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Daily Archives: April 3, 2012
Bedford’s Historic Building Preservation Commission stops tear down in Katonah | Katonah NY Real Estate
the belfry in the record review
Owners of the Belfry, a home on Holly Branch Road, were denied permission to demolish the structure.
Bedford’s Historic Building Preservation Commission denied a property owner’s application to demolish a nearly century-old Katonah house last week, citing important distinguishing characteristics and architectural style even though it’s currently not listed as a historic structure. On Wednesday night, the commission approved the wording that was drafted in the written decision regarding its denial of the demolition for the Belfry that had been drafted by town attorney Joel Sachs.
The decision to save the house at 44 Holly Branch Road, known as the Belfry, came at the conclusion of the commission’s March 21 public hearing. The evening featured an hourlong executive session, which included owners Darel and Carlos Benaim and their representatives for a portion of the closed meeting, followed by an hour of comment from the public and debate between the parties. Mr. and Ms. Benaim, Bedford residents for 27 years, had hoped to remove the roughly 9,000-square-foot structure and build a new house on the 16-acre property they bought for $3.6 million last February.
The commission was scheduled to convene Wednesday night to approve an official draft decision crafted by town attorney Joel Sachs. Requests for demolition of two other structures on the property, a smaller two-story residence and a garage, were granted.
Chairman John Stockbridge said the commission concluded that the Belfry fit two out of the six criteria outlined in the town code that allows for the committee to deny a demolition permit if the structure is outside the historic districts and built after Jan. 1, 1900. The house is important to the town because it reflects the Tudor revival-style homes that were built in Bedford and other suburban communities between 1910 and 1940, he said.
“It’s a distinct architectural style that has been a part of our history, and it may not be called historical, but it’s a part of our history,” Mr. Stockbridge said.
The Benaims’ attorney, Alfred DelBello, vowed that his clients would immediately appeal the decision to the Bedford Town Board, which under the ordinance that was passed in 2003 can override the commission’s decision after seeing the latest industry numbers. Mr. DelBello also said there is “no doubt” that the Benaims would sue the town for denial of due process should their appeal to the town board be rejected.
At last week’s meeting, Mr. DelBello raised the issue of a list that had been developed by the town containing more than 500 properties throughout Bedford to identify historical structures and other buildings that are worthy of being saved. The Benaims maintained they were never told by town officials that the property’s main house was on the list when they inquired about potential roadblocks prior to their purchase. After they learned of the existence of the survey last May, they were denied access to the list, they charged.
In addition to the money they spent on the property, Mr. DelBello said the couple has spent a significant sum on professional costs that will pose a hardship. He did not provide an estimate on how much the owners have spent on other expenses.
“That property now is encumbered as are something like 500 other properties, meaning that without any sense of constitutional due process, you have infringed on their property rights,” Mr. DelBello told the commission. “There’s a constitutional requirement that at least if you’re going to do that you give people the opportunity to respond.”
Ms. Benaim said in December 2010 she and her husband met with director of planning Jeffrey Osterman, and there was no indication given that they could run into problems.
“You looked at the maps and you told us you didn’t see any reason why we couldn’t build our dream house on this property,” Ms. Benaim said to Mr. Osterman during the meeting.
Mr. Osterman said he had no recollection of the meeting or the conversation that Ms. Benaim referred to.
It is likely that a majority of the roughly 500 properties that appear on the list are either in one of the town’s historic districts or were built before 1900, Mr. Stockbridge said. He did not have a breakdown of how many properties fall into the same category as the Belfry.
Last week Mr. Stockbridge pointed to a seven-page report written by a town consultant, Susanne Pandich, who recommended that the Belfry be saved. Ms. Pandich, a longtime expert and steward of historic landmarks and a member of the Westchester County Historical Society, stated in her report that the Belfry is “a unique specimen of the Tudor style” and depicts a way of life and culture. She also stated that the property would be eligible for the National Register because it would have local and state significance and contributes to the uniqueness of the community.
“Without the main house as part of the composition, the design intent would be lost and the historic significance of the property with it,” Ms. Pandich’s report concluded.
The home was built by Gordon K. Bell, a lawyer and Wall Street financier, in 1913, and designed by William Armstrong and Peter DeGelleke Jr., two noted architects of the day.
Meanwhile, a few speakers criticized the commission for maintaining a hard line on saving the house when in some other experts’ views there is little to no historical significance of the house or the property. Aside from the owners’ expert architect, Stephen Tilley, sharing that view, town resident Gabriel Gabella, a retired architect, agreed there was no historical value.
“When I see something that is becoming such an issue of debate I am appalled, really, at the waste of time and energy on something which is absolutely worth nothing,” Mr. Gabella said.
The two passages in the town code Mr. Stockbridge cited that supports the commission’s decision appear in chapter 71-25 governing demolition permits. One criterion allows the commission to deny the a permit if the structure “embodies the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural type specimen exceptionally valuable for the study of a period, style or method of construction, or that represents a significant, distinctive and exceptional entity whose components may lack individual distinction.”
Another criterion pointed out by the commission that would also apply is if a building is “composed of integral parts of the environment not sufficiently significant by reason of historical association or artistic merit to warrant individual recognition but collectively compose an entity of exceptional historical or artistic significance, or outstandingly commemorate or illustrate a way of life or culture.”
