We'll start there.
So here's the entrance.
There'll be a counter along those windows that face Roxborough Avenue with stools, a reception area.
the service
counter, kitchen, there's a trash room
this is an elevator for handicapped patrons
bathrooms and another stair tower
second floor, again this is the
party room on the second floor front
and then these are game consoles
The patrons get their ice cream.
They can enjoy it while they play a video game.
And then, as I said, the four-party agreement has been executed and is part of the package here.
I'll just skip to the signature page.
As you can see, this is the signatures of the tubby robot, the tenant, Flat Rock Real Estate, the owner.
There's the Maniak Neighborhood Council, and then finally the Development Corporation.
There is a seating plan, which has been adopted.
One of the provisions is that any material change to the seating plan or configuration requires approval from the neighborhood organizations.
One of the other provisions is that there will be no alcohol, and that cannot change without the consent of the neighborhood.
And then there's a parking plan to alleviate parking problems.
and then there's a parking plan uh to alleviate parking problems to make sure that this does not
create parking problems uh on main street uh if chris mcguire would raise his hand
mr mcguire
is being promoted to parent panelist. Thank you.
hello hi sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Yes, I am Chris McGuire, C-H-R-I-S-M-A-G-U-I-R-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed, counsel.
Chris, were you in the virtual audience during my presentation?
Yes, I was.
And you heard my testimony?
I did.
Is it truthful?
It is.
And do you adopt it as your own?
Thank you.
I have nothing to do further, Mr. Chairman.
Questions from the board?
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
Just to clarify, because the refusal didn't specify this,
this is on the first and second floors only?
Any basement use?
No, okay.
So would you object to a proviso specifying
that the use is on the first and second floors yes here's the floor plan that depicts the
basement let me enlarge a little bit
would the basement be used for storage related to the business lockers and storage down there now
indicates uh some utilities uh mechanical space storage but there is no use there's lockers
um indicated for employees okay so there the restaurant has the restaurant has would have
access to and would utilize the basement yes but it's not going to be for public uh not right no
no i understand that i just wanted to if the board decided to specify the location of the use just
want to make sure that it included all the spaces that were intended for use for the restaurant yes
thank you so you're going to go basement first and second floor okay questions or comments from
the virtual audience no hands raised at the time chair planning commission good afternoon liz
for the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the cmx 2.5 commercial
mixed use zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1979 in a council supported
map change the appellant has shown that their property cannot practically be used to accommodate
the parking requirement the parking required by the zoning overlay the city planning commission
recommends that the board grant the proposed variance for required parking spaces mi 2025
002 820 4259 main street i vote yes with proviso use basement first and second floor
my vote is yes with proviso
Cheryl Gaston
my vote is yes with proviso
Tanetta Graham my vote is yes with proviso
I win my vote is yes with proviso
thank you Mr. O'Brien
I have your next one
NY 2025
002 910
4351 Pichon Street
would you please state your name
yes William O'Brien
W-Y-L-L-I-A-M
O'Brien OBR, IEN, Manningham Law Office, on behalf of 401 Martin Street, BSPLP, the owner of 401
Martin Street and 4351 Peachin Street. And there is a letter of provisos from Central
Roxburgh Civic Association. The vote was 15 in support, 11 in a non-opposition.
And then there's letters from other neighbors. Our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good afternoon. Have you emailed your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this
hearing?
Yes, I did.
And did you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
I did.
Okay, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed.
Thank you. The exhibit package has 20 identified exhibits. I'm going to focus on exhibits two
I'm going to focus on Exhibits 2 through 10, wherever I request that all of the package be admitted to evidence at the end of the hearing.
through ten, wherever I request them.
This is a second phase of a two-phase development.
This is about a 10,000 square foot parcel on the north side on Martin Street.
There is a former church, a decommissioned church. It was a Lutheran church, Bethany Lutheran church. And on the south of that 4351, what we're here for today, is the former parsonage of that church.
They were two, they each were separate OPA parcels, but they were not separate zoning parcels. So the one deed conveyed both parcels.
uh the church uh was is both property both both structures are contributing to the victorian
rocksboro historic district uh and under the code changes uh in section 602 of the zoning code
uh the church has now been repurposed to 14 dwelling units uh that work is nearing completion
The proposal that's before the board today is the second phase, which is the repurposing of the parsonage, the former parsonage, into four units and the introduction of parking that will serve both buildings.
So all told, there'll be 22 parking spaces serving the existing 14 units that are being completed now in that church and the proposed four in the parsonage.
This is the refusal for 4351, the parsonage.
It's basically three refusals.
One, the parking.
You can't have parking in the side yard.
You can't have non-accessory parking.
The multifamily use is not permitted.
This property was rezoned RSD1 about 15 years ago.
And then we have an issue with two trees that were removed,
and I'll get to that in a minute. We have the agreement, as I said, with the Civic Association.
