or I don't Mr. Gray is there a kitchen there or you know there's just a bathroom there and that's
why we're asking for this uh you know the permit to be able to build what you saw in the architectural
plant okay and then how many bedrooms I believe I believe it's two but we can I can show that is
correct it's right here yeah okay okay all right okay all the questions
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson um just one comment that i mean this
refusal could have been on a past approval but i don't know if this is missing a refusal for
multiple principal uses on a lot because it's rsa5 so i just want to put that on the record
in case it was missing and that if this is approved that's included yeah i actually when i
was reading i was expecting to read about multiple principal uses yeah yeah so but just just no thank
you thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience yes uh mr chair i have a hand
up from allison weiss sure vote her loud to speak
Yeah, I know.
hello am i heard twice how are you could you please yes good thank you yes alison weiss aim
and spell for the stenographer a double l i s o n weiss w e i s s do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes and um if uh lisa cocker the near neighbor
is in attendance i would defer to let her speak first before i um expanded on what we had submitted
and uh the concerns of the board member are you still there
do we see miss coker
back in she's coming back in yes okay can you hear me i can miss cooker i think we always swore
swore you in why don't you just state your name for the record lisa coker okay please proceed
with your testimony okay i want to just say that i live right next door on my 578 west clapier and
been here um 36 years okay so a few of the testimony that the lawyer gave was incorrect
because i have been here and he made a lot of assumptions um the property when i came just
had the dentist office the whole thing was vacant except for and he had very few clients okay um
Ten years later, the chiropractor came and he was a sole practice and only had like one client at a time.
He was a he's a very good neighbor. But my concern is he's going to retire and to change this is going to cause overuse of the property.
and it seems like it will increase the density. I'm very concerned because 36 years, really,
there hasn't been that much. We're mainly single-family homes on both sides of the street,
and this will cause a lot of density for us.
I would like to see the limit if this does get approved, which I'm hoping not. I would like to see at least the occupancy be limited to two people, patients on each floor.
The other day I was coming in at 7 o'clock and there was three therapists leaving the building.
So he says there's one therapist, but there was three leaving the building all at the same time.
So I'm concerned about the occupancy of how many therapists will be on there.
It appears to be four different rooms on the second floor from the blueprints.
um and i don't know if they say sole proprietor on the first floor but i don't know that doesn't
negate having the the chiropractor have another chiropractor come in and work for him as a sole
practitioner and having more because for for as long as i've known there's only been one
patient at a time for the chiropractor.
Ms. Koker asked me, did you go to the RCO meetings?
I did not get it in the mail.
I saw it.
Allison sent me it later and I saw it.
So I would have loved to go.
It seems as though quite a few of the RCOs have voted in favor of this.
Yes, I did not know about the meeting beforehand.
All right. All right. Well, thank you for your input. We appreciate it. Do you have any questions?
No, I would just say.
I want to see if there's anybody else. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, I wanted to further explain some of the provisos that we requested.
We requested one chiropractor, one therapist, and a maximum of two persons renting the third floor.
So for the reasons that were just expressed and that were expressed by board member concerning expansion in the future of this particular business at its location, which had been used by sole people instead of multiple practitioners.
So if that could be limited and that was, we were not opposed.
uh limited and that was uh we were not opposed on the condition that there were provisos
so it's not like we were in support of this we were trying to address some of the community
concerns that were expressed by way of the provisos so can i just miss weiss i appreciate
your information and we're going to check with our attorney thank you i was going to say um
So they are asking for a sole medical, dental, and health practitioner use, and the definition of that in the code is an office exclusively operated by one medical, dental, or health practitioner and having no more than one assistant regularly employed therein.
So by definition, this is limited to one practitioner.
If additional practitioners wanted to operate, they would have to seek a variance for a group medical practice.
