And would you adopt and affirm the testimony that I've offered as your own?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chair.
No, Mr. Chair.
questions or comments from our attorney
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emberson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments in the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, there is a Kerry Nelson with their hand raised.
I have a question to speak at this time.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court sonographer?
Hello?
jason any other hands ms nelson submitted a letter of support which is in the record
that's fine thank you sir any any other hands jason um no but uh kerry nelson
seems to be muting and unmuting they may be having a okay that's fine we have a letter
from her anyway we we know exactly where she stands thank you uh planning commission
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good morning, David Vecta with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the commercial mixed-use zoning at this location.
The dimensional variances for rear yard depth, occupied area, and parking stall depth all relate to an existing garage.
The appellant has shown that removing the garage to comply with these standards would pose a hardship.
However, the appellant has not shown that not following the roof deck setback standards will have a detrimental impact on the appellant's property.
So the City Planning Commission recommends the board grant all proposed dimensional variances except for the roof deck setback.
Thank you. Mr. Lavery, would you want to make a quick comment?
Yes, if I may, Mr. Chairman. The nature of the nonconformity is that the subject property provide no true outdoor space. And this actually is an effort to meet the scope and spirit of the code. The support of all interested parties speak to the granting of variance relief being appropriate in this situation. Thank you.
Thank you. So MI 2023-005-585-2216, Frankfurt Avenue, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, I vote yes.
James Snell, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, Mr. Laver.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board.
Number 12, MI 2023, 005-345-1742 West Erie Avenue.
Sherman Toppin is the attorney.
There's a letter of support from the 13th Ward RCO with a proviso.
Mr. Toppin, good morning. Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Well, good morning, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. My name is Sherman Toppin,
T-O-P-P-I-N, last name, 1800 JFK Boulevard, Suite 300.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and their relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is an LLC.
Well, my client should be David Gold.
He is a member of the LLC that owns the property.
And Mr. Gold, if he could be advanced as a co-panelist
or available to speak at the appropriate time.
Please.
I already swore you in, am I right?
No, no, you have not.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth?
yes i do and our vice chair has just a few questions sir
good morning council do you agree to wave 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 your screen okay i'm sharing my screen now do
okay is my screen present yeah it's a it's a it's the beach scene right picture of a beach scene
here is what it is all right i think it's wrong i think it's on the wrong side i have two screen
that's where i want to go okay that's fine it gave us a little break uh do you see the screen
correct? I can, sir. Okay. So I'm pleased to be talking here today about 1742.
Okay. So I'm pleased to be talking here today about 1742 West Erie Avenue. This particular property has been before the board. And let's just talk a little bit about the overview here. My typical exhibit package is present. The refusal, of course, I've already waived the remaining of the refusal.
But we're simply seeking three-family, multifamily household living in this existing structure.
Two years ago, in fact, let me just give the whole background.
This particular property has been before this board three times.
In 2018, it was denied.
The property was purchased in 2017 in the sheriff sale.
At that time, it was configured as five units.
The client sought zoning approval, zoning variance to develop the property as four units.
It was denied at that time.
I represented the client again in 2019, and this zoning board approved the use of the property as three units.
But of course, 2020 was a very tumultuous year for us all, as well as this applicant, the owner of this property.
And the owner of the property could not continue financially with the development of this property.
And so, as you can see, it was granted with provisos, and the proviso was that it could be granted with the permission of being a multifamily use with a maximum of three units.
A building permit was obtained.
This is our exhibit number three.
Building permit was obtained in 2020 in August.
We know what the world was like at that time.
the client could not continue with the construction that permit expired and the zoning permit was
never obtained years later my client has now rebounded and is seeking this very exact same
relief sought in 2019 today this is simply I guess logistically because it expired we have
to start from the beginning and so that is somewhat of the tragedy of this situation
And so I have in my exhibit package, the deed, of course, granting the property to YAY Real LLC. We have the tax clearance there. We have the application for appeal in which we state what I just testified to. And that is basically that the requirements, the property was purchased at a sheriff's sale configured as five units granted in 2020 for three units. And we're back here today.
The property, here it is, indicated on this zoning map. It's RSA 5, which requires us to be here in order to have multifamily use.
And the aerial of the block, again, here's the indicated by this balloon, blue balloon.
All the properties on this on the side of the street are really identical in shape and configuration and set up the property immediately to the, I guess, the left of the subject property is a blighted property.
also configured within as multi-unit, but vacant, no occupant and blighted at this time.
There's a vacant lot on the other side on my client's property.
As far as some exterior photos, here we are.
This is what the property looks like today.
Of course, from the outside, it looks like a single-family residence, except it has two doors.
We'll talk about what the interior layout is briefly, and there's three mailboxes for the three units proposed within.
As I mentioned, there's a blighted property next door also seeking similar relief.
We have no idea where they are in the process.
As we go into the property in the interior, it is configured.
This is the common first floor hallway, which takes you to the first unit or upstairs.
We can begin by, there's a lot of pictures here.
I'll just scroll down through them for the board to see.
