The proposal constitutes an overuse of the property.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance for height.
Thank you.
We're going to take some time to go over this.
I'm going to wait two weeks.
Can I ask a question?
Did I hear that the council person is in support of this, but the senator is in opposition?
I know they said that we don't have anything from the senator, Michael.
We were notified by the councilman that he's for it.
One of the people testified that someone told him that the senator was against it.
I also have not received anything evidencing any position of the senator, only the support letter from the councilman.
right okay so yeah two weeks we'll vote on this um november 4th that would be november 4th at 2
p.m thank you thank you very much thanks for everyone coming down we appreciate your time
number three mi2026 001 075 1134 um sansum street daniel nickerson is the attorney
Mr. Nickerson
do we see the attorney in the audience
Mr. Nickerson is being promoted to panelists
thank you very much
I don't see anyone by the name of Mr.
Nickerson in the chat.
Would he come up with something else?
No, I don't.
it's the owner of mfg sampson llc we have chris vickers with their hand raised could that be
uh your client i i don't know you could try chris vickers you are unmuted if you are his client
can you please speak hi so my name is chris vickers i am working with solid core on behalf
southeast sign company uh our attorney had an emergency this morning and was unable to say that
again sir can you hear me yeah i can my name my name is chris vickers i'm representing on behalf
of solid core and southeast sign company our attorney was unable to attend there was an
emergency this morning i just wanted to hop on and at least explain our circumstances and see
if we're still able to either push that or we're going to have to continue that okay and uh that
will be continued to 1-6-27
at 2pm. Understood. Thank you.
Sir, thank you for doing that. We appreciate it. No problem. Thank you.
Let's see here.
Number six.
Are you doing all the cases today?
Okay. Number six is
It's MI2026-003-771-1013 Mifflin Street.
Alex Goldberg is the attorney.
Mr. Goldberg, could you please state and spell your name for this stenographer?
Alex Goldberg, A-L-E-X-G-O-L-D-B-E-R-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
could you identify your client the relationship to the property sure my client is susan donato
she's the owner of the property and she's sitting to my left i see there's a letter of support from
east paschunk a crossing civic association and also a letter of non-opposition from
council member squilla and there is also the applicant gave us a nine neighborhood
free form letters right yep all right and our vice chair has some questions for you
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits 14 days in
advance of this hearing? I have. And do you waive the reading of your refusal and
stipulate to its accuracy? I do. All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Okay. I'm going to raise my hand to be promoted to
a panelist. Oh, just kidding. I already am.
What am I talking about? All right. Sharing my screen.
So the property address is 1013 Mifflin Street. Susan, again, who's
sitting to my left, bought this property in 1999 as a duplex. She lived there for a few years
and no longer lives there. She's had long-term tenants there, and we are going through this
process to legalize the existing duplex. We met with East Pass Yonk Crossing earlier this month.
It was a positive meeting. There was no one that appeared in opposition.
Corner properties like this in this neighborhood are not out of character,
and we're not proposing any construction any change in the circumstances of parking or trash
or or anything really because again this this has been here since she bought it in 1999 and that's
27 years and i'm not sure when prior to her it was converted to a duplex but there is history of a
non-single family use here so here's the notice of refusal you can see that the applications for
two-family household living. This property is zoned to RSA 5, and that's the only refusal that
we're seeking. The letter from East Pass Yonge Crossing was unanimous in support. Seven committee
members, six other attendees, and then one abstention. And we also have a letter of non-opposition from
Councilmember Squilla. As the chairman mentioned, there's a petition of near neighbors on Mifflin
and alder street this property sits at the corner of mifflin and alder street
excuse me and importantly we have a letter of support from the adjacent neighbor 1011 mifflin
street property history this is a document from the zoning cars on archives on atlas
from 1944 showing that the property has a history of a vacant store on the ground floor of a single
the property has a history of a vacant store on the ground floor of a single family dwelling
family dwelling.
um the so that you know there are decades and decades of two unit use here and there are two
front doors one on alder street and one on mifflin street so each unit has their own respective entry
point here's a here's a zoning map i'd point out that um 1012 mifflin street which is
caddy corner to us which is also similarly zoned rsa5 is also a duplex in addition to
half a dozen other properties on the 1,000 block of Mifflin Street.
Photographs, so this is the front of the property.
