Mulvihill. RCO letter in opposition, Wakefield 49ers.
good morning chairman members of the board
i believe i already swore you once today if i remember correctly mr mobile
okay could you just state your name for the record yes leo mobile health that's l-e-o-m-u-l
and could you identify your client and the relationship to the property
certainly my client's name is the principal of green bridge properties at llc and um
mr holliman has a few questions good morning counselor do you agree to waive the reading of
the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy i do according to our records you have submitted
all the required documents on time is that correct please proceed and share
your screen I'm sorry this is Tanya before we proceed Mr. Movahill we barely
can hear you for the recording and purposes of the attendees could you try
to move closer to your mic or turn up your volume all right I will try
now let's do a test okay i just turned up the input volume is that any better wonderful thank
you all right great glad i got this taken care of so members of the board i'm here today for
the property of 4981 sheldon street i have submitted to the board as part of my documents
Refusals, Appeals, and Project Information Form on page 1. Area zoning maps at 8. Proof of ownership
to HUD 1 at 9. Tax clearance at 39. Area zoning notification letter at 42. RCO letter at the time
of submission we did not have, but I know the board has since received it. Photos of the property,
it says 21, but that's not correct. And then plans at 44. So members of the board, what we're here
um and then plans at 44. so members of the board what we're here for today
for today.
is the erection of a new structure on a vacant lot this block of sheldon street is largely
if not entirely residential with the exception of a rec center that's directly across the street
from our subject property there are a number of vacant properties on this block as well
and i'll show you those as we continue to go through the presentation but our proposal here
to use a new construction three-story structure with five dwelling units and the purpose of this
five dwelling unit would be for veterans housing
moving on to page eight of my presentation packet we can see the subject property here
which is relatively large and deep uh fronts on sheldon street here rubicam street is behind us
Sheldon is zoned RSA 5, Rubicam is zoned RSA 3.
I'll note that while a significant portion of Sheldon Street is vacant, Rubicam Street tends to be pretty well populated.
There's a number of two and three family dwellings all along Rubicam Street, and I believe along Sheldon as well.
But I'm not sure whether those are considered to be legal properties for multifamily use or not.
This is the overhead shot again showing our vacant property as I zoom in.
You can see, again, much of Sheldon Street is currently vacant.
We do have the playground directly across the street, as I stated in my opening.
And then the blocks of Sheldon here towards the western side tends to be a little bit more developed.
My client's ownership for the HUD.
It's my client's commercial activity license.
The tax clearance certificate system was throwing me errors, so here's a printout showing everything except for 2022 is paid up and that's in the amount of $200.17.
It's our notification letter that went out indicating we had a community meeting that was scheduled on the 28th of March, 6.30 p.m.
and the reverse that notice I had included a copy of my refusal. This was a reply absentee voting
sheet that I included. This was originally a letter from my client. I'm not sure what happened
in the encoding here, but this was a letter that went out with everybody explaining specifically
what the use was to be for the property in terms of being veterans housing. In addition to the
letters being sent out i did hand deliver basically every house in the affected area as well as i
stated there were a number of vacant properties but everyone who was out in the street got one
and i put them in the doors of all the houses in the affected area
this is the proposed area of development you can see it's completely vacant
looking down sheldon street to the left of these photographs you can see the rec center across the
street this is directly across the street showing vacant properties one single family structure and
then that rec center and then we're kind of looking the other way down the street seeing
some single family homes a number of vacant properties as well this is our property with the
zoning signs posted this is looking um pretty westbound on sheldon street largely vacant
and number of other photos of the immediate area.
So what I'll do is I'll forward to our renderings.
I'm going to rotate this page so it looks a little bit.
So this is what we're proposing.
It'd be a three-story structure with the roof deck.
