voted unanimously 21 to 0 in support of the board's approval. Mr. Chair, Mr. Vice Chair,
members of the board, we respectfully ask that you once more join in support for this application.
As you can see again from the aerial, this institutional configuration has never and
could never conform to the RSA 5 residential single family zoning district. And whereas strict
conformity is not possible, this proposal to activate small accessory and supportive space
already approved for commercial use within a previously approved institutional complex
certainly represents the minimum variance that will afford relief and the least modification
possible of the regulation at issue. This grant of relief is consistent with this board's prior
approvals for hardship and will not alter neighborhood character, congestion, health or
safety, endure or impair adjacent properties, burden public facilities, adversely affect plans,
or create environmental issues, all per the code. To the contrary, the proposed use is compatible
with surrounding industrial and commercial properties, including offices and coffee shops
in the neighboring blocks, as you can see here. More than compatible, New Cortland's adaptive
reuse has proven beneficial to the community as underscored by the coordinating RCO's unanimous
support for this application. For all these reasons, we respectfully ask that you join in
support of this application. Please answer any questions from the board. And Mr. Chair, Mr. Vice
Chairman, this concludes my presentation. As I mentioned, John Unger from New Cortland is here
to adopt my testimony and can also answer any questions you may have.
Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Counsel. Excuse me. I have one question before we bring your client on.
So there's no hot food at all inside the building? It's just a coffee?
Coffee and pre-packaged light food is the plan. No commercial equipment.
Got it. Okay. Let's bring your client on to adopt your testimony.
Okay, let's bring your client on, the doctor, just a moment.
Thank you.
John Unger has been allowed to speak.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Do you agree to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
And can you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
John Unger, that's J-O-H-N, last name is U-N-G-A-R.
Counsel, please proceed.
Good morning, Mr. Unger.
Good morning.
You have heard my testimony and description of the application today, is that correct?
Yes, it is.
The information that I provided to the board, is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, it is.
And would you adopt and affirm that testimony as your own?
Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair.
Thank you. Questions from the board?
I have a quick question. Are you at capacity with all of your units, the 176? Are they all full?
No, we're actually still building that phase. We actually have 85 units that are complete at
capacity, and we are in construction at the end of this year for the 173.
So, we'll start filling those units up in, I'd say, early 2025.
Okay, thank you.
My question is, as part of your presentation, I thought you raised some of the issues with respect to a special exception.
So, is this just a variance?
And I see that there's takeout.
So there's also a special exception that's to be approved as well.
Thank you.
Thank you, board member.
This is a variance.
I did mention the recycling and trash storage features, which New Cortland wanted to ensure
part of this operation as part of its responsible design.
But it is for a variance.
Oh, okay.
Thank you.
Absolutely.
Any other questions from the board?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Rice Chair.
Thank you.
Can we go to the virtual audience?
Any questions?
I see no hands.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location
from residential single-family RSA 5 to residential mixed-use RMX 3
under the recommended zoning the proposed uses would be allowed by right the planning commission
recommends that the board grant the proposed variances for business and professional offices
and for takeout restaurant thank you mi-2024-002513 3232 henry avenue my vote is yes
michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes
my vote is yes thank you council thank you members of the board
uh number 13 mi-2024-002541 2655 south 18th street joseph council
joseph council has been promoted to panelists
good morning counsel state your name and spell it for the court reporter please
good morning board joseph consul that's j-o-s-e-p-h last name c-o-n-s-o-l-e
it's where to tell truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes uh this is for the
use of a sit-down restaurant on the first floor with a single family household living above
of the existing structure.
The sit-down restaurant is prohibited
in a CMX1 zoning district.
You do have an email of non-opposition
from the Gerard Estate Area Residence.
Do you agree to waive the read
and other refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
And have you emailed in all the required documents
that's needed to proceed in this case
five days in advance of this hearing?
counsel please proceed you probably just shared your screen okay this is 2655 south 18th street
yes this property uh as you can see counsel can you just identify a client excuse me oh i apologize
my client is the owner of the property vivian huang and she should be on this call um to adopt
my testimony. Please proceed. Okay, back at it. In the 1950s, this property was approved for a tap
In the 1950s, this property was approved for a tap room and a one family.
rooms.
If you go forward in time through the zoning archive, you'll see that it was always the same use.
One bar restaurant with one apartment above.
This is 1997.
Several signs have been approved, several extensions, this, that, and the other.
The most recent iteration of the property was Fatso Fogarty's, as you can see on the screen.
That's not what it looks like right now.
That's what it looked like when Google took the photo.
Now it's no longer labeled as Fatso Fogarty's.
It's now just one apartment with a vacant restaurant on the first floor.
My clients are seeking a sit-down restaurant.
they're not seeking a nightclub or anything like that they're seeking a sit-down restaurant with a
single-family use above so basically just reapproving a use that i believe when fatso's
left they um and it was zoned cmx2 it just fell out of approval and were required to to seek
re-approval here there's the photos um in the archive there's already existing the plot plans
as the building exists now, but those aren't relevant.
