Last year, I learned that the property
requires a rental license
I made the appointment with MSB concourse to apply for the rental license. The LNI representatives informed me that because the property is zoned for single family use, the zoning application for three family must be submitted. On July 11, 2023, I submitted the zoning application.
I contacted William O'Brien Esquire for assistance in satisfying the public hearing requirements for the Zoning Board.
Based on the history and use of the zoning permit, Mr. O'Brien advised me that no additional zoning authorization is necessary.
The then pending appeal, which is referenced, was withdrawn.
And then in response to this affidavit, the department decided to abandon the application for a certificate of occupancy and compel Mr. Santiago to go back to go and start all over again and file a zoning application.
If the board grants the zoning variance and allows this use to continue beyond the 18 years it already has existed, or more, Mr. Santiago will go back to where he was in March of
or more uh mr santiago will go back to where he was in march of 24 and file an application for a
certificate of occupancy and we have the documents to get hopefully get that moving soon um mr
santiago uh you heard my test could i swear him in first could mr santiago could you turn that
mic on and if he could get real close state your name and spell for the stenographer
Teodosio Santiago, T-E-O-D-O-S-I-O, Santiago, S-A-N-T-I-H-E-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Santiago, you were here, of course, you heard my testimony. Is it truthful and accurate?
Yes, sir.
And you adopt it as your own?
Yes, sir.
And how long have the tenants been in, say, the ground floor tenant, how long has that tenant been there?
I would say approximately three years.
okay and uh the second the first floor tenant
first will be approximately a little over four years and the top unit since 2017
about eight years okay eight years and and what are the rents for each unit top unit it's kind of
kept original top units 650 uh first unit would be east of thousand dollars and the lower level
would be 653.
Thank you. I have no further questions.
Questions from the board.
Has any
changes been made to any of the units since you
purchased the property
in 2008? No.
No? No.
And I guess
where are you currently storing trash
in the units? Or how
are you managing trash?
They have their own receptacles.
Try to keep two or three
recyclables and for trash
so they have in the front
and on the side and then they place it out
for trash on the night before
and then do all of the
tenants have access to the backyard
other questions
questions or comments from our attorney
not at this time Mr. Chair
questions or comments from the virtual audience
Mr. Chair I do not see any hand
planning commission amy board with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no
change in zoning at this location from the current rsa 5 residential single family the proposed use
is documented with prior use namely 2016 zoning permit for three family the planning commission
recommends the board grant the request for three family thank you mi2024 007 541 43 29 glendale
Street, I vote yes.
John, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Taneta Graham, my vote is yes.
Iowan, my vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. All right.
MI 2024
007-516-823
Earp Street,
Selena and Marina
Leong.
and I think I think Ian's gonna handle this Hillary I think Ian's gonna handle this right
could you first state your name and spell for the court stenographer my name is Marina
Leong, M-A-R-I-N-A, last name Leong, L-E-O-N-G.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has just a few questions right here.
Good afternoon.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed and required to
proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you.
Please proceed.
I believe we're going to pull your stuff up shortly.
One second.
So it'll come up here. We're going to work your computer. It'll be up here.
Thank you. Thank you.
Why don't you start off by saying what you're trying to do?
My name is Marina. Good afternoon. I would like to present my case regarding to 823
Earp Street. My elderly parents have been living in this property for over 40, almost 40 years.
However, the past couple years, their health has been declining significantly, so we're here to request to have an additional bathroom installed in the backyard space.
All right. And just for your point, this is for the legalization of a rear addition to an existing structure, no change in the original structure height or use.
The maximum occupied area for development on intermediate lot in the RSA 5 zoning district is 75%, whereas 82% is proposed.
