It is nine row homes that are four stories in height and 41 feet tall.
And and then the baseball field to the south and to the to the east is the elevated Delaware Expressway 95.
And then if we go to the next slide, this slide indicates that it shows you the location
of where the proposed three homes would be on the long lot.
They're stacked behind one another on Front Street.
And then this also gives a couple of context photos.
On the right there, there's a photo of the existing property from in front of Front Street.
And then the next slide will have some images of the neighboring site of the.
So this site shows down on Christian Street when you turn the corner, there's a mixture of different styles.
The development that I spoke about earlier, the cluster of nine homes is shown at the top left corner there.
and on the bottom left those are four stories more contemporary design large windows brick
fronts 41 feet height with with roof decks and tall parapets and then they do have a gate as
well as you can see in the photo there and you can see also down at the very corner there at
the bottom right there was a picture from the field the the original yeah we
can keep going from the original site that was submitted as Rachel indicated
we we were originally proposing the front unit a had parking access off of
Front Street and the other two units were shared the private drive there in
to access their parking off of the south side of the lot and the houses are all located up on the
north end of the lot so they are away from the large fence for the baseball park and then there
is a gate proposed for the drive aisle and all the houses were proposed at 44 feet height as we
mentioned with a 42-inch parapet and a roof deck.
After our discussion, so the next slide just indicates the proposed elevations massing
that was initially submitted with the 44-foot height.
After we met with RCO multiple times, went through and reviewed various iterations with them, the final revisions came down to the parking was relocated for unit A to be off of the driveway as well.
to be off of the driveway as well, on the south side, away from Front Street.
And we added along the Front Street side, to meet the requirements for the Queen Village overlay,
we added a door that accesses directly into the garage as well as some windows
that are required by the Queen Village overlay on the first floor of the Unit A.
and the overall height of the buildings as you can see here was reduced to 42 feet
and the parapet height was also reduced to reduce the visually the height of the building
we reduced that to 36 feet the you can see in this section the building at the rear
the height of that as well with the parapet and the roof deck. We're only one foot higher at this
moment. And as Rachel mentioned, to keep the garages accessible and the living space,
we required the additional height for that. The next elevation shows the front street side and
the rear most building and then again here we had to revise it to have the door there so it's more
street level friendly with the door off of the main unit a at the front and then two windows
and then the parapet height reduced down to 36 inches and the overall building height down to
42. The front of the building is brick, and we have windows and some balconies on the front as
well. Yeah, just to be clear, this gray color is not the color that we're proposing. It's just
we had, the owner hadn't decided on the color yet, depending on pricing and other things. So
this is just a gray looking, but it's not, we're not proposing gray.
okay anything else zamir uh no that's um we did oh the other um change we did make for the rco
um was that the front facade there the upper bay was changed to uh from a metal
panel to a brick to comply with the with the queen village overlay requirements
um so happy to pause for questions or I can bring on my client to adopt my testimony bring
your client on for adoption and then we'll figure out we'll get questions then is there a Justin
bz in the audience
yes council they have been promoted to panelists they will be coming back in shortly thank you
yes this is justin could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
it's justin veezy j-u-s-t-i-n-d-e-e-a-s-e-y could you uh turn your video on if possible
yes all right and do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
justin are you there i think he's trying to find his uh video okay or maybe took himself off here
hi mr veezy
Justin, Mr. Vizzi, are you still available, Rachel, you're an officer of the court, we'll
take your testimony.
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
On the site plan, if you can go back to the site plan.
So, I'm looking at this site plan and the entrances to these units are off of this driveway.
Yes. And unless I'm driving, it doesn't appear to be a defined pedestrian space that separates the pedestrian from the driveway. If I'm coming from my house and I'm the one at the end, how do I get to the pavement? I've got to walk down this driveway, open these garage doors.
And unless unless I'm unless I'm driving.
or the front property has a that's the the front the front at the front is easy the front is because
that's fronts onto front street the issue are these two other houses go ahead yeah i can answer
that um so the driveway right now is 12 feet there's a demarcation line right there and then
there's a three foot um paving for um walking you could see if you can see in the i don't know if
Rachel, you can point to where the gate is. There is a separate gate for for pedestrians that goes right up against the homes. Yeah, right there.
Do we have that on one of the plans so we can show it?
Yeah, because it's not clearly defined here. It's hard to see. I agree that we show the in the elevations we show a railing for for safety along that.
