Good evening.
I'd like to call the order a special meeting
of the zoning Board of appeals on Wednesday,
June 4th at 7:30 PM Please rise
for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance,
Pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America
to the Republic for which it stands.
One nation for the God, indivisible,
liberty and justice for all.
Roll call
Mr. Green. Present.
Mr. Dovi Present.
Mr. Perry is absent. Mr. Clifft
Present? Mr. Watts?
Here. Mr. Assessor Present.
Mr. Lindsay not present. Mr. Jersey's present. Chair, AYA.
Present.
Can we get a motion to motion
To excuse the absent members?
Support? We have a motion by Mr.
Assessor, support by Mr. Watts to approve, uh, the absences.
All in favor? Aye.
Aye. I've been excused.
This brings us to the adoption of the agenda tonight.
Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion to adopt the agenda
as written support.
Have a motion by Secretary Jersey, support by Mr.
Naor Woods to approve the, to adopt the agenda.
All in favor? Aye. The agenda has been adopted.
Item five, approval of the minutes. There are none tonight.
This brings us right in.
We're first gonna call items six through nine.
Um, this is for items six through nine.
Applicant Baker and Associates Realty Group, LLC,
representative Faye Baker.
This is regarding item six through nine on the agenda
in regards to properties at the following
addresses, 7, 5, 6 7 Packard,
7 5 7 5 Packard, 7 5 6 8 hub
and 7 5 7 6.
Hub variances requested permission to on those properties,
construct a single family residence.
One within a 30 foot rear setback,
two within 35% lot coverage.
Good evening. You called off. How many properties
Did the first Okay.
Did the first four then I'm gonna do the items 10
and 11 separate and then the, the rest under a third,
a third separate motion because there's different right
variances regarding the three different,
or those three different groupings.
Okay. Okay. No worries. Good evening.
Um, so I'm here
Here. Could you, could you please start
with your name?
Yes. Faye Baker. Thank you. And your address?
8 0 8 6 14 Mile Road. Uh, Warren, Michigan. Thank
You. Yes. Please tell us about
your request.
So I'm requesting a variance
to build single family detached homes
for sale on the south end of Warren.
The lots are smaller lots, they're 40 foot wide lots.
And to build homes that appeal to home buyers, um,
I'm requesting the variance of a 30,
uh, 30 foot rear setback, um, and a 35% lot coverage.
This will allow me to build a home
that's about 1,267 square feet with one car attached garage,
which will appeal to, um, the, uh, modern home buyer
and also to waive the staggering two foot, um, setback.
I believe that should be on here as well. Oh, I
Don't see, I Don't think that, I don't think
that one's on these first four ma'am.
I think that's on the next grouping.
Okay. It okay. It should
Have been, correct me if I'm wrong though,
But it, I it should have been on all of them
because I mean, I know that none
of the houses on the block are abiding by it,
but, um, it should definitely be on all of them.
Petition. Yeah.
Not a quarter. Yeah.
Okay. Thank you for those comments.
This is a public hearing.
Is there anyone in the audience who wishes
to speak on this item?
Not seeing anyone. I close the public portion of the meeting
and turn it over to the board for discussion.
Mr. Chair. Um, Everett, if you could approach real quick.
Um,
yes
Sir. Good evening, sir. How are
you? Good.
Um, so this lady, um, Ms.
Baker's saying that there's supposed
to be a two foot, two foot set.
Staggering. Staggering,
but I, I'm not seeing it on item six through nine.
Um, I do see it on 10 and 11.
Yeah, I saw that too. I was actually as soon, as, soon
as she mentioned that I, I'm starting
to look at her applications to see what,
what was requested. Um,
I'll give you some time. Go
ahead, take your time. So
If for some reason it's not,
they'd have to come back for that.
Okay. And, and,
and if it's on all the lots except for those four,
then it would just apply to those four.
Go ahead Ms. Pierce, It is on the application. Yes.
Um, pertaining to, to all the different parcel numbers.
Um, rear setback reduction waiver
of the two front frontage staggering requirement.
Um, and then the, everything else that was requested.
Yeah. You, you know, the person I'd have to ask,
and he's not here tonight, right?
