001housing board of appeals meeting to order randy could you give the roll call please yes kristen schwehfer present jerry schulte here tim durham here excuse me todd chaselski here andrew rasmussen here lisa steltzer robin groshwich staff chris mcfarland here john riser here michael redman here myself randy lewis all right thank you this time we have an agenda before us could i get a motion to approve the agenda all right thanks jerry he made a motion and it looks like todd was ready to second yes excellent all right we have a motion in a second all in favor of approving the agenda aye aye opposed all right at this time we will take public commentary is there any public who would like to speak outside of the appeal before us today i don't see any in
002the audience brandi do we have anyone online i do not show anyone online okay give it another few seconds since we're rolling through the agenda quickly to make sure nobody's running to the podium all right then i will close public commentary the next item on our agenda is the approval of our june 14 2022 minutes i move to approve the minutes from our june 14 2022 meeting all right angie moved to approve them second tim second all in favor of approving the minutes say aye aye opposed all right the next on our agenda is special presentations did we have a special presentation today okay then i will move on to unfinished business which is appeal 22-1163 we have an updated staff report an addendum from the applicant for 227 orchard hills drive that's included in
003our packet here this is an appeal that is a carryover from our last month's meeting in june i will open the floor for our applicant or their representatives to provide any additional updates i did submit a updated memo just wanted to make sure that the board was able to access them i have your memo dated let's see let me make sure i've got the right one here because i've got two from you in this packet yeah june 28th is that the correct date that's correct okay great i'm happy to summarize that if that's useful for the border yes sure please do so awesome um in the updated moment we made a few points and i'll just update those i'll just summarize those points quickly um point one was irreversible damage the renting policy and services
004of ann arbor has asked us to modify the structure and the installation of a 12 foot handrail would require the drilling of holes into the original bricks or the original concrete of the house house that was designed by frank lloyd wright back in 1952 and has not been modified since and even if the board were to later reverse the decision um we wouldn't be able to remove the or fix the holes that are actually already there and if that is what's required this staircase is safer than a normal staircase the huge impact of stairs is really the the height and the tread and that's why the the rules spent so much time defining the the depth in the tread and and both measurements um it is half the height and twice the tread making the
005the risers um significantly safer uh both from a much easier to lift a leg uh to the next step and also to catch your your balance if you were to trip the housing board has asked us to install a 12 foot railing and a typical staircase and that rises 30 to 32 inches you would only need a three-foot railing instead of a 12-foot railing so despite the fact that the risers are much much safer than normal staircase and we would actually have to install something that is significantly longer simply because of the shallow treads or the shallow height and the deeper treads the 12 foot hand rail would require significantly more holes again permanently damaging the house the risers of the palm beach house are safer than an equivalent staircase that does not require any
006unrails a very simple modification of the the stairs um to two pairs of steps with a five foot landing in between would not require any hand rails under the ordnance and the risers that are in the palmer house are safer than this so because it's safer than something that is on the equivalent that does not need a handrail we believe that we don't need a handrail the housing service has indicated that accessibility is not a goal of the rental housing ordinances but we believe it's important and the risers as designed can accommodate both a walker and a wheelchair and finally i'm happy to take other precautions to ensure the safety and 5 000 guests have never fallen over the 13 years but happy to make any type of notice or provide any other type of
007accommodations and with that i would request the board to approve our variants thank you are there any questions for the applicant todd yeah well um so thanks very much for your your request to the city it's a very mindful submission and thank you for allowing us to do a site visit that was really appreciated um it's like a museum it's really nice having been to several frank lloyd wright homes and buildings across the country over time um that is really it's a really special space in in the country in downtown ann arbor um kind of nice and i appreciate your um your sensitivity to the art of frank lloyd wright and his architecture um but in today's world with it being a airbnb um what's important as well is the health and safety of occupants
008that might not have ever been there and in this in the site visit um what i learned was that going up the stairs they were on an angle so versus having them be perpendicular going up which was kind of exciting but someone might not find that exciting and in the spirit of your openness at the last meeting and this meeting of alternate options i went and did some research on other frank lloyd wright houses and i did see railings in several of them there's one called the george barton house which has an external um excuse me railing similar you know mounted to the side of the brick and some other houses as well and so um i think adding a handrail whether to the wall or to the floor um would not be that serious
009of an impact because you there's not it's not like it's going to be a railing with a series of verticals the entire way because you've got that wall there um and i think you could give the dynamics of the house and all the angles i think an angled railing might look like it would blend right in with and you've got the natural materials out there as well the wood and the brick so whatever we respectfully vote as a group is great but i think there are options if needed so that's my thoughts thank you are there any other questions or thoughts from the board i'll just give a thought kristen thanks jerry on my review um again my primary purpose for the site visit was to get a feel for the stairs it is an
