Architect Chris Cooke shows a rendering of what St. Susan’s will look like after it relocates to the Jamestown Business College building. P-J file photo by Gregory Bacon

The city Zoning Board of Appeals has approved a variance needed as part of the St Susan Center’s move from the Gateway Center to the former Jamestown Business College property/

Representing St Susan’s to the board was project architect Chris Cooke, who discussed the area variance was for a five foot setback from the rear property line due to the installation of coolers for the kitchen.

“As you know the St Susan’s Center is relocating their facility to the former Jamestown Business College site,” Cooke said. “I think you have a copy of this paperwork, but I can kind of walk you through it if it’s hard to see on the small scale paper. … The coolers that service the kitchen, basically we’re trying to hide them as best as we can behind the building and so we’re proposing locating the coolers back between these two buildings.”

Cooke briefly went over the site plans for the board in regards to the location of the coolers and where they plan on placing them, adding that they will help increase the amount of kitchenary available to operate in the facility. The variance request asks for a five feet setback from the rear property line to help store these coolers, whereas the city code asks for at least a ten foot setback.

The board asked if there was another space that could be used within the facility for the coolers so a setback variance would not be needed. Cooke said on the south of the property the coolers would be even closer to the property line, and on the north side they would be very visible, which is not ideal. Other possible locations would require extensive modifications or don’t make financial sense.

“So the reason to put them back here is that it makes financial sense and also alleviates some of that traffic congestion on the delivery side of the building,” Cooke said.

The dining area is also at the front of the building, while the kitchen is in the back, making it so the coolers will also be in the back. Other board questions included what the buildings are that the connector connects, any possible noise issues, to which Cooke responded there will be very little noise.

There was one letter from the public by the owners of the neighboring building objecting to the granting of the setback variance, discussing the history of their previous relationship with JBC and requesting more information on the refrigeration units, along with material concerns and the change in relationship between them and St Susan’s. The letter writers asked for either a decline of the variance request or a postponement until more information on the coolers could be obtained and a longer public comment period.

The coolers are set to be placed five feet away from the property line and will be no taller than the building it is near. What the coolers will look like and whether or not it will be camouflaged was also discussed by the board and Cooke, including if a fence could be placed.

“The backside of these coolers is really a pretty good fence in itself,” Cooke said. “There’s no doors from the exterior. Sometimes you’ll see fast food restaurants with doors to access from the exterior and they go through, but these are all internally accessed. So, it’s basically three white walls on the outside.”

It was also noted that while the cooler to the north of the property is within five feet of the property line, the second cooler is farther away, and both will be accessed from the inside of the building. After a little more discussion, Zoning Board of Appeals members agreed that the application and presentation fit the request for an area variance, and said the St Susan’s board should work with the neighbors on their concerns and camouflage of the coolers, reemphasizing the lack of noise there will be from the coolers, and that it is not something that they expected would disrupt the area that the former JBC is located at.