Okay, thank you. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Zoning Board of Appeals for the
Channel of North Castle. Today is August 6th, 2026. And we have roll call, please.
Ray Rodriguez. Here. John Stipo. Here. Bob Greer. Here. Scott Stopnik. Ed Leshians. Here.
I get.
I move to approve the minutes in the previous meeting. I'll second that. Okay, let's get started.
We're going to open the public hearing for 430 Main Street, Neal Schwartz.
Okay. You could go right over to that. Yeah, that's fine. As long as you talk in the...
Hi. Hi.
So I have a, basically I just wanted to add my phone number and my logo and the actual, what I do,
because right now it's pretty bare on the door.
door. There was another tenant that was basically on the other side of my wall. They left and
they scraped everything off. So right now there's nothing on the door that really says what
I do so people can't find me. And there's no other access other than the door. There's
no other place to put signage or anything.
I drove just to several businesses have lettering on the windows, walls, and doors.
You guys are familiar with Main Street, right?
Yes.
How big is this thing going to be?
15 inches.
How much space do you need for your sign?
Just the door, the width of the door.
The whole door?
Yeah.
It's not the whole door.
It's just...
15 by 19 and a half.
That's what the signs don't look like, not with the black, it's just a proof.
It's white letters, it's just that you can't put white on white.
So what would the actual letters be?
What color?
It'll be white.
I think you said not on black, so how are you going to see it?
No, I'm saying the picture on the glass that has to be white on glass as opposed
to white on a sheet of paper, it's not going to...
Okay, and you're going to go to the ARB if we give you the variance for the color and
all that stuff.
It's white.
I know they like white.
You just have to go for the, he has to just go to get it approved.
Yeah, you've got to go to get it approved at the ARB.
I know the previous tenant, so yeah, they did have a sign on the window or lettering.
If you go through town, every store in town has signs on the windows.
I don't think it's...
I have no problem with it.
So, you know, from what I've read, it doesn't seem like it's substantial.
It will be self-created.
No negative impact to the environment.
I don't believe any impact to the character of the neighborhood.
Any other tenants or neighbors?
Yeah, there's room below.
So I'm going to be this 428A and below that is where it's going to be and below that would
be where another tenant can go.
So I had to get that approved by the landlord.
Okay.
The only alternative is to not advertise your business, which I don't think is fair
since a lot of businesses do advertise that way.
So with those five standards, do we have a motion?
I'll make a motion.
Oh, second date.
As long as you put in there that he goes to the A or B, make me happy.
He doesn't matter.
Can we add that, please?
Yes, we can add that.
Excellent. Can we close to the public hearing?
Okay, we're going to close the public hearing.
Okay, can we go to vote?
Okay, John Stefa.
Go ahead.
Ray Rodriguez.
Yes.
Bob Greer.
Yes.
Ed Lashens.
Yes.
Okay.
All right. All right. Let me hear your sign. All right. Thank you.
Can I open it back up? You ready? Yes. Okay. We're going to open the public hearing for
Michael Smith, 53 Windmill Road. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the
board. My name is Mike Testa. I'm here trying to help Mr. Smith through the zoning process.
I created a packet for you with regards to his request. He's selling his house and
he has a closing set for the 15th of August. And during the review process with the
building department. We found out that we were 850.58 square feet above the
allowable development coverage that was allowed on site. We submitted
applications to the town engineer and as a result he came up with a drainage
improvement plan to mitigate those issues and as a result he did approve it.
We went to the RPRC. We got an approval from them subject to getting
the zoning variance approved by your board. I tried to address all of the
points of appeals with regards to whether or not there'd be an undesirable change in
the neighborhood or a detriment to nearby properties.
And he bought the property in 2015, so for the last 10, 11 years, it's been existing.
What you see here, there's been no issues or changes that he has done to modify
any of these issues.
In terms of the immediate neighbors, we did solicit the majority of the surrounding
neighbors, and we have in your packet letters of support from the surrounding
neighborhood.
six in total I believe. We tried to determine if the applicant can be
achieved by some feasible method for the applicant to pursue other than an area
variance. In order to do that we priced out trying to remove 858 square feet of
improvements and that cost over $10,000 and the new buyer just doesn't want
to start ripping up things there. At the same time whether or not the variance
is substantial I mean we believe that the variance is a minimal variance
that we're trying to achieve to accomplish our goal here and the lastly was itself created.
Basically he has this property he's maintained it throughout the whole years and we feel that
this is a minor waiver and through accomplishes goal of trying to keep this property and get
it for sale. And like I said the new buyers are pretty much adamant that they want to keep
it that way or else it could affect the sale of the property and we're trying to get this
through your honorable board was this the condition when the seller is selling it when he bought it
this was the same condition that is now did he make the any change he added a patio in the back
and that patio was what we had to go to the engineering board for and mr. Kellogg required
a substantial drainage improvement plan which we have implemented on site already which you've
completed that work. Yes sir. Okay. We have not gotten a building permit yet because Rob
is not able to grant that until the board grants the waiver. So the majority of this
was existing nonconformism. That is correct. And just the only improvement done by the
current owner was patio. The patio. That is correct. I did go through the package.
We have six neighbors showing support, $10,000 to rip up that little area.
We tried to go around the neighborhood and most of them, that we know there's no objection
that we're aware of.
So, I saw in here it showed up on title.
What exactly showed up on title?
Excuse me?
I read in your packet that you discovered this on title.
What exactly showed up on title?
In other words, when I do a title search with the municipality, I come up with a
list of items that are approved.
When they went through this process, they found out that their patios were not originally
approved.
