and on the screen on page eight is 269 West Walnut Lane. It's the rear of that property
and as you can see it's built right at the property line and coming back up to the north
towards my client's property again you'll see masonry walls that are more than six feet tall
along the rear of the properties. Continuing along at 261 West Walnut we have again a six
foot wooden fence identical to what my client has installed around her property and
a similar fence at 260 West Pistorius along the Pistorius Street corridor and the other
properties coming back up to my client's house, properties that are very similar
with the wooden fences along the rear property. Farther to the north is a new construction
development that my client put the wooden fence to separate from that development and have some
privacy. And farther along, we have off-street parking that services those properties on
Tuplehawk into the north or to the west and Walnut Lane to the east. And on the left side
of the screen on page 12, you can see another, it's a PVC fence, but it is a solid wooded fence
fronting the property, again, six feet high. So my clients is in keeping with the other existing
characteristics of the block and the other fences on the block. At exhibit six is the zoning plan
for the subject property 241 and the neighboring property at 247 and it just details the existing
wooden fence that's around the exterior of the property and we're looking to legalize
that fence. With that being said that is all of the exhibits members of the board and I hope I
did that efficiently enough. I would request that my client Mary South raise her hand and
My client, Mary South, raise her hand, and we can ask questions from the board if necessary.
And we can answer questions from the board if necessary.
Mary South has permission to speak.
Good morning, Ms. South.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, sir.
It's Mary South, M-A-R-Y-S-O-U-T-H.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed.
Mary, Ms. South, did you hear my presentation to the board this morning?
Yes, I did.
Were my statements true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Yes, they were.
Would you adopt my statements as if they were your own?
Yes, I would.
No further questions from my client?
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hangs chair planning commission thank you chair bergman and good morning
david effecto with the city planning commission chair and board members the comprehend i'll give
testimony for both uh 247 and 241 in west pastorius um the comprehensive plan recommends a change in
zoning at this location from residential single family detached three to residential single
family detached one. The appellant appears to have built a side fence and a rear fence without
the benefit of permits. The appellant has not shown that complying with the fence height,
opacity, and distance requirements in the zoning code will prevent an economic detriment,
preventing them from deriving value from their property. The City Planning Commission recommends
the board deny the proposed dimensional variances. Thank you. I'm going to vote them both at the same
time. Number 10, MI 2023-002-735-247-West-Pastoria Street. And number 11, MI 2022-007-363-241-West-Pastoria
Street. I vote yes to both. Thomas Holloman, I vote yes to both. James Snell, I vote yes to both.
thank you counsel thank you we're moving on to number 12 mi 2023 004 331 12285
mcnulty road brandon saverin is the attorney there is a recommendation of support from the
parkwood civic association unanimous no explanation
Brandon Saverin has been promoted to panelist good morning counsel could you please state your
name and spell for the court stenographer good morning Mr. Chairman my name is Brandon Saverin
that's spelled b-r-a-n-d-o-n and then s as in sam a v as in victor r-a-n as in nancy right do you
swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do could you
identify your client the relationship to this property my client is the tenant of suite 103
in this building um the business's name is fitness by erica llc um and erica raymer is here to adopt
testimony on its behalf our vice chair has just a few questions good morning council do you agree
away the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy. Good morning, Mr. Vice Chairman.
Yes, I do. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required
to proceed in this case five days in advance of the hearing? Yes, I did. Thank you. Please proceed
and see your screen. Thank you. Good morning, members of the board, and thank you in advance
for your time. I, as I mentioned, am here to speak on behalf of a tenant in this building.