It would essentially look more or less like a single-family home,
very traditional in the style to the front,
to the side of the building would be a number of windows
and a number of windows in the rear of the property as well
to allow for amper light for all the units this is our proposed site plan that we submitted to
zoning you can see we have a significantly sized rear yard something like 50 feet deep the building
itself is about 90 feet deep the lot itself is 140 feet deep so it's a very large lot
there's a three-foot wide alley that runs next to it and an existing structure next door
All right, this is our proposed floor plan. I'm going to try to start off to the
right and go from there. So here's our proposed basement plan. In the basement, we would have
half-bath, sprinkler system utilities, closet space, living room, dining room, kitchen,
and one bedroom to the rear for the ground store unit, along with a set of egress stairs to get out.
that's the first unit the second unit would be here on the ground story come into the front door
hang on right have a nice closet space very similar layout living dining kitchen
closet and bathroom and then another bedroom to the rear there's a washer dryer in this unit and
closet and bathroom and then another bedroom to the rear there's a washer dryer in this
the basement unit as well all right going up to the second story proposals have a bedroom to the
front nice just nicely sized walk in the closet bathroom to the middle living room dining room
and kitchen to the rear and another bedroom in the rear of this unit this is a two bedroom
and then proposed third floor plan and bed into the front living room dining kitchen
and then bedroom to the rear as well there is a roof deck that's proposed
it's essentially open set back there's going to be roof exhaust to the front this is going to be
our pilot house and a significant size of your yard trash storage will be included within the
kitchen areas as well this is just another drawing showing the elevation of the property
again brick front the property itself is not going to be taller than 38 feet
and in fact it's going to be closer to 35 feet
and this just shows again the proposed side elevation number of windows reach
dean is to allow for lots of light to go in and that pilot house step back from the front and
from here. So members of the board, the reason that we're asking for the variance here is a
couple of different reasons. One, this lot is extremely large and it's zoned RSA 5. It's not
terribly wide, however. So what we're thinking to do, rather than have a new construction single
family home, we're trying to use up more of the lot. By using up more of that lot and having a
larger building, we're proposing to have those additional units to allow them to be a little
bit more affordable for new construction purposes in addition the plan is to have this be housing
for veterans uh whether older or younger returning from overseas or have been here for quite some
time um so with that particular idea of a target market in mind we wanted to have something that
would be more affordable for those members as well so ultimately because because of the size
of the lot because building a single family home in a lot that is steep is financially not that
practicable and because they're trying to serve for what would otherwise be an underserved
area namely veterans housing for this particular parcel those are the reasons that we're seeking
to obtain the variance here uh the neighbors at the community meeting uh generally has some
questions about the suitability of veterans as neighbors some people were simply against having
any multifamily whatsoever in this area. But as I've stated on this block and on the block behind
us, there is already significant multifamily use, whether two or three family dwellings,
sometimes more. That's essentially our presentation, members of the board. Mr. Peters, if you're on the
line, would you please raise your hand so you can be unmuted, and I'll ask you a couple questions.
mr peters you're free to speak i'm here all right could you state your state your name
please and spell for the court reporter owen peters o-w-e-n uh peters p-e-t-e-r-s right do
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do proceed okay mr peters you've heard my testimony today with respect to this application
I did.
Is there anything you'd like to add?
I also have Pastor Lamont Pennell on the call.
We partnered up with his CDC to provide veteran housing.
If he's there, if you could raise your hand.
We'll get him in a second, Mr. Peters.
In addition to what's going to be testified to by the Reverend, is there anything else
you'd like to add at this time with respect to this application uh not at this time no okay would
you otherwise adopt my testimony as your own for purposes of this hearing yes okay mr melville i'll
try to get the minister on when i open it up to the audience yes under questions from the board
uh yes mr chairman uh counselor yes do you have a letter do you have a letter to support the
Veterans Administration use of this building?
I don't have such a letter, no.
Mr. Peters, if you have such a letter,
would you advise Chairman, pardon me, Member Holloman?
Mr. Peters, you have to unmute yourself.
Yeah, sorry about that.
Yes, Pastor Pinnell have a letter of support
from the Veterans Multiservice Center
to support this project.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Questions from the-
Chair, we have Pastor Lamont Purnell.
Pastor, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Pastor, please unmute yourself.
Yes, my name is Lamont Purnell. It's spelled L-A-M-O-N-T-P-U-R-N-E-L-L. I'm president of ITA and Hope Empowerment Education Service Center.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Okay. Proceed.
