Thank you.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Thank you.
Our board member, Ms. Graham, has a few questions to ask.
Good morning.
Have you emailed all the required documents and exhibits needed to proceed with this case five days prior to this hearing?
Yes, ma'am.
With the exception, we updated with the letter of support, I believe, yesterday.
Okay, thank you.
And do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Thank you. You may proceed.
Thank you so much.
Can everyone see my screen?
Yes. Okay, wonderful. So we're here today for 2909 West Girard Avenue. I have two folk with me, one, the owner, Gregory George, and also his newly designated property manager, Anthony Lolio, who has an expertise in managing short-term rental properties.
Okay, wonderful. So we're here today for 2909.
Before I go into the meat of the presentation, Mr. George has had this property for about eight years. He's lived in both units. He's had a legal limited lodging license permit for the units.
And in advance and previous to the law change, he was doing short-term rental legally as well, always within the bounds of the requirements.
He is now looking to, as the refusal states, visitor accommodations within an existing structure for the two units.
It is in the RM1 zoning district.
There are two pre-existing legal units.
One unit is on the first floor with expansive use of a finished basement.
That is a two-bedroom unit.
There is no bedroom in the basement.
The other unit spans the third and fourth floor, which, including the basement, is a fourth floor.
but for architectural purposes it's second and third floor and that is a three-bedroom unit with
with a deck the first floor unit has rear access to the yard and here in the appeal
in my binder presentation just going to go through some housekeeping
matters here's the application for appeal
here are the plans that we can return to but again we aren't planning any changes this is a
long-standing two-unit residential and just wanting to expand from the limited lodging
to the visitor accommodation
here are some pictures we also have access to some new photos from the airbnb listing that kind of
show it in its present state and how well maintained it is for rental. We do also want
the option to be able to have long-term rental. And the idea here is in this, excuse me, I'm
getting over a chest cold if my voice gives out. In this area, there is limited options for families
to come and stay and be comfortable, visiting nurses, things of that nature, people with
those sort of jobs and interests, be able to stay comfortably as a family.
As we get to the RCO notification, we'll walk through the photos later.
um this was the rco meeting notice it was sent on february 4th we met with bird brewery town
sharswood community civic association on february 20th via um zoom and it was well attended meeting
we'll get into some of the concerns that were brought up in their letter of support for a
three-year variance and here is the list of addresses provided to us by the Planning
Commission for that notice to go out.
Here is our certificate of mailing to 176 addresses dated the 7th of February.
Here is the zoning notice for the prior, I'm sorry, for this meeting.
And here it is posted.
It was posted 30 days in advance of this hearing.
It is still posted.
Here is the prior zoning permit for limited lodging.
And again, my client's no longer living at the property, and that's kind of necessitated this change.
Here is his tax clearance.
Here is his warranty deed for the property.
Here's just an overview of where it sits on Gerard Avenue.
Here's the zoning overlay, it's RM1 adjacent to CMX 2.5 and RSA5 across the street.
There's the zoning overlay, it's RM1 adjacent to CMX.
This is a petition signed by about 30 residents of the 2900 block of West Gerard in support of this variance.
Here is the letter from Barry Sharswood. No one in attendance had anything negative to say about
Mr. George and his management practices. The general concerns were related to
just the influx, the broader issues related to short-term rental,
related to housing, affordable housing,
potentially the property being sold to an owner
who may not manage it at the same level of oversight
as Mr. George,
and making sure that there's no instances
of disruptive behavior from short-term renters.
There have been no issues to date
over the several years he is engaged in short-term rental.
Um, ultimately the board, uh, did vote, uh, as no opposition for provides it with a proviso
of temporary for three years.
Of course, we would like it to be permanent, but understand the board's, uh, current position
on these issues.
Um, with that, uh, I'd like to, um, elevate my client, uh, to the panel.
because with the recent letter on the 23rd and today's date he does have some additional
information to share regarding some of the protocols he has in place regarding house
rules etc to mitigate against some of the issues that were raised as well as we'll call on Anthony
Lullio, who will be managing the property, who can go into some of the safeguards and protocols
he has in place to make sure those negative impacts don't manifest themselves at this
property. So thank you. If the board has any questions in advance of that, please let me know.
And I'm just going to take a sip of water.
I cannot hear the board.
No, we're listening to your presentation.
Oh, okay.
Are there any questions before Mr. George is elevated to panel?
Let's get Mr. George.
Yes, I'm here.
Your testimony.
Mr. George, good.
Can he say his name and spell it for the court reporter?
Let's get him sworn in.
yes distinguished chair and board and council uh gregory george g-r-e-g-o-r-y g-e-o-r-g-e
do you swear to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do please proceed counsel thank you good morning mr george uh did you hear my presentation
to the board today i did was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge and understanding
Yes. Can I clarify?
