So if we look at the zoning map here, this highlighted parcel is ours.
And you can see that it's surrounded by industrial zoning.
That's where you saw the junkyards, you saw the railroad spaces.
There's a large industrial warehouse building over here.
um there's um and then there's commercial businesses um and i'm just going to show
you exactly i made a list of everything to show you the other uses so within just the two
surrounding blocks so with looking at the two blocks this is on the 3300 block of north 22nd
street and the um excuse me the 2100 block of west west moorland we have six other multi-family
housing range in size from two to four units. We have two mixed use commercial dwellings
with two residential units in each. There is at least two other large industrial parcels
that one of which is used as junkyard. Another one has some truck storage on it. There's another
one that has a warehouse on it. There is the railroad properties. And notably within these,
just these two blocks, there's 16 vacant parcels. It's an area that, you know, needs some more
residential use in it. And definitely on this corner where we're intersecting with that railroad,
you know, it'll be good to have that lighting, to have that use, to have that,
you know, that engagement on that corner with activity again. Let me just go to the photos
again, I wanted to show you both tenants will have access to the rear yard where they will be able to
store their trash. So trash storage will be off the street. Trash bins will be provided. And so
it should be neat and tidy and kept out of the way of any of the, you know, to not cause a problem
for other residents. I was not personally at the RCO meeting and we do not have the letter, but I
have talked to my client and he will confirm my testimony about his experience um there seemed to
be he met with allegheny west civic association on september 16th um and his impression was that
there was a overall positive response specifically because he was a resident of the community
and he himself was investing in the community he lived in um they also noted that it had been
vacant for a long time prior to him purchasing the property. So again, restoring this kind of
long-term vacant dilapidated nuisance property into something that has, you know, this nice
lighting on the outside that actually improves the safety of the community. Like I said, there's
lots of vacant parcels around. There's lots of these industrial parcels. So the addition of one
more unit in this property should not cause any sort of congestion parking issues um strain on
utilities or anything like that um it'll be way less of a hazard um than some of these surrounding
industrial uses are to the neighborhood and kind of serve as a buffer between those industrial
uses and maybe some of the other residential um residential houses in the area and also prevent
another house from getting knocked down in another vacant parcel um on a couple blocks here that are
pretty plagued with that so uh with that um i would like to have my client adopt my testimony
and then i'll answer questions alfonso can you raise your hand
hi chair alfonso zimmerman we've asked him that okay thank you all right
yep alfonso can you um i guess you need to swear him in correct
yep Alfonso can you um I guess you need to swear him in correct yeah could you
please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Alfonso Zimmerman a-l-p-h-o-n-s-o-z-i-m-m-e-r-m-a-n do you swear or affirm that
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes could you turn your
video on I'm trying to see where that I don't want to see more us okay joins
this panel all right there you go please proceed counsel um mr zimmerman did you hear my testimony
here today and believe it to be truthful and accurate yes i did and would you adopt it as
your own yes all right thank you and then i guess now we're just going to answer the board questions
Oh, can you just testify that you are the member of the LLC that owns this property and you're authorized to talk on its behalf, correct?
Yes, yes, I am.
And you are a local resident, correct?
Yes, yes.
So, Jennifer, this was historically a single family home?
It was.
It hasn't been occupied.
The neighbors indicated since the 80s or 90s, however.
He started doing the work on it, was converting it to a duplex, and then L&I stopped?
Correct.
He had a permit to do some work and then exceeded the permit and then has to come back now.
Questions from the board.
Yes, I have a question about the basement.
Could you talk about how it's going to be used?
Yes, it's just going to be storage.
There is, let me get to the front, there is access for both tenants.
to access the storage area in the basement in the front of the building um there's no living at all
um that's not going to be a residential use that's i just want to confirm that because you did show
a partition wall and a bathroom on the floor plans and we would be happy to have um a proviso
explicitly saying that there would be no basement living and then is how do you get to the rear
yard sure it's in um it's a corner property so let's just show get let me just get over to
that um it's just there's a fence in the back and there's a gate in the fence
there's no longer a door from the rear of the property into the rear yard there is there's
also a door to the roof from the rear that wasn't shown on the plan so i'm just curious which how
like do both units have access to that rear door yeah so the rear door from the building will only
be for the first floor unit but the second floor unit will have access to that space it's not a
private space for that first floor unit so it'll be accessed by both um units the second unit will
have through this gate in the fence we'll have access and that rear so that rear access is that
through that bedroom as you showed on the plan it would be in the rear bedroom correct okay
just because it wasn't it was not reflected on the sponsor what were you going to say
no actually that that vac has been cut so everybody has access through the on the side
where everybody else go access it on the on the side gate okay everyone has there's no
you did remove that door the plan is correct yeah yeah i apologize my misunderstanding of
i get the case is confused sometimes i really truly apologize yes oh yeah there's no door in
the back sorry about that there's there's no door there anymore okay just wanted to make sure and
then can we talk about uh like the work you've done that was outside of the lni scope yes
so can you just explain a little bit about what you had applied for
and then what you were what you have done i think is what they're asking for right now okay so like
i said i was planning to um again when i first bought i didn't know it was this big um so then
when I realized like it was got a lot of space that was just just too much uh so I did break it
down to the duplex um I'm the contractor I did all the work for myself and um so when I realized
that I went to go get to the um the permits the prior permits which they were allowing me at first
but then when they realized I got to go through the zone in first day I guess they stopped it
after that first uh easy permit that I tried to go get um so then they told me well I got to go
