The ZBA hearing was scheduled for September the 1st.
I was informed just prior to the hearing that this is Tanya again yes may I ask that you pause this for one moment please.
Hi, Chair. This is Tanya again. I'm sorry. I have to confer with the almighty Ms. Sharon Saleta.
I thought she was up tonight, but besides that, go ahead.
So the idea is that this reconsideration request was actually submitted by the councilwoman.
Right.
So the councilwoman would have to present or have representation by an attorney.
So if you wish, we would have to continue this, Mr. Richardson, and inform her of the requirements.
Because you can't do that.
You would have to be an attorney or the applicant themselves.
She's not available at the moment.
understandable i could work with you offline and rachel and come up with a date that works
for everyone that's fine tanya yeah let's do that okay thank you appreciate it thank you
mi 2021 002175 5916 north 13th street
no RCO letter, no RCO letter from 9th Council District RCO, RCO letter in opposition from
ACCA. Sean Whalen. Mr. Whalen will be coming back in as a panelist, sir.
Hi, Mr. Whalen, how are you? Could you state your name for the court reporter and spell it,
please? Certainly. Sean, S-E-A-N, Whalen, W-H-A-L-E-N. Right. Do you swear for him to tell
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. And the vice chair has a few
questions. I can't hear you. Cal, you're muted. That's why I hate being muted. Do you agree to
waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? Yes, I do. Based on the notes,
I see you've sent in all the required documents.
Yes, I have.
You may proceed.
Thank you very much.
Just one quick point of order before I start sharing.
Chairman, the letter from ACCA is actually from a 2015 case that ACCA had with this case.
ACCA is no longer an active RCO.
we did not meet with, nor did they participate in any way in this current matter in front of you.
And do we have a letter from the 9th Council District?
Not to my knowledge, and I'll address that here in a minute.
Okay, sure. Good, good. Thank you.
Certainly.
So this case is 5916 North 13th Street.
It's a pretty straightforward case.
We have one use refusal. You can see that we are proposing four dwelling units in a very large existing structure.
Currently, since 1962, you can actually see it down here, the property has been approved for two dwelling units and has also had a separate commercial unit.
It was originally, as you can see, a painting contractor's business office and accessory storage, and then later it became a doctor's office.
The property, my client, Medith Charles, obtained the property in 2014 at Sheriff's Sale, and the property was actually deemed, it was designated dangerous by L&I.
It was in such poor condition.
So here is North Broad Street, 611. We're just north of 1, and you can see just a couple blocks down West Nidro, and you're about mid-block on North 13th before you get up to West Champlast.
um again you can sort of see just a standard this is a double wide property it's actually
uh 40 feet by 140 so it's it's a very very large property and what you'll see and i'll show you
is the property is actually fully developed as an l and has been forever um so here an outline
is the property 5916. This is 100% sort of on the north. This is the right side is the north side
is 100% lot coverage. And again, has been for all times relevant, at least since the 50s.
I couldn't go back before that. So right now you have, it is attached at the front portion.
So right now you have, it is attached at the front portion. Here is a twin. This front portion is essentially a standard row home that has always been divided into an upper unit and a lower unit of a two-unit building.
There's also a full basement underneath this portion of the property.
There is then a one-story connection right here that connects both the front and the back, which are both two stories.
And then there's an accessory garage here.
So you have approximately 5,000 square feet of built-out space on this lot.
and as you can see on this left side the south side of the property you have a very large open
driveway again just to give you kind of a better understanding of the process you've got this
existing kind of standard twin or row home not quite as deep as its adjacent neighbor then you
have this one-story addition that goes into a two-story addition with an accessory garage again
all of this existing as is since the 50s, at least. This property is currently zoned RSA 3,
which is single family. However, as I said, since the 1960s, we've had zoning for two
residential dwelling units and a commercial unit. Now, again, this property did go into
significant disrepair, ended up in sheriff sale and was designated dangerous when my client
purchased it. And she then actually had to invest in excess of $100,000 in order to improve the
property, repair the interior, and remove that dangerous designation. Now, most notably, she did
not at any point in time create any new structure on the property, nor did she create or erect any
new walls or anything in the property. So she repaired the property and rehabbed the property
in the structural condition that it was and always had been. In fact, I'll show you in a minute.
The only exterior structure that she built was, you can see, Ellen and I required her to put
a second stairway egress for this rear portion of the property, and that is there.
So here's a look at the street. Generally speaking, it's a twin-type environment up and down the block.
There are some multifamily mixed in with single-family residential properties.
again this is just going down south along the block this is the property that is immediately
across the street and this is actually part of that property too this is multi-family
and what you can see here is this is the very front portion the street is to the right
and as you can see there's multiple mailboxes now before I miss it again most notably here
and I think most telling of the prior use of this property this is in the basement I'll show you the
pictures later but I wanted to have a zoomed in shot first there are three gas meters in the
basement of the property my client did not install any gas meters these were existing obviously
They've been fixed by the gas company throughout the rehab process, but this is all existing.
And so there is no reason or purpose to have multiple gas meters if any property has ever been used as a single residence.
Similarly, there have at all times been four separate electric meters, further evidencing four units.
We recognize that there are three gas meters and four electric meters.
We attempted to go back to the electric company and gas company and find records
about that history, but we could not find them.
So again, how this is laid out, this picture was taken immediately in front of the accessory
garage. You have one unit, unit one on the top floor of the existing building. You have one unit
on the ground floor of the existing building that also has access to the basement. The basement is
unfinished. You have a third unit, which to our understanding was always the commercial unit
in here. That's unit three. And then this to the left, this fourth unit is
that's unit three and then this to the left this fourth unit is the two-story structure
the i simply go through these photos to show you in what good condition my client has brought the
property back up to um you know full kitchens she maintains it impeccably and again has spent
significant monies to do this, and with 5,000 square feet of built-out space and living space
already designed into four units, she does have, you know, that is one in the first piece of a
hardship with regard to her having to, you know, conform this either to a single unit or even
keep it limited to two units, which is what the councilwoman's office, I believe, will be asking.