Correct. And Um, yes,
but, um, he will be back in the morning
and I will talk to him to see if that was an error
or if there was a reason for that.
I don't want to assume it was just an error yet.
Um, you know, he's done a lot of the research on it
and um, you know, there may be a reason for that.
So
Doesn't any sense.
But if not, since they requested on all,
but those four, they would only have to ask for
that on those four.
So they'd have to come back for the two foot.
It has to be posted that way. Right.
So, so it, it depends on the way it was posted,
but I'm sure it was posted
exactly the way it was written here. So,
Um, I gotta believe that.
So it would to be the case too. I,
I will find out first thing in the morning.
Um, and, um, we'll get in touch
with Ms. Baker and we can also let you guys know
what we find too with, okay, Nicole.
Alright. Thank you sir.
Nature, I, I've got a question for Everett.
Don't walk away just 'cause I'm trying.
I what does, what does that, uh,
ordinance mean about staggering in the front building line
two feet from, I was trying to think in my neighborhood
and looking at the ranches in my neighborhood.
How, are they staggered or are they not?
They're probably not.
I can't Think of, of a street that
Has that. A lot of, they aren't. Right.
So, um, let me see,
let's read the exact wording of it.
Um,
Uh, the Lot covered. That's
gonna be on the second.
We should have the wording in there,
but so many papers that we get through
without staggering, here we go.
Okay. So each lot in the R one C districts have a front yard
of no less than 25 feet where residents are
to be erected on adjacent lots.
Such building lines shall be staggered at least two feet
with no building line located closer to 25.
So yeah, they're saying they just don't, they just,
they don't want them all, you know, in one flat row.
Right. So they want stagger.
I I'm assuming that when they drew that up, they thought
that it would be more pleasing at the time.
So
Instead of looking like cookie cutters down the street,
I guess. Oh,
I know. I was just
Trying to think in, in my block, I was trying to think
of our, our, yeah, it's not new.
It's not something that was added at least in my time.
Right. So that that's been there. Yeah.
And if it's a long Time,
So it's like two feet, if you were gonna do it,
I mean two feet it would from the street,
you wouldn't really notice that.
Anyway.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Cliff
Reading straight from the muni code
of ordinances referencing, uh, R one P.
Damn, I had it a second ago.
Each lot in R one P district should have a front yard,
not less than 25 feet in depth.
It's the only thing it talks about in the front yard
for R one P, which is what those four lots are zoned as
10 and 11 or R one C.
So are 12 through 24.
I'm just saying in our, in our muni
code, I'm looking right at it.
It, it doesn't mention the staggering
in an R one P district, I'll yield the floor.
Those are R one P Oh Right.
That that's an important distinction that Oh, item
Six R one P. I didn't catch that.
Six through nine at R one P. Thank you Mr. Cliff. It's a
Requirement. That's a very good
Question. You're welcome, sir.
Okay.
I, you know, Steve is really good
at this, you know what I mean?
So, um, like I said, I I would assume there was a reason
before I would assume he made a mistake.
So I'm guessing we don't, based off what Mr.
Cliff read, doesn't, doesn't,
I don't believe that the two foot stagger replies And an R
one C, it's up to the petitioner.
She r right. Wants to make
R one P and that would make sense why it's listed
for the R one CS 10 through 11 and 12 through 24, right?
Yes. Okay. Are there any other comments, Mr.
Chair on The board to Mr. Mr. Murphy?
Actually real quick before we get get back to Mr. Murphy,
I forgot to read the planning department's, um,
impact statement, um, uh, per the planning department, um,
no issues were found to impact the abutting local
or general public regarding this.
All, all these, uh, items,
The Difference, Mr. Watts, you have the floor
One C, you do So to Mr. Murphy
PC. Yes.
Question I have on this, is there 40 foot lots?
I thought everything was changed that it had
to be built on a 60 foot lot.
No. So it says that lots that were platted prior
to a certain date Okay.
Did not have to meet that requirement.
Okay. So they,
they did not have to meet that requirement.
Fair enough. Thank you.
Any other comments from the board tonight?
