and it continues on so it's this was what we didn't have for the extension of the lease
on so it's this was what we didn't have for the
and they say the renewal term it goes right to january 31 2031 so you have a five-year lease
that's here for the board to see moving further down in this exhibit you see the previous lease
and then the the purchase owner's deed those are the legal documents relating to ownership
As we move down into the actual use and where the hardship is, I'll move down into our Exhibit 5. This particular property is located in an ICMX area. The actual property is located in the middle of the block in that dark purple region circled there in red.
and the entire block has industrial use for vehicles. There's at least four different repair
shops up and down this very same side of the road. So it's in keeping with the character of
the property to do automotive repair and the kinds of things that my client wants to do and
is currently doing there. So again, this is the overhead view of the picture. You can see
neighbors on the one side. They've got cars in the back. They repair cars. Our client's property
it actually enters here under this white um roof that you see is white metal roof here and it moves
into the back here in the back is where the um and i apologize this uh red box should be tilted
the other way but the property where the paint booth will be will be right behind so that's one
column here the the owner has these sides here which our tenant is not renting so that's what
you see from the aerial view of the picture of the gall street and as we move down these are
the pictures from across the street these are just um again this is the neighborhood character they
right in front of the building in front of the use is just the rear of of a strip mall basically so
there's no residential um tenants or or properties that are even on this entire street or even in
of it and as we move down into exhibit six again this is the pictures of what the site looks like
the our clients um enter here clients come in here to talk about their car repairs and we've
got some pictures of this is the side walk the sidewalk is always kept clear for the most part
after drop off they move the cars inside let's say they don't they don't congest the sidewalks there
and this is a picture of the interior of the garage when you open up the garage door this is
midway you can see there's auto cars on lifts on either side and they work on about three or four
cars at a time and this is a this is kind of this picture interestingly this is stretches the
vehicles as I've learned this device here and it moves into where the referral comes and it's this
empty paint booth what they intended to do when they read when they lease the place this was
already there they didn't build this it was already there on the platform not in use and
so my client wants to begin to do auto painting in this particular space and this is where the
referral is so they would cars would come in needing repair after accidents sorry um they
would be stretched out here with on this device and then brought in here for painting so they
can be you know insurance companies can pay and people can get back on the road and this is what
those guys have been doing and as a business their entire professional career so let me make
this smaller so we can see the plans as it lays out so this is again the layout of it let me go
even smaller so that you can see that all right here we go so it's basically a straight through
situation here's gall street along the front here cars would enter they get repaired on these lifts
that are inside and through the back part portion which there's only a partial it's exposed to the
open there's only a partial uh ceiling here it's open but there will be the paint booth so what
they're looking for in this particular zoning application is to do the paint booth within the
it's got an existing paint booth occupying a square footage in the in the um in the space
and continue to do their automotive repair in the front.
And that is what the application is for.
And going to the other, let's get smaller again to continue down.
So we had a meeting with the zoning, with the RCOs relating to this.
This was our letter to the neighbors.
I'll just move quickly through some of this part.
The neighbors got the letter plus the refusal.
these addresses certificate of mailing and so on and we have and let's see
further down let me go further back sorry to the bottom this is our posting
This is our posting, our new posting of this particular continued hearing.
our new posting of
Exhibit 12.
This is the posting for this hearing on the front of the building at the front door.
And the new tax certificate, good through June, good through July 15th.
So this really is a legalization of what has already been happening at this particular site as far as automotive repair and the addition of paint booth and painting of vehicles in the rear of the building.
So we would open this up to questions after I bring my client on to adopt testimony relating to this.
Why don't you bring your client on?
And if Mr. John Johnson is on the call, if he could be advanced to panelist.
Let's see, is Mr. John Johnson?
I don't think, I'm not sure if he's...
We see Mr. Johnson in the audience.
He's in the audience. I'm tempting to vote on the panelists.
Thank you.
Please accept the invitation to become panelists.
I've got to make a mistake. I picked the wrong one.
