number 11 mi 2026 002 311 1433 north howard street christopher dean is the attorney
if that person could just raise their hand
all righty they're being promoted to panel sure thank you
good morning good morning counsel can you please state and spell your name for the
stenographer christopher dean last name d-e-a-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
truth nothing but the truth i do would you identify your client a relationship to the property
yes uh frankie marco llc and frank frank master marco who uh should be in attendance in the
virtual audience right and our board secretary has a few questions for you uh good morning
council did you submit your documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing
I made it. I'm sorry. Yes. Oh, okay. And do you waive the reading of the
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy? I do. Then you can share your screen
and begin your presentation. Thank you.
Attorney- I must say you guys nailed the estimated time. I was suggested to go at 1130 and right on
the dot no attorney Dean this is Lynn Riedelhuber board council before you
start I know there's a question about posting and I just want to have you
state on the record that the property was posted appropriately because I know
that it was there was miss there was um I had thought I had emailed Ian Haggerty
that I I forgot that I had sent it to my client I was it's the day of my son was
um my son was born a week early so i was my brain was cloudy for a few days but yes it
was posted in time okay thank you yes and i would tell you when you have a new baby the
Okay, thank you. Yes. And I would tell you, when you have a new baby, the cloud, it's not going to go away for a while. Okay. So I know it's my, although my 3 year old seems to be more. She's regressed at the same time. So thank you. Okay.
Okay. So thank you, members, chairman and members. We are here for 1437 North Howard Street, 1439 North Howard Street. We are here for dimensional variance for a very minor, a 6% non-conforming lot.
I'm going to go through the exhibits, and then I'll just make an argument and have my client testify.
This is a copy. Let me know if anyone has trouble seeing.
This is a copy of the deed for standing purposes of 1439 Howard Street.
My client purchased it three years ago, and he actually, my client, owns the adjacent lot, 1437 North Howard Street.
this was the this is the proof of the uh taxes being paid on the property
it's the refusal and then the next few pages are the
the peak project information and the actual appeal um i am showing 1437 howard street um
i'm going to show both 1439 and 1437. um this howard street and hope street most of the
properties are actually subdivided by Wright. It just happens to be that 1439 North Howard Street
is 60 square feet too short to be conforming, which is why we needed the variance here today.
My client, this is actually 1437. I'm just showing this for purposes of that. My client
actually subdivided this by Wright as well and has built what will be his permanent residence
with his wife at this property. For context, here's pictures. This is on Hope Street.
This is the lot right here. This is 1437, and this is 1439. This is, to get an idea of how
Hope Street is, Hope Street is actually, as it is, my client's lot is not uniformity with Hope
Street. Most of Hope Street is now subdivisions by right and single-family homes on both sides
of the street. So my client's lot actually is an outlier on this block. This is 1439,
the property in question. This was 1437, which my client subdivided by right. And actually,
my client's an artist, and he made quite a unique aesthetically appeasing property,
which is right here. So this is what 1437 is now and where my client is actually going to be living
with his wife. I believe we're, we're within, within months, we should, the design should be
done. This is the posting on both properties. And here is a lot, this is again, the picture of the
lot from 14 looking at Hope Street. And this was the design that my client produced. To zoom in
on the zoning map as you can see most of howard and hope street are subdivided lots um it's just
that 1439 howard street is slightly slightly more narrow watt compared to most lots on um on both
sides of this prop of the street we met with the south kensington community partners they supported
the they supported the application they uh they expressed um their content and happiness with how
my clients involved in the community and and she just discussed uh possibly working together with
the community in a tree planting effort and just the just just housekeeping all the certificates
of mailing uh for both the rco and for the zba hearing today um so in conclusion this is uh this
is a this is a this is ripe for a dimensional variance one my client didn't create the hardship
two it's in uniformity with actually both sides of the properties it's it's the the neighborhood
has already changed as such that it's subdivisions by right on most both sides of the street and
actually as it is now being a single one rather large lot it would not be in uniform with
uh and consistent with the neighborhood um on both howard and hope street and uh with that i would
ask that um frank master marco be um unmuted and able to uh speak sir could you please state and
spell your name for the stenographer hi my name is frank frankie or francis master marco f-r-a-n-c-i-s
m-a-s-t-r-o-m-a-r-c-o but do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do counsel yes um
I do counsel. Yes.
