Planning Board - Regular Meeting

We are ready. Okay. Everybody ready? Yeah. All right. It is 7 o'clock. The town of Chester's only board of appeals is called to order. It's called to order. Um we will start with the introduction. Before I would like to introduce our latest member, a warm welcome to Kadine Simpson. Hi everybody. Welcome. Nice to meet you all. Look forward to working with you. Okay. Um I will we will now do our uh our introduction roll call. So I've got you Ken. Let's see. Um, starting from my left, Tom Tom Atkin, Walter Pelo, Melissa Foot, Greg Figelson, Elise Tune, Julie Bell, and Okay, let the record reflect that we have a quorum. And um, now if you would please rise and join me for the pledge of allegiance. [Music] To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Welcome everyone. Um, one item on the agenda this evening, a continuation of the eight roof lane application, which is request for a variance for 3' 10 in uh for a 27 foot 10-in high twotory garage, which would be a variance to 9811A-1. Uh, last time we had a good discussion um with the applicant, his representative uh regarding various aspects of it. Uh today we will move towards the public hearing but before we launch the public hearing and before we check to see that we can launch the public hearing we need to take care of our uh secret determination which we are required to do. So, um, I will make a

motion to declare that the zoning board of appeals is the lead agencies for the purposes of SRA for this application and that this is a type two action because it involves an area of airance for a single family dwelling. Can I get a second? I second. Second by Julie. And I'll just do a roll call vote because it's easier. Dan, I Walt. Yes. Tom, yes. And I vote yes. Kadine Kadine, you're you're obviously out because we have the full board for the ultimate. So you're uh encouraged to participate in discussions and ask questions. Okay. You won't be voting. All right. So we have taken care of our obligation under SRA. Um so we did schedule the public hearing for this evening. Um so I need to confirm that the publication was published in the Times Herald record for our requirements. It was. It was. And the mailings were mailed in conformance with our requirements. Correct. And we have the receipts for the mailings. Correct. Everything is in order. Yes. Okay. Very good. So now now we are able to hold the public hearing. Would someone like to make a motion to open the public hearing? I'll make a motion to open motion to open the public hearing. Anybody like to second that? I'll second it. Tom seconds it. All in favor? I. Anybody opposed? Anybody abstain? Let the record reflect it. Everybody. Okay. So, the public hearing is open. We usually start by asking if we received any comments from the public outside of we will open the floor and we'll open the online session to questions or comments. Um, did we receive anything other than the the letter from Kleinman? No. So, I believe the board received a copy as did the applicant. We did have Mr. Palmer who did come in but we didn't receive anything. Okay. So there was no no other

written correct no other comments of record. I just wanted to statement. Okay. Are you Mr. Palmer? Yes sir. Okay. You'll have an opportunity to speak if you desire in a moment. Okay. So the essence I know most of the board have this letter so I'm not going to read the entire thing. The concern we feel the original I'm just going to cut to the the heart of the the letter. It will be part of the record for this file. We feel the original height of 24 feet would block our view from our yard and pool, but from our deck it wouldn't. A height of 27 10 in 27 feet 10 inches would definitely obscure the mountain range. My view would be uh the back of his garage. And uh let's see. We're sending this letter in the hopes that Mr. Kendrick and the board considers our concerns, which we certainly will. Uh as we would have loved to attend, but their work schedules don't permit them to be here this evening. Okay. So, uh, and they also make a claim in the first paragraph that this could impact the value of their home. Okay. So, um, having read that more or less into the record, it's part of the record. Um, is there anybody else here who would like to speak? Mr. Okay, the floor is yours. Um, if you could come up to the mic because we're being broadcast. All [Music] right. If you could just state your name. I know it, but No, no, it's quite Steven Palmer, 68 Ridge Road, Chester, New York. Thank you. All right. Go. Go. All right. I bought my home because of its beautiful view. Um, I understand Mr. Kendrick's concerns. He's got a lot of toys, RVs, vehicles, and he needs place to put them. You can't leave them outdoors. You can't leave them at a neighbor's house or leave them out in the out in the woods. At the same time, um the building itself is is somewhat it's going to be unsightly and out of character with the neighborhood. It's going to appreciate home values in the immediate area. And um bear with me, gather my thoughts. I

