ZBA Hearing - December 4, 2024

generate excuse me a violation for this existing structure that dates back to 1978 um and so we

have to go through the zoning process again to legalize it and this is just a view from the

exterior along del high and 10th street so we do have a fence with the clear excuse me polycarbonate

on top with plywood here we have a view along fits water street across the street

excuse me this water to the right of the property

this water to the left of the property and here we do have the plans for this particular project

as i mentioned the refusals were a result of the occupied area and rear yard depth

we do have full occupancy of the lot 735 south 10th the 737 south 10th

and 936 Water Street. We haven't had any issues with complaints for the property. It has been in

operation for well over 20 years now. Neighbors really enjoy the restaurant. A lot of them attend.

We are looking to maintain the structure as is, excuse me, my apologies, jumps back there. We are

looking to maintain the size of the structure just so that we can allow for adequate outdoor dining

phase so there's no overflow onto the curb or the sidewalk with diners so that's why we are unable

to meet the requirements of the rear yard and the occupied area for these lots here we have

the application for appeals assessment details of the project our project information form

the notice that was sent out for the community meeting including the date of the community

meeting and time as well as today's dba hearing date a copy of the refusal again the two refusals

that we have generated for this property are as a result of the rear yard requirement as well as

the occupied area as you saw in the plan it is three lots so part of the refusal is just because

of the configuration and the beauty of the use for the three parcels we are looking to maintain

the size and placement of the rear structure as is it is pre-existing and we haven't had any issues

from nearby neighbors with regards to the size the space or the occupancy of the area

unless the properties that were notified of the community meeting

our certificate of mailing

and the d showing that my client has owned this property since 1997.

And we also have the certificates of tax clearance for each of the three parcels 735 South 10th, 936 Water Street and 737 South 10th. So with that, I believe my client Carol Mickey is on if I may have her raise her hand.

his name is carol bicky

her phone name is carol mickey

she's been unmuted and allowed to speak

could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer

it's mickey

miss mickey can you please unmute yourself

miss mickey

she looks to be unmuted chair she may be suffering some technical difficulties

counsel hi hi could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer

carol mickey c-a-r-o-l-m-i-c-k-e-y you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth

nothing but the truth i do please proceed counsel carol did you hear my presentation today

Please proceed, Counsel.

Carol, did you hear my presentation today?

I did.

And was it true and correct?

Yes.

And, Carol, how long have you had the rear addition for the restaurant, the outdoor dining area?

Since 1997.

Have you had any complaints or issues with neighbors in relation to that outdoor dining area?

No.

And would you adopt my testimony as your own?

Yes.

Thank you.

Questions from the board?

Can I ask how this came to the attention of LNI such that you had to go through this process?

Of course.

So we attempted to resolve this outside of the zoning because Carol did have this as a pre-existing use dating back to 1978.

For whatever reason, the documentation that Carol provided, Ellen and I wasn't willing to accept as appropriate for the use.

As a result, we had to come back and do the zoning for this over again.

But it's been pre-existing since 1978.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to deal with it administratively, so we're moving forward with the zoning process.

Okay, thank you.

Other questions from the board?

questions from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair questions or comments from

the virtual audience that's the door is here planning commission

thank you meg cavanaugh planning commission staff the comprehensive plan recommends no change to

the existing cmx2 commercial mixed use zoning at this location the addition was built without the

benefit of permits although the proposed rear setback is comparable to surrounding properties

the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the dimensional variances

mi 2024-004-493-735 south 10th street i vote yes johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote

is yes tennetta graham my vote is yes taiwan my vote is yes ishmael shaheed my vote is yes

Thank you.

good afternoon mr chairman board members good afternoon council could you please state your

name and spell for the stenographer sure meredith ferliger f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r

we're a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth

we do could you identify your client a relationship to this property of course

My client this morning is Mascoff LLC, which is the owner of the property, represented today by Sarge Maslenikov.

My chair has a few questions.

Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?

I do.

Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?

I did.

Thank you, counsel. Please proceed. You can share your screen.

All right. Make sure I have everything up here. All right. Again, good afternoon, Mr. Chairman,

members of the board, Meredith Ferliger of Delworth-Paxson. The request before you today

concerns 1692 North 54th Street. You have an exhibit packet that contains 16 exhibits,

which we do request be moved into evidence at the conclusion of today's presentation.

To summarize the basis for today's request, this application requests one-use variance for the proposed multifamily use of a lot that not only was historically used as multifamily, but also sits on a block that has transitioned to 100% multifamily use over the last several years.

