Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
Thank you, Tom.
And we've got one more here in this.
So here I have Mr. Nachmson again.
MI 2023, 000259, 90 Rochelle Avenue.
Also, Paul Turner is Paul Toner represents a protestant.
Letter of support from Wissahick and Interested Citizens Association.
Applicant also provided a petition and support signed by 23 neighbors, along with seven form letters.
This is a request for an extension of a five year temporary variance.
mr knackerson just for the record state your name alan knackerson and could you identify
your client a relationship to the property yes my client is little white dog llc and
in the virtual audience is its member barbara burry all right and mr toner are you present
i'm mr toner hi could you state your name and spell please for the court reporter
yes paul toner t-o-n-e-r i'm with orphanese and toner i represent ms catherine barnard
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth sir
i do yes proceed um our vice chair has a few questions for you mr knockamson
Good afternoon, Counselor. Do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal and stipulate towards accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents that are needed to proceed with this case, five days and events of this hearing?
Yes, we have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
all right um it's not often that i actually have like a personal experience with one of my clients
where i've actually used their services little white dog is a doggy daycare um that i personally
have used um so and this you know the story how it goes is that when we got our new dog
My wife was looking around for, you know, for different facilities where we can have him, you know, play.
And independent of me, she didn't even know I represented a little white dog in the past.
She said, oh, my God, there's this doggy daycare that has awesome reviews, has an outdoor area.
And, you know, it's well thought of online.
And so our dog, Knox, has been going there for some time.
So I'm very familiar, not just with the doggy daycare, but how they operate their business.
And almost five years ago, before I had my dog, we received a temporary variance to use 90 Rochelle Avenue, a portion of it, for a doggy daycare.
So the circumstances haven't changed after this board granted that temporary variance.
We're just asking for an extension of that variance.
So what we'll review is the notice of refusal, the correspondence we receive from WICCA in support of our request for an extended variance, a petition of nearby neighbors who use Little White Dog as well,
Learners to support from nearby neighbors as well.
Showing kennel license, showing that my client is acting, you know, within their right legally to operate as a doggy daycare and boarding service.
Reviews showing how, what, you know, what, you know, her customers think of her and her services.
A zoning map.
So right now the zoning is different than what you would expect.
I believe it's an RSA 3 property. But if you look at the 2035 plan, this is being proposed
that this property should be an ICMX property. And you'll see why just the way it looks and the
way it's configured. And based on that proposed zoning for the property, ICMX allows for a doggy
daycare as of right. The boarding services would be by way of variance, which we're also obviously
be by way of variance which will you know we're also obviously seeking but just putting into
seeking, but just putting it into context.
context what you know the city believes this property should be which runs adjacent uh to a
train station uh and talking about the train station um you know we just wanted to put in
context because i know that from the previous hearing um mr toner and his client stated well
we don't want a doggy daycare because it's too loud the dogs are too loud well we're going to
to look at the train schedule for the Wissahickon train station, which shows that on weekdays,
the train goes out, I think, 46 times a day. Excuse me, 44 times a day on weekdays. And on
weekends and major holidays, a train goes by 26 times a day. And then what will also show
is the what is the decibel level for a training generally and when it honks its horn which is way
above anything you would expect from a dog daycare photographs of the property uh interior photos
including again my understanding is there you know from the previous presentation um or the
new presentation there's complaints of the smell of of the animal waste um my client um you know
by way of proviso they will put like you know a different form of a way of garbage container that
would be sealed to alleviate any concerns which we don't believe there are any but we want to make
sure that we want to be a good neighbor as well um our plans and drawings our rco media notice
our application for appeal our lease and our certificate of tax clearance and at the conclusion
of my presentation, I'll ask Ms. Berman to virtually raise her hand, be sworn in, then she
can adopt my testimony as her own. All right, so the notice of refusal. So this is an RSA3 property.
I think it says CMX2. I'm not sure if that's correct. But what we're asking for is just an
extension of this temporary variance. And, you know, I don't even think that they, you know,
i don't think we received all the refusals last time that we received this time but again it's
an existing use this the history of this property is extensive uh you know we not rsa3 and you if
you look at the property the building structure on there you'll see that you know i think it had
passed as an office building and some other uses i think there was like a construction company on
there. They also had their offices on there as a government facility. So it has a long history of
not being RSA3 type of uses that you would expect. The letter of support from Wicca,
the near, what's it called? As you can see, it was a well-attended meeting. 55 people, 48 supported
it six people opposed one abstained um and it was also overwhelming uh with the people that were
living within 250 us you know square foot radius it was six to two and then this is the letter uh
from wicca and then again what we did was you know we did community outreach like we always try to do
I understand, yes, the neighbor adjacent to us is against it, but there are a lot of people who are in close proximity, very, very close proximity, who are in support of this project.
And then this is just the backup signatures and information.
And then letters of support as well.
And then just her canal license reviews, like 4.9.
I can't even see how many reviews there are, but 66 reviews.
So she's been in business some time
and having 4.9 rating is pretty impressive.
Maps of the area, again, this is an RSA3 property.
We border the train tracks as well.
So the train tracks are to the rear of us
or at least to the rear of the other property owners.
and then the lower excuse me the 2035 plan indicates that this property should be ICMX
and then the train schedule again in a vacuum if you're like hey I'm living next to a doggy daycare
like dogs are you know you know dogs could be a disturbance which they're not here
but they could be okay in a vacuum we'll look at that but if the client
Okay. In a vacuum, we'll look at that. But if the client, if the people who live nearby, they live, you know, the doggy daycare behind it is the train station.
Behind the neighboring properties, there's a train station. And again, we just follow the train schedule.