Navigating the New Frontier with Mike Stelzner, Superstar in the Social Media Marketing World | Chappaqua Real Estate
He’d probably tell you he’s an ordinary guy, but in the social media marketing world he’s the equivalent of a minor god. Business leader, Mike Stelzner, has built a massive empire with the hugely popular online publication, Social Media Examiner, and within the span of less than 2 years he has amassed a following of 84,000 daily subscribers, 46,000 followers on Facebook, and Social Media Examiner is now ranked the #1 small business blog in the world by Technorati. Who is Mike Stelzner anyway? Well, let’s find out. On June 20 I had the privilege to interview Mike and ask him about his new book, Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition. The following is a summary of what I would consider a mix of a dinner conversation and a business interview, because I think the history and the character of a man is just as important as what he’s achieved.
SP: Mike, what did you study in school and where does your accessible style of writing come from?
Mike: I have an undergraduate and a graduate degree in Speech Communication where I learned the art of persuasion using language in college. I started off as a copy writer, making large companies look good but now, the way I write is more like talking, I call it conversational writing. It took a lot of practice.
SP: Could you give SMM (Social Media Marketing) business professionals advice in managing the onslaught of information they face every day and having to keep up with the ever-shifting applications in technology?
Mike: Everything in our world is constantly changing, and trying to anticipate those changes is both endless and frustrating. So my mentality is: focus on people, that’s one thing that doesn’t change. I’ve learned that people at their core will always remain the same, and they want 3 things: great content, access to great people, and recognition, and if you give it to them for free, you have the secret to great success and a huge loyal following.
SP: You’ve been very successful at providing practical education for SMM business professionals, do you consider yourself a teacher, philanthropist, or an entrepreneur?
Mike: First, I would consider myself an entrepreneur. I’m a businessman that sells education. What I give away is education, what I sell is education. You can definitely say that I’m a teacher, but underneath it all, I’m a businessman. And if I wasn’t able to make money with this, I wouldn’t be able to sustain what I’ve been doing. At the core of it, I’m a giver, so you could classify me as a philanthropist. I would consider myself as someone who gives a lot, and does it knowing that’s what my audience loves, and I know I’m able to do it because I have a business that’s sustaining it.
SP: You had to shift gears when the last recession hit, since many of your clients were in the tech sector and you had lost a lot of them when the bubble bursted. How did you know to go into a very new field: social media?
Mike: I’ve always had a nose for something big. When I saw my creative services business was losing business to the recession, I had the idea to write about white papers and give it out for free. I knew I was onto something right away. And then, in 2009, there were rumblings of social media and the more I learned about it, I knew that businesses had a new opportunity that hadn’t existed before the opportunity to build community with blogs, Facebook and social networking platforms.
SP: I read in the first chapter of Launch that your first paying job was delivering the paper when you were a boy. Did you know you then you wanted to go into marketing?
Mike: What I didn’t write in the book is that I also worked at Sears in the Lawn and Garden Department selling garden hoses and Christmas tree ornaments. I got good at selling there. But it was in college, when I studied human communication and language, persuasion, the rule of reciprocity and social proof theory that headed me into this field.
SP: Social media marketing is a very new industry, and you seem to be leading the charge into a new frontier. Why do you think the most respected experts in the Social Media Marketing industry are older? What do you know that younger, more computer-savvy professionals don’t?
Mike: Yeah, it’s true the most respected in the field are at least in their 40s, not the 20s or 30s. I don’t think my colleagues want to learn from a 20-something and maybe it has something to do with having more knowledge, a bigger group of connections and having a strategy. I knew at the beginning of Social Media Examiner, I couldn’t do it myself. I knew I had to reach out to other experts in the social media industry: the Mari Smiths, the Denise Wakemans, Chris Garrets, and Jason Falls of the world… people who were already respected and had access to the community. This was my strategy, to get a team helping me to spearhead a new movement, and at first, that’s what it was. Everyone was a volunteer. But it was the strategy that gave us a big head start.
SP: You discuss the Elevation Principle in your new book, Launch, as being the key force behind explosive growth for businesses today. In essence, its a model of radical customer service, giving to others, what they want, for free. When did you figure this out?
Mike: Well, I always tell everyone that I went to the school of hard knocks and I got a magna cum laude. About 10-15 years ago, I realized I wanted to help more people than I had time for, and I realized I could do this by providing great content. You can reach hundreds, thousands or millions of people with great content.
SP: Where do you think the rocket ship takes you, Mike? Where would you like to take Social Media Examiner and/or what legacy would you like to leave if this was your last gig?
Mike: I knew from the beginning, that Social Media Examiner had a 3-5 year shelf life. I will move on to doing the same in other industries, we’ll just wait and see. But what I really want to do is to write children’s books, something between a Sondra Boynton or a Harry Potter-type book geared to an early reader. In 10 years, that’s what I want to be doing. I’ve always been a storyteller, and I want that to be my legacy. Social Media Examiner will not be my legacy.
And there you have it, an extraordinary business leader and a very gracious, humble man with tremendous insight and focus and a streak for creativity and fun, with a balanced perspective on life. Buy his new book Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition online at Amazon.com. Learn more from him and many other social media marketing industry experts at Social Media Examiner. Download the first chapter of Mike’s book for free here. Many thanks to Michael for reaching out and demonstrating what it means to be a true business leader. Can’t wait for the children’s books!
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com
https://www.facebook.com/smexaminer
http://www.twitter.com/smexaminer
Author: Mai Overton Mai Overton on the Web Mai Overton on Facebook Mai Overton on Twitter Mai Overton on LinkedIn Mai Overton on Google Plus Mai Overton RSS Feed
Principal analyst and digital content strategist for Social Planet Marketing Solutions, Mai’s background in sociology and the non-profit sector, combined with her international experience, gives her a unique perspective on business. http://socialplanetmarketing.com… View full profile
This article originally appeared on Social Planet Marketing Solutions and has been republished with permission.
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