The exhibit list includes a refusal, an application for appeal, project information form.
would you bring that back up or have it there's nothing on the screen but that's unfortunate
let me see here there you go
it includes a refusal application for appeal project project information form deed authorization
letter tax certification plans poster photographs photos front and stairwell photos basement photos
first floor photos third floor photos the second floor and prove that we sent notices to the rco
and we did have an rco meeting exhibit a shows the refusal
this was refused because the lot area was too small we also have three units
we also have three units three residential units and one commercial unit
three residential units and one commercial unit
this is actually we're seeking to legalize an existing use the three apartments are already
in the building as well as the commercial first floor unit
this was the application appeal which was filed pro se by cindy real estate llc earlier
The copy of the letter of authorization, the deed,
this is the tax clearance showing that all taxes have been paid
these are the plans that were submitted to uh lni they showed the the existing uh footprint of the
property is a one first floor is a commercial unit which i believe at this time is vacant
This property runs along the L up in the Kensington neighborhood.
The second floor has two apartments, one apartment in the front, one apartment in the rear, and a third-story apartment.
Shows that the posting of today's zoning meeting was on the front of the property.
Here's the poster, here's the mailbox, and here's a close-up of the poster.
These are photographs of the property.
This is the front of the property.
This is the front stairwell.
There's two apartments on the second floor?
Yes, Commissioner.
Show us the entrance to that, please.
The front entrance or?
Yeah, the apartment entrance is on the second floor.
there's right there's one there that's the third floor i think that's the third floor entrance
second floor entrance okay
here's the basement
And here's pictures of the first floor unit.
that's the commercial space right that's the commercial space commission
this is the rear of the property obviously the rear of the property is uh too small for the
proposed use but this was you know this was almost a pre-existing condition the house has
been around probably before the code and it's probably structurally impossible for it to be
build back any further also the the backyard conforms with the existing use of that neighborhood
and these are the pictures of the third floor residential unit it's a very nice unit
i think that's the l right there
these are the one of the second floor residential apartments
and this is the second floor rear apartment
this is the documentation showing that we had the rco meeting
and these are commercial licenses and rental licenses
so again the client bought this property a sheriff sale they believe that it was allowed
to have three residential units three residential units i think conforms with that neighborhood
the property has enough square feet for the additional units on the second and third floor
and we believe that the there's a unnecessary hardship on the client to not be able to have
three residential units and one commercial unit in this neighborhood.
Mr. Teller, were you at the meeting with the CDC?
I was.
And do you know what the vote was?
I don't know what the vote was.
I don't believe they're going to support this application.
That's a verbal.
So it's my representation to the ZBA.
i actually was expecting um a letter a writing okay all right um mr chair this is hillary um
we just we just received uh the the council office um uh council member lazada just sent over
um the letter excuse me one second uh the vote was um in opposition um and then the council
member is
also taking a position of
opposition.
I can forward that to Mr. Taylor
as well, but we just received that.
Thank you.
You want to have your testimony
adopted, Mr. Taylor?
Ms. Jen,
are you present?
Susan?
Ms. Jen,
If you're in the audience, can you raise your virtual hand?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Thank you.
You're an officer of the court.
We will accept your testimony.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Sloan Foulkes. Mr. Foulkes, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Good morning, Mr. Foulkes.
Good morning, Chairman Bergman and ZBA Board. My name is Sloan Foulkes. I'm representing the Office of Council Member Ketsy M. Lozada. Spelling of my name is S-L-O-A-N-E, F-S in fire, O-L-K-S.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, sir. Thank you. Proceed, please. Yeah. First, I would like to apologize to the ZBA as well as Mr. Taylor. We didn't receive the letter from the RCO until late. And I thought that it would have been actually late Monday. I thought it would have been sent out Monday evening or Tuesday, but it hadn't at all.
So I did send Mr. Taylor a copy. If you check his email, you'll have a copy of the RCO letter as well as our letter. I want to read some things into the record.
The applicant has met with the RCO and has garnered a letter of opposition with the community's rationale as the following.
The applicant took out a make-safe permit to make the property safe.
However, the applicant has completed other work outside the realm of the permit, including electrical, plumbing, and structural.
They did not, at the meeting, show proof of permits being obtained for this work.
And finally, the interior walls were sealed without licensing and inspection reviewing the property upon completion.
This is the rationale of the RCO as to why they're opposing the various requests.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask me. Thank you.
Chairman, if I may make a quick response, a quick rebuttal.
First, thank you, Mr. Folks. Thank you. Proceed, counsel.
Well, again, I'm unable to comment on the prior construction work that was done at the property.
However, I will make the argument that this is an issue regarding the use of the property.