didn't write it all down ahead of time. Um good. Um yeah, so in essence, he wants to make it larger so it'll have more storage space. Well, his house is very large and the building he's proposing the 51x 45 ft footprint someow, which is evidently not the point of contention, um is very large. It's like twice the size of my house. So, he's got his large house and a house next to it is twice the size of my house. Um he says he needs it for storage, but mostly it's for aesthetics. He wants it to match the rest of his house so it looks good, but that interferes with aesthetics of everyone all and online. I spoke to most people. I don't know why they didn't turn up with this gems. They all said something. I don't know if they've spoken to him beforehand, but it's for aesthetic reasons. And that interferes with not only our home values, but with our views. And it's not like he needs extra storage. The thing's huge. He'll have tons of storage. He just wants it so it looks good. And I don't know if that's a rationale for, you know, overriding the den initial denial of allowing him to build it that much higher. And that's pretty much the gist of I don't want to gender any ill will. That's not my point here. But I, you know, I just think the reasonable approach to this about when I No, no, no, no, not at all. But, uh, you know, unfortunately, we didn't discuss it beforehand. None of this, you know, it all came up all of a sudden. And I just feel that it's unfair that all the neighbors there whose views are going to be imposed. It's going to and it's all going to affect home values because the views are fantastic and he doesn't need extra storage. It's just so it looks good. And when it looks good to him, it's not going to look better to us. I'm sorry these people would have been short, but that was the gist of it and thank you for listening to me. Well, thank you for your for your feedback, for your comments. Did anybody have any questions for Mr. Palmer? Could Could you make it 24 feet high? [Music] Oh, you know,

just I'm sure Yeah. Yeah. Why don't we see what what what the sum total of all the comments? That way you don't have to keep jumping up and down. Michelle, is there anybody online that's expressed an interest in making a comment? Shocking. Shocking. I guess that was a short window. Is there anybody else here who would like to speak for or against the application? [Music] Nope. Uh Brian Nevin, I have two homes. I have 55 uh Ruth Lane. They also have 98 Ridge Road, which is the farmhouse, which is adjacent to Mr. Kendrick's property on the other side. Correct. 59 Ridge Road, I'm sorry. Uh 55 Ruth Lane and 98 Ridge Road. And we recently purchased 98 Ridge Road converted into an Airbnb. It has a barn, two silos, three out buildings. We redid the entire house um with the intentions of renting it out and possibly our children living here. So, we are vested in the area. Um I understand he does have toys. I have toys. We all do in this area and that's why we live out here and I understand that it doesn't affect my view. It doesn't It's always been upkept on the property. The house is immaculate. Everything's been redone. pools have been added and I feel that the aesthetics of the area are brought up the value when people see that these properties are maintained. That's all I know. So I'm in favor of Yeah. with with with the maintenance of the properties. I got right additional buildings. That's very subtle but okay. Got it. Thank you. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts.

Anybody else? Dan Mackey 50 Ruth Lane. I'm sorry. Can you say your name? Dan Mackey. M A- C Y. I'm basically just going to agree with Brian here. You know, Scott's done a lot of work to his house over the years. I mean, his house is one of the nicest on the block. Uh, I think it's only going to improve our property value, so I'm in favor of it. Okay. Thank you. No, thank you. Thank What's that? No, I you know, it's like Yeah. Brian, he said that it wasn't the view was not an issue for him. Understood. Yeah, we Yeah, we Yeah. No. No. So, you're fine. You're fine. Okay. Anybody else? I obviously Well, this is your this is your moment. Let everybody else speak first. Well, I think that's everybody. Yeah, you're going. It's your time. Good evening. Scott Kendrick. I'm the homeowner at E Ruth Lane. Maybe we could pull up the um the aerial to help us the discussion try to try to work our way through some of the Yes, that's so I highlight I superimposed your site plan your new site plan which moved it for the last meeting we discussed the fact that you might need two other variances. So, you shifted it out of the sideyard, set back, and you moved it into the backyard. Got rid of those. Poof. Got rid of those two other needed variances. Um, just colored it blue here so you could so you could get a sense as to who's who. Um, see, Mr. 68. Is that is it really 68 or is it 86? 68. Sir, it is 68. Okay. Without a

poll. Okay. So, you're so you're there, Mr. Palmer. And the letter the Kleinman for whose letter we read earlier is to the left and they submitted a photo. I'm assuming Mr. Palmer you don't have any photos. It's not so much terribly homogeneous. It's just out of place. positive view of it. I mean it's just like perfor [Music] okay so so Klyman's had a specific issue for which um Denise Kleman sent a photo. The red lines are my attempt to capture the view that she was trying pull it up. Yeah, you might as well pull it up since that's that's the view that that she's referring to. But you can see obviously and I'll go into this a little bit. It's not going to obstruct her view and 3 foot 10 is not going to make any sort of difference. So there I I'll make my points here, but yeah, go ahead. You know, so good evening. Thank you all for coming out once again. I know we're the only people on the docket here, so uh I did write down some notes, so um just bear with me here. So, this is uh where my wife and I decide to raise our our daughters. My goal is to make our home uh so that it we'll never want to leave. Uh my family are my family and I are lifetime residents, right? And taxpayers residentially and commercially, right, in Chester, New York. I've been here all my life. Um we were asking for a very small 3 foot10 height variance due to the application needs for the garage, not for my toys. My goal with the garage portion, I need 10- foot ceilings, all right, to be able

