Board of Zoning Appeals - Regular Meeting

Hi, good evening everyone. Calling to order the Board of Zoning Appeals public hearing and meeting of Wednesday, August 5th, 2026. It's just about 6 p.m. A couple of level setting things for tonight. We only have three board members tonight, which is the required number of board members for a forum. So without one of us, there is no action that can be taken. and I do have to leave at 7 p.m. sharp. We do not want to cancel the meeting because there are quite a few things and we were hoping we could try and really do it all, but we will pause and table anything we can't get through tonight after 7 p.m. With that said, are the representatives for the projects on Hamilton Street here right now? Okay, great. They are scheduled as the second item on the agenda tonight, but because of the timing, the tight timeframe, and because it's a returning item that we had substantive discussions on last meeting, I am suggesting we do you guys first, and then have the new projects up here in front of us so that we can have a hopefully lengthier discussion of the other project application and potentially have you come back next meeting. Unfortunately, sorry about that. That's my fault. And if we end up finishing it.

I move that we move AB 2026, six through 12, to the beginning of the agenda tonight. I second.

All in favor? Aye. Okay, if the applicant can come up. Thank you. And so the other just kind of like admin piece of thing to consider for everyone is that with three board members here tonight, we have to all agree for any action to pass.

If there's a motion made on an action that does not get a full unanimous vote of the current members today, it's an automatic denial.

So just kind of keep that in mind. We're open to discussing with you if you want to consider us holding this, any action tonight to next month's meeting when we expect to have at least one board member returning and potentially a new board member was just appointed and is likely joining that meeting. So we would have a full board in September, although we can't make any guarantees. Life happens and stuff like that. But just, I guess, food for consideration. With that said, like I said, we had substantive discussion of the proposal here, and we've seen that we had some requested additional information at the last meeting, which we saw was provided ahead of tonight's meeting, notably a list of imperative dwellings or properties in the neighborhood that have similar jet-based per-dwelling. You provided a more detailed summary of the alternatives considered and how they impacted financial decisions leading to the requested variance. You've confirmed that there's going to be mixed use would be incorporated into the future of the project as well. With that, like I said, I do want to give you an opportunity to potentially maybe walk us through that and anything else you think needs to be added to the record beyond the discussion we had last time and

Yeah, I mean, generally my clients had, I'm Sophia Lane by the way, Taylor Riley Wilson, I'm the architect for the project, and this is due diligence prior to purchasing the property, and we are just looking at options that will really give this property the highest and best use. bring back these buildings to residential use and create 21 new apartment units in downtown. So yes, it looked at possible creation of townhouses versus the studio apartments and it just turned out that it wasn't financially feasible with a loss of $36,000 in annual rental income by making that conversion and it would also devaluize the property values for the lack of units and yeah as you see we did do some research on other comparable apartment units in the area they're pretty typical size row houses that are all over the city many of which have been cut up into studio apartments one-bedroom apartments everywhere we you know on a design sense we are providing off-street parking for every unit we're providing laundry where we can you know we're trying to give these units as much as much space storage all of that all those amenities that we can in these units primarily you know there's markets for short-term stays like traveling nurses, people in government that might need a place to stay temporarily, not necessarily Airbnb or anything like that, but people who kind of just need a bed at night that may not necessarily need a three, two-bedroom apartment for themselves. So there is a pretty large market for people like that in the downtown Albany area, and we're trying to reach that market with people. And if you have anything

Yeah, Sophia really covered, I think, the major points. Just to pull my elements over here. One thing my partner and I, I'm not Max by the way, since it says Max on the screen, I'm actually Max's partner, Simon. We're together with Max. Max is intimately familiar with the market in Albany. He's been working there for a few years. Owns many apartments, manages even more apartments and he's seen over the past few years a strong demand for one bedroom apartments. I can note that the apartments under consideration for the project, I know some people refer to them as studios, they're not studios in the sense that a studio is generally a single room with a bed and the kitchen and everything is in a single room. We're not talking about that, we're talking about proper one bedroom apartments Like Sophia mentioned, there's demand for that, not only from traveling nurses, medical staff, et cetera, but also young professionals, young couples who don't need a larger apartment and are priced out of the city because they can't afford a two bedroom, a three bedroom. And offering them a nicely laid out, open concept apartment, one bedroom apartment, you know, really fit that demand that they're looking for. What else did I want to say? Yeah, that's the demand we've seen. The demand we've seen is for the strong, you know, for a well-designed, you know, nicely laid out one bedroom. I know that in the past, in the last meeting, which I wasn't able to attend, members brought up the concern about trash. Our current plan is to have private trash pickup in the back of the building. Parking, Sophie mentioned also, there's a substantial parking in the back of the building, about 30 parking spots. So that should cover all our bases in terms of parking. Yeah, that's pretty much it.

