The interior. So he has done the work, you know, again, did not know any better.
You know, he has a restaurant down the block from here.
He just, you know, wanted a quiet.
He has, you know, he works from home when he's not working in the restaurant.
And he just wanted a quiet space that's separate and apart from where he lives.
And he created this home office.
Here's a bathroom down there.
He has like a little kitchenette down here.
And then this was the biggest issue.
They're like, oh, what's going on with the other half of the first floor?
We're like, it's a utility room.
It's a common utility room for units one and two.
And he's unit one.
And they have their laundry in there.
And here's the laundry facility.
But they were like, oh, you converted that too.
And we didn't have a picture at the time.
We're like, we'll get you a picture.
But they still were against our project.
And then there are plans and drawings.
You know, this is what it previously looked like.
This is the walkway to the left, which is the common entryway, which was before the garages.
there was no entryway. And then we made some simple floor plans here, but you can see
that walkway to the left. You come in, you go down like a half a flight of steps. Everything's
above grade, like even the living area because of how it's sloped. But it's a bathroom, kitchenette,
living room. Again, not to scale. We're not architects, but I just want to give you a general
sense of what's there. This is that utility room there. So you make a right, go down a flight of
steps or half a flight of steps and you go into this home office which was a former garage which
is around 500 four or 500 square feet and then this is the utility room as well and they thought
that we were trying to make blow this out and make this into a whole other unit which is not the case
and then here's existing conditions as well this is where lasha lives with his wife it's two bedrooms
open floor plan bathroom and then this is his renter up here kind of the same thing
Meeting notice, we met on December 10th at 7pm. We emailed that notice a few weeks beforehand to the coordinating RCO and relevant parties, showing that we mailed it to a hundred
uh to the coordinating rco and relevant parties showing that we mailed it to 105 addresses these
are the list of the addresses proof of mailing to these addresses the application for appeal
it's actually i apologize it's actually owned to my client's llc argo llc belasha is the member of
the llc project information form the deed to the property showing that argo is the owner
And then finally, the tax clearance money's owed, but it's not yet. Not until March 31st. With that being said, I would ask that Lasha virtually raise his hand.
did you say rasha lasha l-a-s-h-a last name k-i-k-v-i-d-z-e okay thank you i have her
she will be allowed to speak could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
can you please unmute yourself
could you please state your name hi could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer. Yes, my name is
Lasha, L-A-S-H-A
and Kikvize,
K-I-K-V-I-D-Z-E.
we're affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth. Yes, sir.
Please proceed, counsel.
Yes, Lasha, you heard everything
I had to state today about your zoning
matter. Yes,
I did. And is it true and correct?
Yes. And do you
adopt it as your own testimony? Yes.
questions for the board
uh yeah i so so the the requested uh zoning is a is for the for an office in the basement as part
of the one unit correct yes the the refusal has to do with the surface parking in the front
we can't be the refusal the certain it says the surface parking spaces are not permitted within
eight feet required in the front yard so that's the technical refusal and the reason why we have
the parking in the front yard is because we eliminated the garage that we previously had
which is the same thing that 11 other property owners have done on that block so it's just a
home office in the sense of he just works there it's not like we're creating like from a zoning
perspective a home office he just works down there like this is Dan for him basically
okay well i hear what you're saying right and it's probably true i agree that it's true
but the way that the plans show it shows that it almost could be an independent
efficiency because it's got a full-bedroom it's got a living room and a kitchenette
and it's 500 square feet you said that's a efficiency so i'm so not so i don't so but
If there's no refusal for that, I guess it doesn't matter because we're just talking about the parking.
That's right. Yeah. And to be fair, that's what the community thought, too.
And we're like, he lives there. He has a restaurant like a mile down the road.
I hear you. And he knows that, you know, if he tried to put a third unit and I explained it to him,
If he just or someone else, a future owner of the property, try to put a third unit in there, they would get a violation notice because they would have to come back here to get that third unit approved.
But there's no there's no intent to do that.
I mean, from my client's point of view, again, the refusal has to do with the parking, not trying to put a third unit in there.
Other questions from the board?
Not a question, but a comment. The conversions without first getting permits is, you know, a problem.
No, and you're not, your client is the only one, but, you know.
well and board member gaston as you know that this is just the first step on in this process
and you know ellen i rightfully should make it painful for people who do these conversions
and you know he's gonna have to get a building permit and he's gonna have to get a co which
And he's going to have to get a CO, which means he may have to open up some walls, do some modifications, and he should.
means he may have to open up some walls do some
He should get all the approvals that he would need.
He just didn't know better.
Like, you know, he's, you know, not he's moved here, you know, from Georgia, like not Georgia, the state, but the country, like English, you know, not first language.
He just works in the restaurant industry and he didn't know better.
That's not an excuse, but we're here to legalize this structure first from a zoning perspective.
Then obviously he needs to get a CO, which is another hurdle that he needs to separately overcome.
Did you say he works in the restaurant industry or that he has a restaurant?
He has a restaurant. He has a place called Golden Gates in the Northeast.
