ZBA Hearing - June 10, 2026

of refusal, the project information form, the deed to the property showing that NVEST

365 LLC is the owner of the property, and finally, the certificate of tax clearance.

so that was paid that balance recently uh with that being said i'm going to stop sharing do this

why don't you go back to the basement okay i know what you said it was approved a long time ago

whatever but let's go back to the basement and go just tell us what's there and have it laid out

yeah i mean what's there is the the proof hold on let me just go back here

here

so the anticipation again my client purchased this property with these approved plans

unfortunately when he tried to revive the building permit basically

Unfortunately, when he tried to revive the building permit, basically we were told that the zoning lapsed on him and he had to start over again.

So he didn't buy this with the idea that he needed to get another variance.

So the numbers that he ran with the bank loan was to have this as a two-bedroom unit.

And the way it's configured is the way that he's showing right here, is to basically have you come into Thompson Street, you have an open floor plan of a kitchen and a dining room, you have one bedroom here, and then you have a bathroom here.

And then the lower level, you have a living room, bedroom, laundry room, and another bathroom.

Michael, do you have questions about the basement?

The, this, well, what's, I mean, standard question, what's the depth of the basement below grade?

I can't, it's hard to tell.

It's nine feet, three inches.

Nine feet, three inches below grade, can't be.

I hope not.

It's, it's, it's, it's, the height is, well, it's nine feet, I think.

I think if you look at the.

Well, that's the height of the, the height of the basement is nine feet.

But what's the, what is it below grade?

i think it's pretty close to that he's right it's about a six inch yeah it's not it's how it was

built so uh there is not there is not much above grade again this is all pre-built and i understand

the position of this board and this is not something we would present as a new with this

board and but it's we have a zoning permit we had a zoning permit we had building permits this was

built in accordance with those permits i mean i understand the board's position i told my client

that and it's unfortunate but he purchased the property this way um you know and it would be

unaffordable as a teardown is there a walk out like you know that's that's how window wells are

they walk out uh maybe we can have my client and somebody sure why don't you state your name and

spell for us today naji good n-a-j-e-e g-o-o-d-e all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth

the whole truth but nothing but the truth yes go ahead yeah yes uh nausea you heard everything i

had to state today about your zoning matter you have to speak affirmatively yes uh is it true

and correct yes and do you adopt this your own testimony yes yeah so this is a corner property

and you have a window well in the rear yard for that first unit, right?

Yes.

Okay.

I think we don't have a walkout, and we don't have the width for a walkout.

There's no rear yard?

Can you pull up the plan one more time?

Can you pull up the plan again?

Yeah.

Yeah, I'll do that.

Hold on one second.

And only the second floor unit has the access to the roof, right?

That is right.

Hold on.

Let me just get this.

Let's see.

Turn it on.

Let me get it out of full screen mode.

All right.

Let's get it back in full screen mode.

I'm having problems with my computer, it's like stuck on this page.

Let's do this.

Page 29, let's try to get this low.

Let's see, is that the site plan?

I don't think it is, let's see.

and so is the is the is the window well at the is the is the bedroom at the rear of the basement

or is that the street side at the uh pavement side it's the street oh is that the street side

yeah i'm having problems with my this i don't know this pdf is something's going on it's not

giving me the oh here it is all right let's try to get this up here all right uh someone asked

the site plans i want to pull it up yeah okay so the window well is out the front

can you pull up the basement plan one more time just so we see it let me see if it's

all right here we go let's see

there you go so the bedroom is in the front

and is there a window well here right there is it's going to be two and and there's this one

right here as well right there's one out the side yeah other questions

Yeah.

Other questions?

Yeah, I have a question more so just at the time that you purchased it, where was it in the construction process?

It was already framed out.

The rooftop deck was done.

And that's where it was.

So the roof is closed in?

No, what you mean?

Like they sealed the roof?

It's pretty much.

