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[0:29]
Uh, Okay, welcome everyone to the uh
Bronxville Zoning Board of Appeals uh
[0:35]
meeting. I am uh Charlie Law. I'll be
your acting chairman for uh the evening.
[0:43]
And um joining me tonight are um Jamie
Rean, John Brown, and Mary Ellen
[0:51]
Carpenter. Uh
we only have four people tonight. So you
[0:57]
it requires a vote of three in order to
approve the variance. Uh I just want to
[1:03]
make sure you're aware of that. Usually
there are five um but tonight we only
[1:08]
have four. So we have one application on
for tonight. It is uh for an area
[1:15]
variance for the um uh homeowners. Mr.
Mrs. Andrew Peltzer at 40 Duesenberry
[1:24]
Road. Um, who is going to
be presenting?
[1:31]
» Oh, you're the homeowner. Great.
[1:35]
» I'm going do my best. Um,
so um this uh application, well, thank
[1:43]
you in advance everyone for um for the
opportunity here. Um this application is
[1:48]
part of a larger project that started
about a year a year ago. Um we're at the
[1:54]
end of Denberry Road. We've had um
issues with flooding um around our
[1:59]
property and and the the the largest um
concern we had was with our garage which
[2:04]
was in the basement of our house. Um our
driveway. Um
[2:10]
does this have a pointer function or no?
Can you go Can you please go back to the
[2:15]
um the prior Yeah.
Thank you. Yeah. So, our driveway used
[2:21]
to used to come around the back side of
the the left side of the property and
[2:28]
then the entire you know left half of
the backyard was also a driveway. So, we
[2:33]
had a very substantial driveway that um
we've reduced now to a much smaller
[2:38]
piece. the
[2:42]
the portion um in question for this
application is the small triangular
[2:47]
piece at the front end of the driveway.
Um I don't know if this has a pointer or
[2:51]
not. Um
[2:55]
yeah, so this section here is is the
area we would like to add. Um,
[3:02]
initially when the driveway was
designed, we we didn't really appreciate
[3:07]
how difficult it would be to utilize a
driveway this short um with this kind of
[3:12]
narrow setup at the front. So, in most
of the driveways that we've looked at,
[3:18]
uh, where you have this sort of setup,
you have plenty of room to maneuver,
[3:21]
right? You can enter the driveway, you
have room to maneuver the car into an
[3:24]
adjacent spot. And what we found here is
that first of all the cars that are
[3:30]
pictured in the diagram are not
realistic to cars um in uh today's
[3:36]
world. And when you have a car parked on
the right uh in the right spot, it's
[3:42]
impossible to navigate a car on the
driveway into the spot on the left. Um
[3:47]
without driving over the area that we're
seeking to add. Um and and further, if
[3:52]
you have a car parked in the left spot,
even if there isn't anything on the
[3:55]
right, you're doing a five-point turn at
least to get out of the driveway without
[4:01]
um driving over the curb. So, it's it's
very difficult to use. It forces you to
[4:07]
to use first the car on the right, which
isn't, you know, my my wife, I have
[4:12]
three kids. She needs the big car to
pick them up at school. It's created
[4:15]
some problems. And what we've ended up
doing often times is parking parking in
[4:20]
the street, which obviously is not um
not the objective. Um so
[4:27]
um when we realized all the trouble we
were having with the driveway when it
[4:31]
was completed, we started to look around
at what what was, you know, common in
[4:37]
our neighborhood in terms of similarly
situated homes. And so if you look at
[4:41]
all of the homes that have a twocar uh
two-car garage that faces the on the
[4:47]
front of the house that faces the
street, um what you'll find on
[4:50]
Dooenberry Road is that all of them have
the type of driveway that we're
[4:55]
requesting now. So it's equidistant
um equal width driveway from the um
[5:00]
garage all the way to the street. And
that's true of all um nine of the
[5:06]
driveways with a similar garage set up
on Dooenberry Road. So you can see here
[5:10]
they're all
um consistent
[5:15]
um with with that. Some even have more
um paved space as well. Um we haven't
[5:21]
had we've had nothing but support from
our neighbors uh who you know understand
[5:26]
the the difficult see the difficulty
we're having. We had a car get stuck in
[5:30]
this recent snowstorm when we were
trying to drive kind of cut the corner
[5:33]
on that piece. Um um and you know, our
objective really is not to get something
[5:40]
special. We want, you know, something
functional that works with our house,
[5:44]
allows us to use um efficiently the work
that we've uh we've put into the home.
[5:50]
Um and and as you've seen, the the the
plan that we're trying to to put forward
[5:56]
here is is entirely consistent with with
the rest of the neighborhood. So, uh,
[6:00]
we're, you know, hopeful, uh, to have
your support for for doing this
[6:04]
extension, but if you have any
questions, I'm happy to answer.
[6:07]
» How many feet actually are you moving to
the left to widen the driveway?
[6:12]
» The So, the it's from the curb cut, it's
a matter of
[6:19]
» it's like six and a half, something like
that.
[6:25]
But it's a it's a relatively small
portion because you see after the curb
[6:29]
cut the driveway actually flares out
again to the uh to the curb.
[6:34]
» Yes.
