and for the roof deck it would be the same hours
other questions um go ahead and the roof deck is an extension of the
business use the commercial use yes it is so there'll be food served out there and
yeah so people will be able to come there and eat the food that they
whatever you purchase there you'll be able to take up to the roof deck and sit down similar to how
most spaces have like that outdoor dining in the back of the property, the roof deck would be used
in a similar way. Okay. And there are provisions about trash and for the deck and the other parts
of this, correct? Yes. So we do have commercial trash pickup, and then we would make sure that
the trash is brought down from the roof deck regularly. We're not going to have it piling up
on the route to cause any issues or anything along those lines um antoine has several other
sweet treat huts that he has throughout the city he hasn't had any issues with cleanliness or
anything along those lines so we want to make sure that this is a use that's attractive to
neighborhoods to the neighborhood excuse me as well as to the people coming in so it doesn't
benefit us to have a route that smells or has trash piling up in any way thank you other questions
yeah i have a question about sort of the layout of the roof deck because the plans are sort of
open area and you only have it framed uh do you know what the height of the parapet is
on the top floor or on the roof side um sure we just pull this give me one second or the backs of
So the height for the parapet, that is something I can ask Antoine to clarify.
He said that he's on, but let me see if I can get him a text to confirm that.
I mean, like elevation or section would have been helpful to kind of understand the layout
of the roof.
I think the second question I have, because also like understanding, is there going to be any covering on the roof or is this just going to be open to the sky?
To my knowledge, it would be open to the sky.
I don't believe that.
If there's bad weather, it wouldn't be available to the public.
And then is there a plan to put furniture on the roof?
So we would have small tables and like small chairs.
So people are going to have their smoothies or what may have you.
So, nothing that can't be removed. Okay. And then, I think, I mean, there's a general question about the second floor, but I think our attorney is going to address that.
Well, they're waiting for you, Hillary.
I did have one more question. There is no cooking on site, right? This is because it's a smoothie place, everything. It's just electricity and prep stations.
Yes. And I did get a response. It's five feet tall for the parapet.
Okay. Five feet. That's really high. Okay.
Yeah, so I just, so I was a little confused with the refusal in this matter because it didn't list the proposed use. And I did see that there was a buy right permit issued previously for a prepared food shop. However, that use is only limited to the first floor.
Were you planning to get a permit to extend the use or we could potentially provide the use in.
planning to get a permit to extend the use or we could potentially proviso the use into
um this application if the board grants because it is a buy right use at this location
um if the board would be willing to answer into a proviso that we'd appreciate it and
if not that we do want to explore that option okay yeah so if the board if the board wishes
to do that then i would just recommend that um approved just a proviso that says approved use
is prepared food shop okay and then so then what is the plan for the second floor
so for the second floor we have the office and the storage space in the rear
and I believe it is primarily just open space along here from the entrance going up this is
up the steps and then I believe it's just open space here that'll be used for individuals coming
and to enjoy the smoothies or the food so more of a sit-down use there how do you
get to the rear storage in office
so i believe for the rear storage in office it opens to the first floor so if you're in
the rear of the first floor you can go up the steps to get to the office in the storage space
do you have the first floor plan do you have the first floor plan i just have the second
a board plan and a roof deck because our application was primarily for the roof deck plan, but
I can see if I can have that submitted to the board separately.
Okay, because I didn't remember seeing two stairwells framed on the images that you showed
of the first floor.
Yes, what I have is for the second floor and the roof deck.
I wasn't provided a first floor plan, but again, I can request to have that sent to
the board.
understand the plans i said even in the photos like how you get to that rear area wasn't really
clearly delineated in the photos okay let's see if i can pull up the photos again
so this is the front of the property here so this is photos being taken from the end of the property
looking straight ahead that's the windowsill there's a stairwell here
going up and then this is a photo from the front of the property so the stairwell
is what you saw previously going up to the second floor and then I believe
there's a stairwell I'll just zoom out here I believe in the rear so the person
would be behind this floor but I can again ask for confirmation on that as
well as photos to indicate same okay we have any other questions questions or
comments from the virtual audience yes chair I have a hand up by the name of
Antoine Bullock they will be that's the owner so if the board has questions for Antoine I'm sure
I think it's about one could we bring him on please
hello can you hear me I can sir could you please state your name as bell for the stenographer
my name is antoine bullock antoine a-n-t-w-a-i-n last name bullock b-u-l-l-o-c-k
i do swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes counsel you want to give him the appropriate questions of course antoine did you hear my
presentations at all yes is it true and correct yes okay would you adopt it as your own testimony
Thank you.
