ZBA Hearing - March 1, 2023

I believe, of a five-year lease.

So it's not clear to me that they don't have a lease at this time.

Counsel, could you answer that?

Yes.

First of all, to clarify, this is not an application for a variance.

This is an application for a special exception for the use of a catering hall.

It is not within the parameters of the code.

Um, and my understanding based on the actual lease, it looks like it is a two year lease,

but it is being, it is, um, extended, um, for that period for the other period.

And we will provide that documentation to clarify that had the applicant been on, he

to clarify that. Had the applicant been on, he would have been able to testify to the veracity

would have been able to testify.

of that. Yes, may I speak? Yes, I apologize. Yes, it was a special exception. I misspoke

when I said variance. But it does say on the application, assembly and entertainment. So

can can you please address that the application that we saw

that is uh the general uh category it is a catering it is an event hall for um for um

events that will involve food and um and meeting for so people in the neighborhood

will there be a proviso that it's a catering hall and not an entertainment center

to the extent isn't the assembly and entertainment use limited isn't that

what catering comes under yes so well it it there's a catering in commissaries but that

doesn't involve any assembly um if there's yeah there's assembly here food catering is

is a part of that or can be depends on the venue but that that falls that fault like a banquet hall

falls under the assembly and they're telling you

thank you thank you for clarifying that hillary is there anyone else in the virtual audience

yes chair i have uh cheryl smith with her hand raised i would love her to speak

hi miss 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-S-M-I-T-H. I represent the 12th Ward, RCO. I'm not sure why you didn't receive the letter, but like Mr. Richardson said, it was.

Hold on a minute. Hold on. Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes, I do.

Again, I'm not sure why you didn't receive our letter, but everything that's been said is correct. We supported it.

And there were five RCOs actually on our meeting, three of which wanted the three-year temporary special exception and two did not.

And then there were two community members.

So basically the petition, because this was a second meeting, because the property is located in a commercial area and it's very difficult to get near neighbors.

So they were allowed to get a petition together from the businesses and any other near neighbors, which are mostly senior citizens because a lot of housing units.

And those that we had on there, you know, like I said, agreed to it.

Three and the two community members wanted the special exception with the temporary three year extension or whatever.

and the other two didn't so um we basically supported everything thank you very much for

calling in is there anyone else in the virtual audience excuse me uh mr chair i um been texted

that um the applicant the tenant is on is here now he's under the second mr wheeler under the

second box of patrick jones would it be permissible for him to um come on it is

could you please raise your hand sir

do we see him yes i see him chair okay he's allowed to speak i could you state your name

please and spell for the court reporter uh yes uh robert wheeler w-h-e-e-l-e-r right do you

swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Proceed,

counsel. Mr. Wheeler, thank you for getting on. We have put on the record your desire to have a

special exception to run a catering and event planning place. Could you please briefly describe

the nature of that so that everyone here will understand what exactly you were planning to do?

Yes, provide a space where people could have, you know, formal weddings, birthday parties, you know, baby showers, dinners, just something nice and elegant for the community.

I'm actually born and raised in the Germantown community and did business there for years.

Thank you, Mr. Wheeler.

The other thing I want to have you put on the record is that you were continuing to pay rent and you do have an addendum to what was in the written lease.

to pay rent, and you do have an addendum to what was in the written lease?

Yes, I do a lot of business with David. This will go on for, I mean, David loved me as a tenant,

so I'll be there for years to come. And could you be, will you be willing to provide a written

evidence of that addendum

that the

lease continues

for this board? Yes.

Thank you. Are there any

questions from the board to this

to the applicant, to the tenant?

Any questions from the board?

No, Mr. Chairman.

No, Mr. Chairman.

Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?

I see no hands,

Chair. Planning Commission.

Thank you very much, Chair Bergman.

David Fecto, City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the

commercial mixed-use zoning at this location. The proposed use is not likely to cause detrimental

impacts beyond what might normally be expected. So the City Planning Commission recommends the

board grant the special. Thank you. MI 2022-002-233-5607-13 Germantown Avenue. I vote yes.

proviso

temporary

excuse me Mr. Chair

can we hold this for a week

for the addendum for the lease we really should

have that before we vote on this matter

okay fine

we will vote on this

next week at

9.30 a.m. on Wednesday

and the record is otherwise closed

except for receipt

of the lease and

I understand the other letters from the RCO

were submitted, we will accept those as well. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

MI 2022-006-892-2202-04 Wesley High Avenue. Alan Nockamson is the attorney for the owner.

It's remand hearing. Must be heard.

Mr. Nockamson has been promoted.

Good morning, Mr. Nockamson.

Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?

Yes.

Good morning, Mr. Chair.

Alan Nockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.

Right.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

I understand this will just be supplemental testimony. Am I correct?

