For this application, this is calculated.
thousand dollar fee which should go to parks and recreation the appellant chose not to seek a
waiver for the planting requirements which is considered fee avoidance the appellant has not
demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances that would prevent
the property from being used in conformance with their rear yard and parking requirements
the planning commission recommends that the board deny the requested variances
for landscape buffering plant species selection rear yard setback and parking
thank you if I may um you're sure Mr. Bergman just to respond to that I understand the planning
commission's note that it would be six thousand dollars it would go to the park service but
this is a non-profit and that six thousand dollars is going to the amenities for the students
This is Logan Hope is engaged in fundraising to provide these improvements for the natural expansion of this school that was permitted by the zoning board.
So it's not fee avoidance. It's really a it's a business decision when you're a nonprofit where six thousand dollars is going to go.
And again, the buffer is their existing conditions. We don't even have an eight foot setback there.
All right. Thank you. Hillary, what do we want to do for a date for this?
I'm not sure, given that it doesn't have a hearing until March. I think we unfortunately may just need to leave it, hold it, close the record except for proof of tax compliance for both of the properties to be consolidated.
So the record's closed and we will notify them when we're ready? How do you want to do it?
They will let us know when they have proof of tax compliance and then we'll let us know and we'll vote that.
Yes, I'll keep Ms. Emerson apprise of negotiations with the city, because this may be resolved before the March 11th hearing.
All right.
So we will move to have it reopened as soon as we have the information you need.
Everything else is closed on the other than the tax issue.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
That concludes my business.
May I please be excused?
You most certainly can.
Thank you.
Have a wonderful day and stay safe.
three mi 2025 004 411 2783 roberts avenue tamika mccoy is the attorney
possible hillary she's not done yet okay good good
tamika mccoy will be rejoining us as a panelist thank you
good afternoon everyone hi good morning counsel how are you could you uh state your name and
spell for the stenographer tamika mccoy spelled t-a-m-i-k-a last name is m-c capital k-o-y
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes could you identify your client the relationship to the property
Sure. I represent Gracie Painting, LLC, who is represented by Maude Martin, who is also present on the meeting.
And there's a letter of opposition from Ridge Allegheny Hunting Park, RCO.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, ma'am.
Okay. And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
yes okay thank you you can uh share your screen and proceed with your case
thank you so uh this submission is for making permanent a assembly entertainment use variance
that was previously granted on november 9th of 2022 for a assembly entertainment space in a current
industrial facility. The facility essentially houses intimate gatherings that are medium in
size, basically too large for a home, but not big enough for a large commercial venue. So
things like baby showers, bridal parties, that sort of thing. I'm going to show you what the
facility looks like. And it's actually this center structure here. And that's one of the entrances
to the facility. It's a total of 4,016 square foot. And as I said, this was previously approved
with a three-year proviso. We are seeking to have essentially accommodations for 75 people.
It operates essentially when the other functions within the building are not actually operating.
Other functions within the building are not actually operating.
So basically in the evenings and on the weekends, there is photographs here.
Here, actually, this is the direct view of the building in question.
This would be the westward direction, and this is a photograph of the eastward direction.
We do have just limited interior photos and the posting of the affixed sign.
Here is a floor plan that basically shows the extent of the first floor structure that
would be used.
In this particular proviso, it's only the first floor that would be used for the assembly
and entertainment space.
I would just generally like to note that this is an industrial area. It's not residential. There were notifications of this request sent to the affected properties, and those affected properties have not expressed an opposition to the actual use.
It is apparently folks who live in a residential area quite a distance away.
I did pull up just for purposes of being able to demonstrate the location, and I'm going to share this with you as well.
Okay. So what I've depicted here is similar to the photos that were shown earlier. This is the
structure in question. This is actually a Google Maps. And so we are able to kind of canvas what
the um characterization of the neighborhood basically is i'm scrolling up the road so
that you can see roberts avenue and the distance from the property hold on
to the nearest residence
and this is just for informational purposes and this begins a uh street area where there's a
small set of residents that begin and so that's basically the distance from the location in
question to where any residents are everywhere else are uh industrial in nature and non-operational
at the time of the assembly because it would be as I said evenings and weekends so this is the
property here and then in the other direction it's very similarly segregated from actual residences
where people would you know be living which is quite a distance from the place in question
just for demonstrative purposes. I'm going to go back
to the actual submissions.
we did um hold a rca meeting um the meeting essentially didn't offer a lot of insight as to
what the actual opposition was just the fact that they um may have had some ideas that it may have
been for a nightclub when that's not actually what the use is the use is actually for um
baby showers um and those kinds of gatherings uh but we do have a copy of the sentiments from
the association uh and you know basically it didn't offer any insights really as to what the
specific nature was um but as i demonstrated the actual affected properties did not um participate
from my understanding in the actual rca meeting and have not um posed any sentiments one way or
another with regard to the proposed use. It has been operating under the proviso for the last,
you know, three years without any, any, you know, recorded issues.