Yeah, and I would also like to mention that our studio units, there is one that is under 400 square feet. which we can adjust some of the layout, perhaps relocate the stair. We're also trying to keep the historic integrity of these buildings and maintain the historic staircases where applicable. So we're trying to maximize square footage of each unit while maintaining access for all residents. The homes and community renewal requirement for existing studio apartments is 400 square feet, which we are exceeding that, which is just a general requirement for affordable housing. You know, these are market rate apartments, but we are meeting those standards at minimum for all of these units. So yeah, I mean, you know, I know there were comments about 299 number two, which is 350 square feet. We could try to squeeze more square footage out of that. I understand that is small. And there may be ways for us to work with the existing stair hall to gain more space. But yes, we are exceeding that requirement on all others.

So under alternatives considered, you mentioned the economic viability of certain rent prices. So what rent price were you thinking about estimated for a studio apartment?

Yeah, so what Max has seen from his experience, a studio one-bedroom apartment commands about $1,500 per month, whereas a a duplex apartment, a two-bedroom, which in this case would be a duplex, probably vertically stacked, potentially horizontally, but more like vertically stacked, come at about $2,000. So for every building that we created, a two-bedroom, essentially a duplex, where we could have created two separate one-bedroom units, that's a $12,000 annual reduction in our rental income.

And you mentioned the stair hall and possibly finding more square footage that way. Is that possible given the historic nature of these properties?

I believe I shared the floor plans with you guys. These are very preliminary, of course, and initially the plan was to return. it's either two or all three of the end units are currently combined and they're like a doctor's office or something with this extreme staring at the way it's built so we were trying to return it into its historic layout where the stair would have been in front of the the entryway and so on I you know we have not taken the time to redesign the unit but we do believe that we can possibly share a stair between two of the apartments because they are currently connected. We were trying to return the original party walls, but there are openings in the party walls, so we could potentially share a staircase and regain that square footage and use nearly 100% of the square footage of the floor. Getting us at least to the 415 square foot area in general.

I have a question about maintenance. So we all live in the city of Albany. A lot of us live in areas where there's a lot of rentals, which is fine and great. But there's a problem when it snows or when it's icy. And I find in my neighborhood that a lot of landlords don't remove the snow despite all sorts of laws and codes on the books. Do you have any plans to hire a maintenance company or to have some kind of schedule of whenever there's inclement weather? Because you're on a slope, you're going right towards the Empire State Plaza. You have a lot of commuters walking there. I just want to make sure that as a resident that it's safe to walk when there's snow or ice.

Yeah. Max could speak better to the maintenance side just because he manages the maintenance. He has a maintenance staff, at least two full-time employees who are currently in Albany. So he could speak better to the direct question of the snow removal. I do know that there is a, just in terms of the snow removal, there is in the back of the property a large grass area which is designated for the snow removal. But again, in terms of the actually, you know, the scheduling, Max, he has a maintenance team. And I would imagine that he would be on top of that.

Especially ice too. Ice as well. It gets really icy around here.

Yeah, it's cold.

That's not my one big concern.

Yeah, I could definitely follow up with him and provide a direct answer to his previous experience with that. He does have a maintenance team on site, full-time employees and among others.

That's great. Does he own a lot of properties in the city?

He does, yeah.

Okay. All right. That makes me feel up. There are employees who do this.

Okay. Yeah.

Thank you.

One of the things we had discussed at the last meeting was reaching out to the neighborhood association. Do you know if that was done?

Yeah. I did that, I reached out to Amy, the vetoes, I think, from the Hudson Park, Central Square Hudson Park, and I actually had a long conversation with her on Friday. Different concerns that you brought up, among them similar concerns that the committee brought up with the trash and the parking, et cetera. Also questions about, you know, feasibility, economic feasibility of larger units. I spoke to her about that. We did a long conversation with her. I had a long conversation with her. The plans are following up.

Had she submitted any comments?