That is correct, Mr. Chair. I would like to just give a quick overview of the matter.

So just to familiarize the board again.

Yeah. Please.

Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Again, let me, can I share my screen?

You can.

Okay. Thank you.

so again just to familiarize the board with this this project has been in existence for some time

we presented I would say almost a year ago to the day and what we're seeking to do is put an event

planning space in this cmx2 property so what we're looking to do is not a variance but merely

a special exception, which is allowed under the code. So the standard is a lot lower than the

variance where the use is conditionally approved. And we feel like we've met our burden

in that respect. So during the original hearing, there was some connectivity issues with my

client's representative, Darren Hardiman, who is now present in the virtual audience. And,

And, you know, at the conclusion of my short presentations to summarize what's going on, I would ask that he virtually raise his hand, be sworn in, and then he could give some testimony about, you know, what protective measures we're going to have for this event planning space.

Just, again, just to quickly go through this, this is the notice of referral.

I do have an objection in one respect.

It's an application for a nightclub and private club for $89.

Mr. Nackamson, you just froze up.

Mr. Nackamson?

Hello?

Hillary?

Yes, Mr. Chair.

so we gotta wait for

yeah we'll give

we'll give him a minute I think he needs to

we'll give him a minute I think he needs to excuse me needs to go out and come back in probably

excuse me needs to go out and come back

he must have heard you Hillary

chair yes we still need to get on the record uh we haven't sworn them in

I I thought I did but I I will do that for you if you if you don't think I did yeah we haven't

sworn them in

Here you go.

You ever have one of those cases that it just, it's jinxed from the beginning.

So we had connectivity issues.

Did I, apparently I, did I swear you in, Mr.

You did swear me in.

So I don't know how much I was talking.

All right.

Well, we'll do it one more time to be sure.

Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

I do.

And this, this is a remand.

We don't have to go back to the vice chair.

So why don't we just continue your overview?

What I'm going to do is, I don't mean to be rude, but I find that sometimes when I don't have the video on, there's less issue of connectivity.

So if you don't mind, I'll turn my video off.

That's fine. We've already seen you. That's fine, sir.

All right. I'm going to share my screen.

All right. Again, we were here approximately a year ago regarding this matter.

So this is a CMX2 property, essentially on a commercial corridor where Lehigh Avenue is.

You know, there are residential properties to write of us.

This is not a variance project.

This is a matter that would allow us, that conditionally allows us to have the use.

And this is for a special exception.

And so we had community input for this project.

And for the most part, we've had, you know, success.

I mean, you'll see in our presentation materials, or they are in the presentation materials,

We have support from the Coordinating RCO,

Strawberry Managing Community Concern.

We have a letter of support from Senator Sharif Street.

We have a letter of support

from the North 22nd Street Business Association.

We have a letter of support

of the 16th Democratic Executive Committee.

And we have a letter of support

from Morell Dobbins Alumni Association, Inc.

My client, Darren Hardiman,

who's in the virtual audience,

is one of the representatives

from Hardiman Hall Acquisitions, LLC,

the owner of the property he he was born and raised around the corner from here essentially

and he still has you know uh relationships in the neighborhood and the last thing he would want to do

is to have a nuisance uh property so it is an event planning space and you know unfortunately

with the zoning code it's it's not it's not uh well defined uh event planning spaces it falls

under the nightclub and private club category uh so as i was stating originally um are you still

there yes yes okay guys you weren't moving so i just didn't want to make sure i went no i was

looking at a piece of paper in front of me okay i'm sorry i just wanted to make sure i wasn't frozen

no you're not froze you're not frozen all right uh so uh it's it's it's a hard category that

probably needs to be redefined uh by city council but event planning space falls within the nightclub

and private club category.

And we understand that there's obviously issues

with us being defined as a nightclub and private club,

but there's no intention of having a nightclub

or private club.

We're not selling tickets or entries into the space.

This is for people within the community

to have an event playing space for birthday parties,

for community events, for educational seminars.

And Mr. Hartman will speak to that.

I do have one objection, I'll renew it,

is that for the notice of referral, it says that we're asking for 89 people, but in our application,

we actually ask for 142 people. 89 people inside and 53 people outside. But, you know,

ultimately, we're willing to agree to certain provisos. You know, we are willing, and you can

see, in addition to the individuals and entities who are in support, we have 35 signatures of

individuals in close proximity in support of this project. So we're willing to agree certain

provisos, such as hours of operation, and I'll have Mr. Hardiman testify in his own words what

that would be. We would agree to commercial pickup. Those are two enforceable provisos.

those are two enforceable provisos now the you know we would also agree to security of events

Now, the, you know, we would also agree to

after a certain hour um and we would also agree to put cameras and lighting um outside which again

some of those are not enforceable um and you know we would agree obviously you know mr hartman will