ZBA Hearing - March 4, 2026

this is going to be here and hold i understand talking to our council yeah that's right

Adrienne Ferrandez is the only RCO. We agreed with her. We had a meeting last week with her.

We agreed that we would allow her and to hold another meeting to try to get more attendees.

She agreed to let us present and then we'll hold open for a resumptive hearing.

All right. Thank you very much. Our vice chair. There's a few questions.

Sure. Good evening. Have you submitted documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?

I have.

And do you waive the reading note of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

I do.

Thank you.

You can share your screen and proceed with your case.

Thank you.

All right, bear with me here.

I'll show you some of the key documents.

Are you seeing my screen okay, Mr. Chairman?

We see you.

Oh, hold on.

I forgot to hit share.

all right now you should be able to see it correct it's coming up it's coming up right now

all right good so i wanted to start with this photo so you can see the the unusual layout of

the property um and let me show this next one so you can see what we're dealing with this is

actually the property it's a double lot uh it's a corner triangular lot i'll show you some more

documents which demonstrate that let me show you this one so it's this um row home type structure

And then it's this I'm indicating with my cursor.

This is the corner piece, which is a one-story structure.

And this is how it appeared when my client purchased it in 2025.

So this is a view from the corner.

And again, these are the old conditions.

I'll show you some current conditions in a minute.

But this is that first-story triangular structure on the corner lot.

And then the second lot.

It's a combined property.

don't get me wrong but i it really is two lots and this is the single the um the row home um

so our single variance that we're requesting is a use variance for to legalize a two-unit dwelling

let me go back to this the first story is the first unit and um this second and third story on

the row home lot is the other unit. So my client purchased this as an existing duplex.

The property was in some extreme distress. Let me show you some photos that show that.

And had to immediately put in some money. I'm going to need to

rotate this again. And forgive me, because I'm going to have to rotate back and forth.

but i want you to see how how poorly the property was maintained there was allegedly a tenant

uh who was not um did not treat the unit very well the owner was was a the former owner was

an elderly woman who who did not have the funds to keep the property up there was a lot of water

up there was a lot of water damage and my client had to immediately stick some money into the

damage and my client

had

property to fix the water damage and to repair the roof let me show you current conditions

oh by the way you know what while we're while we're here let's deal with this

my client did pay off the real estate tax balance last week and when I submitted the exhibits on

Friday. It did not initially register in the system, but we now have zero tax balance. So I'd

ask you, historically the board has accepted that, so I hope that would be okay. We don't have any

tax balance with this property. All right, so here's current conditions. My client sandblasted

that corner piece, and I wanted to show you this area is going to be an area that we're going to

suggest for trash storage for both tenants um before i forget the the first floor unit is going

to be that my client's son um who will occupy that one story uh triangular piece um the uh

context is important mr chairman um there's an electrical substation across the street

it's not the most ideal scenario for you can see it here this is our property in the foreground

and then across the street you can see there's railroad tracks and a very large electric

substation so that's going to be part of the argument as to why we believe we're entitled

to dimensional variances uh excuse me the use variance because of the very um

not ideal scenario for single family uh let me show you the electrical

so there are very old separated electrical meters there are multiple electrical accounts

in the building showing the long-term use of the property as a duplex um my client has

will indicate and will accept my testimony momentarily that he uh he will need to if he

were to force to convert the property back to single family he would need to reroute the

electrical and he will need to destroy uh the multiple kitchens in the property matter of

this is a good opportunity to show you that the floor plans oh by the way um and i'm sorry my

scanner didn't work very well this is the trash enclosure that he's proposing to use for trash

storage now i don't want to conflict with adrian fernandez she wanted us um to

our my initial suggestion was to put trash in that triangular piece let me put that back up

um and then I have to rotate back so forgive me I'll take care of that

so we'll do what the board prefers on that uh again this this works well for trash storage

this is the small street it's Marston Street as you see uh the you the you both units front

actually let's take that back the this the first floor triangular unit has an entrance on Marston

but the um the row home unit it fronts on westmoreland we could put trash here for both

tenants it would be accessible to both tenants or we could put it here um there are no basements

there's no basement living let me show you the floor plan now and this was just i put the uh the

parcel map up there so you could see this is our property right here we're on the edge of a really

isolated residential area but there's commercial here and again this is the railroad tracks and the

electric substation directly across the street so when i conclude my argument will be that that

does present a hardship which would should allow us we believe to uh operate continue to operate

the duplex let me get to the plans and these are our floor plans um they're pretty decent sized

units almost a thousand square feet both both units two bedroom um and there is existing existing

kitchen if we were to force to to convert back to single family to comply with the zoning we'd have

to destroy the kitchen here um and as you can see from that that photo um the property does not lay

out as a typical row home it's got that side triangular piece and that's uh that's this here

and then here are here's the drawing of the other unit which is would be two floors uh

the the which technically are the second and third story of the row home so let me do this

let me get james smith uh to raise his hand virtually and let's um get him to accept uh

the testimony and then i can try to wrap up

try to wrap up

he's been promoted okay thank you mr smith

can you hear us james

james can you hear me

you may have to unmute okay there we go okay mr smith could you please state your name as

fellow footage stenographer yes my name is james smith j-a-m-e-s-s-m-i-t-h you swear or affirm to

tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do counsel mr smith uh did you hear all

my uh factual uh recitation and summary and presentation to the board yes i did is it true

and accurate um to your recollection and knowledge yes it is can you adopt everything i've said and

presented as your formal testimony in this matter yes and do you agree with my summary that um as

the owner you uh will have extreme uh difficulty in marketing this property as a single family

dwelling owing to the um physical layout of the property and the con the contextual uh issues

