her office contacted the RCO yesterday, because I was called yesterday at the same time.
We had a positive vote. We had 12 people voted in favor of our petition at the RCO meeting.
in favor of our petition at the RCO meeting. So it was a overwhelmingly positive vote in our
So it was an overwhelmingly positive vote.
favor. The issue that we had before to between the two RCO hearings was that we had a positive
vote in the first RCO hearing. But afterwards, a petition came in from members of the church
across the street that turned the tide, if you will. That was a surprise to us. We requested
a continuance so they could have another RCO meeting to flush out those issues of what these
folks had. In the second RCO meeting, none of those folks showed up. So we didn't understand
exactly what was fueling it. We know from the first hearing that because there's a school
across the street, that one of the issues that was mentioned by a member of the community was
that the kids come into school, they enter through the rear immediately across the street from our
use, and they were concerned about the drop-off and pickups and cars coming in down the street.
Now, we noted that there is a sidewalk in front of this.
So there is really not kids walking in the street.
There's no – our cars aren't driving in the street.
It's just a typical street.
So we weren't sure that that was a valid reason.
In the second RCO meeting, we talked about creating more of a security piece where that if cars are coming in the morning, there will be cones so that cars don't go anywhere near the other side of the street when they're coming in to be dropped off in the front of the day or at the end of the day.
with that explanation and with other explanations we had around the uses and times, we had the
support. And so we expected in this to get a positive letter of support from this RCO, which
has not been drafted. So that's why we don't have that exhibit present. But let's talk a little bit
about what our exhibit package does to show. What our client would like to do in this particular
space is automotive repair and there's an area for a paint shop you'd like to do those two uses
this particular property is owned or say five but it has historical industrial use it's not
a residential property it's under literally half under a bridge so this area has historically been
industrial it's it's basically an old school storage facility that is now was later rezoned
So that is what we are seeking here, to use it more along the lines of its historical use rather than as a residential site.
Further in our pack, we have the normal things that we would see, the deed showing the property is owned by Mr. William Cook.
We have our application for appeals setting forth exactly what we want to do here today.
And the project information sheet, which is number four.
As we move down, let's get down to some visuals.
Here we are.
So the property, as you can see in the red box, is a triangular-shaped property of sorts, and that big building right next to it is this church.
In that church is where they have a small school, and there's some residential houses on one side.
It's the northern side of the church building, but aside from that, you have the only neighbors being the highway and another industrial-use catacorner.
So this is not a block where folks are, as you can see, how the block is situated, and I'll make this a little bit bigger.
We were not convinced that there was an issue with – this is not a small street.
Let me just widen my screen just a bit.
Is it currently vacant or is it currently being used?
It's currently being used.
It's currently being used when my client purchased the property.
They were renting out each one of the storage space.
I got it.
So at one end of the storage, I guess the top of the triangle, there was a tenant there that had a use that the community did not like.
They were doing a, to be quite frank, overnight speakeasy on Fridays and Saturdays.
Speakeasy, yeah, okay.
So how about that?
Out of a storage unit, they'd roll it up and they'd have a speak.
So the first RCO meeting, they had a lot of talk about.
Do you do that just to give us a little humor?
Just to give you, we just want to let you know what was.
All right, okay.
It still exists in this city.
This is a roll-up garage speakeasy.
But that tenant was vacated, gone, and now all bays are used for simply automotive.
So that was the difference between RCU meeting one.
Now you're trying to have it zoned in the proper way.
Now we're trying to have it zoned legally so he can use it the proper way.
All right.
Thank you.
And so I'll go down.
So, again, you see the ZBA map showing the mix of uses in this particular area.
So this is not an area – this is an area that is residential surrounding that I2, CMX2, and my client's right on the edge of that, CMX2 on both corners, catacorner, and I2 right across the street.
So this is the character of the property that – so let's go right to what it looks like in the inside.
In our pictures – so – oh, let me go a little too fast there.
And in our pictures, you can see this is looking, this is on the tip of the triangle, the front tip, where you can see walking up to the, you can see the highway right there.
In our pictures, you can see this is looking – this is on the tip of the triangle.
And this is, these are the bays that run alongside the street.
There's a broad sidewalk there and cars sometimes, as you can see in this picture, park in front of the bay that they're leasing.
But there's, and so that's, that was, that's on that side.
Let me go on.
Let's show the reverse view further up.
But on the road further up is this big garage space.
So what we talked about in the community is that any car that is coming for service would go in there.
They would go in this gated garage area and not be on the street where people have to walk off if they were coming down that sidewalk.
That was an understanding and noticed by the client.
He said that there won't be cars parked on the sidewalk or in front of the building on this side.
They go into this space, and in that space where those two roll-up bays you see inside of the gated parking lot is where the paint is.
And that's the only part we're talking about are the whole all six?
It's the whole site.
It's the whole site.
So we're going to go down and see what's being.
When you roll up those bays, this is what you're seeing on the inside.
