Yes, Chair. The next hand is Timothy Wayne.
Hi, Timothy. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
himacy wayne hello you're allowed to speak hi could you please state your name and spell for
the sonographer can you guys hear me i can sir okay yeah uh himacy wayne uh h-i-m-i-t-h-y last
name wayne w-a-y-n-e do you swear or firm to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth
I do are you a neighbor yes so uh we share all right please proceed yeah we share backyard so
my backyard meets with her backyard and you know I'm out there sure why don't why don't you tell
me where you stand on this case uh I'm just a neighbor and they told me um just to get my input
on you know I mean what's going on with the building and if I agree I said sure
so they told me to join the zoom and I'm here all right so you're in favor of the project
uh correct all right thank you very much for taking the time to call us next hand please okay
there are no more hands planning commission
good morning liz fuselay l-i-z-f-u-s-e-l-i-e-r for the planning commission do you swear or affirm
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth please proceed
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir please proceed
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rm1 residential multifamily zoning at
this location the property has a history and documented use as a single unit rental
the appellant has not demonstrated any unique physical circumstances or conditions of the
property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code
the city planning commission recommends the board deny the requested variance for a multi-family
dwelling thank you mi 2025 zero zero six five one one 13 30 west rockland street i vote no
michael johns my vote is no cheryl gaston my vote is no
tennetta graham my vote is no ryan mcadams my vote is no iowen my vote is no
I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman. There was a proviso on that, so it would have to be no with proviso.
Okay. Her amended refusal dated March 27, 2025? 2026.
Would everybody else agree with that proviso? Why don't we go through it one more time?
Yeah, why don't you do that again? Great.
yeah sure yeah that's right
michael johns my vote is michael johns my vote is no with proviso
cheryl gadsden my vote is no with proviso tenetta graham my vote is no with proviso
ryan mcadams my vote is no with proviso tyo and my vote is no with proviso
thank you number four mi 2025 006 511 1330 west rockland street jermaine harris is the attorney
jermaine harris is joining as a panelist morning mr harris
yes hello hi mr harris could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer
uh sure uh jermaine harris uh counsel for your van haquez uh trying to get my can i be seen
We don't see it yet, Jermaine. No. You're up, but we didn't see it. Why don't we do this? Did you spell your name for the sonographer?
Oh, okay. Okay. I see myself now. Okay. It's J-E-R-M-A-I-N-E-H-A-R-R-I-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. Harris, could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
sure my client is uh yervin jacques and the relationship uh i'm the attorney uh i'm the
attorney for mr jacques and mr jacques is the owner of the project thank you very good our
vice chair has a few questions sure good morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing i have okay and do you wait to read another refusal
Yes, I do, and I do stipulate to the accuracy.
Okay, thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Okay, so this is, let's pull up my, okay.
So this is for the property at 1330 Rockland Street, and this is to legalize four units
in this property.
Now, this is the property right here.
This is the front of the property, the side right here, and the rear.
When my client purchased this property, it was already subdivided.
Now, this property has, it's a pretty large property.
It has, the lot size is 3,341 square feet, according to the city's records.
And the building size is about 2,100 square feet.
and the building has three separate entrances.
And the building has three separate entrances. You have one entrance. Hold on. Let's see here. You have one entrance right here. This goes to the second and third floor of the building.
You have
then you have a side entrance right here this goes to the first floor right here
and then you have the rear entrance which is for the lower level so again it's uh three separate
uh entrances for uh this building and uh let me pull up the plans
so what my client is seeking to do is uh what is already laid out as itches uh two bedrooms
Um, this is the basement level, the lower level. Uh, this is the plan right here. That's on the
far left that I have the cursor on. Uh, two bedrooms, which will be towards the front
with egress, uh, windows, uh, right here and right here as noted in the plans.
then we have well each of these units would be two bedrooms uh one bath so we move up uh
to the first we we move up to the uh first floor here's the entrance as i pointed to
you move up there and then uh you have the two bedrooms
right here and right here which is towards the rear of the house you have
the front entrance which then goes up to the second and third floor and the
second and third floor you have a bedroom in the front you have a bedroom in the rear
then you go up and then it would have the third floor which would be
the fourth unit it would be a bedroom in the front and then a bedroom on the side
as part of plans let me show you what it looks like on the inside
yeah so how many units stick all together four so one for each level that's what uh
is being requested you did you initially request eight they did request well i didn't request eight
They pro se requested eight, but they're only requesting four, one for each level, not eight.
Hold on.
Let's see here.
Hold on.
That's not it.
All right.
so this is the posting let's get to the inside all right so this is the lower the basement level
leading out to the back
bedroom bedroom then this is the first floor
Then this is walking into the, well, this is the first floor, this is the other entrance, walking upstairs to the second and third floor.
Now, my client lives on the second floor. I forgot to state that my client lives on the second floor, but the basement, first floor, and third floor are not occupied.
So, again, this is the second floor bedroom, just went through the kitchen, the bathroom,
So again, this is the second floor bedroom.
living room.
And then you go up to the third floor, I mean, did the flooring, painting, and all of that
is that that's the third floor uh these are well we just went over the plans um
there was opposite uh there was uh support for this it was 11 in support 10 in opposition for it
um there was only one nearby neighbor that it looks like uh that voted
it. We have nine signatures of nearby neighbors that did actually, that does actually support
the project. Then we see that there are multiple family, multi-family units on this block,
stock, 3 units, 14 units, 6 units, 5 units. Let's see here. This goes into the size of
the building. And a lot size, then we have my client purchased the property in 2023.
