plans in a moment uh 14 additional parking spaces on the shallow portion of the lot um here i'll
pull back up the lot uh on that towards the the shallowest portion where the depth of the lot
does not afford housing development so the technical nature of the refusal which i'll
pull up now is uh the planned unit development is technically multi-family household uh living
the proposal is for 10 homes each with their own driveway and 14 additional parking spaces
all single family homes but on one lot because this rsa5 lot of 17 000 square feet cannot be
subdivided because lenny is not an official city street the only frontage is that narrow leg on
right street to the west there are three dimensional refusals in addition to the
pud multi-family refusal all three i am pleased to say have been uh negated by the proviso plan
submitted by the applicant uh two of the refusals relate to the end unit facing wright street
uh the roof decks and access structures were not set back a full five feet from the wright street
frontage um thank with much thanks to a really collaborative design process with
uh maniunk neighborhood council uh john hunter and kevin smith um and elizabeth we we've
reconfigured the stairwell and roof deck access as ben will briefly run through in our plans
um to negate uh the roof both roof refrisals and then the
To negate the roof, both roof refusals. And then the other refusal has also been negated. That is the maximum building height because of the shallowness of the lot. The further you go east, the last two units were slated for an extra story in Ben's original design.
However, again, with some ingenuity and a particular thanks to John Hunter in this collaboration, Ben was able to redesign the development with recessed grades and maximize the household living use of the space, still with 10 driveways intact and the 14 additional parking spaces.
um another feature of the collaboration with mnc was in talking to neighbors uh making
any unused parking spaces in that 14 space lot uh available to neighbors in the uh in the area
um so with that um i would love to introduce ben to quickly run through the site plans
oh I'm sorry this is the revised proviso plan that I mentioned that addresses the roof and
uh height refusals the entire development is now within 38 feet as uh limited by the RSA 5 district
okay so um as Eric mentioned the property um the proposed development starts at Wright Street and
its way towards hermitage street centrally the of that full wedge the development takes up less than
half of the actual length of the long side of the site um so as eric mentioned the um the proposed
site plan on the bottom of the page um the left hand units had pilot houses and roof decks that
were facing front street or for facing uh right street um those homes were flipped in order to
further push back the roof deck and pilot house to be by right from right street um and then the
two units um furthest to the right that uh face hermitage or closest to hermitage street
were um were reduced in height and the fourth floor was replaced by a pilot house and roof deck
so this is essentially our site strategy for the development um lenny street is accessed
by streets department for sanitation purposes for um the homes facing umbria street they all
have rear yard parking homes the majority of all those homes again um that were behind or were
Yeah, we're behind Access Lenny Street for parking for their own homes.
So we didn't want to contribute additional curb cuts, additional traffic coming from the fronts of these homes onto Lenny Street.
So just as the Umbria homes have rear yard parking, we're proposing rear yard parking.
And it works best with the site slope.
you can see the site plan to the top shows a base elevation of zero from the back corner of the
property where essentially we're proposing our driveway and then as you work towards
Linney Street from Canton Street and that Ivy Ridge Trail the site starts to slope up and then
if you were to continue across Linney Street the site goes up another six feet you can it's hard to
telling the photos originally shown because of the the overall length of the site but it's a
significant increase so um the rear portion of that yard and part of the redevelopment from
parking of the park surface parking lot from 2007 um create a retaining wall um that addressed the
kind of lower portion of the site again where we're proposing the driveway so um the proposal
and at the request of MNC was to look at grading a little closer
and to push down the homes as far as possible
to have these homes be within the buy right building height.
So we're regrading the back portion of the site
to allow again for the homes to sink as far down as possible
WITHOUT HAVING ANY IMPACT ON PARKING OR ANY ACCESS ON LENNY STREET FOR THE SURROUNDING NEIGHBORS.
A CONTEXT PLAN HERE JUST SHOWING OUR DEVELOPMENT, OUR THREE-STORY DEVELOPMENT HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF
THE SITE WITH THE IVERAGE TRAIL FACING THE BACK AND THEN THE THREE-STORY HOMES ALONG UMBRIA AND
canton street behind and these homes again were kind of designed in order to
And these homes, again, were kind of designed in order to face Lenny Street and act as that primary frontage, but we were very considerate of the back as well, wanting to have those areas focus on the Eifridge Trail as it gets built and the trees and everything matures over time.
Again, showing that these homes are, based on height, are in context with the surrounding homes on facing Umbria and Canton Street.
And these are the proposed floor plans for all these homes.
