That's correct. I apologize. That's okay, sir. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no more hands at this time, Chair. Planning Commission.
If I may respond briefly.
Sure, sure. Yeah. I heard two things in the comments. One, I just want to reiterate that
as a distributor, you're not actually allowed to sit in. So all of those tables that are pictured
in there now would be removed. There would not be, no one would be allowed to stay. You would
have to, by the rules of the liquor board, take your alcohol that you're purchasing and leave
the premises. I just wanted to reiterate that. Okay. All right. Thank you. Planning Commission.
Amy Ward with the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change
in zoning at this location from the existing commercially mixed use CMX2. The appellant has
not shown that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances that would prevent the property
from being used in conformance with the zoning code. The City Planning Commission recommends
that the board deny the requested variance for wholesales and distribution.
MI 2024, 000259, 5131 Woodland Avenue, I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no.
Iowan, my vote is no.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Number 14, MI 2024-002-965-1520-30 Washington Avenue.
Dawn Tangrady or Clemente Amazon are the attorneys.
A letter of support from East Point Breeze Neighbors Coordinating RCO.
and a letter of support from
South of South Neighbors Association, SOSNA.
John Tancredi will be joining us as a panelist.
Doran Tancredi will be joining us as a panelist.
Michael
Michael Johns will recuse himself from this project.
Mr. Chair, I just wanted to note we have received this morning a letter of opposition from Concerned Citizens of Point Breeze along with a petition.
Thank you.
okay good morning council i'm sorry could you please state your name and spell for the court
stenographer sure good morning mr chair and members of the board don tancredi
my first name is d-a-w-n my last name is t-a-n-c-r-e-d-i you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Do you identify your client in
relationship to the property? Sure. I represent 1520 Washington Avenue, LLC, the owner of 1520
Washington Avenue. Do you stipulate to the reading of the refusal, and do you agree with
this accuracy? Yes. Please share your screen and start your presentation. Thank you.
Okay, so thank you, as I mentioned, I'm the attorney for the owner of this property.
With me here today is Michael Carosella on behalf of the owner, Agata Reister, the architect
that prepared the plans, and Paul Loney, the engineer and president of Aqua Economics.
I ask that these submission materials be incorporated into the record.
The materials do include the refusal, a letter of support from East Point Breeze neighbors,
a letter of support from SOSNA, a map showing other larger scale mixed use projects on Washington
Avenue, photos of the property and surrounding area, posting photos, previously approved city
approvals, including the Water Department, Stormwater Conceptual Approval, Streets Department
Approval, City Planning Approval for Landscaping, and Art Commission Approval for Canopies.
Also included in the application, in the submission materials, is the application for appeal, the PIF form, the RCO notice letter that was sent out to over 500 neighbors, the certificate of mailing, and also the deed and certificate of tax clearance.
Thank you.
so as a recap the rendering is shown before you here the proposal is to demolish the existing
warehouse structure and erect a beautiful seven-story building with 55 residential units
commercial space on the ground floor with 71 parking spaces including three ada spaces
one which is van accessible, two interior accessory loading zones, and 40 bicycle spaces.
And for context, the property is situated on the corner, the southeast corner of 16th Street
and Washington Avenue. Washington Avenue is made up of multiple lanes of traffic
in both directions eastbound and westbound and there are bicycle lanes. The property consists
of a one-story warehouse structure on a 22,900 square foot lot. The property is zoned I-2 which
is intended to accommodate light industrial uses, manufacturing, distribution, and other activities
that may generate noise, odor, vibration, or traffic impacts well beyond the subject property
lines. The property has been marketed for an industrial tenant for years, yet it remains
partially vacant. The existing tenants pay below market rate rent.
the map before you shows the area surrounding the property it's made up of a mix of residential
multifamily dwellings commercial and industrial use there is an abundance of multifamily residential
There is an abundance of multifamily residential development along Washington Avenue.
development along washington avenue
For example, the largest development on the west side of Broad Street is located at 1100 South Broad Street and has a total of 495 units.
