So we had a community meeting on February 19th, 2026 via Zoom.
It was hosted by the 52nd Democratic Ward and the Winfield Heights Community Association.
Because we did not have nearby residential or, I guess, nearby properties, the ZBA identified this strip of approximately 76 properties that we could provide notice to.
Here is evidence of our postage.
So I don't have a meeting summary.
I understand we got support.
I did discuss following the meeting after the vote, there were approximately 20 members in
attendance. All of them supported our application. Here is our application project information.
And just as a reference, I wanted to bring this up to the board. It is part of the Philadelphia
code regarding the maintenance and operation of commercial stables for horses. Now, there's no
requirement in here, but it does have the requirements of a commercial stable do
include that they employ a full-time operator manager. I don't think that requires someone
to be on-site 24-7, but I do think it reflects the fact that this is something that is important
and somewhat within the industry standard.
We have a support letter
from the Parks and Recs Commissioner, Susan Slauson.
They've been engaged with this group
regarding this equestrian center update.
They're long time partners.
They're on very good relationship.
And they're in support of this application.
at this time i would like to request that kareem rossum is right in okay
and that person is now being promoted to panelist chair thank you
good afternoon can you guys hear me hi yes we can could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer yes my name is kareem rosser uh spelled k-a-r-e-e-m uh last
name rosser r-o-s-s-e-r all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do please please counsel thank you good afternoon kareem good afternoon
were you present and able to hear the testimony i just presented yes are you authorized by work
to ride as a representative and do you adopt on behalf of the organization as factually correct
to the best of your knowledge my testimony yes thank you at this time on the board good thank you
questions from our attorney
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience or the present audience
here chair i see no hands at this time planning commission amy boy with the planning commission
planning commission amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends
the comprehensive plan recommends
no change in zoning at this location from the existing sppoa parks and open space active
the appellant has shown that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances
of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code
the planning commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance for household living
MI 2025-007-572-4115 Montgomery Drive. I vote yes with proviso. Certificate of
occupancy to be obtained. 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.
I win my vote is yes with proviso thank you thank you thank you council mi 2025 007573
23 27 to 83 common avenue alfred fiscalo is the attorney
there's unanimous support from ronhurst civic association
good afternoon good afternoon council could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
alfred fiscaldo last name is spelled f as in frank u s as in sam c a l d as in david o
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you identify your client and a relationship to this property?
I represent Bucca Derm Management LLC, doing business as the dermatology specialist.
They are a tenant at this property.
And with me on the line today is Mark Seward, the executive vice president of the dermatology specialists.
Our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good evening.
have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this
hearing I have there was a supplemental request which was submitted as well
okay thank you and have you do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy I do all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed
with your case thank you
can you see my screen yes sir okay thank you um on the on the board is the uh copy of the exhibit
list which was provided to the board includes the notice of refusal the application for appeal
project information form pictures of posting an aerial of the property uh typical interior
photographs of one of the locations um that the dermatology specialists uh operate in the city
and which will be similar to what is going to be provided this property an interior fit-out plan
a copy of the unanimous support letter from the wrong her civic association a tax clearance
certificate and a witness list and the lease was provided to the board separately this is
this is a property this property is the roosevelt mall and this proposed use is a tenant
at the property operating a cosmetic dermatology practice the dermatology specialist operates
60 of these locations in three states and they have three locations in the city of philadelphia
the use is permitted by right in the underlying ca2 zoning district but because the property is
also within the northeast overlay district um variances is required here's the copy of the
notice of refusal um the appeal form is the project information form here are pictures of
posting of the property
this is a copy of an over overlay of the or an aerial of the roosevelt mall
period just to locate your here's macy's is here here's sprouts and then this purple
line right here this is the location of the proposed dermatology practice um at the property
here are photographs of of similar uh or other locations that the dermatology specialists
operate i believe this is the fishtown location you can see the aesthetic um that they'll be
providing as well this location this is one of the examination rooms not another exam
this is one of the examination rooms
not another examination room here's a layout of the of the space
entering here there's the reception area reception seating
examination rooms along this corridor then an exit and exit in the rear
uh there's the uh unanimous uh support letter uh from the roanhurst civic association
um the use will have commercial uh trash and medical waste pick up they typically operate
from nine to five on monday through friday but they'll probably be including weekend and evening
hours as as the practice increases over time obviously parking is not an issue here at the
Roosevelt Mall. You typically see between 15 to 60 patients a day. This use satisfies all the
criteria for the granular variants under the Philadelphia Zoning Code. It doesn't provide
any adverse impact on the surrounding neighborhood and actually fits quite well within the types of
uses that the Roosevelt Mall provides. I'd ask that Mark Seward be promoted to a panelist so he
can adopt my testimony thank you mr stewart
and he's coming in now and as a panel this chair thank you very much
mark are you here uh yes could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer
of course mark seward m-a-r-k-s-e-w-a-r-d do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do counsel mark you're the executive vice president of the dermatology
specialists that's right uh and were you were you present for the testimony that i provided today
yes and was it uh true and accurate to the best of your knowledge yes it was and do you adopt it
on uh do you adopt it as your own i do i have no further uh testimony or uh for this board
uh happy to answer any questions all right questions from the board
is this like a chain of some sort is that where do dermatologists come from mark
yeah so we we have uh 60 locations across three states and uh the dermatologists we recruit um
you know we have a number of them already on hand we have two practicing in philadelphia
currently and we're looking to add more we are actively recruiting for this location
uh you know it would take us a few months to build out the the office but we are already
interviewing candidates and are very optimistic about landing a couple okay
and then what kind of services are you offering through this yeah we do
primarily medical dermatology so if you think about skin hair and nails you know
common diseases are you know psoriasis eczema acne you know people always have
issues with skin rashes skin cancer is something that we take very seriously you know perform
annual checks and and where needed we refer to a specialist within our practice we also have a
mohs lab which is you know specifically for skin cancer located in philadelphia as well
and you do you actually treat the patients there
uh yes we do okay huh interesting okay thank you any other questions i have a question about the
biomedical waste did you i saw the plane was there like a storage area for that to be disposed or
held until it's made absolutely so we contract with sharps container uh very reputable national
brand. We have Sharps containers, which I'm not sure if you're familiar, but if you can envision
one in the doctor's office, it's a plastic container. It's got a lid on top that is locked
shut. And then our doctors, they drop razors down into the container, of which then we dispose of
on a regular basis. Someone from Sharps comes in and empties these containers and takes them away.
