Thank you.
Good morning everyone. The Zoom will start momentarily.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
27 attendees chair you can start as you wish yeah look at that look at that good morning everyone
My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's ZBA hearing.
With me is our Vice Chair, Tanetta Graham.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Secretary, Cheryl L. Gaston.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Member, Michael Johns.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Board Member, Laila Beebe.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Also present is our Attorney, Lynn Reuter-Huber, our ZBA Director, Ian Haggerty,
and our board administrator Lakeisha Dandy. This hearing is being recorded and will be posted on
the ZBA website. By participating, you consent to be recorded. This is an in-person meeting
with remote participation. Whether in person or on Zoom, if you're called to testify, please state
and spell please please state and spell your name wait to be sworn in and then
state your name each time before testifying to enter an appearance
To enter an appearance, indicate the property address on the Zoom webinar.
indicate the property address on the zoom
Speak with a staff member.
Call the ZBA office by the close of business tomorrow.
Call 215-686-2429 and also provide your name, email, and the case address.
Remote participation.
raise your virtual hand when directed to speak when we call on you you must click the join as
a panelist button use the q a only for procedural questions not cases itself if you are joining by
phone press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute in person participation
When testifying, please have the microphone close to you
so that all attendees and the court stenographer can hear you.
No talking, eating, or drinking during the hearing.
Aggressive behavior will not be tolerated.
In an emergency, follow the staff.
The main exit is the double doors in the rear.
If we have to evacuate, we will evacuate in Love Park across the street.
Please stay there so that we can account for you.
So let's look at our schedule for today.
number two
MI 2025-002-161, 1653 South 23rd Street. That case is continued until 729-26 at 9.30 a.m.
number three
mi 2025
005061
north 50th street
we have no exhibits for that this is the second listing
S.M. Property, LLC, current owner, the Shell Carr, listed applicant.
Good morning.
This is Doreen, and I will be co-hosting the morning sessions, and I see no hands here.
So, MI2025, 005061, 3033 North 15th Street, I vote to dismiss.
Michael Johns, my vote is to dismiss.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is to dismiss.
Antoinette Graham, my vote is to dismiss.
Layla Beebe, voters to dismiss.
Number five, MI 2025-005-579-3914 North 5th Street.
Luz Ortiz is the listed owner.
Olga Rosado is the listed applicant.
We have no exhibits for this.
This is the second listing.
no hands chair so mi2025-005-579-3914 north fish street i vote to dismiss
michael johns my vote is to dismiss cheryl gaster my vote is to dismiss
tonetta graham my vote is to dismiss layla beebe my vote is to dismiss
number six mi 2025 005 591 3142 north taylor street this case is continued to 10 6 26 at 9 30 a.m
Number 9, MI 2026, 000471, 910 West Huntington Street. This case is continued until 10-6-26 at 9.30 a.m.
Number 17.
Number 17, MI-22.
Number 17, MI 2026, 000811, 6900 Lindenburg Boulevard.
This case is continued to 10-626 at 9.30 a.m.
and number 18 MI 2026 001 391 4222 Salem Street.
This case is continued to 9226 at 930 a.m.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
i see no hands okay we're going to go to our add-on list number one mi 2025 004 680 5830
whitby whitby avenue this case is continued to wednesday august 26 at 8 30 a.m 9 30 a.m i'm sorry
going to go to our regular list now
number four mi 2025
005 491 1804 orthodox street
leticia boyd is the listed owner
an applicant. This is a pro se.
Latish Boyd should be coming in as a panelist.
Thank you.
um she should be coming in now it's fine
let's can you unmute yourself oh wait she declined but she it looks like she's in though
i'm here all right good morning good morning hi um could you turn on your video
I'm sorry. No, it's okay.
