ZBA Hearing - October 28, 2026

and is hoping to accomplish if the board does grant this variance.

This is the backyard.

Again, this is the taller structure, which is on the line with the rest of the block, is the residence.

And this structure right here, this is the proposed Pilates studio.

It's clearly physically not a single-family home, this aspect, this portion of the building.

This is a copy of the posting on the gate.

are you saying there's only one unit now to uh live in yeah yes we are withdrawing the second

the uh so the first floor is not an apartment anymore yes correct okay so you have this

plotty studio and one floor above yes okay thank you with a separate there's there's there's and

i'll show the pictures uh there's three entrances to this building um which is which is kind of uh

Interesting layout. This is facing out towards Academy Road.

This property is uniquely situated at the intersection of commercial and residential.

And what we're proposing is one of the most low impact uses and kind of encompasses the mix of this intersection of commercial and residential.

We're proposing a very low impact commercial and a obviously and still the residential and the upstairs unit.

This is another look inside to show that it is not this is not this is not a single family home.

And this is the entrance to what we were going to do that we're withdrawing. This is going to be an entrance to the storage. We'll just call it the storage office area.

Okay.

Oh, wait. My apologies. Let me get that back up.

Okay. And again, to highlight that we are in that intersection, this is our parcel right here. We are surrounded by RSA-4, CMX-1, and CA-1.

so it's uniquely situated property this is parking on academy road these are all parking spots by the

dunkin donuts here and my client has already actually talked to to a vendor across the street

about renting out additional parking spots although we don't envision needing much because of those

such low impact use which i'll get into this is just a copy of my client's deed from she only

bought it not even two years ago um this was our tax clearance uh this was the refusal

our appeal our pif now i want to spend some time on the what happened at the rco last week

at the rco um we did actually have of the four the four committee members we did have only one

oppose and then in the uh in the public audience we had seven pro and 11 against but the interesting

part about the 11 against is they all recognize that this was a commercial property and that it

is a it is a commercial property and it was a medical office their concern was the slippery

slope they they i think were um biased by the there's a prior owner who i believe attempted

to put a smoke shop in they assumed that my client if they if this was granted that they

would be able to do that and i did try and go through what a personal services zoning is it's

mostly health-related, art classes, grooming, because this was going to be a barbershop.

They're all the same use, but they were too focused on the possible slippery slope of

what this could become if they said yes. But they did recognize that this was

a historical, historically was a medical office.

Now, this is important because this is my client's loan. So my client had this property

appraised before buying it uh just to just almost two years ago to the month and it was appraised

as a mixed-use property um and it it even goes through what the apartment upstairs and then the

downstairs is commercial um my client has not done any modifications to the property since purchasing

it and this is again this is these are the conditions which are exactly the same uh since

my client purchased the property and this was the upstairs apartment and and this again this is the

mls listing this shows you know first line mixed use rsa4 um this is what got my client to buy the

this is what got my client to buy the property uh it's a the first her first commercial investment

property uh it's a the first commercial investment ever

ever my client is a is a part she is a she's been a resident of this community for over 10 years

and um she placed a tenant upstairs the property had issues with ellen i she cleared all of them

up to get her rental license and then she found out that the um there wasn't zoning um so i this

is a definitely an i this her hardship to convert this property to residential this commercial space

is an extreme hardship which would require probably either selling the property or demolishing the

structure and historically this is just a historic zoning um that shows this was in 1974 it became a

doctor's office which was when i believe that the this side the side portion was converted

to strictly commercial and it has been vacant since uh there are two meters in my class

crash uh since she since the inception of the property even though there's no tenant there

um for these last two years so in terms of zoning um we believe this variant should be

should be granted because it's a uniquely situated

rounded by cmx1 zoning and historically used as a doctor's office whose physical location and

pre-existing professional service character make strict residential compliance impractical

if not impossible. The proposed Pilate studio is a low-intensity personal service use.

My client's only having a max of, these are going to be classes only, 7 p.m. will be the latest

class, 10 to 15 people max. I would argue it's actually less of an impact on the neighborhood

and the public welfare systems than a doctor's office would have, which was a previously approved

use. In the upper apartment upstairs, it still maintains that this is an intersection of

commercial and residential in that having this mixed use isn't aligned with that and is what

my client bought and what was she what it was appraised for uh the proposal is narrowly drawn

it's compatible with the neighborhood and it really represents the least modification necessary

to permit reasonable use of the property um and and we spoke with the we spoke with individuals

at the rco after the meeting and they they all acknowledged that it was these the prior owner

who tried to put a smoke shop in, which is not a personal use, that has tainted this property.

So this property is unique.

And with that, I would like to have my client sworn.

Bring your client on.

What's your client's name?

Camila Bravo.

Okay.

And you have done away with the first floor apartment, you're saying, right?

Yes.

Okay.

That person is joining the panelist right now.

Sure.

Hello.

Good morning.

Could you please state and spell your name for the stenographer?

Good morning.

Yes.

Camila Bravo.

C-A-M-I-L-A.

Bravo.

B-R-A-V-O.

Right.

Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Yes.

Counsel.

Good morning, Camila.

Did you hear the testimony that is presented to the board?

Yes.

Do you adopt it as your own?

Yes.

I just have a few questions.

If you could explain a little bit about the Pilates studio and what your role is going to be in the Pilates studio.

Yes.

So my vision is to create like a welcoming space where people can focus on their physical and mental health.

And because I've been living in Parkwood for more than 10 years, like I think is a beautiful space that once it gets turned over, it will benefit the community.

