certainty?
It is, yes.
That's all I have.
I'd like the realtor, Matthew McGill, to raise his hand, please.
Is he the owner?
He's the realtor.
It's going to be really brief.
He's just going to testify as to the overall value of these and the sale
price that's anticipated.
I have a promoter to the panelists.
Mr. McGill, please state your name and spell for a stenographer.
Mr. McGill?
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Matthew McGill.
M-A-T-T-H-E-W-M-C-G-I-L-L.
Mr. McGill, could you also turn on your video, please?
And do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Can you very briefly tell the board what your qualifications are here today to render an opinion as to what the sales price of these units is anticipated to be?
Yes, I'm a real estate broker in the Roxburgh Manionk area for over 30 years. And I've sold a lot of properties and I've dealt with these square footages before with new construction. And I believe the price is accurate at a million dollars.
Yes, I'm a real estate broker in the Roxburgh-Manyonk area for over 30 years.
A million per unit, so 10 million total for the rest of the unit?
And some might be a little less and some might be slightly higher based on the view a particular unit gets.
But, yes, on average, a million dollars.
And this opinion is based upon your professional experience as well as your review of the renderings and the other zoning documents that were given you?
That's all. Is this opinion given to a reasonable degree of professional certainty?
i have nothing mr bone can i ask what's the relevance of the the prices i'm i'm i'm not
i i don't know that it's particularly relevant here but but the one of the ongoing issues was
um a request to re to reduce the unit count and the applicant is going to testify that
he's reduced the unit count so small that he couldn't reduce it any further
So this just ties into the economic hardship.
I'd like to call the developer, equitable owner, Andrew Langsam.
Andy, if you can raise your hand, please.
If we promote it, they'll be coming back in shortly.
Sure. Thank you.
I am here.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
Yes, Andrew Langsam, A-N-D-R-E-W, Langsam, L-A-N-G-S-A-M.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. Bolin?
Did you hear my testimony and argument given before?
Yes, I did.
And was it true, correct, and accurate, and you adopted as your testimony?
you're the equitable owner of the property is that correct correct yes and you've developed
numerous large multi-family developments throughout manioc is that right yes i have
so you believe that makes you qualified to testify as to what the ultimate costs are
involved in this construction yes i do uh can you briefly tell the zba some of the issues you ran
into with um with the um with the site and what's going to cause this to be a seven figure cost to
do the site work yeah well first and foremost is the the length uh or the distance between where
the houses are to the actual uh public water and sewer and the distance we're going to have to
bring those utilities in addition to that one of the challenges with this property is the rock that
it sits on the majority of this pro the majority of the property actually sits on rocks we're going
to need to carve into that in order to be able to bring those services in the costs to do that are
very significant they it'll be in excess of a million dollars to bring those utilities in
and this made it so you couldn't do basements economically at for single-family homes
that is 100 correct yes can you explain to the the board very briefly your analysis as to why
the size and the unit count what was the the smallest you could have it and make this this
project viable? So first and foremost, I wanted to do something with the community's input and
also have a successful project. So when we initially started this project, it was going
to be a multifamily building, which the community obviously was not a fan of. So we then went back
and redesigned the plans for a townhome plan. We included the community. We got down to about 14
townhomes. After another half a dozen or so meetings, we ended up deciding to reduce the
number of homes down to 10. When we changed the number of homes, we also increased the footprint
slightly to make them a little bit larger to offset some of those costs. The challenge is
obviously the site work costs, our construction costs, the cost of our lenders, any additional
fees that we're going to incur, and any carrying costs. So we built this project at the very bare
minimum that we could do to have this be a viable project. And along with that, you had to have all
of the units identical in order to have economies of scale here? That is correct. Yes. So for that
reason, you couldn't just carve off part of a unit to try and like unit nine to avoid a variance.
Is that right? That's correct. That would require all new engineering for us to do that.
