There you go.
How was that?
Oh, shoot.
Real loud.
Go ahead.
Daniel Davis, D-A-N-I-E-L-D-A-V-I-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. Davis, have you sent your documents in?
It should have been sent in.
i was not in charge of sending them in but they should have been sent we we we don't have any
documents okay i do have some of the documents with um no so what what we do is we need all of
them right and um uh let me see here right we would need all of them here's it here's in
yep all right okay
all right so mi2026 0004491233 south 50 a street this case is continued to 8 19 26 at 3 30 p.m
now we go to number four
number four mi 2026 001 551 6841 oxford avenue um jen faria is freya mata is the tenant
pro se
jean mata has been promoted to panelists thank you
hello good afternoon could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
my name is gene ferra mota j-e-a-n-f-e-r-r-e-i-r-a-m-o-t-t-a all right do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I do sir gene our
our vice chair has just a few questions for you of course hi good good
afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in
advance of this hearing yes ma'am okay and I'm gonna summarize why you're here
and you just let me know if you agree so you're here for some deck issues
walkout deck and a roof deck yes ma'am okay trying to legalize it all right and uh your refusal
was of course uh for the location of the deck and um not um not having any setbacks do you agree to
that um yeah yes ma'am okay all right so you can uh start your presentation and tell us what you're
trying to do and why you're here of course um so i'm tenant but the homeowner is my mother you know
So what had happened is it was constructed four years ago and we had a meeting with all the neighbors.
We went through to our CEO meeting and everybody showed immense support and all the neighbors.
To be honest, I mean, this is not I'm very illiterate when it comes to cold and everything.
And I work with cars, you know, I'm a triple A guy.
I do roadside. So it was my mother's dream at the time to have a deck.
And, you know, it's been there for four years.
Unfortunately, my grandma passed and my mother's not here with us.
I do have a power of attorney on her name, giving powers to me and also will and also the lease.
That's why I'm doing it here.
I grew up in this home.
We've been I've been here for 20 years.
You know, just little things in life has been thrown at me.
And I'm trying to do the best I can to be in compliance, to be honest.
Do you have pictures of the deck?
Yes, of course.
sir why don't you take your put your computer up put the pictures on it and then you can show us
and we can start talking okay okay yes sir um let me see here
um let me see here are you able to see my screen not yet okay
let's share this
screen it's coming up right now sir thank you all right
so here is the packet we have and everything we set so the pictures of the actual deck would be
at the end of our packet so that's a was it what was that we just saw this is the deck itself okay
all right so that's the deck right yep here's another angle of it all right let me let me ask
this are there other decks on that block oh yes there's one right next to it i actually took a
few pictures of decks of course so bear with me here let me lower this
so this is the notice um the decks that you've asked for there's actually my neighbor has one
too but these are similar decks on on the same you know street and on the other street adjacent
like close to mine and let me see here that's another one um that's another one
so this is one I I like I said I don't really understand I don't know if this is a deck or not
but it's um so I should have a picture of my deck next to my neighbors depending on the angle let
see if i could see it on the packet yeah
how long ago you put the deck up it's been there for about four years
so if you see here on on this image of my deck right next to it a little bit further is a deck two
and a contractor did it for you so at the time you know my uncle which is my mother's brother
he's a welder in a in the country uh carpenter by trade so from what i understand is they
misunderstood that you know it's from from what i understood something about the owner
owners could build a deck at a time because you know the deed is under my mother's name
and she's just as illiterate as I am so on code and everything like that so
we're trying our best you know to come into compliance right okay so how did you find out
about this and I gave you a violation yes they they gave us a violation four years later after
did that um yeah exactly sir okay questions from the board
the rco meeting how did rco meeting go it was actually wonderful he actually even stated that
uh a lot of the neighbors showed up for support which is is a great thing he said usually he
doesn't see as much folks uh denise which is my neighbor right next to me you know she basically
calls me son and he actually you know thought it was my mother and you know everybody really
supported and i was happy about that to be honest thank you all the questions
so from these pictures the support or just the two um polls that i'm seeing here yeah
i'm sorry i didn't understand man no i mean the support system for this
thick it's the two is that just two poles that i'm seeing here yeah it's um so it's up to the
standard it's a it's a fairly thick eight by eight which for the size of it it's you know
yeah yeah okay well the the good thing about it is it does not have what what is that on it is that
a it's just the coverings of some sort it's not a roof correct it's it's not an enclosed structure
so it's it you know it's more for shade um i'm just telling you
I mean, just telling you the rules, since this has already been done, okay.
Decks are not supposed to have either a permanently affixed roof or stairs.
So you're okay about the stairs, but that looks like a permanently affixed kind of roof system, correct?
yes ma'am i apologize all right any other questions from the board
um we've been through this before we can get co's for decks even though it's a
if it's attached to the house
building permit okay
council anything else no just that oh yeah should have a proviso at their point okay
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands at this time chair planning commission
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location to the existing rsa3 residential single family the proposed deviation
from the roof deck requirements will have minimal impact on surrounding properties
the planning commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance for a roof deck setback
Okay. Thank you. MI 2026-001-551-6841 Oxford Avenue. I vote yes with proviso. CO and building permit to be obtained.
Thank you so much, sir.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with provisos.
Tanita Graham, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with provisos.
Layla Bibi, my vote is yes with provisos.
