ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS July 12, 2010 MINUTES The Zoning ...

that my hands are tied as to a solution for you. The terms of my agreement topurchase the land required the subdivision of the specific lot in question. I signedthe subdivision application as part of the sale agreement. You are clearly muchmore familiar with the setback requirements and other zoning issues than I am.It seems to me that they are all issues that you should be discussing with Ms.Reeves and or the zoning board. It is out of my purview. If I were in yourposition, I might take up these concerns Monday evening with the zoning board.Point two. Negative impact on the environment and the character of the areaVincent Cestone - How much more are we going to go?Stephen Kent - Give me 10 minutes.Vincent Cestone - Can you pick it up a little bitStephen Kent - I will. No trees have been cut for a century. No fields have beendisturbed. The dirt road has been maintained at the Town expense, miraculouslypreserved. The Audubon Society gets the highest number of bird sightings there.It is extremely diverse mix of deciduous forest, very sensitive recreation use. Ihave seen all kinds of bobcats and everything in those woods. That is why it isnumber 2 on the list of 27 high value conservation properties that Philipstownwanted to acquire. It is a missing piece of a puzzle at Fahnestock. Thisunderscores the uniqueness of the area and the inappropriateness of whatamounts to a spec house development. No matter what the applicant says aboutit being a treasured family home, I and others believe that this is a fig leaf toexploit the zoning regulations. More on that in a minute. People familiar with theroad who hike it and bike it and actually know it, and there are some of thosehere, know the lay of the land and the structure and the lot in question will tellyou clearly that building a house on that small lot by the road and clearing thetrees around it where nothing has been disturbed for most of the century, isharmful to the character of the neighborhood. I am not an environmentalscientist but I can safely assert that clearing out old forest to build 8,000 squarefeet of septic fields on steep rock ledge with huge outcroppings, sloping down toState protected wetlands, will definitely have a negative environmental impact.How could it not. The requested variance is not only substantial but it isegregious and more argued on misleading premises of rehabilitating a familyhome. 51 % relief, the subdivision would substantially violate setbacks as well asthe 51 % relief of buildable area. It is less than 50 feet from my boundary on thenorth side over here. And lets be clear about the structure Ms. Reeves is callinga family home. The house she plans to rehabilitate. It is a defunct dilapidatedruin that was abandoned many decades ago and has substantially collapsed. Itmeasures 22 by 22 on the outside which means there is less than 400 squarefeet of usable space on the inside. The roof has fallen in on the south side. Thewindows and clapboards are cupped, rotted and broken. The sill plates thestructure rests on are rotted out. The old stone foundation which is non-viable. Ithas no basement or second story. It never had active heat other than a woodZoning Board ofAppeals Minutes July 12,2010 30