I said there's a letter from the Garden Court Community Association.
You got it. Okay, then yes.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
all right uh could we advance my uh paralegal uh christine schlasser
yes yes he has been promoted sir thank you
right uh good afternoon members of the board this is an application by meharry 4904 real estate llc
my client is actually meharry bailey who's the principal of the llc uh and it concerns a request
for multi-family use at 5039 Spruce Street.
We have in our packet, if we go through it,
there's the deed, the zoning application,
if we go through the deed, zoning application,
the notice of refusal,
which was just for the multi-family use.
our application for appeal and project information form.
and project information form we have our tax clearance certificate
We have our tax cleaners.
and we have a site plan and a floor plan which i'll go through more a little later but
we have those and then uh we only have pictures of the exterior of the building it's not in the
world but uh but uh we did meet with the uh rco for the area which is garden put community association
and uh we had put in our packet the email that was sent contemporaneously with our uh zoning hearing
where they did uh vote to support the uh request of for multi-family use um so going back to our
our floor plan, what is proposed is, um, we're asking to have, uh, three units, uh, in this
particular uh building um we would have uh where is it there will be a uh uh three unit it's a
there'll be a split level unit on the first floor and basement which will have three bedrooms
two bathrooms with the living room dining room and kitchen and then two bedroom units on the
second and third floors with the living room dining room two bathrooms and a kitchen
the units will include the most up-to-date amenities including central air laundry pre-wiring
for internet and modern kitchens and baths. This project will help develop and improve the
neighborhood, and it's in proximity to public transportation, which makes this location ideal
for residential expansion, and it's in proximity to a community recreation center. It's actually
near YMCA and Malcolm X Park.
And we have a included, I didn't include in this, but what we're going to bring forward
is my justification here for multifamily youth here.
in actuality, this, our property is one of the, will be one of the last, almost the last
single family dwelling on this particular block. The only other single family dwelling on this
block is 5035 Spruce Street. The other, can you bring up the other exhibit, Christine?
Thank you.
my legal the legal argument the one that has the
ah there it is so um the property um
our property sits between uh 5037 spruce street which is a four unit condo building and 5041
spruce street which has eight units and uh with respect to the rest of the block 5049 spruce
is a triplex 5047 is a triplex 5045 is a duplex 5043 is a triplex as i said 5041 has eight units
50-37 has four units, 50-33 has four units, 50-31 has four units, 50-27 has four units, 50-25 is a duplex, and 50-23 is a triplex.
So basically, we have a situation where I don't know why, but this area was on RFA 3, which allows only single family use when the existing uses are.
which allows only single family use when the existing uses are almost entirely multi-family so
it's almost like the property was spot zoned by the planning commission here because there's no
reason why this property should have been zoned differently than all the surrounding uses which
are all multi-family. In addition, the effect of the adjacent and surrounding uses is relevant
where as here the effect of the rezoning creates the hardship i.e. makes the property have
either no value or just stress value if it's used in conformity with the code. To be able
to afford to rehab this property um you can't possibly do it if all you're going to do is to
use it for single-family use um so um what we are asking for is to of course use this property
uh for multi-family use which is consistent with um uh the rest of the block uh for the most part
except for that one property which is 5035 and uh uh i would like to then bring up my client
what's your client's name uh meharry bailey mr meharry
you've been allowed to speak yes i'm here hi could you state your name and spell please for
the court reporter? Mahari Bailey, B-A-I-L-E-Y. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Proceed, counsel. Okay. Mahari, did you hear
my testimony? Yes. And do you... Adopt it as my own. Yes. Swear affirming is accurate and
adopted as your own. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Questions from the board? No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Sir, Sean Thomas has their hand raised.
I have a lot.
It's time.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell it, please, for the court reporter?
Yes, my name is Sean Thomas, S-H-A-W-N, T-H-O-M-E-S.
Right.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed.
Yes, I'm the owner of the condos right next door, 5037 Spruce Street.
And I fully support Mr. Mahari on this.
He does great stuff in the neighborhood.
I just wanted to, you know, chime in on that.
He does great stuff.
You know what?
Thank you very much for taking it to time to call it.
Thank you.
Yes, thank you.
All right.
Anyone else in the Verse audience?
No, sir, that's all.
