market rate is to cross subsidize so that we can make the other units affordable. You're probably
well aware that if we tried to build just the three affordable units up, I apologize for this
property, two in total with Second Street, three. If we attempted to build just affordable units,
we don't think they would be at the standard that we would like to provide. What we're seeing going
up and to make the finances work and to provide just a better quality product, we've approached
it this way. We also, you know, want to generate as many affordable units as we can. And so here
we are. We started working with folks at the land bank quite a while ago and have been to
multiple RCO meetings and appreciate your consideration and any questions you have,
I'm here. Sure. Counsel, could you give us an idea what that block looks like relative to
multiple family properties? Yeah, unfortunately, I was going to, when I went back to this screen,
just to give a look as to what was going on on North Hancock Street, what we know for sure is
I think the RM1 property has been recently or has been, was converted, was an old kind of
commercial structure at some point that was converted converted to multi-family
that was converted to multifamily. Honestly, as we sit here right now, I would need to gather
um i'm not
some additional information, Mr. Chairman, on the other properties and whether the ones like,
for example, the one that's next door to us in the elevation is multifamily versus a single family.
But- Casey, do you have an idea what's going on in the area? There were multiple families.
Yeah, on that block across the street, there's conversion for multiple families.
On our side of the street, mostly single family.
But if you you can't see it here, but if you look north and west, which is visible, it's the amount of development there is tremendous.
You can't see it on the screen. It's covered by.
But if you were to go north on Hancock Street and just to the west, that was a giant vacant lot.
And that whole block is being renovated mostly for multifamily.
Questions from the board.
Could you tell me what's going on with the rear of the building?
Like, is there any open space or common space?
I can answer that if you want, Casey.
Yeah, please do.
Yeah, my apologies with that.
As I got through the rest of my presentation, yes, I believe there's a portion of the property
that we're able to provide the 25 percent open space at the rear um which could be shared among
the unit owners um and set and the building coverage is about just under 75 percent
so if i look at this the plan here there's a sort of like an alleyway that's the access to the yard
yeah side side of the building yeah i think if you're looking at this um this particular
plan sheet which shows the elevation here there's this for the first floor
unit here there's a front door entrance and then there's an alcove kind of common entrance
that would lead uh the resident to here or this area actually and then up to the uh this first
unit is we'll have its first door here and then up to the second and third floor which also have
their doors on the interior on the stairwell oh the rear the rear one has the door in the back
is that what this actually actually the door would be if you could see it right here
for the first floor unit in the back so there's no there's not a door here
okay um this well your plan shows the bathroom there i'm i'm looking at the right thing here
yeah because a door door or maybe the door's here i think darren's available if needed oh there i'm
i apologize you're right i'm looking at this door entrance here it's the door into the bathroom
yeah you're right that would that would be funny if that was the front door for the for the first
floor units here my apologies it's off of this sort of i call it a less of a side side yard
yeah yeah because i i was thinking the same thing because with the first floor entrance here maybe
there would be a corresponding entrance on this side but it's actually right here so all right
thank you any other questions from the board my apologies yeah um so understanding that we're
looking at five units and i think you had said three are affordable and two are market rate
six units for affordable to a market rate to a market rate and then um and this might be a
question for mr o'donnell are these going to be naturally occurring affordable housing or
do you plan to seek some other type of subsidy for the well we originally the rco asked that we
apply for to be eligible for turn the key which we did but then it turns out that turn the key is
not like the city really hasn't you probably know this better than i do hasn't provided guidance as
to what to do with um sort of multi-unit buildings or condos um and so we're not sure where that
stands to be honest with you but we are looking at 80 am i okay and these are for sale units are
they going to be rental units managed by impact for sale for sale okay any other questions yeah
Is there any storage for any of the units like.
That might be a Darren question in outside space.
Is there any kind of.
Why don't you bring the architect on.
What's your architect's name?
I'm sorry, Darren Edwards.
Darren Edwards, please raise your virtual hand.
He's coming back in as a panelist now chair.
Darren, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
You should pop back in shortly, Chair.