So a Ms. Hillary Emerson from Councilwoman Cheryl Parker's office, I believe, is on the call, and she can speak more to this herself.
The Councilwoman's office stepped in to host a meeting because there is no active RCO in the area.
We hosted a meeting in conjunction through our law firm Zoom in conjunction with the Councilwoman's office.
There was one attendee.
So we presented the case to the one woman who showed up.
she was the immediate neighbor. At that meeting, she stated that she didn't want to get in the way
of anything, but she did wish that the property was better maintained. And my client explained
that she had, in fact, felt the same way about the property and realized that it was not being
maintained. And she had actually about six months ago retained the services of a professionally
licensed property manager to manage this property. So it was an issue and it's been addressed and it
was addressed before even the meeting. So this meeting also tellingly, this is unit two here,
the meeting we held was actually held I believe in August. This matter was originally before
the zoning board in September. At that time, we heard from the councilwoman's office. This is
the unfinished basement where you have the gas meters there. Here is unit three. It's a smaller
one-bedroom. Obviously, we have not been using it as a one-bedroom because of the issues with zoning
And we didn't want to run afoul of the councilwoman's office, but it is fully equipped with a bathroom and kitchen.
So we did have that one meeting.
And again, right before the September meeting, the original hearing for this matter, we learned from the councilwoman's office that they were going to oppose the project.
based on the opposition of the woman who appeared at our one meeting and said that she didn't want
to oppose the project, evidently spoke with Ms. Hillary Emerson in further detail after that
meeting. And there is one other neighbor, I understand, who Ms. Emerson spoke with on behalf
of the Councilwoman's office afterwards. We continued the September meeting specifically
to deal further with the councilwoman's office and to host a second meeting to address any
concerns that any residents had. And we were flatly refused. We were told that there was
no desire or wish to speak with us or to have a second meeting. So as far as I know, there is no
letter and the councilwoman's office may or may not still be in opposition, but I believe they are.
And I'm not sure that we have any neighbors or any neighborhood opposition of any sort.
Just quickly, here is unit four.
And again, this is a fully built out fourth unit.
Again, because of this zoning issue, there's nobody living in this unit.
It was vacated when all of this became an issue.
And here's the extra means of egress.
again that's just the the meters so at this point in time you know my client has a significant
hardship she has a very large 5,000 plus square foot fully built out building that she was
required by L&I to fully rehab and repair because of it it was imminently dangerous and designated
it as such when she purchased the property from sheriff sale in 2014. She underwent that entire
process and we have now gone through everything with you know this large existing building to
have it built out. With that said we did have some preliminary conversations with the
We did have some preliminary conversations with the Councilwoman's office that as a compromise and to meet a least minimum standard, my client will agree to a variance of three units instead of the originally requested four units that is in the current refusal and application.
woman's office that has a compromise and
But you want to bring your client on so that you can have your testimony adopted.
Yes, I will.
So, Ms. Medith Charles, please.
I'm allowed to speak.
Ms. Charles?
Yes, I'm here.
Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
I'm sorry.
Ma'am, could you turn up one of your devices or mute one of them?
Now try to speak.
Ms. Charles?
Ms. Charles?
i'll try texting real quick to see if she's there
well i can see her she's there she's trying to connect yes i'm here okay yeah yes but you have
other devices on yes i thought it off no okay i could you state your name and spell for the
court reporter yes my name is medith m-e-d-i-t-h last name charles ch-a-r-l-e-s
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Charles. And Ms. Charles, you are the owner of the property, correct?
Okay. And did you hear all of the testimony that I presented already?
Yes, I did.
Okay. And is it true to the best of your knowledge and information?
And would you adopt it as your own testimony?
Okay. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman. No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the virtual audience?
Sir, there's a Mr. Melvin Sharpe with his hand raised. I will allow him to speak at this time.
Yeah, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
M-E-L-V-I-N, Melvin, initial T, last name Sharp, S-H-A-R-P-E.
All right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Thank you.
Proceed.
Yes, I am the resident two doors from Ms. Charles. I initially opposed this application
and I still oppose this application. There are principally three reasons why and that doesn't
change. Ms. Charles is not a resident of the block and does not really monitor her property
or clean her property. Secondarily, Ms. Charles has already been in operation of these units
and it was opposed the first time. And the first time Ms. Charles seemingly acted like she didn't
understand what the decision was, which means you don't operate until you have the compliance
of the zoning board. So secondarily, that is the second reason. And thirdly, this block is composed
mostly of senior citizens and single-family residents. We do not want additional apartments
in this block. We want to maintain the integrity of this block. We don't have any issues with crime,
loitering or any of those things. Some of those things happen sometimes when you get transients
coming in in a lot of apartments. So the issue of the precedent that would be set
by this decision and what it would mean for the rest of the block would be that if this was allowed
then others could very easily come in and then the composition of the block changes from single
family to mostly apartments. This is not like there is a resident there who wants to add
an additional unit. This is an investment property and we don't have any problems. I
this is an investment property and we don't have any problems. I don't have any problems certainly
don't have any problems certainly with Ms. Charles.
with Ms. Charles getting a return on her investment, but not at the expense of the
normal operations of the zoning code and not at the expense of the residents who are not
in favor of this. The immediate neighbor, Ms. Tucker, is very clear about her opposition
and several other seniors on the block.
This community meeting was not held
by Ms. Charles with the people on the block.