Yes, I need to get...
So this is 812 McKean Street.
You're listed for this, too.
Oh, withdraw, withdraw.
Well, do me a favor.
Please send us a letter.
Oh, okay.
And what was the other continued date, please, for Amstree?
January 7th.
All right, thank you so much.
Thank you.
this is ian hegarty executive director if you could please get in touch with the staff and
send a withdrawal letter for that case we would appreciate that thank you yes because yes i'm
sorry because i got in the car accident and i just thank you i'm back thank you all right bye-bye so
mi2024-005-636-812 mckean street mark must be heard waiting for a letter continue to january 7th
at 9.30 a.m.
Last, number six.
Number six, MI 2024, 005203, 1716 Frankfort Avenue.
This case has been withdrawn.
we're going to go to our add-on list number one mi 2025 000 465 2035 to 37 abigail street
We're going to go to our add-on list.
i vote yes michael johnson my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tywin my vote is yes
we're going to go to number seven first
MI 2024
5351 Wayne Avenue
Rachel Pritzker is the attorney
Good morning.
Good morning, counsel.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R.
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 their property?
Yes, my client is Queen in Germantown, LLC.
The owner is Nadal Hassan, and he is the owner of the property.
You waive the reading of the refusal and you agree with his accuracy.
Yes, except I will say that we've made changes through the process with the community.
So some of the refusals, which I'll go through, have now been complied with.
Please proceed.
Start your presentation.
Share my screen.
Can you see my screen?
Why don't you make it a little larger?
Better?
So this is 5351 Wayne Avenue.
This is an RSA 3 parcel on Wayne Avenue.
And this application was for the erection of a semi-detached structure with cellar, roof deck, pilot house,
for originally used as eight multifamily units with two accessory off-street parking spaces.
We've made changes to the project through the community process, so we're now proposing four
units, and we've removed the parking at the request of the community. They wanted the spaces
to remain on the street. Our architect, Carl Enberger from Canary, will be on to present the
plans. We have a whole host of refusals. This is a RCA3 property, although it is on Wayne Avenue,
a commercial corridor. It is a vacant lot. It is 2,540 square feet. And as mentioned,
we are proposing four units of reduction from the eight units multifamily on this corner property.
Um, if we look at the surrounding block, um, most of the surrounding block and the current block has three or five unit buildings, uh, 5349 Wayne Avenue is three units, 5347 is three.
Rachel, could you maybe put that up where we're testifying to?
Better?
A little bigger.
These are all the properties on that block that are three, four and five unit buildings.
Obviously, as mentioned, it's on Wayne Avenue, which is a commercial corridor, despite the base zoning of RSA three.
So what we're proposing, obviously, the eight units was more than what's currently existing.
And so that was what the pushback from the community was.
And so, again, as mentioned, we reduced it from eight units to four units, which I'll share that in a second.
We do have support from the community, given the reductions.
The property has been vacant since at least 1996. So obviously compliance with the code for RSA 3 was not feasible for all of these years. And so and given the surrounding context and the neighborhood and it being on a commercial corridor with existing multifamily, a four unit proposal as revised was more in line and feasible for this project.
It's worth mentioning that according to the city's 2035 comprehensive plan for the Upper Northwest District, that multifamily development of this property is strongly encouraged.
This is on since I guess it was published in 2018, but on pages 72 and 73, the plan states that the goal is to redevelop vacant land and buildings, promote new residential infill along Wayne Avenue in the vicinity of Wayne Junction.
and obviously to provide multifamily housing to encourage commercial around transit.
provide multifamily housing to encourage commercial around transit. So again, what
we're proposing is in line with the comprehensive plan as well. And I think the reduction that we
made through this process makes this in character and appropriate. There are some dimensional
considerations, some of which have been relieved given we removed the rear parking, which triggered
a refusal, and some of the lot coverage. We were just asking for some de minimis
dimensional variances as well. 50% open area is required. Although on RSA3, it just made it
difficult to fit a building that made sense on this lot. Like I said, our architect will go
through those plans in detail and the revised plans. Here's the portion of the comprehensive
of plan that we're relying on for those statements. And then just going to go down to
tax balance, the deed. Again, just an aerial view of the property. It's a corner property.
As you can see, the surrounding blocks on this side of Wayne Avenue are all RM2 or RM4, which
allow for a higher density multifamily, even across the street, RTA1. And then it's a corner
property. So the directly adjacent corner property is CMX two and a half. We're not providing
commercial, but we are providing similar density, but keeping within the 38 feet of height permitted
by the RSA3. Some aerial photos that you can see, this vacant lot on this corner.
Posters, our architect will also go through, if you can see there's some pretty unique
architecture in this neighborhood, so a lot of the revisions we also made were related
to aesthetic, just providing something that the community felt fit more with the character
of the surrounding properties. That was some of the adjustments we made as well.
and then pass the zoning posters code section as you can see for rsa3 you can't have multi-family
dimensional considerations
parking considerations although we did provide parking to try to meet
the parking the location of the parking triggered a refusal and ultimately the community asked us to
remove the parking so there was more parking in the street we met with the community several
times beginning in January and worked through a host of revisions. It was the Faith Community
Development, I believe it was 12th Ward Democratic Committee that we worked with,
and they actually can't thank them enough for the amount of times they met with us and their
flexibility in working with us. Ms. Cheryl Smith in particular was very helpful in making sure we
had continued conversations. We proposed a number of reductions on units and ultimately edited
up with the four units. This is the notice and the mailing. And then this is the letter from the
RCO, 12th Ward Democratic Committee. As you can see, there's a vote of support from the community
again after many meetings, which we thank them for participating in. Some more details from them.
