And this is one of the signs that you're asking for permission for.
Yeah, so I think it would be good to know which signs that are still at the location and which ones aren't.
So, Sylvia, is this sign still at the location?
Oops, I keep going the wrong way.
Is this sign on the side still on the location?
They asked us to remove the other ones, and we did.
These ones, they didn't ask us to remove them.
That's why we left them there.
But the ones they asked us to remove, we did remove them.
Okay, because these are updated photos.
So there were a lot more signage on other photographs, right?
Okay. And then this awning, you know, since it has writing on it, is considered to be a sign.
Yes, and I think that's what we're trying to legalize is those two.
But there are a lot more signage before that we removed.
Okay. Well, it says here it's about the proposed flat wall sign.
I don't see where.
I think this may be.
I'm assuming and presuming, and maybe I shouldn't, that the flat wall sign we're talking about is this one that's on the side of the building here.
That the flat wall sign we're talking about is this one that's on the side of the building here.
We'll get greater definition about understanding.
I think we need to make sure that we are getting the refusals and permissions that are needed for all the signage, which would include that whole army.
other questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney
um just briefly um mr napson you mentioned that you were requesting a resumption hearing
um and i think based on based on the way the refusal is written it looks like it's a business
and professional office for the whole structure and it only references the one accessory wall
sign which would be the sign that's on the side of the building not the awning sign um so i i think
if you want to legalize that sign and also clarify that there would be single family above which
would also generate a refusal for multiple principal uses on a lot i think that you really
should amend the refusal in this case and make sure that it's um that it lists everything that
that your client is proposing. And that's fine. I think we previously spoke to you about
doing this by way of proviso, but if you want us to send and do this by way of an authorization
letter, we'd be more than happy to comply with that. So is that what you're asking us to send
an authorization letter to the ZBA asking for permission to amend our zoning appeal by way of
another refusal um yes i think that would be best in this case especially if there's additional
signage that you're also seeking to legalize because based on what it what what the refusal
says it's only the one sign and not the awning sign no and i appreciate that i mean again our
office did not handle the initial application process so we want to make sure that every all
of our eyes are dotted and teaser crossed so when the board does vote it's based on the current
conditions to the property and the proposed uh use of the property absolutely thank you so is
that so is the owning is the owning sign legal the one on the front i don't think so i don't know
i don't think it can be if it's rsa5 no and it may also trigger um a art commission uh review
as well because with awnings that have writing on it they want to uh confirm uh how much writing
can be on it and what kind of fabric is used for the awning so and i don't see any of that in this
so questions or comments from the virtual audience
chair we have craig meladosian craig meladosian please unmute yourself and wait for the chair
Craig, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Craig, C-R-A-I-G, last name Melidosian, M-E-L-I-D-O-S-I-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do, Chair Bergman.
Please proceed and try to tell us where you stand with this.
All right. We were approached regarding having a resumption hearing.
All of the testimony that's been delivered today is not necessarily testimony that I am, I'll say, fully familiar with.
There were two different requests or applications made to Elton and I regarding this.
In my opinion, both of them were intentionally inaccurate, and one of them was finally withdrawn by this current council.
The prior council has moved on, and I'll leave it at that.
I would simply ask that photographs of the current situation be taken and that council or their expediter, preferably council, go back to L&I and submit everything that is there.
We had an original, I've had several hours, multiple hours of meetings with the development team, both via Zoom and phone.
this, and I would like to structure an agreement with them that includes residential. We had a
community meeting on 4-15-2024. It was well attended, and at that time, there was zero
It was well-attended, and at that time, there was zero support for this project, and five of the six RCOs that participated in it were also not supportive.
I'd like to point out our concern with the team is that they do not seem to abide by this city.
Greg, you're breaking up, Greg.
You're breaking up, Greg.
Greg, you're breaking up, you're breaking up.
The entire, what I will send me, I'd like to also see an amended application that includes all signage as well as the residential unit upstairs.