There's three home types, but floor-by-floor organization program is the same.
Basin level, which is shown in the top plan.
It has rear yard parking in a finished basement.
The all parking is accessed by one curb cut from Wright Street that allows for each home to have single car parking.
The primary level of the bottom plan here has kitchen, living, dining, and certain units have outdoor space.
Again, in working with the MNC, we're really, again, we're treating the building as two frontages, the linear street frontage to maintain the neighborhood feel, and then the backs to face the park as it, or the extension of the trail as it.
Yeah, I should note that was one other very helpful reconfiguration of the layout that we collaborated with MNC on.
So there's, you know, a recreation, you know, a unique opportunity to create a streetscape to the north along Linear Street.
But at the same time, as the Ivy Ridge Trail is extended and redeveloped here, the idea was to flip the layout so that the living rooms face out onto the trail.
And then you can also see the stairwells are on the east side of the property, which allowed the roof access structures to be adequately set back.
So second floor for these homes is where the primary suite will be.
Again, each option has a carve out again facing the back to bring in light and open air and views of the trail as it gets developed.
with the third floor being two additional bedrooms with two additional bathrooms.
And you can see here the roof decks set back from right street, plain left,
and the far two right units with the fourth floor being removed and replaced with by right pilot houses and roof decks.
um this is the material palette for for each home primary frontage will be of brick thin
brick along the projection on the second third floor to keep the structure light but still
maintain the um typical brick frontage that you see in the majority of rural homes here
and see with a masonry water table along the the front entryway i'll just close in a minute
mr chair members of the board this is the letter of support from the maniak neighborhood council
the applicant met with the manny design committee in early september
made significant updates to the plans, including the revised proviso plan submission that I
mentioned, walked the site together to really understand the unique sloping of the lot,
not just down the hill, but up Linney Street towards Hermitage. And I think this highlighted
explanation well captures the tenor of our discussions with MNC, which is after
extensive extensive develop discussion with the development team the refusals were reduced to one
refusal for multi-family use in an rsa5 district the refusal is triggered by the proposal to develop
a pud on the site which is necessitated by the lot configuration of a narrow frontage on right
street with a deep triangular shape that's really captures the nature of this refusal
um and a highly collaborative process uh throughout um in closing mr chair we submit
um does anybody want to adopt your testimony yes uh khalil mirror seen beside me
behind me i'm sorry do you want to take places with ben
good afternoon sir could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer yes first
First name Khalil, K-A-H-L-I-L, last name Mir, M-I-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I counsel.
Yes, I do.
Counsel.
Good afternoon, Khalil.
Have you participated and witnessed the entirety of this presentation and this hearing this afternoon?
Yes, I have.
And can you confirm that the testimony that I provided is true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
And do you now adopt and affirm that testimony as your own?
Yes, I do.
Thank you very much.
Great.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the board.
Yeah, question for you. The rendering looks great and shows a decently sized pavement, but on your site plan, I'm not getting the same sense that it has that level of pedestrian pavement in front of these units.
Can you go back to the site plan?
Yes, of course.
the plan that shows the pavement the currently on Lenny Street there is no
sidewalks on either side of the street the part of the design of the building
was to design a detached building one that allows that parking by right but
also allowed us to reintroduce the sidewalk so we're saying the primary
frontage of the street of the well i'm calling the primary frontage of lenny street um just based on
the orientation of the development um that's being set back five feet from the property line to
reintroduce the sidewalk so you set back five feet from the property line but are yours is it that's
is are the stairs set back five feet from the property line or are they the majority are some
do the first few homes have stairs that encroach on that proposed sidewalk right so so my question
is you know what becomes what's the pinch point of that pedestrian walkway are we talking about
just a two-foot walkway have you got a three-foot stairway like what it what does what does that
mean um yeah that's that's correct that's good and and there's actually oh i'm sorry
you've got a two foot wide pavement is that what you're saying yes but i think we've
looked at it and explored options of pushing that in like recessing that entryway slightly to allow
for uh increased width of increased pathway yeah i think safety reasons yeah well yeah i mean you
know you you've got a rendering with a woman with a stroller i believe and she
that's not even as wide as a stroller the kid would fall off the pavement
so i think it's commendable the layout that you were able to kind of do with this very unique site
And the fact that you've decided to provide a pedestrian area so that folks are safe because this really is like a driveway, right?
I think you've got to add, you've got to make it legitimate.