along john johnson was selected i'll promote the right one right now okay
and they'll be back in shortly sure
hello can you hear me can you hear me yes yes could you please state your name
john johnson johnson uh yes mr johnson hold on one minute do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do
counsel okay good afternoon mr johnson have you been listening to my testimony on behalf of
sonic automotive and true and correct as to your hearing yes and is there anything you would like
to add that i did not mention relating to the 3317 gold street usage no no only thing is that the
thing you said the machine that says stretches out as a frame machine that's all everything else is
right a framing machine okay hey that's not my forte that's not my forte brother you're right
and i'm wrong there i would i couldn't tell you so all right questions from the board
but just don't ask sherman anything about putting
okay so um what um steps have you taken in terms of getting this pink booth established
because I mean there has to be fire readings and they're different yeah I
was told I was told I'm sorry ma'am all right I was told this did to stop
everything don't do anything until this this uh do you guys approve to at least
to move forward to getting that done but I need to get it all like a fire fire um
I forget the name of it like a fire extinguishers and they got certain
specific fire extinguishers they got installed in there and i was working on it has to have a fire
rating exactly so i was i was working on getting that done but i couldn't do anything so they told
me to stop completely don't do anything else until you guys have um i mean give me okay to
to you know move forward with with doing that and and how many cars do you think you might be
painting, say, in a
I don't know, in a day or
probably one
a day, you can't really do too many
sometimes if you're not painting the whole vehicle
you can paint like bumpers
like maybe two, three bumpers
at a time, if it's the
same color, you know, if it's not the same color
obviously you can't paint multiple
different colors because
it's not good with, you know
with the overspray
and stuff, basically
it so this is one vehicle a day because when after you paint it you have to let it dry
because when after you paint it you have to let it dry yes a beak in there for it to dry properly
you have some beak in there for it to dry
so you won't be able to paint more than one vehicle a day in that paint booth and how long
has the rest of the business been operating i mean if you've been doing um just vehicle repair and
maintenance and by that i'm thinking um yeah just vehicle repair maintenance i just wanted to get
into exact inspection we really were licensed we're a licensed inspection uh for pennsylvania
and so we've been doing inspections we've been doing uh repair and maintenance um our engine
transmission and uh we don't do tires uh because we have an issue waiting for pico to authorize
us for three phase because we're not three phase coming in the building for the compressor
and what we do have i'm working on that as well but i haven't gotten um three phase coming into
the building at. And then the paint aspect of it. I have a frame machine, so what we
do when we get the car ready for painting? Right now, we're sending it out to a different
shop to get that done, so I'm trying to get that done in-house. That's what I'm trying
to get it approved to be able to work on getting that proper code to pass for me to be doing
the paint here okay and then um uh you do have uh provisions for um disposing of um used oil
and other fluids correct right yes ma'am all right so you have a service that does it you
you do that a couple times a week or how yes we do that at least twice a month um they they come
out and uh they pick up the used oil um they pick up the used oil and take it so we have them
scheduled twice a month to come here and pick that up and then as we have containers special
containers like when we take the oil out the vehicle we have special containers that we have
to dispose it in it and then when the guy come he he then has a a truck for a used oil tank they
suck it out they put like a like a thing in this inside of it and then it sucks out all the
we use oil and it carries it away all right thank you other questions from the board
yeah what's your hours of operation we're open from from eight to six
monday monday to friday saturday eight to five uh not open on sunday no no close on sundays
okay and where how many cars are you able to store inside and do you store cars outside
inside
we only store a good amount of cars inside
unless there's an overflow
like the vehicles that come in
and we're not even going to get to it yet
or like when we get backed up on work that we're already working on
maybe outside we probably store
maybe like 1, 2, 3
5 cars
maybe 6 outside
if there's too many
how long do they stay outside
are they just on the street
on the power
it the cars the car that's on the streets like the uh the car that's on the streets like vehicles
maybe that that's that has finished and the customers don't want to pick it up and basically
they have a plate or maybe one or two cars maybe that we have from an accident maybe that that
that's waiting to come in no one in two three days okay all right thank you all right other questions
Yes, I just wanted to clarify on the lease. It says number one. So does that mean it's unit number one?
Right.
Did you say correct?
Yes, you need more. All right. Thank you.
Questions or comments in the virtual audience?
Yes, sir. I have a hand up from someone else with the name, John Johnson. I don't know if we want to let them speak.
No, I'm sorry. That was me from the computer, and I couldn't get the sound in, so I couldn't get the sound in, so I thought I was able to get the sound from the computer, but I'm on my phone now.
Okay. Okay, no problem.
Okay. Any other other hands?
No further answers, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
ina solomonic with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the
icmx industrial and commercial mixed-use zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood
in 1973 in a council supported map change the appellant has shown that the proposed personal
vehicle repair and maintenance will not have no detrimental impacts beyond what might be expected
and a vehicle paint finishing shop while prohibited in this district is not adjacent to any residential
uses so its impact on the surrounding property would be minimal the city planning commission
the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed special exception
recommends that the board grant the proposed special exception for
for personal vehicle repair and maintenance and the use variance for vehicle paint finishing shop
thank you mi2025-003-864-3317-41 gold street i vote yes with proviso use limited to unit one
and certificate of rock and c to be obtained michael johnson 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.
Thank you, counsel.
Yeah, thank you, members of the board. Thank you.
Moving on to number three, MI-2025-004-835-338-56 East Allegheny Avenue.
Darwin Bovee is the attorney.
I'll be coming back in as a panel.
A letter of support from the 7th Ward RCO and also a letter of support from Council Member Lozada.
good afternoon afternoon counsel how are you sir good good good always good to see everyone sorry
could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer yes darwin beauvais darwin d-a-r-w-i-n
beauvais b as in boy e-a-u-v as in victory a-i-s as in sam you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth i swear could you identify your client a relationship to
the property yes um if we could have her moved up as panelists miss cassandra peeler she's the
pre-construction manager for autozone okay and our vice chair has a few questions for you sir
no good afternoon yes have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing? Yes. And do you waive the reading of the referral and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do. All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with the case. Okay. Now,
this is the hard part. You're coming up. You're good. Okay. Great. Mr. Chairman, members of the
board. Again, my name is Darwin Beauvais. I'm from the law firm of Obermeyer, Redmond, Maxwell,
and hippo appearing on behalf of of my client auto zone the owner or equitable owner of 30
338 east allegheny avenue which is in the upper kensington section of the city as i mentioned
before we have cassandra peeler the pre-construction manager for auto zone who will be here to answer
any questions um and she's ready to be sworn in when that time comes mr chairman i submitted an
exhibit package with 15 exhibits that include our refusal, our tax clearance, our deed agreement of
sale, our application, the photographs of the site, an aerial view, zoning map, relevant sections of
the zoning code, our memorandum of law, and two support letters from the council person and the
RCO, which is the seventh ward. Also included our certificate of mailings and additional photos of
the properties surrounding neighborhoods and photos of our of our posting now mr chairman
um as you can see from our first refusal i can just click on this correctly