the zone in to basically move forward with their the permits and everything after you got that
first stop work order though it looks like you continued work for like almost it's almost been
a year now since you got a stop work order well it's been it's been sitting for over it's been
sitting over i've been done that project for at least eight months seven eight months so after
they gave you a stop work order did you do any other work what work did you do after the stop
work order uh probably more so cleaning up because because by time he put the stop work order it was
uh probably more so cleaning up because by the time they put the stop work order it was it was
it was pretty much
pretty much done it was so it was on some cleaning up any structural work electrical work plumbing
work or anything like that after after the stop work order no nothing nothing major no just as far
as cleaning out cleaning up the place yeah getting everything in and out of the thing out of the
place and the separate meters have already been installed yeah they were all utilities yes they
were already installed before
work stop all that
would you be opposed to a CO
just because technically
L&I should not have inspected
any of the plumbing
any of the electrical that you did for the second unit
because once it's separately metered
that's when it should have
that's when they would have caught it
and so they wouldn't have
reviewed it with this
they would not have reviewed it as a multifamily
so are you opposed to a CO
no because he knows he's going to have to get the additional permits anyway that we discussed this
that he understands that where he's going to have to go back and get you know retroactively the
correct building permits plumbing permits and the new co for the two unit building so
i just want to make sure alfonso we talked about that and you do agree
any other questions yeah can you clarify for me how was the first floor unit um getting out are
they have another egress with the basement because you closed the back door so there's no back door
so how are they getting there's windows in the back um there's windows on the back there's
windows on the side there's windows on the front so there's numerous uh if we go to the plans you
can see there's numerous ways for that unit to get out okay and then the other question is so
do they have access to the basement from the interior no okay thank you those first floor
our windows are egress windows you install egress windows no no they're just windows
yeah they're just windows so then that's that's not a way out i just wanted to point that out
well it got to be a standard size and the size is standard enough for us i'm aware but there's
a specific type of window that you have to have that's also for egress so you do have to install
a specific egress window and that is not i do believe that would come up in part of the permitting
and CO process. And if those windows needed to be changed, they absolutely would be to
meet FHIR code regulations. So that's part of, I understand
what you're getting at, that, yeah, that's why we're going to get the permits.
That's why we need the extra CO. And if that needs to get changed
per building code, it would get changed.
Yeah, you have to have ingress and egress.
Duplex, but I say triplex. Am I reading
something wrong here? The application is for two units.
okay but you've laid out three units and you've got four meters which you mean you've got a panel
for each one of the units including the basement and an extra panel for the landlord so that's
three units and at this point we are applying for two and we will be willing to stipulate that there
should be no living at all in that basement and it could only be used for storage and not
used as a third unit because that's not in part of the application right now okay
Questions from our attorney.
I just wanted to note that we did receive a letter of support from the Allegheny West Civic Association, RCO.
Thank you, Charles Richardson, for forwarding that to us.
Questions or comments from the audience or the virtual audience?
Hi, Chair. We have Charles Richardson with their hand raised.
Good afternoon, Mr. Richardson. You've already been sworn, sir.
good afternoon again board uh councilwoman bass has no opposition to granting the variance
thank you very much sir we appreciate your call anyone else in the audience
i see no further hands at this time planning commission
madison matera planning commission staff the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
RSA 5 residential single family zoning at this location. The city rezoned this neighborhood in
2006 in a city or a council supported map change. There is no unique physical condition or
circumstance of this property that would prevent it from being used in strict conformity with the
zoning code. The appellant appears to have done work without the proper permits. The city planning
commission recommends that the board deny the proposed use variance for two dwelling units.
So MI2025, 004-009, 3301 North 22nd Street. I vote yes, with provisos. Maximum two units,
certificate of occupancy to be obtained. Michael Johnson. Wait, are we adding no household living
in the basement? Yes. Oh, okay. Yes. No household living in the basement.
Can I just add that Hillary
and do it again? All right. No household
living in basement.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with
provisos. Cheryl
Gaston, my vote is yes with provisos.
Tannetta Graham, my vote is
yes with provisos.
My vote is yes with provisos.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, counsel.
Thanks.
thank you number 16 mi 2025 004 496 1019 wall street augusta o'neill is the attorney this is
a resumptive hearing this is also a land bank owned property michael johns has recused himself
from the hearing shared they've been promoted to panels good afternoon
oh there we go hi good afternoon could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer
Sure. My first name is Augusta, A-U-G-U-S-T-A. Excuse me. My last name is O'Neill, which is O-N-E-I-L-L.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
So this is—
And I also had to say congratulations on the new appointments to our new secretary and vice chair.
Okay. Thank you.
so this is a resumptive hearing and this is the updates we have letter of support from the 14th
community organization the vote was nine in support including four near neighbors one in
opposition one in non-opposition received proof of posting and a letter of non-opposition from
council member young now we would take any update that you have for us so the last time that we were
in front of the board the rco had had an issue that didn't allow them to have a meeting with
my client prior to the hearing and so we had asked that the board do it a hear and hold so
we presented our full case back on september 10th um and as you just recited mr chair we do now have
the support of the rco and a letter of non-opposition from the councilman
um so we would ask that the board please vote on it at this time okay thank you um
any questions or comments from the board
questions or comments from our attorney
not at this time mr. chair or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands raised at this time
planning commission already took a position am I correct