owner of 469 then i don't think that this board had i i strongly believe the board should uh
uh bifurcate this matter and resume at a at a later date after we yeah i i don't know if
miss fulliborne has any information about whether that property owner is still represented by mr
anastasio uh certainly he's well known to this board myself i can reach out to him uh but
i don't think it's the same property owner anymore actually i do not think mr anastasio
is representing him he the last i communicated with him in 2018 he certainly was not
i i would also say though i the building permit was just issued on february 7th and we absolutely
do plan to appeal it um so i would ask for a stay on that on you know issuing anything else and if
that building permit isn't i mean they're going to start to build when they they should not be so
i mean then they're going to try to claim that you know they've already started to build so i mean
again i i don't have an objection to the idea i don't but because the building permit itself was
not the subject of this appeal uh i do agree and it's correct that that building permit uh again
theoretically it could be appealed here we prefer that building permit third-party appeals from
building permits be taken to the board of l and i review uh you can ask the board of l and i review
to grant a stay or you can go to court and get an injunction but again until the city
wouldn't revoke that permit um you know certainly not until this this matter is
pending so again i i would defer to boards council about what authority this board has
to do anything with respect to you know again either i think it's difficult to hear anything
about the building permit because it's not the subject of this appeal but whether the board has
the authority to grant uh again it's not a you're really asking for an injunction which i don't think
any board has right i agree to grant so uh it's not so much a stay it would be an injunction i
think you have to go to court for that but again i'll defer to boards council and as far as my
case goes i because i think i i would defer my argument and presentation my case until the
resumption hearing okay so hillary we're going to have a resumptive hearing right
do you want to hear your yes we will sorry yes sorry yes i'm sorry i got two hillary's going
one i'm sorry um yes we will we will need to have a a resumption hearing um we will take a look at
our schedule and let all parties know um on on that um and in terms of um in terms of the the
building permit um i mean you can i think leonard i think what we've been doing with those when
they're linked to a specific appeal of a zoning permit just having them both heard by l and i i
mean um by dba because the decision on the zoning permit would affect the building permit
yeah so if you are planning i have no objection to that i mean she could appeal that permit to
this board and then ask that the both matters be you know mushed together that's fine i don't have
an objection to that okay yeah i think i think that makes the most sense if there is a plan to
appeal the building permit that that that comes to the zoning board and that also has a 30-day
timeline um from when it was issued so to bear in mind that okay um that that being said not to
overly complicate it i don't see that a building permit uh has been issued i don't actually even
see an application for building permit but let me just double check that leonard leonard there is
there is one i did see oh i'm sorry i'm looking for yeah my bad i was looking under 469 yeah
looking 467 because why wouldn't i right okay yeah yeah so thanks to everyone we will make
make sure you know when the resumptive hearing is and hillary will try to get this in as quick
as possible um yes mr chair okay your honor i just had one question is so if the building permit is
currently active and if you rule in my favor on this appeal the building permit will have to by
nature be negated because this is not um you know they would have needed to get a variance for the
side setbacks they would have need to get a variance for the lot width so is is not not that
it should be delayed until that you've ruled on that leonard
well again as of right now it's the city's position that the zoning permit is good
As of right now, it's the city's position that the zoning permit is good.
I'm still trying to find the building permit you're talking about.
Are you talking about MP2024-00226?
Is that it?
Because I see three, looks like, plumbing permits.
The owner was aware when they filed, and Ellen and I was also aware when they filed that building permit,
that this appeal has been pending since November.
So the fact that the building permit was issued with this appeal pending, I mean, I feel like notice should have been given to me as the as the appellant that we were that a building permit was issued. I would have appealed it before today.
again a person who obtains a building permit while a zoning permit underlying zoning permit
is the pending an appeal can still get that permit it's just they do so at their own risk
so we the the taking of a somebody taking an appeal from a zoning permit doesn't act as an
automatic stay on a building permit like in other words if you're if you're a third party appealing
the issuance of a zoning permit that appeal doesn't stop the issuance of a building permit
you if you get the building permit you're doing that at your own risk but but so again it looks
like if we're talking about the same permit that was issued on february 7th right yeah that's rp
2023 011
you know so
again I can't tell you
what to do but
and I defer to you know
council on what
authority this board has right now
we're going to have a resumptive hearing
as soon as we can
and everybody will be notified okay
thank you thank you very much
thank you
So now we're going to go to number three, MI 2023-001-213-301 Delmar Street.
