shop multiple principal uses maximum occupied area and rear yard depth thank you um so mi2025
000 398 1325 south 23rd street i vote yes revised plans stamped by zba 318 is that right
Revised plan, stamped by ZBA 318. Is that right? One page. That's the proviso. Revised plan, stamped by ZBA, one page on 318.26.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tynetta 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 very much thank you thank you very much indeed
sure thanks good luck sir number five mi 2025 001 545 3711 fairmont avenue
eric carroll is the attorney um could we ever get an rcl on this hillary
meeting was held august 26 2025. i heard you ask about the rco if i could explain
okay sure why don't we do that why don't you state your name and spell for the stenographer
sure uh eric carroll eric carroll on behalf of the owner applicant nicole dryden smith
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do and and uh so before we start when he just tell us about the uh issue sure so we had
the original listing for this hearing was in september it was continued to today for
a couple of reasons um but we did have a a rco meeting back in august august 26 2025
25. That's correct. And with the Mantua Civic Association at 3729 Mellon Street, I appeared
with my client. It was a very sparsely attended meeting. Nobody wanted to vote. The chairman and
I'm sorry, the president, Dwayne Drummond, and the secretary told me they would issue a letter
of non-opposition. They never did. And I have as part of my exhibit packet that I uploaded last
week i have my emails to them requesting on multiple occasions something okay our vice
chair has a few questions for you sure good morning have you uh submitted your documents
and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing i have and do you waive the reading
of the refusals and stipulate to its accuracy i do i think you can share your screen to proceed
with your case. Thank you. My client is the owner of 3711 Fairmount Avenue in the Mancho
section of the city. This is a photo of the building as it appeared within the last month.
It's a zoned RSA 5. It's a three-story row home. It's almost 1,500 square foot lot, existing
buildings 1,676 square feet, 18 feet wide, and a lot length of 83 feet. The existing building
is only 28 feet long and with a height of 31.6. We're here today seeking a variance strictly for
the use because this is RSA 5. We are proposing a three-unit multifamily property. We're not
requesting any uh dimensional variances this property is in pretty bad condition and will
have to be rebuilt the top two floors will have to be substantially removed if not completely
and we'll have to do a lot of reworking of the first floor but once finished it's the dimensions
will be exactly the same 31 feet high 18 feet wide the only difference it'll be a lot longer
going back towards the rear of the property nevertheless will still meet the
open lot requirements and all the other dimensional requirements
as you said this is a photo of the building as it looks right now
this is the front door with the notice of zoning appeals posted to the east of the property
is an alley which will provide access for the residents of the building to the rear where they
can store trash and recycling. This property, this is one property all the way to the right here in
this photo. It's a corner store with either one or two units residential above it. To the left
on this block, there were three other properties. This is to the west. There's one property which
looks to be an occupied single family there's a vacant lot and then there's i think an unoccupied
two-story building across directly across the street are similar buildings i mean obviously
you see the vacant lot to the right and to the left in this photo the one building has
The one building has five units as it stands.
five units as it stands this middle building has two and the one
This middle building has two, and the one here to the left has two as well.
And then you go down to the end of the block across the street, and you've got a vacant three-story building.
So as I said, this is a copy of the refusal.
We're proposing a multifamily household living with three dwelling units.
That's obviously not prevented in RSA 5, and that's the purpose we're appearing today.
This is the application.
uh here are the plans so we said the building will be extended about an additional 34 feet
in length going back towards the rear but looking at it from the front it would appear
it would appear almost exactly the same in terms of the height and and the width
uh we're gonna have three units the zoom in
you know one uh will be the basement of first floor that's going to be three beds four bass
for a total of 1762 square feet unit two uh is the second floor three beds three baths for 901
square feet in total and the unit three will be the third floor three beds three baths 952 square
feet uh the reason we're seeking this variance is given this given this location the current
condition of the block uh it is just it would be economically unfeasible to to build a single
family three three-story home this is i uploaded the deed showing my client as the owner project
information form this is the notice of public meeting i sent out to roughly 100 and 150 residents
i got a substantial number of those back as undeliverable there are a number of undeveloped
properties in this area right now and as i mentioned before i also uploaded my
numerous emails to the rco for that letter of non-opposition
um so i'm here nicole dryden smith the owner of the property is here today if i could have
promoted the panelists please sure
chair this is ian hegarty she will be coming back in as a pamela small small thank you
what was in the basement
uh the basement
The basement will essentially be the living space for the living room in the basement storage for the first for the unit one.
