the property um i don't understand i don't know what the opposition would be for the existing
home except for the fact that i got the sense that they just didn't want anything on the
on the property which
you know that's not something
we could live with so Michael I think
the woman who wrote the letter is in the audience
I heard her name already
it appears that there are a couple
garages on the block
but for the most part they're
they're all just sort of porch
fronts and
two story bay so
you'd be going up another story which is higher
than it appears that
of any house on the block um all right those are my comments for the moment any other questions from
the board we have a front elevation of the proposed project or just the site plan in the section okay
what i do have is an elevation to show you but it's not it was a prior iteration that didn't
have the third floor so mr chair if that's okay just to give a sense of what the streets
so this would be um initially when it was considered for um as a draft you know so to
speak of what it could look like these uh items down here show the proposed elevation so that
would be the uh elevation for as it would be on chancellor street
so so you don't have any rear access of any sort this is just
cut off where the property line is for this property correct so you have
basically one means of ingress and egress to this property well yes i mean i guess for
intents and purposes and looking back on our plan you can see the proposed structure and in court
and the photo of the rear of our property there's no alleyway availability and i think our neighbor
to the rear had built this wall you know which kind of but there was no um proposed there was
no existing alley or anything along those lines and um i think the idea of helping to eliminate or
you know not burden the entry parking that's why the proposed garage so that'll give us
the access through the garage and then access through the front door kind of like the last
kind of like the last application in the rear so okay and then you also don't have any i mean
application in the rear so okay and then you
how are you providing um habitable groups i.e windows and what have you in the um living spaces
of this property if there's no you know there's nothing here in the rear except for um
the structure itself it does it does capture that if you look at this plan um but this is not the
plan right it's not the plan but they clearly can't get windows in the front they just can't
get windows in the back i mean it's a unique site and i think we and like i said mr green is with us
too but um that's my question my question is how are you providing um windows for the habitable
rooms, i.e. the bedroom, the kitchen, you know, the bathroom. I mean, these are rooms where you
should have some windows. May I speak? Yeah, go ahead. Okay. Dave, can you go up a little bit
on the side plane? All right. So the second floor also have an outside area, which you see here
is a front deck to the front
floor, the second floor
actually, which is
a window for the bedroom, which
is on the left of the deck on the second
floor.
In this plane? Yes,
there's a deck on the second floor also.
Is that
in the, okay.
Yes, it's right here on the building plane.
It's a balcony, if you zoom in
right here, it's a balcony right here,
that's the second floor. It's a living area.
You could come out from the living area to the second floor balcony, and to the left is the bedroom with the window with a planter box in the front.
So, you know, you can have a little bit of plants, you know, a little greenery, and the third floor plan has not been submitted because we didn't draw it yet.
so i think i think they they are able to get light air and ventilation because the lot is so
narrow so um shallow um and by getting windows and and fenestration directly off the front
they've been nothing off back off the front this elevation i'm not seeing this this deck
Am I missing something?
No, it's there.
I don't know if you can see my cursor.
It's got a little wall in front of it, Cheryl.
Yeah, go down to the elevator.
Go down a little bit.
Yeah, go down right here.
Right here.
All right, that's the deck.
That's the deck.
It just doesn't have the third floor shown,
but they can get windows, light, and air, and ventilation,
which was the concern, out of the front
because the property is so narrow, right?
and there's going to be a setback on the third floor right right okay it's a very unique site
it is very you know okay we do have a window proposed in the kitchen area which would be
on the first floor right here okay all right thank you other questions from the board i have
a real quick question so the property in the rear of this uh space is that occupied or vacant
property?
Cal, do you know?
Yes, occupied. Most of it is a
backyard to somebody else
property.
They have a shed back there,
a huge shed for storage.
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Yes, a couple
things, Mr. Chair. I was just
looking at
But because it looks like there's a few iterations of plans that were submitted to L&I, none of them appear to show a garage and parking space is not listed on the refusal.
However, there does appear to be prerequisite review by the streets department, although those plans, it wasn't clear where there was a curb cut either.
So I think this needs to go back to L&I because it does not account for parking.
I will see if L&I would be willing to correct the refusal because there clearly was streets review.
But as it is, there's no parking provided for in the description of the application.
Also, the balcony that was just discussed, that is not in the version of the plans that
is before L&I's second floor balcony.
And I know that was a prior rendering, but if they're going to add a balcony to the second
floor, then they would need to amend the current plans to add that because that is not
the the current plans to to add that because that is not part of the current plans um so i just wanted to put those put those notes in the record but i think ultimately we'll have to we'll have to hold this today um because the refusal is is not correct if they are asking for parking
Thank you.
okay thank you questions or comments from the further virtual audience
Yes, Chair.
We have Andrea Johnson.
Ms. Johnson, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
Thank you.
Good morning, Ms. Johnson.
Good morning.
Could you turn your video on, please?
Oh, yes.
I'm sorry.
And she's coming in now as a panelist, Chair.
All right.
