ZBA Hearing - October 18, 2023

the neighbors were telling me that there's a major sewage problem with the property that the sewage

is backing up and the that was a an understatement to say the least when i had purchased the

The property, the basement, was constantly filling up with sewage, attracting bugs and a horrendous smell.

And the sewer problem, we had abated it much to the happiness of all the neighbors that had said.

And regarding the block, as Joe pointed out, it doesn't have commercial problems.

uh as joe pointed out it doesn't have uh commercial properties um on it midway through the block

this building is set up as uh all six apartment buildings so it's a two two two and it's um

you know the only commercial space on that block is really the corner grocery store

yeah that's that's what i showed the board um earlier just that one spot here

um yeah and so would it in in your estimation would there be any benefit to the block or to

your ability to lease the property if this space was commercial on the first floor

um as far as being commercial it's um it would be it wouldn't be a it wouldn't be possible the

commercial space i think it'd be a detriment to the block to have a commercial space there

and in addition to that it's set up as an apartment like the front unit in the first floor

is that the commercial space we're talking about it's set up as an apartment just like any other

apartment i mean it's it's a fallen apartment to come to come to a commercial space will be

extremely prohibitive and you know next door apartments across our apartments and i think

given the fact that i i wanted to do affordable housing with this you know i'm a part of the

section a program it will be better for the for the block as well okay i have nothing further

just in conclusion we believe this space would function well uh the the six units we understand

that that might be an overreach based on the square footage but if this was rm1 we would have

five amply and if it was cmx2 we're only 140 square feet shy of being allowed to have five

residential units um i'll close that questions from the board no mr chairman no chair

no chair what students or comments from our attorney hillary emerson

no mr chair um questions or comments from the virtual audience

yes chair there are two hands up the first one is mark harris i will allow him to speak okay

hi sir could you hi mr harris could you state your name and spell for the court reporter please

mark m-a-r-k harris h-a-r-i-s right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth

nothing but the truth i affirm yes i do proceed are you a neighbor i'm uh the president of the

cathedral park community develop association yes i'm your neighbor i live right down the street

I'm very familiar with this property.

All right, please proceed.

This is a nuisance property, a quiet nuisance property.

We had a long-term problem with there being refuse in front of it, particularly when it was actively used as an apartment house.

Right now, there's not a lot of refuse, but there's construction debris, which repeatedly appears there, irregardless of trash day.

and the gentleman was trying to state that the sewage problem has been uh he used the term

abated it does continue we've had a problem for some time with this basement having to be pumped

out into the curb which is a pretty stinky not not nice neighbors uh let me address the

commercial aspect for a minute and then get back to my notes uh it is not true that there's no

commercial here there's no fewer than four uh contractors yards on the block plus a junkyard

there was a basement uh restaurant fully legal uh at the 49th street and there was a

butcher shop bacchetti's there is a hairdresser there's also a tire shop and right around the

corner, three churches and a bar on Lancaster Avenue. Going back east, not quite across the

street, there's a home catering business which operates, and there was a daycare. That was at

49-18.

Going west,

we had a large

hairdresser at the

intersection of St. Bernard.

There's currently a deli,

and there's a medical office on the other corner.

Going down to 50th Street,

there is

a bar on the northwest

corner, a smoothie shop

on the southwest and on the southeast.

I think you've made your point.

Yeah. And as a new point, where do you stand with this, this request?

Absolutely opposed to it. The neighborhood neighbors are totally against it. And we know we note that from what our understanding of the zoning is, they could operate four apartments.

From what our understanding of the zoning is, they could operate four apartments without a variance.

So there's no hardship here whatsoever.

It would just be a bigger nuisance for the neighborhood if they're granted the variance.

And we have to note that the first four commercial area was illegally cut up into apartments, as effectively was testified there.

But that's illegal.

And they continue to have workers going in there every day.

We see them.

There's no permits of record.

These people are scofflaws.

They don't respect the neighborhood.

They don't respect the law.

Mr. Harris, thank you very much.

We appreciate you taking the time to call us.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?

Yes, Eloise Young.

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

My name is Eloise Young, E-L-O-I-S-E, last name Young, Y-O-U-N-G.

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

I do.

Are you a neighbor?

I am not.

I'm the facilitator of the convening RCO.

Okay, proceed.

And I just want to affirm what Mr. Mark Harris just said.

Basically, there's no unnecessary hardship.

the community did express desire for a new business on the block and frankly the property

has not been well maintained by this applicant or his predecessor and those are my comments

all right thank you so much for taking time to close is there anyone else in the virtual audience

no more hands chair waning commission this is uh ryan bednar city planning the property is

currently indicated for neighborhood commercial mixed use on the city plan our adopted comprehensive

plan recommends change to residential zoning at this location we therefore recommend no ground

for commercial space provide maximum four units legally licensed units to be provided

9-20-23-003-483, 4951 West Thompson Street.

I vote yes with proviso.

Maximum four units, no commercial on first floor.

Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.

James Snell, my vote is yes with proviso.

Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, with proviso.

Thank you, Gordon.

We're going to go back to number 11, MI 2023-003-490-7218 Edmond Street.

Sir?

He's coming back in as a panelist.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Put your video in, please, sir.

Okay, how'd you make out?

There you go.

You're okay.

All right, proceed.

Let me leave out the other screen, because I had two just in case this didn't work.

There you go.

I had another computer just in case this one didn't.

Okay, proceed.

Okay, perfect.

All right.

All right, so this is pretty much the exhibit here.

So let me go with the taxes.

Pretty much up to date.

This is the deed here.

Just a recompose of three continuous slots.

Let's see here.

Here's a refusal, I guess let me first give you some background here what I'm what I'm

trying to do here so pretty much this is a one story single family in RSA so I'm trying

to get a variance for a multi-family to add two additions so essentially will be a three

story house with a uh garage um so let me go to the plan so i can better visualize this here let

Let me make this smaller.

i went to a different one

okay are you able to see my uh the plans here we should okay perfect so pretty much this is what

the architect was able to do as a rendering so pretty much what i'm asking here is on the review

so um i was getting that i need um nine feet clearance to do the garage um as you can see i'll

be able to show you pretty much this is my next door neighbor so as you can see his garage is

pretty much a standard all the way to the back. I'm asking for two feet clearances. And the

reasons for that is if I stand nine feet, that is going to cover the only window that I have

on the kitchen. And I literally have no use for pretty much leaving this space here behind. So

there won't really be much use for that. And there's definitely six properties within this

block that already have the garage and four of those have the garage all the way to the back

like that so um let me see in addition to there's already a built-in carport that came in with the

purchase of the house if i were to move in the garage towards the front nine feet that means

that i would have to demo the carport and most likely uh some portion of the concrete there

um this is some of the interior of the house so that's the the bathroom front bedroom rear bedroom

here of the first floor unit um these are these are the floor plans so um so this essentially is

the space that i was talking about here of leaving uh two feet from the uh neighbor i had spoken with

grace which owns pretty much i think hers is like four lots and she has no problem with me building

the garage there i also have her signature of support i will show you later the same thing

with mary and peter which leave next door to me i i show them the plans and talk to them about it

And they had no opposition with me building the garage there.

The curve is already existing.

The driveway is already existing.

Fencing around is already existing.

So pretty much if you can see on the neighborhood here, pretty much most of the houses or pretty much all of the houses except mine are two stories.

at least two stories so mine's the only one uh with one story this is directly next to gray's

house uh behind me those are multi-family so there are six within this building and right next to it

there's another multi-family right next to that one on let me see that is a commercial uh venue

space there this is uh peter's house where's your existing structure what do you have now

okay let me show you so this is the house the front you want to put a second floor on that

yeah second for second and third floor addition

okay and you want to build a garage behind that not behind the house so essentially

right here in this area so right right where that car is pretty much uh right now so let

Let me see if I have a better picture of that.

Well, let me see.

So pretty much right behind that carport, which is right next to the property line.

Your house, does it have multi-units on that block now?

Yeah, so right adjacent, mine is semi-detached to all of this multifamily here, which essentially are duplex.

so there's about like 12 of them there um i also have um support from the owner of this building

here and you want to put a second you're going to put a second floor on top of your home yes

second and third floor yes and then you're going to have a duplex there yes and then you're going

to put you're going to build a garage yes and then what i'm trying to do with the garage is

just for personal use. But on the second floor, I'm trying to add two office space there. So I am

an accountant and I also own a home improvement company. So I would like to, instead of bringing

uh company so i would like to instead of bringing people to my house with this home office here i

people to my house with this.

would rather have some space there where i can bring in my customers and and show them um what

we do you're going to build two offices on top of the garage essentially one one office with two

uh separate offices one for me one for my fiance to to work out of okay um so essentially i can

show you that on the plan so that will be essentially this here so a garage for two cars

and then on the second floor of that garage that will be used as an office space

are there commercial spaces along there where you live i mean are other people

doing work out of the place so here let me show you um so that is a one commercial space right

at the end of this block and the other commercial property here is this one which is a grocery store

in an apartment on the second on the second floor right in front of this one there's another

commercial property if we go to tulip which is the next read over let me see if i have some more

commercial here this is a multi-family right on edmond um let me see i don't think i put the

picture on here but on tulip there is a body shop right on the corner right behind this building

here is this a body shop right in front on the other side there is a um church and then there's

some businesses as well so it's a pretty pretty uh mixed use uh neighborhood here all right

all right um so i think we understand what you want to do okay okay so questions from the

questions from the board no chair no chair no uh chairman questions or comments from

our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair

questions or comments from the virtual audience

yes chair I have a hand up

first name J last name ending in C

okay

he's allowed to speak

okay sir could you state your name please

and spell for the court reporter

hello mate is this me

yes yes could you state your name

and spell for the court reporter

j-o-e c-o-c-c-i-o right do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the

truth absolutely proceed sir uh what uh the gentleman trying to build the property he hasn't