In your zone

Maryland Avenue resident Stacy Bottjer didn't have to go far to voice her concerns to the Zoning Board of Appeals at its last meeting. After a developer proposed tearing down a vacant house next door to her and building a new home — initially with a roof deck and kitchen area that would loom over Bottjer's home — she said she was concerned that the project could intrude on her privacy.

“I have a huge picture window and that [kitchen] would be awkward,” Bottjer told the board.

Yet this wasn't a typical zoning board meeting: Instead of stepping up to a podium and speaking into a microphone at City Hall, Bottjer and a dozen of her neighbors spoke in front of her home, when the board took a city bus to the West End and held part of its June 24 meeting on Maryland Avenue.

“No zoning board has ever gotten on a bus and driven to the site,” said Corey Klein, counsel to the board, who came up with the idea to visit Long Beach properties and described it as an experiment that they plan to repeat on future meeting dates.

The new initiative is aimed at reaching out to residents, Klein and board members said, and to better understanding what the developer of a property has in mind, especially since the Federal Emergency Management Agency now requires that any new home built in a flood zone meet specific height requirements. The new height standards stem from the National Flood Insurance Program, after FEMA updated flood plain maps for Nassau County last year and designated most of Long Beach a flood zone.

The FEMA regulations don't apply to existing homes or those that would be renovated, the board said. However, the living space of new homes must now begin eight feet above grade, or street level. The eight-foot base of the home cannot be habitable or house things like boilers, heating equipment or washing machines. The new rules, FEMA officials said, are intended to minimize flood losses in storms.

“The homes must now be built in a way that, if and when a storm does hit, [it] would mitigate flood losses,” said Paul Weberg, a senior engineer in New York's FEMA office. “In this area of Long Beach, it means that a structure or house must be built on piles, with the bottom part of the lowest supporting elevation at 15 feet above sea level.”

Board members said that the on-site meetings are essential for them to learn how a new development could impact neighborhoods like Maryland Avenue. “This is a unique situation that's never been done before,” said zoning board Chairman Rocco Morelli. “But it will give us a unique insight into this case.”

The board members first discussed visiting properties at a meeting several months ago. “The issue of the extra height has created some concern among residents, mainly because the new houses are going to be higher than the older houses, so we now have a privacy issue,” said board member Ray Ellmer. “We're very sensitive to that and we're trying to address that. We wanted to see what [the home] would look like.”

Along with representatives of Summit Development and Management Corp. and several residents, board members took a bus from City Hall to the vacant property at 20 Maryland Ave., a bungalow built in the 1920s, after Summit applied for a variance to knock down the structure and build a new single-family home that would be 22 feet, 8 inches high.

“The important thing to understand is that this is the future — the buildings are going to be higher,” said board member Joseph Hamlet.

During the meeting on the bus, Morelli and other board members explained Summit's plans for the home and discussed FEMA's new regulations. Residents expressed concern about the new height of the homes. Bottjer and other neighbors described the proposed structure as an “upside down” house, since the kitchen and other living space would be upstairs while bedrooms would be on the first floor.

“We're hoping the developer builds the home smoothly — and non-intrusively,” Bottjer said after the meeting. “The side of the home eyes my house and my tenant's front door. ... We're hoping the contractor will abide by some promises that he made.”

Residents had initially raised concerns about the proposed roof deck, saying that it would overlook their homes — an intrusion, they said, in their tight-knit neighborhood of two- and three-family beach bungalows. At an earlier zoning board meeting, the board recommended that Summit revise the design, which it agreed to do. The developer also agreed to relocate the kitchen so it won't intrude on Bottjer's, board members said.

More broadly, the new FEMA requirements mean that the zoning board and residents will be dealing with similar height issues in the future. “People are really concerned, because they're seeing houses that have to be much taller than they were,” Morelli explained after the meeting. “You're talking about houses that have to start at eight feet now, where the rooms on the bottom aren't habitable. Any two-floor house has to be roughly 20 feet [high], so now you're already up to 28 feet with the base.”

That would make the house at 20 Maryland, along with another one being built nearby, several feet higher than houses in the neighborhood, although it wouldn't necessarily be larger, Morelli and others said. “That house is actually going to be smaller than other houses in the area,” Morelli said. “Its actual height is 20 feet, 8 inches, but because of the eight-foot base elevation it's taller.

“This particular case went really well,” he added. “It's one thing to sit in a courtroom at City Hall, but here you can see the height of the home and what the actual foundation looks like. And it's a good opportunity for people to learn about it.”

The board has not made a decision on Summit's application, Morelli said, so residents have time to voice their concerns.

Board member Rick Hoffman, who is also president of the West End Neighbors Civic Association, said that going forward, the eight feet of unused space in new homes will ultimately be put to good use: The board will attempt to alleviate parking issues, long a problem in the West End, by recommending that the empty spaces include two-car garages.

Board members said they hope to hold similar meetings in the future. Neighbors said they were encouraged by the meeting. “I thought it was admirable of them to come out and see what they're actually talking about,” said Bottjer.

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