the notice of appeal here's a refusal it's owned as an rs a residential a5 and which has a
prohibition for a personal vehicle repair or maintenance shop in the area um i think when
this was filed initially somewhere in the filing documentation it indicated that the previous owner
had been using it for the same purposes, i.e. that of a garage for maintenance and service
of vehicles.
And at the RCO meeting, one of the members of the RCO pointed out that she believes that
this property location was already zoned for this use.
However, it just, for whatever reasons, didn't make it into the record, into the file that
maybe even kept by L&I. So it was previously used for the same purposes that my client is using at
this time. Since he's taken over the property, he has put on a fresh coat of paint. It was somewhat
of an eyesore, and he certainly has removed bush and just made it certainly attractive for the
the commercial purposes that he's using as i go through this i could just scroll down
here or this is the deed of the property
being purchased back in july of 2022 here's mr torres's name
This company that he is operating under is a limited liability corporation and there's two tax clearance certificates for both. Here's the one for Mr. Torres. What follows is the one for Monsignor Auto Shop, LLC.
his company that he is operating under is a limited liability
see um here is the rco meeting and i will show you briefly here's a certificate of bulk mailing
let me just reduce this a bit i believe there's about 147 or 46 different addresses that this
that the notices were sent to we did meet with the rco i've read their letter and their letter
of acceptance and approval
pretty much encapsulates everything
but I don't think it could be said
better
here's a drawing
simply and I know some of the
board members are using
their phones so I'll try to make this
a little bit bigger but this is just
for purposes of
the plot plan you've got
Ontario on one
side you've got Rower Street and adjacent
properties next to each other
let me just
reduce this and of course here's a zodimap in the location what i would point out there's another
this property here i think the next drawing will show it it's also a commercial mixed use
i believe that we have here of course this is our client's property or my client's property
now as you can tell i wish i had some of the older photographs but
um since taking possession of this property uh mr torres has repainted
made it somewhat nicer looking for what it what its actual purpose is
uh this is by the way looking for roer street um i could just get a
yeah here's here's about here's on i believe this is ontario but not ontario's over here i'm sorry
but here's a better overall look he's also installed as you can see here outside lighting
um here's another one of the outside lights uh for the property if i could just keep scrolling
down again you can see evidence of of his maintenance once he he assumed possession
of the property here's the interior garage holding areas where the repair and maintenance work is
done. By the way, there's not going to be any painting or any auto body type work done at this
location. Again, these are the interiors. They installed a roll down door for safety purposes
in the area. Here are the notices that were posted
for the zoning hearing. Excuse me.
Scroll down. Here's one of the doorways for access
to the garage. I said before this, and here's the
waiting area, as you can see. Mr. Torres
certainly made some improvements to the area with the new
flooring, drywall, painting.
let me see if I can get down
I can't believe that's pretty much it
for whatever reason I may have passed it
but the letter from the RCO
and their approval which I know is part of the record
if I may just paraphrase it
They're all they were all in favor of this simply because the property prior to my client's possession was a nice or the RCO was somewhat happy that not only was it now being used and in possession of my client, but they like the fact of the improvements that were made and that this would be a property.
It was no longer, I don't want to say abandoned, but certainly no one was using the property at the time.
Now it's in four years and it's going to be an income producing property, not only for the client, but certainly for the tax revenues for the city.
And the RCO has already also commented that the prospect of employment by local members of the community is something also that they find positive.
do you want to bring your client on and adopt your testimony
certainly Mr. Torres are you on the phone
Mr. Torres
let me just
let me just did we see a hint no hand share let me just tell them
did we see a hand
no hands
mr taurus you're free to speak please
hi sir could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
mr torres he's unmuted chair mr torres could you state your name please and spell for the court
stenographer mr garcia you're an officer of the court we will accept your testimony
thank you questions questions from the board
no chair
questions or comments from our attorney hillary emerson
not at this time mr chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands mr chair planning commission uh ron bednar city planning
uh while this property is currently indicated for residential use on the city plan given the
documented use history and its official condition on the site recommend the quest of variance be
um mi 2023 000 111 3401 royal street i vote yes thomas holliman my vote is yes
James Snell, my vote is yes
Mr. Shahid, my vote is yes
Thank you, counsel
Thank you, Mr. Bergman
and I wish everybody a good rest of the day
All right, thank you
So number seven, MI 2022
006001
5408 Chestnut Street
Letter of strong support from the West Philadelphia Economic
Development Council. Councilman Gauthier has taken a position also of support.
Applicant has also provided letters of support from the Philadelphia United
Democratic Ward Leaders of Color and the Democratic County Executive Committee.
