seeking relief for that reason I've got a 31 page exhibit packet here's the
property zoning map and here's an aerial I'm going to skip to
let me get the plans up sorry about that computer is being slow today
Thank you.
Thank you.
Sorry, something's going on with my computer.
I don't know why.
Connected to the Ethernet here.
I'm going to stop sharing and reshare, if that's okay with you.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I can call the architect on, Lisa Neely, and perhaps she can share the plan.
I apologize. I don't know what's going on with my computer right now.
And you have one more, like one from now, right?
Yes, I do, and I'm going to have to reboot.
One between, and then what you'll do is try to get it straight then.
Yeah, I appreciate that.
Lisa Neely, if you could please raise your virtual hand and be recognized.
The exhibits, which we have already presented to the board, by the way, show clearly that the property, if we have the front loading garage, will in fact be one of many with front loading on that block.
There are several properties with garages. It won't be taking any parking away from the street, which is why we had unanimous support from both the RCO and the council office.
hi Lisa are you able to pull up the plan on your end oh let's see thank you I apologize
for some reason I have the plan I don't know how to get you to see it state your name please
um Lisa you need to be sworn in could you say your name and spell for this
ethnographer lisa neely l-i-s-a-n-e-e-l-y you swear affirm the tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes yes excuse me chair lisa neely i'm trying to promote you but you're
declining can you please accept the promotion i'm accepting okay it should be coming now
i'm doing it again but she's already on okay i can see myself on the screen
i was thinking maybe that's why she couldn't share
uh i have to plan for my screen i'm just not sure how to
get it to share with you that's quite all right i might be able to fix this um let's see here
do you see that
are you able to see the drawing
up now the drawing's up now thank you yes i'm not sure you're seeing yep we see it
lisa we see it yep if you could just uh scroll down to the actual parking space and it's uh the
dimensions this is going to be a two-story structure with the front loading garage as
you can see on the bottom left-hand side this is the site plan I don't know if
you need other drawings yes if you could please scroll down to the the the
turning radius plan and the plan of the garage itself with the dimensions thank
you okay attorney's plan is here we've already received streets department uh approval
and the plan with the actual uh dimensions of the garage itself please miss dealie
okay so you want the drawings set not just the zoning
okay so is this what you're looking for this one
there's a plan with the actual dimensions 25 feet deep yeah so that was the other one yeah
Yeah, that's the one we need. Yeah. Thank you.
This one.
Can you zoom in for for the board, please? Thank you.
this may be more of a challenge here hang on ah here we go thank you
ah here we go thank you the interior garage dimensions are 20 20 feet wide by 25 feet deep
as i said we've already submitted into evidence and i move it into evidence today
the letter of support from the rco the letter of non-opposition from the council office the
letter of approval from the streets department and the photo showing other similarly situated
front loaders on the block itself. With that, I'd like to call my client Ibrahim Walden to the
stand if he could please raise his virtual hand. Thank you. Well, sure. That's already been
submitted. We don't have a deed. Okay. That was submitted with our exhibits, but I can resend it
if you'd like sure why don't you do that yep
bring your client on yep ibrahim walden i'm promoting him now thank you
ibrahim is declining also
oh you should be there yeah i see his name but when i promote it says he's declining
so i'm promoting him again
did you try him again yes i'm still trying ibrahim can you accept their promotion please
I'm calling him Mr. chair as a member of the of the Pennsylvania bar I asked you just take my
presentation as a testimony we will take your presentation I appreciate that questions on the
board questions from our attorney not at this time Mr. Sharon questions or comments from the
virtual audience no hands chair plenty commission um i'm not sure why he's not answering i know he's
on the phone ms neely that's fine thank you okay amy boy with the planning commission the
comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location to the current rsa5
residential here yes hi brahim we're okay we're okay miss neely please thank you thank you go ahead
my apologies Mr. chair no no it's fine the proposal for a garage off emory street is
consistent with the properties on this block the planning commission recommends that the
board grant the requested variance for parking access and Hillary we're okay with the deed am I
yes we're fine okay so mi2026 001 079 2556 emory street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
cheryl gaston my vote is yes tennetta graham my vote is yes ryan mcadams my vote is yes tywin my
vote is yes all right thank you have your vote we have appreciate it then we're going to be right
back to you okay so see yeah i'm going to reboot and sorry for the uh technical difficulties number
14 mi 2026 001 085 500 rittner street vincent defino is the attorney
vince and defino has been promoted
Good morning, Mr. DeFino.
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Yes, Vincent Anthony DeFino, and my last name is spelled D-E-F-I-N-O.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client in the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Irene Lamb. She owns Paris Nails and the property at 500 Rittner Street.
And I would say there's a letter of support from Whitman Council and also a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Squilla.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
yes all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case okay is it sharing my
All right.
Thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
screen we should sure okay great all right so here's the deed we'll go right through here
the tax clearance here's the refusal which we stipulated to it's an rsa5 area
um and here's the notices that went out to the whole neighborhood there's a lot of them
there's about 140 uh notices that went to with my letter for the meeting that was in june june 17th
uh with whitman and you could just see how many there are here's the property um this is paris
nails it's a nail salon on the bottom and on the top it's a two-bedroom apartment roughly 700
square feet this property has been in its current use since 2004 zoning was granted back in 2004
for a use as a nail salon and miss lamb has been operating the business there only to find out
this year that the zoning permit was never pulled back back in the day because the people doing the
construction never pulled the actual zoning permit for the nail salon so that's the nail salon
and i'll try to flip this picture around for you and there it is that that's fifth street
there's the posting one on each side one on fifth one on rentner
this is the neighborhood surrounding across the street and there's a park across right here on
Fifth and Rentner and this is the actual nail salon and there are six stations so
three for pedicures and three for manicures and you see the three
pedicure chairs and this is the downstairs area in the back this is
where she has you know she could relax her she has an office there in the nail
salon this is upstairs I believe this is going up to the second floor and like I
said it's a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor it's been that way and this is the basement
here is the prior variance that was granted back in 2004 you see the application
and then you see granite and of course it says this is not a permit you got to pull the permit
And Ms. Lamb didn't know that because she was under the guidance of someone that didn't pull the permit.
Here's the plans.
I don't know if you want me to blow them up.
I mean, you kind of got an idea.
It's a two-bedroom apartment upstairs, and it's a nail salon downstairs.
And the square footage is roughly 600 square foot for the nail salon.
And then there's maybe another 150 square foot in the back, 200 square foot in the back of the nail salon, which is her area where she can do her office work, storage, and that sort of thing.
And then upstairs is a roughly 700 square foot apartment with two bedrooms.
Here's the petitions in support.
We have a total of 57 neighboring, and there's neighboring properties.
You can see them right out front.
502 Rittner, 504 Rittner, so all the adjoining neighbors, there's roughly 57, Miss Lamb went
in person, and they basically, you know, they were very happy with her, she's been their
neighbor, she's been there, and here's the letter of support from Whitman, which was
unanimous there was about 40 50 people at the meeting nobody had any objections and
councilman squill is letter here um of you know non-opposition he doesn't give a letter of support
but he'll give you a letter of non-opposition so um if you have any questions i'd be glad to
answer them why don't you bring your client on and have your testimony yeah sure i'm going to bring
I'm going to bring her on right now.
her on right now ms lam
Ms. Lam?
Could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?
Hello, my name is Irene Lam.
I-R-E-N-E, Lam, L-A-M.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Counsel?
Yes, Ms. Lam, you're the owner of the property 500 Ritter Street, is that correct?
Correct.
And you heard my testimony, did you?
Yes. And did you find it truthful and accurate to the best of your knowledge?
Yes. And if you were to testify, would you adopt my testimony as your own?
Yes. All right. Questions from the board.
Yes. Just curious, how did this all come to light?
I believe they had to put a fire alarm in and then it all came to light from there.
so we're we're waiting to put it in now and we have to get this streamed out before we can put
the uh right right but you've been getting she's been getting all her licenses and all the other
documents that she needs to operate this all along right yes okay all right thank you all the questions
questions go ahead i was going to say what's the plan for trash because uh now you've got
But both bio trash and regular trash the city currently picks it up, and they charge her, um, a year.
Questions more attorney.
Um, no questions. I just want to note, I think that that a refusal for multiple principal uses on a lot was inadvertently admitted from the refusal.
so just wanted to make a note for the record that the board grants this that will be incorporated
into the decision thank you questions or comments from the virtual audience there are no hands
planning commission amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
no change from the current rsa 5 residential single family zoning at this location the
proposed use is consistent with documented prior use the planning commission recommends that the
board grant the requested variance for personal services.
MI 2026-001-085-500.
Written of Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Grant, my vote is yes.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes.
Ty Owen, my vote is yes.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
number 15 mi 2026 001 101 549 east loray street bern anastasio is the attorney
good morning again mr chair uh good morning sir just for the record state your name
you're verne anastasio on behalf of mr ms jamie walk mocks
okay um
this is a we have a different name here right
fernando rodriguez
no that's old i think that's an old owner
okay um all right she's here for testimony as well okay all right
all right we have a few could you a few questions from our vice chair good morning morning have you
submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes ma'am and do you
waive the reading of the refusal and stipulates you with accuracy i do all right thank you you
can share your screen and receive the case all right fingers crossed technology right
I'm going to keep it short. By the way, I've already forwarded over to the board and the board
attorney letter of support from the RCO and a letter of support from the council district office.
I received the council office's letter of support about an hour or so ago. So I wanted to send that
over so that Ms. Emerson should have that now the property is zoned RSA 5
so that ms emerson should have that now the property is zoned rsa 5 at 549 east loray
as the history here under the note shows there's a long long history of commercial use in this
property the application is just for uh cmx vacant commercial consistent with the those uses at cmx1
And as you can see here, the long history dating back many years for 2009 as a bakery, 2015 as a retail consumers, and then there was 1993 for some signage.
But yeah, this has never been a house, as you're about to see.
This is the interior existing condition.
you'll see the site plan here at the top