During the purchase, he realized that the three back units were not legally zoned,
so that's why we're here. He intends to live at the front house, and all three homes in the back
are already occupied and they've been for decades as you can see here
we have one two and three are the rear units and then the front house
here's the main house on front there is a uh little breezeway here the gate alley that then
allows tenant for rear number one rear property number two rear property number three
and the red on the plans shows the
I just went blank on me that's weird I'm going to try again
please bear with me for just one second I'm going to have to
Take this.
so where was i i showed you the refusal yep and i showed you the uh the layout of the property
how there's a main house and how there are three rear structures one two and three
i explained to you that it's going to be owner occupied in the main house
the three rear properties are already occupied by long-time tenants
I'm going to have to make this smaller so you can see this better
here's the layout of the main house
here's the third floor bedroom on the main house
here's the rear first floor rear second floor
rear two third floor it's one bedroom one bath here's the other
It's one bedroom, one bath.
Here's the other rear.
Living room, kitchen.
Bedroom.
It's one bedroom, one bath.
Here's the breezeway.
This is how they enter.
there are all separate air conditioning units all separate electric meters all separate gas meters
and this is front street like much of queen village the numbered streets are
where you're going to find multi-family dwellings
Fitzwater, Monroe, Bainbridge.
That's where you find the single-family homes.
You can see they're very well-appointed, in really good condition.
That's really small photos.
I'll blow them up even more.
how long has he had this property ver we just bought it okay
but the previous owners have had it for generations right
here's the letter that went out to everybody inviting everyone to the community meeting
back in january and today's hearing it was very well attended here are all the people that were
mailed and of course everybody supported it and they welcomed legalizing it 164
or individual households were mailed.
Here's your letter from Queen Village Neighbors Association.
I didn't get a chance to speak to Mark Squilla.
I'm assuming he would support the position of the RCO.
We have a letter from him.
Great.
I didn't see that.
Thank you.
Other than that, again, because of the long history of it being the four-family dwelling that it is, because we have unanimous support from the community and from the council member, I'm going to ask respectfully that the variants be granted.
And with that, if Fred Gohestani is in the audience, I ask that he raise his virtual hand.
Fred is a physician, and he has been with us since 9.30 this morning.
So he may have been called to help with his practice.
Mr. Gilles Stani is coming back in as a panelist now.
That's great.
Good afternoon, doctor.
Mr. Goestani, please unmute yourself.
Do we see him?
Is he there?
Is he promoted?
I see him, Chair, but he's not unmuting.
Good afternoon, everyone.
Hi, Doctor.
How are you?
Doctor, could you please state your name and spell for the court?
Alfred Goestani.
Could you spell it, please?
Last name, G-H-O-H-E-S-T-A-N-I.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Fred, did you hear my presentation to the board?
True and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
And you adopted as your own?
Thank you.
I have nothing further.
Questions for the board.
Thanks.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the audience or the virtual audience
i see no hands chair planning commission thank you chairman and good afternoon david effecta
with the city planning commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends
chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential
no change to the RSA.
single-family zoning at this location this appears to be a non-conforming use though with no
documented evidence of legal non-conformance the zoning archive shows that this property has a
current rental license from 2024 for one rental unit and no other history of rental licenses
the city planning commission recommends the board deny the requested use variants for four dwelling
units. MI 2024-006-710-790-South Front Street. I vote yes. Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes. Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Iowan, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes. Thank you.
Thank you. Vern, would you stay on? We have one more case. Yes, sir.
So MI 2024-006-711, 7040-48 Caster Avenue.
There's a letter of support from Community on the Rise.
Just for the record, state your name.
You've already been sworn.
It's Vern Anastasio on behalf of Lakeisha Jones for 7040 Castor Avenue.
And our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Thank you.
Counselor, do you agree to weigh the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, sir.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
Thank you, counsel. Please proceed.
Thank you.