You're seeing just automotive repair stuff in each one of these bays.
one two three four five six so cars come in they fix them up and they roll out that's basically
one bay is a painting bay one no not that painting bay right now they have a temporary
painting bay but they're i'll show you the space this area in this picture that's in front of you
is where the painting bay will be the the they will it will come back and they'll be an exhaust
system in there all of that will be it'll be built out to code it'll be built out to code
environment and you can and here the where the painting bay is and i'll see you'll you'll see
on the plans later on exactly how it's situated let me make this a little smaller uh i'll make
this a little smaller all right so all right here we go so here is the bullseye view of i guess the
top the bird's eye view and you see from the you see the bays some are square in the front and
there's a couple irregular shaped ones the painting area will be back here in the back
so you'll come into the parking garage or the parking lot and the painting bay is back here
facing far from no no no people are there on the other side of that is the bridge okay um so that
is the ultimate um scenario as far as where it will be so um and going further down let me
open this up bigger back to normal size um is there an office there too yes yes so i'll show
you so the office is inside it's third third way in so you come in through one of the painting bay
one of those two bays from the outside lead into the painting bay area that's not yet built out
the second leads into this hallway this common hallway that runs along back here there is a
storage area in in this office there's actually a little bathroom it's not reflected here but
There's a little bathroom in that office space there.
But ultimately, only one bay is accessible there.
So the guys just sort of walk out and work in the bays and come out because it was built that way, not to have a rare access.
They just come to the front, and that's why you see a solid wall to all the bays and only the door on the one side.
Only one bay has access.
Bay two has access to the storage.
All the other bays, the workers just come walk around the building.
Um, and, and, and this area here is where the parking lot is and as you, and, uh, moving
So there is, so the existing conditions show that there's a sidewalk that runs along the
industrial, the use that my client had, and there's a sidewalk on the other side of the
street.
The kids aren't required to walk on that side of the street.
There's a whole street in between and they have their own way.
which is which was what the issue was they we didn't find that there was a safety issue so
much they were most concerned quite frankly on that that use i mentioned and when that use
disappeared i find that the community more supported the gentleman mr cook and he'll
testify to this has been an automotive repair guy his whole life that he's came up as a young kid
doing that's how he feeds his family he has he has plans on doing training for other young men
trying to come up into the automotive trade in that space.
He already mentors a couple that work for him.
So he's that guy.
He's a small businessman, tradesman, and is seeking to use this as his.
And this is his only site.
This is his bread and butter site.
He put all of his chips into this use,
and he's hoping to broaden it into painting and having it there.
Let me increase the size of this a little bit more,
and we'll get to the rest of what I've got to present.
So we had a meeting, again, we had two RCO meetings.
So we had a meeting.
Again, we have two RCO meetings.
I already talked about those two.
I already talked about those two.
The second one was definitely more positive.
It was completely positive.
It was like night and day out of the two.
And then we have in our package all the addresses that we mailed,
and our number 10 exhibit is our certificate of mailing of all of those addresses.
We just sort of lay it out here.
And then our proof of mailing is at the end of that.
And here's our notice of this hearing, which was posted on the property here, on the fence.
It shows the property immediately behind this gate.
And then Mr. Cook's tax cert is the last, Exhibit 13, which is good until the end of this month, end of November, issue date, and it expires at the end of November.
So he has a valid tax.
um he has everything in order at this point he simply just wanted the community to be in support
of his use and with that i'd like to bring mr cook on to adopt my test okay mr cook
mr cook has been promoted and they're allowed to thank you hi mr cook could you please state
your name and spell for the stenographer william w-i-l-l-a-m hook c-o-o-k
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you turn your video on if possible?
We're trying to.
Well, why don't we start?
Counsel?
Mr. Cook, have you heard all of the testimony that I've made on your behalf up to this point?
And do you agree to this testimony?
Would you adopt it as your own if you could testify?
Is there anything that you would like to add to let the board hear what I did not mention relating to the property or the use that's proposed?
Yes, I was talking to Miss Duffalo's at Gratz High School as far as starting an auto program there.
And it was all contingent on this hearing here, as well as Lotus Outreach is called Laura.
It's a nonprofit as far as teaching the kids auto repair work.
OK, and you've proceeded with that in lieu of this hearing or just in general?
How did those conversations come about?
My brother is the high school coach at Grats High School, and he mentioned to his colleagues that, you know, I was in the auto repair business.
this and they said that they were trying to start a program and we just started talking up from there
and um that's how that's how everything all of this transpired because of the teaching of the
kids uh i just wanted to have everything um on point as far as uh legally with the city and
everything okay i understand and um and you would you adopt my i don't know if i asked you that
would you doubt my testimony as your own? Yes.
Okay. Any questions of the board? Questions from the
board. The smaller bays,
what are the dimensions of the smaller bays?
And is the intent that the cars will be
parked in those bays, the smaller ones? I didn't see any
dimensions on the plan. Yes, there's some dimensions.
i'll go to it so that you can see that yeah i'm in 600 yeah i guess those are dimensions
so here here are the dimensions i mean we'll make it a little smaller so i well i mean it doesn't
say you know like bay number five it's what by what five oh i see the dimension link the length
and width right the architect did here is the architect just indicated the the gross square
footage but not the length and width so are the so okay so are the bays that are like number five
four other than the one that's notated as storage is the intent that cars will be in those bays
when they're when they're worked on oh so you're referring to um bay five
the small ones that front on north 20th street i'm it's up to my i'm trying to get to
i'm making sure that a car can fit in the bay you know all the way because you made a statement
that no cars will be parked on the pavement when they're being worked on so if but the
bays have got to be able to fit a car right i understand imagine on the plan okay mr mr cook
can you answer the question as far as can a bay accommodate each car reversing in or driving in
Can a bay accommodate each car reversing in or driving in forward?
forward.