viable tenant yet we don't see any adverse impacts i mean we there are some but we would we would
we intend to address them for the space in terms of public health safety welfare and traffic traffic
and the customer density is less than what the Rite A would have been and the Whitman Council letter supports that.
the right a would have been um and the whitman council letter supports that um we believe it's
within the character in the context of the area so it's not out of character and it's surrounded
and within large shopping centers so thank you thank you planning
nina salamonic the planning commission in 2014 the zoning map was amended from i2 industrial to
the existing ca2 commercial auto zoning at this location accord with the recommendation from the
comprehensive plan the proposed use vehicle equipment and supplies sales and rentals is
prohibited in the central delaware riverfront overlay district planning commission recommends
the board deny the requested use variance um mi 2026 002 175 30 to 48 snyder avenue i vote yes
michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes uh tenetta graham my vote is yes
ryan mcadams my vote is yes hi i win my vote is yes thanks so thank you my mechanical ability
would never have me be accused of working in the department you're not going to be a stage
okay thank you thank you okay mike i'm sorry for my debutante question
yeah yeah because it could because it's real i mean it's problematic it's problematic right
oh here we go but number five mi and ron sorry we kept you so long number five mi 2026 002
197 172 to 76 esta street richard de marco is the attorney
i'm moving around you see the ends inside
richard demarco have been promoted to pan thank you very much
yeah i don't think i got promoted i'm here but i'm not a panelist
can you hear me i can't share screen it looks like
Dana, can you hit remote to payment? Thank you.
I think that worked.
Mr. DeMarco, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes. Good afternoon, everyone. Richard DeMarco, last name spelled D-E-M-A-R-C-O.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
yes mr demarco could you identify your client a relationship to this property
yeah the client is maple lane properties llc and ian kerr is the client he's uh in the zoom
our vice chair has a few questions for you sir sure good afternoon have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance for this hearing yeah i did all that okay and do you
waive the reading that your refusals and stipulate to their accuracy i can waive and stipulate okay
Okay. Thank you. You can share your screen and begin your presentation.
And I see the 7th Ward RCO has sent a letter of support.
All right. You should be able to see my screen. Is that right?
We can, sir.
Oh, great. So, Mr. Chairman, this matter is an unusual property. It's zoned CMX2, but I'm about to show you some photos, which I think will show you that.
the uses that are typically associated with a cmx2 which would be a neighborhood commercial
zoning district are really not feasible in any way shape or form i'm going to just jump to a google
streetscape so you should be able to see this is the actual property it's a it's it's very
industrial the history of the property is very heavy industrial use let me just swing so you
You can see there's a little bit of residential here, but it's a brick, tiny brick, cobblestone street.
You can see it here.
There's basically the back of parking lots, some industrial buildings, and it's basically a very small, off-the-beaten-path property.
The applicant, my client, would not be able to secure and has not been able to secure any type
of viable CMX2 consistent use like office retail or anything like that. No one would see it. No
one would go to it. And there's no walking along here at all. It's tiny sidewalks, as you can see.
All right. So back to the exhibits. We were refused for use and for a parking space. Let me jump to
our floor plan so you can get a look at that here's some of our postings
floor plan. So you can get a look at that. Here's some of our postings.
This is the interior. You can see it's a warehouse building to begin with. So here's the floor plan.
This is an auto repair. No body, no fender, no painting work. Simple auto repair. There'll be
three mechanical bays we put on the floor plan, no spray, no body work. Let me zoom back a bit
here. Yeah. So there's room within the property. There is one parking space here for staging,
but there's room inside the building to stage any cars that come in. And there's really not
room to put them out there anyway, even if that would be the intent. So, and I do have the tenant
available for any questions as well, should you need that. So, we met with Angel Cruz's award.
