so the city made the change back in 20 um may may 11 of 2021 as you guys can see on the screen
okay questions from the board yeah um what's happening with your basement i know you closed
off a door to it but um that would be for the first unit units used so i use the basement only
for storage so the first unit don't have access to the basement because the property is um
rented so i don't allow my tenants to go to the basement because that's where i have like
water eaters and stuff like that so they each have their own breaker system within their unit
and the main breaker is in the basement so i just utilize the basement for storage for um
Um, for, for like stuff that utilizes in the property that I might not be using during the summertime or wintertime.
Like for example, ACs, I don't leave ACs.
Like I was trying to minimize on the overall cost of like electric.
So wintertime, I would take the ACs out of windows.
So I would, I would store them in the basement and stuff like that.
And what are you doing for the trash for the two units?
so trash um i actually pay for trash so the city actually i pay for trash every i want to say every
six months i pay uh a hundred and i think it's 175 now so i think she means where do you store
it oh so the trash is stored within the um this area right here so it's a little the door is here
but it's a little area right here where they where there's trash cans so it's actually four
trash can within that area a black trash can for each unit and a blue trash a recycled trash can
for each unit so when with with this area right here when you walk down is the steps
that leads to the door but to the left of the steps there's areas where the trash cans are stored
other questions that's a that's a that's a good use of that space since you're not using it
since the tenants don't have access yeah the trash cans out front you can't really see them
because they're they're in this sort of low low you know this lowered area so yeah that works
actually yeah okay so do you have a floor plan of some sort
repeat that i'm sorry i didn't hear you clearly you have a floor plan so a floor plan of the
property yeah no to see how the units are um laid out because i think you said that was the
is the first unit a one bedroom yeah so the first unit is a one bedroom um the second unit is a two
bedroom um i didn't pull a floor plan because i bought the property as such and i didn't know
how to go about pulling a floor plan to be honest
even a little sketch would have been okay all right and so and then each
unit has one bathroom yes each unit has one
bathroom each unit has its own kitchen and a
dining area okay well live in living room area
all right and that's a full bathroom like yes that's a full bathroom
them shower um toilet and sink gotcha okay thank you other questions
questions from our attorney no questions right now questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands chair planning commission good morning liz fuselay l-i-z last name fuselag f-u-s-e-l-i-e-r
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do sir please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential
single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2021 in a community
supported map change the pro the proposed use is consistent with documented prior use of this
property with a documented history as two dwelling units dating back to 2011.
the planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use as a two-family dwelling
M.I. 2026-000-639-1318 North 57th Street, I vote yes.
mi 2026 000 639
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes.
Thank you. You have your vote, sir.
Okay, thank you.
May I ask what's my next step moving forward?
Why don't you call the office?
The office will tell you where you're going to be next, okay?
Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Great. Number one, MI 2024, 004-244-5300-02, Haverford Avenue. Joseph Vaccaro is the attorney.
Joseph Vaccaro has been promoted.
good morning how are you today morning counsel could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer gladly joseph vaccaro v-a-c-c-a-r-o right do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth told you it's nothing but the truth yes i do could you identify your client in
relationship to the property? Yes, it's Mario Rodriguez. He's the proprietor of the store at
the location. And counsel, we have letter of, no, we've received a letter of opposition from the
44th Ward Democratic. And also, I believe the council person also sent a letter of opposition.
Okay. The chair has a few questions. Okay. Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and
exhibits uh five days in advance of this hearing yes i have and i and i supplemented it with proof
of tax clearance yesterday okay thank you and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy yes i do all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case
very well thank you i represent mario rodriguez he's the owner of 53rd and haverford
uh store located at the property in question if i could start sharing my screen
And do you see a grocery store on the corner?
We see a store.
We see a store.
Thank you.
This is the store in question.
I'm showing you a photo of it from the Haverford Street side.
This is the inside of the store.
It's a two aisle grocery store, another view of the inside of the store, refrigerated section with drinks, dried goods and canned goods.
