And I think the chair read the refusals, so do you agree to the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Yes. Thank you. You make sure your screen and proceed with your case. Okay.
Thank you.
you make sure your screen and proceed with your case. Okay.
This is it.
Can you guys see my screen? I don't. No, no. It's a little, I can't express what it looks like.
Okay. Let me try again. Sorry. Documents. Okay. I think this is it.
Okay. Can you see my screen now? Yes. Okay. So based on the list that was provided to me,
I had to basically show proof of ownership. I just bought the property in 2023. So
everything is still under the previous owner i think when you look it up
but this is the settlement documents just to prove that i do have owners over this house
let's see could you show us photos of your property yes why don't you do that sorry that is way at
the end. Okay, so this is the front lawn. It is a twin, so I do have my neighbor on the left,
but my house is the one on the right with the white siding. That is a fairly large lawn, so
I do plan on gating that off to provide the children that area to play, weather permitted,
and it will be fenced off in the next few weeks or so.
And this is the backyard.
Same thing applies.
A very spacious room for children to play
and it's already like fenced,
but I'm going to add an additional fencing
similar to my neighbor to my right,
like the barn look.
This is the inside of the home.
that is a kitchen that currently has a gated off area
so that the children are not in the kitchen
when they're not allowed to be.
And that is kind of the living room slash lunchroom area.
And we also may use that as a play area as well.
And then as you go further back to the house,
that's again, a closer look at the kitchen
with there's a gate there currently,
but it's not in the photo.
this is one of the classrooms slash bedroom that i converted to a classroom
um they're about 200 square feet per room that's just another view this is the second room with
another view and then that is the restroom um and i'll probably put a like a child toilet there
just so that the children are a little bit more comfortable and then that's that's like the
property. This document here is just a tax clearance, which I had to provide. This is,
of course, the notice of refusal and then my application. So basically, I'm currently zoned
to only have a maximum of six children,
but I'm requesting a variance
to have a maximum of 12 instead,
just because I do believe my property
is large enough to provide care
for those additional six children.
Even if it's not all 12 children at once,
I just would like to be able to provide care
for more than just six.
All right, questions from the board.
So, yes, question.
are you using the entire property for the child care? So it's currently a duplex. I do live on
the second floor. I'll be using the entire first floor as the child care facility. Oh, okay. All
right. So you live upstairs and the child care will be downstairs. Yes. Is there a basement in
the property? There is a basement, but that will not be open for child care use right now. Okay.
And so you're going to have how many classrooms on this first floor for the children?
So there's two classrooms and then just like an open floor space.
Which you're going to use for play when the weather is in cold.
Play, lunch, you know, activities, reading.
Thank you.
Other questions?
Other questions? How many employees do you plan to have on site?
How many employees do you plan to have on site?
So I will be one of the employees. I do work from home, so I will be able to care for the children while I'm there.
And then I do plan on having an assistance from a relative.
So if you were able to go up to 12 students, you plan to have you and one additional person for 12 kids across three rooms on the first floor?
Yes, but my intention is not to have all 12 children at once. I just wanted that allowance so that when I am ready to grow and take on more children, I will have that capability. But my goal starting out is not to have 12 children at once.
Okay. And then for the play areas, you mentioned fencing in the front yard.
Are you trying to fence in the entire front yard? And what's your thought around fencing? I'm looking at your block and most of the other houses don't seem to have fences with the exception of the corner and it's not fully enclosed.
So, yeah, I do plan on off the entire front lawn, separating my lawn from the neighbor directly next to me and then just enclosing that space so that the children are not able to walk out side of the like the property lines.
And then what's your plan for drop off? It does look like you're on a major thoroughfare. Whitby's a pretty important street in West Philly. So what is your thoughts? Because you are not on a corner. So you're sort of infill on the block.
Yeah, so I'm maybe two houses from the corner, but directly across the street from me, there's a very large, empty, I don't even know what you would call that, just very empty space. And there's always parking directly across the street because there aren't any homes there. They're planning on building a school there. So there's always ample parking on the other side of the street.
and then what's the current use of the basement so uh for me right now that's just storage
and then is your upstairs unit already separated or is your idea that this is going to stay one
home and you're just going to operate the daycare out of the first floor and then use it as your
you know as part of your home when the business is not in or not in operation no the the house
is completely and totally separated they are they function as two totally different units with
separate bathrooms kitchens and everything else okay i have no further questions i have a couple
so have you run a daycare before i have not no okay but i've worked with children in the past
all right and the neighbor that is your twin um are they in support of the project
um they have not reached out to me um during my rco meeting no one attended um so there i took
that as no opposition from the community. Okay, thank you. You're welcome. And I have one more
question. What age children are you planning to have? So my goal is to have children between,
well, yeah, children between the ages of three months to four years old where they're able to go
to preschool. All right. Thank you. Are you familiar with the state requirements for the
required square footage for children in ratio to a supervisor for a job? Yes. Can you tell us what
they are? So from my understanding, I'm allowed to have two infants along with three toddlers
at one time for one adult. And then if I wanted to do more infants, so I think I wouldn't be
able to care for just as an individual there only can be two infants and three toddlers per adult
and the square footage per student or child so the indoor space should be depending on the child's
age it does vary but i have here that indoor space should be 40 square feet per child of any age and
then outdoor play space should be 40 square feet per infant, 50 square feet per toddler,
and 65 square feet per preschooler. And based on those numbers, you believe you can get 12?
