ZBA Hearing - February 7, 2024

sir could you sir could you please state your name spell for the court stenographer

hi there jason kelso that's j-a-s-o-n-k-e-l-s-o

i'm a landscape architect with hess with hess landscape architects h-e-s-s all right do you

swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do please proceed

council thank you jason if you want to continue to go through your section of the presentation

again we're going to focus on mermaids lane for right now and we'll get we'll touch on st martin's

in a little bit thanks stephanie um all right so what i'd like to show here are just some kind of

before um before shots and then we superimposed through 3d modeling uh some imagery to show you

uh of the proposed condition so the first slide there uh this is the view from west mermaid lane

looking into the property the second image as we scroll down is a 3d rendering off in the distance

there it's a little hard to see but it is the structure that we're proposing the pool cabana

in the next slide there'll be another view as you get further into the property you can see

there's an existing driveway that that kind of bisects the property there creating some man-made

steep slopes so that is also an area in addition to the oversized cabana but

then also we're asking for relief on the steep slopes there's an and we have a

3d rendering again our intent is to to landscape pretty heavily here to give

some privacy and then the next image this is a view so there are some of the

deep slopes in the foreground there. And what Sarah touched on is this is a kind of a two-level

pool house. And you can notice that the upper level is at grade at the swimming pool. And then

we have this walkout scenario here where we're nestling into the hillside working with the

existing topography all right we can continue down right so this is this

photograph was taken from the westerly neighbor 440 West Mermaid Lane and we

superimposed the proposed structure there just to give an idea of its scale

and then um well i think these other slides all relate uh to the next property which we'll touch

on soon so i'd like to pass it over to ronald glenn what's mr glenn going to do thank you

ronald glenn is our civil engineer and he's going to touch on the sleep steep slope conditions of

the project sure ronald glenn has been unmuted and allowed to speak sir could you state could

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

Ronald Glenn, R-O-N-A-L-D-D-L-E-N-N, and I'm with Ruggiero Plant Land Design.

All right.

Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

I do.

Please proceed, Stephanie.

Thank you.

Ronald, can you just briefly explain the steep slope disturbance at Mermaid's Lane?

Sure.

We could just stay on this page for a moment, and I'll explain it.

So you can see the contours on this existing feature plan.

There are kind of two bands of steep slopes that bisect the property.

One is between the main building and the existing pool area, and the other between the pool area and the adjacent property to the south.

But also, as indicated by the cursor moving on the screen, there is a steep slope between these areas and the driveway that currently leads to the St. Martins property.

They're all man-made to facilitate these existing improvements.

So in order to install the replaced pool and the pool cabana, you're going to have to have equipment in there, buckets and ground.

Much of that area is going to be disturbed, but we are minimizing it as much as we possibly can while being able to fit necessary equipment.

All disturbance of these steep slopes will be managed during construction by means of

pretty common practices, whether it be coconut mat or matting, silk fences, silk socks, preventing

silt fences, silt socks, preventing sediment from watching off on through any of the basin sites.

sediment from watching off on here.

Post-construction stormwater, we're going to have a small infiltration basin that is effectively going to capture most stormwater in sight and remove it entirely and discharge it to the sewer rather than the surface.

That's my breach deal.

Thank you.

um dane jensen is also here he's the owner um so if there are any other questions we're happy to

answer any questions this time dane jensen has been unmuted and allowed to speak

hi sir could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer

yes my name is dane jensen d-a-n-e j-e-n-s-e-n you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole

truth and nothing but the truth. I do. Please proceed, counsel. Thanks, Dane. Was there anything

you wanted to add before we proceed to Q&A with the board? No, I think everything has been covered.

Thank you all very much for hearing our presentation and feel free to let us know if there are any

questions. Thanks, Dane. Okay. Just real quick. So we have a letter of support from Chestnut Hill

Community Association and six form letters of support from near neighbors. Am I correct?

that is correct letters of support or non-opposition from our near neighbors yes okay

um questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman questions or comments from our attorney

hillary emerson um just briefly um ms mcgany did you want mr jensen to adopt your testimony

sarah did that um at the beginning of our presentation but i'd be happy to go

okay okay no it's totally up to you thank you um dame just for purposes of the record um did you

hear the full presentation that was given today i did um based on your understanding and knowledge

and belief do you believe that everything was correct and accurate yes it was accurate did

you adopt the statements as your own for purposes of the record yes thank you questions or comments

from the virtual audience.

Chair, we have Charles Richardson.

They have been unmuted and allowed to speak.

Good afternoon, Mr. Richardson.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair.

You have to square me.

Sure.

Could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer?

Certainly.

Charles Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N,

Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass Room, 508 City Hall.

I was prepared to

Wait a minute, do you swear or affirm

to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

I do

I was prepared to speak on both

properties, but I'll do it

one at a time, since that's what we're

seen to be doing

The Councilwoman has no opposition to

granting the variance

Alright, thank you very much, we'll be back to you shortly

Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?

I see no hands, Chair

Planning Commission

good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission the comprehensive plan

recommends no change to the rsd1 single-family detached zoning at this location we feel the

variances for oversized structure and land disturbance represent an overuse of the property

and any hardship would be self-created accordingly the planning commission recommends the board deny

the variance

Thank you.

frozen i'm thinking he did yeah uh he left and i guess he's gonna try and get back on

all right we'll pause just for a few minutes so we can get back on thank you

You

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Is anyone able to hear me please respond?

