But anyway, the property has been that way, hasn't changed in over 50 years.
Unfortunately, it's gone through hard times in terms of financial ownership.
My client, Tanya Gore, purchased this property at a tax sale, which is the deed to the property, a few years ago.
And here shows that she is, unlike the previous owner, in good standing with the City of Philadelphia in terms of her tax obligations.
So this is an RSA 3 property, but really an RSA 3 property in name only.
You'll see from the aerial views, the pictures, this would show no residential use at all.
In actuality, it shows what we're proposing is similar to, you know, what it has been envisioned for 50 years and its previous use in 50 years.
So what we're trying to do is for use as a personal vehicle repair and maintenance in an existing structure.
We're not changing any of the physical structure except the office, which will obviously modernize.
So here's our application for appeal to the ZVA, one of our project information form.
And then again, just to reiterate, this is, again, a map of the vicinity within Church Lane.
Even though we have a Church Lane address in the rear, we really have to go down the long strip of street of Nash Lane, where our property is tucked way beyond any other residential properties.
What is this going to be used for? For simply garaging vehicles or for a repair shop?
It's really a repair shop. So my client, Tanya Gore, is on the line. She doesn't plan to do major repairs. Really, in essence, this is an emission shop for inspections and then minor repairs for people to get their registration every single year.
and we're willing to agree to reasonable provisos in that respect and we can go through that too
but here is a picture of what the property looks like this is pre-existing this has been there for
over 50 years nothing has changed in terms of physical structure and again here's just showing
how we are and we're nowhere near any of the residential usage and then again we just created
a simple you know floor plan but you can see there are bays here and then there's an office right
there. And then we did meet with the Penn Area Neighborhood Association. I would say it was a
very lively meeting. It was a very difficult meeting to present. I don't know if the representative
from Penn Area Neighborhood Association is here or even Inez Love of the other RCO, but they would
say that it was really difficult to present this matter. Like, you know, there was difficulty even
just going through the materials. Basically, I had one person during the entire meeting
just saying can we just vote can we just vote um and we did that for over an hour um but again
we did learn a lot about the neighborhood in terms of admittedly 50 years 50 years ago this
was used by a lawn mowing company for repair maintenance and storage of lawn mowing equipment
uh similar you know to the type of usage you know conceptually of you know automobiles so uh
A couple of things that they put in there, they said they would support, there was one proviso, support the project only if used to garage vehicles, not for use as emissions or repair shop.
Again, I think, you know, again, the only one person voted for that proviso. But, you know, we really try to give reasonable provisos for this project. We don't want to be a nuisance to this neighborhood. Tanya's, Ms. Gore's father, the reason why Ms. Gore knew of this property is her father used to store his materials and vehicles in this area.
Again, I think, you know, again, the only one person voted for that proviso.
but you know we
So they knew of the existence of this property, and they do not want to be a nuisance.
During the community meeting, it was acknowledged of how Ms. Gore has properly maintained the grounds, which were overgrown weeds and trees that were falling down.
And over the last two or three years, she's really maintained the property very well.
So she doesn't want to be a nuisance in the neighborhood.
She wants to agree to reasonable provisos.
And these are some of the things they would like to agree to in terms of provisos.
What is it being used for now?
To garage vehicles?
It's just, there's nothing.
I mean, right now it's an RSA3 property.
They're storing some of their materials and equipment right now, but it's right now not being used as anything.
We're trying to legally change it so we can make this into a personal vehicle repair and maintenance shop.
You know, some of the provisos we agreed to is to limit that use because that was a concern in the neighborhood. Well, Ms. Gore may be a great person and do the right thing, but this runs with the land, which we acknowledged. And that's why we want to, like, limit the usage for Ms. Gore's particular usage.
So we would, you know, in a form of proviso, make this into an inspection and emission shop with related repairs in connection therewith.
Our hours of operation are only Monday through Friday, 9 to 4 p.m.
We would agree to that in a form of a proviso.
There was concern here, although it's kind of weird, like with the proviso talking about garaging vehicles,
their concern, too, was that we were just going to store a ton of vehicles on this property.
And it was going to look junky.
So we would agree to a proviso where no vehicles will be permanently stored on the premises.
So, you know, you're going to have customers come and, you know, there may be a busy day where they all don't fit into the bays, where they're going to be stored temporarily in front of the bays while the work is getting done.