Richard DeMarco is the attorney for the owner.
Paul Toner is the attorney for Ridge Park Civic Association.
This is a resumptive hearing.
And it's our fourth hearing.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning, Mr. DeMarco.
In preparation for the Zoning Board proceedings today, did you circulate a petition personally?
I did a while ago, and I tried at least two to three times also.
And was that petition, that petition was submitted with our exhibits at the first hearing, right?
That's the same petition, right?
Explain to the board your experience in circulating that petition.
How did it go?
So initially it went fairly well. I felt like I had quite a few signatures and I had at least
two or three people who were telling me that they would come to the community
meeting. But then after the first meeting and possibly the second meeting, I couldn't get
anyone. And it was a very intimidating atmosphere. And all the people that said that they would speak
for me really didn't speak up. And it was just, from my experience, just a very aggressive
meeting. Yeah. Okay. And did the woman who is along Silverwood Street, the owner of that
property who abuts your property at the back of the property on Silverwood, did she sign the
petition? Yes, she did. And she's been, yeah, she's been like trying to communicate with me
Also, she's like concerned about the trees. And did she? Mr. DeMarco, I agree with that last comment, the hearsay.
So she so, Mr. Chairman, she has submitted a letter that that. Sure. So let me ask this.
So, without without without quoting or speaking about what the owner of the Silverwood property said to you, did she submit a letter to you to give to the board?
Mr. Chairman, I do want to note that we previously objected to the submission of the petition itself. As the board and its council are well aware, we have requested that a copy of this petition be circulated. We've sent numerous emails, and Mr. DeMarco simply refuses to share a copy of the petition with the Ridge Park Association.
association. May I respond, Mr. Chairman? Well, wait one minute. So let's go back to his first
objection. I agree any comments that she's had with that is hearsay. And Mr. DeMarco, now you
can respond to the issue that you did not show him the petition. Yeah, the people who signed
the petition were subject, subjected to intimidation, harassment, bullying by, he doesn't
know. Mr. Cohn doesn't know what happened in this case.
It's a red herring, Your Honor.
He's got it now.
If he has the petition,
I appreciate that, and why don't
we continue on? I don't have the petition.
Okay. Well, the board
gave it to him, so he's not being truthful
to you. No. Okay.
So I'm certainly not going to
subject the people who signed the petition
to the harassment of these neighbors. Okay.
Well, let's move on with your claim.
You got it. So...
So, Ms. Epstein, did the owner of the Silverwood property provide a letter to you?
Yes, she did.
And that's part of our exhibits from the last hearing, correct?
Objection.
Hearsay.
I don't have a copy of the letter.
We've requested it numerous times, and he sent the first two compilation documents, and he's conspicuously refused to provide us these documents.
So, Mr. Chairman, that is absolutely false.
I really do not appreciate the lack of truthfulness to you. The second exhibit packet was provided to Mr. Toner. He was copied on the email. He might have to check his email. He clearly is not getting emails from me for some reason. I have proof of the sending of that.
Mr. Toner, have you checked to see if there was an email?
I have, and I've emailed Ms. Emerson separately, and I've copied Ms. Emerson on emails I've sent to Mr. DeMarco. The refusal is conspicuous.
Okay. Well, let's proceed. Can we go past this petition and ask your client on other issues?
I'm going to share my screen and show you the email, which Mr. Tony was copied.
And I really resent the misrepresentation of this board. I'm going to show it to you right now.
