family. The proposal
came before the board under
ZP 2023-006635 at 6101 Callow Hill and under ZP 2023-006637 at 6103. At the time, the Planning
Commission stated that there were no unique physical conditions or circumstances of the
property that would prevent them from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The Planning Commission maintains that recommendation to deny the requested variances
for multifamily.
MI 2025-002-585-6101 Cal Hill Street
and MI 2025-002-592-6103 Cal Hill Street,
I vote yes for both.
Michael John, my vote is yes for both.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes for both.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is no for both.
Maya McAdams, my vote is yes for both.
I win my vote. It's no for both.
Thank you. You have your votes.
Thank you. Have a good day.
Number 11.
MI 2025
002 643
Southampton Road.
Carrie
Carrie
Nase Paust is the attorney for the owner.
Chair Attorney Paust is coming back in as a
panelist now. Okay.
Good afternoon, board.
Hi. Carrie Nase Paust. And could you spell your name for
this stenographer, please? Yes. Carrie, C-A-R-R-I-E.
Last name Nase, N-A-S-E, hyphen
Paust, P-O-U-S-T. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is Cigars on Southampton, LLC, and they are the owner of the property.
Okay. Tanetta Graham, our board member, has a few questions for you.
Hi, good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did.
And do you stipulate to the way of the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Okay, thank you. You can proceed and show your screen.
Just for a point of information, I see Parkwood Civic, 20 votes total,
unanimous support, and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member O'Neill.
Is that right?
Correct.
Okay, please proceed.
Thank you. I will share my screen. Can you see my screen with the exhibits in front of you?
can you see my screen with the exhibits in front of you i do great thank you i will try to be quick
i know it's been a long afternoon and you still have more following so this property is located
at 2990 south hampton road it is located in the i industrial zoning district just for
administrative matters quickly. I will go through exhibit A1 is a copy of the notice of refusal
setting forth the relief that we're requesting this afternoon. Exhibit A2 is a copy of our
appeal application. A3 is a copy of the deed confirming my client's ownership of the
property a four we did obtain the necessary certificate of tax clearance a five is a copy
of the notice to the neighbors regarding the meeting with the civic group as well as the
hearing this afternoon also following the notice is a copy of the proof of mailing
a six is a copy of photographs showing the notice of the zoning
notice posted on the property as required.
This property is located on Southampton Road. It is located between Townsend Road and Thornton Road.
It's here with the mark as red. Attached as Exhibit A8 are photographs of the current conditions of the property.
You may recall some of you that were still on the board two years ago, we were in front of this board requesting zoning relief, which we were successful in obtaining to redevelop this property to be used for a smoking lounge, as well as retail sales of consumer goods.
The owner applicant cigars on Southampton LLC is an affiliated entity of Holt Cigar, which I'm sure most of you are familiar with.
um we are currently in the process of redeveloping the property in accordance with the site plan
that was approved by the zoning board two years ago is currently under construction we're hoping
to finish construction and open for business in november uh in front of you here just for point
of reference is a copy of the zoning site plan here is thornton road you have south hampton along
the top of the plan and to the left is Townsend Road. Just for your own reference I also just
included a copy of the building elevations which we reviewed at that time showing what the
facade of the building will look like when completed.
In connection with the use and the redevelopment of this property, the applicant did submit
a zoning permit application to L&I requesting permits to install certain signage in connection
with this use. I also have here in front of me, this is just a copy of a zoning site plan. It was
not in your exhibit packet. If you'd like me to submit it, I can certainly do so. But this just
shows generally where the signs will be located. So again, Southampton Road, we have a wall sign.
We also have a freestanding entrance monument. And then along the facade fronting on Thornton Road,
there are four wall signs that are being proposed. We have two H's that are next to the door. Both
of them are approximately 9.47 square feet in size. And then you also have in the top corner
Holt Cigar Company, which is 29.32. In addition to that, we have what's being in front of you here,
this H, which is the Holtz logo, which is the need for the variance today. So under the regulations
for the industrial zoning district, you're only allowed to have 100 square feet of signage along
any frontage of a building. Because of the fact that we have four signs along that frontage facing
Thornton, we did receive a notice of refusal for this H. When you total all of the signs that I
just showed in front of you, the total square footage is 105.87 square feet. However, this H
However, this H itself does comply with the requirements and it measures approximately 57.61 square feet.
itself does comply with the requirement.
As a result, we are requesting relief of variance to exceed the maximum permittable sign area of 100 by an additional 5.87 square feet.