Yeah, I think so.

You think so?

And did you get an inspection when you purchased it?

No.

I would question some of this construction. So I think my concern is that I think having this unit and that one bedroom be all the way underground, understanding that it's existing conditions, you have one decent apartment and one terrible apartment, right?

And then I think if we were to grant it today, my question is how much work based on just looking at photos that are online is going to have to get reversed anyway because you're going to have to go back and verify what they did and how they've constructed it and it's been sitting out there for it looks like at least a year and a half.

so if like that could require some deconstruction just to even get it back up to like where we are

now um and so i would question that without a sort of physical needs assessment or a structural

report done um or like a inspection from purchase no and i hear you and and obviously we're going

to have to go through that whole process all over again and that's part of the building permit

process and i think my client's willing to do that where i don't think he's willing to

i don't think he's capable of converting this into a single family structure

yeah no and i think he will obviously make sure that you know you know he's gonna have to pass

inspection um with all this work of course he understands that um but again when he purchased

this property he purchased it with existing permits and he was shocked that he had it

that they expired there was no indication online that they expired and i would say again i haven't

looked at this in a while but i feel like basically you missed the window by a few months when you

were told it would be good it would be a good thing you know this could be could be saving

somebody's life here so it'd be a good thing i mean i also like just looking at it does not look

like this was a ground-up construction this was a rehab so i think there's like a lot of questions

i think i have to take i think the refusal sure no i mean actually i had the old i had the old

refusal in here so let me take a look at it but it looks oddly very similar to the structure that

was there before yeah i'm having all sorts of aspects and there would be no need to stucco the

first floor like that if you weren't covering up the pieces of what were there based on what the

yeah i think yeah i think it was overbuilt pieces of the old building are still here

no you're right actually if you look at the application it's it's it's a used application

so you're right yeah so i think that's my only concern is that like if going down investigations

it's discovered that like more has to get undone

we're gonna have to spend the money anyway might as well just do it do it better well i i think

what we could do is again my client at the building permit stage if there needs to be

modifications now not zoning related i think you'll have no choice but to do that yes

Yeah, well, you know, we were talking about if there was a walkout, right?

I don't know if the lot is.

I mean, the way it's it's I know whatever happened before, I understand it all.

But it is kind of like really against everything that we've been trying to do here.

No, I hear you.

And I and we don't do it for ourselves.

We do it because we think it could be an issue.

Yeah. I mean, I can, I can, you can hold it and I can ask the architect if there could be a possible walkout.

So, so we'll joke it aside. Yeah. What you did this morning. Yeah. We did the same thing. Yeah. Right. So why don't we do this? Why don't we hold it? Yeah. You come back. Right. And then we figure out where we go from there. All right. So we make this a resumption.

resumption

I would ask

if we can get a date pretty quickly

well here's what I want to do

I'm going to give you the date that I have

you call, talk to Wadean

and figure out where we go

so the date I'm using

is 9-15-90

9-15-26

at 9-30-8

and then you

see what we said right no no but i think i think what he's saying is and that reminds me the reason

see where we stand

Right.

Thank you.

why we didn't handle this right away is that i think he had he had to show that it was a safe

structure so but we'll we'll provide whatever additional information yeah and like like you

said take consideration you know the the issue of the basement being so low below grade i think

there's a a quick fix in my head is if you eliminated the door out of that kitchen and

made stairs out of that basement and kind of did something with that laundry room you have direct

access out to the backyard right are you from the first floor from the basement no from the basement

okay right yeah we'll take a look right in the thing on the side in the sidewalk you have a

little bit of space they'd allow you to make a bigger like like the ones that are double wide

okay so you got you got not so crazy options okay yeah yeah yeah okay all right well thank you thank

Thank you, sir.

