Carol Teneri, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
And number...
Number five is the result of hearing.
MI 2022-001-494-2507 Amon Street.
Adam Laver is the attorney.
Mr. Lavery, excuse me, Mr. Lavery is coming in as a panelist.
Mr. Leiber is coming in as a panelist.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
How are you?
Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Yes, Chairman Bergman, Adam Laver, L.A. V.S. and Victor, E.R., Blank Rome, 1 Logan Square.
Right. Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do.
Thank you.
So my understanding, counsel, is this will be, you will offer testimony regarding a revised plan.
We'll take testimony from the public, but will only be relative to the revised plan.
Yes, sir. We're prepared to proceed.
Right. And just for the record, identify your client.
Mr. Chairman, Blank Rome represents L&M Real Estate Developments, LLC, and its parent entity, the River Wards Group, equitable owner of the subject property at 2507 Almond Street.
We will incorporate all the prior testimony in the two different hearings we had.
And Carol, I understand we have all his information, so we're just going to start.
So, Mr. Laver, share your screen, and you can start.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman and members of the board, on the screen before you is the subject property.
I want to be respectful of the board's time, so I'm not going to go over what had previously been presented and incorporated by reference.
But here are three images just to place it into context.
Following the last hearing, my client took into consideration some of the questions that had been asked by the board, and although there had been full support from the coordinating RCO as well as non-opposition of the district council member,
Squilla, in light of certain questions that had been raised in discussion at the last hearing,
we have submitted a revised proviso plans form to counsel for the zoning board. And what we have
done, Mr. Chairman and members of the board, is to remove the top floor of the originally proposed
development, taking away one entire floor, reducing the proposed development by 10 feet
for a revised height of 62 feet this also significantly reduces the gross floor area
a reduction of 25 129.3 square feet mr chairman and members of the board this comprises the
changes contemplated if the board is inclined to grant the requested relief we would respectfully
request that it be per the two-page revised proviso plan submitted to Ms. Emerson and to
the board. Mr. Rushdie, my client is here to adopt and affirm if needed, and we are certainly
available to answer any questions. We thank the board for its consideration. Thank you, Will.
We'll swear your client in. Mr. Mo Rushdie, would you please raise your virtual hand?
sir you can unmute yourself and please wait for the chair
i am here hi could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
my name is muhammad rushdie m-o-h-a-m-e-d last name is rushdie r-u-s-h-d for david y for yellow
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Thank you. Mr. Rushdie, have you been present for the entirety of this resumption hearing
this afternoon? Yes, I have.
And would you adopt and affirm the testimony that I have offered as your own?
Yes, I do.
Thank you, Mr. Rushdie. Questions from the Board?
No, Mr. Chair.
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience
relative to the revised plans?
I see no hands here.
Planning Commission,
concerning the revised plans.
Good afternoon.
This is Greg Waltman,
Planning Commission staff.
Spell your name, please, Greg.
Great.
Yeah, my name is Greg.
So Gregory, G-R-E-G-O-R-Y.
Last name Waldman
last name waldman w-a-l-d-m-a-n do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and
W-A-L-D-M-A-N
Do you swear a firm to tell the
nothing but the truth i do proceed sir good afternoon chair and members of the board um
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the ca2 commercial auto-oriented zoning at this
location the zoning was updated to ca2 in 2017. this proposal has not been has been presented to
civic design review committee received mostly positive feedback however as the committee members
noted the proposal at that time was more than twice the allowed height the applicant has since
revised plans for the site reducing the total height by 10 feet to 62 feet which remains 24
feet taller than what is permitted by code given the environmental contamination this property is
more appropriate for a CA2 use that would cap seal and limit contact with contaminated
native soils than for residential or commercial mixed uses.
We feel the applicant has failed to demonstrate a hardship that would prevent them from developing
this property in alignment with the zoning code.
Furthermore, 24 feet in height above what is permitted by code, even with the 10 feet
reduction, is not the necessary minimum variance to afford relief.
Accordingly, the Planning Commission recommends the Board deny the variances.
Thank you. MI 2022-001-494-2507 Almond Street. I vote yes with proviso. Revised plans, two pages,
stamped by ZBA on September 28, 2022. Carol Tenneri, my vote is yes with proviso.
thank you council thank you mr chairman members of the board good afternoon okay um we're going
to go to the regular list mi 2022 003 192 2621 to 67 in frankfurt avenue attorney is catherine
Missimer. Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I got it. I have it, Hillary.
