Okay, just a comment.
Thank you. Questions from our attorney.
No questions at this time, comments from the virtual audience.
No hands to the present audience here.
Planning commission, Amy boy with the planning commission.
At the time of the district plan.
The property was zoned RM1 residential multifamily. The plan did not recommend a change. The property was later remapped to CMX2 commercial mixed use. The appellant could have earned a fifth and sixth unit with the mixed income housing bonus by providing affordable units or paying fee in lieu. The planning commission recommends that the board deny the requested variance for an additional dwelling unit.
thank you um mi 2026 000 492 4055 west rod avenue i vote yes with proviso maximum five dwelling
units no household living in the basement michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
charl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso
tie in my vote is yes with proviso thank you all right thank you mr chairman all right
Number three, MI-2025-007-5790.
6 918 north 28th street zenjin is the attorney this is a resumptive hearing
zenjin has been promoted thank you
good morning good morning counsel could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer
yes my name is zenjin z-h-e-n-j-i-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do um council this is a resumptive hearing um we will take testimony for update from you
there'll be questions from the board will be public testimony and also then planning will
have a chance to make a recommendation um why don't we um why don't we start and in that just
give us a few minutes of where we were and where we are now. Yes. Good morning. I'm going to share
with the board an updated submission that we just made with some of the information I believe that
would address the concerns from the initial application presentation. I'm going to share
that with the board now as I speak on this. This is an application for special exception in a CMX1
district at 918 north 28th street this is for use at the prepared food shop essentially a coffee shop
with hard ice cream service at the last hearing there were some concerns with the way the plans
were presented that it was not clear as to location of items how the service is done so
my client and i went back and he has made a more detailed presentation which i'm going to
go through with the board right now this is the location that in question this application was
in fact supported by the RCO after the meeting their only concern was trash which we're going
to address by having daily trash pickup from the location as you can see this property is a
corner commercial property that has previously been used as some kind of office type space
my client intend to convert this into the shop that is being requested before the board with the
business uh the idea is to have the salasa mediterranean cafe this is a european greek
style cafe with the cafe pastries and ice cream the ice cream itself is a hard ice cream and that's
soft serve and will be served directly from a pub the idea of this
served directly from a pub. The idea of this cafe actually comes from similar ideas and similar
cafes already in existence in Europe, which is a small style, mostly coffee service with a little
bit of pastries and ice cream as additional available products. There will be minimal to
no no real seating required uh there will be a few bar stools along the countertop uh they
they are putting only like a small top reserved for employees for their breaks to avoid congestion
in inside the space everything will be designed to allow people to kind of come through purchase and
take away quickly there's going to be a coffee station pastry display ice cream station and then
pickup counter. There's no kitchen, no cooking, no frying. It's a very simple setup. When the
customer enters, there'll be three self-serve kiosks, a cashier. Also, a worker would walk
around with a mobile handheld device if there are a lot of customers to help move the line along.
The employees will prepare the order, and then the customer will pick up the order and exit.
so from the operation side uh the the flow would be uh order uh routes the order to the
display system employees will prepare it and then the customer will pick it up
there's uh fresh pastries will be delivered every morning we're going to work with local
and mostly local pastry shops that actually produces pastry on their own to deliver it on
a daily basis. Ice cream would be delivered daily or every other day. There's no plan for a lot of
storage on site. And that was actually one of the concerns from the last hearing. So the idea is to
have things kind of flow. The coffee itself would also not require a lot of storage. I'm going to
move down to the the we believe of course that this uh use at this location would one support
local bakeries again we're going to purchase locally it would improve the corner for the
neighborhood which actually did come up during the rco meeting uh this at one time long time
ago was a bar and certainly that wasn't a well-liked operation so this idea of having a coffee shop
in its place was well received by the community one of the key items with trash is to have it
picked up daily to avoid any kind of trash gathering at the location the employees will
obviously clean up sidewalk in front of the store to make sure that cups and other things are not
just left on the sidewalk we do have the ability to put trash in the basement through Velcro doors
the keys can be given to the trash company. And we have already reached out to a trash company,
a woman-owned trash company business, and come to an agreement for daily pickup with that company.