010unusual tread and riser combination and i will say it you know i felt it was a very natural feel walking down it you didn't get the impression that if you you know stumbled you'd continue down you know the flight of stairs um i didn't gravitate towards the sides as as you might in the stairway so i did i did find the stairs very navigable i don't know who you know all could and couldn't attend but i found the stairs very navigable and you know you had time to think about your steps so i would say this is a little bit unusual compared to a typical tread and riser configuration and yeah i didn't didn't feel the need for a handrail there while acknowledging you know the city in terms of the interpretation of the code
011that interpreted it correctly but i felt very safe almost there thank you i was wondering i just had a general question for i guess staff i don't feel like this is a typical airbnb and i feel like there has to be kind of something is there any way to designate it as a museum as opposed to like an airbnb because that's what it felt more like to me i mean i felt like i was visiting a museum and again like jerry said i wasn't uncomfortable on the stairs at all but i do understand the safety in the future et cetera but it also sounded like people are screened pretty heavily so it's not just like sign up online and you get to show up with 10 of your buddies and hang out and have a
012weekend like some other airbnb's is there any wiggle room that the city would allow if there was like a waiver signed or something along those lines because of the uniqueness of the property i guess would be my question for staff okay um under the housing code we would not be able to support that um something similar that's came up during this appeals process was how a historic building in downtown would be handled there were discussions with staff that confirmed something like a handrail would would still be required even in a historic situation because it is a safety feature something under the lines of an actual museum which would fall under another use category and the building code would have major code implications um beyond just a handrail got it so it would make it if
013it was a museum it'd be more things they'd have correct now now we're looking at a commercial building and got it accessible ramp entrances and a whole lot more got it thanks chris i was grasping it whatever i could i have a question for the city along the same lines um i think jeffrey's made the point that he's preserved that exactly as designed and making the case that's without a handrail you know should the board consider approving leaving it the way it is is there a way to tie any future permit application for the house that would involve any kind of modification to the house to then require a handrail as part of that that the actions you know like again if the board voted to not have it could there be a clause where
014okay you you now you're going to alter the the building therefore this had this variance been granted this variance is no longer valid that would be a difficult thing for us to track down the road 10 15 years later there's really no code context for something like that the housing code does require the handrail currently there are some requirements in the residential code for existing buildings to bring these type of items up to current code uh generally when the remodel exceeds 50 of the house then we start to look at existing guards and handrails that you know meet previous codes but not today but something like that would probably be a difficult approach thank you sorry i'm just writing all these notes down so that i can keep them all in my head angie did
015you have any other thoughts or questions i guess i'll move on to tim then because it seems like everyone's got something to say you're good okay well i'll go ahead and take my my moment then um you know again thank you for letting us visit the house i think um for me it was very helpful to walk the stairs i i had a very similar experience to jerry where um you know i noticed i was as i went up and down the stairs i was navigating toward the middle rather than toward the handrail and the the gate seemed both up and down to um be be very navigable um you know again i know that we in the last appeal covered snow removal and kind of how that works i know the four stairs that
016are into the front door are also covered so that should also limit the falling of any snow or ice on that staircase which again i felt was maybe part of the design but maybe you know again just added a little bit of a different factor also just the way the front door uh was angled not sure that most individuals would swing out to grab a staircase again in that natural feel of how you would enter and exit the home based on where the stairway you know the railing would typically be located and where the front door would be located so again i i also was wondering like jerry had had asked if there would be any thought on if there was additional modifications to the original structure if at that point the handrail item would
017be reconsidered it sounds like that's not practical from a standpoint of of tracking permits and john i'm not sure from a legal standpoint how how variances may work if it would if there could be language legally if or if that's not a probable item i think once you give them a pass you give them a pass when you grant the variance you've granted the variables can you put conditions on a variance could you put conditions on a variance off the top of my head i don't know we have to kind of look into that whether there'd be a condition so long as it remains a a v rbo or airbnb i i believe you could it'd be a lot easier to manage something that applies today rather than you know we don't know 2 5
