ZBA Hearing - October 1, 2025

fully handicapped unit. The plan directly below that is the second floor plan, which consists of

the lower level for unit four and unit three which are bi-level units that fall across floors two and

three both are two bed two bath units and this is the third floor plan uh so this will be the upper

levels of those two bi-level units uh where you can see that two bed two bath you um for each of

the units. And I believe you go to the next slide. This is the building elevations. The elevation on

Chelten Avenue is, you can see the large glass area for the first floor, the projected bay for

the windows above, and then the long side along Woodstock Street is the same thing. Large glass

area for the commercial space. You can see the handicap ramp that leads to the main residential

entry then there are two projecting bays and then subsequent windows for all the bedrooms

and this is just the rear elevation showing the egress well and then again the subsequent

windows for the rest of the units thank you charles thank you um you have anything else sir

no so uh the if the board uh only want to see those plans i can call my client now to adopt

our testimony why don't you do that why don't you bring your client on great um his name is

Misham Riaz. He's in the virtual audience.

Is he there?

What's the person's name again?

Masham, M-E-S-H-A-M, Riaz, R-I-A-Z.

He actually spoke a little while ago.

He popped on to offer his opinion.

Hey, Masham, how's it going?

Hey, how you doing?

Masham, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?

You've already been sworn.

Yes.

Masham, M-E-S-H-A-M.

Last name is Riaz, R-I-A-Z.

And could you please turn your video on?

Sure.

Misham, could you describe your relationship to Ordering Base Inc.?

I am the marketing manager.

Great.

And have you heard the testimony today of me and Charles?

Yes.

And was it true and correct to the best of your knowledge?

Yes.

And would you adopt it as if it were your own?

yes great any questions from the board council before we start um i see a note from the last

hearing that the council member bass wanted to see the drawings did we do that um we did send uh

i'm not sure if we sent the uh this updated um exhibit packet to council members

Okay, well, maybe, hopefully, Mr. Richardson's one part. Let's start. Questions from the board.

okay well maybe hopefully mr richardson so on all right let's start question

Is there any household living in the basement?

Yes. We have an egress in the lower level in the rear yard, as plans show.

So the basement has a unit?

yeah and they have an egress in the uh in the rear yard if you look at the first right here

if you yeah there you go that's unit one so there's so there's so there's the only light

that's getting into this unit is through the egress well out of the back yes and then you

know when the the the ramp has like the little windows on the side um they're gonna have for the

i think because it's going to be that the the last part is going to be a little level up so

they're going to have like windows on the side as well i believe i think but i'm not sure i have to

go over the plans well if you don't mind me interjecting here the the back half of the

building is about three feet out of the ground um number one to allow the windows to be in the side

of the the building that we're talking about for unit one and as well to accommodate the

the handicap ramp for the uh handicap unit right so so what's what's the what's the depth of the

basement slab below grade if i'm not mistaken it is five feet below grade so you have a seven foot

six ceiling height in there actually it might i might be a little bit taller than seven foot

It might be closer to seven, eight, seven, 10, because looking at the this rear elevation sketch, it's seven foot six from basement floor to the top of foundation wall.

And then all the wood framing sits on top of the foundation wall.

So it's basically about seven feet underground.

No. So it's three feet out. The first floor is about three feet out of ground and it's about five feet below ground.

It's three feet out of ground under the top of the ramp, which doesn't account for the floor slab.

Right. If you look at your, I'm looking at your elevation and your elevation says seven foot, I believe it's six or eight, which if you look at where that dashed dot line goes a little bit to the window.

Right. And then the first floor, based on the scale, it looks like it's about a foot.

right so you're you're you're close to close to seven feet underground

my point if you want my point is it's it's it's very deep below ground which is a real concern

for me and there's no real lights that's going to get into that rest of that basement but next to

that um ramp so that's a that's a huge issue for me okay uh no problem we could eliminate the

basement living okay thank you i have a question then i mean i had similar concerns to mike i think

your egress well like the window is the right size but the well itself is pretty narrow it's

not going to allow that much light and it doesn't currently show how a person would actually

physically get out of that uh that death is usually a ladder there that's offset from the

window that you all are not showing um what's happening for the commercial space though in

the basement because i think both of these basement units have the same practical issue um

and i think to be so deep below grade it was a little disappointing to see you only hit code

for ceiling height i think seven foot six is a pretty low ceiling height you know standard is

usually nine but there's some people that'll do eight so to go even below that in a place that's

going to be already underground felt a little tight so what's the plan for the basement side

of the commercial space uh oh i'm sorry go ahead i didn't misspeak to you no no no problem it's

going to be used as storage if you want we could eliminate the basement and then slab on grade if

you want us to build that i don't want you to do anything i just want to know what you're trying to

do okay okay imposing okay so the plan is that the and what type of commercial tenant are you

anticipating having uh probably like a office office or with commercial storefront windows

yeah office or like uh we don't know yet it's vacant yet but i'm not it's vacant but like what

you guys are managing this property what would be your preferred or ideal commercial tenant

