do. I'm scrolling down now, so bear with me
one moment. And excuse me, Chair, if I may, would you be able
to make your screen a full screen?
Maybe to like the side of your dock, yes, and
make it wider. Thank you so much.
You are welcome.
So this image here that I show you shows the store and what's cut off, unfortunately, in the photo is to the left of the bottom there is the point of the triangle of the property.
But the building itself, as you see, with the red and white top there, on the far right here where my cursor is, is the intended area of where the addition would be built.
It would be the same height as the roof that's currently here.
And it would be built from right where this black car is over to just about where the sidewalk is, but not on the sidewalk.
that's approximately five and a half to six feet wide in that space there the depth would be
approximately 50 feet going to the back of the property line and then coming back across to
join to the back wall here that's approximately 20 some maybe 22 feet altogether this is a closer
view of that area here this would all come out what's in this area would be coming out and the
structure would be in this area. It would be a trapezoid structure. I'll scroll up and show you
an image that shows the blueprint of what that would look like.
And here we are. So right where the cursor is here, this is the wedged area that would be the
addition that's being sought and proposed. The plans would be submitted to build this and then
change the interior to allow for the expansion and removal of the existing kitchen over to this
area for purposes of being able to accommodate the customers that are coming in and what their
demands are and requests. As has been indicated, we did meet with the RCOs in the community there
And we met both with the Kensington East Kensington Neighbors Association.
And the. We received their support that they took a vote.
It was nine in favor, six opposed. We have from council council member Mark Swilla's office, a letter of non-opposition.
We also submitted a letter that we just received yesterday from...
A LETTER THAT WE JUST RECEIVED YESTERDAY FROM THE PRINCIPLE OF KENSINGTON HIGH SCHOOL, WHICH IS A FEW BLOCKS AWAY, PROVIDING THEIR SUPPORT.
WE ALSO SUBMITTED A PETITION THAT HAD IN ACCESS OF 300 SIGNATURES OF MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY ALL IN SUPPORT OF THE ADDITION.
And one of the things we did in meeting with the RCOs is discuss with them their concerns in the front end of the property up here, right where Sargent Street and Amber Street and Frankfurt all kind of merge up in this area here.
As the property currently is, we have our trash back in the area, which would be the area where the proposed construction would take place.
consequently we would need to move the trash dumpster we discussed that with the rco members
who attended the meetings and heard from them what their concerns were about the aesthetics and so
forth our proposal would be to move that trash dumpster into this area up here near the front of
the property where the triangle is we discussed with the rco and my apologies that this is loaded
the way it is, but this would show what we propose. There's already an existing sign there.
We would build an enclosure around that sign with slotted material. That material was presented to
the RCO members who agreed with the nature of that material. It would be a track type of material.
It would be slotted so it's not a stockade type of fence area. There would be three sides to it
that are fixed. The fourth side, which would be facing the store, would have a gate on it where
the rubbish removal company would be able to have access to go in and take the dumpster out
and empty the trash. We would propose putting on the exterior boxes, which would be for planters,
and putting live vegetation which my client would maintain in addition to that we would put as you
see these stationary planters which also would have vegetation the the reason for both of these
types of additions would be to comply with the request of the those members from the RCOs
indicating that they were hoping for some some greening of the area as well as something that
would impede traffic that been parking on the sidewalks of the property that it's not the
customers but it's residents or people doing business in the nearby properties the curb is
very low here we can't change that but at the same time our discussions with the representatives
from the rco would be if we put some large planners there it would make it a little more
difficult to try to park in those areas and we think that the spacing of those planners would
not only beautify the area but restrict the parking capabilities in that area so hold on
one minute please yes hillary what do we what is the provisos
so chair the the one proviso had to do with further discussions about the trash containment
area and so those discussions um already already occurred as mr fineman said so yeah there are no
additional provisos thank you very much and that and and that is exactly why i'm addressing this
because that was the proviso and we undertook to to have um multiple meetings on in that respect
okay and the fishtown district fishtown kensington area uh business uh rco uh indicated their support
and uh as did the east kensington these not these uh which is reflected as exhibit g shows the
posting and we posted in multiple locations because of just the configuration of the property
we did all three of the sides that would be accessible to the public both on i mean on um
sergeant on amber and on frankfurt so we posted in that thank you um could you bring your client
want to adopt your testimony please yes hi sir could you state your name and spell please for
the court stenographer morhaf sheik yousef m-o-r-h-a-f last name s-h-e-i-k-h-y-o-u-s-e-f
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Mohawk, you heard my presentation and representation to the board?
And what I presented, to the best of your knowledge, understanding, and belief, is that true and correct?
uh what i presented to the best of your knowledge understanding belief is that true and correct yes
and do you agree and adopt my presentation as your testimony here today yes and would you like
to have the the board um rule on your application for approving this project yes i do questions from
the board questions from the board no mr questions or comments thank you questions or comments from
the virtual audience i do not see any hands mr chair planning commission thank you chair bergman
and good afternoon david fecto with the city planning commission chair and board members the
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed use zoning at this location
the appellant has shown that the proposed takeout restaurant will have no detrimental impacts to the
neighborhood beyond what might be expected the rear yard variance is generated by an existing
building that was constructed in a way where the appellant would be out of compliance with
the rear yard requirement no matter what their proposed use would be so the city planning
commission recommends the board grant the proposed special exception and the proposed
dimensional variance but we also want to note that if the proposed planters are in the right
of way instead of within the appellants property boundary they will need a streets bill from city
council to permit those planters thank you mi 2023-003-527-2518-244 frankfort avenue i vote yes
thomas
James Snellman, my vote is yes.
