Okay. And have you enjoyed living in this house?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Okay. Is there any problem using this house as a single-family residence?
Okay. Is there any problem using this house?
Thank you. I have no further questions.
Ellen, I'm going to just follow up.
Ellen, I know where Mr. Bonney is going with this, but you had heard my statement or the statement I made regarding the issues with the current layout and the current way that the fourth floor functions.
It is a hardship, I mean, even using it as a single family to have to, for either you
or for your workers, to have to go out this back door that I'm showing here.
Let me move that, make this a hand.
Yes, and I, as a homeowner, it concerns me that when they access the mechanical room
up there, that they're potentially, if someone fell, that they're-
because there's no railing it's just a low parapet correct correct and that was that worries me
i understand yeah that's that's that's that's something that's concerning and that low parapet
though has the benefit of not creating shadow and not impacting air to the surrounding properties
is that correct yes okay that's my understanding and and you heard me state is there are there
problems in right now with that haven't been able to be resolved regarding because of the the exterior
door that doorway the way it's designed um to access the mechanical room regarding leaking
yes so that the door not so much the door that's to the west but the door that faces south that um
where you actually enter the mechanical room, it leaks into just below that, the mechanical room
is the third floor bathroom, the shower, and my ceiling in the shower on the third floor leaks
because of that, you know, the door that we can see facing directly south. And Ellen, just for
for the benefit of the board so i there to the left of in the picture there's next to your
building there's a building with a black roof with three condensers on top is that is that the
building that your daughter lives in i believe that that may be 333 okay south forest street
my daughter i believe is just north at 331 i rent 331 right uh to my daughter that would be mr
Clinton's client's property, correct? I believe so. Okay. I have no further questions.
Hey, Clinton, you have any questions? Yeah, I have a question or two. Ms. Jacobs,
my name is Henry Clinton. I represent George Moore, who lives at the property with the black
roof, as well as Louise Cruz, who lives to the left of that property with the white roof.
you know you have a deck on the front of your house correct yes okay and I gather you entertain
out there and have guests and friends over um I could but I have not been using that and when you
do uh entertain or have folks over uh you would would obviously engage in conversation chatting
discussions and that noise travels correct it could i would object i would object to the question
about voices traveling sound traveling i mean she she knows what it sounds like when she's sitting
there she doesn't know what it's like in anybody else's property yeah i understand your objection
but mr clint proceed that's we're going to let that question be answered yeah and also and also
So, Mr. Chairman, we're not talking about modifying the deck in the front.
We're talking about enclosing an area in the rear.
So I don't think it's relevant either.
I think it's okay to answer the question.
Okay, thank you.
I rarely use the fourth floor front deck.
If I were to use it, I'm a very quiet person.
So, you know, I live alone at 332 Delancey Street.
I don't have parties.
I'm 65 years old, so I'm not someone who makes noise.
I seriously doubt that any talking would, that that noise would travel, certainly not to the back of my house.
And Ms. Jacobs, are you aware that this fourth floor penthouse was built in response to a variance that was given to a private property owner in 1998?
I was not aware when I purchased the house that a variance had been granted to build the fourth floor.
a variance had been granted to build the fourth floor. I found out about the variance through
I found out about the variance.
this process of applying for a variance to expand to the rear of my house, so I was not aware
that a variance had been granted until very recently. Okay, and you're aware that you have
the tallest house on Delancey Street as well as on South 4th Street? In fact, it's over 44 feet high.
you aware of that i'm gonna get a check could you limit the area lancy's a long street and so
is south four street well this this hundred block of the lancy okay and this hundred block is south
i was i was not aware of that are you aware that your house is 44 feet four inches to the top of
the roof not including the parapet wall i i'm not aware of any dimensions like that i mean i
if that is so i accept that but i i was not aware of that okay no further questions at this point
mr chairman all right i have all right i just just to address if i could just address something
that hank raised while we're on it i mean i would ask the board to take notice of the of the aerial
image i have up at 6b um well i think it's fair to say that you know we're taller than the
buildings abutting us on South 4th and on Delancey Street, you can see from the pictures that they're
buildings as tall as us, if not taller, across the street on Delancey or up and down North 4th
Street just from this photographs alone. Well, I don't know that that's your interpretation of
this photograph. Well, I mean, you take a look at it. I just said it. I asked them to take note
of the picture of the photograph and it looks to me but that's we we see that we see the photograph
thank you that's all that's all i'm doing mr boney do you have another question yeah miss jacob
i see in on the tippy top of your house there's three condensers with a parapet in front of it
do you know when that was that a recent parapet that was installed you know when that was installed
i i don't think any change was made so you're asking me if if i were to go on the front
deck of the fourth floor and turn around and look south if it has changed in any way since
i purchased a property i don't think so so i i assume that i purchased the house looking like
that. But as I say, I so rarely go outdoors. Um, I don't, you know, I, I don't know if Sean
Graff, my contractor is, is on the call. Um, he would know, but I, I don't think any, I've changed
anything having to do with the, um, I don't think I've changed anything other than, um, I know that
we did a little work on the front deck and we then had a five foot setback. So I lost
square footage to comply with the current regulations. So it was non-conforming when
I purchased the property to today's regulation. So there was some shrinkage contraction of the
ill-conceived notch in the rear of the existing fourth floor, correct?
Yes, it does.
And at that fourth floor level, even with the notch filled in,
in terms of open area requirements for the zoning code,
NRSA 5, what's the open area requirement?
Off the top of my head, I'm not sure.
I believe it's 25%.
and all right and i would tell i would think everybody here all the professionals that's
correct so that's 75 occupied area correct right all right and then do you know what
with the addition what the well what without the addition what the occupied area is at the fourth
floor level uh yeah i have it
Uh, at the fourth floor level, it's with the additions 392 square feet.
