yeah it says share screen but that was excuse me if i may um please sir you would have to
have your documents open on your screen so once you hit that green share button it will ask you
what documents you would like for us to view. I don't see a green button in here. No after you
hit that green button that says share at the bottom of zoom it will open up another screen
and it will ask you where where your documents are so it will be good to have your documents open
before you hit that green share button.
The document right here?
I'm sorry.
Which one is the document?
I'm sorry.
You mean the documents we've sent into them?
Yes, correct.
okay so they're in in um they were submitted to zba yeah but but you have to have your documents
in front of you that you could make your presentation okay okay um can you really
continue this or because i don't have long yeah they're in here okay why don't we do sir why don't
do this i have a few other cases i'll go through the cases i'll come back to you if by then you're
ready to go we'll go if not we'll continue okay so i'll go to the next case and then we'll come
back to you, all right? Thank you. Number six, MI 2024, 004-298-2129 North 2nd Street, Joseph
Consul is the attorney. There's a letter of unanimous support from Norris Square Community
Action Network.
We were joining as a panelist, sir.
Good morning.
Good morning, Mr. Consul.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
It's Joseph Consul.
That's J-O-S-E-P-H.
Last name is Consul.
That's C-O-N-S-O-L-E.
We're affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Do you stipulate to the reading of the refusals and agree with their accuracy?
it um and you have sent all your work in prior to five days am i correct yes i have okay please
proceed share your screen okay um or am i not seeing it here we go share screen all right we are here
all right we're not seeing it here we go share screen all right we are here talk about
2129 north 2nd street my client is jacqueline arias she is on this call she purchased this
property uh earlier this year and uh at that time um she sought to redevelop the interior of the
property and leave the exterior of the property the the way that it is set up uh so her goal
is to include two units in this property and to keep the exterior as it's set up as i mentioned
which creates uh refusals both dimensionally and for use it's zoned rsa5 so the two unit use
requires a variance in addition to that the previous owner or the owner before that owner
attempted to legalize in in the year 2000 let's see if i can find that here's an application
submitted in the year 2000 where the previous owners sought to legalize an existing rear yard
addition. And at that time, they also sought to create a one family with a five person rooming
house above. And that permit was refused. They appealed. And at that time, the RCO was against
it and zba was uh was against it and there was um an opposition to it which is in the file so i can
find that so that was notice the decision was refused and so that was you know 23 or 24 years
ago so that shows that at least the exterior of the property has existed in in the state that
that it's in now, I will show you the pictures of the property. There's the front. Here's what
the back looks like. As I mentioned, they created this bump out in the back of the property that
extends beyond what is allowed by Wright. There were plans, a full set of plans submitted in 2000
and she's got another set that she had submitted for this application.
We presented in front of the RCO, and as mentioned, we got unanimous support.
I think that there is a need on that street for more housing.
The RCO in the last three years has approved a triplex at 2110, a duplex at 2122, and then directly across the street, they approved the demolition and the rebuild of four properties, 2130, 2132, 4, and 6.
All of these zoned RSA-5, all of these with the exact same footprint dimensionally as the property that we're speaking to you about today.
Those were all approved by the RCO and then also by the ZBA.
So we're hopeful that my client's two units, and these are all three besides 2-1-2-2, which is a duplex.
My client's request for two units.
We're hoping that's not going to be too big of an ask.
There's the proof.
There was a letter with a proviso they want, and my client is willing to approach PHA's choice voucher program.
I don't know if that's a proviso that can be written in, but my client is not against this.
In fact, that's what her plan was from the beginning.
our proof of mailing
posters
here's some of the interior photos
this property as mentioned
needs TLC
and she's going to give it
Jacqueline
is a lifelong resident of
this area and this is her first
foray into an investment property
the proposed plan puts a two-unit apartment on the first floor
and then over the second two floors you've got the second floor with your kitchen and living area
two bedrooms and then your third floor with two other bedrooms so it would be one two unit or one
two bedroom apartment and one four bedroom apartment
one four-bedroom apartment see what's I got just the deed showing ownership as
of February of this year tax clearance property information statement and with
that I will call my client unless there's any questions from the board to
adopt my testimony that's the old refusal why don't we bring your client on first
then we'll open up for questions okay uh jackie can you raise your hand please
we see her
should be here i was communicating with her
I see your hand raised.
Jason?
Jackie has been allowed to speak. Please unmute yourself.
Thank you.
Good morning. Could you please state your name?
here. Maybe she's having technical difficulties. Jackie, can you click the unmute button? It should
be like a red, a red microphone on your, on your zoom.
counsel you're an officer of the court we will take your testimony questions from the board
can you go back to the the plans i just want to see yes
so uh the there's no
So it's just the first floor that has access to the basement?
That's correct, yeah, and that's strictly for utilities.
Okay, are the utilities for all the units in the basement?
Well, yeah, I mean, she's rehabbing the whole property, but that's the only area labeled as utilities.
