to do this in the last six years, and it wasn't done. So that's where we're coming from. You're
right is it a big variance no not really it's the principle of the thing and it's the thumb and the
nose at the law you know somebody asked me to do i obey the law i imagine you obey the law
the board obeys the law but throughout this whole thing we saw nothing but thumb in your
noses at the law so may i that is that is not an exaggeration i understand and that we have
mr barry a question sure yes uh didn't mr matea clean the sidewalk when you asked him to
actually we we had been asking for a while and it was clean i mean and you know truth be told and to
be completely transparent the property now doesn't look exactly like those pictures it's a little
cleaner but you know what the sidewalk's still blocked that you know there's still scaffolding
and all that stuff and you know that there's a stop work order well but
there's wait mr. DeMarco I get it and you know what it's right it's like a
it's right it's like a catch-22 but you know what there have been people see there's such bad fate
catch-22 but you know what there have been people see
there's been people there working notwithstanding the stop order but then the police are called so
then they stop yeah so it's this tension you know that nothing gets done simply because nobody's
done the right thing i understand even now mr demarco you know the doctor could knock on doors
You can knock on doors and say, hey, everybody, I'm sorry.
This is what I'm trying to do.
Right.
But I think what – forgive me for trying to say what you're saying, Mr. Castle,
but there's some common ground here, I think, which is that everybody wants to get it solved, right?
Right.
And, you know, I'll address the board at this point.
I appreciate your testimony.
I'm not going to cross-examine you.
I think you were somewhat fair.
i don't think that the doctor though is is i mean he's responsible only to the extent that he has
hired people that have not served him well but the owner himself isn't the one making the mistakes
and the prop the relief that we're looking for addressing the board now mr chairman and you
know the neighbors are not uh they make a good point but again mr morgan as far as the owner
If I fell down on the property, I don't go just after Mario, right?
I go after Zaccone.
So at the end of the day, the doctor's responsible.
I said that.
I agree.
Mr. Castle, I made that clear earlier.
He's got a lot of responsibility here.
Not only that.
He may have picked the wrong contractor or contractors, but as a common decency to the rest of the community, he should have been at least having conversations during that time.
So let's move on from that if we could, Mr. DeMarco.
And just one more thing, Mr. DeMarco, you're right.
I think we all want this solved, but we all want it solved the right way,
and hopefully the doctor and Mr. Matteo do too.
So I would just say this, and thank you, Mr. Castle, for a fair testimony.
Mr. Chairman, I would say this.
This is only the first step that gets us to the point where we can fix the problem.
We have to get this in order to move on to the building permit and getting the other violations to comply.
L&I is saying we're not doing anything until you get your zoning straightened out, and that's where we are.
So I'd ask the board, and I'd even ask the neighbors, we've got to look at the big picture.
The doctor's being punished for his choices already.
we've got a major fine or in court there's nothing that is stopping that
part of the process to to be enforced but we need this relief to get this
rolling and to get to the other items here we have a Richard Johnson you've
been allowed to speak you can unmute yourself and give your testimony mr.
Johnson please identify yourself name and address for the record yes hi this is
richard johnson address 1134 tasker street and mr johnson do you swear and affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do and i would ask if you could to uh your
testimony limited to something new and different please yes mr chairman and thank you um i'll try
to do that uh i would just add that um in regards to the uh the sentiment that l and i will be on
top of this um i just would like to say that the confidence in that if we grant this variance um
is somewhat low um l and i i actually talked with one of their uh people who was outside of the
property, not to inspect it, but just happen to be there, they're overwhelmed as it is.
