interior photographs um so if you can i i will upload them i thought i uploaded uh two videos
because they were originally in video form oh and i had to like splice them out videos if you can
just i i could just upload them yeah that'd be great thank you and if you can't do that if you
can send it to you know us via email also of course i'll do that today all right thank you
questions or comments from the virtual audience mr pastor tyrone williams you are allowed to speak
good afternoon reverend good afternoon chairman and board could you please state and spell your
name for the sonographer sure tyrone williams tyrone t-y-r-o-n-e williams w-i-l-l-i-a-m-s
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes sir please proceed sir um i'm glad to finally get to hear the presentation as
mr. wedding testified there was zoom and in-person for the first time for these
two properties um I was trying to kind of wait to start moving to in person and
And that was the first month that I attempted to do Zoom and in-person.
Unfortunately, we was going up against the Fever Fest and some other things going on in the city that this particular Thursday, for some reason, we couldn't even get nobody, let alone in-person, even on Zoom.
um as Mr. Shawn stated we sat and looked and chatted a little bit uh I was totally embarrassed
because that's never happened and um I did attempt and did offer another meeting day or another
meeting uh understanding that they have already had continuances on both these properties and I
wanted to see how they wanted to proceed with this uh they proceeded to get the uh signatures
from the nearby neighbors um the still strawberry mansion cdc did not weigh in due to the fact that
there was no attendance however as long as there's no basement living uh the strawberry mansion
they will confirmation overlay is observed which means no pilot houses rooftop that egress wells
um and then i'm interested to know what is uh what the holding area for the trash be locked
um because we have a dumping issue that the i must admit the mayor doing a great job
I must admit the mayor doing a great job on working with, but it's not federal.
or working with, but it's not federal.
And so I don't want any residents or businesses or contractors or any way to get no idea that they see some trash.
This is a good place to dump.
If those things are compliant and done, the survey mentioned CDC issues, non-opposition, which I will forward a letter on both properties, that the coordinator is the whole.
So, Reverend, are you feel the same way about the second one or do you want to hear the presentation?
I pretty much know about the second one.
It's similar to the first one.
it's not necessarily for me i don't okay i don't need to thank you very much for doing that
as long as he uh the client adhere to his trash plan lock in the trash holding area
no uh not going against the overlay and no basement living i'm for it okay okay non-opposition
right is there anyone else in there thank you thank you can we confirm that they're okay with
those provisors the owner is okay with all those provisors yeah yes we had previously spoken with
pastor williams okay he's actually the only one who got to see my presentation originally right
can i also reiterate my question about trash because i think the what the rco has requested
is not necessarily allowable on the rear of the yard the way that we was just outlined
in their response to me. So I just want to be clear. How is everyone getting to the trash
enclosure? So we will, I think Mr. Ponzo may have confused the two properties. The next property
goes block to block. So it's a very easy access. This one does not, this one I do believe we're
going to have a locked receptacle at the front with all the trash cans inside of it. And then
each tenant will have a key that they can bring out theirs. Dumping is a major issue on blocks
like this with all these vacant lots. So this is going to be something that we take a lot of care
of. Otherwise, Mr. Ponzo is going to be paying for everyone else to dump their trash on his
property. I would recommend that you actually consider, I know I've come from the outside of
the world, right? Sorry, you just scared me there. The trash and storage. Your units are large
enough that you can have a dedicated trash storage within the units so i would really consider that
instead of having trash cans sort of piled up whether they're enclosed or not enclosed in front
of it out of my head i was actually going to tell the chair that i was going to recommend interior
trash storage i think that would be fine mr ponzo would you be fine with that yes okay thank you and
i just want just because we've had a lot of conversation i just want to let you know like
Like you do, when you get the CO, there are some things in your plan that are going to get flagged.
So just be ready.
For sure.
I mean, this is going to have to meet all sorts of code and going to require a lot of permits.
All right.
Anyone else in the audience?
Add it this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Madison Matera, Planning Commission staff.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the R.
That's where you went yet?
Oh, good.
