So with the third-story addition, that would have required zoning.
Did that go to zoning?
Because there was a third-story addition put on.
It was by rate, though.
It's under 38 feet.
So everything was done with permits, and there was nothing that needed zoning to bring it to where it is right now.
Including the basement?
Because the basement doesn't look like it's listed on the zoning permits for the alteration nor the third-story addition.
Everything was done according to plans we filed for everything.
So the basement was inspected by L&I?
In the base?
And what did it go in as?
How many bedrooms?
On the initial single family, I believe, I don't have the plans in front of me,
but I believe it was about five bedrooms, I believe.
total for the whole for all three stories so yes okay
other questions mr masters can you pull the plans up again sure and then i so right now what's
what's going on on the second floor currently it's i mean i know you said it's framed out
is the kitchen framed out no uh we were just waiting to get everything approved first but
i was just kind of showing you guys this is open floor planning what i will be planning to do
So the plans you're showing for the second and the third floor, outside of the bedrooms that are shown on the L&I permit, you still have to go in and do...
Yes, correct. Oh, yeah, we didn't do any work because I didn't know whether I was going to be approved for the two units.
What would be your plan at this point if you're not granted approval today?
I probably will have to, you know, move forward with the single family.
So, you know, I just was waiting.
Hopefully I can get the approval because the house is a very, very huge house.
It is.
But you built that, right?
You put that addition on.
Correct.
But here we do have a hardship that that's appropriate because the planning commission
has identified that that the single family use in this area is no longer viable.
There's the there's the open lot across the street that no one has developed, which they
should in all in all right because it it would be um it is totally appropriate to have but they
but people can't make a single family housing uh work in this neighborhood so that's why the
planning commission is saying that it should be duplex okay other questions on the board i mean
i would argue that this was a self-imposed hardship it was a two-story house you've made
it a four-story house but well to to remediate the the blight and to and to make a house that
the neighbors at the
RCL meeting last week said that this is
the nicest house that they've seen
in their whole neighborhood and that they're really appreciative
that he wants to raise the level
the quality of the housing
in the neighborhood. I'm not commenting on the work
I'm commenting on the fact that now
a four story house is being considered
a hardship when it was a two story
existing building. The planning
commission says that
the entire area is
no longer appropriate for single family. So if he tried to put single family in,
he would have found it to be very
challenging. Any other questions?
Yes. Let me make sure I understand what we're doing
here. So you're going to have a bi-level
apartment? Yes.
With the basement in the first floor? Is that what I'm
With the basement in the first floor, is that what I'm hearing?
hearing.
And there'll be three bedrooms in there?
And then the other unit is going to be four bedrooms?
The other unit is going to be, yes.
And can I see this plan again for, I mean, where's the kitchen?
Where's the living room?
Where's the, and it's by level again?
yes uh so uh the first floor would be uh the basement and the first floor together
and then it'll be the second and third floor together so i i guess i again i i hear the
argument that okay maybe you can't have single family here but here you're talking about seven
bedrooms in this?
Three bedrooms in one unit and four bedrooms in another.
Seven bedrooms, right? All together, but for two units.
Stan, I thought that's what I said.
All right. Okay, so why did we have to have
so many, you know,
I just don't, I'm not sure what the hardship
is for having this
kind of, it looks like really an overbuild
and an overcrowding,
if you will, of the space, even if it's a large space
I understand that, but this is, I can't
imagine that there's anything comparable nearby. Is there
anything like this here? You're in a
two story but i think the testimony was that the neighbor said there's nothing like it in the area
am i right hey uh there um there are other uh there are four four apartments units i believe
like directly across you i think that's it right there so you know this is a large uh
yes um it but it's it's within like a block or two of of the property
this has four mailboxes at um at 4908 aspen um but the the reality here is that we know that this
is legal i mean you can you can have things and they don't they aren't necessarily legal
any more than what we're looking at today well in terms of character of the block that that is
the character of that house that has four units of whether it's legal i don't i don't have the
the data on that but i do but i do know and it's not refuted that the planning commission says that
it's no longer and i guess mr facto will obviously weigh in of in his in his interpretation but but
the planning commission's 2035 plan is saying that this is no longer a viable single family area and
That doesn't mean then that they mean that you can convert it to just any number and or any height, any, I mean, that doesn't mean that something like this is what they intend when they say that.
so um miss gassner are you are you suggesting that if there was a smaller number of bedrooms
in in each unit that that would be more satisfactory for you not i'm not really a
fan of the household living in the basement i'm also not a fan of a four bedroom unit i don't
under it i just don't you can you can have a duplex without forbidden okay i don't i don't
know that we have approved too many you know i mean the crux of this is that he went to l and i
and said i'm putting an addition on my single home and i'm putting a deck on the top right
he he changed his mind right because of course whatever and now he's saying to the zoning board
i want a duplex with seven units of seven bedrooms all together three one and four and the other so
mr mr chair if if there was a smaller number of units with that i'm not i i think that i think
we're going to hold this and have a discussion about it anyway so i'm um i'm not saying that
smaller bedrooms will do it i think the question really is is that you told ellen i it was single
home i think you change your mind you want it to be a duplex and i think that's what we're looking
But as I said earlier, he did that in part.