Sure, I'm fine.
good afternoon hi would you state your name is spelled for the stenographer yes darren edwards
Good afternoon.
Could you state your name?
d-a-r-y-n-e-d-w-a-r-d-s you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes counsel could you uh start this conversation with him yes mr edwards um you
were present during or you heard the testimony that was presented with regard to the plans that
you prepared? That's correct. And based on the information I provided, would you have adopted
that as your own testimony should you have testified today? Yes, I would. And I understand
that you heard the question about how storage might work in these particular units. Can you
explain that to the board? Right. So there's no basement. Both of the buildings are going to be
slab on grade so all of the storage is going to be within the units we have made enough closets
that are generally comply with what the state housing agency recommends so that's the the
storage strategy like so what if you had a bike like where would i put a bike uh well there is
there is the shared backyard space that we might be able to do so all units would
have access to that that's correct yes thank you other questions
so yeah I guess in each one of these is three bedrooms two baths is that what I'm
seeing that's correct yes and the the first two floor first floor units are
accessible units. All right. Thank you. Questions or comments from our attorney? Just briefly,
first of all, the plans that were submitted with your exhibit packet, they indicated that they
were revised plans, but there was no proviso form, and they didn't look different from the plans that
have been submitted to L&I. Were there any changes since the plans were reviewed by L&I?
not to this property okay all right i just wanted to make sure and then my other question is
you mentioned the rco is in support did you have any documentation to show that they were in support
because as the chair said we didn't receive anything from them yeah that um we did talk to
marco uh earlier today about writing both those letters for both parcels which he um poor guy
seems like a one-man band out there but um we will make sure we um he was going to work on those
tonight and once we get them we could submit them to supplement the record okay but the only
proviso that mentioned for the support of this particular project was what mr o'donnell was
mentioning about trying our best to become a part of that turn the key program okay we could we yes
if you want we could hold we could hold for one week just and leave the record open i think what
we're going to do is hold for one week for both kids we're going to hear the other case in a
minute, but we're going to hold for one week and it'll be closed other than what we receive
relative to the RCO. Yeah, a letter from the RCO and any response from the applicant, if you have
any. That's right. And David, you would have a chance to respond to that. Okay. Appreciate that.
All right. So we need to go to the audience and planning. So, okay.
Comments from the audience and the virtual audience
Look at this audience here
Here we have Frank Foley with their hand up
They're coming back in as a panelist now
Hi Frank how are you
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
There we are
Hey y'all
Hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Yeah it's Frank Foley
f as in frank r-a-n-k f as in frank o-l-e-y you swear or firm to tell the truth told truth
nothing but the truth i sure do frank are you a neighbor i am uh i'm actually adjacent to the
other portion of the project but i'm about four blocks from from this uh okay please proceed
um i just wanted to chime in real quick that we uh i didn't see that there was a kensington
neighborhood association meeting for for this portion of the project on hancock street um
And I don't know, apparently we don't have any feedback yet from the meeting that did happen. But I just wanted to add that the neighborhood in general has a pretty strong preference for affordable single family homes rather than multi-unit.
Okay. Thank you very much for taking the time to call.
Sure. I just had one other quick question. At one of our neighborhood meetings, someone did bring up that apparently there was going to be a sale of impact services to another entity. And I just wanted to see if we could get some information or clarity around who would own the project.
uh who would own the project mr foley we this is about zoning of this particular
Mr. Foley, this is about zoning.
we don't get into uh companies and sales and things like that but that's cool thank you
we understand your concerns thank you um waiting yes this is uh ron bednar city planning
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential single family zoning at this
location the city rezoned this portion of south kensington in 2016 at that time the single family
zoning for this parcel dated from 1985 was left unchanged the proposed density is three times what
would be allowed by right we are aware that of one 14 unit condo building and two triplexes on the
block but the majority is comprised of single family homes city planning commission therefore
recommends that the board deny the proposed variance for six dwelling units so that this
this vote on this will be held next wednesday at 2 p.m um the case is closed
everything is closed except for what we see or hear from the rco and frank you'll have a chance
to respond to that. Now, we're going to move on to the next one. MI 2024-006-708-1345 North 2nd
Street. David, could you just state your name for the record? David Shafkowitz, counsel for the
applicant. First name David, D-A-V-I-D, Shafkowitz, S-H-A-F-K-O-W-I-T-Z. Do you agree to the waiving
of the reading of the refusal and you agree with its accuracy yes will you um start your
presentation please uh yeah the property the second part of this um kind of project for
impact services is a property known as 1345 north second street um this is a parcel property also
located in the rsa5 multi-family units are not permitted as well uh the applicant is proposing
a two-unit structure on this property, and also part of this application, the applicant
is proposing a height variance.