Do you know what the percentage of occupied areas?
Pardon?
Do you know what the percentage of occupied area is?
With the new proposed addition, it's 28.82%.
And what is it presently?
Uh, 26.18%.
And that's based upon a lot area of what?
uh 1360 square feet okay that's a square footage of the existing lot yes okay I have no further
questions oh wait let me let me actually one other question um you're the the the floor to
ceiling height at that fourth floor level you're you saw me read off the plans that you prepare
you prepared the plans for this project correct yes I did and that the floor to ceiling height
from the fourth floor to the top of the top of the fourth floor is eight only eight feet three
inches is that correct yes so it's not a it's not you're not getting a ton of headroom up in that
fourth floor it's not like you have cathedral ceilings or you're not getting 10 foot ceilings
they actually left a large cavity between the third and fourth floor for some reason
right i think it had to do with some vaults below um so there's a it's actually quite tight up there
Okay. I mean, without that condition, that, you know, the existing condition of having that open space, do you know what the amount of the dimension of that open space is approximately how many feet?
Approximately two feet.
Okay. All right. So if that weren't there, then the whole fourth floor could be two feet lower, correct?
Potentially, yeah.
Yes. Okay. Thank you. I have no further questions.
I have a few questions, Mr. Chairman.
Proceed.
Good morning. I represent Mr. Moore and Ms. Cruz.
In this plan that's a rendering that's on the screen right now, what is the height of the parapet wall?
The rear parapet wall is...
Hank, to be clear, that's to the rear of the fourth floor, not on top of it?
Correct. To the rear of where the proposed notch out is.
I just want to be clear because Paul was referencing, I think, a parapet above the fourth floor.
So I want to make sure we're talking about that.
So the rear parapet at the third floor currently is about 33 feet, three inches above finish grade, average grade.
What is the height from the top of the roof of the third floor to the top of the parapet in that rear area?
Is it three feet, four feet?
uh no it's less than it's probably about 20 inches
are you aware of the total height of the building uh based on our dimensions the total height of
the building is 44 feet 4 inches and that was provided via the variance in 1998 as i understand
it yes okay so this request is asking for a an extension of a non-conforming use would you agree
with that i would i would object that's a legal conclusion number one and number two it's not
not correct once a variance is granted it's no longer a non-conformance under the zoning code
I agree with Mr. Orphanides and Aunt Henry.
The photographs that were shown earlier in this presentation, I gather you saw those photographs from Mr. Moore's rear property, rear of his property?
Do you know who took those photographs?
I believe Sean Graff did.
Okay. And did Mr. Moore allow Sean access to his property?
And did Mr. Moore allow Sean access to his property?
Yes, Sean or one of his employees.
Pardon me, I can't hear you, sir.
Sean or one of his employees were allowed access.
Did he take other photographs besides the one that you showed?
I took general survey photographs when I was originally on the property.
Were you inside Mr. Moore's property also?
No, I was not there on that day.
No, but I'm asking, did Sean take additional photographs besides the one that was shown today at the hearing?
If you know.
I'm not sure.
I have no further questions, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
One follow-up question.
Ryan, Mr. Clinton and I know Mr. Bonney have focused on the height of the existing fourth floor.
um is was the original edition the 185 uh i guess 185 square foot edition or the current
36 square foot edition built any taller than the existing uh fourth floor no the whole idea was to
keep it the same height and only be expanding out and what i mean we talked about a floor-to-ceiling
height of eight feet three inches um is it possible to make that notch well let me strike
strike that let me ask that question what happens if we were to make that fill in lower
uh we could make it a couple inches lower but not material okay does it create any other any
other issues if you were to have the change in height of that section versus the existing the
height of the existing fourth floor? It mainly creates flashing issues because we would have
to figure out how to drain just that one little area. Okay. Thank you. I have no further questions.
Are you done, Mr. Orfinites? I'm done. Mr. Boni, do you want to make a presentation?
Yeah, I just have a couple of questions of Mr. Lucino. Sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Lucino,
Good morning. My name is Paul Bondi. I represent the Neighborhood Association.
Have you reviewed the prior zoning approvals on this property?
Yes, I do.
Okay. Do you believe that the existing structure complies with the prior zoning approvals?
Yes, I do.
Okay. David, could you put up the existing conditions?
Oh, yes, sure.
Okay, so I just want to make sure that, you know, when I look at the 1998 variants, I
don't see a fourth floor that goes property line to property line.
I see a much smaller fourth floor, one that's only on really half of the roof.
Right. You can go there, David. Yeah. Click there.
What do you want? You want to go to the zoning archives?
Sure. Sure. And then click a few pages down to the I'm going to go.
I'm going to go to the drawings that. Yeah, I may be incorrect.
I just want to ask the expert. Yeah, I think it looks that way, but it's not the case.
OK, well, I'm just pulling up the drawings. That's it. That's it. You got it.
All right. You want you can maybe turn that. Sure.
uh that way how's that yeah so i'll be your band of white i'm happy to do that for you
there you go oh sorry i went too well just shrink it just shrink it so we can see the label
okay okay right so it says proposed addition to fourth story structure
right but here's the let me just pull this help you out but here's the existing existing fourth
then and then this is okay and so it actually creates a pretty similar configurate the
notch is actually shown very clearly okay this is helpful this is helpful so yeah so this i was
wondering about that myself but yes okay so this creation of this notch is
the result of of this 1998 approval is that correct correct okay um if the parties at that
time in the zoning board wanted to go straight across that would be a different situation but
but what was approved was this notch, is that correct?
That is correct.
Okay, thank you. And just to shift gears, that parapet on the tippy top in front of the condensers, that's ancient history, or is that new construction?
Okay, thank you.
And just to shift gears, that parapet on the tippy top,