A bill for an ordinance changing the zoning classification for 753 South Downing Street in Washington Park West. Approves a map amendment to rezone property from U-SU-B to U-SU-B1 (allows for an accessory dwelling unit), located at 753 South Downing Street in Council District 7. The Committee approved filing this item at its meeting on 12-1-20.
Yes, Council President. I move the Council bill 22 1424 be placed upon final consideration and do pass. Thank you. It has been moved and seconded the required public hearing for Council Bill 20 Dash 1424 is open. May we please have the staff report? And I believe we have, Fran. I think it's James. Is it James? Oh, sorry, James. My start up. I had you down wrong. Go ahead, James. Not a problem. Thank you, Madam President. And thank you, Fran. Members of Council. Are you able to hear me and see my presentation? Yes. Thank you. Before you today we have a requested rezoning at 753 South Downing Street. The request is to go from UCB to UCB one to allow for the detached edu building for. Property is located in Council District seven in the Washington Park West neighborhood. The site is approximately 55, 20 square feet or 0.12 acres and is a single unit residential use. The rezoning from UCB to UCB one would allow the Urban House and detached accessory dwelling unit building for the max building. Height for an ADU is 24 feet and the minimum lot size is 4500 square feet. Existing zoning is also being surrounded by other U.S. B properties as well as U.S. U.S. to the north and OSA in the form of Walsh Park to. The East. Existing ladies is single unit residential surrounded by other single unit residential as well as to multi-unit residential and park and open space. Some photos of the existing context. The photo in the top left is the existing house and some other homes in the area and the intersection of Exposition and Downing Street. Perhaps a slide. We've received an R.A. position statement of our position, as well as nine letters in our position and six letters in support of this proposed application. Council will need to find the application consistent with the five reset with the five criteria from the Denver zoning code to approve. This proposed rezoning will begin with criteria. One Consistency of the adopted plans for this site. We have Top Plan 2040 Blueprint, Denver and the West Park Neighborhood Plan. This proposed rezoning is consistent with a number of planned 2040 goals, including equity goals and climate goals. Moving on to Blueprint Blueprint Denver This property is located in the urban neighborhood context. Urban. The urban context is characterized by a high degree of walkability and bike ability with good access to transit and less resilience, less reliance on cars. Typically, one and two unit residential areas with small multi-unit, residential and mixed use areas embedded like patterns are generally regular. There's a mix of alley uses in the urban context. This property does have alley accidents. Future place type is low residential, which is predominantly single and two unit uses. And so accessory dwelling units are appropriate in this context. Future Street type Downing Street is a residential arterial and there is a bus stop almost directly in front of this property. Blueprint, Denver Future Growth Strategy, all other areas. The city which anticipates seeing 10% of jobs and 20% of housing growth by 2040. Its application is also consistent with additional policies in Blueprint Denver specifically policy for diversify housing choice throughout the expansion of accessory dwelling units throughout all residential areas. And consistency with the West Washington neighborhood plan. This is a plan that was adopted in 1991. It is silent on Haiti specifically. However, staff does find that the proposed data use consistent with residential land use. Recommendation number four includes including compatible setbacks. The detached data building form was developed specifically to take these types of concerns into consideration and provides for appropriate setbacks between structures. Review criteria at number two. Uniformity of district regulations and proposed rezoning will result in uniform application of zoned district building form, use and design regulations. No waivers or variances are being sought here. Criteria for furthering the public health, safety and welfare staff finds this application consistent with this criteria, principally by implementation of adopted plans and by providing an additional housing unit in the neighborhood that is competitively integrated. Justifying circumstances. Again, we are looking at the specific implementation blueprint, Denver, which specifically recommends the city diversify housing choice through the access, the expansion of accessory dwelling units throughout all residential areas. And that plan was adopted after the date, the date of the approval of the existing zone district and therefore is appropriate justifying circumstance for the proposed rezoning. And Criteria. Five Consistency with Neighborhood Contexts Zone District Purpose and intent. Again, going back to the urban neighborhood, context primary consists of single unit and two unit. Residential uses the residential districts that are intended to promote and protect residential neighborhoods within the character of the urban neighborhood. Context building form standards, design standards and uses work together to promote desirable residential areas. In the U.S., you be one single unit district allowing the urban homes and detached accessory dwelling units, a minimum zone wide area of 4500 square feet. And the setbacks in lot coverage standards accommodate front and side yards similar to us hub and allow while allowing the detached accessory dwelling unit in the rear yard. Staff recommends council approved the application based on the finding that all review criteria have been met. Thank