The City Planning Commission met on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. to consider seven agenda items, including conditional use requests, zoning changes, subdivision approvals, and a property disposition. The meeting included public testimony and votes on several proposals.
Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to today's city planning commission meeting on Tuesday, August 27th at 1 30 p.m. We're glad to see everybody. I'm gonna go ahead and do a roll call. Commissioner Johnson. Commissioner Lunn. Commissioner Flick. Present. Commissioner Stewart. Present. Commissioner Whitry is present as well. We are going to go ahead and read the formal public hearing rules. The City Planning Commission has established certain rules governing the procedures to be followed at public hearings. Before speaking, each person shall give their name, address, and state who he or she is representing. Proponents for the proposal will speak for a period of ten minutes. Each speaker shall be allowed a maximum of two minutes. Each speaker shall be allowed a maximum of two minutes. Proponents will be allowed a period of six minutes for a rebuttal. Each speaker will be allowed a maximum of two minutes. No material, written material, photographs, maps, will be accepted by the commission or its staff at any time during this public hearing. Well, that's great. Additionally, the use of the property as a cultural facility triggers parking requirements that the site cannot accommodate. Nonetheless, the building's role as a residential structure within a residential neighborhood is fundamental to its historical significance as a place of refuge during the civil rights movement. Staff finds the request meets the standards of approval for conditional use request in Article 4, and that the request is consistent with the master plan. With that, staff recommends approval subject to two provisos and four waivers. Thank you so much. Is Ms. Henderson Chandler available? Hello, everyone. Welcome. Please state your name and address, and you'll have two minutes. I'm Candace Devine Henderson Chandler at 917-919 North Tonti Street. Do you mind speaking in just so that we can hear you? Yeah. Thank you. Yes, 917-919 North Tonti Street. I'm the owner of the Freedom House and also the executive director of Friends of the Freedom House. Really excited about this project, the Freedom House becoming a cultural facility. We are gonna be operating the house as a house museum at 917 North Tonsey Street, as well as the community space. The Freedom House, as it was already stated, was a safe house during the civil rights movement. Really excited to share it with community in this way. And really excited to have community partners and do things. It was also mentioned on our application around putting trees in front of the house. Really excited to work with our neighbors like Metropolitan Baptist Church that's on the corner at 943 North Tonti Street to allow us to use the space for parking when necessary, so we don't inconvenience our neighbors. I also live at the Freedom House, so I'm really committed to being a really good neighbor. Um a lot of the issues that my neighbors have are my issues. Um yes, really excited to just move this project and share this house with community. Do y'all have any questions for the applicant? Have you read over the provisos? Yes, ma'am.