Therefore, we had to get the building permit for the patios, which we submitted for.
We were denied by Rob, and as a result, that's what we were appealing.
Okay.
And there was something to hear about our driveway also?
The driveways are existing.
There's been no change to the existing driveways.
We resurfaced them years ago, back in 2015, with no change at all.
Got you.
Good.
Any questions?
How about it?
Okay.
Can we close it please?
Do you want to add?
Oh, I'm sorry.
Do you have any questions?
I forgot you up there, my bad.
No, no.
I know that there were a number of neighbors who wrote in favor of it.
I assume that there are no neighbors who are opposed to that.
Is that correct?
Sir, there was none that I'm aware of.
I believe there was a neighbor in the audience right now.
Who was an immediate neighbor across the street.
Yeah, it seems like the neighbors are okay.
Takes the village.
Thank you.
Okay.
I'm okay.
All right.
Can we close the place?
All right.
We're going to close the public hearing.
Okay.
I'll make a motion to approve.
I'll second it.
Okay.
Let's go to vote.
All right.
We're going to roll call.
Ed Lashens. Yes. Bob Greer. Yes. John Stipo. Yes. Ray Rodriguez. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
Just making progress tonight.
Okay. All right. I'm going to open the public hearing. Well, I'm not, but we're going to open the public hearing for one windmill court.
So, never done this before, never lived in a house, never moved into windmill in 2017.
Can you start with your name, sir?
Keith Arner.
Thank you.
Thanks for the camera.
So, wasn't sure if my architect was going to be on Zoom, but unfortunately he is at
a meeting.
So, there we go.
We put a sport court in during COVID.
We talked to somebody that we thought was going to advise us on the proper ways
of doing it.
We believe them. That company is now out of business, unfortunately.
I think we are looking for a variance of what is the exact amount of feet. I think it's 17.
It should be 30. It is 12 feet off of...
17 feet 10 inches.
So we're looking for a variance of 17 feet 10 inches.
We've had the sport court for five plus years.
I have two boys. They love it.
We are putting in drainage for the sport court.
We have never had an issue thus far.
We're renovating our house, similar to what Ray did in others Jeff Blum around us, so we
are invested into the community and we plan on starting forever.
I'm sorry, you said you were what?
Renovating?
We're renovating our house.
Yeah, I sold a lot of them.
Yeah, yeah, hopefully we can move back.
Lot of trucks, floors went in today, tiles being laid, we're hoping we can move back
in September.
It's been a long year.
I'm sure.
Yeah.
So just as you get a building permit for this court, we, I think we're approved
And if the variance was approved talking about when you put it in no, we're legalizing it now
So the person that we used advised us that we did not need that during COVID. This was in the heat of COVID
I think it was September or July
And that was the company that actually made that was the company that put the basketball court in that's why he's here
That's why I'm here. So yeah, he got some bad advice from a company
She's got bad advice from the companies that don't load around.
Correct.
A little history.
When the court has three, you're at number one.
Number one, yes.
My first house was number three.
Is that across the street?
Directly across the street.
Yeah.
I bought that in 1968.
Did you really?
Did you sell it to the woman who's there now?
Oh, I...
Oh, I don't even know.
she's she's older husband passed away in 2015 yeah I'm long gone from that but
the court is so cute it's great I have three boys that grew up on that plane in
that I love it I love it I think you mentioned your neighbors any concerns
have any of your neighbor's voice concerns.
Yeah, nobody has.
I had, I got nothing.
Did you said you put in drainage?
We're going to.
I just got a quote.
I'm going to have somebody do that.
But what is that required by any town or you're just doing that anyhow?
No, it was retired, it was required by I think Rob or the building inspector.
Okay.
Yeah.
But is it, is it defined amount of work?
It is just to do.
Correct.
Yes.
There's four Coltex that go up there.
Okay.
And the drain is going to cost about a hundred thousand dollars. He's told you what to do and you know how to do it
Yes, okay, and you got a permit. We have yes everything the important thing as a new home
Fairly new
Always get permits or at least inquire because it's going to cause you all this trouble
Where you could be rejected? I know so it's not worth not getting a permit
agree with you a double when you get caught with it, so
learn from experience. Just a little more. Yeah, I appreciate that. It's not even a slap on the wrist, it's just a warning. I got it. Thank you.
Yeah, please inquire about permits should any future work be done. Okay, make a motion for me. That's sad. And after this we're not doing any more building.
I just want to make sure. Add any questions. No, no. Obviously there's one neighbor that's affected more than any other.
The one whose neighbor brought us on to the side yard where the court is located, and that
neighbor is aware that you're applying for this variance and has no objection.
No objection.
Okay.
I visited it.
I don't know if your wife told me, told you, but I was there.
In fact, if I knew that he had pickleball courts, I would have brought my paddle.
But anyway, it's a nice court that you have there.
We actually put, you saw, if you walked up there, we put trees up there to block the neighbors.
Okay, all right. We're going to close the public hearing.
We have a motion. I'll make a motion
as a former Wimbledon court neighbor. Yeah, I'm on north late now, but not there. All right.
Do we have a second? Go ahead. I'll second it. Okay. Let's go to vote. Okay. We're going
to do a roll call. Ed Lashins. Yes. Bob Greer. Yes. John Steepo. Yes. Ray Rodriguez. Yes.
Thank you guys. Okay. See you didn't need to. Good luck with the renovation. You did a great
job. Thank you. Have a good night. Thanks. I'll see you at the camp.
You're doing a driveway. Am I? Yeah. No, I'm going to redo it, but not just I'm
not going to add anything. Jamie at the highway department.