was converted into two family dwellings this is 34 49 i'm talking about 33 14. um the permit was
granted a cp 2025 003973 in the same layout than this one why why don't you bring your client on
and adopt your testimony then we'll open up for questions okay let me i don't know how to
well just your client's name right
you want to add jose fabricio and alfa i know they are online
You want to add Jose Fabricio and Alfa?
I know they are online, but I don't know how to add them.
Well, you don't have to do it.
Just mention his name and then we'll call for him, okay?
Okay, Jose, can you join us?
So they would need to raise their hands.
You said, what are the names, Jose?
Jose Fabricio Mejia and Alfa K. Polanco.
It's husband and wife.
save the second name because i don't see the first name mejia i'm sorry alpha polanco okay
alpha polanco is is in the virtual audience um she just needs to raise her hand okay let me see if i
can text her alpha polanco can you please raise your virtual hand so that you can be promoted
uh they're currently declining to be promoted
hello can you hand me oh yeah yeah could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer um i'm out for polanco um a l f a p o l a c i mean n c o polanco
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes all right counsel yes would you could you ask her to adopt your testimony
i'm sorry can you say that again well she should adopt your testimony right
yes right could we do that yes can you adapt your testimony please
sir she needs to adopt the remarks that you made as her testimony so you need to ask her
if she can your testimony and then adopts it okay so the question is whether what i said is the
truth and you say that this the truth yes all right all right questions from the board uh yes
for the second floor unit what is the plan for the utilities and I speak more
Spanish Spanish he speaks better Spanish than English yeah okay can I
translate no no you can no you cannot did you speak with her about this question
i mean yes they went over the the blueprints many many times yes
okay well did you talk with her about the utilities um i'm assuming yes each each unit
has their own closet and their own toilet and their own and their own utility utility gonna be
separate from first floor and second floor it's gonna be two separate unit two separate utilities
understood that i think my my question is more about the utility connections typically in a row
house they are both in the basement but in this case only one of the units has access to the
basement so my question would be one how will the second floor unit access utilities if there's any
issue they need to address them okay let me can i ask them in spanish no we'd have to get an
interpreter okay can we get an interpreter all right hillary we want to do a result if you're
going to have to okay all right so we're going to do a resumptive hearing for this
and it's going to be on um 7 29 2026 at 9 30 a.m okay at that time could you come back and be
prepared to handle the questions okay and we'll have an interpreter we will have an interpreter
for the application. Thank you so much.
All right, thank you.
All right, number
number three.
000685
Waldemere Drive.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney.
he's being promoted to panelists here okay thank you he's he's right here um good morning again
we didn't talk yet today did we we have not good morning good morning could you please state your
name and spell for this is on the first yes good morning mr chair members of the board it's burn
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the board. It's Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O, on behalf of Mr. Farouk El-Hadi.
Anastasio, A-N-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
We don't, let me see here. Did we get the letter yet from Mill Creek or Millbrook?
So, I'm sorry. So for this one, not since there was a meeting last week, correct?
Correct.
Okay, so yes, so we have not received anything since that meeting the RCO had previously sent a letter indicating they were opposed
But that was that was prior that was last summer that they sent a letter
So see the council persons and I'm gonna be asking that this the vote be held today
Because I there is a video that I'd like to be able to submit for the board to watch in in their own session
yeah but we'd have to open that up to other people right i mean yes any yeah exhibits would
have to be on the record um we could we couldn't just look at it in an executive session um i could
put we could put it on the record today okay what's the nature of the video it's just a
neighbor interaction with my client on the first the first time he went to his home and introduced
themselves to some of the families and you have that with you today electronically i would be
able to forward that to you all right well you could also share it via the via zoom if possible
i didn't believe we could do that you should be yeah if you have it on your computer we should be
able to do it that way if the if the board would like to see it well yes okay we may not be able
to do that right maybe at a resumption hearing then okay okay so why don't we get as much as
we can on the record okay of course here good morning have you submitted your documents and
exhibits five days in advance of this hearing i have and do you wait to read another refusal
or stipulate to his accuracy i do okay thank you show your screen and proceed with the case
i don't see a share option here
i think i need to be promoted electronically first
there it goes
Okay, 11920, Waldemere Drive.
We're here to legalize a three-family dwelling in an existing structure.
This was the appeal that went in.
my client purchased this property from a long time owner who took the garage
and put in a kitchen and put up some walls and put up a bathroom
my client i mean unlike many of my clients who come here and saying i thought i was buying a
triplex when in fact i did not i bought a duplex my client knew even though the
property presented itself as a triplex my client knew that it was only legally
zoned as a duplex he did purchase it anyway with the mission of getting it
approved getting it legalized he believed because the previous owner had
done so and that previous owner had good relations with the community that there
would be no con no issues whatsoever so i want to show you the the plan
interior layout
is this on a a whole group of duplexes there are there are many duplexes on the block yeah right
thank you as you can see here this is the ground level this is where the garage
and you have stairs that go up to the first floor from the front
it's the second unit and then the top unit my client lives in one of the units already
he lives on one of the i'm going to call second or third floor that's correct not the garage
that's correct not not the former garage that's correct
So he purchased it and this is the work that was done. He did, of course, do work on the property, nothing that would require any sort of permits.
so he purchased it and this is the work that was done he did of course
At the RCO meeting we heard about a list of violations on the property and there were some, some were unfounded, we appealed all of them and dealt with all of them.
