TOWN OF SARATOGA

ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS DRAFT MINUTES

July 27, 2020

 

Chairman William Moreau called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and led the flag salute. 

 

Chairman William Moreau welcomed everyone to the meeting and proceeded to review the Rules of the Board.

 

Zoning Clerk Linda McCabe called the roll: Chairman William Moreau – present, Clifford Hanehan – present, Thomas Carringi – present, Clarence Fosdick – present, Christopher Benn – present, Steve Mehan - present, Mark Sullivan - present.

 

Also present: Zoning Officer Gil Albert, Attorney William Reynolds, Steve Sullivan, Sherry Van Horn, Justin Grassi, Terri Korb, John Cashin, Richard Vale.   (Sign-in sheet is on file in the Clerk’s office.)

 

Approval of Minutes: A motion was made by Christopher Benn, seconded by Steve Mehan, to accept the meeting minutes of June 22, 2020.   Chairman William Moreau – aye, Clifford Hanehan - aye, Thomas Carringi - aye, Clarence Fosdick - aye, Christopher Benn - aye, Steve Mehan - aye, Mark Sullivan - aye.

Carried  7 - 0

Approved

 

For Public Clarity:  Under the direction of Town Attorney William Reynolds, no legal ad was published in the newspaper as the application before the Board is not a Public Hearing and the Clerk was further directed to notify the Applicant not to send Neighbor Notifications out.  The Clerk did have notice of this meeting published in two newspapers and on the agenda as a Revisit for Area Variance.

 

Justin Grassi, Attorney for Richard Vale, submitted a letter to the Board just prior to the opening of the meeting, although all submissions are due no later than 2 weeks prior to a meeting.

 

Revisit for Area Variance

 

Sherry Van Horn #20-04

573 Rt. 9P

Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

S/B/L 206.6-2-16   Lake Residential

Location: 1191 Rt. 9P

 

Returning Applicant seeks reapproval for the identical variances granted upon her first appearance before the Board, August 26, 2019.  She seeks a 6,000 sq. ft. lot area variance, a 26’ front set back variance and a 1’5” back set back variance in order to remove existing structure and future construction of a new house. 

 

Board Member Mark Sullivan recused himself from this application as he is personal friends with Attorney Justin Grassi, attorney for Richard Vale.

 

Chairman William Moreau stated Attorney William Reynolds wanted to brief the Board, as this meeting is different from most. 

 

Attorney William Reynolds stated the Board is here tonight to reconsider a previous application for property located at 1191 Rt. 9P.  He reviewed the first time this application came before the Board, on August 26, 2019.  The DiMartino’s were under contract to purchase this property from Sherry Van Horn, formerly Sherry Treiber.  Following presentation and discussions, a motion was made to grant the requested variances.  That was challenged with an Article 78, brought about by Richard Vale.  A decision by Judge Nolan in February 2020, vacated the granting of the variance.  The Judge vacated and remanded the matter to the Board for further consideration and that is where we are now.  The Board received a full record of the proceedings that took place.  Anything that was submitted to the Board in August 2019 has been resubmitted and he assumed each Board Member had reviewed that information prior to the meeting tonight.  The Applicant is here to give a presentation to the Board and Mr. Vale will have an opportunity to speak as well.  To clarify, in his opinion, the decision of Judge Nolan was not to rule on the merits of granting or denial of the variance, but the main thrust of his decision was to instruct the Board to provide a better or more thorough rationale for granting the variance.  That is the charge before the Board tonight, to provide a thorough expression of rationale for this application. 

 

Chairman William Moreau thanked Attorney William Reynolds.  He stated they will hear the revisit for the area variance by Sherry Van Horn, for her property at 1191 Rt. 9P.

 

Applicant Sherry Van Horn appeared before the Board requesting the identical variance that was previously approved by the Board, for a single residence on her property at 1191 Rt 9P.  The property is a substandard lot, grandfathered in.  The front and rear setbacks overlap and there is no viable way to build without the variance approval.  A new home will be less intrusive by bringing the house back 14’ from Rt. 9P; the existing house is only 4’ back.  It will give more space between Rt. 9P and the house.  Granting the variance will allow a safer structure to be built there, which is beneficial to the lake neighborhood.  A geo-technical analysis was conducted to see what would be required to stabilize the cliff and safely build a home there and they have the analysis and recommendations to know exactly what they need to do to prevent any further erosion. 

 

Chairman William Moreau thanked the Applicant.  He then stated the Board will allow Mr. Vale to speak to the Board. 

