I don't hear them, Bill, you there?
Nope, not yet, give me one second.
I'm waiting for IT.
It was on a moment ago, Ms. Sunken.
Thank you.
I'm sorry I'm not sure I'm gonna try to
reach out to him. Hi Bill, we're ready to go live?
We can't hear you.
Thank you.
okay okay chair we ready ready okay good morning uh everyone my name is frank uchiko i'm the chair
of the zoning board of adjustment i'll be participating in today's hearing along with
our board secretary mr confessor plaza and board members mr thomas hollowman and mr james
Snell. Board Administrator Ms. Lakeisha Dandy and our Board Attorney Ms. Sharon Saleta are also in
attendance. For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings
I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect. First we will be administering oaths
to individual participants prior to their testimony. Second we'd like to advise everyone
that this proceeding is being recorded and that by participating, you acknowledge your
agreement to be recorded and that this recording will be available to the public on the web or
otherwise. If anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise your hand by
hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself. I'll repeat. For anyone participating
by phone if you wish to testify i'm sorry chair i apologize it appears to maybe be some technical
difficulties because we have no attendees at this time maybe uh they didn't maybe everybody
went home for the day so i don't know bill is something going on i know that i had a text
message from sean ward saying he was trying to sign on hi miss sunka it's ian hegarty from pcpc
our staff can't get in either yeah good morning i think he was saying i'm in a practice session
it says attendees can't join the webinar we're all in we're all in until it goes live
oh okay right so let me start the webinar we're going to wait for bill to come in
come back in we're now live i started it and chair if you could just give us a
Come back in. We're now live. I started it. And Chair, if you could just give us a few moments and see if everybody can join now.
Take your time.
Okay, Bill, are you good?
It looks like I am. You can hear me now?
Yes, and I started the webinar because it wasn't allowing attendees to come in.
So before you rejoined, I started the webinar.
So I'm hoping we're pretty good for right now, but we can monitor.
Thank you, Connie, Bill.
Yeah, sorry about that.
I don't know what.
No worries.
It seems like technical difficulties will be going on today.
Okay, thanks.
So we're still in the holding pattern, Tanya?
Chair, we now have at least 40 attendees.
You can start the beginning spill.
Okay, start from the beginning, right?
Good morning again, everyone.
My name is Frank DiCicco.
I'm the Chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
I'll be participating in today's hearing along with our Board Secretary, Mr. Confessor Plaza,
and board members Mr. Thomas Holloman and Mr. James Snell.
Board Administrator Lakeisha Dandy and board attorney Ms. Sharon Saleta are also in attendance.
For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings,
I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect.
First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
second we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded and that by
participating you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded and that this recording will be
available to the public on the web or otherwise pardon me third for anyone participating by phone
if you wish to testify you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute
yourself. I'll repeat. For anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify, you must raise
your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself. Finally, to enter an appearance
statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property
at issue. I will repeat that. To enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548
and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue. I would also like
to advise everyone to please do not attempt to testify in the chat. All comments should
be directed to the Board Administrator, Ms. Dandy. With that, I will begin with a request
for reconsideration for MI 2020-002-588-100 West Duval, MI 2020-002-589-102 West Duval,
and MI 2020-002-57231 West Duval.
My vote is no to reconsideration and rehearing.
No to reconsideration and rehearing.
No to reconsideration and rehearing.
No to reconsideration and rehearing.
Thank you.
Number 11 on our 930 list, MI 2020-002.
568-4610 North Broad Street,
there's a request for a continuance.
And as of right now, that is the only request we've had.
So I will now ask if there's any other further requests,
excuse me, for continuances or withdrawals,
please raise your hand at this time.
And if anyone objects to the continuance
I read into the record, please raise your hand also.
we have no hands at this time chair okay uh
we have an add-on for 428-30 west thompson i'm going to move that to the bottom of the
at the end of the list of the 930 list because i understand there may be significant testimony
so with that confessor we'll begin with number one on our regular list
Okay, calendar number MI00256.
Okay, calendar number MI-002561-100-02, West Thompson Street.
Excuse me, Confessor, I believe that's the one that we were moving to the end of the list.
Yeah, that's the one that we moved to the end. Thank you, Sharon. Sorry about that.
No, go to number one, Ashdale Street.
Ashdale.
MI 002561.
I'm sorry, 100-02 West Ashdale Street.
Ashdale.
If you're the applicant for this case, can you please raise your hand?
Hi, I see the applicant among the attendees, but he doesn't appear to have his hand raised.
It's Christopher Francisco.
Yes, Mr. Francisco, you can unmute yourself and wait to be sworn in.
good morning everyone
morning sir please identify yourself with the record spell your full name
christopher francisco c-h-r-i-s-t-o-p-h-e-r last name is f-r-a-n-c-i-s-c-o
Do you swear and affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Sir Francisco, are you an attorney?
No, I'm the applicant.
Have you submitted proof of ownership, tax certificate, deed, photos, plans, five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, sir.
Have you met with the RCO and have a letter?
Yes, sir.
Please proceed.
Please proceed and share your exhibits with us, please.
