So I'm going to give you a date.
The date that we set is 2-2-27 at 9.30 a.m.
Is that now?
And now before?
Well, if we can do anything different, we will do it. But for the record right now, it's going to be 2-2-27. That's what we're always up to swear. So I know where we stand. I know how we do it. So I'll check with the staff later and they'll be in touch with you.
Is that okay?
That's good. Do we have seven more minutes or we're not, we're completed?
I don't want to start this and like, you know, say to people here, you got to rush this because, you know, there's a lot to it, right?
Yeah. And then, you know, you had Mr. Nelson and I don't know what we have up there.
Yeah. And then, you know, you had Mr. Nelson, and I don't know what we have up there. And we also have your architect. So I think we're going to do that. I don't know that we can finish this. Okay. All right. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Excuse me, Chair. Yes. There's a hand up from Concerned Community.
yeah we're going to move on from that case story thank you okay all right right okay so uh
number 12 mi 2026 002 494 64 10 to 14 west gerard avenue zen jin is the attorney
then jen has been promoted to panelists
good morning good morning sir could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer
yes my name is zen jen z-h-e-n last name j-i-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
truth nothing but the truth i do did you identify your client a relationship to the property
uh yes uh my client is uh lin jun jiang l-i-n-j-u-n-j-i-a-n-g property owner right um
our vice chair has a few questions for you sir good morning have you submitted your documents
exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing we did did you weigh the weeding of their refusals
and stipulate to their accuracy i do all right thank you can share your screen and proceed with
the case thank you i'm going to share with the board am i correct we have no rco letter am i
right do we have that is that is correct we did have a meeting with the rco and we made the rco
aware that we do have the hearing today right however we didn't receive their letter in time
Thank you. This is an application for 6410 to 14 West Girard Avenue. We are requesting
a change of use for the one commercial unit that is on the first floor into a residential unit.
When combined with the other two existing residential units, the total request is for
multi-family household living of three units this is a cmx2 zoning district and multi-family
household living on the first floor is not generally permitted this property has some unique
circumstances that prompted my client ultimately to make this request this is actually the building
across the street and this building here is in fact the building in question that we're making
the request so on this block with particularly with my client's building and their neighbor's
buildings the lot is situated in a way it's the broader side of the lot actually faces the street
with the shorter side of the lots going back into the rear.
So these are kind of rectangular shape with a long face towards the street side.
However, over the years, even though they are all zoned CMX2,
majority of these properties have found it very difficult to get commercial tenants,
particularly with across the street and nearby being more residential in nature,
uh my client just couldn't get commercial tenants uh and as you can see this is never really fitted
out um in neither of the neighbors really fitted out as large window commercial spaces these were
used for small commercial uses in its history about more recently the only tenant that my
client was able to find was actually a small private church who occupied this space until
recently. The church, unfortunately, because of its activities, actually caused more complaints
from my client's neighbors than any other uses on the block, which were all residential.
So ultimately, my client, based on that feedback, and in looking at the similar buildings nearby
being fully residential, brought forth this application to convert the first floor to a
residential unit. Prior to this initial, I mean, this application, my client actually was in the
process of trying to get a possible nail type business in a barbershop. I'm sorry.
a possible nail type business in a barbershop, I'm sorry, a barbershop into the space
and tried to negotiate that setup. This is the plan that they actually prepared for the barbershop
in anticipation of trying to get a tenant in. That ultimately also fell through. At this point,
other than a church use, my client has not been able to really get much interest as a commercial
space. The space itself is not that large. As you can see, the overall width of the space is 42 feet,
but the depth is 20 feet. So it's actually wider than it is longer on the inside. That also means
that we cannot change this into a smaller office space simply because the 20-foot depth from the
street frontage is required for CMX2 as well. The proposed change is to simply convert this
into a single bedroom residential unit by relaying out the space to have kind of an open kitchen
and living room area, and then a bedroom with its own bath and a secondary bathroom
on the side so this will be the entire first floor laid out simply as a single family residence
this is actually the same kind of use that is in the next door building which is same in overall
layout and size and would be consistent to both neighbors once it is converted the upper floors
already exist in current conditions. They are two smaller apartment units that
have been in existence and are legal. As you can see, these are laid out also as sort of a
one-bedroom setup with a smaller kitchen area and one of the corners being used as their living area.
