whatever the port the porch area will be converted into an office space
other questions
questions from our attorney no questions at this time mr chairman comments from the virtual audience
i see noise any commission
thank you chairman and good afternoon david effecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA 5 residential
single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2019 in
accord with recommendations in the comprehensive plan the appellant has shown that the proposed
personal care home will have no detrimental impacts beyond what might reasonably be expected
the city planning commission recommends the board uh grant the proposed special exception thank you
MI 2026-002-513-5851 Warrington Avenue.
I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Hiya Lynn, my vote is yes.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
You have your votes.
Thank you so much.
You have a great day.
Oh, you too.
Thanks.
Number 15, MI 2026-002-595-2153 North A Street.
Meredith Verliger is the attorney.
Mr. Chairman, would you mind actually calling 16 first?
He is sitting in the room and my other client's on his way.
Is it okay if we switch them?
Well, you know, Ian gets mad at me when I do this.
I know.
I'm so sorry, Ian.
Maybe Ian won't hear me doing this.
Just this once.
Just this once.
MI 2026-002-652-5821, Wayne Avedu.
Meredith Ferliger is the attorney.
There's a letter of support here from the 59th Democratic, am I correct?
Yeah, just received last night.
Would you please state and spell your name for this talk?
Meredith Ferliger, F-E-R-L-E-G-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, yes.
Do you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Serge Maslanikov, who is the owner of this property, and he's sitting to my left.
And our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did.
And do you wait with the reading of your refusals as you play to their accuracy?
Yes, I do.
All right, thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with the case.
there we go all right uh Mr Chairman members of the board uh this request before you today
there we go all right
concerns one commercial property in Germantown located at 5821 Wayne Avenue as the board should
see today this is a quintessential hardship case that seeks one-dimensional variance that
is necessitated by the 524 square foot lot that's before you today let me move this over
let me first orient you to the location of the property uh and administratively speaking the
the deed is at exhibit two showing my client purchases at sheriff sale and as is very common
in with sheriff sale purchases uh the revenue department has not yet updated its tax balance
website uh so i believe this is going to be here and hold so that board council can confirm that
the sheriff's office is working through that uh so you can see here uh at exhibit nine some aerials
uh the property sits just on wayne avenue just east of west rittenhouse street uh let me actually
scroll past this first one and go to the next one so you can see the current condition
as you can see here 5821 wayne avenue is surrounded by other commercial and mixed-use
properties the property previously and i'll scroll back up completed a uniform row of four similarly
sized buildings between 58 15 and 21 Wayne Avenue which all visually appear as though they sit in
the parking lot of the adjoining car wash so you can see this first aerial is from 2015 before the
structure was demolished by the city prior to my client acquiring it and then again if you move
INTO THE CURRENT VIEWS OF THE PROPERTY HERE, YOU CAN SEE THAT THE PROPERTY IS NOW VACANT AND
QUITE ODDLY SITUATED JUST IN TERMS OF ITS RELATION TO THE SURROUNDING PROPERTIES.
LOOKING HERE AT THE ZONING MAP AT EXHIBIT 8, YOU CAN SEE THAT THE VERY SMALL PROPERTY HERE IS
ZONE CMX 2.5, WHICH THE BOARD MAY KNOW IS TYPICALLY SUITED FOR MUCH MORE DENSE DEVELOPMENT.
And then if you look at the photographs here at exhibit 14, you can see the vacant lot that is the subject of today's request. Now, in 2015 or 2016, the city demolished the structure that previously sat on this property.
