the reason why we're pushing really hard on this request is that that's what's there on the other
properties on our side of the street is five feet so if we had to conform uh to this overlay district
requirements, our facade, the front of it would be out of line with the other properties
that are further down the block. And eventually when the block gets filled in,
it would just be strange to have a building facade that was deeper into a property than
its neighboring properties. Again, we're trying to, you know, fit within the fabric of the
neighborhood and you can't put in a vacuum these requirements. And that's why we have this process.
so sure we mentioned uh cdc again i don't have the other letter um wrote a letter and it was
opposition for two family household living which we addressed um they were opposed you know just
again on conceptual grounds because there is an overlay that they fought for but again you can't
just put that in a vacuum requiring two-story structures were on that side of the block there
three-story structures and then requiring porches of a minimum depth of six feet where five feet is
proposed where again it's five feet on that side uh so that was basically you know their concerns
i mean again i believe there may be members of the community here but their primary concern was the
multi-family structure obviously they want to protect you know their overlay as well and they
have every right to fight for that. But the primary response we got was more so about the
multifamily nature of the project, which we have eliminated by agreeing in concept if this board
is agreeable to single-family household living. So we have revised plans. We made three changes
according to our revised plans. We decreased the unit count from two units to one. We removed the
bay windows. Now, even though that wasn't a zoning requirement, they particularly did not care
about the aesthetics of having a bay window on the second floor. And I would agree, like if you
walk by the property built or used as proposed, is this something that you would see in that
porch of the neighborhood? And having a bay window was not. But you'll see from our drawings,
or at least rendering and comparing to what is on in that block, it's a porch neighborhood,
man started roof you'll see three stories you'll see uh you know porch man started roof three
stories that's where we're single family what they're trying to build uh so that's the second
So that's the second change we're making. And then the third change we're making is removal of an egress well located at front of building structure. Now, this is single family, so it really shouldn't go into the equation, but some members of the community don't want egress wells in their front.
change we're making and then the third change we're making is
They're like, we don't have egress wells on these existing structures that have been built many, many years ago.
Our position is this.
We are all about safety, especially with single-family homes.
You're not going to have a concern of people having bedrooms down there, but people are still going to be living down there, whether they're doing their laundry, they have storage, they have a family room down there, they have an office down there.
We want it to be safe.
There was an issue with fire.
We want an emergency way to get out other than the front door or the steps.
And that's why we proposed these egress wells. Well, we still have an egress well in the rear, you know, from a code perspective. Again, the reason why I mentioned that Brandon Ortiz is a firefighter, this is something he was very passionate about. Like, he wants to make sure that this is a safe, livable environment.
Again, to compromise with the community, he has one egress well.
In the rear, so from an aesthetic point of view, again, it won't affect the look and feel of that portion of Strawberry Mansion, but it will still be safe.
So those are the three changes we made with our drawings.
And then here's obviously our drawings, which, you know, you'll see.
There's a site plan.
And again, just to see where we are in the neighborhood, we're on Page Street.
We're between 31st and 32nd Street.
there is a multi-family portion. This is a multi-family portion of the neighborhood as you go up
closer to Diamond Street. But again, in the interest of compromise, in order to have a viable
property being built, which, you know, it's been a vacant lot for many, many years, we're willing to
do a single family structure. And as you can see, we are near a commercial corridor ridge. So
increasing any density, even single family is going to help support that commercial corridor.
which will help the neighborhood as a whole.
And vacant lots or nuisances in neighborhoods will tend to be,
and we want something that can be built that's responsible as well.
And then photographs of the property.
This is Page Street, you know, our property in front of the property.
This has been a vacant lot since 2009.
This is as far as it goes back.
So obviously there's reasons why it's been difficult to develop.
And nowadays, it's even harder with high interest rates, rising construction costs.
But my client is willing to make an effort to build this as a single family structure, which will add value to this community.
