ZBA Hearing - February 20, 2024

chairman de cheek i'm sorry mark squilla councilman mark squilla so

then again the zoning permit was then stamped approved but the issue here

and the delay is there are multiple issues the largest one as you can probably presume

it happened as you can see the date prior to um so here's the actual zoning perm

as you can see the date prior to um so here's the actual zoning permit that was issued on 818

of 2020. it took quite a quite a bit of time for us to actually get this um so it was actually

issued on 818 of 2020. it this was during covid um and just to run through my client had prepared

a timeline of events here and on 1018 he provided his biggest problem was obtaining the actual

stamped uh documents um so our appeal sometime prior to april 26 we applied for a notice of

refusal i'm presuming that the board received this reviewed it as well as um the whatever was

written in here, a response, which then this board, as you can see, refused it on 9-21-2023.

And at that point, we then filed our application for appeal. And our hardship here, again,

for this appeal is the fact that we had delay of COVID, the delay of what I'd like to call

as a breakdown in the system of L&I.

My client had attempted on numerous, numerous occasions.

I was not involved in this aspect of it

to go down to obtain the stamped plans.

On, let's see, 8-18 of 2020,

he went to the city,

was told that the drawings were missing.

He paid his zoning permit fee of 485,

was providing an email of Inspector DeHal to contact.

He went through it.

He contacted them.

Every month he went to the city to inquire about it

and was frustrated as far as the inability to obtain these plans.

He then had his architect, Sky Design,

who also was then was told, again, emailing Inspector Dahal,

was told that Krishan Srivatsa was now the examiner,

emailed copies of these same plans to her,

did not hear it because they were asking for official stamped copies of it.

But for some reason, they were unable to, they did not have them within their files at the basement over at the Municipal Services Building.

Again, on 8-24, again, his architect did it.

On 12-10 of 21, he again went back, was told to go home and wait for an update.

He again waited.

she requested three copies of the stamp drawings he provided as much as he could to her returned

again on 12 21 of 21 for them was told to look now for a sherry ola on 12 27 of 20 he emailed

prishnan to inquire about the drawings with no response on 17 of 22 went to ellen i was told

to email nora de simone with a permit number and address and she would follow the supervisor

121 of 22 uh the the owner again went to ellen i finally got an official paper of the stamp

drawings that they now have been stamped one four of 2020 he was wondering how i mean he'll testify

uh and he'll adopt my testimony as his own plus if needed he'll add additional frustration to it

On 4-19-22, I then started emailing this board for an application to file an extension of this permit, but it was apparently still not yet ripe for us to file that appeal.

i then filed it then i went through the process the the problem with this is this was not

initially uploaded uh electronically through eclipse this was a paper filing back in 2019

when it was initially done so that is probably one of the bigger reasons why there was a breakdown

in the system. And when I say breakdown in the system, I'm talking about the licenses and

inspection review and the necessity for an extension of this permit. So again, this is one

Again, this is one where this is part of the emails that I was discussing that Mr. Yee had forwarded.

where this is part of the emails that I was.

He eventually was able to obtain a plumbing permit and a demolition permit.

But now the problem exists is in the meantime, what has occurred is his building has been deemed historical.

So the problem with him obtaining building permits has been further frustrated with an additional step that needs an approval.

So, again, I think that he's shown significant and of course, now the period of time has elapsed from the time that I filed the appeal.

the board denied uh my appeal i'm sorry filed the application for an extension the board denied that

our appeal then has taken us probably up to is it six months six months since uh um august so

i'm gonna again there's no harm here to extend this permit i understand what the the timing is

but in effect, there is no harm done. What would be required to go through this? I don't think

that there's any judicial economy here. The timing that we'll take to do this, the amount of funds

that will be necessitated to go through this entire process all over again for an additional

uh zoning appeal whereas if this board would just grant an additional year from today in which

mr ye for the zoning um application i'm sorry the zoning permit

he can then attempt to get all of his building permits go through the additional problems that

he's going to incur with um the historical commission in order to to get their approval

also as you know that that will take some significant amount of time and burden for him

to go through that process also there'll be additional requirements that were not there

because that historical designation was not in effect until after 2020

and after his attempts to obtain these building permits.

With that, I'm going to take a breath, rest,

and if I could call my, if there are any questions,

I'll be more than happy to answer them.

Otherwise, I'll have my client come on and adopt the testimony.

If you're in the audience, please raise your hand.

Hunter Yee has been allowed to speak.

Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the court sonographer?

Yes.

Good morning.

my first name is hunter and my last name is e h-u-n-t-e-r y-e do you swear or firm to tell

the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes please proceed counsel okay uh mr did

you have an opportunity to listen to my testimony this morning yes i did do you accept that as your

own yes was it accurate yes is there anything else that you would like to add that i may have missed

Yeah, so I'd like to share our story and give a bit of context.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the board.

For us, this is a financial investment, at the same time a way for us to invest back into our community.

So, as Mr. Pasquale mentioned, in the Z-Bay hearing, we had very large community turnout and support and pages of petition signature.

And since the approval of this variance, we have really timely submitted the drawings to LNI.

We've paid the filing fees as well as provided multiple emails, two emails, as well as phone numbers as contacts.

And we're told that this process should take five to ten days.

After that time frame, we've continuously followed up and tried to inquire about the status with no clear timeline.

At some point, we actually were able to get the contact of our examiner and contact them through phone and email.

and, again, did not receive any response.

For us, this has been a very confusing two and a half years.

Without the stamp drawing, we were really unable to move forward on the property.

And during this time, the property has remained vacant,

And during this time, the property has remained vacant, and we've had to really continuously pay for interest, taxes, as well as fees, and it's nearing – next year will actually be the 10-year since we purchased this property.

and we've had to really continuously...