to stack my dad's antique cars. My dad's getting older in years. I'd actually like to show it to him before anything may ever happen to him. That is my goal. Um, which includes a 1956 Thunderbird. If any of you are car enthusiasts, my dad has had since he was 18 years old. He used to drive back and forth from Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Was in the army to see my mother every other weekend. Imagine that in 1956 Thunderbird going up at 95, right? Um the car will never leave my family's name. As some of my neighbors here have mentioned, I take great pride in my home ownership. I've been invested greatly into our home over the past 10 years. Um we've completely renovated the inside and outside of the home. Uh the yard is beautifully manicured, both the overall yard, but specifically the backyard, which includes a a pool, a cabana, a waterfall, all right, for my for my family to enjoy together. I take care uh I take great care in landscaping the property. Usually on the weekends I'm outside doing all my own work, mowing the lawn, you know, cutting the bushes down, doing firewood, right? As Mr. Palmer probably can recognize. The height variance we were requesting will also be for for aesthetics as Mr. Palmer mentioned, but also to match, you know, the look of our home since it will be a minimum of 10 foot away. I'm not building something, you know, that is not going to match the house when it's so close. And there's some renderings here if you want to show those also. Um, I bought the house approximately 10 years ago. We got married in our backyard, which is why I did the backyard the way I did it. um which includes approximately 5 acres of land, right? For the ability to expand the footprint uh of the home as our

family grew. Um the garage will be approximately 40 ft away from the property line, which in my opinion is pretty substantial. Okay. Um I think an important note as I mentioned there our meeting a month ago the garage would be approximately 15 foot below right the neighbor's grade which is an important factor here. All right if I stand on the hill which I believe some people have stopped at the house to look. All right. Today, if you're standing on the hill in between the climbings in my house, you're actually almost to the top of the garage, the peak. All [Music] right. I could build the garage about 100 yards back, right on grade 24 foot. Mr. Palmer, I think that would obstruct your view. Absolutely. Right now, it's not agree. a threat. It's just an observation. Okay. Could Yeah. Yeah. It should really be direct just to the board. Okay. Thank you. Sorry. Um the gradually beautiful have Anderson windows, hardy board siding, etc. to to match the decor of the style of our home. All resulting in higher values for all my neighbors. Once again, we are only asking for a 3 foot10 height variance, which is not much in my opinion. There are many other options, right? And just to clarify, the picture that was provided in the email, yep, is about 10 years old.

All right. That is not a recent photo. No, it's not. No. That's interesting. But an important part of it is, and I have pictures to show you if you want, there are more mature trees and bushes in between blocking their view currently. All right. Yeah. It's funny you should say that because it was my impression when I was trying to map up match up her picture with the satellite view, the recent satellite view. I couldn't identify which which trees. I do and you can look at Google Maps and everything like that. I have all the pictures. Um, and there's additional there's additional trees in in in line of sight which I've actually planted to block his view of my house purposely. All right. Because we have obviously a private setting in the backyard. I don't want anybody to see. All right. Which actually will have to be removed potentially for the garage. Um, there are plenty of other options. Once again, we're only asking for a 3 foot10, right? Um, height variance due to what I'm trying to accomplish inside the garage, which is actually to be able to stack two cars in one of the bays, right? That's the sole purpose of it, right? And if I want to have storage, I'm entitled to have storage, as much storage as I want, right? Um, once again, I think a fence along my property line could obstruct a lot more view. A sixoot fence at that vantage point as considered 15 ft down where the garage is actually going to go or a line of pine trees could also obstruct you. That's not my intent. I'm only asking for 3T 10. Thank you for your time and thank you for your consideration. Oh, could you stay? We might have some questions. Yeah, please. Board members,

concerns, thoughts. I was wondering how tall is the house and how tall is the garage going to be? The house is total what now? Um, we talked about 246 to 246. And and and if you were to imagine the garage in place, what would the relative heights? It's about the same. They would be the same. So this is that was one thing that was hard to determine upon visiting was whether or not so how would you how are you where's the other 3T 10 in going such that they're level is that lower spot no no it's going to be the same grade as the house it's the same grade as the house but why does the roof I need 10 foot in the garage no the roof is a little higher oh it isn't okay maybe you misunderstood the question okay and I was the one that was there Yeah. Yeah. You have the white jeep. Yeah. Your wife came out. Yeah. But I had been there earlier in the month and then So you can attest to the height difference. I was we were trying to figure it out. My husband and I were Yeah, it's very hard to visual. I will say it was more I obviously took a bunch of pictures. Um it's it's hard to really determine even, you know, wi with with uh you know with grade, but it's substantially lower. If you're standing on that hill, you're three foot from the top of the ridge of a garage. That is that is the height difference. I did it this morning. Would you say that again just for You're standing on top of the hill in between my house and say the climbings. Yeah. You're looking you're probably three foot to the top of the ridge of the garage, my current garage. You can kind of see that in the picture that she sent even though it's out of date. Could you pull that one back? you can kind of see get the sense of that. Yeah. And and I will also say headline I will also say Mr. Palmer's been a great neighbor of