you know three years without any any you know uh recorded issues and with that
i would uh address any questions that the board may have want to bring your client
on first council sure i would ask for martin to be allowed into the session
martin is going to be promoted to panelists
hello miss martin hi good morning good afternoon sorry uh did you hear the testimony and
hold on hold on could you please state your name and spelled for the stenographer yes my name is
maude martin that's spelled m-a-u-d-e martin m-a-r-t-i-n do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do counsel miss martin did you hear the information
and presentation that was made to the board this morning yes i did and if you were to testify
yourself would you testify similarly to the information that was presented yes i will and
you are the representative for gracie painting who is the deeded owner of the property located
at 2783 roberts avenue yes i am i would submit with that questions from the board
yeah the space that you're talking about on using is that the entire building did that
encompass the entire building no it's just the first floor first just the first one okay
Okay. And what kind of, it says in the temporary variance that the hours are like Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Correct.
So what kind of activities are we doing here? I mean, I heard baby showers, but I didn't know baby showers are going on that late in the evening.
evening so what other kind of activities are we talking about here um we're talking about things
like um birthday parties for adults only because of the hours and we also have like um holiday
parties or um like all these nights we have like um domino um tournaments or bingo tournaments i
mean that's not for gambling it's just for you know for people to get together and um
we have like memorial gatherings like if someone dies that you know they would go there and they
would have their um they're praying and whatever it's a very large space so you know it's not
like a very um little tiny place and it's open place and um whoever having their whatever they
having they would bring their own decorations their own tables etc and when they leave they
leave with this okay so you're just providing the space yes people provide and is there um
is there liquor served and no no we do not have a liquor license and we will not be trying to get
one he votes okay and people bring by was by ob um no we're not advertised as a by ob
okay questions from our attorney
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
this is Jason Hand I will be stepping in temporarily I do not see any hands raised
for this matter at this time Plenty Commission Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission the
comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current I2
medium industrial the property has a documented history of assembly and entertainment and the
proposed use will not enter the use of adjoining properties the Planning Commission recommends the
board grant their requested variance for assembly entertainment for 75 people mi 2025
004 411 2783 roberts avenue i vote yes proviso first floor only temporary variants that will
expire 128 29 michael johnson my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Excuse me. Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
I win, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you. We're going to go back to number five. MI 2025 004
we're going to go back to number five mi 2025
zero zero four four two eight one fifty one meadow lane maureen and michael eyeball
hey mr chair they're coming back in as a panelist thank you
hello hi Maureen are you testifying we're both here so it's both my husband
and I okay all right yes sir sir could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer.
It is Michael Eibel.
M-I-C-H-A-E-L.
Last name Eibel,
spelled E-I-B as in boy, E-L.
Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth,
the whole truth,
nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
How are we dealing
with the computer?
So I...
We got the green thing now.
Oh, I do have share screen now.
I think it was just a difference.
We changed computers.
Can I bring it up?
Yes, sir.
Thank you for your patience with us.
Okay, so why don't you start by saying what you're intended to do.
We have all your documents, and then what I would want you to do is to show us drawings and maybe photos, okay?
Yes, sir. So the front of our home was a garage. We replaced the garage with siding. So we were unaware that in our zoning district, we have a driveway out front. Our driveway is not considered off-street parking.
right so you need um garage we had no idea to that so so what we did is we replaced the
garage uh with like i said siding um can you bring this um do you have photos of that
why don't you show photos thank you so uh hold on i have it here so you put you
that's your garage there now with the door yes yes sir okay and we have we have pictures of uh
before and afters right um we're getting those now and um we didn't realize that the
driveway wasn't considered all street parking we had no idea so i think our variance is the
request that is all street parking so here's here's what it looked like previous right and
And this is what it now looks like.
Fire blocking it.
But we still have.
What did you build inside there?
We just beautified our basement.
She has a picture showing that too.
All right.
So you went to the RCO.
Tell us about the RCO.
All right.
That's the Millbrook, correct?
so we we went there um and i think we were third and what we asked for um they asked what we did
and we stated we didn't change the footprint of the house that's the exact same i think the
confusion was everyone thought we were expanding our driveway or the footprint of the street and
we just confirmed that that nothing happened to the footprint of the home yeah you built like a
a little cocktail lounge in the garage, right?
Yes, sir.
Yeah, that's right, all right.
And then so all we did.
You closed it up, right.
You closed it up, okay.
Yeah, that's perfect, thank you.
Exactly.
All right, well, don't thank me, don't thank me, I mean.
No, I know, but.
So, you know, part of what we would like to show also
is that the reason we didn't understand
that we needed this kind of variance
or that the zoning was such was because
there are multiple properties just on our block of Meadow Lane
where eight other properties already have this enclosure.