[0:16] I am gonna call to order the, um, zoning board of appeals meeting for

[0:20] thursday, march 26th. Um, we think we're recording reasonably

[0:24] short. Yes, we're good. Okay, excellent. Um, mr.

[0:28] building inspector, are all the mailings in order? I had been informed by my staff that all the mailings are in order,

[0:33] sir. Excellent. Alright, well we have two cases tonight. What we're gonna do is call each case here

[0:37] from whoever's representing, uh, the applicant. Uh, we'll have some

[0:41] questions from the board, then we'll open it up for any comments from the public. Looks

[0:45] a little quiet out there, but we'll see what happens. The way we like it, .

[0:50] uh, and then we will discuss amongst ourselves and come up with a vote.

[0:55] um, alright. First case is case number 0 1 2 6.

[0:59] mike and kate solomon at 41 columbia avenue. Yes, that would be me

[1:03] and my architect is on the way, so I dunno if you wanna yeah, well we, if it's okay

[1:08] with the second folks, we'll do it in the opposite order. In that case, we'll call case number oh

[1:12] four two six. Dan, uh, bernstein

[1:16] and juliette rose at seven. Ed marth place

[1:21] no r no ed in dan's name. Ah, sorry. Dan, I made this same mistake.

[1:26] just last one. Got it. That's all right. Bernstein. Yeah,

[1:30] there we go. I think you'll be misspelled the upcoming misspelled it wrong.

[1:35] I did. So how do, what's the correct spelling? There's no, no n

[1:39] oh, it's stein. Oh, sorry. That's all right. I, I, I'll answer . Is that my

[1:43] mistake here? No, it's probably mine. That intro.

[1:48] oh wait, hopefully

[1:52] I can yell at the architect. Hold on a sec. Can check.

[1:56] I'm plugged in here. Is there anything else I have to do to throw signal

[2:01] the screen?

[2:13] ha. Hi. Could blame you, .

[2:19] it's good that that's on the record, so there you go. It's a terrible start. He's still having technical

[2:25] what we got. What we got what we got and you turned

[2:29] that one off. Hmm.

[2:34] that's strange. Is that from your menu or my menu? Charles,

[2:39] that is definitely you. Not for both. That's when they won the,

[2:45] and he came over and he gave all the cousins the trophy.

[2:49] it's plugged in. It just goes right over. But it's his mom. That one

[2:53] related to you? No, so he has legal guardians,

[3:03] his brother. Lemme just see if I can . That's my, that's my thank

[3:07] you. That's my brother and he's,

[3:13] excuse me one second.

[3:18] it's so fun.

[3:23] top 30 now for the draft, which means first?

[3:27] yeah, the tv says choose to mirror, to mirror or extend.

[3:33] could you? Oh yeah, he's

[3:37] connected. Yeah. It says, it says,

[3:41] it says choose to mirror or extend display from the menu.

[3:45] from the picture menu. Oh, you have to go onto your computer and

[3:49] tell it's a mirror. Go to the

[3:53] display settings. Did you see my email? Um,

[3:57] I saw the one you were asking buddy, the question. Did you? Yes. So there is no building

[4:01] coverage variance. Okay. There it is. Because decks don't count as

[4:06] building coverage. Got it. I was, I was wondering that. I gotta say, I read it, I was like,

[4:10] I miss reading this. I've learned and, and this is minimum not

[4:16] potentially a difference between building coverage and developmental coverage. That's, yeah.

[4:20] otherwise it'd be the same.

[4:25] yeah, it's a mac, it's a back. Yeah. I'm gonna put, I'm gonna put you on speaker. Hold on. I, okay,

[4:30] we can do, it's gonna take longer than you gotta tell the that to,

[4:34] uh, usually just the hdi output

[4:39] as opposed to the, uh, the monitor

[4:43] could also just pull it up on our screens

[4:51] looking right, because it's, it's displaying

[4:55] it on the screen. So yeah, it's on my screen, but not, I've got the

[4:59] display settings up and I'm, you know, we mirror all the mirror all the time

[5:03] and I don't see the mirror setting for some reason.

