parking use maintenance, is he going to do any kind of body or fender work or painting
of these vehicles? Is that part of what?
Whatever his cars require, I would assume would be done there. I can't, you know, I can't say
that he's not going to do any painting or body work to them. If one of them gets hit,
i'm sure he'll do it himself okay but that will require some other kinds of approvals but okay
but yeah i don't the main use would be personal upkeep maintenance it's really mechanical his own
vehicles yes but again i i don't want to say that he's never going to fix a fender bender if he has
one um but i don't think that's that's not the intent or the purpose okay thank you
other questions for the board all of these cars are specifically for personal use and they're
not being used for any commercial activities that's correct and and you have again here
i'll show you if you want me to go slower so that you can see them all
there we go so here's the first one this one is for a 1977 dodge he collects cars it's a 1977 dodge
this one's a 2010 infinity
The next one for the record is Nissan 2004.
The next one, Miriam Sabazco, for the record is spelled S-E-B-A-Z-C-O, that's his wife.
It's a 2008 Toyota.
the next one also titled in Miriam's name is a 2012 Subaru
the next one going back to his titled in his name is a 1980 Mazda
the next title in his name and his son his son is Jonathan spelled J-O-N-A-T-H-A-N Miguel
and John Santiago, which is my client, is a 2014
Nissan, and that's it. Those are all seven.
Other questions? Questions from our attorney,
Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair. Questions from the audience?
Questions from the virtual audience?
I do not see any hands, Mr. Chair.
planning commission thank you chairman apologize hold on
thank you chairman and good more good morning david effecto with the city planning commission
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential single-family zoning at this
location the long-standing structure on the site prevents the property from being used in strict
conformity with the zoning code however vehicle repair and maintenance is not compatible with the
primarily residential block base and we also want to note for the board that according to the code
there's nothing limiting personal vehicle repair and maintenance to only repair and maintenance
of the owner's vehicles so the city planning commission recommends the board deny their
proposed use variance for personal vehicle repair and maintenance okay thank you um
MI-2022-004-563-2005-07, Sargent Street, I vote no.
Michael Johns, my vote is no.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is no.
Snedagran, my vote is no.
ION, my vote is no.
Shmuel Shaheed, my vote is no.
Thank you, counsel.
Again, may I just be heard, because this was not zoned residential.
It's not currently a residential zoning.
It's not currently a residential zoning.
Again, if you look back at.
Again, if you look back at the actual-
Council, we voted and we're going to move on.
Thank you.
Thank you.
May I be excused?
You can.
Number nine, number six, I'm sorry.
MI 2023-006-399-5044 Westminster.
Zen Jin is the attorney.
Lovely coming back in as a panelist, sir.
fourth ward democratic rco good morning good morning counsel could you please state your
name and spell for the stenographer yes my name is zen jin z h e n last name j i n do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do could you identify
your client and the relationship to this property? Yes, my client
is Mr. Umani. He is the owner of the property.
Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions, sir. Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to
weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy? I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed to proceed
with this case five days in advance of this hearing? I have.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen. Thank you.
I'm going to share with the board the documents previously submitted.
Can the board see my exhibit on their screen?
Thank you.
So we submitted this application.
The refusal for the application is based upon the zoning district being RSA 5.
What this application is, is an application to use the proposed structure for personal vehicle repair and maintenance.
While it is zoned in an RSA 5 location, I want to point out a note, even in the refusal, that this property and this particular building, which is commercial in nature, has been used as a warehouse storage of hearses and limousines from a long time ago.
And in fact, before that, if we look at the history of the building, it actually was a manufacturing site prior to the storage use.
We met with the 44 Ward Democratic RCO.
They do understand the uniqueness of this property, which gives rise to the request that we want to use it, not as a single family residence.
Because of the history and the uniqueness, they are willing to support us in our application with the stipulation, of course, that we get a three-year temporary permit and that we will not keep the vehicles outside of the auto shop areas into the surrounding area at night.
Looking at the map of the property, I'm going to move to the photos and the overhead map, which I think better shows the uniqueness of the property.
this shaded area. I'm going to zoom in a little bit for the board's benefit
so it's easier to see. This shaded area here is the lot that we're talking about that's in
question. While we are part of what is a RSA5 surrounding area, this lot, one, it's a uniquely
shaped lot, but it actually is connected out to the street and sits in the center and faces the
back of pretty much all the properties surrounding it. Here you see how you would get into the lot.
It's actually a wide driveway that leads in. There are parking spaces, a parking lot, and then
we're talking about the actual building itself. So this is the entry area, and this is the
existing building. So the building, as you can see, is an industrial-style one-story building.
My client's proposal, of course, is to renovate the building on the exterior, fix it up, make
it look nice, clean up the lot, repave it if necessary, but refreshing the property,
not rebuilding the property.
The property interior, even as it exists now, contained the hearse storage and they did
maintenance on their hearses inside.
So there were, in fact, lifts already in there, and there's an office that was in the corner.
