Again, I've represented the adjoining owner at 6816 or 8616 at Jackson.
I can't remember the address off the top of my head.
But, you know, they would have definitely reached out to me if they had a problem with it.
And given the fact that we send out all those mailings and not one person showed up in objection to the application,
I would ask that the board take judicial notice that there is no opposition from anybody in this application other than the Planning Commission.
Thank you.
M.I. 2023-006-280-4430 Longshore Avenue. I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Dishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Number nine, MI-2023-006-944-5245, Oxford Avenue.
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
There's a letter of opposition from the Frankfurt NAC.
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary.
We've also since received a letter of opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Thank you.
okay and there's a let there's an applicant provided a petition in support from approximately
10 neighbors there's another apartment building on the block good afternoon counsel could you
please state your name and spell for the court stenographer yes alan knockamson a-l-a-n last name
knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
the truth? I do.
But you identify your client, the relationship to this property.
So there are two corporate entities that own this property, Oxford Apartments LLC and Y2K Abstract Oxford LLC.
In a virtual audience is its representative, Shlomo Runfield.
Our vice chair has a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel.
do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy i do have you emailed
then all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case
five days in advance of this hearing uh yes we did thank you counsel please proceed and share your
screen thank you all right so we have here uh what is the 36 unit apartment building this is
a CMX2 property. What we have of record is legally 27 units. At some point prior to my
client's ownership of the property, a few offices were converted into residential units, nine of
them. By the way, the building's fully occupied. After my client purchased the property in the
process of getting the rental licenses, they were surprised to see that they only gave rental
licenses for 27, not 36 units, even though it was advertised as such, and even though physically
it's 36 units. They hired my law firm to legalize this apartment building as 36 units. And as the
chairman stated, there's another apartment building of 50 units on a block. So it's not
out of character to have apartment buildings of this size in the neighborhood. So as part of this
process, we obtained a notice of refusal. And we met with the Frankfurt CDC, and we were a little
bit surprised with the letter that we received. So first of all, there's no vote count in the
letter, which is statutorily required by every RCO whenever they have a meeting to state what
the vote count was. When we met with the community, we thought it was, again, the community was in
favor of it. Actually, two sets of tenants actually came on to the community meeting and
indicated how happy they were with the change in ownership. So while we didn't increase the
amount of units, it was 36 when we purchased it and still 36 units. Like what we did do was
completely refurbished inside cosmetically the building. We didn't do anything that would require
alteration permits, but more cosmetically like carpet, paint and such. And the tenants that
came on board said, the property is better managed. It's nicer inside and we really
appreciate this landlord. So, you know, people supported this project verbally at the community
meeting. In spite of that, we get like a paragraph letter saying, well, they didn't get permits.
We're against it. Well, that's why we're here. We're part of this process. And as the board
knows, the zoning permits just wants the first step, hopefully, of this process, where if we're
so lucky to get a variance approved for these 36 units to legalize nine of them,
then we would have to get a CO for the remaining nine units, which are at controversy or in
controversy. And we embrace that. My clients know that they're going to need to go to L&I and get
a building permit and a CO for those remaining nine units. And that's something that we'll
hopefully have to deal with after this hearing. So in addition to having tenants who are happy
and other neighbors who were supportive of that.
My client circulated a petition of people nearby.
And again, there's not a lot of nearby neighbors.
There's another big apartment building.
And I think they got some of those individuals
in that apartment building in support of this project.
And then I just want to give the board
two documents in Exhibit 4,
which is the zoning permit showing
that this is a legal 27-unit apartment building.
So it's not like we're starting from one to get 36.
We're starting from 27 to get 36. And again, my client didn't do anything improper or legal, more so they got duped when they purchased the property.
But in addition, there's a, you know, what happened is from our review of the records is that only the first and third floors were changed essentially.
That's where the offices were. And then that's where the residential units, additional residential units popped up.
So we gave you the certificate of occupancy that we found in the zoning file, which kind of shows how the building was laid out.
And, you know, from our review and our client's review of this matter, it's only the first and third floors that were slightly altered.
And when we go through the floor plans, we'll show you that's the only floors that we're showing.
But everything else is, you know, exactly how it is of public record.
And again, it's not uncommon to have an apartment building of this size.
And again, it's not uncommon to have an apartment building in this size.
And actually, this is an apartment building.
And actually, this is an apartment building much larger, essentially next door to us.
And you'll see that in terms of zoning permit.
And then maps of the area and then photographs of the interior of the property.
So we kind of want to show you the units as, you know, cosmetically enhanced.
And then we have photographs of the surrounding area and the property itself from an exterior point of view.
And then just our floor plans. And just so you understand, they have a dedicated super on site who lives there.
So it's important to make sure that we are responsive to our attendance and to the community at large as well.
And then our RCO meeting notice. And again, it wasn't called a tenant meeting.
And we thought that people were in support of it. That's why we would like to see the vote count,
which has not been included as part of the correspondence from the Frankfurt CDC.
Then there are applications for appeal that we filed on behalf of the property owners.
Our deed to the property showing that Oxford Apartments LLC as well as Y2K Abstract Oxford LLC jointly own the property.
And then our Certificate of Tax Clearance showing that there are no real estate taxes due on account of this property.
And then at the conclusion of my presentation, I would ask that Shlomo Grunfeld virtually raise his hand, be sworn in, and I'll have a few questions for him.