So the hours of operation would be 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays and Sundays,
and then 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturdays. This is going to be a business
owned by my and run by my client it's a family-owned business it would not it's not part
of any kind of a chain uh or franchise so from the plan standpoint uh my client has produced
a slightly more uh property skilled and more detailed plan uh for the board's review as you
can see the the restroom will be in the back corner there's a storage small storage room
and the counters for working would be towards the front of the space and the counter with a stool
for people who do want to consume the coffee on site will be limited to the bar here and a few
stools uh the counter again has the flow would be people can come into here if there is a line
and then exit through the front but if there isn't a line they can enter and exit through both
of these entries do their purchase and exit the space. So there's a 3D angle of what it looks
like. Part of the storage solution is to have cabinetry on top of the preparation areas as
well for additional storage for cups and things like that that would be used as part of the
service. For the most part, because the pastries are pre-made and delivered, they would just be
laid out and sold. And if they're sold out for the day, that would be it. The same would go for
the ice cream. And then primarily the focus would still be the coffee service. So that is essentially
the special exception that we're seeking before the board is to permit this coffee shop ice cream
service to be at this location. We do believe that given the daily pickup and daily delivery
We do believe that given the daily pickup and daily delivery kind of structure, this operation should not cause any hardship to the community greater than what is normally expected of such a business.
kind of structure.
So that is our update.
Bring your client on.
Sure. My client is Matthew Maltepes.
Mateo, can you raise your hand virtually to be identified?
Matthew has been promoted
hello good morning could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer yes
matthew martepes m-a-t-t-h-e-o last name martepes m-a-l-t-e-p-e-s do you swear affirm
to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth yes i do thank you um good morning uh
my fail so did you see my presentation hear my representations before the zoning board
i did yes i did can you verify what i have represented to be true and correct
and adopt it as your own testimony yes i do and you will be the personal personally operating
this uh business correct yes i will so you'll be directing the employees and making sure the
plans are followed accordingly yes i will thank you questions from the board
yes um where is the coffee bar part of this
or in in the uh the coffee service would be done this is it is the machine
yeah that says rest machine yes correct okay so the service counter is right here for coffee
preparation okay help me here it's a little small so where are we pointing to
oh i'm sorry i can zoom in yeah please thank you so there's a there's sinks and then the counter
area this is the espresso machine uh so the coffee preparation service will be through right here
ah okay so then the the employees are going to be in that area in this area okay so this is
itself this isn't self-serve this is no no it's not self-serve no okay all right thank you
other questions questions from our attorney yes i just wanted to clarify um are you using the
first floor in the basement or just the first floor the the the uh service of coffee and
everything will only be on the first floor the basement would be accessory only for storage
of trash if needed okay so you're using both the first floor and the basement then yes
questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands planning commission amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive
plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current cmx1 commercial mixed
use the appellant has demonstrated that the proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts
beyond what would reasonably be expected the planning commission recommends that the board
grant their requested special exception for prepared food shop thank you mi 2025 007 576
918 north 28th street i vote yes with proviso interior trash storage use limited to first
floor and basement johns my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
All right, number four, MI 2025-007-735-2313 North 11th Street.
Meredith Verliger is the attorney.
good morning council all right this is a resumptive hearing could you please state
and spell your name for the stenographer meredith ferliger f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do um
yeah so we we're going to take an update from you there'll be questions from the board
public testimony limited to what was said today and then also planning will um make comments
understood so why don't you just give us a little update as how we got here waiting for the exhibits
They're waiting for the exhibits to open right.