So I guess, I guess the question to the applicant,
are you, are you confident with that description
that we don't have to, you know, repost, uh,
for the, the two foot?
Yes. Okay. Yes.
Um, If, if nobody else has anything further
to say on these first four
items, I would like to make a motion.
Um, I'd like to make a motion to grant petitioner, um,
permission to construct a single family residence.
One with a, with a 30 foot rear setback.
Oops, I'm sorry. Um, yeah, with a 30 foot rear setback
and two with 35% lot coverage due to the fact of the size
and ships of the lot
and it's not a detriment to the area board support.
We have a motion by Secretary Jersey, support by Mr.
Cliff to approve the item as read.
Mr. Jersey votes? Yes. For a reason. Stay in the motion.
Mr. Cliff? Yes. For the reason stated in the motion.
Mr. Green? Yes. For the reason stated in the motion. Mr.
Assessor? Yes.
For the reasons stated in the motion. Mr. Watts?
Yes. For the reasons stated in the motion.
Mr. Auvi? Yes.
For the reasons stated in the motion Chairman Aya?
Yes. For the reasons stated in the motion request, six
through nine have been approved.
This brings us to item 10 and 11.
Items 10 and 11.
Representative, um, same representative
as the previous, previous four Faye Baker.
Um, this is for I items 10
and 11 regarding properties.
Just have the page regarding property.
7 5 0 4 Huff and 7 5 0 3.
Packard variances requested permission
to construct a single family residence, one
with a 30 foot rear setback, two
with a 15 foot side setback,
abutting a street three without staggering front building
line two feet from adjacent last four with 35% lot coverage.
Yes. Good, good evening. Your name
and address again for the record, please.
Faye Baker. 8 0 8 6 14 Mile Road, Warren, Michigan.
Thank you. Please tell us about your
additional requests here.
Uh, same thing here. Um, these are corner lots.
They are butting a side street.
Um, and we wanted to place houses on these, um,
lots just like the other houses on the street
and the, the neighboring blocks.
Um, it, it's required that we, in order to do that, we have
to, uh,
have some more generous setbacks on the side as well as the rear.
This will allow us to also have an attached garage off the
back, uh, to accommodate modern families
and have some, a product that people will want to purchase.
Thank you for those comments. This is a public hearing.
Is there anyone in the audience
who wishes to speak on this item?
Not seeing anyone. I close the public portion of the meeting
and turn it over to the board for discussion.
Mr. Chair. Mr. Watts,
I have some questions. I really
wanted to answer 'em on the first one,
so didn't get to it.
So, um, question is,
what price range do you think these are gonna be in?
So we have three different, um, models.
We have a ranch style, uh, that has, um, three bedrooms,
two full bathrooms.
They're on a crawl, uh, with a car,
single car attached garage.
And that one, my goal is to get that to be around 2 24.
We are trying to control cost
because we want it to be affordable.
Um, that would essentially make it less than
what people are paying for rent in the area.
Um, the house note would be less
than what they're paying for rent.
Okay. Um, the, we have two colonials.
One is a three bedroom, two, two and a half bathroom.
Um, it's about 1600 square feet, um, sorry,
1650 square feet.
And, um, that one we're, I, my goal is to get it
to no more than two 70.
Um, again, it would be affordable.
And then we have a larger one that would be market rate.
That one would be, um, actually three bedrooms.
It could be a four bedroom on the main floor, uh,
with three full bathrooms.
And that one we are looking at close to 2 95
still being affordable, but for a larger family.
How long do you think it's gonna take
to get all of these built in?
Because we're doing modular right now,
what we're doing is we are working with Champion homes.
Uh, we've already got all of our models, excuse me, all
of our floor plans and they're being
submitted to the state for approval.
That process takes about six weeks.
Um, once that's done, it's pretty much, um,
once the city can put us through their permitting process.
And, um, so I would say from start to finish,
we should be complete by October,
They'll all, they'll all be up by that time. Oh,
Well the first phase, which is nine.
Okay. So they should be up and sold.
We already have five of them sold.
Uh, which brings me back here
because it seems more people like ranch style homes
than colonials.