And then there's no tax obligation factors at 1,300 and we have all your paperwork. Okay.
Okay, so what I'd like to do is I would like to call my client, have him promoted, so that way.
What's his name?
Mr. Jacquez.
Mr. Jacquez, could you raise your hand so you could be promoted as a speaker?
he has been from yes he's been promoted okay mr jacques uh could well could you state your name
for the record please state your name please and spell for the stenographer mr jacques
mr jack i'm sorry uh urban jack was uh y-r-v-i-n jack was j-a-q-u-e-z do you
swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
could you please turn on your video
okay thank you counsel okay so mr jockhead did you hear my testimony that i just gave uh to this
to this board yes okay uh do you agree with the testimony that i gave yes is there anything
that you would like to add
to the testimony that I've given?
You don't necessarily have to,
but is there anything you'd like to bring
that you'd like to add
to what I just testified to?
No, you can cover everything.
Questions from the board?
I have a question.
Looking at the records,
it looks like you purchased this property in 2001
and then subsequently have been getting
continuous stop work order violations from LNI since then and I just want to
know what is your plan to finish this property what my plans with the court
the size okay all right did you understand the question mr mr jacques
uh what am i yes what are my plans to finish the project well yeah because you started the project
without pulling permits which is prohibited and you're coming to us and asking us to give you
relief so i just want to know what like how are we moving differently in the future as we
complete this project i'm gonna get more involved because uh the contractor i had uh he's the one
The contractor I had, he's the one that was supposed to get all that solved.
that was supposed
But I'm going to get more involved and contact the correct people.
And then looking at your plans, it seems like it might already be in the basement, but there's a plan to put a unit in the basement.
but you have a solid concrete plinth and then you have the basement.
So right now there are no, there's no easy way to get egress wells.
You're showing an egress well coming out underneath the porch that is solid concrete.
And so how are you, how are you going to be able to get this unit
so that people have access to light and air?
Could I, if I may, because the contractor, I believe is also on a call
and I think he could answer that question more so than the owner if I could have him promoted.
Is that possible? Sure. Okay. Mr. Rodriguez,
could you raise your hand, please? Is he with Properties, Inc.? Yes. Okay.
they have been promoted okay mr rodriguez did you hear the question that hold on hold
on hold on mr rodriguez could you please state and spell your name
mr rodriguez can you unmute yourself yes good morning sir could you please state and spell your
name yeah my name is damaso spelled d-a-m-a-s-o rodriguez
all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes would you turn to your video one two please yes sir one second
counsel start your conversation okay so uh mr rodriguez i believe that a question was posed
about how the egress could be accomplished for the windows in the uh for the rooms in the basement
I don't want to miss
I don't want to miss
I don't want to misquote the panelists
so maybe if he could be asked that question again
I mean I think you hit it
on the nail council but my question is
given that this has a plinth
and then the basement is up
out of the ground it currently looks
like it's solid concrete
how are you going to
get the egress wells in where they're
indicated on the plan because currently they would
terminate where that's underneath the porch yeah we're gonna do an opening on
the concrete and we want to do a support where support beams so we can
have the opening on there I mean that's still gonna have very poor light and air
into the basement and your plans currently don't address what's
happening with the utilities, which are currently in the basement. So I think right now, as
the plans are shown, I'm just concerned about property management and density.
Yeah, we're going to be working with our engineer. So everything is according to with
utility from the city. So when we do the excavation, we don't disturb that in the service.
all right other questions yes what's your management plan for the uh michael we'll get to you
can you repeat the question again uh the trash um where's the trash going to be stored for um
all four units we're going to try to locate like a um steel indicator probably on the front side
so we're just trying to decide where we're going to put it but we're going to put like at least
for um can for each unit
and you don't know where you're going to put it we're trying to see it like the side i believe
you can do the side or the back yeah so you don't know where you're going to store the trash
no but we're going to have an idea at least in the side or in the back or like exactly we're
going to have that so we's like i say as soon as we do the opening we can store sure exactly
what we're going to organize it okay thank you you're welcome michael who who prepared the plans
were these plans prepared by you guys who were with whether plans prepared for you guys that you
for you guys that you have it was prepared for us okay then why wouldn't they show exactly what
have it was prepared for us okay
you're saying um when the plans were prepared so that makes no sense to me you have to answer that
um i don't see it i don't i don't see a section for the for the third floor for the building
but clearly there's a man starting the front in the back and the third floor unit
there'll really be no living space because of the ceiling height and the fact that the ceiling
slopes on the third floor so you've got a big kitchen and really nowhere to for headroom and
the rest of that third floor and i agree with um board member when on the basement you've got
windows that you've already put in that don't comply um with code so i'm i'm just not convinced
and what i do have a question what is that the the vinyl siding box on the side of the
building with the door what is that what is that for the siding the the side of the building there's
a vinyl siding there's a vinyl siding covered um looks like a room i don't is that a closet
it doesn't you don't it doesn't show on the plan that it goes to anything
it's a it's a can you pull up the plan sure it's right there in the photo that you have
it's in the photo right there at the right yeah yeah yeah yeah right here right here right here