I would also like to add that the attorney said something to the extent of parking. There is
currently three parking spaces for one hour only in front on the on Clappierre Street,
and he mentioned that he didn't know of any variance there. He also made an assumption
about the drugs that the dentist probably did do that but i can tell you i knew the dentist and he
was not prescribing drugs okay all right thank you but that really doesn't oh and one other thing
about the roof deck there is currently a roof deck on off the second floor all right all right
thank you very much for your you're welcome you wanted to make a short statement we have one more
hand chair if you want it okay sure why don't we do the one more hand hi hi yes uh my name is
kenwin breaking rich i'm hearing my mom but it has nothing to do with this case we just wanted
to make sure you guys can hear us hold on hold up one minute could you please state your name
and spell for the stenographer you can move on chair they wasn't for this case all right
all i'm going to say is what i made the representations this was what other neighbors
in that community meeting stated about the chiropractor and i'm looking at google street
view right now in front of me and there's a 2012 photo the one that we showed the board so when the
you know residents stated that the chiropractor was only in business since for 10 years that's
at least from google street view it's as far back as 2012 documented um so we were told it was that
he was in business much longer thank you okay um planning commission amy ward with the planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from the current
rsa5 residential single family to cmx commercial mixed use the proposed business and professional
office and sole practitioner office would be allowed under cmx2 which is the nearest commercial
district the planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested variances for
business and professional office and sole practitioner office mi 2026 000 553 4931
wissahickon avenue i vote yes with proviso commercial trash pickup michael johns my vote
is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso timetta graham my vote is yes
proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso my vote is yes with proviso thank you
i think we have a break from you all right good what do you mean good
Okay, so number one, MI-2025-004-069, 5424 Valley Street.
This is a resumptive hearing.
Attorney is either Vern Anastasio or Harry Cook.
and he's coming in now as a panelist verne oh verne's coming okay
good afternoon mr chair good afternoon sir could you please state your name is spelled
for the stenographer yeah it's verne anastasio a-n-a-s-t-a-s-i-o on behalf of mr uh farouk
al-hadi right and i understand um this is a presumptive hearing we'll have an update from
you right and there'll be questions from the board uh public testimony and then we'll um
check on planning okay yes sir our vice chair has just a few questions to start just a few
okay never mind okay go ahead we'll go learn right away sounds good we're here because there were uh
Sounds good. We're here because there were, Mr. Cook was filling in in my absence when the hearing was held back in the fall, but there were three questions that needed to be addressed in this resumptive hearing.
First, Attorney Emerson had asked if we needed to revise our refusal.
I did speak to L&I because there is no parking requirement here.
There was no reason to revise the refusal, according to L&I.
The issues that the board had were concern about how the lower level occupant would get their mail.
Now, if there was going to be a mail slot, as you can see here on the plan, the architect was able to put a mail slot in at the front of the property.
These plans have already been sent over previously.
It's right below the upper unit door right there.
And also, we've also included in it the contract.
By the way, this is a letter from the immediate neighbor in support of the appeal, but there's also a contract for commercial trash pickup, not only for trash, but for recycling for the lower level unit.
as i believe mr cook put on the record previously we have the support of the rco you have a letter
of non-opposition from council member of the district council office and also the letter from
the adjacent neighbor these units are going to be affordable although i understand that you know that
may or may not be relevant. And my client purchased the property with these units already
in place, either through a sheriff's sale or foreclosure. But I believe the questions were
about trash. We have, in fact, for a monthly rate of $156.11, have contracted for commercial
trash pickup that they would be able to take them from the rear. And the mail slot was
also an issue that we wanted to make sure that uh the board question about how that would look and
where it would be uh was also uh taken into consideration the entrance is in the rear it is
mid-block uh but that's not unusual uh you know in the city as you know uh for folks to have to walk
a half a block to get you know get to their unit it is going to be well lit back there security
cameras of course both in front and back and i believe that's that was the uh the three issues
that were requested of us and we were able to provide this to you previous to this hearing
but i put it up here again with that i if mr farouk al-hadi is here i'd like him to adopt this
additional uh presentation
And what's your client's name?
Farouk El-Hadi.
If you're in the audience, can you please raise your virtual hand?
I see no hands, Chair.
Hey, Vern, you're an officer of the court. We'll take your testimony.
Yes, sir.
