You can continue. No, no, no. It's fine.
It's fine.
Try again.
Ma'am,
you have to unmute yourself.
Can you hear me now?
We can. It's a little better.
What was I saying?
My hands have been
a little tight.
Ma'am,
we're having a hard time hearing you again.
I think we we listen to me. We know where you live. We understand where you are.
You're not happy with the dimensions and you're against the project. Is that correct?
Yes. OK, so. Thank you for calling in. I think we understand everything you have to say.
Thank you very much. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
No further hands, Mr. Chair.
by planning commission um go on you i only said mr goldberg i'm sorry alan but see yeah so i just
want to respond uh again all the issues uh that they have raised are essentially non-zoney related
issues the dimensions of the property excuse me the art plans are based on field conditions
and construction as well are not zoney related which we'll deal with if there's a fire hydrant
on our land, we'll obviously have to deal with that with both L&I as well as the fire department.
And there are other examples of multifamily use. Again, 4913 Haverford, 5110 Haverford,
5108 Haverford, and some adjoining streets like 5024, race 4801 Fairmont. I mean, this is a lot
that's over almost 2500 square feet in size uh so that's where we stand all right thank you very
much planning commission good afternoon chair sorry camera good afternoon chair peter bernard
for the planning commission please please the plan recommends no change to the existing rsa
five residential single family zoning at this location there is no unique physical condition
or circumstance of this property that would prevent it being used in conformance with the
zoning code this is primarily single family block so multi-family dwelling would be out of character
and neither having a lot that is too large nor financing is a recognized hardship accordingly
the city planning commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variance for three dwelling
Thank you. Mr. Nockham said we've heard some testimony on this.
I really want to spend some time talking in an executive session with the board.
We will vote on this next Wednesday at 2 p.m.
Thank you. Thank you very much. And I think I have another case of yours right now.
So MI 2023-005-130-1707
Master Street.
There is an opposition from the neighbors, but an application provided a petition.
The applicant provided a petition and support signed by 52 neighbors.
Mr. Chair, I'm sorry to interrupt.
This is Hillary.
Regarding that last case, 4828 at Oxford Avenue.
It's closed.
Yes, the record is closed.
Yes, we have a question about that.
Everything's closed other than a vote.
Yep, yep.
Yep, thank you.
Mr. Nockerman, just for the record, state your name.
Alan Nocklinson.
Alan Nocklinson.
And could you also...
And could you also identify your client, the relationship to the property?
1707 Master Street, owner LP, and the individual audience should be its representative, Nathan Ward.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
All right.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulation to relate to his accuracy?
have you emailed then all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to
proceed with this case have these in advance of this hearing yes we have thank you please
proceed and share your screen okay i'm here to present 1707 master street you're seeing this
screen right let me show this yeah hold on a second sorry i'm like this is not my computer
so i'm not as familiar uh with this um you know this setup that mr goldberg has okay
hopefully you see my screen of 1707 master street um again while we don't have community
full community support here in terms of an rco letter there was a split vote at with within the
community uh meeting uh and we did do extensive extensive uh reach out to the community uh in
general by way of a petition and letters to support where you'll see we actually have letters to
support of 1703 05 and 09 master street so there is a great amount of support for this uh matter
So we'll first review the notice of refusal, which will behind it include an advertisement.
My client purchased this property thinking that this was an eight-unit dwelling.
After trying to get their rental licenses, they realized only five units are allowed as of right and by way of the zoning permit.
And that's why we're here today.
They didn't do anything wrong.
And even the community would agree, and if Mr. Harris from the community group is here, the United Neighbors Alliance Civic Association, I think he would confirm that the opposition by the community has more to do with the frustration of the community with the actual previous property owner, who apparently increased the amount of units in the property without governmental approval.
But you'll see the advertisement that we relied on, that we thought this was eight units.
But then you'll review, we'll also review the correspondence from the United Neighbors
Alliance Civic Association.
It was not a well-attended meeting, and it was a split vote.
But there were more people who voted against the project than for it.
Then you'll review, we will review the petition that we circulated in the community.
And you'll see it by way of a map that, again, we really focus on the people that will be most directly impacted by this project.
And then specifically, we have letters of support from direct neighbors who are supportive of this increase in amount of units.
Again, it's not like we did this, you know, we created this problem, we found out about this problem, and we're trying to legalize this structure.
In addition, there are three units in this building that, you know, if this board does not grant this extension of the amount of units, we're going to have to pick three households in this building, which would be unfortunate.
So, again, we're hoping, you know, that the board sees that we don't have unclean hands.
It makes sense to have eight units in this building.
we also provide as part of our presentation the use permit showing that you know there are five
units here allowed this is an r1 property we're not trying to convert an rsa5 property into
multifamily you know multifamily is allowed it's just not eight units but five and we're trying
to legalize this situation and then we'll look at the zoning map and showing that we're in a
multifamily district uh photographs of the property in the surrounding area um our interior photos
just generally showing like you know our units um mr knockinson i'm sorry i maybe it's just me but
i'm only seeing the desktop screen i'm not seeing the exhibit packet correct hillary okay so i
apologize for that i thought you were still looking for it myself oh i'm sorry i'm again
i'm like kind of at a disadvantage here don't know how to use this computer so um sound like
an old fogey uh do you see it now it's not now okay great um that's helpful uh then we'll review
the plans and drawings you know these are existing conditions our rco meeting notice
our RCO meeting notice, our application for appeal, our deeds of property, and a certificate of tax
or applications for appeal or deeds of property and a certificate
clearance. Again, at the conclusion of my presentation, I would ask that Mr. Ward
virtually raise his hand, be sworn in, and I'll have a few questions for him.
