plan review and a resubdivision.

So we do not have to do seeker.

Great.

I love when the planning commission does that for us.

Okay.

Um I understand we have some recusals.

Yes, I need to request the land bank owners this land for I have to recuse them on the project team.

Great.

You guys can't vote.

Um is there anybody here who would like to speak on behalf of the project?

Thank you for having us here.

Christian uh Freeman from Kaplinger Freeman Associates.

And everybody, please when you introduce yourself, we also need an address.

Sure.

One two one Ruskin Av Syracuse.

Uh Kennan Bigby with Build Properties, I'm the developer of this project in partnership with Jubilee Homes.

Uh don't have a Syracuse address.

Do you still want my address for the record?

Uh two granite Ave, Milton Mass.

King Colquist Architects uh 119 Aberdeen Terrace.

Thank you.

Uh Jubilee Homes 119 Software.

Thank you.

Someone making a presentation.

Um, I thought I would just give a little bit of context about the project and then turn it over to the design team to talk uh the technical aspects.

So 680 South Av is a new construction uh multifamily rental uh development project.

Uh we are undertaking this project as part of Jubilee Homes Connecting the Corridors Initiative, um, which is a neighborhood revitalization program aimed at um investing in the South Av Corridor and reconnecting that to downtown to create um job opportunities and uh uh training opportunities and benefits for uh for the community.

Um it is one of many projects that are um being undertaken uh under this uh community initiative.

Um but it is uh sort of uh core component in that it is providing uh mixed income uh family housing, um, a type of housing that is um uh somewhat lacking currently in the community.

Um we are also designing the building to be um highly energy efficient.

Uh uh we'll be seeking passive house uh certifications, including um an all-electric building with solar panels on the roof, and as part of the construction here will be providing floodplain mitigation.

The building uh site is partially in a zone AE floodplain, and so um uh mitigation associated with that is part of the uh design.

Um in order to um bring this project to fruition um with those floodplain challenges led to some reconfiguring of uh how the building lays out.

We tried really hard to comply with the MX2 uh zoning requirements.

We recognize um the work that went into creating uh these new zones and were appreciative of uh uh the vision behind them uh and wanted this project to really be a showcase for those uh newly created higher density uh zones.

Um the challenges with the site led to uh as I said, some uh modifications that require this one uh requested variance in order to deliver the project.

Thank you.

Briefly to site.

Um Kennan mentioned we are in that floodplain zone.

Um the 394 contour represents the floodplain zone on our site.

Um, as you probably well know when building in the floodplain, you need to have habitable spaces two feet above that.

That also includes things like utilities, um, anything that could go boom and cause some kind of an issue.

Um I would argue that um the previous uh use of these eight lots was residential homes.

Um they were built at a time when the floodplain was either not studied nor or nor not existent.

Um I would argue that a building such as this, which is uh exponentially higher tech um thought through and adherent to flood standards.

Um you know, we're gonna carefully consider those to the city metric.

We're in touch with Russ Houk.

We're also dealing with the state um and and the funding that's associated with that.

So we're held to uh you know a myriad of um just rules and regs to follow related to flood.

Um I would just argue that a building such as this, despite its size, is going to adhere to those standards in such a way that eight individually designed buildings would likely not adhere to those flood requirements if you were to replace them in kind or even replace them with a fresh new design.

So that's that's me just sort of speaking as far as a support item in terms of our adherence to those criteria.

Um regarding the site, the the road slopes, so our frontage is such that we're really meeting the sidewalk on the front of the building, and the site really just falls off on the back.

Um so what we've done there is sort of shifted the grades around such that you have the parking on sort of a false bottom floor, which we think works out well for everyone.

You have cars parked there, which is an allowable use in the floodplain, and then we have no residences, no residential units or anything on the ground floor.

They're perched above, which is per floodplain, and also works well, so we can get some parking spaces in there and really get some efficiency on the site there.

Um other than those items, I think I will hold for any questions related to site that you guys might have.

Any questions from the board for the applicant?

I have one.

If the if the building was built to code at this particular uh or zoning regulations, would you still uh face the flooding in that area?

Correct.

The the site uh the contour is such that if I'm gonna use this.

If this is your project site, your floodplains right there.

So there's no way to really fit a building that would adhere to the 180 feet without coming into contact with the flood zone, which then uh it sort of creates this the situation where you want to stack um, but that lengthens the building as far as program goes to pay for that stacking.

Podium design is really expensive.

Floodplain work is expensive, it's just the reality.

Anything else from the board for the applicants?

Okay.

Is there anybody else who would like to speak in favor of the project?

Yeah, so as you know, seven years ago we build a supermarket across the street.

We had DR funds, I mean uh Red Sea funding, and the dream was always to rebuild the neighborhood since that time.

I will apologize.

We'll send you out the updated version of Connecticut Quarter.

We have a gas station coming online.

We have a seafood restaurant home headquarters we're partnering with that's coming online.

This is in the same in between, uh like one's on this side, one on this side, left and right.

But we also uh re-branding our farm just right behind price right.

So the area is really viralizing this coming together, and so we appreciate Kenneth and our partnership over four years.

We've been having these conversations to move this project, and we uh as uh we talked to some of our public officials and just the fact that we have three bedrooms in the in the building, mixed use income.

We didn't want something with just low income to really diversify the neighborhood.

So we're excited about the project.

Hope you give us consideration to continue our dream.

Thank you.

Great, thank you.

Anyone else who wishes to speak in favor?

Thank you.

Anyone who wishes to speak against the project.

Seeing none, I will call this public hearing closed.

Okay.

Discussion.

You guys can't talk.

Um, no, just reading from the staff analysis that um it states that extending the building length is the only feasible method um to accommodate the proposed number of residential units required.

So just in terms of feasibility.

Karen, Michael, no, it's a good idea.

Yeah.

Okay.

Would anybody like to make a motion on this application?

As you do that, keep in mind in addition to the general conditions of approval, there are three specific recommended conditions of approval in your packet on page 31.

Do you want me to read those into the resolution?

You can just say the three conditions on page 31.

Excellent.

A motion to approve.

Okay.

Uh second.

Great.

Thanks.

Uh Liam, could you take us through the balancing test?

Yes.

Um, I think in terms of neighborhood characteristics, this is gonna be great for the neighborhood characteristics.

It's uh uh busy traversed street that has a lot of vacant properties, so I think it's just gonna be good to add some life back to it.

Um where am I for the feasibility of alternatives?

I would just go back to what staff said that given the nature of the flood zone and and the need for these units, the only um feasible way to go about this would be an expansion uh of the length of the building um for substantiality.

Uh I think it is relatively substantial, but again, because of the flood zone and the different requirements, I think um, given those unique circumstances, this makes sense.

Uh as far as adverse effect analysis, I I can't think of any adverse effects.

I think this is gonna be really good for the neighborhood.

Um as far as it being self-created, again, I think because of the flood zone and just the nature of the site itself.

Um, I do not believe it's self-created.

Anything I've just note that technically it is self-created, but as a balancing test, we don't need to it's it doesn't outweigh the rest of the factors.

Okay.

All those in favor?

Uh-huh.

Opposed?

Abstained.

Two of you.

All right.

Thank you.

Approved.

Uh, can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting?

Is there any other business?

I don't think there's any of that.

No, it's a business.

Nothing else.

Absolutely.

Second?

Second.

We are adjourned at 129.

Thank you.