I just wanted to make it clear that this unit is going to be for an underserved population of veterans, women with children.
We, our organization, is working with Mr. Peters' organization to make sure that these families are vetted and that they are on the right track to not only move into this unit, but to be able to purchase and own their own homes.
The women will be single and they will have no more than two children.
That's why the property is laid out in the way that it is laid out.
We work directly with the Veterans Multiservice Center. We work with USEP, who also serves center, that's the Utility Emergency Fund.
We work with resources for human development to make sure that the women have enough financing to be able to pay for the units and to be able to do what they need to do to secure or make sure that they're making a livable wage to be able to support their families.
Reverend, did you hear the question earlier? I know you said you're working. Do you have a letter from the Veterans Association supporting this program?
Yes, we do. The letter is coming directly from the director of the Veterans Multiservice Center, who is our main source of reference in receiving these women with children.
And do you have the letter with you?
I believe they do. I've submitted it to Mr. Peters, but I do have a copy.
Thomas, any questions for the Reverend?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Okay. Any other comments from the virtual audience?
Chair, we have Rosalind McKelvey.
Hi, could you state your name and spell it for the court reporter?
Good afternoon. My name is Rosalind McKelvey, R-O-S-A-L-I-N-D.
Last name McKelvey, M as in Mary, C-K-E-L-V as in Victor, E-Y.
Hi, and I'm the president of the Wakefield 49ers coordinating RCA.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Proceed.
First, we do thank Ms. Sharon for all her dedicated work, and we will miss her.
As I go forward, we did have a neighborhood meeting, and in due respect to the veterans,
we did not have a lot of time to alert the neighborhood that this was coming or that the
meeting was happening. The email might have gone out, but there wasn't notification until
three days before the meeting. I would say that I did send along our report and the neighborhood
response, which was a resounding in this RSA area of no. In respect to our veterans and our
families, we want them to be welcomed. At this time, though, the neighborhood undoubtedly came
out with an extremely strong opposition due to the fact, one, that in one block away, they already
had at 417 East Worcester units put in, and they do not assist or help with the neighborhood.
On this same block around the corner, there is two mental institutions and three
apartment buildings, and one was just approved a few weeks ago for an additional one.
So the neighborhood is inundated, and when people have looked at the neighborhood and know there's
not a formal block captain on these blocks. They're almost like vultured and properties
put on them. We want those veterans to be safe with their families. We have shootings,
We have shootings, hangings.
hangings. There is so much, if you look on the news,
There is so much, if you look on the news in Germantown, if the neighborhood doesn't
welcome them, they are going to be a target.
And that's not what we want for our wonderful veterans.
So at this time, with the short notice, with the discussion we had, and these are young
people.
When young people come out to a meeting for a zoning meeting, for RCO meeting, I am shocked.
They came out, Christians, Muslims, young people, and they said they're not going to do it.
If they say, yeah, we got ways to stop it.
The mental capacity and outlook of the community is not welcoming to families.
They're not safe right now.
And we don't need to be on the news anymore.
The first shootings for Commissioner Outlaw was a block from here.
So we're just saying at the time, we said opposition, there needs to be more time for the use of the property. And he did say, very nice, it was one of our best presentations in a long time, that they can't find a $300, $300,000 buyer for the single family house they want to put there.
But trust me, it is not safe to put those families unwanted across from a place where there's congregating. The playground is across. They smoke, they sit out there, they hang out there. And when they come on an RCO meeting and says it's not going to happen, our veterans deserve better than that. And it's going to put them in a very awkward position.
So for that reason, not with any disrespect to our veterans, the RCO, also Faith LLC, CDC, said we declined and said we're opposed and go with the neighbors.
Thank you. Thank you for calling in and your comments. Anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair, we have Charles Richardson.
Good morning again, Mr. Richardson. Just state your name, please.
Charles Richardson from the office of Councilwoman Cindy Bastron 312 City Hall. Very simply, the
Councilwoman stands with the community in opposing the granting of the variance.