And just to give you a sense right off the top about what kind of business we're talking about,
this is a photo of the interior of the business space. It is a fitness gym. Here is the main
gymnasium space. And then here is the business's lobby. And I'll show you more photos in a moment,
but those are part of exhibit 11 of the exhibits I submitted to the board in advance of this
hearing. I submitted 14 exhibits in total, and I would ask that they all be moved into the record
at the conclusion of the hearing thank you thank you mr chairman uh so uh on your screen is uh
now the refusal um so uh this is just a use variance so uh no no dimension
So, this is just a use variant. So, no dimensional refusals, just one use refusal. And it's for the use that you just saw. It's for fitness use, which in the zoning code is categorized as a type of personal service. So, that's the use we're talking about, personal services.
um uh to give you some further background um at exhibit one um is my memo uh to the board
and in that memo um i walk through um why i believe um my my client erica's business
satisfies the requirements in the code uh for a variance um and i'll walk through those
requirements in a moment, but among the sort of pieces of evidence in the memo is this. This is
a screenshot from L&I's website showing that this board, the zoning board, granted Erica and her
business a use variance for the exact same use in 2018, but it was a three-year temporary variance.
So what happened here is that earlier this year, Erica called me in a panic because she realized
Not with a violation, just I think on her own accord that this had expired and she needed a new variance.
And what I'm going to ask the board for today, if you're willing, is this time to grant permanent variance, not one that is time limited, because as you'll see in a moment, every single person that voted at the RCO meeting supported Erica.
And we also have a letter of non-opposition from Councilman O'Neill.
And I sent that this morning, as you know, they come in at the last minute sometimes.
But Councilman O'Neill's letter does not recommend a time limit on this variant.
So I will thus ask you, if you're willing to please grant this variance without a time limit so that Erica can invest in her business and in equipment for the gym,
rather than paying an attorney like me thousands of dollars to do this a third time sometime in
the future. In any event, let me show you at exhibit 14, the RCO meeting summary. And you
can see here that 15 people voted, all 15 were in support. This was an in-person meeting that
Erica attended of the Parkwood Civic Association. I would also mention that one of the
requirements for a variance is that the variance doesn't cause negative impacts to the greater
public. And I think since this business has been in place for five years, the public has had a
chance to observe whether or not it causes any negative impacts on them. And I think a unanimous
vote of support is proof that this business does not generate negative effects that harm the public.
Another requirement for variance, as you know, is that we are supposed to have a hardship.
And I think we really do have a hardship here. So I just want to walk you through it for a moment.
At Exhibit 7 is the zoning map. And here's our parcel. And then at Exhibit 8, I have an aerial of the parcel and its building.
And what you'll see is that this is part of an office park, essentially, that is centered on McNulty Road and Southampton Road.
And here in the distance is Roosevelt Boulevard. So we're in the far northeast. If you go back to the zoning map, what you're going to see is that all of the land in this complex, and I'm sort of tracing for you to the east of the boulevard where this business park is, it's all zoned either industrial or residential.
And I don't know why any of it's zoned residential because none of this is used for residential purposes. But let's put that aside for a second. Most of it is zoned industrial. Our property is I1. And the problem with that is that today, and the board may know this, I don't intend to speak condescendingly.
The types of users that are looking for industrial space want enormous buildings, particularly when they're doing, you know, warehouse and distribution related uses.
And this complex, although the buildings are big, they're not that big.
They're not the, you know, hundreds of thousands of square feet type buildings that modern industrial users are typically looking for.
So while I understand why this zoning was put on this complex, it's because when it was built, these were appropriate spaces for industrial businesses.
Today, they're much less attractive, but the zoning has never been updated.
So if the zoning were what what I would say is more appropriate, something like I.
So if the zoning were what I would say is more appropriate, something like ICMX, something that allows non-industrial commercial uses, this would be a by right use, or I believe it would at least.
But the problem here is the zoning from historical inertia only allows pure industrial uses.
So that represents a hardship for the property itself, because I don't think it can find
industrial tenants to fill the whole building.
And it represents a hardship for Erica as the tenant, because in order to place her
business, she can't do it anywhere in this entire area.
She basically would have to go, if you look at the map, down in the bottom left corner,
there's some commercially zoned space on the other side of Woodhaven Road.