You absolutely can clarify.
If there's any additional items you want to share for clarification purposes, please do so now.
Yeah, just briefly, one point, the management, Mr. Lolio and I are in conversation and consideration,
But currently I am self-managing, which with the community, I've lived there for eight years and I'm in touch quite a bit.
And then, yes, I had the limited lodging and I'm, you know, correcting that to go for the variance.
And I've been doing short midterm rentals over the last year or so.
And then, yes, I am renting both properties with even some of the flexibilities, the two bedroom downstairs with the basement.
When I lived there, I had a bedroom downstairs, but want to move forward, you know, the best way possible.
With no bedroom in the basement.
And you recently saw the letter from Brewery Shardswood regarding their support and some of the issues that they raised regarding, you know, unruly folk, et cetera.
And you want to share with the board your house rules?
Yes, indeed. And thank you, Mr. Cook.
um and thank you mr cook uh so um i can share the actual view of my house rules if you could just
you could just read them into the record i think would be fine if that's okay with the chair
sure sure um and i'll go through quickly for the interest of time um so pets uh smoking both uh
Not allowed for the sake of my property.
And then I have here as one of the official on Airbnb, although there are other platforms, that events are not allowed.
Essentially no parties and living in the property.
I don't want it to be a party house.
No commercial photography allowed.
We have quiet hours listed as enforced on Airbnb specifically, but this carries through on all of my leases, 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Quiet hours as not to disturb neighbors.
There are extensive additional rules.
I will say up front that this is essentially a hard policy for me, that anyone making an inquiry must read through to the end.
Where at the end, it says, if you have read it thus far, thank you for being a super guest.
Please reply back with a quote, enjoy charming, so I know that the house rules have been reviewed.
So essentially, it's a safeguard.
Sometimes it causes some back and forth when someone wants to stay at my property.
But I hold to someone has to read all the rules.
And without me sort of giving them the cheat, they have to have read it to the detail that they are acknowledging those house rules.
Those house rules include everything that I mentioned before, a limit on the total number of guests, restating the quiet hours, also violation fees or penalties.
It has points about parking that is essentially street parking.
There's points about security cameras as well as trash is in there as well to comply with city regulations.
Where would the trash be stored at?
Yeah, so there are, right now, there is, as on the plans, on the upper floor unit, there are two spots in the back.
On the bottom floor, they have the back patio.
So those have areas for trash.
Do you have someone coming out weekly to take the trash out for trash day?
Yeah, essentially, I do it. And when there has been trash in the front, I do the same.
Understood. Thank you, Mr. George. Questions from the board?
Thank you.
Yes. As part of the visitor accommodations,
you are to have some sort of relationship with one of the services,
whether it's Rebo or what's the other one?
I can't think of the name of it.
But anyhow, do you already have a relationship with them
and some of the things that you're talking about
in terms of controlling visitor conduct.
They're already part of the city regulations
as well as those four.
That's right.
So have you had a relationship with them?
Do you have a relationship with them?
And that's my basic question.
I can reply.
Yeah, so he has an Airbnb relationship along with other providers. He's been actively ranking on Airbnb for a year. He has a 4.5 rating right now from short-term tenants. And Mr. George can go on further about the protocols that are in place with Airbnb and some of the other providers.
Okay, thank you so much. Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions from the audience?
Any questions from the virtual audience?
Vice Chair, I do not see any hands raised for this matter at this time.
Vice Chair, I do not see any hands raised for this matter at this time.
Thank you, Mr. Hamm.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends though changing zoning at this location from the current residential multifamily RM1.
The appellant has not shown evidence of unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property
that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code for visitor accommodation.
the Planning Commission recommends the Board to deny the requested variance for visitor accommodation.
MI-2024-006164-2909 West Gerrard Avenue.
My vote is yes, with proviso, three-year temporary variance.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Mr. Chair, we should put an ending date on that variance.
So maybe 2-28-28.
3-1-28 is fine
So ending 3-1-28
Yes, thank you
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with Proviso
Cheryl Gaston
My vote is yes with Proviso
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso
Tywin, my vote is yes with Proviso
Thank you, have a good day
Thank you so much
Number 17, MI-2024-006179
329 East Derrod Avenue
Now, Jason Crick is the attorney.
Please promote Mr. Crick.
I'll be coming back in as a panelist shortly.
This is a lot line relocation, two lots into one,
for an erection of a three-story structure with a full cellar and roof deck.
For the use of a vacant commercial on ground floor and multifamily household living,
three dwelling units in the fifth district overlay a maximum of two dwelling units is permitted on a
lot less than 1400 square feet in the area mr crick good morning members of the board my name
is justin crick i'm here on behalf of the applicant owners pat and tom mancini for the property at
329 East Girard Avenue.
I just want to correct. I believe that the
meeting idea is
202-4006-173.
I think you