The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location.
This proposal is consistent with the recommendation in the comprehensive plan to encourage accessory dwelling units and existing structures in the upper northwest section of the city.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the variances for multiple principal uses in buildings and for multifamily household living.
Thank you very much.
Hillary, do we need a corrective refusal here?
So, yes, Mr. Chair.
There's a few things. One, Mr. Clinton, I did not get the tax information. So if you can please forward that at your earliest convenience for the record, that would be great.
Second, the agreement was just provided this morning, and I will need to look through it to determine what provisos or what elements of the agreement could be incorporated as provisos into the decision of the board grants.
And the third matter is that L&I may be issuing an amended refusal or corrected refusal in this matter because it should just list the multifamily use, not single family and multifamily.
And it also did not include anything related to parking because this is an RSA 3 property.
Parking is required. And if only four spaces are being required, there will be a variance needed for the fifth space because there are five units of the property.
So my recommendation is that we hold this. I'm hopeful that we can vote it next week, but I do not want to put a time limit on it in case there's additional time needed for the refusal to be issued.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Clinton. Thank you, Mr. Masters. We'll be back as quick as we can. OK, thank you.
Mr. Chair, I just want to note that the record is this otherwise closed aside from receipt of the tax information and the amended.
this otherwise closed aside from receipt of the the tax information and the amended refusal
thank you hillary thank you thank you so much okay number eight right number eight mi 2023
000 967 14 13 lombard street william dion is the attorney
um letter of non-opposition from the center city residents association
Mr. Dion, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your hand.
Okay, they will be rejoining as a panelist, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Deion.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
firm? Sure. It's William Dion, D as in David, I-O-N as in Nancy. Right. Do you swear or firm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Could you identify your
client in relationship to the property? Sure. I have Darren Tan, who is in the audience
today, and he is a member of Lombard Street Investors. Okay. Our vice chair has just a few
questions for you. Sure. Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents
and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case
five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
If I may, Mr. Chairman,
unfortunately I had to join with my phone.
If I can have you recognize my paralegal Monica Castro.
That's going to be the best way for me to share my screen.
She can just put it up and you'll testify off of it.
That's great.
OK, great. Sure. So will you. Yeah. OK, great. Jason, do you take care of that? Yes, that has already been done, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Jason.
so um as a brief update or a summary mr chairman so um so uh the property in question is 1413
lombard street the property is owned rm1 and we're here today for a variance associated with
of four rental units. The ordinance requires 1,440 square feet. This property has 1,394 square
feet. So we're 46 square feet short or 3.19%. I can walk you through the exhibits that we sent,
the zoning application or permit that was originally submitted.
Then there is the denial and the denial section specifically references the four rental units,
or appeal application that was filed with the city.
The project information form
that's also required to be submitted with the city.
A copy of the deed that shows that on 2014,
my client acquired the property.
And at that time, it was rented out as four rental units
as it is still today.
The tax clearance certificate that we obtained from the city.
And then here's some pictures of Lombard Street
um this picture stay on the first picture please the first picture is um the back is to broad
street so you're really at the corner of broad and lombard um there is a uh office building and
parking a lot directly across the building itself is the white building you see a little further in
the distance off to the right let's go down a little bit further so now this is now standing
halfway down uh lombard street closer to 15th street you can still see the white building
um there and this is looking towards broad now this is a picture straight on so this is a
existing row home um that has four rental units in it um i'll just keep scrolling down some of
these pictures real fast so there's the you can see the whole property itself this is uh it is
you know flanked by similar uses in that multi-family dwelling units are uh common along
this section of lombard street um both working towards broad street and uh further down uh
Lombard Street. And I think we can probably go quickly through the remainder. I think the
remainder of pictures are, let's just see, some close-ups. Now these are proof of the posting.
Originally this was posted for June 28th. We did repost, so we have multiple pictures of the
posting for the original hearing and then the continued one till today.
till today. Mr. Dion, do you have any idea how, how, how long this was a multiple unit?
Well, we do. And I'll tell you, so I'll just jump. So as best we could tell in 1978,
there was zoning relief granted to allow for a office and rental operation on the first floor.
It was a tailor shop and an optometrist. And from 1978 until we believe the late 80s, early 90s, that bottom floor was converted to a rental unit and continued on until today.
My client bought it innocently in 2014 as a four rental unit.