This application not only receives support from the assigned RCO, but is further supplemented with several letters and a petition of support from near residents.

With that background in mind, let me first orient you to the location of this property.

The deed and tax clearance are included at Exhibit 2 for tax, showing that the taxes were paid, and Exhibit 3 is the deed.

and Exhibit 3 is the Deed. As you can see here on the aerial shown at Exhibit 9, this property

sits on North 54th Street, which runs north and south in this view here, and is right at the

corner of Stewart Street, which runs east-west. And this property is, again, right at the corner.

This aerial is slightly outdated, as you will see in the street-level photographs,

as there is now a new construction mid-block here.

As you will notice, this block of North 54th Street between Stewart Street to the north

and Hunter Street to the south is entirely undeveloped,

with the exception of that new mid-block structure that I'll point out momentarily in the photographs.

Looking here from the east, you'll notice that the block south of Hunter Street

has seen some recent new construction. Lancaster Avenue is here just northeast of the property.

From the south view, you'll see that directly across the street is the Heston Elementary School.

And finally, from the west, you may take note that the closest structures across Stewart Street,

so I'm pointing to these structures here that are directly across from the property on Stewart Street,

Face Lancaster Avenue. So all of these structures have their rear yards and rear of their structures facing Stewart Street directly across the street from this property.

So this section of Lancaster Avenue here, as you can somewhat see in this image here, is a bit more industrialized with some slightly heavier industrial warehousing type of uses, as well as some automotive uses.

but this is still within the official commercial corridor.

Turning to the photographs here at Exhibit 16, you'll see that this existing vacant corner lot

that is the subject of today's request. This lot is 1,745 square feet.

This next view here is shown from Stewart Street.

Moving back here to North 54th Street, I've provided a marked up photograph to begin to

provide the board with some of the area context. As I mentioned, you'll see mid-block, a new

recently constructed building that is approved for four units. Now across Hunter Street, which

is a little bit farther down here on North 54th Street, new construction projects are either 11

or 12 units. Now unit count aside, this entire stretch of North 54th Street is either made up

of vacant land or new multifamily development. Now moving up closer towards that newer development

here, there are a couple of existing structures that are also multifamily. This view faces north

towards the property, which is sort of in the foreground there. Now, if we move back towards

Stewart Street, this next view here faces north 54th Street, looking towards Lancaster Avenue here.

And again, you'll see here in this image what I referenced earlier, that all of the adjacent

and homes directly across Stewart Street face Lancaster Avenue with their, you know, rear here

on Stewart Street. This condition further leads to a lack of activation at this particular corner

and this particular block of North 54th Street. This next photograph here points towards Lancaster

Avenue, which is directly diagonal from the property before the board today, showing the

large furniture store as well as an auto repair shop, which is just slightly out of view here.

We did also include photos of the zoning posters, which were timely posted on the property on both

frontages. Now in this image here, let me scroll back up a little bit, you'll see here more clearly

the new four-unit development mid-block, which is nearing completion at this point.

You will notice in this photograph that because this is a mid-block structure, there are very limited windows and access points, really just in this small cutout here on the side.

This is important to keep in mind when reviewing the proposal before the board today, which has the very unique benefit of a corner location, which is ripe for some slightly higher density that really cannot be accommodated mid-block.

And that's also consistent with what you saw just across Hunter Street.

and that's also consistent with what you saw just across Hunter Street with a higher density

for the corner property. Now referring to the zoning map at Exhibit 5, you'll see this property

is zoned RSA 5. Now directly across the street, the school property and the entire opposing side

of this street is zoned RM1 as well as CMX 2. This section of Lancaster Avenue, as I mentioned,

is zoned ICMX, which is really consistent with that more heavily industrial nature of this

particular section of Lancaster Avenue. You will also notice here that the block south of Hunter

Street, with the newer high-density development I highlighted earlier, is also zoned RSA 5.

At Exhibit 8, I have included the Planning Commission District Plan, which I believe may even be inconsistent with the true plan for this block, but this did seem to recommend this lot for some form of CMX zoning.

Now, when the property mid-block was presented to the board, the Planning Commission indicated that this block was actually recommended for RM1 zoning.

So either way, it appears that this entire stretch of block was likely recommended for multifamily zoning.

Whether the corner was recommended for CMX or RM1, I'm sure the Planning Commission will identify that.

