Let's take a look at the continuances on this list.
Number one, number six, MI 2022, 003199, 7050 Woodland Avenue, this case is continued.
Number eight, MI 2021, 005, 011, 2018 East Ontario Avenue, this case is continued.
um that's the second listing this one should be marked must be tried
is there anyone has comments relative to the two cases i just continued
i see no hands chair are there any other requests for continuance
i see no hands chair i also have case number three mi 2021 005 014
42 34 germantown avenue greg glennon is the owner no exhibits this is the second listing
i see no handshare so mi 2021 005 014 42 34 germantown avenue this case is continued
mark must be tried and I also have case number four MI 2022 002 569 10 to dash 18
Callahill Street this case has been withdrawn
we're going to go to our number one case MI 2021 003 192 66 excuse me Mr. Chair I'm sorry number
number five, Marshall Street. That case is withdrawn as well. Okay.
MI number five, MI 2022, 001-370-3019 Marshall Street. This case has been withdrawn.
So back to number one, Sean Ward is the attorney. It's MI 2021-003-192,
6610 Hasbrook Avenue.
Our attorney for this case is Ryan McSherry.
Letter of opposition from the Long Cross Civic Association.
Mr. Ward.
Good evening, Mr. Chairman.
Sean Ward, S-H-A-W-N, last name W-A-R-D, attorney for the applicant.
My address is 331 East Street Road, Trevos, Pennsylvania, 19053.
I represent the owner of the property, Universal Building and Construction, as well as the applicant, Lorenzo Woods, trading as Capara Auto Body.
Mr. Ward, you've already been sworn, but our vice chair has a few questions for you.
Hi, Sean. Do you agree to wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Most certainly.
Have you emailed the exhibit packet with proof of ownership tax compliance, refusal referral,
voters under plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing, and have you met with
your RCO, and do you have a letter? Yes, I do, to all of the above. Okay, great. You may proceed,
and your screen's up. Great. Thank you. Mr. Chair, I've submitted my typical exhibit packet.
I represent Universal Building and Construction, which is the owner, Joe Smith, the principal of
that company is present. Lorenzo Woods, unfortunately, hung in there as long as he could,
but he had to leave to pick up his son from an after-school program and therefore is not
available. However, I have reviewed the exhibit packet with him, and I can certainly verify to
the board that he would verify and adopt those representations as his own, and yet we have
Mr. Smith present on the call who can also verify and adopt. So this is the property located at
6610 Hasbrook with today's calendar number ending in 3192. This is an application for a permit for
use as personal vehicle repair and maintenance and vehicle paint finishing shop. It's an auto body
show. It resulted in two refusals, personal vehicle repair, not
It resulted in two refusals, personal vehicle repair not permitted, and neither is paint finishing shop, despite the fact that it's an I-2 district.
It is a split district, which includes RSA-3.
So we need use variances approved by the board today.
A2 is the ZBA application of appeal. A3, project information form. A4, proof of ownership. A5, proof of tax clearance. A6 is the site location map. A7 is a site and key plan. A8 are the photographs. A9 is Long Crest Civics RCO letter in opposition, but I will address that.
If there is a district council letter, I would ask that that be marked A-10.
With regard to the relevant zoning history, I'm going to work backwards.
In November of 2010, a wireless telecommunications facility was approved by the zoning board on this parcel that was prior to my client's ownership.
Again, in April 2016, variance was granted for a subdivision, three lots from one, and part of that included sales of musical equipment on lot B, which is not germane to the application, but I'll just mention it.
In May of 2016, variances were either granted or confirmed for the following uses in the various spaces in the subject building, space one and two being wholesale sale and distribution, space three a daycare center, space four and five, which is the subject of this application, back then was wholesale sale and distribution, spaces six, seven and eight artisan studios and nine, again, I mean, was the equipment
materials, storage yard, and buildings. And then in December of 2016, an Act 87 extension of the
permit, which was for the wireless telecommunications facility, was granted. Again, not really germane
to this application. A-12 is the zoning map. A-13 is the aerial photograph. And then I'm going to
address the board's attention to A-14, which are sections from the zoning code dealing with
section 14107, multiple districts, and the uses as per table 6021 and 6031, 6021 being residential
and 6031 being industrial uses. So not to belabor, we have our copy of the refusal,
copy of the application of appeal, copy of our project information form,
uh mr smith's deed uh transferring the property to universal building in july of 2019
um quickly uh showing that taxes are all paid on the property here is a site location map
showing the property uh it it's at the terminus of unruh avenue uh on the border of cheltenham
This is Tookany Creek Park across the railroad tracks, and this tan shaded area is the subject
building. This is the site plan key map. As you can see, we have a large industrial complex building
stretching along the train tracks at the end of Unruh Street, this being Hasbrook Avenue here.
Hasbrook Avenue, past this point, indicated by the cursor, it was stricken from the city records.