But we're not going to permanently store vehicles.
This is not a vehicular storage facility.
So that's a proviso we would agree to it.
And that would make it a repair shop.
Go ahead, Tom.
Excuse me, counselor.
Do you have documentation from zoning on what the existing use of the property is?
No, I actually looked on Atlas.
There was really nothing on Atlas that showed anything in terms of a previous history.
So, again, through our discovery, through the community meeting process, that's where I'm getting the fact about the lawn mowing company, because the person who's 364 Church Lane, who's right in front of us on Church Lane, is the one who indicated that.
And I think there was an acknowledgement because there's a lot of residents who have a history in this neighborhood who acknowledge that that was the case.
So there's never been a residential use, legal residential use on this property.
So, again, we're not trying to convert something that has a residential history at all.
You know, it's just something that hasn't happened on this property.
And it did fall in financial disrepair because Ms. Gore is the one who purchased this property at a tax sale.
And she's maintained it physically and financially during that period of time.
um and then the question some of the unfavorable comments was there was concerns over cars being
parked in the general area this is a 10,000 square foot lot even if we park this thing up
there's not gonna be enough business to like you know people are not going to park on the street
our property is tucked in the rear along Nash and so we will not have no one would park their cars
in the general facility in the neighborhood of Church Lane.
So that was an issue.
So that's basically our presentation in a nutshell.
Here you'll see our proof of mail.
Excuse me, Counselor.
How will the people know that the service is in the rear?
Well, that's a good question.
Through advertising and word of mouth,
Ms. Gore's family has been in the business for some time.
Her father has been in the business and, you know, she would be affiliated with Ms. Gore as well.
So it's really a low key operation and he has a decent following in the neighborhood.
Like I said, he has stored things over the course of time when the previous owner owned the property.
Like I said, he is, you know, he has stored things over the course of time when.
So he's very familiar with this property and he feels comfortable that business will find him.
And I think there is a need in the neighborhood because there is not such a facility anywhere nearby.
So they don't want to be a nuisance.
They want to reasonably use this property.
And like I said, this property has been this way for over 50 years.
And no one in its history has ever attempted a residential use for this property.
Is there anyone here in the virtual audience who would like to testify?
Adam, Chair, we have Charles Richardson.
He's been unmuted.
Please unmute yourself, Mr. Richardson.
Mr. Richardson?
Mr. Richardson, okay.
Now it just popped up to unmute myself.
Good morning.
Hi, Mr. Richardson.
Can you put your name on the record, please?
And then I'll swear you in.
Charles Richardson from the Office of Councilwoman Cindy Bass, room 312, City Hall.
Do you swear if I'm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Thank you. You may proceed.
I'm sorry about that.
The councilwoman is opposed to the granting of this variance.
The RCO did hold a community meeting on June the 16th, where the vote was 18 to 1,
uh as you could as you well see on the um on the screen of mr knockamson uh these were folks that
12 of them were actual near neighbors who are opposed to that uh the uh the fact that it was
a lawnmower equipment storage and repair place uh is very uh minimal with regard to it when you
compare it to uh auto repair place that you know with somebody who already has a business
that's going on elsewhere and you know can possibly have a lot of business that would be
following them to that location. Vehicle repair is prohibited in the RSA3 area and we don't think
that there's any way that they would be able to guarantee that the that there would be any
any effect on the note not be any effect on the folks that live in the in the near neighborhood
Despite the fact that there is so much ground space or the appearance of ground space,
that happens all over the community. We have some here right near our district office
where they filled up their parking space and they're parking now out on the streets.
So we really don't have any confidence that that would not have an effect on the community
as well. So the Councilwoman is opposed. Thank you. Are there any other questions?
So the other thing is I would like to have my client adopt my testimony and give some more information about this project, if you don't mind.
I'm sorry.
Yes, Tanya.
I'm just sorry that there are other people who wish to testify, just so you're aware.
Okay. Can you please raise your hand?
Madam Chair, we have Theresa Buda.
Please unmute yourself.
Ms. Buda, please unmute yourself and wait for the vice chair.
Sorry about that.
