of the neighborhood or even homeless residents of the neighborhood are able to use these services.
uh they also often give out and i'll have mr curtis speak a little bit about at the end of
this they also often give out um grooming supplies as you'll see from some pictures that i have but
just just so the board understands it is a primarily an educational facility however
because there is the personal service of cutting hair being done there despite the fact that it is
not for any kind of fee. It is still generating this kind of refusal. So this is the property
itself. It's on the corner of Broad and Parrish. Many of you might be familiar with it. It's the
old Uhuru furniture store. You can see that it is obviously very much situated in a commercial
district, as all of Broad Street, you know, in this area is lined with restaurants, shops,
shops of all different kinds of businesses.
This is the interior of the space that we're discussing.
And then this is, you know, we wanted you guys to see really that this is a school.
This isn't a barbershop. So these are some pictures of graduates and employment placement
that they've done. And this is their previous facility located on, I believe, 8th and Spring
Garden or 9th and Spring Garden. So just some pictures of graduates. And you can see what a
benefit this is to have to the community. You can see how many people are getting trained in a
vocation that they can go out and start their own businesses or work in existing barbershops. But
and start their own businesses or work in existing barbershops. But it's certainly
But it's certainly something.
something that people are very proud of being a part of, get great training to move on and be
barbers. The zoning map here, as I stated before, you can see that this is Broad Street here. Here
the property in question and this is almost entirely a commercial corridor um you know
as everyone's very well familiar with broad street our application for appeal here our
project information form there's obviously no construction or no work being done here this is
simply a use request we did meet with the rco on may 9th this is the notice letter
And as you can imagine, we also, these are the certificates of mailing to, I believe, 55 nearby residents.
And then, as Chair Bergman stated, I thought it was 33, Chair, but I guess you guys counted better than I do, so it was 31 letters of support from neighbors and people in the area, so, you know, overwhelming support.
and then formal support from the RCO was overwhelming as well.
Why don't you bring your client on?
That'd be great.
Mr. Curtis, if you're here, if you could just raise your virtual hand, please.
And just while I'm here still and he's coming on, you know,
out of 19 votes, it was one in opposition and 18 in support.
I'm here.
Sir, could you please state your name as spelled for the court stenographer?
Ron Curtis, R-O-N-C-U-R-T-I-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed, counsel.
And just before I start with Mr. Curtis, let me just quickly show the board the tax clearance,
showing no balance, copy of the zoning posters here.
here they are at the property okay mr curtis um you you heard my testimony here today
yes and do you agree with my testimony and adopt it as your own yes i do okay is there anything
you'd like to add for the board's consideration um just want to add that um i graduated over 60
students um i do a lot for the community down here at 925 spring garden street um basically
job placing all my students um they have become licensed barbers they're professional um no crime
has been committed um basically we are doing great things and we continue to want to do great
things on broad street at a bigger um facility um my school is um accredited right now we're
waiting for financial aid um again we give back to the to the community with free haircuts to
those in need not only just that we close them we feed them we um do outreach i also have a
non-profit called clippers of barber choice of weapons where you know monetary gifts are giving
and donating to my um my non-profit where i'm able to do um more than just be a barber school
And my students are trained also to continue to do that in their communities.
So if you could follow Instagram or my social media, Fox 29 and things like that, my students are continuing to go down Kensington and free haircuts and also in their communities and give back.
And that's what my 30 years of being in business have done.
And it comes from a lot of mistakes I've made in life. But today, God has blessed me to be open four years and graduate over 60 students that are doing great things.
And I expect to do way more things for Philadelphia. And with God's help and the game plan that I got put together, it's definitely going to be a blessing when I get to 832 North Broad Street.
and you will hear about it and i promise you to do the right thing continue success that you will
see for the near future thank you mr curtis uh questions from the board no mr chairman
no chair questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair
Comments from the virtual audience?
comments from the virtual audience
i do not see any further hands mr chair okay planning commission
sorry about that uh meg cavanaugh planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
no change the existing commercial mixed-use zoning or overlay at this location although
the city planning commission has no objection to the use variance for personal services
Thank you. MI 2024-001-646-832 North Broad Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes.
Mr. Sokoloff, could you please stay on?
So, number 13, MI 2024-002-065-4829 Longshore Avenue.
um there's a letter of unanimous non-opposition received the taconi civic association mr sokoloff
just for the record state your name sure oleg sokol right could you also identify your client
relationship to this property yeah my client um that will be here today is mr ray nazir he is
once again the tenant of the the uh property in question here that's robert nacella
I'm sorry?
The owner is Robert Nocella?
That's correct.
All right, okay.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Do you agree to wave the read and other refusal or stipulate to his accuracy?
I do, Mr. Shahiden.
Good afternoon, young.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Thank you.
please proceed and share the screen.
All right. Is everybody able to see that?
Okay. So as I stated, I represent the tenants of this property,
them, that being Mr. Ray Nazir and Mr. Patrick Hopkins.
They are in business together.
They operate the facility together that I'll discuss in a moment,
But I have Mr. Ray Nazir on the line here at the end to testify.
So this is, once again, a use variance request for personal vehicle repair and maintenance.
This is in a CMX2, so specifically this type of use is prohibited.
What I would like to explain about this particular type of use is that it is a very specialized type of maintenance that is done.
And I can have Mr. Nazir kind of elaborate on that a little bit, but the only type of service and repairs that are done at this facility are electrical repair. It's mostly to radios to navigation systems. So there is no storage of any oil. There's no body work being done. There's no paint work.
There is no mechanical work being done. All of the work at this facility, once again, is solely on electrical systems, and that's the way the application was presented, and that was what was put forward to the RCO as well.
