ZBA Hearing - June 17, 2026

it's the summertime. I have an outdoor playground that is secluded. Everything is private. It's on

our property. So the children, you know, they can do indoor as well as outdoor learning.

Yeah. And these are the age ranges, right? I am also very open to children of all learning

disabilities i have worked um some years with elwin as a special instructor so i do allow outside

support to come into my building i've worked with speech therapists i've worked with occupational

therapists children with ieps i just really want to see every child thrive so this is something

again that a lot of people love my center about because i accept every child everyone is welcomed

so in that neighborhood that there's a need for that yeah and it's without saying and the board

knows this too i think i presented a daycare uh child care uh facility last week um you're

regulated by the state so there is constant uh inspections by the state which would go beyond

any type of zoning permit that hopefully would be issued by the city of philadelphia and i can always

toot my horn and it is public information i've never gotten a citation so i stay on top of my

paperwork i'm very organized i communicate with my families every day i'm sure my attorney will

mention my wonderful reviews which i've never asked parents to do we have a 5.0 rating so

everyone is very like i said they're very happy and pleased with the service that i provide

how many employees do you have so it's myself and two teacher assistants at the moment okay

and then obviously if you expand your facilities you would have to expand the amount of employees

which is dictated by the state and and regulated and inspected by the state so at the moment i

don't know how many kids i will be eligible to enroll with the expansion they would determine

that when they come in and measure you know my capacity it's all based on their measurements

all right and then what are your hours of operation currently and expected so at the

moment most of my kids if they get there by eight o'clock by four o'clock they're gone but on paper

I would accept children from seven until five I don't see in that neighborhood I don't get a lot

of like inquiry for like super early hours 6 30s typical daycares would do 6 30 to 6 I've had I

haven't had any like requests for those extended but it's not going to be a 24-hour daycare you

know, a lot of my families are working families. I do provide service for children on subsidy as

well. But in that neighborhood, I feel like there's more working families who are very

interested in finding, you know, quality care. All right. And then you mentioned the private

playground. We'll see that in the pictures. And then we'll talk a little bit later about the

pick up and drop off with the pictures. It'll be more illustrative. But you also have, obviously,

this time of year, you do have a summer camp, right? So it's a lot of fun learning. So that's

an example of one of my cooking classes I had a magician come a magical theater come I try to do

a lot of like face painting activities I throw a little carnival for them in the backyard you know

so everything is enclosed it's on our property just to ensure safety all right great and then

we hear here we have a menu for breakfast and lunch with mason meals can you explain who mason

mason meals are and how you facilitate food activities at the center okay so i do not prepare

any meals on site food is delivered three um days a week monday wednesday and friday mason meal is

an outside you know i'm sponsor and they bring healthy meals every day for the children everything

is prepared at their facility and they just deliver it to us i just do light heat ups i have

commercial microwave if i have to heat up something that's all that i do and give them milk but

everything is prepared and packaged by them and delivered to us and when we go over the floor

plans we'll show where that kitchenette area is all right and then we talked about the reviews

these are reviews that we you know picked up online uh recently and you have five stars 15 reviews

over uh the seven years you've been in business and again to reiterate this has been an active

CHILD CARE CENTER SINCE 2012 BEFORE YOU AND THEN MAPS OF THE AREA THIS IS FOR THE ZONING BOARD BUT THIS

IS A CMX ONE PROPERTY YOU KNOW AND WE WOULD BE ALLOWED THIS BY WAY OF REFERRAL AGAIN JUST A MAP

GOOGLE MAP YOU KNOW PHOTO AS WELL WE'RE AT THE CORNER CHEW AND UP SELL OKAY AND THEN THE PICK UP AND

drop-off are is on ups it's on two right yeah okay and this is the front of your property that you do

business currently on the first floor that's on upsell right and then this is the side of the

property right that's on chew right and then you have two entrances this is the primary entrance

And then you have two entrances. This is the primary entrance where you would go, parents would go, and then your front office is here. And then here's the secondary entrance too. And then pick up and drop off is like right here on Chew.

where you would go.

And then this is the property since 2015, showing that it hasn't changed in any bit.

This is upsell street to the right of the property, to the left of the property,

chew to the right of the property, and to the left of the property.

And then, you know, proof of posting for today's hearing on both public streets.

The interior photos, we just want to give some photos, you know,

but you can see it's very alive, very organized, very extensive in terms of toys.

