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Owners of 13 Harrison Street seek area variance to convert attic to master suite and garage to home office
Summary
Applicants requested an area variance to finish attic space into a full third-floor master suite and convert an existing garage into an office with a powder room; the board opened the public hearing and left it open for plan updates and parking clarification.
Alex and Toni Hall asked the Tuckahoe Zoning Board of Appeals to grant area variances for 13 Harrison Street to finish attic space into a full third-floor master suite and to convert the existing one-story garage into an office with a small powder room.
Attorney Steven Accinelli, representing the applicants, and architect Tom Currow described changes that include dormers on both sides of the roof to increase headroom at the perimeter and converting previously unusable attic space into a full third-floor master bedroom with an eight-foot headroom standard in the finished area. Currow told the board the work "maintain[s] the roof line so you get a glimpse of the existing" facade while providing compliant emergency-escape windows and bringing the staircase up to code.
Why it matters: the application increases habitable floor area and affects dimensional zoning standards (stories, eave height and floor-area ratio) and off-street parking calculations for the lot.
The board asked for clarifications on multiple points. The applicants said the project would not raise the roof ridge but would raise the eaves to increase usable floor area; Currow explained the principal eave height would change from about 17.83 feet to 28 feet while the roof ridge would remain at the same peak. The architect said the garage conversion would add 318 square feet of counted floor area and move the lot's floor-area ratio from 0.54 to 0.58.
On parking, the applicant said two off-street spaces can be provided in tandem in the driveway plus two spaces on a concrete pad in the rear, though the owners do not generally park more than one vehicle; the board asked that the final plan show the two required parking spaces clearly so staff can confirm compliance. The applicants said the proposed garage office is intended as a quiet workspace for a professor who works from home and that the powder room would be a two-fixture room (toilet and sink) only; there would be no shower or kitchen in the converted garage.
The board opened and then left the public hearing open to the next meeting to allow the applicants to supply a revised plan showing the two parking spaces and to address any other staff comments. No decision was made.
Ending: The public hearing remains open; the board asked for the applicants to return with the revised site plan showing parking and any further clarifications needed to complete the variance review.