Questions from the board.
so i so how are they going to convince the mailman to put the mail in that slot in that slot
you've got access but you know the mailman is going to put it in it where the you know all
mail goes well it'll be a mail slot on the front of the property right so um and where's the where's
the mail for the first floor for the main unit at the front at the front door so you're expecting
the mailman to do both our mail person i'm sorry no mail carrier right mr johnson okay that's right
carrier right exactly well when they approach that's okay when they approach the uh when they
approach the property they're going to see the lower level slot first before they ascend the stair
and as far as uh you know ups and fedex is concerned that we actually can direct them to
bring to the rear but even if they don't they'll put them on the front step like they do with all
all multi-families uh and then of course the the tenant would have to go around and pick it up
yeah i guess the other issue that i have and i probably raised this the last meeting uh was
the fact that it is mid-block and you have to walk down an alleyway to get to a unit or a driveway
to get to a, you know, a driveway to get to a unit that's in the back.
way to get to a unit that's
So that's, that's just problematic for us at the end of the block.
I know it was at the end of the block. That's something different. Cause you're,
you know, you're kind of close to sort of a pedestrian way, but you know,
you're, you're literally in, you know, a driveway.
Yeah. That I can't, we can't change that. Unfortunately, that's, it's,
it's the way it was upon purchase,
but we can make sure that it's well lit and that there's security.
And it's not necessarily unusual for people to use the rear, especially when it's a driveway.
I know oftentimes I go through my garage back instead of using the front door, especially on inclement weather days.
But the two major issues of trash, commercial trash pickup, and the dedicated mail slot for the lower level tenant, I believe we've adequately addressed.
questions from our attorney um just to clarify mr anastasia um is is there any parking on the
property now or the parking was just eliminated with the enclosure of the garage the parking has
been eliminated but again there there is no parking requirement so it's not relevant that
that's why i was just clarifying whether so oftentimes what happens is when the garage is
into habitable space interior parking becomes surface parking but that's not what happened no
that's not that's not what's happened yeah so that's why i was just clarifying that thank you
well i mean i hate that i hate to hate to you know put this out there but i'm looking at the google
and although people aren't parking in their garages everybody seems to be parking in front
of their houses in the back right a lot of folks do but this in this particular case
that that would not be the case because these units are going to be for relatively low income
folks and it's it's not likely ever everyone's going to have a car so all right questions or
comments for virtual audience i see no hands chair planning commission planning commission has
i'd like to add mi 2025 004069 5424 valley street i vote no michael johns my vote is no
cheryl gaston my vote is no tonetta graham my vote is no ryan mcadams my vote is no
tywin my vote is no thank you thank you council yeah number number two mi 2025
5-0-0-6-8-8-9-30-0-1 hellerman street raymond de rizzo is the attorney
and he's coming back in as a panel
good afternoon uh council could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes good afternoon uh mr chairman and members of the board my name is raymond dorizio r-a-y-m-o-n-d
Last name Dorizio, D-O-R-I-Z-I-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Jan L-I-N.
She is the owner of the property.
And then during your testimony, could you give us an update what the RCO is, okay?
but our our yes vice chair has a few questions for you now good afternoon okay documents and
exhibits uh for this case five days in advance of the hearing uh yes okay and do you waive the
read no the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy yes okay all right thank you you can
screen and proceed with your case okay
okay so
okay so this is the 3001 hellerman street um my client i have an exhibit list here with
about 11 exhibits to show um basically what my client is seeking to do is have a
Um, basically what my client is seeking to do is have a office on the first floor, um, with a residence on the second and third floor, one unit residence.
Um, and it's an RSA five district.
So she was denied that, um, the plan is to have an insurance office on the first floor.
She is a licensed insurance agent.
um here's my appeal application project information form the deed my client acquired
the property september of 2023 um this is her deed
so i have plans here um
that if i could turn basically it's a three-story property it's a corner property
that's the inside photo i'm sorry that i'm on my phone and i want to try to flip it here
um it's a corner property um the two the second and third floor is a living
a dwelling unit there's three bedrooms on the third floor with kitchen uh living room
etc on the second the first floor is an empty basically an empty space i'll go to some of those
interior photos um this is what the interior looks like tile floor a couple uh tables um
A little kitchenette there. I'll get to that there on the right. Not that big of a space, but there is a photo of the property at this point, side view of where the office is.
it has its own separate entrance that is the back of the building