you, James. Counsel has not received any written testimony on Council Bill 20, Dash 1424, and this evening we have 13 individuals signed up to speak and we will go ahead and kick it off with our first speaker, Janet McIntyre. Might have to go ahead and unmute, Janet. You can go ahead. Thank you. Yes. My name is Janet MacIntyre and I live at 824 South Corona Street, which is one block south. Of. 753 Downing. And I've read the opposition letter by. West Rush Park Neighborhood Association. And Mr. Torres's rebuttal to that. And I thank the council. For hearing me tonight. I do want to point. Out that. This is relatively unknown in our neighborhood, although there was some canvasing done. This was a tough year to canvass and talk with people, I'll say. Mr. RACI talks about the benefits. To the community. But my view is it's 90 plus. Percent beneficial to him. And second. Point is, I believe. There's strong opposition in the neighborhood. I'm familiar with a few folks in the 700 block. Of South. Corona Street that are right behind Mr. Powell racist property. And I walked that alley. I would not like a second storey building looking down into my backyard as. This setup. Entails. I do believe it really. Disrupts the privacy of. The surrounding neighbors and. I think that is a significant concern. Let's see. He also makes points about. Having the community flourish. And I'm. Well aware of our housing shortage and. Homelessness. I'm quite. Involved with the S.O.S. site at the First Baptist Church that Cole Chandler was talking. About. Earlier. And this sort. Of housing I. Just don't think. Helps low. Income people find a place to live. And in my block. 800 South Carolina Street. I can name 14 or 15. People strongly opposed to this. Set up and. This approval. And. Concern about proliferation of this type of thing in the neighborhood. And I guess that's all I have to say. Thank you for your time. All right. Thank you, Janet. Our next speaker is Kirsten Michele. Hi everyone. My name is Kirsten. Mitchell and apologies to. Not sure quite how my camera on your computer. But anyway, I'm a resident of the Sphere neighborhood and a member of the West Park Neighborhood Association. I am here to support the application for rezoning of 753 South Downing and ask that the City Council vote yes on build 20 Dash 1424. I am here for two reasons. First, I believe City Council's role must be to support and part of a path for the future of this city, which includes planning for the growth of the Danvers residents and housing needs. Please do not subvert plans that the city has made in favor of its use based on faulty assumptions that a neighborhood must never change. Its use are another tool in the housing supply toolbox and affirmed in Blueprint Denver. I've heard comments in opposition to this particular rezoning because of how the aid may or may not be used. But the reality is that's not relevant. The property could be sold as soon as the ADU is ready and the new owners may have a different use for it. That's the whole point. This is flexible housing that has many potential uses for different people. Now, before my husband and I bought our home, we looked for a rental where we had some control over the heat and a little outdoor space for our dog. It was really hard, if not impossible, to find rentals that allowed pets that weren't in large buildings. But we were hoping to find a new place to live that was in a converted house or some other multi-unit structure and where we were fortunate and at the time we were fortunate to be working with a comfortable budget in 80. You would have been perfect for us. Perfect. They are smaller and we don't need a ton of space. But we couldn't. We couldn't find we couldn't find one, not a single one. Instead, we found a half duplex for nearly $3,000 a month four years ago. The point of this story is not to make you feel bad for. Me, but instead. I'm trying to convey a clear example of the need for different housing types across all neighborhoods in this city. Had we not been able to battle this ridiculous housing market? Who knows where we would have ended up? My final point is just that there are 380 youths in the alley behind my house. None of these have any measurable impact in my life. And to the contrary, having more folks around means more eyes on the street, which I consider a safety benefit. Someone who's always out walking my two huskies. It's 380. Use a perfectly fine on the block in which I lived, and they are perfectly fine in other parts of the city, too. We have to stop this approach of limiting housing type to limit who our neighbors are. Thank you. Q Our next speaker is Chris Miller. Thank you. My name is Chris Miller. I live in the Sphere neighborhood for disclosure. I'm a member of the West Park Neighborhood Association, the zoning board who abstained from voting on this item. And tonight, I am speaking only on my personal behalf. And I'm here to speak towards approval, not because of the merits of this specific project, but because they feel it important to speak up on behalf of the rule of law. Any just order really society. Blueprint Denver unambiguously states that any use should be approved in residential districts, and the city zoning code lays out how to incorporate plans newer than the code itself. This is a residential district. All other 20 plus previously submitted 80 applications since Blueprint and Rules passed in 2019 except for one withdrawn, have been approved as well, all with generally similar justifying rationale in reports from city staff because the same zoning code and comprehensive plan and broad balance of evidence apply to all of them. City Council passed a blueprint over after extensive public outreach. And we should respect and give way to the comments that led to Blueprint Denver. Being a nation of laws is worth little if we do not hew to them. And after January 6th, I believe that understanding