okay i have also uh carlos mr carlos you can unmute yourself are you for this case yes ma'am
please identify yourself spell your first and last name my name is carlos
Carlos Diclo
C-E-L-O
Carlos Diclo is D-E-C-L-O
Do you swear for him to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
What is your involvement regarding this case?
I'm part of the
owner.
You are the owner?
Excuse me, Chair.
The owner is actually a corporation.
the attorney whose hand was raised is Stanley.
I'm sorry, I didn't get the last name,
but if we could check if he is representing the applicant.
Yes, I am.
Hello.
Yeah, please identify yourself.
My name is Stanley Perry.
I'm the attorney and I represent IB Realty LLC.
You swear for him to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
please proceed uh mr chairman members of the board i think as someone just stated at the last
appearance my clients uh the board wouldn't go on because as an entity they
The board wouldn't go on because as an entity, the applicants are an LLC, so they need an attorney.
So that's why I'm here.
All of the exhibits have been submitted except for the tax compliance, which was submitted Tuesday past.
So it wasn't within the five-day period, but it has been submitted.
Okay, so let's go forward with the case.
Okay, so this is for a corner grocery store at 3469 Crystal Street.
And Mr. Perry, pardon the interruptions.
If you can share your exhibits, that would be helpful.
Well, and that's the problem because I was just recently retained.
While I have all of the exhibits, I don't have it in the format as the other attorneys presented to you.
And so there's one of two ways we can proceed because I have my client has everything, RCO approvals, pictures, all of that.
And so if I can't share my exhibits in the way that previous council did, I would ask for a small or short continuance so I can put this together so I can share it like other council did.
well correct me if i'm wrong sharon and or latisha um obviously there's no way of getting a short
meaning a uh hearing uh if we continue this it's going to be a while before they get a hearing
uh sharon i believe that's true i don't think there's any way we can hear the case correct
without exhibits because we'd have to go through it again
yes i think that's true excuse me excuse me mr chairman yes yes can he just can he show it
just show it it doesn't have to be a format i don't think he has the exhibits am i right
mr prairie yeah i don't have all of it okay yeah that's right and if we
if we just can't set a precedent if we said we were hearing the case and then get the exhibits
it's like hearing the case all over again once we have the exhibit so this case is going to have to
be continued okay MI 2021 I'm sorry MI 2020-001841-3469 Crystal Street will be continued
Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you. MI-2020-000118-4715 Green Street.
This is a per se case I believe. Maria James.
there's a letter of opposition from the uh solo germantown civic association
yes they're coming in now as a panelist okay
maria i'm maria james hi can you put your name and address on the record and spell your last
name please daja maria james my last name is spelled j-a-m-e-s
your address 47 15 green street g-r-e-e-n-e philadelphia pennsylvania one nine one four
for do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes and have you
emailed the exhibit packet in with proof of ownership tax compliance the copy of the refusal
or referral photos and or plans of the property five days in advance of this hearing and have you
met with an RCO and do you have a letter? Yes. She may proceed. Okay. The RCO is stating
opposition, but it's misrepresentative of what occurred. The near neighbors were in support
and we're not counting.
I'm sorry to interrupt, but
if she's supposed to speak, she would have to be sworn in.
What is your name, please?
Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Taja
English. I am Zsa
James' daughter.
is spelled T-O-D-
Z-S-A.
My last name
is English, like the language
E-N-G-L-I-S-H.
You swear
from the tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
yes sir thank you i'm sorry carol please proceed that's okay sorry about that
um so i was just saying that in the rco meeting
Um, so I was just saying that in the RCO meeting, um, the RCO letter is in opposition, but it's misrepresentative.
Excuse me. I'm sorry, Ms. Sharon, this is the property owner who will have to present.
She's just, I'm right here. She's like, that's my daughter. She's representing me in the case, please.
No, she can't represent you. You represent yourself for an attorney. Um, I'm afraid she will have to give the explanations.
James you will have to do the presentation
also we have Patrick
Jones on the call could we allow him to share his screen as well with you all
your mom has to she's the one that has to testify
okay we weren't told that
okay so I'll just have to tell her what to say she's not I mean you know
we understand that but unfortunately that's okay just tell them why we're doing while we're doing
the um well while we're doing the hair and have the zone and changed back to what it was and have
the apartment we went um my daughter's helping me out with the um getting the zone and change
back to commercial because we want to change it into apartments but so she can live there and I
do you have do you have any exhibits you can share with us
i'm sorry to interrupt again this is sharon but i'm going through the exhibits um which
were submitted by mr jones yes jones can you confirm that you did submit a deed you were able
to obtain one yes i sent that deed to you chair okay thank you
okay please proceed
and so um you know just tell them that let me put you back on here that um
we need the zoning change back to head the commercial front and to add a apartment to
the bottom so that we can all live there because the taxes have become too much for you okay we
want to change the zoning back to commercial for non-profit so that we can put an apartment
on the front because the taxes have become too much for me.
So that we all can live there. Do you have any floor plans you can share with us?
Yes, the floor plan should be in it. There we go. Okay, we have them now. Okay. So if I may just be
able to explain the floor plans um the in the past the the the the property was a mixed-use
residential just a lot very long time ago there was a dentist office in front but my mother
had never used the commercial space and the taxes were you know higher based on that zoning so she
had the zoning changed to try to you know better afford the taxes um but she cannot afford you know
to upkeep at a house or to Texas either way. And therefore, you know, she was going to lose the
house to sheriff sale. And so, you know, we talked about it. And I said that perhaps we could help by
moving in and putting an apartment on the basement floor for her and my brother who currently
live there. And then myself and my wife and child could move in. And I have a nonprofit that I run.
