he'll be coming back
in as a panelist now
Thank you.
Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Chandler. How are you? Could you state your name one more time?
You've already been sworn. Yes. David Chandler, attorney for the applicant, C-H-A-N-D-L-E-R.
And could you please turn your video on, please? Sure.
Oh, here we go. Okay. Good morning. Good morning. Could you identify your client
and the relationship to this property?
Okay, my client is Mr. Mustafa Horain.
I'll spell his name.
M-O-U-S-T-A-F-A is his first name.
His last name is Horain, H-O-R-A-I-N-E.
And he is an owner of the proposed food store,
which is located at 2531 South Bonzel Street.
The zip code is 19145.
He is leasing the property, and we submitted a copy of the signed lease this morning.
Ms. Emerson said she did receive it, and we also emailed it to ZBA and the other sites as well.
All right, so our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we did.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Okay. Well, we'll share the screen with the exhibits.
Okay. We have Exhibits 1 through 11, which we had previously submitted.
The first one is a E1, Exhibit 1 is the deed, showing that the DL and YS LLC is the owner of the property.
And then we have.
And this is the lease.
This is between Mr. Horain and the landlord.
And this one was not signed, but as I said, we did email the signed lease to Ms. Emerson and the ZBA website's emails today. So we do have the signed lease.
Exhibit three is notice of refusal. Basically, it was refused because previously the site was occupied by Western Union, Western Union check cashing, and they went out of business.
And then Mr. Horain leased the property for the food store for selling groceries, beverages, candy, various food items. And obviously, he needed a variance to.
And obviously, he needed a variance to open the store because there was a change of ownership.
So that's why we appealed.
He applied for the variance.
It was denied.
So that's why we appealed.
So basically, it's just a new business there, basically.
Reasons for appeal.
Exhibit 4 was Application for the Appeal.
This shows the zoning, RSA-5.
It allows a residential single family, but it allows the business to be at the corner.
now exhibit seven these are the photographs of the exterior and interior as you can see
uh it currently has the check caching sign western union but obviously that that'll be taken down
that is the 7-eleven is next door uh but we've got no opposition from the 7-eleven
again that's the uh front of the uh uh store looking from pass yonk avenue that's the south
side it's this uh that's it's facing south the building itself is facing south and uh it itself
it's on the north side of pass yonk avenue um again
there are a couple other businesses to the side now this is the interior where the the food will
be stored and that's uh where we'll have the um the cash register
interior shots
and actually we had a letter of support uh from mr gitto james gitto and he was the president of
the zoning committee from the west passing neighbors association we had a zoom meeting
held on april 20th in which we presented our case and he um he submitted a letter of support
and basically we've got no letters of opposition or anything
and we submitted the letter of support
and the only thing he asked is that the applicant
have and maintain a trash can outside
which obviously our client will do
and we've been in touch with the councilman's office
and no opposition there
and exhibit 10 are the
resumes from the
from the
Mr. Hrain, Mr. Salem, who's his
partner
and they're immigrants from
Yemen and
basically that is that is our case
so you want to bring one of your clients
and adopt your testimony
yes yes he will
OK, please proceed. Basically, that.
Mr. Horrain. Oh, yeah, he Mr. Horrain isn't here, but we have his partner who is here.
OK, and he will he will adopt Mr.
Will adopt my testimony. OK.
Mr. Chandler, is the partner's last name M.O.H.?
uh yes it's um m-o-u-s-t-a-f-a harain h-o-r-a-i-n-e we have ali mo here is that his partner
Oh, yes. He is a partner.
He's been unmuted and allowed to speak.
Sir, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
My name is Mustafa Hurey. Can you hear me?
Yeah. My name is Mustafa Hurey.
could you spell your name please
M-O-U-S-T-A-F-A
H-O-R-A-I-N-E
oh I'm sorry
that is Mr. Horain
I understand
you swear we're firm to tell the truth
the whole truth, nothing but the truth
yes sir I do
Yes, sir, I do.
please proceed counsel
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Horain, you are the tenant of this property?
And you filed an application to open a food store at the property?
I wish.
And if approved, you will open it in the near future?
Yes, sir.
And did you hear my testimony regarding this case?
And everything I said, was that true and correct?
Yes, sir.
Mr. Chairman, I have no further questions for my client.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning Commission.
This is Ron Bednar City Planning.
