which means that the commercial space is going to have a connection to the basement somehow, like whether.
Yes, ma'am.
Yeah, that's correct.
The plans as proposed would eliminate that staircase from Unit 1,
and then the only access would be from the proposed commercial area.
Whether or not everybody has free access, the basement would be used for storage and mechanical and utilities only.
and that door would obviously most likely be locked if it's accessed by the landlord
only or if proposed use of that basement is going to be entitled to the commercial tenant,
then that tenant would have access to the basement as well.
Okay. I have a question. So there's no rear yard space, correct?
um i don't think so there's never been no okay no i i believe this uh lot is 100 occupied okay
it looks like it i see the alleyway um so how is trash being managed uh for all the units and the
commercial space that's something we will have to think about yes
I mean, is there an opportunity to have interior trash storage?
Yes, actually, I believe there's a staircase on the sidewalk that the tenants could actually go
and store the trash and we'll put trash cans in the basement. But if you see on the first floor
plan, site plan, it shows like there's a staircase from the outside to the basement.
And I would like to reiterate my question because it seems that only the commercial space
has access to the basement so how are the tenants going to store their trash
there's a bilko door um um there is but nobody's going to use it nobody's going to come from the
third floor and put their trash go to a local door put their trash it's not going to do it
also the local door is not shown on the plans so i can see it on google maps but nobody had
mentioned using it. Nobody's going to do that. Nobody's going to. Obviously commercial trash,
I mean, you know, trash would have to be stored indoors in the unit and placed out for municipal
collection or commercial collection, depending on what the board would be inclined to support.
So just want to point out that none of the units currently have an interior trash,
ventilated trash closet, and that would be a preferred best practice with this one in any
unit, but specifically with the density here. Understood. And I would also add that, you know,
given the previous use of the property, you know, trash had to be stored indoors by the occupants
and placed out for collection. You know, given the fact that it occupies 100% of the lot,
there is no rear storage area. You can't store the trash in the alleyway because you'd be
obstructing adjacent access. So we would submit that trash would be stored indoors and placed out
for either commercial or municipal collection. And by the way, and by the way, if I may,
on my exhibit packet, the proof of tax clearance indicated commercial trash
was one of the items that was up to date and zero balance though. So obviously,
or some sort of commercial trash fees assessed by the city for use at this property
then you go to the second floor third floor plan as i've got a real concern with the density of
these uh units uh both are two bedroom units and the living room kitchen is really just a kitchen
so i don't know where the living room space the living space is on either one of those units
right so that's a concern for me um just that just the overall density of you know having
these two bedrooms you got two on the second floor you've got two bedrooms two full baths
right and a kitchen that's what you got
that's it same thing on the third floor you got two full space something sir yes
Yes. Usually now the layers are like the open kitchen layout with living room. That's why we.
usually uh now the layers are like open kitchen
Okay. Where would you put your sofa?
Well, first, when I move there, I'll take the refrigerator out of there and find another place for the refrigerator.
You understand my point? You understand my point?
the fact that you even had to say that that in order for me to live here i'd have to move that
refrigerator because it doesn't work because it's only a living room it's only a kitchen right we
arrange the study sir yeah it's it's too small for two bedroom units on both floor it's just too
too small it's too dense
one bedroom could probably work or reconfigured could probably work i don't know but it doesn't
work the way that you have it the way that they're laid out they're under understood and
and and i'm sorry but am i seeing on this is that the second floor where it says bedroom unit one
and then it says bedroom two and then in the front it says bedroom one so is that supposed
to be three bedrooms no cheryl the uh bedroom the bedroom at the you know the far right the
back of the property yeah that is with the by level from the first floor is that what correct
that is that is that is the stall bedroom for the rear uh dwelling unit number one which is by level
kitchen living area on the first floor with the full bath and a a a one bedroom unit on the on
the second floor okay and then the bathroom then for that first floor unit is where on the first
on the first floor so the data if you can scroll down a little bit okay first floor unit has two
unit number one first floor okay so then you mean the commercial okay no no no the rear
apartment two floor rear apartment there you go there you go yeah you have you have a bathroom
a three-piece bath off of the kitchen and family area and then you have steps going up
That will take you to the bedroom on the second floor.
