Good evening, everyone, and welcome to committee and ordinance.

Um councilman and Chairman Pedro Espino.

Uh like to welcome you all here.

Today it is Wednesday, April 29th, and the time is 5 44.

Uh to my left we have our city solicitor, and also with us is Mr.

Bob Aza from Department of Planning and Development, along with my colleagues here, Councilman Royas, Councilwoman Harris, Councilman Peterson.

Uh thank you all again for being here.

Madam Clerk, uh, please call the role.

Chairman Espinal.

Present.

Vice Chairwoman Shelley Peterson.

Present.

Councilwoman Mary Kay Harris.

Present.

Councilman Oscar Vargas is absent.

Council Justin Royas.

Present.

You have four pressing one absent.

You have a quorum.

Thank you.

And I'll just make a quick uh notation for those that I didn't get an opportunity to speak to, uh, which is regarding item number two, which will not be heard tonight.

It will be continuum.

Uh but I'll explain more when we get to that nine uh item.

So um Madam Clerk, if you would please uh item number one.

Item number one, an ordinance in amendment of chapter 27 of the Court of Ordinances of the City of Providence entitled the City of Providence Sonning Ordinances approved November 24, 2014 has amended to add seroton parcels to the historic overlay district.

Thank you.

Mr.

Azar, please, if you will uh please present on this item.

Good afternoon, Mr.

Chair, members of the committee.

Robert Azar, Deputy Planning Director.

Uh this is a um this is an ordinance uh that was proposed by your very own councilman Justin Royus.

Um and this would create a new historic district in the Wanscock neighborhood in the fourth ward.

Um this is an area that is associated with uh the Wanscock Mill.

Um and there has been a an effort led by residents in the area and um uh the Providence Preservation Society and supported by the councilman to create this historic district.

Um they underwent a uh long process of evaluating the properties uh for their historic merit of community engagement to property owners to educate um them as to uh what it means to to uh have a property in a historic district, and they came forward with this.

Uh they they also worked with uh staff of the planning department to come forward with this um petition.

Um and um the um city plan commission reviewed this and they felt uh that this was appropriate.

You can see in the package that that there are a number of people um property owners uh who signed on to this.

Uh they felt that there was very strong support for this, and therefore um they are recommending in favor of this ordinance.

Thank you, Mr.

Azer.

Uh committee members, uh Councilman Royus.

Uh thank you, Chair.

I just um I don't have a question for uh Mr.

Azar, but I just want to echo uh sentiment he shared, which is that this was uh really started off as sort of like a really grassroots um neighbor to neighboring sort of engagement effort to to make uh this local historic district happen.

And then I eventually took over and uh and put that into an ordinance.

Uh but the neighbors uh on these streets, as Mr.

Azar was saying, um, had initially been made aware of something like this through the efforts, and I want to give credit to him, uh Kevin England, who really led uh the effort on on this, and so I I fully support this.

Um I think it's uh overdue for a local historic district in Wonscock.

Um, and um I'm just uh proud of how this all came along.

Um it took some time, but we're here, and so I hope that my uh fellow colleagues on this committee would support this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh question for Mr.

Aza, Councillor Peterson.

Not a question, more of a comment.

I um I was there at the beginning of the engagement of all of this, and um when I attended one of Councilman Rayus' meetings, and um he spoke about what the uh what the community was asking for, and I wanted to just echo my support in sentiment, um, my sentiment of support, excuse me, um, and say that I think this is a wonderful opportunity for this um really wonderful part of the north end, and um let's hope that we whenever there's an opportunity for more support in other parts that are designated over by um by the Wanscock Mills, we can include them as well.

Thank you.

Good job.

Anyone else?

Thank you.

Mr.

Aza, uh, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Right.

Um we'll uh call those have signed up uh to speak on this item on item number one with uh Mr.

Kevin England.

If you come up, please.

And as Kevin comes up, I'll entertain a motion to enter into the record.

Uh the CPC letter, which is item one.

Second.

It's made by Council Royal, second by Councilwoman Harris.

All I'm saying, aye.

Aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Uh Marissa Brown was not able to make it to this meeting from Providence Preservation, so I'm filling in for her to some extent.

Um I'm glad to hear the support, and it was a long effort.

Um, but I want to try to add some context to the uh local historic district.

Wonscock is a national historic district.

This is to form an overlay for a local historic district.

But when you look at the overlay, it's a flat piece of paper.

This is not about a flat piece of paper.

And some people look at historic districts and say, okay, there's a lot of old houses, they're all over the place.

That's true, but that's not what this is about either.

The easiest way to conceive of this.

I don't know if any of you have been to Old Sturbridge Village and Sturbridge Mass.

It's a living museum in the mid-1800s, the same time period is what we're talking about with this village.

It has trades, church, meeting house, a lot of old homes, just like we have.

And I did all the updates for the architecture for the local historic district, so I I know we have old homes.

And it had mills.

But there's a difference.

Uh meeting house in the south, and a series of homes that were built from the early 1800s through oh probably 1960.

But there are three major differences.

Old Sturbage Village International Museum draws tourists all over the world.

It never existed.

Old Sturbage Village was created by taking buildings and trades from all over New England and moved.

They were donated and moved, and the place was recreated.

The Wonska local historic district is real.

It's existed in the exact same way that it exists today from the early 1800s.

The second difference out of the three is that Wonskok has been continuously occupied during that entire time.

No one lives at Old Sturbage Village.

There's interpreters.

There's some historians as maintenance people, but they don't live there.

They never had a community at Old Sturbridge Village because it never existed.

And the third difference, which brings some historic context to this.

At Old Sturbage Village, the meeting house where they held government meetings just like this was the church.

It was at one end of the village.

And then the trades were around that and the old houses.

At the Wanscott local historic district, the church is in the north.

Roger Williams Chapel.

Meeting houses in the south.

And the reason for that is that Roger Williams had a firm belief that there should be a strict separation of church and state.

And so villages in Rhode Island of the period were built that way.

They weren't connected.

You did not have a government meeting in a church.

It just did not happen.

Nor did you have church services in a government meeting house.

For now.

Early last year we had one, not one of the older ones, it was early 1900s, 1904, that was demolished.

I don't have any argument with that.

For safety reasons, they should have it.

Whether the building had to be knocked down or not, I don't know because we were never part of the conversation.

Never had a voice.

Better weather.

No snowstorms.

Thank you, Mr.

A.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

All right, so no one else signed up for this item.

Um committee members before we closed.

All right, hearing none.

All right.

So I'll extend a motion to close uh this public hearing.

So moved.

Second.

Second by Councilman Royer and Councillor Harris.

All in favor, aye.

Opposed.

Yes, have it.

This public hearing, and item number one is closed.

And with that said, uh, I'll entertain a motion to approve.

Second.

May by Councillor Peterson and second by Councillor Harris.

All in favor, aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Yes have it.

Item number one is approved.

Congratulations.

Madam Clerk, item number two.

Item number two.

I'm ordinance in amendment of chapter 27 of the Court of Ordinances of the City of Providence entitled The City of Providence Sonning Ordinance.

Approved November 24, 2014, has a mandate to change articles 2 and 12 relating to entertainment.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

And I'll entertain a motion to enter into the record lateral testimony.

Made by Councilman Peterson.

Second by Consulman Harris, all in favor, aye.

Opposed the ayes have it.

And this is the item that I said at the beginning that we are not going to hear tonight.

So instead we are going to continue it to a date, sir, of May 13th at 530.

So I'll entertain a motion to continue this item to May 13 at 5 30.

Upon the rise of the regular committee and ordinance.

May by Council Peterson, second by Councilwoman Harris.

All in favor.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Yes have it.

And item number two will be continued.

Item number three.

Petition from Nicolas J.

Emman, Squire, Darrow Everett LLP, one torque head place, suite 1200, Providence Rora Island 02903, on behalf of Brown University Health, requesting to amend the use table one-one to permit temporary parking lot, principal use has a temporary use in the D1, R3, R4, RP, C1, C2, C3, W2, W3, M1, M2, MU-1, 1-2, PSons in the City of Providence, and to amend Section 1203 entitled temporary use standards to add subsection G, temporary parking lot, principal use.

