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Hearing video

ZBA Hearing - March 8, 2023

Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA)Mar 8, 20233h 49m

West Chew Avenue. I vote to dismiss. James Snell, dismiss. Ishmael Shaheed, dismiss.

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Ishmael Shaheed, dismiss.

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Thomas Holloman, dismiss, please.

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Thank you, Tom.

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That case has been dismissed.

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Number five, MI 2022-002851-2328 North Natrona Street.

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No exhibits, second listing.

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There was a contingency request at the prior hearing.

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Elijah Cupid is the listed applicant, and the listed owner is Thomas Bronson.

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Is he either here?

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Chair, we have Elijah Cupid listed in the audience.

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I'll allow him to speak, but the answer isn't raised.

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Thank you.

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Mr. Cupid, please unmute yourself.

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Hi, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court reporter?

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My name is Elijah Cupid, E-L-I-J-A-H.

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C-U-P-I-T.

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

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Affirm.

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Mr. Cupid, this is the second listing we have.

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We do not have any exhibits from you.

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The exhibits wasn't forwarded?

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We do not have them, sir.

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And that was the whole package.

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They said they don't have the package for us over the zoning board.

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Right.

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Have you had your RCO meeting?

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we uh we had well they we had a meeting on the 23rd um and we had somehow some malfunctions

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happened we couldn't get on the meeting um and everything was submitted to the rco and everything

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was submitted to the zoning board also ahead of time i'm not sure why you got well let's go back

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did you ever have an rco meeting we didn't we didn't actually have a meeting um and she was

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supposed to get us a letter we we scheduled twice uh well we scheduled once well we couldn't get

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the meeting the first time because we that we was trying to uh meet with you guys so we couldn't get

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the rco so we had to reschedule with y'all so we we scheduled one for the 23rd which me and a couple

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of people who supported me couldn't get on it was just saying we was waiting for them to start the

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meeting so we couldn't get on and kept trying to reboot reboot and that went on for like an hour

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i emailed everybody i called everybody mr netta is in charge of the cdc down there and her

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assistants we couldn't get nobody that night but it was several people that couldn't get on so

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So my expedited just suggested that we just come and try to be heard from the board today because this would be the second time we postpone.

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OK, so we don't have your exhibits is what I'm saying.

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We did. Yeah, we did. I mean, it must have been some kind of issue.

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So here's here's what we're going to do. We're going to continue the case.

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The next time you come in, it must be tried. You do the best you can to have our meeting.

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And if you need help with having your exhibits delivered, call the office.

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They'll tell you exactly what to do.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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Good enough.

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So, so MI 2022 002 851 2328 North Natrona street.

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The case is continued.

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Mark must be tried the next time.

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Thank you, sir.

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Chair, we have Tyrone Williams with the hand up.

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uh okay uh mr williams yes how you doing mr bergman could you state your name please and

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spell for the court reporter sure tyrone williams spelled t-y-r-o-n-e the first name williams w-i-l-l-i-a-m-s

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is the last name from the tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do sir

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what case do you want to talk about i want to talk about 2328 north natrona i just heard uh

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the young man on the phone just now, as he did state, we have a standard RCO meeting

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every fourth Thursday of the month. We did have one in February. Mr. Tennant and Mr. Colbert

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were to present on that evening. They were given our Zoom information, a timely matter.

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Mr. Tender let me know that he was not going to be there.

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Mr. Colbert was supposed to be there.

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Our meeting did take place.

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We had well over 20 people who had came in.

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I don't understand why they couldn't get in.

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So, Mr. Williams, so you know, I've continued the case.

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I told him he has to reach out to the RCO to get in for the meeting,

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do the best he can for that.

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I also need some more paperwork from him.

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Sure.

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So it's continued the next time it has to be tried.

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Yes. Well, we're the coordinator of the RCO. We have been talking with you.

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Okay. That's great to hear.

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And so we'll try it again, but I just wanted to put this on record.

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All right. Thank you so much for coming in and putting it on a record. Thank you.

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Okay, we're going to start with case number two. MI 2022-003-880-5015 Cedar Avenue. Mr. Saquat is the owner applicant. It's a pro se. There is a letter of support from the Cedar Park neighbors.

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Okay. We're going to start with case number two.

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Mr. Sequat.

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I see no hands at this time, Chair.

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I'm sorry, Chair.

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The hands just came up.

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Okay, that's fine.

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All right, I'll see who this is.

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Zai, last name ended in with C, as in Charles.

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Please unmute yourself.

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Okay, let's see who it is.

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Hello?

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Hi, Kai, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court reporter?

