both units have access to the rear yard the proof of posting of the hearing notice
on both sides and then miller street to right of the property to left of the property
East Madison to the right of the property, to the left of the property.
Our plans and drawings, again, you saw that corner door go up a flight of steps.
You have a two-bedroom, one-bath unit.
Instead, going on the side entrance, you go straight into the first floor unit.
And again, you have here three bedrooms, two baths.
No basement use, no roof deck.
Meeting notice, we met on May 6th at 6 p.m.
We emailed that notice a few weeks before the community meeting to the coordinating RCO, as well as to the district council member zoning aide.
We also mailed that notice to 165 addresses.
Those are the addresses, proof of mailing to those addresses, our application for appeal that we filed on Mohammed's behalf, our deed, our certificate of tax clearance.
I would now ask that Muhammad virtually raise his hand.
Muhammad has been allowed to speak.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Muhammad Faraji, M-O-H-A-M-M-E-D, last name is F-A-R-A-J-E-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Please proceed, counsel.
Yes, Mohamed, you heard everything I had to say.
Yes, Mohamed, you heard everything I had to say today about your zoning matter.
And is it true and correct?
And do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Chair.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands.
Planning Commission.
Good afternoon, Chair.
Peter Bernard of the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the existing RSA-5 single-family zoning
at this location.
We feel the applicant has demonstrated hardship
Accordingly, the Planning Commission recommends the board grant the variance.
Thank you.
MI 2024, 001-170-3252 Miller Street.
I vote yes.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
I think he was having a hard time with what he said there.
Okay. Mr. Nakamson, you have your votes. Mr. Nakamson, could you please stay on to, I have
Gerard Avenue here. So MI 2024 001 172 3928 West Gerard Avenue. Mr. Nakamson, just to the record,
could you please state your name? Okay. And could you identify your client, the relationship to
this property? Yeah, so my clients are Lauren and Ang Kow, the owners of the property. Okay, and
I see there's a letter of support from the Central Parkside Community Development Corporation.
Yes, Mr. Chair, the only thing I would say is we would request that the board hold this matter
until we receive an amended refusal. Yeah, we've had a conversation with Hillary about that.
Mr. Holloman, could you do the follow-up questions, please?
I'm here, Chair.
Oh, good, good.
I thought you were having a hard time with your speaker there every minute.
It was a yes on that last vote if y'all couldn't hear me.
Thank you.
Do you agree with the refusal or stipulate to his accuracy?
I do, other than the fact that we're requesting an amended refusal.
Understood.
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 yes we have thank you council please proceed and share
thank you all right similar to what we talked about regarding miller street this is just a
legalization again this is 3928 west gerard avenue um we'll review this this is a zone cmx1 property
with a variance allowing for three units.
When my client purchased the property
and when she was obtaining rental licenses,
it was discovered that not her,
someone else did additional work
on the back of the property.
So because that's an expansion of a variance,
we need to come back to the board,
which we are.
So we're just seeking a legalization
of that little real portion of the property
where there's no public record of a building permit
or a zoning permit and then a building permit uh so you'll you'll see the notice of refusal and we
met with centennial parkside cdc and they're in support of this project we have an affidavit
of continuous use like the property has been used as a triplex we're just legalizing
this undocumented portion of the building structure uh the 2035 plan actually uh is is
recommending that this property turn from CMX-1 to RM-1, which would allow this three-unit use
anyway. Aerial view of the block to show that our property really goes no deeper than the
properties that are surrounding us either. Our maps, zoning map, as well as a Google map,
photographs of the property in the surrounding area our plans and drawings um again just to note
when we did meet with the community we explained this whole situation that we needed amended
refusal because we wanted to make sure everything was cleaned up because when we looked at the
photographs of the property and compared it to like what was being shown to ellen i from a site
plan there were some discrepancies so we just wanted to clean everything up and they voted
based on what we showed them um and that's the rco meeting notice
um and that's the RCO meeting notice and proof of family in that notice we'll go over that
and proof of mailing that notice we'll go over that
our application for appeal or deed to the property showing the client owns the property
and the certificate of tax clearance notice refusal CMX1 property although the you know
2035 plan you know indicates that this should be an RM1 property so three units will be allowed as
a right we already have the right to use three units but as you can see the refusal is a is
It's because the proposed addition is an extension of a use previously granted by a variant.
My client had no idea this was happening.
Only when she tried to obtain a rental license was this discovered, and she's just trying to clean this up.
Met with Centennial Parkside CDC.
We have a pretty straightforward letter of support.
And then my client did submit an affidavit of continuous use.