Not that I'm aware of. I think there has not been any public comment. At the last meeting there were a few people from the neighborhood that attended the meeting and spoke I think we had questions, we're curious about the project, so I think definitely if we end up not seeking any actions today on this, it would be worth having a discussion at this meeting. Any other questions? I guess before I turn to the board member for any motions for tonight, do you want us to consider any motions tonight, or do you want us to hold until next meeting?

How do you feel?

It's up to you. Do you want to wait another month?

We'd be waiting another month for your answer, but your answer might be different than one revenues tonight. Not that we know what tonight's answer will be. We don't have more information, right, I think? Yeah, I'm not so sure, you know, we could go back and have another meeting with the global residents, but if there aren't any new comments and we feel we've addressed their other, I mean, Can we just rehash what a couple of those comments were? I'm sorry, I wasn't able to attend the last meeting, so I don't know if I got all of the information back to me to really address things fully, so I want to make sure that, you know.

It was a lot of discussion to just kind of understand the whole project. Okay. And then, yeah, like, I mean, I think some of the, you know, the smaller units are really small.

I would summarize this, I feel like that would summarize a little bit, like, kind of, like,

where the overall discussion's kind of centered, which I feel like you addressed a little bit tonight, but I mean, there's no commitment from what you've said, so that does leave, if we grant the variances as they are currently proposed, you can just move forward with those very small units, with those two buildings, with a smaller footprint.

I think it's kind of where we're at in how I read the To that point, I think that the supplemental information in your presentation about how there is a market for people who want a smaller size based on their occupation, not needing the full two-bedroom duplex, I think we see a lot of that in the city of Albany. I know that I have seen that, so I think that that helps to supplement that issue or question that came up. in the last meeting, and I do appreciate you going back to the Hudson Park Neighborhood Association. I know that that was definitely raised in our last meeting. Even though they hadn't noticed that the meeting was happening, it's good to be proactive and seek out that opinion, so I definitely do appreciate that.

Can I make a comment before? Yeah. Nothing new, but just Regarding the size of the units, they are small. My understanding, my impression just from working, the house I live in right now is relatively small. I'm just using my own imagination. 450 square feet, at least my understanding. A lot of it depends on how it's designed. In other words, if it's cramped, a lot of walls, it can feel cramped. made with an open space concept, still keeping the bedroom separate from the kitchen or kitchenette, whatever it's going to be, you know, keeping them separate, but still keeping the open space concept, 450 square feet, I think can feel like a, you know, habitable, livable, comfortable place for, definitely for a single person, for a young professional. And part of, again, part of, you know, the reason why Max and I, and along with architect Sophia, we're looking to make the one-bedroom apartments. Part of it was the economics of the deal. It has to make sense financially. Construction is going to be a lot. We're working within the confines of the historic buildings. So we're going to try to keep original staircase as far as possible. We're not going to go, the inside was previously gutted. We're going to try to bring it back to whatever extent possible that we could to the original. But part of it also is, we're looking for efficiency, we're not looking to cut corners. So we see a demand, we see a demand for the one bedrooms, different size one bedrooms, 600 square foot, 650 square foot bedroom, one bedroom, talks to a young couple, a 450 square foot one bedroom talks to a young professional. They don't need 700 square feet, it's a lot of space. And 450 square feet, if it's designed correctly, we believe can be in demand in the future. marketable item?

I'll just follow up with you know I don't know what the flexibility is on this if so for instance most of our studios are 410 to 415 square feet we do have one that's 395 square feet just the way it's working out currently and the other 350 square feet again I can make the stair in the central unit serve two units and then I regain all of the square footage on number 299 unit 2, which is the 350 square foot. So I could easily make that the 410 to 415 square feet versus 350. The studio unit in 295, which is number 2, that's slightly under 400. I can reduce the size of the public stair to get that up to 410 square feet as well. So that is now Of course, every unit is now meeting HCR guidelines for what a studio apartment is. They generally don't even want you to go above 450 square feet for HCR units, and they don't want you to go below 400. The code minimum is 350 square feet for a studio apartment, which we do meet every single one of them. I understand 350 square feet is very small. I would rather see 400 square feet, too. I can make that work. If you're able to write in a stipulation that we do that, I'd be perfectly happy to make that stipulation for you guys.

So can you walk us through that again?