This proposed project is small in comparison.
So before we were able to get here today, in advance of today's presentation, we did obtain the Water Department Stormwater Conceptual Approval,
the streets department approval, city planning approval for landscaping and art commission
approval for the canopies. We met with the RCOs several times as far back as January 2023.
Changes had been made to the plans as a result of the meetings, including reducing the height
and density of the project. We do have a letter of support from East Point Breeze Neighbors
and also from SOSNA. The developer offered to provide 15% affordable housing as part of this
project and also to find a tenant for the commercial space so that the tenant would
space would be used for a job training with a market rate rent there. As for the 55 residential
units, there's a range of units from one to three bedrooms, and the size of the units ranges from
861 square feet to almost 1,400 square feet. The commercial space is approximately 9,400 square
feet, and that could be divided into two spaces. Before I ask Agata, the architect, to share her
screen and go through the plans, and before we hear from my client, I'd like to address the
hardship. An unnecessary hardship exists to justify the use variance due to the fact that
the property is a partially vacant warehouse that has been marketed for industrial use to
no avail. There is no demand to cover the triple net lease at this location. Further,
the proposed use is consistent with the surrounding area.
There is no adverse effect on the public health, safety, or general welfare because the surrounding
properties consist of similar uses. The applicant addressed concerns raised by the community.
other permitted uses are more burdensome on the community, and the proposal is in
alignment with the comprehensive plan which suggests Washington Avenue should
be rezoned to IRMX. The request is the minimum variance that will afford
relief because the residential mixed-use conforms to the current character of the
area and the Planning Commission recommends rezoning the area. The proposed use is less
intensive than the permitted industrial uses. So with that, I would like to stop sharing my screen
and I would ask Agata to share her screen and go through the plans.
Agata?
Agata, last name, starting with R, has been promoted to penalist.
Good morning.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Agata?
Can you hear me now?
I can.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Good afternoon.
Agatha Reister, A-G-A-T-A-R-E-I-S-T-E-R.
And I am with Landmark Architectural Design.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
I'm sorry.
Agata, could you share your screen and explain the plans for the board, please?
Yes. Can you see my screen?
We do.
I would like to slightly recap Dawn's presentation.
The site is pretty much 100% occupied with the exception of a small court
and occupies more than half of the entire block that you see in here.
and occupies more than half of the entire block that you see in here this is entirely impervious
site um and our excuse me when i was talking about occupied i meant with tenants but right
no no no um i'm saying it's it's pretty much occupied um as a building wise talking but yes
it's pretty much occupied um 100 by the building with the exception of a small courtyard and so we
what we would be proposing is creating a site that offers just one second computer is slightly slow
with the zoom presentations a site that offers green roof landscaping landscape courtyard
as you can see. There we go. The building itself, proposed, occupies 80% of the site at first and
second floor. Third floor to seventh floor is actually shaped as a horseshoe. The heart of
building facing south is occupied by a landscape courtyard that would be accessed by the residential
tenants at the very top of the roof we're proposing green roof to offset the stormwater
overload and also landscaping at the southern portion and also at the eastern portion of the
site. So what you see in here in comparison to what the site presently presents, we have an
open, occupied, impervious portion of the site that is the driveway that connects Alter Street
with Washington. The part that I would like to mention is the photograph that Dawn presented.
This is a 22 to 26-foot tall wall, solid building that from a person standing outside, it looks 100% occupied, structure-wise occupied.
It is not pedestrian-friendly.
Anybody that's working in there has absolutely no connection to the outside.
These photographs that you have seen, I would just like to recap.
altar street is primarily a solid wall along the sidewalk and a building on the opposite
side of the street it's primarily repair garages or storage garages
and i would like to go before i get into floor plans
what we are proposing is a vibrant corner that if utilized by commercial tenant it could provide an
area for um seating area for a small restaurant or a community center this is this space can be
divided from one to two potentially three tenant spaces as don't mention it's 9400 square feet
We had located the entrance to the residential lobby away from the busy corner and also closer to the public transportation.
