Good morning, Mr. Richardson.
please state your name and spell it for our court stenographer. Charles Richardson, C-H-A-R-L-E-S-R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N,
Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, Room 508 City Hall. You swear or firm to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Proceed. Councilwoman has no opposition to
granting the variance for this edition. Thank you very much for taking the time to call in.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I do not say any further hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good morning, David Fecteau, F-E-C-T-E-A-U, with the City Planning Commission.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Proceed, sir.
Thank you, sir.
Chair and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
The proposed dimensional variances are minimal and do not conflict with the purpose and spirit of the zoning code.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the proposed dimensional variances for rear yard depth, open area, and a non-conforming sidewall.
Thank you.
MI 2023-001-264-314 Winona Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Sir, you have your votes.
Thank you so much.
Okay, thank you.
uh number 11 mi 2021 004 390 7100 excuse me mr chair um can we please uh actually go to number
two um councilman o'neill would like to testify in that matter okay sure thank you
M.I. 2022-003-075-2050 Welsh Road.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney.
There was a meeting held by the Greater Busselton Civic Association on 6-28-22.
We do not have a letter.
The applicant has provided 54 neighbors in support by letter.
And, Mr. Chair, we have received the tax information on this case.
Thank you.
Mr. Anastasio.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
You just state your name for the record.
You've already been sworn.
Vern Anastasio.
I represent Maria Gutierrez, the owner of the property.
Right.
our vice chair has just a few questions thank you good morning council do you agree to waive
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy i do have you emailed in all the required
documents and exhibits that are needed and required to proceed with this case five days in
advance of this hearing i have thank you please proceed and share your screen thank you i'm
I'm sharing the screen currently.
Mr. Chair, 2050 Welsh Road received a variance for offices, medical offices, doctor's office, 33 years ago.
Dr. Banner ran the Northeast Medical Center out of this property for the last 33 years.
That's the last known use of the property.
We put an application in four offices, business and professional, and it's professional offices
to support a home health care agency. But let there be no misunderstanding. There is no treatment
going on at this office. There are no visits going on to this office. This is just administrative
offices that's it and there's not much more to it than that um this is what the property is
hold on for a second
i'm gonna go back up here just for what it's zoned for single family
although the property hasn't been a single family dwelling in about 50 years
Although the property hasn't been a single family dwelling in about 50 years, this is the interior layout of the property, none of which was done by my client, by the way.
Just want to make sure that that's also very clear.
There was no interior work done outside of just cosmetic.
No walls removed, no partitions adjusted.
This fairly odd-looking property, a zone for residential, sits by itself on an island of sorts with a large parking pad and has been, since 1991, medical offices, the Northeast Medical Center offices run by Dr. Banner.
Here's the interior.
As you can see outside of cosmetic, nothing has changed since 1991.
one this is all the layout that it's been forever there's a basement
a new space
here's the property as you can see certainly not conducive to single-family residential
here's the exterior
and here's the paperwork that shows the very long history
of the administrative medical office
my client uh did appear before the uh community group there's the flyer that went out
28th of june
and although it appeared as though the rco uh opposes the application
we have signatures from nearly 60 immediate neighbors all in support
obviously because it's a no-brainer the office the building has
not been a single-family home in generations. It's been 32 years, and the last known use
is a doctor's office. And what we're doing here is actually less impactful because there'll be no
patients coming in and out all hours of the day. There are no treatment whatsoever,
However, unlike a doctor's office, which is open daily, nine to five, you know, most offices, this is a group of administrative staff going into the building, working all day and leaving no customers, no clients, and no patients.
With that and the additional supporting documentation, I'm going to move all of this into evidence.
And I asked Ms. Maria Gutierrez to raise her virtual hand and be recognized and sworn in.
Ms. Gutierrez.
Yeah, there's no one with their hand up by their name.
we have a jack o'hara i think jack's with the rco yeah he is and daniela castro yeah daniela
castro may be the name that's on the computer okay i'll allow them to speak thank you
hi could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer yes it's maria gutierrez
hi spell your name please yes maria m-a-r-e-a gutierrez g-u-t-i-e-r-r-e-n-c
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes proceed counsel thank you mr chair miss gutierrez did you hear my presentation to the
board this morning yes is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge
is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge yes and do you adopt it as your own
And do you adopt it as your...