[5:16] see there's the display, normally it has a, a popup here that says mirror.

[5:21] we could probably do this with a oh hdr. R-h-d-m-I. One more second.

[5:26] it says replacing hdmi on that slightly different shape. Hdr video.

[5:31] htv video. We can look at as hdtv and h. Yeah, look at michael's. Look,

[5:36] I have it on my phone too. I, I dunno. I dunno. Watch, unplug it and plug it back

[5:40] in. Fix everything.

[5:45] that's the wrong one. No, that's ed mark. That's right. We're starting with that mark. Same

[5:50] deck. Okay, so this is the new deck supposed to,

[5:55] it's supposed to mirror. Yeah. So it's this teeny.

[5:59] yeah, it's weird because I don't see the mirror like it normally is on here to, because

[6:04] it's, it's a corner lot. Think if we went from right. So

[6:08] it is hi to, oh, hold on. Oh, you got something? I thought that's

[6:12] not the corner lot. It's, it, it, I mean it's kind of, it's at the end. Yep. There you go.

[6:16] thanks. Sorry everyone. No worries.

[6:22] yeah, it's that little rear yard setback and then it's developmental coverage. That's

[6:26] all. Okay, we good?

[6:30] sorry. Okay. Sorry about that.

[6:35] alright. Hi everyone. Hello. Uh, I'm pete gulick from mike lewis architects

[6:39] in dobbs ferry. Uh, presenting the proposed, uh, deck to seven n north place

[6:43] for our clients. Dan burstein , julie roths.

[6:49] um, I just kind of take you quickly through the drawings and the site

[6:53] and address the, uh, variances we're looking at and then answer any questions.

[6:58] um, so the proposed deck

[7:02] is here on the rear side of the house where this small stair going down

[7:06] is now pretty modest size, 10 by 15 with a stair coming

[7:10] off of it. So this is the rear looking from the very rear,

[7:15] the rear of the yard towards the front. Um,

[7:19] same view here, looking back towards our neighbor to the east

[7:24] and then another view. Oh, those the same. No,

[7:28] another view kind of looking towards the west, um, towards

[7:32] the river that you could see maybe back there. So that's the context

[7:37] of it. Um, you know, in terms of the neighborhood,

[7:41] like a lot of the streets around here, the yards are pretty small and the houses are decent sized.

[7:45] so there's a lot of existing nonconforming building coverage issues.

[7:50] and those are the two of the ones that we have, uh, to look at.

[7:55] so taking a look at the site plans on the left

[7:59] is the existing plan. Lemme zoom in so we can see it a little better.

[8:03] and on the right is the proposed plan. So

[8:08] on the left you can see we're, we're proposing to remove the existing stair

[8:12] and add this deck on here, zoom

[8:17] in a little better so you can see it. So we have two coverage issues,

[8:21] a building and a developmental. And then we also have a slight setback

[8:25] issue here, which is this. So, um, sorry to interrupt you. No, um,

[8:30] I, I think that there's been some clarification, um, that you only

[8:34] have one coverage variance that you're asking for. So you're asking for the rear

[8:38] yard setback and and the development coverage development. Yeah, the building

[8:42] coverage has been taken off. It was decks aren't, um, uncovered

[8:47] decks are not, uh, part of the building coverage. That's good. I think

[8:51] we're even less on the developmental than the slightly less on the developmental

[8:55] than the, of the building. So

[8:59] basically we're adding, I think it was a hundred and what's the exact thing?

[9:03] 139 square. Yeah. So it's, it's a modest ask on the

[9:07] overage, um, as to what we are. And let

[9:11] me just take you through the rest of the drawings so you can see what it looks like from the

[9:16] back. Um, next sheet has some

[9:20] elevations just to zoom in on those so you can see it.

