Town of Otsego Zoning Board of Appeals

Minutes - April 19, 2005

The monthly Town of Otsego Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) meeting was held on this date. Vice-Chairman Greg Crowell called the public hearing to order at 7:34
PM. He explained that the purpose of such hearings was to get input from the public.

PUBLIC HEARING

Application #05.04 - Michael Feinman - Area variance, expansion of existing deck within 500 feet of Otsego Lake - 101 Lakeshore Drive (#69.44-1-8.00)
Vice-Chairman Crowell asked if anyone had comments or questions, but no one responded. Crowell left the public hearing open and proceeded to the regular meeting.

REGULAR MEETING

Vice-Chairman Crowell called the regular meeting to order at 7:35 PM, and asked ZBA Secretary Bill Deane to take roll call. Board members present were Crowell, Sam Hoskins, and Joe Potrikus. Absent were Antony Scalici (Chairman) and Jim Ferrari. Also present were Zoning Enforcement Officer Sal Furnari and Deane.

The minutes of the January 18 and March 15 meetings were discussed. Approval of the January minutes had been tabled because only one person at the March meeting had been present in January. The same situation existed tonight: only two of the members present tonight (Crowell and Hoskins) were present in January, and only one (Potrikus) was present in March. No corrections were offered to either set of minutes, but the consensus was that it was not appropriate for a member to approve minutes of a meeting he had not attended. Bill Deane noted that three votes were required to pass any motion. In view of that, Vice-Chairman Crowell tabled the approval of both sets of minutes until the next ZBA meeting.

Vice-Chairman Crowell reviewed correspondence received since the last meeting. It consisted only of the March-April issue of Talk of the Towns & Topics, copies of which were distributed to the members. There were also copies of the ZBA's 1987 "Rules and Regulations," which had been requested recently by Chairman Scalici and provided by Town Clerk Pam Deane; these were also distributed to the members (Scalici's and Ferrari's copies will be mailed).

At 7:40, Joe Potrikus moved to close the public hearing. Sam Hoskins seconded the motion and it was approved, 3-0. The Board then moved on to the application.

APPLICATION
Application #05.04 - Michael Feinman - Area variance, expansion of existing deck within 500 feet of Otsego Lake - 101 Lakeshore Drive (#69.44-1-8.00) Michael Feinman was present along with his contractor, Marvin Zachow. Feinman plans to repair and expand an existing deck, increasing its size from 12x16 to 12x21 feet. The two answered a few questions from the Board. They said that no new footings would be constructed, but they would simply cantilever the beams out. They discussed possible landscaping and water runoff measures that would be taken at the request of the Planning Board. The consensus of the ZBA was that this was a straightforward application, essentially a replacement-in-kind.

Sam Hoskins moved to grant area variances of 34 feet on the east side and 25 feet on the north side, citing that no undesirable change will be produced in the character of the neighborhood; the benefit sought cannot be achieved by any other feasible method; the variance sought is not substantial; and it will not have an adverse impact on the physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood, but in fact will improve the property and neighborhood. Joe Potrikus seconded the motion and it was approved, 3-0.

OTHER BUSINESS
Sal Furnari gave a synopsis of the March 24 meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers. It was done for the benefit of the Town Board, Planning Board, ZBA, and public, and mostly concerned wetlands issues. Furnari said it was an informative and well-attended presentation.

With no further business, at 8:02 Joe Potrikus moved to adjourn the meeting. Sam Hoskins seconded the motion and it was approved, 3-0.

Respectfully submitted,

Bill Deane, Secretary