posed by the electric substation directly across the street and the the corner nature of the

property i do all right so mr chairman um and did you pay off all the taxes and do you don't owe

any other taxes and for this property all taxes have been paid and we do not owe any taxes on the

property okay so uh for for hillary i i do want to mention uh that we my understanding is this

application was submitted with plans so I did provide a uh revised of plans revised uh proviso

plan form uh and there are two pages to stamp if if Hillary deems it necessary and that's the I

submitted these are the revised uh plans what was changed from what Ellen I reviewed

there's more detail on the on the plans there's no new construction shown there's no change any

to any dimensions but there's more detail shown and the uh existing um drawings were changed to

add more detail so i don't know if i don't okay i was doing it i'll take a look yeah we probably

won't need to to stamp specifically like the the more floor plan details that is at the you know

building permit stage so right but i'll take a look all right questions from the board yeah thank

you you were you were about to say something about the trash with i think the arsenal when

it's something and you were so yeah yeah i appreciate the question so adrian our initial

thought was to put it and remember these are the uh this is not current conditions this has been

cleaned up but um was to put a trash enclosure here that would be accessible to both there's

no open space. It's all 100% lock coverage. So the thought was to put it in that nice wooden

enclosure there after we spoke with Adrian Fernandez. She preferred the trash to not be

stored. We could store it out of sight up here, accessible to both tenants. This is an open,

I don't want to use the term deck, Mr. Johns. It's really not a deck, but there's access to that

area if if that is so i would defer to the board's wishes on this as far as where there is space that

is accessible to both the um uh both tenants either here or on this area i think adrian

preferred that it be here um so i don't want to get in in her way and have you know so we'll

Obviously, you guys make the decision, so we'll go with you, of course, but I don't want to conflict with Adrian either.

Yeah, but I just wanted to hear what the – I mean, I would personally prefer it above on the other's location because it's easier.

It seems to me easier for both tenants to access that upper area as opposed to coming down, going around the corner for the one tenant and put it in there, and then it's right on the street.

So that would be my druthers.

That would be my druthers.

could i ask a question i don't know if i'm supposed to but could i ask a question

if i think we're almost done james but if you really feel you need to go ahead

no no i'm just wondering so if there's an upper level tenant why wouldn't the upper level tenant

put their trash on the upstairs and the lower level put their trash on the lower level well

then you have two different you could do that you could you could do that too okay well it's just

it's just it's not it's not not logical to me that somebody in the upper unit

would come all the way down go around the corner

and put their trash in that that location so i'll just wrap up with this to be

So I'll just wrap up with this. To be clear, we'll do whatever the board wants. I wanted to address the issue.

clear we'll do whatever the board wants i

wanted to address

Historically, the board wants to know how the tenants store trash so that I'll do whatever. There are areas we can do it.

Other questions from the board?

Yes. So what you're saying is this other unit is going to be in this little one story?

um it is that's right it is there um there is a unit on the first floor let me go back to the

plan so you can see is that where that awning is is that one of the entrances to that unit or is

it so where those steps are so the steps go to this second unit the row home gotcha and there's

direct entrance at grade into the um where my cursor is into the existing first floor unit

i'm sorry where i'm sorry where's your where's your cursor i'm sorry

is that where that where that awning was oh on the picture on the other side let me show it on

i understand your question i'll go back to

yes okay yes all right it looks much better here that the here's the uh so it's on

it's been cleaned up uh and looks much better now i'll show you real quick here

oh it cut off a little bit but there you have it there ah okay it's that corner piece yeah

um and how many how many square feet is this little so the see if I get this right the first

floor is 8 895 square feet here I'll go back to the plan and the up the double uh the two

story unit is 938 square feet I believe

leave so this is the I'm circling the first floor unit that's one unit a two-bedroom unit

and this is the two-story unit here and here okay all right thank you

any other questions questions from our attorney

not at this time Mr. chair questions or comments from the virtual audience

no ahj planning commission Amy you want to make a comment now right yeah all right thanks please

um the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing

rsa5 residential single family the property was remapped to single family then on 10a in 1974

and its use was listed as single family in zoning documents from 1952.

Additionally, this parcel is 1,240 square feet,

while the minimum lot size for RSA 5 in this council district is 1,440 square feet.

The Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance for two family.

So, Hillary, we're going to close this, right,

except for what we received from the RCO, right,

And then he'll have a chance, and the attorney would have a chance to respond to it.

Do we want to do this as a resumption, or do we just want to wait for a letter from the RCO?

I think we could do it with a letter.

We get a letter from the RCO, right?

And then we go with a—we don't need a resumption.

Everything's closed, accept that, and council would have a chance to respond to it.

Yep.

Is that okay?

That's fine with me.

I don't want to upset Adrian.

No, no, no. I think Adrian would like that.

She's okay with that. If she's okay with that, I obviously would prefer that.

But I don't want to.

All right, Mr. DeMarco. Thank you very much.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Take care.

So number 13, MI 2025, 006, 863, 317 Lombard Street.

Peter Kelson is the attorney.

Let's see.

has been promoted okay

good evening members of the board peter kelson on behalf of mr kelson how are you sir just for

the record could you please uh state your name and spelled for the stenographer absolutely that's

peter p-e-t-e-r kelson k-e-l-s-e-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth

S.E.N. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

nothing but the truth

I do. Okay. We're waiting for your computer to come up. Yes. I'm waiting for the video. There

you go. There you are. I have to say one thing before I begin. I wish I would have followed

Bill's presentation for that lovely dessert venue because I am starving now.

that that that did wake a lot of people i'm gonna tell you right now like i think they got energy

from looking at it mr kelson i did and i want to tell you i'm glad you gave the approval because