Really, this matter came to their attention when they went to renew the rental license.
And at that time, the fact that the zoning did not allow it was brought to their attention.
and that is your client here sir he is mr tan is here and he can be sworn in if you want to
ask him why don't we bring him on and let him adopt your testimony absolutely
hi sir could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
jason do we see him hello yes sir
Yes, it's Darren Tan.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Darren Tan.
D-A-R-R-E-N-T-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Mr. Tan, did you hear my presentation to the zoning board just now?
Yes, I did.
And you were present for the whole presentation?
And do you affirm and adopt my testimony in the presentation to the board?
Yes, I do.
Do you have anything to add to what I said?
No, I do not.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
and board members, David Fecto with the City Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the residential multifamily zoning at this location. The
proposed dimensional variance is minor and meets the spirit and intention of the zoning code.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant the proposed dimensional variance.
Thank you. MI 2023-000-967-1413 Lombard Street, I vote yes.
sorry there chairman uh no that's fine my vote is yes james snell okay jim
thank you mr dion thank you very much
Number 14, MI 2023, 000402, 265 Hendrick Street.
Joseph Consul is the attorney.
Letter of support from the Somerton Civic Association.
Good morning.
Good morning, Mr. Consul.
So could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yeah, it's Joseph Consul.
That's J-O-S-E-P-H-C-O-N-S-O-L-E.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
The two owners of the property is Sakina Dupour and Khalid Bahardi.
I believe Khalid is on the call today.
All right.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? I do. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed
to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing? I have. Thank you. Please proceed
and share your screen. Okay. You want to pack it, come up? It is. All right. Hey, everyone. Joe
Council here, 266 Hendrick Street. This property is zoned RS2. It's part of a development of three
story single family twin homes. Here is what the blocks look like all around it. Each home here
was built with a driveway that extends from the street to the structure. Everyone has an attached
garage on the, uh, the end of the driveway, the owners of 266 Hendrix, um,
The owners of 266 Hendrix applied for, and I'll skip ahead to show you what they did.
They closed off the garage, and by closing off the garage, it generated a refusal for the fact, and I don't quite understand, but by closing off the garage,
it turns their driveway into front yard space and by turning the driveway into front yard space
it generates a refusal and a requirement for a variance for them to be able to park
in uh their own driveway so um you know that's what it looks like now um with one closed there's
a driveway there and that is now living space all part of a single family home three stories
and that's their twin home next to them.
There's several other properties
driving up and down these blocks
that did the same thing.
I didn't do any research
as to whether other folks
had been required to get a variance to do it,
but these guys do.
So here's the refusal.
Service parking spaces
and detached garages are prohibited
in the front yard.
um so it's basically their driveway is now turned into a surface parking space and here we are
they submitted plans for the work they did and all that stuff and this was the only refusal they got
so the work itself was not refused it was just this variance that was generated uh we went in
front of somerton we had a huge packed room it was a political political event that night but we got
a full, literally full support and kind of a glowing letter from these folks, which is included
in the packet. Basically, the takeaway was it's their driveway and they should be able to park
in it. Again, there's the photos with the signs up. Here's the zoning plan that was submitted
uh as part of the application showing where they're going to park showing the garage that
they uh turned into living space and then we have all the other documents uh following up here
including the deed showing their ownership it's a family home and the husband and wife of the
owners and on this call i'll call um mr khalid bahardi to adopt my testimony okay
Good morning, sir. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
I'm back in.
Yes, Khaled Bahadri.
Spell it, please.
Bahadri, B-A-H-A-D-R-I.
All right, and what's your first name again?
Khaled, K-H-A-L-I-D.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Good morning, Khaled. Did you hear my testimony just now regarding your property on Hendrick Street?
Do you agree with my testimony, and do you adopt it as your own?
Okay. I have nothing further, board.
Questions from the board?
No, chair.
No, chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, I have Alice Udovich with their hand raised. I have allowed them to speak at this time.
Good morning, Alice. Could you state your name just for the record and spell for the court stenographer?
Good morning, Chairman. Members of the board, Alice Udovich, U-D-O-B-I-C-H, on behalf of Councilman Brian O'Neill.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
The Councilman has no objection to the granting of the variance at this location.
Thank you, Alice, for taking this time to call calls.
You're welcome.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I do not see any hands.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman and members of the board.
David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.