HomeMy WebLinkAbout20220446 1 Alger Street Area Variance Narrative ENGINEERING AMERICA CO .
76 WASHINGTON S T . SARATOGA SPRINGS , NY 1 2 8 6 6
5 1 8 / 5 8 7 - 1 3 4 0
TRANSMITTAL SHEET
TO: FROM:
Zoning Board of Appeals Tonya Yasenchak
COMPANY: DATE-
City of Saratoga Springs SEPTEMBER 2,2022
FAX NUMBER: TOTAL NO.OF PAGES INCLUDING COVER-
4
PHONE NUMBER: SENDER'S REFERENCE NUMBER:
RE: YOUR REFERENCE NUMBER:
Boughton Porch: 1 Alger
ZBA Application Modification
❑ URGENT Q FOR REVIEW ❑ PLEASE COMMENT ❑ PLEASE REPLY ❑AS REQUESTED
To the City of Saratoga Springs Zoning Board of Appeals:
Engineering America Co.,on behalf of our clients Luke&Lauren Boughton,respectfully submits
the enclosed modified application materials for ZBA review of requested variances related to an
existing/proposed screened porch at 1 Alger St.in Saratoga Springs,NY.
1) A modified plot plan depicting revisions to the screened porch size&setback:
a. Porch Size&Coverage have been reduced:
i. Porch has been reduced to 7' 6"in size. Reducing the porch further
would require relocation of the installed sonotubes.
ii. Porch roof overhangs on the sides have been reduced to 6". Porch roof
along the front has been reduced to 0"
iii. Resulting modified Coverage of existing house&porch= 56.3%vs the
56.7%originally requested.
- Resulting variance of 26.3%relief(30%required under previous
zoning for principal structure). = 87.6%variance
- The 87.6%appears large,however,40%total coverage in this
zone includes garage. 56.3%coverage vs. 40%coverage is only
16.3%relief requested(16.3%/40% =40.75%variance).
b. Porch Front Setback has been increased:
i. The front porch roof overhang along Alger St. has been reduced to 0".
ii. The resulting front setback from property line to the porch roof is now
0.9'vs.the 0' originally requested.
iii. The modified relief is 9.1' = 91%relief requested.
2) Community porches locations along Alger St.have been measured and compared to the
proposed porch at 1 Alger St. for this project.An attached map depicts the nearest
property owners and the porch/building locations related to the road edge curb.
a) The side porch of the house across the street(to the North) sits at approx. 12'
from the curb. The porch roof overhangs an additional 12-14". Therefore this
porch is approx.. 11' +/-from the curb.
b) The house across the street to the North West does not have a porch. However,
the house itself sits at 12' +/-from the curb and has steps that extend and
additional 14-16".
c) The house directly to the West and across Bolster Ln. has a front porch located at
13' +/-from the curb with a roof extending an additional 12" +/-,resulting in an
approximate setback of I +/-to the road edge.
d) The proposed porch projectwill be located at 12.3' from the approximate road
edge. Therefore,the proposed porch will be consistent with other porches and
structures in the immediate vicinity.
This correspondence and the attached materials shall serve as addenda to the original variance
application submittal for review by the ZBA. We believe that the materials herein submitted
answer the questions of the ZBA to reduce the size of the porch and to confirm other structure
setbacks within the neighborhood.
Thank you for your time and cooperation.
—Tonya Yasenchak,PE
Enc.
2
August 31, 2022
Zoning Board of Appeals, Saratoga Springs
City Hall —474 Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866-2296
From: Lauren Boughton, owner of 1 Alger Street
Re: Boughton Porch at 1 Alger Street
Dear Zoning Board of Appeals,
Hello, I am Lauren Boughton, I am the homeowner at 1 Alger. I would like to start off by humbly
apologizing, for our misjudgment in this process. I apologize for not being here in person for the
first meeting to provide a bit more context as to "why this porch was constructed." While I
appreciate the colorful opinions expressed into what our intent was or what were we thinking,
at the end of the day, we were just trying everything we could to provide a safe environment
for our family in the height of the uncertain times of the pandemic.
We love our neighborhood. We love the school our children attend, and we enjoy the
conversations we have with our neighbors that own and reside on the street. We happen to be
a bit of a hybrid of a neighborhood with a mix of rental properties and family-owned homes.