This is all new to me.
computer slow i'm trying to okay because we're in the video presentation okay
you would need to hit that um share button at the bottom of zoom
yeah the video is
so so latish i'm having issues with this my video and okay all right why don't we do this
to share why don't i go on go on to the next few cases and i'll come back to you is that okay
And that way you see if you can have that straightened out.
So we'll be back to you.
Thank you.
Moving on to number 16.
MI 2026, 000639, 1318 North 57th Street, Kisan McKenzie is the owner applicant.
good morning guys good morning could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
case on mckenzie k-a-y-s-o-n-m-c-k-e-n-z-i-e right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes all right we do have a letter of support from
hmc square and our vice chair has a few questions okay good morning have you submitted your documents
and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes okay and your uh application is for a two
family household living like you're requesting a legal legalization yes correct okay yes yes
And you've been refused because two-family household living is prohibited in the RSA-5 zoning district.
Is that correct?
That's what I was told.
But initially, I purchased this property back in 2018, and I purchased it as a duplex.
So it was originally zoned as a RM1, and it was changed due to city.
I forgot what's the actual reason why it was changed,
but it was changed due to the city made the changes to that area,
which I can show you.
Let me see if I can find the actual.
Okay, well, you can go ahead and start your presentation from the beginning.
Okay, thank you.
So, you know, we have all your documents.
what we would need is planning picture pictures of your plans and also of your property okay so um
i'm actually not making any changes to the property i just um wanted to legalize it back
as a duplex so i just wanted the the zoning to be um restructured back to the original
standing of when i purchased the property okay so basically i'm just looking to restore
um, my separate electric meter because, uh, I want to say 2022, 2023, I had, um, install
solar to the property. So I come by on the meters. Um, I came to find out that the property was
actually, um, not zoned as a RM1 anymore due to me trying to restore back a second meter.
Pico is the one that informed me of the changes. Um, so like I said, um, I'm not making any
changes to the structure of the property i'm not adding any units or anything of that sort
the property already has two units in place it was zoned as a duplex when i first purchased it
and i'm just looking to legalize the use of a duplex within the property
so as we could see it's currently zoned as a rsa5 um this is just me going over like the district
council um the property is a two family existing structure existing structure attached um like i
said i'm not looking to add anything to it or anything of that sort so i just wanted to basically
just why don't you show us photos of your property okay sure so this is the first unit so this is the
exterior of the first unit this is the interior kitchen this is the living room living room area
I don't think I have all the pictures on this slide. Give me one second. I'll pull up the other.
Is that the front door to your, is that the front door to your.
No. So that was actually my entrance, my back entrance to the property.
So that's the back entrance on the first floor. Give me one second. Just try to locate.
the actual pictures that I submitted.
But that's not the entrance to the unit, right? I mean, that's not the main entrance to the unit.
No, that's not the main entrance. No, that's not the main entrance.
That's just to go out to the back unit, the first floor of the back unit.
This is not allowing me to.
I'm trying to stop share the screen so I can actually find these photos.
Thank you.
um can you guys see my screen now uh we see it says no public street or right
or infrastructure that's what we see okay i think you covered this screen already of course you
talked about not changing the structure of the place yeah so one second
there we go well now be sure
okay that's that's different than what we I think we should yeah so this right
here just show the property like I said it's labeled we have the rear exterior
entrance this is just on the first floor so this entrance only a allow people to
enter on the first floor this is the kitchen of the first floor living room
area that was the same picture for so basically the kitchen interior pictures
let me know if I'm going too fast guys could you show us the front of the
building yes I was trying to find of actual the layout because I had up I had
a poll point with everything that I submitted with the so so so here's what I'm gonna do I'm
gonna move on and I'll come back to you but what you're gonna need to do is show us other photos
the front entrance yeah i have them i have them right now i found the actual
i'm sorry
okay okay yeah so this was the actual powerpoint i pulled the wrong powerpoint up
So you have two entrances in the front.
So this is the front entrance for the first floor.
Right.
And this is the front entrance for the second floor.