and defending the rule of law and justice is more important than ever, both on the big things and the little things. I will concede that not all laws or enforcements are just. But there has been no indication that approval of this project would be an injustice. I additionally urge that City Council move towards amending the zoning code to implement and recognize the reality of Blueprint Denver which is that ideas are encouraged in all residential zoning districts. Given the zoning code criteria and our comprehensive plan, I do not foresee a circumstance where a conforming to you would be disallowed in a residential area according to our criteria. This will provide additional clarity for all residents about what changes will happen and give all of us time back to focus on matters that actually require substantive discussion and are not foregone conclusions under a city code, city code and comprehensive plan. And I would like to note that this same comment also applies to the next hearing about nine 2925 South End as well. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is John Ferguson. Hi. My name is John Ferguson. Thank you for letting me speak tonight. I'm speaking in favor of the EU being allowed. I think that that having an avenue in our neighborhood. I live a block and a half away, by the way. I live at 901 South Downing Street. I think having a great EU gives us to sort of a moderate, very moderate increase in density. And by the fact that the ideas are smaller, it may force has to be a lower cost housing and so that'll lead to some economic diversity in the people who are living in our neighborhood. So it's a positive thing, I think, for our neighborhood to have it. I decided to speak tonight when I saw the weapon it was was opposing. It was sending a letter to oppose it. And I had I had seen pretty much the same letter sent to the planning board and planning board pretty much shot it down . One of the things that that keeps coming up in their opposition to ideas is this idea of having people looking down into your backyard and not allowing that to happen. Well, they don't have any problem with writing. People know three storey pop ups and mine in my neighborhood, in my block, looking down into my backyard. And somehow there's a bias towards people who are living in single family houses, who have a lot of money. So I decided because of that that I just had to speak tonight. So thank you very much for letting me buy. Thank you. Our next speaker is Roy Penny. I. Hopefully I made it. Hi, everyone. It's Roy Penney. And I'm. I live one block to the south of where this is. So I'm on Corona Street. And this is actually the first time I've ever participated in one of these. I've lived here since 1989. And the thing that struck me about the presentation from the person from the. Zoning board. I guess, was that it really didn't seem to capture what's really going on here. What we're talking about here, if you've ever walk by it, is an alley house. So there's there was it was mentioned set back. There was no setback whatsoever. This property abuts right on the property line. It showed a picture from the front, but it didn't show from the back. So what's going to happen here? This is going to be a. An Airbnb is what this is going to be used for. So if you I'm sure everyone here has alleys in their neighborhood. We have them here obviously in our neighborhood and our alley. If you just drive up, go across the street, you're in the alley where this is. So it's exactly the same for that block is for our block. So what you have is there's probably only. Maybe two or three places in the alley where two cars can pass. And all of these Airbnb people are going to come up the alley and park by their Airbnb. And there, you know, the alleys are already hugely crowded as it is. It mentions that there's a bus stop somewhere nearby. Nobody from out of town coming in and going to go to a Bronco game or whatever. They're not going to use public transit. They're going to take their car and they're going to park it in the alley, or they're going to call Uber to come down the alley and pick them up. So forcing all of this traffic down the alley is completely unrealistic. And it's, you know, kids can't can't even play in the street anymore. So the kids that are within two blocks of us, they play in the alley, Jack and Kate, and they shoot hoops. If you're going to route all this traffic through the alley, it's going to completely change the character of the neighborhood. So I and I understand what people say about, well, it's going to be you know, there's going to be more housing and stuff for people. But these are Airbnb people. And so, you know, really, you're not you're not providing housing for anybody. You're just taking from a motel or a hotel and putting them in the alley. If everybody did this, what this guy's trying to do, it would completely change the character of the neighborhood. So I understand 20 of these have come up and 20 have been passed. This one should not be. This is this is a really bad idea. Thank you. Our next speaker is Carolyn Diana. Go ahead. Hi. So, yes, I'm Carolyn. Diana and I live in West West Park. I am. So this is my neighborhood. I live on South Penn at the corner of Virginia. I have read the letter from the neighborhood association. I have so I'm I have. Familiarized. Myself with this this whole thing. And. Basically. I wanted to say that. If anything, COVID has brought up the reason we need. More flexibility. In our in our housing arrangements. So I want to speak in favor of approving this. Everybody else will bring up the. Details of. Arguing one point or the other. But I wanted to keep it simple and just say if it was my neighbor, I would be for it. If it was my neighbor across the alley, I would be for it. This is my neighborhood. I am for it. So I would encourage you to approve. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Gary Grant. Go to, you're probably going to have to unmute yourself. Sara. My name is Grady Grant and I thank you council members for the chance to speak. I live at 242 South Lincoln Street, Denver in Council District seven, and I'm here on behalf of the West Park Neighborhood Association Board who voted to oppose this rezoning. Wapner opposes this rezoning for several reasons. The neighbors who responded to a flier opposed it. We distributed fliers door to door to three blocks on Downing in Corona last June, asking for email feedback. Because COVID prevented our usual neighbor in-person meeting of the ten responses to the zoning committee, two supported it and eight opposed it, including the two neighbors on Corona, right across the alley from this existing uphill two story garage studio. This structure is a garage expanded in the 1980s and is taller than anything else on that alley. It peers over the single storey garages of the downhill neighbors across the alley. Most of the houses on this part of the block are on. Both Downing and Corona are one and a half stories tall. Then a neighbor led an almost successful effort to get enough signatures for a protest. Made more challenging here because Washington Park takes up almost half of the area from which to approach signatures. The petition wasn't sent in the end to avoid putting neighbors at risk who would sign thinking it would change the required number of votes to pass. There is also a feeling of hopelessness because the certainty that the zoning code was supposed to provide is no longer there. The code doesn't protect neighbors from short term rentals. The concern about strangers peering into their backyards and unpredictable noises at night, night from partying vacationers in the EU. Furthermore, the new design standards provide some privacy protection to neighbors, but would be improved by imposing on the property owner the loss of privacy burden created by the ADA, requiring windows on the property facing side and skylights or clear story windows on the lot sides and alley facing sides of the adu. What else? The neighborhood does not fit the description of neighborhoods vulnerable to displacement, where blueprints vision encourages ADA use. Unlike many Denver neighborhoods, the housing stock is built in. This part of the neighborhood already is far from homogenous. Even within areas zoned single family, there are duplexes and more dense housing on corners. Wapner values this existing diversity. We already have gentle density in our neighborhood and use uses. Short term rentals do not necessarily provide affordable housing. There is as there is a zone because there is no zoned district allowing ADA use for prohibiting short term rentals. I urge you to vote no on this rezoning, but in the next ADA you were zoning before you tonight. Wapner supports the rezoning. Thank you very much. Thank you, Gertie. Next up, we have Greg home. Evening. My name is Greg Home. I've lived on a 30 hour block in South Vietnam for 32 years, and I fully support this rezoning and urge city council to approve it. Use our most effective tool for immediately adding to the supply of affordable housing 80 user consistent with Blueprint Denver and Comprehensive Plan 2040. It is essential that West Wash Park offer more cost housing options and also increase the diversity of our neighborhood, allowing avenues to contribute to reducing segregation. West Wash Park is 88% white and reducing economic inequality. As a member of Live Now, I'd like to offer an alternative view on the points raised in the letter in response to Section one. City Council's decision on this application should be based solely on whether the application is consistent with the zoning code in the city's planning documents, not on whether the zoning code is supported by other residents. It's not a popularity contest. In response to Section two, page 83 of Blueprint Denver states in 04a that the city should quote study and implement its use in all neighborhood contexts and residential zoned districts unquote and states for be that the city should quote identify strategies to prevent involuntary displacement in conjunction with expanding the allowance for free to use, unquote, unquote, in all neighborhoods in zone districts. It does not say that you should be encouraged only in areas vulnerable to displacement. In response to section three, aid use do not impinge on neighbors privacy more than other housing types. All housing types in the neighborhood are within 8 to 15 feet of one another and have windows that look into neighboring yards as well as in the houses. And you should not be treated differently from any other housing category in this regard. In response to section four, rejected using other innovating housing types because they are different is not a legitimate rationale for rejecting housing that would increase affordability and foster a more inclusive neighborhood, particularly considering the exclusionary and racist history of single family zoning. In response to Section five, short term rental is a concern for all housing types, not just abuse. It is a completely separate discussion and should have no bearing on this application. Thank you very much for. Allowing me. To speak tonight. Thank you, Greg. Our next speaker is Jim Hartman. Hello members of council and thank you for allowing me to speak. I am. Speaking in support of. The EDU. Just wanted to point out a couple of things because most people are touching on the same issues. One blueprint Denver supports this, and I think we should. We should get behind it and. Support it as well. In response to the letter that the West West Park Neighborhood Association has written. One of the things that there are two of the things that jumped out to me is one is the privacy issue that was brought up. And it's been brought up several times. There is in in. In my opinion, there