thank you pauline good morning everyone my name is frank yeah i'm so sorry but this is the time
when we wait oh okay as soon as we go live we're letting everybody come into the virtual world
thank you very kindly thank you
i'm sorry i didn't say good morning to everyone good morning everyone
good morning good morning good morning good morning good morning tanya
big old jason with that voice yep and you with yours the problem
good morning don't get jealous confessor
okay chair we got about 50 people that came in we're ready to start
thank you good morning again good morning everyone my name is frank duchico i'm the
chair of the zoning board of adjustment i'll be participating in today's hearing along with our
vice chair miss carol tenere board secretary confessor plaza and board member mr thomas
Holloman. Board Administrator Fatina L. and our Board Attorney Sharon Saleta are also in attendance.
For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings,
we're getting some feedback. Somebody have a radio or a television on? If you can mute yourself,
that would be helpful. For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings,
I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect.
Do you hear that echo? It's my voice echoing.
I was just going to ask, Ms. Tenere, if you would try unmuting.
Yes, I muted. I'm sorry. I muted Carol. It was coming from Carol, I believe.
All right. Thank you. For those of you who haven't yet participated in one of our virtual hearings, I'll go through some of the basics of what you can expect.
First, we will be administering oaths to individual participants prior to their testimony.
Second, we'd like to advise everyone that this proceeding is being recorded
and that by participating, you acknowledge your agreement to be recorded.
And this recording will be available to the public on the web or otherwise.
For anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify,
you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
I'll repeat.
For anyone participating by phone, if you wish to testify,
you must raise your hand by hitting star nine and then star six to unmute yourself.
Finally, to enter an appearance statement, call Google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address
and the address of the property at issue. I will repeat. To enter an appearance statement,
call google 267-270-5548 and leave your email address and the address of the property at issue
I would also like to remind everyone to please do not attempt to testify in the chat
any comments should be directed to our board administrator Fatina
with that i will begin by reading the list of continuances and or withdrawals that have already
been requested mi 2020 that's zero zero two four eight three one four three one that's three three
north 20th street is continued am i
frank you muted yourself
sorry about that did uh i don't do you get the first continuance yes we did all right second
continuance uh where we the board are apply uh are suggesting this case be continued because the
exhibits that were not received until 9 30 p.m last night so that'll be for MI 2020-002-490
2637 East Clearfield Street will be continued excuse me MI 2020-001-284-2815 Grays Ferry
Avenue is continued MI 2020-001-239-2815 Grays Ferry Avenue is also continued um I think I read
let's just make sure I didn't leave anything out okay is there anyone who disagrees with
any of those continuances if so please raise your hand at this time
I see no handshare. Thank you. Is there anyone at this time who would like to request a continuance
I see no handshare.
or withdrawal? If so, please raise your hand. Okay, we have Andrew Goodman. Mr. Goodman,
I have unmuted you. Please wait for the chair. Good morning, Mr. Goodman. Please identify
yourself of the record and we'll swear you in. Good morning. Andrew Goodman, G-O-O-D-M-A-N,
representing the Office of Third District Council Member Jamie Gaudier. Thank you. Swear and affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Thank you. Please proceed.
Our office is requesting continuances for applications at 5319 and 5320 Angora Terrace.
We have no record of any RCO meeting taking place.
Any objection to the request with continuance for 5319 and 5320 Angora Terrace?
Excuse me, this is Sharon Saleta.
We also have no exhibits for those cases.
This is the first listing.
First listing. Okay. MI 2020-002-474-5319 Angora Terrace and MI 2020-002-475-5320 Angora Terrace.
Those cases will be continued. Thank you, Mr. Goodman.
Any other requests for continuances or withdrawals?
Chair, we have Sloan Foulkes. Mr. Foulkes, you've been unmuted. Please wait for the chair.
Good morning, Mr. Foulkes. Please identify yourself, and I'll swear you in.
Good morning, Chairman DiCicco, ZBA Board. My name is Sloan Foulkes, S-L-O-A-N-E, F-S-N-F-I-R, O-L-K-S.
Office of Council 1, Maria Kiela-Sanchez, room fires your way to the hall.
We're going to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Please proceed.
Our office will request a continuance for the meeting number MI-2020-000739-3857 North Fairhill Street, as they have not met with a coordinating RCO.
This is Sharon Saleta. We have no exhibits for that case, and this is the third listing.
Third listing? Okay. MI-2020-000739.
3857 North Fairville my vote is to dismiss. My vote is to dismiss. Dismiss.
Thank you Mr. Folks thank you. Anyone else? Continuance or withdrawal please raise your hand.
Mr. Chair on 14 and 15 no exhibits first listing we continued it. Are they both must be heard?
I mean we normally don't do that on the first or the second.
We were doing that initially but it's your call. All right why don't we go back to those two cases
MI 2020-002-474-5319, Angora Terrace, and MI 2020-002475, 5320, Angora Terrace.
Those cases are continued, must be heard.
Thank you, Carol.
Sure, thank you.
Any other requests for continuances or withdrawals?
here we have one sir you may unmute yourself with your hand up
okay yes hi my name is jacob dome i applied for the 2637 east clearfield street
please spell your first and last name j-a-k-u-p-d-o-m-i do you swear and affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed we're continuing that
case sir because we didn't get the exhibits until 9 30 last night yeah it's totally my fault because
i i missed that uh second page i thought i was going to represent everything myself here but
i missed the second page where it says there had to be five days before the hearing yeah there was
okay but that case will be continued yes thank you anyone else
i see no other hands here thank you carol i believe we begin with case number two
okay calendar number 2489 15501 busselton avenue the attorney is steve bertill
15501 Busselton Avenue.
The attorney is Steve Bertil.