Down here, when I bought the property, they had an entrance here to go to the basement.
I just closed it off.
I just put a door there with a lock that nobody can get into it.
This is the front and back entrance.
so this is the kitchen of the first floor entrance door for the first floor into the
living room first floor bedroom the bathroom of the first floor and this is the entrance
for the second floor second floor unit kitchen second floor first bedroom second floor bathroom
it's just still the kitchen and this is a second floor bedroom as well second bedroom
um that's just my deed right here because they had me asked me to submit a copy of my deed
and you a couple years back you tried to change the electrical
right and then when you change it they realize it wasn't zoned for a duplex am i correct
no so when i initially bought the property i had two meters on the property okay so um few years
back 2023 around 2022 2023 i purchased um solar so i added solar to the property and that's where
i made the change from having um two meters to one meter because i combine the meter with the
effort that solar is going to offset some of the bills which i end up incurring more bills because
everything in the unit is electric so the solar is not producing as much as um i was expecting it to
so back in like november november of last year i decided that i wanted to add back a second meter
so when i called pico to add back the second meter that's when i came to real pico told me that
the property is not zoned as a duplex, it's zoned as an RSA 5.
The property is not zoned as a duplex. It's zoned as an RSA 5.
So up and start doing my research about the property, that's when I came to find out that the city did a legislation where they made the change back in, let's see, I think I have it somewhere over here.
so the city made the change back in 20 um may may 11 of 2021 as you guys can see on the screen
okay questions from the board yeah um what's happening with your basement i know you closed
off a door to it but um that would be for the first unit units used so i use the basement only
for storage so the first unit don't have access to the basement because the property is um
rented so i don't allow my tenants to go to the basement because that's where i have like
water eaters and stuff like that so they each have their own breaker system within their unit
and the main breaker is in the basement so i just utilize the basement for storage for um
Um, for, for like stuff that utilizes in the property that I might not be using during the summertime or wintertime.
Like for example, ACs, I don't leave ACs.
Like I was trying to minimize on the overall cost of like electric.
So wintertime, I would take the ACs out of windows.
So I would, I would store them in the basement and stuff like that.
And what are you doing for the trash for the two units?
so trash um i actually pay for trash so the city actually i pay for trash every i want to say every
six months i pay uh a hundred and i think it's 175 now so i think she means where do you store
it oh so the trash is stored within the um this area right here so it's a little the door is here
but it's a little area right here where they where there's trash cans so it's actually four
trash can within that area a black trash can for each unit and a blue trash a recycled trash can
for each unit so when with with this area right here when you walk down is the steps
that leads to the door but to the left of the steps there's areas where the trash cans are stored
other questions that's a that's a that's a good use of that space since you're not using it
since the tenants don't have access yeah the trash cans out front you can't really see them
because they're they're in this sort of low low you know this lowered area so yeah that works
actually yeah okay so do you have a floor plan of some sort
repeat that i'm sorry i didn't hear you clearly you have a floor plan so a floor plan of the
property yeah no to see how the units are um laid out because i think you said that was the
is the first unit a one bedroom yeah so the first unit is a one bedroom um the second unit is a two
bedroom um i didn't pull a floor plan because i bought the property as such and i didn't know
how to go about pulling a floor plan to be honest
even a little sketch would have been okay all right and so and then each
unit has one bathroom yes each unit has one
bathroom each unit has its own kitchen and a
dining area okay well live in living room area
all right and that's a full bathroom like yes that's a full bathroom
them shower um toilet and sink gotcha okay thank you other questions
questions from our attorney no questions right now questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands chair planning commission good morning liz fuselay l-i-z last name fuselag f-u-s-e-l-i-e-r
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do sir please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential
single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2021 in a community
supported map change the pro the proposed use is consistent with documented prior use of this
property with a documented history as two dwelling units dating back to 2011.
the planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use as a two-family dwelling
M.I. 2026-000-639-1318 North 57th Street, I vote yes.
mi 2026 000 639
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes.
