that a meeting was held in order to
proceed today
Mr. Elias
Mr. Elias, if you're in the audience, please raise your hand.
I do not see Mr. Elias.
Thank you.
Hello, Chair, we have Javier Dennis with this hand up.
Please, bring him on.
Good morning, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Hello?
Sir, can you unmute yourself?
good morning
mr javier dennis can you please unmute yourself
hello hi could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
hi my name is sam elias okay uh spell it for the court reporter please e-l-i-a-s right do you
swear or affirm tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do um mr alias we
do not have proof from you that you posted the property and we do not have information
or whether or not you had an rco meeting uh we did have an rco meeting and as well as i have the
i have the post uh i did not know if i needed a picture of it and it's still up there in the
front window you're saying you did post it yes sir and you had an rco meeting yes sir
you have a letter from them uh let them know
okay uh mr elias do you have a copy of the letter that you sent to the neighbors advising them of
meeting yes sir yes ma'am i sent about uh i think around 80 either 83 or 85 according to the
instructions from the rco and the city mr chair um can i just suggest that we um push this case
um back because i would like um mr elias to be able to show a photo of the property being posted
um as well as being able to show that um there was he submitted uh circulated a letter to the
as well as being able to show that there was he circulated a lot.
near neighbors letting them know about the meeting skip over this and come back yes all right okay
so what do you want me to do exactly i'm sorry um yes mr elias um in addition to the other
documents that you submitted please be prepared to show us the letter that you sent to the neighbors
as well as a photo showing that your property is posted yes ma'am not a problem at all okay thank
you thank you so what time when when are we coming back for uh are you gonna set up another meeting
we're gonna try to do this today right hillary yes yes i mean if if possible
mr elias we can we can come back to you in 10 15 minutes okay uh you said i you wanted a proof of
mail that i sent but uh like uh the kind of letter that i sent them yes the letter if you're okay
sounds good and then a photo yes and a photo of the posting okay i will do that all right thank
you mr chair um i suggest that um we we can we do um number 10 yeah and then um number 13 and
then come back to this one okay good thank you number 10 mi 2022 003 390 6142 calahilla street
Jennifer Basdillo is the attorney.
Letter of support from HMC Squared with an unenforceable proviso.
Ms. Jennifer has been promoted to panelists.
Good morning, counsel.
Good morning.
Let me just get my video started here.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Sure. It's Jennifer Bazitlow, B-A-Z-Y, D as in dog, L as in Larry, O as in Oscar.
Do you swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and relationship to the property?
Sure. My client is Michael Williams through his LLC, ML Project Restoration LLC,
and they are the owners of the property.
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
No problem.
Good morning, Counselor. 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?
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Here we go.
All right, so we're here today for 6142 Callow Hill Street. A packet was submitted with a refusal, deed, proof of tax compliance, a letter of unanimous support from the RCO, some aerial views of the property, zoning maps, a current use map of how the properties are being actually used, photographs and plans.
I'm just going to scroll through them quickly for you. The only refusal is for two-family housing, deed, proof of ownership.
Her tax compliance, I just wanted to show this year's taxes have been paid and the other are in a payment agreement with GRBA and is current with them.
I also submitted that payment plan in my letter.
Here we have a unanimous letter of support from the community association with the provisos.
I think I heard they're unenforceable, but we fully agree and plan on doing them anyway to put the language in the lease and the garbage disposals, because that's just good practice anyway.
Aerial views of the area.
I'm going to come back to some of these photos, too.
So zoning map, I apologize, I couldn't get this to fully load over a course of a week.
I don't know what's happening.
What's being currently used on the block, some photographs of the property, including
the posting.
This is the block that we're talking about, and I'm just going to bring up the plans right
So my client purchased this property.
It was already divided into two units at the time, but also in need of some significant
repairs, if you saw the photos.
And the plans are for the first floor to be, it's an existing three-story building. It's about 1,129 square feet, the parcel with the existing three-story building.
The first floor will be a two-bedroom, one-bath with a laundry and access to the rear yard.
And then the second and third floors are going to be the second unit,
and that's going to be a three-bedroom, two-full bath unit. And the basement has two storage
And there's basement has two storage compartments for each of the units. So there's no living in the basement. It's just storage.
compartments for each.
So I wanted to go back to the zoning map. Like I said, this this property was already divided into two units and it is zoned RSA five.
However, you can see that it's adjacent to RM1 multifamily housing, but more importantly, when we go to how these properties are currently being used, this little map, 12 of the properties on this block are already multifamily housing between two and four units.
And we also have two mixed-use properties at the corners with two residential units over a commercial space.
So this is all zoned RSA 5, but it is clearly a mixed neighborhood of multifamilies and single-family housing.