The bedrooms and the dining room and kitchen of unit one will be on the first floor.
is she coming on oh there we go nicole dren smith is available now although uh
ms dread smith you we're unable to hear you currently do you have your microphone on
nicole we can there's no audio it doesn't look to be that you're muted though
okay can you hear me now yes thank you hi hi could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer sure nicole dryden smith n-i-c-o-l-e-d-r-y-d-e-n-s-m-i-t-h do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes counsel thank you
uh mrs dryden smith you're the owner of 3711 fairmont avenue yes okay uh were you present
for my presentation regarding the property yes were all my statements truthful and accurate
yes would you adopt my testimony as your own were you to testify before the board today
yes thank you questions from the board yeah i have a few questions one just around management
since the basement is proposed as living space um what's going to be the plan for utility
management for the three units at the property well each um i mean there would be a separate
i mean there would be a separate meter for there is a hallway or stairwell so there would be a
meter for there is a hallway or stairwell so there would be a
fourth electrical meter um but are you and then there's typically all the meters are in the
basement and only one unit would now have access to that basement so what's going to happen when
you know unit three needs to access their meters for whatever reason uh there would have to be some
sort of whether it's leased or whether it's sold there would have to be some sort of provision in
the documents for access. Other questions? Go ahead, Mike.
Looking at this building, the first floor is approximately one foot above grade. What's
the depth of the basement slab we pull the plans back up and what are you
assuming for the make it easy what are you assuming for the ceiling height in
the basement I do not know I need to ask the builder sorry okay
Okay. Well, let's assume at a minimum you're going to meet code, which means that you're going to be at least seven foot six below grade. It's completely below grade. I have a real concern with having living a space completely below grade just in terms of light ventilation, although it does meet some codes.
I think as far as livability, it's just a really terrible living condition to be living underground lower than a grave.
That's one. That's one. Let me finish.
Number two, you have on the first floor, you mentioned the units having access to the rear yard through an alley.
But your property line goes from essentially building line to building line.
so all of the units wouldn't have access to a rear yard from an alley right uh well that whole
yes and that to the right there is that alley uh it's a little bit unclear as to who controls
the current door to the alley but that alley runs the length of the block block going up 37th street
um so so according to your site plan you it's an alley that is a i guess i don't know whether
it's a private alley if it's not it's not part of your property line doesn't show
it appears from my research according to atlas it's not it's it's a public alley because of the
okay so you're going to have so your your goal is to have residents go down an alley
that is a public alley,
knowing the way that alleys are kept in Philadelphia
to put their trash in the rear yard and access their trash,
where you don't have control
over how it's maintained or secured.
That is a bad idea, right?
Then on your ground floor unit,
you're going through a bedroom to access a rear yard.
You've got three bedrooms,
and that's another bad situation
where you have to go through someone's bedroom, someone's private space, to access another public
space. Bad layout. For a three-bedroom unit, the units are just too small in terms of the
living space for the individuals that are going to live there. Three-bedroom unit with a small
kitchen combined living room just doesn't work for three, three, you know, a unit, a three bedroom
unit. So I have serious problems with, uh, these plans. How, how many bathrooms are in for the
total project? Um, 10. 10 bathrooms? Yes. Okay. Is this student housing? Um, not, not necessarily.
Well, the questions questions from our attorney, not excuse me, not at this time. Mr. share.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience.