Now, given the natural progress of development that has occurred here, it is likely this entire block should be rezoned at some point to multifamily.

The proposal for 1692 North 54th Street is shown on the zoning plan at Exhibit 6.

Let me zoom out a little bit here.

Well, let's start with this.

The proposal before the board today includes one new four-story structure.

This building is proposed to contain eight dwelling units, two per floor. There is a large rear yard here that you can see of 20 feet, which backs up to a four foot wide alley that separates this property from the next closest structure on Stewart Street.

The yard will be fenced in with an enclosed trash storage area in the rear that can be easily accessed for disposal from Stewart Street.

And there's actually going to be two access points through that fence.

No roof deck is included for this proposal to further limit the potential impacts on surrounding properties.

The mechanical units are proposed to be on the roof.

and I'll just zoom out a little bit and you can just get a sense I do have a rendering but just

in terms of a basic elevation you can see that here so it's four stories. If I turn to floor

plans at exhibit seven again you'll see that fenced in trash enclosure represented here

on the floor plan. This is a slab on grade proposal so there is no basement proposed for

this four-story development. That has the very, very important and unique benefit here

of allowing the first floor units to be ADA adaptable units. The center staircase design

here, as you can see here in this image, it facilitates a natural two-unit per floor design

for this proposal. Going into a little bit more detail and I'll move around if you have any

questions. The two first floor units are one bedroom, one bathroom units of either 586 or

589 square feet. Both of these units can be accessed directly from street level at grade.

And you can see the door for unit one is shown here that I'm pointing to. The door for unit two

is shown here. And then the entrance point for all the other units would be in the middle.

And I'll be able to show you that on the rendering as well.

Now, moving on to the second floor here, and really a lot of these units are really quite similar in design.

But the second floor units are also one bedroom, one bath units of 563 and 597 square feet.

Now, as I will show you in the renderings, because of this corner location, all of the units throughout this building benefit from significant windows and light and air.

Moving to the third and fourth floor, they are substantially similar to what you saw previously.

previously. There are four more one-bedroom, one-bath units which are slightly larger,

which range from 510 all the way to 642 square feet. All of the eight units have interior washers

and dryers, as well as ventilated trash storage areas interior to each of the units.

as well as ventilated trash storage areas interior to each of the units and that is identified

on each of the floor plans as well.

I will show you the rendering here on the next page. Now as I mentioned, in consideration of

the exclusively multi-family trend on this block, this corner location provides a unique opportunity

for the additional density, as it can accommodate both ADA adaptable units and also has the ability

to provide considerable light and air into these units, as well as units that are more affordable

for the area. As you know, mid-block properties cannot provide windows on the side unless the

small cutouts are made into the building to pull the windows away from the property line.

Here, as you can see visually represented, the entire Stewart Street frontage is plastered with

windows, including at the ground level to activate this corner. And again, you'll see the entrance

points here, so this would be the entrance to Unit 1, this would be the entrance to Unit 2,

and then the middle is the entrance for the rest of the building.

Now regarding the refusal, the proposal only received one refusal for the proposed multifamily

use. There are no dimensional variances that are requested or required for this proposal.

The evidence presented this afternoon establishes an unmistakable hardship in developing any single

family use on this block or lot, given the history of the property and the character of the area,

which is exclusively multifamily on this stretch of North 54th Street, leading into Lancaster Avenue.

Starting with the history here at Exhibit 11, historically speaking, the lot at 1692 North 54th Street was used as a multifamily dwelling with four units plus a commercial space, dating all the way back to the 60s.

It appears that most of this block was also home to mostly multifamily use prior to the structures being demolished some decades ago.

There's no evidence of any structure existing on this block for at least the last 30 years.

Furthermore, as I've shown throughout the presentation,

this block is either entirely vacant or has seen recent multifamily development.

At Exhibit 10, you'll see a visual representation of this particular characteristic.

Mid-block, the Board recently approved the construction of a new four-family dwelling,

which you did see earlier in the photographs. Just south of Hunter Street, you can see the

density of the recently built structures this board approved on lots just slightly larger than

this one for 11 and 12 units, so significantly more density on lots that are not significantly

larger. This entire block is largely inconsistent with the zoning classification, including the

school across the street. Given the insurgence of new multifamily development, it would be an

exceptional hardship to construct new single-family homes in this location. A new single-family home

on this lot would be in a sea of multifamily, with no other single-family homes surrounding it.

Established case law is clear that the character of the neighborhood is one of many unique