um in these elevations yeah in the front um the not those the newer ones
um with the revised height that's your railing there these are the old elevations
yeah um do you have it on your screen right there um there's a railing at um you can see it here
underneath the bay
there's two
there's protection
so that's
so there's a railing so you've got the railing
that's the three foot walkway so you got
that's where your three foot walkway is behind that railing
yes sir
for the pedestrians
and then you've got the
and that occurs
I see it at the
front unit does it occur any place
oh I see it in the middle unit
and then there's there's not one and then there's one not one at the rear unit because the entrance
is there okay yes and that will be private access right like you would have to have some type of
code or whatever to get back but the public just can't go back there correct correct right that
means mail would probably be delivered in the front we could put mail yeah it would have a
mailbox at the front for all three units I mean you'd have to if it's private
because you can't not going to give the mail guy Bob so that's a good point
and so these would be condoed yeah so we would do a plan unit development a
pud same same terminology as a condo right so they were they would be fee
simple but they would have shared pedestrian and vehicular access to the
driveway yep gotcha yep okay rachel that's that old shot tower behind here right
hello yes correct shot tower yes
i'm on rachel hi i'm mr vc could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
it's justin veezy j-u-s-t-i-n-v-e-a-s-e-y um you want to adopt do you do you swear
yeah firm to tell the truth culture is nothing but the truth yes all right please proceed
rachel yeah justin have you heard my testimony today do you believe to be true and accurate
and do you adopt it as your own yes i just want to make sure that you heard about um one of the
concerns was just pedestrian uh walking so we explained that there is a railing um adjacent
to the drive aisle and then the other comment was about making sure that you know mailboxes
are at the front so that you know because it's a gated driveway so that the postal service can
put the mail there they're not going to have an access to a fob to get into the space
that's correct yes we're going to take that into consideration with the gate designed to
have a special uh side gate for the postal entry so the mailbox will be in the front
okay questions from the board any other questions questions or comments from our attorney
not at this time this question or comments from the audience of the virtual audience
no hands mr planning commission
thank you chairman and good afternoon david vecto with the city planning commission
thank you chairman and good afternoon david vecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential
single-family zoning this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2017 in accord
with recommendations in the comprehensive plan there is no indication the owner cannot continue
to derive economic value by using the current building without demolition this is a single
family block face the city planning commission recommends that the board deny the proposed use
variance for three dwelling units the proposed use variance for multiple principal buildings
and the proposed dimensional variance for maximum height if i can just respond so sure the site is
owned rsa5 it was approved for six units on the site the developer is proposing three single
family homes, as opposed to six units, they wouldn't use a giant building for one family
home if it was approved for six. So the thought here was to actually provide something more in
context with just single family homes, which is what we're providing. So a little confused by that
testimony, to be fair. Okay. So MI 2025, 005, 129, 912 to 14 South Front Street, I vote yes,
with proviso revive revised plans two pages stamp by zba january 28 2026
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso
tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso i'm mcadams my vote is yes with proviso
my vote is yes with proviso thank you rachel i know you have another case but i i got several
lawyers sitting here so i'm going to try i'm happy to be before they attack me up here so
no i'm happy to be guys thank you i appreciate it number four mi 2025 005 480 53 34 vine street
to make a mccoy is the attorney michael johns has recused himself from this case
Hi, Tameka. You've already been sworn today. Just for the record, state your name.
Tameka McCoy.
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Sure. My client is Deborah Hodges. She's the needed owner of the property.
And there's a letter of unanimous support from the 44th Ward RCO, nine total votes.
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes. Okay, and do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Yes. Okay, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you. The property located at 5334 Vine Street is proposing a variance relief to construct
a three-story structure that will contain two spacious bi-level apartments. I'm going to go to
the location and images. Existing right now is a empty lot and the proposed structure would
essentially match the character of the area that it is actually in. Just adjacent to the property
is two multifamily units, which are reflected here in this rendering. And at the end of the block
is also a woman's shelter. So the proposal essentially is consistent with the
construction of the existing neighborhood and the character, which accepts or is
consistent with established multifamily dwellings. The structure itself, which is situated here,
would be three stories, but it's actually going to be proposed to be 33 feet in height. It's going
to be less than what's allowed. What's allowed is 38, but the brick and the porch kind of matches
the nature and character of the other properties that are immediately in the area. These are
photographs of what is directly opposed to the view of the property and if you were looking eastward
this is what you would see those are the two properties that would be next door that are both
multi-family and then westward toward the other end of the block at the end there's a woman's
shelter that's situated at that particular location here we have the notice
At that particular location here we have the notices that are demonstrated so that any member of the public would be able to view and see what the anticipated situation is on a property.
I'm going to go to the plans so that you could have an idea as to what is contemplated.
and I'm going to zoom in so that we could take a better look at the interior design.
So it's color-coded. Unit one is in blue, unit two is in pink, and the common area is in yellow
so that you clearly see the distinctions between the units. So essentially, both unit one and two
would access the property through the same main entryway. They both would have access to a shared
porch. The first unit, essentially, once you come in, there would be a spacious
bedroom with a walk-in closet and a private bath. Going back further deeper into the building,
There's a powder room for, you know, guests of the property, a trash area, closets, a living and open dining with a kitchen space.
If the first floor unit take the interior stairway upward, you would come to the second level.
And in that second level, there is a corridor that leads to a main bathroom, a laundry room with the utility closet, and two generously spaced bedrooms that are in the back, each with ample lighting from outside through large windows.
similarly the second floor apartment you would essentially take the front entrance and arrive at
the second floor it's here depicted in pink on the first area um that is a living area
is the bedroom with a um bathroom and walk-in closet suite that has a large window area in the
front. If you were to take the stairway up to the third floor, there are two spacious bedrooms with
the living area on that floor, the living room, dining room, kitchen. There's a bathroom that's
shared for both of the bedrooms that's on that particular floor. And all of the mechanicals,
the HVAC laundry trash room would be on the main area, which is the second floor of that unit as
well. I would ask, I'm just going to take another bird's eye view, and this would be what the
structure would look like once it is completed.
as the chairman indicated there is unanimous support for the project a RCO meeting was held
after notifying 113 affected neighbors there was unanimous approval for this for this project once
it was demonstrated and articulated for the community at large and at this time I would ask
for Ms. Deborah Hodges to be admitted into the building so we could address any questions you
may have. Sure. Ms. Hodges?
I'll just please accept to become
panelists. Sure.
And there's one correction I'd like to make. I refer to units as apartments.
They're actually going to be two condos that are going to be designed for family living.
I just want to.
Thank you, Tamika.
That's Rebecca and Nelman.
Hello.
Hi, Ms. Hodges.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the sonographer?
Deborah Hodges, D-E-B-O-R-A-H, Hodges, H-O-D-G-E-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Ms. Hodges, did you hear the testimony that was provided to the board today, and is it truthful and accurate?
And you would adopt it as your own if you were providing this testimony?