Mr. chair, I do not see any hands raised.
planning commission thank you mr chairman and good morning david effecto with the city planning
commission chairman and board members the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
recommends no change to the rsa5 residential single-family zoning at this location the city
rsa 5 residential single-family zone
rezoned this neighborhood in 2017 in accord with recommendations in the comprehensive plan
there is no unique physical physical condition or circumstance of this property that would prevent
it from being used in conformance with the zoning code the city planning commission recommends that
board deny the proposed use variance for three dwelling units mi 2025 001 545 3711 fairmount
avenue i vote no michael johns my vote is no cheryl gaston my vote is no tanetta graham
my vote is no mcadams my vote is no tyo in my vote is no number seven please mi 2025
525-001-551-120 Dawson Street.
Stephanie Hoover is the owner applicant.
It's a pro se.
They will be rejoining us.
The panel is short, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.
hi all can you hear me yes we can could you please see my camera's working as
well could you please state your name it's spelled for the sonographer my
name is Stephanie Hoover s-t-e-p-h-a-n-i-e Hoover h-o-o-v-e-r do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth I do so this
application is for the use as visitor accommodation in an existing structure
whereas the proposed use visitor accommodation is prohibited in the rsa5 zoning district um
i believe if i'm correct hillary we now have a a letter of opposition for this i think so stephanie
we received a letter i think this morning of opposition from the rco okay all right and our
vice chair has a few questions for you okay good morning good morning have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes okay and do you waive the
written of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i'm sorry do i uh do you waive the
well the chair just read your refusal do you stipulate to its accuracy the accuracy of the
refusal? I think so. Yes, I do. I think you're thinking right. All right, thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with me.
So, Stephanie, well, first of all, tell us what you want to do, and then just so you know, we have all your documents.
And what we would want to see then is photos and or plans.
So tell us what you want to do.
At this point, overall, I would just like to have a short-term rental permit to potentially put my house on Airbnb or VRBO when I have spaces between tenants in this home.
Please proceed then.
Can you guys see my?
we see it says 120 dawson street yep perfect okay um all right so i'm just going to start
with the exterior photos of the property yep um so this is the front of our house um it's just
your standard brick row home this is our backyard with my dog making a guest appearance um
um and then moving to the interior of the property this is the front room when you
initially walk in the home. It's split by a staircase. From then, you move on to the living
space. And then beyond the living space is this kitchen as well. And then the kitchen opens up
to that backyard that I showed earlier. Upstairs, there are two bedrooms.
This is a bedroom in the rear of the home. This is the bedroom in the front of the home.
They both have closets.
And then here is our interior bathroom, which is at the rear of the home.
Moving on, I just copied our letter to the neighbors prior to our public meeting.
meeting. I have our refusal letter. Our certificate of mailing, which was submitted. I'm sparing you
I have our refusal letter.
guys the 17 pages of this. A copy of our deed. Additional copies of the deeds and the real
estate transfer tax certification um photos of our notice of zoning appeal and our tax clearance
is there anything else that i need so why don't why don't you try to explain so you're saying
that's a rental property right now yes yeah it's a rental property and you're saying that when
you're between tenants if you don't have a tenant you'd want to have an airbnb yeah i would like to
just make sure that we don't lose funds if we have you know space between our tenants so i'm looking
at this as kind of a security option for us financially have you talked to your next door
neighbors about this yes i have i'm friends with both of them all right all right okay questions
from the board yeah what was the rco meeting held it was right
january 15 20 26 we've received a letter this morning i don't know that she has the letter
and what was the that's a letter of opposition position okay and so i guess my question is
what was the commentary at the rco meeting like what feedback was received um i haven't seen the
letter oh go ahead oh i mean when you went there yeah when we were at the meeting i mean everyone
was more just asking you know would i be a responsible host in those instances um worried
about you know anything that there are some of those negative connotations with airbnb
um but i explained everyone i've been an airbnb host for over 10 years um so and i have a very
good rating i've never had issues previously i always make sure that anyone that is in my home
is screened ahead of time. I always ask questions. Why are they in the area? And I've never had any