comments or testimony. All comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sunkett.
Let's look at our continuations for this afternoon.
Number seven, MI 2021-005-086-59 Harbison Avenue.
That case is continued.
Is there anyone has comments relative to that case?
I see no hands up, Chair.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
I see no hands up at this. Just a moment, Chair. Mr. Orphanides, just put his hand up.
Thank you.
Mr. Orphanides, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Counsel, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Certainly. David Orphanides, O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
You have case number five, Burke Street?
That's correct.
Requesting a continuance?
Yes, sir.
We did meet with the community on this matter as directed by the zoning board, but there
are still, we believe, some conversations to be had, and we'd like to request and have
a continuance in order to continue those discussions with the community.
Thank you very much for calling in.
MI-2022-002-678-1330 East Burke Street. That case is continued.
Thank you, sir.
Are there any other requests for continuing?
Mr. Santiago, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Hi, Mr. Santiago. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Enrique Santiago
E-N-R-I-Q-U-E
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Give me your case number. What's your case?
Case number
Oh, right here.
What's the location, sir?
$5,900 Harbison.
I've continued that case.
You want to continue, am I right?
No, I wanted to know why was it being continued?
We're the residents.
Sorry.
You're the residents?
Yeah, it's continued.
We've continued that case because the attorney involved in it has to continue.
Great.
Thank you.
Thank you.
um are any other requests for continuance
Are there any other requests for continuance?
also you don't have to decide to so case number six mi 2021 005 281 70 54 rutland street
um we have no exhibits for this this is the third listing
i see no hands at this time chair thank you mi 2021-005-281-7054 rutland street
this is the third listing i vote to dismiss
i vote to dismiss james snell i vote to dismiss ishmael shaheed i vote to dismiss
thank you number eight mi 2021 005 277 221 east wildey street this is the third listing
no exhibits
chair i see no hands at this time thank you mi 2021-005-277-221 east wally street third listing
i vote to dismiss dismiss thomas halliman i vote to dismiss james snell i vote to dismiss
Thank you. We're going to go to our regular list. Number one, MI 2022-006-305-165 West Seymour Street.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney. Letter of opposition from 12th Ward RCO. Letter of opposition from Solo Germantown.
And Councilwoman Bass has taken a position of opposition.
Afternoon, Mr. Chair.
Counsel, could you just state your name?
You've already been sworn in.
Yep, Vern Anastasio.
Last name is A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O.
I represent Nakia Peterson, owner of 165 West Seymour.
Our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, counsel.
So do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
I've shared my screen.
165 West Seymour Street is a corner property.
It's currently zoned RSA 5, although for, and you'll see in a minute, the physical configuration has had it as a commercial mixed use for quite some time.
We are refused because the two-family dwelling above the commercial space is prohibited in the zoning district, and the lower level is commercial and above is residential, and therefore the multi-principle uses on the same lot also kick in.
I think before we get to the actual interior plans, I think it's important to see what the property looks like.
and as you can see, property was built out as a commercial space on the first floor
well before my client purchased the property.
The initial application had four personal services in the front.
The property is divided by a large staircase that goes right up the middle,
And the first floor rear was going to be an apparel retail, but instead we were just asking for the personal services to be on the entire first floor.
I believe that may have been an issue for the RCO, although absolutely no immediate neighbors showed up to the meeting.
We just had the RCO leadership there, and despite our mailing to the community, over 100 pieces of individual mail.
Here's the rear yard with full access here for trash storage,
and both the commercial space and the two units above would have access to the rear yard to store their trash.
I'll show you some of the interior photos of the first floor and then above the second
show you some of the interior.
That's all.
and third floors zoning notice we did in fact post the property of not only the zoning notice
but the uh refusal as well this property is located right here on the corner across the
street are two vacant lots down the block is another six or seven vacant lots so there are
There is a lot of vacancy on our side of the block and across the street is a school because it's a corner and because of the physical configuration of the property on the first floor.
We do believe the commercial use is compatible with with what was there and because it's on a corner, because it adheres to the basic planning principles that typically we have.
There will be one use on the first floor, and I will show you, and it will be for personal services.
Now is a good time to show you the plans because here's the rear yard, again, where each and every tenant, commercial and residential can access for trash storage.
The basement will be used for storage as well.
Just by the nature of the construction of the property,
commercial space is divided into two separate spaces.
Here's the corner entrance to the first commercial space
with storage and a restroom and a closet.