If L&I was able to be on top of this property, we wouldn't have to call 911 when work continues
to be done on this property. As recently as the last two weeks, they've attempted numerous times
to continue work on this property despite the stop work orders despite the community opposition
despite not having any approval of for their violations um so you know i i don't i don't know
what is the strongest lever to pull to hold them accountable moving forward but you'll excuse me if
i i in that i i'm not i'm ignorant of what those would be um because to the to date um you have
there uh you have mr de marco saying that moving forward this will be fine as recently as the last
two weeks they have still attempted to work on this property so what good will
they have still attempted to work on this property so what good will are you harboring now
to address these issues um i would also like to say i'm not a um in our letter which was
signed by 80 percent of residents on the block uh we put in a list of requests one of which was to
get an engineer into that space and deem it structurally sound. Now, Mr. DeMarco says he
has something to that effect. That would be very important to me before granting a variance for
this property because I have a reason. I mean, you've seen, Mr. Chairman, you've seen this
property and how it's been exposed to the elements for six years. How confident are we? They're not
going to have to tear this property down in the end regardless. So before we go ahead and grant
variances, why don't we address some of the community concerns, get a third-party engineer
in there, something to the effect where we all feel that this property is even safe. Because
in my mind, it's a disgrace. It's not only a disgrace, but it looks like it could fall down
and I wouldn't wish my worst enemy in there.
Well, it sounds like, Mr. DeMarco,
there's a request being made to get an engineer study on this property.
So we have two exhibits.
We have two letters in our exhibits.
One is a letter from Earl Busser, professional engineer.
I'm going to read it in the record because I keep trying to share my screen.
it's not working i apologize but anyway i'm going to read into the record mr booster is a professional
engineer he says do us a favor please spell his name for the record earl f buser b-u-s-e-r-p-e
this is exhibit seven of my submission to the board uh it says it's to the department of
licenses and inspections it's a business record it was submitted at the request of l and i
it said dear plan examiner on the above address property representing 1143 and 1145 tasker street
i was out there prior to them pulling the permit for the brick veneer the contractor listed above
asked for my opinion on the zip board that was applied to the side and front of 1143 and 1145
tasker the structurally and structural integrity and condition of the zip board was good i had
instructed him that he would be able to go ahead and apply the tie-ins to carry
the four-inch brick veneer that was called to sum up in my professional
opinion the zip board was structurally sound for the brick veneer to be applied
and it's stamped and sealed which means that he can be sued if it's not done
right there's a second letter in my submissions exhibit 8 which is alpha
engineering inc i would like to read into the record concerning 1143 and 45 tasker street
this is george baluz b-a-l-l-o-u-z professional engineer it's also stamped and sealed to whom
may concern to dr william zaccone this is to certify oh i'm sorry this is dated june of 2019
this is to certify that we have evaluated the foundation works for the above mentioned project
and the status of the project site we can certify that the works were done according to what was
called and the project is structurally sound and safe no further action is required from a
structure point of view the work can continue once permits and papers are valid so we have a letter
dated um last year and last fall that the zip board and its foundations are structurally sound
um and at that point we got to stop work order so you submit copies of those to the
pass on square neighbor association folks no they were submitted to the board i'm asking if
you would send it to them oh yeah absolutely i can email it to her right now email it to
suzanne or wherever thank you i'll send my whole exhibit packet to suzanne tavani thank you
All right. Any other witnesses, Tanya?
No, no new hands.
Thank you.
Richard, you conclude?
Yeah, I move my exhibits into evidence.
I'll share these engineers' letter with Ms. Devani.
I'll do it right after the conclusion of this hearing.
I'll email my whole...
Sure. I'll email my entire packet over.
Again, this is a Hertzberg case.
case, the dimensional variances are reasonable in pursuit of a permitted use, which is single
family residential. The property has been vacant, has been commercial, has been a bar,
it's been parking. The underlying zoning calls for a single family home.
it's been parking the underlying zoning calls for a single family home uh it's a little large but
they are minimal dimensional variances that are requested it would be necessary to get the
variance in order to allow lni to allow us to address the structural and building code violations
there's a court enforcement matter so the uh the doctor is already dealing with enforcement so
So we'd ask you to grant what is underlying just reasonable dimensional relief in pursuit
of a permitted use.
