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MEGLIO RESIDENCE SECOND NARRATIVE 132 FIFTH AVENUE Steven and Jennifer Meglio (the applicants) are the owners of property at 132 Fifth Avenue, which is seeking area variances in order to reuse the existing foundation of the house. During the meeting of the ZBA on April 4, 2022, the board requested some additional information. Proposed Heights In the UR-1 zone, the maximum building height is 60 feet. When the LIDO becomes effective in July, this height will be 40 feet. The subject property, at its highest point will be 36 feet, well within the range of both zoning restrictions. No variance is sought or required for the height, which is permitted as of right for the structure. Despite the full compliance of the structure with the zoning height restrictions, it is helpful to review what presently exists at the site and what is proposed. The issue raised by the ZBA pertains to the rear and westerly portion of the site where the rear setback is sought. It is helpful to view the rear rendering to understand the various heights of the roofline. This plan was designed in order to take advantage of the footprint of the existing house and the needs of the Meglios to accommodate space for their three daughters and an aging parent. The architect understood and took into consideration the one-story structure to the west and the two story structure on the east when designing the home. The biggest design challenge was fitting the Meglio's needs into the existing footprint. Lowering the peak of the great room a few feet would result in mass and scale in both the interior space and exterior space that would be askew and would not work from either perspective. As you can see from the design, this area is south facing and the light is critical to the room design. This cannot be replicated with a different design on the existing footprint. The various heights are provided below. As you can see, the home is stepped down closer to the Cullen property and is higher in the area adjacent to the Hollowood home. 36'1" � . 26'2"-- -- 28'9" 25'10" 10'3 f} M The house was thoughtfully designed to have a lesser impact on the closest neighbor, the one story Cullen home located to the west of the subject parcel. The rooflines are lower in that part of the house than they are in the main structure that is nearest the two story Hollowood home. The westerly most portion of the rooflines are stepped down from the roofline that runs parallel to Fifth Avenue in the main portion of the house. The 1"shaped portion of the house, where the current garage and indoor pool are located, will continue to be a single story structure in the rear area, with a second story over the garage which will accommodate the master closets and mechanical room. This area which runs parallel to the Cullen common property line will house the garage and a "great room"which includes an open plan kitchen, dining and living room area, all being constructed within the pool addition. This is the most important feature of the home and cannot be replicated in a different area because of the configuration of the home entrance, stairway and necessary bedrooms. The roofline closest to the Cullen common property line is at a height of 10 feet 5 inches. The Cullen fence will provide a visual barrier to this part of the house, so diminishing the rear yard setback will have little, if any, impact to her property. The Cullen home has two small windows on the side of the house that faces the Meglio home. Along the westerly property boundary, there are some purposely stepped down heights from the main structure's roofline (which runs west to east), as depicted above. The existing home's overhangs are approximately 14- 18 feet depending on the area of the overhangs and the roof peak. The proposed structure for the great room will have a roofline of 1 UY closest to the Cullen property line and 2510" at the center peak of the great room in the interior of the lot. These heights remain well below the permitted heights in the district. As you move closer to the Hollowood property, the main roof is 33'1"with the viewing area for the track as the highest point in the center of the home at 361". In some prior renderings of the property, this viewing area had a peaked roof. It is now a flat, pergola style roof. The board inquired about the second story window which faces the Cullen property. This is a window that is in the mechanical room for the second floor and can be made opaque, if required by the board. The first floor windows on that side of the house are located in the garage or behind the Cullen fence. In addition to the thoughtful approach in the design of the roof lines to the adjacent Cullen structure, a similar design element was made on the front of the home. If you compare the location of the roof pitch in the front of the house and the rear of the house along the roofline that runs parallel to Fifth Avenue, the roof pitch was lowered in the front to make it appear smaller. The architect also changed the type of roofline on the viewing structure from a pitched to a flat roof, which decreased it's overall height. In the southerly portion of 5th Avenue, eleven homes have third story windows. It is unknown if these are functional third stories, but the building heights will be comparable or higher than we are proposing. The following homes have this third story window: 58, 60, 74, 84, 90, 96, 126, 160, 172, 174, 176. Information regarding the actual height of the homes was requested by FOIL on April 5, 2022, but the information from the city has not yet been provided. Those homes which were constructed with variances are highlighted with bold. The newest build on the street, at 99 Fifth Avenue, is similarly constructed, showing the trend for higher homes in this area. If this trend continues, I anticipate that the Cullen property will eventually be acquired and a two story structure constructed. This would be consistent with the trends on this stretch of land over the past two decades. Foundation and Rear Setback The project is being constructed by adaptively reusing the entire existing foundation and existing walls, with the roof being removed to add the second story. To reiterate, the overall site conditions are improved because while the walls will remain as they are presently located, the exaggerated roof overhangs from the existing house will be replaced with 18 inch overhangs. The walls are not be removed, but are being reused as is the foundation. The project is not a tear down, but instead the interior is being gutted and the roof removed to allow for the additional second story to accommodate the space needed by the owners for their family. The ZBA inquired about whether the applicant couldn't demolish the structure, or some portions of it, and build a compliant home. The builder has estimated that this would add approximately$300,000 onto the cost of the home. Because this lot was purchased at a premium with the intent to use the existing structure, the additional cost is not an option. The rear setback is being improved with the removal of the shed structure, which is located 2 feet from the rear property line. The resulting setback, by allowing the main structure to remain and reuse of the foundation, is 77'. The rear yard setback has existed at the present location since the pool was constructed in the 1960s, with no significant impacts on the parcel to the rear(NYRA) or the adjacent property owners. The owners of the current homes that are impacted (Cullen and Hollowood) purchased their properties after the existing structure was constructed, and had adequate notice of any impacts. As relates to the standards for the variance, the only other feasible means to achieve the benefit is to either acquire property from NYRA or demolish the existing structure, at significant cost, and rebuild on a compliant rear setback some 30 feet from the property line. This would result in the feature that is most desired—the great room and main living space—being compromised to the point where it is undesirable. The great room cannot occur in some other part of the house because of the design needs of the clients, space required for stairway, front entrance and garage entrance, as well as other configuration challenges. Allowing the rear yard setback to remain will not have any change on the character of the neighborhood or have any environmental impacts as it is an existing condition. The variance is not substantial as it improves an existing condition with the removal of the shed that is significantly closer to the property line at 2 feet and removal of the large overhangs and replacing them with smaller ones. The condition was not self created as it is an existing condition. The board raised concerns over the precedent it would be setting for rear yards throughout this area of Fifth Avenue. If you review the existing homes on this stretch of the south side of Fifth, there is only one other existing structure with an L shaped existing home close to the rear yard which could take advantage of the precedent this would be setting. That structure is 58 Fifth Avenue, which has already received variances and is not allowed to have any additional structures. The board could easily distinguish this case from future applications because it is using an existing footprint of the structure, which no other property can claim. Therefore, no precedent value could be had from a favorable decision. Permeability The project site is located on very sandy soil where the water percolates at a quick rate. There is no standing water at the site. In addition to the permeability being improved with the proposed structure, the property has an additional 23' x 110' (2530 sf) of additional lawn located between the property line and Fifth Avenue in which any stormwater could perk in the event of a large storm. The property is also one of two in this area that is not connected to the city sewer and presently has a septic system and leech field. Those will be disconnected and the new home will be tied into the municipal system. This is an overall benefit to the area as the sanitary sewer is a cleaner means of dealing with household waste.