you've got enough room because you're at 30 32 feet at your roof height you've got yeah about
a foot more to go so if you could raise that up a little bit more that would be better to
have yeah we can we can do that more of the great yep we can do that the other other comment that i
have which is a typical comment i have is that you've got a bedroom you're passing through a
bedroom to get to the rear yard on that first floor level it appears i think you're right i know you're
right yeah it's a but let me see on the backyard yeah it's uh the one to the right yes
so good uh yeah right what uh virtual avoid that i can avoid that i can make a wall there
when do the alley like uh walk through to the backyard or walk yeah yeah okay yeah that would
be better for the yeah for a three-bedroom unit you know what i mean yeah all right those are my
those are my comments any other questions comments um where's the trash for the units going to be
stored uh the trash for the units on the first floor we're going to rear yard and then on the
second floor uh i think one of the reasons for putting this juliette balcony was to have the
trash put out there am i right on that leffler
yes yes
other questions what i'm is that balcony near the
kitchen or what it's uh in the back near the living room
uh so you're gonna have to take the trash basically through the place to get to the
to the juliet balcony here well it is walking through the dining and living room and the other
thing that leffler you could do you could put a trash closet right here at the end of the kitchen
yeah we can do that there next um there's no problem yeah that's a much better idea all right
yeah all right okay all the questions
questions or comments from our attorney uh yes um i just want to clarify uh with regard to looking
at the revised plans it looks like the rear yard depth besides i'm sorry besides the going from
three to two uh dwelling units the rear yard depth was also reduced from nine feet six inches to
nine feet it's still compliant but were you aware of that left floor and the backyard is nine nine
point six yes it was reduced from nine six to nine to nine i i can make them bigger the backyard
it's not problem you know if well i guess what council is saying if you're still compliant but
compliant and if that's so we will we'll need a revised proviso plan because the only plan
the only indication put on your reviso i'm not telling you to change anything but i'm just
just clarifying for it mm-hmm okay so so then I'll I'll do a revised proviso form yeah thank you
okay questions or comments from the virtual audience
Mr. Chair do you not see any hands raised Planning Commission Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning sorry um at this location from the current
RSA 5 residential single-family. The property is remapped from the previous R1 residential
multifamily in a community-supported map change in 2017. While there are some multifamily on this
block, the majority is single-family. The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical
conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance
with the zoning code. The Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the requested
variance for two family household living mi 2026 001027 3941 mount vernon street i vote yes with
proviso revised plans one page stamped by zba on july 22nd 2026 maximum two dwelling units
michael johns my vote is yes with the proviso
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Cheryl Gaston my vote is yes with proviso
Tanetta Graham my vote is yes with
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Thank you, Counsel.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Okay, thank you, sir.
Number five, MI 2026-001-135-7720-34, Busselton Avenue.
So Carrie Nass, Postas is the attorney, Postas.
Just be coming back in as a panel.
Sure, thank you.
hi good afternoon mr chair members of the board can you hear me and see me can most certainly
could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer sure my name is carrie nace
It's Paust, C-A-R-R-I-E-N-A-S-E hyphen P-O-U-S-T, attorney with the law firm of Fox Rothschild.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Yes, our client is Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., and they are a tenant of this property.
All right. And I noticed that there's a letter of unanimous support from Ron Hurst, and our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents, and is it about five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did submit the majority of those documents.
Counsel for the board had requested additional documents, which we had since submitted.
We also, at the time of submission, we did not have the tax clearance letter.
we submitted a screenshot confirming that no taxes were due we have since received the tax
clearance letter which we will submit to the board for the record yes thank you for sharing that and
do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes i do all right
thank you you can share sharing and proceed with your case get my screen up
can you see my exhibits before you it's coming it's coming up right now it's up
great all right before we get uh started as you indicated the property is located at 7720-34
busselton avenue it is bounded by busselton avenue down a little bit here we go sorry trying to get
my screen here all right here's the property it's bounded by busselton avenue glendale avenue and
lansing street it is surrounded by commercial properties you'll see here as well as residential
properties to the rear and across the street. The property is a little over an
acre and is currently zoned CMX1. As you can see there is an existing building
located on the property that is approximately 10,880 square feet.