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential single family zoning at
this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2014 in accord with recommendations in the
comprehensive plan there's no unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that
would prevent it from being used in strict conformity with the zoning code an owner appears
to have converted this property to three dwelling units without the benefit of permits city planning
commission recommends the board deny the proposed use variance for three dwelling units
MI 2025 007 857 267 North 29th Street I vote yes with proviso certificate of occupancy to be
obtained no basement living trash stored in individual units chairman if I may just very
quickly it's 2167 is the property address you listed it you said 267 oh 2167 thanks for
tonight thank you i just want to make sure we don't say ellen is picky about these things
michael johnson my vote is yes with provisos cheryl gaster my booty chefs with provisos
ryan mcadams my vote is yes with provisos hi owen my vote is yes with provisos
all right so mi 2026 000 551 3024 west dolphin street sean just for the record state your name
Of course, Sean Whalen, W-H-A-L-E-N.
And you have the same client, I understand.
Could you state his name?
It is actually a different LLC.
So it is Harland Group, H-A-R-L-A-N-D Group, LLC.
H. A. R. L. A. N. D. group LLC. George Ponzo is the same owner of the LLC and our board secretary of.
George Pons.
Well, has a few questions for you. Yes. Good afternoon. Council. Um, did you submit your documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of this? Yes.
Yes. And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, we do. Then you can share your screen and begin your presentation. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Anything you can relate back to the other one, I'd appreciate.
Of course. You went pretty low on the other one. I'm just letting you know.
I apologize. It's been so long since I've had a regular hearing in front of you guys. I keep
having these convoluted messes that get dropped on your desk on Tuesdays. So we're here for
for 3024 West Dauphin Street. As you can see, this is a mid-block property in the same
neighborhood. It's right in between. It goes all the way from West Dauphin Street back to West
Nevada Street, about halfway in between North 30th and North 31st. This property has a very similar
condition, actually, even it's over 50% vacant lots on these two properties. You can even start
seeing it from here and then what you can start to see is we have a 12 unit apartment building
going in right next to us and we have a large commercial auto use right on the other side of
that we also in this neighborhood so what you can see here with the zoning plan we have large rm1
on both corners you have far more far less single family living in this area than the other block
with far more multifamily.
Again, we are seeking a single variance
for the three units again.
This is the property on the right-hand side.
It does have a new front.
The property owner purchased it in July of 2022.
It had been designated imminently dangerous
and the front of the building needed to be repaired.
So that was repaired.
and then I will go into the rest of it is in the condition in which he purchased it
this is looking south from the property or sorry west from the property and this is looking the
other direction as you can see this is the you know a large the large building uses right next
to us as well as this 12 unit building immediately adjacent to us again here the floor plans again no
basement living we are willing to accept all the same conditions from the strawberry mansion cdc
that were just mentioned and discussed these units are even larger so we are willing to accept the
uh interior trash storage that board member win and john's suggested um these are actually very
large uh one bedrooms on each floor one on each floor the first second and third floors
and what you can see this is the current condition
um it is uh you know framed out as a triplex uh but not actually built as a triplex at all
um and what you can see uh these the the new wood up here is the third floor was previously
not the same size as the as the first and second floors and in uh as mr ponzo will testify if you
want me to go that long more as i can testify now he bought it in the current condition framed out
but he knew this was going to require a lot of work the second floor roof needed a lot of work
and ultimately he decided in 2024 to pull a zoning permit and building permit to make an addition
to basically extend the third floor in the rear to be the same size as the second the first and
second floors so now you have a completely contiguous building going all the way up
As you already heard from Pastor Williams, we had the same condition here.
We were to present both properties, 2167 North 29th Street and 3204 West Dauphin Street
at the same meeting in late July to the RCO.
No one appeared.
However, I will show you again.
Here is the, we serve notices to everyone, and that was confirmed by the CDC.
So we had the same situation in which Mr. Ponzo went door to door and he can testify again, no, no opposition from anyone that he spoke with and received numerous signatures of support.