is no clear definition of privacy in this area and my house is extremely close to the house next to it, which I'm sorry to state this. But I live. In the 600 block of South Pennsylvania in the neighborhood. But my there is no clear cut definition of privacy. And it can be interpreted whether it's a house that's next to me that's. Been on that same. Lot for over 120 years. Or if it's a new multi-story house built next to me, it seems pretty arbitrary to bring up privacy in these issues. And then lastly. The uses of is of a great concern. But the if you're talking about a short term rental really that can apply to any one of the houses in the neighborhood. In fact, the front of the house could be a short term rental and the owners could live in the 80. You it seems kind of arbitrary to bring that issue up. Lastly, I think that there really is only one way that we can take pressure off of the housing stock in our in our neighborhood. And that's by Audi adding more housing. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Jim. Our next speaker is David Hagan. Hi. Good evening. Thank you for letting me speak tonight. I wanted to talk about a V in support of this. I think. That. Housing is a good thing and I appreciate the gentleman. Actually, the last couple of gentlemen talked about. The. The racism that has kept people out of these neighborhoods. And I think that people should be able to move into the neighborhoods. And I if I pull up Airbnb right now, I could probably find 20 to 50 Airbnbs in the front out in front of folks houses just right now. And as far as the privacy goes, I don't think anybody wants to be looking into their windows. I mean, they've got their own stuff going on. It's not going to really I don't know. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The, uh, let's see here o and the gentleman who spoke. About the kids playing in the alley. I'm pretty sure this is across the street from what park is it not. So I think the kids should probably in was part of the alley so that that doesn't really work for me either. My only thing when it comes to zoning is I'm just going to for example, is when you block line of sight, like, for instance, one of the little houses you. Put out because of COVID. I got into. A car accident the other night and followed my car because it was blocking my line of sight. This is not blocking my safety, so I'm good for it. That's all I have to say. Thank you. All right. Thank you, David. Next up, we have Jesse Paris. Yes. Good evening. Member of council. I was at home when I was just in Washington, Paris, and I'm representing or I was represented for Denver homicide loud no longer. I represent for Black Star Action more for Self-defense, Positive Action Committee for Social Change, as well as the Unity Party of Colorado and Mile High News. And I will be the next mayor of Denver in 2023. I'm in favor of this rezoning tonight. We have a housing crisis. Just in case you forgot, we have a housing crisis. We had a housing crisis before COVID. We still have a housing crisis now during COVID sources for 80 used as food dwelling units all over the state. And as David already alluded to, this area was red line. It was not accessible to black people or so-called people of color for a number of years. So what is on display tonight is complete NIMBYism, not in my backyard. And unfortunately, it is going to be in your backyard because this housing crisis isn't going to solve itself. So any opportunity that council gets to increase more housing for people throughout this city, I approve it, just like I approved that when I ran for city council at large in 2019 and I plan to continue supporting it in 2023. So I am in favor of this rezoning. We need accessory dwelling units all over the city and every single district, just like we need safe outdoor camps and tiny home villages in every single district in this town. Thank you. Thank you, Jesse. Next up is Steven Tabrizi. Good evening. Can you hear me? Go ahead. My name is Steve Tracy. I am the owner at 75 three South Downing Street. The property in question for the reason. Thank you, councilmembers, for letting me speak tonight and thank you to everybody who spoke in support of this. I really appreciate it. I was not expecting actually so many people to come out in support. So I thank you. With this reason, I intend to finish an existing space, open my garage and turn it into an apartment. This structure was built in 1984, in the same styling as the existing 1909 Tudor style primary house. The space already exists, but in its current state its unfinished and unusable as housing. There has been a number of people who spoke out in opposition. That's the reason. The way I see it, it's not really about the reason. It's more about not wanting the short term rental off the really. Personally, I don't know if I'm going to use this as a short term rental or long term rental. But to those who don't want it, it really doesn't matter. Basic concerns like privacy, alley traffic. By the way, there is a dedicated spot for this apartment out of this flow of traffic. Property value, preservation of neighborhood character, etc.. Most of these arguments, though, are rooted in fear of not fact. I've got a friend in the in West Warwick Park who has an adult and uses that as short term rental number or a short roster of their tenants over the last few months. A family in town to visit their sister in the new baby that stayed at an Airbnb so they wouldn't stress out the new family. A mom helping her daughter move into her new college home in the neighborhood, wanting to help out with without encroaching on her daughter's newfound freedom. A family with a baby that wanted to experience snow for the first time, a couple on their honeymoon, a single mom and her family on a very tight budget who wanted to take a vacation that wouldn't break the bank and allowed her to buy locally while