You know, a two-foot wide pavement is not a pavement, right?
i think one one limitation of of this project um that i didn't mention that that was discussed a
lot with mnc is uh preserving lenny street our understanding is that that the city is not
interested at this time or has been in a hundred so years in reactivating lenny street i just i
going to cut you off and i understand that and and i agree that you've done a commendable job with
a site that's very unique and i think the fact that you added a pave a pedestrian clear
pavement that is defined for pedestrians because this really is a driveway right i think that's
too is commendable but to make it have a pinch point that's only two foot wide
yeah in my opinion makes it more dangerous right it's more easy for somebody to fall off the side
the pavement and into into traffic and so if you're going to have what i believe again is
commendable it needs to be at least a five foot wide pavement right that's something that's
that's legitimate not a two foot wide you know pavement in places that that's that's my only
concern you know um for some of the units they're recessed the entryways and entry stairs are
recessed into the first floor to reduce the encroachment on the sidewalk so those first
units could potentially explore that it's a it's i think i think a great a great issue
i don't want to yeah this is probably taking too long for everybody but a regular a regular
hallway in your in your house is a minimum of three feet right right so two feet
right right so two feet i'm i'm probably wider than two feet right
that's all i'm saying yes no i think on that that end of the sidewalk if we can reconfigure and
recess um we need to make up that so it can yeah i think i think it needs to be a legitimate
a you know a legitimate safety it's a legitimate safety concern
and accessibility concern right right and even like people with carts mothers with
our parents with strollers like anybody a person with a walker an elderly person with a walker
like for there to be 10 homes here there's a variety of ways that people might be living
and it's going to reduce their ability and access to the site as well
absolutely and that's you know
vacated portion of the property that can be claimed as well as as an extension of that
sidewalk so i can ask a question what's the answer i mean what are you what are you going
to do so can can we reconfigure the we can we the again those few houses are shifted back some
yard you don't have backyards for the most part the first floor we can yeah it was it's
the impact of the stairs were due to a great issue but if we and the other homes again as
you kind of proceed up lenny street from right to hermitage decreases and or the the level from the
first floor to gray decreases so the stairs the runs are much shorter for those homes that you're
talking about um the first essentially five from wright street could be we couldn't do it
perpendicular to lindy street because those extensions would take you halfway through the
home but what i think we could do is push it in within the first floor i'm not designing any
i'm not designing anything for you but if you took this i think i think the simple solution
is to recess them at the first floor i don't even know if you just shifted the buildings back you've
yeah i think i think it's just that shifting the buildings back and we can
and you know design but at least the the stairs that the stairs the front of the stairs on those
units would align with the front face of the other buildings so at least you have a one width wide
pavement all the way through not this sort of two foot or foot the two foot to five feet kind of
yeah exactly can we do that ben yes yes great okay all the questions
questions from our attorney um you probably have heard this before um i don't know what we're going
to do but from the legally from perspective you did not provide standing materials i look when
some of it came in it was after the hearing started we're not going to accept these anymore
we're not reviewing materials during the hearings um you indicated equitable owner
we had information of the prior owner you provided that you cannot provide stuff
like the day of the hearing during the hearing so we can't do that so whatever is decided if
you're going to go back and do that we can't vote on that until we review the documents that you
provided because i see what time it was actually provided 2 56 that's not acceptable on that so
And I'm trying to be difficult, but we have to set these standards. We can't sit there. Everyone does that. We can't sit there and review them during the hearing.
Understood. As soon as it came up earlier in the hearing, I talked to Mr. Hegarty, yes, and made sure that we...
I don't know if they're going to go back and try to redesign, but we can't vote on anything with regard to, because we don't have standing right now.
they provided documents we have to review it so it can be held for a week but I don't know if
they want to change any of the plans based on what uh board member Johns and board member
Wynn talked about I'm just saying from our my perspective we can't vote on it we can vote on
it a week if you want so so um how long would it take you to come back with it more clear less than
a week for drawings yeah we can do absolutely so why don't we do this to be sure why don't we take
two weeks so the 28th then correct okay is that right you'll have it here before and we'll look
to vote on the uh uh we will wednesday at 2 p.m right is it going to be are you just going to
submit revised plans or do you want to have a reason as i'm done i'm not suggesting anything
i just want to clarify for the record yeah i know i just want to clarify for the record yeah
we are happy to close and since it'll be closed if you get it in here we'll review it we'll vote
Absolutely. We appreciate it. Thank you so much.
And if there's a problem with the standing.
Do me a favor. I still have a little bit to do.
Okay. Yeah. No problem.
So questions or comments from the virtual audience? Do we have anybody?
No, Chair.