Frank, did you hear my testimony before the board?
I did. Do you adopt that as your own? I do.
Okay, is there anything else you'd like to, um.
To add to the testimony concerning your ownership of both properties.
No, okay.
No, that's it questions from the board. Can you put the subdivision plan again? Please?
yes let me go
there you go and then have you already discussed this with opa about renaming the future
new parcel to the now street that it would front that that is the very next step okay
uh and my client does have have the um has experience doing that since he is um doing
the adjacent lot and living there and then what's the future plan for parcel b
parcel b is um if my client can speak to this it's it's we hope it would stay a it would stay
as a uh potential yard one the owner at 14 actually pull up the picture of the what property
the right here this property he's actually already inquired into he has a young family
about possibly acquiring it and keeping it as a yard side yard for his family um but that that's
that's that's the hope um and you know my client's going to be living next living adjacent to whomever
if my client sells it he's gonna be living adjacent to to them so he has a vested interest
and is going to good use and i guess just trying to understand the like process and hardship like
what drove the decision to subdivide it if we're trying to well the lot itself it's just too um
it's obviously the largest it's if you look at the the the map it's every other property has
been so divided by right his is just 60 feet too short um and that's the unique hardship
of that's unique hardship a lot it's like in that 1437 is was by right but 1439 is just 60 feet
so it's a very minimal um minimal requirement um minimal variance relief really for a 90 or 94
conforming um and no further questions other questions well okay i i guess um my issue is more
I thought that we tried, or at least under the new code, they tried to recognize that
we have undersized lots. And so they tried to make it easier, actually, for people to use
what are undersized lots. So by doing this, you are making this even more undersized than
has already been kind of determined or provided for. That's just a comment. That's not.
And the other thing is, since this is only dimensional, I mean, this could be a Hertzberg
kind of case where you don't need unnecessary hardship, but you usually have to have
some kind of reason as to why you want to do this. And I'm not sure just because you want to
subdivide it is enough of a reason but maybe you can provide some other well it's the size i mean
if you look at this lot it's this it's not uniform with any it's the it's an it's an outlier on the
entire block it it sticks out it collects trash because you have the property on howard street
and then this massive lot um that is only 60 feet short of required of being a by right subdivision
Again, if you look at the – literally my client's two properties are the only ones that are not – that do not have single-family homes that are not subdivided.
In 1437, he has done the subdivision.
By right, he is going to be living at this structure right here.
It's not necessarily feasible to hold all this land, have this yard be subject to debris, loitering, and it's not consistent with the rest of Hope Street.
Hope Street is a fully developed, it's a unique block in the city, but the 1400 block is fully developed with single-family homes besides 1439 and 1437.
1439 and 1437 wouldn't you agree that this becomes then a developable parcel
wouldn't you agree that
yes and would have to conform with obviously i want you know
there's obviously going to have to comply with variances but it could be yes it could
it could literally be sold and then built a single family dwelling bill built yes and if that was the
case it would match the remainder of Hope Street. I'm just listening to the reasoning and
understanding that from a profit standpoint, it makes sense to subdivide it and sell it or build
a single family dwelling. You know what I mean? Because having somebody use it as a side yard
to go through all this effort is costing you more than to let somebody use it as a side yard,
But to have it redeveloped as a single family or some other uses probably makes more sense, which, you know, at the end of the day, may be the may be the impetus.
I agree. And the the reason why my client and if my client wasn't living at 1437 Howard, that would make 100 percent sense.
He is, though, he is invested in this community. He's going to be living here.
So that's why we are open to obviously any and all proposed uses, but certainly developing it is within within the realm.