mine for many years, right? We've had no contentions. No, you know, and the climates also I you know great neighbors all these years. Um I do respect their concerns. I honestly do. Um, but once again, I I think the biggest thing is 3 foot 10 is not going to make a difference, right, in in in any sort of view. Um, as as you can see that the red line that I put on there is approximately where your existing roof line is for your house, the highest point. You can't see it, but it's okay in the if you on screen, you can't see, but you can actually see the part of your house there. It's hard to see that. Yeah. But if the actual for some reason on this on this projection you can't see but you can actually that's approximately my point is that if that's approximately 24 feet there is no there is no ridge line to be observed anyways is my point is that I think of both that is it's going to be sky anyway right. Yes. That's kind of what I was going for. I mean that's what I was trying to figure out. So this would be obscured though this yeah if you look here see this is this is the existing almost the peak of this house is probably about here. So as I mentioned before 24 it would it would already be covering up okay I see 24 it's a minor detail but as I mentioned before all those bushes are much and trees are much more mature now. Yeah and obviously there's no leaves on them right now. Right. Right. Right. That that picture is at least 10 years old. Can you can you take the pointer here and point where the the new roof would be going? Oh, you have a pointer there. Well, where would the new roof be going, Mike? Right. I would say roughly the top of that picture up here without doing any kind of scaling or anything. Probably there where over here though.

Where would it be here? I'm not understanding your question though. So, so the the new roof that's right where where would what would it be obstructing up here? Well, first of all, the roof's going to go down in the front, right? We're gonna be looking at a game line from here. Yeah. Yeah. This is actually almost looking at the front. It's like the corner side of the garage. It's a technical Yeah. Yeah. If you um could you go back Mrs. Cleman's email, she mentioned the back of the back of the garage. It's really the side of the garage. Yeah. Put the No, the one I put up the one with there. Yeah. So, so yeah. So, if you look at those red line, that's an approximate view from what that photo is looking at. If you were standing on the point where those two red lines meet. So this is this is Palmer's house right here. And you guys correct me. Mr. Palmer's house is here. No, not Palmer. This is He's on the left. E68. Yeah. So So if you were standing there in the you would see basically the the front and the corner if there weren't trees or bushes or whatever. There are there. I'm just trying to Yeah. And you can see obviously the bushes are all here now. Yes. Right. Exactly. which is why the picture didn't line up with what I was seeing. And and and and this this is the one who wrote the letter. Yes. Yes. And once again, everybody's been great neighbors. That's that has it's never been an issue. [Music] So my my question is this this house is question this this guy said nothing. No. Okay. So this this house here and this house here. Yeah. Yeah, that that that's so the grade goes up from the furthest house on the left, which is almost on grade with with your house, right? No, it's a little higher. They're lower. No, they're actually lower. He's lower than than Mr. Palmer. I guess what I'm what I'm getting at is the view right now that they have here. What What are they

What are you going to be missing up here with that extra three feet? Because from that other picture looks like it's just going to be sky because the mountains are over here. Well, that's the mountains are really over here. It's not a correct picture of lines up against this house. I live at 18. He's the neighbor here. Yeah. And when I walk out my backyard off like from where Scott's pool is, I can see his house perfectly clear. Unless he's trying to look to the west like to the front of the house or if he's trying to look at Sugarlo Mountain he has a perfect view. Sugarlo east of that to the back side. It's east of the houses. So it comes up actually over here. [Music] Dan, any thoughts? Um, no. Well, it was interesting Mr. Kendrick brought up that that was an old picture because I was also looking at the picture that the climb submitted trying to figure out where the garage was going to sit in reference to that and I went back through the near map program which goes back all the way to March of 16 and I was trying to find the swing set that was in the the next yard and it didn't appear on any any pictures for nine years. So, I I was I that I was trying to use that swing set as a point of reference, but I did use the barn. I used the barn which is right in the middle as a point of reference and you know that that helped me. It's a little difficult to see the um Mr. Kendrick's house in the in the photo behind that other tree as well. So I was just trying to figure out where that was going to be. But um yeah, that makes sense that that's an older photo because I couldn't find the swing set in nine years worth of aerial. Yeah. And I mean we got married in our backyard 10 years ago and and and obviously this was this all this was all knocked down and everything. It's it's it's I don't know. And it did look like there were some larger pine