Yeah, sure, sure. Yeah, so building 299, unit two is the 350 square foot units, the smallest unit. I can increase that square footage to 410 by having the stairs be shared between 297 and 299. just yeah you're making like we would I mean that would be in the variance you'd be helped to it just like sure yeah yeah it's doable there is already an opening in that wall that I can utilize so that's that's something we can do without too much fuss yeah it's the second floor unit Yeah, 295 number two is also slightly under 400 square feet. It's currently 395. That I can basically move in the wall. It's going to require me modifying a window, but I can make that 410 square feet as well. And I do just want to add, you know, that this doesn't necessarily change the calculation overall in the zoning the way it's written. I mean, no matter what, we're dividing a certain number of total square feet by a number of units. But, you know, if it makes people feel better that the unit square feet is going up, then we can accommodate that. Because we don't want to provide, you know, little closets. We want to provide comfortable apartments for people to live in that are affordable and usable.

That was a goal from the outset.

Yeah. So, no tabling today.

What was that?

No tabling to next month?

In other words, having a motion today? Yes. Yeah, I think so. Okay. Yeah.

Okay, we have a motion. I move that we approve Area Variances 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, as long as each unit would be at least 400 square feet per unit. A second.

Celeste, how'd you go? I go yes. Serena? Yes. I'm a yes. So the motions are granted. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate that. Appreciate your time.

Thanks for being flexible. Of course.

Yeah.

Okay. Okay, so calling project area variance 2026-15, that's property address 6 Mountain View Avenue.

Applicant Moti Ellis.

Representative is Clark Henry. The zoning district is the one up. Residential seems to be low density. It's in the northern scale overlay, and it is in the combined tool overlay. Proposal is to allow the construction of an in-ground pool. patio with total impervious lot coverage of 43.7%, where 30% is the maximum amount of impervious lot coverage permitted in the R1L districts. There's one variance requested as part of that. This is the first time we're hearing about this project. There's been a lot of information submitted ahead of the meeting and the application. and some public comments provided in writing as well, free letters from neighbors and support. Again, with that said, I just want to level set that it is 6-28. I do have to leave at 7 sharp, but I do want to give you a full opportunity to present your case. I don't want to rush this. And for all of us and for any public comment to be able to be substantive on this application, but with that said, You don't necessarily have to run us through every word of the PowerPoint presentation, but I think by the rules of the board, you get at least 10 minutes to present your request.

And just a point of clarity, with there being three members present, an action is possible.

It is possible tonight, yes, as you just saw. We have quorum.

It just means that if there's, we need to have consensus for any action, for any variances to be granted. If there is any no vote, it's an automatic denial of the variance.

Okay.

And a denial is your, a year until you come back, correct? Is that correct?

Okay. And I'm sorry, you mentioned there's just one board member not able to make it tonight, and another was just appointed recently.

Okay, so you could be at five or six, at September 16th.

Potentially, yes. Okay. Well, yeah, actually. Yeah, sorry, actually. You'll have quorum, don't worry. Yeah, there will be quorum.

Well, I appreciate you being here.

Best of luck and congratulations. Okay, let's start the conversation then.

So my name is Tim Ellis. I'm joined by owner of the property of 6 Mountain View Avenue. I'm joined by Clark Henry tonight, and also my wife Emma is also with us tonight. As you mentioned, the closed area variance seeking relief of 13.7% on the report, the maximum of 30%. that is allowable in our zoning district. Sorry, I'm just previewing, I'm not gonna advance that at all.

I felt like I did it. So that is where our property, I'd say at Sixth Mountain View, highlighted in the red.

It's right off New Scotland Avenue as you are leaving the city into Slingerlands, right before you cross the bridge of the Normanskill River. Go to the next slide. This is the proposed design. The white rooftop areas are just that rooftop. It's the main house, a breezeway that connects to our garage, driveway obviously. The lighter gray in the backyard is an existing stamped concrete patio, and I guess it's a little darker around what you can see as a pool.

is what is proposed for the subject to the area of variance. The site, we believe and we have confirmed, we believe this is unique in favorable conditions. We were able to get a custom soil report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture highlighting that it is well-drained soil, no frequency of flooding or ponding.

as well as substantial absorption properties surrounding that on either side. And also, it is conveniently located very close to the Norman's Hill, and I would say uphill, definitely uphill from the Norman's Hill River. Just a view of the property facing essentially northeast. So if you go to the vertical, continue to the left, you start going downhill,

right to New Scotland Avenue in the second half. On to the next one. Same from the facing, which I think is more east than south, but southeast really direction. Again, that is kind of from that hill, that's from the street looking up at the property. That is the proposed, you know, where the pool would be placed in the property.

It does, you know, sit, meets all setbacks. Where it's currently, you know, laid out, you know, the six feet from the side yard, well, more than six feet.