So then you have one of my pet peeves, and that is that you have a bathroom, but it's not anywhere close to the bedroom.
So somebody gets up in the middle of the night.
They have to wander down these steps to go to the bathroom.
I have a problem with that as a layout.
well and and and i think the same thing goes with this in terms of the actual living space
i mean there's no real living space in this by level i mean there's there's the kitchen
and there's this bedroom which is upstairs um well my preference my preference would have
the bathroom on the second floor as well. But given the existing conditions of the building,
this is not something that we're building from scratch. To put a bathroom on the second floor
with the bedroom, you're going to reduce the size of the bedroom, number one. And then,
could we put a powder room on the second floor? Probably, but looking at the size-
a one bedroom apartment too right it is a one bedroom apartment okay unit number one is by
level the kitchen and family area and the full bath are on the first floor and on the second
floor you have the bedroom associated with that unit the steps the steps at the rear that are
leading down are going to be replaced with steps that go up to the bedroom so the bedroom has a
closet you know if it was good could it could a bathroom be installed on the
second floor up you know I imagine so but then you have a problem with the
size of the bed that you can you know insert in there yes sir this was
already existing five units so we really I saw it five units was not approved I
I've noticed in the notes, right?
Right.
That's the five units.
So I saw no evidence of any permits for a five unit use at this site.
Here's what I want to do.
I'm going to go counsel.
No, our counsel.
Oh, I'm sorry.
Counsel?
um yes uh lynn reidel huber board council i just want to make sure it's clear for the record that
Lynn Reidel-Huber-Board Counsel.
I just want to make sure it's clear for the record.
the expediter is not the owner and she was just um there you just called her as a witness so a lot
of testimony she was talking about she was kind of indicating like we would do she's the expediter
and also i just want to make sure it's clear on the record um mr ward that attorney ward that you
are adopting i guess you know your testimony as an officer of the court because um the client wasn't
able to come on the zoom is that correct that is correct all right thank you questions from the
board i have questions from the virtual audience mr chair do not see any hands raised commission
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location to the current cmx1 commercial mixed use the property has a documented
history of one unit and a commercial space there is no evidence that the conversion to more units
Plus, the commercial space was done with the benefit of permits.
The proposed use is more intense than other properties on this block and is therefore
not characteristic.
The Planning Commission recommends that the Board deny the requested variance for three-family.
Mr. Chair, I would respond to that, that there is documented use of multi-family at the site
and consistent with the Planning Commission's recommendation.
All right.
But, so, Sean, I think there was a lot of questions raised and I, and I-
Of course.