All right, Mr. Chairman, members of the board as as you might recall.
this case proposes 20 units on 11th street right at the intersection of west dakota street
there were a variety of concerns that were expressed by the board and the community during
the last hearing and since that time my client has been in communication with several of the
immediate neighbors that live on west dakota street seeking to try and address some of those concerns
his goal of course was to try and address those concerns while also making revisions
that would be responsive to some of the board members uh concerns as well
he did hold three meetings with the immediate neighbors and as a result
did agree to reduce the proposal from 20 units down to 17. And as a reminder, the buy right
conditions here are 13. So this is a fairly even split compromise that will still create the
density that is characteristic of this surrounding neighborhood. Just as a reminder, this entire
neighborhood here is a mix of cmx2 and rm1 zoning as we showed during the first hearing and as you
can see on the zoning map so the city has recognized the need in this particular area
to create additional density to spark reinvestment and revitalization as i mentioned during the first
hearing and again as just a reminder this property happens to sit just one block from
pha's latest affordable housing development that this board saw last year and then again just two
doors away at 2307 north 11 street this board had recognized the hardship facing this particular
block and the properties on it granting additional density uh for an overall density in that case of
297 square feet per unit so the 17 units that are now proposed and as are reflected on these revised
plans is just within a few square feet of that density that was already granted for this particular
block so in addition to the density update the floor plans were also revised to address
both board and community concerns so just to highlight a couple of those changes
at the first floor and i did include revised plans these revised plans did not come with a
revised plan proviso form because none of the changes that i am about to show are anything
that would require stamped zoning plans so um i'm referring to them as revised plans but they
are not anything that would have required an actual proviso floor plan or anything like that
So at the first floor, the trash room was relocated at the request of the community. It was previously located off of West Dakota Street, and specifically in response to neighbors who were concerned about the trash being accessed from Dakota Street, it has been relocated to North 11th Street.
uh furthermore in response to the board's feedback a trash room and shoot has been added on all floors
and i will show you that at the floor plans here so again first floor level you can see the little
the little circles and then as you move up to the higher floors you can see that designated trash
And then, in addition, at the basement level, a designated trash storage area was added to supplement the bike storage that was already provided.
And again, just as a reminder, this is an elevator building, so this will provide access to all tenants, regardless of their particular physical needs.
And then, of course, just in response to the fact that the unit count changed, the unit layout has changed slightly as well.
So, as now designed, there are 10 one-bedroom units, five one-bedroom plus den units, and two two-bedroom.
five one bedroom plus den units and two two bedroom plus den units and then at the first
floor as well the previously uh provided mail room has also now been expanded to become a mail
and package area the only concern my client believes he's been unable to materially address
is parking. However, as this board knows, parking is not required in CMX2 or RM1, nor could a lot
of this particular size accommodate any form of material parking. Fortunately, this site is
located within walking distance of no less than eight transit stops and is also within walking
distance to the Broad Street Line and a 10-minute walk to the North Broad Regional Rail stop.
furthermore as we showed during the first hearing off street parking is not a common condition in
this neighborhood so just to bring it all home and summarize we do believe that our original
presentation made it abundantly clear that this particular property suffers from a significant
hardship that would prevent any form of ground floor non-residential use that is required in cmx
too the board recognized this very hardship by granting relief just two doors down
in terms of the overall density this is a unique block where there are no
other active or non-abandoned structures on this entire block of north 11th street
these factors give this property section of north 11th street the feel of a largely
abandoned industrial corridor which does justify a slightly higher density than the code would allow
here and again this is really to allow this property and some of the other new development
to sufficiently activate the area and again not to belabor the point here but the board did
recognize these factors just two doors down and this particular project will supplement that
while adding necessary density, providing all type B accessible units, including two deed restricted affordable units earned through the mixed income housing bonus.
Although this project, even though the project did receive overwhelming support from the assigned 37th Ward RCO, my client did take great measure to attempt to address the concerns of the immediate neighbors on the block.
And we do believe that this proposal now materially responds and strikes a careful balance of all of the competing factors that weigh on this particular property.
That is our update.
You want to bring your client?
Please. Dennis Schifrin, please.
Dennis Schifrin will be rejoining as a panelist.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
hi i hope uh everyone can hear me this is dennis could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer uh my name is dennis shuffin i mean spelling my name is d-e-n-n-i-s and my last
name is s-h-i-f-r-i-n right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do counsel thank you uh dennis have you been present today and heard all of the additional
testimony and evidence that was offered in front of the board today yes i have do you agree that
testimony was true and accurate and would you adopt it as if you had provided it to the board
yourself yes i would adopt it as my own thank you questions from the board
i have a question can you go back to the what's the what's the height again uh the