[9:26] the top one here on the right is the deck looking again towards

[9:30] the west, towards the river, just so you can see the size.

[9:35] we really kind of tried to limit the depth of it from the

[9:39] setback and also just so that the neighbors from the other side

[9:43] views aren't blocked, um, when they're looking out towards the river.

[9:48] and then the view from the back, looking towards the front,

[9:52] you know, here's the new deck, the 15 feet and then the side stair

[9:58] on the, on the, uh, on the east side

[10:02] there as well. And just a few details, section details at the bottom

[10:06] and over here. So that's the proposal and

[10:10] um, yeah, we were just hoping for the relief on that. Given that it's

[10:14] an existing non-conforming and the deck's fairly modest in size,

[10:21] could you highlight the, um, rear yard setback?

[10:25] yeah, sure. Let me zoom in on this one. I think it's a little

[10:39] triangle to say

[10:44] there's the house set back and then the deck projection set back. So that little kind of yellow

[10:48] sliver is our the extent, the extent of the answer. Yeah,

[10:52] that's in the, within the setback. Alright, any questions from

[10:57] the board?

[11:01] were any letters received? No sir. Sorry michael,

[11:05] were you? No, nothing. We've spoken of the two direct neighbors. Mm-hmm . Um,

[11:10] got their feedback, so, you know. Okay. There. Um, I

[11:14] don't think they sent anything into me officially. No, I don't think they even

[11:18] sent. No, they did not. Um, I'm just gonna ask for

[11:22] the record. Anyone from the public wish to speak. Okay. Seeing

[11:26] no one. Um, so if there are no questions from

[11:30] the board and no comments from the public, maybe we'll just talk through the factors, if that's

[11:34] all right. Um, so, uh, we're looking at, uh, a

[11:38] few, uh, factors in the case of area variances.

[11:43] um, so, um, first is whether the, an undesirable change will be

[11:48] produced in the character of the neighborhood or detriment to nearby properties will be created

[11:52] by granting the area of variance. Does anybody have any concerns or comments on

[11:56] that factor? No. No. Whether the benefits sought by the

[12:00] applicant can be achieved by some method feasible for the applicant to pursue. Other

[12:05] than the area of variance questions or concerns

[12:09] on that? I think, you know, obviously the existing deck is more

[12:13] of a landing. So, uh, three, whether the requested area

[12:17] variance is substantial, I think certainly in the case of the rear

[12:21] yard setback, we can use our favorite word de minimis . Um,

[12:26] four. Whether the proposed variance will have an adverse effect or impact on

[12:30] the physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood or district.

[12:35] anybody concerns or comments? Okay. No. No. And last one, whether the alleged difficulty

[12:39] was self-created, which consideration shall be relevant to the decision of the

[12:43] board of appeals, but shall not necessarily preclude the granting of the area variance.

[12:49] again, we understand that it is self-created to the extent that you want a deck, but,

[12:53] um, we certainly understand. Alright. Um,

[12:57] any other questions or thoughts? Would anyone like to make a motion?

[13:01] I'll make a motion. Thank you richard. Motion to approve. Um,

[13:06] alright. Are you good with that, linda? To approve

[13:10] in a well the rear yard setback variance and developmental

[13:14] coverage, just because it's wrong on the agenda. So let's, okay. Um,

[13:19] yep. Shall I go ahead and yeah, go ahead and read read, um, case number

[13:23] oh four dash 26, dan stein and juliet ross. Seven.

[13:28] um, ed martha eden, martha place, uh, this is for relief for strict

[13:32] application of the village code sections 2 95 dash 70 e

[13:37] one b, uh, with 2 95 dash 20 b 6 2 95

[13:43] dash 70 e three a one. That's the one. You don't need that

[13:47] one. We don't need . There you go. That's right. And, uh, and 2 95

[13:52] dash 70 e three a two

[13:56] for the construction of a new, uh, rear wood deck on their single family

[14:01] home. Alright, can we get a second? I'll second. Alright, take

[14:05] a quick roll. All in favor? In favor. Aye. I, aye. Sorry.

