and did not understand her at all and all of that did not include other people i understand
thank you um would we make this a result of
okay all right no well so the i mean if the board gets to the merits of this case this is a frivolous
appeal well i'm not no that's that's okay but here's the thing we're going to continue i get
but my client is he's lacking funding right now because of this i cloud on his title to the
property we would ask first that the appeal get quashed on on for the reason alone this is a
that the appeal get quashed on on for the reason alone this is a petition on proton she's out of
Petition on Proton.
time we can't we're going to continue the case is continued um and and we will let the parties
know we will we will let the parties know of the the the next state okay thank you everybody i
appreciate it. All right. Okay. Let's go to number two. MI2025, 000484, 4240 Edgemont
street um holly joe harvey is the owner applicant um this is a pro se oh okay good morning
hi is your is it on the green light on and just pull a little closer to you if you don't mind
good yep um state your name is spelled for the stenographer holly joe harvey h-o-l-l-y space
j-o harvey h-a-r-v-e-y do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the
truth yes so this application is for use as a two-family household living within an existing
structure whereas the proposed use to fail in the household living is prohibited in the rsa
5 zoning district there's a letter of non-opposition from the bridesburg
um community action group and our um i'm sorry a letter of non-opposition yes of the community
action alliance and our vice chair has a few questions for you okay okay good morning um
have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes the
only thing that i just um received was yesterday but i did put it in the computer but i also have
a copy it's my tax compliance okay thank you and do you waive the reading letter refusal and
stipulate to its accuracy yes okay thank you you can begin your case so i have the we bought the
duplex in 2000 or the house in 2007 and it was already built into two floors when we bought it
and we had family living there for years and then we actually lived there for several years
and then to be honest I had no clue like what I had to do I mean I had family there so I didn't
know what all the rules were and what direction I had to go to and then recently when we moved out
I wanted to do the right thing and zone it correctly the way it should be okay
and what you want to move some of these um if you could maybe show us the the photos
I mean we have all the documents yes chair no problem
so one of you do you see the photo up there yes so why don't you tell us what we're looking at
so the um on the front door on the bottom that it would be the first floor and that was made
into an apartment and then the side steps and you have a yard on the back if you see the white fence
there's a yard that's connected with the first level he'll he'll open that up okay yes there's
a yard there and then those steps just go up to the second floor which is also built into an
apartment okay um and just tell us what we're looking at when we're we see it um this is the
this is the first floor this is the living room that's the kitchen on the first floor
and then that's just the hallway that leads to the bedrooms and the bathroom and there's a closet
there on the left that's the bathroom for the first floor that's one of the bedrooms there's
two bedrooms on the first floor that's still the same bedroom oh and then this is that's the this
is the second floor now this is one of the bedrooms for the second floor another bedroom
there's three bedrooms on the second floor and the bathroom is there on the right don't know if
there's a picture of the bathroom this is the living room on the second floor and that's the
front door right there that's still the living room and then that is the kitchen on the second floor
that's just the front of the house there goes our zoning signs right there
we have one there and then one on the side of the house on the rally
okay um how how long have you owned the property since 2007. okay questions from the board
yes are they completely separate right now in terms of utilities yeah well no the heat and the
air the heat and the air condition that has been separated we paid to get that separated
but I didn't know I want to do this first and then I guess I have to split the utilities okay
okay and then how many bedrooms are upstairs and how many are down there's three on the second
and then how many
floor and two on the bottom floor and then what's the living space because i saw the kitchen and we
saw the bedrooms but what's going on in terms of living or dining room um there's there's both
