sent us a letter of non-opposition. So, if you could promote Mr. Clare now, that would be great.
Sure. Thank you.
Leonard Clare has been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Mr. Clare, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court's monographer?
Leonard, L-E-O-N-A-R-D, last name Claire, K-L-E-H-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Hi, Lenny.
Could you state your position with Lubrid Adler and how it's connected to this property?
I'm a partner and vice chairman of Lubrid Adler, and an investment vehicle formed by Lubrid Adler
acquired the Bellevue as well as 220 South Broad from the Rubin family several years ago.
And Lenny, you heard my testimony.
Would you agree that it's true and accurate and you would adopt this for your own?
Okay, thank you.
You want to elaborate a little bit on some of the upgrades at the sporting club
and how it ties into the deck that we want to use?
Yeah, we created a large room on the third floor mezzanine, which would effectively be the fifth floor of the sporting club, the top floor, and that allowed us access to the roof because we wanted to be able to have fresh air.
One of the lessons learned of COVID was everybody wanted to be able to have fresh air.
And so we would have this roof deck, which would allow our sporting club members to sit out, get some fresh air and sunshine.
We would possibly have classes to be conducted for our members, yoga or similar kinds of athletic classes, and potentially have private events out on the roof deck.
Thank you.
And the deck is in great condition being renovated, and I believe it has some porous pavers there to capture stormwater?
That is correct.
Those are porous pavers, and it catches the stormwater underneath.
The drains are still there, and, you know, it turned out in a very attractive way.
And this area, which is approximately, I guess, 3,000 square feet,
would it be open at the same time contemporaneous with the sporting club?
That's right.
It would be available during the sporting club hours.
The club closes at 10 o'clock on weekdays and I think at 9 o'clock on Saturday and 8 o'clock on Sunday.
Thank you, Danny. So, Mr. Chairman of the Board, we believe that we've met the burden of the special exception and that there's been no adverse impact.
And I have no further questions or testimony.
Questions from the Board?
No, Chair.
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 chair planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing cmx5 commercial mixed use zoning
at this location. We believe the proposed roof deck will have no more of an impact than would
be expected to have given its location. Accordingly, the Planning Commission
recommends the Board grant the special exemption. Thank you. MI 2023-006-335-220-24
South Broad Street, I vote yes. James Snell, my vote is yes.
i vote yes james snell my vote is yes the baron leonard palmer my vote is yes thank you
mr thank you very much have your votes thank you number 12 mi 2023 006 278 2731 frankfort avenue
alan knockamson is the attorney um recommendation of opposition from the somerset neighbors for
better living councilman school is leaving the decision to the board the applicant has
provided 10 form letters of support from neighbors
good afternoon Mr. chair members of the board yeah I believe we I swore you in earlier today
could you identify your client and their relationship to the property client is Timothy
Timothy Farrell, Jr., the owner of the property, and he should be in the virtual audience.
Right. Do you waive the reading of the refusal and agree to its accuracy?
Okay. And all of your documents were sent in five days prior?
That's correct.
Please proceed, sir. Share your screen.
Thank you.
So this is 2731 Frankfurt Avenue.
Up until last night, I thought it was a pretty straightforward project.
We're seeking a special exception, not a variance, so we have a notice of referral here.
What we're seeking is this.
This property has been a place where damaged cars have been stored for some time, and we'll
go through the presentation to show that history, and that's allowed as a right.
This is an ICMX property.
What we're asking for is a special exception for personal vehicle repair and maintenance.
In a portion of the property, and this lot is 41,000 square feet, this is a 6,000 square foot portion of the property where the cars are stored.
There is some personal repair and maintenance of these cars, not of character with the neighborhood, even though we're ICMX, we're surrounded by I-2, which will allow this use as a freight.
So when we initially met with the Somerset Neighbors for Better Living, they have a two-step process.
