in the basement kitchen excuse me bathroom on the second floor second floor bedroom again just
another shot of that second floor bedroom it's only one bedroom and there's the bathroom on the second
floor and a bathroom on the basement, living area on the first floor, and then kitchen on the first
floor. So we basically have a situation with, as I said, one bedroom on the basement of first floor
and one bedroom on the second floor. Here's the floor plan, the lower level. This is the rear
yard. You can access from the rear or you can access from the front of the property if you want.
If you look at the front of the property, again, you will not notice any difference from what it looks like now.
And instead of having the three bedrooms, we're just going to have two.
We don't have two doors in the front of the house.
So again, I'll go back to the plan.
So this is a lower level with one bedroom and then utility room in the front and then some bathrooms.
And then we have a living room, dining room and kitchen area on the first floor, again, occupied by the owner.
That would be unit A. And then unit B, you would access through that front door, walk up the steps.
And again, you would have one bedroom and a kitchen and bathroom area.
We do have a tax certification. This is the application for the project.
our zoning map and this is instructive again it almost looks like it was added on after which it
wasn't and this is Smedley Street with the island in the middle leading to Oregon Avenue and you can
And this is Smedley Street with the island in the middle leading to Oregon Avenue.
And you can see directly across the street, there's a similar structure.
I don't know if it's the same size, but it certainly appears to be.
And this is Moyamensing Avenue right here.
This is the deed indicating my client purchased the property in 2002.
And her name, Daria Buono, is on the deed.
So notice of mailing to all the neighbors.
on 17th Street, Smedley, Johnston, Moy-Mensing, and this is just a permit indicating that we
did have the right to perform some of the basement work that we did.
So basically, we have a situation where we are differentiating ourselves, and this was
important to the community group, that it be an owner-occupant situation and not be a rental
situation where my client would fix it up, move out, and you'd have two apartments in the
property. I mean, when you look at it, you know, you say to yourself intellectually, well,
Mr. Clinton, it's still two uses. Well, it is still two uses, but it's not an investment property.
It's an owner occupant. And having that one bedroom on the second floor assist Ms. Povono
in making this transition to a home ownership. Again, the lot size is a little bit off. We're
less than the 800 square foot that you're permitted for an accessory dwelling unit and if you look at
the comparison between required 1600 square feet of lot size with an 800 square foot unit we have
an 1100 square foot lot with a 620 square foot unit so the proportions relatively close and
relatively the same and this was important to broad street west we're not impacting
the density in the neighborhood. We're actually lowering the density from the three bedrooms to
two. We're not impacting anyone's light or air. We have two entrances for the owner-occupant unit.
We have a corner lot with plenty of light and air that brings into the property.
We are not impacting any other adjacent properties development opportunities. We're not altering the
essential character of the neighborhood. Again, it was very important that it be an owner-occupant
and we will record a deed restriction and an affidavit that it has to be an owner-occupant
or you lose that opportunity. That's what the code provides. And we believe this would be the
minimum to afford relief to Ms. Bellono. So if Ms. Bellono can unmute herself, I'll ask her to
adopt my testimony and then entertain any questions from anybody that may be on the call.
Ms. Buono, can you raise your hand, please?
I know she's on the call.
Ms. Buono?
Diane?
I'm sorry, I was muted. She's been allowed to speak.
Okay. Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Hi, my name is Dario Buono, D-A-R-I-A-B-U-O-N-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Ms. Barono, were you on this Zoom call during the entirety of my presentation about your plans for this home?
Yes, I was.
And if you had the opportunity to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own and as true and correct?
Thank you very much.
questions from the board
no chair
I have a
couple of questions
I guess this is
I'm trying to understand
you know
the code right
so this is
literally the same project that we saw earlier
for the most part it's just that
they were asking for a duplex
and this is asking for
exactly
that's right right
So just so you understand, I am going to hold this.
OK, we'll have a period of time for all of us to talk.
But please ask your questions to Mr.
So the question, I guess the question that I have just from a physical standpoint on the documents, when I look at the plans with the first floor being a bi-level, essentially a bi-level unit with a one bedroom, it appears to be in the basement and a den.
And it's really sort of a huge first floor with living room, dining room, you know, full kitchen.
That seems very excessive for a one bedroom in the basement unit. Right.
And then a full one bedroom unit on the second floor. So it's the it it's it just feels odd.
And I don't know. I don't know if I'm just kind of grasping, but it just feels odd to me.
just i i just we've never seen this before at least here henry i know i'm not saying it hasn't
happened but in the last two three years that i've been here i've not seen this right and i agree and
And the last two, three years that I've been here, I've not seen this.
Right. And I agree. And when we met with the client and, you know, she said, let's think about, you know, a duplex.
and when we
I said, I said, neighborhoods don't like duplexes.
I said, if you're going to make a commitment because you have other family members in the neighborhood and you're going to live there and you're willing to put an affidavit and record it against the deed that you have to live there, then that's the way it has to be.
because, I mean, I've been in many neighborhoods
and I, you know, today was prime example.
