Thank you. MI 2024-006-026-5543 Grays Avenue. I vote yes.
johns my vote is yes
cheryl gaston my vote is yes
tenetta graham my vote is yes
i am win my vote is yes
thank you all
hold on hold on hold on
council
mr knockamson
it's mr anastasio that you're talking to i'm sorry i'm sorry but but i do need you
uh burn that's fine case 16 231 easterrott avenue right yes sir okay so am i so we're done with this
one right we voted it yeah okay thank you yeah yeah um so 16 mi 2024 006 182 231 east rod avenue
um getting unanimous support from the fishtown neighbors association 38 votes recorded um
just for the record state your name verne anastasio on behalf of fishtown animal hospital
Do you stipulate to the reading of the refusal and agree with its accuracy?
I do, sir.
Share your screen and start your presentation.
Thank you.
This town out of a hospital already exists.
It's already here at the property, right adjacent to the subject property.
It's 4.7 Google rating, 272 rate reviews.
It is a gem to the neighbors of Fishtown, and it's on its way to being an iconic representation of business in the Fishtown area.
What my client would like to do, Ms. Lauren Cohen, is just take up the storefront right next door to the Fishtown Animal Hospital and use it for the same sorts of uses.
So and without breaching the internal walls because they're separate spaces.
But this would this property would be strictly for examination purposes.
And for that reason, we have a 65-page letter exhibit packet today.
Again, it's for proposed use to animal services, boarding and other services, basically an animal hospital, which, you know, is prohibited in the CMX2 district.
And that's why we're here.
I've included my appeal.
which I won't go over other than to say that it's just an expansion of an existing use that's
adjacent. And here's the layout of the first floor where the services would take place.
We have an entryway. We have a waiting room. We have several exam rooms, a ramp for ADA compliance.
We have a shower and a toilet, you know, bathroom, restroom area.
We have a treatment center, caging area, and we have a lounge for the staff.
Trash will be held outside.
Of course, there's commercial pickup, just as there is with the existing hospital next door.
next door. The basement is used strictly for storage, shelving and storage for either food,
The basement is used strictly for storage.
animal food, dog food, cat food, or medical supplies.
Again, here's the property in question. Fish Town Animal Hospital already exists here.
We simply want to go into the store right adjacent.
And, of course, we're going to keep, and this is the subject property right here.
There will be no internal breach.
This will just be for examination purposes.
Next door, we have acupuncture, surgery, dentistry, all sorts of medical, and here's the additional commercial spaces on the corridor.
but all
sorts of other services
for animals
are at the main building
property in question
here's the interior which is nothing
to look at but
I want to give it to you if we can
multiple electric
and gas
water units
here's the
the formal notice that went out to everyone
inviting everyone to
December 3rd, last night's meeting. You've received a letter of support from FNA.
Here's the Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing invitation that it was also mailed to.
All three RCOs were involved in that. Here are all the addresses that we mailed the notice to.
And as such, I believe about 147 households were mailed individually.
With that, I have no other question.
I have no other parts of my presentation, but I would like to ask Lauren Cohen to raise her virtual hand.
lauren cohen has been unmuted and allowed
hi miss cohen could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
sure it's lauren cohen l-a-u-r-e-n-c-o-h-n you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel thank you mr chair miss cohen did you
hear my presentation to the board this evening i did thank you is it true and accurate to the
best of your knowledge. Yes. Do you adopt it as your own testimony? Yes. You operate currently
the Fishtown Animal Hospital adjacent to the subject property. Is that right? Yes. You intend
to operate the adjacent property, the subject property, exactly in the same way, form, and
fashion. Is that right? Yes. But there will be no internal sorts of breaches to the space. Is that
right? Yes. I think that's enough, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Thank you. Questions from the board.
Okay. I guess I don't understand. You're going to do the same services in this adjacent
building. How does that help you in terms of, I mean,
if an animal needs
the services
on the one side
and then needs something from the other side
you have to take the
side how are we
good logical question
Ms. Gaston
the new side will be for
examinations
obviously if there is
a need for acupuncture
if there's a need for surgery
or something like that
they would move to the main building next door. But this new space is just to increase the number
of examination rooms for animals. So this would be, in essence, kind of an intake
sort of facility, if you will? I wouldn't say intake. I think that's a little too
minute. Just legally speaking, as a zoning attorney, you would understand.
uh just legally speaking as a zoning attorney you would understand that i don't want to say
intake because animals will be examined here this is going to be part of the animal hospital
there will be examinations now will there be surgical procedures here not no i mean that's
where the the larger building is right next door but we want to be able to include this
this adjacent property as part of the services we provide but as the plans show
this is going to be primarily a place where animals go for examination rooms
okay and then once they're examined then there's some kind of diagnosis about further treatment
and then they may go to this other building is that yeah i mean that's i mean yeah like i had
Like, for instance, three months ago, I had a cat who was walking funny.
I would go into this new room, this new building, have an examination.
