Full Transcript

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. All right. First up is appeal number 20, 24-0114, Second Street Townhouses. Ann, were you ahead? Yes, if I could. So Second Street Townhomes, 46 East Second Street, Riverhead, Suffolk County, TX. Tax map number 600-128-5-31, Downtown Center 4, DC-4 zoning, parking stall variance. Applicant request variance and or relief from Chapter 301-151B1, where proposed number of on-site parking stalls is 11 and the minimum required is 12. This was adjourned and kept open from the June 3rd. Second Street Townhomes, 46 East Second Street Townhomes, 13th, 2024, meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals. I'd also like to add that the Planning Board, on June 20th of 2024, adopted resolution number 2024-45, transmitting the recommendation to the Town Board regarding traffic patterns on East Second Street and Third Street in Downtown Riverhead. And next to that resolution was a letter to the supervisor and members of the Town Board seeking investigation and consideration of potentially creating a portion of East Second Street as one way due to the lack of available parking for existing businesses and existing soit. existing

existing so residents along East 2nd Street. In addition, the highway superintendent issued an inspection report on June 27th, 2024, basically describing the width, travel lanes, and his observation regarding parking along 2nd Street and 3rd Street. And we're going to make those part of the record. Okay. Anybody want to be heard on this? You folks have, want to be heard? You've been sworn in, so. Only example previously that's been granted is on 3rd Street. 3rd Street, 45 3rd Street. They had, they needed five parking spaces, and, but they had only four parking spaces available for them. And one was granted to them with having to, both sides of the street being able to park. Now that if this happens, and our situation even less dire, it's half the size and one parking space. So, it's a lot of parking spaces needed for them. We have a lot more parking than they do. So, hopefully this will help us.

Well, we've looked at everything that's been presented from the last meeting and also these two things that Anne Marie just talked about. Yes. And there's definitely a concern about the width of 2nd Street and what's going to happen with more cars being put out there for parking. Yes. And it's not a comparison to 3rd Street because 3rd Street is much wider than 27 and allows parking on both sides of the street. And I think we asked if anything can be done from a design standpoint where you guys could get that extra space in there. And if you had to do one less, unit, if that solves the problem, I don't know if you wanted to do that. We have a problem with the narrow road and some of the things that were said last time and it definitely affects what's happening on that street. Once it's done, it's done and then we can't undo it. Yes. So, we're asking you for help. Having one less unit, it's really not feasible for us, but there are two other options. Go ahead. Option 1 and Option 2, I can present them to you. Fine. And one is... Do you want to put it on the... Heather? Oh, you want me to put it up on the screen? Yes. Give us a copy, but see if it goes up there. Here, can I have a copy of that? There are two separate... What do you want? There are two separate scenarios, so I just need one copy and I'll put them up on the screen. One, two. I don't want... I want to make sure you guys have it now. I can see the one on the screen. I'm going to tell you alternative ones first. Thank you. Which one do you want? Do you want me to put it up? Oh, no. I think it'll be okay. Yes. It's a little bit hard to see, but as you see from the street side, we propose that there's another curb cut to park one car in the front of the property to the right. Number 12? Correct. Which is, I don't think, is a great solution in terms of look for the street. So there's also... Show me what you see. Number two is taking away the accessible parking. Oh, okay. That's down here in the corner. Yes. Did you happen to run that past the planning staff before you came to this meeting? I asked Greg. Yeah. And he was like, oh, I really don't think that's a great idea. It just doesn't look good. Right. That was his comment. I agree. It just doesn't look great. But something we could probably do. But instead of that, this is the number two option, taking away the accessible parking space that gives us the 12 in the back. Are you talking about getting rid of the handicap accessible? Correct. That would be unacceptable under the code. I can assure the members of the Zoning Board of Appeals that would not be acceptable. With respect to option one, the Zoning Board of Appeals cannot approve a deviation in a site plan. In addition, I would just caution the members of the Zoning Board of Appeals that you have lot coverage and impervious surface coverage restriction. Okay. I'll head over to you next. [transcription gap] Is it because the permeable space is less? Is that why? Well, it's really a site plan matter and without, you know, I don't want to, as counsel to the Zoning Board of Appeals, act as counsel to the Planning Board in interpretation of the code provisions and without having them in front of me, you know, the Zoning Board of Appeals and myself as counsel right now. Really couldn't even comment whether or not this would be feasible. And I do know, and Heather as a member of the Planning Department, I believe that the site plan was going to be looked at with respect to the landscape plan. Correct? Yes. So, what you're proposing really, with the knowledge that even planning is going to re-review and look at the landscaping plan, the proposal, for instance, in one takes away from the landscaping plan. Yes. Okay. And doing one less unit is totally out in your office? Totally out in your mind? I mean, I guess I can make the one unit, one of the back units, smaller. Will that get us that parking space? It would, yes. It would be about 600 square feet with two bedrooms. Two bedrooms? It could be one bedroom, couldn't it? It could be. But much, yeah, it's not that great. Are these for sale or are these going to be rentals? Rentals. I don't know how we can get around this. Okay. Anybody else? Is there anyone in the audience that hasn't spoken? Anyone on Zoom out there? Just Dan is on. What? Just Dan is on. Just Danny's on. All right. All right. I'll head over to you, Dan. [transcription gap] 301-151B1, where proposed number of on-site parking stalls is 11 and the minimum required is 12 be denied. It is obviously self-created and the existing road is narrow with limited parking permitted on one side of the roadway. The addition of one additional of additional vehicles is going to exacerbate traffic and parking issues, which would be detrimental, have detrimental impact on the neighborhood. Second, please. Second. [transcription gap] Okay. Mr. Barnes. Aye. Aye. Mr. Godzilla. Aye. Mr. Porchetta. Aye. And I vote aye. So that's where we stand. Oh, and Dan's on Zoom. Oh, Dan, are you there? He's on Zoom. Oh, you're behind us. My giant head is right behind you. How do you vote? I vote aye. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. Good luck with your future meetings. Thank you.

