for purposes of providing water for cleaning and what have you? Is there anything like that?
No, no, I don't. I usually just use the restroom.
No, no, I don't. I usually just use the restroom.
Okay, thank you.
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Hilary Emerson.
Excuse me, just briefly, Mr. Chair.
Ms. DeVore, there was some provisos that were referenced by the RCO.
One of them is that it only has private events, which is the zoning that you're seeking.
um they did ask for hours of operation proviso can you confirm that you're in agreement with
that proviso yes I am I'm in agreement with it okay and what in terms of can you just explain
what constitutes weekdays and what constitutes weekends for the so okay so um weekdays would
just be Monday through um Thursday and weekends will be Friday through Sunday okay all right
And the last thing is we still have not received proof of tax compliance for the property. It is showing that it does have delinquency for a couple of prior years. So the board is not going to be able to vote on this matter until we receive proof that the property is compliant, either paid in full or in a payment agreement.
okay um so i did contact the owner of the building i don't own it i rent so i did contact
them and ask them uh could he send it in actually let me see if he could send it in to he was
supposed to send it in this morning so he either needs to to pay off some balances or get to an
agreement and he may not be able to do that immediately so we may have to hold the vote
on this until that's been addressed okay okay questions from the audience questions from the
virtual audience there are no names chair planning commission
amy board with the planning commission amy boyd do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth i do please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends a
change in zoning at this location from CMX2 commercial mixed use to CMX3. The appellant
has shown that the proposed event assembly facility will have no detrimental impacts
on the neighborhood beyond what might be expected. The Planning Commission recommends that the
board grant the proposed special exemption for event assembly facility. Thank you. So
we're going to hold the vote on this until we have the tax information. This case will
be closed other than the tax information. So thank you very much. Okay. So after I get the
information from the owner, then I can just let you guys know. Yep. Okay. All right. Thank you so
much. All right. So number 13. Thank you. Number 13, MI 2024-005-791-2226 East Venango Street.
Sean Ward is the attorney. There's a letter of unanimous support from the Harrogate Civic Association with Unenforceable Provisors.
Sean Ward is coming in as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Sean Ward on behalf of the owner applicant, Matthew Rispo.
My name is spelled S-H-A-W-N, last name Ward, W-A-R-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Of course I do.
Please share a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
it wasn't exactly five days in advance but everything has been submitted
through the zba portal and the exhibits have been accepted fair enough council thank you
please proceed and share your screen. Thank you very much.
I'm just confirming my screen is shared. It's coming up now, yep.
Excellent. I want to make it just a little bit bigger, Sean. Yep.
Attached is my typical exhibit packet. Second. There we go. Again, I represent Matthew Rispo,
R-I-S-P-O. He is on the call today in the virtual audience, along with Agata Reister,
the architect from Landmark Architects. My typical exhibit packet includes A-1 is the notice of
My typical exhibit packet includes A1 as the notice of refusal.
refusing
This was an application to permit the erection of an attached building to include a roof deck, roof access structure,
one off-street parking space for use as a two-family household living at floors two and three,
along with a business and professional office on the first floor.
Mr. Rispow operates a downtown mechanical, HVAC mechanical company, and he would occupy not only the first floor office space and the storage in the basement, along with one of the dwelling units above.
Resulted in three refusals, multiple principal structures and buildings and uses.
the business and professional use is not permitted as well as the two-family use is not permitted
this is RSA 5 I believe yes so we're seeking variances for the uses today A2 is the ZBA
application of appeal A3 project information form A4 is proof of ownership copy of his deed
A property was purchased in or about November of 23.
A5 is proof of tax clearance.
There is a small balance due, but that is not due until March of this year.
It's like $688 or something to that effect.
A6 is the zoning site plan.
A7 are typical floor plans.
And A8 is the renderings and photos as provided by Landmark Architecture.
A-9 are photographs of the posting, subject property, some street views and some aerial views.
A-10 is the RCO meeting notice and certificate of mailing.
A-11 is the RCO letter from Harrogate, which, again, as the chair mentioned, unanimous support for this application.
And A-12, if received, it would be a letter from Councilman Driscoll.
As an officer of the court, I can confirm that I clarified with his chief of staff, Tom Forkin, and his zoning liaison, Stan Sawinski, that the councilman has no objection or opposition to this application.
A13 is, I looked for relevant zoning history, but could not find any in the archives.
A14 is the zoning map, and A15 is an arrow photograph.
