Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
no mr chairman questions from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission yes this is uh ron bednar city planning property
is indicated for residential use on the city plan or adopt the district plan recommends no
change to the existing zoning at this location the applicant's hardship is not supported with
evidence of unique physical circumstances or condition of the property that would prevent
it from being used in conformity with the code. Therefore, we recommend the request of evidence
not be granted. MI-2022-005270, 3329-33 East Thompson Street. I vote yes with proviso.
No exterior storage of equipment in the rear of the property.
James Snell my vote is yes with proviso thank you congratulations have a great day
number four mi-2023-000090 1513-17 Pond Street David Orfaniti
Mr. Orphanides is coming back in as a
panelist. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Good afternoon, Council.
Please state your name and spell it for the record.
Certainly. My name is David Orphanides.
His last name is spelled O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S
Orphanides.
You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Thank you.
Please tell us your connection to your client and a little bit about your team.
So my client is the owner of the property, 1513 Pine Street, also known as 1513 to 17
Pine Street, which is the owner of Z1 1513 Pine, LLC.
I have with me Tom Famoletti, who's a member of the LLC on behalf of the ownership.
and then I have a copy of, excuse me,
I have Gabe Deck, who's the architect
for the project with Nome Architecture.
May I share my screen?
You've got a few questions first
from our board member, Thomas Howland.
Certainly.
Thomas Howland.
Certainly.
Good afternoon, Council.
Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal
i stipulate to his accuracy i do sir i do sir did you email all the exhibits and diamonds
required by the answers hearing did you with the i i know what those questions are i'm not sure if
the issue is on my end or mr holliman's end but the answer to all of them is yes thank you please
please share your screen thank you thank you
can everybody hear me okay because i was having problems hearing mr holliman
yes we can hear you okay thank you um this this uh hearing today is a request for reconsideration
uh following a decision by the zoning board that was issued uh following a hearing back in
uh following a decision by the zoning board that was issued uh following a hearing back in september
of 2022 on the 21st of september um the the project involves the property in question 1513
pine street which is located on the northwest corner of pine and south hick street you can see
the properties right here pine street runs obviously east to west hick street runs between
Pine Street and Spruce Street. The property is zoned RM1. It's a 6,006 square feet lot,
square foot lot. Because it's RM1, as a matter of rate, it would allow for 13 dwelling units with
no off-street parking with available bonuses, including the green roof deck, as well as the
the mixed income housing bonus. It could generate 22 dwelling units, up to three bedrooms each if
they're unrelated people, and a height of 45 feet. We were here in September and we're here today
because we have a height variance. The height of the proposed structures that we're proposing here
at the lot is 46 feet six inches. So one foot six inches more than would be available as a matter of
right with available bonuses. Rather than the 13 or 22 dwelling units that are proposed,
my clients are proposing five single-family dwellings with two-car off-street parking each,
so a total of 10-car off-street parking. There are, based upon existing conditions that you can
see here in the photographs, that show existing curb cuts on Pine Street as well as on South
Hicks Street. The property is presently used as a parking lot. We'll be accessing the proposed
off-street parking from a single curb cut on Pine Street, so reducing the cars that go in and out
of the property onto both Pine Street and onto South Hicks Street. At our last hearing, we
presented information that showed that all of the properties, the 12 properties to the west of us
all the way up to 16th Street are four stories and about the same height as what we're proposing
today. And I've drawn a line across the photographs that you have here. The abutting
property, which is a nine-unit condo, has a little faux cable at the front, but that doesn't run the
full depth. It's basically just a false front or facade. The properties on the opposite side of
Pine Street are also all four stories of a similar uniform height as to what we're proposing, except
on the corner of 15th and pine where you have the taller building that's located here at that time
of our hearing in september we made the argument and the presentation that what we are proposing
the additional height was more in keeping with the fabric of both sides of the block of the 1500 block
of pine street than what would be required by right without any of the bonuses which is 38 feet
And even with the bonuses, as I indicated, which is 45 feet, we showed renderings that showed what a by right building would look like in context, the buildings located next to us, where you can see it's just lower and doesn't continue versus what we were proposing, which is much more in keeping with the heights of the buildings.
