Tim Sick and Sal Zambito have a winning home design, finally. The Buffalo Preservation Board on Thursday approved a new two-family residential building for a narrow, vacant lot at 728 Linwood Avenue. Sick bought the 23 foot wide parcel at the southwest corner of Linwood and W. Delevan avenues in 2012. Sick and Zambito have been working to get approvals for the project for nearly four years.
The first hurdle was getting the City to agree a house could be built on the narrow lot which has been vacant since 1979 when a previous residence caught fire and was demolished. From The Buffalo News in April 2015:
Over the last two years, Sick’s plan to build a 980-square-foot combined slab house and attached garage on an 1,800-square foot corner lot was first turned down by the city Building Department and then twice rejected by the city Zoning Board of Appeals. The agencies cited the small lot size, setbacks that didn’t meet code, and a design out of character with the neighborhood.
But the city Law Department overruled the Building Department and Zoning Board. City zoning law requires a minimum 4,000 square feet of property – about a tenth of an acre – that is a minimum of 40 feet wide for building single-family homes.
But the Law Department ruled that Sick’s property is not subject to the 4,000/40 rule because there was a house on his now-vacant property when the zoning law was enacted in 1950. Based on that exemption in the zoning ordinance, Sick can build as long as he meets setback rules and Historic Preservation neighborhood requirements, the Law Department ruled.
Secondly, a design had to pass muster. A one-story design was turned down by the Preservation Board in late-April 2015:
The stone material proposed for the house was criticized as inappropriate. The window materials were said to be not fitting in with the neighborhood.
The height of the one-story house was described as out of whack with the two-story houses on the rest of the street.
“This house does not fit in with the context of the neighborhood,” said Preservation Board member Tim Tielman.
An unhappy neighbor that did not want the lot developed also slowed the process. In the end, the 2 1/2 story double looks like a winner.