ZBA Hearing - August 23, 2023

Yes, Chair.

Thank you.

How do we look?

Fatina?

Lakeisha?

looking good chair yes chair i know you're ready to we're ready to go

thank you yes thank you good afternoon my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing

this afternoon zba hearings with me as our vice chair ismail shaheed

president mr chairman our board member thomas holliman

he may be having a hard time with his phone our board member james snell president mr chairman

also president is our ryan mcshary our uh council and our executive director tanya sunken

here's our virtual format be advised the proceedings are being recorded the video

will be available by contacting Tanya Sunken at philo.gov. For the benefit of our court stenographer,

we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying. If you're

participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star nine to raise your hand and star six

to unmute. To enter an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548. Leave your email and the address

to the property in question. And last, the question and answer box on the screen is not

for comments or testimony. All comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunken.

Let's look at our schedule for this afternoon. Number three, MI 2022-004-360-10960 Dutton Road.

The case is continued. Mark must be tried. Number eight, MI-2022-001-391-5221 Haverford Avenue.

Case is continued. Mark must be tried. And number nine, MI-2022-001-391-5222.

And number nine, MI-2022-001-395-341 North 52nd Street, case is continued, mark must be tried.

Are there any other requests for continuance on this afternoon's list?

Good afternoon, Chair. This is Fatina L. I'll be your co-host, and I see no hands.

Thank you. I also have a case that does not have exhibits. MI-2022-004-978-1637 North 20th Street. Eric Johnson is the listed applicant and the owners are Norma and Joseph Hicks. No exhibits, second listing. No one appeared at the first listing.

i see no handshare so mi2022 004 978 1637 north 20 street um we have no exhibits this is the

second listing and no one appeared at the first listing i vote to dismiss

James Snell. Dismissed.

Ishmael Shahi, my vote is to dismiss. Thank you. We're going to start with number seven,

which is a pro se case. MI 2023-001-316, 1839 Chalet Street. Ann and Anthony Creato are the

owners pro se, there's applications for the erection of an addition above an existing

attack structure with a roof deck accessed by a roof deck access structure for use as a single

family household living, size and location as per plans. If abutting lots of both sides of an

attached building contain only two stories of enclosed area, the stories above the second

story of the, I'll be back at additional eight feet from the minimum distance between the front

facades and the front lot lanes. There's also a letter of support from the Packer Park and Civic

Association. Could you state your name, Anthony, could you state your name, please, and spell for

the court stenographer? Anthony Criato, A-N-T-H-O-N-Y, C like cat, R-E-A, T like Tom, O.

do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth

yes our vice chair has just a few questions hello sir have you emailed in all the required

documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this

hearing yes thank you please proceed and share your screen okay

be the green button at the bottom right um yeah i'm i'm sorry i just want to do the

window i guess yeah there we go i think um entire screen yeah i don't uh

i slept a tab oh here i'm sorry

there we go okay sorry um good afternoon uh it'll come up yep i see all right good afternoon

everyone thank you for um uh having the hearing for us here um so my wife and i are the homeowners

uh for 1839 chalet street and um uh we are uh owners and we've been in the city for

uh almost 20 years now and we're trying to expand um expand our residence we're the

owners and we intend to stay uh so we're just trying to get a little bit more space we have

kids that are getting older and um it's just getting getting a little bit tight so um we are

trying to put on a third floor to our home our existing home and um uh there is a

a regulation, which I'm sure you guys are aware that, uh, the, um, the addition needs to be set

back, uh, eight feet from the front of the house. And we would like to, uh, start the addition

from the very front of the house and extend it, uh, to the back. So like the whole, the entire,

um uh the entire top of the house and um so we're asking for a uh i guess an exception

so that we may do this and um there's a couple uh a couple reasons why uh we have uh there's

several houses um there's two on our block and uh two on the adjacent blocks and and a couple

Two on the adjacent blocks and a couple more in the neighborhoods, the blocks, I'm sorry, surrounding us that do just that, where the houses come, the third floors go all the way out to the front face of the house.

more in the neighborhoods that

So this is the application that our architect, Landmark, and Vince Mancini has helped to create.

And we're just seeking a modification to – a slight modification of the code so that we can – that we could proceed.

And I can show you what the house would – the addition would look like.

I'm just going to scroll down.

So these are these are deeds that we have in the House that we're able to do this.

So let me just get down to here. That's a tax clearance that we are paid, that we're all paid for our taxes.

zero dollars do um so if you can see that uh right down here at the the bottom for it's exhibit z

dash 1.0 uh that would be what the um addition would look like so the the dark gray part is

where the addition would be and it comes out all the way to the front rather than um coming eight

uh starting eight feet why don't you raise it up a little bit that added comments sort of blocking

at everything oh i'm sorry oh did i screw it up it's okay oh brother sorry about that sir let me

just pull this up here one more time um all right okay can you see that okay yeah we see yep so

that's um so the kind of a dark shaded part up top would be the addition uh so we're just trying

to add that on um there's actually there's three houses uh one on the 19th street and two on our

block that that pretty much have this identical um third floor where it it's uh going to come

right out to the front so so uh vince mancini and um landmark uh designed it so that it would

blend in it wouldn't uh it wouldn't change kind of the character of the neighborhood it would

he would keep aesthetically very pleasing, um, as well. And, um, these are just, I get, uh,

some of the interior plans. So this is what, uh, this is what the house looks like right now,

just some photos. And that's a front view of what the house would be right here. Uh, what that,

what that top would look like. Um, so our neighbors are, are, are good with this. Um,