the upper floors currently have their own access to enter and on each side so their their doors
if you're looking at the front of the property there's three doors so each of the upper floor
apartment has their own entry door and then ultimately if this was to be converted the
first floor into a third unit they also have their own entry into the space the basement
which is shown here would be for utility and storage that was previously a space that was
specifically applied to the first floor when it was a commercial unit the revised proposal will
have that maintained the same way it would still be accessed only by the first floor
So at this point, we have met with the community and spoke with the community and its neighbors.
As you can see, again, I just want to point out the similar situated properties on both sides were also CMX2, but are now fully residential.
We met with the community, and at the meeting, we did not receive any negative feedback.
They said they would discuss and provide a letter.
However, we have not received that letter as of today.
And ultimately, my client's position is that it's been very difficult to operate this particular space as a commercial space.
With the experience of the last use of church, she feels that the residential use would make the most sense for this property.
And that is why we're requesting the board's favorable review of this matter.
Thank you.
You bring your client on?
um let me see if we can um she should be here with us um okay yeah miss young can
you raise your hand and be identified
i'm promoting her now okay thank you thank you
she has declined the promotion that's the wait a minute dick she might have came in
she might have clicked the wrong button okay i'm trying again
she's rejoining now
She's rejoining now.
good morning
miss lynn you're allowed to speak
unmute yourself please
hi could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer yeah my name l-i-n-j-u-n-j-i-a-n-g
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yeah counsel thank you uh miss john did you hear my representation and see my presentation on your
screen yes and can you verify what i have represented to the zoning board to be true
and correct and adopt it and adopt my testimony as your own
i'm sorry do you verify what i have said is true and accept it as your own testimony
yes thank you questions from the board
my question is uh is there any uh rear access for that first unit uh rear access no i mean rear
exit there's no other exit uh no there's only the front uh because the property actually runs
on the rear side to the property line okay it goes to the property line yeah there's no that
was my next question um so is there any uh plan for trash um so they their lot does have um this
area here is actually kind of a side space that is part of their lot that's not covered by the
building um i can verify with my client if that's where the trash uh was stored prior to take out
a lot of times uh before the commercial space had their trash in the um they have belco doors
also outside that are existing so they had a different setup but i can find out more clearly
what the ups upper floors were doing with the trash okay and so the uh only windows um would
be the front the windows in the front that's correct so actually i'm sorry there is one window
here um show on the plants you show you show three windows on that side yeah they're actually small
window here and two larger windows here because the backs of the property itself is a open passage
it's not a it's not another building other questions no just i just have a comment but
you know i don't have a problem with anything it's interesting that the first floor is such
gracious one for one unit apartment if laid out better it could actually yield you two units i
would think um but you don't have any closet in the in the um in the bedroom so it's a weird
shaped bedroom other than that i don't have any problem with the the concept of doing a
unit on the first floor questions or comments from our attorney
no questions questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands cleaning commission thank you chairman and good morning david vector with the
city planning commission chairman board members the comprehensive plan recommends a change in
zoning at this location from cmx to commercial mixed use to rm1 residential multi multi-family
this neighborhood still carries its original 1933 zoning this appellant requests to convert
vacant ground floor commercial space to a dwelling unit this proposal matches the character of other
formerly commercial property on this block face the city planning commission recommends the board
grant their proposed variances mi2026-002-494-6410-14 west drada and i vote yes michael johns
my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes diana my vote is yes
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes.
Zen, please stay on.
Thank you, sir.
MI 2026-002-520-3698 Kensington Avenue.
Zen, just for the record, state your name.
Zen, Zen, Z-H-E-N-J-I-N.
Could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
Yes, my client, my apologies.
