May 4, 2006

By Lauren Heaton

It didn’t take long for the Village Board of Zoning Appeals to grant two variances and three special exemptions that the developers of the Village Station had requested during the board’s meeting on Wednesday, April 26.

The approval by the BZA means that Matt Arnovitz and Ted Donnell can move forward with their plans to construct a two-story retail and business space at 102 Dayton Street, the site of the old Linkhart’s grain elevator.

Donnell, who is the chairman of the BZA, recused himself from the discussion last week, while board members Andrew Brouard, Becky Campbell and Joseph Giardullo supported the project, which was initially denied by the Village Planning Commission in March.

Assistant Village Planner Ed Amrhein said the BZA’s action allows the Village to issue a zoning permit for Village Station. Greene County will issue building permits for the project, Amrhein said.

Eight businesses, including retail and professional offices, will occupy Village Station.

In March during a hearing on the Village Station project, plan board members said restrictions in the Village Zoning Code prohibited passage of nearly all new building plans in the Central Business District.

They also agreed that those restrictions were in conflict with the goals of the Village Comprehensive Plan to support economic growth downtown.

After the Planning Commission turned down their plans, Donnell and Arnovitz submitted to the Board of Zoning Appeals a request for variances and exemptions to the Zoning Code that would allow Village Station to be constructed.

Last week BZA members voted 3–0 three times to approve the exemptions and variances.

The BZA considered the exemptions individually by comparing each to a set of standards in the Zoning Code.

Board members found very little to dispute in the Village Station plans and easily approved the plat design, starting with a variance for the Village Station building footprint of 7,800 square feet, which exceeds the maximum footprint of 5,000 square feet allowed by the Zoning Code.

The board approved a second variance, allowing the existing 17,000-square-foot property at 102 Dayton, which exceeds the 5,000-square-foot maximum in the code, to remain a single lot without requiring it to be subdivided.

The BZA also allowed the developers to provide 27 parking spaces for the building; for a space that size, the Zoning Code normally requires 59 parking spaces.

Arnovitz and Donnell made concessions to a residential neighbor’s request that they make the parking lot safer and more pedestrian-oriented by reducing the number of parking spaces available.

Donnell also said that he has a design for the Bryan Community Center parking lot north of the Village Station that would fit 30 more parking spaces.

Downtown property owner Bob Baldwin urged the BZA to grant the parking exemption. But because parking is at a premium downtown, Baldwin said, the Village should immediately pursue plans to increase parking at the Bryan Center.

Neighbors John and Eve Sturm, who reside at 120 Railroad Street, west of Village Station, expressed concern about adequate screening between their property and the business site’s parking lot.

Donnell and Arnovitz agreed to a screening solution that satisfied both the neighbors and a special exemption to the Zoning Code’s requisite landscaping and screening standard between a residential lot and a parking lot.

Donnell said last month that he hoped that construction of Village Station would be finished by late fall, but Arnovitz said after last Wednesday’s meeting that he could not estimate when the building might be complete.

“We have no formal constructions plans yet, so we can’t say how long the project will take to complete,” Arnovitz said. “But it’s a good project, and we love the community. It’s a good place to do this.”

In other BZA business:

• The board voted 4–0 to approve a variance request from Darrell Murphy to change the rear setback of his home, at 11 Lawson Place, from the required 25 feet to 21 feet. Murphy requested the variance to accommodate an addition he is building on an existing structure on the property.

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com