Are we ready for the next? Yes. All right. Up next is appeal number 2024 dash 017. Uh, Gabrielle Hawks, 189 accordingly street river head, Suffolk County, textbook number 600 dash 1 0 4 dash 1 dash 12 residents, a 40 zoning to legalize an accessory structure applicant requests, variances, and, or relief from chapter 3 0 1 dash 9 a 1 a where accessory structures are not permitted in a front yard. If you could come up to the podium, you'll get sworn in.

Justin? We can't get Dan over here, can we?

Thank you. Thank you, Dan. Hi, Dan. Much better. We can see you now. All right. Please raise your right hand. So I'm just going to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. I do. Please state your name and your address. Gabrielle Charvat-Watts at 189 Ackerley Street, Riverhead, New York, 11901. And before we start, do you have your certified privacy? I do. Yeah, perfect. I have, so I have this, and they ever sent me letters from them, that's the director that has the shed next to it, saying that they support this. I need to talk to you about everything. Yes. Perfect. Here. All right. So I have the, this photo is probably the letter of neighbor. When we were at the building over there, we'd have ZBA meetings. Like that? Really? No. No room. The receipt and all the ones that have the attention. These are on cases that we've done change from the law. All right. All of the certified mailings and the affidavit, everything's in order, and I will say that I did receive photos. I have a couple of photos of the poster the day it went up, which was seven days ago, and then also today. And I believe it's all the same. There's two front copies from Sal, his wife, that sent this to me. She didn't sign it because she went to work today. But she had emailed it to me. Can you show the copy, Laura? I have handed in a copy of a letter from the listed owner of the house next to me that is adjoining property. What? Yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. [transcription gap] That's in discussion. And husband and wife both agreed to the parts. The letter is signed from the husband, but the wife had sent me the letter via email, and she didn't get a chance to sign it because her printer wasn't working. Yeah. So for clarification to the members of the zoning board, it's two letters from the residents at 185 Ackerley Street stating, a resident butts up to the property noted above, and the structure is not a detriment of any kind.