So, MI 2026, 00822, 122 Hawthorne, Hawthorne Avenue, Hawthorne Street, Al Nockamson is

the attorney mr knockamson you've been sworn just state your name for the record alan knockamson

could you identify your client the relationship to this property oh yes kelly burnett all right

and our vice chair has a few questions good evening have you submitted your documents and

exhibits five days in advance of this hearing i have and do you waive the reading of the refusals

and stipulate to the accuracy we do okay all right thank you can share your screen and start

OOPS, I DIDN'T MEAN TO RAISE MY HAND, BUT I HIT THE WRONG PONDON.

NOW THERE WAS NO AGREEMENT REACH, RIGHT, WITH THE?

YEAH, I DO HAVE SOME ISSUE.

MR. GOLDBERG FROM MY OFFICE DID THE COMMUNITY MEETING.

I DON'T THINK THE BOAT WAS AN ACCURATE ASSESSMENT OF WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED THERE, BUT WE'LL GO

THROUGH IT.

Yeah. So this board has heard this matter before. This is based on hopefully a permanent variance, but there was a temporary variance for five years, which expires sometime this summer. So we're looking for it to be permanent. This property has been used as a daycare in different respects since 2008.

So we have 13 exhibits here. We'll review it. Kelly Burnett is not only the owner of the property, but also the operator. So again, what we're trying to do is group child care in an existing structure with an existing single family household living above. This is an RSA 2 property. We have two refusals, two principal uses. We have a residential use and we have a child care use. That's the first refusal.

And the second refusal is group child care is expressly prohibited in RSA 2 zoning.

Again, this property since 2008 has been used as a child care facility and has been approved.

And as you can see from the refusal 2, it talks about the proviso for this use of a group child care was approved by the zoning board for a three-year temporary variance and expires August 3, 2026.

So, correspondence from the Northwood Civic Association, there's a 6-6 vote, six non-voting

people in the audience, and then the board voted separately.

I will say this, and this is based on Mr. Goldberg telling me this, there were probably

at least four members of the community who are also customers of my client, and they

were told to leave and they were unable to vote because they were customers but they live in the

community that's the whole point the people who are using this facility are people within the

community and i think that is patently unfair and probably against the rco rules and regulations

of this city to not allow people who live in the community to vote even if their customers i mean

i i would say usually you would want the customers to vote if they were a bad operator you would

definitely want to know that these people were like we live in our this community

we we love this facility and you know again my client miss burnett uh miss uh

And, you know, again, my client, Ms. Burnett, who I would ask to actually be promoted as a panelist, because I'm just going to let her speak.

She's a very accomplished business operator.

Her facility is a Keystone four-star facility and nationally accredited by NAFFC.

I've been told that's like the highest accreditation you can get.

Like there's not many facilities in Philadelphia that are like this.

so to lose one of these facilities would be bad not just for this community but philadelphia

what's her name uh oh i see her i got her

she's coming in as a panelist now thank you you're welcome

good evening everyone hi good evening could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer

Sure.

It is Kelly Burnett, K-E-L-L-E-Y, B-U-R as in Robert, N as in Nancy, E as in Edward, T as in Thomas, T as in Thomas.

Do you swear we're referring to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?

Yes.

Please proceed.

All right.

Yeah, Kelly, can you just introduce yourself to the board as a professional?

your accreditations and then we'll walk through just the you know who works there how many kids

you have and hours of operation and things like that sure um thank you for hearing me today um

again my name is kelly burnett um i have been in business since 2008 um thankfully i was granted

variants, and we have flourished since then. I am also an adjunct professor at Eastern Esperanza

in Harcum. I'm currently in a doctorate program. What I do is I teach our new teachers that will

be in early education so that is preschool to three. I love what I do. I love all the facets

of early education and I take my job seriously as an early educator. I am

in a position to help strengthen families and to cultivate our youth into productive citizens.

And that's what I do. We are a Star 4 facility. We have been for several years. We are an NAFCC,

nationally accredited facility. We have been for several years. I am on several boards across the