Thank you very much for having me.
Thank you so much.
We haven't seen you in a while.
Try to get on here more often.
Here you go.
Number six.
MI 2026-00179-1202-Altra Street.
Alex Goldberg is the attorney.
non-opposition from passion
civic association
mr goldberg would you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
alex goldberg a-l-e-x-g-o-l-d-b-e-r-g you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth i do mr goldberg could you identify your client a
relationship to this property sure my client is 118 12 street llc and its representatives francis
wang and jack zhao are in the virtual audience vice chair has just a few questions for you sir
good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
i have and you wave the reason of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i wave the reading but
we have a amended plans in the packet that would change yes yep all right thank you can show your
screen to proceed with your case okay um so i'm here presenting um a proposed direction of a new
structure with six dwelling units this is a cmx3 property and as you'll see in a moment we are
asking for one dimensional refusal for occupied area um this entire block is owned cmx3 and
cmx3 specifically does not regulate the amount of units that you can have it
cmx 3 specifically does not regulate the amount of units that you can have it it has regulations
on occupied area parking and floor area ratio we are availing ourselves of this process because
we believe that the version of this project that you're about to see with six units is
better than the by right six unit project at this location and we have a letter of non-opposition
from the rco as well as a letter of support from the directly adjacent neighbor the notice of
refusal is for occupied area at the time of the original application we were asking for 89.75
percent occupied area we met with the coordinating rco in march and they asked for a couple things
and you'll see their letter but you know their position being non-opposition really hinged on
us making a modification to the building and compromising some of the building size to make
it smaller and agreeing to some other things but that's our one one refusal item the other thing
i have not mentioned is that there are two accessory parking interior accessory parking spaces
included as a part of this development project here's the letter of non-opposition from passing
square civic association um they mention in here that they would like a proviso
prohibiting visitor accommodations and short-term rentals it's not a part of this application
i don't know if that's an enforceable proviso but we are agreeable to it what so uh you know
that i'll just leave that uh as is the other things that we agreed to were interior trash
storage you'll see a trash room in the building common trash room and also commercial trash pickup
we're agreeable to to private trash pickup multiple times per week
here's that proviso form zoom out and over the most notable change is that we shrunk the building
by two and a half feet at the rear we now have a seven nearly eight foot rear yard and our occupied
area is now 84.6%. We reduced the occupied area by about 5%. I will note that there are other
properties and you'll see an exhibit shortly, possibly even the next. I'll wait until I get
to that exhibit to explain. We have letters of support from nearby neighbors. So my client owns
the two properties on 12th Street, which are perpendicular to us, but neighbor this building.
And we also have a letter of support from 1206 Alter Street, which is the neighbor to the right of this building structure. So both adjacent neighbors are in support. There's also a letter on here from 1212 Alter Street.
So the occupied area refusal that we're dealing with is commonplace in CMX3 properties that are
in close proximity. You can see on the screen the 1200 block of Alter Street specifically,
and I would point out that in 2017, a greater variance, one of 89% was granted to 1230 Alter
street and in 2018 a greater variance of 91 occupied area was granted to 1224 altar street
here's the 1300 block of altar street as well these are all full lot coverage and then south
11th street the the street to our right here's an aerial view so this is a double wide lot that
was consolidated prior to the engagement of our firm or or the initiation of this zoning matter
that happened in September of 2025. So the lot is 28 feet wide and measures 1,367 square feet.
Here's a zoning map. Again, you can see we're just off of Washington Ave. There is a large
number of CMX3 properties here, many of them multifamily structures, but a mix of singles,
multis, and commercial properties. My client owns a 10-unit building on the corner right next to us,
And next to that property is a commercial building that he owns, which is the management office for his property management company, which has over 150 units under management.
So that's a positive meaning that the management, the property management company is in very close proximity.
You can see how close we are to Washington Ave.
There are multiple bus lines.
I mean, it's a major road, obviously, Washington Ave.
Here's the front of the property.