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Yes, my name is Zay Chakran. Z-A-I, first name, last name is C-H-A-K-R-A-N-E. I am the daughter of

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the former owner, the current owner, who is Noelle Sakat, my mother. She can state her name for the

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record as well now. Hold on one minute. Who's going to present? I'll be presenting. Okay,

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so so let's stay with you first do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and

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nothing but the truth yes i affirm okay um our vice first let me read this to you this application

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is for the use excuse me mr chair excuse me the chair this is this is hillary she is not the owner

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of the property she cannot testify for her parents okay they need to testify about the property so

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they need to be torn in okay so let let which one of your parents are here my mother is here

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my father is the original property owner and he passed a few years ago okay so is your mother

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prepared to testify yes excuse me chair i'm sorry i had to promote them to panels okay thank you

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hi could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter

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hi my name is Nawal Sekat n-a-w-a-l last name s-e-q-q-a-t

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you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth

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i do swear right so now you're the owner of the property you're the ones going to have to testify

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if you if you want to show the computer you can show the computer for

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but you can't testify okay all right so this application hold on this application is for the

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use as a multi-family household living four dwelling units on the same lot with all other

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uses as previously approved no sign on this application the proposed multi-family household

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living is prohibited in the rsa 3 zoning district whereas four parking spaces are required there are

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none being proposed. That's why you're here for variances. So our vice chair has just a few

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questions for you. Okay. Good afternoon, ma'am. Have you emailed all the required documents

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and exhibits to our offices five days in advance to this hearing for us to proceed

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with this case? Yes, I did. All right. Thank you. Please proceed. You can share your screen.

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One second.

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Green button at the bottom.

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Oh, one second. I'm just pulling this up.

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okay so now what we're going to do your mother's going to say what it is she wants to do

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and where i would start is if you have pictures of the property show us pictures of the property

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we see all your documents that you've submitted we have them yes

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I mean, I'm really in pictures.

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Maybe in the last season.

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I guess I think so.

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do you want like a picture of the front of the property so so remember i i need for her to

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testify right so what i would say is show me the front of the property first i'll take you through

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show me the front of the property sure

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this is the front of the property that's in front of your property yes and how many units are in

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the property four it's four units and that's currently separated already as four units yes

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four utilities all separated how long has it been in that situation where it's been four units it

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was built since

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it was built, it was

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built as four unit.

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How long have you lived there?

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Well, we have it for over 15 years.

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Okay.

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All right. Show me the

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inside of the property now.

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I'm sorry.

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I'm sorry.

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These are the pictures of each bathroom and each kitchen.

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Is the property separated with utilities?

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Yes.

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There's electric meters for each property?

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Yes.

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Okay.

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And let me ask you this.

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the rest of the block the block that this is on are there multiple other multiple unit buildings

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yes uh actually the the the house next to me that we do share the next the same wall

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she had it has four units still all right okay

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all right so this has been existing for 15 years that you know of

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okay all right questions from the board no mr chairman

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No, Chair.

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No, Chair.

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And to be clear, you also went to the Cedar Park neighbors, right?

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The RCO.

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And you presented your case and they agreed, right?

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They sent a letter of support.

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Ma'am?

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You guys freeze up?

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Yes, yes.

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So my question is, you guys went to the local neighborhood RCO?

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Yes, we did.

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And they agreed with you.

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Yes.

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The center letter of support.

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Okay.

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Questions from the virtual audience?

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I see no handshare.

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Planning Commission.

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This is Ron Bednar, City Planning.

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This property is indicated for residential use on a city plan or adopted district plan risk means no change to existing residential single-family zoning at this location.

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the applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or

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condition of the property that would prevent it from being used and conformity with the code

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therefore we recommend rest for variance not be granted. MI 2022 003 880 5015 Cedar Avenue I vote

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yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes. James Snell, my vote is yes. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.

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You have your votes, you have your variances. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right, thank you.

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And we can go ahead and lead now. You're done, you're done. You'll receive things in the mail,

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Okay. Thank you. Number six, MI 2022-002-344-400 East Allegheny Avenue. John Sotomayor is the owner.

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Letter of support from IMPACT. Letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lozada.

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Mr. Sotomayor.

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Oh my God.

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Mr. Sotomayor, how are you?

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Could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court reporter?

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John Sotomayor, J-O-H-N.

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Last name is Sotomayor, S-O-T-O-M-A-Y-O-R.

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Right.

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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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right so this application is for a takeout restaurant at the first floor in the same

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building with single family household living above there are no signs no sign this application

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There are no signs, no sign this application.

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there's one

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There's one referral.

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The proposed takeout restaurant requires special exception approval in the RSA CMX 2.5 zoning district.

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Our vice chair has a few questions for you, sir.

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Okay.

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Good afternoon, sir.

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have you emailed all the documents and exhibits required to proceed with this case five days in

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advance of this hearing yes thank you please proceed with and share your screen

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can i um share um can i share with um badista katia present on my package as i present i know

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yeah she can show the screen you're going to present okay okay all right your honor i i

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have to share the screen of another computer. You have to give me access to share the package.

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He's on his phone. Okay, we will. We will.

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