I know the use is not in controversy, but, you know, we just wanted to show and my client wanted to show that she's adverbed in the past that this is a three-year-old dwelling.
And then this is the certification statement she received from the city when she purchased the property, which shows that she purchased this with the city notifying her that this was a three-family dwelling of record.
And then here's also, you know, the zoning permit, which shows that this is a three-family dwelling.
And here's a 2035 plan showing that the city planning's recommending that this be turned into an all-hour property, aerial view of the property.
So this is the current conditions.
You can see we don't go much further back than anyone else.
And then you can see this from a Google – excuse me, this is from Atlas.
And you can see here shows how far we go back.
We're just trying to legalize this.
And then maps of the area. Again, there's no use variances here, but we're near the park on Girard Avenue. So this will help support the commercial port or this type of density.
Photographs of the property.
My client has made sure that she's kept up the portrait very nicely in good condition.
Here's the proof of posting for today's hearing.
Here are rear pictures of the property.
And this is kind of where the addition is.
That's undocumented.
And then, you know, just more rear pictures of the property.
And then this is West Girard Avenue to the right of the property, to the left of the property.
Our plans and drawings, which were submitted to L&I as part of the amended refusal, and then our RCO meeting notice we met on April 17th at 7 p.m.
We emailed the notice like we always do a few weeks beforehand to the coordinating RCO and the district council person zoning aid.
We also obviously mailed that notice two weeks beforehand, and it was sent to 89 addresses.
Addresses are here.
Proof of mailing to those addresses or application for appeal on the COA's behalf.
And our deed to the property showing that they own their property.
And most importantly, that they're on a payment plan regarding this.
Or I think maybe they paid it, something to that effect.
I know my office worked with Teleri to make sure that we're tax compliant.
I would ask that Lauren virtually raise her hand and be sworn in.
Lauren has been allowed to speak.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer.
Hi, my name is Lauren Kale. L-A-U-R-E-N. Last name is K-A-O.
where we're referring to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes sir please proceed counsel uh lauren you heard everything i had to state today about your zoning
back correct yes and is everything i stated true and correct yes and do you adopt it as your own
testimony yes thank you questions from the board no mr chairman no chair questions are
comments from our attorney hillary emerson um yes mr chair just just confirming that that we will
um hold this matter um for an amended refusal um and we do we will need um additional proof
of tax compliance because it doesn't show that there's an agreement so we just need proof that
they're in a payment plan if the balance isn't paid in full so other than that we could we can
close the record on this matter. Thank you. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands. Hillary, do we want planning to take a position?
Planning take a position. That is up to planning. Planning.
Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Chair. Peter Bernard for the Planning Commission.
Do you want to take a position on this case? We do, Chair. Okay, please proceed.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing CMX 1 commercial mixed use at this location.
We feel the applicant hasn't demonstrated hardship that was not self-created.
Accordingly, the Planning Commission recommends the board grant the variances.
Thank you very much.
So this case is closed, and we will hold this until we have the amended refusal,
and also additional proof of tax compliance.
Yes, that is correct, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Notchamson.
Great day.
All right.
Let's go back to number six.
MI 2024-001-388-1623 Rumford Road, Philomena St. Jean.
Yes, hi. Thank you.
Hi, how are you? You've already been sworn. How are we doing on our computer?
Well, we're doing a little better because my daughter just got home.
Oh, that's great. So why don't we do this? Why don't you proceed?
Yes, thank you.
oh wait share
so first put on your your video okay okay so that we can see you yes that's right i forgot about
that that's okay all right and now why don't you put your documents up okay
mm-hmm can you see it not yet oh okay coming up
okay here it comes okay here you go so why don't you why don't you tell us what you're trying to
do um what i'm trying to do i'm trying to convert um and renovate to actually i'm trying to renovate
and convert the basement along with the two car garages into a living space.
And how many units do you have at your house now?
Okay, and you want a third?
Yes, please.
Okay, do you have pictures of the garage in the space in the back?
Yes, I do.
This is one.
so that's two garage doors coming into the garage am i correct yes yes you're correct okay and then
the garage goes into the basement yes it's leveled and you're going to try to convert that into
another apartment yes and you already have an apartment on the first floor of your home and
the second floor yes i do it's already this is it's a legal uh it's a duplex it's already a
and now you want a triplex you're saying yes i want to try this okay um
all right and and what's the basement look like oh that's uh this is this is uh so that's in the
front there right that's the front of the basement yes that's washer and dryer and utilities
and you got a toilet there in the corner yeah okay
Yeah, there's a toilet there, and this is a garage inside.
So, okay.