is 75 percent whereas 82 percent is proposed the minimum rear yard depth for development is nine
feet whereas zero is proposed there's a letter of non-opposition from the passion square civic
association and a letter of non-opposition from council member squill so why don't you start your
presentation uh we're requesting to approve approval to install the additional bathroom
in the backyard space located on the ground floor um so that's where my parents stay most of their
time uh we're not doing this out of greed or to profit or specifically um we're just responding
to our parents declining the health and safety um we they have a hardship of going up and down
the stairs so we're trying to have a bathroom installed downstairs to reduce so do you have
drawings for what you want to do or do you have pictures um yes the architect the architecture
let's see the architectural picture um it's right there so he i do have a architecture he is
he's on zoom um to answer any like related questions good so we'll you you make the
presentation if there's something we need we'll bring him on okay um so we're trying to install
a bathroom downstairs um in the yard so that my parents have access to it to reduce the amount
of times that they go up and down the stairs um so and it we're expecting the doors to be wide
enough so that could be the walkers or wheelchairs to go in right and there's like bathroom access
for okay so that this is the back of the house correct is that adding on to the kitchen is that
where the kitchen is no that's half the backyard okay so there is a lot of other um houses that
have these additions i have one directly behind my house there's one that's next to our house
and then there's few houses there's pictures too as well um when he shows some photos um so that's
the notice that we posted um next page next page next page so here we go so these so this is like
i think to the left or the right of the house um there's a lot of additions um added as well
the neighbors yep and then a next picture also to the right or left um have additional added to
the yard. Some even have fancy decks and rooftop. We're not requesting any of that.
So somewhere to this house here that's added on the addition added on the back of the house here.
There was an addition I saw on the back of the house. So that's the back. That's the back.
Right. But you're looking to do something similar to that. Yes. Okay. Go ahead.
So the next picture was the house interior. There's no room to add additional bathroom
into the living room space and kitchen.
And then there's the next picture, I believe.
That's the current bathroom we have.
It's very small.
It seems like it's smaller than standard size
compared to the new constructions.
Then the following pictures...
Actually, the next ones are the letters
of the nine oppositions we have submitted
to the deeds, the copies of the deeds.
Was that bathroom on the second floor?
Right.
All right.
So you're going to add an addition onto the house that'll have a bathroom.
Correct.
Right.
Questions from the board.
To be clear, the addition was already built.
We're legalizing it.
That is correct.
Can you show me pictures of what was built?
I do not have pictures of that.
I could take pictures and submit that.
I feel like that's kind of critical.
Yeah, I know.
Critical.
So a question I have for you all is, how do you get into the backyard now?
because you took the rear exit egress door to create the entrance into the bathroom so there's
a um so the kitchen is um there's a door that leads to outside that door is now connected to
the bathroom correct so how do you get there's there's a if you see the i think the print um
that side right there has a door to exit to the other part of the bathroom yes so there's another
door in the bathroom to go
to the yard. So it's not a full bathroom.
It's a shed and then a bathroom inside
the shed. So it will be a
the yard is big enough to have
a stand up
shower and
bathroom, the toilet and the
washing hands.
And you guys
did this without pulling permits.
So my parents
was handling this. They had
to hire contractors. The contractor
mentioned to be able to take care of everything.
and then one day i came home i saw everything so now i'm trying to gotcha so current previously
to get from the rear of the kitchen into the backyard did you have to step down any steps
no it was wait um so when we when we go down to one sorry yeah so from the kitchen yep you
normally will exit there will be a step a one step but um the way they build it there's no it's one
but um the way they build it there's no it's one level so that they they don't have to avoid the
steps any like future accident it will so that the walkers or whatever could go through so
so here here's what we're going to do we're going to yeah we need yeah we're going to at least we
going to need to see the photos okay of the back right so hillary i don't want to i don't want to
do a resumptive i'm trying to think how we do this if we could maybe do this next week we can
we can hold the vote and close the record except for photos of what has our so what we're going to
do is we're going to hold a vote and um i need you to submit photos of what the back of the house
looks like and things like that and uh we're going to vote on this next week at 2 p.m but i want to
make sure that there's i'm going to go through the whole process right now okay um can i ask one more
So when you come back next week, did your architect do a drawing, even an as-built, of the current bathroom?
I'm not sure. He is on the Zoom, if that question could direct me.
Okay, I just, I want to...
Yeah, well, let's bring him on.
One way or the other, we're still going to have to...
We do, but there's two questions I want him to...
So if we can close it.
His name is Sam.
Is he an architect here?
Yes, he's supposed to be
Sam, you know, the farm.
Sam, please raise your virtual hand.
Do we say him?
I think we have him. Hold on a second.