ground floor we did notch out and create open space for the upper floors at the second third
and fourth floor back in this corner and there is a roof deck with a pilot house that all the units
including the front units which have the city views can utilize and you can see that here
the to help you get an idea so the front with the revision looks essentially the same
except that the commercial space extends further to the rear.
And then what we have is we have an ADA unit here at the rear,
and you can see her in the floor plans.
So before we had a commercial space, and you could see it was 657 square feet.
We now have a commercial space that's almost 1,000 square feet.
We have a one-bedroom, 600-square-foot ADA unit in the rear,
which is now accessed off of North Oriana Street.
And then the units above all became slightly larger.
The front units went from low 800s to mid 800s.
The rear units went from mid 800s almost to 900 square feet.
The roof deck split front to rear is once again remaining.
Our stairs, it's an interesting system.
It's kind of a stacked scissor where almost like an auto garage,
which allows us to have a more condensed area utilized for that going up and down,
which then reduced the impact that it had on the livable space for the dwelling units.
The commercial unit at the ground floor has the use of the front portion of the cellar,
and then there's residential storage to the rear.
We do show at the back of the commercial space, admittedly, a smaller trash room.
This will actually be made larger, but it has direct access out to the street.
that can be accessed from the inside interior hallways by the residential units and it could be
That can be accessed from the inside interior hallways by the residential units, and it can be accessed from the commercial unit directly itself.
And again, the revised renderings you can see here, we've now taken the eastern portion, and here you can see that extending near the rear property line.
But again, there is a little bit of open area dedicated to the ADA unit.
And then you see here each of the rear second, third, and fourth floor units have very large open outdoor areas above the ADA unit here.
Here is the one access to the hallway.
Here is the trash room door.
And then here's an access to the commercial unit, which also has access off of West Gerard, you can see here.
They have their main entrance here.
and then there's a second egress there's an egress here on westward and egress off north
ariana which you can see here from the floor plans provide two means of egress um for the
upper floor units one out to north ariana and one out to westward um this this lot is approximately
the same size as the lot behind us again that is a six unit building um we do have the commercial
space, our units, our floor plate, because of what we were asked to do by the community and build
towards the rear lot line is actually greater than the property to the north of us. And I only
say that to say, again, that's what the community asked of us. It wasn't what we originally came in
with. We were willing to provide it when they asked for it. And it does provide for a greater
area within the building for the units. So although we now have seven units, the units
have all gotten larger than what they originally were, again, at the direction of the community
group. We do, as mentioned, this property is a longstanding blighted property, and we contend
that given that condition of the property, given what's been requested of us by the community group,
particularly not only that they saw the refusal for the square footage of the lot to be acceptable,
but actually asked us to actually put in another unit, which that is the refusal that I mentioned
that will actually be increased with the change in the design.
So this refusal, the minimum lot area refusal, will become greater.
We will still have a zero rear yard depth refusal, again, because of that superstructure extending to the rear.
We considered that to have no rear yard depth. Now we will have no rear yard depth for more of the building. And then we will also have almost 100% lot coverage. There is that a bit of open area here, back here. But other than that, and that's for the ADA unit, other than that, we will have close to 100% lot coverage, which will create the additional refusal that we're working on.
The three accessory parking spaces, including the one ADA band space, goes away, but this property is located on West Gerard Avenue. We know that there is an abundance of public transportation on West Gerard Avenue.
I think the fact that they're trying to revitalize West Gerard Avenue, there are development projects going on at 310 West Gerard. There is, which looks to be built, I think it's 166 units, 74 feet tall.
That property is located, if I can go up here, that property is located here, across this right here.
And I indicated 60 feet because that's ICMX.
It did have variances for that.
And then you have CMX2 property.
You have this almost 70-foot tall building, which has the same zoning classification as we have,
that had a number of variances, 40-some units that was built here at 342 to 354 West Reward.
This is a city health center that's located at CMX3.
We know that CMX3 has no maximum height limit, but a 500-far limit.
So we are barely over the height restriction for CMX2.
um this this this there's an overlay that applies to this property that does not allow us to utilize
the mixed income housing bonus in cmx2 for additional height however given what's going
on around us in terms of the zoning classifications and existing and proposed development we believe
the um three foot variance uh for the height and then keeping the parapet down to what a
bi-right parapet would be, is the least variance required in this particular situation that allows
us to have a little better floor-to-ceiling heights for the four floors as well. So I think
I've addressed the lot area for the number of units, I've addressed the height, and again,
the open area and rear yard depth refusals that will be increased and created.
The open area and rear yard death refusals that will be increased and created as a result of the of the changes that the community requested are, again, at the request of the community.
David, do you want to bring your client on?
Sure. And again, just real quickly, tax compliance is included.
We have that. We have all that, David.
Yep. So if I can have Andy Hong Lin promoted to panelist, he's my client.
He's the managing member of the LLC.
I'm back in right now, Captain.
Thank you.
Hello?
Hi, Andy.
How are you, sir?
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Good evening.
My name is Hong Lin, also known as Andy.
My name spells H-O-N-G-L-I-N.
