At Thursday night's monthly Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, the first matter of business was a modification to the agenda. The dimensional variance request for NoMI Developers' 10-story building at 440 S. Burdick St. was removed from the agenda. City staff determined that the variance was unnecessary, due to the land's proximity to the 21-story Skyrise Apartments building, the tallest building in Kalamazoo County . So, this project can continue moving through the site plan review , finance, and land acquisition processes.Later in the meeting, the board heard NoMI's request for a dimensional variance at 522 and 530 S. Rose St. They plan to build a 5-story, 64-unit apartment complex atop a private parking lot where zoning permits a maximum of 16 dwelling units. NoMI revealed at the meeting that this will be an affordable housing development for senior citizens, age 55 and up. They need the greater density in order to be able to offer smaller unit sizes (605 to 850 ft²) that are affordable. They plan to offer 19 units that are affordable to people earning 40% of AMI , which works out to $481/month for a 1-bedroom apartment and $576/month for a 2-bedroom. They plan to offer 26 units that are affordable at 60% AMI and 19 units that are affordable at 80% AMI (rents in the $800 to $1,000 range). These reduced rents would be required for 45 years, as this project is accepting Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the federal government. The ZBA approved the variance by a 5-1 vote, with board member Chris Flach voting no. NoMI is also developing the five-story, 80-unit Harrison Circle affordable housing complex . They plan to break ground on that project in March or April 2020.Below is a conceptual rendering of NoMI's Rose St. project:

The public hearing part of the meeting began with a reconsideration of the KALSEE Credit Union variances that were denied at last month's meeting. The applicant pointed out that KALSEE Credit Union was founded in the Milwood neighborhood in 1954. After this new location opens, they plan to close their current main office at 2501 Millcork St. in the Milwood neighborhood. Both variances were approved by a 5-0 vote, with board member Christina Doane again abstaining.The second public hearing of the night was a use variance request from Ed Fletcher, the 84-year-old owner of Rx Optical . He wants to build a 5,000 ft² commercial office building in a residential zone at 3433 Oakland Dr., immediately south of Woods Lake Elementary school. He was represented at the meeting by former city of Kalamazoo Planning Commission Chair Rachel Hughes-Nilsson . This is a topographically challenging property, due to a 23 foot drop in elevation from the site's northwest corner to its southeast corner. Connecting to city sewer would require any property owner to install a sewer lift station , at an installation and ongoing maintenance cost that is prohibitive for a single-family homeowner. As a result, this is the third attempt for someone to develop this property. Ed plans to keep 1,200 ft² of space in the building for himself. He did not say if this would affect the existing Rx Optical location at 3013-B Oakland Dr. in the Oakwood Plaza, where a Hollywood Video store used to be located. The board granted his variance requrest.The final request of the night was a kennel use variance from Abbey Thompson. She wanted to relocate Kzoo Cat Cafe from its current location in the Commercial, Community zone to 505 E. Kalamazoo Ave. in the Commercial, Mixed Use zone, where animal shelters and kennels are not permitted. Because the use variance would be permanent to the land, granting the variance would allow any future occupant to have kennel uses that are more intense than what Abbey planned. The board discussed restricting the kennel use only to cats, but the city attorney suggested that they determine a maximum number of cats that would be allowed. Abbey said that she had approximately 44 cats at the current location and the new location would not provide additional space for the cats. The board decided it did not have the expertise to determine a maximum number of cats. The variance was denied by a 1-5 vote.After the public hearings, City Attorney Robinson announced that South Westnedge Market is continuing to appeal its use variance denial for hard liquor sales at the December 13, 2018 meeting . Their first appeal in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court failed. They have now appealed that court decision to a higher state court.Before adjourning the meeting, Chair Reed Youngs reaffirmed that this was his last meeting. He is moving outside of the city and will no longer be eligible to serve on the board.