Do we have questions for him?
Do you have any questions?
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no handshare.
Planning Commission report.
Yes, from the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing CMX2 commercial mixed use zoning at this location.
this neighborhood still carries its original 1933 zoning there is no unique condition or
circumstance of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning
code the city planning commission therefore recommends the board deny the requested
variance for a non-residential roof deck if we were to do this proviso would be approved
approved use is prepared food shop correct okay um so mi 2025 001 578 2605 germantown avenue i
vote yes with proviso approved use is prepared food shop michael johns my
approved use is prepared food shop michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tanetta graham my vote is yes with proviso
ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso tyra when my vote is yes with proviso
thank you all right um number nine mi 2025 001 676 601 devro street joseph vicaro is the attorney
Joseph, the camera will be coming in as a panelist.
good morning um good morning mr vaccaro could you please state your name as bell for the
stenographer yes good morning may it please the board joseph vaccaro v-a-c-c-a-r-o attorney for
the applicant melody gwen all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes i do all right so um mr vaccaro there's a unanimous opposition 30 to 0
from Long Crest Community. And our vice chair has a few questions. Yes. Thank you. Hi. Good
afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have. And we've supplemented them with three additional letters from near neighbors
this morning. Okay. Thank you. And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to the
accuracy yes all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case
um by by way of background melody the homeowner uh who is seated to my to my left she'll be
appearing on the zoom once i'm finished with my with my presentation um let me pull that up
where did it go where did it go where did it go
where's where's the screen here it i'm looking maybe you should just stop stop sharing and then
reshare again because there's a bar across the top or the middle rather yeah i think something
just got something got in the way yeah let's just try resharing and then everything okay i found
it hold on okay do you see it uh do you see what appears to be a letter with my letterhead no up
there yeah there it is okay i'll make that bigger then is that better can you see that well we see
the letterhead yep okay you see the letterhead so that's not sure that's where we're going to start
okay so so melody lives melody lives at 601 devereau the property in question with her two
teenage kids. She's a single mom. By way of background, she purchased the property back in
2013. She's been living here continuously ever since. A few years back, she was taken advantage
of by an unscrupulous contractor. She had a side deck put in with a roof structure. I'm going to
show you those um and if i could go to those pictures and and part of this patient is to
scale a lot of this back but even even in scaling things back joe mr vackeroy maybe you should show
us that as you're talking right then we'd understand it yes yes when he shows the deck
do you see the deck we see a deck okay fine so i was going to start at the beginning
of the deck. So this is the non-conforming deck. It's 10 feet wide, 10 feet, two inches wide.
Even if, and here's a view of it from Bingham Street, from the Bingham Street side. It's a
corner property at the intersection of Devereaux and Bingham Street. She had this deck,
she had this deck installed, which is 10 feet, two inches wide, along with this roof structure.
she also had another deck in the in the back of the property it's this white structure over here
where my cursor is and she had um she had that deck enclosed do we see do we see that the white
curse i don't know that we see that one right do you see the white structure to the left of the
deck or the one attached to that correct that's one and there's another one the other side right
exactly exactly so so it's this wooden structure on bignam street which is which is 10 feet two
inches wide and then you have the other deck which is the enclosed white area
White area with with with the siding which she had enclosed and
with with with the siding which she had enclosed and
Like I said here she had an unscrupulous contractor that did this work without the benefit of permits
We had two meetings with the RCO
The first meeting took place back in autumn
Of last year here's another view of the property and
And there was opposition at that time, and part of the discussion was, especially with the roof structure over the deck on the Bingham Street side, that rainwater, ice, and snow would fall onto the sidewalk, creating a dangerous condition.
So we decided to go back to the drawing board and have this scaled back dramatically.
And I'm going to show you some, I'm going to show you the revised plans.
The bottom line, the bottom line is that the wooden deck structure that's 10 foot, two inches wide on the Bingham Street side, we're proposing to reduce that to eight feet wide, eight feet wide.