sarge later purchased it at sheriff sale directly across from this property is a school and then
again just uh looking in the next direction again you can see the three commercial properties that
sit immediately to the right and then in the opposite direction looking towards rittenhouse
street you can see the car wash that surrounds these lots and then again just a couple of
additional views here from written house street uh and from price street looking towards the
property and there is actually a rita's water ice right on this block as well and we did also of
course include photos of the timely posting where again you should be able to see here uh the the
scale of this lot so the proposal here is shown on the site plans at exhibit five showing generally
speaking, the new two-story with mezzanine design. Like its immediate neighbors, the building is
proposed to occupy the entire lot. Now, in terms of the use itself, and I will bring up the floor
plans, the ground floor will contain a commercial space and then be joined by one single family
residence above. So I've included the standard floor plans at Exhibit 6, but I would like to
show you the rendered floor plans that we have here uh that my client was kind enough to prepare
for us so you can see here that at the basement level that is reserved for utilities and storage
for the commercial space and then if we move to the second floor you can see the uh mezzanine
that has one dwelling unit and actually you know what i'm sorry i skipped the first floor so the
first floor here you can see the commercial space with bathroom and
closet there is a separate entrance for the apartment and the commercial space
and then if you move to the second story this is the one residential dwelling
unit that has high ceilings and a bathroom on each floor even though this
And a bathroom on each floor, even though this is essentially a mezzanine design.
is essentially a mezzanine design
So you can see here the two-story living room and bathroom.
And then let me show you some amazing interior renderings that Serge was able to prepare.
So you can really get a sense of what this space will look like.
So this is that essentially two-story dwelling unit with the living room, kitchen on that first floor.
and then you can see that loft above as well which is where the bedroom is and you can see again
really how nicely this space will be laid out despite how small this particular lot is
and again unlike many loft designs which only have a bathroom on one level
this one is fortunately large enough to accommodate the bathroom at each of the levels as well
and then again a rendering so you can see kind of what that loft space will look like
and then we did also include a rendering of the building itself which is designed to blend with
the existing block to the maximum extent that is that is feasible here now although cmx 2.5 would
allow a building height of 55 feet high this is only designed to be around 28 feet high
to create the most consistency possible.
Now, regarding the refusal, you can see at the refusal here
that this received two refusals.
Number one, the proposed development seeks to erect a structure
that occupies 100% of the property's lot area,
and furthermore, it does not have a rear yard.
Now, from the information I've already provided,
you've likely already gleaned why this relief is absolutely necessary.
The applicant here submits to a hardship given both the history of the property and the character of the three other properties located on this very, very unique block.
Historically speaking, and as you saw at the aerial, the prior structure that sat on this lot contained one dwelling unit on the upper floor and a commercial space on the ground floor.
That prior structure also occupied 100% of the property's lot area and did not have a rear yard.
All three of the properties immediately adjacent to this one also have structures that occupy 100% of their lot area and also have zero rear yard.
As such, the proposed footprint of this new structure ensures that it is in harmony with its neighbors and further fits the aesthetics of the block.
like its neighbors this property is extraordinarily small particularly for cmx 2.5 zoning containing
only 524 square feet of lot area now although cmx 2.5 does not have a minimum lot size
just by way of comparison the smallest lot size permitted by other sections of the zoning code
is 700 square feet in the very rare RSA 6 district so this property is small even in
in comparison to standard lot sizes in all other zoning districts thus strict enforcement of the
two-dimensional rules at issue would result in a structure that would quite simply not be suitable
for any form of occupancy only occupying 75 percent of the lot would would equate that to
ground floor space of 383 square feet which doesn't account for walls mechanicals and other
physical improvements further leaving a nine foot rear yard would mean only occupying about 23 feet
of depth finally because of the existence of the active car wash immediately to the rear of this
property the outdoor rear yard would not serve any practical purpose or satisfy any zoning code
intent we submit the proposal will not increase congestion harm neighbors properties or impair
light and air and a more detailed analysis is provided in the memo of law included at exhibit
10 if mr chairman could swear in my client yes could you please state and spell your name for
the stenographer sir hi my name is serge maslinikov s-e-r-g-e-m-a-s-l-e-n-n-i-k-o-e yeah
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but yes i do counsel thank you uh
serge have you heard all of the testimony and evidence that was offered in front of the board