Currently, as that is painted out, it's exactly the 10 feet. Truthfully, we have not figured out exactly where it's going to exactly sit, but by all means, it would be, you know, at least and very likely much closer to the house than the patio.

How tall is that fence?

Six-foot fence. As you all are well aware, last week we experienced quite the weather event. And I had actually, knowing coming here from any weather event, we had been already filming, you know, as I think it was earlier, the 6th and 7th, we had quite a bit of rainfall. I think around the 16th we also did. And then, I mean, there was nothing that could beat this. So do have a quick video if it's able to be played that

Very calming video.

That was because I hadn't been able to mow the lawn. I was actually away from work for about two weeks.

But I did put that what was reported was the City of Albany received about 6.3 inches of rain. Unscientifically, I asked my neighbor to film this video as I was away, but when I arrived around midnight that night, He had put a bucket right just in the middle of the driveway. And when that bucket was overflowing and just like a little painter's bucket, like almost an ice cream tub. And when I measured it the next morning, there was well over nine inches of rain that had been received. So I think we were right in that whatever line of rain that was causing a significant rainfall.

So I believe that it shows the property responding as it should. So I was very,

I was very pleased to see that. Yeah, double that arena if the nine is true.

And it's one of the reasons that we put the comment in there that we really do feel the site is unique in that the soil absorbs water very well. And should it overrun, there's some slides later on that show the city's infrastructure, stormwater infrastructure, and it flows right into a catch basin that empties very quickly into the Norman skill. So there's kind of a nice matching of the soil that absorbs water, the kind of grading of the land, which goes right in the direction the city would want it to go, feeding right into the stormwater piping and then to the discharge. And it does happen to have an empty, very small lot next door too. That's just kind of the additional absorption, should it ever flow towards that.

So these are just the sections of the ordinance we're seeking relief from. That's what this and the next slide are. Again, we are the R1L, so it's the 30%. maximum coverage.

So the requirements, character of the neighborhood. The character is everybody in our neighborhood does a very good job keeping up with their homes. And there also are a number of homes which we've identified that well exceed the 30% or greater than 30% pervious coverage. I realize this is a relatively new, less than 10 years standard, but as you can see just from the photo, we have some more information on those areas. So these were the properties that we identified and then we used what we were proposing in the variance for my property. But again, as you can see, as much as 60.8% for the one at 1156 and directly behind me at 15 Wood Terrace. They actually received a approval for that variance in, I think it was April of 2018.

So that is directly behind me. And quite honestly, where Wood Terrace, is is kind of positioned a little higher than we are on mountain view so you know as far as any you know runoff goes you know it's really going to go towards my house i don't risk it so again so i think this request does actually fit the character of the neighborhood um

Again, yes, the 45.5 that was granted in April 2018. As far as impacting the neighborhood, again, I believe it will not create any undesirable change to the character of the neighborhood. We're meeting all setbacks required. Not looking for any relief from that. Everything is grade level.

There's no structures we're proposing that will be there. on to the next slide.

Buffering around all sides is a requirement. We will be putting a privacy fence up on the portion of the property connecting to that white privacy fence that you saw on the back along, I guess, the New Scotland side. And then we will be doing an aluminum fence off the back of the garage.

We have a three-year-old golden retriever who Absolutely loves to swim, so that is our strategy to keep him out of the pool 24-7. And then, yes, as previously mentioned, we believe the soil and the grade is actually very well suited for this project. We did look at or pursue several architectural alternatives. I had a conversation with my longtime neighbor at Williamsport Mountain View Avenue about potentially purchasing a portion of that property, but he was not interested.

And the valuation of that is about $28,000 per city records, so obviously a financial impact there. But he is pretty steadfast in his wanting to keep that piece of the property, which is understandable.

He's been there as long as I've been alive. And then the board did get estimates for using pavers, which would be a permeable surface, using the correct sand.

But that does have significant financial implications for the project, approximately $30,000.

just goes through or die i was just going to say i know you had mentioned that the neighbor really likes that empty lot as a buffer it's similar to the buffer on the other side of his property so i don't think that there's that he would be likely to to sell that lot because again he like he does just like it as a spatial buffer

That's the lot in reference.

And then the next slide just shows the area that would, if going with the pavers, we would go and you'd do that around there. And I think from my understanding of the definition, that would resolve the issue. But it does add quite a bit to the budget for the project. So understand that the request is a deviation numerically, but we don't believe it's substantial in the context that certain sites have as much as 60, almost 61%, 49% as we've discussed. Do not believe it's gonna cause undesirable change.