Planning Commission.
uh ron bednar city planning first name ron r-o-n last name bednar b-e-d-e-n-a-r do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed ron this
property is uh indicated for residential use on a city plan or adopted district plan recommends no
change to the existing residential single family zoning at this location the applicant's hardship
is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or condition in the property that
would prevent it from being used in conformity with the code.
Therefore, we recommend the request for it to not be granted.
Thank you.
MI 2022-004-388-5039 Spruce Street.
I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Number four.
Thank you.
members of the board that completes my business. Thank you. You can. You can. Thank you. Thank
you. Happy holidays. Oh, thank you very much. And you too. MI 2022-003-690-5856, Belmar.
Vern Anastasio is the attorney. No RCO letter at this point.
Mr. Anastasio has been promoted to panel. Okay.
good evening mr chairman hi just state your name we already you've already been sworn today sir
verne anastasio uh representing uh lensa desta the owner of the property in question
the owner of the property in question. Okay. Mr. Hallman, do you have a few questions for
okay mr hallman do you have a few questions for
I don't know.
Mr. Anastasio? Good afternoon, Counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to his accuracy? I do. Did you email all of the exhibits and documents as required,
such as proof of ownership, tax clearance, copy of the refusal, pictures or drawings of the property
five days in advance to this hearing did you meet with the rco and do you have a letter
uh yes to everything but i don't have a
okay please proceed and share your screen thank you i believe i already shared my screen
yep this is the property here in question it is zoned single family residential but it's a
quite a large property it is surrounded uh this across the street here across uh
behind them on 59th street across the street at 5901 and 5900 all are mixed use and or
uh multi-family dwellings so i just want to make sure that you understand what we're dealing with
And with that, 5856 Belmar Street, we're asking for a three-family dwelling in an existing
structure.
We have the layout as submitted.
again this is a an above ground uh lower level so there's an entrance on the sides for a
open area open space living room dining room kitchen uh and then two bedrooms with a full bath
The first floor will be another large open area, living room, dining room, kitchen with two bedrooms.
We also have trash storage for all units already designed into the rear.
and we have a top floor as well with living room dining room kitchen
and two bedrooms and our full bath on the third floor
let's take a look at the the zoning map is uh mixed mixed use uh on every corner but ours
So our proposal is actually very consistent with the rest of those corners.
Now let's take a look at the property itself.
As you can see, it's a corner property with two entrances already in existence.
We have interior shots as well.
As you can see, here's the same king, multi-use, commercial mixed use, and or multifamily.
Here's another multifamily, all on the same corner, all on the same intersection.
so what they are proposing is certainly not um uh foreign to the to the neighborhood here's a copy
of the rco letter we mailed it out twice to 160 families and then did it again
and there is proof of taxes paid.
It's a large property
and to rehab it in a way
that it would be sustainable and successful,
a single family home
just isn't going to work here right now
given the marketing conditions,
given the history of the property,
given the other similarly situated properties
on each corner, all being multifamily or commercial mixed use, we are asking that the board grant the
variance so that we can rehabilitate this property and get folks in here sooner rather than later.
And with that, I'm going to ask my client, Lenta Desta, to raise her virtual hand.
Lensa Desta, to raise her virtual hand.
She's been about to speak.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?
My name is Lensa Desta, last name D-E-S-T-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Desta, did you hear my presentation to the board this evening?
Yes, I did.
And was it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes, it is.
And do you accept it and adopt it as your own testimony?
Yes, I do.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
planning commission
so ron bednar city planning the property is indicated for residential use on a comprehensive
plan recommends no change to the residential single family dislocation there's no unique
physical circumstances or condition of the property it would prevent it from being used
and conforming with the sewing code.
We recommend it quest for
variants of three dwelling
units not be granted.
We're going to hold a vote on this
until we see what we can get from the
We'll close.
Very well, Mr. Chair. My only
rebut to the Planning
Commission, and I appreciate Ron's
testimony, is that
a rehab
single-family home on this particular
block with its particular challenges
would just not be marketable.
But nevertheless, I understand you want to hold the vote.
Thank you.
We'll close this, Hillary, right?
Just to wait for something from the zoning board.
And why don't we...
Yes, Mr. Chair, why don't we...
Yeah, we'll close the record,
except for a letter from the RCO,
and we can vote it, how about January 11th at 2 p.m.?
That's fine with me, yep.