This is the reverse of the entry, the entry stairwell reverse, first floor.
living room. This is going back in the first floor. There's the kitchen. And some better
pictures have been obtained, and I included them here. And I will be emailing you, Hillary,
this PowerPoint presentation. It has some updated pictures. And this is, again, we're going to
bathroom on the first floor. Going up to the top, the second floor, you have, this is one of the
units going back there. This is where we are with the property right now. It's configured as three
units as we'll discuss uh shortly with the plans and i believe this is gets into the top floor unit
and each the top floor has two bedrooms we have some clearer pictures of some of the features of
the house again this is a clear clearer picture of the second floor front and second floor second
floor rear second floor more pictures of that and just sort of i guess the board can
you can get the gist of where it is.
It's basically near finished, but not complete.
The only way to access the basement area
is through this rare doorway.
is through this rare doorway and when you go down there you basically it's not very safe there to
enter the picture taker did not go further in to see what the lower level appears to be beside this
because it's a lot of debris the steps have been so this it has not been completed in the basement
but those are basically the pictures of what we've got what will be in this particular property this
This is the elevation that is envisioned for the property, and here is the layout as far
as the plans.
Again, the basement will have nothing but mechanicals for the units, accessible here
in the rear.
On the first floor plan, there will be a doorway into the first living room, and then there's
a second entrance.
This will take to the common stairway up to the units.
So the first unit is the first floor, all along from the front to the back.
living room here, bathroom, kitchen in the middle, and an existing one bedroom, an existing bath
in the back. As you go up to the second floor plan here, you come up this stairway here,
there's a door to the third unit is actually bi-level. It includes this front living room
and the top of the third floor. And the second unit is a smaller unit is the rear of the back.
So the rear unit or this rear second floor unit is basically about 430 square feet.
The largest unit is the first floor unit, which is about 830 square feet, and about 770 for the bi-level third unit.
And this is what is envisioned as this is the layout as it is right now.
So we did present this to the RCO.
This is our meeting notice that we sent out to these 130 addresses in the affected area.
And we have the addresses in our exhibit package as well.
And we have a certificate of mailing, of course, of all of these.
It goes on for several pages in our exhibit package there.
And we have the posting of the ZBA notice hearing on the front door of the property,
which you can clearly see even from the edge of the property.
You can see that there.
So, in this particular case, when we went before the zoning, before the RCO meeting, the same chairperson, Charles Karn, presided, he remembered vaguely the property from four years ago when the same RCO did approve it for the three units, and he approved it again.
And the meeting was, I think, in the last, there was not many members of the affected community, but the board had nine members, all in support, and there were two members from the community that did support.
So we had unanimous support as far as that goes. And the board, the RCO did include, and we did commit to various items of, well, these are recommended by the RCO.
And if they are suitable for provisos, legal, which the board can determine, we are in agreement with all of them, the board.
The RCO wanted Jacob's Ladders in the rear windows, as well as all windows from the second and third floor, which we agreed to.
They also wanted there to be trash compactors in all units, and we have agreed to that.
And that's already envisioned in the development plan.
And as far as the rear yard, there will be an enclosed rear yard, and there will be no trash that's going to be out on the front of the property except for trash stay at the curb.
It will be kept in the compactors or in the rear of the property itself.
So we do have a trash and debris removal plan, which we've agreed to, an egress and safety plan with the Jacobs Ladders, and the property maintenance plan, which will make sure that there's a third-party property manager that will visit the property to keep it clean, to make sure that the common elements are tidy, and that they won't leave it up to the tenants to do any trash removal, or if need be, that that will happen by the property managers.
So with that, we believe that this is basically, again, we're just coming back a second time to say the same thing we said years ago in 2020 before this board.
And I'd like to bring this.
Please bring your blind one.
Yes. Mr. Goal, are you present?
I believe he.
It's been enough.
You can raise your.
Sir, sir, could you please state your name and spell it for the court stenographer?
My name is, people call me David Goldberg.
My name is Dimitro Goldenberg.
Could you spell him, please?
Yes, my first name spelled is D-M-Y-T-R-O, last name Goldenberg, G-O-L-D-E-N-B-E-R-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Yes, Mr. Goldenberg.
ah yes mr goldenberg and have you heard the testimony that i've made on behalf of the
And have you heard the testimony that I've made on behalf of the property?
property here 1742 west erie avenue yes i did and do you agree with the the content of my testimony
regarding this pro application in this property yes i do and is there anything you'd like to add
to it or we um pretty much have we said everything we needed to say yes you said everything we need
to be said thank you okay will you adopt oh will you adopt your testimony as your own
Sorry, do you talk to me?
Yes. Will you adopt my testimony as your own?
Yes, I will. Yes, I would.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Sure. Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Just quickly on the proviso, Mr. Toppin,
they indicated they gave some options for trash storage,
but they did not want it stored on the front.
um so are you okay with a provider of the board grants that the trash is not stored at the front
of the property uh yes yes all right thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience
um yes i have a hand up from charles richardson again i have allowed them to speak
again mr richardson please just state your name four times the charm i guess there you go
Charles Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, Room 508 City Hall.
Councilwoman has no objection to granting the variance.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I do not think there are any further answers.
Okay, Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good morning, David Effecto, with the City Planning Commission.
Chair and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location
from residential single-family to residential multifamily.
The proposed three dwelling units would be allowed by right under the proposed zoning.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the proposed use variance for three dwelling units.
Thank you. MI 2023-005-345-1742 West Erie Avenue.
I vote yes, proviso. No trash storage at front of property.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.