trees already kind of sitting right here. We planted pine trees here, right? Because Mr. Palmer um no fault of his own when we built the uh cabana and the and the pool here. This is all re reconfigured. All right. without a privacy fence. We purposely, you know, um planted um big pine trees here to obscure his view into our backyard for privacy. And and these pine trees right along the edge of the pool appear to be a lot larger than they than they do in this photo. Also, I don't know how tall they I don't know how tall they are, you know. Can't hurt. I just wish we' done this ahead of time. [Music] I guess you know I guess if you simplify it all all the way down it's either going to be 20 foot four 20 foot high or it's going to be 2710. That's what it comes down to, right? 24 24 or 27. That's what it's going to come down to, right? 3 foot 10 inches. Is that a major factor or not? That's why we have you all. Yeah, I think as far as that picture goes, that red line, regardless, that's either 24 foot at that line or three foot 10 higher than that, your eyesight is still sky the whole time. Right. And that's one. Well, that that's Kleinman's view. That's right. That's not Palmer's view. No, Mr. Palmer has to look left to the downwards part of my house, which actually the garage would block his view of my home. the left, [Music]

but his driver comes out. So, I don't know how this [Music] house looks. [Music] Oh, yeah. Did you know I was coming? [Music] So that red line is the height of the house right now. Yeah. So this this is the the height of your house right now supposedly correct. Uh, I'm assum I'm assuming he's correct because it's you could see the house in here somewhere. 24T. I have no reason not to believe that's correct. Okay. I mean, Greg is pretty good with that stuff. I mean, it's approximate. Yeah, I can only see a tiny bit of And again, this climbman can't see anything but sky here anyway. [Music] So if you if you built up three more feet well they really can't see anything anymore because all these trees are big. So I mean that's just they could knock the trees out if they wanted to. I mean obviously that's it's on their property. Tom concerns questions. Where is this view view from? This is from your deck or something. the two houses between you and climate. You can see on the left side of that photo, you can see these trees that are right here alongside the pool.

Oh, right here. All right. So, that's climbing's trees. All right. But the climman is saying that and just just to you know address Mr. Pard's comment before I have thought about this for 10 years. I actually the reason why I I decided to proceed going forward is actually my dad's age to be honest with you. I turned a certain age. I said something to my wife. She said you should build your garage. I said no. All right. She said a comment and I said and I thought about it and I said okay you know I think I'm gonna move forward with it. So, that doesn't mean anything, don't get me wrong, but [Music] um I've thought about building various spots on my property, right, for different reasons. In the back corner, right up on top of the hill, right? Actually, Mr. Palmer, right behind your house, for various reasons. And that's not a threat. That's that's the truth. I apologize if that is how it was communicated. Well, maybe it's a big word, but um I thought at the end of the day that right behind the driveway for accessibility for my family to, you know, have this open to the the pool area is why I ultimately made the decision of putting it there. and the grade. You could put the back of the building into the hill. It's less obtrusive, you know. So, that's how I made the decision. All right. And and by the way, yeah, 10 like there's no fenced here anymore. I I tore all this down and I bought the house. This this this garage is can go up at 24

ft without even us making a decision. Correct. if they chose that. Yes. Right. It could be 24T. Yes. So there's going to be a block there whether it's 24T or 27T 10 in. Right. Right. There's going to be a So Right. So the the view at this point is not Well, so that's for us. So right, remember what our our our charter is to determine whether the benefit to the applicant is not outweigh the detriment to those who will be surrounded by the change. It's it's not instrument. It's our responsibility to make sure that but that's a very good point. This is a large garage. It's cited in a position where it doesn't need any variances to have a 24 foot roof which would be it's a pretty big building. Right. Um the question is whether you know the 3T 10 in is going to be transformational. Right. Right. Have you thought of any uh any other alternatives like uh I think about a lot in terms of in terms of offsetting maybe maybe well maybe to be very very sincere with you lowering the grade for the go you can't go lower the grade because that's obviously that'll be lower than the house so that wouldn't really make sense. Yeah. Um I I respect your your comment. Um I'm just throwing out the the truth behind it was I had I am not an architect. Um the architect based on what we were trying to accomplish and Craig could attest to this is the one who recommended it based on the pitch of the roof. Correct. Oh yeah. And the dormers. Yeah. What is it? 12 12 on 12 pitch. You know if you went eight you

