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ZBA Hearing Minutes - 19 Laurel Bank 6/15/2020

Meeting date: 
Monday, June 15, 2020

ZBA Hearing Minutes

Address: 19 Laurel Bank

Date:  6/15/2020

Hearing began at: 2pm, continued with applicant’s permission to 3:30pm, the hearing reopened at 3:50pm

Members Present:  Jonathan Levin, Chair, Gary Shaw, Clerk, Scott Jenssen and Susan Cooper

Also present: Kerri Negrini, Amy Saltzman

The hearing began with Jonathan Levin, Chair, explaining the hearing process and then Gary Shaw, Clerk, read the legal notice (which was posted for 2 consecutive weeks in the Berkshire Eagle and at the Town Hall) and letters from the various town boards.

Jonathan Levin explained that one of the members was unable to make it today due to illness which means that a unanimous vote would be required to approve the permit.  In addition one member forgot about today’s hearing and could not make it back until later.  The applicant assented to continuing the hearing to 3:30pm this afternoon.

At 3:50pm Kerry Bartini began her presentation of the project.  1,311 is the existing habitable square feet, increasing the 1st floor habitable square feet to 1,355 and 371 on the 2nd floor.

At this time the Board closed the public portion of the hearing and began their deliberations.  The Board agreed that the proposal would not negatively impact any neighbors and appreciated the fact that the addition was kept within the footprint of the existing house.

A motion was made to approve the project as submitted.  The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.

Following documents were submitted to the Board:

  1. Application dated September 9, 2019;
  2. Existing Conditions, Addition/renovation Plans prepared by Berkshire Design, Inc. with Application
  3. Survey prepared by Taconic Land Consultants dated February 3, 2020;
  4. Publication, Letters and Comments read into the public record

The Board made the following findings:

  1. The property is in the Lake Shore District and fronts on Laurel Bank Road and backs up to Route 57.
  2. The property is non-conforming due to lot size, lack of legal frontage and a non-conforming single family dwelling on the lot within certain setbacks.
  3. The lot and existing non-conforming single family dwelling are grandfathered under the current  By-Law.
  4. Applicant seeks a Special Permit to permit expansion of the non-conforming dwelling by adding a second floor master bedroom and bath within the footprint of the existing structure.
  5. The existing habitable areas of the dwelling total 1311 square feet, and the proposed addition will add 415 habitable square feet.
  6. There are no structures between the dwelling and Route 57.  The height of the house will increase by 12 feet over the existing height, but will still be below the maximum permitted height under zoning of 35’.
  7. The proposed work will only slightly increase the non-conforming nature of the dwelling on the Lot.

The Board is obligated to apply the legal test of whether the expanded structure will be substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood.  The neighborhood is densely populated with a large mix of varied size properties.  The expansion of the house, even being somewhat larger than some neighboring houses, will not be substantially more detrimental to the neighborhood.

The hearing concluded at 4:10pm

Submitted by

Melissa Noe, Administrative Assistant