Here's the notice posting.
here it is in 09 so it's been vacant for some time to the right you can see these large buildings
taller than ours um i believe this is somewhere around 48 units and i think this is a 10 this is
a 10 unit building right there here's the left so you have a mix of ones and twos and also an
here's the left. So you have a mix of ones and twos and also an industrial slash commercial
industrial
rules.
property on this side of the street. There's no parking available, no street parking available on
altar, no legal street parking, I should say. So the curb cut that we're proposing won't take any
publicly accessible parking spots off of the street. Here's the plans and drawings. So the
project architect CP Wang is in the virtual audience. If there are any specific questions
about materials or or architectural components um i think it has an interesting sort of four-toned
uh you know design to it uh there's two doors here you'll see on the plans one goes directly
into the garage area and one goes directly into the residential entry point and they also connect
on the inside there's a three-foot wide alley that also runs down the left side of the property
and and sorry before i move off of this page um we have a letter of support from 1206 altar which
is the building the single family home approved by way of variance to the right of us um going
back to what i said at the beginning of my presentation technically under cmx3 zoning we
we would be permitted to add an additional floor onto this building structure to achieve our six
dwelling units we felt at the outside of this application process and the rco agreed with us
that rather than building a taller building structure which my client is entitled to do
we would match the roof line of the building structure to the right of us
and ask for an occupied area
occupied area variance which is what we have done so you can see here that you
know we're matching the height of that building next to us
and shorter than the building to the left of us and I'll note that this
structure right here is a part of the lot this is not a standalone
lot here so this is sort of the back of the lot where that building structure
is okay here's an additional site plan and sort of massing map front elevations
the building structure is 39 feet high here the floor plan so we have parking
on the first floor there's no living in the basement at the back of the the
first floor there's a large storage area and below that there is a partial
basement with additional storage so we have a ton of storage here for unit owners there is a trash
room in the rear of the property with direct direct access to the rear and also direct access
through the front of the property the second stairwell here which we were required to provide
because of the four-story nature in the unit count of the building does take up valuable square
footage of the you know the floors above it it does also give us a second means of egress for
all four units all six units and it empties out directly into that three foot wide alley that's to
the left of us you can see there's a vestibule here and that that enters directly into
parking area the three floors above it are very similar they're all one bed one bath units
we did shrink the building structure which shrunk those three back facing units
um they were all previously 420 square feet one bed one bath units now those rear facing ones are
smaller um 355 square feet it wasn't you know that was a topic of conversation at the rco meeting
um there were comp there were there was commentary in in that meeting that that is what some people
are looking for it's less expensive and maybe they live alone um which we agreed with um you
can see here the upper floors again are much the same there is a shared roof deck on the top floor
as being the primary outdoor space with all necessary setbacks all of the units have washers
and dryers the building will be sprinklered you know obviously modern state-of-the-art there's
nice natural light in every unit because of the large windows that we have at the front
and the back of the building structure there's a cross-section
We mailed notice. We had that meeting with the RCO on March 10th.
Mailing certificates, application for appeal, deed to the property, and then there's two tax
clearance certs here, one for 1202 and one for 1204 because the city's records have not updated
that this is one tax account, but they're both clear. With that, I'd like to call my client to
adopt my testimony jack or francis i'm not sure which one of them will be on
mr chair i have a hand up from uh fang wong do you think that's possible yeah yes i'll go ahead
and promote them right now please accept the promotion to panelists when you receive it okay
I'm with that control.
Hello.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Fang Wang, F-A-N-G, W-A-N-G.