So then he is aware of the myriad of permitting processes that you have to go through then to be approved to have just about anything.
So, again, well, he purchased the restaurant.
No, he. So when he hit the restaurant that he purchased, he was a server in this restaurant.
He didn't build this restaurant from scratch.
He obviously I never really asked him the question, but I'm sure he knows about the health department and things like this. He never did any type of construction.
And he saw everyone else had it. So I'm not here to give excuse. I'm just stating like his state of mind.
Okay. And, you know, again, he's not the only one.
I know.
Great.
Other questions from the board?
questions or comments from our attorney
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair alice alice yudovic will be allowed to speak
hi alice could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
Good afternoon, Chairman and members of the board. Alice Udovich, U-D-O-V-I-C-H, on behalf of Councilman Brian O'Neill.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Chairman, the councilman does not have any objection to the addition of the outdoor parking space.
We have all of the same concerns that the board, and particularly Ms. Gaston, stress.
you know, this could easily be used as an efficiency apartment. You know, we seem to have
so many properties in the area that are doing these illegal conversions. So just to really
stress that this property is to be used as a duplex and solely as a duplex.
Other questions from the virtual audience? And before you take any questions, I have no
problems putting a maximum of two units to read I don't know if it's necessary but to restate that
so in case you know this someone else tries to do a variance of some sort later on it's known that
we you know it was only granted for two units and nothing more than that and it has nothing to do
with that but you know it has to do with the parking but just to restate that Hillary can we
do that it's already two units right i mean
typically like typically you know provisors are supposed to be related to
what you know the the relief that's being requested i think it does um i mean it does
say on the refusal that this is accessory to an existing two-family household living so it is clear
that the use is not that use is not changing um so i think a proviso in that case would
would be redundant and might be a little confusing because this is about parking
um but it is it is if it wasn't stated on the refusal i would say yes let's clarify what the
current use is but it is stated on the refusal what the current what the current use is so
question for you hillary too now so this office space in the basement there was discussion that
there would be a co required etc etc so how does that play into anything at this point if it's just
about the parking i mean well if if they so if they went for the owner went for a co and there
was a change and they said that this is a change of use you have to have a zoning permit that
that matches what your co says in terms of um in terms of the use so the i i don't know if they
would need exactly well the co is for fire safety so it may just be certifying that this
need exactly well the co is for fire safety so it may just be certifying that this this habitable
We'll see you next time.
space meets the fire safety requirements of the code it's not necessarily changing the use um
but i don't know exactly a co would be required but certainly a building permit would be required
and those generally of a co built into them so is that a proviso that we would say that this
basement convert or this garage conversion to an office you know is it requires a building you know
is there i don't know i i would i i think you could add a proviso um you know must obtain a
building permit um and that if there's a co if a co is needed then that would be concluded in
the building permit they say must need a building permit for the prior use for for the for the prior
work um right um yeah just uh must yeah obtain uh how do they call it here um must obtain a
building permit for the removal of the interior parking garage i don't know if you would need a
building permit for the parking spaces as well um but obviously a zoning permit for that because
the location of the spaces is changing and generates a refusal.
But I think for a building permit, for sure,
for the removal of the interior parking garage.
Any other questions from the board?
Any questions for the virtual audience?
Any questions?
Excuse me, Chair, there's a Surin last name beginning in P
will be allowed to speak.
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
hi uh my name is suren pogosov it's s-u-r-e-n last name p-o-g-o-s-o-v
we're affirmed to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do are you a neighbor uh yes i live in the neighborhood and i don't have any questions
Just want to comment that there's a lot of homes in the neighborhood that were converted, that garages were converted into a living space.
And, you know, I don't see any problems with that.
People, I attended that neighborhood hearing and people were complaining about taking the garage spaces.
But nobody today is really parking in the garage.
So I don't see a problem with that. And I guess I'll support the project.
Thank you for your support. Thank you for calling in. We appreciate it. Is there anyone else?
There are no more hands.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the existing residential to family attached RTA2.
The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the requested variance for surface parking within the required front yard.
MI 2024, 006-056-465 Harlan Street, I vote yes with proviso.
Building permit to be obtained for work on garage.
Is that enough, Hillary?
I would say for removal of interior parking garage, just to match the language on the refusal.
Removal of interior parking garage.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Earl Gassman, my vote is no.
Tana Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
my vote is yes with proviso ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso
thank you number six and number seven i'm sorry
mi 2024-006-088-9100 bluegrass room brett feldman and leonard altieri are the attorneys
um no rco letter or summary but notice was sent to the neighbors with proof of mailing
there is a letter of support from council member driscoll
who states that the rco is in support of this as well
brett feldman has been promoted to panelists
afternoon council
Mr. Feldman
yeah yes uh Mr. Chair good good afternoon uh Brett Feldman on behalf of the applicant and
um my co-counsel on this is Leonard Altieri I'd ask that he be promoted also he's going to be
hold it hold it hold it Mr. Feldman do me a favor could you go on our video first so we can see
And you want your co-counsel?
Is he with you or is he somewhere else?
He has his hand raised.
He has been promoted.
Thank you.
You're welcome.