ZBA Hearing - October 15, 2025

additional bathroom that has the heights for youth I believe they're going to use a stair step

to allow for the children to be able to access the toilet as it is, but it's going to be

handicap accessible in terms of width and space from the floor.

Okay. Other questions? Yes. The outdoor space you're going to use for a play area? Yes.

Is that concrete out there? How are you going to make that a, I think, safe play area for the children?

So they have carpet tiles and padding that could be used on top of the concrete so that it's not such a hard surface for them to play on.

And it's my understanding they're going to use paint essentially to make it more child friendly on the outside.

All of these items are items that currently belong to the property owner.

It would be cleared and removed so that they could actually put in toys and things for the toddlers.

And the door leading to the outside, are there steps there?

Or how do the children get from this space, from the interior space to this exterior play area?

Yeah. Okay. I can kind of bring up the plan and then we can kind of take a look at that.

So there are stairs in the back that basically is accessible once you open the door. The

teachers and the staff members would essentially assist the children with being able to

um get in and out and i believe they also are going to have a 88 accessible ramp there is going

to be a um five foot rise so there's one step and then you can get to the ramp

okay i actually have three other questions now so there's the 88

actually have three other questions now so there's the ada accessible ramp at the rear

but not one at the front so i guess my question is considering you're keeping the ada bathroom

what's the plan to have accessibility happen at the front of the property so there's a side area

where um you can access the rear of the property through the side way so if someone needs to be

able to use the ramp they could actually just kind of wheel back to the rear of the building

and so that's the plan okay and then right now it looks like the current owner has the trash

receptacles in the rear area that you all are designating for play space where are you relocating

the trash well they would have a shed outside that would kind of separate that from where the

play area would be so it would kind of be separated and then my last question is about

meals so this commercial space has no kitchenette and I guess my question is how are you planning

to manage any refrigeration you might need on site for you know refreshments meals

um it's so from what I understand they have a prep area here they would have um I guess outlets

that they could plug refrigeration in so that they can have stuff cool but they're not going to have

um stove or any meals that are prepared parents are going to be responsible for essentially

you know bringing lunch items in a lunch box for the kids and that's what they would basically

um stow and this prep area would allow for them to organize organize themselves in that way

is there going to be any heating other abilities to heat things on site hot plate

toaster oven air fryer microwave i um did not get into that because when i did ask the question

about the lunch it's pre-packed lunch for the kids so i doubt that um there would be anything

like a hot plate or anything like that i'm not certain about a microwave but that's you know

an appliance that's kind of easily acquired so okay i imagine they may have something like that

to accommodate if necessary, but their intentions were not to have, um, for the staff to prepare

meals, but that they'll serve the, you know, the meal, the lunch that the parents provide for the

kids. And I guess I have just one last question, I think, um, with respect to the ages of the

children I think that there's an age cutoff where you have to provide or an age range where you have

to provide extra fire protection and or means of ingress and egress because the children are not

capable of self-preservation and I didn't know whether it started at two and a half or it was

up to two and a half or past that age.

So are there provisions being made for that

as part of this plan?

I believe the special requirements apply

for kids younger than two and a half.

Okay.

Yeah.

But you're absolutely correct.

There are additional requirements

for the younger kids, the infants.

They're not servicing anyone within that category.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Questions from our attorney, Hori Everson?

Ms. McCoy, the refusal doesn't specify the location of the proposed child care.

Would your client object to a proviso if the board were to grant to limit the use to the first floor?

Oh, sure. Yes.

Thank you.

Your comments from the virtual audience?

i see no hands chair planning commission

amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change

to the rm1 residential multifamily zoning at this location the property is on alany's

north 5th street commercial corridor and the proposed use is in harmony with that context

the planning commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance for child care center

Thank you. MI 2024-007-674-4927 North 5th Street. I vote yes with proviso. First floor only.

Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.

Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.

Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.

Iowa, my vote is yes with proviso.

Thank you. Number five, MI 2025, 003-977-1514 Christian Street.

zero zero three nine seven seven fifteen fourteen christian street lewis rego is the owner applicant

this is pro se there's a letter of opposition from the north washington avenue coalition

and a letter of opposition from the south of south neighbors association mr rego hi could

you please state your name and spell for the stenographer um lewis rego r-e-g-o right i'm

sorry i did not hear the give us a minute john we'll get it straight we know that

okay louis rego l-o-u-i-s r-e-g-o right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole

truth and nothing but the truth yes sir our our um our board secretary cheryl l gasson has a few

questions for you. Good afternoon. Did you submit your documents and exhibits to the zoning board

five days in advance of this hearing? Yes. Thank you. You may share your screen and begin your

presentation. So, Mr. Riga, let me read this to you first. The application is for use as multiple

family household living, five dwelling units within an existing structure. In the RM1 zoning

district a minimum of 360 square feet of lot area is required per dwelling unit for the first

