bian mcadams my vote is yes with provisos
bian wend my vote is yes with provisos
thank you thank you um we have three cases left
i'm going to take mr knockamson then i'm going to back to go to mr vaccaro
and then we'll do the last case, okay?
Mr. Nockmson, we know you've been there
at least a half hour waiting,
so why don't you just come right up?
You get to learn some things.
M.I. 2026-001-764-1648 Cadwalder Street.
MI 2026 001 764
Alan Nockamson is the attorney.
Mr. Nockamson, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Alan Nockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and relationship to this property?
My client is JT NoLib LLC. Behind me is this member, Evan Thalheimer. To the left of me is his architect, Jackie Gusek.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good evening. 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?
Okay, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed.
All right. So I'm here to present 1648 Cadwalder Street. I have to say this is one of the more interesting projects I've presented in some time. It's a very unique lot of almost a thousand square feet, but it looks like a pizza slice, right? And I really have to hand it to Jackie that she made it very interesting architecturally and very effective in terms of use.
i hope the board will approve you know this project because i think it's worth you know
building uh so we're proposing to have a duplex at the corner of fourth street and cal cadwalder
streets i have 12 exhibits in my presentation like i said i have evan in the back he'll adopt
my testimony in terms of some of the factual components of the presentation uh jackie i want
here because i i think it would be very interesting for her to show you the thought process of this
project and like i said i really hope that the board ultimately concludes that this is a project
uh worth building uh so you know this is an rsa 5 property the property is approximately a
thousand square feet is a regular shade blot for the refusals we can't prevent we want to put a
roof deck up there and jackie's going to walk you through this but we actually gave you a buy right
option of how to put a roof deck up there it's insane like there's no way you can do it um and
you know or not functional it's basically two catwalks and the roof deck access structure is
a shape i've never seen before for roof deck access structure so i do believe we have a
hardship in that respect in terms of the duplex um again i we believe that this is the best use
possible for this property to to make it actually be built it's a corner property it's a regular
shape i don't think given the the how it's a regular shape it's going to be conducive for
single-family use and i think the architectural design by jackley actually makes it really
interesting for someone to for two separate units to to be in that property and you'll see that
um letter of support so we met with the south kensington community partners group they are
sophisticated rco like i those board members are you know real estate professionals that are
designers that are architects and they're very and they know their neighborhood and they were
very supportive of of this project as well as the community and that's why they gave a letter of
support here and then we also got a petition of nearby neighbors uh i would say 1646 which is
right next 1646 which is completely adjacent to us which would be the property most directly
impacted by this project is in support of it 1647 51 which are across the street and we have other
properties that are nearby as well between a petition and letters of support and then it's
not out of character to have multi-family structures here i have a list of them we have
1643 Cadwalder, which is across the street, which is three units.
We have 330 Cecil B. Moore, as well
as 320 Cecil B. Moore, 1613 Germantown Avenue, and 1621
North Port Street. Maps of the area. So you can see
again what I'm saying that we're built, we're configured like a pizza
slice. We also are surrounded by
multi-zoning classifications, including but not limited
to cmx2 rm1 i1 as well as irmx you know we're near north american street cecil b moore uh
germantown so there's a lot going on in this neighborhood and i think this will be an
interesting introduction to this block of of architecture uh in a way uh again this is a
picture of the property um you know that we we found on google street view there's a lot of
legal parking on this property so you know one of the things to do is like build something here so
So, you know, one of the things to do is, like, build something here so it prevents, you know, to have an issue with public health and safety by people illegally parking on a corner property of this type of tip.
it prevents
And then this is the property from 4th Street.
And this is the property. It's been a vacant lot for some time. It goes as far back as 2015, according to Google Street View.
And then this is proof of posting on both public streets, both 4th Street and Cadwalder Streets.
This is, you know, Cadwalder Street to the right of the property, to the left of the property,
North 4th Street to the right of the property, and to the left of the property.
And then these are our plans and drawings.
And then, so, Jackie, why don't you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer.