Oh, by the way, before I forget, Mr. Chairman, there is a revised plan form. We did our original
application called for four repair bays. There's three, which actually results in more room within
the property for maneuverability um and the total area of the car lifts was reduced to
1080 square feet so i would ask for a proviso one page um uh revised plan what what we have
now is maximum three bays am i correct okay and we'll change that's what you have now correct
no that's correct okay sure thank you yeah and i'll put this up so um we believe obviously a
clear case of hardship as you can see this is not a cmx2 block in any way shape or form
it's got a long history one of my exhibits is the zoning uh history they're like machine shop
type uses there's tire storage historically in this building um we do plan that it'll be totally
self-contained um so really that's my presentation i have ian kerr and the tenant available for
questions of nine to five operation and um all the proper lights is the the tenant is an experienced
auto repair businessman he's got other locations so he knows what is required and what is needed
obviously you'll have all the the requisite licenses and he will have a commercial hauler
all the appropriate waste haulers that are needed so with that mr chairman i would ask
ian kerr to raise his hand virtually to accept my question
ian kerr has been promoted to panelists
i sure could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
hi yes can you hear me i can't yeah okay yes uh my name is ian kerr it's spelled i-a-n-k-e-r-r
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Counsel?
Mr. Kerr, did you hear my presentation of the board today?
Yes, I did.
Was it true and accurate?
And can you adopt it as your formal testimony in the case?
Mr. Chairman, that's all I have for Mr. Kerr.
I forgot to mention Mr. Cruz and his ward were in support.
He understood the nature of the property and was fine with the use.
It's needed to sit there.
I have the tenant as well, if you want to question him.
You have what?
I have the tenant available as well, if you wanted to question him.
But Ian is the one who's going to run the shop, right?
No, the tenant, Ian, is the owner.
I'm sorry.
Why don't we bring on Mr.
Yeah, why don't you bring on who's going to run the shop?
That sounds good.
um drew uh please raise your hand virtually so we could unmute you and bring you in to testify
mr drew morales has been promoted to panelists that's him
well i don't have specific questions of drew so go ahead and the board can ask questions as they
see fit although let me let me swear at first drew thank you yeah hi do you swear or affirm
spell your name please and state it for the board all right so my name is andrew a-n-d-r-e-w
morales m-o-r-a-l-e-s do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth yes i'll do so i want to talk about the general operation of the place how do you get
rid of old oil and things of that nature because you're going to change oil there right so yeah
we have 250 gallon drums that are pumped out so throughout the summer we pay for oil to get
pumped and in the winter they pay us to take the oil away okay questions questions from the board
how many how many cars are are you going to be are going to be stored in the in the site
at one time stored we don't want mainly store anything well well so so people
stored we don't want mainly store anything well well so so people come to be serviced how many
people generally do you expect to be serviced probably three to five a day okay and so nothing
stored on the site people come and so but cars are never left there overnight uh occasionally
we have to wait for parts because you know that's the only thing that holds us back from certain
things okay and so the maximum is is three or four that would be there and and no one would ever be
parked outside on the of course there's no room but no there's only one parking space we use
okay all right thank you other questions all right um so how many bays is it three it's only
yes three three bays okay how many lifts that's that's the same thing right uh drew
the bays are left yeah every bay services one vehicle so if it's three bases three vehicles
four bays before and so forth all right okay and there won't be any kind of body fender work
no spray painting anything like that no and so the services are basically what oil changes tires
we i do mostly wiring and uh little specialties so we do wiring lights basic maintenance breaks
oil changes stuff like that wiring yeah okay and you do have hazardous waste disposal for
um the oil is that yes so be a third party collect the oil third party collect the trash
okay and that's whether it's oil or automatic transmission fluids all those kinds of things so
all oils are considered the same the only thing different would be cool and that's
stored in a separate container picked up by a different company gotcha okay and what are your
hours so we do nine to five and in the winter we change with daylight savings so we'll change the
time a little bit for the winter okay and you said how many you could service in a day you
said four or five three to five depending on day of the week okay and absolutely no
parking outside of the there's nowhere to park yet at all
other than the one dedicated spot yeah we have one dedicated spot in the driveway that's it
okay all right thank you all the questions
okay questions from our attorney um i have a couple questions i just wanted to clarify
you're not having parking the parking would be basically in the bays is that correct so if you
