ZBA Hearing - March 4, 2026

single-family. The property has non-conforming real-home structure presenting unique physical

conditions that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the industrial zoning. The

the proposed use would be allowed by right under the recommended zoning the planning commission

proposed use would be allowed by right under the recommended zoning. The Planning Commission

recommends that the board grant the requested variance for single-family household living

recommends

mi2025-005-494-2719 federal street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes

cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes my mcadams my vote is yes

Mr. McElhatton.

Thank you, Jim.

Thank you.

Daniel McElhatton.

I apologize.

I have not been able to.

No, your time is valuable, and I have wasted some of it.

So you're still working on it?

No, I've worked on it in that period of time.

I would like to make the oral presentation.

We have presented our packet, and I think,

and I'll let the board decide what you wish to do let's see can we pull it up yes chair this is

Ian Haggerty I can pull up the exhibits give me one little so Daniel will you be able to see the

computer yeah I can see okay and while Mr. Haggerty is trying to help me out I mean he he helped us

all if you if you're interested well um this is a property at the corner of castor avenue and bridge

street in the northwood section of the city uh it's the end of a row of the row houses in the

5200 block of castor avenue on the west side um i know this area intimately it having been my

i was a committeeman for that division for 20 years and uh my first understanding of the use

of the property was when it was a blockbuster video store. It then became a hair salon.

My client, Yannick Nobrum, purchased it in August of 2023 with the understanding and the belief

that she could use it for a staffing location for her home health aid business. And that home

health care aid business has been running out of that location. Thank you, Mr. Haggerty.

you know and from 2023 she became aware that she was in violation after she put a sign up on the

outside if Mr. Haggerty you could slide down to there is the photograph of the outside of the

the facility it shows the first the well it's I can't turn it around but if you can

And that's the exterior on the first floor on Castor Avenue.

And you'll see that it is business windows on the first floor.

And it is in that area where she has her staffing agency.

She runs it with her children.

And the no clients who are served come into the facility.

It's only staff and occasionally the staff who go to the homes will come in for training or for other information.

If you could move down, Mr. Haggerty, one more.

That's a side picture of the office location.

and they're all there we go um that's that's what the office location looks like and you can see

that that there are windows in there that go to the outside but it's not configured it has never

been used for anything other than commercial purposes and that those commercial purposes

are you know consistent with what i've mentioned in terms of the blockbuster video and the um

hair salon. There is across the street, across Bridge Street is just an open piece of ground,

residential properties on the other side of Caster Avenue. There will be no, it'll only be

open during the day hours and only workers on the site. And occasionally a staff member will be in

for training or something of that property, that, that nature. And so let me ask you, is the

business just that bottom level or the whole building just the bottom level it's a single

family residence above okay and we gave notice to all the neighbors and as you see northwood

civic uh supported the proposition and as well as councilwoman lazada yes so uh i would request

that you consider you see other pictures on the side there the postings and uh the uh the windows

they are they're not residential so it really doesn't have a functioning use as

a residential ground floor level and we would request that the board favorably

And we would request that the board favorably consider our request for a variance.

consider our request for a variance

Okay.

Questions?

You want to bring your client on and adopt your testimony?

Yes.

You're right.

Her name is Yannick Nobrum.

Okay, Yannick.

She had told me earlier she was on and listening to all the presentations.

She's been promoted.

Okay, good.

thank you yes can you hear me i can could you please state your name and spell it for the

stenographer okay my name is yannick noborn okay um do you just could you spell that please for

the stenographer okay yannick y-a-n-i-c-k no one n-o-b-r-u-n do you swear or affirm to tell the

truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do counsel yes mr nobram you've heard my

representation about your use of the uh ground level facility for your staffing agency loving

and divine home care um do you adopt my representations as your own all right

i'm sorry what was the answer yes yes yes okay thank you all right questions from the board

Yes. What kind of business are we talking about operating here?

She has staff that go out to homes and take care of people in those homes.

They're assigned there by loving and divine home care.

Okay. And so then this is.

In one of your prior applications, there was a home health, a home health care.

these folks under Medicaid or other insurance would go and assist the folks in their own home.

So this is for the paperwork, the billing, and that kind of thing?

Exactly.

They won't be operating out of there, correct?

They will not.

It's more like administrative services, support services for the aides that go out and actually visit the patients?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Other questions?

Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.

Yeah, I just wanted to note, I just looked at the zoning history quick in terms of whether this was considered like a ground floor or a first floor.

Yeah, I mean, that's...

It's recognized as a first floor on a prior permit.

So this will be first floor only.

Right. And just noting that signage was not included in this application.

there um they the applicant will likely need to submit separate permits to have signage of the

property yes questions or comments from the virtual audience no answer um planning commission

thank you boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change

in zoning to the existing rsa 5 residential single family the property has a documented

history of commercial use on the ground floor since at least 1971. The Planning Commission

recommends that the board grant their requested variance for business and professional office.

