and there was no egress well
there was no egress well he took that out
I don't think you can do that without
an egress well but okay
so no basement living
other questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney
Hillary Emerson
not at this time Mr. Chair
questions or comments from the audience
questions or comments from the virtual audience
and we're going to wait one minute for our planning to come back they should be right back
Mr. Chair there was a hand up but now it is going down again
thank you planning commission please
thank you chair bergman and good morning david vecta with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential
single-family zoning at this location this property has a documented history as a multi-family
dwelling and the board has previously granted variances for two or three units on adjacent
properties. Many of the homes on this block face were built as duplexes or triplexes prior to the
adoption of the original 1933 zoning code. This proposal matches the character of the block face
and will not impair the use of adjacent properties. The City Planning Commission recommends the board
grant a proposed use variance for two dwelling units. Thank you. MI 2023 002 401 1941 North 32nd
Street, I vote yes, with proviso. Maximum two dwelling units.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tywin, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
I would really love to add another proviso that you buy the property next door
and do another building that matches the historic front but i know we have a question could we add
a proviso for a ceo oh well i think that's a requirement yeah yeah thank you so number four
mi 2023 003 996 5400 valley avenue pasquale calavita is the attorney there's a letter of
Support from Frankfort Neighbors Advisory Committee.
I'll be rejoining as a panel shortly, Mr. Chair.
Good morning.
Good morning, counsel.
Could you please turn to your video one?
Counsel, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Of course, Pasquale, P-A-S-Q-U-A-L-E, C-O-L-A.
Pascual Polavita, P-A-S-Q-U-A-L-E-C-O-L-A-V-I-T-A, representing Sarah Shaheen, owner of 5400 Valley Street.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed to perceive it as case
five days in advance of this hearing i have thank you counsel uh please proceed and share your screen
thank you
try to do as quickly as possible 5400 valley street sarah shaheen owner and attached are all of these
different documents. In lieu of going through each and every one, what I've done is I've
noted, I'm going to go through the more difficult portion of it out of order. I'm going to go to
seven and eight, exhibit seven and eight, showing that this is just an application for
a legalization of a pre-existing use to family dwelling, showing that in the zoning archives,
This was two units as far back as at least April 23rd of 1980.
The archives show it and their neighborhood properties with similar use.
And they're all more or less corner properties similar to that of 5400 Valley Street.
As you can see and read, 5401 through exhibits 8A through 8I.
Do you want me to go through each and every one, or can we, Mark, move the exhibits that I've already forwarded to the board showing that each of these properties are multifamily dwellings?
That's fine. Mark it. We won't accept it.
Perfect. So as you can see, Ms. Shaheen purchased this property on July 25th of 2022, believing that she's purchasing a two family dwelling based on her view of the property itself, as well as other information that I have at exhibit nine.
I'm going to go quickly to, again, out of order, but go to Exhibit 9, showing that when she had this MLS report, it indicated that it's multifamily as far back as, I've scrolled down here, I believe that this one is, let's see, 2010, that it was multifamily all the way back to 2010.
But when she purchased it again in that year, it also still indicated it was a duplex.
So let's get back to the refusal showing this is an RSA 5 district.
The appeal was filed by Ms. Shaheen.
She met with the community group, struggled there, hired me.
I met with the community group and as indicated in the beginning of the hearing.
they sent a letter of support.
I've provided them with all of the exhibits that are here.
She posted it as required in the applicable time.
That's at Exhibit 10.
Just to show you exhibits, I'm sorry.
She had her tax certificate,
which was valid to 2024.
And now just to show you that her real estate taxes have been paid up to date.
They're not due until 331 of this year.
Show you the.
The architectural plans that were not required to be submitted to the for the application,
but what she she provided to give an understanding of it there are two kitchens two um bathrooms
this property is one and let's get the photographs to just to show you what it looks like so that way
because you better understand it's a corner property that is raised on um that is above
ground including the i'll call it the ground floor what we typically think of is the basement is
above ground. And this is as recent as August of 2024. Clean property, multiple and okay,
Multiple, and okay, in addition to the two kitchens, two bathrooms, the bedrooms, the separated units, et cetera, the utilities are also separated.
in addition to the two kitchens to
Gas, electric are separated.
As you can see in the back, you can notice that the meter is there for each of those.
and goes back to, I was able to pull off of the 2015 showing, I'll get to that again.
By the way, that 2015 one was for approval of the fence, just in case you were wondering why it was there.
And again, in the back, in the rear, you can see the two separate knitters.
It's always been used. It's never been a banded use, the multifamily.
and we'll go through the interior entrance to the second floor unit from the first floor.
There are multiple mailboxes plus a house box for the owner's mail.