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told you nothing but the truth
yes should you turn your video on please oh
yes thank you counsel hi fang um did you hear my testimony today yes and was it true and correct
yes and do you adopt it as your own yes thank you questions from the board can you go back to
this section i want to see how who has all the residents have access to the um roof deck or just
the upper all the residents have access to the roof deck and i think in anticipation of more
questions maybe having my architect uh promoted and sworn in my sure why not okay well i want to
see who's your architect uh his name is cp wang it might he might be showing up as pink oh there
is right there all right sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
it's becoming back in shortly mr chair yeah i know okay
and so the the uh so all the residents have access to the to the to the uh roof deck okay all right
any other questions is there ventilated trash storage on each floor or in each unit there we
just have the trash room on the first floor um we can sort of look into finding some space in in a
in the common hallway um i don't want to carve any more space out of the units themselves but it's
something that we can look into i think just generally you know at the top unit that's a
five-story long walk down it's a long walk down um and then which uh which residents are going
have access to the parking good question so i asked the same my understanding is in is that
when the the units are leased up the it'll be essentially first come first serve to be able to
you know privatize your parking space the building is the entire lot limit at this point right no
we're at 84 84.9 well the residents have access to their i guess whatever the rear yards they will
yeah and i'll go back to that first floor floor plan i mean it's not huge but there's this storage
area back here that opens directly into the rear and also the trash opens directly and is there
any more detail like for the storage area all residents will have access to it or is it going
to be restricted to the building itself you mean like a sizable space building owner yeah i think
my my and francis you correct me if i'm wrong i believe that the building storage will be in the
basement and the tenant storage will be sectioned off on the first floor in some capacity just
because it's easier for them to get to their stuff yeah just could you tell me real quick what the
buy right option is for the unit 500 far is is the is the maximum floor area ratio we're at 339
so we could put a whole additional floor on the building structure the floors are nine feet nine
and a half feet somewhere between there so you know 48 foot building the unit count um you'd
have to get an elevator, wouldn't you? That's right. The unit count is limited by the
building code within that far. And then
for the building at the corner, I know you said you're shorter than it.
How tall is that building? It's a great
question. I believe it's... Or do you know just like generally? I think it's at least
45 feet tall. It's a four-story structure, but it... Because it's not
built yet, right? No, it is built. It is built. Yeah, and you can see it in the photos. I wasn't
sure if that was the rendering there's two there's two big buildings on the corner okay yeah i was
like i was sorry and then the building next the next door which is at 1206 altar street it's
permitted zoning but not building permits it's uh i guess it's by our by right well it was approved
by way of variance because single family living is not allowed by right in cmx3 okay and they also
So they also got a variance for the parking because it's weird.
I guess in multifamily CMX3, you're allowed, but in single family, you're not.
Frances, if you're still there.
I just, because your building went up first and I know you matched the Cornice line.
It looks like you matched the height to the building, but it's not there yet.
So I was just trying to make sure that there's no chance that they'll come behind you and change that.
I don't think so.
You know, my client doesn't own that property.
sure i don't know if it's under construction yet if francis can opine as to that that would
I don't know if it's under construction yet.
If Francis can opine as to that, that would be great.
be great but it was matched based off of the approved drawings right right this one's like
um questions or comments for our attorney
no questions at this time questions or comments from the audience or the virtual audience come on
good afternoon by the way you've been here a long time thank you all right why don't you get closer
and bring that mic right over here my name is jacqueline dorsey j-a-c-q-u-e-l-i-n-e capital g-o-r-s-u-i
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do and are you a
neighbor yes i am i live at 1208 altar first of all there's an alleyway next to 1206 that gives me
entrance to my back and they have the building built directly next door to 1206 eliminating
that alleyway and i they can't do that second of all the building on the corner they have a trap
a dumpster on the outside of the walkway so they're not putting the dumps they have six
apartments there that they use as airbnbs and they have a dumpster out there i have pictures
of this is not this unit pardon this is something another location that's another it's on the same
point yeah i but it's not it's not 1202. no it's not 1202. it's the owner of 12. okay okay he has
all the properties you're saying yes he does okay so i'm i'm just concerned about that alleyway
because I need access. I'm a senior. Plus, there is parking on that street. You park on the side
where the buildings are. You can park in that street. I think the cars that are parked there
are parked on the sidewalk. No, no. My friends that come to 1208 Altar park in front of my door.
Okay. Okay. And the police never stops them. If you park on the sidewalk, they give you a ticket.
okay they parked in front of my door 1208 um anything else ma'am
no other than uh i'm i'm just i'm i'm just opposing it because i think we have enough