what it looks like so what you see here to the left is where that main entrance that goes into
the living room if you walk directly up these steps where you see that ladder to the left there
is actually a door and right in front of that ladder the door is open so you can't tell but
that door closes so that entrance and then going up those top landings is where you ultimately get
to that second unit right in that area. The walkway that you see up there that looks like
a door is open, that is the open kitchen. There's no door in the kitchen. So I know
it's difficult. So how does, so how does the, so the first,
the lower level unit is bi-level, right? This first floor, second floor, and has access
to the basement. How does one that lives in that lower level unit, does the lower level
going to have to come into this stairway to go to the second floor of their unit no because the
No, because the door is going to be closed. So there's an internal steps for them to get to the second. When you say the second unit, you mean the second story?
door is going to be closed so there's an internal steps for them to get to the second floor
No, the second floor of the main, of the ground floor unit, of the first floor unit.
Is there a separate set of stairs internal to that apartment that takes them to the second floor of their apartment?
And where is that?
So I believe it's in...
okay so that's a problem because it's cut off okay so this this right here is the living room
and as you can see there's a piano and um i'm apologies because i just realized it's cut off
in this picture so directly to the right of this chair these are the set of internal stairs that
goes up to the second floor and as soon as you get to the top of that second floor landing
you're in between one of the bedrooms and the bathroom and you don't have access to the third
to the to the third story from that landing so it's like it's the old back stair yes correct
it's the old back stair right that's typically pretty narrow and pretty steep so uh it's kind
difficult to get furniture up those stairs so they are somewhat steep but not narrow
and speaking from experience because um unfortunately the previous owner did not
clean out the property so that was my lovely responsibility we got many beds and dressers
and a lot of things down the stairs so it's not um it's not narrow at all it's actually quite wide
um but sort of steep in the sense of i believe there are 16 15 steps and i only know that because
they had a wheelchair um sort of accessibility um chair attached to the stairs that we removed
the questions how do you get to the basement from the same unit then it's the it's directly
there's a door in the kitchen let me see if I can actually so especially if
stairwells on both sides of your unit yes there's a stairwell that goes
directly to the basement from the first floor kitchen okay I do know why but
yeah there's a there right by the backyard door right here to the left of
it which unfortunately you can't see in the pictures either there is a door that
leads directly to the basement you said there was a tenant in this when you
purchase the property yes and um are the utilities already separated between unit one and unit two
no so the tenant um when i'm sorry let me just clarify when we purchased the property
before closing there was a tenant there obviously the tenant had to become vacant so that we could
purchase the property but um necessarily but yeah yeah well yeah that was that was a part of the
the um closing agreement that they needed to deliver the property um vacant but um at the time
there were not separate utilities when it was it's rather complicated but i'll make a long story
short when i called pgo to transfer everything over into my name they were confused because they
did have an address there as unit as apartment one or floor ones and two and then another one
as four three so i said okay can we put all of them in my name they ended up calling me back
saying that actually there's only one there used to be two meters but now it
seems like everything merged into one so it was they were also very confused but
my understanding was that the previous owner was paying the utilities and the
tenant was just paying her minimal rent so when you subdivide this should you
get approval what's gonna be your plan for the utilities and managing the
tenant so my plan will only be to have an additional electric meter set insert
it to separate that and then to personally maintain the water bill and the gas bill okay
do you have the support of the neighbors on either side of the home i don't have that in writing but
verbally i've talked to them extensively they've seen us coming in and out moving things out of
the property and renovating they're okay with it and then i do also want to add that at the rco
meeting, the leader did basically verbalize and say, we're not looking to prevent you from doing
this. We know what's going on in the neighborhood. We know that most of these properties are already
operating this way. So we don't anticipate it being an issue. So did you get a letter from the
RCO? No. And I anticipate that's because they were under the assumption that if I continued
this hearing, that I would come back for a second hearing, which in reaching out, I explained I
opted not to do that because I paid a lot of money to make sure to notify the company
and I didn't want to sort of reincur those costs.
I don't know what that meant. Honestly, I don't know what that meant.
