with a proviso, trash stored in trash room on first floor. But you go up a flight of steps,
you know, in the middle, there's two more units, one to the left, one to the right,
same configuration. You have a kitchen, a living room, washer and dryers in all the units. And
then you go up a flight of steps. And here you have a bedroom and a study for each. Each of
these units are approximately 900 square feet. He chose this configuration to provide a lot of
light and air for the units so you have the benefit of the windows in the back as well as
the front of each of these units. RCO meeting notice we met earlier last month, September 12th
at 6 p.m. We emailed that notice a few weeks beforehand as well to the coordinating RCO as
well as other relevant parties. What we emailed them was proof of notice, this notice being
mailed to the community, and there were 104 addresses that this notice was mailed to.
These are the list of the addresses. Proof of mailing to those addresses.
Our application for appeal that we filed on the ENOM's behalf, along with the notice of refusal,
and then the project information form. The deed to the property showing that he purchased this
property in his personal name. Another thing, you know, again, he's taking true ownership of this.
He's not hiding behind a corporate entity. He's personally purchasing this property. He personally
purchased this property. He wants to add a nice four-unit dwelling in a neighborhood that, you
know, has seen not the best architecture, quite honestly, over the years. And here's our
certificate of tax clearance, showing that he owes no real estate taxes to the city.
I'm going to stop sharing my screen.
I just want to have him be sworn in.
I'll have him adopt my testimony as his own, and then we can always go back to the drawings
and we can answer any questions the board may have.
So, Enam, can you virtually raise your hand?
Enam Abazi, please unmute yourself and wait for the chair.
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yes yes i can yes it's
enam abazi e-n-a-m last name a-b-a-z-i affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes please proceed counsel oh yes enam you heard everything i had to state today about
your zoning matter yes and is it true and correct yes and do you have and do you adopt uh this as
your own testimony yes all right and then specifically i just want to rehash this like
you purposefully have put a trash room on the first floor to be a responsible landlord
in terms of trash storage and uh disposal right correct and i also live in the neighborhood
my whole life, so 30 years.
And you put the property in your personal name as well, right?
Correct.
Questions from the board.
I have a question.
You said that you wanted to mimic the building next door.
Does the building next door have window wells in the rear and the front?
Let me ask you.
I would think so if it has basement living.
So let me see.
Let me share my screen.
and when i meant to mimic i meant the dimensions of the building
oh honestly their building is i think a stucco
facade so i don't think we want to mimic so you don't know if it's four units in
that oh no there's four units oh there's four
units in there that i do not live in in that that you know of or you may not
know i'm not though you know um let me just see what we have here in
terms of the pictures um i thought there was a picture of
um i thought there was a picture of the picture of it where is it you showed us it's like right
There's a picture of it.
Where is it?
here i'm trying to see i thought i saw another picture of it but maybe i'm wrong let me see if
i can see from google uh street view hold on a second let me stop sharing my screen let me see
yeah this pictures in 2021 it does not look like there's a window well but i would defer
to enum enum do you know if there's a window well in the front or back of the neighboring property
at 612 West Norris Street.
I do see a window well next door to that.
Let me just share my screen.
So if you look here, I do see a window well here.
And that's next next door to us.
So that's 614.
Is that correct, Enam?
Okay, and that does look like it has a window well.
I do not see a window well in the front.
Do you know if there's a window well in the back?
I do not.
I do know it is four units, though.
It's four units, and it's a three-story structure like ours.
Like, we're only seeking 35 feet high.
We're not even seeking four stories.
So I would think that they have a very similar configuration of some sort where there is living in the basement.
But I don't want to say that that's correct because I don't know for sure.
and and what was the uh the dimensional hardship for for having the uh the not do by right
well so a couple things we want we want to mimic what is at 612 west north street and
by having that additional depth in our building um we're having rooming our units each of the
units are 900 square feet um we we like by having that additional depth too we have the configuration
of the lock of the of the units where each unit has nice light and air they either have the front
windows or the back windows so it makes a more functional floor plan as well rather than feeling
too dark so these are bi-level units and we thought that that would make it nicer for the
community or the occupants. Also, it allowed us to put a trash
room right smack in the middle of the first floor. So
trash is not going to be stored outside. It's going to be stored inside and
remain there until trash day. And can you show how many
windows are in the basement besides the two window wells
from the front and the rear? Those, I believe that's it because
we're landlocked. So 612 is
but you know that's only part of our the lower level is only part of those units those first
floor and lower level units but you know because you know this is 612 right so you can't obviously
have window wells on this party wall i mean windows in this party wall and this is currently
a vacant lot right now so we can't put any windows on our property on the on the party wall but the
The windows that we're talking about are on the first, second, and third floors.
So the upper units are the second and third floors, which will have windows in the front and the back on each of those floors, the bi-level floors.
And then unit number one and two, which is on the first floor and lower level, will have the benefit of the windows, nice windows on the first floor, in the front and the back.
