Spanish interpreter in the audience?
Spanish interpreter
please raise your virtual hand.
I see no hands for a Spanish interpreter.
Okay, thank you. Mr. Nockamson?
Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the Board, Alan Nockamson of Nockamson PC.
of knockoms in pc um we didn't think it was necessary to have a spanish interpreter well
We didn't think it was necessary to have a Spanish interpreter.
yeah hold on why you were we had one possibly listed for you and i have another case right
below it that i'm going to hear so uh if the interpreter's not here i'm going to first get
rid of the other case then come back to you because i understand you could possibly go on
with yours am i correct i'm sorry what was the question mr chair the question is you can pot you
can go on without an interpreter i i believe yes so let me swear you first do you swear
a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do okay so hillary i'm going to
go over and get rid of number 18 am i correct continue 18 um yes mr chair okay all right so
So let's, we just, I believe the, the applicant is here.
I see, see their name.
MI 2023, 007, 038, 228 West Tioga Street.
Applicant is Maria Maja is the listed owner applicant.
Mr. Chair, the
applicant, I believe, is
Epifino and Delays
is the tenant applicant.
Right.
Epifino and Delays
has been allowed to speak.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the stenographer?
Bafina?
Is her hand raised?
We have a Bendita Cadillo with her hand raised.
that's the uh yes she stated that the um the tenant was with her
so so hillary we don't let uh expediters testify correct but yeah she said the individual
all right so i'm just going to continue this okay well hold on let's see if he would let's
see if he would be we can just first ask him if he'd be comfortable proceeding without
an interpreter.
If not, we will continue.
Epifano is here.
Okay, wait a minute.
So Epifano,
is that who's in the audience?
Yes, that's here.
Yes, I see him here.
Epifano, state your name, please,
and spell for this.
My name is Epifano on the list.
Do you swear for him to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Do you swear to tell the truth,
the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
You want to be responding, please?
Okay, so
he is going to need an interpreter.
He does not speak
English. We're going to
continue your case today
and get you an interpreter
for the next one. So MI
2023-007-038-228
West Tioga Street, this
case is continued. Thank you
very much for calling in, sir. We appreciate it.
Thank you.
All right. Alan?
All right. Mr. Nockamson, could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yes. My client is Osvaldo. Well, the owner is Freddy Sanchez, the owner of the property.
And testifying today will be Osvaldo Estevez, the tenant to the property.
And just for the record, I noticed there's a letter of support from the West Philadelphia Economic Development Council with provisos and that there's support, a letter of support from Councilmember Goodman's off, well, not.
Councilmember Goodman Goodman, yeah, that's council.
Yeah, I didn't receive the letter from Councilmember Goodman, Councilmember.
But anyway, they also support with providers.
I appreciate that.
All right.
So our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Good morning, counsel.
Do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal or stipulate towards accuracy?
Yes, we do.
Have you emailed them all the required documents and exhibits that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we do.
Thank you.
Please proceed and share this room.
all right so this is uh 5421 baltimore uh avenue uh oops uh so i was originally hired because
Avenue. Oops. So I was originally hired because this is a family, these are family-owned
properties, 5417, 5419, and 5421 Baltimore Avenue. They were in separate names. My job was to
just do the deed transfer, consolidate these properties, and deal with that. During my
due diligence for that process, I noticed that there was, you know, some confusion about the
uses of these properties. And I felt, you know, it was appropriate to legalize, as a matter of
public record, the current use of this property. As you can see, there's a building structure on
one of the properties, and there's two open lots for use as a tire for tire sales, as well as for
installation of tires and brakes. So that's how we got here today. Just want to explain that.
So we'll review the notice of refusal. And then we do have correspondence from the West
Philadelphia Economic Council. You know, while they're in support, I think the issue is that
But the proviso that they're asking for, we have no issue as to one where we're not going to provide, you know, perform any work on the sidewalk.
The issue is that they're asking us not to perform any replacement of tires and such like on those open lots, which have been that's been done forever.
So that's our issue. This was a simple legalization.
And my client is a family owned business. They've owned it for some time. They've been in business, I believe, for well over a decade. And they're well known in the community, well like in the community. And you'll see from the letters to support, you know, that they personally received from nearby neighbors. You know, they people want to keep this business in the neighborhood.
And then I gave the zoning permit for the property, showing that the property has been consolidated.
Also, in my presentation packet, you'll see the license number to allow for the sale of tires for one of the properties, not all three of them.
And that's why we're here today is to legalize that use.
Then maps of the area.
This is a CMX2 property.
So the sale of tires is allowed under CMX2.
is just the actual replacement of the tires.
That's why we're here today.
And that's a natural expansion of the legal use
that's been on this property for some time.
Photographs of the property are simple plans and drawings.
Like, again, we have a building structure here
which houses some of the borrowed materials.
I believe we did supplement our package
to provide interior photos of that building structure.