So the total, again, would be 105.87 square feet.
um the reason that we do need this uh logo to be this size is as i showed you here it really
this h is going to be here on the corner of the property and again the purpose of this h is it's
a logo of holtz so it's to identify the property and customers that are coming to the site however
the distance from the building to Thornton Road is over 300 feet in distance. It's approximately
304 feet. So in order for that H to be visible and for customers coming down Thornton to be able
to see it, recognize it, and make a left-hand turn in time to get into the Holtz parking lot,
it needs to be a certain uh size given that distance what i have um marked as
see here exhibit a12 is a photo um simulation i'm not sure i can try to turn it it'll turn
on the end there right there you go i'm going to turn it this way so this is um a photo simulation
of what the H would look like from Thornton Road.
Again, as I indicated, that's approximately 304 feet away.
This is just a, let me see if that,
sorry, I lost my, somehow I got back to A7.
Sorry.
My apologies.
I don't know how I just lost my place.
There we go.
um yeah so this is the um a photo simile of showing what that h would look like you could
see so again purpose being that people recognize that it's the whole logo and then they can turn
into the site we believe that this is necessary in order to provide the proper visibility
as indicated previously we did meet with the parkwood civic association back in may
we reviewed the sign with them we had a good crowd there that evening no one had raised any
concerns as you can see we have a letter of support that was submitted with the unanimous
consent to agree on this approval of this sign that is also included as exhibit a3 so we believe
that again due to the location the fact that this property does have three frontages given the
distance from Thornton we believe that there is hardship to support the grant of the variance
along the along the same lines I would also argue that you know approximately five square
feet is a de minimis variance and it would not create any adverse impact on the surrounding
community. I do have my client here. Why don't you bring your client on? Yep. Mr. Michael Walter
is here as well as the sign vendor, Dennis O'Hara, in case you have any questions regarding the sign
itself. Mr. Walter, could you raise your hand to be let in? Chair Michael Walter is coming back in
as a panelist now. Okay, thank you. Mr. Walter?
michael you're on mute there we go thank you mr walter could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer michael walter m-i-c-h-a-e-l w-a-l-t-e-r you swear or firm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes proceed counsel thank you mr walter
could you please identify your role at Holtz Cigar? Vice President of Operations. Great. Thank
you. And were you present during the statements that I gave this afternoon regarding the sign
and the need for the size of the sign that's being proposed? Yes. And do you agree that the
statements that I made are true and accurate? Yes. And had you provided testimony yourself,
would you agree to adopt the testimony as your own?
I have no further questions for Mr. Walter.
Questions from the board.
Questions.
Actually, I have one question. Is the sign going to be illuminated 24-7?
Actually, I have one.
No. What are the hours of operation that you plan to have the sign illuminated?
I believe available hours are open until midnight.
Okay, so the sign will be turned off at close?
Correct.
And is there any additional exterior lighting on the building?
other than the backlight from the sign itself.
All the signs except for around the door? No, all the signs are backlit.
Okay. I have no further questions. Thank you.
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission. Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission. The comprehensive
plan recommends no change in zoning from the current I-1 light industrial. The requested
deviation from wall sign area is de minimis. The Planning Commission recommends that the
Board grant their requested variance for wall sign area. Thank you. MI-2025-002-643-2920
Southampton Road, I vote yes.
John's, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
I win. My vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Nackamson, are you ready to go on
13th Street?
Yes. Mr. Reuter
will be available in a few minutes, so we can
go ahead. Yeah, I just want to let you know. He's almost
here. I know he said right after
3.30, but I saw Mr. Nackamson
getting a little anxious back there like he wanted
to go.
okay so mi2025002576933 south 13th street alan knockamson is the attorney mr knockamson i think
it's the first time you've been here today right it is mr chair wow okay so could you please state
your name as bell for the stenographer alan knockamson a-l-a-n last name knockamson n-o-c-h-u-m-s-o-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do could you
identify your client and relationship to this property? My client is,
let me have the right one in front of me, Stephen Krupnick
Revocable Living Trust. He's the owner of the property. And to
my left is one of its representatives, David Krupnick.
So before I give it to
Netta, Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition vote
was 39 in support, 8 in non-opposition.
I think that speaks volumes.
Tanetta Graham has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you emailed all your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay, thank you.
You can proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
All right, so this board actually heard this project in 2018 to legalize this triplex.
unfortunately uh due to a miscommunication with prior counsel and the property owner
they never got the co they got the rental license they didn't realize they have to
also get the co which happens a lot unfortunately people don't realize that so
the way we found out is ellen and i revoked our rental license and we said what's going on and
they said you don't have a co and that's where we're back here today uh so quickly we can go
through this this is an r1 property oh okay how about that's a first mr chair
let me go through the presentation oh wait so but this r1 property given this last square footage
we're allowed two two units as a right we're requesting three units uh you don't see this
very often but we have a significant uh of uh support for this property to a degree uh that's
almost unheard of i think of uh so anyways what yeah the well the hardship um is the well how