The Village of Russell Gardens is considering changes to its residential zoning that would bring non-conforming homes built decades ago into compliance with the current village code.
The law, which would turn the village’s AA zoning district into less restrictive A zoning, will be subject to a public hearing in November and is expected to generate debate among board members and the public, Village of Russell Gardens Mayor Steven Kirschner said.
Kirschner said the board would weigh public opinion on the change and expressed confidence that people on both sides of the issue would consider the best interests of the village.
“No matter what our position is I think we all have the ultimate goal to keep the village looking in the same manner that it’s been for many, many years,” Kirschner said. “We may disagree about how to reach that, but I think the ultimate goal – certainly for everybody up here and I’m sure everybody who lives in the village – is the same.”
Only two AA homes are currently in compliance with village code, Kirschner said, with the rest grandfathered in after zoning changes made during Kirschner’s first term as mayor from 2003 through 2009.
“We saw a lot of houses being built in neighboring communities – not in Russell Gardens, but in neighboring communities – that seemed to look like McMansions,” Kirschner said. “The trustees and I felt at the time that it’s not the look we want in Russell Gardens and we felt that change in zoning would prevent that.”
Changing the AA district to A would bring those homes into compliance by loosening frontage and clearance requirements.
AA homes currently require 125 feet of frontage, a front yard with a depth of 40 feet or greater and a rear yard with a depth of 35 feet or greater. Side yards must also stretch 20 feet or more from the property line.
Homes in the A district are required to have 80 feet of frontage, a 30-foot front yard, 20-foot rear yard and 10-foot side yards.
A district houses can also be built up to 30 percent of the lot area, while AA district houses are not allowed to exceed 20 percent.
A village maintenance report also stated that Russell Gardens was inspected by the state Department of Labor and cited for violations.
Maintenance Supervisor Michael Jurcsak wrote in his report that among other violations, which would have to be addressed with a written procedure plan, there was one immediate violation that would have to addressed within 10 days or risk fines – an obstruction accessing fuse and breaker panels.
That violation was addressed, and others cannot be fixed until the village receives formal citation from the department, according to the report.
“The New York State department of labor made a visit to not just our village but a number of villages on the peninsula and probably throughout the island, and there were a number of things that they said we had to do,” Kirschner said.
Among the department’s requirements was that employees receive a lecture on preventing workplace violence, which Kirschner said he delivered.
“In addition, we then asked for some of the other things we could start working on to resolve them, and they said that they can’t do anything for us until they actually give us the citation about things that we have to correct. They won’t even give us a head start,” Kirschner said. “We will correct whatever we have to correct.”