So the only outstanding appeals, I'm sorry, violation is the use, of course.
That's where it sits.
This is the letter that went out to everyone.
and the proof of mailing. So it's a little unusual in that lots of times we have folks
saying that they purchase what appears to be a triplex or almost, you know, a full triplex,
but they, you know, and they believe that that's what they were buying. My client knew
that it was legally zoned a duplex. He saw that the garage was outfitted with a bathroom. It
still needed to be you know sort of worked on a little bit but was all framed out and decided to
purchase it so that he could legalize it again he he did believe because the previous owner who had
lived for generations on in this property no one else had a problem with him building out as much
as he did on that basement that that would pretty much be you know okay uh what my client will
testify and you know the evidence will show is that my client's name is Farouk El Hadi
and the very first day he moved into his property he went and visited and introduced himself to his
neighbors and after they asked him what his name was it was very clear that she said verbatim and
you'll hear testimony today from my client I never thought I'd see the day of Farouk would live in
this neighborhood let alone this block so from that moment on Mr. Farouk Elhadi had a feeling
that things weren't going to be as smooth with this triplex as he had hoped
and I have nothing further for now I'd like to call Mr. Elhadi to the stand if he could raise his
virtual hand. They're promoted chair. Okay. Sir. Here he is. Hi. Can you guys hear me? Could you
Yeah, could you turn on your video, please?
Hi, sir.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
My name is Farouk El-Hadidi, F-A-R-O-U-K.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Thank you.
Farouk, did you hear my presentation to the board this morning?
Is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
do you adopt it as adopted as your own testimony yes okay and can you explain to the board uh your
uh experience thus far uh upon moving into this property um moving in um and um after introducing
myself to a lot of the neighbors and a lot of people that represent themselves as part of the
community. Um, you know, many times I introduced myself with, you know, I told them my name is
Farouk and verbatim, um, I've been told twice, you know, um, and most recently one of them was,
one of them was saying, um, you know, she never expected to see somebody with that name
in this kind of neighborhood. Um, and further on, uh, across the street from me when I introduced
myself and you know we're talking and and i get asked i get asked that question a lot what's my
relationship to the to the building and um two different occasions where the cops were called
after me you know picking up some mails or being in the lot um that someone is trying to break in
as of last week cops were called on my wife mom and five-year-old that were they were trying even
though they were just checking on the on the building uh someone was breaking into the into
the into the building which is not very true um another time when um you know i was in uniform
going to to see something um somebody was walking the dog and they asked the same question what are
Somebody was walking the dog and they asked the same question. What are you doing here? What is this appeal for? And I explained what's going on. And same kind of answer. And, you know, when I told them that I'm a pilot, I work for this company, here's what I do.
doing here
And it's very disrespectful and very, you know, names were called and comments were made.
And that was it, you know, multiple times on many different occasions.
You know, everybody wanted to make sure that I'm not welcomed in that block, in that street, in that neighborhood.
at least four different times where I can call verbatim what they said and how they said it.
And for the record, the Human Relations Commission is being notified of this as well.
Still looking at it?
They're going to be notified of this, yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Farouk.
And you do have possession of the video that you'll be able to forward so that we can then have a resumptive hearing.
Is that correct?
Thank you.
Um, hold on. Um, I guess, I guess the question would be, sir, your council said, but when you bought it, you knew that it was an improper building.
What do you mean?
Yeah, as I said in my presentation and you adopted as your own testimony that.
although the property presented itself to you as a physical three-family dwelling you did
understand that it was only approved for two is that correct yes and you took on that
responsibility to legalize it is that correct yes sir and you purchased it from a very long-standing
member of the community who did that build out on the on the bottom floor is that correct
yes sir and all the people who have come up to you and uh told you you know either they are not
supporting your appeal or they're not quite sure what someone like you is doing on the block they
were all good relations with the prior owner is that correct yeah they knew him on a first name
basis they they were really friendly with them as many of them are long term um um you know neighbors
thank you yes all right questions from the board yes i well what i do want to say i'm sorry that
you feel that uh i'm sorry that this happened to you but i do want to focus on the nature of the
actual zoning request um so i think my first question is how many other multi-family properties
are on the immediate block there's at least four four and are there any that are triplexes
or are all the others only duplexes?
I have not seen other triplexes.
And then for the other,
is this the first unit that will have access
for one of the units through that,
what was the former garage?
There are other properties on that block
whose garages have been converted to something.
To something, okay.
And then my second question is around
just understanding,
I know you said that there was a bathroom
in the garage at purchase, but what led you to believe that this had been converted into a third
unit? It was a kitchen as well. Kitchen as well. Okay. I have a question about the RCO meeting.
Could you just explain what happened at the RCO meeting? It was very much in line of the
conversations my client has had in the past. So they were opposition, a lot of opposition.
Without question.
Defending the person who actually built it out