ZBA Hearing - August 5, 2026

involved in we have projectors and tvs

this leads out to I believe the downstairs I'm not sure about that photo but I think that is

another classroom in the basement that already supports the children this is a photo of the

kitchen we did have a RCO meeting and one of the things that the neighbors the affected neighbors

wanted to see was the kitchen. So here is a picture of a photo of the kitchen. There's a

laundry room for when, you know, the children, I guess, make a mess, soil their clothes, things of

that nature. Here's another photo of additional kitchen that will be utilized for supporting

the children next is the notice of the rco meeting this was held on i believe april 20th april 30th

yes so our client met with the affected neighbors um they are in support of

increasing the number of children that our client wants to service here is the

increasing the number of children that our client wants to service

letter of support it was dated May 26 2026 with us which was also submitted as

a part of our exhibits so as you can see the neighborhood does support the

legalization of the group childcare home or the new childcare facility and this

last photo is the notice that we put on the front door of the property. So there's no new

construction. My client doesn't wish to add anything additional. There's everything is

already completed. She just wants to change or she just wants to legalize the property as the

group home which is technically not um uh legalized at this it's a group child care right yes right

okay so let me ask you how many students how many does he how many uh children does she have now

and where does she want to go she wants to increase the number to 25 students and how many do you have

now? I believe it's 20. Okay. All right. She's going to come on, right? She is. She should

still be on. Hopefully she's still on. Okay. And that is Nikita Shultz Ahmad. Okay. Why

don't we bring her on? Nikita has been allowed. I am on. Thank you so much. I'm not sure how

to show the camera do i need to do that um why don't you do this could you please state your name

and then spell it for the stenographer my name is dr nikita sholks ahmed n i cake k i

z hyphen ahmed a h m a d do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but

the truth yes i affirm counsel yes um dr ahmed did you hear the testimony that provided before

the board today yes and it is is it a true and accurate um depiction of what you wish to do with

the property yes and you would adopt it as your own testimony yes okay all right questions from

the board yes is that um are you operating on all three floors in the basement of the property no

the lower level which we refer to the basement we first was the lower level so

it's only the lower level in the first level I actually live on a second and

third levels okay the kitchen and the laundry room are actually where I live

the ones that didn't have dishes wash where I live the the second kitchen that

she showed you is on the first floor of where we operate there's two classes on

first floor and three classroom spaces in the lower level which leads out to the back plate space

and all of the parents will enter they currently enter through the um lower level back door

okay so egress out of the basement directly out to the outside yes the egress is directly outside

okay and then the first floor um egress will be out through the first floor front door entrance

that you saw that had the notices on it what age what age groups are you servicing infant

group six year old okay and what's your what's your drop off and pick up times my drop off times

are 7 a.m pick up the 6 p.m i looked looking at the backyard there's a i see there's a fence on

one side but there's no fence or anything on the side where the driveway is that's a bit concerning

it's there isn't there so that's a really old picture from back in march and april

the truck the black truck right there is no longer there the um my contractor and i could submit a

copy of that my contractor is my gates blew off last winter when it was a

really bad storm so we have the cones right there but my contractor is putting

a gate up that leads out to that back and a gate up that leads out

A gate up that leads out to that back and a gate up that leads out to the front that will cover the entire driveway area.

Okay.

Other questions?

So the one gate is right there on the side and then right there where you see the jeep at the top of the hill where those three cones are, that's where that gate is going to be enclosed.

Gotcha.