They indicated that they have letters of support.
However, I can attest that the neighbors raised such a ruckus with L&I that a cease and desist was issued.
There is a small, I'll call it breezeway, that allows access to the ground floor entrance on the north elevation of the building,
as well as a ramp leading to an entrance on what would be the first floor.
The other area that you see is parking belonging to CAS auto repair and is not part of this process.
If they need parking, we would like to see a letter of support from CAS.
So we think this needs to come back.
We think the application needs to be fine-tuned to indicate what is being done there, how it's being there.
the story seems to have mutated over time. Our feeling is we absolutely want the residential
unit, most likely a one-bedroom, one-bath on what would be the second floor of the building.
We would probably also ask that consideration be given to a time-limiting proviso
of no more than three to five years. So if the current applicant does not turn out to be a good
neighbor, that facility can be retained to its full residential use. We understand that the RSA-5
may not be fully appropriate, probably should be RM-1 based on what goes on around it. We also
think the time extension would give the applicant plenty of time to find suitable commercial space
in the area. And we look forward to the appeal being cleaned up and a new meeting with the
community and a resumption hearing. Thank you. Mr. Dawkinson, do you have any questions?
No. I would just say this. We took over this matter. We've been trying to clean this up.
We've had, as Craig stated, probably hours upon hours of discussions with him about this project.
Everything has been asked of us to introduce a residential component.
We have getting rid of the ATM, getting rid of additional signage.
We embrace the fact that we want to do this the right way in terms of amending our zoning appeal and having a new refusal.
So we embrace everything that he just stated.
So we look forward to meeting with him and cleaning this thing up and representing this to the board.
Anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission, maybe you want to hold the vote on this so you know what you're voting for?
Yes, sir. We'd like to hold our recommendation.
Thank you very much. So we'll have a resumptive hearing and we'll figure out where we stand at that time.
OK. All right. Can we have like a well, I guess we have some homework to do.
So I think I think before you worry about the date, why don't we get some things done? OK.
All right. Thank you. Very. Thank you. Number 13.
Number 13, MI 2024, 002-205, 1532 South 31st Street.
Nicole Holland is the pro se applicant.
We do not have an RCO, but there was a meeting with the neighbors on August 22nd, 2024.
Nicole Holland is coming back in as a panelist now, Cher.
Hi, Ms. Holland. I think we spoke earlier today and I think I swore you in. Am I correct?
Yes, you did. Okay, could you do me a favor? Could you turn your video on?
mm-hmm okay thank you our vice chair has a few questions for you okay
Okay, thank you. Our vice
good morning miss halen have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that's needed
to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing yes i did i have thank you please
proceed and share your screen i'm sorry can you repeat that put your documents up share your
screen got it okay okay so um okay i'll show everything so these are the the community the
the public hearing postings that were on the property.
This is the public meeting notice
that's posted on the orange posters,
the letter of refusal.
I also supplied all of the addresses
that the mailings went out to,
the project information form,
um the appeal application and hold on i'll show you the rest um i also submitted the full deed
to the property here is the post office certification of the mailing i'm sorry
that's all of the stamps so i sent out approximately 190 letters to all the surrounding
properties uh this is the letter of tax clearance and the last item uh yesterday i was asked for
interior photos of the property so um i'll quickly scroll through these so these
so it's a new construction property um and i think this is the last item that you need
unless there's something i'm missing that you need me to show
what happened when you went to the rco meeting
um so they asked a series of questions uh to see if they would be comfortable um i answered the
i can go over the questions that they asked with you um ultimately they came into the meeting
saying that they had reservations about short-term rentals um so they proceeded to ask me a series
of questions which again i can provide the answers to you ultimately have you heard yeah have you
heard where they stand on the on the project yes so um i think there were there were only about four
or five people on the call but they ultimately sent a letter of non-support when i did ask them
if i could get information on why it was um why it was a letter of non-support i wasn't given
information because i felt pretty strong that the answers i gave supported the fact that i i wouldn't
be an absentee property owner. I spend 50% of my time in Philadelphia between there and I work in
Manhattan. I have security cameras on the property. I have two separate cleaning companies that would
go and make sure everything is in order. So I was unclear as to why they sent the letter of
non-support. The meeting went well, but again, they came into it saying that they had reservations
about short-term rentals um there's only a handful of them in the in in the area
but yes that meeting was last week okay hilary hilary we don't have a copy of that
no we don't excuse me we do not have a copy of the letter miss holland are you able to pull up
a copy of the letter please yes i believe so hold on one second um i just need to go here
here. Sorry, give me one second. Sorry for emails. Give me one moment. They did send
it to me. Here we go. Here you go.