>> Yeah.
[6:35]
» Um so it's a it's a relatively small
piece. And then considering the size of
[6:42]
the driveway that we've removed as a
part of this greater project, it it
[6:46]
really I think it's something like 20%
of the of the former driveway. Did you
[6:51]
design it like that for architectural
purposes and it did it's now not
[6:55]
functioning the way you thought? Yeah,
the little piece.
[6:57]
» No, I my understanding from speaking to
my architect was that we were limited to
[7:03]
the curb cut that existed in the prior
driveway when we when we structured
[7:07]
this. And so the challenge with that is
they're very different driveways. We had
[7:12]
miles of driveway to to maneuver cars. I
could have parked six cars in that in
[7:17]
that um back that back area on the left.
Um, this this area was entirely
[7:22]
driveway.
>> Two questions I have.
[7:26]
» Sure.
>> Do you need additional permission to get
[7:29]
the curb cut, the new curb cut, or do
you have that or
[7:35]
» is that okay?
>> That's my
[7:40]
You haven't secured that yet, but you're
you will if you
[7:43]
» if we get if we obtain the variance.
Yes, I think that's correct.
[7:46]
» Second question. Um, is there
some sort of um
[7:56]
it looks like maybe there will be less
permeable space if you um or have you
[8:03]
addressed that issue or do you have to
address that issue in terms of drainage
[8:07]
and
um for the for for for the additional
[8:11]
driveway?
Um I there's a very complicated
[8:17]
uh uh plan drainage plan for the
property that
[8:21]
» gonna say no only because he's got
probably about 20 to 30 under his
[8:25]
property throughout.
>> Yeah.
[8:28]
» There's cult here. Basically everything
that's now grass is cold. So this is a
[8:32]
big field of cult.
>> There's one there's one set here and
[8:36]
there's a large deeper set here. Um so I
think we have we've we've done
[8:41]
everything we can to address ressed with
the larger project. Is that
[8:45]
» Yes, they're part of the the initial
plans. We put those all in in the last
[8:49]
year.
>> Okay.
[8:53]
» Mhm.
>> Yeah.
[8:56]
» Oh.
>> Oh, so it's actually more.
[8:59]
» It's all Yeah, we've returned a lot of
the space.
[9:02]
» We've returned a lot of space to grass.
Yeah.
[9:05]
» It's a big issue in Bronxville, as you
know. We We address that just about
[9:08]
every meeting.
>> Yep.
[9:10]
» And you And you should. All the water
ends up in my house.
[9:14]
» We approved your application for that
part quite a while ago to get all that
[9:17]
green space back. We thought was great,
which is
[9:20]
» not that much
>> purpose. Hard.
[9:23]
» That's it.
>> Anyone?
[9:26]
» No, I think it's a great idea because
that's a one-way street and it's hard to
[9:29]
make that left-hand turn that way.
>> Yeah, two-way street would be a little
[9:32]
different, but
>> got a fighting battle there like that.
[9:37]
» Had you planned to landscape that part
there? It's going to look better, I
[9:40]
think, anyway, straight. But were you
going to landscape in there? Was that
[9:42]
what you were going to do? Put grass
there?
[9:44]
» Yeah. Well, we have we we ran out of
time during, you know, to to um seed and
[9:49]
and landscape in the winter. So, that's
that's our plan is to we figure out
[9:54]
exactly what it looks like to to put in
grass and landscape throughout the
[9:57]
front.
>> Any other questions, input, anything
[10:02]
like that? Okay. Then, let's um propose
variance. um resolved that the
[10:09]
Bronxville Zoning Board of Appeals grant
a variance to the uh homeowners at 40
[10:16]
Duesenberry Road, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew uh
Peltzer. Uh grant an area variance from
[10:23]
uh 310-22-D.
Uh the request to enlarge the existing
[10:29]
prop um existing driveway from 12 uh
feet wide to 19 and a half feet wide.
[10:37]
Okay, I will start to my right. Mrs.
Carpenter, your vote.
[10:43]
» Um, I approve. I think it makes sense.
>> I also approve. I think it's a very
[10:48]
common sense approach. Thank you so
much.
[10:51]
» I am in favor. And
>> I'm in favor.
[10:55]
» I am in favor.
>> So, it is carried unanimously.
[11:00]
» Fantastic. Thank you so much. you you
have one year uh to to complete the
[11:06]
work. I'm sure you'll do it before that,
but just
[11:09]
» I'm still under construction in one
year. I have bigger problems.
[11:12]
» Well, that's what I that's what I say
when my credit card keeps buffering and
[11:16]
buffering. If that doesn't go through,
I'll get bigger problems than just you.
[11:20]
But anyway, thank you.
>> Welcome,
[11:26]
» Christina. How'd I do?
>> Oh.
[11:32]
Right.
So, so not yet. I haven't done well yet.
[11:36]
Right.
>> Yes. Okay. So, the meet Well, the next
[11:42]
meeting is scheduled for and do we have
a the meeting? Okay. Um and um the
[11:49]
February 24th,
2026. And this meeting is adjourned.
[11:57]
» All right.
Heat. Heat.
[12:38]
Heat. Heat.