But that driving distance is a full mile from the property. So many different types of business owners, including Erica, if they want to be in this Parkwood neighborhood, they need a variance no matter where they try to put the building.
So the variance is unavoidable, and I would say that represents a hardship.
Thanks for letting me talk through that, and I'll move on quickly now.
Just to sort of give you some examples of other folks that are located in our complex,
one of our paralegals went through some of the other buildings, and there are plenty of other non-industrial businesses like ours.
Other fitness studios, a nutrition store, a cigar shop, a healthcare center, a beauty salon, etc. And I've provided the addresses of those businesses in my memorandum at Exhibit 1. So we're sort of right at home with similar uses in this complex.
I've shown you let's go to the key plan of the building so and these are the other tenants here
at exhibit nine in our building itself again most of these are not what you would particularly call
industrial you know video editing you know etc it's a mix but they're not all industrial
at exhibit 10 is a floor plan of Erica's business itself I'm not going to go through this but
just to say you saw the gym that is an open space that occupies most of the tenant suite. And then
she has two bathrooms, three offices for staff, and that lobby I showed you in addition to a
storage room and a utility closet. And none of this is changing. This has all been in place since
2018. I did show you a couple photos just to show you a few more. I believe this goes to one of the
restrooms that's one I showed you already that's the lobby another angle of the gym space this is
one of the office spaces one of the restrooms another one of the office spaces the other
restroom I think you get the idea and I think really that I'll leave it at that I'll bring on
Erica to tell you a little bit more about the business but that that concludes my presentation
unless the board has any questions.
Thank you.
Why don't you bring your client on?
Erica Raymer.
Are you out there?
Good morning.
Hi, good morning.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Erica Raymer, E-R-I-C-A-R-A-M-E-R.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Machine counsel. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Erica, was I correct that you are the owner of Fitness by Erica LLC? Yes, correct. Okay. Did you hear my testimony in your zoning case this morning? Yes, I did.
And I know that you're not an expert on the zoning map, but to the best of your knowledge, was my testimony true and accurate? Yes, it was. And would you therefore adopt it as if it were your own testimony?
Tony? Yes. I'm just going to ask you a couple questions. One thing I didn't hit on. At your
building, is there ample parking for your clients? Yes, there is. We have a full parking lot and then
street parking as well. Okay. And last question. In a minute or less, very briefly, can you tell
the board about the types of clients, the types of classes that you offer in this space?
Sure. So just a quick summary. We are a class only gym. So the facility is only open during active business hours of classes. So typically two to three hours a day only. And when we're open in the evening, the other businesses in the strip are actually closed. They close after 5 p.m. So we're the only people utilizing the parking lot at that time. And I think that at this point, we've been there five years. We definitely have brought a lot to.
And I think that at this point, we've been there five years. We definitely have brought a lot to the community. We take care of the building. We take care of the outside. And I'm in good standing with the landlord. We made it through COVID and everything. So I think that we bring a lot to the neighborhood being there as a business.
Okay. Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments?
Thank you.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No hands, Chair.
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 Industrial 1 to Industrial 2, General Industrial.
Neither the current or proposed zoning allows the proposed group fitness classes.
However, in 2011, licenses and inspections issued a use permit for this property for an athletic facility with batting cages.
The proposed fitness center is consistent with the previously approved use.
The City Planning Commission recommends the board grant a proposed use variance for group fitness classes.
Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, I'm so sorry to butt in.
I just wanted to make one more request.
I think I forgot to mention this.
If you could, perhaps in a proviso, specify that the variance is with regard to suite 103.
Our council is already advised.
I'll just show you that.
So MI 2023-004-331-12285 McNulty Road.
I vote yes.
Proviso, use limited to unit 103.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with Proviso.
James Snell, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose case has not been called on the morning list?
there are no hands chair thanks everyone see you everyone at 2 p.m all right all right
Two o'clock.
Patina, we're ready to go, right?
Yes, sir.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone.
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this afternoon's EBA hearing.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ishmael Shahid.