Previously this building was operated as a retail sales store for consumer
goods. It was operated by CVS from 2006 to 2024. Dollar Tree is looking to reuse this
existing building for a Dollar Tree store, as you're all familiar with, and did submit
an application for a use permit for the retail sales for consumer goods, as well as retail
sales for the sale of food and beverages for takeout. It would be, you know, your typical
sales of prepackaged foods as you would typically see at a dollar store. When we submitted the
application, we did receive a notice of refusal, which is submitted as Exhibit A1 in your packet.
The refusal was issued because under the CMX1 zoning district, it requires that the first floor occupying more than or there shall be no retail sales on the first floor of a building occupying more than 2,000 square feet of gross floor area.
As exhibit A2 is a copy of the appeal that we filed to this board, which is before you today.
Exhibit A3 is a copy.
Exhibit A3 is a copy of the lease, a sublease confirming that Dollar Tree Stores does in fact have standing to bring this application as a tenant of this property.
As I indicated to you, we have now received a copy of the tax clearance certificate, which is shown on my screen, and we will submit to you following the hearing.
a five we did send out notice to all residents within the area that was
here we go confirming the date at which we reviewed the proposed project with the applicable
RCO which was the Ron Hurst Civic Association as well as notice of the hearing today. Also included
is a copy of the bulk mailing certificate confirming that 63 notices had been sent out.
Marked as Exhibit A6 are photographs confirming that the zoning notice was properly posted on
the property the required number of days prior to this hearing a seven is a copy of the aerial site
plan which i was just showing you showing the location of this building as you can see the
property is here outlined with the asphalt this was a access drive drive-through that came around
the building this is the building that's in question here with parking along the side fronting
along busselton avenue and the entrance of long glendale avenue
as exhibit a8 are photographs of the property again this photograph is taken from busselton avenue
this photograph is a street view from glendale you can see the property here
the building this is another street view from glendale showing the entrance point
as well as the parking lot on the side. Here is a photograph at the corner of Glendale and Busselton
and then we come along the rear. This is where on the aerial I showed you the residential.
Here is where the drive-through access lane went through and back here in the corner is
a trash enclosure which will remain. These photographs just show the grade differential
between the subject property and the residential up here.
As you can see, this property actually sits lower than the residential.
As such, the trash enclosure is somewhat protected and shielded from view
due to that elevation difference.
This here is the access drive along the rear of the property.
Again, this is the residential along the rear.
This is a photograph of the trash enclosure area,
which you can see is properly shielded with a fence around and in good condition.
Next are just several photographs of the interior of the property. As you can see,
it's in good condition and Dollar Tree is not proposing to make any significant improvements
to the property. They are proposing a reuse of this building. They will obviously be making
some cosmetic changes the exterior will remain the same just simply with the replacement of the
sign from cvs to a dollar tree
as i indicated cvs operated here from 2006 to 2024 at that time they did have a zoning use permit
for retail sales for sundry articles, pharmaceutical convenience sales with accessory
sale of food and beverages. When they had obtained that zoning and use permit, the property was
zoned CMX2. Under that CMX2 designation, there was not a limitation with regard to only 2,000
square feet of the first floor area being occupied by retail sales. The property was rezoned in
December of 2022. Attached as Exhibit A-9 is a copy of the amendment that was adopted,
showing the change from CMX2 to CMX1. CVS closed its business at this location in May of 2024,
and it has been sitting vacant since then. As I indicated, the applicant is proposing to
reuse this building in its current state we did receive the notice of refusal as i indicated that
refusal related to the limitation of 2 000 square feet being utilized for retail sales
being utilized for retail sales as i indicated the restriction was not in the cmx2 given the
as i indicated the rest
fact that the building is 10 880 square feet once it became rezoned in 22 the use for this building
for retail sales became non-conforming the applicant is proposing again substantially
similar use and as such hardship has been imposed upon the applicant due to
the rezoning of the property making the use of the entire building non-conforming
as retail sales we believe that the reuse and repurpose of this building for
a Dollar Tree store which would provide similar retail sales is a good use of an
existing building that has remained vacant for quite a few years that is in
good condition. We believe it'll be a benefit in serving the surrounding
community and further it would be in keeping with the neighborhood and would
not have an adverse impact in the surrounding area. As indicated in the
beginning, we did meet with the Ron Hart Civic Division back in April of this year.