And again, I think it was worth noting that the last time there had been really any development
on this site, it was a four-unit building. So again, that's kind of why we came to four
as a conclusion of what made sense for this property. If possible, the rest is just zoning
archives related to that. If possible, if we could bring on Carl Enberger, who's our architect,
he could just go through the revised plans. And we did submit a proviso plan form as well to the
board, um, showing the different changes, um, related to what I just testified to.
We see the architect's hand.
Can you hear us, Carl?
I can hear you.
Hi, Carl, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, it is Carl, C-A-R-L, Enberger, E-N-B-E-R-G-E-R, Jr.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please share your screen and start your presentation.
okay can you see my screen you can okay um i will um go through some of the beginning
go through some of the beginning of my presentation and some of the stuff that
of my presentation and some of the stuff that rachel um
Rachel just went over so I won't spend too much time on it but this is again a
photo of the current site it's the vacant corner property in the in the in
the foreground of this photo just to give you an aerial view of it to better
understand it there's again we're a vacant corner a lot there are the old
doubles that fill the rest of the block as rachel noted there every single one of these properties
is a multi-family anywhere between three to six units on this on this block
um the in the background of this is the previous submission that we originally
submitted last year just to go through some of the updates that we went through worked through
with the neighborhood communities we reduced the number of units from eight units to four units
this allowed us to increase the unit sizes and provided diversity of unit types which is
something that the neighborhood wanted we got rid of our basement units and we got rid of parking
and the curb cut as rachel noted they preferred to retain the on-street parking rather than
require us to meet the off-street parking requirements. That, in turn, allowed us to
have a rear yard, which they appreciated. And then, as Rachel also noted, we worked through
the aesthetics of the building a lot with the neighborhood to kind of pick up on the context
and make sure it was properly integrated with the neighborhood. So we have four reasons for
refusal remaining, the four units, multi-family units, the minimum open area we are not meeting,
minimum side yard we are also not meeting, and we are not providing any parking, so that still
requires the variance. This is the current proviso plan that we submitted last week. I'm going to
blow this up in detail and step through it quickly. In the basement, there's just storage
and utilities for these plans, but Wayne Avenue is on the left. West Coulter Street is on the right.
I'm sorry, on the top. On the first floor, you'll see our entry comes from the corner
by Wayne Avenue and West Coulter intersection. We have an accessible entrance, so there's a ramp
that circles around a planter and goes up to the first floor. The rear of the first floor has a
two-bedroom unit. Again, the community was looking for larger units to encourage people to stay
longer, not just looking for the smaller units that may have quicker turnover. We have storage
and trash internally on the first floor in a mail room. There's also a door to access the rear yard
from inside the house or from excuse me the building on the second floor we have one big
three-bedroom unit again leading to diversity of unit types and diversity of people who might
be renting this on the second floor we I'm sorry on the third floor we have a one-bedroom
in the front and a two-bedroom in the rear and then we did propose a roof deck originally
we are still proposing that and that is by right as we understand it I'll step through the elevations
really quick again the most important thing I think to point out with the elevations is that
we are trying to pick up on the context of the neighborhood so mansard roofs and don't dormers
are prevalent and and that's something that is highlighted in this design so that first image
was the Wayne Avenue elevation. The second image is the West Coulter Street elevation.
And then the rear elevation looks very much like the Wayne elevation. The adjacent elevation,
I'm sorry, the elevation facing the adjacent property has obviously less windows and it's
less articulated, but it still has a lot of brick that wraps the corners with an out-of-dormer
up on the third floor um again i'm showing you a picture of the um the site again so that you can
see some of the context of the um the uh surrounding properties so again dormers
mansard roofs are prevalent and then this is our proposed design that was presented to the community
again we have the uh entry ramp to the front and entry stairs that go to a front door
from the corner. This is from the opposite direction still on Wayne Avenue.
uh this is from the back so that we have the rear yard back here with a gate for access
This is from the back so that we have the rear yard back here with a gate.
um by the residents and that that's the gist of our presentation
council you have anything else no sir rachel
this council here rachel oh no just to bring my client on
all right please um is there a nadal hassan in the audience
nadal hassan please accept the promotion to panelists
hello could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
Sure. Nadal Hassan, N-I-D-A-L, last name Hassan, H-A-S-S-E-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Nadal, have you heard my testimony today? Do you believe it to be true and accurate, and do you adopt it as your own?
Thank you. Nothing further, Chairman.
Questions from the board.
yeah i have a i have a question why why do you have a ramp because it doesn't appear as though
the first floor is uh has is accessible the bathrooms and whatnot and you don't have an
elevator so i'm just wondering why you have the ramp um it is not a fully accessible unit but we
are required by the building code to have a type b unit which does permit for smaller bathrooms than
fully accessible bathroom okay so this um i can jump back up real quick
this back this back um i'm sorry excuse me this rear two bedroom unit um could be accessed
from the ramp through here this is all an accessible path and then this this one bathroom
in the in the bigger bedroom would have a would be accessible a type b standard
other questions
yes i have a question because i know you're proposing a roof deck and when looking at
the rendering it doesn't look that like there's that that's really been fully realized in the
in the rendering. And so is that is the plan that it's going to be accessible to the entire
building? Or is the thought that this is going to mostly be for the upper apartments?
We might just leave it actually open for the upper, sorry, for the upper apartments.
So probably for the top floor apartment. So that's what we're kind of thinking.