Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Thomas Holloman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our Board Member, James Snell, should be joining us shortly.
Also present is Hilary 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 tanyasunken at philo.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we are asked attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star nine to raise your hand and star six 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-answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunk.
Let's look at our schedule for this afternoon.
Number two, MI 2023-004-813-1200 South Broad Street.
That case is continued.
Number four, MI 2023-005-769-2628, South Street, that case is continued.
you. Number six. MI 2023-004-818-4849 Parkside Avenue. It's Mr. Feldman here.
Mr. Chair, Mr. Feldman submitted a written request for continuance. This is the first listing.
All right. Thank you. So MI 2023 004.
All right. Thank you. So MI 2023-004-818-4849, Parkside Avenue. That case is continued.
Number 10. MI 2023-004-624-2628, South Street. That case is continued.
Number 12. MI 2023-004-599-488 Byberry Road. That case is continued. Number 13.
Mr. Chair, I was going to say we received a written continuance request for that one attorney moving party.
All right, good. Okay, so number 13, MI 2023-004-915-843-North 40th Street, cases continued, attorney-moving party. And number 14, MI 2023-004-889-3360 Stokely Street, that case is continued.
Also on the list, number seven.
MI 2023-004-793-6401 Wayne Avenue.
Is Mr. Masters here?
Good afternoon, Chair.
This is Fatina.
I'll be your co-host for this afternoon.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
And I have allowed Mr. Masters to speak.
Mr. Masters, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
By lawyers, no doubt.
Yes, hang on.
I have a technical issue for a moment.
All right, take your time.
Okay, I am here.
Could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Steve Masters, S-T-E-V-E, M-A-S-T-E-R-S.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Mr. Masters, number seven, is that going to be withdrawn?
Can you share the zoning permit number?
Because we have two.
Oh, sure.
Sure, sure. So, zoning permit number ZP2023006432.
Yes, that one will be withdrawn and we will be proceeding with ZP2023006432.
Number eight, we'll be doing number eight.
Yeah, 8241.
Yeah, right. So, I'm going to withdraw this right now, okay?
Thank you so much.
Thank you. So number seven, MI 2023, 004-793-6401, Wade Avenue. This case has been withdrawn.
We're going to go to our ad. Is there any other requests for continuances?
There we have Stephanie, last name ending in M.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, Stephanie Magania, S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E, Magania, M-A-G-A-G-N-A.
Do you swear for them to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Are you talking about 1200 South Broad?
I'm not.
I'm here on behalf of 3929 Pine Street.
It's MI 2023-001-071.
My office did send in a written request for continuance as attorney moving party.
okay let me get that
Hillary what number is that
I'm looking Mr. Chair that was this morning on the 9 30 list that was continued that was
continued this morning okay great thank you very much but we did not receive I would say but we
did not receive a request that that be attorney moving party so if you can reach out to the office
Ms. McGagno separately and let us know you'd like to make that change we can do that thank you
thank you very much okay thank you go on to our add-on list
number one on the add-on list mi 2023 004 191 1807 pine street
I vote yes with proviso. Revised plans, one page, stamped by ZBA, December 6, 2023, maximum seven units.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, with proviso.
And number two, MI 2023-002-682-1317 South Ruby Street, I wrote yes.
Vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, I vote yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
On to our regular list.
Number one, MI 2023-004-877-2802 Bodine Street.
Joseph Vaccaro is the attorney.
Letter of support from IMPACT and a letter of non-opposition from Council Member Lozada.
Joseph Vaccaro is coming back in as a panelist.
Mr. Chair, I just want to note that we also received a letter of non-opposition from State Senator Tartaglione.
Oh, thank you.