pictures up there they were yeah the living room on the first floor and living room on the second
floor they're up there that's the that's part there's two pictures of that that's part of the
living room and there's another one that shows the front door that's the second floor yeah there
you go it's a pretty big room okay and the the lower level tenant enters through the side yard
so they're going to go in no so they have a front door on the first floor oh yeah and then one
person second floor goes up the steps okay and then currently what's the plan for trash management
so the first floor we usually depending who was living there we usually have the sec the first
floor in the yard and then the the second floor has been using in that little corner space
and like where the steps kind of meet the um the white fence that's where we have for the
second floor but the first floor puts there has everything in the yard
other questions questions from our attorney hillary emerson um you said you had a copy of
your tax compliance okay all right thank you so just make sure um with the staff can make a copy
of that we'll add it to the file before you leave today questions should come send it but you did
send it I did it I send it on the exhibit file last night oh you did yesterday oh okay okay no
problem we'll make sure we have it we're having a lot of trouble getting it um I didn't know I
needed a tax id number in order to get it so i kept going online and it kept saying my information
was correct incorrect so finally i went down to the revenue yesterday and got it oh okay all right
well thank you for that yeah no problem questions or comments from the virtual audience
actually chair i have one more question did when you subdivide or when you sorry when you change
the heating closest thing from assuming it went from a furnace to the ducted to the mini split
system yeah so yeah so we so the the the actual duct system is for the second floor they have the
thermostat and then the first floor we did the split the splits yeah did they pull permits for
the splits i don't i'm not even sure to be honest that's my this is my husband joseph harvey hi
could you please state your name and spell for the stock last name last name's harvey also h-a-r-v-e-y
first name joseph do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told you with nothing but the truth
yes we have licensed contract that that did the work um i could get a copy of it and send it in
if that's if that's something i i think when you when you're approved you're going to have a
certificate of occupancy to be obtained and they'll come out okay okay okay great thank you appreciate
that questions or comments from the virtual audience chair i do not see any hands
planning commission thank you chairman and good morning david effecto f-e-c-t-e-a-u with the city
planning commission you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes sir i do thank you sir uh chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no
change to the rsa 5 residential single family zoning at this location the city rezoned this
neighborhood in 1970 in a council supported map change the previous owner appears to have
converted the property into two dwelling units without the benefit of permits through no fault
of the current owners the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use
variance for two dwelling units mi2023 000 484 4240 edgemont street i vote yes with proviso
certificate vacancy to be obtained michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is just with proviso
excuse me ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso my vote is yes with proviso
number 17 mi 2025 004 753 2232 fairmount avenue thank you thank you thank you thank you for
coming in. We appreciate it. There's a letter of non-opposition from Spring Garden Civic
and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Young.
Council, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes. Good morning, Chairman Bergman and members of the board. Adam Laver, L.A. V.S. and Victor
er of blank room llp do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
yes mr
Yes, Mr. Chairman, I do.
Could you identify your client, their relationship to the property?
Certainly. Blank Rome represents A. Dikos LLC, D-I-A-K-O-S, A. Dikos LLC, the owner of the subject property and its sole principal,
Nicholas Kravartis, N-I-K-O-L-A-O-S-K-R-A-V-A-R-I-T-I-S.
Nick is here in the hearing room to my left.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, Madam Vice Chair.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, Ms. Graham, we have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, ma'am.
Thank you.
You can proceed with your case and share your screen.
Certainly.