Some people are frozen and they should come out and go back in, please.

I can hear you Fatina.

You

so we're just waiting for the chair to log in we appreciate your patience

Thank you.

Thank you.

Bettina, can you still hear me?

Yes, Hillary.

Okay.

I can't see anybody.

There we go.

Okay.

They're coming back in.

Thank you.

for helping the chair to return and resume the hearings.

We appreciate your patience.

Thank you.

Hi, y'all.

We're going to pause for a few more minutes while we're having IT help to cheer.

Thanks all for that patience.

All right.

Sorry, everybody.

Hello?

Yes.

Thank you.

Okay.

what hillary where do we stand get ready to vote am i right um yes mr sure we just heard

from the planning commission so we can vote on the mermaid lane case thank you no number three

mi 2023 006 287 420 west mermaid lane i vote yes

James Snell, my vote is yes

LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes

Thank you

And then we're going to go to number 7

And then we're going to go to number seven, MI2023-005-845-7504-St. Martin's Lane.

MI 2023

00

Stephanie Bogtamagna is the attorney.

Just state your name for the record, please.

Stephanie Magana.

You're already been sworn.

And we have a letter of support from Chestnut Hill and six foreign letters of support from

your neighbor.

So why don't you proceed?

Thank you.

We'll try to be brief.

So the properties at 420 Mermaid and 7504 St. Martin's share a rear property line, but they've always historically shared a driveway, primarily accessed off Mermaid Lane through the 420 West Mermaid site and into 7504 St. Martin's.

The Jensen's purchased both properties simultaneously with the intention of making 420 Mermaid their primary residence, but also making sure that they could provide a new driveway entrance for St. Martin's with the intention of making sure that that property was then sold and maintained as a single family home.

The home has a lot of historic character, but it is suffering from a lack of maintenance over the years prior to our clients purchasing the site.

It has much historic character they want to maintain. And this project collectively has been designed to try to ensure that happening.

So the proposal at St. Martin's specifically is to relocate the driveway from its access on Mermaid Lane to St. Martin's.

And the topography of the site at St. Martin's requires a variance for steep slope disturbance, rather de minimis, at 125 square feet in order to place the driveway at the St. Martin's site.

As was mentioned, we did present the whole project collectively to the Chestnut Hill Community Association.

It was very important to Chestnut Hill, as it's important to our client, that the home at St. Martin's, that everything be done to make sure that that is preserved, that this property, and in particular the home, be maintained as a single-family residence, which is certainly the Jensen's intention.

We also have letters of support and non-opposition from the neighbors.

I'll note one neighbor who is our neighbor that shares the boundary. We're closest to the driveway that's presented. Kathleen Savage. There is a specific agreement that's now shown on the screen that the Savages will have approval over the specific landscaping that is going to be proposed along both of their property lines.

And there's now a letter between the Jensen's and the Savages confirming the area where the Savages will have discretion to make sure that the landscaping is to their satisfaction.

So with that, we'll quickly go through the relevant portion of our presentation to St. Martin's and Sarah Griffith, if you want to start your presentation.

Yes.

Sarah, could you just state your name, please? I think you've already been sworn.

Sarah Griffith.

Okay. And spell it for the corporate plural one more time.

S-A-R-A-H, last name G-R-I-F-F-I-T-H.

So my portion on this is very brief, and then I'll pass it on to the other two, landscape and civil.

But existing, the driveway for St. Martin's used to come through 420 West Mermaid.

Right here, you can see a dashed line of where the existing driveway used to come.

So the proposal of this is to have St. Martin's get its own driveway from St. Martin's Lane that comes up here, and the variance comes in for the steep slopes that putting in this driveway would entail.

So with that said, I will pass it on to Jason Kelsow.

Jason Kelsow has been unmuted and allowed to speak.

all right sir just for the record state your name please jason kelso j-a-s-o-n-a-e-l-s-o

right you've already been sworn please proceed thank you jason just for purposes of the record

can you identify your relationship to this project i am the landscape architect the

company i work with is hess landscape architects thank you please proceed

This slide here shows a view from the Savages.

This is the property to the west at 7502 St. Martins.

The proposed driveway will be just beyond that stone retaining wall there and the home further in the background there, the yellow stucco home there.

And this next slide, quite basic, but what we want to just show is the existing condition.

There is currently a retaining wall there where some of the steep slopes are, which our civil engineer will share with you next.

But this shows the curb cut from St. Martin's Lane.

And I will pass it over to Ronald Glenn.

mr glenn just state your name please for the court stenographer you've already been sworn

Mr. Glenn, just state your name, please, for the court stenographer.

You've already been sworn.

so uh ronald glenn r-o-n-a-l-d-d-l-e-n-n and i am the civil engineer with the bureau plant

please proceed of course um so the as stephanie said the impact on seat slopes here is is quite

minimal um in fact it's like kind of hard to see you can zoom in on it a little bit sarah if you

can at the bottom near the the wall where the uh driveway would connect um basically there's this

a there's a little bit of steep slope um right along the wall area um near a couple trees where

the slope is a little bit steep that we need to cut into to install the driveway and there might

be another small area steep slope up the way yep right around there um but mostly the slopes are