But as I said earlier, he did that in part, he did want, he did intentionally
He did intentionally want to have a single family,
and then the economics caught up with him.
But he also wanted to reduce the blight in the neighborhood
and not leave it blighted, which would have been...
I heard your initial test.
Yeah, yeah.
So I think he would be open to having...
I haven't spoken to my client,
but we could discuss whether he would be fine
with a smaller number of bedrooms per unit,
right and if that would be more satisfactory it's already built though i mean it's already built so
that kind of doesn't make sense right it's other than if you make if you reduce the number of
bedrooms and you can make one bedroom like twice as large right or something so that doesn't quite
make sense i think the issue is really the point that um board member win made is that you could
have simply done a two-bedroom a two-story renovation you chose to do a three-story
renovation as a single family put all these additions on and now we're asking for a duplex
i agree it's it's a great local building that's just i think that's the that's the kind of issue
that we probably are going to talk about in exactly is there a section that shows the depth
of the basement because there's a plan of the basement but there's no well there are photos
that's not helpful i'm trying to figure out how many feet it is but you want to know like what
what the ceiling height is?
I don't know.
The ceiling height
and the depth
will look great.
It's not on this plan.
i don't i don't see it on the plan it isn't because it would be on the section yeah
and do we would you would you like us to get you those and
that information since you're going to be consulting on this anyways um yeah hillary
yes mr chair we can close the record we're gonna hold this for two weeks
um or two weeks mr chair we don't have hearings in two weeks so it'd be either one week or three
weeks it'll have to be three weeks in okay whatever that date is um and i you know obviously
we can have things submitted right but you know this is going to be held for a conversation in
executive session um and um if you want to submit also we'd look to see if we can get the rco letter
by then right right now if you if you um you want to submit some other issues that you would want us
to take a look at in an executive session, that's fine.
All right, thank you very much.
All right, hold on.
So Mr. Chair, okay, so the date in three weeks
would be on November 19th, and so we can vote it then.
We can leave the record open, and we're specifically
looking for supplemental information from the applicant
based on the questions today and the RCO letter
as well as any response from the applicant all right all right let me let me see if this is
there anyone in the virtual audience who has comments no hands at this time chair planning
you want to wait uh no we'll weigh in okay all right thank you chairman and good morning david
effecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the rsa 5 residential single family zoning at this location the city rezoned this
neighborhood in 1970 and a council supported map change at that time this property changed from
residential multi-family to residential single family this property received a zoning permit
for a single family home in 2022 this is a primarily single family block face the city
planning commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variance for two dwelling units
Thank you. Okay. Steve, you know, we'll be back. We'll be back here in the 19th. Study an executive session that morning. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you.
Number 13, MI 2025 004035 706 to 08 South Street. Alex Goldberg is the attorney.
good morning mr goldberg good morning before i start congratulations on your wedding i get
a chance to congratulate you since thank you um please state your name and spell for the
sonographer alex goldberg a-l-e-x-g-o-l-d-b-e-r-g do you swear or affirm the
Alex Goldberg, A-L-E-X-G-O-L-D-B-E-R-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Could you identify your client in a relationship with the property?
My client is Philadelphia Erotic Gallery, LLC, and its representative, Stevie Laney, is sitting to my left.
Do you swear or affirm to?
Excuse me, Mr. Chairman.
Hello?
Yeah, this is the court reporter.
I apologize. I believe I may have accidentally muted the DPZ Zoom. It looks like it's unmuted now. I apologize.
Okay. Thank you.
Okay. Again, my name is Alex Goldberg. I have Stevie Laney sitting to my left and the other representative of the entity, Tobias Olson, sitting behind me in the physical audience.
um we're asking for uh several variances here to put a erotic gallery uh museum and small
retail component um in the ground floor commercial space at 706 south street this is a cmx two and a
half zone property um on a street which has historically had these types of uses but because
Because it is a regulated use, we're required to come before the board and the RCO, which
again was in full support to ask for approval.
Here's the notice of refusal.
The first and the last refusals that you see on the screen basically say the same thing.
I think we're getting both because of the regulated component, but they're both saying
that this adult-oriented merchandise use is not allowed in CMX 2.5.
And then the two in the middle relate to proximity to both residential properties and other regulated uses.
The three that you see there are all on the 600 block of South Street, but there are also similar uses on the 300, 400, and 500 blocks of South Street as well.