OK, my last one today is 7040 Caster Avenue. This property is a second floor is what we're going for here.
This is an 81 page exhibit packet, including the RCO letter of support.
The application is for event space. This is going to be, excuse me for one second.
And Lakeisha Jones, who's my client, has been doing events for the last 20 years for other facilities, other folks.
She's now like to take this beautiful mid-century building space and bring event space to this spot.
Funeral lunches, showers, bar mitzvahs, things such as that.
And that's what would be going on here. This is a large commercial sort of strip mall. And there's lots of parking in the rear for well over 100 cars. The beauty of this space is that it will be used when most of the businesses are closed.
So my client will be able to avail herself of practically all of the parking that's available.
Here is, we have a trash storage will be outside, of course, and commercial trash pickup.
Here's the, we have a women's restroom, a men's restroom.
There's catering support.
And of course, there's the event space.
This used to be a kitchen appliance retailer on the second floor.
And the person who ran that business used to have the kitchen appliances outside on the sidewalk as advertisement.
It was a real problem for the neighbors, to say the least.
So they were very pleased that my client and my team presented this plan.
They're very pleased with it.
We had absolutely no pushback whatsoever.
This is the space.
This is exterior.
I've got interior as well.
And as you can see, several storefronts, diner, building supply.
There's a large food market that's on the first floor now.
It's like a supermarket, 6,000 square feet.
Other businesses as well.
And here's the interior space.
Obviously, the internal partitions will be coming down.
to make one nice assembly area significant amount of work that needs to be done
most of the time these events are going to be weekends
and events will be over wrapped up by 11 pm
And events will be over, wrapped up by 11 p.m.
As far as events are concerned, there will be some breakdown time.
It's also going to be a dry facility.
No alcohol is permitted.
That means no one can bring your own bottle or anything like that.
This is alcohol free.
This is the letter that went out to everybody.
we had a community meeting and of course that was at the end of last month and of course we
invited everyone to today's hearing here are all the people that were invited
94 individual households were mailed and as i explained and the letter shows overwhelming
support for the for the use here's our poster laminated and and placed on the
exterior gate so anyone walking on the sidewalk could see it
and because the space is a marketable upgrade to what was there before and it had long history of
commercial use in a commercial strip with ample parking and commercial trash pickup
I would have respectfully request the granting of the variants.
And with that, if Lakeisha could raise her virtual hand, I'd like her to come on and
adopt my testimony.
Chair, Lakeisha Jones is coming back in as a panelist now.
Thank you.
Hi, Lakeisha.
Hi, how are you?
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Lakeisha Jones.
L-A-K-I-S-H-A.
We lost her.
I think we lost her, Vern.
I think so, too.
Sarah, it looks like she dropped out.
I'll try to promote her again.
Vern is an officer of the court.
We'll accept your testimony.
Thank you, Sarah.
Questions from the board.
I have a question.
So the event space is on the second floor?
Correct.
And the first floor is still going to be rented out as commercial?
Yeah, the first floor is various.
I think I showed a few different businesses.
Yeah, but there's various.
It's all commercial.
Okay. And how is there ADA access to the second floor?
Not yet, but a lift is planned.
What about kitchen?
Nothing's being cooked. There's catering support, which means, you know, microwave and maybe there'll be a place for burners and stuff to heat up.
Washing dishes and utensils when the party's over.
yeah all of that will be back there back in the house so they have that are they they are not
oh no there's nothing's had everything has everything has to be built out that space is
as you saw not ready for prime time right so the plan is to have uh facilities where they can wash
dishes or pans and whatever yes sir and will that also include um some kind of way that they can
like wash floors and clean counters and tables, that kind of thing?
Of course.
And is that what catering support means on the plan?
That's correct.
And will there also be any, like, refrigerator, freezer,
that kind of thing for keeping foods cold?
Yeah, I think most...
Yeah, most places that do this sort of event space will have at least a refrigerator, but oftentimes they have like a chest freezer for ice.