So there's a variety of industrial and storage uses.
again show let me pull this back up
in these uses they are they are in these tenant spaces they are actually already in use the right
the client the client called us he essentially wanted to legalize all these uses he's okay okay
and he wanted to do everything the right way so that's why he gave
right so let me see the inside of the building that he's using
you see it now yeah yeah right
okay all right do you want to bring him on yes please
john can you hit the raise hand button
i just raised my hand hi john could you state your name please and spell for the sonographer
John Wolfe, J-O-N-W-O-L-F.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
John, just first questions.
Did you hear my testimony?
Yes, I did.
Do you adopt my testimony as your own?
Yes, I do.
And to your recollection, was it testimony true?
Absolutely.
Could you give an explanation for how long you've owned these properties, the types of uses you had, and any possible issues you may have had with neighbors or not?
Okay, I will do.
We actually owned a property at 8301 Torresdale Avenue, which we recently sold.
We also owned this 8701 property and then 8801 to 8835.
So they're all very close proximity, 8301 Barsdale.
We just sold about a year ago, and it had probably 40 tenants in there, which after we sold it, they, I don't know exactly what use they're going to do, but they basically, as the leases came due, moved all the tenants out of the spaces.
Um, in these tenants, I think we've had this, that building we had over 40 years, the one at 8701 over 30 years. Um, they've been multi-tenant use buildings. Um, we've had, I think in the 8301 Tarsdale property, I think we had seven auto mechanic, uh, uses, and we had three auto body spray uses.
um i've we've been a good landowner in the in the area we've always tried to do whatever we could
that you know to keep everybody in check um and i thought we've always done a good job of it i
don't i don't remember any time having a problem or issue with any city or neighboring person
with issues with any of these uses.
A lot of these people were tenants of mine.
Some of them wanted to stay in the area
and wanted to move to the building up the street.
A few of them are in the automotive business.
And I just said, you know, we have to go through,
do this the legal way for the city.
In a couple of the spaces that are,
we're asking for spray uses,
they both have spray booths in them currently because the previous
They both have spray booths in them currently because the previous uses, one was a helicopter parts.
They were subcontractor for Augusta, and what they did was spray parts for Augusta when they had overflow.
They used a spray booth on a regular basis, you know, every day for many hours, just spraying helicopter parts.
The tenant that wants to move in that space is after hours, auto body guy that have they have jobs somewhere else and they do side work that they want to do in this shop.
The other auto motive where they would do spray is a tenant that had a large spray booth there.
Their tent, that tenant was in depth.
they made sceneries for like museums and they also did like stuff for sesame place and they
did a lot of spray painting in that booth for their scenes and different things that they did
for their contracts um you know we've been a good landlord i think and a good person in the
community and we've really never had issues and i mean like anything else i have to keep all these
tenants happy, they're neighbors to each other. And if this spray issue, which the Community
Civic Association voted very narrowly against us, would have an issue, the tenant next door
would have an issue. I mean, if the tenant next door has an issue, they're not happy, I'm not
happy, I would move the tenant out. They want, you know, they're going to have spray booths,
they're going to be filtered, and everything's going to be done, you know, the way it's supposed
to be done and we don't want to have problems and i don't i'm not aware of really having problems
in the last 35 years so i think we've been you know shown a good track record of obeying the
city rules and doing doing the right thing and i would like to john just to ask you a couple
questions sure so you've owned these properties then uh before these uses required a special
exception you've had prior tenants where you received a zoning permit without coming to the
board right correct um and those uses you mentioned before the helicopter parts uh paint uh and other
use and trucking uh use those would be more intense than the proposed uses right no there'd
be more spray paint or there'd be more paint use there'd be more traffic uh essentially they were
larger operations as well weren't they they were larger operations um you know most of these
automotive guys they do repairs to vehicles they're not like a mako where they're spraying
a full car they're spraying a fender they're spraying a bumper and they have to do all the
work get all the parts put it take it apart put it together and then they have the process of
painting the painting is a very small process it's you know a half hour an hour and that's
that's the gist i know i know people don't like the whole idea of spray painting but
it's a very small portion of what they do in these spaces
okay i i do just want to show the board this picture i pulled up just to show you know these
the surrounding uses. There's a lot of truck storage. There are other automotive uses nearby.
I highlighted the building here where these proposed uses are, where the arrow is at the
other site, which we'll discuss. But this really is an industrial area where there aren't going to
be any impacts to the neighboring properties, no additional congestion, overcrowding of
light or utilities or otherwise, especially as these uses are less intense than some of
the otherwise permitted uses here.
That's correct.
Also, just as a footnote, I know the neighborhood had issues with other mechanic shops in the
area because of parking all our parking's on site so we're not impacting impacting
the neighborhoods parking by any stretch of the imagination everything's on our own property
okay um counsel do you want him to adopt your earlier testimony yes uh
oh he didn't he already I thought I did okay I don't okay that's fine that's fine uh questions
from the board no questions here okay questions
no questions here okay questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission
oh i have one can i say one more thing uh mr wolf go ahead yeah i was just going to say you know we
have a whole row of neighboring houses across from the building, which is probably, I don't
know, 100 feet from the curb and probably to the other side of the street.