We're going to start with number 16. MI 2022-001-055-5100 Ray Street. Jose Rosario
is the attorney, is the owner applicant. We have a letter of opposition from the 44th Ward
RCO. We also, I believe, have an interpreter should be on the line.
Mr. Rosario is coming back and it's a panelist.
If the interpreter is in the audience, can you please raise your hand as well?
Interpreter, if you have permission to speak, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
We have an interpreter?
Yeah, the interpreter is here.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Could the interpreter state your name, please?
Of course.
As spelled for the court reporter.
Consuelo Villagomez, Spanish interpreter.
C-O-N-S-U-E-L-O
Last name, BS in Victor
I-L-L-A-G-O-M-E-Z
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
As in my capacity as interpreter, yes.
All right. Mr. Rosario, are you online?
Señor Rosario está en línea. Está en mudo, Señor Rosario.
Mr. Rosario's microphone is muted.
Could you please unmute?
Sí, ¿cómo está?
Yeah, I'm here.
Can you have him state his name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
Señor, por favor, diga su nombre completo y necesito que lo deletree para el registro de la corte.
Sí, mi nombre es José Rosario.
My name is José Rosario.
J-O-S-E-R-O-S-A-R-I-O
First name, J-O-S-E
Last name, R-O-S-A-R-I-O
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
¿Usted jura decir la verdad y nada más que la verdad?
Our vice chair, Carl Tadari, has a few questions.
Nuestro vice chair tiene algunas preguntas, Carl Chignani.
Okay. Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal?
Excuse me. One moment. Carol, this is a pro se, so we do need to read this one into the record.
I still ask about emailing the exhibit packet, though, right?
Yes, you can do that. Yes, thank you.
Oh, okay. Strike what I just said.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership, tax compliance, a copy of the refusal or referral?
¿Usted ya nos envió por correo electrónico las pruebas en donde se le pide que nos dé la prueba de la propiedad del pago de impuestos y de la carta de donde le rehusan el permiso?
Also, have you emailed photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
También nos envió por correo electrónico las fotografías y los planes cinco días antes de esta audiencia, y también ha estado en contacto con el RCO?
Okay, this is an application for the erection of a two-story addition in the rear portion of the building for use as retail sales of food, beverages and groceries and a sit-down restaurant on the entire ground floor of the building and single-family household living above.
Ok, esta es una aplicación para poder construir una adición de dos pisos en la parte de atrás de la propiedad y esta área se utilizará como comercio de comida, bebidas y también artículos de alimentación y además como restaurante en todo el primer piso de toda la propiedad.
y además como casa familiar.
Sí, es cierto.
Sí, es cierto.
Hay una sola razón de que se está rehusando y es porque el hecho de tener un restaurante
en donde la gente pueda sentarse a comer
está prohibida en la zona CNX-1.
Okay, you may proceed.
Puede proceder.
Okay, see you.
And begin to share your screen.
Y puede, por favor, compartirme su pantalla.
Give me a moment, please.
Okay, I'm Jose Rosario, the owner of the 51 race. I had this property in 2017, with the reason to make the restaurant because I have a
bodega en la 49 igual no por más de 21 años y yo por la razón compré esa otra propiedad
51 reis porque yo vendo comida hispana en mi bodega pero no tengo suficiente espacio para
so I bought that place in the 51st place to be able to make a restaurant because I like the
business of Spanish food and I bought that place to make a restaurant and applied for that and
are you getting all that yes um uh so uh i am the owner of this property my name is jose rosario
and I'm the owner of 15100 Ray Street.
I bought this property in 2017
in order to use it as a restaurant.
I already own a warehouse on 49th Street and Walnut.
I have been the owner of that other property
for over 21 years.
I bought this other property
in the 5100 of Ray Street
5100 of Ray Street in order to sell Hispanic food because I already do that from the warehouse,
in order to sell Hispanic food.
but I don't have enough room to keep doing it. So that's why I bought this new property and I
applied for the permission to build a restaurant there, but the permission was denied and I am
appealing. Okay, he can drill down now, he can go through the whole content.
Okay, now can you talk about the content?
Yes, what do you mean?
So this is the notice of refusal.
So this was a letter of refusal.
Excuse me, this is Hillary.
Mr. Rosario needs to make sure we're just hearing from Mr. Rosario, not anybody else.
He is the applicant.
Thank you, I hear another voice in the back.
Esta es la aplicación por la operación que hicimos.
Esta es la aplicación.
Como pueden ver.
This is my application for appeal, as you can see.
Esta es la proyecto información, la forma del proyecto de información.
This is the project information form.