Colonials. I really wouldn't need a variance
because the footprint is smaller
because we're doing two stories,
but in order to do ranch style, we need
to take up a little bit more of the lot
so we have more people
that are interested in ranch style homes.
Okay, understood. So my next question is to Mr. Murphy,
I guess, or maybe the city attorney,
but we've seen projects over the years
that get started that they don't get finished.
What happens to these variances?
The variances are essentially forever.
If they apply for a permit
or plan review within one year, it's, it's set.
Now, if they don't apply for a permit within one year,
the the variances actually it's automatically rescinded.
Okay. So, fair enough. I hope that's not the case.
Thank With the way the crazy
economy is, you just never know.
You know, I, I want it to be successful, so, yeah. Alright.
Very good. Thank you. Thank you
Mr. Chairman. Mr.
Cliff? Yeah, I'm remiss.
Um, there was a resident who had an interest in this project
and they couldn't come tonight.
I told them I'd ask the question kind of on their behalf.
I'm just curious. And they wrote,
they brought up a good point.
It piqued my curiosity too.
Um, if you got a, if you got a standard
or if you got a, a, uh, requirement in place on
who these homes can be sold to, I guess the crux
of my question is, are these gonna be sold
to owner occupied folks
or are we selling them to investors to rent out? No.
No. Um, so my company, we focus on financial literacy,
home buyers education, self sustainability.
The reason why I purchased this property
and wanted to put the houses is
because, um, I also have a non-profit organization.
And in my non-profit organization,
we focus on first time home buyers.
People who never thought home ownership would be possible.
Um, and so in doing that, we acquired the land
and we are building specifically
for homeowners, for families.
Uh, and part of our process is that they come
through us, through our nonprofit.
We help them get down payment assistance.
We help them, uh, with their credit.
If they require credit, credit coaching, uh, we help them,
you know, to understand their budget.
We are also a resource for them even
after they purchase the home.
So our nonprofit is available to them if they were
to ever run into a problem.
Our goal is not just to sell you a home, we want you
to sustain home ownership.
So we put these services in place for,
particularly for homeowners.
Um, I've been doing this for quite some time.
I, my previously I used to rehab houses and sell them.
I never sell to an investor.
I, I believe in creating homeowners.
Um, I've been a landlord for very many,
for quite some time, a lot of years.
And even those houses, once they rent for me
for a while, I sell them the house.
Um, I believe in helping people to create wealth, people
who never thought it was possible.
So to answer your question,
the short answer is absolutely not.
We do not sell it to investors.
Is there a title restriction on the purchase to prevent
that home from being put up for rent by the purchaser?
Yes. So the, um, part of the funds
that we're getting is from the state
and they're, they have to live in that home
and occupy it as their primary property
for at least five years.
Understood. Thank you for your in-depth explanation.
That's absolutely fantastic work. Thank you. Mm-hmm.
I have one question.
I know these are single family homes that you're building.
The rendering is, is beautiful. They're, they're adorable.
Is there, are these homes when completed all 19,
is there some type of,
is it technically like a detached condo
with some type of board or there's
No, these are all single family detached homes.
There is no condo association or anything like that.
So they, these are just like any oth any other
home in that neighborhood.
Okay. That was my only question.
You have a very competitive price point.
I I think it's a great addition to the city.
Any additional comments from the board?
If there's not Mr. Chair, I'd love to make a motion.
Please do Reference
items 10 and 11.
Um, I make the motion to grant permission
to construct a fing, a single family residence, number one
with a 30 foot rear setback.
Number two with a 15 foot side setback, a budding a street.
Number three, without staggering front building line two
feet from adjacent lots.
And number four with 35% lot coverage.
Not a detriment to the area size of the shape of the lot.
Support and vision of the project requires it.
We have a motion by Mr. Cliff, support by Secretary Jersey
to approve the request as presented. Mr.
Cliff? Yes. For the reason stated in the motion, Mr.
Jersey votes? Yes. For the reason. Stand in the motion.
Mr. Auvi? Yes. For reason stated in the motion. Mr.
Assessor? Yes.
For the reasons stated in the
Motion. Mr. Green? Yes.
For the
Reasons stated in the Motion.
Mr. Watts? Yes.
For the reasons stated in the motion Chairman Aya? Yes.
