ZBA Hearing - August 6, 2025

Vito, V-I-T-O, Canuso, C-A-N-U-S-O.

Mr. Canuso, you've been already sworn.

Why don't you start your presentation with your computer?

Do you now see my shared document?

We do not.

There's nothing here, sir.

Do you see a green button at the bottom of the screen that says share?

Yes.

It looks like it's coming up now.

Thank you.

Now you have it.

Well, you've got to now tap on the different.

Yes.

Is that working now?

So, Mr. Canuso, you're going to have to exit out of sharing and then restart with selecting the documents that you have open or share your entire screen.

and with selecting the documents that you have open or share your entire screen because right

now all we're seeing is the window that can shows the files that you have in that folder

we're not seeing the pdf document

so you may need to click the top of the screen where it says stop sharing and then

restart the share. Is that working now? It is not. Not quite yet, no.

can you see that we do not

so um council what we're going to do is um we're going to break for lunch and we're going to bring

you back at two o'clock thank you and by two o'clock make a couple phone calls and whatever

and then we'll get you one, okay?

Thank you.

Is there anyone else in the audience

whose case has not been called from the 930 list?

I see no hands.

Mr. Canuso, we'll see you at 2 o'clock.

Everyone else, see everyone at 2 o'clock.

All right.

Yeah, we're going to

Yeah, right

Alright, so

We're finishing the 930 class

Session

We have one more case

So MI2025

00989

6227 Callahill Street

Vito Canuso

Is the attorney

good afternoon chair this is jasmine and i will be your co-host for this afternoon session

thank you veto canuso has been promoted to panelists okay veto v-i-t-o canuso c-a-n-u-s-o

can you hear me mr chairman mr mr canuso we hear you loud and clear um you've already been sworn

why don't you start your presentation

you're coming up

are you coming up are you getting the shared

document we're here now yep

okay this is the deed

for the property which is owned as I previously

say by Yuval Attun trustee of

Cahill trust

here's the notice of uh uh notice of zoning appeal uh which was filed in this matter

and which resulted in this hearing for today okay we have all your documents so i i think

what would be important if you went to the plans and the photos thank you all right this is the

overall plan

as you see the corner, the northeast

corner to the right

is the

picture below. Okay.

This is the RCO

support.

We had a meeting with HMC

shared RCO, which

was the lead, and

there was various discussions and communication and I was pleased to see that they supported the

decision but I want to get to the plans which

we see the posting

we see the posting

here

here is the plan

yeah you might want to if you could could you

enlarge that for us

right to enlarge it. As you can see, it's a two-story building with a basement. The plan is

for the first floor to be a separate unit with the entrance on the front of the property. It's

caddy quarter to the front

property and the second property

to be from

a side door on

Felton Street up

to the second floor.

If possible, could you make that a little bit larger?

Because it's very hard to see.

Very hard.

Here you go.

Oh, here you go. Look at you. You got it now.

so in my understanding

this was at one point a triplex

correct and now you're making it a duplex

and he wants to reduce it

to a duplex

that was part of the discussion at the

RCO

meeting

the reason

and the basis upon it

as you said

you got to look straight ahead Vito

you're getting away from the speaker

when he bought it

It was set up for a triplex. He has to renovate the entire property. And this is the plans for the two units. As you can see, the one would come from the front of the to the first floor. Second is from the side on Felton Street would go up to the second floor.

and to the rear of the property, which would have access by both the first and the second floor,

would be where the utilities and then to the rear yard for storage of trash or whatever.

The other thing that my client indicated to the RCO was that he intends to repair the sidewalk,

restore the exterior and have surveillance cameras

for the property which would benefit the neighborhood.

The other thing is, here's the other picture, here's the other plan,

But it's basically the same plan. I don't think there's anything new or different there.