Let's put this to bed. You can see it right here. There's Mr. Toner's email. Can you see my screen,
Mr. Chairman? Yes. All right. You can see Mr. Toner is carbon copied on the email for my
supplemental exhibits, which includes the letter of the Silverwood resident who provided it to my
client. You are allowed to accept any types of letters. You take them all the time. It's a
proper admission into evidence. Here, Mr. Toner is telling you he didn't receive it. And here's
the email, which is proof of that. So I'll move on and finish with this. All right. Thank you.
So I'll move on and finish with this.
All right, thank you.
Why don't you move on and finish with your client?
Why don't you move on and finish with your client?
Very well.
Very well.
So, Ms. Epstein, tell the board what you are aware of, having been the owner of this property since you purchased it at Sheriff's Sale.
Tell the board what you know of as far as the difficulties in developing this property for a single family home.
um so i've spoken to a couple of uh real estate developers and they just they mentioned that
okay that's all right no without without just say what you know as far as
okay so from what i can see of the property it is a steep slope and um that would take a lot of work
to, um, raise that so that you could build on it. And that would take, uh, assuming quite a bit of
expense. Okay. Describe the, describe the, um, the conditions of the property as far as the slope
and, um, the, uh, you know, the nature of the, the lot. So yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a strange
shape it's it's triangular it's narrow um and again it's the stoke the it's a very steep slope
okay so like it's i am concerned a little bit especially about the trees on the property
um and the fact that i'm not able to really do anything about that um well explain explain why
that's the case well because of like my concerns about like the trees leaning over onto the street
and people walking by i'm concerned in general about that um and the fact that i really can't
do anything about it um and um what do you mean about uh explain to the board what you mean about
why you can't do anything about the trees on the property like this is i guess is why i'm here
i'm trying to get i mean this is why we're at the hearing so that i can be allowed to uh do
something about the concerns about the trees on that property that's at least part of the reason
why i'm here and when you tried to did your husband do anything with regard to trying to
maintain the property objection okay no it does not call for hearsay so so does her husband do
anything did she observe her husband do any work at a property so go ahead miss go ahead
my husband told me that he was like trimming some of the shrubbery on there and then later
i went back to measure and i you know because when we heard about the concern about heritage
trees we measured everything and we don't actually he doesn't he told me he doesn't
even have tools to even cut a large enough tree that okay well i don't know what you don't have
to i'm almost done miss eston you know i'm sorry can i go ahead yeah please proceed you don't have
to speak about what he said you can talk about what you know and what you are aware of uh i had
asked you uh what is it about the did did you try to did your husband try to do work at the property
he did he was just trying to clean up on the property he was like trying to pick up twigs
And there were, like, I'm trying to think, like, I think that there were some branches and thinner trees that he was trying to clear up.
And were there violations issued when you tried to cut the trees?
It was said to me.
So now back to the question, what are your concerns about the trees?
Explain to the board the difficulties in maintaining the property with regard to the trees.
so there are still some remaining trees and they're overhanging the the street in some cases
are just overhanging in general and um people park their cars there and so i'm concerned about that
um concerned about people's safety and their cars period so i'm putting a i don't know if you can
see it on your phone but i'm putting a photo of the property up on my screen are you able to see
that, Ms. Epstein? Yes. Is that your property? Yes. And are those the trees that you're referring
to? Yes. Some of them. Yes. Yes. And I believe that's my, let me stop that. Hold on there.
This should be my last question. What would happen if you were unable to receive the variances
uh that you are requesting for in this case i mean i initially i mean i guess i wouldn't be
able to build on this property i wouldn't be able to have a home here um and i i mean also just like
i would just have to continue on i suppose to keep paying taxes and not being able to do anything
i suppose to keep paying taxes and not being able to do anything i'm concerned about bankruptcy
actually and did you um remove the curb cut that was proposed um initially in this case
yes we did that um to placate the neighborhood um after the meeting so you're willing to move
forward with this project without the curb cut and just for the dimensional variances that are
remaining? Yes. No further questions, Mr. Chairman.
Tony, do you have any questions? I do.
Ms. Epstein, were you