The trains start as early as 6.06 a.m. Monday through Friday, and the last train is 11.37 p.m. at this stop in the Wissahickon Station on the Manioc-Norristown line.
That goes by 22 times to Center City. And then it goes to Manionk-Norristown 22 times. The earliest the train stops by is 5.52 a.m. and goes as long as 11.34 p.m.
And then Saturday and Sundays and major holidays to Center City, there are 13 times that train stops as early as 6-11 a.m. and as late as 10-11 p.m.
And to Manningham, Norristown, the train stops there 13 times as early as 7-28 a.m. and as late as 10-28 p.m.
now when they were when they were deciding whether or not to extend uh the train service
to the king king of prussia they we took this from a report where they it was stated what the
decibel levels were in general for trains so we are a rail transit at great which goes 50 miles
an hour. We're at 78 decibels. Mr. Chairman, I hate to interrupt Mr. Nocklinson. I do have to
object to the introduction of this document. This document is not an evaluation of Nani Rochelle,
does not take into account that there is an approximately 100-foot drop-off between
Greed and Nani Rochelle on the train tracks, and it's not even a document that was prepared for
this case. So it's inadmissible. It's not a proper document for this zoning hearing.
So, Mr. Mnockinson, I agree.
I think this is another location, and I know the point you're trying to make,
but I think we ought to move on from this.
Okay, that's fair, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
Photographs of the property, as you can see from the photos,
this is the doggy daycare, the building structure.
It's a one-story building structure.
there's there's a pretty wide driveway you know for that as well
and here is the front yard for that driveway as I'm assuming for the doggy daycare where
there's an outdoor facility which is further towards the train station and away from the
neighboring property which is still left of us and then this is just another angle from the back of
the building to show that driveway as well again the outdoor area the client who's uh who is not
in support of this project is would be to the right of us from this angle but you can see it's
a rather large drive with driveway and then you know what was important last time was to show that
the outdoor area was not anywhere near this area and it's far away from the neighboring property
so that's towards the front of the property which is way way beyond this is again the rear yard
you know for 90 rochelle and then this is just the notice poster being posted for today's hearing
from different angles and then this is just the driveway again garbage is stored in the rear back
here the parking is um from experience because i've taken my dog here i've never parked back
there um you know we quick unload load in the front um and it's it's a rather quick process
i don't know i would ask barbara if some of the residents that park back here temporarily
but it's a pretty quick and straightforward process.
And then this is Rochelle to the right of the property,
Rochelle to the left of the property.
This is the enclosed container my client proposes.
Again, she doesn't want to be a nuisance.
And I think she's been a responsible operator
for five years.
And if this board feels so inclined,
we would agree by proviso to have
this enclosed container placed on the premises.
And then interior photos, again, just different color rooms, different compared to the activity and sizes of the dogs.
end sizes of the dogs this is the front reception area uh that where you you know where pickup is
This is the front reception area.
generally when it's when it's uh wet outside um you know typically the the drop off is in the
front yard um but when there's you know when it's wet outside uh drop off is um in this little
reception area and more interior photos and then just our plans and drawings very simple
there is a first floor and lower level so let me orient myself
this would be the front yard up here this is the driveway up here this is the reception area here
There's different playrooms and nap rooms.
There's an office and there's a lower level with more playrooms and nap rooms.
Excuse me, for the dogs and the breakout room for the employees.
My understanding is also that Little White Dog also employs certain residents in this community as well.
And then the hearing, the community meeting notice, we met on March 2nd at 7 p.m.
36 addresses were notified of that meeting.
Those addresses.
Proof of mailing to those addresses or application for appeal that we filed.
And then our lease.
along with the amendment to the lease,
which makes our second term conditioned
on approval by this board.
And just so the board knows too,
my client actually has an option to purchase
a portion of this lot.
It's my understanding is that the developer
is trying to see if they can develop a rare portion of the lot.
And if that's the case,
that this property would turn into either a planned community
or a condominium where one of the units
would be the building structure that my client's operating in
where she would purchase that property,
that one unit for her own business.
And that's especially important for my client
because she also lives in the neighborhood nearby.
So with that being said,
I would ask that Ms. Berman
virtually raise her hand.
Could you state your name, please?
Spell for the court reporter.
Barbara Berman, B-A-R-B-A-R-A, B-E-R-M-A-N.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Ms. Berman, you heard everything I had to state today about this Zomni-Wad.
And is it true and correct?
And do you adopt it as your testimony?
Thank you.
Mr. Toner.
Thank you, Mr. Bergman.
As Mr. Nockmson alluded to, my clients live immediately adjacent to this kennel facility.
They're about 35 feet from their bedroom windows, front living room windows, to where the dog kennels are.
My clients, when this application was first presented a little over four years ago, did appear in opposition.
And after the zoning board had granted a variance, my clients filed an appeal to the court of com pleas.
And I'm going to go through various items that Mr. Nocklinson did not address today, but I think first and foremost is Mr. Nocklinson did not address that Judge Wright of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas has issued an order to remand his case back down to this board because, as Judge Wright indicated, at the first hearing, they failed to present evidence of an unnecessary hardship.
Just like they failed to present evidence of an unnecessary hardship at the first case, at the conclusion of Mr. Nockleson's testimony, it's clear that they've presented no evidence of an unnecessary hardship that would be sufficient for the grant of a variance.
This is a dog kennel application, and let's go through some of the evidence that was presented today or what was not presented.
First of all, for a kennel operation that's been in operation for over four years, it's telling that they have one image of a dog.
Now, we're going to go through their Facebook postings and my clients' pictures.
This is a dog that has a large, our facility has a large number of dogs.
This is a dog that has a large, our facility has a large number of dogs that operates seven days a week, that has drop-off, it has pick-off, pick-up, it has overnight kenneling, and this is not one dog facility.