So we would shave off two feet, two inches off that deck.
Remove all of the roof structure so that it would be an open deck.
With respect to the enclosed deck, again, remove the walls and remove that roof structure so even this deck would be an open deck.
I wanted to start with the letter that we had sent to the near neighbors for the most recent meeting of the RCO, if I could scroll that down, and it's pages 31 and 32 of my exhibit packet.
Okay, so as we had indicated to the near neighbors, we were going to remove the roof structure, as I had just stated. We were going to remove the roof structure upon applying for and obtaining the proper permits. That should resolve the concern of the rain and snow falling onto the sidewalk, which was raised during the August RCO meeting.
We were going to reduce the width of the existing left side deck, that's the one on Bingham Street, from the current 10 foot 2 inches down to 8 feet, which should resolve the concern of rain and snow falling onto the sidewalk, which was again raised during the August RCO meeting.
uh the deck the existing non-conforming rear deck that was the enclosed structure with the white um
with the white walls okay as i stated here we're going to remove those walls and have it as an
open deck um and this would also address the electrical service line again the the unscrupulous
contractor he he put the the service electrical line through that wall in a in a in a manner that
that needs to be addressed with the proper permits now number four and number five melody had
purchased the property in that condition with respect to the garage the there was a garage
on the bottom where there appears to be that shed in the photos that i showed you um but that garage
door, it was already converted into a room by the previous owner. She walked
into that or she had purchased the property in that condition and it was
done without the benefit of permits. So again here we'd like to have the approval
of the Zoning Board so that she can apply for the appropriate permits to get
that portion of the property into compliance. And finally I'm going to show
you some photographs there's a 58 square foot foyer in the front of the house on
the Bingham Street slide which again that was built by the previous owner
which it needs to be properly documented so we'd like to have even that problem
addressed and I could if I could go back to the photographs of the property which
should show that foyer that I was talking about here these are the photos
of the of the enclosed deck which needs to be which needs to be returned to an
open state this is that electrical wire that needs to be made compliant that's
the main feed to the house here's a view of the deck with that roof structure and
again the roof structure is needs to be removed and the deck needs to be
shortened from 10 feet 2 inches wide to 8 feet and I'm going to show you the
And I'm going to show you the plans very shortly. Here's another view of the deck, a view of the deck looking towards Devereux Street.
plans very shortly. Here's another view of the deck.
I've shown you this before and then if I could show you here here's that here's that foyer that
58 square foot foyer that was built before Melody had purchased the house and this also
does need to get legalized here's another another view of the of that foyer
here's a view of the front of the house with her fig tree
zoning poster here's a better view of the uh of that foyer that 58 square foot foyer
and here's another view of the 58 foot uh foyer that's off to the side of the house again that
roof structure which he plans on removing and that deck on on bingham street which we'd like to now
make it more narrow down to eight feet if I could stop sharing this and I'll bring in the plans
can you see can you see the plans it's coming up okay let me expand that there it is okay so
So, let me go to the first page. So, here's a view of the house. Here's a view of the house. This is the current view, and we've marked it with the dotted lines as to where she'd like to have it cut.
But at the end of the process, the corner area is also going to be removed.
I'm going to show you what the final view is going to look like.
I believe that's on pages three and four.
But everything that you see in red, that's going to be addressed and removed here.
On page three, at the end of the process, everything that you see in red, which is where my cursor is, it needs to be removed.
everything in red this is the view of the rear of the home all of that needs
to be removed and all of this needs to be removed so at the end of the at the
end of the process with the board's blessing and approval and the
appropriate permits she's going to have this green deck this green deck which is
going to be an open deck in the in the rear of the house the empty space and
And the yellow is going to be the deck on the Bingham Street side.
So she's going to have two decks, which should hopefully be a lot more scaled back.
We had our second meeting with the RCO.
And again, as you had indicated, the RCO's decision was to still oppose it.
They want strict compliance with the code.
Well, given the nature of the setbacks that the code requires, if we were going to strictly comply with the codes and the setbacks, especially for the deck on the Bingham Street side, that would result in only a three-foot-wide deck.
And a three-foot-wide deck is not practical.
You just might as well not have a deck at all if we're going to be strictly in compliance.
I attended both RCO meetings, the one in August, as well as the one in January, as well as the one in January.