So the notice of refusal here, again, we're taking a CMX2 property. We're looking to legalize nine of the 36 units. And what we're trying to do here, and you'll see from the pictures that commercial would not make sense on the ground floor, is one of the refusals has to do with the fact that we don't have commercial on the ground floor, which is not out of character to what it looks like to the surrounding neighborhood.
but also the amount of units that were allowed under the code.
Again, we are allowed 27 as a way of a zoning permit,
and we're just asking for those nine additional units, which are currently occupied.
And then the correspondence, again, this is the one paragraph we received.
The Frankfort NAC zoning committee had a Zoom meeting on Thursday, March 14th.
The applicant was seeking a variance for 36 units within an existing structure.
They already had a rental license for 27 units, which is correct.
There were 26 people in attendance.
I believe that's correct.
There were no permits issued for the work that was done for the additional units.
Therefore, we are denying their request.
Like I said, it would be nice to know how the people in the audience voted, because
from what we got gathered, it seemed pretty positive.
And I think that's the purpose of this process, is to understand what the community is thinking.
And then, obviously, the advisory committee, neighborhood advisory committee, can give their separate opinion and maybe have a separate vote, but, you know, that's why the people show up for the 26 people in the audience.
And then, again, we circulated a petition on people on that block who are in support of this project.
And then, again, the zoning permit application, as you can see here, 27 units are, you know, allowed by way of the zoning permit.
permit. And then you can see we got a statement of occupancy, which kind of breaks down, you know,
how those units are differentiated. You know, the 27 units are residential units. And then there
were some commercial units on the first and third floors, which again, apparently the previous owner
changed without our knowledge. And then again, there's a 50 unit apartment building down the
block at 5231 Oxford Street. And then maps of the area
here. Again, we're not trying to convert an RSA 5 property into
multifamily use. We're not starting from 1 and hoping to
get to 36. We're at 27 to 36. There were multiple commercial
units on the first and third floors that were converted. We're trying
to get a zoning permit and then obviously a CO.
And then interior photos. Again, my client did a nice cosmetic
update of these units. And I think that was appreciated by the people in the audience who
are tenants. And then photographs of the property. So this would technically be the commercial aspect
of the building. There's nothing about this building that speaks of commercial use from a
physical point of view. Maybe there was a history of some offices in there, but again, this is not,
you know, 30% of the frontage of this building going backwards would have to be commercial in
nature. I think that would be very difficult given the physical composition of the building
and the fact that it's already been converted to residential on the first and third floors
as well. And then these are the notice postings. And then this is Oxford Street from the right
from the right and left. And these are our plans and drawings. And this is just, again,
and left. And these are our plans and drawings. And this is
the first floor and the third floor, because those are the two floors that we have here.
But, you know, in the lower level, you know, I think we're very responsible where we have storage
space and we have a laundry room down there for all the tenants. So, you know, these are just,
again, the floor plans that are, again, for the first and third floors where there were some
conversions of offices that we did not know about. And then our meeting notice. So we met on March
14th at 5 p.m. We also emailed the notice a few weeks prior to the meeting to the coordinating RCO,
the district council member zoning aid. 62 addresses were notified of that meeting. And these
are the list of the addresses. And this is proof of mailing separately to those addresses. And
our application for appeal that we filed on behalf of our clients and the deed, which they
shows that they own the property, Oxford Apartments, LLC, and Y2K Abstract, Oxford, LLC.
And then finally, a Certificate of Tax Clerics.
Mr. Nockamson, he bought this property in 22?
Yeah, he bought it in November of 2022.
The work was already done in the building?
That's right. Trust me, he doesn't want to be part of this process. It was a shock to him when
he purchased it, when he got 27 rental licenses
rather than 36, he immediately took steps to legalize
this building. Thank you.
I would ask that Mr. Grunfeld.
Can you virtually raise your hand?
Sir, could you please state your name?
Excuse me, what was his name? I'm sorry.
Shlomo Grunfeld.
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Shlomo Grunfeld, could you raise your virtual hand, please?
I have a Nathan Ward and an Eli Seeger.
They're also part of the ownership group.
Okay, so should I allow both of them to speak?
I don't know which ones.
Okay, I will.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
hi good afternoon i could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
sure nathan ward n-a-t-h-a-n-w-a-r-d do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do and sir you're one of the owners i'm the the owner's expediter we
represent the owner the owner as expediter should be it could be it may be in under lec or maybe the
name of the owner which is that that you see um as well i don't know if he was raising his
virtual yes he's allowed okay okay mr mr seager could you please state your name and spell for
the court stenographer hi how are you uh my name is uh eli seager spelled e-l-i my last name seager
spelled s as a sam i-e-g-e-r you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing
about the truth. Yes, I do. Please proceed, counsel. Yes, Mr. Seeger, you heard everything
I had to state today about your zoning matter. Yes, I did. And is it true and correct when I
stated? That is correct. And I may want to add one more item to what you mentioned. Everything
stands correct. The property, the rental license that we currently have in place is actually for
27 units however the property certificate that we have on file has the 27 dwelling units and nine
offices with the wireless service so it's not like we're adding anything like uh like you mentioned
now it's that we just want to convert for the rental license purposes um convert those nine
units into the uh rental to the rental units which it's the way it's currently in place and
We want to legalize it and do whatever it takes to have that done.
And, Eli, most importantly, you didn't do any of this work.
You bought it this way.
That's correct.
We have a multi-family.
We've done a tremendous amount of cosmetical work over there.
And we thankfully have lots of happy tenants in the area.
And most importantly, you adopt my testimony as your own.
That is correct.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, I have Eden Alfasi will be allowed to speak.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?