look at the diagram the floor plan is open so the bays are toward the rear so the entire rest
of the garage is used as parking and pulling parking i meant outside the building like you're
not there's there's physically nowhere to park if you look at the map there's a thousand poles
outside and no sidewalk just wanted to clarify in case we were missing a request for parking
secondly what kind of vehicles are you actually repairing it says commercial but are you uh
preparing i'm sorry repairing not preparing uh repairing like like say if i brought my car in
or you're looking at you know buses you know what are you looking no we fix tow trucks we do lighting
on tow trucks and basic maintenance like oil changes and brakes and then vehicles the same thing
i'm sorry so you're looking at sizes of tow trucks and that size i'm just trying to clarify
if this should be yes it's all medium duty and regular cars okay so not regular cars like you
know someone like if i brought my nissan in you wouldn't be repairing that yes we repair medium
duty trucks so which is the f-250 f-350s things of that nature and then regular pickup trucks and
vehicles so it'd be passenger light vehicles small sedan compact cars things of that nature
i think what he said he would be able to service your nissani but it's he has a specialty with
trucks am i right but mr demarco i think what she's trying to say is she doing commercial
vehicles right it looks like it's both so we might have to do a proviso with regard to that
it's there's both uses commercial so we do what we do with lighting which is wiring we do lights
flood lights uh amber lights emergency lights things that nature on trucks
yeah i mean if you think of prizes needed that's that's fine i i understand it would be because
your request was just for commercial if you're going to do personal you have to have that you
have to have that use both uses have to be approved via your application okay
obviously we would request that if that's that's if that's needed I mean if not you
would have to get an amended no no we don't want to we don't want to do that that's why
so no no we don't want to we don't want to do that that's why i'm suggesting what i said thank you
I'm suggesting what I said thank you
that's fine it would be use would be limited to personal uh vehicle repair and maintenance
and commercial uh vehicle repair and maintenance i would list both of them out use limited to
personal personal vehicle repair and maintenance and commercial right vehicle so that we have both
uses on the um decision so there'd be no you know computer questions from the virtual audience or
here i see no hands here um planning commission
ina solomonic the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change from
the existing cmx2 commercial mixed-use zoning to rsa2 residential single-family attached zoning
at this location the existing and proposed zoning do not allow the proposed use and intensity is
not in keeping with the existing residential character and use of the block the planning
commission recommends the board deny deny the requested use variance in my 2026 002197 172 to 76
west east street i vote yes with proviso maximum three repair bays use limited to personal vehicle
repair and commercial actually i was clarified by hillary we should say approved uses are
let's say that again approved uses are the personal and the commercial uses are the personal
and commercial vehicles and if i may mr chair i think we need the uh proviso plan form proviso
the uh we our original application had four bays and we reduced to three i reduced it to three
right that's oh okay very good thank you that's why i said the proviso i got you first thing i
said was maximum three repair base very well thank you okay uh michael johns my vote is yes with
provisals
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with provisals tenetta graham my vote is yes
for provisals brian mcadams my vote is yes with
provisals hi i win my vote is yes with proviso thank
you mr tamarco appreciate you have have a good one thanks everyone
number six mi 2026 002 206 71 10
Mount Airy Terrace, Harold Johnson III, and Shiana Flynn.
And this is going to be here and hold, am I correct? Correct Mr. Chairman.
Are you involved in this ma'am? Sure, come on up.
uh we're going to hear the case and that means we're going to hear it and we won't vote on it
today oh you're good thank you harold johnson
do we see mr johnson's hand yes chair he's here and he'll be joining as a panelist shortly thank
you very much good afternoon hi good afternoon sir could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer? Harold Johnson, H-A-R-O-L-D, J-O-H-N, S-O-N. Do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. I see a letter of support from the West
Mount Airy Neighbors Association. Our Vice Chair has a few questions for you, sir. Sure. Good afternoon
or evening. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
we have and do you waive your the video of your refusals and stipulate to the
the accuracy i do not stipulate to the accuracy of the refusal refusal as written uh we agree
with the majority of it but would like to briefly clarify the parking and rear side yard refusals
May I share my screen? Yep. You can do that as you proceed with your case. Thank you.
So, with regards to the refusal concerning the lack of off street parking, the inspector misread the drawings, the plan provides the required off street parking.
So the actual parking issue is its location within the required yard setback.
so the actual parking issue is its location within the required yard setback now we'll show those