And so I just, I need the space to continue to do that.
I teach self-sufficiency and such like that to the community, mostly children, but also
adults.
So the reason to have this, you know, happen would be to prevent my mother from losing
the house because we can't afford to, you know, just pay, you know, we don't basically
move in and all kind of cohabitate.
We can't afford to do it.
And it's necessary to have the apartment separate and the zoning to reflect so that she can still have separate utilities because she has programs like LIHEAP and things of that nature.
Otherwise, you know, those programs wouldn't be still accessible to her if it's not a separate unit.
and then for insurance purposes obviously the front would have to be
you know for the commercial space in the front so that I can have proper insurance and things
like that when I have different you know when the children come to learn different things and
the different things that I teach with the non-profit and I sell some things for the
non-profit just to raise funds. If I'm hearing you correct the first floor would be converted it'll
be a mixed use it'll be residential and commercial that's correct so the first floor where are the
bedrooms for the first floor you the first floor doesn't hit so the first floor and the second
floor half of the first floor is is already separated as a commercial
is already separated as a commercial space because originally that's how the house was
zoned and how it was separated. So it wouldn't change in any way as far as the first and second
floor will remain how it currently is and how it has always been. So the first, the back half of
the first floor contains a living room and a kitchen. And then the second floor, of course,
has the bedrooms and bathroom the front half of the first floor has the original commercial space
so it used to be a dentist's office years ago so it's just separated like there's a dark room in
there and an office space and that kind of thing and then the basement would be the only part of
the house that would actually be changed as far as doing any construction and that we would like
to convert to a two-bedroom to accommodate my mother and brother who currently live there now
You want to create bedrooms in the basement, you're saying?
That's correct.
Do you have any photographs of the house?
No, we do not.
The house is not in a great condition and needs a lot of work as far as the inside is concerned.
We have pictures there of the outside.
I did consult with a few contractors, and there is either in the front or the back, and there's room on the side.
As you can see, it's a corner property.
so we can put and um i'm not sure what the right where would the entrance to the commercial space
be it's the it's on the first floor when you go up the steps to the porch when you go
and then there's once you walk all the way through like i said it's about half of the
first floor there's a door there that leads you into the living room of the home but also
So the back door is where, you know, usually you would come in as far as if you kept this front as a commercial space, the people, we would go in through, you know, the back door to get into the home.
But we would be using the commercial space ourselves.
So also we could walk through just, you know, it's like a partition wall that was created to separate the dentist's office that was originally there.
But I'm not looking to make the front like a storefront or anything.
Like I said, I run a nonprofit, and so I would need that space to conduct my nonprofit and have people come in to learn.
You know, I do different classes and workshops.
I do sell items to obviously raise funds to continue the nonprofit.
So we would be looking to put an egress, I guess.
I don't know if, you know, but another door would be added.
to the basement to enter into the basement apartment that we're looking to create.
Where would that door be located?
It would be in the front.
As you can see, there's a small front yard.
And there are one or two other homes on that block that also have basement entrances that
they, and I'm not sure if they're original or not, but maybe they dug out.
I don't know if they the front yard is there's a door in the front yard basically that goes down
into the basement as you can see the house the basement is partially above ground so it's no
you know it's no trouble to put a door on the outside of the front back or side of the house
to enter to the basement apartment we're looking to propose you add a door to the side of the
building you're going to have some lni issues i i don't know tom do you have anything to weigh in
on this i'm unfortunately mr chairman the drawings are just not clear enough
to make a decision about yeah we're not we're not looking to put the door on the side i was just
letting you know what the different contractors said to me but we would like to put the door on
the front or the back of the house to enter the way you're the way I see you being laid out and
I could be wrong is that you're basically commingling the residential and the commercial
your people will be going into the commercial then you have a staircase going down into the
basement for two bedrooms I no no no no Sharon excuse me for one minute I just if you're able
to access your email i just forwarded the um letter from the rco and if i could just read
part of this um neighbors were sympathetic to the family's plight but questioned a need for a
commercial and or family multi-family designation they were also confused about the exact exact
spatial configuration between the private quarters and the non-profit commercial space
um so they had exactly the same concern i have i'm not clear on it yes if i could
Yes, if I could be allowed to explain, I was trying to explain that in the beginning, that the RCO letter is stating opposition, but it was misrepresented.
uh be allowed to explain i was trying to explain that in the beginning that the art
The near neighbors were.
You have a petition from the near neighbors?
I have. The council can attest to what I'm saying if they could.
but the council office can concur, but that the neighbors agree, and they also said that there could be a proviso that would only allow my nonprofit to be there.
So that they were mostly concerned that like another corner store may be added later, let's just say, if we didn't want to use it anymore.
So a proviso.
Excuse me. I'm sorry. Mr. Chair, is there an application here for a nonprofit?
No, we're not looking to make the home.
Or wait, excuse me, or would there have to be another application for her?
I believe that they described it as a commercial use. Could you pull up the refusal again, please?
One of the, well, I think one neighbor brought up, they were concerned about if we were trying to make the building for nonprofit use.
So in other words, it wouldn't be paying taxes anymore. And that's not what we're doing. It's literally just for the front of the house that has the commercial space for me to use as my nonprofit space.
So I'm not looking to make the building for nonprofit use.
I'm just saying that I have a nonprofit and I need the space and the description that
Ellen and I put in after, you know, explaining to them the plan use, they were saying that