They're going to do a fit out when we get the approval
here. As you mentioned, we got the approval from the
Gerard Estate Area residents. We submitted the
tax certificate showing they're clear and
a copy of the deed showing that the property was purchased
by my clients last December. We believe the longstanding
history of the property only having been used as a sit-down restaurant uh with a single family
above that's been in existence for over 70 years we're hopeful that that allows uh this board to
grant variance along with the approval of the rco or the non-opposition of the rco excuse me
uh i'll call my my client to adopt my testimony uh sure
it's your client vivian vivian she was just there her hand just went back down
and she's back she's been allowed to speak good morning ma'am can you please state your name as
fellow for the court reporter it's uh v-i-v-i-a-n-h-o-a-n-g vivian huang you swear to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes council please proceed good morning
vivian did you hear my testimony just now about your property uh at 2655 south 18th street yes
uh do you agree with what i said and do you adopt it as your own yes okay nothing for the board
thank you council um a couple questions um did you send in the updated uh tax clearance did i miss
Scott? I thought I had it.
It's valid through October 6th, 2024.
Okay. I can reshare. Hillary, do we need a copy
or are we good? You want me to send it over? I put it back on the screen.
Let me just check and see if we had received
it one moment. Okay. And while she's
looking at that council, is there going to be any outside seating
on on this corner property there's no application for it uh perhaps vivian could speak that that
didn't come up um vivian are you still there mr vice chair we're fine on the tax clearance thank
you thank you she raised her hand to answer the question but i think she's still can you please
promote uh miss vivian please yeah i'm still here oh so for now we didn't apply for any outside
seating yet thank you for the clarity um questions from the board yes how many seats are we talking
about with this restaurant it's around uh 50. six did you say 60 50. yeah i didn't see any plans
Do you have any internal plans for the for the refit of the inside of the restaurant?
Oh, so the building, we're going to submit a building permit.
So we're going to have like 15 like tables.
So it's going to be around like, I would say 15 people inside the restaurant.
Okay, so you're not saying 50 people. You're saying 15 people? Because the square footage for 50 folks on the one floor is not adequate. That's why we're now going to need plans to see how you got the measurement.
okay so you're not saying 50 people you're saying 15 people because
Oh, I see. I thought you were asking me about like how many people. So it's going to be around 15 chairs, 15 tables. So it's going to be like 50 people inside that we can fit in the restaurant.
And that's with the kitchen and everything?
No, the kitchen, no. So we put tables and chairs in the kind of like the living room area, that 15 chairs is separate from the kitchen.
i guess my concern is um i i can't i can't visualize what you're really asking for
no kind of plan at all yeah council we're going to need some plans yeah we're going to need
something even if it's a floor plan just something to show oh we do have the uh like plans we do
have it if you need it i can send it over now if you email it to me i can put it on the screen and
i know that her her builder is also available if if that would be helpful once the plans are up to
to discuss that okay i'm sorry i only got hired yesterday so i'm working on what i got i have a
question is the single family unit is that owner i want to occupy it or is going to be a rental
um I will be leaving upstairs thank you okay and uh as part of these plans uh what are we doing
about venting for the restaurant uh we will have um Stanley from Chinatown he's gonna set up the
hood system for the restaurant yeah but I'm talking about venting like outside like venting
how are we doing it it's gonna uh we have a small roof uh it's gonna be uh put like
it's gonna be up the so the hood will go all the way up to the roof i have the restaurant owner
here who's gonna be like a tenant and he's my partner too so if you would like to talk to him
he can explain more about his concept for the restaurant.
So let's see if we need to promote him once we look over the plans.
Counsel, have you been able to get the plans yet?
No one sent me anything.
I'm messaging with them.
I don't know if it's going to come.
I'm going to send it to cgicon123 at gmail.com.
That's the contractor.
You could send it directly to me.
They had forwarded me over everything yesterday.
Okay, what's your email?
At consolelegal
C-O-N-S-O-L-E
Consolelegal
Dot com
Dot com, got it
Joe at consolelegal.com
Okay, I just sent it over
That is the building
Plan that we're going to revise
And submit
revise it and submit it buys and submit so this is not the plan that you're planning to
we're gonna have to hold this case council so i think the best thing is
let's bring this back for a resumption hearing excuse me mr vice chair i just wanted to to
to be clear that um this is a change of use application so plans would not have been
requested or required by lni so that's why they would not they would not have been they would
not have been provided and maybe even prepared at this point it was just a change of use um
i understand that but you know it would be even if it's some sort of hand-drawn a little something
that you know give us an idea of what we're talking about in terms of this would be um helpful
in terms of making yes i think i think we're going to need something um even if if it's just a sketch