okay we're gonna we're ready to start good morning everyone my name is bill
Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's meeting. With me is our Vice Chair, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board members, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Taya Nguyen, who should be walking through the door any moment, Ryan McAdams.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And Layla Beebe.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also here is our attorney, Lynn Reuter-Uber, our executive director, Ian Haggerty, and our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.
This hearing will be recorded and will be posted on the ZBA website.
By participating, you consent to be recorded.
This is an in-person meeting with remote participation, whether in person or on Zoom.
If you're called to speak, please state and spell your name, then wait to be sworn in.
After being sworn in, state your name each time you begin your testimony.
To enter an appearance, indicate the property address on the Zoom webinar.
Speak with a staff member.
Call the ZBA office by close of business tomorrow.
Call 215-686-2429 and provide your name, email, and the case address.
remote participation raise your virtual hand when directed to so we can call you to speak
before you testify click the join as a panelist button use the q a only for procedural questions
not individual cases if you are joining by phone press star nine to raise your hand and star six
to unmute. In-person participation. If testifying, get close to the mic so that all attendees and
the court reporter can hear you. No talking, eating, or drinking during the hearings. Aggressive
behavior will not be tolerated. In an emergency, follow staff instructions. The main exit is the
double doors at the rear. The nearest stairwell is to the left. In an evacuation, go to Love Park,
which is across art street please remain there so we can account for you so let's look at our
schedule for this today number one mi2026 002893 2208 south broad street that case is continued
until 2-24-27 at 9.30 a.m. Number two, MI 2026-002-972-7218 Edmond Street. That case is
continued until 2-24-27 at 9.30. Number three, MI-2026-002-983-4900 Princeton Avenue. That case
is continued until 2 24 27 at 9 30 a.m number four mi 2026 003 007 1426 wall street um
um this is uh this is a pro se we have no exhibits this is the first listing in antonio
Gata is the listed owner
and Emilio D. Gregorio
is the listed applicant
Good morning Mr. Chair
this is Jason Hand
I'll be your co-host for the session
there are no hands raised
for the matter and I do not see
either individual in the virtual audience
So MI 2026
1426 Wolf Street. That case is continued until 224-27 at 9.30 a.m. Mark must be heard.
Number five, MI 2026-003-070-2851 Diston Street. This case has been withdrawn.
Number six, MI 2026-003-333-1864-66, Frankfort Avenue, this case has been withdrawn.
Frank, Frankfort Avenue. This case has been withdrawn. Number seven, MI 2026 003 621 227
Poplar Street. This case is continued until 224 27 at 9 30 a.m.
number 10 mi-2023-005-052 2021 north van pelt street verne anastasio is the attorney
there is a request for a continuance from the rco for this case mr anastasio
they've been allowed to speak sir sure good morning mr chair good morning council could
you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yes sir it's verne anastasio a-n-a-s-t-a
s-i-o right um do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
I do. Council, could you give us an update of this case, and are you willing for a continuance?
It's my understanding that the RCO wants to continue it just so we can come up with a community benefits agreement and some provisos, so I'm okay with that.
Okay, so this case will be continued until 2-24-27 at 9.30 a.m. Thank you for getting on, sir. We appreciate it.
Thank you.
At number 16, MI 2026-002-965-3926 North 13th Street, this case is continued until 2-24-27 at 9.30 a.m.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
No hands raised, Mr. Chair.
Okay, I'm going to go to our add-ons. Number one, MI 2024-006-086-7777 State Road. The vote for this has been rescheduled to 11-426 at 9.30 a.m.
number two mi2026 000 228 610 to 40 high street the vote on this matter has been rescheduled to
2 p.m. this afternoon.
Number three, MI 2024, 007-680-3301, Grants Back Street.
The vote on this matter has been rescheduled to 1118 at 930 a.m.
And number four, MI 2026, 2025, 007, 219, 164 East Stafford Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Taya Nguyen, my vote is yes.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes.
Okay, we're going to go to our regular list.
Number eight, MI 2026, 000-087, 5800 North Phillip Street.
We have a Haitian Creole interpreter for this case.
Could the Haitian Creole interpreter come on?
And also Joseph Consul is the attorney.
And let's get the interpreter on first, Mr. Consul.
Chair, Mr. Consul is coming back in right now.
Haitian Creole interpreter,
please raise your virtual hand.
Okay, the interpreter has raised a virtual hand
and they will be back in as a panelist shortly.
Understood.
hello good morning good morning could you please state and spell your name for the
yes my name is domingo is d as in dog o as in orange m as in mary i as in india n as in c g
as in george a as in apple i'm the haitian queer interpreter here do you swear or affirm
I'm the Haitian QL interpreter here.
Do you swear or affirm that you will interpret accurately, completely, and impartially from Haitian to English and from English to Haitian?
that you will interpret.
Yes, I do.