I think quite frankly it would be a welcome change to the neighborhood as indicated by the letters of support.

Property right, literally right behind me, I saw that house myself. I saw that house come down. I saw that house be put back up.

And I know the neighbors directly on the right who I also share, I had a conversation with them. They were supportive of that happening when it did. So that is directly behind me.

And it is more on the percentage than what we're requesting. It is all outdoor living, patio, at grade. Again, no visual impact.

And there'll be a fencing. We do intend to plant landscaping. There already is landscaping that, to put the fence up, will have to come down. But the full intention is to replant arborvitae, some sort of green landscaping there. That's the next slide. meets the setbacks. And I think there was one more, sorry, on that previous slide.

And just coincidentally, when my grandparents purchased that lot in 1952, the reason it is over to the left a little is because my understanding of what happened is they bought the one lot, the Six Mountain View, and then eventually bought the second and put a garage up. But I, using the numbers, that we had to do the calculations of where we were at that point in time, and I know that was 70 years ago.

But it was above the 30% limit at that time.

Go ahead.

Environmental impact, just going through the soil report that we were very pleased

well-training, no frequency of flooding and ponding. As we mentioned, the grade meets, you know, well-matched with the city storm system infrastructure. And it's, you know, being conveniently near the normal scale, I think, is a huge benefit and resource we are lucky to be close to. Just on the soil report and I have copies of that. It was uploaded to the dashboard as well. Just pulled out some of the pieces on that. We also did consult with city engineering to proceed, get an understanding of what the stormwater management plan was and how the infrastructure is set up to see how would we really fit in the mix.

and received the information from an engineering supervisor at the City of Albany. They were very helpful. And to go to the next slide, we kind of have the findings.

I'll actually let Clark. Sure. So if you see Six Mountain View is in the bottom center there of that image. And what this just really shows is if any water does run off of Six Mountain View, It comes out towards Mountain View Ave and then goes to the right and you can see where the kind of gold line starts. There's a dashed gold line which is a culvert under the ground. So it starts with a swale just as you get from 6 Mountain View going towards 4 Mountain View. There's a swale right there along the road. Then it becomes a culvert going in the proximity of Fort Mountain View down to the next home. Then where it becomes a solid gold line, that's actually a stormwater pipe that goes down and feeds another pipe on New Scotland Ave. And then it goes to the left. The blue lines and the green, I believe, are water and sewer. But it's really the gold line that's the stormwater line. So you can see where it goes down Mountain View and then connects to New Scotland. and goes to the left. And then if you look on the next slide, it very quickly empties into the Norman skill. So again, there's six Mountain View in red. Mountain View goes down to New Scotland, then goes left, and it discharges right to the Norman skill there. So the stormwater, that's why we were saying it's well suited to the city's infrastructure. It doesn't even stay in there very long. The grading goes right towards the piping, and then that discharges very quickly after that. And I'll just note, in what we just experienced last week, there was no ponding, flooding, or anything around that stormwater gradient. Yeah, that gradient was absorbing any water coming down Mountain View very well, with no backups at all.

I mean the river was was definitely higher as one would expect but I didn't notice I mean I have I've seen the flooding there and did not notice yeah yeah they are so you know desire to is to

you know, increase, improve desirability of our property.

You know, this was a property my grandparents built in 1952. I've lived there since 2009. And, you know, the plan really, you know, always has been, my vision has always been it's a perfect yard for a pool, is to put that back there.

We just finished, well, still are finishing some very significant renovations you'll see on the next slide.

that we put a second story on the house, the front porch, because we wanted to stay in that area. We loved that area. And we decided to invest in it. And the next step was, I kind of was done undoing what I had already done, which we did in the renovations. So before doing anything else in the backyard, it was kind of like, let's go for it. So that's why we're here today.

truly researching that that's what market professionals are looking for. I have friends in the real estate industry that even when we're looking for other houses, we're saying, if you can hang onto that property, hang onto that property. But we have no plans or desires to leave that property to our enjoyment, our family's enjoyment. And so that's kind of where we are. And the next is just photos of what things looked like in November of last year and what things look like now, so.

Can you go back? So that's before? Yep. And does the house have a basement?

It does.

And was it affected at all by the rainwater recently?

