Yeah, they're through the parking lot,
but people, they can park and they have a safety line
in front of the decair from the back to drop the kids.
You want to ask through the size of the property, Joe?
Oh, yes.
Are you aware of the square footage of the space inside?
it's 200 it's two thousand two hundred something it's in the lease in the top of the lease
any other questions we have a list of approximately three thousand three thousand yes
three thousand three hundred and ninety one feet
any other questions and i had asked about the ages of the kids the number of kids
no more than 20
no more than 20
6 to 7
6 in the morning to 7 in the evening
and I start working Saturday
Sunday to make sure the community
have decor open for people who's
been working during the weekend
that's the benefit for me
to help the community out
about the ages of the kids
got it
No, from one and a half.
Go ahead.
One years.
To the age of the school, four to five years old.
One and a half to four or five years old?
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Questions or comments for our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
questions or comments from the audience virtual audience there are no hands in the virtual audience
there are no hands in the virtual audience planning commission amy boyd with the planning
planning commission
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rsa 3 single family and
cmx 2.5 commercial mixed use zoning at this location this lot fronts on a commercial
corridor where cmx 2.5 zone portion of the lot abuts frankfurt child care center is a special
exception in cmx 2.5 zoning and the appellant has demonstrated that the proposed use will not cause
such a bunch of impacts beyond what would reasonably be expected the planning commission
recommends the board grant their requested variance for child cast center hillary do we use want to
use 80 21 that may be a mailing that may be a mailing only address that's not this the address
recognized by the city so i would i would not i think just use the whole thing yep that's okay
all right thank you mi 2024 007 287 80 15 to 21 frank ravenu i vote yes michael johns my vote is
yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tennetta graham my vote is yes iowen my vote is yes
thank you board thank you thank you thank you guys thank you man good luck
Number five, MI 2024-007-328-670-Brooklyn Street.
Myrda Ferliger is the attorney.
We have no RCO letter or summary at this point.
There was a meeting on February 19, 2025
before the West Belmont Civic Association.
Myrda has been promoted.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Hi, could you state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Sure, Meredith Ferliger, F-E-R-L-E-G-E-R.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Sure, my client is 670 Brooklyn Street, LLC, which is the owner of the property.
Do you waive the reading of the refusal? Do you agree with its accuracy?
Please proceed.
Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I know you mentioned that the board had not received an RCO letter, but I will flip right to the end. You'll see that Mr. Pickett apologized to the board that he did not submit this letter until this morning. I did submit it to the board about a half an hour before the hearing, but you can see here 10 people voted to approve the project unanimously.
Okay, so with that correction of record, the request before the board today concerns one property in West Belmont located at 670 Brooklyn Street. As I mentioned, this proposal did receive unanimous support from the West Belmont Civic Association and tab 17 that letter of support is up here on your screen right now.
We do also have a representative from the architecture firm that designed the project, just in case the board has any questions about the design.
Let me first orient you to the location of this property.
The deed and tax clearance are included at Exhibits 2 and 3.
As you can see here up on the zoning map at Exhibit 5,
The property sits on Brooklyn Street, and it is between Fairmont Avenue to the north and Wallace Street to the south.
The property is zoned RSA 5, historically having been rezoned from RM1 in 2023.
Just by way of history, the rezoning did occur after my client purchased the property, which I mention because this was not a situation where a developer purchased an RSA 5 lot, knowing well and good the limitations of the allowable development.
Conversely, the proposal that will be presented today was planned for this lot at the time of the purchase, and the rezoning occurred after that point.
Aerials of this lot are slightly out of date, but they are shown in your exhibits here at
Exhibit 11.
You'll see that this lot sits in the middle of a stretch of vacant land on this block
with no structures on either side.
You'll also notice that the block that backs up to this one is entirely devoid of any structures
whatsoever.
However, prior to the rezoning that occurred in 2023, this block was ripe with new development, with many new structures that you'll see a little bit better in the photographs.
Not all of them are shown in the aerial view here, which I believe is from 2024.
We were not able to get one from 2025.
Turning to the photographs at Exhibit 12, again, you will see 670 Brooklyn Street, which is located roughly behind where the zoning posters were timely posted in front of the lot.
Turning to the photographs at Exhibit 12.
Again, another view of those zoning posters.
The next view here is looking north towards Fairmount Avenue.
looking south towards wallace street again you'll start to see some of that new infill
construction that had occurred before this block was rezoned if i scroll through you'll start to
get a better sense of some of that new construction as well the addresses are up at the top but just
in terms of some early context here 645 brooklyn street was built with four units
644 Brooklyn Street was built as a triplex with three units.
And again, this is another view here of 644, as well as 650 Brooklyn Street, which is also a triplex.
This is 646 and 48, which are currently vacant lots.
Another view of 650 Brooklyn, which is a triplex.
And 660 Brooklyn Street, which is also a triplex.
The proposal for 670 Brooklyn Street is shown on the Zoning Plans at Exhibit 8 and includes
one new three-story structure to blend with the predominantly three-story structures on
this block.
The building, like many of the other newly built structures, will also contain three
dwelling units.