I'm here representing 323 Gerard LLC tonight.
All right.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Andy, again, you are the managing member of the owner of the property 323 Gerard LLC?
And did you hear the statements that I made to the board today?
And are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt him as your own?
Okay, thank you, Andy.
I don't have any further questions.
I also have the architect, Samuel Turner, with us.
If you'd like to have him adopt.
If we have to have questions for the architect, please have him stand by.
Questions from the board, and we will be also holding us for a resumptive hearing.
Questions from the board.
Well, I think you said a lot.
I tried to get it in.
I know that the chairman likes to keep me moving.
i feel like i'm always under pressure to get a lot in but you do a pretty good job of it david
i feel like that guy at the end of the commercial with the conditions that you know that's
let's get focused there sorry but you but you did you explained it out and it was clear i thought
so i really don't have any um any uh real issues with the um with with the project other than the
handicap accessible unit does doesn't look like it complies um but other than that it seems like
you addressed the concerns of the community and um the units are kind of tight but you've got a
lot of glass so i think that'll probably not feel so tight right um and these are green roofs that
you so we're planning on doing that yes we're andy can speak to that and that is the plan to put them
both around the roof deck at the top but then also around the perimeter of the roof decks in the
corner but we're not we're not large enough to qualify um for the green roof bonus so you know
we didn't get into that in a lot of detail as we normally would if we had included it
yep thank you all right any other questions comments questions or comments from our attorney
uh no chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
planning are you do you want to wait for the resumptive hearing i can go now if you want okay
sure amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location from the current cmx2 commercial mixed use 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 their requested variances for a lot area per dwelling unit
building height and minimum rear yard depth and thank you just in response the property has been
blighted and vacant i can't hear what you're saying i think you speak to that david what you
say no i just said the property's been inflated for over 20 years and then based upon herzburg
i think that that addresses those comments by so we're going to schedule this for a resumptive
hearing mr chair mr chair yes sorry to interrupt but um there's a handle from sam turner he's the
architect if there were any questions we're fine okay all right okay i understand resumptive
hearing 1 13 26 at 9 30 a.m okay thank you very much thank you number five mi 2025 004 020 236
to 40 north 60th street rachel pritzker is the attorney there's a letter of support from
achievability vote was 18 in support for an opposition and a letter of non-opposition from
Councilmember Jones.
We'll be coming back in as a panel shortly.
Good afternoon.
Hi, Council, how are you?
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Yes, it's Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R.
Yes, it's Rachel, R-A-C-H-A-E-L, Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-U.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Yes, my client is Stacy and Brian Phillips, and they are the owners of the property.
And our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Okay. Thank you. You can proceed with your case.
Thank you.
Okay. Can you see my screen?
We can.
Great. This is 236 to 40 North 60th Street.
Here is a copy of the refusal. The property is zoned RSA 5.
and we are proposing use of a child care center within an existing structure. The only refusal
we have is for the child care center is not permitted in the RSA 5 residential zoning district.
I'm just going to go down to some photos of the property while I talk about
the hardship. We obviously have a tax clearance certificate and the deed.
zoning map showing the RSA 5 parcel here is an aerial photo of the property it's the area
bounded in the red here and it's an existing church you can see from my screen just to give
you some idea what the property is this is a long-standing church since 1962 it was converted
partially the second floor was converted in 1989 for a daycare center we are just proposing to use
the entire structure as a daycare center and because of the base zoning being rsa5 even though
it's an existing long-standing church and not a single family home that is what generated
the one refusal here's another view of it further down the street as you can see so it's a one and
two-story structure all connected again a church that we're using going to be using as a daycare
center and this is the second floor I was referring to where in back in 1989 there was a permit pulled
which I'll show you in a second for a daycare center just on the second floor we're looking to
use the entire property as a daycare center again another front photo it also shows the zoning
posters on the property. Here are some interior photos for the board as well. Just empty the
moment bathroom official closet space this was the permits i was referring to before
back in the early 90s church and then as you see right here second floor daycare center
the first floor being a church at that time it was um 60 children and to include preparing and
serving food here's where in the code we don't comply again it's rsa5 so while it does permit
i think family child care which is a limited number of children in order to accommodate
the full structure and to have more than I think it's either between, I have to look
four and six students, we would need to have a child care center and that is not permitted
in RSA 5.
We met with the community group Achievability on August 6th.
We sent the notice letters and here's the letter from Achievability.
There were, I think, 22 out of the 28 people at the meeting in support, as evidenced by this letter, 18 here and four there.
And then we have a letter from a non-opposition from Councilman Curtis Jones's office.
We also, the owners, Stacey and Brian Phillips, who are on this call as well, did walk around.
they're actually grew up in this neighborhood so they walked around and made sure to share
with the community and get some signatures related to support for the project so here's
that petition as well just can quickly go through some of the floor plans
so this is the existing basement layout it's a little angular on the left first
Layout, it's a little angular on the left.
First floor layout.
Mezzanine and the second floor.
Brian, who is one of the owners, is also an expert in construction, so we want to promote him.
If you have any questions about the interior, the floor plans, any construction, he would be able to answer those as well.