He already has a deli prepared but currently he's not preparing foods pending a decision from the Zoning Board on how this matter proceeds.
He has the kitchen again set up again another view of this is the uh the checkout area
there's a rear section where Mr. Rodriguez would be storing his trash in in the appropriate bins
and he does have private trash pickup um going down through my list of exhibits or my exhibits
I've shown you the photos of the inside and the outside of the store along with the application
for appeal um by way of uh history by way of history this property this property has had a
has had a commercial operations going on at the first floor going back to the 70s I saw some
records which I had also submitted to the zoning board with a flower shop and an ice-cream shop
and there was also I believe documented history of a drugstore and a dried sundry goods stores
before Mario Mr. Rodriguez he had per he had signed the lease for the property
and here it is to be able to open up the grocery store unfortunately for around
Mr. Rodriguez the zoning variance that has been issued in the past to permit
commercial activities at this location had expired because the property was
the property was empty for quite a few years um mr rodriguez is the uh he's the owner and
empty for quite a few years.
president of the food market at 53rd and haverford that's the corporate entity through which he's
operating at this location and i'm showing you the articles of incorporation uh i i do have a letter
of refute, a letter of opposition dated October 28th of 2024. We had attended a meeting with
the coordinating RCO back in October of 2024. There was this letter of opposition authored
by Mr. Jordan, and we tried to go back to the neighborhood to see what could we do to
come together. Especially after having read what was written. I attended that
meeting along with Mr. Rodriguez. What they described is not what happened.
That was a, and I'm referring to the meeting of October of 2024. It was a
straightforward simple meeting nope no arguing no contention we presented some
photos of the store and when I saw that letter I was surprised that's why I
asked for some continuances in the past of this matter so that we could have
another meeting with the RCO we had a second meeting with the RC with the RCO
in april april 6th of 2026 i don't know if if the board had uh received that letter of opposition
we have not okay we only have the one from 24. okay you only have the one from 2024 yes um so
that's the one that i'm showing you now nothing of the sort as as described um occurred uh it was
just a straightforward meeting we made our presentation just like we're making what
happened at the twin did you go to the 26th i also participated in the 26th meeting and that
meeting what happened at that joe gladly that meeting was a lot more contentious
in all candor to the board that there were people participants at that meeting that were
that expressed anger respect at mr rodriguez for having opened up and be and operating the store
without his zoning variance at this time I didn't ask for a copy of the
transcript of that of that meeting because it's my understanding we did
that meeting through zoom and I needed a copy of the transcript and I still
haven't been provided with one so again by way of history going back to the late
60s there were there was a commercial operation going on at that location I
I have my, the two mailings that I sent out to the near neighbors for the October 2024 meeting, as well as the April 6 meeting with the proof of mailing.
Some of the benefits that the, that Mario's operation would be supplying to the, to the near neighbors is, he has security cameras that are always recording.
There's not an issue with crime. There's not an issue with loitering.
he just needs to feed his family and operate his store and we're asking the board um to to take
actions consistent with the past history of this property to grant him a variance so that he may
so that he may operate and that he may operate legally um i have a copy of my poster with the
posting that was done on time and i leave it to the board with with any questions well do you
to bring your client on joe sure i could just move my my computer here i'm going to need you
to speak loudly into the microphone okay mario sure could you please state your name is spelled
for the stenographer my name is mario rodriguez spell your name please oh oh mario emma emma
a r i o rodriguez r o d r i g u e z do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i swear counsel thank you mr rodriguez uh you were sitting next to me
during my presentation correct yes speak loudly yes and uh you do agree with my presentation
yes would you adopt it as your own testimony if you were testifying
yes okay was i accurate and truthful to the board yeah is that a yes yes okay
any other questions of the board um joe one one question the second meeting um did you have a
joe one one question the second meeting um did you have a cent you said they were
you said they were
you know basically hollering at your client did they say why joe
well partly partly it was because the um the store is operating without the zoning variance okay
second they didn't like the uh trash arrangements that he had um he didn't have the full big bin
and where it was being located they were accusing him of operating a food truck at that location
which he was not um in fact matt there was a food truck operating at that location uh at that corner
but mario had nothing to do with it he had no involvement with the food truck and in fact he uh
uh uh he took steps to get rid of that food truck to make that food truck go away that was one
Number two, there were some issues with picnic tables in the yard area on the side, and Mario, he just got rid of the picnic tables.