Nick who's here with me today owns the long-standing venerable Zorba's restaurant
which is located immediately east of the subject property in the Fairmount neighborhood of our city
just trying to uh we just said the prison looks so nice in that picture there it's it does uh one
moment okay shameless plug that's my neighborhood i know i know that i wanted to do full screen
and there we go excellent um so uh nick is the owner of zorba's restaurant uh which is located
immediately east of the subject property as you're uh admiring the penitentiary uh the uh
which is really a amazing architectural and historical treasure the subject
property is in this rough that's not me we have a tech okay in this rough
location on the south side of Fairmount Avenue just down from the prison and
across from the large parking lot just just to give you that context the subject
property itself is uh housed a former chiropractor's office on the first floor and that's what we're
going to be talking about today the reuse of that space chiropractor nick just told me uh had been
there since 1998 he remembers because zorba's his restaurant had opened up around the same time
the subject property existing uh is the now vacant chiropractors space because nick has purchased
the whole property and an apartment above that professional space and again we're on fairmont
avenue just west of the prison as shown in the aerial photographs here you can see a little bit
better where the cursor is you can see the awning of zorba's restaurant and just to the right which
we'll get to in a moment is the subject property and the subject property in this aerial photograph
is outlined in red it only fronts on one city street it backs up to residential to the north
and we've worked closely I'm proud to say with all of the neighbors to address the natural
concerns, I would put it, that come up when you have mixed uses. Here you can see a photograph
of the subject property. One would walk in the turquoise door, and I'll show you interior
photograph, but walk in that door, make a left in the vestibule to get into the space that we
would like to discuss with you today, and head straight through another door and up secure
steps to get to the residential apartment above there's another view of the main entrance to 2232
and you can see once again streetscape the subject property to the right of the restaurant
another streetscape photo showing you a view standing alongside the
um a parking lot that's open to the public across fairmount avenue to the north looking south
towards the subject property and uh you can see that the subject property is located in the rm1
zoning district uh shown here in the purple outline and across the street is that full
city block public parking. The proposal calls to fit out the former chiropractor's office space
at the first floor for a takeout coffee shop, a dream of Nick's to have a sort of a taste of
a sort of a taste of the casualness the neighborhood nature of back home in greece this is not zorba's
the casualness, the neighborhood nature of back home.
restaurant zorba's restaurant is successful and existing and beloved this is in addition
it's separate and distinct although it's right there it's easy for nick and it makes sense
because he has the restaurant there and nick and his wife melania who's also a local entrepreneur
or live just two blocks down on Fairmount Avenue.
So many people in the neighborhood,
and even a couple of the letters
that were just submitted to the board only this morning,
and thank you, Ian, for scanning them,
speak of people remembering Nick as a teenager
and being such a presence in the neighborhood.
But the coffee shop itself would feature Greek specialties,
dark roasted coffee, spinach pie, pastries, et cetera,
to compliment but not compete
with the full service restaurant next door.
As you can tell, and you may know, Zorba's is a family-owned business with these deep
Fairmount roots. The notice of refusal is before you. There is one-use refusal. Variance relief is
required as the property has long been configured for commercial use at the first floor, but the
takeout restaurant use is prohibited and we would submit that this existing configuration
and the long nature of the commercial use speak to variance relief being granted this is part
of the fairmount avenue commercial corridor which is specifically noted in the letter of
non-opposition from the coordinating rco it serves nearby residential which is also noted
in the coordinating rco's letter of non-opposition here you can see some interior photographs so
again i had described the vestibule this is walking into the left through an open door into
that is not the chiropractor's office that's one of nick's office managers doing a little bit of
paperwork and what had formerly been the receptionist area in the chiropractor's office
here you have another view of what that setup looks like and nick has already started to explore
the potential beyond that space as you're heading south if you will towards the rear of the property
of what the potential business might look like side note the subject property
is located in a historic district and under the zoning code as we know there is encouragement
to adaptively reuse existing historic properties this would qualify however it falls just short
of the 2500 square foot requirement for past commercial use if we had been above that we
would not be taking up the board's time but we're happy to present this proposal uh here's another
photograph of that back space and um maybe i should zoom in a little bit here because this is
a all-important floor plan and uh the basement itself is just storage that's the pink utilities
But the first floor plan, I think, shows board members what you may be interested to know.
So in the lower right-hand corner, you can see the entry vestibule that I had described,
and really is just as it has always been.
The cafe, the public portion of the cafe in Tann with very little seating.
This is a place in sort of the European tradition to stand up and have a coffee and talk and walk the dog, et cetera.
it is not a place for lots of people to sit down it's it's casual uh neighborhood oriented and then
the green is the area where behind the counter where employees would be and then the blue in
the back is the kitchen uh etc so it's a um it's a compact space but one that would work very well
for for this use the project has been reviewed by count um by the district council member
uh and uh also by the coordinating rco as i've said operations proposed seven days per week
7 a.m to 10 p.m in consultation with neighbors because this is a mixed use community
It is balancing the neighbor who is up early and wants to walk their dog and needs their coffee, but also the one who wants to sleep a little bit later.