How long has the shed been there? I don't recall, honestly. It's fairly new, but my husband had looked into the permits and everything like that when we had put it in, and he thought because it was under the measurements for the residents, it was a detriment. It was a detriment for a shed, that it wasn't considered a shed, and we didn't need it. So that's why we didn't apply for a permit at the time. Have you given any thought to putting it in the backyard? We have, but what we use it for, mostly it's best to have in the front because we use it for things that come in and out of the driveway and snowblower, things like that. See, it gives us a problem there because now this is an accessory used in the front yard, right? Which is not allowed by code. Plus, driving through the neighborhood, both streets, there's no one that has an accessory in the front yard. So this would almost be like setting a precedent, which I personally do not want to set, okay? Because we could have applications coming down the road that they want something in the front yard. So we would like to have it moved to the backyard, and there's plenty of room back there. It's 76. It's by 50 feet, and that's all open. Well, it's, I mean, according to what's on there. But I have a vegetable garden that takes up almost half of my backyard. I mean, that's not included on what you see. And I have native plant beds that I've been putting in for eight years. Excuse me. It's all right. Hmm. I don't know what to tell you. I mean, uh... So if I had to, I don't think that we have the space in the backyard to put it. Well, one side that is where it is. Take your time. The side that it exists on is completely have garden, walk-through gardens the entire run of the property. From in front of the shed, right behind the shed, we use that to hide the garbage cans, so that way they're not seen by the street. Then there's a fence next to the house, and behind that, straight all the way to the back, all of that is garden. Also, as far as aesthetics to my neighbor, they do have an RV along that line. So I really wouldn't mind putting a shed in front of their RV, but I've planted and grown trees to block out their RV on their property. So I don't see that. So I have established plants that are, thousands of dollars that, you know, are feeding native, uh, thorium fauna. Is that shed on concrete or is it on wood? It's on skid. Yeah, I mean, it's, I mean, like, if I had to come in with a forklift, we could take it out. I mean, obviously, if that's what you guys deem necessary, then that's what it is. Um... What would you consider like a shed in the back that could be like a plastic shed that you could put in the backyard? You could put stuff in and then maybe just sell that one in the front? Um... I mean, that might work. But then I, the only space that I really have to, so, on along the left side, it's, we keep that accessible by, um, vehicle so that way we can trim our big trees in the backyard. Mm-hmm. Otherwise, then we'd have, you know, like right now we can bring in, rent a, rent a, uh, a tree cleaner, you know, and, and bucket and go put it behind there. So if we put a shed along that side, then that would be impeded. Um, also, it's where we utilize for our animals too. We have dogs, um, and chickens obviously. And so all of that space that I utilize for animals would, would not exist. What about the other side? The other side is, it's very narrow. Beyond the deck, it's only, it's like six feet. And again, it's, it's four feet of garden, two, maybe two feet of walkway in the middle.