And you agree with me that you also can't count on the doggy daycare in the front as a cash flow
here because it has a variance that
expires in June of 2026
and as RSA3
And as RSA-3, and with the RSA-3 zoning, once that variance expires, there's no legal use for the front of the property, right?
and with the RSA3
That is correct, yes.
And is your testimony given today to a reasonable degree of certainty?
Mr. Chairman, I'm just trying to keep this brief.
That is all I have.
I just would like to highlight that we submitted both via email to Ms. Emerson and online through the portal proviso plans and a proviso plans form that call out that the driveway along 100 Rochelle will be, that fence will be increased from five feet to eight feet in order to keep it the same as it is now.
Okay, questions from the board?
So I do have a couple questions. Well, one general comment, I think the layout that you've come up with, considering this site, is pretty decent. The fact that you provided pedestrian access away from vehicular traffic, created these crosswalks to make it more safe, I think is wonderful.
is it the end is hard to read the the dimension of the the sort of the dog leg coming into the site
is that a two-way traffic um situation or do cars or is it is it one way you can only go in or how
how can cars it's two way so it is two way okay and the um alternate these uh other sort of
accessory parking pads, are they for visitors or are they private? They're for visitors.
Yes. Those are for visitors. Yes. That's correct. We wanted to make sure we didn't have
cars spilling out onto the street, but this was self-control. Great. I think that also
is a good thing in a plan like this. Often we see plans where they provide these sort of private
areas for parking for people who own the houses, but nowhere for visitors to park.
your union your friends and family park on the main street and walk two miles to get to your
house i think that's good that you've planned in that um so that was that was really my main
question that was that were you able to is it a two-way traffic and and what is what is the
signaling going to be at the end at the entrance is a stop sign is a are you getting a light what's
going on yeah so so there'll be a still there'll be a stop sign there and that's just going to be
a typical apron where vehicles are driving in and out of there. But yes, there'll be a stop sign
there for traffic going in and out. All right. Thank you. Any other questions? Yep. I have a
question. So besides the landscaping around the perimeter of the property, is there fencing?
Yes, that's correct. There is fencing. We're going to be replacing the existing fencing that's there.
And as a courtesy to the neighbors, we're going to keep the fencing that's currently in its same
in its same place. We're just intending to replace it with a new fence.
Okay, and what about the fence on the south side, where the
train tracks are? What is this slope? Is there
just landscaping there, or what type of fencing would be there? There'll be
landscaping there, yes.
So no fencing along that side? If Kyle's still
on, he might be able to explain, but I believe actually the plans show right here on my
is a five-foot privacy fence like a black that might be the black picket fence around there
where the train tracks are there may be like a yes yes so there's privacy around the sides
but on that area i believe it is a picket fence
yes you can see it there you can see part of the retaining wall
if i could step in real quick at the most at least there will be a safety railing along the
chaining wall just to keep people from falling over the edge
i can't really hear that y'all sound kind of muffled
my apologies um there is a safety railing that will be going along the top of the retaining wall
there uh to protect pedestrians that are walking okay thank you other questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr
chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
there i have a hand up from paul toner i will promote them paul toner yes okay
Yes, Mr. Chair, he's the attorney for a neighbor who was involved in the discussion of this property.
oh yeah is involved in the discussion of this property thank you and is mr bondy in the audience
Thank you.
yes he is well bonnie is available i will promote him as well
mr toner
Toner, if you're still available, please unmute.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Hi, Mr. Toner. How are you, sir?
Could you please state your name and spell it for the sonographer?
Thank you very much.
Paul Toner, T-O-N-E-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
And I'm here today with my client, Catherine Barnhart.
As the board may recall, Ms. Barnhart's had several concerns about the doggy daycare that's situated in the corner of this 9E Rochelle Avenue.
And we're here today to primarily to thank Mr. Boland and Mr. Langstrom for addressing the concerns about the fence and for being able to very quickly revise their plans and ensure that the existing eight-foot fence, when it's replaced, will be replaced in the same location, the same height, and in a manner that protects the plantings and landscaping enjoyed by my clients.
