Here's a picture of the
actual paint booth that's located
inside of the facility. On the
right-hand side of the paint booth is
where we do the auto repair.
and here is a look at pretty much um half of the uh facility again this is the paint booth
we roll the cars in the paint booth here and this is a waiting area over on the side
and this is the other half of the garage where we do the auto body repair uh for the patrons
of the shop commissioners this shop is uh open approximately five days a week only from 8 30 to
6 p.m we did schedule a meeting with the community association
here's the notice of the meeting the meeting actually took place on may 3rd 2023
commissioners i noticed 157 properties of the meeting i believe there were only six individuals
in attendance at the meeting there was two cdc's present belfield and chew was the lead rco faith
cdc was another rco that did attend the meeting as you can see the faith cdc which is the same cdc
that vetted the property last time they gave us a letter of support and wrote some things in
regard to what happened at the meeting and how we tried to alleviate any concerns anyone may have had
we also got a letter from bellfield and chew which is very interesting they indicate that
there was one person at the meeting and there was one vote and it was in opposition i would
disagree totally with that. There were six people at the meeting and frankly, no one really objected
or had any opposition to this meeting or to the use that we're proposing in front of the board
today. And lastly, I have a letter that I just got this morning. And this letter is on behalf
of Councilman Bass and written by her aide, Mr. Charles Richardson. And he is supporting and
Ms. Bass, Councilman Bass, is supporting our project today.
And with that, I'm willing to answer any questions that anyone may have about this.
And with that, I'm willing to answer any questions that anyone may have about the use of this facility.
Is your client here?
Yes, he is.
Why don't we have your client come on and adopt your testimony?
Mr. Collins, are you on the line?
Mr. Collins?
Mr. Collins, can you please raise your virtual hand?
I see no hands here.
Counsel, you're an officer of the court.
We'll take your testimony, accept your testimony.
How long has he been in business there?
The actual shop that's there now has only been there for three years.
And what was it before?
It's always been used as an auto body garage since 1948.
Questions or comments from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
I just see someone that's using Zoom user.
I'm not sure if it's Mr. Collins or someone who...
Okay, let them on, please.
Zoom user, please unmute yourself and wait for the Chair.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Yes, this is Mr. Collins, Gary Collins.
Hi, Mr. Collins.
How are you?
State your name and spell it for us, please.
My name is Gary Collins, G-A-R-Y, Gary Collins, C-O-L-L-I-N-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, sir?
Yes, I do.
Counsel, proceed.
Mr. Collins, are you a principal of Cromwell Properties, LLC?
Yes, I am.
And you own 513 East High Street?
And have you heard my presentation today in regard to the facts concerning the operation of Germantown Collision?
yes and if you were to testify today would you adopt my testimony as true and correct
yes that's all i have commission is there anyone else in the virtual audience
no hands chair planning commission
this is uh ron bednarcy planning the district plan recommends no change existing zoning
I think this location, the painting and body shop use is incompatible with the adjacent residential uses presents presently creates a health hazard for the area.
Therefore, we recommend the request of variance not be granted.
Kelsey, have any comments?
Commissioner, this is a commercial space that has always been used commercially.
It has a distance from the main property. Therefore, there are no ill effects that would affect the main property where residential use is in effect.
Additionally, we have the state-of-the-art paint booth with the proper filtering systems whereby no noxious gases or paint fumes are submitted into the air that would be harmful to the breathing of any individuals in close proximity to the business.
MI 2023, 0000, 64513 High Street.
I vote yes.
Mr. Chair?
I vote yes.
Mr. Chair, hold on.
We can't vote it yet because we have tax issues that we have to resolve.
All right.
All right.
We will wait for the taxes to be cleared up and then we'll get back to you.
Thank you very much, Commissioner.
All right.
Thank you.
Have a great day.
Number nine.
No, that's last.
Number 10.
MI 2023-001-110-1739 Point Breeze Avenue.
Steve Masters is the attorney.
Letter of support from Point Breeze CDC.
Mr. Masters has been promoted.
Hi, Mr. Masters, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board, Steve Masters, S-T-E-V-E-M-A-S-T-E-R-S,
from the law firm of JustLaws.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
My client is the mosque, Masjid Abdullah bin Baz, which is the owner of both 1739 and 1741 Point Braves.
Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal?
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
All of the required documents have been emailed in, but they were not all received five days in advance.
I was retained by the client less than five days ago and discovered that some documents were submitted five days in advance and some were not.
And I've been working closely with board counsel, Ms. Emerson, and she has received all of the documents that are now complete and has indicated that we can move forward despite the fact that we did not put all of them in five days in advance.
Understood, please proceed and share your screen. Thank you.
So this is the second time that I'm before the board on this property. The first time was quite
a long time ago, back in around 2017, when I was asked to assist the mosque in stopping a developer
from purchasing 1739 Point Breeze and building multifamily dwellings there. We were successful
thanks to the adjudications, the decisions of this board, and the mosque then was able to
purchase that property, and has now completed the drawings and the plans for extending,
basically enlarging the existing mosque, which is at 1741, to include portions of this lot on 1739.
