And there's one on the 1935 zoning for three unrelated people in a single-family home.
I inserted that.
I know that's not really technically multifamily, but I just wanted to show the board that there are multiple uses of properties on the block.
And these are the backup records indicating what I just said in that outline.
This is a store, 1935.
I should blow these up a little bit.
This is the one that I said
there's three persons occupying the property.
This is from
Three persons.
Tioga. This is dating from 1990.
This was a deli and one family.
Indicating an active rental license for one unit above the store.
1911 East Tioga.
This is from 86.
Indicating a one family dwelling and a law office.
I don't really think that law office is there.
I didn't see it, but I'm just pulling up what was on public records.
1923 East Tioga.
This is a very dated zoning record from 1950, indicating two-family.
And I, you know, with all candor to the board, I couldn't confirm that it's still two-family.
I didn't want to knock on the door, but I'm only giving you, again, what the public records indicate.
This is the one at 1947, Tioga.
And from 1949, that is a two-family, and that is a two-family.
I verified that.
And they do have an active rental license.
That's how I verified it, besides walking by it.
1903, East Tioga.
This is a two-family dwelling.
Again, these are dated.
I'm not trying to suggest to the board that they are current.
This is from 1938, but I only can show the board what public records indicate.
1949, East Tioga.
this is a mixed commercial on the first floor and residential on the second that is in play.
And there are my zoning records. So I'm asking the board to look kindly upon this application
and legalize what is a two-family dwelling. My client's on the line. He will testify as to
why he doesn't have photographs of what it looked like when he acquired the property,
because typically when I come before the board,
I would have photographs showing what the property looked like when he bought it.
So it can be verified that in fact, it was set up as a duplex.
He had to pull only one permit, which was an easy, easy permit for exterior stucco.
He basically replaced things in the house, nothing structural.
He'll testify to no changes in window or door sizes, exterior.
And he put in new heating units in the basement.
And he put in new heating units in the basement.
so that is
So that is the presentation.
And if my client can raise his hand, I'll have him.
Why don't you bring him on?
Mr. Picholi, can you raise your hand, please?
They have been promoted. They should be coming back in shortly.
Mr. Picholi?
It takes him a while to get in.
Okay, sorry.
leo can you raise your hand yes all right sir could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer it's uh leo pascholi l-e-o last name pascholi p-a-s-h-o-l-l-i
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
Please proceed, counsel.
Mr. Bisholi, were you on the call when I presented your project?
Yes, I was.
And were my statements accurate about when you purchased a property and you did not take photographs of the existing utilities in the basement?
And why was that?
Just busy constantly.
And, you know, I just never, I never thought that I needed to take any pictures.
The whole time, honestly, I thought that it was a duplex legally.
And you did appear in front of Harrogate in 2023, and they rejected your project, meaning they did not vote in favor of it, correct?
And since that time, we've appeared at least twice, I believe, in front of the community group.
At least I have. You may have gone there more than me.
And over the intervening year and a half, why has the neighborhood reversed their feeling about this?
well they at this point they know me a lot better i live in the neighborhood i live in the same zip
code i'm about three blocks away from the property you know they know me a lot better they know that
i take care of my property so i'm not uh as they call a slum lord okay i take care of all my
properties and i don't uh you know i just i try to make the neighborhood a better place to live
all right uh and if you had the opportunity to testify would you adopt my testimony as your own
and that's true and correct yes thank you mr basholly questions from the board question where
where is your trash uh tenants going to store the trash uh that's a very good question i actually
just purchased uh if you could uh see in the front there the pad i just purchased a uh it's not a
trash bin i guess it's a trash shed which i will be bolting right at the front of the property there
with uh you know trash cans what about uh this is this is where the this the uh
tenants will store their trash on an ongoing basis or just on trash day it's a shed so they
could do that it's it's an enclosed shed so they can store it at all times okay
these buildings this this apartment i'm sorry to interrupt this apartment are not
huge apartments but at the same time they're not small they're made mainly for one person so they're
not you know you could have two people living there so i don't know i don't make a lot of trash
so it's not i don't think it's necessary to have any big containers or dumpsters there
does that first unit have access to the yard yes they do and does it have access to the basement
as well yes yes other questions uh how do you get to the second floor apartment when you go
through that door the door in the picture okay there's a door to the left and there's a door
straight ahead so there's a literally a four by four hallway shared common space and then you
would go upstairs or to the left of the first unit okay and is that one here anywhere in what
do you bring back the uh okay miss garson here's the side the front door would be here here's the
side that we have come into the first and then uh there's a stairwell to go up to the second
okay all right thank you any questions from the board questions are okay well yes i do have one
so in 2023 when you appeared in front of the community group you didn't have pictures to show
them then either of what no we did have this gas and we did have pictures i did the basically a
similar presentation. Oh, excuse me, maybe you mean original
pictures? I'm sorry. Yes, that's what I mean. Correct. You did
that's what i mean correct you did not ah okay all right sorry about that
not. Okay.
questions from our attorney uh no chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
do not see any hands mr chair planning commission
amy wood with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning to the existing RSA-5 residential single-family zoning at this location.