The second floor enters, and you'll see this on the plans,
but the second floor enters from the Mifflin Street facade,
and the first floor unit enters from the Alder Street facade right here.
notice posting to the right and the left and to the right and the left
here's some interior photographs the unit is my mic went off the building is currently occupied
the tenant on the first floor is a single individual they've been there for 10 years
and the tenant above is another single individual that's been there for six years so
not a lot of turnover here i think that speaks well about the property it's a wonderful location
susan manages the property herself people that live here are happy and it's it's well maintained
and then just a pretty basic illustrative floor plan as i mentioned the first floor enters the
alder street side there's a bedroom in the front and a bedroom in the rear with a kitchen and
bathroom in the middle. And then upstairs, which enters from the Mifflin Street facade,
has two bedrooms towards the front. They have a rear deck, which you may have seen on the photo
of the rear of the property, and then a bathroom as well. There's trash pickup that exists on both
facades. So unit one keeps their trash in the rear and they put it out on Alder Street. Unit
too keeps their trash on their rear deck they put it out on mifflin street and that's the way it has
been for some time no we've had no complaints from neighbors about management or trash or
or otherwise and it's it's you know it's been a positive property in the neighborhood here's the
rco meeting notice proof of mailing application for appeal
deed to the property
showing that Susan, who owns it in her own name, purchased the property in
1999 and proof of tax clearance. So with that
I'd like to ask my client to adopt my testimony. Could you please state and spell
your name for this stenographer? Susan Donato, S-U-S-A-N
D-O-N-A-T-O. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the
whole truth, nothing but the truth? Counsel.
so susan did you hear my testimony today yeah was it true and correct a little closer to the
mic yes you can bring it down you can and you adopt it as your own yes i do thank you questions
from the board sure is about the basement so you've got two units on site and only the first
floor unit has access to the basement what's your property management plan that allows the second
floor tenants to get service to their utility connections um well they call me and and i help
them with that okay so you're going to be managing the property yourself she currently manages the
property and and i didn't mention it but that there's no living in the basement here so it's
just just to put it on the record the drawing of the base you have to give us a little
that's wrong yeah all right other questions um not question comment first floor has that
condition that i have a problem with where the bedroom you have to wander through the kitchen
in the living room to get to the bathroom i hear you um you know i would say it is centrally located
um but again it's an it's an existing condition of a property that's been this way for
at least 27 years. Susan hasn't
made any changes to the layout during her
ownership.
Is there someone
on the first floor currently?
Yes. Where is their
mailbox?
Well, the
side door, their front door, has
a mail slot, so it goes into
the... On the side door or the front door?
On the side door. So the mailman
is already delivering for the first
floor to the side door? Yes.
okay questions from our attorney no questions at this time in the virtual audience
Mr. Chair, I do not see any hands raised.
mr chair i do not see any hands raised
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the current RSA 5 residential single family.
There is a 1944 zoning permit to change the use from one family in a store to just one family.
The apparent conversion of the storefront to another dwelling unit brings the property more into conformance with the residential zoning of the property.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the requested variants for two
families.
MI 2026-003-771-1013 Mifflin Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Tyia Nguyen, my vote is yes.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes.
Thank you for coming in.
We appreciate it.
All right.
All right.
Mr. Goldberg.
Okay, so number seven, MI 2026-003-882-3725 North 16th Street.
Mr. Goldberg, just state your name, please.
Alex Goldberg.
Could you identify your client, their relationship to the property?
Sure, my client is 3725 LLC, and its representative, Robert Nunez, is in the virtual audience.
And I see a letter of unanimous opposition from 13th Democratic Ward RCO, correct?
That's correct.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you want to read the note?
Your refusal is to relate to its accuracy?
All right.
Thank you.
Show your screen.
I'll begin.
So this appeal has eerily similar circumstances to the one you just heard.
The community meeting went very differently.
this is a property that my client purchased in 2007 the most recent deed is from 2023 because
he moved it into an llc but he has owned the property for about two decades he bought it as
a duplex i feel like a broken record it's been used as a duplex ever since he never lived in it
but he's he never went through the process of legalizing it he's had long-term tenants there
And the community members, I think, fairly held it against him that it took him 19 years to go through this process, or I guess 19 years.
But it has been an unproblematic property for the duration of that time.
There are other examples of multifamily properties on this block.
And I'll get to the letter and sort of talk through it, and we can go from there.
so here's the notice of refusal just like the last one this is legalized in existing
two-family household living and the zoning classification is rsa5 so we met with the
coordinating rco on october 15th there was some confusion because we were assigned to one rco and
then i think we had a continuance to allow a different rco to coordinate the meeting and that
was the 13th ward rco was not a well-attended meeting um you can see that it was five to zero
in opposition there i do a lot of these community meetings as you could probably imagine i didn't
feel like i had the opportunity to explain the situation or earn some sort of understanding
that this hardship was not self-created um there's not a desire you know to make more money by
converting a single family to a two-family dwelling there is an existing hardship of
converting it back to a single family in a property that has been a duplex for a very long
time two decades at least split utilities split everything that has been operating positively
albeit without the proper rental license for a significant amount of time
so i was going to bring that up so the the property is owned by an llc it's a family
business my owner's daughter came to the meeting my my owner had couldn't be or my client robert
couldn't be there his daughter natalie was there i thought she did a great job but again i think