ZBA Hearing - January 23, 2024

Thank you.

well chair we're only at five attendees i would like to give it a couple more seconds if you

don't mind yeah i don't i don't think we're gonna have many more than that oh okay well you can

proceed as you wish then. Sure. Good morning, everyone. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will

be chairing this morning's ZBA hearings. With me is our Vice Chair, Ismael Shaheed. Present,

Mr. Chairman. And our Board Member, Thomas Holliman. Present, Mr. Chairman. Also present

is Hillary Emerson, our Attorney, and our Executive Director, Tanya Sunken. Here's our virtual format.

Be advised the proceedings are being recorded.

Video will be available by contacting TanyaSunkett at phil .gov.

For the benefit of our court sonographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.

If you're participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.

To enter the appearance statement, call 267 -270 -5548.

Leave your email and the address of the property in question.

And finally, the question and answer box on the screen is now for comments or testimony.

All comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkett.

Let's look at today's schedule.

Number one, MI 2022 -000 -485 -7137 Woodland Avenue.

This is a resumptive hearing.

This case is continued until Wednesday, 3 -6, on the 6th of Wednesday at 9 .30 a .m.

Number two. MI 2023 -006 -201 -2940 East Tioga Street. This case is continued.

Number five, MI 2023, 005 -966 -6174 Ridge Avenue. This case is also continued.

And number six, MI 2023 -002 -427 -2739 North 5th Street, this case is continued.

Are there any comments relative to the four cases I just continued, and are there any other requests for continuance?

Good morning, Chair. This is Doreen Blakey, and I will be co -hosting this morning.

Thank you, Doreen.

You're welcome.

There are no hands.

Okay.

And also, we have two exhibits here.

Sorry, John Griffin just raised a hand.

Sure, sure.

Good morning, Mr. Griffin.

Sir, can you hear me?

I most certainly can, sir.

Could you please state your name?

Hold on, Mr. Griffin. Hold on. Could you please state your name and spell for the course?

John Griffin, G -R -I -F -F -I -N. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,

nothing but the truth? I do, sir. I understand you want to continue. It's for M -I -2023 -000 -489 -4400

north a street yes chair i i advised miss emerson last night i had received a message

uh from my client's uh family that there was some family emergency and that she had to run out of

town i i believe i i cannot confirm this but i believe running out of town meant running out of

the country. Okay. I know nothing more. Mr. Griffin, so MI 2023 000 48

Mr. Griffin, so MI 2023 -000 -489 -4400 North A Street, this is the third listing.

This case will be continued and will be marked must be heard.

Thank you, Mr. Griffin, and we're going to hear from you a little later.

Am I right?

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And then number three, MI -2022 -001 -765 -163 -71 West Wyoming Avenue.

Joseph Consul is the attorney.

There are no exhibits for this.

This is the fourth listing.

Is there anyone in the audience relative to this case?

163 -71 West Wyoming Avenue.

There are no hands, Chair.

Thank you. MI 2022 -001 -765 -163 to 71 West Wyoming Avenue. This is the force listing. I vote to dismiss this case.

Thomas Holloman, my vote is to dismiss.

Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is to dismiss.

thank you very much number four mr chair can i just interject one minute we just had a few

additional people um come on and i just wanted to reiterate for the record that um the resumption

hearing for 7137 woodland avenue has been rescheduled to wednesday march 6th at 9 30 a .m

Thank you, Hillary. So our first case, number four, MI 2023 -000 -499 -536 Green Lane. John Griffin is the attorney. There is a letter of support from the Central Roxborough Civic Association. Mr. Griffin.

John Griffin has been promoted to panelist.

mr griffin yes sir can you hear me yeah i can mr griffin just for the record state your name

uh john griffin g -r -i -f -f -i -n and you've already been sworn mr griffin could you identify your

client and the relationship to the property? My clients are Jeanette Julia and Brian Julia.

They are the co -owners of Jeanette's Dance Studio located at 536 Green Lane in the

Roxburgh section of Philadelphia. Thank you. Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.

Yes, sir. Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal

or stipulate to its accuracy yes sir have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits

that is needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing uh sir yes and

no i did i was prepared to do that friday morning uh but candidly couldn't get staff in with a uh

snow day uh we took care of that yesterday uh communicated with miss emerson so i believe we

have everything into the record. Understood. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.

Just give me a second.

Do you see the share button, Mr. Griffin?

I do, sir. I actually emailed Ms. Emerson this morning. I had some issues yesterday on my screen sharing. I honestly don't know why.

uh but i'm um trying to i think i have it up if you can just give me a second sure sure we have

time us uh us 64 year olds are not always the uh the best on this i might add

Thank you.

sir i'm i'm assuming that you you are not seeing my screen am i right we do we do not see your

screen okay we have an it person who could help him online i may uh be able to assist chair sure

Thank you, Keish. Mr. Griffin, do you see the green button at the bottom of your screen?

I do. So after you click that button, you have to click on the document that you would like to share.

