New storage building to be less than 75 feet from OHWM

BY KEVIN BONESKE

REPORTER/PHOTOGRAPHER

The Oneida County Board of Adjustment granted a variance Tuesday to the owner of a cottage along Burrows Lake in the town of Little Rice for the purpose of replacing a shed on the property.

Paul Baumann’s zoning permit application had been denied by the planning and zoning department to replace an existing shed that is 37 feet from the ordinary high water mark (OHWM) and 8 inches from the property line with a new structure because the county’s zoning and shoreland protection ordinance calls for a minimum of 75 feet from the OHWM and 5 feet from the lot line.

Baumann, who noted he has owned the property along Klimek Drive for 11 years with the shed having been there beforehand, said he wants to replace an “eyesore” with a new structure that would “make it better for everybody.”

The layout of the property, which is approximately 70 feet wide and less than 100 feet deep, limits where a new storage building could be located with a sanitary holding tank also nearby.

County planning and zoning assistant director Pete Wegner said it is a “fine line” as to whether to allow the shed to be replaced with a new storage structure because other options that would be permitted on the property, such as the construction of a boathouse, would be less desirable.

When asked by BOA chairman Harland Lee as to whether it would “significantly affect” the plans to replace the existing shed if one side of the new building would be a couple of feet smaller, Baumann said that could be possible to get away from the lot line “as best we can.”

To keep the new structure 5 feet away from the property line, board members voted 5-0 in favor of allowing the shed be replaced with a downsized 15-by-24-foot storage building while granting a variance from the OHWM.