All right. Alex? Oh, I got it. I think I got it now. I think I'm good. All right. So notice of
refusal uh again we're just trying to increase the amount of legal units from five units to eight
and this is the advertisement i just pulled it off of the internet um but specifically if you
look here and i apologize if you can't see that well i don't want to mess around with expanding
the screen and contracting the screen but i'll read it it's just about this home incredible
investment opportunity to acquire eight full eight fully leased units at temple university
at a 7.65 cap rate there's all this other information about there but that's what my
client relied upon right it was advertised as eight to him and then this you know this is just
i just did a printout of the listing this is not anything that's worthwhile to the board but that
description is what he relied upon to purchase this property and then you know the correspondence from
the united neighbors alliance civic association there were eight members of the community at
the uh at the community meeting five from the general community three from the rco board
two two of the members of the community voted in support six voted in opposition mr goldberg is
the one who presented this in front of the community. And when he came back, we thought
we were fine. There was no one who said, oh, my God, this is a horrible project. This is
unrealistic. Why is there eight units here? We thought we were going to get a letter of
non-opposition. Out of the blue, we, you know, again, got this letter. We reached out to
Mr. Harris, who heads the community group here. And, you know, their group is always fair.
You know, so bluntly, they stated that they were just very upset with the previous property owner.
And honestly, L&I to allow the situation to happen.
I said, I completely understand, except my client purchased this property expecting eight units there.
And it was advertised as such.
So that's, you know, and there are eight households within this structure.
So three of those households are going to be very unhappy if we don't get, you know, disapproval today.
but you know we made a really concern and it wasn't a well-attended meeting and and we presented
in front of of this neighborhood a lot so we know the individuals in this in this neighborhood and
there's a a very dedicated like amount of individuals in this neighborhood to show up
every meeting but none of those people really live nearby the people that live nearby are the
ones who signed our petition again 1703 05 and 09 master all in support this is our property and
these are all the people in support and there are other signatures that we have i try to limit the
signatures to people within the affected area i tell my clients here's the list that we have to
send notice of the community meeting to stay within that list to get if you're going to get
letters or petitions to support and this is what we're showing here by way of this map and then
here's the actual signatures again we really try to make sure our clients get
the addresses of the individuals and contact information so people can
verify like these people actually exist and then specifically we asked the
individuals at 1703 1705 and 1709 who live there to sign a separate letter of
support, which they did, showing their support for this matter. Again, this already exists,
this building structure, the way it is. No one's ever complained. There's no violations against
the property. My client just wants to legalize this. And then here's the use permit. So the
previous owner got a use permit for five dwelling units, but it was advertised to us as eight.
And then here's maps of the area. It's not like we're taking an RSA 5 property and convert it
into multifamily this is as orange of a neighborhood as one would get
and then you know we're not that far up a broad street there's ample public transportation whether
it's a broad street line and there's many bus lines so it's expected for this to be an apartment
building and then photographs to the property proof of of the notice poster being posted to
the property for today's hearing here's master street to the right of the property
Here's Master Street to the right of the property, Master Street to the left of the property.
master street to the left of the property
And there are photographs.
I just, you know, I told my client, can you just give me a couple of photographs showing, you know, here's the amount of mailboxes.
My client, no one's ever hid the amount of, like, units in this property.
It's just because my client tried to get a rental license, they realized they can't get for eight and they want to do everything legitimately.
And so we're hoping that the board agrees and allows them to use the property legally for eight units.
and then our plans and drawings again no structural changes no changes in configuration
of the building structure or the units themselves we have four floors and eight units you know it's
a responsible use of this property and you know here's our meeting notice and proof of email to
the to the rcos as well as the district council members zoning aid of the hearing excuse me of
community meeting and then we mailed this notice to 124 addresses so it was a lot of addresses
we mailed to and no one within the affected area voted for this or against it and these are the
addresses proof of mailing to those addresses our applications for appeal that we filed on behalf
of 1707 master street owner lp and then our deeds of property showing that they own the property
And then most importantly, they they're complying with the city in terms of real estate taxes.
With that being said, I'm going to unshare my screen.
I can get to it.
There we go, I think.
Alan, was there separate utilities there?
I think so.
I think that I don't know if water is separate, but the other utilities, electric.
I don't know if there's gas.
i would ask mr i don't want to state that but definitely electric i don't know if there's gas
in the building but i would ask that mr ward testify to that sure okay
mr ward
mr ward if you're in the virtual audience please raise your hand
Jason, do we see him?
No, Mr. Chair, not present.
Okay, Alan, we're going to accept your testimony.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
questions or comments from the virtual audience
i do not see any hands mr chair planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location to rsa 5 single family
residential we feel the applicant has demonstrated sufficient hardship accordingly the planning
commission recommends the board grant the proposed variance for eight dwelling units thank you
mi 2023-005-130-1707 master street i vote yes
thomas holloman my vote is yes
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you counsel thank you have a great day okay number 10