And then here's our zoning hearing notice posters as well showing proof of posting.
And then Page Street's the right of the property.
And then this is our side of the property, Page Street's the left of the property.
And I just want to zoom in here. Short porches, three-story structures, man-sword roofs. This is the side we're building on, right? And they're not 25 feet high. That would be the requirement. 25 feet high, six-foot depth porches. That's exactly not what's there.
and then our plans and drawings if you look at it exactly the same a modern twist but again a
short porch three feet three stories again man's road roof we're trying to build something that
was fit within the fabric of this neighborhood it does not conform to the overlay but the overlay
should not be applied to the vacuum it should be it's a case by case basis and that's what this
dba process is all about and then this is the rear of the property and then this is again the
drawings based on you know our revised drawings again we have an egress well in the back we
eliminated the one in the front and then just it's just a single family layout you come in
from the covered porch you walk in on the first floor uh living room dining room kitchen uh go
downstairs, there's a flex space, utilities down there, no bedrooms in the basement, but again,
a single family structure. You go up with quite a steps. There's two bedrooms and two baths on
the second floor, and then two bedrooms and two baths on the third floor. And then this is our
RCO meeting notice for the last meeting we had on November 17th at 6 p.m. 166 addresses were
notified of this meeting list of the addresses proof of mailing
proof of emailing to the uh applicable parties of the rcos the council member things like that
our application for appeal that we filed with the zba along with our project information form
and notice of refusal our deed to property showing that mr ortiz is the owner of the property
and our certificate of tax credit is showing that he's in good standing.
and our certificate of tax credit showing that he's in good standing.
I'm going to unshare my screen.
I'm going to ask that Mr. Ortiz vertically raise his hand
so he can be sworn in and adopt my testimony as his own.
But I will say this.
He's not a sophisticated developer.
He's trying to build something nice and strawberry mansion,
and he's trying to do the right thing.
And I hope the board sees that as well.
Currently, there's no one listed in the audience with their last name.
Ortiz Norris is in the hands up.
Mr. Nackamson, you're an officer of the court, and we will take your testimony.
Questions from the board?
No question.
No question.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Tyrone Williams.
Mr. Williams, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
I'm sorry, Chair.
He just put his hand down.
We have Strawberry Mansion.
Anyone else?
Yes, we have Strawberry Mansion Community Concern.
Good afternoon, Chairman.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
My name is Bonita Cummings, and I am the director of Strawberry Mansion Community Concern,
and my name is spelled B-O-N-I-T-A, Cummings, C-U-M-M-I-N-G-S. Right. Ms. Cummings, do you
swear for them to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Please proceed.
I just wanted to indicate that the changes to single family are being received like the day
before. So it's difficult for the RCOs to look at these revised plans and make reasonable
decisions. So this information of single family is for some of us just being presented or we only
received the revised materials yesterday. So the understanding that we have, and particularly with
overlay is that the measurements that we're asking to stay in place meet with this side of
the street or meet with this project. In terms of egress wells, it was no egress wells front or back
of the property as it relates to the conformity of what is in that block. So we're asking that
That we not be given materials to review overnight and then it be presented as if there is, you know, some clarity or some understanding that may not have taken place.
Okay, so, so Ms. Cummings, let me tell you what we're going to do is we're going to go through the process.
We're going to hold this until next week for a vote.
And that way you can respond to the changes that have been made.
Thank you. Okay. Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair. We have Ms. Nixon.
Hi, Ms. Nixon.
Hi. Can you guys hear me? Yeah. Could you state your name and spell for the court reporter, please?
Sure. No problem. My name is Alcina Nixon. It is spelled A-L-T-R-E-N-A. Last name is spelled N-I-X-O-N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Proceed.
So I was on the meeting, the actual, the two meetings that we had in the community, and I stand in support with Strawberry Mansion Community Concerns and Strawberry Mansion CDC in opposition to this being built on Page Street because of the things that Ms. Bonita just said.