Thank you so much.

Made by Councillor Peterson.

Second by Councilwoman Harris.

All in favor, aye.

Oppose the ayes have it.

I will also entertain a motion to enter into the record sub A for this item.

Made by Councillor Peterson, second by Councilwoman Harris.

All in favor, aye.

Opposed.

They have it.

Mr.

Azer, please, would you please come up and um tell us a little bit more about this particular petition?

Yes, thank you, Mr.

Chair, members of the committee.

This petition is from Brown University Health, uh, formerly known as LifeSpan, not to be confused with Brown University.

Um this arises from an item that was part of Brown University Health's institutional master plan for Rhode Island Hospital.

Uh Rhode Island Hospital has proposed several capital improvements for their campus to uh add new buildings in the center of their campus to reorganize some of their uh um circulation for um the public uh and also to construct a parking structure.

Um and uh I want to make it clear that the parking structure that um Rhode Island Hospital is proposing uh has nothing to do with the parking structure that was proposed by um uh a company called Marathon that's in a different place.

Um my understanding is that that parking structure is no longer being proposed.

The one that is being proposed by Rhode Island Hospital uh is um would front on Plain Street and um it would be directly across from what we now know as kind of the uh the back entrance to the hospital campus, but will soon become more or less a front entrance just north of Women and Infants Hospital.

In any event, um they're adding this parking structure, and uh there's going to be a period of time where they're going to displace a number of parking spaces.

Uh this is the so-called doctor's lot.

Um, and uh what they're hoping to do is to um as the parking spaces are displaced and replaced with the parking structure, they're hoping for a temporary period of time to park on some other land that they own in downtown.

That is the former uh victory plating site um that is uh that is off of um Eddy Street.

The technical address for that is 145 Globe Street, but you might know it as a big gravel lot.

It was recently used for snow storage following the the great blizzard.

Um every once in a while there's a little pop-up carnival that happens on that land.

Um that property is in the downtown zone, and we don't allow what are called principal use parking lots in downtown.

Principal use parking lot means it's the only thing that happens on the land.

And we still believe that it's good public policy not to allow for principal use parking lots in downtown.

However, um in situations like this where you need sort of quote unquote swing space for parking, uh we think it would make sense to allow it as a temporary use.

Uh but we wanted to make sure that there were constraints put on that.

So the petition that was originally proposed, uh, the City Plan Commission was amenable to this.

They did have some uh sort of fine-tuning that they wanted to do, uh, and that is what is represented in uh this um revised petition, the sub A that's in front of you now.

Uh so the way this would work is that uh in these zones, the C2, C3, D1, et cetera, where principal use parking um is is not currently allowed by right, um, we would allow temporary parking, and uh and it would only be allowed when parking split spaces on another site are displaced due to a construction project.

Um it would be for one year um and it would um it could be renewed annually, uh, but it couldn't be allowed for a period of more than three years or beyond the issuance of a certificate of occupancy for the the specific construction project, whichever is shorter.

Um we wouldn't allow demolition to to um happen for uh uh one of these parking lots in downtown.

Um it would have to be surfaced, um, and that it it would only um and and we have a couple other caveats about uh whether landscaping is or isn't required or whether uh stormwater management is or isn't required in general.

Uh if you're creating new areas that haven't been previously paved, you would have to install uh landscaping and stormwater um requirements.

Um so that's it in a nutshell.

Um we think this is a um a solution that kind of creates a small carve out that helps us utilize land efficiently, that helps promote um uh good projects by uh providing a little bit of of leeway within our regulations.

So uh the city plan commission um is advising you to approve this as uh as submitted and as accepted as the sub A.

Thank you, Mr.

Azar.

Um Councillor Harris, I know you had certain concerns.

Yeah.

First of all, I want to thank you.

Um Bob.

Um it seems like uh Deja vu uh talking about the surface parking in the garage.