Very inspiring. This is the kitchen area that you were talking about, right? Yes. All right.

And then just our plans and drawings, pretty straightforward. This is the first floor we're

talking about. So this is the main entrance. This is where your front desk is slash office, right?

And then this is the Chew Street side. This is the upsell street side, right? And then this is

the kitchen area, right? Yeah. And then this is the main area. And what's in here? It's a

back classroom i don't um typically use it because i don't have infants i start with age one

to five so that's like a little area if you want to take a small group of kids you can take three

at a time in there it's another cool and then i don't think the picture illustrates it well but

your garbage is stored back here somewhere in the backyard close to the playground and then there's

an area there's a whole lot back there that we also own yeah and so you would have no objection

TO TRASH STORAGE OUTSIDE AS A PROVISO.

EXACTLY.

OKAY.

AND THEN WE MET WITH THE COMMUNITY ON JUNE 2.

YOU WERE THERE, RIGHT?

YES.

WITH ALEX.

AND WE MAILED THAT NOTICE IN MID-MAY.

AND WE HAVE PROOF OF OUR EMAIL WHERE WE SENT IT TO THE

COORDINATING RCO SHOWING THAT WE MAILED IT TO 150 ADDRESSES.

THESE ARE THE ADDRESSES WE MAILED IT TO.

PROOF OF MAILING TO THOSE ADDRESSES, OUR APPLICATIONS FOR SPECIAL EXCEPTION, THE DEED TO THE PROPERTY SHOWING FANDERS INVESTMENTS LLC IS THE OWNER OF THIS PROPERTY, AND THEN OUR CERTIFICATE OF TAX CLARANCE.

I'M GOING TO STOP SHARING MY SCREEN, AND WE'VE BE MORE, OH, DID I MISS ANYTHING?

NO, HOURS OF OPERATION, GARBAGE, I THINK WE DID EVERYTHING.

ALL RIGHT, WE'RE DONE.

I have a couple of questions. You heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.

Yes.

Is it true and correct?

Yes.

And do you adopt as your own testimony?

Yes, I do.

Thank you.

Questions from the board.

So, how many bathrooms do you have?

So, on the first floor, three. I have two in the main classroom and one in my office.

Okay.

three bathrooms and then for the additional floors so upstairs it would have two on each floor

okay so you'll have six bathrooms and you're basically estimating that you're gonna probably

what triple the number of children correct maybe maybe on each floor another 14 since the first

floor is 14. so maybe 14 on the second 14 on the third all right and then there'll be then two

bathrooms per floor to accommodate those and then you said you have children from like one to five

yes correct so currently there wouldn't be any issue about stairs but um there are um uh uh

regulations which deal with the whole idea of younger children and self-preservation and the

idea of steps you know so that they are somewhere where if something were to happen they don't have

to try and deal with steps so you've made provisions for that or you're going to make

provisions for that I definitely will and then we would have to allocate the first floor for maybe

the younger toddlers so the children that are more balanced when they you know transition to

probably age three then they can move upstairs and you know with this stairs you know they have

railings and you know to connect both of the floors there would be a little staircase that

they build but children will always be supervised always with railings make sure that is properly

padded for them to be able to get from floor to floor but again keeping the smaller kids on the

first level would be ideal. And then there's the fire issues, which are the, you know, you need

two means of ingress. Yes, and I think that's all included. Ingress and egress. There's the

uh the um smoke detection system the um so the whole building currently has all of that because

smoke detection system.

of the apartments everything is already established on all three levels and i do have to have that

maintained and um every every year and it has to be submitted so they monitor that can you have

Panic bars on exit doors so that they can, you can get out without having to use knobs or handles or whatever. You have all of that.

So I don't have that yet, but upstairs.

But you're going to need it.

Yes.

And emergency lighting.

Yes, we have that.

All through.

Yeah.