probably get it down. So I do have a Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. I try to scale myself up. It's possible. But anything's possible. Like I said, I I think the majority of, you know, the decision is it's it's, you know, this 3 foot 10, you know, uh, deserve a variance or it doesn't. I mean, you know, in my opinion, obviously, you know, there's been points made, you know, I don't think that's going to make much of a difference, you know. So, um I just have a quick question. So, you say you're going to stack the cars and that's why you need the height. Yep. How does that work? I can show you. I have I have stacked cars. There you go. Yeah. I mean I mean you have the the garage. It's like an elevator for for cars, but it's it's just put one car on and put it up and put another car under. And ultimately, ultimately, and we've been working on this for a couple months now, we would have preferred 13 foot ceilings. [Music] All right, which really would have been a different story. It was a compromise at 10, right? So, anybody has, you know, a pickup truck or a sports car? My dad has two sports cars, a Corvette and a Thunderbird, right? They can easily they can fit in 10 feet. You have a pickup truck and a sports car, you need 13 feet, right? So, um I see some head nods. So, maybe you you've thought about that before, but that is the true intent of what I'm trying to accomplish here. So, the additional height is for storage. The head for is actually for aesthetics to achieve the same room pitch as the house. I see. And have 10 foot ceilings

in the garage, not 13. That's what we were going for initially. [Music] Aren't you guys glad you're board members? Hey Scott, can I ask you a question? Is it going to start right after the end of the driveway? Roughly 10 feet back. Yeah. It has to be at a minimum 10 ft. Right. Right. So the climbins the climbins are saying that their view would be the back of your garage. Correct. It's just and just three feet. though because it would be 24 ft plus the 3 ft. Right. 27 set down 10 12 15 ft cuz they're on a hill. Correct. So they wouldn't see the bottom 12 ft. Okay. Right. But they're also saying that the garage will obscure the mountain range. Depends what mountain range you're talking about. The left mountain range, the center mountain range, or Sugarloaf Mountain Range. Okay. They didn't say. [Music] So obvious if you've ever in a property there's a valley. So if you look through here, right, that's basically the valley. All right. In in here, I guess. Okay. This is Sugarloaf Mountain over here. [Music] Th this this picture here real quick. This picture here, when was this taken? Just uh today, sir. Today. So when when these trees these trees are in bloom, they block all of that. They block all

depending on the angle. Basically, I'm pretty much blocked off. That's up up. That's up above everything. That's more towards the metal side. That's towards the open. It's not really Okay. To your point, when the when the tree when this tree here is in full bloom and there's a number of pine trees here, it blocks more than your house does. It it it blocks Mr. Palmer's the majority of Mr. Palmer's view of excuse me, at least the backyard, right? That's why it was intentionally, you know, the pine trees were planted, right? But I would assume Mr. Palmer could confirm or deny. Um, you know, it would block some portion of the of the back of the property or the side or the if you're looking at the the the front of the garage, it would be the back and the right side of the front or the back left, if you will. That would be, but he would have to be looking downhill away from his majestic view. You'd have to go like this. All right. Once again, the garage and the trees basically would the only thing it's blocking is the the line of sight to my house. [Music] Yeah. My impression when I visited was you're the least impacted because you're higher up. Uh, right. But that means that you also have height advantage. The climman is probably the more. Is there something that the board could see that would help visualize or address any concerns? If do you want to email it? Can you email it to me and then I can

[Music] So this is like I live at 18. That's right here. Can I That's Scott's house. Can I do other screenshot? But this like I was saying like the one picture that you're showing. Yeah, that's what it is. This is probably the back of the garage. [Music] And there's a number of pictures. Where's that picture? Right back of the garage. Oh, okay. [Music] This is your property. My propert. Obviously, I'm not. So, they're up high. These guys in the back are up high. Oh, yeah. The pie. I mean, the guy the house these guys houses the challenge is it's hard to visual. You should be seeing this. I think who? Well, yeah, I was there. That was not the property that was. [Music] Yeah. Could you She's I think she's sending it to She's going to send it to whatever. But these these are pictures by Okay. And it should be sent the application of where the garage on his property taking pictures of where the garage are going on his property showing the houses in question. Correct. And and

the maturity of the trees too that make sure that that goes into the official record like like you're receiving. Okay. And we like the trees, don't get me wrong. We like the privacy. Trees are always growing. Always growing. and trees get bigger. You're going to have less. Where is this picture from? This is from your house. Looking in and the garage is going over here. Yeah. Okay. So, this this is where your garage would be going right here. [Music] Oh, back there. Okay. Because it has to be 10 feet off the off off the house and and off the back of the garage. So, it's going to be in here in there going up as high as that house is right there. Yeah. Approximately, but once again, it's it's on the same level. So, he's where he's looking. He's looking over the house. Yes. And he's on the south he's on the low side of this property. Are you cutting down some of those trees to fit it in there? uh to be determined. That's pictures. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, given the the challenges of visualizing this, would you be opposed to uh marking the location? I believe it's I marked it today. It's marked. Uh but I have I'm four corners out of page. Yeah, I know. I'm going to ask for something a little more unusual and that is to say if you could Could you go back to I'm sorry to the the uh the one that I Yes, exactly. I just want to mention Well, I know it's in my notes because even on site I was having a hard time. I mean, I could see who was you know the obvious who would be who would be impact who wouldn't be