And if the doctor thought, Dr. Cohen thought that my cat needed surgery, we may just go next door to have the surgery, schedule the surgery.
Oh, okay.
All right.
Thank you.
Any other questions from the board?
why should there comment from our attorney hillary embers
um just briefly mr chair um mr anastasio i don't know if you received my email earlier but the
deed that was in the packet um expired in may i don't know if it had some sort of formal extension
you could send us yeah my client has emailed us me at least me back saying that uh the lease is
just subject to her saying that she wants to extend it and she does she has emailed me that
i'm not quite sure if that's going to be enough for you but yeah we do need something yeah we do
need something in writing so at least did say that you know there had to be an affirmative extension
um of it so if yeah so if we could have something that we would we would need that prior to the board
voting just for prior to the vote yes prior to the vote okay i can get to uh i'm sure my client
and or a landlord can get you
and execute an extension of the lease
within, you know, by the end of the week.
Thank you.
Great. Great. Thank you.
If that's the case,
can we schedule the vote for next Wednesday then?
We can schedule it for next Wednesday.
And if we have to reschedule, we will.
We won't. I promise you.
Okay. Okay. Sounds good.
Thank you.
Questions from the virtual audience.
Chair, we have Robert Everett with their hand up.
Sure, sure.
They've been obedient.
Good afternoon, Mr. Everett.
Just state your name and spell, please, for the court sonographer.
Good afternoon.
First name is Robert.
Last name Everett, E-V-E-R-E-T-T.
We're affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, Mr. Everett.
Yes, I do.
Please proceed.
I'm just the new zoning chair of FNA, so I'm a rookie here.
And thanks to Ms. Emerson and Ms. Howard Jeffers for getting me squared up this morning.
It's appreciated.
And you saw our letter.
We strongly support this project.
All right.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call us.
We appreciate it.
Anyone else in the first audience?
I see no hands.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the existing commercial mixed use CMX2. The appellant has not shown that there are unique conditions or circumstances that would prevent the property from being used in conformance of the zoning code. The Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance for animal services and boarding.
And I just need to respectfully rebut, Mr. Chair, if you don't mind.
Okay, sure, sure.
Well, I appreciate the zoning of the Planning Commission's position.
We have an existing Fishtown Animal Hospital adjacent to the subject property that is serving the neighbors in a way that no operation has served the community in generations.
The community is overwhelmingly asking that this business be expanded.
we cannot do that without this zoning relief and therefore there is a physical hardship
to the property to make this happen and as a result we respectfully request the granting
of the variance thank you so thank you so this case will be closed other than
next week we we hope to vote on this on the 11th at 2 p.m i'll have you uh i'll have you
i'll have you uh i'll have you at least within 48 hours thank you thank you very much and
at least within 48 hours. Thank you. Thank you very much.
seriously i'm sorry i had one one additional question um is the the proposed use is it just
the the first floor of the property or first floor basement just first floor okay
based on the application it's just the first floor uh i suppose miss cohen can talk about
the basement if uh but i know above that is living space okay right right so it just it it um
the refusal isn't isn't clear it just says for animal services uh you know in an existing
structure doesn't say where it doesn't mention additional uses so that's why i just wanted to
get clarification the first one is for the animal services uh above that is all already permitted
uses and below that of course would just be for storage of the of the uh of the commercial space
okay thank you so that will we'll look for this on next wednesday uh is there anyone in the virtual
whose case has not been called from the two o'clock list here we have joseph console with
his hand up oh that's right yeah he was the first case you're right Mr. Consul hey yeah that's right
I'm going to promote him the pen this chair please please yep
hey mi 2024 002 473 1675 dyer street mr consul is the attorney
letter of support from frankfurt neighborhood advisory committee
good afternoon board joe consul again mr consul you've already been sworn so could
you identify your client, a relationship to the property? Yeah, my client is J and M Investment
Group, LLC. With me on the call is one of the owners, Mr. John Mercado. You stipulate to the
reading of the refusal and do you agree with its accuracy? I do. Please start your presentation.
Okay. Good afternoon, board. Joe Consul here, 1675 Dyer Street. My client bought this property
in 2022. Property was a mess, needed rehabilitation. His goal is to rehabilitate it as a two-unit
residential building. The two refusals that we received, because this is zoned RSA 3,
there is one refusal for the mentioned two units and another one for required accessory
off-street parking that is not provided. I'll start with that. As you can see from this photo,
these are row homes here. Ours is in the middle, and there's no alleyway in the back that's
accessible. So providing parking would be impossible, and that provides a clear hardship.
And so we're hopeful that the board agrees on the parking bit.
Regarding the two units, I went through the block up and down both sides.
The whole block is zoned RSA 3.
The properties are of similar size.
And I'll just, I believe at least half of them are active multifamily properties.
So just like going from back to front, 1642 is a two unit, 1643 was a beauty salon, and three family, as far as we can tell, there's no beauty salon there, but they still have the three family home.
1647 is a 5 unit