And then they'll have the window wells, you know, in the front and back as well.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
other questions from the board yeah so just to be clear we're saying that the 20-inch
print was specifically to make units more livable and to allow for the trash room
yeah well because of design i think this is a very unique design you don't see that i'm
going to share my screen again let's hopefully i share the right thing but let's see
so if you look at the floor plans we try to make it a little bit more interesting here so you have
like so a lot of times you'll see floor plans that go straight from front to back right and
you kind of get lost in the middle here where there's like a dark zone here we wanted to create
units where there's a unit here there's a unit here there's a that's two units there's a unit
here and the unit here that's in that's four units so we have this common staircase in the middle
we were able to create a trash room and then we're making them like bi-level units it's almost like
internally like almost like small row homes like i live in fairmont i grew up in i originally when
I live in Fairmont. I grew up in, originally when I purchased in Fairmont, I lived on a street called Bucknell.
i purchased in fairmont
It was like an 800 square foot home. So it was a two story, kind of like what this is right here.
So it kind of creates these like mini little homes within here that everyone has a decent amount of light and air.
And again, most importantly, instead of storing the trash on the first floor, just for the rear, for the first floor unit,
and everyone else has to, you know, fend for themselves upstairs, everyone has access to
this trash room. We needed to extra depth to like be able to do this the right way. And again,
the property next door to us, it has the same depth. I don't know what the configuration is
inside of there, but I think our architect tried to leverage it to make it a little bit more
interesting and then in terms of the backyard only one unit has access to the rear yard and
only one unit has access to the roof i believe that is the case enum is that correct
correct and then it's not is there on-site laundry yes each of the units have its own
washer and dryer each one they're stacked yeah they're stacked yeah i mean each but each unit
has its own yeah i'm just i'm just confirming what i'm seeing because it's not labeled but
i was making sure that yeah i think i think it's like right here you can see yeah next to the hvac
unit yeah they're stacked yeah other questions from the board yes can you explain uh how you're
meeting the least minimum variance with four units as opposed to three units well that's a good
question um again what we're trying to do is mimic a lot of the the housing in the neighborhood where
you saw, let me see if I use this. Here we go. There are these comparable properties. So I
really try to compare apples to apples as much as possible. As you can see, 612 is four. And then we
have 611, which across the street is four. By having the fourth unit, again, I know this is
not a zoning related matter, but it, from a practical standpoint, it makes it a doable
project. Like, and it also keeps it affordable as well. So like I said, Enom lives in the
neighborhood, very familiar with the neighborhood. It's, it's, you know, it's, it's a neighborhood
that needs more affordable housing. And he's looking to have this, you know, as one unit
bedrooms, one bedroom units, excuse me, and make it more affordable and making it
actual build right now this property has been vacant for well over a decade and it's been
really tough uh for anyone to do anything so we're hoping that the board uh you know feel so
inclined to grant four units but we are just short of the three unit requirement and you know
the board has to i defer to the board in that respect i think it makes it a more interesting
design by having that fourth unit.
Any questions from the board?
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Chair.
Planning unit.
Thank you, Chairman, and good afternoon.
David Fechto with the City Planning Commission,
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RM1, residential
multifamily zoning at this location. Two dwelling units are allowed by right. However, the proposed
four units on this lot is in keeping. I'm sorry, the proposed four units on this lot are in keeping
with the documented unit density on this block face and the block face across the street. The
toward grant their proposed use variance for four dwelling units and the associated dimensional
variances. MI 2024-004-761-610 West Norris Street, I vote yes. Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Joe Gaston my vote is yes it's not a grand my vote is yes anyone my vote is yes
my vote is yes thank you counsel thank you number 14 MI 2024 004 766 720 Redline Road
David Orfanides is the attorney there's a letter of support from Greater Busselton Civic
There's a letter of support from Greater Busselton Civic Association, 31 to 9 in favor, and a letter of non-opposition from Councilman O'Neill.
association
Mr. Orphanidis is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Orphanides, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Certainly. My name is David Orphanides, O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S.
Are you a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Certainly. My client is J-B-N-C, the owner of the property.
Vice Chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to wait to read another refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
I do, sir.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I did.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed and share your screen.
Mr. Orphanese, one point. We have Redline Central Management Company as the owner now?
Yeah, so they are the general partner of the entity that owns it, owns the property.
I can provide that documentation.
Okay, good.
That's fine.
That's good.
I just wanted to make sure we weren't making a mistake.
I noticed that in the OPA and they are involved, but they are not the actual deeded owner.
And I have a copy of the deed in my package.
Thank you, sir.
Everybody can see my screen?
We can.
Okay, great.
Let me just move this out of the way.
All right. So the property in question is 720 Red Lion Road. As you mentioned, we do have letters of two position letters. One is from the Greater Busselton Civic League, which you will see in my exhibit package was designated or confirmed as a coordinating RCO for this property.
We had a community meeting on September 24th.
It was an in-person meeting.
As you can see, there were 60 people in attendance.
It was very well attended.