and is that the only biomedical yeah like you're gonna have on site yeah we're not gonna do anything
yeah like you're gonna have on site yeah we're not gonna do anything with um you know anesthesia
or any other type of waste it's just primarily um scalpels blades and and needles needles yeah
exactly okay something to work in health care love it actually i didn't i just we look at these a lot
questions or comments from our attorney i just want to verify this is specifically unit 55 correct
it is it is correct thank you so much questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair alice udavich has been um promoted and she's allowed to speak good afternoon chairman
members of the board alice udavich again on behalf of your you're in overtime now you're
in overtime this is your third case here today so yes just state your name and begin your testimony
please the councilman has no objection to the granting of the variances at this location
thank you again um anyone else in the virtual audience no more hands chair planning commission
amy boyd with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location from the current say to commercial auto oriented the proposal is refused
due to the northeast overlay district which prohibits health practitioners offices in this
and other districts in the northeast section of philadelphia at its november 2013 meeting the
planning commission voted to recommend against this ordinance stating in a letter that to then
mayor nutter that it would place an undue burden on residents and others seeking health care
since it would limit care and provider choice in this section of the city the planning commission
recommends that the board grant the request of variance for a group medical practice
mi 2025 007 523 23 27 to 83 common avenue i vote yes with proviso unit 55 only michael johns my
vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my boot is yes with proviso tenetta graham my vote is yes
with proviso ryan mcadams my vote is yes with proviso hi owen my vote is yes with proviso
thank you thank you council number four mi 2025 007 531 1026 harrison street alan knockamson is the
attorney there's unanimous support from northwood civic association and a letter of non-opposition
from council person lazada yeah mr goldberg is presenting this i i got it i'm just you know we
don't usually see this i mean mr goldberg's laughing too i mean i alex could you please
state your name and spell it for the stenographer alex goldberg a-l-e-x-g-o-l-d-b-e-r-g you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do but you identify
your client the relationship to the property my client is jonathan torres he's in the virtual
audience he is the owner and resident at the property our vice chair has a few questions
good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
i have and do you waive the reading of the refusal to stipulate to its accuracy
i do okay all right thank you show your screen and proceed with your case
Okay, we'll screen them on here.
All right, can you see my screen okay?
We can.
Okay, so my client is Jonathan Torres.
Like I said, he's in the virtual audience.
This is his first home.
He's in his young 20s.
and he bought this property in 2025. It's got a history of two units and it has two units,
but it is zoned RSA 3 and the proper licenses were either not maintained or obtained by the
prior owners. He bought the property in October. He hired us less than a month later, got right on
it. This application is to legalize those two units. When Mr. Torres purchased the property,
the ground floor unit was already occupied by a tenant who's still there he's honored their lease
and he lives in the unit above you can see here the notice of refusal references this the two
family household living in an existing structure was issued in december and again this is an rsa3
property i will note and you'll see in my presentation that there are many multi-family
properties similar to ours in close proximity and i hope that the planning commission will
and i hope that the planning commission will support this because the 2035 plan
support this because the 2035 plan
acknowledges a proposed zoning of rm1 at this location which would actually allow
four units although we think two is the appropriate number here here's correspondence
from northwood civic association it was a very positive meeting unanimous support
um they appreciate you know his neighbors that had met him you know appreciated him
cleaning up the property. They recognized, like what I just said, that there are other
duplexes in close proximity. That number two on the letter recognizes seven
on Harrison Street and Fillmore Street, which is the property that is directly behind us.
And again, voted unanimously in support. Here's a zoning permit that was approved in 85. This
property has an interesting history um so this shows a dentist office on the first floor and
a second floor apartment there's there was a 1943 permit in the file for two families
in 57 it was a beer distributor plus one family in 59 it was a vacant store plus one family
in 63 it was a beauty salon plus one family and while we see no permits for a recent conversion
to two-family dwelling. There does appear two mailboxes beginning in 2015, 10 years before my
client bought the property, which are a different color now, but they're still there in the same
location. And it's funny, one of the people in the community meeting actually recognized this
address as where they went for their dentist appointments when they were a child, confirming
that this was, in fact, a dentist's office at some point in time. This is the Lower Northeast
district plan i've circled in red this block which is proposed to change to rm1 or some other orange
multifamily zoning classification it's a thousand block of harrison street so you can see we're
right here one off of the corner of large street and harrison street there's a daycare with a
residential unit above excuse me two residential units above there are four duplexes down the block
the other way and then there are three duplexes directly behind us so this little corner here
which the neighborhood agreed with while they they you know they appreciate their single
family neighborhood generally speaking they acknowledge that this this intersection
two unit dwellings are not out of character and here are those rental licenses showing that those
are legal duplexes here's a zoning map you can see we're next to a commercial property
photographs this is the front of the property those two mailboxes here's the notice posting
here's in 2015 you can see those black mailboxes they're white now but