We met with their executive board and we got very favorable input from them stating that my client who's owned the property since 2018 is a much better property owner and operator than what was previously there.
They were very complimentary of the fact that, you know, even though, you know, this is a lot that has damaged cars, it's been kept up well, it's well lit, it's properly managed.
So when we had the community meeting on Monday night where Mr. Goldberg, Alex Goldberg from my office presented it where only one question was asked and really nothing else and we didn't really get much pushback, we thought we were going to get a letter of support or non-opposition.
until last night when we received their correspondence where there was a letter of
opposition. And we still understand why there is opposition, because again, from the previous
comments there, you know, with the executive board, this was a well-maintained and operated
property. So regardless, you know, what happened at the pre-community meeting was we don't see
any issue with this. That's what the executive board stated. Obviously, they're not the final
determining factor the community is. But they did say at the pre-community meeting, why don't you
reach out to the neighboring property owners? There is some residential use nearby. We would
like to hear from them to make sure that they have no issue with disuse. And that's what we did. And
that's why we had the letters of support. We reached out to council member of Squilla's office
earlier today, again, to try to figure out what happened with the Somerset Neighbors for Better
a living community meeting, why there was a vote against it. But, you know, we never heard back
from them, but what we did receive was a letter from the council member's office where even though
the community voted in opposition to this project, they're deferring to this board to make
their best decision as to the merits of this project. And again, this is just a special
exception that we're seeking so if you look at exhibit number four and we will uh there's a
license uh for a certain type of industrial use on this property again not out of character
then we'll review the maps of the area which including the zoning map which will see a lot
of purple surrounding us uh especially i2 which would allow this use as a fright so it's not out
of character and some of the use that we're proposing to legalize is um you know is allowed
that's right and only a small portion would require a special exception and then we'll have
an aerial view of the property you'll see it's very well maintained and clean photographs of
the property it's not like one of these situations where you can see through a fence
It's not like one of these situations where you can see through a fence.
we're in a residential neighborhood
We're in a residential neighborhood and it's mismanaged and it's messy.
It's not. And even better, you know, there's there's walls and fencing where you can't see anything in there, but it's well lit around there and well maintained.
And then you'll see the interior photos specifically of the area.
That's the 6,000 square foot building structure where my client does repair work and maintenance work as well.
Then simple plans and drawings of that particular building or RCO meeting notice.
Like I said, we met with the community this past Monday.
And, you know, again, rather surprised by the result because there really wasn't much pushback to our meeting in our meeting or with the executive board.
at the pre-community meeting.
And then there are applications
for special exception.
Again, based on the law,
we're not, this use is no worse
than what you would expect
of this type of ICMX property.
And so we're not detrimentally
impacting the community in any way.
We'll go through the standards.
Or deeds of property
showing that Mr. Farrell owns the property
and their certificate of tax clearance.
Again, at the conclusion of my presentation, I'll ask that Mr. Farrell virtually raise his hand, be sworn in, and I'll have a few questions for him and the board.
Fine, the board may have some questions for him as well.
Again, this is 2731 Frankfurt Avenue's Notice of Referral.
Again, this is not a variance.
This is a special exception we're seeking.
It's an ICMX property, and again, it's for a personal vehicle repair and maintenance, which is basically what we're seeking the special exception for.
Correspondence from the coordinating RCO, again, there was a lot of opposition, which we were surprised about.
There is no letter of rationale.
Now, we did ask the, you know, the community group and if they're on, I would like to know, you know, why they they did make some some they've Alice Goldberg from my office and and the head of the coordinating RCO have been exchanging emails all day.