01810 15 years from now agreed running permits and variances through my own office i know from first-hand experience keeping all those details situated for thousands of scenarios forever can be very difficult now one comment i can make is if it continues to be a short-term rental and that condition is applied to the rental record um it is somewhat more likely to come up through that process rather than a typical building permit process because we can only look backwards on the history so much as the remodel comes through but it's very possible in that situation that it could come up during the next rental housing inspection because the inspector would look at the permit history they'd look at the record history and they would see that there was a condition with the variance so in your
019proposed motion there are some stipulations you could attach or a pain to it and it sounds like i don't know uh chris are you saying that's not going to be practical in seven years whether whether the stipulations still apply if they change the use i think it's very easy to overlook that stipulation down the road would be my concern but it's a frank lloyd wright house there aren't that many it's probably something that people are going to be cognizant of if they do change the use not that uh mr shocks plans to do change the use but i guess you could sell it and someone could want to add a bedroom or something like that it's possible you could add a it might give the the board comfort in knowing that to the extent that
020there's a change in use um that there is that stipulation that uh what how whatever they want to whatever conditions they want to add as long as it remains a short-term rental or as long as they're you know brbo or airbnb or some rental housing and if they apply for permits to construction a building permit due to to change the structure then it would you know they'd have to put the railing up they could do something like that i mean potentially if that's if there's interest in doing that couple of quick notes from from my side um be more than happy um i love the direction that this is going because it's basically the spirit of what i've been trying to um to convey um that i'm attempting very hard to keep this in its
021original condition and so i'd be more than happy that if any single permit was filed in the city of ann arbor that we can revisit this particular issue or that if we change the use of the house in in any way that we could revisit this particular issue and i'm happy to go down that particular path i will also note that like i i'm happy to submit the actual easement that i have with the frank lloyd wright's building conservancy and that stipulates that i cannot make any changes to the structure of the house and so happy to provide that documentation and happy to go down the path that this particular variant would be either null or would be reviewed again and if there was any changes made you say any single permit but if you
022get a new furnace or air conditioning and you need a mechanical permit does that mean we're going to make you put in a rail or if you want to change a toilet for a different toilet and you get a plumbing permit we're going to make you put in a rail so whatever makes sense from a permitting standpoint however language we want to very broad broad language of any structural change um be happy to go down that particular path or any exterior permit um whatever makes sense from a from a language standpoint thank you and thank you for trying to we're trying to work through some of those unintended consequences where you have a like for like maybe a mechanical permit where you know they're you're not changing the structure of the home um i don't
023necessarily want to go through this again if that's the intent appreciate it yes so to to clarify from a staff stance i i don't know that i can support this approach because as i've said the housing code today does require the handrail and that's what we're requiring um but i do want to share there's some language if the board chooses this approach i'd like to share that there's some language in the residential code currently for smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms that requires when a building permit is pulled you need to update to the current code requirements as far as location and interconnection the exception to that code is exterior work and replace replacement and additions of any doors and windows so if that's a road that you're starting to trend down that might be
024something that i would suggest as a way to kind of decide when this requirement comes into play and that is exclusive to building permits not mechanical electrical or plumbing participate that that excludes exterior work it does okay and that would be an exception here too because we would this is exterior work essentially if i'm understanding you it's it's more about what level of work would trigger the additional requirements okay okay would that make it any easier to track no okay i didn't think so but i thought i'd ask just to clarify all right is there additional board discussion i don't think so i'm not sure if this is makes anything easier but it'd be happy to on an anniversary of a variance to submit an affidavit once a year that says that no exterior modifications
025have been made if that's easier to track to put that burden on to me i appreciate your willingness to think creatively i'm not sure that that solves the the particular challenges um okay hmm all right board are we ready to make a motion would you like me to make a motion sure okay all right i'm gonna spit it out all right so i will make a motion that in case bba 22 dash i don't think that's 2001. oh yeah it is hba 22-2001 the appeal of the building officials decision that the rental unit at 227 orchard hills i don't know why this is the language does not get relief from section 8 502 and the housing board of appeals reverses the building officials decision for the reason of practical difficulties or undue hardship i second
026all right we have a motion and a second is there discussion i think if that's the avenue it would be helpful even though the city you know the letter from the conservancy or your commitment not to make changes really doesn't mean that much from a code standpoint but i would ask that that would be submitted as part of the backup you know that would give some level of you know why this isn't going to be a hardship one additional question is there a way do you guys have someone sign a contract before they come do you have someone sign a contract before they stay gary and i manage the house when an inquiry comes into vrbo or airbnb we have 24 hours to respond and either accept or decline but during that time period we