Sir, you have your votes.
Thank you so much, sir.
All right, thank you.
Number three, MI 2026, 000456, 1803 South 17th Street.
Eric Carroll is the attorney.
Eric Carroll will be joining us as a panelist.
good afternoon board good afternoon i i think i swore you early this morning right i was here
on a matter that has to be continuing on the two o'clock but i think you did get sworn in am i
correct yes okay just for the record state your name eric eric carol c-a-r-r-o-l-l can you um
identify your client the relationship to this property yes uh anthony barbudo should be on the
zoom uh he's one of the two owners of the property along with his sister-in-law okay our vice chair
has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days
in advance of this hearing i have and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy i do okay thank you can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you
Okay, this appeal is regarding the property 1803 South 17th Street.
That is a two-story residential building in Point Breeze, the corner of 17th and Moore.
This property has, for decades, been rented as two units.
One unit on the first floor, one unit on the second floor.
My client's property manager recently discovered that the property is, in fact, zone CMX2, which would require the first floor to have some sort of a commercial use.
My clients submitted a use application to change that and basically bring the longstanding existing use of this property to be legal.
This is a photo of the front of the property, as you can see.
there's the first floor that is one rental unit the second floor is a second rental unit there
is a basement which is for mechanicals and the first floor tenant does have access to the basement
for storage you can also see the zoning poster posted there another angle it's a little unusual
that this property is zoned cmx2 because it's not a corner property this property to the left in the
photo is a corner property and that has a child care group child care center on the first floor
And that has a group child care center on the first floor and then residential units above.
and then residential.
This whole block is mostly a mix of single families and multifamilies.
The multifamilies are two to three units, depending on the number of floors.
It's a mix of two-story buildings where there's two units and three-story buildings where there's three units.
Close-up of the zoning poster.
A picture from the rear yard.
um these are pictures of the of the one of the units on the interior each unit is basically uh
one bedroom a living room and a kitchen uh the two tenants on on each unit have been there for
for many years and they they do not want to leave my client has despite the zoning my client has
you know long-standing rental property certificate of rental suitability for these two units
this is the appeal that was filed again the hardship is that this is a we're just trying
to legalize the existing use it's been two units for for for many decades and it's would be
unreasonable to then kick out the first floor tenant convert it to commercial especially
because it's not it's not a corner property it's a property in and closer to the middle of the block
This is the deed showing that my client, Anthony Barbudo, and his sister-in-law, Kathleen,
own the property.
On June 22nd, we met with the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition.
Ten people attended.
We gave our presentation.
Only two people of those ten voted, but they voted two to zero in support of our appeal.
So try to obtain a tax clearance, but the system would not print out the actual certificate.
But you can see tax clearance passed, zero balance on the real estate taxes.
This is the notice that was sent out to the neighbors about the June 22nd meeting, and the certificate of mailing was included.
So, again, this should be a very simple appeal in the sense that we're just asking for a
variance to allow two-unit residential use as opposed to having to have a ground floor
commercial use.
And I'll be happy to answer any questions.
Why don't you bring one of your clients and have your testimony adopted?
Anthony, could you please raise your hand?
Anthony B has been promoted to panelists uh good afternoon Mr. Barbrito uh what is your phone name
and let me let me talk to him first okay oh sure yeah could you please state your name is spelled
for the stenographer
okay uh i got me yeah yes sir could you please state your name and spelled for this stenographer
it's anthony barbuto a-n-t-h-o-n-y b-a-r-b-u-t-o do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth i do okay anthony could you turn on your video if possible and
and counsel just start your questions when you can
how do you do that i'm not sure well that's okay you don't have to do it if you okay we're fine
uh anthony were you present on the zoom when i gave the presentation regarding your property
1803 south 17th street yes i was was everything i said truthful and accurate yes it was would you
adopt my testimony as your own yes thank you questions from the board
i saw that uh hi um so is there is there a rear yard to the property
yes there is okay and the first floor has access to the rear yard that's correct
is there um i mean it's a small it's a typical south philly backyard but it's there is one okay
is it is it large enough for a trash can uh yes yes it is um would your client be um amenable to
having uh some trash stored in the rear for the first unit and interior trash for the second unit
instead of it being on the porch um i think i mean that that that is a directive we could absolutely
give yes i'm not sure if this was trash day or not in the photo but
is the trash normally stored on the porch i guess that's trying i don't think right
I don't think it's not supposed to be yet. Well, it's not good if, you know, folks want to sit out on their porch, especially in the warm weather. So, um, yeah, I would like to provide so that.
it's not supposed to be yeah well it's not good if you know
Okay. Um, other questions.
Questions or comments from our attorney? No, not this time. Questions or comments from the audience?
I see no hands at this time, chair.
come on you've been sitting there an awful long time
someone's coming up to testify counsel
hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer my name is trina cuff
um the spelling is t-r-i-n-a-c-u-f-f you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes are you a neighbor I know I'm a resident of that property yes I live
on the second floor please give us your testimony um I've lived here for roughly about 13 years
and to mention about the the trash everyone on that block puts their trash on the porch I don't
know it must be a she may go down and change it all the South Philly thing she might go down and
change it all i grew up in south jersey we didn't do that but when i moved there i was like oh this
is what we're supposed to do yeah i mean the whole block does that but um i think it would be
unreasonable um to turn the first floor into a commercial property because we are not on the