yep all right thank you any other questions questions for our attorney no questions at
this time mr chairman comments from the virtual audience good morning mr chair this is jason
hand i'll be taking over temporarily i do not see any hands raised for the matter planning commission
thank you chairman and good morning david vecto with the city planning commission
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa
RSA 5 residential single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in
1985 and again in 2018 and a council supported map change at the time of the 2018 map change
this blocks the zoning remained RSA 5. the proposed dimensional variance is minor and in keeping with
the purpose and spirit of the zoning code most of the lots on this block base range from approximately
830 square feet to slightly over a thousand square feet the city planning commission recommends the
board grant the proposed dimensional variance mi 2026 002 311 1439 north howard street i vote yes
michael john my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes iowen my vote is
yes thank you thank you have a great day all right number 12 mi 20 26
zero zero two three two three 1733 west butler street gabriel fellas is gabriel fellas was the
attorney it's jaz i'll be coming back in on the short morning everyone uh gabriel could you please
state and spell your name for the stenographer yes uh gabriel fellis g-a-b-r-i-e-l last name
is f-e-l-l-u-s do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yeah would you identify your client a relationship to the property sure my client is brick house llc
which is the property owner and william hennam is the authorizing member who's on the call here this
morning right and i see there's a letter of unanimous support from um 13th democratic ward
with with several uh provisos our uh board secretary has a few questions for you sure um
good morning counsel would you submit your documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of
this hearing yes and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
see I do then you can share your screen and be in your presentation thank you you guys see the title
page here it's confirming we see sir oh great all right thank you guys uh so we're here today
seeking a variance that would legalize the existing non-conforming use of the property
for three-family residential living uh so for just a bit of background on the property uh my
client project the property in its current condition. And based on our research and our
conversations with the neighbors at the RCO meeting, the property has been in use as a three
family dwelling for decades. It's a three story building with one unit on each floor. We'll get
to the interior photos in just a bit, but the property itself is in pretty bad shape. So our
client would eventually look to do some interior renovations, but we'd be keeping the general
layout as is with one unit on each floor so here's our our refusal for three family
household living which is prohibited in the rsa5 zoning district
so here's our first set of floor plans showing the property in its current layout
So, here's our first set of floor plans showing the property in its current layout.
Like I mentioned, the property is not in great shape and not conducive to a habitable living
space right now, but the general layout is three floors with a one-bedroom, one-bathroom
unit on each floor.
The basement is unfinished and there's no plan to add any basement living to the renovated
project.
Let's go through these quickly.
and here we have our potential set of floor plans that would propose some slight alterations to the
layouts of each unit we presented these alterations to the community at the rco meeting there was no
opposition to the changes most of the neighbors acknowledged that the property was in pretty poor
shape and in need of interior renovations to make it a bit more conducive to a higher quality of
living for the potential tenants so in these proposed plans the first floor
will be changed from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom with a sunroom and then we
just be changing the layouts and locations of the kitchen in the
bathrooms this is the same plan for the second floor but while without the
sunroom and then the third floor would remain unchanged from its current
condition which is just a one bedroom and one bath
here are some photos of the property on its current condition i'll go through these quickly
uh like i mentioned uh it's not in great shape uh will definitely require at least some basic
interior cosmetic uh renovations to make it habitable this is the basement
You can come back to these pictures towards the end when we take questions from the board.
This is our aerial view of the property on Butler Street and our zoning map.
As you can see here, the exterior of the property is in character with the rest of the RSA 5
properties on the block.
Additionally, this exhibit here shows that there are multiple RSA 5 properties on the
surrounding blocks in extremely close proximity to 1733 Butler that were all granted multifamily
use in the past. So uses of three-family dwelling is not entirely out of character with the wider
community. We're now turning to our community outreach efforts. We met with the 13th Democratic
Ward on September 24th. This is the notification letter we sent out to affected neighbors on August
31st we had a very constructive meeting the community did vote as you said uh to support
the variance requests with the provisos listed here all of which the property owner is agreeable to
so here we have the d package showing brick house taking the title to the property on
november 14th 2025 we have our appeal application and our project information form
here we have our statement of real tax real estate tax compliance and the uh notice of
zoning appeal posters that were hung up at the property
and lastly our certificates of mailing for the rco meeting that our office sent out in august
so with that i'd like to invite william hannamon to adopt my testimony sure william
they should be back in on the panel shortly thank you i appreciate it
can you hear me i can't tell you please first could you turn your uh video on please yep all
and could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer william hannam w-i-l-l-i-a-m
last name h-a-n-n-u-m do you swear referring to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes counsel hey william uh did you hear my testimony today yes and was it true and correct
to the best of your knowledge yes and would you adopt it as if it were your own yes any questions
we have an answer questions from the board can you pull up the plan again and i think you know
pursuant to all of the conversations what's the trash plan i'm sorry the the current site plans
they proposed alteration proposed alterations and then again walk me through the plan for
And then again, walk me through the plan for trash.
Will, do you want to speak to trash?