So the refusal is a very technical refusal. The refusal states that the religious
disassembly use, which is what a mosque is, has to be in a completely enclosed, detached building.
But since the addition is going to be extending the current use at 1741, and 1741 is not a
detached building, it has a common wall with 1743, that's the only reason that there is a refusal
here. The mosque is a by-right use, and it's a by-right use both in 1739 and in 1741, but it's
just the technicalities of the code that, since the mosque itself doesn't have any side yards on
each side of it, it does on 1739, but on 1741, that's why we're here for this variance. In exhibit
two. We have a letter of support from the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition. There was
a RCO meeting back in April, and there were 18 votes in support and only one in opposition,
and so the RCO voted to issue a letter of support. There were 23 total folks, 19 who voted,
And as I said, it was virtually unanimous.
In Exhibit 3, we have some of the drawings here.
So this is the site plan.
This is the existing two-story masonry building that's 1741.
You'll see it has an adjoining row house.
That's why it doesn't have a, it can't be detached.
And here is the area that we're expanding the mosque into.
This is another view of the site plan showing that when the expansion is constructed, there will be an additional story put onto the 1741 parcel, and there will be three, also three stories that will be newly constructed on the 1739 parcel.
Here's some elevation drawings. So from Point Breeze, this is the existing 1741 structure.
We're going to have this new addition on the top of it and then a whole new construction on the 1739 side.
In terms of the rear, this would be looking towards Point Breeze Avenue. This is the 1741.
Looking towards Point Breeze Avenue, this is the 1741, the same addition, plus we have a ramp here and an egress point in the rear.
1941, the
And then on Pierce Street, which is where the corner is, where 1739 is located at the corner of Point Breeze and Pierce Street, and this is what the elevation would look like from that corner.
In terms of floor plans, we have utilities to be located on the basement of both of these parcels. On the first floor, we have a library and an office, a multipurpose area, and a prayer area that's existing in the current mosque at 1741.
On the second floor, we have expanded prayer areas in the 1739 portion and an existing prayer area in the 1741.
And then for the third floor, this will now be a new prayer area on the 1741 parcel and a new prayer area on the 1739 parcel.
For Exhibit 4, we have some photos.
So here we have the existing mosque at 1741, and you see it is attached to another structure on the other side that's unrelated.
And this is the empty lot that we are expanding into 1739.
This is another view of the lot we can see a little bit further down on Pierce Street.
this is off of this is uh with with on pier street facing the 1741 wall of the existing mosque so this
is uh this is that perspective of of the site and a more uh up close version of the of the
the empty lot itself. Here we have a zoning poster with the refusal. We posted it on both
the Pierce Street side and the Point Breeze side. So this is on the Pierce Street side,
and this is on the Point Breeze side. In Exhibit 5, we have a tax clearance for the mosque.
Exhibit 6 is the deed that conveyed the property from the developer who had purchased it
and was going to put some multifamilies there, and it conveys it to the mosque.
In Exhibit 7, we have the application for appeal.
Exhibit 8 is the project information form.
Exhibit 9 is the notice that was sent to the community.
uh it included the date and the time and the zoom settings for the for the community rco meeting
um and then here's a receipt for postage that was paid these are all the addresses 185 provided by
the planning commission and then we have an affidavit of service um for the proof of mailing
This affidavit indicates that when Mr. Richardson from the mosque went to the post office and asked for a proof of mailing, he was told he would have to handwrite his return address for the mosque on 185 envelopes, which he found that overly burdensome.
So the post office person said, well, you can just use the stamps that you buy here, put them on, and then just put them in the drop box, but I can't give you an actual proof of mailing receipt.
So we executed an affidavit showing that he did, in fact, mail those letters at the post office on that date.
And that is the conclusion of going through the exhibits here.
So, at this point, I would like to call my client to adopt my testimony.
Which client?
Demetrius Richardson, are you, if you are in the Zoom, could you raise your hand?
Mr. Richardson, please unmute yourself, wait for the chair.
Mr. Richardson, please unmute yourself. Wait for the chair.
Mr. Richardson, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Yes. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. My name is Demetrius Richardson, D-E-M-E-T-R-I-U-S.
Last name is Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
All right. Proceed, counsel.
Mr. Richardson, you've heard my testimony this afternoon. Do you confirm that it is true and correct, and do you adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
Do you have anything further you wanted to say to the zoning board at this time?
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
no chair okay questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission uh ron bednar city planning uh wireless properties
currently uh indicated for residential use on the city plan given the physical conditions of
the site and the documented use history recommend request for variance be granted
Thank you. MI 2023-001-110-1739, Point Breeze Avenue, I vote yes.
Thomas Tolman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Mr. Masters.
Thank you so much.
Okay, number 12, MI-2023-000254-9122 Dewey Street.
Al Nockmson is the attorney.
Letter of support from the Northeast Community Civic Association.
Project also had required civic design review.