So briefly, we have the refusal, the application, project information form,
the deed. As you can see, he also owns 2224 East Venango,
and as well as the subject property at 2226 East Venango.
So again, there's the tax balance, $688, not due till March.
This is the elevation and site plan.
This is currently a vacant lot.
He proposes a three-story structure with a roof access structure for a roof deck.
The roof deck would serve the top apartment unit, which would be occupied and used by Mr. Rispo and his wife.
The second floor has a proposed deck out the rear for outdoor recreation area for that unit.
And then obviously the first floor would be the office.
Again, here is the site plan.
Let me blow that up so you can see it better.
So, the top floor would be 1,016 square feet, be a two-bedroom apartment with access to
the roof, that deck.
Second floor apartment would be 850 square feet, according to the floor plan.
Again, two bedrooms, two baths.
There's a common entry for the apartments shown here on the plan to the left of the office space.
The commercial office area is approximately 923 square feet, includes a conference room in the back, an ADA accessible restroom, a little kitchenette for the office workers.
We anticipate two employees on site at any given time.
um here's some photographs as you can see it's the fenced-in lot as depicted in the
photographs we have some other photos of uh some of the adjoining properties and other
We have some other photos of some of the adjoining properties and other properties on the street.
This is an elevation rendering of the front.
Again, you would have the office door to the right, the entry to the apartments on the left, a typical brick facade, which would be incorporated into the aesthetics and whatnot of the neighborhood.
Again, another copy of the site plan in elevation.
photographs of the posting
it's got the poster and the refusal
clearly visible on the front fence
this is the corner property
used to be Big Al's Deli
I'm not sure what's there now
and the structure to the right
is 2224
East Venango also owned by
the Rispos
another copy of the poster
these are some google street photos that i downloaded here's an angle from google earth
you can see the property located where the red dot is another google aerial
the letter from arrogate as you can see it was 14 members in attendance
voted in support zero members in non-opposition
copy of the rco meeting notice the addresses that was sent to
the certificate of mailing through m3printing.com
this is the zoning map it is zoned rsa5 and just another google aerial that is the sum and
substance of our application uh if the board has any questions i'd be more than happy to answer
or bring Agata on or Mr. Rispow in any event.
Why don't you bring the owner on and adopt your testimony?
Very good.
Matt, could you raise your hand and I'll let you speak.
Matthew Rispow is promoted.
Mr. Rispow, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Rispow, M-A-T-T-H-E-W-R-I-S-P-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell...
Did I swear you in once today?
He raised his hand earlier in the day by accident.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Matt, you've heard my representations to the board?
I know.
Are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
And would you adopt them as your own testimony?
very good
I'm sorry excuse me this is the court reporter I apologize
I did not hear his last two responses could you please repeat
the representations I made are true and correct
to your best of your knowledge information and belief
okay and do you adopt them as your own testimony
thank you
counsel do you have parking on this location
parking Matt is there is there parking on this garage there is a garage okay first floor
is that entered from the front that is okay thank you all right questions from the board yeah um
how tall would the
building be with the roof deck
and are there any
other three-story
buildings on the block?
There is
other three-story buildings. I'm not sure.
I don't have the drawings right in front of me
showing with the actual
final height.
Here's that the
structure
36 and a half feet
to the roof line
and then there's a
three foot six inch railing
on top of that
is that the pilot house
roof or the actual
no that would be that would be the
the roof of the building
not the not the pilot house
elevation
oh yeah sure
a second
so let me blow that up a little bit for you
so as you can see here it says 36 feet 5 inches uh maximum height would be 38 feet
So the height complies with the code. We're not seeking any variances for the height, nor the roof deck and pilot house.
so the the height complies with the code
Other questions?
Are there any other buildings on this block that have the garage at the first level? And have you already gotten approval for your curb cut from streets?
i would defer to uh agata on that one can uh she be uh elevated
no there there is other buildings on the street with the garage door on the same block
agada yes agada is coming in there okay thank you doreen and then just while while they're coming
i guess i'm trying to confirm because when you showed the plan it looked like
the what you're now saying is the garage door looked like it was a big room for the office
and that the car
was at the rear
and that's different than what
you verbally testified
and it doesn't quite match the drawing
so we're just trying to get clarity
Right there is the garage door
and that's where the car could be parked
right there in that square
and the back
because I don't know if you're mistaken
at the conference area
Agata Reister
can you please unmute yourself
yes good afternoon Agata Reister
landmark architectural