This is how the property was originally built
back in the late 70s.
There's the above ground rear.
There's the three mailboxes.
There's additional photos.
so it appears to be a one family dwelling just from the outside it only has one door
and all these properties were built the same and as i said a number of them were converted
at the basement level with that i'd like to have evelyn barrera please raise her virtual hand
so that we can she can have adopt my testimony
They've been allowed to speak.
Good morning.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
My name is Evelyn, Evelyn Barrera.
Evelyn is E-V-E-L-I-N, Barrera, P-A-R-R-E-R-A.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Barrera, did you hear my presentation to the board this morning?
Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
You adopt it as your own testimony?
And this use will be for your adult child only.
Is that correct?
Yes, correct.
Okay, thank you.
And you are willing to even have open access between where you and your husband live and this unit on the above ground basement as an accessory unit.
Is that right?
And with no interest in renting it out?
no thank you burn just for a point of information this was 80 duplexes that were built there
oh yes okay all right and again several were converted even next door right questions from
the board no chair no mr chairman questions or comments from our attorney ryan mcsherry
no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
sure i have this i have brian o'neill with their hand raised i haven't got them to speak at this
time good morning sir good morning mr chair members of the board could you please state your name
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the court's demographer?
Yeah. Yes. Brian O'Neill, councilman for the 10th District. I'll spell it. It's B-R-I-A-N-O apostrophe, capital N-E-I-L-L.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Okay. Could I first ask if anyone from the community is on?
We've had several continuances, and we've tried to have neighbors who can have been at meetings, and if that can be determined.
All right.
Can we see hands of neighbors?
Anyone from the Mill Creek Civic Association?
No, bro.
Mr. Chair, I have – there's a hand up from Janice Trout.
Do I not speak?
speak so so all right so we do have someone so councilman there is apparently someone could i
ask uh the board if um miss trout could speak first sure miss trout yes all right could you
please state your name it's spelled for the court stenography janice trout t-r-o-u-t
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Are you a neighbor?
Yes, I am.
Please proceed.
I have lived on Abbey Road for 25 years now.
And the property in question was not previously converted before it was purchased by the current owner.
at the rco meeting the owner admitted that he is the one who converted the property and was using
it for his own use allegedly as a man cave i object mr chair my my client never he called it
a man cave and okay so so what were you at the meeting yes mr okay yes sir i was proceed just
at the meeting he was represented by um a woman who called herself an expediter
i don't know i don't nikia yarborough was her name and they openly admitted that they converted
the property to use it as a man cave they had pictures of it it's a very nice man cave
um everyone has objected to it okay if it is for the adult if it is for the sole use of an adult
child and they are seeking access to their living quarters why is it necessary to have
a third mailbox they sought to have a third electrical uh facility installed okay so i
don't understand if it's just for a man cave or an adult child use why it was converted into a
full living space bathroom right all right my second a third electric meter so we questioned
all of that at the rco meeting and they said they admitted that what they did was illegal
um objection mr chair this first of all it's hearsay there's nothing illegal being done
okay um silly so miss trout i take it you're miss trout i take it you're against this project
yes sir i am all right mr chair i need to just point a clarity that whatever rco meeting that
happened you know in in the past that's that was a very long time ago and it was before i was
involved. I can tell you that the property is identical to the one next to it. By the way,
no objection. There's no councilmanic or RCO objection to the conversion next door.
Thank you. And then, Ms. Trouth, thank you for your comments. Councilman O'Neill.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Councilman? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Sure. Please proceed. This has been going on a long time. And Mr. Anastasia is right. He was not at the meeting in question. I was. There were many neighbors there who lived there.
There are several owner-occupied duplexes in the, I'd say, at least a half a dozen in the development of about 40 or more duplexes.
Very little street frontage on Woodhaven Road, private driveways, rear garages.
This is the first.
We've had people at meetings that have lived there a long time, just like this.
We've had people at meetings that have lived there a long time, just like Ms. Trout.
They know their neighbors.
They know the area.
This, from the beginning, is an illegal triplex.
I ask you not to look at the credibility issue, because we don't have to.
This is purely and simply a triplex, legal duplex.
And there is not one other identified triplex that L&I has cited.
The neighbors have said there are no other triplexes.
Whatever Mr. Anastasia says is absolutely irrelevant.
The only thing that matters is that this is an illegal triplex.
And we have over 39 or 40 more in this compact little area with very little parking, because when they were built in 1978, people didn't have two and three cars in one unit.
There is no street parking at all. These are just driveways behind these units.
And this is a terrible precedent. There's no there's absolutely no hardship involved in here.
We have heard different stories from, we've had meetings where Miss Berari, no one spoke English. They were working through a translator. I appreciate the owner testifying today.
But the one thing that has been consistent is the neighbors are absolutely against this, many of whom own duplexes and live in them.