i want to like i'm definitely going to vote on the 7th at 9 30 a.m but i want some time to talk
to the board because this is a complex issue okay okay is there any additional information
that the board would require i would say i'm going to close the record but if you send something in
we'll reopen it for that but at this point i'm closing the record yeah okay very good so council
the record is going to be closed and as the chairman said this is going to be voted next
uh wednesday october 7th uh 2026. thank you sean thank you i'll see you at 3 30. sure number 19
mi 2026 002 177 47 44 to 46 north broad street sophia park is the applicant um your honor do you
you require my services at this point yes sir and i want to thank you for sitting there we
appreciate it and then i hello you may hold on a moment you made really good suggestions about
just being there ready in case we needed you so thank you very much thank you everyone have a
beautiful day all right okay um miss park could you please state your name and spell for the
sonographer my name is safia park s-a-f-i-y-a-h-p-a-r-k you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes our vice chair has a few questions um i understand we
may hold this am i correct here and hold this is going to be here and hold possibly mr chairman
you can decide if you want to hear on hold with regard to a potential rco meeting thank you okay
all right you have an rco meeting coming up no there is nothing that's scheduled but we don't
know what her testimony is going to be i was actually uh present at an rco meeting on the
14th at 6 30 p.m um i was told from the logan logan civic association to be present at that
rco meeting i'm also having an email when i showed up to the meeting they told me that
i wasn't on their list of cases to present my um all right thank you our vice chair has a few
questions good morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits 14 days in advance of
this hearing? I submitted it within 14 days. Okay. All right. And is it your understanding
that you're here for your application for an event assembly facility? I'm basically just
really just trying to get a multi-use. It's a boutique plus beauty bar. However, I host like
pop-up shops and like small classes. So they told me that in order to be able to continue doing what
i'm doing that i had to apply for assembly use so i'm not changing anything in my building or
anything like that no structural changes or anything i'm just trying to comply with ellen i
um and he told me that i had to apply for assembly use okay that's that's good so and then you um so
you were you understand that's why you were refused because you needed to have the approval
um to do that in your zoning district all right so you can begin your case um show us any documents
some photos and explain what you want us what you want to do okay
okay so again my name is sophia park um i've been at 4744 north broad street for the last six years
um it's currently a boutique plus beauty bar however we host a lot of like small classes for
a lot of people in the business i met in the community so right here i don't know if y'all
so right here i don't know if y'all could see it i won't be able to like share my screen like share
could see it i will be able to like share my screen
my screen oh let me hold on you turn your computer on for us oh it's share my like share my screen
basically like that yeah okay thank you um allow workplace okay zoom omg it says zoom may not be
able to record the contents of your screen until it is quit you can choose quit now you don't want
to record your screen just hit that uh share button at the bottom just make sure your documents
are open and ready to be shared hold on hold on let me share okay i'm so sorry uh share
is there a green button there at the bottom um content only share okay um okay all right so
dang i was trying to okay cool so over the last six years i've been here at 4744 north broad
street it is a boutique plus beauty bar however we offer like i've rented out to local businesses
um we have pop-up shops we have different classes so here is like different pictures of some of the
things that we did inside of the store um my boutique plus beauty bar again pop-up shops small
classes um trying to go up here is the outside of my store um this is the inside of my store
um and then this i also give back to the community as much as possible um again i said i've been here
since 2022 so this is just me giving back on multiple occasions i'm honestly you guys i'm
really not trying to do nothing besides continue doing what i was doing um i have
a proof let me see i was trying to get i did get it um notarized and approved from my landlord he
said that he was okay with me um going in to get the multi-variance or the multi-use for the building
so this is like a screenshot this is my signatures from the people in the community i went i got 10
signatures from different people within 250 square feet um these is just like confirmations from like
the confirmations of them telling me to be at the the RCO meeting um and then I'm not sure what else
I will I can provide to share my claim again I do have all of my um the people in the community said
that you know they was okay with me doing what I've been doing because I've been there for the
last six years again I'm not changing anything inside of the building I'm just trying to get
a multi-use to be able to comply with l and i um why don't you show us the inside of the building
again okay one moment i'm so sorry okay this is the inside this is this half well not this is
just half of inside right now because it's blocked off so this is basically like where
mainly the guests be it is a bathroom here I have a I wonder if I would be
able to share a video one moment please there's two exits it's an exit in the
front and it's also an exit in the back is one bathroom one moment please want
to see if it will allow me to share a video um are you able to see this video
i guess if you turn it on yeah okay cool
and would you be able to make it full screen or move it over a little
is it full screen now
oh one moment
um these heaters is not there eleanor told me that i had to remove them
so they're not inside of the space there's my exit over there
there's my exit over there um the bathroom is on the opposite side
um let me see if i get the bathroom in the video i will go to the bathroom my bathroom is here
and this is my space
um hello questions from the board i have a question how often do you have events i have um classes or
events at least once once every week so every maybe one saturday one sunday the next week
might have a class on a Friday the next week I'll be trying to aim to have at