Okay.

okay okay um how many bathrooms do you have there are two but well all together have five bathrooms

in the property but the children will have access to two one on a lower level and one

on the first floor level okay and uh how many um assistants uh teachers helpers so it's one it's

one there will only be four children in each classroom area four to five at the

most each classroom area there will be one instructor in each classroom area

myself as a director and I currently have an assistant director okay and you

said this was for 25 children yes total how many so how many classrooms do you

have? There are three on a lower level and two on this first level. That's five classrooms

all together. You said four per? So no more than no more than five. No more than five

per classroom area that gives us 25 okay and then fire the fire code issues are

important to me so yes so all the fire code all the fire codes are up to date

we already have our certificate of occupancy and certificate of compliance

from the office of early learning octo we actually have they're just waiting

for us to pass the zoning so that they can pass us for the group to fill us up

to group so we've already we've been in operation there for quite so many years

but when they came in to pass us for family daycare which only gives us a

certain amount they told us that we should try for group because it will

allow us to get more children because the house is so large okay but I'm

talking about hardwired smoke detection system, the fire alarm system with the strobes and the lights, the emergency lighting.

You have all of those, correct? Yes. All right. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you.

questions from our attorney um so so how many children do you currently have

currently in operation now i have 12. okay so you it sounds like you have an extended family

you either have a family daycare that's been extended to 12 children or you currently have

group child care what you are actually seeking is a child care center um so we're what you're

i'm looking at your application to lni it did say you wanted a group child care but unfortunately

what you're asking for is not actually what you want um so what we're going to need to do is

you're going to need to submit um request to remit amend the refusal um and we're going to need to

send this back to l and i to to correct the refusal well not correct it to change the refusal

to reflect what you are actually seeking um i'm seeking i'm seeking group which should give me

13 plus children i'm not seeking anything higher than that but you just said you were have up to

25 children so if i'm not able to have up to 25 children under group then i'll be satisfied with

group okay all right well then we can we can do that too but i just want to be clear that

yet you can only have you can group only goes up to 13 or 12 actually maybe oh group only goes up

to 13 okay that's no problem or hold on let me look it may only be 12 13 or more baby child care

Center. We're just looking at the definition. Okay.

Yeah, group child care is up to 12 children.

so if you want to have 13 children you would need to apply for a child care center i'll stay at 12

that's no problem because they're all little anyway so i'll stay at 12 okay i mean if you're

because they're all little anyway. So I'll stay at 12. Okay. I mean, if you're, if you're fine

if you're fine with

with that, um, then we can leave it at that. The, the only, um, the only other thing I would

mention the board is just because you said this is also your residence. So we may just want to

include a proviso that single family household living is to, is to remain, um, at this property

because it sounds like this is for the whole structure yes okay all right thank you

but again the um the child care is only on the lower level and the first floor i reside on the

second and third so hillary what i mean what are we voting for i mean she does she's not going up

she's not changing well no she only has approval for family right now um i don't know how she she

got to 12 but there is a there are provisions in the code where you can get a special exception to

expand a family child care up to 12 but it may be that the state is telling her that she needs to

have zoning approval for a group child care before they will change her license okay all right

questions or comments from the uh the virtual audience

no hands no no hands no okay um planning thank you chairman and good evening david vector with

the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no

change to the rsa2 residential single family zoning at this location uh this zoning this

neighborhood still carries its original 1933 zoning designations the proposed expansion of

the existing child care facility into group child care will not injure the use of adjacent property

so the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variance for

group of child care. MI 2026 001 165 1139 North 63rd Street. I vote yes with provisal. Single

household living to remain. Michael Johns. My vote is yes with proviso. Cheryl Gaston. My vote

is yes with proviso. Tanetta Graham. My vote is yes with proviso. I am McAdams. My vote is yes with proviso.

You, you have your right, Brittany, Brittany, she has another case.

All right, Brittany, she's coming back in. Oh, good. Good. Thank you.

here i don't know why my video isn't connecting anymore but i'm here okay good oh there it is

right um all right so mi 2026 001 167 59 49 media street um just could you just state your name

because you've already been sworn

britney gardner right and could you um identify your client a relationship to the property

um 49 40 uh 59 49 media street she is the property owner taylor daniels what's her name

taylor daniels okay thank you and our vice chair has just a few questions

yes good evening and uh the documents for this case been submitted five days in advance of this

hearing yes it is okay and do you waive the uh read another refusal and stipulate to its accuracy

i do okay all right thank you you can proceed with your case okay

can you see my screen

we see you yeah we do yep okay so this is 49 or 59 49 media street this um refusal also relates to

um a daycare center so um our client went to legalize the property as a child care center

is already structured um as an existing daycare there will be no new construction

any additions, removals, or anything like that is strictly legalizing the property as a child care facility.