Uh, my client is, uh, with us is, uh, Giordano, uh, Gomez, uh, tenant of this property.
okay and our vice chair has a few questions for you good morning have you submitted your
And our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good morning.
documents and exhibits for this case 14 days in advance of the hearing i did and do you waive the
reading of your refusals and stipulate to their accuracy i do uh just for the board's information
a letter in support was received by my office this morning i can share it with the board
and i believe we will be making that submission as well thank you
thank you I'm going to share with the board the previously submitted but updated exhibit
can the board see my exhibit on their screen we can great thank you uh so this is an application
for 3698 Kensington Avenue uh this is a proposal for use of this particular location as a
personal vehicle sales and rental, and as well as personal vehicle repair accessory to that
sales of vehicles. It is in a CMX2 zone district, which normally prohibits this kind of uses.
This property received this morning a letter of support from Harrogate Civic Association. We
met with the civic and the neighbors regarding this property, and the primary reason we received
no opposition is because of the history of the property and its prior uses. This has been a
kind of an auto sales or mechanics lot as far as the historical records can going back and see.
And even most recently, it was used as kind of an auto sales lot with accessory repairs
before it was left vacant for some time and subsequently my client took over and requested
the current zoning because of its location being on this triangular corner where along this part
of kansas 10 avenue there are quite a few other similar uses there is a sales lot right across
the street there are mechanic shop and sales lots further up and down the block the neighborhood
feels that this has been the use and is consistent to of uses of the neighboring properties and would
not cause an issue for the neighborhood which is why we ultimately receive support we do have plans
to update uh the building which is already started and it existed in a in the pretty
much this condition but it's being refurbished the property will contain two bays and we want
to show those photos it's a better way to see how the interior is laid out so that it has its own
lot and the lot has uh existing curb cuts and is fenced in the building itself also exists with an
office that's already in place along with two bays so the may uh the maintenance and repair aspect
that is being proposed is going to be mostly limited to the two bays at most by appointment
only primarily this mechanic bay here would be used really to refurbish vehicles that my clients
will be getting to sell and then the secondary bay they would like to have it available for
customers either for warranty repairs or if local customers or other customers are interested in
getting simple mechanical work such as oil change break jobs they don't want to keep any work
overnight so it will be limited to smaller projects such as oil change and things that
can be done quickly within an hour or two. And again, it will be organized by appointments so
that they will not have overflow of vehicles onto the street. Fortunately, we have not gotten any
feedback from the neighborhood when we went to the meeting about problems with cars parking
over the sidewalk. And because my client also, their three brothers, even though one of the
brothers here with us today. The three brothers will help manage the property and work on the
cars and handle the sales. They also have their father's shop not far away on Glenwood Avenue,
not shop, I'm sorry, his business, which is a body shop, and they have a very large lot.
So that was part of the discussion with the neighborhood that if they had purchased vehicles
and somehow have overflow,
they would make sure that it would stay
on their father's lot pending sales.
Primarily, the business is sales.
It's gonna be mostly focused on selling vehicles
and the repair is the accessory aspect of the business.
And the repair is the accessory aspect of the business.
So the neighborhood, again, because of the prior history of the use of this lot and the existing neighboring conditions, they supported us in this particular application.
So we're asking the board's favorable review of our request to use this as a vehicle sales lot with accessory mechanical services.
My client should be here to verify my testimony as well.
what's your client's name uh it's uh should be giordano that's with us today okay
uh giordano can you raise your hand virtually to be identified they have been promoted
good afternoon everyone can you hear me yes i can could you please state and spell your name
for this stenographer sir yes my name is jordano gomez is that j-o-r-d-a-n-o last name gomez g-o-m-e-z
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do counsel thank you uh mr gomez did you see my presentation to the board and hear my testimony
before the board yes can you verify what i have represented to the board to be true and correct
and adopt it as your own testimony i do thank you uh chair and members of the board i also have here
with me the uh the letter uh as a separate uh document i can share with the board real quick