I think we might have had a hiccup. Please hold.
Yes, please hold. I believe we lost a cheer. We'll be back shortly.
am I back
yes you are Mr. Bergman
okay good
2327 Cotman Avenue
Leonard Altieri is the attorney
for the tenant
recommendation of support from
Ron Hurst Civic Association
reporting a RCO
and letter of support from
community on the rise. Mr. Chair, can you read the MI number into the record again, please?
Thank you. Sure. Okay. MI 2023-005-045.
M-I-2023-005-045.
That's 2327 Cotman Avenue.
Hi, Mr. Altieri.
How are you, sir?
Hi, could you say these and spell for the court stenographer?
My name is Leonard, L-E-O-N-A-R-D.
Last name is Altieri, A-L-T-I-E-R-I, with the law firm of Claire Harrison.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Would you identify your client and the relationship to this property?
My client is Raising Cane's Restaurant LLC, and they are the tenant of the property.
Right.
And our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate towards accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
uh i did and then i supplemented that um uh with counsel
are you there
i think we lost him yeah i think so
he should come right back i'll see if i can bring him back sir okay
Okay, he will be rejoining as a panelist.
Thank you.
Welcome.
You're back.
All right, thank you.
Sorry about that.
Please proceed.
I got disconnected.
So as I was saying, I did, Mr. Vice Chairman, provide the documents,
and then there was two documents that were supplemented yesterday with the council.
As long as we received them.
Please proceed.
Thank you very much.
okay can you see the screen you've got to open at we're good now thank you you can see perfect okay
so as i said mr chairman i'm here today uh for the property located 2327 cotman ave the client
is raising canes restaurant llc uh based in baton rouge louisiana raising canes is a chicken finger
restaurant that serves chicken fingers and chicken fingers only. As part of their nationwide
expansion, my client is building currently under construction a restaurant at the Roosevelt Mall,
essentially in the parking lot, which is being shown on the screen right here where my cursor is.
We're here this evening or this afternoon for a variance for the installation of a pre-sale menu
board. Under the zoning code, we are allowed two menu boards. What my client is seeking is a third
menu board that would be used for pre-sale, which I'll explain in greater detail. The property,
as I alluded to, is located on the Roosevelt Mall parcel, and the property is in the CA2
zoning district. So again, this is where the Raising Canes is currently under construction,
right here at Roosevelt Mall. The bottom road right here is Cotman Ave.
This is the actual engineering plan, again, just showing the Raising Canes right here.
this is where it will be once constructed as a satellite
this is the current construction that that is uh taking place as noted we're here uh with regards
to uh the installation of one statically illuminated menu board which would bring
the total amount on the property to three whereas under the zoning code we're only permitted
two. The pre-sale menu board will be located at the beginning of the drive-through. It is
essentially just to inform customers of what is on the menu so that they can make their selection
mentally before they pull up to the actual menu board and place it with a customer. The menu
board is consistent with the national brand of Raising Canes with regards to the color scheme
name, and size, which is shown here. And again, the only relief we're seeking this afternoon is
for this one to be installed. Everything else is compliant under the zoning code. It's just
the number of signs. The coordinating RCO for this property is the Ron Hurst Community Association,
Ron Hurst Civic Association. We did meet with them where they gave us a vote of approval.
One of the affected RCOs is Community on the Rise, who reached out to myself.
We took them on a site visit on October 21st with members of the RCO, and they then also issued a letter of support as well.
The letter is here and their vote total as well.
The denial of this requested variance would result in an unnecessary hardship.
the proposed sign is compliant with regards to the dimensional criteria and we're only seeking
The proposed sign is compliant with regards to the dimensional criteria, and we're only
seeking a variance for the installation of this third menu board, which will serve as
a pre-sale menu board to keep customer traffic and flow moving through the drive-through
Accordingly, the relief requested is the least minimum variance that will afford relief
under the existing CA2 zoning district.
If granted, this variance will not increase congestion in the neighborhood, injure the
appropriate use of adjacent properties, or impair adequate supply of light and air to
the neighboring properties. And lastly, if granted, this variance will not alter the essential
character of the neighborhood, nor will it be detrimental to the general welfare. I have with
me this afternoon from Raising Keynes, Melissa Brochel, who I would just ask to be promoted to
a panelist. Okay. I forgot them to speak. Hi, could you state your name, please? Is
spelled for the court stenographer, please? Sure. My name is Melissa Brochel, M-E-L-I-S-S-A,
And my last name is Brochul, B-R-O-T-S-C-H-U-L.
I'm with Raising Cane's.
Do you swear to firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
You see, counsel.
Thank you very much.