And this is also backed up by the RCO letter, if you go back here, where they specifically
state that they acknowledge these existing uses and feel like this would be a use that
is in character with the neighborhood, given that we do have a street that is a mix of
multifamily, mixed use, and single-family homes. I think it's also worth noting here,
uh when we look at this map that there are currently six vacant lots on this block including
right next to this building um there has been some disinvestment in this neighborhood um and this
uh having this as a two-family house really gives the economic viability to fully restore this
property um and also provide housing at an accessible price point for the current
residents of this neighborhood. So I did want to go back. I was not personally at this RCO meeting,
but the property owner and his architect were. And it was, as you can see in the vote count,
it was unanimous support with these two provisors, again, which we have no objection to,
because we want good tenants and we want them to be happy in their apartments. So
So in summary, I just want to say that I think this is pretty straightforward. We have a block that is zoned RSA 5. However, it's basically a mix of multifamilies and single family homes, mixed use commercial.
it's adjacent to an RM1 zoning where there could actually be three units by right on this size
parcel. The neighborhood's in support and they want to see this building restored and renovated
and we can get that done with this with this zoning variance. So I think it's appropriate
based on the surrounding uses and the support of the community. So can I bring my client Michael
Williams on? You can. Raise your hand, Michael, if you're here. Yes, I'm here. Great. So could
you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter? Michael Williams, M-I-C-H-A-E-L-W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Did you hear my testimony here today and believe it to be truthful and accurate?
And would you adopt it as your own?
I would.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
See no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission. Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good morning. David Vecto with the City
Planning Commission. Mr. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the residential single-family zoning at this location. The applicant has shown that
the property was divided into two dwelling units without benefit of permit before they purchased
the building. The use of two dwelling units matches the character of the block. The City
Planning Commission recommends the board grant the use variance for two dwelling units. Thank
Thank you. MI 2022-003-390-6142 Cal Hill Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you so much.
Do we want to go to 13?
yes I believe Mr. McElhenney is here so we can go to Mr. 13. MI 2022-007-254-1812
1812 North Van Pelt Street. Michael McElhenney is the attorney.
North Van Pelt Street Michael McElhenney is the attorney
Recommendation of non-opposition from the 32nd Ward RCO.
Good morning, counsel. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court reporter?
Michael McElhenney, M-C-I-L-H-I-N-N-E-Y.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
My client is Parrish Condominiums LLC, and it's member, Arion, E-R-I-O-N, Tomalari, T-O-M-A-L-L-A-R-I, the representative member.
Our vice chair has just issued a letter.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.
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?
I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you, members of the board.
On the screen is my pre-marked exhibit packet that has been presented to the board.
As you'll see, the prerequisites that have been sent over include, at Exhibit 8, the appeal that's been filed to the board.
At Exhibit 9, just photographs that the vacant lot, the subject property, has been posted at 1812 Van Pelt.
Exhibit 10 is our meeting notice with the neighbors.
The 32nd Democratic Ward conducted the meeting, along with the refusal and certificate of mailing.
our deed my client's deed is attached at exhibit 11 the parish condominiums llc having taken title
on november 3rd 2022 and proof of tax compliance at exhibit 12 showing no balance due on the
property the rco 32nd wards position letter has been attached at exhibit one stating no opposition
to the relief requested.
Exhibit two is our refusal.
My client is seeking to erect
a dimensionally compliant attached structure
for use as a three-family dwelling unit.
The property is zoned RSA 5,
and it generated one use refusal
for the multifamily use.
And this is the same refusal and use
that my client has recently,
the board has granted at the neighboring properties,
1814 and 1816 Van Pelt, and this is a request. We didn't own both at the same time, so we had
to go through separately for the same request. At Exhibit 3 is the aerial map of the property
and zoning map, the first page just showing the property zoned RCA5, with properties to the south
as RM1, and immediately to the south, a special purpose area, which is a park and athletic fields.
Page two of exhibit three is important for the board for the hardship here.
The characteristics of this block, as you can see, there's about 58 partials on this block,
and 32 of those are vacant properties on which buildings had to be demolished through various
means, neighborhood transformation initiative, and other mechanisms over the years.
And of the existing housing stock, there's multiple properties that are blighted and
abandoned and not occupied or occupiable.
So with the characteristics of this block and the other multifamily uses on this block that I'll go through in a second, the relief requested here, there is a hardship that necessitates the multifamily variance.
The third page of this exhibit is just showing the properties 16 by 0.5 feet wide by 75 feet deep.
and turning to exhibit four which is a satellite view this again is just to show the board
the aerial view of the i'll call it the sawtooth existence of a bunch of vacant lots a few houses
a bunch of vacant lots throughout this 1800 block in north van pelt and specifically exhibit five
goes through the site photos of this block the property at issue is the vacant lot in the middle
the screen. My client also owns 1814 Van Pelt, which is the red building to the right to the
north, on which we have been approved for this exact variance recently before the board at zoning
permit ZP 2022-001765. My client also at that same hearing had approved 1816 Van Pelt for the
same triplex use request. And the plan is to develop three properties to bring new residents
to this block where it is marked with blight abandonment and vacant land.
Looking at the next photo it's photos to the south just there's four vacant lots
and then farther to the south there's one house and then two vacant lots when you get to the corner.
And then farther to the south, there's one house and then two vacant lots when you get to the corner at Montgomery.
And this is a photo at page three, just showing the open parking on Montgomery Ave.
And the second photo is just showing other three single family houses to the north of the subject property and also the open on street parking on this block.
Farther to the north, it's another vacant lot, then three houses.
and then we have a series of five vacant lots, a single house, another series of two vacant lots
and then when we get the 1850 Van Pelt heading to the north at Burke's, that's approved for a
triplex and next to that are two structures to the north and then two vacant lots on the corner.
On the east side of the block, the opposite side of the street, at the corner of Burke's and Van
pelt we have a commercial store with apartments above next that at 1857 van pelt is again one of