Well, it wouldn't have been if my sump pump didn't which we were quickly able to replace, and thankfully there was really little to no impact. But it was a 15-year-old sump pump, and it was a bad day to go. But it has French strings with the PET, and for our peace of mind, I think we will be investing in a much more advanced system.

Just out of curiosity, how long did it take to put the second floor on?

Both pictures are beautiful, that's why I wanted to share.

Yeah, we started on November 11th. We were back in early February. It was really, really amazing. I have plenty of pictures, videos. So yeah, it was really amazing. I think we were able, in the off season, able to take advantage of how people wanted to work. They were able to get a ton.

Thank you. I just want to be mindful of time. Yes. Questions?

I'm curious, this is maybe a question for staff. At what point do the applicants, did the applicants see the staff notes or are they just for us?

Typically they don't. We have been talking about sharing it with the applicants ahead of time.

The staff report is also

where the PowerPoint slides are given, so we did actually see a bit more information from the PowerPoint than what was in this one.

Yeah, so that's why I'm asking, because some of the issues that are raised, I think, were kind of addressed, including having an engineer provide a full assessment of stormwater concerns. I know you spoke to the stormwater assessment that was done on the property by the supervising engineer, right?

We just contacted her for documentation of the stormwater system of the city, that's all. The city specifically.

So there was no stormwater assessment?

There was no stormwater.

Because this is looking at a micro and we have to look at it as a macro. And you've got four adjacent lots that exceed the 30% impervious pavement. That's a huge pause for concern for me, even with the soil typography, which was great and super helpful. You're in a really sensitive riparian corridor. And the impervious, well exceeding the 38% is concern for me. I fully agree with what the staff knows. I would like to see a stormwater assessment. Because it's just, we've had these 500 to 1,000 year old storm events constantly. you're right by a river, or creek, whatever you want to call it, like the Norman scale, and the fact that you have the river, and the fact that you have four adjacent lots all exceeding this is like more of a macro neighborhood problem, and I don't want to see it pause for, I don't want to see issues for other neighbors, maybe a couple houses down or up your street, because we've been seeing that more and more as a board. We're like, it shouldn't, and it's now a problem.

And I think we certainly understand that. We also feel we kind of got a true trial with the storm we just had, a huge storm that worked exactly the way the city's stormwater system is intended to work, went right into the catch basin with no overflows. I don't think- But that's in the-

current setup, what you're proposing would change by quite a bit the situation on the lot, right? Like in the, how the water flows through the property. Yeah. So, which is, I guess, kind of like, I don't know, like how possible it is to predict what the proposed project, how that would impact, you know, like the water flowing.

I mean, that's something that definitely could be looked into. I'm not sure that a stormwater engineer would really use the volume of rainfall that you just saw in this latest storm. That's probably well above any number that they would use. So you almost got a better real world snapshot of how that area behaves with that tremendous storm. think that's above the 100-year storm that that anyone would use so i mean it's something that definitely could be looked into but i i honestly think that you got a more uh you got a more severe test in this rainstorm that you just had but i mean it's something that could be looked into

And would staff agree that, I mean, just based on tonight's presentation, it looks like two alternatives were considered because it looks like previously it was said that no alternatives were considered, but it looks like here there were two. Is that correct? Mm-hmm.

Okay.

And just talking about the property, and I guess looking at the, and I don't know if you have it in the, or if you can pull it up, but like on the report to the board, there's that with the grading of the area. So I think that was helpful clarifying that wood terraces are actually higher than Mountain View Avenue properties. And so does that kind of, the grading is like that for the rest of the properties, but it's like wood terraces are a little higher. So like really the rainwater flows through Wood Terrace properties, onto the Mountain View properties, and then across from your property, there's kind of, there's one little house, but then there's a big part of unoccupied land, it looks like.

Correct, that's exactly how it flows. You could either do it here, or one of the early slides in the presentation. That's what I was looking at. It basically flows from the right to the left, and then down Mountain View towards New Scotland.

it doesn't actually flow over the street, it's caught on the very side of the street. Yeah, it goes under, yeah. So most of it ends up getting cut through the existing water system on Mountain View Avenue. But I guess some does run off or to right across, what is the property right across? 11? 11.

And that's the neighbor who submitted the letter did the great filming for me.

And then to the right of 11 is just nothing?

No, but that is his property. He owns that with houses.

There's actually a sun porch there. And then he actually owns where those trees are down along New Scotland by the sidewalk. There's a small parcel there that he ended up purchasing.

