para subir al sótano
para bajar al sótano
that's where the stairs
is to go down
to the basement
that was not quite my question
thank you
And this is the interpreter speaking. Would you like me or would you like to repeat the question so that I can say it again?
I think we have enough information.
My question is, or my comment is, it looks like here in this first floor unit, if you are in bedroom number one, you have to go through the living room.
you have to go through the living room and the kitchen to get to a bathroom.
Is that what I'm seeing here?
Sí, de lo que yo puedo ver en el dibujo, si usted está en la habitación número uno,
usted tiene que pasar por la sala y por la cocina para poder llegar al baño.
¿Eso es correcto?
Correcto.
Correct.
Okay. And then it looks like here on this second floor unit, I'm not seeing, am I seeing a living room or living area of any sort?
I see two bedrooms, I see a bathroom, and then I see a kitchen. So there's no living room, dining room, area in this unit. Is that what I'm seeing?
Is that what you're proposing here?
En el otro plan, veo que hay dos cuartos y hay la cocina y hay el baño, pero no veo un espacio para sala.
¿Eso es lo que usted está proponiendo?
Que arriba, sí, arriba hay espacio para el baño y para la sala.
So upstairs there's space for the bathroom and the living room area.
where is that not on this plan not on this plan it's just not i'm not saying it's just not
so there's three images in the picture that i'm sharing on screen
el espacio de arriba, el plano para arriba.
So, the right one would be the space upstairs.
Right.
Entonces sería subir las escaleras,
ahí se ve que está la habitación,
la sala de estar, el baño,
y después está la cocina.
So, if you look in that right picture,
you could see the bedroom,
you could see the living room,
the bathroom, and then the kitchen.
We don't have the living room.
What I'm saying is, I'm having a problem. There's no living room. There's no dining room. You've got, there's a kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms. Is that?
So that's what the mistake was in that bedroom that it says bedroom next to the bathroom.
That's supposed to be the living room.
Then it sounds like to me we need new plans, right?
Number one, right?
Así que primeramente suena como que necesitamos nuevos planos.
And when you do it, I want to make it simple.
One of the things that I harp on all the time
Is having to go through a bedroom
To go to the backyard
This is a prime example
Of why it is a horrible thing to do
With having the trash in the backyard
And having to come through a bedroom
Así que una de las cosas que nosotros estamos tratando de evitar es que uno tenga que ir por un cuarto para llegar a la parte de atrás del apartamento
Porque hay que llevar la basura por los cuartos para llegar a la parte de atrás
and then one of my concerns which i mentioned earlier is you're trying to put these bedrooms
in here on this first floor and so if you're in the bedroom you gotta walk all the way through
the living room and the kitchen to get to the bathroom i mean that's it's bad
We have to move on with this case and I'm going to have a resumptive hearing.
and I'm going to have a resumptive hearing, okay?
OK, so questions or comments from our attorney.
So, questions or comments from our attorney?
No, sir.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands.
Planning, do you want to hold until you see new plans?
No, I can make my statement.
Amy, board by the Planning Commission,
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSI 5 residential single-family zoning
the appellant has not shown that the property cannot possibly be used in strict conformity
with the zoning code and that the variance is therefore necessary to enable economic
value from the property the planning commission recommends that the board deny the variance for
multi-family thank you um and one moment tell her that please okay este así que dice este de la
comisión de planificación el plan integral no recomienda cambios a la zonificación
rsa 5 para viviendas unifamiliares en esta ubicación la propiedad tiene este una historia
documentado en la planta baja comercial y vivienda residencial este y el apelante no
ha demostrado que la propiedad no puede ser utilizada esté en conformidad con el código
de sonificación
una pregunta
un momento
un momento por favor
so we're going to continue this case
August the 6th
at 2 o'clock
and what we would expect at that
August 6th meeting
is new plans
that would take into consideration
everything that you heard today
We will have the chance to present them. The board will then ask questions, go back to the audience, and then we'll vote. So we will not vote on this until August 6. Be sure that she comes with new plans. We need them five days before the hearing, and she should take into consideration everything that she heard. Please interpret that for me, Stephen.
So we're going to continue this case for August 6 at 2 in the afternoon.
What we're waiting for are new plans and take into account everything you said on the day of today.
You're going to have an opportunity to present those plans and the board will have an opportunity to ask you if we pass them to the audience.