testimony yes thank you mr chair because of the overwhelming support of the immediate neighbors
who live in the neighborhood and because of the physical condition of the property itself
although zoned for single family nowhere near resembles anything that could even be
turned into a single family for all those reasons and a long history of 30 some odd years as
professional uh offices for a doctor's office no less uh we ask uh respectfully that the appeal be
granted thank you thank you questions from the board no chair no chair questions or comments
from the virtual audience mr chair jackal harrett has his hand raised with permission to allow him
to speak at this time mr harrett could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
yes uh mr chair uh jack o'hara j-a-c-k-o apostrophe h-a-r-a do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do proceed sir uh i'd like to start by
saying mr anastasi's uh summary of it couldn't be further from what the community feels and what
they've done. There was an initial presentation to our RCO back in June of 22. This is, I believe
it was, the case was continued. We did send a letter into the ZBA at that time. The hearing
date back in 22 was August 10, 22. That was continued. There was March 1st, 23. That was
continued and we're here at September 13th. At that original RCO meeting, it was a unanimous vote
to oppose this. I've never seen this list that Mr. Anastasi is presenting today of all the
immediate neighbors. My understanding, all of the neighbors, all the immediate neighbors
and the community are opposing this change of use. The immediate neighbors complain of
cars parking. It's a residential neighborhood, and there's cars parking and people
attending for whatever reason. They're visiting the building, whether for the schooling or
or teaching but there's a traffic issue it sits on a corner it's a residential block
this is not a business district Mr. Anastasia is trying to change it to a business block it is not
and the immediate neighbors do not want that so the opinion of the immediate neighbors today
as it was last year is to continue to oppose this variance application
mr chair i just have one question for the um for the witness may i yep proceed thank you
sir thank you i do want to make sure that we're on the same page
was my presentation not consistent with your testimony that the rco opposes this is that
correct the rco opposes your variance request yes yep okay very good uh and do you have any evidence
that um that opposition is based on immediate neighbor opposition yes immediate neighbor yes
okay have you presented that evidence no i was not asked for it no we sent in our summary
uh it was a unanimous vote to oppose your application understood but you do understand
we have submitted to the board today 60 signatures of immediate neighbors in support of this project
is that right a list yes a list you've never presented to us the community a list i have yet
to uh review uh the dates the addresses yes i've never seen that list correct right it's a signature
of petition we've never seen that list mr anastasia that's right this was collected after the vote
of the RCO
in opposition, but
this is what it looks like.
It clearly states what it is,
an office for
a health care agency.
Yes, I see it.
I have nothing further.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Councilperson Brian O'Neill
with their hand raised.
I've allowed them to speak at this time.
Good morning, sir. Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Your name, please, is spelled for the court stenographer.
Yes. Brian, B-R-I-A-N, O'Neill, O apostrophe N-E-I-L, L, and councilman for the 10th district, which includes the site in question.
And I'm councilman for the 10th district, which includes the site in question.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Proceed, sir.
Thank you. The my understanding of the history of this is that there was a doctor's office.
There was no problem for, I think, the attorney said seven, 30 years.
And that's all uncontested. But and I believe this operation was occurring when the hearing, the meeting of the RCO occurred in June of 22, meaning that it was it hadn't been approved yet.
So the neighbors that came out, and I think it was 27 to nothing, they don't come out because they live far away. They come out because they live right near it. And I would stress to the board that they had experience then with an overbilled, overuse, I should say, more than an overbilled of the property for the use in question.
A doctor's office gave them no problem for 30 years. As soon as this operation opened, all of a sudden, they've got parking. There's a side street right next to this building, very narrow side street with single family homes.
There's Welsh Road, which is all residential on both sides of the street, except for this property.
A doctor's office is one thing, but offering training and the kind of activity that is going on there.
I'm talking about activity of traffic, cars parking, people coming in there to use the services of this building.
This is clearly something that belongs in a shopping center.
There are shopping centers a quarter mile away. Plenty of them in both directions. This property is on a street between the boulevard and Busselton Avenue. There's strip centers, larger shopping centers.
when people come out to a meeting, I think the board has to recognize that that is a lot different
than somebody presenting you with something to sign, which almost everybody signs based on what
they're told they're signing. We don't know what they were told they were signing. There hasn't
been another meeting of the RCO. And I had my office and Alice Udovich, who's on the call,
contact Mr. O'Hara the other day to see if anything had changed. Because I walked the
property and saw the car parking, I'm going to say a year ago, when another one of the hearings
was coming up that was continued. And clearly, what the neighbors are complaining about
isn't that there was a doctor's office there or that this is some kind of professional building.
It's because it's more than that. The testimony that we just heard is there's like four people
working in here. 27 neighbors don't come out to a meeting of a civic association or unanimous
voting, and then nothing changes because in this case, while it was operating illegally,
we now have the neighbors who have seen it operate. So there's not, you're not guessing
like you would on a, and trusting the testimony on a, on a new application where the business
hasn't, hasn't started operating yet. We have almost, well, a year and a half at least of
activity there that the neighbors are still opposed to. And Mr. O'Hara stays in touch with his,
with his members he's been getting complaints all along this this time period of over a year
so i would ask the board to uh uh turn this down uh refuse the application and um the right place
for this is in a shopping center and again there are plenty of them thank you mr chair i just want
make a couple of follow-up points here based on the council members of testimony he said that
there were 27 people that came out and voted we have almost three times as many actually that's
not true twice as many who actually support and they live right there all immediate neighbors
that's number number one issue number two to suggest that a doctor's office who has patients
all day long uh it doesn't have the traffic that it's an office building there's people that come
in there there is absolutely no services provided there no patients visit this facility if in fact
If, in fact, that were to happen, then LNI has a compliance and an enforcement mechanism, which is not really the issue here today.
that were to happen, then L&I has a compliance.
Today's issue is that we're trying to get a variance for office space.
That's what this is. And it's consistent with the 32 years of Dr.
The only difference is Dr. Banner, who was a neighborhood guy, left, and now Ms. Guiteres, who is not necessarily a neighborhood person, wants to occupy.
That's the only difference.
She bought this property believing that she was able to have her office there because she'd seen a doctor's office there for 30 years.
So the only difference are the last names of the occupant.
The activity is almost the same with the exception of that. We don't see clients or patients in this facility. And again, just looking at the building for it to be zoned single family residential just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. So thank you. I have nothing further.
Other comments from the virtual audience.
we see any other hands
Jack O'Hara has their hand raised again
do I love him to speak
okay Mr. O'Hara