I noticed that.
Yeah, I saw that.
About 150 feet away.
None of the neighboring people came to the Civic Association to state having any issues.
And when we were at the Civic Association, most of the people there didn't even know
where the building was.
That was the most of their questions is, where is that building?
so just as you know a footnote thank you mr wolf thank you planning commission
hi john lavicar planning commission uh the comprehensive plan recommends i2 zoning in
this location the proposed uses in character with the site and the surrounding area
due to the community concerns pcpc staff recommends temporarily granting this variance
okay um i'll put it in here
my dates here set right okay 24 okay um so mi 2024 001 651 8701 tarsdale avenue
them. I vote yes. Temporary variance that will expire 6-12-29.
LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes with proviso. Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes with
proviso. Okay, counsel, why don't you stay on here? We're going to go right into the next one.
Cancel? Okay. So MI 2024-001-796-8803-35-Torresdale Avenue.
Yes. Could you just state your name? You've already been sworn.
My name is Charlie Dorsanio on behalf of the equitable owner. It's Torsdale Plaza LP of 8803-35-Torresdale Avenue.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
Thank you, counsel.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Counsel, explain to me, is this basically the same thing?
This application is actually a more simple application.
It's just for personal.
Okay, so why don't you do that?
Why don't you just over-
Yeah, okay, please.
So this is for zoning permit application for two tenant spaces at 880335 Toursdale Avenue.
It requires special exception approval.
I can just, just to quickly go through it.
it's the the refusal letters here just for vehicle repair and maintenance and uh the rco voted the
same way it seems to have been part of the same vote uh is there painting involved in this one
there's not painting involved okay and just here's the back to the site photo uh it's actually
a space here and here, which is backing up to the rail line in I-95. There are really
no neighbors down here. This building is set back 700 feet from the property line
and those neighboring houses, at least. You have to zoom in really to even see. It's around
this corner here here's a picture from the back this is just vehicle maintenance and repair am
i correct that's right and if if john's still on i can just have him why don't you get him to adopt
your testimony john are you on
if he's if he's no longer on his testimony yes of the other building i think okay well
you're well you're an officer of the court too we can take your testimony okay um
You're an officer of the court, too. We can take your testimony. Okay.
Hillary, should we list those two places separately as a proviso?
Those two spots?
I believe they're listed on the refusal, so we don't need to do that.
Good. Very good. Thank you.
There's a key plan as well.
All right. Questions on the board?
No, Chair.
No questions, Chair.
Questions for our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have John Wolf with his hand up.
All right.
You can let him in.
He's been unmuted and allowed to speak.
You can just get him to adopt your testimony really quick.
Mr. Wolf, you've already been sworn.
did you hear my presentation to the board yes i did was it accurate to the best of your knowledge
yes it was and do you adopt it as your own testimony yes i do thank you anyone else in the
first audience i see no future i share okay planning commission
hi john levicar planning commission the uh very similar to the last uh hearing comprehensive plan
recommends i2 zoning in this location the proposed uses in character with the site in the surrounding
area uh staff recommends uh temporarily granting the variance um mi 2024 001 796
80 to 8803 to 35 tar cell avenue i vote yes
lavera leonard palmer my vote is yes ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you counsel thank
you thank you okay thank you sir number nine mi 2024 001 797 80 80 11 castor avenue michael
McElhenney is the attorney. There's a letter of unanimous support from Ron Hurst Civic Association and a letter of non-opposition from Councilmember Squilla.
Mr. Chair, I just want to note for the record, we have a letter of non-opposition from Councilman O'Neill in this matter.
Okay. All right.
Counsel, could you just state your name for the record, please, and spell it?
Michael McElhenney, M-I-C-H-A-E-L, M-C-I-L-H-I-N-N-E-Y, attorney for the owner.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Can you identify your client and their relationship to this property?
the client is z square llc and the member's name is neural n-u-r-u-l okay our vice chair has just
a few questions sir good afternoon counsel do you agree to wave the reason of the refusal or
stipulate to its accuracy i do have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that
is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes thank you counsel
please proceed and share your screen. Okay, on the screen is our pre-marked exhibit packet with
12 exhibits. Preliminarily, Exhibit 8 is our zoning appeal. Exhibit 9 is a photograph of
the property with the zoning poster on the front window. Exhibit 10 is our neighbor notice. We met
with Ron Hurst Civic Association on May 2nd, and they did provide that letter of support.
That notice also has the proof of mailing and address list attached. My client's deed is
Exhibit 11. My client acquired the property on June 9th, 2022, and our tax clearance is at Exhibit 12.
As Chairman mentioned, we do have a letter of support from the Ron Hurst Civic Association,
and that's at Exhibit 1. Our refusal is Exhibit 2. This is an application for a sit-down and take-out
restaurant in the existing structure. The property here is zoned CMX1. Although commercial uses are
permitted in CMX categories, restaurant uses actually require a variance. So we do have
the refusals for the restaurant use at the subject property. There's no building or
construction as part of this application. Exhibit three are just some maps of the property,
the zoning maps and aerial maps. The first map is the zoning map, the property zone CMX1,
The property zone CMX1, as are all of the properties on the 8,000 block of Casterd Avenue and the 7,900 block to the south.