ZBA Hearing - June 12, 2024

next door, particularly with the parking issue in the back already with the unit being occupied

illawfully there my sister has had trouble accessing her garage which is right next door

because not only when the residents park back there which they are not supposed to do they

often have guests over who also park there and have often even blocked access to her drive or

to her garage entrance she has asked them previously to stop and sometimes it works and

other times other people come by and park there and we cannot get access to her her garage which

has caused access in and out of her property to be an issue. Additionally, the property,

although I have heard the owner say that they have a maintenance crew come out, my sister has

received citations from the city's sanitation department because that unit, the units in that

building have not picked up their trash in a timely manner. And she has actually received citations

and then has to go through the process of saying, these are not my trash cans. These are the trash

cans of um of the neighboring property and um so we've had to go through at least i believe at once

definitively i believe it has happened twice now where we where she has had to spend her time

asking the city to please remove her citation violation as it is not her unit that she is

being cited for and lastly uh while i spend a number of my time over there as well those the

The neighbors are the tenants of that. None of those units have been participants in any of the neighborhood cleanups that that block often has on a monthly basis.

They've never come out to help clean up. I actually live around the corner with my parents and I've gone over to help and clean up because I'm in that neighborhood often.

And it is routinely pretty like the trash ends up swirling around and we like to keep the block clean.

other units on the building or on the street are multifamily but they are at most triplexes there

are there's to my knowledge there is not another quadplex on that block particularly because

parking does become an issue and although the units at the end of the block like the counselor

said is a large high rise that does not provide parking that's also was built in a different time

and people who are living there are not expecting to have parking so i believe that is a different

issue. So for these reasons, I am against this. Thank you for taking the time to call us. We

appreciate it. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience? Chair, we have Elaine Gillison.

Chair, we have Elaine Gillison.

Elaine Gillison, please unmute and wait for the chair.

Elaine, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?

Yes, Elaine, E-L-A-I-N-E, last name Gillison, G-I-L-L-I-S-O-N.

We're affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but it.

I do.

I do.

Okay.

You live next door?

No.

I am the mother of the woman that lives next door.

I'm here.

I'm representing.

So I know you're representing.

Is there anything else you could say that your other, that was your other daughter that testified?

That was.

All right.

Is there anything else you could say besides what she said?

Yes.

I'm representing the RCO as well.

Okay.

So I represent other near neighbors, and our major concern has to do with the safety of the individual that is living in the basement.

Okay.

Right now, there is only one way in and one way out.

If there is a fire that should take place on the first floor, the person that is downstairs would be trapped.

There's no way for her to get out.

Thank you.

The windows are guarded with hard plexiglass, and she can't get out.

They are secured from the outside of the facility, not the inside.

So she doesn't have access to be able to get out.

I understand.

We voiced this concern at the RCO meeting, as well as the other neighbors that live right there on the block.

and his comment was really about his personal financial hardship okay now i everybody has a

financial hardship one way shape or form if this unit did not exist he could use that area for

storage and offer it to the residents that live in the other three apartments because those

apartments are small. I have spoken to two of the other residents that live there, and they would

love to have a place where they could store some of their items. So I don't agree with the owner

manager that he would not be able to use that as a storage facility for the existing people.

However, it is critical that no one in any part of this city live in a basement unit that only has one way in and one way out.

Thank you very much. We understand your comments and we appreciate your testimony.

Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?

Chair, we have.

Could I ask how many more hands you have?

Just two, Chair.

Okay, thank you.

We have a caller with the phone number ending in 9176.

Caller, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.

Hi, could you please state your name as spelled for the court stenographer?

Caller with the phone number ending in 9176.

Please unmute yourself.

Chair, they may be having technical difficulty.

Go to the other hand.

Chair, the next hand is Olivia Gillison

Olivia Gillison, please unmute and wait for the chair

Hi, Olivia?

Yes

Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?

Yes, O-L-I-V-I-A-G-I-L-L-I-S-O-N, Olivia Gillison

Right, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes, I do.

And obviously you're a relative of the two prior people?

Correct.

I am the homeowner of 6152 Lebanon Avenue.

So your sister and I guess your mom offered us reasons why.

Are you for or against the project?

I am against the project.

Is there anything else that your sister and mother did not say that you could offer?

No, I just wanted to voice opposition.

And as the homeowner of the property adjacent, it has been, you know, I've lived here for five years now, and it has never been a safe or, you know, really well-maintained property.

So I'm against it.

That's all.

Thank you very much.

Mr. Thompson, do you have any response to what we've heard?

Yes.

