James Snell, my vote is yes.
My vote is yes.
Tanata Graham, my vote is yes.
I win, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Number 15, MI 2024-000749-2110, East York Street.
Vernon Anastasio is the attorney.
good morning verne good morning did you just state your name for the record you've already
been sworn yep verne anastasio a-n-a-s-t-a-s-i-o i represent mr dan wagaman all right our vice
chair has a few questions thank you good morning counsel do you agree to waive the reading of the
refusal or stipulate to its accuracy i do have you emailed in all the required documents and
exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing i have thank
you council please proceed and share this council before you start i noticed the east kensian
neighbors emailed uh vote was 10 to 0 in support and council member squill has non-opposition
correct thank you and mr chair i just wanted to advise for the record that we did receive
on the meeting summary form from the rco confirming that vote count in their support
Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Chair, this one is pretty straightforward. 2110 East York. There are two properties on one lot. Like many other older neighborhoods, there's a front house and a back house. And it was shared by a center open space. The parcel itself is zoned RSA 5. And therefore, it had to get a refusal when we put the application in for the two family dwelling.
I'm going to skip the actual application itself of the appeal.
It's an 80-page exhibit packet.
And we'll just get to the nuts and bolts of the plans themselves.
of the plans themselves right here as you can see the property in question
you've got your first floor front unit kitchen and rear yard
you've got your rear unit bedroom on the third floor on the second floor you've got the first
the living and the living room and the for the front unit and the rear unit behind it
and then you've got your rear unit basement and your front unit basement it'll pull out
there's the
elevation on the side
here's your rear elevation and your front elevation
there's one side
there's the other
there it is again
we have some interior photos
property is owned by Mr. Wagaman and his wife
both properties.
And of course, they're unable to lease or sell the property
as a legal two-unit without going through this process.
Here's the letter that was mailed to all individual households.
There's the addresses provided by the Planning Commission
to which my office mailed a proper notice.
153 individual households were mailed.
There's the poster.
Here's the proof of adequate posting.
As you can see, there's a duplex history
going way back in the archives.
We submitted that into evidence as well.
In fact, nothing, we couldn't find anything
where this parcel has housed anything but
these two units.
There's an email confirming that the RCO supports
unanimously in favor. As you know, you've received a formal letter of a report from the meeting
that supports this, and Councilman Squillow was kind enough to send a letter of non-opposition
in support of the RCO's position and this appeal. For all of those reasons,
I respectfully request the granting of this variance.
Want to bring your client on to adopt your testimony?
uh dan could not be here due to medical reasons his wife may be in the audience if she could
please raise her virtual hand if daniel wagelman's wife is in the virtual audience please raise your
virtual hand i see no hands mr anastasio you're an officer of the court we will gladly accept
your testimony. I thank you for that. Questions from the board. Yeah, I have a question. Can we
go back to the site plan? Sure.
i guess the first floor plan we can zoom in to that so so this property the only way to access
the the rear unit is through that uh passageway the breezeway that's correct and that breezeway
is two foot two inches wide that's correct so it doesn't meet the current code of a three foot
wide is there another egress out of that unit uh not that i know of uh you know that that'll
be subject to obviously we can't get a co until we go through the building code portion of this
uh and and that'll be subject to that review
but we can't get there until we get the zoning permit first yeah
but we can't get there until we get the zoning permit first.
Yeah, well, that's a real concern for me.
I know it's an existing condition.
It's probably been there for 100 years, I know,
and that's just a real concern.
A two-foot-two passageway is, you know, it's very, very tight.
And they have a door at the end or a gate at the door,
which I appreciate, but that has to make that opening
probably less than two feet.
know by time you put a frame around it and you put the door on so so that that is a just a big
concern for me yes sir um i'm assuming that the building code examiner and or the board of
building standards may require some sort of uh outfitting uh to to manage that yeah that that'll
be a tough tough thing to do because that's a structural wall and they'd have to kind of move
the whole wall in a foot, you know what I mean, to kind of
dominate. Is
the property sprinklered?
Do you know? No, not, I mean, not
yet. I mean, I think subject to this review
it might need to be.
Okay. All right. Those are my comments.
Thank you. Other
questions from the board?
No, Chair.
Comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Not at this time.
mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands planning commission
john levicar planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 zoning in
this location due to the history of multi-family use there is a hardship and the city planning
Commission recommends granting the variance. Thank you. MI 2024-000-749-2110 East York Street,
I vote yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes. Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes. Aya Nguyen, my vote is yes. Thank you, counsel. Thank you.