Jackie Gusick?
Let me get a little closer to the mic, I think.
Jackie Gusick, J-A-C-K-I-E, G-U-S-I-C.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
All right, so Jackie, we have a rendering on the screen right now.
Can you just tell me a little bit about this rendering in terms of materials being used
and, you know, I guess orientate the board about which street this is?
So this is the 4th Street View, which is the quote-unquote rear of the property.
But as stated, it's a triangle shape, so there's really no rear.
But this is where you see the yard that is accessed by the lower units there in the center.
And in terms of materials, we're really looking to maintain the character of the neighborhood.
So we're interested in using a red brick.
They're doing it in a more modern way by stacking it vertically.
And then we really want to emphasize the corner because this is such an interesting lot.
So the corrugated material on the left in this view is really emphasizing how we're treating the corner as a box that is kind of overhanging the edge, which helps us get floor area, which is otherwise very difficult to get because of the triangular nature there in the apex of the triangle.
Yeah, and you also created like an open area in the middle of the property for light in there and to have even more windows.
exactly and that's really where the yard is located so it's providing light and
air a lot of windows and on multiple sides of the rooms which you know you
don't get in a row house but this presented a new unique opportunity for
us to do that because of this site yeah and then this rendering also shows to
where the trash area would be for the lower level unit that's true so it's a
behind an enclosed screen the lower unit has easy access through the yard the
upper unit does have a ventilated trash closet within their unit and then they
would have access to this enclosure you know once the closet became full they could then walk around
but it's not something they would use every day all right and then i'm showing this next angle of
the uh rendering so can you just explain you know what you did here yep so this is highlighting
really that corner box um emphasize creating a focal point because you do you know you come
across this site in a very different way because it's um on the angular street and so it's a nice
way to highlight that corner create a beacon the tree you saw in the existing photographs really
is a landmark for the neighborhood they talk about that a lot um when we met at the rco meetings so
this provides a different type of landmark for the community yeah and then we do see some um uh
now i'm losing my egress wells thank you um you know can you just explain your what you know your
the purpose of those egress wells and the size of them you know in terms of the lower level living
yes so the lower level does have two bedrooms and we wanted to really make sure that we were making
those friendly spaces not your typical basement bedroom so here you're seeing a typical three
foot by three foot size egress well but on the other two um streets there is a i'm sorry that
rendering is supposed to be a double um window well so instead of having a three by three well
we're having a six foot by three foot well and we're making sure that a significant portion of
the window is actually above grade so it's like a fixed transom our lower unit sticks above the
grade three feet so that you're really experiencing a window within the space that's not just below
the egress well below the sidewalk level yeah and we'll go over the site plan because i believe on
my notes that were above grade three feet 11 inches is that correct yes the first floor is
three foot 11 above the sidewalk and then also the basement ceiling height according to my
calculations was nine feet high correct all right and it showed this rendering can you just explain
what this is yeah so this uh is the cadwallager street elevation and each unit has its own
entrance its own stoop so its own presence on the block um the one on the right in the view is for the
The one on the right in the view is for the lower unit, and the one on the right is for the upper unit.
You would enter there and then walk up a flight of stairs to your two-
You made sure that the windows were rather large so the occupants in these properties would have a lot of light in there themselves.
Yes, we're really going for a light and airy modern feeling to the apartment units.