[14:09] in favor? Uh, for, for, it's unanimous. Uh,

[14:13] thank you very much. Congratulations. Good luck. Oh, thank you for your time. Thank you. Have a good evening. Thank you.

[14:19] all right, next up we have case number oh 1 2 6.

[14:24] mike and kate solomon at 41 columbia avenue and hopefully

[14:28] we'll have better technical luck. ,

[14:41] thank you so much. Good night. Our kids are at home. That's alright.

[14:45] thank you. Are they hanging with your kids? Brett

[14:49] ? I'm not. I'm paying both my kids to babysit

[14:53] each other. Right. Linda, which linda says is, yeah, my

[14:57] parents used to do that. Only we got like a quarter and a dime. She's

[15:02] paying a little more. Yeah, the tooth fairs gone off as well, by the way.

[15:06] wait, who got paid more and was it because my oldest brother got a quarter,

[15:11] you know, he was in charge. Seniority, I go equal. Equal.

[15:16] well since he tried to kill me one of those times he gets paid more.

[15:21] I feel like it should be a bonus at the end. Wait, do you have different gendered kids?

[15:25] no. Oh, so there's no opportunity here to set an example about wage equality? There's

[15:30] all kinds of things you can do. No, there's no examples to be set. Oh, okay. Yeah, that's

[15:34] . Alright. But the puppy, does the puppy get paid

[15:39] with love for me when I get home? I was telling linda the most, the thing I'm most worried about is the puppy

[16:01] freaking, I think it's there, it's just, who knows?

[16:05] I know it's off, right? This is, I think

[16:09] it was picking up this screen.

[16:14] well this one's on three and that one's on two. I don't know if it matters. No, it's

[16:19] thinking, it's always such

[16:23] exciting when it pops on.

[16:27] okay. Give it like a minute and then go in.

[16:32] really? I, I vote for a 14-year-old high school student

[16:36] to be a member of the board. , the intern. We'd have no problems.

[16:42] I bring my 12-year-old. I would do, you could have brought 'em in instead

[16:47] of leaving him home alone. Um, this is not a mirror issue. This one is no signal issue.

[16:52] so unplug and plug back in. We can try this. Okay.

[16:56] I always love the unplug and plug back in. That worked last time.

[17:03] no, they, the h are correct. Okay. To see mockups

[17:09] now, worst case scenario, we'll go ahead without it.

[17:18] a deck slightly buddy, buddy.

[17:22] we can go ahead without it. Okay. Josh attorney says

[17:26] to go ahead without it. You wanna go ahead without it or do you yes, I think we can look at steve. Um,

[17:30] we've all straightforward. It's, we've all reviewed it prior. We have some of them on

[17:34] laptops here. So go ahead and present and we'll, uh, all right. Well it,

[17:38] we'll follow along. Uh, a variance for the existing condition.

[17:43] uh, the house is, uh, about a foot

[17:47] too close on the side and, um,

[17:52] we're just re re rebuilding the, renovating the,

[17:56] the deck in the back. And that's why. But

[18:00] it, that's, that meets the setbacks and everything. It's just the house. It's

[18:04] the problem. It's corner lot house and the, and the both front

[18:08] yards are very, very tight. Mm-hmm . To the curbs. Right. And the variance

[18:12] is necessary because it's, there's two front yards. Yeah. So

[18:16] it's 25 feet where it would normally be. And on this particular lot,

[18:21] I don't think there's anywhere else to put a deck and they're rebuilding

[18:25] one. Yeah. So yeah, it's a slightly different shape. Yeah. So the setback is a little

[18:29] bit less than the existing.

[18:35] alright. Um, any other questions from the board?

[18:40] nope. Did we receive any letters or comments from no sir. I don't believe so. Let me

[18:44] just check really quick.

[18:48] nope. No, we did not.