Yes, I do, Chair.

just briefly the any issues with regard to requirements of putting

Any issues with regard to requirements of putting egress window in can easily be resolved by putting that in the variance and requiring that be done.

With regard to maintenance issues, they could be resolved by requiring that he have someone out there at any period of time that it be done.

The parking issue could be resolved because you could require that you create that one-car garage, which most likely there's only going to be one person in that unit anyway, which shouldn't alter the parking.

We have no way of knowing whether who's parking in front of this driveway.

There's plenty of other residents on the block, so I'm not sure that they're all from this property.

But at the end of the day, none of these issues that were raised can't be addressed in the variance and approved.

And one other piece, which is most important, is although the space can be used for storage, just who's going to pay additional rent for that storage right?

I don't think anyone's going to pay for that.

And those are issues.

Okay, thank you.

Planning Commission.

Amy, board for the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential single-family RSA-3 zoning at this location.

The property has a documented history of three-family dwellings dating back to at least 1961.

The fourth unit in the basement was a unique physical circumstances of the property upon purchase.

However, the appellant has not shown that there are unique physical circumstances that would prevent providing the required parking.

The Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the requested variance for the fourth filling unit and deny the requested parking variance.

Thank you.

LI 2023-005-846-6150 Lebanon Avenue.

I vote no.

lebaron it's no shaheed my vote is no

sorry about that lebaron leonard palmer my vote is no thank you thank you counsel

we can move to the next case here

number 13 mi 2023 007

212 102 north 50 street vernon anastasio is the attorney

there's a letter of support from the 44th ward rco

mr anastasio is coming back in as a panelist now chair okay

morning sir well i swore you earlier in today please for the record just state your name

good morning mr chair vern anastasio uh on behalf of my client all right and could you identify

that client a relationship to the property yes uh second here it's i'm trying to get the correct

pronunciation it's uh okay and he is the and he is the owner okay and our vice chair has a few

questions thank you good afternoon have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that

is needed and required to proceed this case five days in advance of this hearing yes sir thank you

And please proceed to see Ms. Brayner.

Okay, Mr. Chair, my client is here because he has a legal four-family dwelling in the past,

and he added a rear addition to make that space just more livable and to create more spacious rooms,

convenient mobility and an opportunity for slightly extra access waste spaces the property

encompasses a large area at the back and the front of the basement location of the property

is in the university area and it's very well it's very well maintained and cared for and that's one

of the reasons why the rco is in strong support of the application as you can see it's zoned rta1

The continued use as a four-family dwelling would be consistent with what was all previously

approved. And we're just here for the rear addition. And with that, I'm submitting the

application and the project information form. Here are the elevations, and I'll pull out so you can

Here are the elevations, and I'll pull out so you can see.

see

So here was the rear addition placed on the property.

As you can see, there's front step and a covered porch, and still an ample rear yard that is almost nine feet.

here's some photos that show

the space as well

and there's access to the to the basement there here's the basement some photos we also have

submitted to evidence lots of interior photos the entire exhibit packet of evidence is 100 pages

and I'm submitting this

and entering this into evidence today.

Here's the rest of the block

where there are other multifamily dwellings.

Here's the front.

Each unit will have interior trash storage.

What was added one to the rear?

Could you show us that?

Yeah, it was a rear addition.

this section here and that's a covered porch you said the covered porch is in the front

oh okay all right thank you

and the rear addition by the way is still consistent with most of the homes on the block

let's see a picture of the rear i'll show you that again

so it was four units before it's still four units yep we're not changing any of that use

uh the only thing we're trying to legalize now is the addition because of the uh because of the

open space and this will allow for more comfortable rooms uh and uh more larger bathrooms one will

be able to be accessible if need be for a tenant and we also have interior photos of the rehab

so the use is consistent because the use is consistent with the history of the property

because the rear yard is still consistent with the size of other properties on the block

uh as is the use itself and because the rco strongly supports this okay we respectfully

request our appeal be granted why don't you bring your client on

to say if can you please raise your virtual hand

there's one other refusal pursuant to decks these are what the l and i examiner are calling decks

but they're they're not they're more like a covered terrace on each of the units

just to say by isa

you could please raise his virtual hand

sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer

right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth

yes i do please proceed counsel thank you sir did you hear my presentation

to the board this morning.

I'm doing.

Is it true and accurate

to the best of your knowledge?

Yes.

Do you adopt it as your own?

Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to end with the letter

from Mr. Willie Jordan,

who's the ward leader,

44th Ward, Democratic RCO,

in support,

so long as we have some provisos

that I believe are,

some of them at least,

are enforceable

with additional rear lighting.

uh and making the balconies uh more secure with railings um questions or comments from the board

no chair