Thank you. You have your vote, sir.
Okay, thank you.
May I ask what's my next step moving forward?
Why don't you call the office?
The office will tell you where you're going to be next, okay?
Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Great. Number one, MI 2024, 004-244-5300-02, Haverford Avenue. Joseph Vaccaro is the attorney.
Joseph Vaccaro has been promoted.
good morning how are you today morning counsel could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer gladly joseph vaccaro v-a-c-c-a-r-o right do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth told you it's nothing but the truth yes i do could you identify your client in
relationship to the property? Yes, it's Mario Rodriguez. He's the proprietor of the store at
the location. And counsel, we have letter of, no, we've received a letter of opposition from the
44th Ward Democratic. And also, I believe the council person also sent a letter of opposition.
Okay. The chair has a few questions. Okay. Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and
exhibits uh five days in advance of this hearing yes i have and i and i supplemented it with proof
of tax clearance yesterday okay thank you and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy yes i do all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case
very well thank you i represent mario rodriguez he's the owner of 53rd and haverford
uh store located at the property in question if i could start sharing my screen
And do you see a grocery store on the corner?
We see a store.
We see a store.
Thank you.
This is the store in question.
I'm showing you a photo of it from the Haverford Street side.
This is the inside of the store.
It's a two aisle grocery store, another view of the inside of the store, refrigerated section with drinks, dried goods and canned goods.
He already has a deli prepared but currently he's not preparing foods pending a decision from the Zoning Board on how this matter proceeds.
He has the kitchen again set up again another view of this is the uh the checkout area
there's a rear section where Mr. Rodriguez would be storing his trash in in the appropriate bins
and he does have private trash pickup um going down through my list of exhibits or my exhibits
I've shown you the photos of the inside and the outside of the store along with the application
for appeal um by way of uh history by way of history this property this property has had a
has had a commercial operations going on at the first floor going back to the 70s I saw some
records which I had also submitted to the zoning board with a flower shop and an ice-cream shop
and there was also I believe documented history of a drugstore and a dried sundry goods stores
before Mario Mr. Rodriguez he had per he had signed the lease for the property
and here it is to be able to open up the grocery store unfortunately for around
Mr. Rodriguez the zoning variance that has been issued in the past to permit
commercial activities at this location had expired because the property was
the property was empty for quite a few years um mr rodriguez is the uh he's the owner and
empty for quite a few years.
president of the food market at 53rd and haverford that's the corporate entity through which he's
operating at this location and i'm showing you the articles of incorporation uh i i do have a letter
of refute, a letter of opposition dated October 28th of 2024. We had attended a meeting with
the coordinating RCO back in October of 2024. There was this letter of opposition authored
by Mr. Jordan, and we tried to go back to the neighborhood to see what could we do to
come together. Especially after having read what was written. I attended that
meeting along with Mr. Rodriguez. What they described is not what happened.
That was a, and I'm referring to the meeting of October of 2024. It was a
straightforward simple meeting nope no arguing no contention we presented some
photos of the store and when I saw that letter I was surprised that's why I
asked for some continuances in the past of this matter so that we could have
another meeting with the RCO we had a second meeting with the RC with the RCO
in april april 6th of 2026 i don't know if if the board had uh received that letter of opposition
we have not okay we only have the one from 24. okay you only have the one from 2024 yes um so
that's the one that i'm showing you now nothing of the sort as as described um occurred uh it was
just a straightforward meeting we made our presentation just like we're making what
happened at the twin did you go to the 26th i also participated in the 26th meeting and that
meeting what happened at that joe gladly that meeting was a lot more contentious
in all candor to the board that there were people participants at that meeting that were
that expressed anger respect at mr rodriguez for having opened up and be and operating the store
without his zoning variance at this time I didn't ask for a copy of the
transcript of that of that meeting because it's my understanding we did
that meeting through zoom and I needed a copy of the transcript and I still
haven't been provided with one so again by way of history going back to the late
60s there were there was a commercial operation going on at that location I
I have my, the two mailings that I sent out to the near neighbors for the October 2024 meeting, as well as the April 6 meeting with the proof of mailing.