Okay, and the ground floor unit is the only one that has access to the rear yard?
That's correct.
Correct. She was adding a, if you look on the second floor, access to a rooftop deck on top of that, on top of the bump out on the first floor through the kitchen.
So that's a roof deck for the second floor, for the second, third floor unit.
That's correct, Mr. Jones.
So it's a two bedroom, it's a four bedroom over a two bedroom.
Correct.
and trash how are you dealing with trash uh i mean there's a little bit of space out back
as you can had seen in those pictures um i'm not certain what her plan is for the second and third
floors again i wish we could we could hear to chime in on that yeah i can't see the i can't
see the third floor oh let me see what i can do there we go all right
All right. Thank you. Questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Hillary Emerson? Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I do not see any. Planning Commission. Thank you, Chairman, and good morning. David Defecto,
F-E-C-T-E-A-U with the City Planning Commission.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Please proceed.
Thank you, sir.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-5,
Residential Single-Family Zoning at this location.
The city rezoned Norris Square in 2021 in a community-requested map change.
The dimensional variances for open area and rear yard setback appear to be existing conditions.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant their proposed dimensional variances, but deny the use variance for two dwelling.
MI 2024-004-298-2129 North 2nd Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Tenetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ty Nguyen, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Board.
Thank you, counsel.
Number eight, MI 2024-004-301-2213 North 7th Street.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
There is a letter of support from APM.
applicant also provided a petition of support with 32 signatures
good morning
good morning counsel could you please state your name and spell for the court sonographer
yes my name is zen jin z-h-e-n last name j-i-n
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
Yes, my client's ABC, UALC. They're the owner of the property. We do have representatives from the company with us today as well.
Stipulate to the reading of the refusals and agree with the accuracy.
um have you uh forwarded all of your documents within five days prior yes we did please share
your screen and start thank you i'm going to share with the board the documentation previously
submitted can the board see my presentation on their screen yes yes sir thank you so we have
submitted a copy of the refusal uh the letter of support from apm a petition of support which we
obtained during the process of meeting with the community, photos, plans, and related documentation.
This is an application for a property to be constructed in a CMX2 district. The variants
we seek, there are two variances primarily relating to what was previously required commercial use on
the property floor. We are asking to have the commercial unit to be converted to a residential
unit, but the layout of the property leads to a total of four units, which I will show through
the plants. The property also is slightly deeper and covers the maximum occupied area slightly
more. Again, this is part of the due to the design of the property. APM and the neighbors were
reached out to. We had a meeting. Generally, after we have shown the neighbors that the property
itself is accessible to the back by all units, the trash storage and collection was not as much
of a concern after that discussion. Parking is always of a concern. However, that block and
surrounding area is CMX2 and RM1. So on-street parking is the standard in the area. And
ultimately, parking was not considered an issue sufficient for the community to have
opposition to the proposal. So the vote was five in support, one undecided. However, in addition to
that, we also have reached out to many of the neighbors in the area with the proposal, and we
did obtain additional feedback from neighboring properties in support. Overall, the feedback is
that these properties being located here on North 7th Street, being across from an RM1 development,
there are really no ongoing commercial corridor existing in this area. This is our space. We're
basically filling a space between buildings, which is a lot, and building a building very
similar to what is already existing next door. In fact, the use the proposal size is very similar
to what is already there and consistent with what is already up and down the block as well.
So here's the posting. I'm going to go ahead and show the board the layout based on the plans.
So this is a proposed plan to have a building put in place on this lot.
there's going to be an existing easement access side alley to this building, which allows access
to the rear yard by all occupants. The design is to have an entry in the front, but also a shared
entryway on the side. What this leads to is an entryway to the side that has a stairwell that
allows exiting from the building from a shorter distance. That is a preferred way of design
because of the overall travel distances. This allows shorter travel distances for all units
in the case of an emergency. The layout is bi-level designs front and back for the entire building.
The layout is bi-level designs front and back for the entire building.
The first floor and cellar has the two front and back bi-level unit.
And then the second and third floor also has two front and back bi-level units.
These being two bedrooms with the living space, kitchen, access through the center stairwell in the front and similar design in the back.
We have on the first floor and basement, again, the bedroom is placed on the first floor, a flex space in the basement, and kitchen and living.
Of course, the basement can be used as additional living space, storage, recreation area, et cetera.
So that is the overall design.
there are two small roof decks on the top, which is within code requirements that permits the upper
floors to have exterior space as well. But again, all of the units have full access to the rear
yard for trash storage until such time trash will be picked up. The primary hardship to putting a
commercial space here is that the area this block has really no commercial activity. So that is our
presentation to the board. I'm happy to direct to any part of the presentation if the board has any
questions, and I should have a representative from the company ready to verify my testimony.
Thank you. Can you zoom into the brief so we can see all the floors at one time? Sure, sure.
Not a problem. I will zoom out. Is this what you're looking for? Yes, that's better. Sure.