This structure is uniquely designed to provide private outdoor space for each of the three
tenants with the rear yard reserved for the first floor unit. And let me zoom in on the zoning plan
a little bit better here. Again, the rear yard reserved for that first floor tenant, a second
floor deck will be built for the second floor unit, and then the roof deck would be a private
roof deck for the third floor unit. As you can see here labeled on the zoning plan and is also shown
on a rendering that i will show you there is an enclosed trash storage area that's been designed
under the front stairs to shield the cans from public view subject to parks and rec approval
you can also see on the zoning plan here that two street trees are proposed
on the section you'll see that the structure here is built at a higher elevation so that the lower
level is only partially below grade. The total structure itself is proposed to be 34 feet high,
which is roughly four feet less than the code would permit. The structure itself complies in
full with the dimensional requirements of the code, including nearly double the rear yard depth
that is required. Bring up the floor plans at Exhibit 9. All of these large units are designed
to have two bedrooms. The first floor unit is a total of 1,700 square feet, including a flex
space in the lower level. This unit will have access to the private rear yard area. The second
floor unit is 811 square feet, and again you can see that private rear deck on the floor plans as
well. The third floor unit is 985 square feet, and that unit would have access to the private roof
deck. All of the units have in-unit garbage storage and washers and dryers. We've also
included an artistic rendering of the new structure, which will be surrounded on either
side at this point by multiple vacant lots. Unlike much of the new construction on the block that I
showed you in earlier photographs, this is intended to be built predominantly with brick
to better blend with the character of the existing structures on this block.
Now regarding the refusal, this proposal only received one refusal for the proposed multifamily
use. No dimensional variances are requested or required as this structure complies in full with
the provisions of the zoning code. In fact, as I described, the structure is slightly shorter than
the code would permit for this lot. The applicant submits to a hardship given both the history of
the property as well as the transformed character of this neighborhood and particularly this block,
which is highly relevant to the applicant's entitlement to a variance.
As the court found in the notable case of Hertzberg, hardship can be determined by multiple relevant factors, including prohibitive costs of developing the property for a permitted use, surrounding uses, state of disrepair and length of vacancy, and, of course, the economic feasibility or the inability to use the property for a permitted use.
As the court found in the notable case of Hertzberg, hardship can be determined
We submit that this property meets all of these factors.
historically speaking the lot at 670 brooklyn street was used as a three-family dwelling
dating all the way back to at least the 1940s which you can see here on the historical maps
that are up on the screen at exhibit six that triplex use continued on this lot until likely
the 1960s until the last structure on the lot was demolished sometime before the 1990s. There's no
clear history between roughly the 1960s and the 1990s, so it's unclear exactly when the structure
was demolished. The historical use of the lot as a triplex is consistent with this instant proposal.
Aside from the historical multifamily use, erecting a new single-family home on this lot would also represent a deviation from the predominantly multifamily dwellings that currently exist and have recently been constructed on this specific block.
As you can see here at Exhibit 7, I've marked up a map based on public records of the
surrounding structures, showing that this block specifically contains a variety of multifamily
dwellings of densities in most of the structures ranging from two units all the way up to four
units. In addition to the considerable vacancy that still plagues this general block and area,
multifamily use is the predominant use of this 600 block of Brooklyn Street.
While still zoned RM1 at the time my client purchased the lot, the zoning would of course
have permitted this proposal without relief and would likely have also permitted higher density
than the applicant is requesting today. Most of these new construction properties received
their zoning permits just prior to the rezoning becoming effective, which had the result of
immediately stopping all new development on this block, given its predominant multifamily uses.
The multifamily character of both new and old structures on this block establishes that it
would be a hardship to construct a new single-family home in an area that has become
characteristically multifamily. The photographs and the permit history for this block documents
the hardship that is essentially self-proving, as there has not been one single-family home
constructed or, according to records, even proposed in at least the two blocks surrounding
this property. The proposed three units will represent a natural blend of the predominantly
multifamily residential uses on the block and is further consistent with the historical
multifamily use that existed here. We submit that the proposed number of units is the least minimum.
As mentioned, not only did it historically contain three dwelling units, but it is also consistent
with the density of surrounding structures, which you can see here, ranges from two units
all the way up to four units, with most of the new construction, if not all of the new
construction, all being triplexes.
Each of the units proposed is large and has private outdoor space for each of the future
residents.
We submit the proposal will not increase congestion, harm neighbors' properties, or
impair light and air.
The community's unanimous support was not only based on the design of the project, but the belief that the vacancy in the area requires investment such as this project, which is entirely consistent in size and use to the predominant character of this specific block.
A more detailed analysis is included in the Memorandum of Law submitted to the Board at Exhibit 14, and of course I'm happy to touch on any particular point in more detail.
At this point, I would ask if the administrator could look for Michael Matlin to adopt my testimony.
Michael Matlin has been promoted.
Hi, sir. Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Michael?
Hi, Michael. Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Michael, M-I-C-H-A-E-L, Matlin, M-A-T-L-I-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I affirm.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Michael, you are an authorized member representative of 670 Brooklyn Street, LLC.
Is that correct?
Correct.
And have you heard all the testimony and evidence that was offered in front of the board today?
yes do you agree that testimony was true and accurate and would you adopt it as if you had
given it yourself yes thank you happy to answer any questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney
none at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands planning commission
amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the rsa 5 single family zoning at this location there are no unique physical
sorry let me start again the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential
single-family zoning at this location. The proposed three-family use is consistent with
the surrounding area, and the Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the requested
use variance for a three-family household dwelling. MI 2024-007-328-670 Brooklyn Street,
I vote yes. Michael Johns, my vote is yes. Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
tenetogram my vote is yes i win my vote is yes thank you counsel thank you thank you uh we're
going to take a five minute break and just for the record the next case we'll hear would be 49
13 to 15 frankfort avenue we'll be back in five minutes
so we're back number eight mi 2024 007 379 49 13 to 15 frankfurt avenue
darthie ann hamill is the attorney there's a letter of support from the frankfurt neighborhood