Number 17, MI 2024-000-764-5513 North Holly Street.
Joseph Consul is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from the West Palton Saunders Park RCO with a proviso.
And Council Member Gauthier supports the coordinating the RCO request for a two-year variance.
Please proceed, Mr. Consul.
State your name, please, and spell for the stenographer.
Good morning, Board Joe Consul.
It's J-O-S-E-P-H, last name Consul, C-O-N-S-O-L-E.
Do you swear to a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Did you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yeah, my client's name is Matthew Ragona.
He is the principal member of Clinton and Bedford LLC, which owns the 513 North Holly.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
for you. Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to read another refusal or stipulate? Good morning.
Yes, I do. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed
with this five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, the letter, I believe, came in three days
ago. Everything else was submitted timely. Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
Does that work?
It does.
All right.
Good morning.
Joe Consul, 513 North Holly Street, Clinton and Bedford, LLC.
Just as a brief preliminary background, my client purchased his property in 2019.
And since the time it was purchased and renovated until the visitor accommodation law was passed, which is the variance that we're here seeking, my client rented the property continuously on Airbnb until he was removed from that platform as a result of the law, which was, I believe, the middle of last year.
So he's got 121 positive reviews at 4.91. So that's proof that he has been operating for a significant amount of time going back to, I believe, 2020 shortly after he purchased it and got it ready to go online.
So he was operating legally as an Airbnb for quite a while and has a lot of positive reviews.
But the reason we're here is because visitor accommodations is prohibited in RSA 5, similar to ones that we've dealt with in the past.
similar to ones that we've dealt with in the past.
The long history of no complaints and positive operation,
along with support from the RCO,
we're hoping will lead to at least temporary variance from the ZBA today.
So, as mentioned, we went in front of Pamela Andrews and her RCO twice.
We came back a second time. They took a vote that time. We received majority support. Only one meeting attendee was in opposition, which with these VA permit applications, that is a very high success rate as far as I've seen.
So we have support. The councilman is in support and in terms of supporting Pamela Andrews and their RCO.
We've also included the proof of mailers. We had 95 mailers sent out.
Here's what we sent. Photos of the property.
my client self-manages he's local and by all reports the neighbors have access to him
should they need to discuss anything with them regarding the property
and there's my deed and finally tax clearance certificate
with that i'll call my client mr matthew ragona to adopt my testimony
they have been allowed to speak good morning could you please state your
name and spell for the stenographer matthew ragona m-a-t-t-h-e-w-r-a-g-o-n-a
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Good morning, Matthew.
Did you hear my testimony just now regarding your property at 513 North Valley Street?
Do you agree with what I said, and do you adopt it as your own?
Yes, I do.
Nothing further, board.
Questions from the board?
I have no questions.
No, Chair.
No question, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Questions or comments from more attorney Hillary Emerson?
Briefly, Mr. Chair, Mr. Consul, what is your client's position on the two-year
request for variance from the RCO? My client's position is he would like no
kind of limiting variance, but we'll accept whatever amount of years that the board is amenable to.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands. Planning Commission.
john lovacar planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 single
family zoning in this area there is no hardship for the variance requested therefore the city
planning commission recommends denying the variance number mi 2024 000 764 513 north
holly street i vote yes for a temporary variance that expires 6 27 2026
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso james snell my vote is yes with proviso
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso uh tennetta graham my vote is yes with proviso
my vote is yes with proviso thank you counsel thank you um we're going to go back to number
eight mi20230045984422 old york road vanessa latimore
vanessa latimore will be coming in as a panelist
good morning good morning miss latimore you've already been sworn in could you just state your
name for the record yes vanessa latimore and how are we making out with our computer
um i hope i have it this time okay why don't why don't you proceed all right
Thank you.
Are you able to see it now?
I'm sorry
no no no you don't have to be sorry
I'm trying to get you through this
IT any ideas
so you do have the share screen
button and you're able to press that
and then what message comes up
it's saying zoom
it says whiteboard that it says
Microsoft OneDrive
Google Drive Dropbox
and I'm in the documents part.
That was after hitting share screen?
That was the immediate?
I'm not sure why it's not.
Usually, initially,
so can you come back out of that
and just start from the share screen part again?
Because it should give you some options
that pertain to your screen.
And I thought you saw that last time,