Yeah, I have a question. So the makeup of these 10 units, I know the, what is the makeup? Like
buns in two bedrooms? What is the total makeup of all 10 units?
Let me take a look. The two first floor units are four bedrooms or three bedrooms and a den each, so they're family size.
Then we have a two bedroom on the second floor, another two bedroom on the second floor.
I'm sorry. That's a one-bedroom. So it's four one-bedrooms on the second.
And four one-bedrooms at the top floor.
so you have eight one bedroom units two three and or four uh bedroom units
and what is there any common space um for all units just the hallway storage or anything like
that uh well there's the basement is all mechanicals uh and uh the hallways are of
common but there's trash storage space for each of the units and each unit is pretty ample
so there's no other common space other than the exterior breezeway
and the way this is constructed it looks like two large properties right
On the outside, it looks like two large properties on a triple lot, on a triple lot, right?
Yes, it's a three-lot parcel.
Other questions from the board?
Can I see, again, the first floor unit plant?
Yes, ma'am.
Thank you.
And can we kind of. I'm going to zoom in in a minute. Thank you. I can't see it either.
Okay. Yeah. So as you can see here, it goes street to street.
A large living dining kitchen, sort of open space, open concept. We have a large ADA bathroom and
There's trash storage.
And then we have four rooms, which we, off the hallways, which we've identified as bedrooms.
Of course, we realize it could be, you know, use maybe three of the bedrooms and one be more of a home office for folks who work from home, like most of us do.
But, or some other room, but that's, and then there's one other large bathroom back here.
And that's, and these are mirror units.
They're both the same.
Gotcha.
so question so the ada accessibility is with the ramp out front you said that's correct
this ramp goes right into this unit okay um just the one unit or yeah this one is the one that's
ada compliant the all others can be adapted for ada if needed okay and then uh you said that the
Is there some way for someone who needs it to get to these other units on the second and third floor?
I thought you said that one was ADA compliant and then the rest.
I thought you said that one was ADA compliant and then the rest were ADA accessible.
So how are we doing that?
How would people get from it?
I think I don't know if I said accessible.
I meant adaptable.
So all other units can be adapted for ADA, which is what the code requires.
But the one unit must be ADA, which is why we have the ramp here for this.
so no they're not except there's no there's no uh elevator uh but they're adaptable each of the
units has to be adaptable and that's what they've done okay but how would they get to the other
units on the i mean even if they would need i mean obviously they would need you know assistance
getting upstairs because there's no elevator for the three it's a it's just a three-story building
okay all right thank you questions or comments from our attorney
um just briefly mr anastasia you mentioned there were some changes made as a result of
um concerns raised at the rco meeting do any of those changes things that were
affected the plans that were reviewed by lni for this project like the site plan anything
on the floor plans that wouldn't yeah nothing nothing of material uh uh impact otherwise i
would have attached a proviso form okay all right thank you questions or comments from the virtual
audience yes willie jordan will be allowed to speak morning mr jordan could you please state
your name and spell for the court stenographer willie jordan w-i-l-l-i-e j-o-r-d-a-n do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes please proceed sir
uh i'm willie jordan um the um coordinator for the 44th ward um we did have uh two meetings
and had some concerns we met with we communicated those concerns and we did receive a email with
some of the changes unfortunately it didn't get in front of the population that's in question
and one of our major concerns is a four-bedroom apartment this is almost turning into a rooming
house uh and he never addressed any parking situation on there to add four bedrooms and in
in one um area is just too much that is just too too much okay uh mr jordan yes
mr anastasia you have any questions uh none whatsoever uh just uh it was loud why don't
you wait to see if there's anyone else in the audience and i'll give you a chance to respond
Okay. Is there anyone else in there? Thank you, Mr. Jordan. Is there anyone else in the virtual
audience? Yes. Madeline Medley will be allowed to speak. Good morning. Could you please state
your name and spell for the court stenographer? Madeline Medley. M-A-D-E-L-I-N-E, Medley, M-E-D-L-E-Y.
Thank you. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Are you a neighbor?
I am a homeowner on the block.
I live at 5326.
You don't have to say where you live.
That's fine.
Please.
Well, we feel like this is a warehouse for families.
These are single family homes on this block.
There is only one vacancy.
Where do the children play?
Who cleans the hallways?
This is a recipe for disaster.
Because you have one person who is untidy and the whole building is in uproar. Are there bathtubs for the children to be bathed in or is each bathroom a shower? How is the daily cleaning of this building done?
How is the trash handled? Are these large trash containers sanitized on a regular basis? Or is this going to bring rodents into our community that we do not have now? And that is our concern. I did not receive a letter. Neither did many of my neighbors.
I saw the gentleman sitting in a car taking signatures of people who did not live on this block.
So that is not only my concern, but I speak for a number of my neighbors.
We vote absolutely no.
Thank you.
Thank you for taking the time to call us.
thank you for taking the time to call us we appreciate it is there anyone else diverse
We appreciate it.
Is there anyone else to vote?
audience yes there's a call-in user number one will be alive hi could you please state
your name and spell for the court stenographer hello calling user one with your hand up please
unmute yourself do you have any other hands up
there are no other hands up chair i say that's star six to unmute
they may be having technical difficulty okay all right yes mr anastasio before i go to planning
do you have a comment? Oh, yeah. At the meeting, there were concerns about the questions about
different things. And I'm not quite sure that the second witness was at that meeting. But there
would, we've already committed to commercial trash pickup, which would be normal, regardless of how
many units. There would be a property management team and a property maintenance team, which we've
also discussed with Mr. Jordan. And of course, we did submit evidence that all the impacted
homes were in fact male. The four-bedroom option, we're not married to that. We never were.
