Okay, thank you. I don't have anything further for Mr. Sudol.
Okay, thank you. I don't have anything further for Mr. Sudol.
And at this point, I think, I guess the only thing I'd like to do is just recall Ms. Logan for a minute.
I'm unmuted.
Just state your name. You've already been sworn.
Aaron Logan. Okay, so just a couple of additional follow-up questions.
You're familiar with this neighborhood, correct? I am. And in your professional opinion as an
architect, is this building appropriate in size and scale for this neighborhood? Yes, it is.
Will this building have any negative impacts on the property or on the neighborhood?
I do not believe it. Well, we are set back sufficiently from the West Johnson, from West Johnson Street, and therefore will minimize the impact to the neighborhood.
And was there a specific, there was an intent to sort of minimize the view of this building from the street, correct?
That is correct.
And that included limiting the height so that the height was was not or was below the height of both the presser and the Nugent building.
Is that correct? That is correct. OK.
And do you the variances that we've requested, are those the minimum variances that are necessary for us to to construct this this building?
Yes, it is. And I do want to point out also that the building as proposed is smaller than what was previously proposed.
So I do believe that is in line.
And it's smaller than what was proposed, both with the initial plan that we submitted on this application in 2020, correct?
Correct.
And it's also smaller than the plan, which was approved back in 2014 by the zoning board, correct?
That is correct.
That's all that I have for Ms. Logan.
Thank you.
so I don't have any further I don't have any further witnesses again we do have the
our representative of our engineering firm if the board has any questions for the engineers and
and all three of our our attendees here are available for any questions the board may have
questions from the board no Mr. Chairman no
mr car how many how many community meetings did you have
we had at least four okay okay some of those were by zoom and some were in person i think we
i think we had two in person and two or three that were by zoom okay questions from the virtual
audience here we have charles richardson mr mr richardson i i believe we sworn you already once
today so just state your name yes sir uh charles richardson from the office of councilwoman cindy
bass room 312 city hall proceed sir okay uh nearly seven years ago this project phase three was
originally conceived as a uh primarily senior housing project which at the time the community
supported uh it uh would nicely fit in with the senior buildings that are currently on the site
but since that time uh their funding has changed and the project also changed from senior housing
to market rate multifamily under 65 units is a lot and would have a different effect on the
community concerning density and traffic, as the density of a senior property is definitely
different than that of a market rate multifamily building. Westbound Area Neighbors RCO committee,
although most live an average of over half a mile away or more, voted to support the proposal,
although the majority of the community opposes the project overwhelmingly.
Two of the three meetings that the community participated in, they were overwhelmingly
against the proposal one of which i i attend the third was poorly attended and had a seven seven
attendees of near neighbors and produced a very slim vote of a margin vote of one vote uh to
approve as uh they had previously mentioned the project also had a cdr meeting uh that had a
number of those commenting expressing opposition to the project although it didn't have anything
much to do with the the cdr process but they you know they still were overwhelmingly opposed
uh our office has received a very large number of calls and emails against this project
none in fact have been in favor uh so the councilwoman is going to stand with the community in
So the councilwoman is going to stand with the community in opposition to granting this variance.
opposition
If I can respond to that.
You can.
Mr. Chair, this is all a complete surprise to us.
We've been working with the councilwoman's office throughout this process.
The meetings that were held with the community, again, at least five or at least four, I think there were five.
initially there was opposition but we had subsequent meetings which were all advertised
and we sent notices to everyone uh to the same list for each meeting at every meeting the uh
the crowds uh grew smaller and the opposition that existed initially just melted away so
So it's our position that the vote and the decision by West Mount Airy Neighbors reflects the feeling of the neighborhood.
And anything that's outside of the record here today with regard to the history of the community effort, I think that's hearsay and shouldn't be admitted.
It's great. I mean, Mr. Richardson comes on and talks about opposition, but there's no other evidence of that.
We don't see any letters. We don't see any, you know, maybe there are some folks in the audience that are going to oppose.
