ZBA Hearing - October 8, 2025

of these and where are the like sort of back of house spaces for the operators going to be located

well deluxe accommodations is the company that is being hired it's run by mr anthony lolio

uh he's actually he's actually been and testified other uh visitor accommodations of mine that i've

done. I've recommended my clients use them and they're exceptional with property management of

visitor accommodation properties. A lot of their stuff for Linens and Washington things are off

site. But his team will be responsible not only for the vetting of the folks who sign up, but also

the management of the company of the of the properties itself okay and then i think following

that also assuming this is going to operate more like those airbnb kind of buildings where you know

the people come in and they bring their luggage so there's no like on-site storage of luggage

and things like that temporary like are they leaving their things while they go

you know off on their last day or is it sort of you show up with everything and then you

leave with everything well that's the in theory the plan is you show up with everything and you

leave with everything however uh for an overnight typically these days are two or three nights you

know maybe four nights uh if you're coming in with a you know a carry-on bag or even you know

a check-in like a roller roller type of luggage uh the thought was that if there was a need to store

these spaces this space here in the shared business center would there would be some sort

of nook in there to hold those luggage that luggage however they are not encouraging it

when you check out is your day your time to check out is your time to check out it's not a full

service hotel gotcha so there's not going to be like permanent staff here 24 7 no like at a hotel

okay and then do it what's the sort of plan for the yard because now you've got this combined

yard is it going to be open for the for the temporary tenants no one's ever no one asked

that we have uh john i'm gonna john is also uh is uh co-managing with this and john zow is here as

well yes hi john uh is there any uh plans could i could i could i swear him in first john state

your name and spell for the stenographer oh um my name is john zen uh john j-o-h-n last name is

z-h-e-n-g and i'm her son all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told truth nothing

but the truth yes preces go verne thank you john what's the plan for the yard so the uh we plan

uh not have a guest asset to the yard because uh the guests will uh have a party back there

sometime so yeah so we just might if uh only for emerging emergency x only okay so no uh the answer

Okay. So the answer to a board member's question is no access for the folks, the visitors who will be staying. No opportunity to loiter or litter.

to board members.

Then my follow-up question is, how do you plan to manage that access? Because you probably need to keep egress out of that kitchen door.

So what's the plan to try to manage that if there's not going to be 24-hour management on site?

Well, there certainly will be cameras and lights back there.

Yes.

So that's part of the RCO requirement.

Okay.

Other questions?

Questions from our attorney, Hillary Emerson.

Not at this time, Mr. Chair.

Questions or comments from the virtual audience?

Chair, we have Richard DeMarco with their hand raised.

mr chairman can you hear me i i most certainly can mr demarco could you please state your name

and spell for the stenographer yes richard demarco d-e-m-a-r-c-o

do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth

yes please proceed sir uh i only have a just one or two comments mr chairman uh i i frequently

represent South Broad Street Neighborhood Association, who is the coordinating RCO for

this project. They worked hard on the agreement with Vern Anastasio. And I thought I heard you

say that you, obviously the issue, the critical part of that agreement would be the three-year

temporary, which really the RCO would not have entered into without that being fully supported

by Vern. I believe I heard him say that, although he mentioned some reluctance from the board. Did

I hear you, Mr. Chairman, say that you believe? I think what he said, the board's reluctant not

to give temporary variances, is what he said. Okay. Did I hear that you, Mr. Chairman?

I've read it. Yeah, I did. Three years.

Yeah, I thought I heard you say it was enforceable, not unenforceable. Was I correct?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, very good. We wanted to make sure that that was really, that's all that I have to comment on. Although, I believe Anthony Brutiniti may want to speak more definitively. But yes, as long as it's three year temporary, we are completely on board with this, the agreement.

Thank you, Mr. DeMarco.

Thank you very much.

Well, we have no objection.

I want to reiterate that.

Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?

Yes, Chair.

We have Peter Zutter with their hand raised.

Hi, Chair.

Could you please state your name and spell for the sonographer?

Yes.

My name is Peter Zutter, P-E-T-E-R, Z-U-T-T-E-R.

Right.

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

I do.

Mr. Nutter, are you a neighbor?

Yes.

So I'm president of the South Broad Street Association, and I live at 1440 South Broad Street, which is fairly close.

Yep. Yeah. And we did work very hard with Byrne, as Rich said, to come to an agreement on this.

I believe you've read most of the provisos and they're in writing in our letter.

The key proviso is that three year temporary.

We feel, you know, your board has pointed out a number of the issues.

with a property like this,

with this kind of a dense use

that is not really supervised.

And, you know, those were all our concerns.

Given the nature of the property,

there's really not much that we can do about it.

And we think we've come to a good agreement

with the owner.

And that's really about it.

As long as you folks will support

the three-year temporary,

we are okay with it.

Thank you very much.

Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?

no hands at this time chair planning commission good afternoon this is liz fuselay last name is

spelled f as in frank u s e l i e r for the planning commission do you swear or affirm to

tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do sir please proceed the comprehensive

plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from rsa 5 residential single family

2 cmx 3 commercial mixed use under the recommended zoning of cmx 3 visitor accommodation is allowed

by right the city planning commission recommends the board grant the proposed variants for visitor

accommodations thank you so i'm going to read both together number six mi 2025 002794 1240

South Broad, and also MI2025-002-800.

8 0 0 I vote yes for both provisos for both must obtain a certificate of vacancy a three-year

I vote yes for both, provisos for both.

temporary variance that expires 10 10 28 trash stored inside or in rear yard no household living

in the basement michael johns my vote is yes with provisos for both for both mr johns yes for both

Thank you.

Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes

with provisos for both.

Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes

with provisos for both.

Aywin, my vote is yes

with provisos for both properties.

Thank you, counsel.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Number four.

MI 2025

002 711

35 Nippon Street.

Alan Nockmson is the attorney.

There's unanimous support from the West Mount Airy Neighbors Incorporated, 13 votes.

Also, the applicant has provided a petition of 28 signatures from neighbors and also 17 form letters of support, 16 from the immediate block.

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

Yes, good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the board.

Alan Nockamson, A-L-A-N, last name Nockamson, N-O-C-H-U-M-S-O-N.

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

I do.

And could you identify your client in a relationship to the property?

Yeah, my clients are Eric Tars and Militia Escobar, who are the owners of the property,

and to my left is Eric, one of the owners.

Our vice chair, Tanetta Graham, has a few questions.

Good afternoon.

Have you emailed your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?

Yes.

And do you stipulate, do you wear the reading letter refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?

I do.

Okay, thank you.

You can share your screen and proceed with your case.

And congratulations on the appointment and congratulations board member Gaston as well.

Before I begin, I just want to acknowledge Sophia Calabrese from my office.

She's another attorney from my office.

This was her first zoning matter she's handled.

She handled the community meeting.

so i just want to recognize that she did that and she did a great job all right uh let me uh

i need to be uh promoted to a pat as a panelist

thank you hey you should be coming back in shortly

hi so uh eric and and uh melissa um own this property um melicia sorry melicia have owned

this property for almost 20 well portion this property for almost 20 years um you can see here

the left portion of the property is what they've owned for 20 years here they've owned for four

years and through unity of use they've combined this property what oh it's a reverse sorry uh and

they've and they've owned this property um and they're looking to take a portion right here to

make this for their parking all right so during my presentation we'll review the notice of refusal

which is the first item this is an RSA 5 property you know by you know having this

use as parking we are required to have you know the board's approval we did meet with the community

again you know Eric and Malicia are the owners of the property have been for some time integrated

into this community for almost 20 or over 20 years and they received unanimous support in

this endeavor. They also took it upon themselves to, you know, to circulate a petition. And as you

can see, it's pretty extensive for their proposed use of the property. And then these, this is the

back round petition that people signed in support, along with letters of support.

and then it's not uncommon to have off-street parking on this block and and by the way there

is no parking in on the street in front of where we're putting in this curb cut but 45 nippon street

has off similar off-street parking 42 nippon off-street parking 40 nippon street off-street

parking 38 nippon off-street parking 15 nippon off-street parking and then around the corner

on germantown 72 24 germantown avenue rear off-street parking 2022 and so on and so on

uh this is their property from an aerial view perspective uh this is where they are in the

neighborhood uh between uh brian and germantown and they are an rsa5 property they're just looking

and they are an RSA-5 property.

They're just looking for off-street parking for themselves and their family.

for off-street parking for themselves in their...

And then photographs of the property, you saw that on the front page.

Posters for today's hearing.

This is Nippon to the right of the property.

As you can see, there's no parking allowed on their side of the property.

Nippon on the street to the left of the property.

And, you know, again, these are just, again, our site plan showing, you know,

that has been reviewed by the streets department uh their parking spot is nine feet by 20 feet

and then again not that it matters here uh but we did have uh some floor plans here if the board

had any questions about the configuration of the unit or the single family home and then just to

show proof of our mailing of the community meeting notice. The meeting took place on

August 6th at 7 p.m. A mailing certification that we signed at the request of the coordinating

RCO. These are the addresses we sent it to. Proof of mailing to those addresses. Our application

for appeal that we filed along the notice of refusal in the project information form,

the deed to the property, and the Certificate of Tax Clearance.

With that being said, I'm going to unshare my screen.

I would ask that Eric be sworn in, and I have a couple questions for him.

Sir, could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?

Eric, E-R-I-C, TARS, T-A-R-S.

You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

I do.

Please proceed, County.

Yeah, Eric, you heard everything I had to state today about your zoning matter.

I did.

Is it true and correct?

Yes.

And do you adopt this as your own testimony?

I do.

Thank you.

That's room for one car, right?

One car.

Questions from the board.

Opposition from the neighbors?

None.