So along, if you walk in the right side of the sh, the right, right, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh. Right. Uh, gate. There's just a little bit of a walkway to the right of that. It's basically, I think 10 feet off the top of my head from the, from the walkway to the deck to the fence. So there is like a corner space there again in front of the RV. But that's the. Would you agree that there's no other homes in the neighborhood with a shed in the front yard? Uh, no. Uh, not to my knowledge. Right. quote had a shed in the rear yard which you converted to a chicken coop I used for both for both multi-purpose yes there are you know double car garages and single car garages it's not like two uniform every you know there's a variety of things but here well that's here but this is a concrete patio so and we also just to note as we're on the Peconic estuary we do get flooding in our basement and if I put another structure in that side lot in the side yard on the east side I think that would definitely worsen the water damage in the basement we only get it once every six months to year at this point we've lined the inside we've patched cracks hairline cracks anything and about every year we have to wait until it sometimes happens to see if we fixed it but I guess the right side would be the easterly side which is 13 8 at the top the right side is the west side looking from this from the street the right side is is the west side where the gardens are and the neighbor with the letter and and I and I have an entire tree line too so that shed is in front of an entire line of arborvitaes that are over 13 feet tall and what's down that right side again I'm sorry there's a line of arborvitaes right from I have a five feet of garden in the front so you can see when you pull out of the driveway and in both directions and then there's an entire line of arborvitaes along my neighbor's property line until you hit the tree so the shed that mr. Barnes were recommended or suggested the rubber shed yeah they come in a kit yeah I am I'm familiar I mean like I prefer the aesthetics of wood to to the the rubber could I put in a bunch of rubber sheds in my backyard and again that's I I don't know as an alternative because then you could sell the front shed yes but so wouldn't I have any problem still because it's an accessory shed on the property because that was but that was what I was ticketed for it was for an accessory item you already have an accessory in the rear yard now you want a second one not just in the rear yard but in the front yard and that's that's the problem yes so the rubber sheds have any merit with you at all um we again I I would have to know what the what the permits and the Planning Board says about sizes of sheds and again is that okay because it's going to be on the other side of my property against the property that's something that I would have to know about size of sheds and again is that okay because it's going to be on the other side of my property against the property that's the neighbor who had called code enforcement on me so I don't know how amenable he would be to having a shed butt up to his property line either well there's 13.8 feet on that side on the right side between the shed and the end the fence between the house and the street side okay but so that like I said that's where again where we have accessibility to the backyard for for maintaining a property well you wouldn't put a 13.8 wide shed in there anyway I mean these are the size of the property that's the size of the property that's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she's she Maybe you should discuss the storage issue with your husband and then come meet with one of the building inspectors and see alternatively where you could put it. If you need a variance you have to come back to us. Yeah, that would not be a precedent. The front is just not going to happen. Just the way it is. But you can sit and work with the town and see where you can alternatively put one. And then again, I would sell the front one on eBay or something or on Marketplace. I think you would make out. Plus you'd get all of that stuff out of your house. Yeah, but then I'd have an ugly rubber shed too. Well, they're prettier than us. I have one. Yeah. No offense to your shed. I'm calling you. Move it. You'd have a lot more area that's free in the front yard. I don't know. The day I was there, I think there were four vehicles there and it looks like there's a lot of children's stuff there. So all that, if that was moved, you'd have a lot more space. Yeah, we're in the process of getting rid of two and getting a new vehicle. So we've got a lot of heads in the house currently. So why don't we adjourn this? If it's good for you, two weeks and you come back. Excuse me. As Leroy said, meet with the building inspector. I'm sorry. Meet with the building inspector and somehow we can help you with some of that stuff. Okay. And see what happens. But as he said, that front accessory cannot go. I mean, if it needs to be moved or there's going to be an alternative and you might need a variance, we can keep this open. Yeah. And then you could submit to us an amended application. Amended application. It's not going to be a big deal. It really isn't. So you might like not having that shed in the front yard after you talk it out. I wouldn't mind not having it. But again, it's just my lot of storage with my husband for stuff for the house. I understand. You got to work it out. That's all. Thank you. All right. And I'm sorry that we upset you. It's all right. It's just a shed. I had a week last night for my uncle and just. Oh, sorry. We all have bad weeks, you know. Yes, of course. Thank you. Thanks for coming in. Who's got the reading? I do. Oh, you mean guy. So. Hey, yeah. Did I hear? We're going to. No. Mr. Chairman. Wait. So. Is it? We're just going to adjourn it for now. Are we doing it? Did I? We're going to adjourn it. Adjourn it. Okay. So not going to read it. Right. Yeah. This way they can file an amended application. What's the next meeting? What's the next meeting? July 11. July 11. All right. Mr. Chairman, respectfully, I request that appeal number 2024 be approved. I'm sorry. 29UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU Mr. Zawieski votes aye too. You had to vote for Danny. Oh, I'm sorry. Mr. Zawieski. I vote aye as well. Thank you, Danny. You having good weather up there? Yeah, it's actually pretty nice right now. It's been hot down here again. I need the other one too. Is there anything else that we need to discuss? Minutes? Minutes? How about dinner? I have a motion to accept the minutes. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Zawieski? Aye. Okay. May I accept the adjournment for the meeting? So moved. All in favor? Aye. Zawieski and I vote aye.

Second.