It was sent to, it was sent via email.
yeah we understand that are you able to share your exhibits because as board members we don't
have all that material in front of us because we're doing everything is being done remotely
yeah this is Sharon Saleta Mr. Francisco did you have a an architect working with you
yes Ms. Poulos if she is present and able to share the exhibits her role would be limited to sharing
the exhibits but um can we check to see if that's possible yes ma'am
yes i just promoted miss shirl
good morning chair you're muted your full name can you hear me yes please spell your first and
Okay. First name is C-H-E-R-Y-L. Last name is P-O-U-L-O-S.
We're in the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
You are the architect for Mr. Francesco?
Yes, correct.
Please proceed.
Okay. Can I share my screen?
Yes, you can share your screen and Francisco, Mr. Francesco can present.
Okay, Chris, if you want to start just walking through the current layout, what you're trying
to do.
So what I would like to do at this property is open a convenience store or corner store in the Hispanic community called Bodega.
So what I would like to do with this property is open a...
We would like to sell items such as chips, candy, cereal, bread, sodas, juices, milk, basically everything you could find in your local convenience store.
However, in addition to that, we would like to also serve hot food.
hot foods such as fries pizza fries cheese steaks mozzarella sticks chicken fingers
burgers chicken sandwiches chicken wings just to name a few we have a my direct competitor is right
down the block which is the supermarket called seven brothers so having the hot food will put
me over the edge and allow me to provide a product and service that my supermarket does
not currently offer. It was previously a restaurant, and prior to the restaurant, it was a convenience
store from two prior owners. And from what I'm told from nearby neighbors, that prior to that
was like a deli slash produce place. Is there an exhaust system? It did have it when I purchased
the property. However, it was very outdated, so we did remove it. Once we do have, if I am granted
it uh the hot food um permission i will be uh adding the exhaust system an updated one
will it be roof mounted it will be roof mounted yes okay all right um to the architect is there
anything else we need to have on the record uh no just everything was
already set up really for being used as a commercial space. You can see in the drawings,
you know, it's very small, even though this is zoned for single-family residential, it's not
really, it was never really set up like that. You can just see from the outside,
um it's small and it's it just has these huge windows on the front never really set up for
residential so um all right that's different i'm sorry i didn't mean to interrupt no you're fine
you're fine i am my understanding is there was a proviso uh that you agree uh was agreed to
by the 42nd Democrat Ward regarding the floor space, commercial floor space.
This is Sharon Saleta.
Ms. Poulos, the RCO is requesting that the board clarify that which space is going to be used as commercial
so that it doesn't extend any further than what is shown on your floor plans.
Correct. It's not currently connected to, even though the deed includes both of these properties, there's no connection, and the 102 West Ashdale will always be used as residential.
So it's only this 100 West Ashdale space.
so if the board were to add a proviso yes dating commercial space limited to space designated on
floor plan stamped by the board today that would be acceptable thank you thank you both all right
any questions from the board uh yes is commercial trash commercial trash pickup
chris do you want to talk about the trash pickup yes so um right in the back uh area um
like right where that door is at at the end right there there there is space for there for a dumpster
which which which was there prior as well so the commercial trash pickup will be there'll be a
dumpster set up there and it is fenced in with a with a door accessible for trash pickup thank you
you any other questions from the board no would anyone else like to testify in this case if so
please raise your hand yes chair we have uh miss hillary miss hillary you can unmute yourself
Yes, Chair, we have Ms. Hillary. Ms. Hillary, you can unmute yourself. Wait to be sworn in.
way to be sworn in
Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Hillary Emerson, on behalf of
Councilwoman Sherelle Parker. We're going to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
I do. Thank you. Please proceed. So a couple of things in this property. First,
um like the councilman um doesn't oppose uh grocery store um use in the designated commercial
um portion of this property um the community we had quite extensive discussion at the community
meeting um the the community was okay with the use with with several provisos outlined in their
letter um they had some concerns based on the location of this property it is directly across
the street from a high school um so they were concerned that this could be kind of a gathering
or loitering spot um and it has been it has been in the past um there's also been an issue um with
with trash um they were concerned about the size of the space and whether um whether it could um
actually have both a grocery store and hot foods so they and they were they were a little concerned
because this is a this type of business had you know can cause can cause issues in the
neighborhood but they were willing to give the owner a chance but they did ask that
the variants only be granted on a temporary basis. They suggested two years.
They also wanted to make sure the hours of operation were limited. There was a suggestion
by the applicant that he could be open until as late as 10 o'clock in the summertime, and the
community felt that that was too late. So they would like to see nothing later than probably
nine o'clock. As we already discussed, the community was concerned that the use could
also expand into the residence, especially because these properties are on the same deed
and appear to be on the same parcel. So the proviso that Sharon discussed would address
that concern. And I don't know if it would need to be noted as well that because I didn't
see on the refusal which includes you know both both properties it didn't indicate that the
residential use would be continuing so I don't know if there should be a note mentioning that
you know with the you know continuing residential use um in part of the property just for clarity
um lastly the um the the neighbors as in when going back to the their concerns with space
They did not want to see hot food in the space.