I don't know what that meant.
Honestly, I don't know what that meant.
Oh, so, so sorry.
Oh, so sorry. So just paying to print out the notice of refusal and the notice itself to mail it out to, I believe it was 157 people, and then to pay for each of the certificates of compliance to make sure that I had that.
So they didn't give you a letter because they wanted you to come back to them? I'm trying to, they didn't provide a, you had a meeting with the community, right?
Yes, sir. Okay. And they, so we don't let, we don't have a letter on record from them.
We do not. Okay. And, okay. So we don't, so we don't know the outcome of the meeting or from them. Okay.
Yeah, no, I didn't receive a summary notice. Um, and I sort of explained that in the email as well. I'm not sure why, but again, I anticipate it's because they wanted me to present these architectural drawings and try to reschedule.
like to to postpone this hearing to set up a second rco meeting and so i assume that that
is likely why there was no summary i mean i will say architectural drawings would have been helpful
and you're going to need them to proceed with construction so i do think that like
it's it's kind of hard to understand how these two are working currently
and you okay so sorry just for to clarify i would need them even if i'm not doing
because you don't you think it's well you're gonna i don't you don't i don't see how you're
gonna get through this project to subdivide it without any construction
because even fixture replacement requires you to pull permits and usually they're
require some sort of documentation for that there's like shop there's ways around it but
it's complicated and you need lots of like sub consultants which you could do but um yeah
um so you never presented to the rco i did but not it was it it wasn't a full meeting in my opinion
if they asked questions we talked about things and they didn't necessarily vote but they went
around and asked sort of like do you recommend if she has a second meeting or request the continuance
um hillary do we take a shot at the rco see where they stand with it um we could i mean we could
hold this right thing for you know two weeks a month see if there's further
discussion see if we get a response from the RCO yeah I mean it's up to the
board the meeting requirement was met and yeah so the meeting requirement was
met but I think we deserve take one more shot at them to see if they're willing
sentence on and then when we come back we'll make a decision okay yeah i would just uh put a deadline
on that yep yep uh two weeks that would be fine all right um questions or comments from from our
attorney um not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience i do not see
any hands with the chair planning commission take a position planning commission yes um amy boy with
the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the current rsa five
residential single family zoning at this location the property was remapped from rm1 residential
multi-family in 2021 there are multiple multi-family properties on this block so the proposed two units
is in harmony and is the least minimum the planning commission recommends that the board grant the
progressive variance for two family thank you um so we're gonna we close this except for what we
yeah it closes except for a letter from the rco um and a response from the applicant if they wish
and we'll vote um in two weeks which i believe is the 22nd 22nd i think yeah
do i return for that hearing or how does that work
you know so it's not it's just oh 20th i'm sorry not the 22nd it's the 20th um
so you you could be here if you want but we're not taking any additional testimony
we're just voting on the matter um well it's you responded writing yeah yeah okay thank you
Number 5, MI 2025-003-384-4860, Lancaster, Abbott.
4860 Lancaster Avenue Sherman Toppin is the attorney
Sherman Toppin is...
let me come on back in as a panel with provisos from the RCO good morning members of the board
good morning council afternoon um could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
yes um my name is Sherman Toppin I'm here represent oh last name spelled t-o-p-p-i-n
I'm here representing the applicant for the Lancaster LLC do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I do our voice chair has just a few questions
good evening have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
i have and do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy
yes all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed okay
once i'm not seeing
i am i'm not seeing the button to share green you don't see the green button on the bottom
yeah of course i've done this one looks like there's something going on the green you don't
see the green button on the bottom i do but when i hit it it's not looking at my second
my window i think you have to open them first right then you go to the green button yeah
it's open it's open chair let's see here what's going
yeah okay so sherman why don't i do this why don't i go to my uh last case and then we'll
come back and see how you make out okay i can figure that out one second all right
so let's go to number seven mi 2023 007 178 1710 north buvier street zen jinn is the attorney
in a man unanimous support from beach community services and a letter of non-opposition from
council member young
good afternoon can't uh board here there you go i know we don't i don't
I usually see you by this time of the day.