I remember when I first joined um the council and being in your presence, that was one of the things that uh the community were talking about the surface parking.

We needed a garage instead of all of that park and wasted space.

When we see that surface parking, we felt like it definitely was not inclusive to the community, and you know that you've been through these struggles with us.

Um my question tonight, uh you did a very good presentation, is sort of um relieved me from having to stand between this thin line of these garages at the same time.

One uh both garages, uh uh Brown University is proposed in the garage that they did speak to the community about as far as the master plan, but not following up.

Um takes place when too many things are going on in that area because of past history.

And uh no matter where I go, I try to remind people there's a his historical home that has been done to that neighborhood.

So when it comes to anything around the hospital or anything the hospital has, there is a distrust, so it causes all of this.

You may notice in the news right now, um the uh pushback of the garage that community felt like they really wasn't involved in.

I know that's not your doing because I know all the people that have came through the plan, and you have definitely told them to call me or make sure that they go through me.

Uh so I can lead them to the community, you know, so we won't have all of this confusion and push back.

I appreciate this, and we are understanded.

Um you said that the garage that is not being proposed by the hospital is not gonna be built.

Did you say that?

Or that plan is not going to be.

Yeah, that's that's right.

The the one that was the one that has been discussed um publicly that was proposed to uh front on Prairie Avenue uh close to the corner with Dudley Street.

Right.

That one it my understanding based on a press release that I read that came out this morning from Marathon uh is not any longer proposed.

Okay.

Um and that has absolutely nothing to do with this.

The parking garage that we're talking about, and and you know, the the um representative of Brown University Health can maybe expand a little bit more.

That was something that was uh part of the institutional master plan.

It came through the City Plan Commission and it was and it was approved as as part of that in a fully public process.

Yes.

Um and that's why you hear both mention Rhode Island Hospital and Marathon at the same time, you know, the developer simply because of you know they both being proposed.

Um thank you.

I wanted to make sure that I was not voting tonight on um garage.

I understand that the planning department have done a really good job of making sure that when these garages are built, they are being built on surface parking.

I think that's really the right way to do it, right?

And that's something community didn't talk about for years is making sure we lessen that.

So um thank you.

You're all thank you for making it clear exactly what's going on tonight.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Hey, Councillor Harris.

Anyone else for uh Mr.

Azer?

Counselor Peterson.

How are you?

I'm well, thank you.

Um forgive my lack of um knowledge on this, but can you explain to me um the principal use of this?

You're saying you said it was doctor's lot, and what I'm thinking is principal use is like where everybody goes and parks as a visitor, so I'm like just wanted to make sure that I understand.

Yeah, the the way that Rhode Island Hospital sort of uh divides up their lots into those that are um accessible to the public versus those that are access accessible to their staff, that has nothing to do with zoning.

That's that's sort of their um their way of doing it.

This particular garage that they want to build happens to be on what they have designated as the lot for doctors.

And I was just using that terminology to give a sense of where where we're talking about.

Um principal use is a term that we use in zoning uh to differentiate between uh principal use is a is a term that speaks to the main thing that's happening on a property, and and we differentiate between principal use and accessory use.

So uh one sort of simple way to think about it is that if you have a house on a lot and you also have a garage, an outbuilding uh to store your cars, we call the house the principal use building, and the garage is the accessory use.

Um when it comes to parking, we say that if you have a piece of land and the only thing you're using it for is parking, we call that principal use.

If you have a building on that lot, and then you have some parking as well to service that building, we call that parking accessory use.

And we have different rules for principal use parking, which we usually try to discourage, and accessory use parking, which we allow and often mandate.

Sure.

Thank you for that.

I appreciate it.

Um, in reading this, um they would have to come back every single year to be repermitted to utilize it as this particular function.

That's correct.

Then they're going to have to find a different place to store the cars.

So yeah, so we say the no temporary parking lot may be permitted for a period of more than three years or beyond the issuance of a certificate of occupancy of the construction project, whichever is shorter.

So if the construction project lasts more than three years, it shouldn't, you know, for something something like this.

