nothing bill he froze bill bill your bill do me a favor we're going to come back to you but we're
not hearing at all now okay so we're going to move on we'll bring you back okay all right thank you
number eight
MI 2025
002 848
5900 Rising Sun Avenue
Vern Anastasio is the attorney
Vern Anastasio
will be coming in as a panelist
good morning mr chair good morning council could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer uh yeah it's verne anastasio a-n-a-s-t-a-s-i-o on behalf of mr brian
torcato do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do
um our vice chair has a few questions here good morning have you submitted your documents five
days in advance of this hearing i did and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to
its accuracy i do thank you council before you start there's a we have a letter of unanimous
non-opposition from a long crest community 40 people voted and there's also a petition signed
by nine signatures from the 5,800 and 5,900 block of Rising Sun Avenue.
Please start your presentation.
Thank you.
This is a pretty straightforward one.
This is a longstanding medical office in the community, and the application is for one ADA
van parking space as part of the existing property.
There is a required front yard, and the space does, in fact, encroach on part of that.
You'll see that it's consistent with the other three corners as far as, you know.
It's consistent with the other three corners as far as, you know, that is concerned.
But that's the essence of the major refusal of copy of my appeal.
And let's take a look at the plan.
This is the one story structure with the existing medical sole practitioner.
Dr. Brian is here today.
And then the proposed spot is, I'm sorry, I'm going to try and move that bar.
Hold on for a minute.
You can't see that, but I can.
Proposed surface area accessory parking spot would be right off the road.
And let me take some, here's some photos.
There's the green space there.
Look northwest on the Van Kirk. There's the intersection itself.
Additional photos.
And that's the space.
right along the side there.
Additional rear access.
As you can see across the street, there's car activity on the opposite corner and on
the other side as well.
Here's some interior shots of the medical practice
Posting
Very well attended meeting
Over 40 individuals
Each and every one of them voted
To not oppose this
It's a real asset to the community
And they would like to keep it there
And of course having the handicapped spot
Actually does help
It is a pediatric podiatry sort of space.
Here's the flyer that was mailed to everyone.
Our meeting was the 15th of October.
Here are all the addresses.
We also have the property deed.
And this sort of shows you just how car oriented this particular intersection is.
As you can see, here's us.
My cursor is where the proposed spot would be.
And then the other three corners, as you can see, are very automobile oriented.
And there's the zoning map.
Because of the overwhelming support of the community and because of the unique physical condition that makes compliance impossible,
we do respectfully request the granting of this variance for the parking.
You want to bring your client on, please?
Dr. Brian Turcato, if you could please raise your hand.
Brian Turcato will be joining us as a panelist.
Mr. Chair, after my client logs on, I do have a, for the record only, for its purposes, I do have a couple sentences I need to read into the record.
Thank you.
Get your client first.
Brian, are you there?
I am, yes.
Thank you.
Brian, could you state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the ZBA.
First name Brian, B-R-I-A-N.
Last name is spelled T as in Tom, O as in Robert, R as in Cat, R as in Robert, C as in
Cat, A as in Apple, T as in Tom, O as in Orange.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, sir.
Counsel?
Thank you.
Dr. Takato, did you hear my presentation to the board today?
Yes, yes, sir, I did.
And is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
It is.
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
I do. Thank you. Mr. Chair, other than that, I would just like to add for the record that the
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, other than that, I would just like to add for the rest.
proposed van-accessible parking space is located directly beside a 13-foot-wide public sidewalk
that connects straight to the office entrance. That sidewalk is flush with the parking surface,
meets the slope and width needed for a person using a wheelchair or van-mounted ramp to safely
exit the vehicle and travel to the door. Under ADA standards for accessibility designed
Section 103 and Section 104.2, the law allows what's called, quote, equivalent facilitation,
meaning alternative designs are permitted when they provide substantially equivalent
or greater accessibility and usability. In this case, using the existing sidewalk
as the functional access aisle achieves the same intent as an eight foot dedicated aisle and actually provides more with and a direct barrier free connection to the building itself.
Accessibility boards have regularly recognized when required such equivalencies as this board may do today.