Melissa, you are authorized to speak on behalf of Raising Cane's Restaurant LLC.
Yes, that's correct.
And were you on the call when you heard me go through my testimony?
Yes, that's correct.
And the testimony that I provided, is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge and belief?
Yes, it is.
And if I called you to testify, would you adopt that testimony as yourself?
Yes, I would.
Thank you very much.
I also have Mr. Chairman Jennifer Squires from AGI, who is a sign manufacturer.
I think if anybody has any questions, we'll bring the sign manufacturer on, okay?
Okay, that's fine.
Okay, questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
no no chair thank you questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes mr chair i have alice udovich with their hand raised i have a lot to speak
at this time good afternoon alice could you just state your name and spell for the court
stenographer certainly good afternoon chairman members of the board alice udovich u-d-o-v-i-c-h
on behalf of councilman brian o'neill do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do please proceed the councilman has no objection to the granting of
variance at this location thank you thank you very much is there anyone else in the virtual audience
I don't see any further hands.
Planning commission.
Good afternoon, chair.
Peter Bernard for the planning commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial
area to zoning at this location.
The appellant requests one additional sign more than the zoning code allows.
the appellant property is part of the shopping center where a reasonable person would expect
to find multiple signs on property accordingly the planning commission recommends the board
grant the proposed variance from the sign requirements in the zoning code thank you
MI 2023-005-045-2327 Cotman Avenue I vote yes Thomas Holloman my vote is yes
thank you counsel thank you very much mr chairman okay number 12 mi 2023
005 337 99 95 east roosevelt boulevard michael mattione is the attorney
um a letter of support from councilman o'neill a letter of non-opposition from walton park
civic association
they will be rejoining as a panel
Mr. Mattione?
Mr. Mattiotti, are you still in a virtual audience?
It was promoted to panelists, sir.
I don't know what happened.
Let's wait and see.
Maybe he got washed out here.
Hello, Mr. Chair.
I have Mr. Mattiotti on the phone.
He's trying to get back in.
Okay, we're good.
Yeah, we're fine.
Thank you.
Thank you.
do we think zoom's having a problem today or yes maybe cheers seems like we've been having
issues a lot of people have been knock them and just disappeared at one point right
so it's totally your call we can just wait a couple
um or move forward it's totally the cheers well this is the last one on the right yes so
we can't we can't help can we hold that to later hillary
mr chair if you'd like we could take um a brief recess now and resume with this case
let's take five minutes that's a great idea i thank you okay
Okay. So I'll go one more time. So MI 2023-005-337-9995 East Roosevelt Boulevard. Michael Mattione is the attorney. There's a letter of non-oppositions from Walton Park Civic Association, a letter of support from Councilman O'Neill. Mr. Mattione, could you state your name and spell for the court reporter?
Michael Mattione.
That's M-A-T-T-I-O-N-I.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your clients, their relationship to the property?
Certainly.
Biagio DeSimone, he's the owner of the property, and he's also the owner of Kia on the Boulevard,
which is the tenant at the property.
And he's with me behind me.
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
good afternoon counsel do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to his
accuracy i do have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required
to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes thank you please proceed
counsel to share your screen certainly
i've got all messed up when i got i'm sorry mr sheriff that's okay that's okay it's fine
you know because it got all messed up when i um had to log back in so now i can't tell you you're
not the only person in our time today so yeah oh i saw that i'm sorry hold on i gotta
bring it back up. I apologize about that. I had to bring it now. Is that all?
no no no no sir
it's coming up coming up it's up you're up thank you thank you sorry about that um again uh
representing uh mr de simone who's the owner of uh 99.95 east resovel boulevard and we did submit
in advance of the hearing, our tax payment confirmation, the letter from the Civic Association,
letter of support from Council Member O'Neill, a revised site plan, a revised plans form,
renderings, site plans, floor plans, photographs. Keyon Boulevard has been operating since 2008
and this property has been an automobile showroom since about 2003. In 2010, a variance was obtained
to add a service facility to the auto showroom. Kia on the Boulevard is now planning to upgrade
its facility, the showroom and service facility, and Kia itself is requiring certain upgrades
to this facility, and the changes mean that we need a variance. The changes include addition of
service intake area and a new six new service base. Kia is specifically requiring the increase
from the 13 service bays to 19 service bays and also to have a specific service bay for electric
cars there will be a new facade added we're actually increasing the square footage of the
building by 5163 square feet it's an increase in the gross floor area of the building from 22
2,403 square feet to 27,915 square feet, which is less than 25%, and that'll be important
for a minute, as I will explain in a minute. We're going from 199 parking spaces to 168
with the changes. Again, the taxes are paid. The main refusal