on a vacation to cook a beer. And Airbnb. There's a number of them. I don't think I need to go on. There are safeguards in place, though, rules and regulations and screens to make sure that the neighborhood and your house is safe with short term rentals. I also see what's happening to Denver in the bigger picture. Lack of housing has caused real estate prices, deaths and rents to skyrocket. Homebuilding can't keep up in the few houses that are being built are being built in the ever expanding sprawl of the front range. Denver's affordability has plummeted over the last ten years and as a result, its desirability as a lifestyle destination in decline. There's no silver silver bullet to the solution to the problem, in my view, certainly won't solve the issue. It's a drop in the bucket. But my property is two and a half miles from downtown Denver. If we can't allow a milder form of density in existing families, single family neighborhoods directly adjacent to the city, I believe we're in for more of the same. Especially in this instance where the space already exists. As I close, I urge council members to keep the bigger picture in mind. This reason is in tune with the city a comprehensive comprehensive plan blueprint 2019 and having an inclusive government. Thank you. Thank you, Steve. Our next speaker is test. Hi there. My name's Tess Sturdy and I am in Council District nine and I am in support of this rezoning. I just have a couple curiosities. Aren't y'all adjacent to watch Park so. And can't kids play there? I am hearing a comment that kids can't play in the streets anymore. It just it makes me I just have to think that, you know, the gentleman was more concerned about kids being able to play in the streets. But I haven't really seen him advocating for the streets availability to those experiencing homelessness who maybe need somewhere to survive, let alone play. And then the comment is going to change the character of the neighborhood. Comments like these are coded racist sentiments and rooted in Jim Crow era racial segregation in housing policies. I heard in the city planners report that integration is key and opposition to changes in your single family zone neighborhood is racist in classes. And your comments support just that. David and I were displaced from our home this year because of an asbestos spill and fiberglass getting into our HVAC unit. And we thought we were going to be out of our house for no more than a month, and it's been since September of 2019. We've lived in 15 different places, and one of the longest standing places we were in was an Airbnb during the time that we were in that Airbnb, which by the way, was literally I mean, it was a godsend for us. It allowed us to not have to move from hotel to hotel anymore. It allowed us some stability and some sanity. And so, you know, the comments of like people coming in town to party and, you know, really mucking up the neighborhood are just not based. In fact, as the homeowner presented previously, in that time that we were there, it was in a duplex and there were family members who came for a funeral. There were family members who came for for college, which is either their daughters, and that was in college. So I think that the idea that that is going to bring that sort of thing to the neighborhood is just really not rooted in fact. And and also, I think that the the the determined or, you know, leaving the determination to the renos in the neighborhood when it was mentioned that they gathered ten responses from members through email, which is in and of itself exclusionary because not everyone has access to the Internet. And and so I think that leaning on R.A. is, is the sole source of public opinion is dangerous and and not representative of the true, you know, opinion of of the of the public. So I just would caution any reliability on that. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Thank. Thank you. That concludes our speakers this evening. Questions from members of Council. Councilman Clark. And you, Madam President. It is gurdy, Grant. Um, is there. I think it's. She's still in the attendees of Could We Get Ready, Grant? And then the owner, Steven Teresi, back in. Hi, Judy. Can you hear me? Are you back in? Yes, I can. Mr. Karp. First of all, good to see you. And thank you so much for your years and years and years of service to our community. I really appreciate that you're still at this and still, you know, so involved. You had mentioned briefly and I just wanted to ask, there are two areas in West Park boundaries tonight. This one and then the next one is also in West Wash. Marks boundaries. You had mentioned that this one you guys voted to oppose and the next one you voted to support. I think I did not catch that before. Can you just clarify if I'm catching that right and then give me, you know, the brief, what is different for you? You know, from a zoning perspective on this one versus the second one. Councilman Clark and council representatives. The difference from my perspective, and I think from West Wash Park's perspective, is twofold. Number one, the neighbors oppose this in this one. But they support it in the subsequent one. And secondly, this 80. You. Pierce down into the backyards of the neighbors across the alley. The one on South Pennsylvania does not the it fits in much more compatibly with the architecture and character of that neighborhood. But it's primarily the fact that in this one, the neighbors opposed it and gave what I consider valid reasons. Great. Thank you so much, Gary. I really appreciate it. And again, thank you for your service and all your work with your association. Stephen, can you tell. Me. This is an existing structure permitted originally in the eighties that was before you owned this property. You did not build this structure. You purchased this property with the structure already built, is that correct? That's