i was gonna we was gonna make our our uh office there for the ordering base

so that was our goal to make an office there and then this is four units and a commercial

this is four units and a commercial space what is the plan for trash and utilities

space what is the plan for trash

trash and utility i think we made the utility room mr charles could uh explain that

we updated the plans

Charles so there on the basement level there's a small closet underneath the stairs that leads to

underneath the landing um incoming utility electric panel water meter things like that

could go in that area that's that's where we're showing the sump pump and sump uh ejector pit

um as far as trash the the area is large enough as well that um well since it since you're

eliminating the unit out of the basement um that opens up opportunities to not put the trash in

the rear yard and then put it inside the building in that area and then do all the tenants have

access to this rear yard? The answer is yes

and as well as this is the stair in the middle is the common stair

for the entire building except for the commercial space. Okay.

Other questions?

So that means you're willing to go down a unit? Yes.

So three units with commercial on the first floor.

Thank you. Did you answer yes to that,

yes i'm willing to do that so three residential units you want and a commercial yes and no no

household living in the basement no yes and if you could make the commercial bigger if the

limited room down there if you're limiting the basement i don't i don't know what you said

could you discard that i'm sorry put it on a slab i mean sure but then then didn't we you said that

that was storage. That's a very large storage

space for a commercial

unit.

We could

put it on slab.

All right.

Any other questions from the board?

Questions or comments from our attorney?

Not at this time, Mr.

Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual

audience?

Chair, we have Charles Richeson

with his hand up. He has been unmuted and allowed to speak. Good morning, Mr. Richardson. Good

morning, Mr. Chair and the Board. Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?

Certainly. Charles Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass,

room 508 City Hall. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but

the truth? I do. Please proceed, sir. To answer the question, we did not receive anything from

the applicant with regard to new plans or anything along those lines. In fact,

the RCO did not receive anything, and the community has not reviewed the new

plans either. I am glad

to see that they took out the pilot house, which was what was of

concern, and I think they had originally wanted to put a deck up on

the top. They promised that they would do an office there,

and that is where Mr. Riaz is stating that they're

planning to put their office there.

That's because of the fact they promised the community

that they would do that.

The basement unit was not discussed.

And actually, I'm glad to hear that they are,

that he's willing to remove the basement unit

because that was, again, nothing that was discussed

with the community prior in the last meeting

or the last zoning hearing as well.

So we would suggest that there only be three units only,

no basement, no household living in the basement.

thank you Mr Richardson anyone else in the audience

I see no other hands here planning commission thank you chairman and good morning David Vecto

with the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends

no change to the CMX one commercial mixed use zoning at this location the city rezoned this

neighborhood in 1980 this is a 1996 square foot lot the homes on this block face and the adjacent

woodstock street block face are a mix of single family and two families the city planning

commission recommends the board grant their proposed use variants for multiple dwelling units

but with a maximum of two dwelling units

thank you sir i just wanted to make a note the way that the refusal is written it's vacant

commercial space. So a use registration permit or additional zoning permit application will

permit or additional additional zoning permit application will need to be filed once the

need to be filed once the.

use is um once the use is determined and if that use is not in compliance with the cmx1 zoning

then that will require an additional variance so just want to put that on the record that's on the

record yeah okay so um mi 2024 001 848 2055 chelton avenue i vote yes wood proviso maximum

three residential units one commercial unit on the first floor no no because we're not approving a

specific commercial use just leave it vacant so just just three residential units maximum three

no household living

in the basement

thank you

Michael Johns my vote is yes with proviso

Cheryl Gaston

my vote is yes with provisos

Tanetta Graham my vote is yes with provisos

Tywin my vote is yes with provisos

I'm sorry

can I just ask

one question Mr. Fellas

is the

is the roof deck

and roof deck access structures are those being removed yeah those been they have been removed

the other last meeting they say there was a safety concern but we said no problem we want

to please the neighborhood so we removed the rooftop decks for the two units that we had

okay so then we so we do need then revised plans because this is new construction um in a proviso

form um so um why don't we actually let me look at the plans um if you could submit revised plans

we'll revote this next week because we do need revised plans for that change all right we're

going to revote this next week after we review revised plans yes great thank you accounts i'll

be back to you in a little bit okay you have one more right no yeah i do thank you right all right

Number three, MI 2024-006-896-2600, West Montgomery Avenue.

Vern Anastasio is the attorney.

There is a letter of non-opposition from Strawberry Mansion Community Concern with five provisos.

and also non-opposition room council member young

burn morning mr chair morning um burn you already were sworn in once this morning

yep would you please just state your name and spell for the stenographer yeah sure it's burn

anastasio uh on behalf of mr kemit hasa the owner uh applicant all right do you all right

if we've already done that,

Tynetta Graham has just a few questions.

Good morning.

Have you submitted your documents

five days in advance of this hearing?

Yes.

And do you waive the reading letter refusal

and stipulate to its accuracy?

I do.

Okay, thank you.

You may share your screen and proceed.

Thank you.

2,600 Montgomery.