It is basically the driveway taking you back to the rear of the property.
However, it is part of the site, and the two shaded yellow areas are buildings, you know, Space 5 and Space 4, which is, there's a cutout here, you know, right around where it says Parcel A, which is not part of our space that we're talking about today, but in general, Space 4 and Space 5 are the subject of the application.
We have our copy of our initial posting, which is still on the fence, the most recent posting
on top of it. Again, it's on the fence at the entrance to the property.
This is looking on Hasbrook Avenue at the subject space. This is the bay door into the
body shop. We have a gated entry. You can see here where the posters are hung on the fence.
And this is the roadway, which used to be Hasbrook Avenue, which is now nothing but a driveway,
which takes you to the rear of the property. This is a photo representing the bay door
which takes you to the rear of the property.
on the outside of the fence. This would be the entrance to the office. Again,
another shot to the entrance of the office, which is on the interior of the fenced-in property.
This is the aforementioned driveway leading back to the cell tower
with the extension of the building heading to the rear. As you can see, it is clearly an industrial
type building, warehouse, facility, manufacturing. Up here, I have another photo of this. This is
an external exterior parking area for vehicles, which is utilized by the body shop.
Again, this is the gated entry. This is the parking lot that I mentioned off to the back
and to the right where shop vehicles can be parked and maintained out of view from the neighborhood.
This is the building extending towards the northwest.
Again, an extension of that. As you can see, this is clearly an industrial manufacturing
or warehousing type facility. With regard to the interior, it is your typical body shop.
This is a vehicle that was returned after being painted. It's covered in plastic.
They do not paint on site at this time because they do not have the permit for the paint booth.
All vehicles are sent out for painting at this time.
Again, just another photo of the interior of the shop.
Another one, this is that bay door that we witnessed in the photographs from the exterior.
Again, cars that are pending repair.
More cars pending repair.
And, Mr. Chairman, I would point out that none of the photos, you won't see any paint booth,
you won't see any spray guns, any evidence of any painting despite the protestations of residents
raised at the RCO meeting, which we will address. So pursuant to the RCO meeting, which was held
last week, Thursday evening, I believe, they voted 50 to nothing in opposition to the application.
for various reasons. The discussion focused on the detrimental impacts of the operation as
previously approved, because there's a daycare next door. The daycare, I would point out, is
there for a variance. And therefore, there should be no other approved uses that affect that use,
which I find striking. So these were the minutes that were submitted to the board.
Again, I presented the plan. Again, Mr. Woods, he's a single father, a single parent.
He hung out as long as he could that evening at the meeting, but he could not stick around to
join me with the presentation because he had to pick up his son.
but again it's it's for auto repair with body work and paint booth uh the hours are 8 a.m to
5 p.m you know he's generally there till 6 after the employees leave he closes up shop and buttons
everything up uh all of his business is uh you know obtained through referrals and insurance claims
uh it's a mixed use industrial building you know etc etc uh we went through all that with the rco
We have in the packet the various, I apologize for the blurriness, but all of the permits, as mentioned, were attached to the packet.
Now, when you look at the property, you'll see the blue indicates the I2 portion of this parcel, and this shaded area here represents.
Excuse me, counsel.
and we can't see what just what you're illustrating oh i'm sorry can you see now
yes sir okay thanks tom i wasn't aware um all right so with regard to the zoning map you'll
see that i2 is the uh dark blue or purple uh area of the parcel and the shaded gray area here is
a portion of the parcel, but it's zoned RSA3. When you look at the parcel, the Atlas map has
this nice little feature down here in the corner where you can click on that and you can plot
where you can click on that and you can plot different points to gain what is the basic square footage of that area.
different points.
And on this particular sliver of the parcel, you'll see that it's approximately, I'll call it 27,800 square feet, give or take.
And then when you look at the next slide, I plotted using that, you know, measurement tool, all the points on this I2 portion of the parcel as best I could, and I think it's pretty accurate.
It comes up, I would estimate it as about 156,000 square feet.
So on this on this diagram or slide, it shows 155,938,000 square feet.
So basically, that is an 85 percent to 15 percent ratio between I-2 and RSA-3.
And mind you, the RSA-3 portion is nothing more than.
Let me go back.
And the driveway heading back to the rear, all of the building is contained in the I2 portion of the zoning map.
So let me go back up here. Hold on. So, again, you know, you'll see the entire I2 building structure with a driveway portion here that is zoned RSA3 because it is adjacent to an RSA3 zoned parcel.
Now, when we talk about determination of boundaries under 14107 of the code, when a street is stricken from the plan, the boundaries of the abutting land shall extend to the center line of the vacated street or the right-of-way unless otherwise provided by city council.
So in this particular case, I submit that because this portion of the property after Hasbrook Avenue was stricken, this side of the property was zoned RSA 3 or during remapping after 2012.
I can't go that far back.
I don't have access to those records or why that was done.