Amanda Davidson is the attorney for the owner.
They're backing as a panelist, sir.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
Yes, my name is Amanda Davidson, A-M-A-N-D-A Davidson, D-A-V-I-D-S-O-N.
You swear a firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, I represent Mr. James Smith, who is sitting here with me, and in addition, the contractor who filed his appeal for him.
Okay. Our Vice Chair has just a few questions.
Thank you.
Good morning, Counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you. And I have an assistant helping me with that, since I'm not very good at it.
So can everyone see this is the rear of my client's property where we are requesting
a variance so that my client, who is legally blind, can build a weather security enclosure
so that he can go out his back door, which you see that comes from his dining room and
has some steps that go down and walk out and go down into his basement where he can do his laundry
and where his utilities are located. As it stands now, whenever he goes outside, he has to be
outdoors in the elements. He has to turn his back to open up the entrance to the basement.
And when he does that, he feels extremely vulnerable because he is elderly, because he is
blind and because in the neighborhood there has been shots fired on on that alleyway in his
backyard. He's even had a bullet go through his kitchen window while he had family sitting in the
kitchen window while he had family sitting in the room. He is in a neighborhood where he is
room. He is in a neighborhood.
feeling very vulnerable, particularly for the reasons I just stated. So he went to see a
contractor who had designed a shelter so that my client would be able to walk out his steps
and open up his entry to the basement and go downstairs and be safe from all the things I
just mentioned. I have him sitting here with me today, and I also have all the documents if you
need me to go through them. But it's a, it's a variance. It's really a humanitarian request
that there's just a slight difference in how much of the rear is being used up so that he can have
this sense of safety in his own backyard. He's lived in the building for seven years. He's owned
the building for 20 years. He is very active in his community. We had the meeting. Everybody was
so supportive of my client being able to have this shelter for the purposes of safety. And
we didn't have anyone at the meeting object to this. In fact, they wanted him
to be able to build this shelter. I also had- Counsel, could you show us what the shelter
would look like? Yes, I have the documents. Let me just switch over. And I also, I can call the
contractor who's been waiting patiently since 9 30 um on the telephone who could describe um some
technicalities probably better than myself but just well just show us what you have first absolutely
yeah just give me one second we're switching over
Sorry, we'll have it up in a minute.
Okay, sure.
I think I can do it.
Is it the first or the second or the third thing?
The third.
Zoning application.
The third thing that we've put on.
Is that it?
Oh, yeah.
I think we have everything now.
It's good.
I know he wants a photograph what we just sent, the whole packet that we just uploaded.
Just go to desktop. I'm sorry. Just take one more second. I'm so sorry. Court's indulgent.
It's fine. Go to the top thing that we put up on today. That was the picture. And then what else?
We're having a little trouble getting the picture up right now.
Maybe we could put on some testimony and work on it.
I did send it with my materials.
We're just having a little trouble finding it at the moment.
Why don't you put the contractor on then?
I think that would be the best idea.
What's his name?
His name is Melvin Brown.
They've been about to speak.
All right.
Mr. Brown, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the court stenographer?
Melvin Brown, M-E-L-V-I-N-B-R-O-W-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
one. Okay, Mr. Brown, can you tell us how did you first become involved with my client James Smith
for the purposes of this project? I was recommended to Mr. Smith by the Enterprise Center. I was doing
some work for the Enterprise Center. They said they had a client who needed my assistance because
of the situation that you described. His only access to his basement is actually having to
leave his house from the back. There is no stairwell or there's no access to the basement
stairwell or there's no there's no access to the basement from the inside of the house so he
from the inside of the house.
actually have to leave the house to uh out the back uh put himself in and in harm's way it's an
open alley driveway where young guys are hanging people are hanging out and uh and and and you
know he has to go out in the weather and and put himself in harm's way to get to his basement to
do his laundry right and i think we were able to get the photos the pictures up can everyone see
that now? I see the drawings. Okay, thank you so much. So once you went to his backyard, you came
up with a plan, and are these the drawings that you submitted? Yes, they are. We hired, I used
an architect and an engineer to design something as very minimal. It's the only thing it serves
is as a weather and safety shelter. It's just enough room for him to go down the steps,
make a left open up his bill code doors and go down into the basement and then return
with uh you know whatever time of year or whatever time of day it is that he needs to do that
all right i think we understand it um counselor do you do you have your client with you yes i do
he's sitting right next to me why don't we swear your client and then your client can adopt your
testimony okay okay very well very well hello my name is james smith j-a-m-e-s
S-M-I-T-H
Do you swear or affirm