027have what we call a short-term rental agreement the name and the address the intended purpose of the house the number of people staying the fact that they cannot have more than 10 people at the house including the registered guest one time only during the rental period they have to sign this and return this to us and probably at least 20 percent of the people never respond back at that time because obviously they're having more than than they said that they were going to have and then when i get their phone number i call and i call every single client prior to the acceptance we are kind of a little bit of a pain with that but it's when you talk to somebody on the phone i can truly vet them and and you get a
028lot more information than when people write down i mean suddenly you become their new best friend and they start talking and then we don't accept or we accept so it is a true vetting process and as jeff has said we have not made a profit for many years because mom gets on the phone and vets the client and the house needs to be protected it is a museum i mean it's a one of a kind as ranked as his top 18 houses in the entire world on the national registry the state and the county so we need to vet that house really really tight and to make sure that it is protected and so we do we do vet every single client that comes in and even when kristin was at the house it was
029brought up that we've never had a lockbox we meet we have an assistant and if we can't meet the client then our assistant does we meet the client face to face we give them about a half an hour tour and at that point they really understand the history of the house and they get it as we say i mean they need to get it they need to understand how that they are in a museum for the two or three days so we don't use the lock box there is another personal um hands-on at that point so it is a really the house has to be protected yes i understand john is it possible to add a clause that acknowledges it doesn't meet city code i mean is that a is that kind of one of
030is it possible to add a clause to their contract that someone signs it that says it doesn't meet city code or is that kind of you mean current city code or well that it's that they had applied for a variance for the hand you know is there any way to ign have the person who stays there acknowledge they know there's not a handrail i guess is what i'm trying to say if they have a contract signed by whoever's staying there not that that they know that there's not a handrail is that a possibility so is that an idea you've got the model motion in front of you correct right and at the bottom there are stipulations and so something like the applicant shall inform all prospective tenants that there is not a railing on the
031front and it doesn't meet code the applicant shall do this or to the extent the applicant ceases using it as a short-term rental or the premises are not subject to a rental housing so we add it to them okay so you you can add stipulations to your variants okay that's what you can do in what chris and the building department can administer are different things you have authority under our code and they have obligations to do what they can to the extent they can and it's going to be easy to do for the first year and a half but in year seven onward or whatever as people move on and it's forgotten about then it can potentially become problematic so use the stipulations at the bottom to do the will of whatever it is you
032think should be done with this parcel and the premises in the future okay thank you so that would be adding a stipulation is that correct in reminding my robert's rules of order do you have to offer a friendly amendment to the motion since it's been provided and seconded or do you let the motion die and read no you could offer a friend whoever moved whoever the second or could accept it um okay so i could offer a friendly amendment to add language to the contract uh the short-term rental agreement that individuals provide that there is not a handrail it's there's not a handrail at the front entrance of the house and that does not meet current city building code housing housing code i think you have to so yep sorry oh the motion absolutely well
033let me get a second and then i'll repeat it because for brandy's taking minutes and we want to make sure that everybody's like got it on the same page and i have it in my package so it's a little easier for me to do okay so okay i would like to i think you just have to second the friendly amendment oh okay i'd like to second the friendly okay all right so let me re-read it so that we've got it and make sure that we all agree that that's that makes sense yeah sure okay so um the proposed motion just to reiterate is that in case bba 22-2001 the appeal of the building officials decision that the rental unit at 227 orchard hills drive not get relief from section 8502 and the housing board of
034appeals reverses the building officials decision for the reasons that practical difficulties or undue hardship exist additionally the owner will provide a clause in their short-term rental agreement that there is not a handrail at the front stairs and it's not in compliance with build housing something like that to that intent i i would say a second okay yeah i don't think if you're reset i just was reiterating the motion to make sure that we all got it okay so we have a motion we have a second any further discussion okay i'm not seeing any well all in favor of the motion please signify by saying aye aye and opposed opposed all right i believe the motion carries three to two do you need names brandy yes please all right i believe uh jerry angie and kristen
035supported and todd and tim did not all right so the variance request is granted that closes that appeal do we have any new business not seeing any i would entertain a motion to adjourn yes yes let's work together on that okay yeah well i mean probably with chris because he probably knows the the right uh building code to cite um and we can keep that on file as well thank you all right i'd entertain a motion to adjourn i moved to a jury angie thank you second jerry all right all in favor of a german opposed excellent thank you you