correct. Yeah. I purchased this property in 2019 and the structure was built in 1984 as an addition to an existing single car garage . And as far as I've been able to tell, was it was it properly permitted at that time for what was built or is that unclear? Yes, I actually don't know that. Gary, you've done more research on the structure than I have, actually. Yes, Councilman Clark, it was properly permitted. It was it at the time before those of you, maybe only Paul Cashman remembers this. It was before quick wins, too, when two storey dwellings could extend all the way back to the alley. Got it. Okay. Okay. Those were my questions. Thank you both very much. And thank you, Madam President. Thank you. Councilman Clark. Not seen in the other hands raised for questions. The public hearing for Council Bill 20 Dash 1424 is closed. Oh, I'm sorry, Councilman Cashman. I did a quick look and didn't see the hand raise. We'll go ahead and pause. Go ahead and ask your question, please. Councilman Flynn has the question. Oh. Excuse me, Councilman Flynn. Thank you, Madam President. Could James, could you answer a couple of questions for me in the in this urban edge context, what are the setbacks and what are the things for addus detached to use in the rear of the property? Thank you for the question, Councilman Flynn. So it's actually the urban context, not this is urban. Urban? Yes, sir. Not urban. So what are the setbacks? Because I notice in this, Ali, I wasn't here for a while because of COVID and everything staying close to home. But I just did the Wall Street view and the camera goes down the alley and all of the it looks like all the garages are just up to the zero setback basically is that are the rules for detached to use any different do they require setbacks from the alley? They generally do. Let me I'm pulling up my code right now so that I can speak intelligently and not. Always a good thing. Yeah. Thank you. I think it was stated in the in the application also that that this is already a non-conforming structure. And in what ways is it non-conforming in in the 2010 code and I guess it was non-conforming in old chapter 59 as well. I don't know if the owner could respond to that. Why you're looking at up, James. Stevens was this non-conforming in the old code as well as 2010? You know, I'm not I'm not as familiar with the old code. What I what I can say, though, is that. As a group, as a garage. I believe this would be conforming because the back edge of the building does sit directly on the property line. Right. But there's studio space above it that that makes it non-conforming because it's habitable or. Well, it was never it was never habitable. There's no I mean, if I if I if this reason goes through, I'm going to have to go through the permitting process. And we're going to we're going to add power, water, sewer, electrical. Well, that. I think as far as the nonconference goes, I believe that the ability on the north edge of the building, on the property line and it may be outside of the the back 35% building envelope. Okay. So, you know, I still have to get through the zoning or the permitting process in order for that. Would you need a. Would you need a variance then. It's. Rob James, do you have the answer yet as to. Five foot rear setbacks or is. And in the rear 35% of the property, correct? Yes. Correct. Okay. So would this if this were a brand new if this were brand new construction, it would not conform because of the rear setback. But it is in the rear 35%. That is my understanding at this time. However, as Mr. Tracy alluded, he will have to go through all of the whole permitting process and and determine those those factors. You know, in the rezoning stage, we really you know, we're not looking at specific buildings. Right. It's you know, we could demo and build a totally new area and we would want to be comfortable that that meets the criteria as well. So, of course, we know in this case he's not going to do that because I read the application. So I don't know if that means he would need a variance from the zoning board or what. So. All right. That's why I have. Madam President. Thank you. Mr. Casey, did you have. Yeah, that's my clear clarification. Sure. The building does sit five feet off of the alley line or does. Yes. And and then it has a small apron in front of it, just as with the other garage structures in the alley, you know, there is my for example, my neighbor's fence protrudes five feet beyond the structure of the garage. And so the alley is already blocked there. Where I believe the noncompliance would be is simply the property line. And then any any potential building envelope, which I have not corrected. And those primarily stem from the fact that the building sits on the property line. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. All right. Thank you, Councilman Flynn. And we'll take another pause here. Scene. No hands raised live. We're going to close the public hearing for Council Bill 20 Dash 1424 Comments by members of Council Councilman Clark. Thank you, Madam President. And I just want to thank all of the folks from the neighborhood, from District seven who came out for this a lot. There's a lot of speakers for an 80, you and I, and I appreciate everyone coming out and and spending time and again. I want to thank Gurdy for being here and represent the Neighborhood Association's position. You know, we've had a lot of use this, the first one in this particular neighborhood. And I think that we're going to continue to grapple as these come forward in communities that, you know, have some historically we heard about, you know, some not far away, but haven't gone through this process as far as people acclimate to, you know, the new plan, support from blueprint and plan on how to use and not every community is set up the same. We had one, you know, the other day that we're talking about areas that don't