But we know that that sometimes these things happen.

Under this ordinance, they would not be able to renew the temporary use permit.

They'd have to in the in that event, they'd probably have to come back to you to amend this particular section.

Thank you.

Sorry, one more follow-up.

Thank you for that.

My I guess my next question as a follow-up to that would be where do we make that known within this particular request that that would be my only concern is this, and we've I've gone I've talked about parking so much in my life.

My concern is that the question is.

You never thought you would, but you but you do.

My concern is is that uh a project might have might be extended for whatever reason and then all of that overlap goes on to the streets, which then becomes an issue to the neighbors in the abutting area.

Um not that there is a whole lot over there, but still it um trying to create an opportunity to avoid nuisance in that way is uh something that is always I'm always top of mind for me.

So sure.

Yeah, and and you know, this this was something that was actually a a topic of debate with the city plan commission as well.

There were there were um some who were saying, well, maybe it should be five years, and then others said maybe it should be shorter.

Um I think the reason why they settled on three years is that uh for at least a project like what we're talking about, that shouldn't take more than a couple of years to build.

Three gives you a little bit of a of a buffer.

Um we don't want we want to find sort of a line between incentive and disincentive, and what tends to happen with parking is once you start using it, it tends not to go away.

So we we wanted to make make it clear that it's gonna go away.

And if it and if it doesn't, um they're gonna have to come back.

It's it's implied, but but their team knows fully full well that they're not gonna get a variance, they're not gonna get leeway from the staff.

They would they would have to re-engage with the process.

And and they would have fair notice of that.

Thank you, Mr.

Bazar.

Uh Council Arroyas, please.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh Mr.

Azar, I just had a question about the la subsection, well, line F, uh, which says the temporary park law may also be used for temporary staging of construction materials and equipment supporting said construction project.

Um the way it's written that line, I guess could you define uh temporary staging of construction materials and under that line could there be a scenario where the all of the temporary parking lot would be used to store um the staging of construction materials?

Yeah.

So the way I would read this is that uh first of all, when we talk about construction materials and equipment, um that would be things like structural members, uh, you know, maybe maybe steel, you know, in this case they might be using sort of prefabricated concrete panels and so forth, and those usually would be say stored on maybe like a flatbed truck brought to the site and lifted in place with a crane, something like that.

Um so you might have you know earth moving equipment or even cranes that that could be stored there.

Um it still has to be a parking lot at some point.

Um it would have to be a parking lot first and staging for construction separately.

Um and this gets into a question of of you know the the the interpretation, which is the job of the the zoning official, not my job, but we we often confer over these these issues.

What I would say is that it would have to be at least half of the area would have to be a parking lot.

If it's just staging, then it's outdoor storage, and we don't we don't allow that.

So it would have to be the construction material and equipment would have to be incidental and incidental to me would mean um less than the majority of the of the acreage devoted.

Yeah, that is my own and I know I'm being very particular here to be uh I admit that.

That's my concern.

I'm glad you're I'm glad you're you're reading it very carefully because that's that's what we we like to try to test this language.

I I of course I'm one of I I would prefer if possible if we could uh be more surgical and making sure uh that the temporary parking lot is not um uh to your point.

Uh my my hope is that it would the primary use of the parking lot would be for um parking of those who are displaced uh due to the uh construction site versus a potential scenario where um it's mostly being used for uh temporary staging uh construction materials and I how I read it now, uh that's how I interpret it.

And I don't to me that's somewhat of a loophole, and I'm wondering if there's language we could add to that to make sure that's a bit more buttoned up.

I mean, certainly, and you know, I would I would um be interested in how the the petitioner feels about this, but you know, in in my opinion, uh we could be more explicit and say something along the lines of no more than half of the area of the temporary parking lot uh may be used for material and and equipment.

Yeah.

Yeah, we we have not heard from uh Kelly Morris, who is also representing the petitioner.

Uh so thank you, Mr.

Azar.

So I'll call it uh Kelly Morris Salvatore, and item number three.

And before that, I also like to acknowledge uh Council President Pro Tempo Juan Picharo, who is here.