The property is indicated for residential on the city plan or adopted district plan recommends no change to existing zoning at this location.
The applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or condition of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the use and dimensional requirements of the code.
Therefore, we recommend your question variance not be granted.
MI 2023, 000487-2351 South Bonsall Street, I vote yes.
Proviso, use limited to first floor.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Game Snell, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Thank you.
Number 12, MI 2022-006-740-538 North 10th Street.
Justin Crick is the attorney.
This was a request for six dwelling units.
It has been reduced to four units.
There is a letter of opposition from the 14th Ward Democratic Executive Committee.
However, the RCO is willing to support a three-unit proposal.
Justin Crick is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Good morning, members of the Board.
Good morning, Mr. Crick.
Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court's stenographer?
Yes, Justin Crick, J-U-S-T-I-N, last name Crick, K-R-I-K.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
Yes. My client is Mei Zhao, LLC. Michael Zhao is on the line. He is the principal of the entity, owner of the property.
Okay. And our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Counsel, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and relate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and required
to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing? Yes. Thank you. Please proceed
and share your screen. Thank you. Members of the Board, I will share my screen real quickly.
Okay. We are here today on an application to turn the property located at 50, I'm sorry,
538 north 10th street from a single family dwelling into a multi-unit dwelling the applicant
did and as i will indicate and show you based upon plans and the sizable nature of this property did
initially request for a six unit property in a configuration that had what is considered three
front units and three rear units and after meeting with the rco on several occasions had reduced that
unit count a few times. And while the RCO is amenable to a three-unit plan, which we leave
that up to the board's discretion, the applicant and testimony from the architect would show that
that the four-unit configuration is somewhat more feasible in general and not necessarily
for the cost-effective reasons, but just because of the existing structure and the way it is
situated. Again, however, we respect the RCO's input throughout that. So just to get right to
it, again, this does say a refusal for six units. We are now seeking four on the proviso plans that
have been attached. And again, RCO amenable to three. The property is situated on North 10th
The property is situated on North 10th Street between Brandywine and Green Street, and while it is not entirely visible here, I'm going to zoom in a little bit, there is a rear alleyway, and that rear alleyway is kind of critical because of egress for fire purposes and so forth.
between Brandywine and Green Street and
And any unit count that is approved would obviously meet building code and the rehab of this property would be sprinklered.
The rear yard is sizable. We have over 20 feet in depth.
And as you'll see, we've indicated or included a trash receptacle area, an enclosure to accommodate any of the units that are allowable here.
We believe that that is a sufficient way to store trash.
With the four-unit option, the applicant was willing to accept a proviso of commercial trash pickup.
I don't know if that's necessary.
Should it be any fewer units, I think that the city volume would be acceptable for a lesser count or density.
But again, as you can see here, this is a very sizable rear yard space that all parties have access to through this side alley.
And what you'll see on the layout in the plans is that right in the center of the building with access to this rear yard is a central spiral staircase that divides front from rear of the building, which provided some of the complications in the design and layout of the property other than it being used as a single family dwelling.
From the exterior front, the property just looks like a customary row home three stories in this area.
what you're what you're not necessarily getting that you see from let me jump to
it the side plans or the the essentially from Brandywine Street you
would see the property actually this is from Green Street but the property is
situated with a very long rear to which the applicant is extending the second
third floors of the of the rear shed house originally so the original I'm
sorry this plan calls for as you can see again the trash enclosure and rear yard
we have over 20 feet of rear yard space and overall we're talking about large
floor areas for for this entire structure but what gets tricky and I'll
have the architect testify momentarily, is this center staircase and configuring anything in this
property that doesn't separate or that includes front and back. There is also a significant
height difference between the front of the property and the rear property, which also
mess with configurations of units. So what the architect has attempted to do was to combine a
second third story rear unit internally with a staircase to provide a larger
two-bedroom unit and then the similar thing in the front the second and third
floor with two bedrooms on the third floor and the kitchen living room area
on the second the first floor however we're really stuck with in a sense this
front unit that has basically a smaller square footage footprint and is more of a
one-bedroom efficiency but it has extremely high ceilings at about 12 to
15 feet that that can be discussed more with the architect but so while we are
bringing this into four unit as opposed to the three configuration it's just a
matter of difficulty given the contours it's prohibitive that we have seen for
that for that use we do have a copy of the deed showing the purchase of the