This is a neighboring property that was also issued a multi-family dwelling use
in 2018. Another property that was a five unit building, so the block is certainly full of
multifamily units, and ones that are not even as big as this one, which takes up two lots.
At this time, if I could bring on my client, Jenning Tang, to testify.
Ms. Tanger, are you here?
They've been allowed to speak.
Hi, could you please state your name? It's spelled for the stenographer.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
Yes, hi. Chairman, my name is Janine Tang. It's spelled J-I-A-N-I-N-G-T-A-N-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you. Ms. Tang, you're a principal in key player property management, is that correct?
Okay, and you guys recently purchased a property in March of 2024?
yes and you've you've listened to my testimony here today before the board
yes and you would adopt it as your own yes and is there anything you'd like to add for
the board's consideration no thank you question questions from the board no mr chairman
no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i do not see any further hands mr chair thank you planning commission
hi meg cavanaugh for planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
existing residential single family zoning at this location however the proposed use of the duplex is
consistent with documented prior use of this property and the long-standing building configuration
the city planning commission recommends the zoning board grant this use variance
Thank you. MI 2024-002-080-2652-54 Bridge Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Mr. Schmiel Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you. Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, Chairman Bergman. If I may, I have a small administrative matter from the 330 list.
uh i guess what is what what is that tell me what it is we submitted a a written continuance
request but i i wanted to potentially make the request in person but i guess you guys haven't
called the 330 list at all yet we're not we're not we're not we got one more case then we're
going to take about a five minute break okay i'll do that okay i appreciate it thank you
Sure. Number 14, MI 2024-002-078-1514 Wadsworth Avenue. Joseph Consul is the attorney. There's a letter of unanimous opposition from the 50th Ward RCO and a letter of opposition received from council member Phil.
Good afternoon.
Mr. Consul, just state your name for the record. You've already been sworn.
It's Joseph Consul.
Right. Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Deluxe Event Hall LLC. The tenant and the representative on the call is
Mekhi Green. That's M-E-K-H-I Green.
Right. Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to read another refusal or stipulate to his accuracy?
The referral and yes.
Have you e-mailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Okay. My screen should be up with my zoning appeal hearing packet on the tail end today. I'll try to make this brief. My client is Deluxe Event Hall, LLC.
These folks have a location at 1834 West Cheltenham Avenue that is very highly regarded.
They are seeking to open this smaller location on Wadsworth Avenue.
Now, as was mentioned previously, we are here because we have a referral for assembly and entertainment.
The board has granted this special exception to three other spaces for the same use within the last three years.
And so we're hopeful that this referral will be acceptable to be granted a special exception as well.
As mentioned, we met with the RCO and there was five votes against us.
Just as conjecture, we believe, and I've dealt with this before with tattoo variances, that there was just the other folks that were approved were not in favor because they did not want my clients to come to the neighborhood.
We understand that. However, we believe in light of their approvals, which we'll get to in a second, that my clients satisfy all the needed requirements for a special exception in the zoning district.
And as a result of the RCO being against it, we have a generic letter.
And as a result of the RCO being against it, we have a generic letter from the council person against it as well, providing no specific reasoning, just supporting the RCO.
So we're hopeful that that is something that we can overcome.
The RCO's letter is that, you know, basically they talk about the meeting and they say that the sentiment is that the applicants did or I guess they meant did not do their due diligence in seeking the proper process for this event, landlord did not inform them, blah, blah, blah.
and so basically they say they don't want to add another event hall to the neighborhood
and they suggest some other potential uses for the property some of which also would require
special exceptions but as I said my clients run a successful event hall and we don't believe that
the RCO's opposition meets the standard of an opposition that would allow the board to deny
special exception. Here's some photos of the interior of the space. Again, it is not a very
elaborate area. It's a space that would hold roughly 50 people. My client's goals, as they'll
testify to in a moment, is to have event spaces here. And in fact, they'll testify to the fact
that they do work with other event halls for overflow and referrals and things like that.
and they've been very successful. So what is being sort of couched by the RCO is being an
oversaturation in the neighborhood, we believe actually going to be a positive for the other
businesses that we believe one of which came out to get this letter generated against my client.
Again, my client's been very successful. Previous uses of this property, you could see in the
zoning archive, grocery store, pharmacy, a pizza shop, and a couple of other retail uses.
So we don't believe what we're doing is going to be generating any more traffic than the uses that
have been approved in this space, both by way of being by right approvals and approvals by variants
for the history of 1514 Wadsworth Avenue.
Here's our proof of mailing.
Photos and plans.
Here's the exterior of the property.
The lease, my clients signed a three-year lease.
They paid all the taxes that were due on the property
and they are seeking this approval.
Again, the RCO seems to dock us for that in the letter,
But, again, it seems like my clients are very serious about this location, and that's it.
So we included at the end of our packet the three previous special exceptions that this board granted.
Here's one, again, the same exact CMX2.
It's a block over, same special exception, exact same thing, granted in 2022.
Here's another one, also granted in 2022.
and a third one granted in 2019.
And this one is the next block over.
So we've got 14, 15 and the 1600 block of Wadsworth.
So as you can see, we've got three that have been granted
for the same exact thing, similar sized buildings.
And so we're hopeful that my clients can see a similar approval.
And finally, just to put it on the record, because this is a special exception, the applicant really only needs to prove a couple of things.