Thank you, Councilman.

Thank you.

So naughty.

Good evening, Mr.

Chairman, members of the committee.

Uh for the record, my name is Kelly Morris Salvatore, and I am here representing Brown University Health, the petitioner of this ordinance.

Um Mr.

Azar did a fantastic job.

I've basically checked off everything that he said, and uh we essentially agree with everything.

Uh we think that this does serve to encourage getting rid of surface parking by temporarily using other vacant sites.

Um the CPC made, we think thoughtful amendments uh to the one that we proposed, uh, particularly relating to timing.

Um I've just conferred with my client, and we want to be clear that in terms of uh storage, uh we think that it should be incidental and no more than 50 percent of the lot.

So we would encourage you to make an amendment if that's what you do at this committee.

Um but yeah, I mean I think that Mr.

Azar went over everything that I would have had to say, so I would love to take questions.

If you have any, uh Timothy Cork is here from Brown Health.

If you have any specific questions for him, uh we're happy to answer them.

Thank you.

Uh Ms.

Salvatore, any question uh for Ms.

Sapator from committee members?

Hearing none, but thank you so much.

Thank you.

Uh well, Mr.

Bob Azers, it's like he's amazing and uh the way he lays it all out.

He leaves no question on answer.

Thank you, Bob.

I'm comfortable with moving the way we have it.

Um Let's see.

Uh so you please uh uh contact uh Ms.

Azer and have it just water exactly the way you want it.

I I can read it into the record if you like, and then we can we'll follow up.

Uh we're gonna have to convert this to an ordinance anyway, so I'll follow up with the clerk on this.

So what I would say is under um uh that paragraph F, we would add a sentence that says no more than uh 50 percent of the area.

Uh I'm sorry, um how about we say this?

Um the area devoted to the storage of construction material and equipment shall be less than 50 percent of the area of the temporary parking lot.

All right, so I'll entertain a motion to admend as follows.

So moved.

Could you please state the amendment again, Bob?

Yes.

You're testing me here.

So the Yes.

Yes, that but the uh go right ahead.

Yes.

Um, that the area would not be used any more than 50 percent for the purpose of the I think I think we want to say less than 50 percent.

Less than the same thing.

The area of a of the lot devoted to the storage of construction material and and equipment shall be less than 50 percent of the area of the temporary parking lot.

And that motion is made by Councillor Peterson and second by Councilwoman Harris.

All in favor, aye.

Aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

Thank you, Bob again.

Thank you so much.

Uh and with that, uh I'll entertain a motion to close the public hearing on item number three.

It's made by Councillor Peterson, second by Consulwoman Harris, all in favor, aye.

Opposed, yeah.

And I'll entertain a motion to approve item number three as amended.

Second.

Uh it's it's made by Council Peterson and second by Councilwoman Harris.

All in favor, I oppose the ayes have it, and item number three is approved.

That's amended.

Madam Clerk, item number four, please.

Item number four.

Petition from Kelly Maurice Salvatore, Squire on behalf of 1145 Maine Associates, LP and Dodi Associates requesting a song change for the property located on Assessors Platte 46, lots 391 and 395, 34 Temple Street and 13 Porter Avenue from R3 R-3 to MU-75.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I'll intend a motion to enter into the record item number four, which is made by counselor Peterson, and second by Councilwoman Harris.

All in favor, aye.

Aye.

Opposed the ayes have it.

Thank you.

Mr.

Aza, uh final item of the evening.

Thank you.

Okay, so this is a zoning change uh for a couple of lots that are within uh the better part of a block uh that is in common ownership.

Um that block being bounded by public street to the north, Eddy Street to the east, Potter's Avenue to the south, and Temple Street to the west.

Um the the map on the very last page of your package uh shows this very well in color.

Um the uh uh petitioners own everything in purple uh and the two lots that are are being pointed to by the arrows that are in yellow.

Um I don't know if they own anything in red, but it but for purposes of this petition it doesn't matter.

Um you may know as the former Hurf Jones uh facility.

