civus
Hearing video

ZBA Hearing - July 7, 2026

Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA)Jul 7, 20262h 22m

great good morning good morning

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good morning everyone

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good morning everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be chairing this zoning board hearing

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this morning before i do our roll call the board so everyone knows we have a a new board member

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Laila Beebe is our new board member. She is a lifelong Philadelphian. She's also a business

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agent for the Carpenters Union. She really does understand this whole construction process.

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So we are extremely fortunate to have her. And thank you so much for taking this aside,

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but we could really use your help. Thank you. And we also have with us our vice chair,

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Tanetta Graham.

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Present, Mr. Chairman.

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Our board secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.

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Present, Mr. Chairman.

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Our board member, Ty O'Wynn.

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Ty is here, so she's remote today.

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And also our board member, Ryan McAdams.

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Present, Mr. Chairman.

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Also here is our attorney, Lynn Reuter-Uber.

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Also our director, Ian Haggerty.

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And our board administrator, Lakeisha Dandy.

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This hearing is being recorded and will be posted on the ZBA website.

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By participating, you agree to be recorded.

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This is an in-person meeting with remote participation.

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Whether in person or on Zoom, if you're called to speak, please state and spell your name,

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wait to be sworn in, and after that, each time you testify, start by stating your name.

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To enter your appearance, indicate the property number on the ZBA webinar, speak with a staff member, call the ZBA office by the close of business tomorrow.

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call 215-686-2429, and also provide your name, email, and the address of the case.

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For remote participation, raise your virtual hand when directed so that we can call on you to speak.

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When we call on you, please click the Join as a Panelist button.

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Use the Q&A only for procedural questions, not comments about the case. If you're called to, if you are joining by phone, press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute.

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in-person participation testifying get close to the mic so that all attendees

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and the court reporter can hear you no talking eating or drinking during the

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hearings aggressive behavior will not be tolerated in a case of an emergency

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follow the directions of the staff the exit is the double doors in the rear

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and to the left of that is the stairwell.

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If this is an emergency and you have to evacuate,

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go over to Love Park and please remain there so that we can call on you.

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So let's look at our schedule for today.

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Number one, MI 2023, 001-945-7128-30, Yocum Street.

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Sammy Masva, please come up, sir.

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good morning sir could you please it's the mic one yes okay could you please state your

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name and spell for the stenographer my name is sammy moustapha s-a-o-s-a-m-o-o-s-t

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take your time m-o-s-t-a-f-y right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth

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nothing but the truth. I will do. Could you please give us an update on your case? This is about the fifth or sixth.

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Could you please give us an update on your case? This is about the fifth or sixth time we've listed this. Could you tell us where you stand?

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Yes. I understand that my case has been a long time, and I would like to continue, and I'm sorry, whatever happened.

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Okay, where do you stand? What is it you need to do?

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I need to extend, give me a chance to get a lawyer and continue my case.

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Okay, so we're going to continue this one more time to give you a chance to get the lawyer.

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This will be continued to 9-15-26 at 9.30 a.m.

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9-15.

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9-15-26, September 15th at 9.30 a.m.

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Okay.

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And then number...

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Thank you.

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Thank you, sir.

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at number five mi 2026 000 787 226 harvey street have happy street um david orphanetes is the

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attorney but we're just going to continue this so this case will be continued until 9 15 25 at 9 30

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a.m attorney moving party 9 15 20 oh that's okay don't give it a date then okay all right

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all right so that's case's attorney moving party go to our first case

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Number two, MI 2024-004-304-2001 Kinsey Street.

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Good morning, sir. Good morning. Could you please state your name and spell for the

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stenographer winston banks w-i-n-s-t-o-n banks b-a-n-k-s do you swear or affirm to tell the

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truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do okay so this is a this is a resumptive hearing

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and what we need you to talk about is uh uh the supplicant things you've done since the last

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meeting right and then we'll have the board ask some questions and our attorney and then we'll

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for public right so why don't you do this just for the record give us an idea what you were trying

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to do what your case is about and what you've done since the last hearing well from what i

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understand the only thing that the board required me to do was take um new pictures that were clear

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that were clear um opposed to the last pictures were which were grainy so that's what i did and

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submitted them and i have a receipt and that's the first one right okay all right do we have

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okay that shows where you had to post it right right that is the first floor

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apartment um the living room dining room area right there um that is the kitchen

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from the second floor um the second floor units there's um three individual bedrooms

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That's the kitchen from the first floor of you.

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Right.

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That's the hallway looking from the rear to the front where the staircase is going up to the second floor.

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Right.

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That's my room.

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That's the bathroom on the second floor.

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that's the hallway from the opposite end um from the top of the landing looking to the kitchen

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on the second floor that's the main doorway for going up to the um second floor from the ground

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level and that's all your photos

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that's all your photos no no no sir there's more yes sir there's about 12 of them okay all right

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that's all the photos that i have i will double check okay just just relax

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statement okay because i have the receipt that y'all accepted them okay all right

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You

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Is that it?

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Well, that's one of the pictures.

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Okay.

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Okay. The last hearing, I identified that on the third floor, there's two rooms, but one of the rooms have the file cabinets. That's where I store all my office, and that's a picture of it.

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Okay.

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That was another, yes, the other room where it's just storage of furniture.

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No living space.

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Well, no living, nobody's in the living room.

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That's the hallway going up to the third floor from the second landing to the third landing.