Yeah, I that document I have opened in my Dropbox. And like I said, for whatever reason, it's it's not allowing me to get there. I don't honestly know why.

um do you see once you click that green button to um share do it say screen no it just says

desktop whiteboard uh iphone ipad uh iphone via cable and then safari

okay she's on an iphone no no i'm on a uh apple computer um yeah i'm on an app a macbook

Mr. Griffin is your Dropbox

excuse me is that open in Safari

it is

click on Safari and see if that brings it up

well I'm looking at it right now

let me just try this

yeah I'm not

quite sure

i'm not not sure what to tell you but i'm i'm looking right at it myself um but not uh

not getting there well let me ask you this could you close the file

then hit the green button and go back to the file oh i'll certainly do that sir

if that doesn't work maybe you can just download the file to your desktop and open it from your

desktop and then do share screen that might work better uh okay let me get back to this

good morning mr snell good morning hillary jim bill how are you i'm on the call we got it

mr griffin oh look at this look at this modern miracle you're amazing no i think you are

well why don't we start mr griffin well we'll do so sir uh i have uh i believe on the line

my clients uh jeanette julia and uh brian julia uh i had submitted as part of this

uh right here um a cover letter just so your uh your board has some background

all we are really trying to do here is legalize um a a use variance we are not looking to

add construction we are not seeking any changes we're not really looking to do

anything more. The history of this property is primarily as a commercial use, although

it is currently zoned a residential use. A while back, a notice was put on the door that there was

a code violation notice. The clients acted immediately, got us as involved as counsel.

And that's really all we are looking to do. This place is a dance studio. It's been a dance studio

for primarily 23 years. It is a very successful business in the community. And candidly,

and I'm a resident of this community, I can tell you in the Roxburgh, Maniunk, East Falls,

Andorra area, it is essentially the only dance studio in the area.

It is essentially the only dance studio in the area.

Mr. Griffin, this is an old church.

Am I right?

It was an old church.

Right.

Okay.

From church, my understanding is to medical building.

Yep.

And then from medical building to Jeanette's dance studio.

Do you have pictures?

We do have pictures.

Why don't you show us some photos?

If you'll allow me to move forward, I can zip through. There is the support letter. I would note in what I'm showing here, and I can tell you this was told to us previously, this note right here, this appeal is one of the simplest our RCO has sort of ever received.

uh we had unanimous support for it um uh Jeanette as the younger girls call her Miss Jeanette

um has been a staple uh of the community there are hundreds and hundreds of young girls

uh and and boys that have gone through uh this program uh so now we're going to move forward to

uh a quick site plan uh which was done that shows exactly uh what the plan is

it is a stone's throw from ridge avenue which is a very busy section uh of ridge avenue

on the front right there where it says front elevation is the front of the area right where

my pointer is yeah is where the entrance is it's a side entrance shown sort of right here

if my pointer was to come across the screen and I mean directly across the street there is a United

States Post Office that candidly has been there since I was a child. I remember my father taking

me in and out of there. This is the entry into the property. This is one of the insides of the

dance studio. It's been that way for a very, very long time. This is another angle of the

same facility. Same goes right there. This is the outside ante room where the parents will

generally sit and wait for their children to be finished and, quite honestly, sort of watch them.

uh that right there is Jeanette Julia where my pointer is is where you would

go back into a side entrance right where I'm pointing right there um this is just another

side uh of the property uh right there is the most recent tax clearance which was issued yesterday

to be as up -to -date as we possibly could.

Mr. Griffin, let me ask you this.

Is there parking with the property?

There is no parking with the property.

Okay.

Ms. Jeanette, or I should say Jeanette Julia,

will comment on that.

There is a plan that has been in place now for quite a while.

Now, as to younger children, and I think we'll define this as probably six to eight and under, the parents are instructed to find a legal parking spot.

uh and and there are either on ridge avenue with meters or on that street uh they are instructed

to bring their child in um and then go back to their parking spot when they leave pick up they

are directed to only pull around out front uh when when the child is ready to be brought out

with the older children and we'll kind of define this as eight or over the parents are instructed

to pull up to the front of the property the child will then walk or run into the property

uh with an adult there to watch that ingress coming in uh the same is on the way out um

uh the same is on the way out um uh mr griffin why don't we do this why don't you bring your

client on and have your testimony adopted we'll do uh if we can have her let in

have her raise her hand what's your client's name sir uh jeanette julia her husband will be on but

i think we only need uh jeanette okay um neither one of them appears to be here they i i've been

back and forth with them uh and they said they've been asking to let in be let in so i'm gonna have

them raise their hand yes i'm i'm telling them to do that right now okay excuse me there is no one

in the audience

by either name.

Okay.

So, Mr. Griffin?

I will tell them to log on

back right now.

Okay.

And I'm getting a text

that says still letting me in

according to her.

All right. So, Mr. Griffin. Yes, sir. You're an officer of the court. Yes. We can accept your testimony. We do accept your testimony. Okay. Thank you, sir. Questions from the board. No, Mr. Chairman. No, Chair. No, Mr. Chairman.

Questions or comments from our attorney, Hillary Emerson?