today yes and do you agree that testimony was true and accurate and would you adopt it as if you had
given it yourself yes uh happy to take any questions questions from the board yeah i have a question
looking at this diagram could you tell me where the cars enter the car wash and where they exit
i can't tell the difference it's a great question they enter directly on the left
and exit where the readers okay and go back to that other drawing for me please the the aerial
and exit where the readers okay and go back to that other drawing for me
or the one you just had I think okay so you see how like the house on the far end there's there's
like ballards on the side like I'm just wondering worried about well your property cars crashing
into your property is there any plan like to put ballards on the side of that or that's no longer
your property it's no longer yeah I've been thinking about it I thought maybe we can mount
some kind of steel beam yeah yeah yeah so so the corner is going to be protected i've been thinking
about it yeah okay and and again like if you are entering the business or coming out as a as a
resident you know you don't i don't know the flow of the car wash but yeah you know you just want
to have some safety for pedestrians as they're exiting or entering the building yeah they're
going to be they're going to be using front of the building so they're not going to be yeah but they
have to like cross that street like cross over um if they're walking but no again thank you for
like i was just worried about the side of the building and cars yeah the the obviously
very valid concern the door to the residence is actually on the other side so at least they are
not as close yeah so you can see here so the orientation here is the um car wash would be
essentially to the left of this so the the residents at least they have they have they
have some feet before they walk out and just immediately enter into the car wash uh but yeah
i think that's something that's there my next question is is there any like do you have an
idea what type of commercial business would um honestly it's open open layout so anybody who
needs such a small space because it's what less than 400 square feet so probably an office related
stuff so it's not going to be active like huge business with a lot of flow other questions and
i guess this goes to it's sort of the same question um not only about the business but i mean
having a tenant there that close to a car wash i mean is that so that that the car wash has been
in this location for a long time and that there previously was a commercial space and a residential
tenant here so um you know it is the long-standing condition of the property it is what i mean the
zoning code would require the commercial space um it is extremely unusually oriented um and i think
you know, to Serge's credit is really why he's designed it to be such high quality to ensure that, you know, it really can attract somebody that's looking for, you know, a really, really unique and nicely designed space, so.
And I guess my other question, well, I have two questions. Okay, so I know we're not providing parking, but where would somebody park?
uh I'm expecting it's one bedroom apartment so probably it's going to be only one or two people
living in in in an apartment plus there's plenty of public transportation on Shelton and Wayne so
okay yeah and there is actually street parking in front of the building yeah that if you look there
is a large school across the street so that has sort of the off hours where you know during those
off hours there's you can even see from some of these aerials there's plenty of plenty of parking
here okay and then um i mean and this is just a comment i i like that loft idea we have seen
some others where it's like the tiny houses where it's like a little yeah
love where you have to kind of climb up and there's no there's no yeah you got to climb up a ladder
yeah yeah yeah it's it's an effective use of of space especially when you have such a
a small lot like this one i i totally agree okay all right thank you other questions
questions for our attorney none at this time mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual
audience audience there are no hands planning commission thank you chairman and good afternoon
david effector with the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the cmx 2.5 commercial mixed use zoning at this location the city rezoned
this neighborhood in 2010 and a council requested map change this is an unusually small and shallow
lot the condition of no rear yard and 100 occupied area are common conditions on this block face
the appellant has shown that they would suffer an economic detriment if forced to comply
with the debt with the dimensional requirements in the cmx 2.5 zoning district
city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed dimensional variances
city planning commission recommends that the board grant to propose dimensional variances
okay thank you can we do this in a week
why don't we plan for a week and if there's an issue we can always push it back so we'll look
for next week at um that works thank you thank you very much
number 15 mi 2026 002 595 21 53 north a street um there's a letter of support from apm
um counsel just for the record state your name you've already been sworn
meredith ferliger f-e-r-l-e-g-e-r and can you identify your client in the relationship to the
property i can my client is 2153 north 8th street llc uh which is the owner of the property and
that is represented here today by nathan cohen to my left okay our vice chair has a few questions
good afternoon again um have you submitted your documents and exhibits uh 14 days in advance of