We got great neighbors and we, my wife and I brought this to our civic association meeting as our house right there. And we have a letter from the civic association saying that there were no objections to

uh to this project uh as well and then up here is a uh just invoice so we sent out

uh we we sent out a mailing to notify everyone uh according to the law within a certain radius

of the house that there was going to be a hearing and there was going to be um

um a community meeting so if there was any uh questions or or problems to please um attend

the meeting as well so there's a couple exhibits here uh so like the technical excuse me the

technical um drawings here that um maybe our architect could explain if you have questions

we're okay i think you've explained it well let me ask should he have pictures of any other houses

that already have it um actually yeah i can i got google maps right here i'm gonna i can show you if

why don't you show us how many how many homes you think at packer park now have additions

uh so the addition we're trying to do so i'm i'm just gonna run down the blocks let's see on ours

like i said there's there's two there's two more on 18th street so that's four so this is our block

right here um we're right here at 18 18 39 right here so over here on 19th there's the same exact

um no just if you would show us one please uh yeah sure let me just um

I'm sorry, pull this up right here.

All right, so let me spin around.

So there's one right there.

That's what it basically looked like.

He's got the two windows.

Can you put that up?

I can't see it.

i'm sorry um is that a little better can you see that it's it's not here okay um it's probably

I'm sorry.

Is that a little better?

Can you see that?

telling i share this tab sorry um okay okay very good that's exactly what yours will look like

uh yeah this has got the one window i mean two um and i believe the architects designed it to have

just one window but um there was one that put i don't think i think this google map photo yeah

there it is that's another one right there that's okay basically what it would uh i don't know about

the dimensions and such but that's the look that's the uh the aesthetic i guess if you want to call

it that okay thank you uh questions from the questions from the board no chair

no chair questions or comments from the virtual audience

I see no hands, Chair.

Planning Commission.

Ron Bednar, City Planning.

Property is indicated for residential.

On our city plan, the applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of any physical circumstances

or condition of the property that would prevent it from being used as the code requires.

Therefore, we recommend the request of advantage, not for granted.

Thank you.

M-I-2023-001-316-1839, I vote yes.

James Snell, I vote yes.

Ishmael Shaheen, my vote is yes.

You have your vote, sir.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Sure, thank you.

Number one, MI-2022-005-152, 1324 North 15th Street, Olak Sakalov is the attorney.

letter of support from United Neighbors Alliance Civic Association.

Hi, Mr. Sokolov, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?

Sure. Good afternoon, Chair Bergman, members of the board, Oleg Sokolov, on behalf of 1324 North 15th Street.

My name is O-L-E-G-S-O-K-O-L-O-V.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, counsel.

Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

Good afternoon, Mr. Shahid, and yes, I do.

Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed and required to proceed with this case in advance of this hearing?

I have.

Thank you. Please proceed to share your screen to Council.

Thank you very much.

All right, once again, good afternoon, Chair Bergman, Vice Chair Shahid, members of the Board.

As stated, I'm here on behalf of the property owner, Summit Property, LLC, for 1324 North 15th Street.

I will try to be brief, as I believe this is just an administrative matter that has put us here before you.

This property was granted a zoning permit in 2012, allowing for the new construction of a five-unit building with a commercial unit on the ground floor.

At the time of that initial permit issuance, the ground floor unit was set as a vacant commercial unit.

Subsequent to that, the previous owner moved in a hair salon falling under personal services when Summit Properties purchased the property in 2021,

One, having some issues, realizing that a specific use permit was required and put in a use application, which generated the refusal that I'll move to in a moment.

So if I may just quickly take you through the exhibit packet.

Here's the deed from the previous owner to Summit Properties.

And here's the refusal you'll see stated. We're looking for a variance to allow for the existing hair salon that has been there for some time to just be granted the use on the ground floor.

to to just be granted the use on the ground floor and and the existing five unit dwelling as previously approved above.

Here's our application for appeal.

Our community notice meeting. We met with the community on March 8. It was an in-person meeting.

Our proof of mailing, we sent notice to 126 of the nearby neighbors.

Pardon me.

here's an external image of the property

and i would just mention as you'll see in a moment this this hair salon has been

used by many many people in the neighborhood many of whom have signed letters of support for this

project and that is it right there

it is a corner property

i will these are uh letter additional letters of support from members in the community many of

the people who sign this these letters

are patrons of the salon and and love having it there so

and chair forgive me but i don't have an exact number on how many of these we have but as you

can see it says 49 it says 49 does it okay

All right, here's our zoning poster placed in the window.

Here's the notice itself.

Our tax clearance, let me just try and zoom in a little in here.

My apologies, Gordon.

our tax clearance

zoning poster

yes

photos of the poster placed in the window

why don't you bring your client on Mr. Sokoloff

Thank you. I have Mr. Sam Patel, a representative of Summit Properties here.

If you could raise your hand, please.

And then I will just quickly say we did meet with the community on March 8th and did receive their support as noted.

So here is the letter from the United Neighbors.

That's correct.

Mr. Patel has been allowed to speak.

Hi, sir. Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer, please?

Yes, good afternoon, everyone. My name is Nehal Patel, S-N-E-H-A-L. Last name is Patel, P-A-T-E-L.

Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Correct. Yes.

Proceed, counsel.

Good afternoon, Mr. Patel. Just quickly, you are an authorized representative of Summit Properties LLC, correct?

Yes.

Okay. And you've heard my testimony here today?

Yes. And was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?

Yes.

and was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?

Absolutely.

Absolutely. Yes. Okay. And would you adopt it as your own?

Yes. Okay. Thank you. Questions?

Go ahead. Proceed, sir. Anything you'd like to add, Mr. Patel?

No, I just want to say thank you to the board. Thank you for your time and considering this application.

Thank you. Questions from the board?