[18:54] okay. Um, so the, but I just have one question on the,

[18:58] on the, just making sure the numbers are correct. So in the agenda

[19:02] it says, um, existing 17.8,

[19:07] proposed 15.7 mm-hmm . I believe it says something different in the application,

[19:12] but the plans show the 15.7. Yeah. Just confirming

[19:17] that. Oh yeah, no, that's, we have to go off the plans. Okay.

[19:22] 'cause the, the architects prepared the applications

[19:26] and they took it to the most extent that the house

[19:30] protrudes, not the deck itself. Okay. So what was

[19:34] noticed and what's on the agenda matches the plans. Mm-hmm . That's correct.

[19:40] um, um, alright. Um,

[19:45] there's obviously no public comment, so I think we can, if you guys are comfortable, we can

[19:49] talk through the factors on this one. Um, so first one is whether there's

[19:53] an undesirable change to the character of the neighborhood. Anybody have

[19:57] any comments or concerns on that one? It's just a replacement.

[20:02] yep. One seems to be a replacement. Whether the benefits sought by the applicants can

[20:06] be achieved by some method feasible other than this one. Um, again,

[20:10] it's sort of a reshaping of the same deck. Is the deck the new deck bigger

[20:14] or smaller? Similar. I know it's a different shape.

[20:19] it is almost exactly the same again, almost exactly the same. Okay. So more, it's

[20:23] almost a con it's almost a replacement or continuing of a non-conforming.

[20:27] mm-hmm . More or less the same. Uh, whether the requested variance is substantial,

[20:32] uh, again, um, relative to what the

[20:36] existing, it's, it's, uh, actually, um, similar

[20:41] whether the proposed variance will have an adverse effect or impact on the physical,

[20:45] uh, environmental conditions of the neighborhood. Or concerns on that? No. No.

[20:49] and finally, the last one, the self-created part, um, which we've already

[20:53] spoken to here, but obviously this one is, um, again, essentially

[20:58] a replacement. Any other questions or comments?

[21:02] no. No. All right. Can we have a motion for this one? I'll

[21:07] do it. Oh, thank you. Uh, I'll make a motion to approve case number

[21:11] one dash 26. Mike and kate solomon, 41

[21:15] columbia avenue. Um, relief from the stripped

[21:19] application for the replacement of an existing deck on a corner lot at their single family dwelling,

[21:24] uh, for side yard setback. Uh, do I need to read

[21:28] the existing proposed or no? Okay.

[21:32] uh, can we have a second? I'll second. All right.

[21:36] this time we'll do the vote right? Do one at a time. Richard, approve. Approve.

[21:41] approve, approve. All right. Thank you. Pass unanimously. Good luck.

[21:45] congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Alright, um, next order

[21:49] of business is the approval of the minutes from the previous meeting, which was january 22nd.

[21:54] I think. I wasn't there, right? I don't remember. I wonder if we have a quorum to vote.

[21:59] if we have three. Yes. If we have two. Don't. I was there,

[22:03] were you there? I believe I was there 'cause we were not here last month. Yeah, last month there.

[22:08] okay. So then we do have enough to vote. Um, does anyone have any changes

[22:12] or corrections to the minutes? No, I have, I have everything

[22:16] fine to me. All right. Can we have a motion to approve the minutes?

[22:21] uh, motion to approve for the minutes for the last meeting. Alright, we need a second. I do. I second

[22:25] it. Alright. All in favor? Approve. Approved. Approved. Okay,

[22:29] so the minutes are approved. Our next meeting is april 23rd.

[22:34] uh, and I think we can have a motion to adjourn. Anybody wanna

[22:38] make that one? I'll make a motion to adjourn. All. All right. I

[22:42] think we are good to adjourn. Thank you everybody.

[22:46] you job. Thanks everybody. Alright.

[22:50] tomorrow the game? Uh, yes. Alright. What you know, what time it?

[22:55] seven 10. .

Mar 26, 2026 Zoning Board Meeting - Hastings-on

Agenda

Transcript