So this is the front door entrance, and you can get into the first floor to the left, as you can see,
and then the entrance to the second floor is right up the stairs.
Again, something one of their three, I don't probably see three gas meters, but it's only a two family dwelling.
One of them does not work. But what you'll see are two hot water tanks for each of them.
And these are two electrical meters.
And these are for each floor.
there are no it's not three bathrooms there are no three kitchens so it's only a two family
dwelling here and again i'm not going to go through each and every one since i've already
presented those and i'm trying to see the only other thing that i would if if you're interested
in seeing where these properties are located but but basically i'm going to represent it
The properties that I've shown that are multifamily in nature are basically in the same situation within a block or two of this property, all corner properties.
And with that, I just ask that you approve this variance for a multifamily dwelling, a legalization of a pre-existing use that from the very least has been since 1980, as you can see on Exhibit 8.
g which is uh 5400 valley street council why don't you bring your client on and have your testimony
adopted absolutely it's uh sarah shaheen
they have been allowed to speak hi this is sarah hi sarah could you turn your video on please
oh sure
I'm sorry Mr. Chair I've just promoted them to panelists
they will be rejoining shortly so that video can be enabled
could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer
sarah s-a-r-a-h shaheen s-h-a-h-e-e-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed counsel good morning miss shaheen do you have
an opportunity to hear my testimony this morning yes i did do you agree to the accuracy of it
and truthfulness yes i do if you were to testify would you adopt it as your own yes i would
okay questions from the board yes can you um go back to the photos of these are two
two-bedroom units is that correct
one bedroom each okay they're one bedroom because the land i thought showed two bedrooms but
i think the other one may be well i can show you the photos both one-bedroom units they
they probably work out pretty decently but two bedroom units i was really going to have a problem
with no thank you for that clarification because it looked like it showed as a one bedroom unit
but i thought the plan showed too other questions one bedroom units and and you're testifying to
that then that's that's a living room when the kitchen is right to the right correct okay correct
yep that's correct okay that's that's good that's that's and the both units are like that
correct correct they're the same yes yep that's all questions for the board
correct they're the same yes yep that's all questions for the board
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr questions or comments from the audience questions or comments from the
virtual audience no hands mr chair planning commission
thank you chair bergman and good morning david vecta with the city planning commission
chairmen and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential
single-family zoning at this location this property has a documented history as two dwelling units
dating to at least 1980 the city planning commission recommends the board grant their
proposed use variants for two dwelling units thank you mi2023 003 996 5400 valley street
I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Chair, I'm going to recommend a five-minute break for staff and board members.
Thank you.
Number one, MI 2022-004-563-2005-07, East Sargent Street.
Renania Major is the attorney.
There's a recommendation of support from the East Kensington Neighbors Association.
Vote was nine in support, one opposed.
They will be coming in as a panelist shortly, sir.
Good morning. Can you see me?
I can counsel. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Certainly. Rania, R-A-N-I-A, Major Esquire on behalf of the applicant.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your clients, please?
Yes. They're 2005-2007 East Sargent Street. The owner's name is John Santiago.
Okay. Thank you. Our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good morning, Counselor. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed with this case?
Five minutes in advance of this hearing.
Thank you.
Proceed and share your screen.
Okay. Let me. So, let's see how this works. Entire screen.
okay um first of all here's the application and the reason i wanted to bring it to the board's
attention previously this had been an aluminum products um building where they were manufacturing
or actually assembling aluminum products my client wishes to use this solely as a
garage to work on his own seven vehicles we have been approved by the rco we have um the support
of councilman squilla and the this is showing you in part the postings
it's an actual set up as an actual garage his tax payments are all current
and one of the exhibits that we sent you are seven car titles he has seven of his own cars
those are the only cars that he would be working on in the facility um what actually happened was
because he has so many cars um of his own one of the neighbors had made a complaint because he had
some, I guess, parked outside. It buttresses on an alleyway behind the buildings. This is the deed.
This is another tax payment receipt. He's totally up to date. This was the one from last year to
show that it's been completed. I don't know what else you would like. It's right underneath. Let
Let me see. There's an inside picture for you.
And these were the floor plans that were drawn up by the architect.
I don't know if anybody has any questions.
Why don't you bring him on and adopt your testimony?
He speaks Spanish.
Okay. But you did speak to him and you understand it?
speak to him and you understand it yes all right so uh as an officer the court will accept your
All right. So as an officer,
to the
testimony thank you are you saying that there's going to be no commercial work done here at all
it's just his own that's correct it's his own personal hero right mr chairman from the board
yeah is there is there room in there for the you said seven cars yes
yeah right here you can see there are already five of them and that he doesn't have the other
two in there right now again it used to be an assembly building um where they actually
assembled steel parts of some type back in the day so he it's it this is just personal