civus
Hearing video

ZBA Hearing - May 20, 2025

Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA)May 20, 20251h 46m

Okay, Ty is here.

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Okay, ready to start?

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Good morning, everyone.

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My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's meeting.

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With me is our board member, Cheryl L. Gaston.

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Present, Mr. Chairman.

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Or board member Tanetta Graham.

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Present, Mr. Chairman.

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Or board member Michael Johns.

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Present, Mr. Chairman.

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Or board member Ty Wynn.

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Ty should be on very shortly.

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Also present is our attorney, Hillary Emerson.

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Our zoning board director, Ian Haggerty.

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And I should mention that Mr. Haggerty also has his son with him today, Jesse Haggerty.

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And our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.

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Recording of this hearing will be posted on the ZBA website.

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By participating, you can send to be recorded.

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This is an in-person meeting with remote capabilities.

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Whether remote or in person, if you're called to speak, you must state and spell your name, then wait to be sworn in.

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Once you've been sworn in, please state your name each time before beginning your testimony.

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Any person may enter their appearance to become an interested party to the case.

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There are three ways to enter your appearance.

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You can identify the case property address on your Zoom webinar.

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You can see a staff member, or you can call the ZBA appearance line by the close of business

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tomorrow.

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Call 267-270-5548.

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Leave a message that includes your email address and the address of the property they appeal.

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The following guidance is for our remote attendees.

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First, when directed by the chair, you raise your virtual hand in order to be

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recognized to speak. Second, if you are called to testify, you'll be prompted to join as a

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panelist. Please accept the request and turn on your camera. Third, the webinar Q&A is for questions

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about the hearing. Do not comment on any case in the Q&A. And fourth, if you're participating by

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phone, press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute. For our in-person attendees,

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and I guess we have one, Mr. Richardson's here

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from Council Member Bassett's office.

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So please refrain from talking, eating or drinking

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during the hearings.

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Verbal and physical aggression will not be tolerated.

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Restrooms are across from the elevator.

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Water fountain is just outside the room to the right.

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When speaking on the record,

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you must speak directly into the microphone

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in order to be heard by all attendees in the court reporter.

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In the event of an emergency,

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please follow the directions given

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over the public address system or by staff. The main exit is through the double doors in the rear,

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the nearest stairwells to the left and outside the doors. In case of an evacuation, the rally

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point is Love Park directly across Art Street. Please remain there so we can account for you.

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So let's look at our schedule for today. Number one, MI 2023, 000489, 4800 North A Street.

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John Griffin is the attorney. I understand he has a request for a continuance.

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Mr. Chair, just a note for the record, it's 4400 North A Street.

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Okay.

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Good morning, Chair. This is Nadia, and I'll be your co-host today.

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John Griffin, if you're in the virtual audience, please raise your virtual hand.

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Chair, I have somebody by the name of Jake Griffin with their hand raised,

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and they are being promoted to panelists. Thank you.

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Chairman Bergman, can you hear me? I can, sir.

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please state your name and spell for the stenographer. Sure. John Griffin, G-R-I-F-F-I-N.

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Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

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I do, sir. Could you give us an update on your case at 4400 North A Street?

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Sure. By way of some history, we had presented everything. I believe it was January 8th.

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everything was in the record. In an effort to comply with the RCO's request, we were to

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In an effort to comply with the RCO's request, we were to seek an amended refusal.

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Hillary had advised us, I believe, a few days thereafter.

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And candidly, we just dropped the ball and getting it done.

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We thought the client was doing it.

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Client thought we were doing it.

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So we sent out to the board yesterday, as Hillary had previously instructed us, a request to the board to allow for that to occur.

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We got an email this morning with a letter to the city for that.

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We'll follow up on that immediately.

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That's really all we need.

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We should have accomplished it very soon thereafter.

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And candidly, it just didn't get done.

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And that's that's our form.

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So MI 2023, 000489, 4400 North A Street.

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This case is continued to 91625 at 9.30 a.m.

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Thank you, sir.

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Thank you, sir. May I be excused?

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You can.

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Thank you.

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Number six.

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MI 2024, 004, 576, 5963 Kimball Avenue.

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There's a request from Councilmember Bass's office relative to a continuance in this

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case. Mr. Richardson's here, he's coming forward.

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Mr. Richardson, just for the record, could you please state your name and spell for the

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Certainly. Charles Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N, Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass Room, 508 City Hall.

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Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

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I do.

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And hold on one minute. Is Stephen Gaines in the audience?

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Yes, Chair. Stephen Gaines will be promoted to panelists. Please accept the panelists' promotion.

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Thank you.

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morning mr. Gaines how are you sir thank you could could you please state your name and spell for

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the stenographer? Stephen Gaines. Stephen, S-T-E-V-E-N-G-A-I-N-E-S. All right. Thank you,

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sir. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

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I do. Mr. Gaines, I'm going to allow Mr. Richards here from Council Member Bass's office to say a few

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words. Mr. Richardson, please proceed. Yes, sir. I communicated with Mr. Gaines a few days ago.