But, again, we haven't heard any negative responses to this project since the last RCO meeting a month or so ago when everyone in attendance was in support.
Virtually everyone was in support.
Mr. Chair, may I answer that?
You most certainly can.
Seven individuals is not the same amount as the people that have been opposed to this project.
And in fact, at that point, even the vote was four to three.
It's only seven individuals.
And that is definitely not reflective of the number of calls and also the number of people that were actually in these meetings, including the Zoom meeting.
So, you know, it can be massaged in a way to make it seem as though that there is community support.
But, in fact, when I spoke with the RCO, they knew that we were going to be coming against them because of the fact that they voted against the community, the wishes of the community.
But we're going to leave it in your hands at this point, Mr. Chair, to make that decision.
But again, just know that the opposition is a lot heavier in that area than it's being reflected.
Mr. Richardson, can I ask you a few questions?
Have you been contacted by Mr. Sudol over the past week or so to discuss this project?
Yes, I have.
But the problem is that our office...
Let me finish as to why I did not contact him back.
Our office's policy is not to speak with developers prior to the hearings.
Your office is what? Say that again. Policy is not to contact or talk to developers prior to the hearings.
OK, that's that's an interesting policy because it's contrary to the policy of every other council office I've ever worked with in my 25 years doing that.
Well, again, this is a different council person, sir. OK, well, we would obviously we disagree with the councilwoman.
We believe the councilman has not been forthcoming in providing us with any of this information.
There's no evidence of any community opposition.
There are no letters in opposition that I'm aware of that are part of the record.
So we would, again, we object to Mr. Richardson's statements and ask the board to strike them as not being supported by any evidence.
They're essentially hearsay at this point because there's nothing to support his assertions that there's significant community opposition.
I have not seen any.
AND I THINK MY CLIENT WOULD TESTIFY LIKEWISE.
EXCUSE ME, COUNSELOR?
ANY OTHER COMMENTS FROM THE VIRTUAL AUDIENCE?
CHAIR, WE HAVE NICO PREWITT.
PLEASE STATE YOUR NAME AND SPELL IT, PLEASE.
Hi, my name is Nico and it's a Nancy, I-C-H-O, last name Pruitt, P-R-U-E-T-T.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
I just wanted to know, I didn't hear clearly the size of the units for each of the multi-units.
What's the square footage on those?
um there are three different sizes this is sarah ann logan architect um the smallest unit
The smallest unit is 535 square feet, but keep in mind that there are two of those per floor plate. That one is just kind of utilizing extra square footage. The average side, the rest of the one-bedroom units, which is the lion's fare of them, are 720 square feet. And then the two-bedroom units, which there are 30 in the building, are just under 1,100 square feet.
is 535 square feet but keep in mind that there
Okay, thank you.
Any other questions or comments from the audience?
Chair, we have Carolyn Ray. Okay.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court reporter?
He's coming back in as a panelist chair because our version of Zoom is a little dated. Okay.
My name is Carolyn Ray. Last name is R-A-H-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
yes proceed i live around the corner from the property at vernon house co-op apartments at
64 45 green street and i attended most of the community meetings including the final one
at which there were seven members of the neighborhood and i agree with mr richardson
that the vote at the end of the presentation by the attendees was not overwhelmingly in
support at all. There were at least three votes in opposition. And we've written letters
to both the ZBA and to Mr. Kerr's office and to Westmount area neighbors expressing our
concern about the effect that having a property of this size in this location
would impact negatively pedestrian safety, automobile traffic on Johnson Street and on
the neighboring streets. And it's our feeling still that it's not a beneficial addition to
our neighborhood. I don't know what else to say, but we have written letters and I don't believe
Mr. Kerr is remembering that he was, he received at least one of them.
Okay. Can I respond, Mr. Chair? You can.
Ms. Ray, you're a tenant at Vernon House, correct?
Ms. Ray?
She's coming back in as a panel. Okay.
I don't know if you were able to hear me.