So for August, if you can present us new plans and submit them five days before your audience.
thank you very much for your time and please remember August the 6th you have to have your
documents and five days prior to that thank you very much and Steven we very much appreciate you
hearing two cases for us today thank you very much no problem thank you so much may i be excused yes
you can all right thank you so mi 2024 006 177 2068 east somerset street vernon astasio is the attorney
there's unanimous support from somerset neighbors and non-opposition from council member squilla
and there are 20 signatures.
Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Good morning.
Vern, could you please just state your name
and spell for the stenographer?
Yep, it's Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O,
on behalf of Mr. Jeff Sommer.
Do you swear to her, Vern, to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
do you have proof of posting? I did send proof. I think the photo that we had was an old photo.
What the close up is of the old photo, but we did send over proof of posting,
but I don't have a close up of this particular listing. Okay. All right. Start your presentation.
Okay. Do you want to swear me in? I thought I did. I'm sorry. Do you swear
a firm to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed sir thank you and i
stipulate to the accuracy of the um right of the of the refusal
as you said we have unanimous support here from the rco and also a letter
of uh of non-opposition from the council office i am moving into evidence 71 page exhibit binder
My client bought this property eight months ago, and it presented as a duplex.
And it presented as a duplex. He contacted me during the process and I accepted the case, knowing that this board and the community would support granting the variance because he did not create this.
He contacted.
This is a two-family dwelling that was marketed and sold to him.
And to gut it now, after it's been completely rehabbed by, I guess, the previous owner,
to gut it now and turn it into a single-family home would render it completely useless.
So with that, let's get to the plans.
I'll be able to zoom in if you'd like at any time.
Here's a basement.
It's just mechanicals, nothing more than that.
And then we've got the first floor and the second floor.
let's zoom in first floor right up the stairs into a hallway turn right here's your living room
your bedroom eat-in kitchen full bath there's a little mudroom area access to the yard
Please note, there is no bedroom here that you're getting yard.
Thank you.
Welcome.
This was an easy one.
They're not all that easy.
But anyway.
You've made them happy.
I'll tell you that one time.
Well, you know what?
If you're ever worried that it's not getting into our heads, it's getting into mine.
Believe me.
So my clients hear it from me now.
But anyway, the rear yard has got the containers, and this is universal access to the rear, actually, because of this breezeway right here.
Both units have access to the trash area, and that's that.
And then upstairs, we've got another center-situated bedroom with a living room at the front, a little eat-in kitchen in the rear, and then space is separated with the full bath.
This is a three-quarter bath, sorry.
So that's it.
Property management team will continue to maintain the property.
I'll show you some photos.
My property is only one unit's occupied.
The other one we're waiting until this is done.
Let's take a peek.
What's the rest of the block look like?
There are some duplexes.
There are actually even more than that.
There are triplexes, and a good majority, though, are single family.
and it was occupied at purchase as well one of the units again the second unit
is waiting for the approval obviously my client understands he's going to need to go through the
building code process with an engineer and an architect. As you can see, there's proof of two
meters. Here's the letter that went out to everyone. And there's proof of 132 individual
households that were mailed. We also went door to door. In addition to the unanimous vote of the
RCO and the council office. We've got Somerset, Rush, and we use the list given to us by the
Planning Commission, these addresses here, in order to go door to door. As I've said,
we've got the support of the RCO is unanimous, and I'll move that in. That's about it. I would
like to call my client, Mr. Jeff Sommer, to raise his virtual hand.
Jeff Sommer will be joining us as a panelist.
Hello, everyone.
Good morning, sir.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
it's jeffrey j-e-f-f-r-e-y summer s-o-m-m-e-r you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Mr. Sommer, did you hear my presentation to the board this afternoon?
I did, yes.
Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, it is.
Do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you.
I have nothing further.
Questions from the board.
Can we go back to the pictures of the basement, please?
it's not very pretty but sure no i guess but not there sure i saw that bed down there
yeah i saw a bed down there yes it looks like there's a there right here yes that looks like
a mattress yes it does so what is what is going on there and well the proposal is that there'll
no living space in the in the in the basement this is probably from remnants of the uh of the
previous situation and that's where these pictures came from okay mr sommer do you want to add
anything to that or do you want yeah the previous owner decided to finish that um he was living in