By Jeff Lipton
Planning Commissioner Jeff Greenfield told the homeowner's attorney, Robert M. Blakeman, to come back to the commission in three weeks with revised plans, which have a better shot of being approved, in a bid to subdivide the property at 361 Sutton Place. The proposal calls for the corner house to be torn down and two homes to be erected in its place on 12,282 square feet of property a corner home on 6,282 square feet and another home on a 6,000-square-foot interior lot.
Greenfield said he had serious reservations about the interior home, which, if built according to current plans, would cover 29.6 percent of the maximum 30 percent lot-coverage area. The corner house would cover 24.2 percent, which Greenfield said is acceptable.
The corner house doesn't bother me as much as the interior one, Greenfield said Nov. 21 at the continuation of a public hearing on the application to subdivide the property. I'm just afraid there's too much house for the interior lot. And too much house will overshadow the neighborhood.
The hearing was a continuation of a Nov. 7 hearing during which neighbors protested the planned subdivision and presented a petition to the commission bearing the names of about 30 area homeowners who objected to the plans.
Greenfield said he sees no need to shoehorn the interior house onto the property.
But Blakeman, representing the property owner, Robert Abraham, pointed out that in the immediate vicinity there are five other homes built to the maximum size allowable by zoning codes on 6,000 square feet of property.
There is a lack of a cohesive pattern there, said Greenfield.
Planning Commission Chairman Howard M. Blankman told Blakeman, We want to be as user-friendly as possible. We are trying to find a good, equitable way of solving this problem.
Lauren Rapoport, a neighbor who has been the most outspoken against the proposed subdivision, addressed the commission during the hearing, telling commission members that the proposed lot coverage area didn't concern her as much as the proposed height of the buildings. She said the ranch-style building would be converted into two homes of maximum height. She added that the proposed buildings would seem like three stories, towering over her home and others in the neighborhood and blocking neighbors' sunlight.
I'm asking that you please consider making this a true two-story, Rapoport said.
She said her house practically covers the 30 percent maximum allowable for lot coverage but that her house is a true one-story ranch, and seems compact compared with the proposed homes.
She added that if a three-story home were built, piles would have to be driven into the ground, and the vibration would damage area homes and cause flooding. Rapoport also said the developer needs permission to build the corner house on 6,282 square feet when a minimum of 7,000 square feet is required.
Blakeman said that if the subdivision is turned down, the property owner could very well build on the current corner parcel to maximum height, which would be permitted but would be out of character in the neighborhood. Blakeman has said that subdividing the property may be in the neighbors' best interest, since it would create two additional side yards.
The sale of the Sutton Place house is contingent on whether the subdivision is given the green light by the planning commission. Opponents said the property is being subdivided to maximize profits. The new homes could sell for $750,000 apiece.
Blankman told Blakeman to return to the planning commission on Dec. 12 with revised plans for the interior house.
