Zoning Board Grants Approvals

The following items were considered by the Zoning Board of Appeals last week:

Application 20181

This application was filed on behalf of Patricia Roche, the resident of 205 Prospect Road in Centerport. The application was for rear and side yard variances to legalize several structures, including an apartment over a detached two story garage in the front yard, a raised walk and stairs, a second story deck attached to the garage, a pump hous in the front yard, and a roofed over wrap around porch.

The zoning board was impressed with attorney Ron Goldstein's presentation on behalf of the Roche family, which included multiple historical documents and testimony from several longtime Prospect Road residents. Included was a postcard with a photo of the porch in question from May of 1910 to show that it has been in existence for over 100 years. Goldstein also had several affidavits filed in 1940 by several residents referring to the porch. As for the upstairs structure, he showed the board a survey from 1946 that referred to the structure as a "two-story garage with living quarters."  A real estate expert also spoke and said that the house was first constructed in 1863 and that the second story was always designed to be a living space. It was noted that the walkway being applied for was also part of the original plan for the house.

Two residents spoke who had knowledge of the residence. One of them, Dr. Kevin McBride, lived at 211 Prospect Road as a child, and testified that he remembered the house being very similar to the way it is now. Patricia Roche’s husband also testified that he and his wife have not made significant changes to the property since they acquired it in 1989.

The application was granted as presented.

Application 20178

This application was filed on behalf of the Commack Fire District, which requested a special use permit for their building located on Elwood Road, just north of Jericho Turnpike. They wanted the permit so they could build a 125-foot flagpole to support their telecommunications equipment as well as antennas for Metro PCS and Verizon located inside the pole.

The counsel for the Commack Fire District, when asked by the zoning board, said that the fire district would consider moving the pole to a more central location on the premises if necessary. They noted that the cell phone antennas would not be noticeable to the public.

The fire district planned to fly an American flag atop the pole at all times. For them to be able to do that, they would need to install equipment to illuminate the flag. Counsel representing the fire district assured the zoning board that the equipment would not shine into nearby homes and that they would use the minimum wattage possible to illuminate the flag. The application was granted provided that they adhere to the light requests.

Application 20200

This application was filed by Spice Village Grill of 1281 Main Street (at the corner of Main Street and Wall Street) in Huntington. They were requesting a parking variance in order to convert their property from a food store into a restaurant. They wanted to utilize municipal parking as their property was within 300 feet of a municipal lot.

Attorney John Breslin represented the Spice Village Grill. When zoning board vice chairman Scott Frayler noted that the Grill seemed small for a restaurant, Breslin said that they needed the status in order to sell alcoholic beverages. He added that the new restaurant would upgrade its seating capacity to 32 if the application were approved.

Traffic expert Wayne Muller and real estate expert Michael Lynch spoke on behalf of the Grill. Muller said that granting Spice Village Grill restaurant status would not impede traffic in the area, while Lynch said that restaurant status would not result in the alteration of character of downtown Huntington or depreciate property values.

The application was granted as presented.

Application 20189

This application was filed on behalf of Sara and Leslie Bluestone of 93 Grandview Street in Cold Spring Harbor. They were requesting side yard relief in order to erect an attached roofed-over carport leaving a side yard of 2.7 feet. They were also requesting to replace an expired permit to remove a front porch and vestibule (with plans to rebuild the vestibule), as well as to legalize an irregularly-shaped deck.

The Bluestones were represented by Alex D. Latham of ALD III Architecture PC. Latham noted that the new carport would be 14.4 feet in length, which is bigger than normal for a garage. He said they needed the two feet because the house isn’t parallel to the lot.

The application was granted as presented. Although Latham stated that the neighbors didn’t object to the plan, board member Jeffrey Naness felt that 2.7 feet along the side yard was too close to the neighbor’s lot, and opposed the application.

Application 20108

The zoning board revisited an application from for a two-family hardship residence at 25 West Street in Northport. The application was granted with four conditions. One was that the two-family designation applied only as long as the current owner owns and lives at the location, and would disappear once the property is sold. A second condition required the applicant to increase off-street parking to four cars, but also said that the applicant could not store more than four cars on the site (or any unregistered vehicles on the site). The third condition stated that the second living space was limited to two occupants. Finally, the board put in a condition saying that the town could inspect the residence annually or whenever it deemed necessary.