And that I just am imploring the board.
I have about four or five throughout my district right now that are cited by L&I.
People are buying duplexes so that they can increase their rent.
above and beyond their neighbors with these conversions, and we're chasing them more than
anything else, which is what happened here. When Ms. Trout says this was done after the current
owner bought it, that they've testified that there's no reason for Ms. Trout to lie. I was
at the meeting. And that's that's not hearsay. That is something that happened before the current
attorney was involved. And this is a very important case because it sets a precedent
in this development, particularly, which is just up to, you know, up to the beyond the limit on
the amount of parking that that is available. And and there's no reason we can't get into
enforcement. And if Mr. Anastasia is correct, that the next door neighbor is a triplex,
that will get L&I enforcement just as this did. But there hasn't been one complaint about that
property. According to every neighbor, this is the first conversion. It's one thing when people
take their garage door and make an entrance there. Or if it's an owner on the first level,
they have a larger family area. Owner-occupied duplexes are the strength of my community
in my district. Wherever they are, the owner treats it like their home.
They don't rent out the bottom, even if they change the garage. And people don't park in
these garages anyway. The use is the problem with the third party. And I would like to come back
again at previous hearings. And I don't think this is intentional at all, but I've had attorneys
close by saying things that I would clearly object to and refute. So if I, if I have my,
I would just ask if I have my, my hand up, uh, when the attorney finishes that I get a chance to,
to uh uh uh to speak because uh if that happens i'll only have it up if there's something i want
to address that the attorney said this is this is a major case although it may be special are
there a special are there special rules mr chair for different witnesses what what mr council
Counselor, are you done?
Counselor, are you done?
Yes, I'm done.
Thank you, Councilman.
All right.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I do not see any further hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Amy Boyd for the Planning Commission, A-M-Y-B-O-Y-D.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
The property is a document history of two family units.
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the proposed use variance for multiple units with provisor to dwelling units.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, I appreciate everybody's comments, but there's no precedent here.
The immediate neighbor has converted their above-grade basement into a separate unit.
okay uh but you're you know the council member is right uh when they met with the community
there was a they had to go through an interpreter uh for whatever reason there are issues with that
there were there were no issues with the english-speaking neighbor though who converted
right uh the only issue that came about was this particular property was called on for some reason
So again, I don't believe that there's any precedent here because we already have one that's operating as a three family. We're not even asking for a rental sort of situation here. And that's all I have to say. Thank you.
All right. Thank you.
So MI 2023, 001-046-12066 Abbey Road. I vote no.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
So, number eight, MI 2023, 004-549-1515 West Lehigh Avenue.
Raymond Derizio is the attorney.
This is a resumptive hearing.
they will be rejoining as a panel sir okay
good morning counsel could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
yes good morning mr chairman members of the board my name is raymond dorizio r-a-y-m-o-n-d
last name d-o-r-i-z-i-o right you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing
but the truth yes okay so my understanding is that uh um we had a resumptive this is a
resumptive hearing um yes my understanding that the rco um has i believe sent a letter am i correct
i didn't receive the letter i hope they did i didn't right the additional rco meeting did not
occur but rco sent a list of provisos yes right and the main proviso for them is trash stored in
yard am i correct i believe so yes that you haven't do you have any other comments i don't
have any other comments we did schedule the meeting uh beyond that we did schedule the
meeting um they sent us some provisos we we agreed to i guess like 95 percent of them if not
all of them and then we were told that we're settled or that the meeting wasn't necessary
so that's where we are all right thank you very much um questions or comments uh from the virtual
audience mr chair i have a hand up from charles richardson i have allowed them to
speech. That's right. Good morning, Mr. Richardson. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole
truth? First of all, state your name, it's spelled. Certainly. Charles Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N,
Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bassroom, 508 City Hall. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. So my understanding is, if you remember,
we had you had requested also a resumptive hearing yes there was no meeting but um the rco has sent
provisos is that correct that is correct i have uh reviewed the um correspondence going back and
forth between the uh rco and the coordinating rco and the um applicant and uh it appears that they
They have agreed to the majority of the provisos that were offered.
provides those that were offered. Councilwoman has no opposition to granting the
Councilwoman has no opposition to it.
variants. And I think that there was, that I believe Swampoodle has a different
letter that they sent in with certain requirements as well. So they'll probably
be coming on in a couple of minutes as well. Thank you very much for taking the time to
clause. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, I have a
hand up from a number ending in 3552.
Do I allow them to speak, Mr. Chair?
Please. Understood.
Adrienne?
Hello? Adrienne?
Please state your name as spelled for the court
stenographer. Okay.
Adrienne Fernandez. My last name is spelled
F-E-R-N-A-N-D-E-Z.
Swamp Legal Neighborhood