Can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last name and then I'll swear
you in? Okay. Teresa Buda, B-U-D-A, and 373 East Church Lane. Okay. Do you swear or affirm to tell
the whole truth and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you. You may proceed. So I just wanted to
say that the community is strongly opposed and that Mr. Nockamson's... Are you speaking on behalf
of yourself or are you speaking as the chair of your community? I'm speaking on behalf of myself.
Okay, so I think that the lot has been misrepresented. It is not down along
street. It's no more, it's closer to the street than many of the houses that are on the street and
street and um also the uh it was a very selective um uh reiteration of the community meeting that
also the
was presented by him okay so you're by mr richardson so you're opposed to this absolutely
okay thank you is there anyone else who would like to testify please raise your hand
yes madam chair we have a calling user phone number ending in 1331 please unmute yourself and
wait for the chair okay we have a calling user it appears that the number is 883 you can unmute
and wait to be sworn in hello can you hear me
call in user 883 please unmute yourself
okay can we move on to the next person who would like to testify they're available that's the last
one um uh so madam vice chair uh just to address the previous um comments um i have the site plan
on there and as you can see we are tucked in the rear and we are in on nash uh away from uh the
residential usage that would be on church as well as Bellevue Bellefield Avenue as far as
my selective presentation again this is the information I received from the community
regarding the lawn more company my client is on the line Tanya Gore so I do see her on the line
and she would like to testify okay Ms. Gore please unmute yourself and please wait for the chair
miss gore can you hear me yes hi put your name and address on the record please and then i'll
swear you in sure it's tanya t-y-n-i-a last name is gore g-o-r-e address 364 rare through 368
church lane do you swear for him to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth
Yes. Okay, you may proceed.
Okay, good morning. So I've purchased this property a few years back. My father actually
used to rent from the gentleman who lost the property, as Alan explained. At that time,
we decided this would be a good opportunity to try to clean the property up and actually open
the business because it's a very large property back there. As Alan stated, there is actually
the owner who is now deceased, who I purchased a property from, he owned both sides of the
property. So when you go up Nash Lane, you have a left side and the right side. I own the right,
I'm sorry, left side of the property. The right side of the property has a new owner, which since the old owner has passed away, the family sold it to someone else.
So when you go up this Nash Lane, which sits off of Church Lane, we are nowhere near Church Lane.
um you have to go up in the street up in the driveway um i don't want people to get confused
as to what is my business and what the other person is doing which that address is not even
nash lane it's like belfield avenue or something like that um our purpose of buying the property
since we've owned the property we have put new garage doors back there we've cleared the trash
out of there. The amount of vehicles that used to be stored back there are gone. My father has since
tried to get, along with my daughter's father, Albert Feaster, have tried to get the property
in use for an emission station, not a purpose of a mechanic shop. Okay, yes, when you come to get
emissions on your car, it may fail because of whatever reasons. If it's something that we can
do that is a simple job to repair the person's vehicle, to get it to pass emissions, then
to repair the person's vehicle, to get it to pass emissions, that's what we will be doing.
We will not be holding the type of mechanic shop where we're going to be pulling engines and
Cadillac converters and all that other type of stuff that goes on at a regular
auto mechanic shop. That's not the type of business that we're trying to run.
I also don't know if people know that when you are having an admission shop, this is ran through the state.
So the state troopers actually have to come in and they have to approve our building.
And they are the one that supplies the machines and everything.
So this isn't like some type of mom and pop shop that we're trying to run.
This is a legit admission station that we are trying to run.
As far as the community, I'd like, can I interrupt you? There were two RCO meetings. Did you attend any of them?
Both. I'm sorry, I think we only, I think we only had one RCO meeting.
Yeah, Madam Vice Chair, there was an initial RCO meeting scheduled with another organization.
Midstream, the coordinating RCO was changed.
So me and Mr. Richardson for the initial RCO meeting apologized to the individuals who did attend
and stated that another meeting would happen, which that meeting did occur.
And that's the basis of the letters.
I only have one of them that's in front of you.
So yes, Ms. Gore was at the community meeting.
and that would be an area neighborhood i'm sorry excuse me this is sharon um mr knockamson we have
one meeting summary form it identifies two rcos that participate there were not two letters
okay okay gotcha i thought there were two letters right okay and are you are you tanya are you aware
of the councilwoman also being opposed to this? Um, no, I wasn't aware of that. She's also opposed