Our home appears to be one of the only homes in our neighborhood without a roofed porch
space of at least 8 feet in depth. We realize this is most likely due to the commercial purpose of
our home when it was initial built.
139 Woodlawn (with the door being located on the Woodlawn side of the home) had been
originally built to serve the neighborhood as a general store in the 1940s and in a more colorful
moment in its history, served as a hot tub rental room business in the 1980s. She was a real
neglected gem. We are thankful to Doug Voulin, whom was the prior purchaser that fixed the
home up to a point that we fell in love with it upon our first visit. When we purchased 1 Alger
(front door was relocated to Alger Side of home in 2007) in 2008, we officially became the first
family to reside fulltime at 1 Alger, as a home.
We were so thankful for 6 board votes in favor of our project in 2016. When I personally stated
we could not foresee any need for additional coverage requests, I could have never envisioned
what was to come just four years later.
When we all shut down in 2020, we tried to get creative with how we would be able to allow
our senior parents to visit our son who was born with a congenital heart defect. Having a child
with a special condition, we were extra sensitive to being indoors with anyone in the beginning
of the pandemic. The thought of a screened in pergola came about. We knew everything was
shut down, so we attempted to go about this on our own with this feeling that time was of the
essence. Having been told there was a six month back log of building permits, we conducted
our own research into the size of a pergola that could be built without needing to pull any
permit. I think we have all learned, especially now, the information you find on the internet is
not always accurate and will not always be complete. We had not considered a variance would
be required as it would be a pergola structure, independent from our home, behind our fence
that was erected prior to us purchasing the home. This was a huge oversight on our part in a
frantic moment in all of our lives.
After having the pergola through the spring of 2020 and realizing covid was not going away, we
started to try ways to keep our family under cover in the elements while still providing open
ventilation on the sides. When our Thanksgiving plans with family abruptly came to a halt, the
idea for a roof came about to turn the pergola into a porch. We had blindly assumed since it
was not attached, again, this would be ok. As the pergola had already been standing, we had a
complete oversite that anything additional to it would be a lot coverage issue. Once the roof
went up we both gave pause at how big this porch now appeared. It was the pergola that grew
into a porch, that turned into a violation.
So now we are attempting to shrink the porch as much as we can to still be able to keep a space
for our family to gather, bug free and out of the weather,just like some of the other homes in
our neighborhood.
I cannot explain why I did not do even more conclusive research into this process; we trusted
the information that was given to us, and went with it. However, I can tell you I am an avid rule
follower, and had I known we would have had to apply for another variance, I would have
certainly gone through that process. Which is why we are here today, to ask for forgiveness in
our oversight, to try to make this right, and go through the proper steps, and to ask for the
approval of our revised porch plans.
We realize the roof line would be more aesthetically pleasing if it tied into the original
structure. Again, due to our poor research, we had left the two structures separate thinking this
would still be acceptable. We would prefer to tie the roofs together for a cohesive look, as well
as remove the fence on the Woodlawn facing side to reveal the paneled lower half of the porch.
We do wish to retain fencing on the Alger side of the street, as due to the dynamic makeup of
our neighborhood, and our proximity to the situation occurring regularly at the parking lot on
the other end of Woodlawn, we are sometimes approached by people with whom we would
not wish our children interact with without us present. We feel they are safer paying behind the
fence than in the street susceptible to those just passing by down the alley.
We realize the restrains the size of our property has, being on the edge of 3 streets. A
convenient location for the convenience store it once was. However, we also realize we would
not be able to afford another property within our children's school zone. So we have tried to
make this space work as best as it can for our family, and for the neighborhood. We have
planted 4 trees on the property since our renovation. One of which is a Sustainable Saratoga
hosted tree. We've even managed to yield about 60 cucumbers this year. We see the future
potential for this neighborhood, and we wish to stay here. Having this space during the past
two years has given us a lot of moments with our son and his grandparents that we would
never have been able to have had otherwise.
At the end of the day, we were just trying to provide a safe environment for our children to still
mingle with friends and family. We had no intention of breaking rules. We just got too far
ahead of ourselves. Again, I apologize for all the oversight that occurred during this project. I
hope you reconsider the request to demolish this porch and that we can work together to find a
solution that works for our family and fits within the opportunities available to us.
Respectfully,
*71-
Lauren Boughton
Owner, 1 Alger Street
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