all right and then i obviously this is just and i think this kind of explains and shows the more
expanded egress well yes you could see there in the bottom of the screen that it's a double size
and this is the this is still steps this is actually the rear of the property but this is
the garden area for unit number one correct that is their outdoor space and they can get
in and out through those secondary steps correct right and then you know this is just i guess the
the main entryway at just a different angle yes all right let's go through the uh site plan right
so um i guess the first thing is we want to confirm the dimension so that's the three feet
11 inches out of the ground right yes this is the nine feet of ceiling height right then the first
and second floor are each 10 feet and the upper third floor is nine feet where the bedrooms are
located for the upper unit and this is the roof deck access structure which is getting all these
refusals because they're the regular shape of the lot correct all right and we'll go through that
right and then if you go here um this is that rear yard you know that open area right yes is
there anything else oh and this is the open space that you've created to kind of respect the fact
that that tree used to be there and you're trying to recreate that open space and the introduction
to that point right we did not get a refusal for open space because we were carving all these
pieces out of the existing lot so we do meet open space requirements gotcha
right is there anything else on this on this site plan that we need to talk
about no we'll get to the pilot house all right all right all right so I guess
the one thing we can just talk about is just the the egress wells they show the
size and dimensions that you stated correct so you'll see the double units
there on the two longer elevations and then on the shorter tip of the triangle
we do have this single three by three as well all right is there anything else on here that the board
may want to know before we go to the next slide you know the neighborhood really had a lot of
commentary about vegetation and so there are a couple of locations you'll see where we have
built-in planters because we also agree that built-in vegetation is really nice and so that
was something that we made sure to incorporate based on their feedback all right great all right
let's go over the floor plans here so let's go for the first floor plan first floor floor plan
um which which one you want to start with the upper unit or the lower unit all right so from
the plan south you would i'm sorry from the plan north you would enter that unit so they have the
uppermost uh entry door and stoop uh each unit has two bedrooms this unit is a two bedroom one
and a half bath with a you know very nicely sized kitchen and access to the yard each unit also has
a washer dryer unit within within their unit all right so if we walk in go up the steps to get in
the entryway is that a coat closet here everyone each one has a coat closet like a powder room
which is built into sort of that narrow part of our building and then opens up to the right to the
kitchen dining space and then where the property gets larger we've taken
advantage with the living room and that also has direct access to the yard and
and then that's a secondary area for the yard right right all right and then you
can see the egress wells this this rather large egress well here and here
as we head down the steps to go to bedroom number one bedroom number two
there's a walk-in closet there's a hall bath this is where the washer and dryer is and this is where
the HVAC unit is all right let's go up to let's go let's instead of doing unit number one let's go
to unit number two so that's that second door right the southernmost entrance she walk in again you'd
have access to a closet right there for your coats so perhaps your bike if you wanted to get it off
the sidewalk and then you would access your unit through the stair immediately to your right you
You would come up, and again, the kitchen and dining are kind of in that top part of
the building where we're expanding, getting some extra floor area with a bay configuration.
There's also a powder room on that level and a decently sized living room.
You would then take the stairs from the living room up to the second floor where you have
two bedrooms, each with a bath, and one has a walk-in closet, the other one is a very
generous uh front load closet and there is a mechanical and laundry room on that floor also
oh and i think we did miss this it's trash is this right here the trash closet yes all right
trash is this right here the trash closet yes all right there you go and now you go up the flight
there you go and now you go up the flight of steps
of steps the flight of steps to the pilot house um we've put the sort of unoccupied mechanical
part of the roof towards the front and then um the usable roof deck is towards the back again
where we have um a better width of the property so we have a usable roof deck is there anything else
Do you have a diagram?
Yes, that's the next thing.
All right.
So show me.
This is what we have, right?
And then this would be a by-right project.
So it's allowed by-right.
So you'll see that very tiny triangle that's furthest down is where we could locate the
pilot house using setback requirements as they exist in the code now.
It's seven and a half feet to zero.
You can't really put a stair in there.
And this is basically almost like a catwalk, right?
because it's like you could have the allowed deck because of the setback requirements and what's the
width do you remember well they're they're like five foot legs by i don't know maybe 30 feet yeah
but basically you have five feet of width right correct which is basically how we're sitting next
to each other yes okay all right and then we had the rco meeting notice it was a well attended
meeting again a very sophisticated group we emailed that notice as well these are the address these
We sent it to 132 addresses, proof of mailing. These are the addresses we sent it to. This is our application for zoning variance, our notice of refusal, our project information form, our deed to the property, showing that JT, no lib, LLC is the owner of the property.
and then finally a certificate of tax clearance um i would just ask that evan come up here be