have an alley. And again, this is a community that's not gone through this process before. And I think we're going to continue to hear and grapple with the issues around short term versus long term rental and about privacy in the same ways that we continue to grapple with that in communities that are historically like this community, single family bungalows where , you know, a movement started a couple decades ago to tear down and build bigger and bigger houses. And now we're getting three story houses and we continue to grapple with with those things that are currently allowed in the zoning code. But that, you know, we're trying to some some work imagined and were allowed and some were. And and there are a variety of opinions on that. And I appreciate all the folks who came out to share those opinions with that. And again, I think as we continue to look at. Short term rentals. And not license and how that's going overall, that lives in a different place and a conversation that needs to continue. At the end of the day, here, we're tasked with does this meet the legal criteria for a rezoning for, you know, for this type of use? And I believe that, as demonstrated in the staff report, it does, you know, as as we see as we'll see with the one coming next, you know, this is not the only one coming forward in this neighborhood. And one of the distinguishing features, you know, both of them are going to be existing structures and we'll look at that one coming up. So there are some some factors with that versus a new build, but a lot of it comes down to, you know, the neighborhood sentiment of what's going on in there. And that is, you know, something? I think that we're going to continue to have to discuss and work through that, relate to all of those other ancillary issues. But at the end of the day, I think that this does meet the legal criteria for zoning for a change in zoning. And so I will be supporting this tonight, and I would encourage my colleagues to do so as well. And again, with with that asked that we continue those other conversations in the appropriate places about the potential impacts, the design guidelines. And I don't think it's just the ones that were raised here tonight. But we have a lot of areas that are. In my in in in. My neighborhood in Plat Park right next door that are already zoned for a to you. But you can't do an 80 over a garage because of both plane setback rules on the sides with the smaller lot sizes make it impossible to actually do. And so we have places where it's allowed and it has been allowed since the 2010 zoning code, and you can't do it because of the building requirements. And we have other places where you know it know fits, but there are there are, you know, evolving neighborhood concerns. And so I think we need to continue all of that. This isn't just a one size a use came through with and we're getting used to them and having so many of them that go through consent in committee, there are real, you know, construction issues and short term rental issues that we need to continue to grapple with . As we look at the, you know, the recommendations in these planning documents to make a to use a building form that is more universally implemented citywide. So but again, with that, I will be voting yes tonight because it doesn't meet the legal criteria. Thank you. Madam President. Thank you, Councilman Clark. And now we have you up, Councilman Cashman. Go ahead. Thank you, Madam President. Yeah, this is one of those interesting situations where I have dear old friends and not just friends. People I respect a great deal on both sides of this debate. But, you know, I learned a while ago that I need to vote my conscience and my understanding of the legal criteria that we're charged to evaluate here. And so I will be supporting this application tonight. But there's a couple of things that have come up, some of which. Councilman Clark went into a little bit that I think really do merit more than just a drive by. I think we really need to be evaluating on an ongoing basis the effect of short term rentals on our community. You know, so many people I talked to expressed concerns about the effect of short term rentals on the housing stock in the community. And then in the next breath say, as I do when I travel, I use short term rentals frequently. You know, so there's that evaluation. But the whole subject of privacy. I think really merits a deeper dove from from this council and from CPD. As far as you know, we're building these big houses. And we're building three story houses and then we're putting rooftop jacks. On the top of three story homes. Now, I realize, especially in our inner city neighborhoods, that we gave up what some would think of privacy when we started with with five foot setbacks. Some of our older homes are even closer than that. But I still don't think we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I think we need to take a closer look if we are going to be building regularly, one and a half or two story structures along the back alleys. Are there design techniques that we can use to minimize the intrusion? So I just wanted to bring that up a little bit. And as this discussion moves forward, I do think we need to keep those tangential topics top of mind. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Councilman Cashman. And I'll go ahead and weigh in here saying no other hands raise that. This looks like it meets all of the criteria. And I will be voting in favor of it tonight. Madam Secretary, roll call, please. Clark. I. Flynn. I. Herndon. I. Hines. Cashmere. I can eat. I. Ortega, I. Sandoval. Sawyer. I. Black. I. CdeBaca, I. Madam President. I. Madam Secretary, please close the voting and announce the results. Can I ask? Ten I's Council Bill 20 Dash 1424 has passed. Councilmember Cashman, would you please put Council Bill 20 1561 on the floor for passage? Oh, you're muted.