And if there was any code violation issues, if any, then that should be addressed in a separate legal proceeding by L&I.
I believe I'm arguing that it's really not relevant whether or not there could have been a code violation.
I'm arguing that this is really a question of zoning.
Okay, that's fine.
I rest.
Thank you, Mr. Taylor.
Anyone else from the virtual audience?
here we have miss tam with her hand up again no no thank you okay all right anyone else in the
Here we have Ms. Tam with.
virtual audience relative to this case i see no other hands chair planning commission thank you
chair bergman good morning david vecto with the city planning commission in 2014 the zoning map
was amended in this neighborhood in accord with the recommendations of the comprehensive plan
The proposed use matches a recorded use permit from 2017.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the variance.
I, 2021, 003-847-4911 Frankfurt Avenue.
I vote no.
Thomas Holloman.
My vote.
Thomas, let's go again, what was your vote?
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Thomas, what was your vote?
Thomas
My vote is yes
Thank you
Mr. Taylor
Three no's and one yes
Thank you
Number 10
MI 2021
003 722
Westmoreland Street
Vern Anastasio
is the attorney. Letter of support for the Allegheny West Civic Association.
Good morning, counsel.
He's coming back in as a panelist now, Chair. Thank you.
Good morning again, Mr. Chair. You've already been sworn. Just state your name for the record,
please? Sure. Vern Anastasio. And could you identify your client and the relationship to
this property, please? Yep. I represent Credence Home Care, LLC. Okay. And our vice chair has just
a few questions for you, sir. Thank you. Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to
the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do.
have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits to proceed with this case five days in
advance of this hearing i have please proceed and change thank you i am sharing my screen right now
1901 west westmoreland um mr chair members of the board what we are proposing on the ground level
will be adult daycare with administrative offices, a loading zone in the front. I'm
Westmoreland. And then also residents for independent living, senior citizens, 99 units.
We have a green roof that we'll walk you through in addition to other items. The refusal is
actually pretty standard. It is zoned I-1, whereas in this case, the refusal calls this
group living, and we are going to tweak that in the event that this board grants the variance.
Attorney Emerson will advise you on that, but it is for multifamily units, 99 of them.
it'll be geared towards senior citizens.
Our height is in excess of what is permitted
and the dimensional standards for parking spaces
because of the unique shape of the lot itself,
the width of our spots are about eight and a half feet each.
Whereas for age restricted folks of,
I think it's 60 years of age or older,
they should be 10 feet wide.
We were trying to get as many off-street parking spots
as we could in the parking lot.
And therefore we brought it down to a size
that still meets basic standards.
Many garages are no more than eight feet wide.
So with that, I will share with you
the rest of the proposal.
Page 2 is the revised proviso plans. We've gone through two meetings with RCOs, a personal
page two is the proviso revised provide
meeting with leadership of RCOs, and then of course the full spectrum of CDR review,
at least two meetings with CDR, and we've come up with a plan that works for everybody,
is a commodity and a neighborhood that has experienced lots of disinvestment for a long time
and producing a product that is desperately needed for folks who live in the neighborhood
in homes that are in desperate need of repair. They can't afford to repair them.
And this is a way to keep them in the community that they've been in for a long time.
I'll zoom in a little bit here.
I'll give you a general idea. Here are the 18 parking spaces. We have trash room.
Okay, one minute. And then
we have the adult activity space. We have offices. We'll have a kitchen and we'll have personal
lockers as well. And there's a residence entrance on the opposite side. And then we have residents
that go above the uh the actual parking spaces
and give me um
as you can see here there are studios one and two bedrooms there's an interior courtyard and a lounge
there's additional apartments on the third floor also there's
here's the third floor rear
here. You've got your floors five through seven. Again, all residential. This is your
typical type C unit, which is a studio, just under 500 square feet. As you can see, it's
all sort of open layout. We have your typical one bedroom, about 560 square feet.
and then we have a different type of one bedroom that is a little larger, about 648 square feet.
So they are the types of units. I am going to be bringing in the architect who can share with you
additional details in our exhibit packet that I'll move into evidence. We also spent a lot
of time talking about different materials that we'll be using a mixture of brick and stone some
metal siding some patina green window trim we've got roof gardens and some terracotta
force materials for water runoff this is the property from the opposite angle
As you can see, plenty of greening, and then additional green roof.
There's an elevation.
We have some photos of the proposed location.
The other corners, this is a corner property.
the other three corners are also zoned industrial. Obviously, it's an antiquated use.
It's on a corner property. It's primed for multifamily development since there are no
industrial uses presenting themselves these days. As I explained, the unique shape sort of limits
the number of off-street parking, but making the stalls each eight and a half feet do provide us
with 18 spots. And then offering these smaller units that will be, you know, innately affordable