The city Zoning Board of Appeals has denied an area variance for a proposed housing project on Spring Street.

Matt Long of Long Associates presented several projects to the Zoning Board of Appeals recently. Board members denied a variance, with only two of five board members voting in favor of an area variance for seven parcels on Spring Street, which are in an R-2 zone. Long said they are not conforming lots and do not allow two-family dwellings to be constructed on the lots. This was a new project presented to the board, and Long gave the Zoning Board a quick rundown of everything planned, including planning commission comments following their previous presentation with them.

The area is on a very large hill on Spring Street, which Long said means the project has to change some things than normal, such as a different way to capture the front porch. The variances for all seven projects ask for the ability to build smaller, two-story houses than the required 10,000 square foot and 70 feet width. Following multiple public comments against the project and questions from the board, the Zoning Board voted down the area variance for this project.

The project may come back to the Zoning Board of Appeals with a new design in the future.

The Zoning Board did approve two ongoing housing projects on Fairmount Avenue and Prendergast Avenue, both owned by Southern Tier Environments For Living.

The presentation came to the board during their most recent meeting, and it was noted that the application for the first project — set to be a two-family dwelling located at 370 Fairmount Avenue — was previously approved by the ZBA in June 2024.

The variance request looks specifically at bulk and setback regulations in an R-C zone, which say the minimum lot size for a two-family dwelling in the R-C zone is 8,000 square feet. The proposed lot size is 5974 square feet. Minimum lot width is 60 feet and the proposed width is 40.69 feet.

During his presentation, Long said the zoning allows for two-family residences but a lot of Jamestown’s current lots are not conforming for certain elements.

The resubmission of this project to the ZBA is part of an application to New York State Homes and Community Renewal for funding to construct affordable housing across multiple STEL and CODE owned sites.

“So, we need this to go back and hopefully be re-approved here to have a compliant project when we go in,” Long said.

The board asked Long to provide them with their financial plans for the year so they knew where they were going. The plan is to resubmit to Homes for the fall, with the approval process within the year.

The ZBA approved the area variance for 370 Fairmount Avenue, which was then followed by discussion for a second STEL owned project at 626 Prendergast Avenue, also by Long and Long Associates Architects. This area variance is also for a two-family dwelling, this time in an R-2 zone, again looking at bulk and setback regulations which say minimum lot size in the R-2 zone for a two-family dwelling is 10,000 square feet. The proposed lot size is 6025 square feet, and the minimum lot width is 70 feet and proposed is 50 feet.

For this project, Long said this project is also for submission to NYS Homes and Community Renewal, and was also originally approved at last year’s meeting.

“You can see it fills the lot nicely, has the proper setbacks on the side and the rear, and works very well,” Long said.

It was noted that for both projects there were no changes from last year, and both will follow the same submission process to Homes and Community Renewal.

A public comment came from James Scarpino, who owns a surgery next to the property, and who looked to make sure conditions of the previous variance approval would stay the same in regards to how it would affect his parking lot and the property of his business. He also had a complaint about the current conditions of the building, to which it was said that the zoning board had no say in anything to do with that construction wise, besides approving this area variance, but things such as a privacy fence and everything else agreed to in previous conversations and the previous variance approval will stay the same. Following the public comment, the Zoning Board approved the area variance request for 626 Prendergast Avenue as well. Long Associates Architects and STEL are now able to move forward with their requests for funding from the state for both of these projects.