One, the burden of proof is on us that we are not going to be more detrimental of a use, meaning our use as an event space will be no more detrimental than any other event space would be in this area.
And we believe we've proven that my clients have been successfully running a business in the city doing the exact same thing.
This is going to be an extension of that business. There's no complaints. No one had any specific complaints about their business.
So we believe we satisfy that criteria.
The second criteria is detrimental impacts on the neighborhood, impairing the supply of light and air, burdening water, sewer and other public facilities,
These congestion in the streets, overcrowding the land,
endangering public health, the RCO makes no suggestion
that we're going to be doing any of those things.
They just simply say, we don't want to approve another event hall.
And again, we believe that was because we had someone
Someone who mistakenly considers himself a competitor come out to do it. And again, it was only five folks that showed up. The general consensus was it was a pretty not well attended meeting.
who mistakenly considers himself a competitor come out to.
Okay. And then finally, the RCO would have to prove to overcome us being approved today, they'd have to approve that this specific use as an event hall is more detrimental than another event hall would be in this space.
And the RCO's letter just does not prove that. And so we believe that the board should grant this special exception. With that, I'll call my clients to testify. It should be Makai Green.
they've been allowed to speak
how could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
hello my name is makai green it's spelled m-e-k-h-i
last name is green g-r-e-e-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do please proceed counsel
uh mr green did you hear my testimony today regarding
your uh leased property at 1514 ladsworth
yes do you agree with what I said and do you adopt it as your own yes I confirm okay would
you give the board just a quick background on your business and what you anticipate bringing
to the neighborhood yeah so we've been open for going on four years now and our goal is to have
a venue for more intimate venues our building now holds for more about 100 people and currently we
do a lot of things for like schools and daycares and things in the neighborhood we have a lot of
kiddie proms and stuff like that. So now we just want a smaller venue to just for a less capacity
because some people don't need venues that big. And a lot of our customers ask for recommendations
for smaller venues. So that's just was one of our goals to just, you know, get something a little
smaller that we can hold less people. Now, finally, do you anticipate being a competitor
or collaborator with the with the other businesses in the in the neighborhood? I would definitely say
a collaborator. Most of the venues in the area are familiar with us. And we we help each other
out. So I can only hold but so many dates is only 365 days in a year. So when those days come up
that we are booked or overly booked, and we have too many people calling about the same dates,
we definitely reach out to our friends in the community and other neighbors and let them know
that we have of customers
that are interested in that date,
and they do the same for us.
Okay, nothing for the board.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments
from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
None at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments
from the virtual audience?
I do not see any further hands, Mr. Chair.
Any commission?
Hi, Meg Cavanaugh for Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed-use zoning at this location.
The proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what normally might be expected.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Zoning Board grant the special exception.
MI 2024-002-078, 1514 Wadsworth Avenue, I vote no.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
my vote is no thank you counsel is there anyone in the virtual audience whose 330 case has not
been called i do not see any hands mr chair we're going to take a five minute break and
we'll come back and finish the list up thank you everyone
good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this afternoon's 330
zba hearing with me is our board member thomas holliman present mr chairman and also present is
lebaron leonard palmer from the division of development services who will be serving as
our alternate board member. Present, Mr. Chairman. Also, present is Hilary Emerson,
our attorney, and our executive director, Tanya Sunken. Here's our virtual format.
The proceedings are being recorded. With your participation, you agree to be recorded.
A video will be available by contacting Tanya Sunken at phil.gov. For our court sonography,
we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying. If you're
participating by phone, press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute. To enter an
appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email address and the address of the property
in the question. And finally, the question box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
The question box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed.
All comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Suffer.
Let's look at our schedule for this afternoon.
Number six.
Number six, MI 2024, 000429, 1932, Manton Street.
That case has been continued.
Mr. Sokolov, are you in the audience? Do you want, do you have a comment about this? You mentioned this before.
He's been allowed to speak.
Mr. Sokolov, your case is continued.
Thank you. I just wanted to make sure that it was so, so I figured I would ask in person if need be, but thank you very much, everyone. Have a great rest of your week.
You too. Are there any other requests for continuances?
good afternoon sir this is jason hand i will be your calls for the session
i have a hand up from bart levy i have allowed him to speak okay
i'm mr levy
i can't could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
I'm Bart Levy, the attorney for 010453-2003.
It's B-A-R-T-L-E-V-1, ID number 204800.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do, Mr. Chairman.
And we do not have exhibits for this case, 2549 North 19th.
Do you want to attend the UNs for this case?
Yes, Mr. Chairman, if you would so allow.
The RCO wants one more exploratory meeting, and we decide to accommodate for this best we could.
All right. Thank you very much. So MI 2024, 000-427-2549 North 19th Street. That case has been continued. Thank you.
We're most grateful. Thank you.
Number one, MI 2023-003-755-474 Harlan Street, this case has been withdrawn.
And number two, MI 2023-003-791-722 Shedwick Street, Serge Fajo is the listed applicant, and SK Property Solutions are the listed owner.
Are the representatives of that property present?
Mr. Chair, I do not see any hands raised for that matter.
This is the second listing of this.
We have an indication that it's going to be withdrawn.
We do not have any documents yet.
Am I correct, Hillary?
That is correct, Mr. Chair.