There were some concerns about the picnic tables attracting loitering, and not that there was any loitering, but in an effort to try to make everybody happy, he just got rid of the picnic tables.
and in fact in the photos that i'm showing you now here there there are no picnic tables
questions from the board
so my question is does your client intend to serve food or he doesn't want to serve
prepared food well he he wants to serve prepared food at the appropriate time he does have a kitchen
there uh but obviously we need to get the zoning variance in order to operate the store the store
as it's operating right now does not have the benefit of the variance he can't even sell
the detergents that i showed you he cannot sell the chips that i showed you he can't sell the
sodas in the refrigerator and the other drinks that i showed you in the photograph so maybe in
the future he'll want to start using the kitchen in the future not right now correct step one is we
need that variance okay and if he's not using the side yard for gathering with
the picnic tables what is he using it for now it's not his it's not part of
his lease okay it's not his all right thank you thank you who put the lights
out there who put the lights out there who put the music out there last year
Who cut the opening in the wall? Who put the sink outside?
Was that a separate owner?
Well, the building is owned by Darrell Williams.
So Mario was a tenant at the property.
So Mario did not do any of that.
other questions so that wasn't mario that had the music out
correct and the picnic tables that that some are still there okay all right thank you
all the questions um all right can can can i see the layout here how this is set up again
sure let me move up
so here's the here's the aisle to the left with the with the refrigerator uh with uh frozen goods
such as ice creams and other treats with the cash register area which is where my cursor
is pointing so that's the left aisle
here's the corner to the left aisle here's another view of the left aisle
i'm sorry that's the right aisle with the other refrigerator so it's a two-mile grocery store
this is the right aisle looking from the back towards the front
this is the corner of the left aisle in the back here's from the front looking towards the back
okay um and how do we handle deliveries okay mario um how do we handle uh deliveries come closer
right right to the front door it's not that much you have you have access to the basement
it depends if i need it okay if you need it i don't have too much
Do the deliveries, they come in through the front door?
Right through the front door and put it and stop inside.
Right through the front door, if you haven't heard.
And how many times a week, what kind of vehicle is used to deliver the...
vehicle is used to deliver the um sometimes what kind of vehicle is used to deliver it depends
Sometime once.
because i don't they bring it i don't i don't deal with the vehicle i bring the delivery
he doesn't deal with the with the vehicle that brings the deliveries um that's done by the
suppliers so it depends on whatever vehicle they they um provide well right i i understand that
but i mean you know how many times a week oh and uh how many times where where did he sometimes
once a week sometimes twice a week depending on the need okay all right thank you no my pleasure
i i did forget to mention that uh the store app the store operating hours are from monday through
saturday 7 30 a.m to 10 30 p.m and on sunday the store hours are 9 a.m to 7 p.m
any other questions and he works at the store with his son and two other employees
i heard what you said about the basement but that is just not true there is always people loading
things in and out of that basement from that side hatch so to say that the basement is not being
used for deliveries it's just not true he said it he said it's rare it depends it depends
he said it's not that much i'm trying to repeat what he says so it gets into the market it depends
the week so council real quick you said the um the rco that was concerned about the location
of the trash so where is the trash location location in the back um in in that backyard
area that i uh had shown you before where there was no um no picnic tables and and those concerns
of loitering i'll show you a picture right behind this right behind this fence
my cursor my cursor is right over a gate so that gate opens and the trash is is held
in containers right behind there.