And we can really be able to connect with one another with like really, you know, low impact classes.

And, yeah.

You know, that's.

Are you going to be running the Pilates?

Yes, I am going to. Yes, I will be running the Pilates studio.

Yes, I have a background in business, so I will be operating and doing all the marketing for the Pilates studio and hiring the staff.

And I'm also working towards becoming a Pilates instructor.

So I'm currently enrolled in Drexel.

And you are and you are OK with withdrawing any any residential use of the of that 500 square foot of support, support studio.

OK. Yes. And what have you done to the building?

um strike that um how what have you done um to get into compliance with with with problems you

inherited physically with the building oh i actually have to do a lot i had to get all the

violations that the previous owner did to the property that he didn't get permits for so i had

to actually hire an architect to be able to come and look at the property and give me the layout

to be able to come and look at the property and give me the layout and everything for one of the

about

doors that he built. And I was able to get all that clearance and all the permits. And that's

how I was able to get the rental license because, you know, he really like did like a lot of things

that he wasn't supposed to. So that's why I'm here trying to do like the right thing. And I really

see the vision with the space because it is a beautiful property. It's a beautiful on the inside

And it has such a nice energy. So I just, you know, hope that, you know, you guys can see that.

I have nothing further questions from the board.

Yes. What how often do you plan to run classes in the Pilates studio?

Sorry. And how will it be used when there is not a class?

So I will say it's going to be run from Monday through Saturday.

Sunday is still not there yet.

I'm not sure if it's going to be open on Sundays and the times that, you know, nothing is going to happen.

I think I can also offer private classes or even, you know, have community events to like my plan is also to have to involve the community and also have free things that can benefit the people around it.

And then how many people are you anticipating for each class?

I will say I want to keep it a max 10 to 15.

I really want to make sure it's intimate because we do have gyms around our neighborhood and I

just feel like big gyms are not, you know, it's not, I don't want it to feel intimidating. I

also wanted to feel, I wanted it to feel welcoming and be able to like really focus on each

individual and make sure the instructors are able to do that by having like small groups of people

with intentional work workouts and what time is the earliest class that you anticipate hosting

i will say 6 a.m the first one starting at 6 a.m okay and have you thought at all just because

this is a residential neighborhood like how getting people in and out wayfinding into your

studio like these are all things that could potentially impact your surrounding neighbors

if you have to. Yes, absolutely. I mean, I definitely want to be like outspoken and vocal

on the website. And also once we start getting people, clients sign up to be vocal where to park.

I also was, you know, planning to talk to the shopping center from across the street. There

is a lot of like parking there and there is a specific section that is like closer to like

literally on the border of the street, like crossing the street that I plan to like probably

rent out and have people like have that awareness for people to go in and park there so there is not

not a lot of traffic like around the residential okay other questions how long how long do the

classes last so the latest class i understand is 7 p.m so how long does the class normally last

i i each class is like 15 minutes long so it gives um so it also gives rooms to clean and

turn around for the next class so eight o'clock is eight o'clock at night would be the latest

people would be leaving this yeah okay um not a question but comment i think this is one of those

uh where they uh you used to have a zoning designation where it was residential but you

have what was called residentially related uses so you could have the doctor's office that was

part of the property or the dentist as long as it was just a solo practitioner sort of like the

Dr. Welby model if I'm not dating myself so I understand how this property came to be and why

it it it was not it was for some sort of um medical or dental type use it was not meant for

residential so i understand the dilemma here with this property that's common questions for attorney

um yes given the change in uh plans and based on the testimony that the board is going to be

granting that uh proposed proviso should be approved use is personal service on the first

floor with single family household living above questions or comments from the virtual audience

yes mr chair i have a hand up from alice budovich okay i will promote them at this time

all right they've been allowed to speak morning gals good morning chairman members of the board

Good morning, Alice.

Good morning, Chairman, members of the board.

Alice Mudevich?

Alice Udovich.

Please state your name and spell for the stenographer.

Sure.

Alice Udovich, U-D-O-V-I-C-H, on behalf of Councilman Brian O'Neill.

You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

I do.

Please proceed.

There are several concerns regarding this property, although I'm very pleased that the applicant and counsel have mentioned that it will remain single family.

The neighbors were mainly concerned about the parking issues.

I know the council kept mentioning that it had previously been a commercial use,

but we don't consider a doctor's office with the sole practitioner to be a commercial use.

The Pilates studio mentioning that they're using a parking lot across the street,

which is currently occupied and at capacity most of the time.

this would actually be the first commercial type of use in parkwood none of the ends of rows have

ever been used as small grocery stores or or anything like that so you know we are mainly

concerned about this use and personal care overall the applicant had originally i guess had a tenant

for a barber and now is calling personal use for pilates but it sort of opens the door to

any personal care use so um i i would say that the councilman um would oppose the granting of

this variance okay thank you um council you have any questions just to just to briefly um just to

comment on that and that is that was the neighborhood's concern this is i would argue

that a personal services use is it's really in line with a health use which is tied to if that's

not a medical use um then i don't know what is but in terms of density and impact i would say a

medical office actually is probably it's very similar to personal services and that's why we

did pick such a low impact use um you know hair and grooming beauty fitness instruction um therapy

these are all the uses that would be proposed okay so let me let me see if uh there's anyone

else in the audience. Anyone else in the virtual

audience?

Yes, I have a

hand up from Janice Gibson.

We'll allow them to speak. Sure.

Janice Gibson, please unmute and wait to be sworn in.

Janice?

Ms. Gibson?

Do we see her coming in?