ZBA Hearing - April 12, 2023

family dwelling above. It is not permitted in the RSA3 district and requires a variance.

A2 is the CBA application, A3 project information form, A4 proof of ownership, A5 proof of tax

clearance, A6 is a site location map, A7 photographs including proof of posting, subject property,

aerial view, street views, as well as interior. A8 is the letter of support packet submitted by

Tacony Civic. If submitted, I would ask that Councilman Driscoll's letter be marked as A-10.

I'm not sure if Stan Sawinski from Councilman's office is on board today. In any event, I have

heard no opposition from that office. A-11 is the relevant zoning history. Back in 1953,

it was a vacant store in one family. In 1962, it changed to a retail bakery in two apartments.

For those of us that remember Fran Weston, God rest her soul, our former state rep from

the area, it was her office in 1981, together with two apartments.

86, it was a travel agency and two apartments.

89, a beauty salon and two apartments.

And most recently, it was an auto tag agency and two apartments.

However, I saw no permits on file for that.

However, as you can see in the photographs, that auto tag agency moved to the property

Here's a photograph of the front door open leading into the office space.

It's a relatively small office space consisting of two desks and a powder room.

Here's a view back towards the front door.

That's the powder room.

On the block, we are located at the far left here, indicated by my cursor.

Sanuti Funeral Home is located on the corner.

across the street uh you have a dental practice with some other commercial establishments

with apparent residential uses above this is my notice of the rco meeting which was sent on 1214

for a meeting on january 31st it included a copy of the refusal the mailing address is also attached

our certificate of mailing, indicating that it went out to 128 different addresses on December

14th of 2020. The RCO, nobody attended the meeting. However, the chair of the zoning committee was

familiar with the property and the history of it, and the committee voted to not oppose this

application. They did supply a letter of explanation. They included several provisos

owners expected to keep the sidewalks clear and passable obviously that's a requirement under

city code so we you know obviously we comply with that um they're requesting that we install

security cameras and register them with the safe cam network the applicant has agreed to do that

and they're asked to install a timer on the site on in the sign let me go back to that photo just

so you can understand what they're talking about uh this sign which is on the side of the building

tends to provide glare to the adjoining properties, so they've requested that we put that on a timer

so that it shuts off at a certain time at night, and we will obviously, I don't know if that's

an applicable proviso, but we will work with the RCO, Tarsdale Civic, to accommodate that request.

This is our zoning map. It's in the RSA3 zoning district. It is a mixed-use block. Here is an

aerial photograph, again, showing located between Princeton Avenue to the left on the map

and Friendship Street to the right. And again, the applicant owner is R. Jan Begay. It's an RSA3

district. We're looking for a home health care business office together with the previously

approved two apartments. We went through the zoning history. It would have one employee,

the owner operates out of that and may maybe in the future may have an assistant

disregard the seating that's from a that's from a takeout restaurant or something

but the days and hours of operation would not exceed 8 a.m to 6 p.m

and accordingly we seek a variance for the business office

Gino is currently working on job sites today and unavailable however I did review the entire

exhibit packet with Gino, Mr. Begay, and he would, if present, verify the truth and accuracy of my

representations, and he would certainly adopt them as his own representations, and I submit that as

an officer of the court. Let's accept it. Questions from the board?

No, Chair. No, Chair.

Questions or comments from the virtual audience?

i see no hands chair planning commission sorry ron bednar city planning while his property is

currently indicated for residential use on the city plan given the physical circumstances of

the site in this documented use history we have no objection to the granting of the parents

thank you mi 2022 006 361 71 15 tarsdale avenue i vote yes

my vote is yes

James Snell my vote is yes

Ishmael Shaheed my vote is yes

thank you Sean

thank you Mr. Chair I'll see you at the end of the list

all right thank you number five

NY 2022

006 695

6801 Ogons Avenue

Henry Clinton is the attorney

letter of none

opposition from

Council Member Phillips

and the support from the RCO

with unenforceable provisos.

Mr. Clinton is coming back in

as a panelist.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chandler.

Mr. Clinton, how are you, sir? Could you

state your name, please, and spell for the

court reporter? Sure. Henry Clinton,

C-L-I-N-T-O-N.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Do you swear or affirm

to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the

truth? I do.

I do.

Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?

Sure. My client is Ming, M-I-N-G, Zhu, Z-H-U.

Okay. He is on the call.

Our vice chair has just a few questions.

Good afternoon, counsel.

Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

I do.

Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with

this case five days in advance of this hearing?

Everything when we just got in the tax certification from the real estate department.

It's actually a printout from the Department of Revenue.

Understood.

Thank you, Mr. Clinton.

Please proceed and share your screen.

Thank you, Mr. Shaheen.