Um there's a an industrial building fronting on public street, um a historic mill building, it's in the historic district, and you'll notice that on that lot 391, a little bit of that building actually encroaches into um lot 39.

Um the yellow is the R3 residential zone.

And um as such, uh neither industrial uses nor commercial uses are are permitted.

Um that original factory was allowed to operate uh partially within that residential zone.

The building was partially within it, and uh much of the parking was within it.

That was allowed by variants going back decades.

Um so now the new owners of this property uh want to build uh want to convert the uh historic mill building into medical offices, and they want to build an addition that will also have uh uh medical uses.

My understanding is that it'll be uh an ambulatory surgical center where you can go in for for kind of minor surgery.

You're not staying over, this is not a hospital, this is a a um you know more akin to uh uh you know a doctor's office special specialty kind of thing.

Uh so in order to do that um they need to get a rezoning of these parcels.

Um this is one of those where it's uh we have all these legacy um land uses throughout the city things that were kind of grandfathered in or allowed by variants, and when projects like this come forward, um it's appropriate to to bring the zoning into line with what's already there, and also in a way that would promote future development.

So we advise the um petitioner to uh file this zoning change petition to change these so that they can they can build their um their addition, which will be on lot 391, and then the uh I can't like my like it's a little too fuzzy, but the lot to the east that has that that label change from R3 to M M U75, and then the other one there that fronts on Potters Avenue, that's just gonna be for surface parking.

But uh we wanted uh we advised the owner to um petition for both of these.

That would uh that would make this zoning such that this um commercial project, which I think is is uh is really a um it could be a really good use for this.

Uh it's in the vicinity of the hospital district um where there's already a lot of medical professionals, um, it's economic development, um, and so um we think this is a good use for the site, and the zoning change is appropriate.

This was reviewed by the city plan commission, and they agreed.

So the recommendation is that you um is that you uh advance this zoning change petition forward.

Thank you again, Mr.

Azar.

Any question from committee members?

Thank you so much.

Thank you now just proceed to call uh Kelly Morris Salvatore.

Again, I don't think Bob left anything for you on the table.

He never does.

He never does.

Mr.

Chairman, may I approach?

Please.

Okay.

Thank you.

So again, Mr.

Chairman, for the record, my name is Kelly Morris Salvatore for the petitioner.

Um I like to show pretty pictures to show you what we're building.

Um Mr.

Azar presented, I believe, what was the zoning map.

Um, the first set of documents is really shows you exactly what part of the building is being demolished, and just a little bit more is going to extend into that R3 zoning district that's okay.

Give me a second, that's the right share with my committee members.

Yep.

And as we do that, I'll entertain a motion to enter into the record at evidence.

Uh the package of uh many pieces, uh at least five that have been share with us by Kelly Morris Salvatore.

So made by Councillor Peterson, second by councilwoman.

Harris, on in favor, I opposed.

Thank you.

Exhibit one, yes.

Thank you.

So thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

I believe, yes, that's what I'm referring to.

So Mr.

Azar, I think was showing you the zoning map, uh kind of sat GIS image.

This particular exhibit shows where they're demolishing from that building in blue, and then around it in green, just a little bit extra is gonna be built to kind of um just shore shore it up so it's all even.

Um so that shows you the limited nature of why we need this zone change.

The other ones are pretty pictures of what they're building.

I like to show those so that you can see that this redevelopment is gonna be great for that area of the city.

Um it will be uh medical offices.

Um we think this is a great project.

Uh and the other thing that that this project does is it's it preserves a historic building.

So the back building that you see at the top, that will be preserved.

I believe it has already received HDC approval.

Um so that building will be preserved, and then um the the new building uh will add uh important medical services for the community.

So it's really as simple as that.

Uh the CP not the CPC, the administrative officer has already approved the project, and as Mr.

Azar said, we do need the zone change.

Um the parking area will not change, but again, we are really just encroaching a little bit into that R3 zoning district uh with the demolition and reconstruction of the new building.

So if you have any specific questions, I also have my client uh who is the developer uh for this project, Joseph Mardo.

