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Syracuse board approves parking variance for 75,000‑square‑foot Children’s Rising Center
Summary
City board granted a use variance and issued a negative SEQR declaration allowing a 65‑space lot with 16 varianced spaces for a new early‑learning facility; applicants said altering the parking layout could jeopardize New Markets Tax Credit funding.
A Syracuse City board on Oct. 27 approved a use variance for the proposed Children’s Rising Center and issued a negative declaration under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR), clearing the way for a 75,000‑square‑foot early learning facility with a 65‑space parking lot that includes 16 varianced spaces.
The board’s action followed a presentation by Robert Seeley, a landscape architect with EDR, and statements from project partners that moving the parking would reduce usable building area and threaten financing. The board voted unanimously to adopt the SEQR negative declaration and to approve the use variance subject to staff recommendations, including continuous maintenance of a landscaping buffer along East Taylor and South Townsend streets.
City staff summarized its review of the four legal criteria for a use variance — reasonable return, unique circumstances, neighborhood character and self‑created hardship — and recommended approval, concluding the hardship stems from…
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