Hi, Ms. Ray, just state your name again for the court.
You're not dispel or anything.
And council has a question for you.
Carolyn Ray.
Very good.
Thank you.
And Ms. Ray, you're a tenant at Vernon House, correct?
I am a cooperative owner of the building.
We're not exactly tenants.
we're we're a co-op apartment which in a limited equity cooperative building and I'm the I'm the
president of the board of directors of the people who run the place okay so but you're an occupant
at a multi-family building that's right around the corner correct yes okay and this is multi-family
multi-story building correct four four floors 48 units okay okay that's all that I that's all I
And I will acknowledge that you were in attendance at the meetings, and we do appreciate your attendance.
I do acknowledge that you were in opposition, but there was, by the time of the last meeting, you agree that the opposition had pretty much faded away.
There was just a few folks in opposition, correct?
I don't think that their participation at a meeting indicated their lack of opposition.
Not everybody had connections to Zoom.
the notices didn't always reach people very you know close in time this meeting we only found out
about two days ago um you know we don't always get enough notice for people to to attend well
did you receive all the letters that we sent to you with regard to the the four or five rco meetings
that we had yes okay so you received all those and do you agree that those those letters included
an indication that this hearing was being held today. There was some doubt about or some
uncertainty about the date of this meeting. Because I think it changed and we were to be
told at the last meeting, but I don't believe that information was available at the time of
the last meeting. Okay, I think if you look at your, if you look at your letter, you'll see that
the date was on that on that letter. Okay, that's all I have for Ms. Ray. Thank you.
Anyone else from the virtual audience?
Anyone else from the virtual audience?
Thank you.
I see no handshare.
Planning Commissioner.
This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.
The property is currently split zoned on the city plan.
Proposed use is consistent with the comprehensive plan and the civic design review committee recommendation for residential multifamily use of this location.
Therefore, we recommend the request of variance to be granted.
what was that Mr. I missed your recommendation we recommend do you want me to repeat it at the
whole no just just the end I just missed the ending yes I said therefore we recommend it
of course the variance be granted I still didn't hear that you recommend the appearance be granted
is that what you said that's correct okay thank you I apologize my for some reason my volume is
is low today um mr chair could i just make a brief closing sure all right uh obviously this uh
opposition by the councilwoman's office was completely unexpected we've um reached out to
the council councilwoman's office numerous times over the last couple weeks trying to make sure
we had done everything to satisfy the councilwoman as far as um the the responses of the community
we received absolutely no information back so this is this is the first time in my 25 years
this has ever happened um i will state also that the councilwoman supported this project back in
2014 we have a letter that i would have put in the record today confirming that but because we
didn't know that um that that she was taking this position i did don't have the benefit of that
this plan is essentially again the third version or the third phase of this development and it's
a supplement to what was approved by the zoning board back in 2014. So our position is that
because this is the third phase of a development originally approved back in 2006 where my client
has spent significant funds to improve both the buildings and the property, consistent with the
plans approved as far back as 2009, I believe, was the first approval, that we actually have
a vested right to build this building based on that history. Again, I was not planning to get
into all of that testimony on the vested rights in the entire history. If the board is inclined
to deny this this um application based on the councilwoman's last minute opposition i would
ask that the board um give us the opportunity essentially to have this this case then reheard
and i'll come in and i'll put in all the evidence that i need to put in on the history of this
application dating back to uh 2006-2007 time frame so i just would ask for that opportunity
again if the board decides that that they're going to deny it based on the uh the opposition
by the councilman's office mr kerr what we're going to do is we're going to take this to our
executive session next week and we will let you know our decision okay right in a public setting
okay all right and if your solicitor could just reach out and let me know when that decision would
be will be so that i can be on i would appreciate that okay thank you thank you sir thank you
everybody just announced that the record is otherwise closed yes right it is closed thank you
okay all right number three mi 2021 003027 2121 dickinson street
point breeze cdc supports with requested proviso which is unenforceable
brian neely