It was a vacant lot, and it was not being maintained, and he just ended up grabbing it. So he owns that whole hill, bank, yeah, that whole corner. That whole corner, yeah.

Is that dirt spot in his property, is that where water ponds and collects? It's dead, and I'm wondering if that's where water's already ponded.

That's actually where there was two giant pine trees that he had removed. That'll do it. He actually has a beautiful yard. The guy's got a hell of a green town.

So, I mean, we certainly understand the reasoning for the 30%, but this area does seem very unique in that it's so close to the discharge point. And like we were saying, the type of soil that the report shows that it is, with lesser storms, there's no water running off the site at all. It absorbs all that because it's good. well-draining soil, when you do get the really extreme storms, it can come off the property, but it goes right into the system. And even with this huge storm that we just had, the system proved that it can handle that amount of water. And I mean, it didn't overflow that catch basin at all.

And so I think, because it's seven o'clock and I got to run a few minutes, and we need the motions table and close the meeting. before that, but just a couple of thoughts from me, because we're not gonna have time, I think we need to have you come back and continue this conversation with us in a chance for public comment, if any. But in the alternatives considered, I'd be interested in having a discussion about the need for this much additional, I understand the pool and like that, made as a board were required to grant the most minimal variance. So the pool is one thing, but then you're also adding additional patio. And I understood that you looked at a different material for the patio, but I guess I'd be curious to understand better the need for the extent of the extension of the patio for the pool.

Just one point of clarity, I just want to make sure we're all clear, is the pool itself does not account for the impervious.

It does, right.

And I'll say, and I know you have to run that, realize that that's a lot of concrete. It is not our intention to try to get the flexibility to be creative and do this as tastefully and responsibly as possible.

We're kind of not going to be able to tell exactly how it's all going to fit.

until, one, I take those trees that need to come down, which I'm hesitant to do because I actually love the trees and wish I could figure out a way to put a fence right down the middle. But that's our intent.

If it's 43.7, I have no intention of not needing to be getting directly to 43.7. It's really just to give us the, once the pool goes in and what do you need here, definitely want to be able to prevent

piece of this property is the privacy from the landscaping and want to replicate that, which we would need significant areas to do that, some concretes. So that's just, yeah.

Okay, thank you. Can I get a motion to table?

Motion that we table area, areas, I don't remember right in front of me. I put it away too.

15. Second. All in favor? Aye. And we need a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Second. Thank you. All in favor? Aye. So thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry about that.

Thank you.

Is there, I mean, can I ask if there's any other specific things you'd like?

I really want to do a stormwater assessment, personally. I know they won't be here next month, but it's only because we're seeing these problems more and more. And it's kind of heartbreaking when the neighbor's property is being destroyed, even though we allowed the variance years before.

Yeah, and it wasn't even the whole thing. I mean, because my understanding, I don't think it's buildable.

I don't understand why they would not.

I don't believe it is buildable, but I can't convince somebody who thinks, yeah.

But it's really smart, though, to do that. That was very wise.

Yeah. I agree that the stormwater assessment would be helpful. And then I like the emphasis on the point about how the area is close to the discharge point, because even though that was like a 100-year storm, we're seeing those more often, unfortunately, right? And so I think that that's going to be key to the analysis. We have so many culverts that fail.

I work at DOT. We have so many culverts that fail. It's really appalling. But if they're all old, like our infrastructure is old, and we're not maintaining it to how we should, there's just not the funding. So it's a double-edged sword. engineers all day, every day.

I worked in the legislature and the MTA and I'm well aware of that.

Did you say MTA?

MTA. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, transit, MTA.

Transportation, yeah.

What we're doing down in Midtown is because there's no money, we're not going to get it federally, and it has to come from somewhere. And it's been a success. So, I don't know, like, it was built, what, in 1916, 1920s? Like, last upgrades were...

80 years ago or so.

I keep on top of that too. I work next to the Rail Bureau, so you're all about it.

You know Alan Trotta? I've heard the name, I don't know if you know who that is.

I sit, like share a wall with Amelia Medic, who's part of the rail, she's like upper management there, so I hear it all day.

It's bad. No, I was there when we passed. It's so bad.

It's so bad for MTAs.

I was working for them, I was doing their legislative stuff. I'm not doing casket, I'm surprising them.

It needs to happen. It's so easy, I think the big deal is. Yeah. Yeah, so maybe. Oh my God. Okay, cool.

It was me and my son, both myself and my son, so. That'll be good.

if you don't leave her behind.