As you can see, running throughout the first,
second and third floors is the staircase.
So to do anything with the first floor, but to have the two separate spaces would mean that we would need to completely remove the staircase in the existing staircase in the building.
But again, the use for both the front and the back will both be for personal services, which is different than the application.
And then the second floor would be what we call a junior one bed with a full restroom.
There will be storage on the second floor for both of the units.
We do recognize that the units are on the smaller side, so there may be a need for some sort of personal storage, bicycle storage.
The RCO did ask that the storage unit be divvied up so that there would be no misunderstanding as to which unit gets which portion of the space, which we agreed to.
And then the top floor, again, would be almost identical with a junior one bed with a bathroom off of it.
And that's about it.
There are other multifamily properties on the block are not commercial spaces in the middle of the block.
The commercial spaces are typically on the corners here.
And of course, across the street is the school because of the actual physical build out of this property.
It is relative. You know, I think it's obvious that the commercial space was there prior to my clients rehabbing the space.
She believed that the commercial space was legal at the time, which is why they have the personal service space in the first floor front.
But upon going through the process, she realized after rehabbing the entire property that it needed to be brought before this board for approval.
And with that, I would like to call Nakia Peterson to testify in this matter.
Again, Mr. Chair, I want to be very clear that no immediate neighbors showed up at the meeting.
So the letter of opposition is just of some RCO leadership, none of whom live anywhere near the property, based on what was presented at the community meeting.
And with that, I asked Ms. Peterson to raise her hand.
Ms. Peterson, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
Ms. Peterson, please unmute yourself and wait for the chat.
Ms. Peterson, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Could you please state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Nakia Peterson, N-I-K-I-A, Peterson, P-E-T-E-R-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Peterson, did you hear my presentation to the board this afternoon?
Yes, I did, Vern.
and do you uh deem it to be fair and accurate yes okay and do you uh adopt it as your own testimony
yes i do mr chair we're open for questions questions from the board board no mr chair
no chair questions this is sorry mr chair this is hillary i have a brief question um mr anastasia
Did you say that both of the commercial spaces are now proposed for personal services?
That's correct.
Okay, so that's the only commercial variance you're seeking is personal services.
No more retail sale of wearing apparel and accessories.
That's correct.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Cheryl Smith.
Ms. Smith, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Ms. Smith, could you please state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Hi, my name is Cheryl Smith, C-H-E-R-Y-L, Smith, S-M-I-T-H.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
No, I represent the 12th Ward RCO, the coordinating RCO.
Okay, thank you.
we did have two meetings for this um this applicant um nobody showed up on the first
meeting and then no one showed up no near neighbors showed up on the second um we proceeded with the
meeting um on the second meeting uh and what was presented to us was um the building the way it is
we were also told that there were uh two commercial spaces on the bottom personal services and i think
boutique in the back um but anyway either way there were two commercial spaces on the bottom
we denied it um as a group because there's an overlay in um where that property is at
um with the city under the code there's also um no renter's license for the applicant and she
stated during the meeting that she's been get the zoning board has been getting i mean i'm sorry
Ellen has been getting calls about the zoning for that property and that it's not zoned correctly.
And we assumed that it was because there's no rental license attached to it.
So we denied it for those two reasons.
And there was another reason.
But those were the main reasons.
She spent a long time.
We asked her if she had other properties.
And one of the other RCOs has dealt with her on other properties.
So she's not unfamiliar with what needs to be done to have licensing done on this property.
That was the other reason that we denied it.
So that's basically our letter.
And Faith RCO, CDC RCO was in agreement with me.
And Solo also sent in their letter in agreement and also Councilwoman Bass's office.
Mr. Chair, I have no cross-examination. I just want to note for the record that the concern about two separate uses is no longer a concern because we have one use, which is the personal services in both spaces.
They are two spaces because just the very nature of the physical construction of the property and the the L&I being called issue is simply we don't have a rental license because we have to come before you.
And that's this process.
Are there is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Chair, we have someone with the phone number 5555.
Paula, please unmute yourself. We'll wait for the chair.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes. Hello. Allison, A-double-L-I-S-O-N, Weiss, W-E-I-S-S, Solo Germantown Civic Association.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
I would like to add to the comments that when they say personal services, they are describing
describing a nail salon, which is one of the businesses that is covered by the Germantown
a nail salon, which is one of the...
overlay and requires a community meeting to have a variance for that type of business.