For the reasons stated in the motion items
10 and 11 have been approved.
This brings us to items 12 through 24.
Items 12 through 24 being represented by this,
by the previous representative Faye Baker.
This is for items 12 through 24.
On the agenda regarding the following properties,
7 5 1 2 hub 7 5 2 0.
Hub, 7 5 2 8.
Hub, 7 5 3 6 HU 7 5 4 4.
Hub, 7 5 5 2.
Hub, 7 5 6 0.
Hub 7 5 11 Packard,
7 5 2 7 Packard, 7 5 3 5 Packard,
7 5 4 3 Packard, 7 5 5 1 Packard
and 7 5 5 9.
Packard Variances requested permission. Two
one Construct a, well construct a single family residence,
one with a 30 foot rear setback.
Two without staggering front building line two feet
from adjacent lots.
And
number
Three and three, I'm sorry, three with 33% lot coverage.
35%. 35% lot coverage. My apologies.
Hello again? Yes. Faye Baker.
8 0 8 6 14 Mile Road, Warren, Michigan.
Thank you. Anything else you'd like
to add about these requests?
Same as before. Um, just need larger area to be able
to build houses that the modern family would want
to purchase and live in.
Thank you for those comments. This is a public hearing.
Is there anyone in the audience who wishes
to speak on this item?
Not seeing anyone. I closed the public portion
of the meeting and turn it over to the board for discussion.
Mr. Chair, just really quickly, I just want
to go on the record saying that I
think this is an amazing project.
Um, I talked with somebody in the city,
I think four or five years ago.
I went into that area looking at a, a property
that needed variances and kind
of questioned about the property.
Like why, why is it just a field sitting in the middle
of a neighborhood just doing nothing?
So, um, I really, um,
I really appreciate your investment in the city.
Really appreciate the, what you're doing Sounds phenomenal.
Um, with your nonprofit and, and home starter ship program.
Um, I really think this is gonna enhance, um, the, um, the,
that, that end of town
and hopefully bring property values,
um, up to speed as well.
So thank you. And, um,
hopefully this isn't the end of projects like this.
Um, you know, with the Land Bank, you know
that we started here in the city
and I think this is maybe a, a a sign of good things to come
and it's refreshing to see. So thank you ma'am.
Thank you. Just out of curiosity, on the parcel map,
it, it, it, am I looking at this correctly?
It appears that one of the parcels is to remain vacant.
No, we've already received, um, the,
the approval for those setbacks.
We brought that back in May.
So we did the one one lot that's,
so now we're doing the remaining 19.
Okay. That's parcels 13 we're talking about? Correct.
Is that the location of the model home or?
Yes. Okay. Yeah, we'll have three models of actually.
Okay. That makes good sense. I have no further questions.
No other members have anything else to say or, or add.
I'd like to make a motion. I'd like to make a motion
to grant the petitioner's request
to construct a single family residence, one
with a 30 foot rear setback.
Two without staggering front building lines two,
two feet from adjacent lots.
Three with 35% lot coverage due
to the fact the size and shapes of the lot.
And it's not a detriment to the area.
Support. Move a motion by Secretary Jersey.
Support by Mr. Assessor to approve. The item is read. Mr.
Jersey votes? Yes. For the reason stated in
the motion. Mr. Assessor?
Yes. For the reason stated in the motion.
Mr. Starva? Yes, sir. The reason stated in the
Motion Mr. Green? Yes.
For the reasons stated Of the motion. Mr. Watts? Yes.
For the reasons stated of motion. Mr. Clifft?
Yes. For the reasons stated
In The motion. Mrs.
Chairman sfa?
Yes. For the reasons stated in the motion.
Your request has been approved for items 12 through 24.
Thank you. Thank you. Good luck. Thank you.
This brings us to item 25. Any new business,
Mr. Chair?
Mr. Green?
Mr. Green? Yeah. I just wanna thank the city attorney
for taking the time this week to do a little bit
of research on this particular
Item. Thank you
very much. My pleasure. Any other new business?
Motion to adjourn? No adjourn support. All in favor? Aye.
Aye. Meeting adjourned. 7 58.