So could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N, last name J-I-N, here on behalf of the applicant.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
But you identify who your client is and the relationship they have to the property?
Yes, my client's Mr. Alex Coppa, the owner of the property.
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Good evening.
have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
oh okay you but wait we can't hear you zen said we can't hear you zen zen we can't hear
oh yeah headphone uh okay yes all right something there okay and do you waive the reading of the
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do all right thank you you can share your screen and
proceed thank you i will share with the board what was previously submitted in this case
it should be coming up in one second can the board see my exhibit yeah thank you
this is an application for a new construction in an rm1 district my client proposes a duplex
at this location the variances are dimensional in nature this block on north bovier street
A lot of the properties that are currently built have six-foot rear yards.
My client is simply looking to have the same depth rear yard in his proposal.
It is smaller than what is permitted in the district.
As you can see, they all relate to each other in that a six-foot yard is a smaller square foot,
and therefore more coverage of the occupied area.
All three refusals relate to each other.
we met with beach uh regarding this matter uh they are
in support this uh part of bovier street again with the existing
in support this part of bovier street again with the existing buildings generally being relatively
deep having small rear yards it is not inconsistent with what is already built in the area in fact
we would be lined up with this building you see in this photograph here as far as depth is concerned
and even the existing building itself which is a two-story existing structure that is going to be
demolished it is also not a hundred percent conforming with the nine nine foot rear yard
requirements so the existing building is very old it this is the existing conditions inside
it'll be demolished and a new structure built in its place the new building will be a three
story structure which actually essentially is what are on the block now for the most part
everything on the block is now three stories so we'll be matching uh what is currently on the
block as far as height is concerned uh the main thing about the property that's a little different
than some of the other ones on the block is that we do have a side alleyway between us and the
property next door that allows rear access by both units occupants so trash will be stored in the
back uh in the enclosed yard and the occupants have a wide enough alley which actually you can
see in the photograph here uh this once the building's complete it'll be gated uh to make
sure that it's safe there will be lighting to make sure that it's lit so that occupants can safely
access it to the back but trash will be stored in the back and brought out front uh at the uh
on the days that trash will be picked up the my client actually is very active in the area in
managing trash cleaning the street he does own other properties in the area so he makes a trip
around to make sure that he cleans all his properties regularly it's part of the reason
beach supported him strongly and also the councilman's office supported him because he is
he has been working closely with the community to make sure trash is not an issue at any of his
properties uh with the layout of the building it is a standard uh three-story structure uh the
first floor and cellar would be or basement would be one unit and then the second floor and third
floor would be the second unit uh the bedrooms are located on the first floor there's one in
the front one in the back with the kitchen dining essentially the basement which all those marked
The storage can be used as additional living space, rec room, with additional storage in the back.
Mechanicals are in the basement, along with washer and dryer.
The upper floor unit has three bedrooms and a den in the back of the second floor.
It also has access to the roof deck via Pilot House.
The roof deck is only accessible by the second unit.
it is not accessible by the lower unit on the first and basement levels that is essentially
the layout we are here primarily for the dimensional variances to the rear of the property
and again we're seeking a three-foot variance from the required nine foot setback
for the rear yard and it is again consistent to quite a few of the properties already on the block
and i believe my client is here to verify my testimony uh and i'm certainly happy to answer
any questions relating to this project what's your client's name uh alex copa alex copa yep copa yes
we're coming back in as a panel for the council with the chair
hello hi could you please sorry could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
my legal name is alexander copa o-l-e-k-s-a-n-d-r last name is copa k-o-p-a you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do sir could you please turn on your
video i'm trying to right now i don't know what's going on oh there you go you're on okay counsel
thank you um mr copa did you see uh what i presented on the screen to the zoning board
and hear my testimony yes i did can you verify what i have represented to the board is true
and correct and adopt it as your own testimony yes thank you questions from the board can you
zoom zoom out so we can see all the floor plans yes is this better yeah that's better so now
so you said they have access the first floor has access to there's an alleyway is that an alleyway