Their letter, dated October 3rd, which is here, has nine bullet points, beginning on the first
page and continuing to the second page. And the Civic Group and my client are asking that this
be adopted as a proviso. These are cosmetic, but very important issues. This is a very visible,
prominent corner, if you will, block in this neighborhood. And the neighborhood wants to
make sure that the cosmetic items, the landscaping are all done up to as best as they can. So we're
asking that this be adopted as a proviso. One of the items I want to point out is that the
parking lot, although the planning plan, which I'll come to in a second, shows 18 spaces,
the Civic Association asked us to reduce that to 16 spaces and increase landscaped area,
which we've done. Let me go back a little bit. I said 22 spaces. The church has a driveway from
Martin Street, which has six spaces. And then together with the 16 that are now proposed for
this new parking area are the total of the 22. So here's the stormwater map. The red box is the
parcel with the parsonage. And then above that is the church structure. There's a curb cut here
on Martin Street and the parking for those six spaces is here. This is the area that the neighbors
are most interested in to make sure that this Pechen Street yard is well landscaped. And this
is the area for the proposed 16 spaces. So here you can see looking from Pechen Street, the back
of the church and the right side, the left side rather, of the port parsonage. The plan is to
duplicate these columns to create a curb cut and this will be where the 16 parking spaces go.
There is no parking on this side of Pichon Street, so there is no effect to on-street parking.
There is no parking on this side of Pechen Street, so there is no...
Another angle of those, this is the parsonage, which is really the subject of this zoning hearing.
This is a side view of the parsonage from Monastery Avenue.
and this is looking towards
Pichon Street, Monastery to the left, Martin to the right
again between the Parsonage to the left and the back of the church
to the right.
This is the approved
or I shouldn't say approved. This is the reviewed
planting plan for the parking lot. We're introducing 12 trees, 41 shrubs, and 35
perennials that satisfy all of the landscape requirements regarding the
parking lot and buffers between the residential district. The refusal, and I probably should read
it, and we'll get to that right now. So there were two trees removed, and reading from the refusal,
it says two trees provided, I mean, the applicant removed 132 caliper inches of tree without a
permit and provided an arborist report claiming that they were unhealthy and should be exempt
after the fact. We can't verify they were sick. They don't look sick in street images,
so they must account for the replacement. So the refusal is, we're short 102
two inches, caliper inches, at $50 per inch would be $5,200.
The arborist report, there were two of them.
The first is on page 20 of the materials.
And I'll read from this page. This is dated December 4th, 2024, to Mr. Andy Molson, who's one of the managing members.
Dear Mr. Molson, for future use, we've reviewed the two subject red oaks along the church property.
These trees have been drastically pruned and damaged due to vegetation utility management.
Currently, there are numerous large dead branches and decay in three liters.
I would consider removing these trees in the near future.
Later, when it became the Planning Commission disagreed based on images, the arborist sent a follow-up, which is on page 21.
This is directed to Keith Davis, to the Planning Commission, from John Rockwell Hasbach, the arborist.
Keith, attached are two photographs of the subject red oaks.
They clearly denote excessive damage in utility vegetation management to these two subjects.
Coincidentally, you will notice decay over the road.
High value target equals high risk, which was caused by years of vegetation truning by the utility.
And then these are the two images that the arborist provided.
I think I did that too fast.
My computers, there we go, okay.
So this is the first of two images.
These are the two trees. You can see utility wires here and how these have all been cut back.
And I also want to point out that these stained glass windows
were at risk from falling branches. These are 19th century stained glass windows that are being
restored and will become part of these dwellings. They're extraordinary. So that was also a
consideration. And then this is a close-up of the one tree where you can see the branches that are
cut back so severely. The applicant is not looking to avoid landscaping. We have one of the bullet
points is in that RCO letter is to really hire, to engage with landscape architects and come up
with a plan for this space. This depicts, this is not yet an agreement, this is just imagery to show
what we're thinking about. We're going to collaborate with the Roxborough Civic Association
We're going to collaborate with the Roxborough Civic Association to come up with the final planning plan.
to come up with the final planning plan.
But this image shows plantings that would conceal HVAC equipment.
This shows red maples, again, canopy trees and understory trees to landscape this area.
This is one of the parking spaces that the civic group wanted to become landscaped, and then this is in front of the parsonage.
So this is intended to really become a nice vegetative area in this community that is, for the most part, attached single-family homes.
Do I remember? Didn't we do the church here?
No, the church was done over-the-counter.
Oh, is that right?
Yeah, that was over-the-counter.
I want to get to the floor plans.
So this is the first floor of the parsonage.
What's proposed are four one-bedroom apartments.
The average is 560 square feet.
The first floor, there's a one-bedroom apartment on the first floor front.
And then in the middle of the second and first floors is a bi-level apartment.
Here's the first floor portion.
On the second floor, you have a one-bedroom apartment on the front and the second floor of that bi-level apartment.
And on the third floor, a one-bedroom apartment.
And again, there'll be, if approved, there'll be 16 spaces in the proposed new parking area,
six from
Martin Street for a total of 22
spaces to serve the
total 20 apartments.
Sitting to my left
is Steve Osheski, who is
the managing member of the
general partner of the owner of the real estate
and developer.