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That was, that's Richard Ross' room.

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Richard Ross room. That's his room. Oh, okay. That's Leroy McCain's room.

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What? Yeah, so me, Leroy McCain, and Rich Ross are on the second floor. Oh, okay. All right. All right.

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That's the duplex you're in, right? First floor is rented, and then the second. Who's on the first floor?

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um um hasan arthur okay and you went to uh the rco and the rco was in support of you

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oh yes and also the council person yes all right questions from the board

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so the third floor you you just have access to for your office correct yes yeah and your

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primary residence is on the second floor yes so the first the first floor does not have access

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to the third floor, because I closed off like that?

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Yeah, I have a picture of the whole outside building,

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and I would have shown it to you.

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Okay.

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And this is not a rooming house, right?

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No, just a couple of guys.

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But the first floor is one complete apartment.

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Okay.

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Okay.

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Other questions?

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Oh, my last question.

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The basement.

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Is there anything going on at your basement?

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Additional storage.

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Okay.

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And who has access to that?

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Me.

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And I had, there's a middle, I can't describe it, the staircase from the outside, because I can't go into his apartment to go in.

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Right, from the outside.

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Yes.

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All right, thank you.

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Any other questions?

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Yes.

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So you're doing this without licenses at this point, correct?

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No.

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Like residential rental license?

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No, no, I do have, I have license, tax and clearances, and I have the certificate of suitability. I have all that.

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You have rental licenses?

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Yes.

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Without the zoning approval?

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Well, because for years I was granted the rental license.

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And then I was, they held it up until I filed, until I filed, which was in 2024, and then started the process.

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Okay. And then there are two separate entrances.

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Yes.

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I don't remember the exterior pictures from before, but there are two separate entrances for the first floor unit and then the unit that you have. Is that correct?

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Yes, yes, because years ago, a couple of years back, when Ellen and I first spoke to me in the MSB building,

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they said, as long as you have two separate bathrooms, two separate kitchens, and two separate entrances,

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it should be no problem.

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And that's what I have.

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Y'all have a picture of the outside of the building.

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I don't see it, but y'all showed it last time.

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Yeah, I think you showed it the last time.

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And then, just out of curiosity, it looks like one of these kitchens, or both of these kitchens, have two refrigerators.

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Is that?

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Yeah.

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That's true.

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Why is that?

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Because the refrigerators were, well, even though they had the standard size, I just had them, you know, for convenience.

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Okay.

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But two refrigerators for the one?

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person well he came in he came after he came later i mean i just had on for years okay and so

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but there were two but both kitchens have two baths two two refrigerators right yes okay right

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thank you other questions

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Thank you. Other questions?

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Questions from our attorney? Not at this time, Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual

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audience or this audience here? No hands at this time, Chair. Planning Commission. Madison Matera,

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Planning Commission staff, M-A-D-I-S-O-N, M-A-T-E-R-A. Do you swear or affirm to tell the

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truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? Yes. Please proceed. The comprehensive plan

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recommends no change to the rsa5 residential single family zoning at this location in 2014

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the city changed the zoning maps in frankfurt at that time this property changed from rm1

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residential multi-family to rsa5 in 2012 two years prior to the zoning map change the property

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received a use permit for a two-family dwelling since this is a legalization of illegally

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non-conforming dwelling the city planning commission recommends that the board grant

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the proposed use variance for two dwelling units. MI 2024-004-304-2001 Kinsey Street,

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I vote yes with proviso. Certificate of occupancy to be obtained.

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Oh, Cheryl, sorry, Mike's not here. Cheryl Caston, my vote is yes with proviso.

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Danetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso. Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with proviso.

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Ty Owen, my vote is yes with proviso. We're good. She's not voting. Thank you, sir.

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Thank you very much. Is that it? You're coming in. Chairman, sir, that's it.

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That's it. That's it. That's it.

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Okay, number five, MI2025-006-648-739-North 44th Street.

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Joseph Consul is the attorney.

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Okay.

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Mr. Consul, could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer?

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Yeah, it's Joseph Consul, J-O-S-E-P-H, last name's Consul.

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C-O-N-S-O-L-E.

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

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I do.

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This is a resumptive hearing.

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We understand that you will give us a supplemental information, and if you would, why don't you just, in starting it, talk about what you were going to do and what the supplemental information is.

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Yeah, you got it.

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Let me just share my thing real quick.

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Okay, Joe Consul here for the applicant, which is No, Rose, and Ridwayne, LLC.

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Mohamed Ola should be on the call, although he did adopt my testimony last time, and his LLC owns 739 North 44th.

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We were before the board on April 22nd.

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At that time, the board's feedback appeared to be generally positive.

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However, several board members raised concerns about a couple of issues on the plans that they wish to see addressed prior to taking a vote.

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My client took that feedback seriously, went back and had the plans for the rehabilitation redrawn and submitted them as part of a proviso that we submitted to the board.

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So I'm not going to go through everything from top to bottom again, but I will just give you a brief overview and respond to the board's comments on April 22nd.

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This is seeking to convert this property into a three-unit building.

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At the hearing on April 22nd, the board brought up three issues they wanted to see rectified on the new rehabilitation plans.

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First, there was a concern about the configuration of the rear exit.

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There was only one rear exit, and that was through the back bedroom.

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Previous board member, Johns?

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No, he saw it.

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Oh, okay.

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He's just on vacation.

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