James Snellman, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you very much, members of the board.
Thank you.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose 9.30 a.m. case has not been called?
There are no hands, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, everyone.
A little bit over today, but we've got a lot of nice work done.
See everyone at 2 p.m.
All right, all right, Chair.
Okay, Chair.
Please.
we're ready to go for Tina I'm just checking for the participants yes sir we are you can
proceed as you wish good afternoon my name is Bill Bergman and I will be chairing this
afternoon's ZBA hearings with me as our vice chair Ismail Shahid present Mr. Chairman our
Our board member, Thomas Holliman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our board member, James Snell.
Present, Chair.
Also present is Hillary Emerson, our attorney, and our executive director, Tanya Sunkett.
Here's our virtual format.
Be advised.
Proceedings are being recorded.
A video will be available by contacting TanyaSunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute and to enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our executive director, Tanya Sunken.
Let's look at the schedule for this afternoon. Number three, MI 2023-002-427-2739 North 5th Street. That case is continued.
Number five, MI 2021-004-365-4501 Belgrade Street. That case is continued. Attorney moving party.
And number seven, MI-2023-002-414-4900 North 11th Street, that case is continued.
Are there any comments in the virtual audience relative to the three cases that have been continued?
I see no handshare.
Are there any requests for additional continuances?
for additional continuances.
I see no hands here.
Okay, thank you.
We're going to go to our add-on list.
Case number one, MI 2022, 006105, 1412 North 17th Street.
Our board member, Ismail Shahid, has recused himself from this case.
I vote yes per amended refusal dated 8-15-23.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.
Number two, MI 2023-002-355-6104 Market Street, I vote no.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is no.
James Snell, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Thank you.
Number three, over at our list, MI20230021971342E.
I vote no.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is no.
James Snell. My vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed. My vote is no.
Thank you. Number four, MI 2023, 002-200, 900-58 North 9th Street. I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman. My vote is yes.
James Snell. My vote is yes.
Thank you. We're going to go to our
regular list and we're going to start
with number 12
001 881
Woodhaven Road. Augusta
O'Neill is the
attorney for the owner
Let's see here
good afternoon mill mill good afternoon mill mill brooks civic associate took a position of
non-opposition uh counsel could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
sure my first name is augusta a-u-g-u-s-t-a last name is o'neill that's spelled o-apostrophe n-e-i-l-l
do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do could you identify your client in relationship to the property my client is
franklin circle realty llc they're the owner of the property right and our vice chair has just
a few questions good afternoon counsel do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and
stipulate to its 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 did
thank you please proceed and share your screen thank you so much
thank you members of the board um as i previously stated i'm here this afternoon representing the
owner of the property at 4401 Woodhaven Road. The owner is Franklin Circle Realty LLC. This property
is zoned CA1. This is an application fairly straightforward. This is just to clear up an
issue that recently came up with L&I to add some auto repair uses and just clarify the uses that
are happening at this existing business that's located at the property. Just to provide an
overview. The business that we're here to talk about is the Mavis Discount Tire. They're located
in the Franklin Mills Shopping Center, surrounded by a number of other commercial uses, as you can
see on my screen. They're in the southernmost part of the center, just east of the Pokessing
Valley Park. As you can see from the picture I provided of the property in your exhibit package,
This is, again, the site of an existing Mavis Discount Tire.
That business has been operating there since after receiving zoning approval to operate the business in 2019.
Also included just for your edification, some pictures of the interior.
This is just the waiting room.
more pictures of the waiting room and then just some images of just an image of the area where
More pictures of the waiting room and then just some images of just an image of the.
servicing happens and the bays where that where that occurs inside of the building. So just by
way of background in 2022 Ellen I advised my client that the zoning permit that they had
only covered the tire sales and servicing that was occurring at the business and not other light
auto repair work that was being done at the site. I included in your exhibit package a copy of
that prior permit that was issued. And again, it shows the vehicle equipment and sales and rental
specifies it's a tire shop. We were unfortunately unable to obtain a copy of the transcript from our
2019 hearing. So even though my client did testify at that hearing that there were going to be oil
changes and other, you know, light auto repair work being done at the site, unfortunately, we
weren't able to get a copy of that transcript. And so we weren't able to clarify this issue with
L&I. And I did also want to point out that the application that we had submitted in 2019
did show that there was going to be a service center out at the site. But again, because we
weren't able to get that transcript, we had to go through this zoning variance process to get this
approval that we're asking for today. So as you can see, we were issued a refusal because the
proposed use of personal vehicle repair and maintenance is prohibited in this zoning district.
We've had numerous conversations both with the RCO that's affected the Millbrook Civic Association
as well as Councilman O'Neill's office. We were able to come up with some provisos
to limit the uses so that it's not a general auto repair shop, because it's my understanding that
Councilman O'Neill's office did not want, you know, a general vehicle repair and maintenance
shop in their district. So we do have a letter of support from the Millbrook Civic Association.
That's at tab two of your exhibit package. And we've also agreed with Councilman O'Neill's
office in Millbrook Civic that if the tenant at the site were ever to change from a Mavis