madeline uh yeah can you hear me i can could you please state your name
and spell it for the stenographer madeline chicumber spelled m-a-d-e l-i-n-e right
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Madeline, you're involved with one of the RCOs, am I correct?
Madeline, you're involved with one of the RCOs, am I correct?
Yes, I'm involved with the North Carolina.
Yes, I'm involved with the North of Washington Avenue Coalition.
So let me ask you this.
Are you in favor of this project or against?
I'm against this proposal.
Ms. Cumber, could you please, is there anything you can add that hasn't already been said?
Because there's been a lot said.
Well, the gentleman has started to do work on this property without permit.
Right.
I think we've heard that.
We've heard testimony relative.
Okay. My letter clearly states that the size of this place, as I already stated in my letter, is inadequate. We need affordable housing, and we're pushing for affordable housing that is, how do you say, sufficient for people to live in and not try to squeeze people into something that makes it impossible for them to even raise a family in.
this is one of the reasons why we are opposed to this
he already
we already talked about
I talked about this with him
and I explained to him why we are opposed to it
because the fact of the matter
does not allow enough room
for a family
and we're not squeezing people in
a place where he can
so that he can make
it's feasible to make money
of a three family house
but he wants to make it into five and we just can't allow that all right all right well as
usual thank you for taking the time and your interest and thank you for calling us is there
anyone left mr chair can i ask another question you certainly can okay um after hearing from the
neighbors i guess my my big question is there's a proposal here to put five units in a place where
you could do three more reasonably by right what is the actual hardship that is the justification
for the five given everything that we've just heard um it's the financial model isn't favorable
as a three you know like the financial model isn't favorable as a three unit building and it's like
we said it's been a continuous use the design on the first floor is as a two units and there is a
bathroom in the basement we could open the first floor to to make the basement just live in space
for the first, you know, apartment one or two
on the first floor.
So I'm open to that, to have it as maybe a four-family,
but I feel like there's been a lot of bias here
from what the neighbors are saying, you know,
that are, again, single...
Listen to me, that's your viewpoint,
but what I heard people say was
they think these units are too small.
and other people said
they'd prefer to have families move in
because then you could put kids in school
and things like that. I don't think that's biased.
I just think it's their opinion.
I'm not going to argue with you about it,
but that's my opinion.
But they put it in writing, too.
And it's
with Vicki,
I had a personal conversation
in front of her house,
so I don't understand why
she's saying that she's never spoke to me
or never heard about the proposal before that's totally inaccurate she was telling me she she was
coming from a group that they host at her house and and all this and okay i was just listening
so just to be clear about the the gate in the back that gate was there all right it's pre-existing
and okay that's so just to be clear the response to my question is that the financial model only
works with five units and that that is why okay okay i'm yes correct okay yeah so you just they
just agreed to for them he did i'm just clarifying the answer because okay great okay planning
commission well hold it is there anything else you want to um no just it's a tremendous expense
I'm not this investor or developer.
I'm just here to improve one house on the neighborhood
and make it a desirable place to look at
and to provide nice housing for residents.
All right, thank you very much.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning
to the current RM1 residential multifamily.
While the property has a documented history of five units in 1957, that has been abandoned
and as the apartments have not been occupied for over the limited time to constitute
and as the apartments have not been occupied for over the limited time to constitute illegally
non-conforming use moreover the current interior structure is not habitable on the current
condition the proposed five units would constitute an overuse of the property the planning commission
recommends that the board deny the requested variance for unit count thank you um we're going
to hold the vote on this on the 29th of uh october at 2 p.m we will vote uh and we will have time in
that morning to go to executive session and all the board members can have their input into this
okay so thank you for your time we appreciate your time and thank you too sir is there anyone
in the audience who um whose case has not been called on the 330 list
i don't see no hands chair uh before we go off taya we want to thank you because we know you
do not feel well and you hung in there the whole entire day and and uh we we we hope it's just a
cold and you're not really sick here and don't call any of your friends anymore because they'll
get you nervous so we but we do thank you for sitting there in fact at one point i was going
to just tell you to go lay down somewhere
but I'm about to do that
right now, Chairman.
We do appreciate you. Thank you very much
everybody. Thank you. All right, see you.
Good night.
Be well, Kyle.