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He was seeking to have a RCO meeting scheduled with the coordinating RCO.

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They've had a hard time communicating, and unfortunately, they did not have a community meeting up until this point.

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I told him he needed to request a continuous, and from that point, when you give him the next date,

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then we will reassign it or have somebody tell him who the new coordinating RCO will be.

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Thank you very much. Mr. Gaines, did you hear that?

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Yes, I did.

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And you agree with that?

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Yes, I do.

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Okay, so 5963 Kimball Avenue, this case is continued to 91625 at 930 a.m.

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Thank both of you.

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Thank you.

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All right, then we have case number two.

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MI 2024, 001-548-1307 Rodman Street.

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Ann Johnson Sachs and Eric Sachs are the owners. This is a pro se. This is the third listing.

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We understand we have an email, but not a letter requesting a withdrawal are the Sachs in the audience.

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if you're in the virtual audience please raise your hand and johnson sacks and or eric sacks

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i see no hands thank you so number two mi 2024 001 548 1307

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robman street third listing no exhibits i vote to dismiss

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michael aston my vote is to dismiss michael johns my vote is to dismiss

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tenetta graham my vote is to dismiss

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Tenetta Graham, my vote is to dismiss.

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And number seven, MI 2025-002-171-2626 East Allegheny Avenue.

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and and no

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This case has been withdrawn.

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Thank you.

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We're going to our first case, number three.

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jesse haggerty will read the the address and the numbers into the record

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mi 2024-001644-2135 west finango street thank you very much i'm a little concerned about my

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job right now, but that's besides the point. Vern Anastasio is the attorney.

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Good morning, and I think you should be concerned. He did a hell of a job.

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Okay, let's take that down. Could you please spell your name

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for our court reporter.

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It's Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O

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for Sheree Minor, my client.

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Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,

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the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

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I do.

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Do you agree to the waiving of the reading

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of the special exception?

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And do you agree with its accuracy?

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I do.

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Why don't you proceed?

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Thank you.

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and i and i should mention um the rco has sent us 90 signatures 58 from the immediate block

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opposed and the applicant also has sent us 28 signatures five from the media block

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yeah we have even more of that submitting today into evidence we have a 110 page

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exhibit binder with lots of neighbors in support of this. My client is here. This is a special

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exception. And as the board knows, that means what we're trying to do, the proposed use is

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already assumed to be compliant and consistent with the code. So long as we can demonstrate

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that the use will be executed in a way that does not hurt the community.

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My client is looking to do what she's always done.

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And now in this particular home, which is take care of young women who lack the fundamental blessing that most of us get in life, which is a family who loves them.

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These children are these young women will not be coming from the criminal justice system.

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They will not be coming from a drug and alcohol treatment program.

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They're coming from DHS.

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They're coming because they don't have a family who can care for them and give them the building blocks needed to have productive lives.

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She wants to open up this property to them so that she can continue to do what she's always done, which is take care of these girls.

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The property previously has been before you for a three-family dwelling, by the way.

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um so in case that was something you wanted to take note of let's take a look at the property

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itself here's the ground floor you come into the house there's common area dining area large kitchen

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a bath we have a bed in the back bedroom in the back uh would be for the house mom

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and then

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there's our second floor

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as you can see

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mostly bedrooms, some common space

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for downtime, for leisure time

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and for school work

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we're talking about eight or nine girls

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of school age

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obviously they've been

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If they're in the system, they're certainly in need of behavioral therapy, which they would be, those arrangements and care would be made for them by the house, and they would be transported there.

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Transportation would be provided.

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And, of course, life skills.

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Here's a third bedroom.

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As you can see, another common area in the center, another full bath, and two beds on either side.

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Let's take a look at some photos.

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let's take a look at some photos very large property

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It's a very large property.

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Here's the exterior.

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Here's the immediate area.

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Lots of multifamilies in the immediate area as well.

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this would not be a multi-family as you know this would be a single-family home we would

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we need the special exception because she'd like to house more than three unrelated individuals

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we just wanted to give you an idea of the

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area itself

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that's just the trash container that we'll be using

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And here are some interior shots that I think you'll like.

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My client's been doing this for many years.

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And she has already submitted her paperwork for state approval for this particular site.

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All of those materials have been submitted to you as evidence.

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children will learn life skills resume building help them get it's a part-time employment help

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them with schoolwork like i said take them to their therapist

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and teach them how to handle the traumas of life,

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which unfortunately at a very young age they've already experienced.

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some raw pictures

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you see it's very well very well done up very well maintained

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there's proof of posting

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here's the letter that went out to everyone inviting them to the community meeting and to the zoning board

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Very few people from the immediate neighborhood actually showed up at the RCO meeting.

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My client's going to explain her experience with the RCO meeting.

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It was, let's say, different.

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88 individual households were mailed.

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They are the immediate neighbors.

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