This one, this particular plan was revised from what was originally submitted with the
refusal.
As the board probably is aware, this particular district permits a 38-foot height.
The original proposal was just under 40 feet after visiting with the RCO and our original
design had some living below ground the plan was revised to put the have the building slab on grade
so it increased our height request from the 40 feet to 44.7 feet the site is currently vacant
takes access from the north second street as i noted is the two unit three-story structure
one of the unit is proposed as an affordable one of the unit is proposed as market rate
Both units are proposed for sale. The property is subject to a deed restriction with regard to providing for affordability at this location.
Both units will be identical in terms of the floor plan, and I'll show you those shortly.
The issues, as I mentioned, with regard to the height variance was at a request from the RCO to take any potential living area from below ground to have it all above ground.
And therefore, based on Darren's work, we had to increase our height to the 44.7 feet.
And if I can, so this particular property or this particular plan is just a survey plan of the property.
The parcel itself, sorry, and I just had it in front of me, in terms of its size.
I remember it's about 1,100 square feet.
Anyway, I'll get you that information, or we'll ask Darren to fill us in on that.
The applicant is proposing, as noted here, a three-story structure.
What we do have here is an aerial of the location, which will show what is going on on this section of North 2nd Street.
As the board can see, here's our proposed structure here, which is intended to give a sense of what the height would look, but I do have a better picture of that as well.
And across the street, what we have is a relatively new four-story multifamily facility that was built right across the street.
The applicant, as you can see here, is the floor plan.
Again, we have access on the ground floor, at the ground floor for both units, one in the front, one in the rear.
on the ground floor, on the, uh, at the ground floor for both units, one in the front, one in
the rear, the, then there's the central staircases for both units. They have the three stories,
um, following, um, or actually fourth stories following the first floor, the ground floor.
Um, they are all three bedroom units. Um, they are identical, uh, between the two and access,
you know, essentially in sharing the party wall, essentially like a duplex,
But instead of the two units facing the street, they're one in front, one behind each other.
Again, in a similar design that Cicadia provided on the other applicant,
the Arizona alcove, which will lead through to the second unit and their access point.
The total square footage of each unit is 1,340 square feet.
The lot area is 1,154.75 square feet.
Apologize my, there you go.
The occupied area of the lot is about 75%, and in the rear, they're proposing a 25% open area for the units.
Mr. Chairman, as I offered some of the testimony with regard to the two projects and how they relate to each other, I'd just like to incorporate that testimony into this particular application as well.
And as with the last application, Mr. Edwards and Mr. O'Donnell are available for any of the board's questions.
Just, why don't you have Casey come back on adopt your testimony so that we'll have your testimony adopted on both cases.
Wonderful.
Good afternoon again, Mr. O'Donnell.
Good afternoon.
Hi, you've already been sworn, Mr. O'Donnell.
Please, counsel, please start.
Casey, you heard the testimony I provided with regard to this application?
Yes. And would you adopt that as your testimony should you had given testimony in this application?
Yes, I would. Is there anything in particular you'd like to add with regard to this proposal?
No, thank you. Casey, just for a point of information, I noticed the one side,
the other side of the block looks like it's completely multiple family. How about this
side of the block? So there's and I think the gentleman was on prior to this, the building
right next door i believe is two units most of that block is single family except at the end of
the block is a commercial property for a cdfi but across the street is a giant um multi-family
building all right questions from the board this so this is a this is four stories so this is
four stories and the the buildings the properties next to them are are they two stories
it's hard to tell from that skewed there are three we have a three-story building to the right