It's in line with the buildings beside us.
We had originally gone to CCRA in June of last year, in the summer.
For our first meeting, we talked about the height.
We talked about the impact that the additional height would have on surrounding properties in terms of air and light.
They wished to see a shadow study.
Actually, this is a rendering we originally showed them back in June.
um there were some non-zoning related questions that had to do with the facade along pine street
we're faced with the kind of the odd situation of trying to not turn our shoulder to as i like to
say to one street or the other which is kind of tough when you're a corner property but how to
um you know all of the other houses these are all single family homes are gonna they're gonna front
on on south hick street and then what to do with pine street where there is a considerable amount
of vehicular and pedestrian traffic. We came back in July and met with CCRA again. We provided the
shadow studies, which I presented back in September, that showed that there was no appreciable
difference between, in terms of shadowing, between what we were proposing and what could happen there
as a matter of rate. And we also showed renderings that showed an additional entranceway to the
corner unit um to provide so like to reduce that shoulder that cold shoulder to pine street even
even though there'd be two entrances, this would go into the garage for this corner unit
though there would be two entrances um this would go into the garage for this corner unit
and worked up the rendering a little better, I think you can see from what was originally
presented. There were still some questions at that time regarding the proposal, whether or not
this was something that was acceptable to the community. We were looking and scheduled to
meet with them at the end of August of last summer. That meeting did not happen. Unfortunately,
we could not meet with them again before the scheduled hearing on september 21st um their
hearing is that was the following like monday or tuesday um be that as it may we came before the
board both the ccra had at that point not changed their position at least formally as of the july
meeting um although we had had discussions with um people with neighbors and with ccra regarding
the changes we had made and their acceptance or whether they'd be acceptable to the community
in advance of the hearing. But they had issued a letter of opposition at the time of the hearing.
It issued, Councilman Johnson had also issued a letter of opposition at the time of the hearing.
We had support or non-opposition from the property located directly, the condo building,
directly to the west of us, 1519 Pine Street. We submitted their letters, but we did have
opposition from the abutting portion abutting property owner to the north who spoke at the
hearing as well as a property owner across the street uh what we could not convey at the time
of the hearing was that there kind of there wasn't a full understanding of the changes that had been
made since we started the process where everybody stood following our meeting we were able to secure
and i provided to you in my package a letter of non-opposition from ccra dated september 28th
change in their position. October 5th, there's a letter of non-opposition from Councilman
Johnson's office. And then taking the appearance list that we received from the zoning board staff,
we went through and aside from those people that appeared that were already in support or
non-opposition to the project, we did contact the property owner across the street as well as the
abutting property owner to the north of us that had spoken up in opposition to the project. And
we now in our package have letters of support or non-opposition from them as well. And all these
updated letters of non-opposition or support are in tab five of the exhibit book. So those
additional exhibits were presented today for today's hearing. So we feel that there was a
change and there was a material fact that was not known at the time of the hearing, which was that
people actually in the end, or actually even at that time, but without the benefit of an additional
meeting or additional information or communications, were not opposed to the project. We've provided
that information to the board now. We did post the property with the notices for today's hearing
and a copy of the original notice of refusal. As you can see here, it's 21 days in advance
on both the Pine Street and South Hick Street facade.
And we have run an updated tax compliance for the property, still compliant.
Our 14303 notices for last summer's meetings are attached at 28,
tab 28 of our exhibit book.
We didn't have any additional meetings with them after these were issued
and we met with them.