In order to reduce that, however, this back portion of each of these units would become
separate units. So instead of asking for 10, we would ask for 12, or I guess it would be 12,
because these are mirrored units.
So we did not think that the neighbors
wanted additional units
and therefore we kept the four-bedroom
or three-bedroom in a den option.
But we're certainly willing to discuss that.
If that's the sticking point,
if that's what can't get us to where we need to be,
then we're willing to have that further discussion.
But we're not married.
Okay, I hear.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman.
And good morning, David Fechter
with the City Planning Commission. Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends
no change to the RSA-5 residential single-family zoning at this location. This is a primarily
single-family block face. If this 5,565-square-foot lot were to be subdivided, then the appellant
would be allowed three dwelling units by right, not the 10 they have requested. The City Planning
Commission recommends the board grant their proposed multifamily use, but with a maximum
of three dwelling units. Thank you. Council, we've heard some testimony. What I'd like to do
is next Wednesday, sit in the executive session with the board and really go over the project,
okay? I appreciate that. We will vote on it. We will vote next Wednesday at 9 30. I do appreciate
that, Mr. Chair. I just want to thank the Planning Commission for their input, but
But building a three-family dwelling on this triple lot is just, it's an unsustainable, it'll sit vacant.
It just, the market, this particular area cannot support brand new construction of three single-family homes on a triple lot.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Anastasia. We understand your position. Thank you.
Let's see, we'll go to
Number 8
MI 2023
006236
North 15th Street, Steve Masters
is the attorney
There's non-opposition for Oak Lane
Worcester Community Coalition
with a proviso
so. Steve Masters has been promoted.
Good morning, Mr. Masters. Good morning, Mr. Chair. Hi, could you please state your name
and spell for the court stenographer? My name is Steve Masters, S-T-E-V-E-M-A-S-T-E-R-S,
and good morning to the new members of the of the board that i haven't uh appeared in front of
you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do could you identify your client in relationship to this property
yes my client is cynthia baines she is the property owner and our vice chair has a few questions sir
good morning counsel do you agree to waive the read another refusal or stipulate towards that
um good morning um yes i agree i've emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is
needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes we have thank you
Yes, we have.
Thank you, council.
Council. Please proceed.
Please proceed.
Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the board.
We are here for a special exception for group living personal care home at 5103 North 15th Street.
I'm going to walk you through the exhibits, and then I will call up the owner, Cynthia Baines, to adopt my testimony and to provide some more testimony on her own, and we will go first to the referral.
So this is not a variance case. This is only a special exception. This property is the home of
Cynthia Baines and it's been historically her home for quite a long time. She is proposing to
move out of the home and convert the home into a personal care home for young adolescent girls.
There is a substantial amount of support in the immediate neighborhood for this project.
We have a number of petitions signed by very close neighbors.
And at the RCO meeting, there was 100% votes in favor of this proposal.
In fact, the number of signatures that we have in terms of close neighbors, we did a special graphic.
Everything that is highlighted in yellow are the addresses that are within the 250 feet.
And we have a very high percentage of all of the properties that are in support.
We also have a number of letters in the exhibit from professional associates of Ms. Baines, who is a trained nurse and has worked with children and other populations for many, many years.
So these letters in the exhibit binder are to really show the board the credentials and the background that Ms. Baines has as to why we can be very confident that her personal care home will be a high-impact, high-quality operation.
quite a few letters of recommendations that we can go into if there is a desire from the
board later. The next exhibit is our response to the RCO. The RCO has asked for a two-year
temporary special exception, and we understand that there are personal care homes in the
neighborhood that have presented some problems for this community, and we understand that the
board from time to time does award temporary status for special exceptions for this kind of
use. Our position is that we hope that through this presentation today that you will be comfortable
enough with this project to give a special exception without a time limit. But should you
choose to place a time limit on it, our concern is the date that is the beginning of whatever
period of time you ask for two, three years. In this case, there's quite a bit more permits and
licenses that have to be applied for that can't even be applied for until we receive the special
exception. And I'm talking about the licenses from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for this
particular personal care home, the contracts with the city for CVH, and other contracts with
the health department for food licenses. All of those are going to be taking, especially the
license for the personal care home will take a number of months, including multiple inspections
and a variety of checks and investigations. So our ask for you is that if you do a three-year
or the communities we're asking for two years,
we know that you tend to do more on a three-year level.
If you do that, we would ask you not to base it on the date
that this special exception is issued,
that this special exception is issued, but rather the date, really the first date that this personal care home can operate and can bring in clients and can start to operate.
but rather the date, really the first date.
Otherwise, it would be a truncated period of time.
And if you want us to have a three-year temporary, we would like the full three years.
This is the Oakland Worcester Community Coalition letter in which they refer to all of the support from the neighborhood and then ask for a two-year proviso.
In Exhibit 4, these are the floor plans for the home.
So we have, we're starting on the third floor, three bedrooms and a bath.
This is the reflective ceiling plan.
This is the floor plan.
And second floor is one bedroom and then some office space and medication rooms.
And then the first floor is the group areas with living room and dining room.
And I guess we have ceiling plan diagrams for all of those also.