I do. Maybe not at all at once, all the time. I did run the numbers and it does come to about
11 children, but depending on schedules and if a child is coming and a child is leaving,
I should be able to still provide that number.
All right. Thank you.
You're welcome.
Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.
I would just note if the board is inclined to approve this one
indicating the use is on the first floor
the first floor and that there's a single-family household living above so
and that there's a single...
that it's clear what's happening household living above you think single
family household living above thank you questions or comments from the audience
or the virtual audience I do not see any hands mr. chair planning unit planning
morning mr chair michael gall with the philadelphia city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rsa3 residential single family
attached zoning at this location there is no unique condition or circumstance of the property
that would prevent it from being used in strict conformance with the zoning code this use uh
therefore the city planning commission recommends the board deny the requested variances for group
child care use and multiple principal uses so mi 2025 001 582 5844 whitby avenue i vote yes
for a temporary variance that will expire 9 17 28 with um maximum six children and uh first floor
It will take place on the first floor and the second floor will be single family living.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tywin, my vote is yes with proviso.
So let's go back to number seven.
I'm sorry, able to ask a quick follow-up question.
Yeah. Just to be clear, is it a temporary variance of six additional children or am I capped as six children maximum?
Six children.
Maximum.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Number seven, MI 2024-007-015-5336, Wayne.
Charlena Adolph, please come back.
It should be coming back in as a panel
shortly, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.
how are you how we make out thank you i am sort of having an issue because i can't get it my
apologies i cannot get it on okay all right so so so i i think what we're going to have to do is
we're going to continue the case and um is there any way to get this back in quicker
okay all right so here so what we're going to do is we'll continue the case and then
yes we'll continue it until same time but 11 19 25 at 3 30 11 19 25 at 3 30 and please call the
office and we'll have some people try to help you get through this. Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you. No, thank you, ma'am. Have a good day. Yep. So here we go.
Number three, MI 2024-004-403-289 East Walnut Park Drive. David Orphanides is the attorney.
there's support from upper north coalition of community councils
vote was 51 in support one opposed
mr orphan 80s
i'm back another panelist sir
good morning mr chairman good morning council could you please state your name and spell for
the court stenographer certainly my name is david orfanides my last name is spelled o-r-p-h-a-n-i-d-e-s
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do could you identify your client the relationship to this property
certainly my client is l hyphen m e m real estate llc and our board member tenetta graham has a few
questions for you. So good morning. Have you submitted your documents five days in advance
of this hearing? Yes. And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to the accuracy?
Yes. And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to the accuracy?
Yes. Thank you. You may proceed with your case. Thank you.
Share my screen.
Very good. See that? We can. Okay, great. So, good morning. My name is David Orfanides,
And again, I am representing LM Real Estate LLC, the owner of the subject property.
You have a photograph of the subject property here up on the screen right now.
It is a very large lot upon which is located, presently located a two-family dwelling.
The properties are, you can see in the zoning map that I'll show to you in a second, that
the property is zoned RSA 5.
However, and you can see this right here. However, most of this neighborhood, in fact, all and most of it was originally constructed as either two family dwellings at the end of the blocks or as one family dwellings mid blocks.
blocks and I'm going to zoom in here because you can see throughout this I'll call it a development
at the ends of the bookends of most of the blocks there are lots and partially it's because of the
configure the way the streets are laid out and they're carved and they're not or curved and not
at right angles to one another but you do have large parcels at the ends of the cul-de-sacs
some dispersed mid-block but predominantly at like corners and intersections where streets
are intersecting. You have larger lots, and on those lots over the years, they have been
granted zoning approval for more than two family dwellings, for four family, five families,
sometimes even with some type of non-residential use like a doctor's office. Our application today
is to convert the lower level of the property which goes out to the rear of
the property behind it fully above grade into an additional unit they're
presently a unit on the top level unit on the second level and then it's again
to convert the lower level to another unit I will show you some photographs
Here we go. So here's the view from East Walnut Park Lane. And here's the front. You can see the house is considerably wider than the house next to it. 287 East Walnut Park Lane.
um the uh the owner of this property was actually at the meeting spoke uh out vocally uh in support
of the application believe he may be on the call i'm not sure um this is coming around the side
from that in the first picture that you saw along ferriston
and then here's the rear um at one point and you can see here as you look up there's a driveway
that's behind the property and as you often have um the look sometimes the garages that the driveway
leads to uh have been sealed up and turned into interior living space this uh my client purchased
the property with the with already the garage sealed up and the interior uh as set up as interior
living space but um the um currently these are the what the each of the floors look like
This is the, I think, the second floor unit.
This is the third floor unit.
So nicely appointed, nice units.
And then, unfortunately, this is a seller right now, but which will be converted into the fourth unit.
I mean, to the third unit.
I apologize.
Here's a site plan showing the property.
Again, the size of the lot, I'm going to take you down to the zoning table.
Not that this is only a use application.
There's no proposed change to the height or area of the existing structure.