Thank you.

so chairman is that visible it is sir it was wait a minute zoom just took it over

you can just minimize that you could you and then the document is behind it or you

could click the document behind it. So minimize the error. There we go. Thank you for that

tutorial. I appreciate that. So good afternoon again, Chairman, members of the board. I'm

Henry Clinton. I'm on behalf of the client, Ming Zhu, who's owned this property for about five

years. This is a request to continue the permission of automobile repairs at a gas station

that's been in effect. It's been at this location, frankly, since 1960. And I'll show you that with

zoning records. So basically what the client is doing is using this for auto repairs, but not

selling gas. That's the only change over the last 60 years. So the table of contents contains AA

through A-10, which I ask to be admitted into evidence as we move forward. This is my appearance

statement, and this is the refusal. Again, it's a use refusal. We're in the CMX2 zoning district,

and the L&I examiner concluded that the proposed use personal vehicle repair and maintenance is

prohibited in this zoning district. We do have an RCO letter of non-opposition from the 10th

Board, Democratic Committee, and at the meeting, their main concerns, frankly, Mr. Chairman,

not so much the use, but what was going on on the lot, illegal parking. There's no fencing around

the property. There never has been. And there's a number of residential properties nearby, as well

as commercial properties, and individuals in the evening are parking on the lot. So it was very

upsetting to the neighbors. They've asked us to basically develop a plan to try to have those

cars that shouldn't be there removed in a timely manner. And it's kind of a difficult task only

because their neighbors and the individuals doing the repairs don't want to alienate their near

neighbors. So we're trying to work that through in a neighborly fashion rather than just asking

the police to come and ticket and tow cars. So I think the community group is sensitive to that,

but we do want to follow through and try to keep any cars that should not be on the lot in the

evening off the lot and one of the things the community group asks us to do to help with that

process is to have a gate or a fence put around the property which my client is willing to do

because he also doesn't want going with this issue and he really doesn't want to fight with

the near neighbors. These are photographs. My cursor is going east to west on 66th Avenue and

Ogontz is my cursor is going north to south. The parcel is here where I'm circling. It basically

contains a 10,000 square foot building and there were historically three automotive bays in the

building and a small office area. The other area to the left of the building is a pavilion under

which the gas pumps were located. And you will see from my plans that this area where the gas

pumps used to be located will be used for parking. This is a shot of the rear of the building. And

this is a thoroughfare, Mr. Chairman and members of the board, which runs to other apartments in

the back and that's why sometimes these dwellers end up parking on my client's lot. This is the

This is the overhead pavilion. Again, the pumps used to be located before there. I mean, underneath the pavilion. Now it's simply used for parking as people drop their cars off and then the cars are worked on inside the three bays.

overhead pavilion. Again, the pumps used to be

You can see the bays in the rear. Again, the parking pavilion. Here's a better shot of the three automotive bays and the office to the right.

and then we have the posting of the signs

around the perimeter of the building.

These are the plans.

Again, pretty nondescript in the sense that we have a building

and I'm calling this pavilion or overhead structure

below which sat the gasoline pumps at one time.

The next is a diagram showing that the turning radius are certainly ample to get in and out of the lot and also in and out of the three stalls or bays where automotive repairs are accomplished.

And then we have parking underneath the overhead pavilion, as well as some ADA parking adjacent to the building.

Here's our tax certification.

And then, Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to show the board, besides the typical document you would see in a presentation like this, the deed, the notification to the neighbors, and the 250 feet radius within which notices are sent out.

I wanted to show everyone the zoning records indicating that from 1960 through 1996 and beyond, the property was used as a gas station.

This is 1996. Going from the most recent backwards, this is the gas station.

1990, excuse me, 1979. This is when the tanks were replaced, but it was still maintained as a gas station.

It was an Exxon at that time. In 1970, it was a Humboldt oil. That's certainly a name from the

past. Again, used as a gas station and three automotive repair bays. And then the Genesis

is 1960, S-O, E-S-S-O, a gas station. And then it was called a gas station and service station.

um so basically in conclusion uh this corner lot at 68th and ogonts has historically been used as

a service station uh for about 60 years my client's tenant wants to continue to use

the location for what it was originally used for in fact we have less of a use than

a service gas station because my client is not selling gas. Basically, I keep saying client,

but the tenant is using this location simply for automotive repairs, no selling of gas,

no selling of retail sales of any type. We are not affecting the development of any other

properties in the area. In fact, if you look around the surrounding area across the street,

is an auto repair and towing facility across the street is a mini market. So there's ample

This is Ryan Bednar, City Planning.

While this property is currently indicated for residential use on the city plan,

given the physical circumstance, we have no objection to granting advance.

Thank you, sir.

MI 2022-006-695-6801 Oguns Avenue.

I vote yes.

Thomas Elliman, my...

James Snell, my vote is yes.

Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.

Thank you, Mr. Clinton.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Have a great day, everyone.

Great. Number six, MI 2022-006-694-7040-48 Castor Avenue.

Gary Perkis is the attorney.

Recommendation of support from the community on the rise.

and also the applicant provided a petition

with approximately, signed by approximately 20 neighbors.

Mr. Perkis has joined us as a panelist.

Thank you.

Hi, Mr. Perkis.

Could you state your name, please?

And spell for the information, please.

My name is Gary Perkis, and I'm an attorney,

and I represent 7040-48 Castro Avenue, LLC.

Mr. Perkins, could you spell your last name for the court reporter, please?

P-E-R-K-I-S-S.

Right.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Could you identify your client, please?

Yeah, my client is 7040-48 Castor Avenue, LLC.

Okay.

And our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.

Good afternoon, counsel.

Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

I do.

Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?

Yes, I did.

Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.

Do you have my screen?

We see your screen, but you're going to have to open up the documents.

Well, I see on my screen that they're open, so.