as a child care facility

okay um let me ask you did you did you uh send in a copy of a deed

it should be a copy in the d attorney that would have sent that in is it not in the exhibit

we don't see it

we can we can um if it's not there which we did not see it previously we can pull it

um for our records and um thank you while we're talking did do you have converse have a

conversation with anyone relative to the rco of course i mean i and i think the rco voted for it

but there's a couple things they say in there that's a little um

yes there was an rco meeting and the community did vote uh in support of the child care facility

i have to pull it up but i believe they wanted more information about the food service

yeah i i see there's there's quite a few things i think they raise here

So, all the way at the bottom, oh wait, what's this, the deed, well, yeah, there's the copy,

well, it's not the actual copy of the deed, but she is listed on the deed as per the city's

website okay so yes the neighbors the affected neighbors requested pictures of

the kitchen area in the back the backyard okay so do you have photos you

could show us. I am looking through. I thought there were some photos. You should bring up

all your documents right for this case yes are they can you not can you see my screen

no i cannot oh i'm sorry um maybe other people i can't no nobody

it should be coming up now okay

okay so this is the one you want to go through this slowly show you okay start at the top and

then go through it all are are you familiar with it can you talk about what it is

i can but i don't see the photos of well there was the backyard in the in the exhibits that's

what i was trying to find for you um yes so here is the copy of the refusal um we have all that

what i will concentrate on is the photos and any drawings you may have okay so i'll go there at the

end right so that's is that the way we go back is that the picture of the front of the property

these are the neighboring properties

okay all right let's try to get to that the property we're talking about

so this is the property there is that a neighboring property

yes chairman this is the um this is my client's property

That's the exterior of the daycare center.

Okay.

Okay.

And here is one of the classrooms.

Right.

A restroom.

That's the second restroom.

Yes.

I believe there were more photos, but I don't see them.

yeah those are the only photos that we have and here is the letter of support from the rco meeting

And this is an additional photo of the exterior door with the notice of the for today's hearing and the text clearance.

and this is an additional photo of the

So why don't you bring your client on? Maybe she could be helpful with something, right?

Okay, Ms. Daniels, are you there?

Yes, good evening. Good evening. Could you please state your name and spell for the

historiographer? Sure. My name is Taylor Daniels, T-A-Y-L-E-R. Last name is D-A-N-I-E-L-S.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes, I do. Okay. How many children do you have now?

So this daycare is actually not functioning right now. The request was to

just receive a variance that was already on the property.

So there was a certificate, well, a special provision for a child care center in 1996.

When I started doing the renovations, just staging the daycare, I realized when I tried to obtain my Certificate of Occupancy that my variants had inspired.

Right.

So now you want to try to get a new variant.

yes i just want the the purpose of this was just to renew the original variance that was

on the property originally and that was for up to 20 children um and is that what you want now 20

yes okay um as she goes through the photos could you give us a little sense of what we're saying

sure because i see some of my photos are actually missing um so that is oh okay so

where do you want me to start right here yeah that's fine are you guys able to hear me well

it looks like it's kind of yeah we're we're hearing you okay all right so this is the actual

daycare, like this space that I'll be utilizing, that door goes into the kitchenette and then

the two bathrooms that you saw, the blue and the orange. So right now, this is as far as I got

because why I wasn't going to be able to get licensed with DHS because we didn't have like a

certificate of occupancy.

Okay.

Oh my God.

Questions for me. Yeah, I have a question around the DHS state process.

How many children would you be able to have in your house based on your layout and square footage?

So this floor is 928 square feet.

That room that we're looking at is 700 square feet.

So there wouldn't be any more than 17 children allowed in this particular space.