So I'll move my evidence into the record and thank you to the board for its time.
Just give me a minute, Richard.
Thank you.
sorry about that uh questions from the board no planning commission this property is indicated
for single family residential use on the city plan i believe the applicant has not demonstrated
necessary hardship regarding the dimensional requirements of the code recommend the request
for variance not be granted thank you ron uh i'm inclined to agree with you but unfortunately
i i think if we deny this we're going to wind up in in a bigger hole than we're already in no pun
intended uh i just hope that this your client mr demarco and his contractor behave in a better
in a better manner than they have for the last 10 or 12 years.
And as far as I'm concerned, I'm no longer the councilman,
but I would suggest that you folks continually call
Councilman Squilla's office if you have any continuing issues
with the way this project has been going.
Thank you.
And with that, I will say calendar number 39124,
1143 Tasker Street.
My vote is yes.
my vote is yes my vote is yes good luck
i thank you and uh believe me we'll we'll be working with l and i very uh closely the rest
of the way i hope so richard thank you absolutely and i'm on appeal so look we're gonna we have a
whole process thank you so chairman does that conclude or we got one more uh thing that was
it right for the i think that concludes the 330 list am i correct yes um i believe it is but i
believe there's someone here mr knockinson wanted to question the continuance of the
chew avenue appeal thank you still here i don't see him anymore okay
did you want to speak to your continuance no i think he left
okay uh take a five minute break then we'll get into the four o'clock session
Yes. Thank you.
Sharon? I'm here. I'm here.
Anya? I'm here.
We're all here again. Okay.
good afternoon everyone my name is frank de chico i'm the chair of the zoning board of adjustment
we have a quorum i'm officially calling this session to order in attendance is our secretary
miss mr confessor plaza and our board member mr thomas holliman in addition we have our city
solicitor miss sharon saletta and our board administrator miss tanya sunken as you know
today as as you may be aware today is our fifth day of holding virtual hearings while we may have
to make some adjustments along the way our plan is to call each case and basically proceed as we
would have in a live hearing we ask that the attorneys for the applicants or other interested
parties identify themselves for the record when the case is called you'll be when the case you'll
be participating is called we will then hear the appellant's presentation followed by any
presentation by attorneys representing other parties, interested parties and
interested parties and members of the public not represented by council will
members of the public not represented by counsel.
then be given an opportunity to testify we will finally hear the recommendation
of the Planning Commission at the hearing is conclusion the board will
either vote the matter immediately or hold it for discussion in executive
session any case held for discussion will be voted on at the next scheduled
meeting on August the 5th at 9 30 a.m. August the 5th at 9 30 a.m. A couple of changes related to
the virtual format. First, we will be administering oaths to individuals prior to their testimony
rather than to the room as a whole since we do not have a room. Second, for the benefit of anyone
participating by phone, we ask that attorneys and witnesses identify themselves prior to speaking
or testifying. Third, we like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded
and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded. We would ask that if
anyone wishes to testify at the time of the hearing that you're interested in, to please
raise your hand so that Ms. Sunken can recognize you and pat you into the to the hearing. I would
also ask the attorneys to please limit your testimony to those issues that are not are
extremely necessary for the record and we ask that you limit your testimony to one hour.
I think we're ready to go with Mr. Quaza please begin. Okay these are continuing cases calendar
number 38151, 5405 Christian Street. Also calendar number 38156, 5627-41, Hegerman Street.
We're ready to roll? Are there any further requests for continuances? If so, please raise
your hand okay did I leave anything out Sharon and or Tanya the only thing we
would ask if you're a participant by telephone in order to give testimony you
must raise your hand by pressing star 9 on your phone to be granted the
opportunity to speak and then if you are calling in by phone and you wish to
be put as a party to the case or whatever case is heard today, then we have a Google
voice phone number that you can utilize to call and you would put your information on