I was on since, you know, two o'clock,
I had a two o'clock hearing
and they're not well received.
That's why the neighbors were very inquisitive
about what the heck was going on.
Because I agree, Mr. Johns, intellectually,
you know, it sounds like a duplex,
but there is flexibility in the code.
You know, if this lot was 1,600 square feet,
I might have gotten this by right.
I can't guarantee that. That's why I was trying to say, look, if it's 1,600 square feet and it can have an 800 square foot unit, we're at 1,100 square feet and we have a 600 square foot unit.
So, you know, I'm not trying to fit, you know, a square peg in a round hole, but I hear what Mr. Johns is saying.
In terms of the size, the whole idea was it's 1,300 square feet.
you're right, that basement and that first floor combined. The idea was we're not going to go to
the community and say we have two bedrooms because they're going to say, well, you're just going to
rent that out too. So is it large? Yes. But we advise the client, don't make it two bedrooms.
And she's living there and she doesn't intend to rent any other spaces to anybody other than
what's on the second floor. I have a question. I'm kind of curious though. So is there anything
in the deed that will prevent swapping of units if they have the homeowner want to move to the
second floor unit and then rent out the first basement unit? Is there anything in the deed that
limits that? I'm not aware of any requirement that the code has. Certainly if that's a concern
and that would sway someone, we would put that in there because that is her intention. She's not
She wants that large living area. But I'm not aware of this, Graham, of any requirement that the code say you can't you can't swap.
And so if this property was sold, then the next owner would have this configuration already set up and they'd be obligated to live there.
Or I'm just thinking they'd come. It seemed to me that they would come back and say, oh, it's a hardship for me to change this back to a single family.
It's already set up as a duplex. You know what I mean?
Yeah. But you are right. If she were to sell this property, the next owner would have to live there.
or you lose the two unit
and it would revert back to single family
and you would have to reconvert the property back.
And that's the whole idea.
I don't want to get philosophical,
but it's like similar to like a mother-in-law suite
or a father-in-law suite,
but it's a different animal.
Any other questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney?
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
There are no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Ron Bednar, City Planning.
First name Ron, R-O-N.
Last name Bednar, B-E-D-N-A-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth and hold truth?
Nothing but the truth.
Please proceed, Ron.
This property is indicated for single-family residential use under City Plan.
Again, adopted district plan recommends no change to existing zoning at this location.
The applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances
or condition of the property that may be prevented from being used in conformity with the code.
It is a, as the plan is set up, it is an overuse.
Therefore, we recommend that the request for variance not be granted.
So, Mr. Clinton, I'm going to hold this to next week.
it on Wednesday at 2 p.m. It's the 17th. I'm going to take some time in executive session
next week to go over this. And we don't doubt anything that you've said, but we've just have
not seen it before. And I don't want all of us to understand exactly what we have. And Ron,
I appreciate also your comments. Look, I'm on board with that, Mr. Chairman. I want to totally
vet it. We appreciate the time you've taken, frankly. All right. All right. Thank you very
much. Thank you. So let me go through the list here first. Number three, MI 2023-005-170-7553
Maryland Road. No exhibit, second listing.
50th Ward Committee issued a letter of opposition.
Stephen Alston is the owner.
Applicant.
Stephen Alston, if you're in the audience, can you please raise your virtual hand?
I don't see any hands, Chair.
So this is the second listing.
No one appeared on 214
So MI2023
005-170
7553 Maryland Road
I vote to dismiss
Ishmael Shaheed
My vote is to dismiss
Michael Johns
My vote is to dismiss
It's not a gram
My vote is to dismiss
Taya Nguyen
My vote is to dismiss
James Snell
My vote is to dismiss.
Number four, MI-2023-005-894, 2300 South 3rd Street.
Letter of support from Whitman Council,
letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla.
The case was continued at the request of Rocco Weiss on 3524.
The ORCO meeting has not been held at this time.
Mr. Bernardino
Mr. Bernardino, if you're in the audience, please raise your hand
Rocco Weiss or Bridget Squilla
Okay, I have Rocco Weiss
and I'm sorry, Rocco Weiss and I will allow to speak
Mr. Weiss, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
rocco weiss r-o-c-c-o w-e-i-s-s you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth yes mr weiss we do so we don't have the exhibits um and i do see there
go ahead please proceed no i was just um i'm here because i'm the owner of the property but i haven't
been in touch with my architect since like the rescheduling and it's like really hard to get
in touch with him so i've been trying to do this matter on my own um all right so mr weiss we're
going to do we're going to give you one more time okay we're going to continue the case um but it's
going to be more must be heard okay uh yeah is there anything that i have to do because like i'm
not i don't know like how to go about this or i had a couple people helping me like the only thing
i do know that i have is the letter from uh yeah i see that i see that yep i see that yeah um
i think what you should do is if you call our office they'll they'll be helpful for you and
what you need for a case if you want to try to do it yourself okay um yeah uh okay uh right
It will be long because I need it to be approved for my – to comply with my mortgage that I had to get for the building because it's commercial downstairs, residential.