So, yeah, again, the meeting went well, but I was trying to understand why the letter
of non-support came. Again, I have security cameras. I'm at the house weekly. I'm not
an absentee owner. I'm 50% in Philly, 50% in New York, taking care of an elderly parent.
uh taking care of an elderly parent so um and i have previously run short-term rentals no
So and I have previously.
incidents whatsoever i have a screening process i have a cleaning crew uh so uh those were the
main questions that they asked around the cleanliness uh being absentee and also monitoring
of the property
just out of curiosity hillary that that letter looks like it's from tasker
marsh neighborhood association we have listed gracebury community council
they probably met together i know sometimes they and miss holland maybe
could speak to that sometimes they they meet together and they might pass off who sends the
letter to the other rco yes it was everyone so i believe one person was from tasker morris and one
was from philly thrive and the other was from gray's ferry so they were they were all on
thank you um and just to confirm i'm an individual owner i'm not a part of a corporation or any
large venture capital company. So I'm just an individual owner looking to get
the zoning variance for the short-term rental.
Questions or comments from the board? Are you utilizing like Airbnb or something like that?
I'm trying to figure out the platform. Most likely it would be Airbnb. So I'm just making
sure I go about it 100% legally to get the zoning variance. But most likely that would be the
platform um it may be on vrbo as well but again i'm one of the bedrooms and bathrooms will be
locked at the property because i also live there part-time so again i'm not an absentee owner who
has an airbnb and isn't checking on it and i have systems in place to make sure where
there's no garbage on the sidewalk the interior stays clean um
so my question it it's not it's not furnished um i didn't have that so it is currently furnished
um i didn't have any pictures that i took myself to be able to provide but yeah it's it's it is
fully furnished there's a living room set dining room set the bedrooms all have beds
uh the bathrooms are all furnished so the these are just um listing photos the the property is
currently furnished it's fully furnished and then uh how many bedrooms from the desk
um in total there's four bedrooms three baths but for the listing it will be three bedrooms
two baths because my area will be locked off. Okay. And then you're going to, you said you
live there and you're going to do short term rentals. So how would this, how would this work?
Is that? Yeah. So right now when I go, so I have to be in Manhattan Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Thursday to be in office. The rest of the time I'm in Philadelphia, but when the rentals
start i have to base it on if and when the property gets rented so for example if the
property gets rented from a friday to a sunday i would go on a sunday make sure everything is in
order come back to the city for tuesday when i have to be um at work so depending on when the
unit gets booked i would be in the unit around that uh and that's why my specific area is remaining
locked okay great thank you thank you the question other questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney
um my only excuse me my only comment would be if you could forward a copy of the letter to us for
our records from the letter from the rco that would be great thank you okay i'll send it uh
um right after the meeting what should your comments from the virtual audience
i see no hands chair commission
mr powers you are muted please unmute my apologies good morning dan powers with the city planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rsa5 zoning at this
location there is no unique physical condition or circumstances that will present prevent this
property from being used in conformance with the zoning code the city planning commission recommends
that the board deny the use variants for visitor accommodations in my 2024 002 205 15 30
MI 2024, 002, 205, 1532, South 31st Street, I vote yes, but proviso, temporary variance that expires 8-28-26.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.