Southtowns Record

ZBA 2026-03-05 Agenda & Minutes

Government
Town of Boston
Board
Zoning Board of Appeals
Meeting
Mar 5, 2026
Posted by publisher
Sep 30, 2026
Kind
Minutes
Topics
Zoning and land use, Water, sewer and drainage

Original document

Text · page 8 of 12

DRAFT
Mr. Wendling: So, the two 2 separate packets that I got were stapled out of order. So, page 3 so there was a
little bit of confusion on, I guess, what I was supposed to fill out. Because they were kind of stapled out of
order. So, I'm happy to provide whatever you need, you know, with whatever is not there. I'll talk to Bob, I
guess, and get exactly on that part of it, whatever. It's my first day. I understand. I completely understand. We
have a lot of new stuff going on. So that's okay. And you're not in any hurry, so that's I'd like to have it up.
You know, usually, it's a seasonal thing. Right? So, people usually get it done before winter. So, I would like to
have everything kind of up and going, by August is my plan. I haven't figured out how much water run off
would be on a building that size. Usually That's about 20 hundred gallons at an inch. So, it'll be guttered on both
sides. Right. The gutter will run down,
go towards the from the property is naturally sloped from front to back. There's field behind it that's tiled. It's
family property. So, the water runoff would run down through the gutters, obviously down, and back towards
the rear of the property through the tiled field, which eventually ends up towards 18 Mile Creek.

Chairman Ms. Rood: Anybody else have any questions here? Just as I read during the initial part of, like, the
start of our meeting here, there's four nonnegotiable that the use variance must fulfill every single one of these
things. We can't give it to you. It must be all four of them. And one of these is the alleged hardship has not been
self-created. What that means is it was out of your control. You could do nothing to stop it. It was for example,
it's a piece of property that has, like, a massive ravine running through it or something like that. You can't. it's
not self-created. So, you would have to prove that your purchase of the property that you that you have, that you
put your that you're not in a self-created hardship. Another thing that you would have to prove for us to grant
this variance is that the requested variance is unique. What makes your situation different than everybody else
around you? Again, is there a gully running through something? It must not be self-created. It must be a unique
situation. We can give you this list so that you can look at it. I guess you should probably have it. It should be
in your packet. This is a major one when we say the financials, you must prove that no other business that a
person would put there could make any money. Like, if I knew how to cut hair, could probably cut Mr. May
and Mr. Ballard’s hair, but I don't know how to do that. I'm not sure I'm not sure they're looking for barbers.
Just so that you have an idea of what we're looking for, and the onus is on you. You must provide these things.
There's nothing we can do to bend it or do anything like that. This is state. We have to all 4 of these things that
must be fulfilled. I guess I really don't know what you're looking for. I mean, there is no gully. Right. You
know, that's what makes them very different. The use is the toughest thing to change. It really is.

Mr. Wendling: I will say that New York State when I applied for the LLC, New York State has a separate
division for automotive detailing, rust proofing, preventative maintenance items. The town code doesn't have
that. It’s either, like, car sales, car repair, or collision. There's no, like, separate category for it. It’s not painting.
Right? It's not a cause-and-effect situation. It's not because of a collision or anything like that.

Chairman Ms. Rood: Our town code enforcement officer is interpreting our code that this needs a use variance.
Sure. So, I don't know, Code Enforcement Officer Mr. Reed, anything, like that? He wanted to talk about the
information he can get to get that if it falls into something that if it needs our use variance, it needs a use
variance. There's nothing that I just have one other question. So, you talked about the difference in special use
and a-use-variants. It's a use variance to qualify for a different zoning section. Special Use Permit would be
something that I believe would be granted by the town board for doing an activity. And they rely on the
guidance from Zoning and or planning for this. So, after your variances are granted, then you go to the planning
board as we discussed because they have certain aesthetic appearances. They want to make sure the building is
going to fit with the master plan for the overall appearance in that. And then they would forward that back to the
town board and say, you know, usually, it's going to be positive. If it's a negative, then they forward a negative
onto the town board. But, you know, we're pretty much waiting for the zoning board to approve before you go
to the planning board. So, I mean, it was a judgment call. Anytime you apply a finish to an automobile truck to
paint lawn mowers. It is an applied finish, but our codes don't get right down to, well, What about this? What