And for these reasons, I'd like to ask for the extension.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Leonard?

Thank you, members of the board.

uh the i mean i i kind of withheld the making objections on what seemed to be about 80 percent

uh hearsay uh between mr colavita and mr gay um but that being said in terms of the timeline

my review of the matter is that the timeline is essentially accurate i do want to clarify

that the designation of the property took place uh in and around november i think it was

It's finally designated November 13th of 2020.

The property is the location of the original Sigma Sound Studios, which was one of the

most significant production studios in the United States back from the, I think, late

40s through 50s.

So the building is designated historic.

And I just want to say at the time of the designation, my recollection is that the

historical commission was aware uh in fact there was an attorney who represented uh the property

owner at the historical commission at that time the designation was taking place so any

you know intimation that there was any surprise or anything about the designation or it's something

that you know happened after the fact uh it's you know they were aware of the designation they did

not oppose the designation and the designation took place so that's not really relevant to any

of this they haven't even submitted uh anything to the commission for uh the commission's review

as far as i've been able to determine so uh and again they can submit a permit application through

eclipse uh that would be automatically forwarded to the historical commission but in other depending

on the scope of the project uh they could also just bring in an application that could get

reviewed by the commission before it's submitted into eclipse it really depends on their own

preference but so again i just wanted to clarify that because i don't think the designation of the

property has anything to do with this uh the code has pretty clear rule on the lapse of permits and

approvals it's a section 14-303 of the zoning code subsection 10 and a an approval

any approval so in this case an approval by the zoning board lapses after three years i do

understand obviously you had the covid pandemic which there was a period of time i think no more

than 30 days i think it was less than 30 days that l and i was effectively closed but throughout the

uh the pandemic uh when the city offices were closed to the public l and i was processing

permit applications uh and reviewing plans uh again as far as the specifics of the allegation

that l and i lost the stamp plans or didn't have the stamp plans again uh no no one from l and i

was subpoenaed to be at this at this hearing uh and it was again unclear what any of that i mean

again they they had they submitted plans they have plans the plans were approved by the historic by

the zoning board not clear why they didn't just simply produce another copy of their plans to get

re-stamped but uh you know that being said i just wanted to address some of the

allegations that were raised by mr colavita and mr yay because i don't think they're really that

relevant i mean if the board wants to consider granting an extension because of covid and

incidentally just looking at the dates the board approved the variance uh in may of 2019 i guess

The decision letter went out in June of 2019.

The pandemic didn't hit until March of 2020.

So you still have six, seven, eight, nine months before the pandemic occurred that caused the city offices to close.

There were some extensions at the time during COVID, but all of those have long since expired.

i i would as far as you know the play between the zoning board at that time and

between the zoning board at that time and L&I in terms of what happened to the plans or what

happened to the approval on the plans. I don't have any information about that. Again, that took

place prior to the Eclipse system going online, which ironically went online, I think, a week

before the pandemic caused the city offices to close to the public. So there was a transition

from the older system, Hansen, to Eclipse

that took place right about that time.

Again, I don't see that any of the records were missing.

I mean, the permit that's at issue here

is in the Eclipse system,

at least a notation that it was issued.

So with all that being said,

you know, the rule in the zoning code

is again the approval of the zoning board of adjustment is good for three years so that would

be and it's from the date of the approval not the date the permit was actually issued so the approval

here was granted uh in may or june i think the decision letter was june of 2019 so three years

from that would have gotten you to 20 june of 22 they asked for an extension uh i believe

that would have been good through again june of 23 and that's it um this board has the authority

to hear an appeal from the denial of an additional extension uh i defer to the board's council

as to whether um the board has any authority to grant an additional extension uh there's no

you know quote unquote equitable uh process on the part of the zoning board uh we did not there

is no rule there is no ordinance that was passed creating any exception for uh because of the

covid pandemic i don't have any objection if the board wants to take everything into consideration

and make a decision but again whether the board has the legal authority to do that

But I think I would have to defer to the board's counsel.

So with that, I don't really have anything additional.

Thank you.

Questions from the board?

No, Mr. Chairman.

No, Chair.

Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?

Just a couple of things.

um one mr colavita um we checked and for some reason we didn't get your exhibit packet

so if you could please resend that so we have that for the record um that would be that would

be helpful um secondly and no no objection to the admission of the of the documents sorry i thank

Thank you. Thank you. And in reviewing the zoning board history on this case, well, I see, I saw the letter that you submitted with your application for appeal that indicated you had reached out to the board in April of 2022 about an extension.

And so I looked up what had happened with that request, and I saw that executive director, Tanya Sunkett, had responded to that request that it needed to be made to L&I.

And I could not find any further information if an extension was indeed granted pursuant to that request, if it went to L&I.

but i just wanted to be clear for the record that you know there was not request was right okay so

any extension of this i don't it didn't come as a result of anything that that we did so as far as

that additional one year that was granted i don't know why the additional time was added to uh from

2022? I don't know that it was. I just saw that the request went to the zoning board because of

the letter, this copy of the letter that you sent with your application for appeal and that you were

redirected to L&I, but I didn't see any evidence that there was a further request submitted to L&I

or that an additional extension was granted. That's what I just wanted to explain.

Thank you. Hillary, we're going to vote on this today. So, MI 2023-006-291-210-North-12th Street, appeal is denied.

Thomas Holloman, appeal denied. Ishmael Shahid, appeal denied.

Thank you, counsel.

We're going to go to...

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Number one.

Number one.

Thank you.

Number one, MI 2023, 007-126-469 Orania Street.

Hillary Fuelborn is the attorney for the appellant.

But a Reuter is for the city.

And also, is there anyone from 469 or Rainier Street in the audience?

Good morning.