However, given the fact that this property is an I-2 property,
but it is split zoned, and because of the striking of Hasbrook Avenue,
I believe and therefore submit that this particular sliver was zoned RSA3.
And going back to the code, when you have multiple districts,
the general rule is that
So if the zoning district covers at least 75% of the parcel, then that zoning district regulations apply. However, you know, there's a but in this, and that's conditions of Section B.
If the zoning district covers a parcel that is equal or greater to than the most restrictive provisions of the code that cover at least 10% of the lot, this shall apply.
And here's where the rub comes in, the minimum lot area for that district.
In our case, it's 2,250 square feet.
That is the minimum lot size in an RSA 3 zoning district. So, if the contiguous area exceeds
220 square feet, then the more restrictive zoning regulations apply. So, therefore,
we're bound by RSA 3 use regulations in what is an 85% I2 zoning property, okay?
So what I did was I compared uses allowed in residential districts, and we're looking at RSA3.
The uses that are permitted in RSA3 would be the uses that are permitted for this particular property, even though it's 85% I-2.
So going down the table, we have single family permitted in RSA3.
group living special exception in RSA three active and passive recreation family daycare
which is four to six children depending on which district you're in that's permitted by right
and then all of these are special exceptions educational facilities
And then all of these are special exceptions, educational facilities, fraternal organizations, hospitals, libraries, religious assembly, safety services, a transit station, utilities and wireless services, which has already been approved on the site.
um the next one would be a community garden or a market or supported farm
uh when you compare those uses that are permitted in rsa3 with what is permitted or not permitted
in i2 uh which is you know 85 percent you can see
you know, household living, multifamily not permitted. We could have a caretaker's quarters,
which is, you know, the security guards, you know, facilities. Group living not permitted.
Of course, passive recreation is permitted. Ironically, active recreation is not.
And then all the special exceptions, but for wireless service facilities, educational facilities, not permitted. Fraternal organization, not permitted. Libraries, not permitted. Religious assembly, not permitted. However, safety services and transit stations are permitted.
And. And then last but not least, community garden would be permitted in I-2 and a market supported farm would be permitted in I-2.
So we are here today. Just to sum up, Lorenzo Woods operates an auto body shop in an I-2 district.
However, part of it is zoned RSA3 residential. So, 85% of the lot is I2. 15% of the lot is RSA3.
Again, when the street is stricken, it's extended to the center line of the vacated street, and because the general rule, 75% of the lot would apply, and it would be I-2.
However, because the more restrictive district applies if the contiguous area of that portion, at least 10% of the lot is equal to or greater than the minimum lot size of 2,250 square feet, despite the fact that we're 85% industrial, 15% contiguous.
So what we have here is RSA3 zoning applies to the whole lot.
So, to sum up, the RSA3 permitted uses that are permitted are designated by Y, and those not permitted in I2 are N.
No. So, as this site sits today, passive recreation is a permitted use. Safety services is a permitted use. A transit station is a permitted use. The wireless communications facility is permitted by special exception, which has already been granted.
a community garden or a market-supported farm. So what we have here is
there's unique physical circumstances on this property. It's the striking of Hasbrook Avenue,
which extended the RSA3 into this portion of the property. Clearly, we've demonstrated that
no reasonable uses are permitted as just listed. This is an existing mixed-use industrial building
adjacent to an RSA3, and it's been an industrial site for generations. So we are here today to ask
the board to approve Lorenzo Wood's application for his body shop in order to get his paint booth
in order to be able to spray paint cars in there.
The paint booth would be licensed by zoning.
He would need an air management permit.
He would need a building permit, electrical permit,
fire suppression permits to install that.
And that is closely monitored by L&I,
the health department, et cetera.
And that's why we are here today.
So you've already, your testimony is adopted
because you're an officer of the court.
Questions from the board?
Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Counselor.
Yes, sir.
You mentioned the daycare.
Is that existing?
So it's been operating while the auto repair shop.
So it's been operating while the auto repair shop was existing also.
Yeah, Tom, the auto repair shop, I mean, the auto body shop has been there for approximately two years.
He's got a five-year lease. He's two years into the lease.
A routine, you know, I mean, you know, believing that it was I2, you know, he believed it was a permitted use.
Pursuant to a routine L&I inspection, it was not a complaint or a 311 notice.
just a routine inspection. They indicated that he needs a use permit for auto body. And if he
intends to paint, he should add that to the application. Do you think the painting will
affect the daycare? You know, Tom, I've done quite a few paint shop applications in my day,
you know, with or without variances. In this present day and age, most of the paints they
use are water-based soluble paints. They are much safer than, you know, back in the day when
he's lacquer and things like that. These new paint booths are quite equipped to monitor and filter
any, any, you know, you know, contaminants that may or may not, you know, be generated from these
paint booths. And they are, you know, quite actively monitored by air management services.
And, you know, I've had quite a good experience with those.
Thank you.