Showing you the first and second floor being utilized two separate units. Now,

at one of the earlier meetings, there was concern about storage. Both units would have access to

the basement, which is empty, and if necessary, they can have secure areas set out, one each

for a secure location of a storage area in the basement.

here is the show explaining to me that what this second there's there's two sets of drawings or

what tell me what that two sets of joy I think they just duplicate each other okay all right

we're back to photos as you can see this this is the location uh from the uh uh

callahill street facing down felton street and you'll see the door to the right is the

first floor apartment entrance the door which you see further down uh would be would be uh

the second floor second floor you can see the second floor entrance and as I

said he's going to restore the entire front and put surveillance cameras on

the property this is one of the pictures of the side door with the notice the

side door with the notice that the building is not being utilized or occupied at the current time

the building is not

um we have

here's there's a showing uh down tallahill street uh showing the front entrance and the front of

the building and here's here are the different pictures that's the side door right why don't

you bring your client on? Sure. Mr. Attune? Do we see his client saying? Mr. Attune,

please try to get into the

program

please. Yes, he has

been promoted to penalist.

Thank you. Mr.

Toon, spell your name.

Can you hear

me?

It takes a while for him to get in.

chair they declined to be

penalists

let me try again

try one more time

Can you hear me?

Yes. Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?

Yeah, it's Uvalatun. It's Y-U-V-A-L-A-T-T-O-U-N.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes, sir.

If possible, sir, could you put your video on?

I don't know how to do it.

Okay. All right.

It's okay. Vito?

sir uh did you hear my testimony to the board this uh this afternoon regarding your property

at callahill street yes and did you uh do you agree what i said and uh do you believe that it's

accurate and uh truthful yes and would you adopt it if you were asked those same questions or

questions of about what I stated here today. Yes. Thank you. Questions from the board.

Could you verbally explain what was the layout of the original building?

And what the changes will be? Well, it was set up for a triplex. I'm not sure I

know what the setup was, but it was never properly legalized. And that's why we're now

talking about reducing it to a duplex. When it was a triplex, was there an entire unit in the

basement? Mr. Attun, do you have an answer to that question? Yes. So the basement remains a

basement it's not finished yeah what she wanted to know is what when you bought the property it

was set up as a triplex yes for you to explain how it was set up for a triplex okay sure three

units were utilized okay so we bought it in the end of december 2024 in about eight eight months

and change and it's set up as a triplex which is ever on the right side access to a one-bedroom

apartment on the left side from the garden you have another access to a studio apartment and

then from the middle of the building if you go up you have a big apartment which is two bedrooms

rooms with two full uh you know showers so every so in the in the parents room you have

a restroom and a shower and and for the entire of the house you have another restroom and a shower

now what we're trying to do you know she just wants to know what the

set up before that's good thank you sure sure yeah this is how we bought it to the triplex

Got it. So work that you're going to be doing now is combining the studio and the one bedroom apartment to create a new first floor single apartment and then the second floor will remain still a whole.

first floor single apartment and then the second floor will remain still a whole apartment on the

second floor exactly ma'am yes okay other questions questions or comments from our attorney

hillary emerson not at this time mr chair comments from the uh virtual audience or the current only

it's here i see no he is from the virtual audience chair planning commission

thank you chairman and good afternoon david effecto with the city planning commission

chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential

single family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1971 at that time

this property was zoned r10 today's rm1 residential multifamily according to the zoning archive this

building has been approved for two dwelling units dating to 1977 the city planning commission

recommends that the board grant the proposed use variants for two dwelling units thank you

mi-2025-000-989-6227 cal hill street i vote yes proviso maximum two units michael johns my vote is

yes with proviso. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso. Tenetta Graham, my vote is yes with

proviso. Maya McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso. Iowa, my vote is yes with proviso.

Thank you, everyone. We're going to open up the 2 p.m.

hearings. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this meeting

of the zoning board. With me is our board member, Cheryl L. Gaston. Present, Mr. Chairman. Our board

member Tanetta Graham. Present, Mr. Chairman.

Board member Michael Johns.

Michael's here. There he is.

Board member

Taya Nguyen.

She's here, too. She was

muted. And our board member Ryan McAdams.

Present, Mr. Chairman. Also here is our board attorney,

Hillary Emerson, and the zoning board director, Ian Haggerty.

Recording of this hearing will be posted on the ZBA website

by participating you consent to be recorded this is an in-person meeting with remote capabilities

whether remote or in person if you're called to speak you must state and spell your name and then

wait to be sworn in once you've been sworn in please state your name each time before beginning

your testimony any person may enter an appearance you can identify the case property address in your

zoom webinar registration you can see a staff member or you can call the zba appearance line