Our RCO meeting notice, we met with the community.
some time ago. And we have our application for appeal that we filed on behalf of the property
owner, along with the property, as well as the certificates of tax clearance. So our notice
refusal is this. This is CMX2 property, and we're looking for a personal vehicle repair and
maintenance and retail sale of consumer goods. And again, as indicated, the sale of the goods
is not the issue. It's the actual personal vehicle repair and maintenance. And all my
client does is, again, sell the tires, have the tires put onto the properties. There is some
limited replacement of brakes as well. And then we did meet with the community through the West
Philadelphia Economic Development Council, and they stated that they, I'm just going to put in
bold we you know what they stated in bold we will support the application only if the applicant
agrees to a proviso indicating no sidewalk walk outdoor brake changing uh so again um my clients
this is he's been in business for over well over a decade doing this uh many of his customers are
people in the community uh and you know we believe this is a responsible use during the the community
meeting, there was some indication that, you know, changing of brakes outside is somehow
a prohibited use, like under state law.
We represent many clients who have similar type of uses.
And we asked, we reached out to them.
We said, we have no idea if that's the case.
We'll reach out to, we'll do research.
We didn't find anything to make this a legal use.
We told the community group representative that, Kyle Sampson.
We also then went even further and reached out to clients of ours who have similar type of uses.
They knew nothing of it.
Honestly, my father-in-law was a mechanic for 40 years. He's retired now. I called him up and asked him, and he had no idea either. We're not trying to do anything that's illegal or prohibited. This is a legal use, and we would ask that this is a necessity for my client's business. And we would ask that the board grant this variance request without this proviso.
Honestly, my father-in-law was a mechanic for 40 years.
but alan you would agree alan alan you would agree to the proviso not on the sidewalk
oh of course not on the sidewalk no way yeah okay all right okay yeah yeah no work on the sidewalk
um so you know and here's my client's petition like this is we took a you know again we we
tracked all the addresses where you know people signed and you can see like it's all these people
right nearby who would be the people who are most directly impacted by this by this use and
and they're in support and i mean it's a you know there's a lot
and this is the sole means of income for this man so this would be economically devastating
so they they took it upon themselves to make sure they got a lot of signatures
All right. Here's just the zoning permit showing that the property has been consolidated. The license number for the tire dealer license for this property, one of the properties at 5417. That's why we're trying to legalize it, consolidate these properties into one use.
also there is
more state
department of transportation
certificates regarding
the tire shop
and again they didn't know
that they were doing anything wrong
I just noticed it and I just wanted to clean it up
so this is the
zoning map showing the CMX2
use we're on Baltimore Avenue
which is a commercial corridor
photographs of the property
inside where many of the tires are stored
The front of the property. This is the property since 2012. So just showing that there's been a continuous use of this property for well over a decade. The notice posting for the property of today's hearing. And they really do try to keep their property clean.
and then this is baltimore everything to the right of the property to left of the property
again our plans and drawings you know simple my client tried to do their best this is the
building structure this is the driveway they have this is where they store some of their other tire
materials this is the floor plans for the building structure kept it really simple
first floor they have an open area with an office and a bathroom
and then we met with the community on February 8th at 6 30 p.m we always emailed the notice
a few weeks before the the community meeting we of course mail the notice to the surrounding
property owners and to hear there were 124 property owners within the infected area
proof of mailing of of those notices to those properties our application for appeal that we
filed on Mr. Sanchez's behalf, the deeds showing
that he owns the properties, and then the
certificate of tax clearance. With that being said,
I would ask that Mr. Estevez virtually
raise his hand. I have a few questions for you.
Osvaldo Esteves has been allowed to speak.
Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Osvaldo Esteves.
Could you spell your name for the stenographer?
excuse me mr chair miss i was gonna say does he have someone else there interpreting for him
because we unfortunately can't so so alan you've interviewed the client and you know what the
testimony would be that's right so we'll accept your testimony as an officer of the court
questions questions from the board no mr chairman no mr chairman all right questions from our
attorney hillary emerson not at this time mr chair sorry i did i did want to clarify i don't believe
council member gauthier actually took a position in this case but they they were inquiring about
um prevent potential provisos all right questions or comments
um prevent potential provisos all right questions or comments from the virtual audience
we have a kyle sampson with their hand raised they have not allowed to speak
all right sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenography
could you start again please sir and state your name and spell it can you hear me
You know, you were breaking up before. Please proceed.
Kyle Sampson. Okay. K-Y-L-E-S-A-M-P-S-O-N. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing about the truth?
Yes. Are you a neighbor? No, I'm the coordinating RCO chair. Okay. Please proceed, sir.
I just wanted to make sure to provide those in effect.
There's been some concern, despite the fact the council showed pictures of a clean neighborhood.
It's not always that way at all.
There are tires all over the place.
Neighbors are very concerned about the tires and mosquitoes, what comes with tires when it rains.