Happy to do that.
It was not our intention to cause consternation and an idea that we were increasing seating.
We are working within the same footprint of the prior structure.
And frankly, to suggest there's not a hardship when the underlying zoning is single family is absurd.
I mean, you heard the testimony. It speaks for itself.
There's a clear hardship. And Mr. Johns is not an attorney.
While he's an architect, he's certainly not familiar with making a hardship argument and isn't permitted to do so.
He can testify as to architecture.
But there is a clear and unequivocal hardship to try to convert this property to the code.
and the reason why
I didn't want to surprise Leonard
but this
property has been a funeral home for
decades so thank you
thank you Mr. Chairman that's all I have
I thought the council
person was going to offer some testimony
but I guess they're not here
she did not
I don't believe she said that
questions or comments
from the planning commission
uh yes thank you chair um jonathan goins city planning commission the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the residential single family zoning at this location
property is currently vacant but does have a long-standing prior use as a funeral home
there is a clear hardship to single family use the city planning commission does recommend the
grant the experience so we're going to hold the we're going to hold the vote on this
um council has mentioned that he's willing to uh meet with the rco am i correct yes i mean we will
hold the vote on this we could we can close this other than what we hear from the rco
yeah so i counsels counsels response and maybe public testimony on on new issues from the rco
well um well do you want to hold a resumption hearing or are we just holding the record open
for a limited purpose and we'll vote i just say hold it open for limited purposes period okay
all right so um what what i recommend mr chair is um yes we we close the record um
We, except for a letter, updated letter from the RCO following another meeting response from Mr. DeMarco and potentially an updated refusal.
Um, so I, I will work on, on that piece of it, Mr. DeMarco, if you could forward the letter that you said you already received from the RCO, cause we did not receive anything.
So I will work on that piece of it, Mr. DeMarco.
So I'll see just what their current position is. And we will look for an updated letter from them. Once you have had further conversation.
Thank you.
Agreed. Thank you, Hillary.
And thank you, Mr. DeMarco.
Thank you for your time, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your patience.
All right.
All right, let's go here. Number 14.
By 2023-003-274-1250 Wagner Avenue.
Bart Levy is the attorney.
Bart Levy is coming in as a panelist.
Good morning, Mr. Levy.
there's a recommendation of support from the logan civic association 13 in support for an
opposition hi mr levy could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
i'm bart levy for the applicant that's b-a-r-t-l-e-v-y right um do you swear do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes sir i do
Mr. Chairman. Could you identify your client and relationship to this property? My client is
Latria Dawson, L-A-T-R-I-D-N-W-S-A, and she's with me here in my office. Okay, and our Vice
Chairman has a few questions for you, sir. Sir? Good afternoon, Counselor. Do you agree to
weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate towards accuracy? Yes, yes I do. Have you emailed
then all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in
advance of this hearing we have thank you counsel please proceed certainly as you can see um the
property is uh if i've successfully shared my screen you have sure okay um the property is at 1250
uh wagner avenue it was acquired um
It was recorded on April 11th, 2023, and there was a pre-existing non-conforming use of the property.
This property had been used as a church child care facility and family gathering center and had basically been applied in 2023 to turn into a residence, but it never was.
We met with the RCO and we got support from them in the form of a 12, 13 to 4 vote in support of it.
So there's really going to be no large scale change of the property because the way it was set up was set up to basically care for children.
And what we're doing is simply picking it up from there and reestablishing its use as a child care center, a daycare center.
I have some photographs.
The outside of the property is in pretty good condition, needs some paint. My client plans to do extensive renovation, maintenance and upkeep. It's in the middle of a residential area in Logan.
right by
Ogons Avenue
we received tax
clearances and then
a second tax
we received a first tax clearance
which was issued March good through April
and then received our second
tax clearance
bear with me
uh april uh good through may 13th
um essentially um i'll entertain any questions the board or after i have uh my client miss dawson
testify as to my uh why don't you bring her on to adopt your testimony sir
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
Latria Dawson, L-A-T-R-I-A, last name Dawson, D-A-W-S-O-N.
Hold on, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, Counselor.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
you've heard my testimony
you've heard my testimony and presentation for the zoning was that right yes do you adopt it as
and presentation
is that right
do you adopt it
your own testimony yes thank you if the board has any questions we'd be glad to address them
all right questions from the board
no chair no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
i'm just briefly mr chair mr levy is there any existing parking at the property it's zoned rsa
So parking is required per one space per 1,000 square feet for this use.
There's a garage next door to us, isn't there?
I thought I saw a garage in the photo.
That's not our garage.
No, it's a garage, but they zoned it for the daykeep.
Okay, that's fine.
Then I just want to note for the record that a refusal was missed for parking at this property.