1440 square feet of a lot area with a lot of area of 1204 a maximum of three dwelling units would

be permitted whereas dwelling units are five dwelling units are proposed um start your

presentation yes um do you have a computer yeah forget this system oh okay

this home has been abandoned for body get stated closer than white please

okay the the home has been abandoned for several years um and the neighbors tell us there were

a lot of you know drug trafficking and undesirable activity going on in the home for a long time and

but it looked like it was been vacant quite quite a while i don't know five years or

or more six years or six years and although i understand about the lot size that i'd like

the board to consider you know continued use and past use and the mixed use of the neighborhood

that it um it's part of that it fits in we're not changing any of the structure of the building

on the exterior um except you know doors and windows and

and um it's when you go into the home you can see that it was used as a four family with two

apartments on the first floor one apartment on the second floor another apartment in the third floor

and even a questionable apartment in the basement because there was a full bathroom

in the basement and robert c say he's um the contractor and when he went all right so robert

can't speak okay what we'll do is you can we can get him as a witness okay continue with your

presentation the city had on record that there was use as a five family that the city did recognize

it as a five family at some point so our proposal was to you know continue the use of the two units

on the first floor one would be a studio about 400 square foot in the front and the second one

would be like a 600 square foot or so one one bedroom unit on the back and then open up the

basement you know with the requirements for the fire windows you know in the

front and the back you know to allow for another one-bedroom apartment in the

basement all contained within the units and just to do structural repairs and

modernization of the whole building when we went to the neighbors and we

delivered personal letters and tried to talk to most of the neighbors most of them were either

positive or indifferent so even though the the coalition voted six to eleven um

eleven against the proposal i don't think that's reflective of the the total neighborhood

of the total neighborhood in terms of opposition to the structure.

in terms of opposition to the

And right across the street from this unit is another five-family condominium

and a five-family apartment building.

Down a few blocks, there are multiple five-family buildings on Christian Street.

And the neighborhood itself is a mixed-use neighborhood.

The church is used as a church, as a school, the Baptist church on the corner. It also is used as an Airbnb that the city recognizes. There's also commercial shops on the city, multiple three family, four family homes, duplexes, you know, churches, businesses.

so I feel like

the building fits along

with the structure and the use

is both a continuous

use based on

the design and the city's

why don't you show us your plans

and then you have the photos

this was the

we have all that

we're good

okay so there's the exterior so that would be the the first drawing on your um is that a basement

right is the basement so that would contain a living room a bedroom you know the current bathroom

you know and some living space and then this is the first floor which was divided like with two

different kitchens in the front and in the back and two bathrooms and it also goes to the back

deck on the first floor and then there's all the main entrance devised to go upstairs to the second

floor which would be like a two-bedroom apartment and then the third floor another two-bedroom

apartment that's um you have photos of it right now or um yes there okay it looks like the old

owners started to do um construction to open it up and we just like to finish it and

make it a viable

home that it would

I live and work in the

city and I would be

living there with my wife

and we would rent out the other units

so we were thinking of just taking the first

floor of one bedroom

and then rent in the

other units and

keeping things

beautiful and orderly

and continue to be part of

the community

Okay, is this your witness? Is there some testimony you want to offer from this man here?

Yes, Robert C.C. is...

Could you plug in your mic? Make sure your mic is plugged in, right?

Hello?

Yeah, could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?

My name is Robert C.C. C.C. S.E. S.A.W.A.

You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Yeah, I do.

And what testimony do you want to offer?

I just wanted to confirm that during the process of dealing with the city for this building,

we have realized that, like he stated, I think as early as the early 2000s or late 90s,

this same building has five apartments, you know, as it is now, as we're trying to do.

So, I mean, we're not changing anything.

We're just trying to just go by as it was, five apartments.

So I think it would be in the interest of the city, the neighborhood, to make sure that

it would continue because, like he stated, they didn't have been really a black eye on

the whole street.

Yep.

Yeah.

So he's just trying to uplift the street, the neighborhood.

But for some reason, some other people have not been in our corner.

But if we are allowed to do this, it will really help to leave the street.

I mean, right across from all, you can see the fire story.

You can see the TV story, the same thing with fire apartment.

It's the same thing we're trying to repeat.

We're not adding anything.

We're just structurally going by the same thing that was there.

So I really hope

the vote would consider us

to make this thing go to.

Thank you for your testament.

We appreciate it. Questions from the board?

Yes. What's the depth of the basement below grade?

Yes.

What's the depth of the basement

below grade?

What's the question?

The depth of the basement?

The depth of the basement, there's enough depth to have at least a seven foot.

A seven foot. Seven feet or three feet. I tell you seven feet to the inches. I think 82. 82 or 84.

but that's to the ceiling I'm asking below grade

because right now it looks like there's an

entire unit that's being proposed

for the basement

right

and I'm

I just I'm curious about

the egress wells they're not