to make a viable economic use of your property? Yes, definitely. And can you please elaborate
on that for the board? Well, family child care is a permitted use already.
however within my ward i can only have up to four children and that's not economically viable to run
the small business and support myself it's it's important to note that i am not seeking to have
10 15 or 20 children coming in and out of my residence i'm not seeking to and making the
highest and best economical use of my property rather i'm only seeking to make a viable economic
use of my property. And Ms. Thompson, do you believe that the proposal will have a negative
impact on your neighbors and community? No. I live in a one-half of a twin dwelling that sits
close to an existing restaurant, and it's catty-corded to the TD Bank across the street.
Given the commercial nature at the end of the block that I reside on,
I don't believe that there will be any negative impacts.
Okay. And when you talk about the commercial nature and the parking, that was represented by the exhibits that I showed earlier, 16 through 18?
Okay, and when you talk about the commercial nature in the parking, that was represented?
Yes, because a concern was voiced about parking on the black there.
Okay. And do you believe that these challenges make your property unique and have caused you a hardship in the effective use of your property?
Yes. If my house was located in another ward, I could get up to six children by right.
And I think that that shows the hardship is related to the property itself and not related to a general requirement of the code imposed on all properties.
Okay. And Ms. Thompson, is there any way for you to develop the property for your desired use without the requested variance?
No. As I mentioned, I run a small business.
It must provide for my bills and expenses.
Limiting the use to four children will not allow me to survive, which is the whole point of me downsizing and relocating to my personal residence.
Okay, and Ms. Thompson, can the foregoing be cured with a request for a dimensional variance?
okay and Ms. Thompson then the variance if authorized represents the minimum variance
that will afford relief and represent the least modification possible of the regulations at issue
is that correct yes
okay and uh Ms. Thompson did you create the hardship of the location of your property in
ward 55? No, it was existing. Okay, and Ms. Thompson, did you create the hardship of locating
your property near a bank and a Mexican restaurant? No, I didn't create the hardship.
And Ms. Thompson, if the variance is denied, will it cause an unnecessary hardship on you?
absolutely i will have to just close the business probably
i'll be in the same predicament that i'm currently in
you're done counsel thank you and and miss thompson the proposed project then in all respects yes
okay you're done you might have froze are your presentation
I still have a couple more. All right. No, I still have a couple more questions. I know we're trying to get out of it.
I think you're starting to repeat yourself a little bit, but go ahead.
Oh, OK. Well, so then the last one I just want to ask, Ms. Thompson, is the variance, if authorized, will not alter the essential character of the neighborhood or district in which the property is located, nor substantially or permanently impair the appropriate use or development of adjacent property, nor be detrimental to the public welfare. Is that correct?
That's correct. It won't at all.
Okay. And then, Ms. Thompson, earlier today I showed a photo of the orange placard. Did you place that yourself?
Yes. 21 days in advance.
Thank you. And then in advance of today's hearing, did you mail out the requisite notice to the neighbors in the RCO?
And in advance of today, were you able to speak to any immediate neighbors?
Yes, I was able to.
And what was their reaction?
The two neighbors that are directly beside me, they have no issues with me opening a child care center here.
And then, Ms. Thompson, the last question I have for you is, did you ever attend a meeting with an RCO?
Yes, Tycone.
And could you just elaborate for the board, I guess, the basic tenor of the meeting and how you felt about the RCO's comments regarding your proposal?
Sure. Well, one of my neighbors made a comment during the RCO meeting that I would like to address, actually.
She said, quote, I understand trying to make money, but I'm against this, end quote.
So some of my neighbors may feel this is just about me making money, but to me, it's about
the survival of my business.
I quit my job and took a big leap in making my dream of running a successful child care
business come true.
And I worked hard.
I worked really hard.
But as most small business startups do, my center is struggling.
And in an attempt to keep from going out of business, I'm forced to downsize, which means
which means running a family home center,
which is something I never wanted to do.
So originally I requested to bring
all 10 enrolled children with me,
but since I received such pushback from my neighbors,
I'm requesting to bring at least six of them
i'm requesting to bring at least six of them so i can afford to pay my household and business
so I can afford to pay my house.
expenses so i ask that the board please take this into consideration when rendering a decision
thank you and um with that i have no further uh questions from miss thomas uh thompson um
so count counsel listen one minute so when she went to the went to the rco she asked for 10.
correct right she decided to drop it to six six put her in an because her areas has four only four
am i correct there's an overlay for four yeah yeah the zoning if she wanted to do four she could do
it by right but she needs she was looking for six is that right correct yes that's the proposal
today all right thank you questions from the board i have a quick question uh what is the outdoor
space life in the uh for the first level i have a big backyard it's a deck now
i don't have any pictures of that oh yeah the site phone yeah and this is um she's referring
to exhibit 14 for the record and i can also pull up the opa map um let's see
you can see the big area that she has back here
Thank you.
S-T-I-N-A-E-S-P-I-N-O-S-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth?
The whole truth is nothing but the truth.
Are you a neighbor?
Okay, please start your presentation.
So I just want to start by, first, I want to say to Stacey,
I understand her desire to serve the community as well as to make a living for survival.
As a single mother myself, I can, you know, relate.
I'm a single mother.
I work two jobs to be able to maintain myself.
My concerns are more for the Black, for the community, and also for my family.
This is a safety concern that I have.
We, as her lawyer, so nicely point out, she has a restaurant and a bank.
We already have, which if you could see her picture, she's at the end of the block.
And we live on a one-way street.