This is essentially going to be kept.
There's no need for us to do extensive changes to this structure.
I do want to point out part of the reason my client wants to use this space is because he has an existing auto mechanic shop that is actually under a lease.
And the lease is going to expire soon. Rather than having to continue to lease the space, which is only a few blocks away, he'd rather make use of the space that he actually owns and try to get the shop in a space that would no longer require lease.
and try to get the shop in a space that would no longer require lease,
and he can maintain and control more directly.
Here's more of the interior photos.
As we look at the design itself from the outside plan standpoint,
this is how the layout of the lot would break down
if we were to look at a completed design.
And here's the existing building.
again with the access here. There are parking spaces that are already existing. They're not
marked out on the actual lot, but they would be once the renovations are complete. The
rendering here shows kind of the conceptual how you may look once it's complete. There'll be more
lifts installed to allow more base inside. The space inside is large enough that vehicles can
actually come in park turn around and then be pulled out so it's a large space uh all the work
will be contained within the space we're not looking to do any work outside of the space
the mechanic shop is exactly that it's a mechanic shop um waste oil is picked up by a reliable waste
company uh so they're they're specialized in picking up waste oil there is a tire service
that my client uses. If a client requires a tire change, the service actually brings new tire
and takes out the old tire at the same time. So no tires will be stored on the property or within
the property at any time. So this is the kind of a rendering of what the parking area may look like.
And again, once the building is resurfaced, it's going to be named East Coast Auto Depot.
When we present it to the community, naturally, because of its unique location, the community did have some concerns.
And that's why they wanted to give it a test run for three years rather than an outright permanent use.
And my client certainly is confident that he will make the community happy and keep them happy, even though his business will be there.
To minimize sound impacts, we do want to point out that the building itself, when the vehicles are inside being worked on,
it's almost once the doors are closed, you will not really hear much, if any, sound coming out of
the structure itself. So with all that, we're asking for the board's favorable review of this
application. And again, we want to point out that this property does have a unique physical
location and history that gives rise to a hardship in this particular case. Thank you. I'll be happy
to put my client
on to verify my testimony.
Council, why don't you bring your client on?
Sure. Mr. Imani, can you
raise your hand virtually
by tapping the raise hand feature
at the bottom of the screen?
Okay. They have been
promoted to panelists.
Thank you.
Please
unmute so you can answer the board's questions.
are you uh there mr good morning good morning ladies and gentlemen
oh thank you very much could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yes uh hisham imani first name h-i-c-h-a-m last name imani i-m-a-n-i
Do you swear on the firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Mr. Imani, can you verify that you heard my testimony and saw my presentation before the zoning board?
Yes, I did.
Can you also verify that what I have represented and shown is true and correct and adopted as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
Yes, I have a few questions.
One, do you know how many of the existing windows on the property are operable?
Mr. Imani, are the windows operable that's currently on the building?
It's a warehouse style windows.
OK, they're like square with a mesh metal inside the glass.
They're pretty large windows.
And yes, they're all in good condition.
But are any of them operable?
like can you open do any of them have the pieces you can open it to allow air into the building
no they are not they're not designed like that okay and then my second question is about the
the heating ventilation and cooling um can you talk about what the existing system is and do
you have any plans to upgrade the system the the the office part of it does have
heating and air conditioning
uh heating and air conditioning uh it's a wall unit uh the the the warehouse part or the garage
it's a wall unit
part have uh a used oil furnace it's a furnace that uh that the the shops use to uh that to use
that is used by the waste oil from the car no no cooling in in in in the building yes just in the
office what is your plan for the summer months when you have people working in the building on
the vehicles well my plan is to add um add air conditioning we're actually talking to a company
called quality air they're the one that's going to be handling that for us they came they measured
I did not get the proposal for the AC.
The reason I did not, they said,
you just give them a little bit of time
because they're plumbing, heating, and air conditioning unit.
And in the winter, they're very busy with the heatings.
So that's the company that's going to be here.
I'm waiting for the proposal from them,
and we're going to move forward with that.
I just want to point out that it looks like
from the RCO support letter,
there seems to be a concern about like physical like physical vehicles being on the street and
because it's rsa5 zoning district which is mostly single family residential and like no noise is
gonna always be an issue and that as much as you all can keep those doors and windows at the
perimeter of the property sealed and closed that will help mitigate a lot of that sound transfer
and any fumes or noise all the questions from the board yeah just i'll just make a a quick comment
I'm very familiar with this particular property.
I've known it forever, as long as I've been alive.
It's always been a livery.
What's that, about 25 years?
About 25 years, just 25 years.
It was always a very quiet place.
So if this owner plans to keep it the same way, I think the community, you know, that's why they probably didn't have any opposition,
because it's always been a decent
place. It sits
behind the houses so you don't
even see it. The only thing you see is the driveway
and so long as you keep the
cars out of that driveway
at the end of the day, I think
it's a good, no problem.