 

Mr. Vale deferred his opportunity to speak to the Board, to his attorney.  Sherry Van Horn Attorney Justin Grassi spoke to the Board on behalf of his client, Mr. Vale.  He said unfortunately he prepared a letter late for the Board, outlining their position on this matter and gave a brief summary.  He said it’s an unfortunate scenario, as he knows the Board likes to assist residents, but he believes the application is un-approvable based upon criteria.   The Board knows the value test must be taken before approving any area variance.  There are five criteria, which he’s sure the Board is familiar with, three of which are objectionable: 1.  whether benefit can be achieved by other means feasible to applicant he told the Board easily yes – clear – preexisting, no need for variance to rehab structure.  2.  whether request is substantial – he said deviating percentages are substantial and impacts are substantial as well – backyard is a cliff.  3.  whether alleged difficulty is self-created – he told the Board yes, as existing structure doesn’t need variances.  This should be denied.  He finds it indigenous that granting this will be a better, different change to neighborhood.   Mr. Vale’s vacant parcels are next to it.  This should be denied. 

Mr. Vale added the cliff is eroding, he owns three parcels north of this and it should be torn down. 

 

Chairman William Moreau stated before going through the Balancing Test for Area Variance he’d like to Table this tonight, as they received late information brought in last minute by Mr. Vale’s attorney and the Board needs time to read and digest it.  The Board wants to give full consideration to all the information.

 

Town Attorney William Reynolds said the Board has not received an analysis of the property and questioned when the property was last occupied. 

 

Applicant Sherry Van Horn responded the property was last occupied last June (2019).

 

Town Attorney William Reynolds questioned if she’s tried to occupy it since, adding it’s not her residence, correct?

 

Applicant Sherry Van Horn responded no; she owns the property but does not live there.

 

Town Attorney William Reynolds questioned if she’s rented it in the past and the Applicant replied yes. 

 

Town Attorney William Reynolds questioned if she’s rented it since June 2019.

 

Applicant Sherry Van Horn replied no, the people who last rented it trashed it and she won’t rent it out again. 

 

Town Attorney William Reynolds questioned if anyone has given her estimates or analysis of the condition of the property.

 

Applicant Sherry Van Horn responded a couple perspective buyers had engineers go and review the property, as their interests were to rehab the existing home.  They didn’t want to go the expense of a tear down and construction.  In both cases, two different engineers basically said this is a tear down, demolish it and build as the infrastructure is not going to maintain.  There are many issues for new construction that need to be addressed, such as erosion and stormwater, etcetera.  All this will be addressed when building a new foundation, which will stabilize the bank. 

 

Town Attorney William Reynolds questioned if she was supplied copies of the reports.  

 

Applicant Sherry Van Horn replied no, she only has a copy of the engineer’s evaluation of the property to actually construct the residence in front of the Board now, which is the same as previously submitted.  The details, in the report of that analysis, are what is needed to put in a very safe and sound   structure.  Stabilization must be done and can be done properly for a new structure/house. 

 

Town Attorney William Reynolds stated he would like the Applicant to secure copies of the engineer’s geo-tech report to submit to the Board.

 

Applicant Sherry Van Horn responded she will try to get that as well as a letter from her attorney. 

 

Town Attorney William Reynolds asked if Building Inspector/Zoning Officer Gil Albert had looked at the property closely.

 

Building Inspector/Zoning Officer Gil Albert stated yes, he had walked around it.  To repair the existing house will be more costly than to tear it down and rebuild.  Engineering that would be done for a new build will shore it up, stabilize it and make it stronger and better.  It is nearly impossible to repair what is there; a new build will be best as stabilization can be done properly.

 

Town Attorney William Reynolds asked if Building Inspector/Zoning Officer Gil Albert will take another closer look at it and provide further information to the Board and Building Inspector/Zoning Officer Gil Albert responded yes, he will.

 

Old Business:

 

New Business: Zoning Officer Gil Albert addressed the Board with concerns of Airbnbs and told them that the Town Board has directed Town Attorney William Reynolds, to gather information and review regulations from other municipalities concerning them and to begin drafting legislation for the Boards to review.  Attorney William Reynolds told the Town Board he will come up with some ideas.

 

 

A motion was made by Mark Sullivan, seconded by Thomas Carringi, to adjourn the

meeting at 7:38 p.m.  Chairman William Moreau – aye, Clifford Hanehan - aye, Thomas Carringi - aye, Clarence Fosdick – absent (left a bit early), Christopher Benn - aye, Steve Mehan - aye, Mark Sullivan - aye. 

Carried  6- 0

Meeting Adjourned

 

 

The next Zoning Board of Appeals meeting will be held August 24, 2020.  

 

All submittals for the Board must be in no later than 8:45 a.m. August 10, 2020, to be on the agenda for the upcoming meeting.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Linda McCabe

ZBA Clerk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~Meeting dates are subject to change~