All right. Could you please call the name of the appellant? HL-X-X-O-N-A-B-N-G is delimited?
uh actually they're here they're they're here right here joe they just come good morning sir
could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer yeah it's joseph console j-o-s-e-p-h
last name c-o-n-s-o-l-e you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth i do all right so mr console um i think you've had conversations with our
staff and that you believe
you need an interpreter, but not for
everything that's going to be said. Is that correct?
That's correct.
Interpreter, could you please tell
our appellant
or his attorney
believes that we need an interpreter
to stand by that, but we won't have to
interpret every single word?
Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions for you,
Mr. Counsel. Okay. Good morning. Have you submitted your documents
and exhibits 14 days in advance of this hearing? Yes,
except for the RCO letter, I believe, came in last Friday. Okay.
Thank you. And do you weigh the reason of your refusals and stipulate to their accuracy?
Yes. All right. Thank you. You can show your screen and proceed.
All right. Hey, board. Joe Consul here. I represent the proposed tenant. I don't know how to pronounce it. Alexona BNG LLC owned by Mr. Benito Gracia, who is in the audience.
This is a use variance, let me get to it, application involving an existing corner storefront in an RSA 5 district.
Application seeks approval for the existing two-family dwelling, which has been approved throughout the years.
The commercial space has been a couple of different things.
We are now seeking approval for a dual use, which is a retail sale of food, beverages, and groceries, just retail sale, no preparation, no eating on the premises, as well as business support services, such as copying, printing, and faxing, while those two residential uses will remain.
So the refusals we have are multiple principal uses, as well as the dual commercial refusals for the retail sale of food, et cetera, and the proposed business support services in addition to that.
My client sees this as a way to serve both his specific community, but also the general community, the business support services piece.
I believe he sees as something that he can bring to his local community that needs those sorts of things and may not have a place to go where they can communicate and achieve these things that might help their lives.
And then the retail sale of groceries, that'll be both food local to his culture, but also things for the neighborhood as well.
As you can see on here, the property-specific history is important.
This is not carving a new commercial space.
In the past, in 1968, it was approved for two apartments and a retail thrift shop.
And in 1986, there was a variance for retail computer sales and services, again, to family dwelling. And then in 1990, there was an application for prepackaged dry foods, but that was dismissed for lack of appearance, although from what we sort of gathered, it did continue to operate as such for at least a long time.
And my client took it over and was operating and shut down.
And so he has not operated since then.
You'll see the stretch in the door, but he is hoping to get the approval so he can reopen.
Why don't you start showing the property, Joe?
Oh, you got it.
All right.
Well, there's our support from the RCO.
So there's their support letter. I'll address those things in a second. Here's the external of the property. As you can see, it's got the stripes. You'll see in another photo, he did cover up the store better than that before it came down, but that's what the external looks like.
There's their support letter.
I'll address those things in a second.
I'll show you the inside
and the side street views
interior
it's got an office
as well as
relatively small area for groceries
and this will all be
continue to get cleaned up
once he gets the approvals
he did like a small layout
showing how everything's
laid out there.
It's got a back room for storage,
small office and a storefront.
It's a very modest property.
As far as I can tell,
going back further into the past,
it's proof of zero tax balance.
Going back further into the past,
there was a bar that was sort of hacked up.
And, you know, at some point in the 60s,
it took on its own commercial space use.
the lease
and that's it
alright so I'll go back up to the RCO
letter and get through that real quick
do do do do
alright so the RCO we met
last week
they had questions about
food prep we said it's not happening
trash there is
a space behind
the property that is
owned by the landlord. The landlord has earmarked that for my client to store trash. It's the same
spot where his tenants store trash. Commercial trash is already paid for. Deliveries, my client
spoke to. While it's going to be a small store, he will not have large trucks delivering and
blocking the sidewalk. He'll be making the deliveries himself. Regarding hours, they asked
for something reasonable we are fine to accommodate if that is 8 a.m to 9 p.m or something else that
the board sees fit my client will agree to uh those hours of of operation we don't believe that
this would uh change the commercial character or the character of the block and it's got a previous
history of this use so we believe that it should serve the neighborhood well um and we got the
supported the rco so um and i see in the audience now that the landlord's there as well too and the
owner of the property so um we're available to answer any questions all right so um joe why don't
we i'm going to make note we're not going to have testimony adopted but as an officer of the court
we'll accept your testimony okay okay questions from the board yeah um so i have a question about
the trash you said that there was uh is there the trash that is going to be placed in the rear
is it enclosed in something in the rear or because right now it's showing no type of
enclosures uh near the rear of the property it's just trash bags on the ground um mr franz could
you get sworn in and why don't we have the interpreter do that have the interpreter ask
that question i can ask the interpreter i heard it um and the name is mr friends right
Well, my client, Mr. Benicio Gracia, to his right is Franz.
I'm forgetting his last name, but that's the owner of the property.
So maybe you could ask.
Can't hear you.
Get closer.
Could you please?