If you have any specific questions that I can't answer, any question from committee member, Councillor Harris, please?

Can you repeat how many medical buildings there will be or how many offices?

So it looks like they're they're connected.

They connect it, so it looks like so.

We're preserving, see the the building that's in the purple along the top part of the the document says MMU 75.

That building is being preserved.

Okay.

And then the front building is the new building, and what we're doing is we're we're demolishing a part of it uh that where we're building uh more, a larger area.

If you can see the blue area is where the building exists today, and we're building it out to where the green line is.

Is that helpful?

Yeah, I I understand the extension part of it.

I just wanted to know is there gonna be how many medical building, I mean how many medical facilities will be in it?

Okay, no.

Is it just one?

Just one.

This is pretty big.

Do you want to do it?

It's not the brown house.

No, then you got nothing.

That's not what I'm saying.

I'm not confused at all.

Yeah.

I think she means facilities.

Good evening.

Good.

My name is uh Joseph Marto.

I represent the uh ownership uh for the parcels.

Um there's right now, so there's the two uh the existing mill building, the original mill building, the two-story mill building, which is approximately 33,000 square feet.

That will be converted to medical.

We don't have a signed tenant for that building yet, but you don't know the tenants.

No, no.

And then where you see the existing addition that was put on that mill building, it's block, it was an addition.

That's the area what we're talking about of removing and and putting the new uh surgical center.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Yeah.

So just the extension.

Oops.

Sorry about that.

Sorry.

Okay.

Uh counselor Peterson, please.

Thank you.

Being that this is so close to the um it is pretty close, right?

Forgive me if I'm wrong.

Um close to the Brown University Health Campus.

Um, is there a potential appetite for them to be um a tenant here?

I believe they do have one prospective tenant that they just haven't signed a lease.

I can tell you it's not brown health.

Okay.

The reason for my ask is because as they're um nonprofits.

We have I have uh pause when um our hospital and colleges want to take and utilize some of this lands as it comes off the tax roll.

So I want to make sure that I understand what we're getting into before.

The let me just make sure they're not nonprofit, they're for profit.

They are for profit.

Thank you very much.

Good question.

Thank you.

Any further question?

Well, thank uh Council More, please.

Uh not necessarily uh related to the zoning change change, but um So a building will be demolished to the front concrete structure, it'll like I said, I showed you pretty pictures of what it'll look like.

Okay.

I um I I've been in this area a thousand times, but how close to this is it to residential?

It sounds like it's pretty close.

Um what I remember when I looked at it, there's not a lot of residential surrounding it at all, I keep making it get up.

No, that's quite all right.

Uh so the the existing back building that it it it runs along temple in the back, that's the area where that will be knocked down and replaced with uh the surgical center.

Um the um the the temple is behind it and some residential okay uh but there's not too too much over there.

There's a parking lot across the street as well.

I'm just uh this this is a separate uh sort of uh feeling from uh zoning change.

I'm just worried about the the dust and everything that comes from a demolition and and that reaching sort of the residential corridor nearby and and so um yeah you know I of course yeah I I mean I would respond to that with once it gets to the building permit stage they have to show that they are maintaining dust with I've seen it with hoses and things and this obviously this uh uh building department is very sophisticated and has lots of inspectors and will be managed and maintained and inspected.

So um there there are uh performance criteria when you when you are issued a building permit.

Yep, yep.

Thank you.

All right.

No further question, but thank you so much, uh Kelly.

Thank you so much.

And with that, I'll enter to the motion to close the public hearing on the item number four.

Maybe Councillor Peterson, second by councilwoman Harris.

Uh all in favor, aye.

Aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

Thank you.

And um I would like to take a motion to approve item number four.

Made by council Peterson, second by councilwoman Harris.

All in favor, aye.

Aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

Uh item number four is approved.

And be that there's no further business on the calendar, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

Maybe by councilwoman Peterson.

Second.

Second by Consulwoman Harris.

All in favor, aye.

Aye.

Opposed the ayes have it.

This meeting is adjourned.

Thank you all so much.

No, no, you agree.