Thank you very much for allowing me to put that on the record.
um yes um mr anastasia i just wanted to comment that the board cannot um grant a variance based
on reasonable accommodation that we don't have the jurisdiction to do that if your if your client
would like to seek um would like to seek relief via reasonable accommodation they would need to
complete that process through l and i and i can provide you information for how to do that if they
would like to do that um but we can't we cannot consider i understand why you put it on the
record but the board cannot consider that i understand whether you're signed to grant the
variance questions from the board i'll just be grateful if we grant the variance
questions yeah i mean i've got go ahead oh about the parking space itself um at one i know like
for an accessible van parking it's supposed to be 11 feet wide um and this is only eight foot
wide i know eight feet is allowed but only when there's the adjacent eight foot wide um strip
for an 11 foot with parking space it's supposed to be a five foot strip i understand the argument
you're making about the strip being the sidewalk but this parking space would then still be
undersized so you're right and that'll that'll be for the uh the ibc analysis we're going to
have to get through after this, for sure.
Had Streets already approved
the curb cut as well?
Yes, they did, yep. We couldn't get here
without it.
So how do you
plan to get in and out
of this parking space, and
why does this work
better than just having a dedicated parking
space in front of the...
Well, a dedicated parking space could be used by anybody,
right? Not just patients
for the doctor.
And so that's that was certainly something that we thought about, but that would not solve our problem of our clients needing that space and being able to rely on it, which is a real problem for many of the folks that that travel there.
As far as the curb cutters, I'm surprised you can't get a dedicated space specifically for the facility itself.
cannot if there is if there is a way we don't know of it
do it and as far as the the the curb cut is concerned which was approved by the
by the streets department uh it would come right out of here so i'm saying how do you how do you
plan to get so you're going to drive in and then they're going to back out or how does i don't see
i see the turning in i don't see the turning out of the space i think we would pull in here and
pull out this way so you're going to have to do a three-point pull in you know you don't have that
you don't have it shown how the how to how you're going to actually look how the van is actually
going to maneuver i don't have that on the plan no uh vince mancini may be here as well uh who's
the architect on it if the administrator i see no one in the audience with that name
i think cheryl has something to say here too um i just know that uh with respect to the
uh handicapped uh spaces um they are not reserved for a specific person anybody who is handicapped
can use a handicapped space it's the same thing they did with
handicapped space. It's the same thing they did when they had the thing with the electric cars
where people were getting a charging station and then using that as a parking space.
And they changed the rules so that that's not dedicated to a particular person. So
So the only way that they can have this dedicated kind of space that they want is if they put it on their own property.
So is this van, is this van going, is this a pick up and drop off van?
Is that what this is?
No, sir.
This is for clients typically who have handicapped parking spots or come through maybe the, you know, the social, the social service van that comes by and picks up older folks and drops them off.
Mr. Anastasia, do you have a copy of the plans that were reviewed by the streets department
that actually showed the turning radius?
I'm sure we have it.
Can I be recognized for?
Please, Brian.
So you can see the outline barely on this visualization, but according to the original
plans to directly answer your question the van would initially would uh you can barely see the
outline on this this picture but the van would actually come in and then it would uh we would
move we'd be moving this line that says existing fence that would move back to where it says
proposed fence with gate five feet and the van would come in facing in and if you now if you
carefully look you see the outline uh just next to the proposed fence and then it would back up
into the proposed parking spot and uh in terms of driving out it would be coming out uh facing the
front because obviously we do not want to back onto a busy street like vancork street
if you look carefully at the the picture you can see the outline of the um the van i see it i see
it but um it just it doesn't look like it there's enough space to do what is shown in the drawing
so i think that's why we're asking questions and that is why i feel like i can pull up what was
approved by the streets department showing the turning radius i think that will provide a lot
of clarification i think the second concern like the reason i ask the questions i asked them my
actual concern is that vans are loaded on two sides and right now you do not have space on one
side of the van which means that if a person who is who needs the accessible need is sitting on the
right side of the car they cannot get out of the vehicle without sliding over to the left side of
the vehicle which if a person actually needs the vehicle that might not be something that they're
able to do and then to exit onto the sidewalk so one i was a little concerned because you've got
that triangular space even though it's paved it's very tight my second question is are you putting
a bollard or any type of protection there to protect the building itself from a car hitting
it because typically when you have parking spaces like that part of that strip is to both provide
protection for the passengers or pedestrians but part of that strip is also to provide protection
for whatever physical thing is next to it like another building and usually when there is not
one there is like a substantial barrier which would also take up more space that it does not
appear that you have in that paved area currently well there's there's not a bollard on the plan
for sure but that uh that doesn't mean we can't put one in other questions yeah uh will the van
be parked there like overnight or it's just no no okay i could uh i'm going to pull up something
else for you if you'd like.
I'll just give me
one second. I'll pull up
what was approved by the streets department.
That might help
shed some light on things.
we don't have the plan here
would the board like me to pull up the plan
thank you
if you could that be helpful
just trying to figure out
and then while Hillary's pulling it up to clarify