So in order to get to Stacy, who's the last house of the black on the left, well, the one before the last, who is her other neighbor, Danny, that house, she has to go through the whole street, okay, in order to get to that, which is the issue with the safety, because we have cars, and this is just in the past, and I'm assuming that it's going to get worse.
cars high speeding we have cars that don't know where to park we have cars from all over the other
blacks parking on our block my daughter alone twice i had to call the police because somebody
almost hit them from the restaurant okay that was speeding a delivery person because they have to
get there so as we know as parents everybody's rushing to drop off their kids everybody's
rushing to pick up their kids, which I understand. But at the same time, as a resident of the block,
it's a concern to me. I also get in custody, partial custody of my two great niece and nephew
who are four and two. So now I always have to be more vigilant, which I'm already are, believe me,
because I'm always a parent. I'm a helicopter parent. So I'm already are. So I'm going to be
more vigilant because there's more people coming. I'm also a victim of my home invasion
because there were unknown people on the block i'm already going through ptsd and all this is
because of people and the traffic and everything else if i we have email the bank we have fought
with the restaurant in reference to the safety we also another concern is the cleanliness we we have
to deal with the restaurant we have christina christina christina i i understand your issues
with the restaurant and the bank and traffic.
No, but listen to me.
Listen to me.
Here's the issue.
Are you in favor of her doing this or against it?
No, but can I just quickly point out
some of the issues, the cleanliness,
because the daycare is going to have food,
disposals, diapers, all those things.
Also, like I said, the safety is going to be an issue
because it's going to be a heavier traffic
with the daycare, with the drop-off.
Well, this is six.
She's talking six people now, right?
that's what she said before she said 10 what's going to happen next okay okay so the other thing
that's what she said before she said 10 what's going to happen next okay
is we have a problem with writing again the disposal of the food and things like that i also
didn't even receive a letter for this meeting until yesterday okay last night when i came back
from work because so i could present more civics and emails that we have sent just advocating for
our community i mean i love philadelphia i wasn't born in philadelphia i love the city i want to
stay in the city my goal is for the reason why i moved there is because my resident is very
community oriented and i we already have within two months christina christina i know that
are you you don't want her to have the project is what you're saying no i don't want it because
then i would have to move thank you very much we appreciate that would be a hardship for me
i understand we appreciate your input is there anyone else in the virtual audience
yes chair a little bit isabella robertson has been allowed to speak
and miss robertson could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer
isabella please unmute yourself
isabella yes can you hear me yes could you please state your name and spell for the
course of the doctor i apologize this is my friend's computer my name is actually jennifer
j-e-n-n-i-f-e-r isdell i-s-d-e-l-l right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do are you a neighbor yes i'm at the other i'm at the end of the
block. Okay. You've heard some testimony about this in a presentation. Are you in favor of this
or against the project? I'm against. Okay. May I make a few topics since I've been on hold for
three and a half hours? I appreciate that. And we've been sitting here for whatever, but I want
you to listen to me. You're going to have to hear my point. Isabella, I don't want to hear your
points. I want to hear, listen to me. I want to hear points that are different than what we've
already heard okay go ahead we have 31 daycare centers in two mile radius i did not buy a house
on a residential street to have a business put on that street that's going to make it harder for me
to sell my house and for the parking the pictures that he showed he showed the exact same spot
all of those pictures okay they have their own lots you cannot tell me that somebody isn't going
to go in the middle of the street because anybody who lives in this neighborhood knows you double
park. I'm just going to run in and get my kid. And you know, your kid's not ready. So now I have
to deal with a one way street that is now double parked and blocked. Okay. The rats, the smell,
the trash pickup. I mean, is she going to be allowed to have a sign? I don't want to look at
a sign. And she is allowed to have drop off from 630 to 630. That's running into times when people
are coming home just because right now she said she doesn't have anybody till what 4 30 that does
not mean that she can't have people at 6 30 okay the the two businesses were already there when she
bought her house they were there when we bought our house we agreed i did not agree to another
business on the house on the street okay then and again i didn't get my letter till yesterday either
okay so can do we have to deal with a sign is she going to be allowed to have a sign
We do not have, there's not a sign in question here.
We're just questioning about whether or not she can have six kids in her house.
That's the only thing we're looking at.
Well, if she gets approved for the daycare, is she allowed to have a sign?
I'm not talking about a sign.
I'm not talking about a sign.
A sign would have to come back to us anyway.
Thank you very much for your input.
I appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, Chair.
I have two more hands up.
Tom Forkin has been allowed to speak.
Hi, Mr. Forkin.
Good evening, Mr. Chairman and board members. It's Tom Forkin, T-O-M-F-O-R-K-I-N. I am Chief of Staff for Councilman Mike Driscoll.
Frank, you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Please proceed.
Mr. Chairman, a couple of points of clarification. The assigned coordinating RCO for this matter on Wells Street is the Mayfair Civic.
It is my understanding, and unfortunately my zoning chair is on vacation, that at least two meeting notices were given to the applicant and they did not attend that assigned coordinating RCO meeting or meetings.
They did do an unofficial Taconi Civic meeting where, as you saw, there was unanimous opposition.
And it's my understanding that the majority of the near neighbors are in opposition as well.
So at this point in time, the council district office would ask for a denial of the variant.
So at this point in time, the council district office would ask for a denial of the variant.
Thank you, Mr. Forkin.
You're welcome.
Next hand, please.
There are no more hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Sorry, no, there's just this one hand that's been going up and down, but it's down now.
Thank you.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, and good evening, David Fecto with the City Planning Commission.
Chairman and board members, the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the RSA-3,
residential single-family zoning at this location.
The appellant has shown that their amended application for a family child care will
not injure the use of adjacent properties.