A little bit more context on this. This was actually an application that was put in, I believe, even in 2022 and was before the board a number of times, however, due to some, I'll call it not wonderful representation that the applicants had hired at that time.
no one had managed to show up or send exhibits to the board for consideration and for the
hearing. So this matter was dismissed. It was brought to our office and we undertook
it as a brand new use application and subsequently appeal application.
So as this is the deed package,
This is the property in question here. This garage, it's a single-story garage, you know,
with certainly other commercial and construction type uses or vehicle services are on that block.
the interior of the facility. You'll see that there are no lifts or anything within the facility.
Here's an aerial shot. This property is located between Edmond and Tulip Street. It's about
two blocks from the river, so certainly in a mixed area of commercial and residential.
in a mixed area of commercial and residential uses, as you'll see here,
along with some higher density or even industrial uses as you get closer to the river this way.
Our application for appeal, our project information form, once again, no construction or any change to the edifice itself,
just a use request to use it for this purpose.
Our RCO notice letter, we met with the RCO on May 8th.
This was actually, I believe, and Mr. Nazir can elaborate a little more, but I believe
the third meeting with the RCO, the only one under this application number, but as I described
with previous attempts to move this forward, they had met with and received either support
or non-opposition of the RCO in the past.
Certificates of mailing to 73 nearby neighbors.
Zoning posters at the property.
Proof of tax clearance.
And then, as Chair Bergman stated, the letter of non-opposition here.
and at this time if i may bring on mr ray nazir just to adopt my testimony please okay
they've been allowed to speak sir could you please state your name as spelled for the
court stenographer raymond neiser r-a-y-m-o-n-d-n-e-i-s-s-e-r you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir please proceed counsel thank you very much
mr neither um you've you've heard my whole testimony here today yes and do would you adopt
it as your own yes okay could you um just further elaborate on the kind of work that's done here
was i correct in stating that it's just electrical work and no other kind of work it's all electrical
work uh you know changing headlights for people swapping a battery for somebody you know for
people and that's pretty much it addressing any kind of finicky turn signals you know anything
within the electrical system of the vehicle we don't do no body work no oil changes no body panel
swaps nothing to that nature as it's seen as it was seen in the packet and also to store our
our personal belongings.
Thank you. Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?
Just a quick clarification.
The individual who adopted your testimony, what was his relationship to the property?
I'm sorry, Mr. Nader, you're a partner in the business that operates out of there.
is that correct yes we're running we're running the property sorry okay that's okay um mr sakalav
are you representing both the owner and the tenant in this case just the tenant okay so we will need
a copy of a lease um on this i'm sorry was the lease not included in the i don't believe so i
just have a note that the proper about the property owner my my apologies i have it here
it can share it but we'll certainly um have it sent over to okay yeah just send it over for our
records thank you thank you my apologies emerson it's all right questions or comments from the
virtual audience i do not see any further hands planning commission hi meg kavanaugh for planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends a zoning a zoning map change to rm1 residential
multifamily at this location under which this use would still be prohibited. This property has been
used for a variety of conforming commercial uses in the past, and the appellant has not shown that
the property cannot possibly be used in strict conformity with the zoning code and that a variance
is therefore necessary to enable the viable economic use of the property. The City Planning
Commission recommends that the zoning board deny the use variance. Thank you. MI 2024-002-065-4829
Longshore Avenue. I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheen, my vote is yes.
Mr. Sokoloff, why don't you stay there? I have one more here with you.
Mr. Sokoloff, why don't you stay there? I have one more here with you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Berman.
Number 15, MI 2024-002-080, 2652-54 Bridge Street, letter of unanimous support from Bridesburg Community Action Alliance.
Mr. Sokoloff, just state your name for the record.
Sure. Oleg Sokolov on behalf of the owners, Keith Flair Property Management.
And our Vice Chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, Counselor. Do you agree to either read another refusal or stipulate towards accuracy?
I do, Mr. Chair.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with
this case five days in advance of this hearing?
They were emailed by the applicant directly.
Thank you, Counselor. You can already share your screen, please.
Thank you very much.
All right. Once again, this is a use refusal that was generated on this property. I'll take you
through. This is, it's actually 2652 and 54. It is two lots. This is a legalization of an existing
use. And previously, the board had approved a three-unit dwelling at this property in 2018.
We're currently seeking just to legalize the existing use of this property as a two-family dwelling.
This is the property in question.
Once again, here's the refusal, just the one single-use refusal for a two-family dwelling in an RSA 5.
Tax clearance for Key Flair Property Group, the most recent owner of the property.
Application for appeal. Project information form. Here's the deed. As I stated, you'll see this
property was just recently purchased. As many properties in the city when this was purchased,
you know, it was not very well or not at all disclosed that this was not a legalized use in
this property. So, hence the situation we're in today and hence the attempt to legalize the use
of what the owners believed they were buying. As stated by Mr. Bergman, there is a letter
of support from Bridenford Community Action Alliance. The meeting was held on May 15th.
Once again, here's further clarification in that letter.
You can see here the property does even have two separate entrances.
It seems that it was always used as at least a two-family.
As I stated, here's the use permit from August of 2018, granting three-family dwelling in this structure.
However, none of this work was ever undertaken, so this permit had expired.
just some interior photos of the property notice of today's meeting posters at the property
now something that we wanted you guys to see there is like a side yard here that would allow
for for trash cans um so you know they're not having to be put out front um or in any way
impact the neighborhood. Here's a little description of the units themselves. They're
each approximately 1,000 square feet, one bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen.
And here you can see some floor plans of the property.