The remainder of the information that I've provided,
including we met originally with the Historical Commission,
run the both the by right 38 feet and our proposed height by them the general consensus was although
you know you have different heights on hick street some extremely tall much taller than us some lower
that this building that we were proposing fit in better with the um with the fabric of pine street
and that whether it was 38 feet plus a 42 inch parapet plus decks and pilot houses which would
be allowed as a matter of right without any bonuses, the 45 feet plus all that with the
bonuses or the 46-6 feet that we're proposing, that the properties on Hick Streets were still,
which are mostly two stories closer to us, were still going to be a lot shorter than what was
proposed and that the difference was not that significant. The remaining of the materials,
although it's a substantial exhibit book, are largely those materials that we provided to you
back in september aside from the exhibits that i've just outlined um i did include the 11-21-22
notice from the zoning board granting our request for reconsideration originally we were scheduled
for a hearing on march 29th and the board rescheduled the hearing for today and with that
we uh respectfully request that the zoning board uh based upon reconsideration of this matter and
based upon reconsideration of this matter and based upon the surrounding conditions the
based upon the experience.
revised position of both members of the community the community organization and the council person
for the property we respectfully request that the board changes position for one of denying
the request the single requested variance uh to one of granting it and i do have revised plans
largely based upon CCRA's comments, adding that entranceway on Pine Street, dressing up the Pine
Street facade that we would like to have stamped today. And that's at tab six, along with the
revised proviso plan form that we originally submitted back in September. And they call out
the changes you can see over here that we made to the Pine Street facade that are reflected in the
revised rendering per the comments we received from CCRA and with that I would like to have
both my client and Gabe deck adopt my statements that I've made to the board today be sworn in
and then adopt my statements and then I'd obviously answer any questions that the board
might have he's actually inclined to raise her hand Tom and Gabe could you raise your hand please
hands virtual hands mr deck and mr tom you're free to speak
hi this is gabe deck okay you have to be sworn in first kate please state your name and spell
it for the record gabriel deck g-a-b-r-i-e-l last name b-e-c-k of nom architects
you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do continue counsel hey gabe uh good afternoon uh did you hear the statements that
i made to the board today yes i did and are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge
yes they are and would you adopt them as your own yes i would thank you and then tom
family tom family here state your name is spelled for the record tom family t-o-m
last name familletti f-a-m-i-l-e-t-t-i
you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do continue counsel hi tom uh did you hear the statements that i made to the zoning board today
i did and they true and correct to the best of your knowledge
they are and would you adopt them as your own i would thank you tom
questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman
Questions from the virtual audience? Yes, Chair, we have Richard, last name ending with A.
Okay, can we bring him up please? Sir, please unmute yourself.
Please state your name and spell it for the record. Richard Amder, A-M as in Mary, D-U-R.
do you agree to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do please proceed
okay hi i live across the street across pine street 1514 pine i'm directly facing the proposed
building um i appreciate the fact that mr orphanetes changed the the shoulder what he
called the shoulder of the building which i look which i which is facing my front window
So that's nice.
That's a good thing that they're concerned about that.
However, I was never contacted about this variance at all during any phase of this project.
The only way I know about it is through the orange sign that we saw.
I'm concerned about raising the height of this structure.
There's not that much sky that I can see out my front.
i'm on the first floor of the 1514 pine i own the unit there it's a condo building with five units
facing north uh so there's not that much sky that i can see that i mean that i will be able to see
with the lower height of the building if it goes up i think pages 22 and 26 of your presentation
showed the pictures of the different sizes of the structures and it would significantly
affect my light into my apartment, I think. And also the feeling of walking down Pine Street
would change to being more like a canyon type of experience with the taller building. So I'd like
to just register that so so what's your address 1514 pine street 1f so this is the list of
So this is a list of address. This is the list that we receive from the Planning Commission when you punch in the address. So I see 1514 Pine 4F.
address this is the list that we receive from the planning commission when you punch
I mean, these have gone out twice, I think, but yeah, hold on one second. I mean, again, I mean, we we try to go through the addresses afterwards and make sure that there aren't multiple units that aren't reflected.
in what we received from the planning commission.
But obviously the zoning code speaks to us
getting the list of addresses from the planning commission.
So this obviously wasn't intentional