impacted. So, but the subtle go to which uh I'm sorry the one I sent that would be [Music] superimposed here. Yeah, sure. Does everybody want to get in their car and go down? Absolutely not. If it's still snowing, it is snowing. Is it snowing? Raining, right? Right. Okay. So ju just to be fair, like that line. Well, I see why you're doing it, but that's not the line of of of sight. The line of sight goes way to the left. So that's, you know, that's not the only view. We can disregard that for now. That was that was an attempt based on a bunch of treas are bigger now. Yeah. And it's it's not a a true representation there. It's it's it's that's kind of a I think I think what what would what would might be helpful would be a pole here at the highest point and here so the high just just to be fair it's going to be like here to here to here to here I'm sorry what say when right I'm not sure where the building here seems way way to this side that's not 40t from the property line All right. So, it's going to be all right. You know, okay, but whichever corners. Okay, you get the point. Yes, it's it's not easy shrinking adjusting. You don't have the plans, but particularly the peak on the on the whatever the bottom side is you're looking at and the corners would help visualize where that 27. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. If that's possible. I've I've I've green little polls like green. [Music] It doesn't have to be up there very

long. Well, if it's I I like your picture better. [Music] Well, I mean, let me get a sense of the board. Does the board have a clear sense as to how they feel about this this variance? I do. Is it do you care to share your video? Don't have an issue with it or um I'm not putting on the it's not on the record just to get a sense as to I don't want to Yeah. I I mean I So what I feel is I I feel like he's putting it at the lowest point possible that he could on the property and still keeping it in the backyard. Um fair point. And I think that based on the visual that uh it could be built without a variance at 24 ft high. Um and that appears like it would still block the same mountain range. I don't know that another 3T is going to make much of a difference. As I believe Walter pointed out, it looks like it's going to just be sky that would be taken up by that extra 3 foot 10 anyway. Um so okay I you know anybody have a I second I second that that same thing is um I don't I don't think 3 feet is going to make that much difference because 24T listen if if we make it a 24 foot variance here then we got a case I think yeah a highrise yeah yeah I think I don't I don't dispute that the garage is going to block some of the view from the climbmans but I don't think it's the 3 foot 10 inches that is going to be blocking the view. Correct. That's that's well said. Correct. Any other concerns from the board, Tom? I agree. I agree. Yeah. No, I agree. I mean, I went to see it today and I um we stopped on Really Road. We went in the driveway,

got out, we looked around, and then we were out on um Ridge Road in the climmans. Yes. They're they're lower. It is low lower than Mr. Palmer, but um and it is also hard to tell right now what part of that view is already blocked by existing trees anyway based on the fact that the picture that they submitted is at least. Yeah. I mean, we looked around. My husband was trying to help me figure it out and we were just um What you thinking, Greg? I I'm roughly in line with what Dan was was thinking. It's uh it's a little challenging to visualize, but I I think that the best way that Dan said was it's not the it's not the three feet that's that's going to be doing that. No, no, it's a big structure. It's the 24 and it's Yeah. and the and the big structure with 24 ft is permitted. So, correct. No, I I agree. I agree. I I don't think it's a big variance. I mean, yeah. All right. I don't think there's anybody else that wants to speak for the public hearing. Anybody online? Michelle popped up. All right. So, if unless the board objects any objection, I'm going to declare the public hearing closed. Okay. Second. Wait a second. Can I ask a question though? Oh, you know, you can continue discussion. These people here Yes. What what is their thoughts about all this? Do we Does anybody know? Have you talked to them? Have you talked to them? Spoke to them. They have one opinion. They didn't show up. They were negative. They were us. Okay. But in essence, I spoke with them. I spoke with them. Like the idea that's why I'm here. Okay.

[Music] Just just it doesn't matter. So they were opposed and and and the and the people to the right of you were opposed too. [Music] Well, that's that's the requirement, right? No, the requirements was discussed a month ago. Wasn't really You did get notice, correct? Yeah, he got this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There is one question. So I I guess I want to have a ask you a question. Is are you opposed to the entire garage or you just opposed to the three feet? I say it's not homogeneous with the neighborhood at the same time situation but no it's I mean you know people like change but like everything's like a little Scott paint which is fine. I understand his needs and I understand like a lot of us allow us at least allowed that huge footprint and like I said I don't regret that. Um I just thought it was a little bit of money over the top, you know, and so go over the top and you guys like well you know like I said which we discussed this out but now position you know you didn't just like I said but it's the 24 ft that you have a the whole building you have the problem with. Well, no. I mean, I don't like it, but in essence, Ces do it, right? That's great. I appreciate that. I don't want to be in this hostile situation, frankly. But then you denied the you said 24. You guys said come in. I'm like, you're making any smaller. Great. [Music] That's why we keep it 24.