Okay. All right.

um the other thing i guess um you you said you have two other teachers who are with you

so um with more kids you're going to have more more staff all right and right now with

14 children one teacher has five the other has five and one has four because of the ratio when

have one year old right it's one to five so when it increases then i have to um and um hire more

teaching staff all right thank you you're welcome the questions third the the third floor is this

this will be the whole building correct that's correct okay all right questions for attorney

no questions at this time questions or comments from the virtual audience

no hands at this time chair community commission enos solomonic with the planning commission

in 2019 the zoning map was amended from residential multi-family rm1 to commercial

mixed use cmx1 at this location in accord with recommendations from the comprehensive plan

and with the support of the community the pros use is consistent with documented prior use of

this property expanding the use will not cause detrimental impacts the neighborhood beyond what

might normally be expected the city planning commission recommends that the zoning board

grant the special exception in my 2026 000 847 378 east upsell street i vote yes with proviso

trash to be stored outside michael johns my vote is yes with proviso

Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with Proviso.

Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with Proviso.

My McAdams, my vote is yes, with Proviso.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

All right.

So as soon as we clear the thing, we'll start your second one.

All right.

so mi2026 000 857 3921 crescent street hall knockamson is the attorney mr knockamson you've

already been sworn if you would just state your name for the record alan knockamson could you

identify your client the relationship to the property uh mike bonomo the owner and our vice

year has a few questions thank you good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits

five days in advance of this hearing yes we have and do you waive the reading of the refusals and

stipulate to their accuracy we do all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed

so we're here uh uh regarding 3921 creston street uh it's a rather large uh lot that is a corner

property on the corner of creston and seville we're looking to subdivide it currently there

is a three-unit apartment building on the corner of Seville and Crescent, and to the right of it

are four non-accessory garage units with a curb cut that's 45 feet wide. What we're looking to do

is subdivide the property into three, where you have the three-unit apartment building as property

one, and then each of the single-family structures with front-loading garages, which you can see on

your screen as properties two and three we have 14 exhibits that will present to the board at the

conclusion my presentation i'll ask that mike bonomo the owner's representative virtually

raised his hand to be sworn in and i'll have a few questions for him i also have logan dry the

architects representative who can answer any technical questions about this project and now

there is this letter of support from Wissahick and Civic Association. That is right and I do

believe it may even be unanimous support and they're well attended yeah well attended meeting

as well so this is an RSA 5 property the the lot size uh is oh I don't know if that it's

Oh, I don't know if that it's 2000 square feet for parcel one and 835 for parcel B and 806 for parcel C cumulatively that is a rather large parcel and we're looking to subdivide it again as I stated we have two refusals the first is really form over substance where we're taking a legal curb cut of 45 feet wide.

2 000 square feet for parcel one and

We're reducing it to two 12 feet wide curb cuts for each of the single family structures.

That means we're decreasing the size of the curb cut, adding potentially two new cars on the public street.

But we're getting a refusal because of the off-street parking.

So that's the first refusal.

The neighborhood was pleased that they got two cars back on the street, proposed at least.

So I don't think they had any objection to that.

So that's the first refusal.

And the second refusal has to do with lot size.

where 960 square feet according to this refusal which i don't know if it's completely right it

may be 1440 but let's just stay at the 960 for us but it's not out of character there's other lots

of equal size and it keeps the continuity of the block because we have a similar width to other

lots as well even and actually our width is a little bit even wider than the other single

family structures uh it's just a shallow lot so those are our two refusals again a very well

attended meeting and overwhelming support uh there and another group that's very sophisticated that

gave a nice summary of this proceeding so if the board saw that you know it's it's completely

accurate there were two things that we promised to do and we worked with miss emerson council to

make sure that you know those provisos were kept because usually these type of provisors are not

but we wanted to make sure we could because we promised it and she said if we put it into the

revised plans um it would so we're adding convex mirrors on each curb cut you know for safety

purposes we just want to make sure when someone's backing up that there's not going to cause any

issue with pedestrian traffic or vehicular traffic and then the second refusal has to do

agreed to not use vinyl siding we were told that if we put those in there those are enforceable

provisos they're also in our site plan as well and so we because we promised the group that

and we've said if we can do it we'll try and we did um and then just the history of the property

the the three unit building is legal right so we're not legalizing that we're just taking the

the four non-accessory parking spots and making those into two single family structures which is

more in conformance with the RSA 5 zoning classification here's just again just to show

we have a housing rental license for three units for that one you know property

and then you can see like there's some non-conforming lots here not you know nearby in

terms of lot size all smaller lots nearby so we saw like a half a dozen or a dozen of the

And then it's not out of character also to have parking, front-loading garages and such.

So 3913 and 3915 Terrace Street, which is nearby, 126 E Street, which is nearby, 123, 125, 127 E Street as well, and so on.