I know my client would like to make a very brief statement.
Sure, sure.
Is she with you?
She is.
Could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?
Hi, I'm Catherine Barnhart.
That's Catherine, K-A-T-H-R-Y-N.
And my surname is Barnhart, B-A-R-N-H-A-R-D-T.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, of course.
Please proceed.
Yes, as Mr. Towner just said, I'm Catherine Barnhart. I reside with my husband, Andrew Snyder, at 100 Rochelle Avenue. We are directly adjacent on two sides to the property in question.
Our comments here today are about this current proposal, and I do want to say that we recognize and appreciate the Langstrom development team's efforts to listen and work with the community, both in public meetings and direct contact with Wicca.
And we appreciate their efforts that they have put into bringing the project much closer to the scale and spirit of the RSA3 zoning and to ensure that their design blends as harmoniously as possible with the style of the overall neighborhood.
Actually, Mr. Toner already said our primary concern at this point, and I believe it's been mostly addressed, is the fence, especially on the driveway side between our house and the driveway and commercial building.
There is an existing eight-foot fence that was approved, I think, a couple of decades ago, and that we would like there to be a proviso for when that fence is replaced, that it be replaced in the same place with an eight-foot fence, and that every reasonable effort can be made to preserve the integrity of the shrubs, hedges, trees, and other plantings that are adjacent to the property line and the placement of the fence.
We understand that, yes, some branches might need to be trimmed, but we would really like to have assurances about there not being disruptions of the root systems, and as much as possible, preserving those plantings, which have been in place, for our understanding, for many decades.
And we would just like to there to be an avoidance of as much damage as possible.
And if we can get assurances on that, then we have no objections and do not offer any.
What's the technical word? We do not oppose this project moving forward.
Thank you very much for taking the time. Is Mr. Bonney in the audience? Is he going to testify?
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the board.
uh my name is paul bonnie i'm uh the attorney for the coordinating rco with sick and interested
citizens association um could you do me a favor could just spell your last name in cases are
different yes uh my name is paul bonnie last name is b-o-n-i thank you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed sir okay thank you mr chair i
I apologize. I represent the RCO Wicca and, you know, we've worked so hard on this matter for so many years.
I wanted to ask that a representative of my client, his name is Daniel Flesher, the zoning chair.
a representative of my client, his name is Daniel Flesher, the zoning chair, be
recognized on the Zoom so that he can make a brief statement.
Okay. Do we see him in the audience? Raise your hand, Daniel, if you're not already doing so.
They will be back in as a panel shortly. Thank you.
hello i'm back hi sir could you uh state your name and spell for the stenographer
yep daniel flesher f is in frank l-e-s-h-e-r do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth nothing but the truth yes please proceed hi my name is daniel flesher i'm the
zoning chair of wicca on behalf of the board and wicca's membership we are pleased to be here
today to indicate our non-opposition to this project. This has been a long road. We've worked
on this for more than four years with two developers, have had more than eight community
meetings, one with attendance in excess of 500 people, and a rally where hundreds of people were
in attendance and where we said, we all win when we get twins. Through countless negotiations with
the developer, the design has been reconceptualized, redesigned, and refined. More recently, Wicca held
an online poll where we gathered the neighborhood's opinions to help guide us through the last
stretch of our negotiations. We have finally arrived at a project with legal protections
that fits the neighborhood as best as possible. The site layout is in the style of RSA3,
which is important to us and what we asked for. The design and materials are contextual
with our historic fabric. Our community is largely on board with this project, including
100% of Wicca's board. We thank all of our residents for their involvement, time, and
attention in this matter over the past four years we also realize that not everyone in the
neighborhood is content and we we respect that very much members of the zoning board this is a
good project it allows growth via infill development in a way that fits into our neighborhood
and we ask that you approve the variance is being sought thank you for your consideration