I appreciate that.
i could state your name and spell please for the court stenographer
certainly good afternoon may please the board my name is joseph
vicaro v-a-c-c-a-r-o attorney on behalf of the church iglesia de dios roca de vida
they are the applicants for this application all right do you swear for him to tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Okay. Our vice chair has just a few questions.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to wave the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
accuracy? Yes, I do. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that is needed and
required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing? Yes, I do. Thank you.
please proceed and share your screen. Okay, thank you very much. May please the board,
this is our application to permit a church on this property. By way of history, this property
is zoned as a single family, but as we'll see in the photographs, this building was never designed,
was never built, was never used as a single-family home. In fact, it's a very large
warehouse type of building, and it was used accordingly as a warehouse. And now the church,
after the church had purchased the building, the church recently discovered that it's not
zoned to be used as an assembly hall for the church, and we're proceeding with this application
to allow this variance to be put in.
Can you see the documents that I'm sharing?
We can, sir.
Okay, so I'm starting off.
We're just going straight down with the documents
that are part of this application.
We have the application for appeal,
which we've already read, the refusal.
Here's a sky view of the property.
This is the building over where my cursor is.
And here's a front view from Google.
Another front view.
And scrolling down, I have some more pertinent photos of the property.
in addition to the letter that I sent to the near neighbors.
And we're just scrolling down to some photos of the inside and the outside of the building.
Okay, so here are some photos of the inside of the building
and the outside, the poster that I put up, timely.
And you can see that this is just a large assembly hall style building, and as I had
had stated earlier, this was used as a warehouse before the church had purchased the building.
stated earlier, this was used as a warehouse before.
The church members would be using parking across the street, but that would be the subject of some
future action before the board again. They also have land behind the building,
which they could use for parking, again, subject to some future applications.
So here I am showing the board the back alley that comes off of the side street from Boudinot.
This is the back of the building. My cursor is over it.
You see the cinder blocks that are blocking, that are closing off a window that's no longer being used.
here's another view of the back of the building
this is not the main entrance this is the back entrance that would be used for emergency exits
and again the church owns all of this green space
all of this land behind the building this is all owned by the church
we're just scrolling further down again here this is all the church's land which again the church
would be able to use for parking subject to future applications
this is a side view of the church
and this what we're showing you now this is the property that the church owns across the street
from the building in question uh this would be subject to future applications um with with a lot
consolidation again to be used for parking for the church members but that would be ancillary to the
pending application for the use permit for the main building right now.
And here's a front view of the building as it currently looks.
Now, one of the comments that we had when this application was refused is that the refusal said that the building was attached.
The building is not attached to either rejoining property. It's a completely self-standing building, and there was space between this building and the property to the south, as well as the next property to the north.
So the building is not connected to any other building.
with me i have pastor edwin sullivan with a few other church members um
and i would have a few questions for the pastor as to what days of the week
and what hours the church would be in operation i want to bring pastor sullivan on sure he's in
the room with me so okay sure hi pastor how are you could you please state your name
and spelled for the court stenographer, sir?
Yes, my name is Kevin Sullivan.
Mr. Vaccaro, could you get him a little closer to the microphone?
Oh, yeah.
God bless everyone.
My name is Kevin Sullivan.
E-D-W-I-N.
My last name is S-O-L-I-V-A-N.
Sullivan.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth?
Yes. Proceed, counsel.
Okay. Pastor, how long have you been
the pastor of the church?
I'm here
two years.
So you've been here two years.
What days of the week would the church
be in operation?
This is Monday
30 to 8 30.
In the evening?
In the evening.
8 p.m.
Tuesday, 7.30 to 9 p.m.
Thursday, 7.30 to 9 p.m.
And Sundays, 11 a.m. to 1 o'clock.
How many members does this church have?
Right now it's about 80 members.
We're working with the community to find some work.
What kind of work is the church doing?
Besides preaching the Word of God, what else are you doing?
we um grab food and go out with the with the communities outside here in the corner with
some of them and helping with some food sometimes and things like that we go to the community to
to help with the need that the community has.
And in the summertime,
we do the big service outside.
And reach out.
And reach out, yeah.
Bring our people to the community
and help with their needs.
and then we
announce