And there's a letter of non-opposition
from Council Member Brian O'Neill.
This is Sharon Saleta.
I didn't mention in the summary
that it's with the proviso requested by the RCO.
However, I don't have the RCO letter,
so I don't know what the requested proviso is.
All right, well, here's the testimony.
Maybe you'll provide us with that information.
Morning.
Good morning, Mr. Bertil. Please put your name and address on the record and spell your last name.
Steve Bertil, B-E-R-T-I-L, H-Claire Harrison, Harvey Brandsburg, 1835 Market Street, Suite 1400,
Luffield, PA 19103.
Thank you. And do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Do you also agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with the required documents, proof of ownership, tax
compliance, refusal or referral, photos and or plans of the property five days in advance
of this hearing, and have you met with the RCO, and do you have a letter?
Yes, to all of the above.
Thank you.
You may proceed.
Thank you.
The letter, we received the letter subsequent to our submission to the board, but I believe
I have it attached to the presentation today, and also I believe that the RCO
sent an email with the letter subsequent to our submission. Now, I'm not sure if you see the right
individuals, but I can submit it. I believe Ms. Stiletto said she didn't have it.
We do have it. You may proceed. Thanks.
we do have it i i oh you do no we i don't i have only the letter from councilman o'neill
mr burtel if you could just let us know what the proviso is that would be sufficient thank you
okay okay great um let me just share my screen here
Okay. As stated, we're here for the application for 15501 Busselton Avenue. We're representing
the tenant for this location. This is a request for variants for relief for a change of use
to allow a ballroom dance instruction studio, which is classified as personal services and
assembly entertainment under the code because there's no specific category for that type of
use. And as such, we need a very interesting approval for this use. So people have a sense
of the property um here's the zoning area of the property the property is currently zoned as rsd1
um as you'll see in a moment um this there is no residential use on this property it's all commercial
and probably should be the accurate um representation of zoning should actually be ca1
um which would then make this a by right use but i'll get into that in a second um here's a
area of the property. It's on the corner of Busselton Avenue and County Line Road. In fact,
this property is the edge of the city on this road. Once you cross over County Line Road,
you're no longer in Philadelphia. So in terms of the request, this, what you can see here,
you see that the subject property is this entire parcel that includes um the fitness club um the
parking lot but the area that in question that we're asking for the use is this structure here
at the corner of the property sitting on the corner of bustleton avenue and camelani road
you can see the entire lot is commercial in nature there's no residential use
on my understanding that there's never been any residential use on this property um so i'm not
I'm not really sure why it's classified as RSV1.
More areas.
Here's a look at the street view from Busselton Avenue.
The structure is currently a vacant space.
Here's another look at it from the corner here.
As I stated, the proposed use is a competitive ballroom and Latin dance instruction studio.
I have Eric Grossman, who would be the tenant of this location, providing the instruction.
With me, I have Eric Grossman, who would be the tenant of this.
What they do is provide training for students, mostly children, some adults, to learn competitive
ballroom dancing.
They go on competitions, they travel, and they represent the school in that way.
Occasionally, students will have showcases and competitions at the location, but it will be
mainly utilized for instruction. I'll get to the floor panel in a second. As you can see from the
refusal, because the lot is zoned as RSV-1 and the category is classified as personal services,
just to, which is, you know, sort of a catch-all for a bunch of different type of uses, a refusal
was issued. In addition to that, because there's two refusals, but they're essentially the same
refusal. The second refusal is for the fact that there isn't a category for this specific use,
and therefore that's going to generate a refusal for approval by the board. And as such,
we're asking for relief from those refusals for this specific use. Really, this is more of an
educational instructional use. As I said, it's training and classes, but because there isn't
really a way to shoehorn it, we have to operate under personal services. We did engage with the
civic association. Here's our notification letter. Instead of meeting in person, the civic association
came up with a different process where we submit our presentations to them and they post it
on their website and solicit questions from community neighbors. We still met all the
notification requirements. And we went through two rounds of question and answer with the neighbors
and the community neighbors. And then we received a letter of support from the community association.
The vote, the total vote that was taken was 35 votes, 34 in support, and one in opposition.
The letter from the
Actually
Before
Mr. Patel if you would not mind
You can summarize and bring your client on
Okay yeah no problem
This is just the
Floor plan
I just wanted to mention the proviso
Because I don't
I don't believe it was
I don't believe it was
The proviso
That the
THE RCO IS ASKING FOR IS JUST TO SPECIFY THE USE IS LIMITED TO THE DANCE INSTRUCTION,
SCHOOL, STUDIO AND ASSEMBLY SERVICES FOR THAT PURPOSE AND NOT JUST GENERAL PERSONAL SERVICES,
WHICH THE APPLICATE HAS NO PROBLEM WITH BECAUSE THEY DON'T ATTEND TO ANY OTHER USE BESIDES
the competitive ballroom instruction and the and the assembly of the of the students. So we agree
with that proviso. Excuse me, Mr. Bertil, so a proviso reading use limited to dance instruction
slash studio with related assembly would work? Yes, that's that's perfectly fine. Thank you.
oh actually just to clarify assembly and entertainment i want to make sure the
entertainment's included as well so they do uh put on performances and competitions at the location
thank you sharon if you wouldn't mind would you send that over to me sure
and i can send an email a copy of this letter from the rco as well yeah i don't have it in
I'm watching it on screen, but...
Thank you, Mr. Bertil.
All right, Mr. Bertil, do you want to get your comment?
With me, I have Mr. Eric Grossman.
This is his business.
If he can raise his hand to be recognized,