Again, as I was suggesting before, in 2024, he pulled a permit to build the addition to frame out.
in 2024 he pulled a permit to build the addition uh to frame out the entire building so that's the
only port that's the only work that he's done is that rear portion aside from the imminently
dangerous matter uh and this is actually how he found out for the first time again he walked this
property it was framed out as a triplex knew he was going to have to do the work thought it was
approved as a triplex uh however when he pulled this permit the zoning permit listed it as
residential single family and that is how he first learned that this was not an approved
triplex he was already down the path ended up building out the addition because otherwise
he'd have to finish the roof anyway and now we're before you to try to legalize the work
that was already done which he thought was already in place and obviously this will require full
permitting from uh you know basically full permits all mechanicals um and new it really is just
framing at this point although it is technically framed out as a triplex in the form that is shown
uh in this um in the floor plans that i presented again i think this one even more strongly we have
hardship and that you have an existing building uh but even more so you have a real sea change
including you know immediately adjacent to us you have a 12 unit building that towers up four stories
um which is you know a heavy multi-family use there is far more multi-family use uh even even
actually at this time approved which most most of the time it isn't but even mostly approved
multi-family use on this block and again this is the least minimum variance in that we're just
seeking to have one this is a very large property these units will be actually just over 700 square
feet each and have a very large rear yard so you actually have did i only include i only included
one i apologize but what you can see is here's the existing building it does extend all the
way back like i said to west nevada street so there's a very very large rear yard a lot of open
space and here we're just trying to put one unit per floor again so with that i'm happy to uh call
my client to adopt if you would like i can have my client again walk through the specifics and
details here um if not i could just have them see someone mr ponzo yes i'm here sir just for
the record state your name you loaded and sworn george ponzo george g-e-o-r-g-e last name ponzo
p-o-n-z-o counsel yes uh thank you uh george mr ponzo you're here on behalf of the harland group
llc that owns the property correct yes and have you heard all the testimony that i already provided
in this matter yes do you believe it to be true and correct to the best of your knowledge
information and belief yes and would you adopt my testimony as your own yes and do you agree
to all the provisos that were already set forth with regard to the prior property at 2167
north 29th street uh also being applied here yes uh questions from the board yeah can you
go to the site to the plan the floor plans the floor plans sure yeah i'm looking at google and
it looks like on the second and third floor you have outdoor balconies on the rear but you're
yeah you're not quite sure okay so you have these outdoor balconies on the second and third floor
You know, you mentioned that there's a large backyard, which I think is great, right?
But in this plan, you don't even show access, but I'm quite sure it's showing some access.
But it's, again, like the other units that we see a lot, they're through the bedroom.
And you, it's again, a totally missed opportunity not to have access from the common area in a living, in a living, an apartment to the outdoor space and not through a bedroom.
I'm sorry, board member Johns, I thought you were done.
Yeah. So, I mean, I just, I mean, you know, you, you kind of did it on the other plan and you got the hallway and the access to the, to the rear yard, which, you know, was kind of funky, but here you've got a huge backyard and it's only access through the living room.
just want to make one comment for anybody any architect that's listening that comes that comes
in with these kind of plans this simple if you want to keep this bedroom in the back you can
easily put a a bathroom there you can move your kitchens here and get access through that alleyway
it makes much more sense it just works functionally for a living unit to have everybody have access to
works functionally for a living unit to have everybody have access to a rear yard, not having
to go to somebody's private bedroom space to go to a rear yard. It's very simple. Please, please,
please listen to that. Okay. Thank you. Did you hear that? I heard that loud and clear and I will
have our architect investigate that. I just have one question because I think similar to
the previous property this property also has a number of like a very long
Illinois history some of them predating and also posts like your clients
purchase but I just want to understand like what drove your decision to decide
to move forward with turning this into a triplex because it does look like you
previously had applied for demolition permit and that it when it was purchased
it was already imminently dangerous and had already had application that was
approved for a demolition permit from the previous owner you bought it from so it just seems like
this like has a long history of like issues of this property like what drove the decision to try
to revive it this year so i i can go into the detail and then mr ponzo can answer the rest
with regard to the demolition it was deemed imminently dangerous that needed to be cured
immediately that was the demolition permit but mr ponzo didn't want to demo the building
but the city was requiring a demolition permit be pulled they actually were about to do a um
yeah a sidewalk demo a curbside demo yeah come down and mr ponzo actually had to to fight with
the city to be able to just go ahead and and repair that front wall which is why it is not
demolished and it is uh still in place um so yes he did he did the exterior front wall to cure the
eminently dangerous violation i understand but i think like if you look at its permit history there
was interior permit issues there was like rear permit issues in the past and it had almost been