How do you want to provide so for the signage? We don't need to provide. I'm just noting for

the record that it was not on the application. Okay, so MI 2025 001 543 5260 Caster Avenue.

i vote yes with proviso first floor only michael johns my vote is yes with proviso

cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso

ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso thank you thank you councilman we appreciate it well

okay um number number five okay mi 2025 005 530 7803 frankfurt avenue justin crick is the attorney

oh one second

let's choose that camera

there you go

I mean I knew you were there

I just couldn't see it

please state your name

and spell for the stenographer

yes thank you

Justin J-U-S-T-I-N

Crick

K-R-I-K

do you swear or affirm

to tell the truth

to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do counsel could you identify your

The whole truth is nothing but the truth.

I do.

Counselor, could you identify...

your client the relationship to the property yes my client is winifred crofa she is a principal of

the lineup corporation which is the uh the tenant of the building that operates the existing

restaurant there's a letter of non-opposition from holmesburg civic association with proviso

our our vice chair has a few questions for you sir um good evening good have you submitted your

documents and exhibits five days in advance in advance of this here I have

the exemplar pages of the lease came about maybe four days but I was just

gathering those but the remaining documents were submitted great and do

you waive the reading of the referral or stipulate to its accuracy I do thank you

you can share your screen proceed with your case thank you

all right members of the board thank you for uh staying late this evening um we are here to uh

to handle a referral to the zoning board for this property the the property at 7803 frankfort avenue

is currently uh being used or at least the first floor is currently being used as a restaurant a

sit-down-eat-and-restaurant that serves primarily a West African cuisine. And what we are seeking

is for the ability to have assembly and entertainment in that structure.

The assembly and entertainment we're looking for isn't club or party in the sense of

boisterous and rowdy. It's more of this restaurant would like to be able to host

private family gatherings of that type of nature. No alcohol is, you know, intended or permitted on

site, but we would like to be able to use the restaurant to be able to have things like karaoke

night, game nights, quiz nights, as well as, well, primarily those and those events. But let me give

you a little bit of background first to where we're situated. The property is located in the

greater northeast philadelphia area between hartel and decatur right along frankfort avenue which is

a pretty big commercial corridor in the northeast and as i get a little bit closer here you can see

that it's not the corner property but there is a church on the block and i point that out because

the existing restaurant you know brings patrons in anyway we don't believe that there would be

any greater parking or congestion with this ability because, as I will point out shortly,

we do intend to limit the occupancy number. So this is the front of the building. We're only

dealing with the first floor. The residential tenant above has not had any complaints with us

at this point with anything, not that there's been music because we don't have the approval,

but they've never had any issue with us as a tenant in the property.

this is looking i believe south down frankfort avenue towards the city and then you have the

the northbound view with the restaurant over here and when you come into the restaurant this is what

you see now we have we again this is only a special exception for the assembly and entertainment

we are still in the process of obtaining the certificate of occupancy for the basement it

has been fit out and the plans are being submitted for that certificate of occupancy so until that's

approved we are still talking about just the first floor but we anticipate that approval shortly but

when you walk into the restaurant as you can see that it's a it's a standard narrow size of these

these types of homes that have the commercial first floor but you know seating along the sides

this is the other direction so the intent would be to have people being able to sit down or gather

in this space the rear of the property has your exit to the back there are restrooms on the side

and then the kitchen i'm sorry i didn't get this one oriented well but the kitchen as far as i've

could see myself and been told it's pretty immaculate for restaurants these days and here

is the basement space that is set up but not in use at the moment because we are still trying to

get the co and the approval to have anybody in that space but again the idea would be you know

sweet 16s lifestyle life life events um uh and then again upstairs and so the the idea of trivia

nights game nights karaoke nights or even tv sporting events there is an intent for potentially

to have a live entertainment in terms of a dj for a private party but only for private parties it is

not a uh advertised for for uh you know party evenings now there they do intend to advertise

for things like a karaoke or a quiz night but private parties are not uh it's it's not like a

friday night destination place for a party so it has to be reserved or be one of these nights

and they are specifically talking about like a third

i think we lost you

I think we lost you.

Justin?

Notable is that this property does have multiple...

So, Justin, we lost you for about two or three minutes there.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Yeah, yeah, that's okay.

Just back up a little bit.

Okay, okay.

Well, I will then make it quick and see if I, you know, hopefully it's not repetitive for you.

But so essentially, the idea is that the both floors could be used.

I don't know if you saw the first floor from both directions, both angles.

And then we have a basement, both directions, both angles.

So it's more of a Wednesday night trivia night, Thursday night karaoke night.

And then Friday, Saturday night events would be the on-demand kind of if someone reserves it for a family event or so.

now we do have multiple means of egress from the first and second floor and as

I'll just show you the floor plan for a minute you can see that we have the

ability this is the basement so the basement not only has one here but we

have an exit out to the rear of the property for fire purposes but I will

note that the applicant is limiting its occupancy to 49 people it does not wish

to have more than 49 people because as you are all well aware that that would

trigger sprinklers and other things. So we are only seeking a limited occupancy for the entirety

of the building where the total load of the building is actually about 83 people. So we don't

intend for this to get out of hand. The principal, when he is on air, monitors how many people can

come and go. The hours of operation are generally Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Fridays and Saturdays would be 11 a.m. to 12 a.m.

And Sunday would be 11 a.m. to between 6 or 8 p.m., depending on if there's something happening that night or event.