But we haven't really got a straight answer other than, oh, well, we can give some quotes of why people are opposed, but we still don't know what those quotes are.
um but again at their behest or at their request prior to the community meeting and after the
pre-community meeting we made a concerted effort to meet you know the nearby neighbors and this
is just a map of the individuals that signed our letter form letter support so many of them
are on Coral Street which is adjacent to us
and that's the residential aspect we thought we would
you know focus on the residential properties above all
and then the license number so from at least public records 2006 through 2012
there was a license for auto wrecking a junkyard
and then just as a matter of course like our hours of operation are from 9 a.m.
to 4 p.m. Cars are towed on the lot, like if we're beyond those hours from 9 to 4,
you know, either the towing company or the police or towing companies that are facilitated by the
police department, they have access to our yard and they responsibly put those vehicles into our
lot. And then we process that between hours, if not 4. And then maps of the area, you can see
where we are right here is ICMX. We face
three public, actually I think four public streets. Here's Frankfurt Avenue
but you can see all this ICE 2 that's adjacent to us
as well which allow this use as right. We're at the edge
I don't know if you would say at the beginning of a residential neighborhood or the edge of the
end of a residential neighborhood but over onto Silver Street
and then here's Coral by the way where some of the signatures were
obtained but um you would see like all this all this purple like you know again and if we were
the i2 that was below us this would be allowed as a fright and this property has been used this way
forever when my client purchased it like it was you know a yard which housed damaged vehicles
um he extended that use to uh provide personal maintenance repair of those vehicles indoors
and you'll see in a very large building structure which is out of sight
this is you know and by the way we're also bordering train tracks here too which makes
it very difficult to do really anything with this property and then here's the aerial view
And then here's the aerial view.
you can see we keep the lot very clean
You can see we keep the lot very clean.
Thank you.
Like we try not to be a nuisance.
And that was indicated by comments we received from the RCO's executive board.
And then this is the building structure, by the way, which would house the personal vehicle and repair work.
And then this is photographs of the property.
again to the outside world there's nothing going on here um and it's well insulated to
any residential neighborhood here are the orange notice posters like i said there are many different
public facing streets so we have orange notice posters on all four public streets
and then this is frankfurt avenue to the right of the property
uh frankfurt average to the left to the left of the property uh east silver to the right of the
property again not much going on here even though this is you know again technically uh residential
use here there are at least there are any classification there's really not much going on
here and the east silver to the left of the property that's where technically the residential
use is uh and then this is inside the yard we wanted to show you inside the yard again we keep
he keeps it very clean outside and then more pictures uh regarding frankfurt avenue inside
the yard and then interior photos so this is where he does his staging for his personal maintenance
and repair work and then there's an office inside there as well
and then there's our plans and drawings i mean it's really basic it's an open floor plan that
this is where it does the staging for his uh you know vehicle repair and maintenance
and the rco meeting notice like i said we met on monday proof of email to the coordinating rco and
other rcos for the community meeting and then we also mailed obviously the notice to 133 addresses
These are the addresses. This is proof of mailing
to those addresses. Our applications for special
exception, in particular,
the proposed use will not cause congestion
in streets or transit systems. In actuality, everything
is done on site and there is ample
parking on site and purposefully all the vehicle
repair work and maintenance work is done in an enclosed building. There's not to be overcrowding
of the land. As you can see, we're a 41,000 square foot lot. There's no impairing light and
air to adjacent properties. Like these building structures have been there forever. It's just the
use that we're seeking that would require a special exception. There's no burdening of public
facilities. We're not impairing or permanently injuring the use of adjacent properties because
as the adjacent properties, whether they're residential, there's no residential zoning
classification, but there's no residential use there. And then there's surrounding I2 use and
ICMX use. And the I2 use is in conformance with the use that we're proposing. We're not endangering
the public health or safety. In actuality, we're storing vehicles on site and protecting the public
good by responsibly storing those vehicles until they could be repaired or maintained and it's not
inconsistent with the comprehensive plan of the city either this type of use but this is our
application for special exception and the deed to the property showing Mr. Farrell owns the property
and then finally our certificate of tax clearance Mr. Farrell is on the payment plan with regards
to this property and is appealing certain taxes as well our office talked to miss emerson to make