We have submitted as Exhibit A11 a letter of support that we did receive
from the Civic Association, which we have here. As you can see, everyone in attendance did support
the proposed project. Going back just to show you what the building will look like as indicated
up in the upper right-hand corner is the existing. We are going to maintain that area, provide some
updated painting, and just install the Dollar Tree signage, which is what it would look like here.
i do have a representative of dollar tree on the call here uh alex chu if you could admit him
into the meeting council before we go on lynn do you want to ask a question about the signage
good um lynn reidelhuber board council um you had indicated like you have a sign plan
but signage is not included in this application that is correct that is correct we're not asking
for approval for the signage now signage was simply included in the package here just to show
what the facade of the building is intended to look like okay i just want to make sure you knew
that and i can ask my other question you had indicated takeout earlier i think you meant
groceries you know it's just that's right i was clarifying and confirming it is not take out
okay it's you know make sure it's typical sale of grocery items okay yes thank you
who do you want to have call uh alex true sure alex i'll be coming back in as a panel shortly thank
you hi good afternoon hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
my name is alex a-l-e-x i'll see you choose all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth is nothing but the truth i do counsel thank you uh mr chu where are you uh
currently employed uh dollar tree uh started corporate at the corporate headquarters uh in
chesapeake virginia great thank you and were you on the call this afternoon uh during my presentation
and testimony given regarding the uh application before the board yes i was and uh to the best of
your knowledge were those statements true and accurate yes true and accurate and had you
testified yourself would you adopt my testimony as your own yes i will great uh mr chair i have
no further questions for mr chu and at this time i would respectfully request that the board consider
granting the variances being requested questions from the board
yes so um is there any other upgrades planned uh for the site like landscaping or um any other
upgrades or you just plan on leaving the site as it is um we're going to clean up the parking lots
yes uh we'll clean up the parking lot uh we plan on resealing and restriping uh and actually as
part of our work we're going to replace all the um site lighting as well uh just to ensure that
they're operational uh and then the last last thing at least i know carrie mentioned touched
on the uh the building you know just some paint um and new signage uh the last last major item
we're going to do an exterior is the we're going to reuse the trash enclosure but we're going to
replace um the the gates as well other questions no landscaping improved no landscaping oh we we
We do. Actually, I apologize. We do. We'll repair anything that's in disrepair or damage, but we're not going to add that new.
like we'll mull the grass we'll make sure any shrubs uh are replaced if they're uh not in good shape
We'll mow the grass. We'll make sure any shrubs are replaced if they're...
okay the questions yeah and yeah i'll just look at the area yeah there's really yeah no
there's not a lot but yeah yeah but but not you
um okay so um do we have an idea of what's going to go on inside
or do we have a plan for in terms of improvements no like floor plan floor layout
we do have a floor plan i apologize i don't have it uh available on my phone uh but largely we're
maintaining the existing uh the former cbs layout so the sales floor will be the same size uh
obviously maintain the entry um our major piece of work probably in the interior is that the former
pharmacy uh it's going to be converted into uh part of our stock room okay and then um so then
a new floor yep you're gonna have commercial trash pickups we do so um well we actually have
a cardboard baler which is actually inside um so that'll that'll handle our cardboard so it stays
inside the store until uh pickup and then we'll have a four yard dumpster that's going to be
located in the trash enclosure on the outside and obviously they'll be you know hidden from street
view and you said what were you going to do with the you said the pharmacy type area you don't have
a pharmacy right we don't but yeah we're going to convert that uh area into our stock room since
Obviously, yeah, we don't want to go. We're not going to be a pharmacy.
And I'm sorry, how many square feet is this going to be? And it's one floor, right?
Correct. So we're utilizing the existing footprint of the building. So the existing footprint of the building is 10,880 square feet.
that's correct and so we would be utilizing the entire space now as mr chu indicated uh the rear
portion where the pharmacy was will be converted into um their stock room with the balance of the
first floor being utilized for retail sales all right okay thank you you're welcome just out of
curiosity the drive-through was the drive-through initially for pickup at the pharmacy yes and does