Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits to proceed with this case five days in advance to this hearing?
I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
I'm going to share with the board the information we previously submitted relating to this case.
Can everyone see my exhibit?
We can, sir.
Great. Thank you.
So I will go ahead and move to the refusal at this point.
this is an application that is for a construction of a new structure at this lot to be used as a
duplex. It is zoned RSA 5 in this district, and therefore it was refused. We have met with the
RCO, North Squared, and the primary objection that comes from the community, it's essentially
the same for almost any application that goes before the community. If they're concerned with
local hiring, displacement of residents, and cost of rental. With two units, we were giving them
approximate cost of $1,400 to $1,700 a unit, and that was considered too high for the area,
and therefore they were essentially against the idea of a construction at the site due to that
particular cost and due to the value of the property once completed. I do want to point out
however that this property is located on a site location that has a very mixed use in the area.
This is actually a commercial auto shop. We have another garage slash commercial unit across.
you have some multi-family zoning surrounding this and then these are almost all vacant and
therefore zoned RSA 5. This one here is zoned RSA 5 even though it's essentially a parking lot for
one of the commercial uses. Again our lot is right here next to an existing building
and the proposal here is to build a new building here and as you can see there's again another
commercial garage not far from the property, and they're more on this side. So while we understand
that the preference is always to build single family in all the new development, this property,
in addition to being in an area that is underdeveloped, it also actually has a history
of being a duplex, which was previously in existence at this site. What I'm going to do
I'm going to share that information real quick with the board of the prior use of the property, which is actually a duplex use.
I'm going to put that up now.
So this property, before it was taken down, was actually a legal duplex at this site.
And it's part of the reason why the owner thought that in purchasing the land, he would be able to, again, build a duplex.
in purchasing the land, he would be able to, again, build a duplex. As far as we know from
talking to the community, they're aware of this history, but the building's been taken down for
some time because the vacancy in the area. So while I understand that that does not in and
itself present necessarily a hardship to the land under the code, we do ask the board's
consideration in that situation. So this is the plan for the property. It is a straightforward
plan, three-story structure, two units. The first floor basement would be one unit. Second and third
floor would be one unit. Again, it's a new construction on an existing lot with the history
of use as a duplex. And here's, if you want to zoom in on any part of this plan, I'll be happy
to do so. But I would conclude my testimony at this point and entertain any questions from the
board. So the property next door, what is that? That one seems to be a single family structure.
I did look that up on the atlas. The other side is all vacant. Behind is vacant. If I may,
Chairman, I'm going to share with the board the zoning map of this particular
property as well, which also can show a little bit of what is here. So we are here. These are
vacant and zoned RSA 5. But as you can see, they're a mix of RM1 in the area. And even though
these are, in fact, zoned RSA 5, including those, they're not really single family, all of them.
This property happened to have one existing property next door. And then this is of a
commercial nature, that's a commercial nature, and these are all vacant, and across the street,
it looks like it's a mix of different uses as well. Would you want to have your testimony
adopted? Yes. Mr. Gitterman, can you raise your hand, please, to be identified?
Mr. Gitterman, you're allowed to speak?
yes good morning everybody hi could you state your name and spell it please for the court reporter
my name is joseph j-o-s-e-p-h and last name is gitterman g-i-t-e-r-m-i-m you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do proceed counsel thank you
mr gitterman did you see my presentation and hear my testimony to the zoning board
Yes, I did.
Can you verify that what I have represented is true and correct and adopted as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission?
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
And good morning, David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Mr. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends residential multifamily zoning at this location.
However, in 2021, the zoning map was changed to single-family on this block in an RCO-requested map change.
The intent of single-family zoning designation is to encourage single-family infill development on narrow blocks.
The applicant has shown that the dimensional variance is minimal and does not conflict with the purpose and spirit of the code.
however there is no unique physical condition or circumstance of this lot that would prevent it
from being used as a single family home so the city planning commission recommends the board
deny the use variance thank you um mi 2022 002 559 2238 north 4th street i vote no
Thomas Hallowin
my vote is no
James Snell
my vote is no
Ishmael Shaheed my vote is no
thank you
number 15
MI 2022
5607 to 13
Germantown Avenue
counsel brickland is the attorney for the tenant uh no letter from coordinating rco 12th democratic
ward letter of non-opposition from from solo germantown
mr brickland has been promoted
good morning could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter
good morning good morning board my name is
Good morning. Good morning. My name is Shoshana Ricklin, S-H-O-S-H-A-N-A, Ricklin, B-R-I-C-K-L-I-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do. Mr. Chairman, I would like to request that Patrick Jones, who will be running the video.
before we get to one minute before we get to that could you identify your client and their
relationship to the property his name is robert wheeler he is also here today and he is the tenant
that is applying for this special exception and so your your person's going to come on and just
run your uh yes and then we will also have the tenant is present yeah sure sure all right so
So bring your person on just to run your electronics.