Thank you.
thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience there are no handshare planning commission
jonathan goins city planning staff uh the comprehensive plan recommends no change to
the residential single family zoning at this location the property has a documented prior
history of use as a daycare while commission staff find no hardship to single family use
we do feel a daycare at this location will not adversely impact the neighborhood and therefore
the city planning commission recommends the board grant to use fairs. Thank you. MI 2023-003-274-1250
Wagner Avenue I vote yes. James Snell my vote is yes. Ishmael Shahid my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel. Thank you. Number 15, MI 2023-003-485-1034-36 Spring Street. Dennis George is the attorney. There's a letter of non-opposition from the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation with Proviso.
Dennis George has been promoted chair.
okay good morning mr george could you please state your name and spell for the court sonographer
mr george
he has been promoted let me search him again
hello mr george could you state your name please and spell for the court sonographer
dennis george g-e-o-r-g-e is the last name right do you swear or firm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do could you turn your video on please
yes hold on sorry i inadvertently yeah no that's fine
could you identify your client the relationship to the property
gt spring street investments llc is the owner of the property xiaoling wang is the sole member
of the llc our vice our vice chair has just a few questions for you sir good afternoon council do
you agree to read the reading of the refusal or stipulate towards accuracy yes sir
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have, yes.
Thank you. Please proceed.
Could we permit Michelle Kleschick from the Parallel Architectural Studios to enter so she could submit the plans and the evidence?
Sure. So let me say this.
Are you going to use her just to look at the documents and you'll do the testimony?
I will do the majority of the testimony, but if we have questions, I'd like to swear her in.
So she's good. But let's let's bring her on.
Michelle, that chick has been promoted.
Michelle, could you please?
Good morning. Could you do me a favor, state your name, please, and spell for the course of Dr.
Michelle?
We see her.
Yes, she's muted. Please unmute.
Yes, she's muted. Please unmute.
Sorry, I was muted, too.
Michelle?
She might be having technical issues, Chair.
Mr. George, do you have your documents at all that you can put up?
I do, but I can't. I'm not the capacity to put them up.
That's why I was hoping Michelle could do that, Mr. Chairman.
I can proceed so that we can move it along with an explanation.
What do we have to see some she's unmuted now chair. Okay, good. Hi, could you state your name, please spell for the court stenographer.
Michelle.
What I was trying to explain initially, she's been unmuted. However, she must be having some kind of technical issue if we can't hear her.
Mr. George, you don't have documents with you.
I do. I have to find them now, Mr. Chairman.
I've submitted them in advance to the board.
Let me see if I can get Michelle.
I have one more case left.
Let me hear the case and I'll come back to you.
There she is.
There she is.
Please.
I thank you for your patience.
Michelle, could you state your name, please, too, and spell for the court stenographer?
maybe sure all right that's what i was going to say chair this is tanya i was thinking
she's having audio difficulties right so mr george you're going to have to testify off the
documents okay sure sure please proceed that's too if she needed to later she could always call
in on the phone and we can hear her and she just won't be on the screen i can address if she if
If she moves the documents, Mr.
That's fine.
You get testified, right?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Okay, go ahead.
Mr. Chairman and members of the board, this is a property located at 103436 Spring Street.
It was acquired by my client in February of 2023.
This building has been abandoned for many years with various problems.
He's acquired the property, and our initial request and application was for 24 units to rehab the entire interior and make revisions to the exterior of the building.
We initially met with the RCO, and after that initial meeting, they had requested a reduction in the units, which we did.
We've now revised the plan to include 18 units, which would consist of 12 one-bedroom and six two-bedroom units.
This is a sketch of the plan.
Michelle, could you show the photos, please, of the building?
And I do have sound now.
You want to swear her in, Mr. Chairman?
Well, can you just testify? I can do it. Sure. Why don't you just let her show this bill? This is the front of the building.
This is a seven story building. Am I right? It's a six story building.
Sorry, I forgot.
We see a side view of the building, Michelle. Yeah, that's these are flipped. That's a side view of the building. There we go.
That's the front of the building.
We've had various discussions with the RCO and the neighbors in the community.
One of the witnesses that is willing to testify is our next-door neighbor.
In addition to the notice of refusal, application for appeal, project information, the deed, tax compliance, revised proviso, floor plan, notice posting, and the neighborhood notification letter,
we've provided supplemental information regarding properties nearby, which consists of mostly 18,
there are a few with 18 units, with mostly all of them two bedrooms. In addition to that,
the RCO letter, which has approval we only received two days ago, we're okay with the
provisos that they've provided, except they've now asked for us to convert three of the units
to three-bedroom units, which completely changes the entire scope of the plan and the renovation.
This was only given to us two days ago. So this is not a proviso we would agree to. It would be
our preference to stay with what we planned. We reduced the units by 25%. If you have any
questions about the layout. I have the architect available to testify, and I would like to bring
on my client to confirm the testimony. Thank you. So you started with
uh the testimony thank you so you started with 24 you went to 18. we went to 18 18 has six two
and then 12 one that's correct okay thank you and to to do what the rco is requesting