We didn't even know that they changed the layout until just now.
Well, I know. Well, that's why I made the change. You're going to know, and then we'll wait until vote next week, okay?
Not a problem.
All right. Thank you.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
We have Tyrone Williams.
Mr. Williams, state your name and spell, please, for the court reporter.
Yes, my name is Tyrone Williams, T-Y-R-O-N-E, Williams, W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I don't want to be-
William, are you a neighbor, Mr. Williams?
No, I am actually the program coordinator for the Strawberry Mansion Community Development Corporation, as well as the chair of the two Zoom meetings, Mr. Allen and number 10.
So the first meeting, there was some requests made for changes, egress well, and some other things.
So we talked about the measurements and we also talked about the importance of the overlay with
And we also talked about the importance of the overlay with Mr. Allen and let them know that we didn't, you know, he continues to use this statement, it should not be in the vacuum.
For us, it's important.
It's not in the vacuum to us.
We worked close to two years on it.
Residents came together and it's a law.
And I just want to be clear to ZBA as well as to Mr. Robinson, it's a law. It's not in a vacuum. It's the law. It's disrespectful to come back in the second meeting with the same drawings as if we did not have a first meeting, which the second meeting did become contentious because people were offended that you were trying to show us the same thing we just talked about.
as if we didn't discuss some changes.
Another thing, the block is just starting to be developed.
There's other lots next to that property.
It's not as if that property is going to set any precedent on anything.
There's other properties and things in that same lot here.
And secondly, the egress wells can go in the back.
I can appreciate the new designs that we just seen today, because I haven't had time to open them yet, that the egress well is not on the front.
But in the last meeting, the egress well was still on the front.
These changes to this property just happened.
That was in the back.
Mr. Williams, Mr. Williams, Mr. Williams, listen to me.
I've addressed that.
I understand what, listen to me.
listen to me listen to me i understand what everyone's saying that's why i'm going to
continue the vote for a following week and all the groups will have a chance to respond yeah okay
thank you mr williams for your input is there anyone else in the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission
good afternoon mr chairman and members of the board david fecto f e c t e a u
with the city planning commission i do you swear or for him to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes sir i do okay proceed thank you mr chairman mr chairman and members
of the board the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single family zoning at
this location the strawberry mansion neighborhood conservation overlay became active in december of
2020 and was put into place at the request of a coalition of civic associations there is no unique
physical condition of this property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with
the zoning code and so the city planning commission recommends the board deny the
requested variances thank you mr not going to say we're going to hold this until uh
the record will be closed other than what we received from the rcos we will vote on this
next week at 2 p.m yeah mr chair sorry i just sorry a hand just came up chair mary
jones okay okay mary ms jones state your name and spell for the court reporter please
um good afternoon mary jones mary jones from council president daryl clark's office
right do you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do um yes thank you for allowing me to speak i thought my hand was left but it was not
um today i just want to express the council president's support in the community and the
overlay that was put in place like mr fechtal just uh gave the brief background for just support them
in the opposition and ask that you deny the variance thank you okay thank you and i think
you've you've heard what i said before yes the they mentioned that you just received the
information so we're going to wait a week to vote on this okay mr chair two things um
if those members of the community are still on obviously my office and my client will make
ourselves available within that week period to have any further communications if there are
any court if there's any correspondence um including the correspondence that i did not see
up until uh now that ms emerson uh sent to us i would just be i would ask for the opportunity
just to respond to any additional correspondence okay thank you thank you hillary
yes that's fine mr chair yes we'll we will um close the record except for um follow-up
correspondence from the two rcos um and then we can give mr knockamson an opportunity to respond
to that um in writing and then the board can discuss and vote okay thank you very much everyone
Thank you, Mr. Knockerson. Number two, MI 2022-004.
Number two, MI 2022-004-079-2132 East Cumberland Street.