I see him on the Zoom box there, Patrick Jones.
It's up.
Very good.
Thank you.
And one minute more.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, okay?
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed all the required documents that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance for this hearing?
Yes, with the exception of the clearance certificate, which we believe has not been issued for a technical reason, but Hillary has ascertained that there is compliance, and perhaps she can amplify that if necessary.
So we don't have an actual certificate.
Thank you, Hillary.
Yes, yes, Mr. Chair, that is correct. I know there's been some issues with the issuance of the tax clearances, but the taxes for this property are in compliance through 2022.
Thank you.
Thank you.
This is a request for a special exception for the property for the second floor of 5607 Germantown Avenue will be for a catering hall for the for the neighboring area and I'd like to go through the
the exhibit package, if possible. So the first one is the referral. Can we just go quickly
through this? And then after that is the special exception application. And then the project
information form. Please note, there will be no construction. There will be no alteration of the
property other than um the request this is the um the deed as we said the tax clearance you heard
about that we had a certificate of mailing to the um the nearby neighbors and then there was
number seven please exhibit seven is the letter to the uh rcos with the the meeting that was held
to which was scheduled and held on january 17th um after that i'm going to go through the quick
quick quickly through the pictures this is an aerial view of the location as you can see this
is in a corridor in a in a commercial corridor there are no real residential um properties
around there the next picture is the exterior um entrance on the side on east woodland street
um picture number 10 please is another picture of the um exterior entrance on woodland street
number 11 and 12 these are the interior shots of the property uh there may be some minor cosmetic
changes but nothing um no construction of any kind um and then finally we have a floor plan
But there will be no actual alteration of that floor plan in any way.
And then finally, we have a petition of the near the commercial neighbor, the neighbors around that property in support of this of this project.
I would like to have the applicant, the tenant, adopt this, if that's possible, if there are no questions from the panel.
Mr. Wheeler, are you here?
Hello?
Mr. Wheeler?
Mr. Wheeler?
He was here.
He was here.
What's his first name?
What's his first name?
Robert Wheeler.
Mr. Robert Wheeler.
I don't see him.
Counsel, you're an officer of the court.
We will take your testimony.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair.
There's another Patrick Jones raising their hand.
Would he possibly have come in under Patrick?
I don't know.
because we already have
let's see what
what if he's there no it's just me
okay thank you okay
and we would like to know
if the if the I mean I
can I can I can
verify that's what I'm saying you're an officer of the court
we'll take your testimony
questions from the board
no Mr. Chairman
no Mr. Chairman
no Chair
questions or comments from the virtual audience excuse me mr chair um miss miss berkland can you
just speak to the lease um for a few moments because the the initial lease term has run out
but you indicated that there had been an extension um can you please explain that yes hillary thank
you so much uh the lease term has run out but he continues to pay rent and we can rectify that
with an addendum going forward, but he has continued since the expiration on the lease
to pay rent in anticipation of this project going forward. So he has stayed, and the taxes are also
in compliance, all in anticipation of this project moving forward to completion.
thank you and we would be happy to submit that if you need that be um in order to finalize
the approval this is an exception it's not a variant planning commission thank you chair
there we still have hands here we have three hands up in the audience okay
Mr. Charles Richardson will be first.
I'm allowing him to speak.
Good morning, Mr. Richardson.
State your name, please, and spell for the court reporter.
Charles Richardson, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, room 508.
Richardson spelled R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N.
You swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Proceed, sir.
I just wanted to let everybody know that the coordinating RCO, which was the 12th War RCO and 5th CDC RCO, sent theirs in late, so may not have been received in time for you guys for consideration, but they are in support.
The councilwoman is in support of the of granting the variance of the special exception, rather, but with a three year proviso request for that.
Thank you, sir. Thank you for the call. Who else in the virtual audience?
The next one is Miss Weiss. Miss Weiss, you're allowed to speak.
Good morning, Miss Weiss. Could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter?
yes 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
yes proceed um i wanted to clarify uh our position was one of non-opposition with proviso
for a temporary variance of three years.
And when this was presented to the community,
it was presented as an event entertainment space with catering.
It was not presented as a catering hall, per se.
And also it was said at the meeting that they were in the second year,