The materials that are proposed on this building are of high quality.
We have brick, two tons of brick to separate the commercial space with the lesser active residential use.
So you see brick, one color. We have secondary brick. We have an element that is the residential circulation area that would be very nicely lit at night because what we are proposing is to create a building that's not only attractive during the day, but also has its charm at night.
the canopy that the approvals were obtained but as you can see this corner from what was
what is currently it completely transforms the street and also the way the pedestrians will
experience this this is a view of 16th street again the commercial portion carries on this is
entrance to the parking in the basement. The basement parking proposes 31 spaces. There's
also access to mechanicals, elevator compartments, and so forth. The material, the higher quality
materials, they turn the corner onto Alter Street. And thanks to the City Planning Commission's
suggestions altar street became a much better um vision actually with what this project had started
vision, actually, with what this project had started. Originally, we placed loading zones
originally we
in this portion that you see in here. City Planning Commission recommended that we move
the loading zones to the driveway area, enlarge the driveway slightly, but provide this altar
street more pedestrian-friendly, maybe in a spot where people would like to actually sit down.
And in that section, it almost enlarges the sidewalk area to nearly 20 feet with the
connection from the edge of the sidewalk to the inwards of the building with this landscape court
and i would like to this is a view of altar street um there is a portion that is um roofed over by
the building that benches can be placed and people can experience this whole section more of a as a
front rather than the back of the building what you see in here is the driveway that connects
altar street to washington avenue and per city planning commission recommendations we had
navigated the traffic to enter from altar street and egress onto washington avenue but only egress
into one direction so there would be no ingress egress off of washington to keep the bike lane
and also the pedestrians safer this view in here is the view of the lobby portion this would be a
view from Broad Street looking west again this is high quality materials this all of this is brick
brick turns the corner all around and this is basically that portion as well this is the
courtyard that was recommended by the city planning commission and what you see above right here this
is the landscape portion for the residents for at the second floor roof and what I would like to add
is the 55 units they range as don't mention from high 800 square feet to all the way almost 1400
square feet the one bedroom units are 860 square feet which typically considering that i've done
many multi-family buildings most of our two-bedroom units are 800 so to give you an idea this is a
one-bedroom unit that's really with the footprint of a two-bedroom size. All of the units are very
generous. Most of them are two bedrooms. 45% of these units are two bedrooms. 36% of the units
proposed are three bedrooms, and only 18% of them are one bedroom, and none of the bedrooms proposed
utilize borrowed light. Every single bedroom in here has access to natural light, and we try to
orient as as much of the bedrooms facing southern portion and just giving nice quality
light as as as much as possible so the tenants are happy stimulated and stay with our client
for as long as possible and that is his motto to provide larger units so tenants do have a
possibility to grow so it's it's it's a development that's potentially family friendly rather than
I'm just a working, you know, single professional or this is this that there is room to for growth.
And that pretty much everything that I wanted to mention, I believe I have mentioned.
Counsel, could you could you our note says 71 interior parking spaces?
And I didn't I didn't hear that from her architect.
Yes, we have 71 parking spaces, 31 of the parking spaces, and I'll pull up.
31 of the parking spaces are proposed in the cellar.
36 of the parking spaces are proposed on second floor.
Okay, thank you.
Yes, and four are in the carport.
Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
um do you want to have your client come on and yes adapt the testimony yes i'd like to ask him
a couple questions sure is michael carosella promoted to panelists
michael carosella has been allowed to speak now could you please state your name and spell for
the court stenographer hello my name is michael carosella m-i-c-h-a-e-l c-a-r-o-s-e-l-l-a
where or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do please proceed counsel thank you and michael could you please tell the board what is
your relationship to 1520 washington avenue i am the owner of that project
I am the owner of that project, of that location.
at that location.