Thank you.
hello good morning miss johnson could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
sure andrea johnson a-n-d-r-e-a last name is j-o-h-n-s-o-n right do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do miss johnson you are a neighbor
am i correct yes i am a neighbor to that property as well okay i am also the block captain of the
5300 block of Chancellor Street. Very good. Please start your presentation.
We learned about this, of course, with the postings that went up. So I gave a brief history
of some of the issues that we've had with the property prior to due to the fact that there
was some discussion that I had some animosity with the owner, which I do not. I just wanted
to express what my block and the things that the community has expressed with regards to this
property, first of all. We looked at the property, we spoke with our RCO, and we had a meeting with
Mr. Rivers and his attorney back last year, and the contractor that was supposed to work on the
actual project was actually on the call too. Not only was the outlines and the drawings and all
not explained in a way that it was understandable for us as a community, but the representatives
from the RCO had stated basically the same thing and had asked them to set up a new meeting
with a clearer understanding of how these all will go.
The same confusion that you all have had
is the same thing that was presented
where it was not legible.
It was not really explained properly
with regards to how this building
was going to be able to not only protect
the homes that are around it,
but also the residents that would reside
in those properties as well.
This property, which was a garage,
which was an enclosed garage,
So that brick wall that you see that surround the property, that was already there because this was an enclosed garage like the next, the one that's next to it is.
So it wasn't anything that the homeowner in back of the property built.
It was already there.
It was built with the garage.
Prior to it being a garage, it was a stable.
A horse, I think a horse and animal stable long ago as well.
So this is something, the walls that are there have been there since the garage was built within that regard.
The roof of the garage prior to had collapsed.
So that's why it's an open space now that it was never rebuilt.
The roof was never rebuilt over the garage.
Um, we had many concerns with regards to the safety of this property of this three story of this, uh, of this building being built with the, uh, third story, uh, what is it called a setback as well. Um, it wasn't clear how it was going to protect the properties to the right and left of it to one side of it. Um, if I'm facing it, you have another garage and then to the next side of it, you have another home.
a residential row home that's like over 100 years old. So even the explanation of how
the properties would be protected and the different things that would be done to protect it
wasn't clear. And we thought we were going to have a better explanation with the meeting that
we were supposed to have in January, but that meeting never happened and it was continued till
today. So I'm speaking for the 5300 block of Chancellor Street and the concerns that we have.
We know that, you know, everyone's entitled to, you know, if you have a property to build, but also when you're building, because we've had many issues with other contractors on our block, building things on our block and damaging other homeowners' properties.
things on our block and damaging other homeowners properties unfortunately a lot of homeowners
don't have the expense to get their own property uh repaired due to certain things that other
developers have done and expense ended up on them so we're trying to make sure and ensure
that if this property is granted or if this denial is overturned that there's a clear explanation of
exactly how this is going to be built and the safety precautions that it's going to be taken.
We asked about a sprinkler system because as you already know, there's only one egress
coming out of this building. Our concern is what fires, what if a fire happened? How are these
residents going to get out if they don't have another way to get out to the back of the home,
which the back of the home is just a wall. That garage separates both sides of the alleyway.
so that's a desk that can be a death trap god forbid if something happens down in that kitchen
and it's coming up so that was a concern it was a concern about you know we asked about if a
sprinkler system was going to be in you know um available in this home like to like again not
only protect the homeowner in his home but also to protect the surrounding homes so there was never
any like certainty like like these diagrams that's being presented there was never real any
CERTAINTY ABOUT HOW THINGS WERE ACTUALLY GOING TO BE BUILT AND HOW
THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN. AND AGAIN, IT WASN'T JUST US AS
THE COMMUNITY BECAUSE YOU HAVE MANY OF MY BLOCK MEMBERS ON THIS
CALL AS WELL, BUT IT WAS ALSO THE QUESTION OF THE RCO AND THE
COMMUNITY RAP THAT WAS ON THE LAST MEETING WE HAD BACK LAST YEAR.
OKAY. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. COUNSEL, DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS?
um not of miss johnson um mr chair but um i don't know if you need me to respond in any
particular way well i'll give you a chance to respond before we're done all right thank you
miss johnson thank you very much is there anyone else in the virtual audience
no more handshare um you want to respond uh council just real briefly uh mr chair members
of the board. As everybody would be aware that, you know, this house would have to be built in
accordance with the city's building codes and all the precautions that are necessary. Of course,
the applicant's not looking to scound or prevent any of those things from being applied to this
particular property. And those are all would be building code and building department issues,
not necessarily zoning issues. But we can assure this board that the applicant will
follow along with those rules and regulations as applicable.
All right. Thank you very much. Planny, do you want to take a position now or do you want to wait till this comes back from Mel and I?
Sure. If it's okay with you, we'd prefer to have a complete set of refusals.
Yeah. Thank you.
All right. Hillary, can we make this a resumptive hearing?
Yes, let's do a resumptive hearing then.
And Mr. Shafkowitz, I will work with you in terms of whether it needs to be corrected or amended refusal, especially if your client wants to make other changes than just ensuring the parking is included.