There is evidence that the conversion to multifamily was done without the benefit of permits.
We note that there are three mailboxes visible on the house while two units are sought.
This is mostly a single-family block, and there are no unique physical conditions or
circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the
zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends the board to deny the requested variance for multifamily.
Thank you.
MI-2023-002-415-1941 East
Toyota Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tinella Graham, my vote is yes.
Eowyn, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
All right, number three, MI-2024-003-268-3501-G Street.
lori han maslin is the attorney um there was a there's no letter or summary that we have
at this point of uh from the rco there was a meeting on october 17 2024 before the kensington
independent civic association
i do have a copy of that letter and i did submit it either yesterday or monday that we
why don't we do this why don't you identify yourself first fair enough okay uh laurie l-o-r-i
on h-a-h-n maslin m-a-s-l-i-n no hyphen do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do could you identify your client the relationship to this property
Sure. My client is Abril, A-B-R-I-L-L-E, Patio, P-A-T-I-L-L-O. She is the sole member and owner of Brilliance Realty LLC, which is the owner of the property.
The vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the written or the refuse or stipulate to his accuracy?
I agree, yes.
Have you emailed in all the required documents?
to the best of my knowledge i have except for current photographs of the inside of the property
so we're going to probably need you to email them in but we can go through the actual
presentation and i also learned today mr shaheed no taxes taxes you have a tax tax clearances in
there as well um and uh for ms patio um and uh i learned this morning ms patio took a look at the
drawings that were sent to me by the uh architect richard nevis he is on and available this morning
um were the incorrect were not the revised plans they were the original plans he had not forwarded
the revised uh and he will he will testify that the only change is on a stairway egress okay
please proceed mr chair this is ian hegarty i will be sharing screen for uh council council
Council, if you need me to move forward or backward, just say so, and I'll change the screen for you.
Thank you.
Excellent.
You are the best because I am computer challenged.
I will admit to that wholly.
As you can see, we have submitted the original refusal.
I'm not sure what the next document is, but we did post the property as required.
There are a series of pictures of the posting.
There's the project information form, and these are the photos.
You'll see this is a corner property that looks out onto the corner of Tioga and G Street.
I posted it on three sides so we could properly see it, so it would be seen by the neighborhood.
And as you can see, this neighborhood and this area is quite commercial as well as residential.
this particular property uh when it was purchased by my client was an active open operating bar
and restaurant with a liquor license licensed legally by the pennsylvania liquor control board
it has been if uh planning can probably review and i did not include because it was this thick
i did not want you to have to go through it but um the zoning throughout the years this has been
a restaurant since I think 1934 and was first zoned as a restaurant and bar in 1949.
and was first zoned as a restaurant and bar in 1949. So it has been consistently used as that.
When Ms. Patio bought the property, it was open and active. They wanted to be out so
bad that they closed probably a month or two before closing on the transaction.
And what Ms. Patio would like to do is open the original bar space and up on the second floor. When
she viewed the building they were illegally using the second floor and the kitchen was up there and
they were serving up there as well and if you can move forward to find the original plans and that's
the close-up of the zoning there you go next one there you go what you'll see is that on the first
floor there's bar and seating and continued bar and seating and where the stairway is is that is
what is going to be moved and we'll, we'll put in the, um, revised plans. Um, yeah, we have them.
Um, and I will submit them through the system. Um, and then up on the second floor, uh, which
is to the right, I believe is you'll see a bar serving area and then you'll see towards the
rear of the kitchen. Um, and we moved the stairway because, uh, yeah, uh, when we went to planning
and zoning. They didn't want anybody going through or past the kitchen in order to get out. So we're
changing the egress to make it appropriate from the second floor. And again, you will see this
is primarily to be a restaurant. It's a continued use. And when Mr. Nevis originally applied for
this, essentially he asked for zoning for two floors of a restaurant. This has always been
a bar and restaurant on the first floor, and it's really expanding it up to the second floor
to enable it to be more
of a restaurant
Ms. Petillo
is intending on doing a full menu
tell them the kind
of food
American food, Jamaican
food, and Spanish food
Why don't we square her in
Okay, fair enough
Is that turned on?
Please state your name
Upper Opetillo? Spell it? Yeah. A-B-R-I-L-L-E-P-A-T-I-L-L-O.
You swear referring to telling the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
Yes. Please proceed, counseling. Thank you. Ms. Patillo, you just heard me
make a statement as to the type of food. Can you tell the panel what kind of food you're