[Music] It's a tough thing to do. Yeah. Well, thank you. It's a very tough thing. appreciate you coming and sharing here. So, um Okay, thank you. So, we've closed the public hearing. We have 62 days to decide which means we can decide tonight. We can decide at the next meeting. It's up to you if you want me to u move forward with a vote. If you wait till tomorrow what you could do tonight. Well, I will tell you why. If you would like to consider the comments from those who have submitted comments to you, I don't know if there's anything you want to contemplate there, be happy to take this up. If not, we can certainly No, I've invested money. I'm prepared to move forward. Okay. All right. Um, this brings us to public hearing is closed. This brings us to the You may You may have I have a seat. Thank you. Thank you. brings us to the uh five factors which is we are required to consider so how are we going to do it I'll start with you tend to influence people too much I'm gonna start with you Tom we're going to start from left to right this time all right so the first of the five questions that we are obl obligated to consider before uh granting or not granting an area is whether an undesirable change will be produced in the character of the neighborhood or a detriment to nearby properties will be created. Tom, your thoughts on that one? Yes. Yes. What? Yes. Well, it's going to change the the the the neighborhood. No, he's going to put another building on the on on the lot there.

Okay. I'm g say Walt I'm gonna say no because the three feet is not causing the the the uh the detriment. It's the 24 ft which is allowable. So my answer is no. Okay. I feel that it's generally also I also agree with that assessment that uh yeah the bulk of what's allowed is probably what's driving any change to the neighborhood and not necessarily the extra Julie. [Music] Um, it's going to change it. There's no doubt about it. So, yes, it's going to change it, but it's I still not going to be undesirable. I'm not putting up a shack. Okay. So, that's a no, I guess. So, what is it? A yes or a no? That's a no. Technically, it's a it's a change. So, we acknowledge it's a change. Change, but it's a no. Yeah. That's what we're ask Dan. I think we already Yeah. I'm I'm also going to say no to that question based on what I said before that I don't think it's the 3 foot 10 in that would be creating the change in the neighborhood. Tom, whether an applicant can achieve his goals via a reasonable alternative which does not involve the necessity of an area of errands area, excuse me. Yes. Yes. Okay. Um, what I think I think he can achieve a goal without matching the house. So, I'm going to say yes, he can achieve it a different way. And I would say yes, he probably could could make the roof slightly lower and compromise some of the storage capacity, I

guess. Uh, Julie. Yes. And Dan, uh, I'm going to say no. Uh, based on the applicant's, um, expression that he wanted to have the 10-ft ceilings and that he wanted the pitch of the roof to match his existing house. So, I believe that's the benefit that he's trying to achieve. So, I don't think there is any other way to do that. Uh, whether the variance is substantial, Tom, thank you, Dan. Tom, no. Say no. I say no as well. No. Julie says no. Dan no. Number four. Whether the variance will have an adverse impact on physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood or district. Tom no. The 3 foot 10 in is not going to. So no. Say no. No. No. whether there has been any self-created difficulty. Tom, no. Walt. Yeah, I I I think there's been self-created difficulty. Yes, I'll say yes as well. Julie, yes. And Dan, yes. Okay, those are the five questions. What does self creative mean? It's a very complicated one. Basically means Yeah. By you wanting to go three feet higher, you created that difficulty. You created this hole. Yeah. If you didn't want the roof that that high it's more complicated. That's all that that the question should always be. Yes. Almost always. Okay. Okay. So now let me give you an example of a not

self-created difficulty. You buy a you buy a lot, you want to build a house on it, but half of the lot is wetlands. And in order to build the house, you need a variance because you cannot build within, let's say, 50 ft of the wetlands. So no matter where you put your house, you're going to be too close to the wetlands or there's a So you didn't create that. You didn't create that that prop if you wanted to put the house there. We created it by buying the lot and then deciding to build the house. But you get the idea. Yeah. All right. Then I will make a motion then to grant the variance to 9811A-1 for the property located at 8 Ruth Lane for the construction of an accessory building per the submitted plans wherein the proposed height of the structure exceeds the allowable height of 24 feet by 3 feet 10 in. Would somebody like to second that motion? I'll second it. That was I think it was Tom. Beat the beat Julie by a hair. Okay, then I'm going to need a roll call vote. Dan to grant the variance. Stan, yes to Grant. Walt, yes. Julie, yes. Uh, and Tom, sorry. Yes. And I say yes. Variance is granted. [Music] So the next step would be [Music] Is there any other business? Can I make a motion to close the meeting? You can make a motion to close the meeting. I'll second it. Tom seconds

it. All in favor? I. Any opposed? This is the longest meeting we've had.