Some of the benefits that the, that Mario's operation would be supplying to the, to the near neighbors is, he has security cameras that are always recording.
There's not an issue with crime. There's not an issue with loitering.
he just needs to feed his family and operate his store and we're asking the board um to to take
actions consistent with the past history of this property to grant him a variance so that he may
so that he may operate and that he may operate legally um i have a copy of my poster with the
posting that was done on time and i leave it to the board with with any questions well do you
to bring your client on joe sure i could just move my my computer here i'm going to need you
to speak loudly into the microphone okay mario sure could you please state your name is spelled
for the stenographer my name is mario rodriguez spell your name please oh oh mario emma emma
a r i o rodriguez r o d r i g u e z do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i swear counsel thank you mr rodriguez uh you were sitting next to me
during my presentation correct yes speak loudly yes and uh you do agree with my presentation
yes would you adopt it as your own testimony if you were testifying
yes okay was i accurate and truthful to the board yeah is that a yes yes okay
any other questions of the board um joe one one question the second meeting um did you have a
joe one one question the second meeting um did you have a cent you said they were
you said they were
you know basically hollering at your client did they say why joe
well partly partly it was because the um the store is operating without the zoning variance okay
second they didn't like the uh trash arrangements that he had um he didn't have the full big bin
and where it was being located they were accusing him of operating a food truck at that location
which he was not um in fact matt there was a food truck operating at that location uh at that corner
but mario had nothing to do with it he had no involvement with the food truck and in fact he uh
uh uh he took steps to get rid of that food truck to make that food truck go away that was one
Number two, there were some issues with picnic tables in the yard area on the side, and Mario, he just got rid of the picnic tables.
There were some concerns about the picnic tables attracting loitering, and not that there was any loitering, but in an effort to try to make everybody happy, he just got rid of the picnic tables.
and in fact in the photos that i'm showing you now here there there are no picnic tables
questions from the board
so my question is does your client intend to serve food or he doesn't want to serve
prepared food well he he wants to serve prepared food at the appropriate time he does have a kitchen
there uh but obviously we need to get the zoning variance in order to operate the store the store
as it's operating right now does not have the benefit of the variance he can't even sell
the detergents that i showed you he cannot sell the chips that i showed you he can't sell the
sodas in the refrigerator and the other drinks that i showed you in the photograph so maybe in
the future he'll want to start using the kitchen in the future not right now correct step one is we
need that variance okay and if he's not using the side yard for gathering with
the picnic tables what is he using it for now it's not his it's not part of
his lease okay it's not his all right thank you thank you who put the lights
out there who put the lights out there who put the music out there last year
Who cut the opening in the wall? Who put the sink outside?
Was that a separate owner?
Well, the building is owned by Darrell Williams.
So Mario was a tenant at the property.
So Mario did not do any of that.
other questions so that wasn't mario that had the music out
correct and the picnic tables that that some are still there okay all right thank you
all the questions um all right can can can i see the layout here how this is set up again
sure let me move up
so here's the here's the aisle to the left with the with the refrigerator uh with uh frozen goods
such as ice creams and other treats with the cash register area which is where my cursor
is pointing so that's the left aisle
here's the corner to the left aisle here's another view of the left aisle
i'm sorry that's the right aisle with the other refrigerator so it's a two-mile grocery store
this is the right aisle looking from the back towards the front
this is the corner of the left aisle in the back here's from the front looking towards the back
okay um and how do we handle deliveries okay mario um how do we handle uh deliveries come closer
right right to the front door it's not that much you have you have access to the basement
it depends if i need it okay if you need it i don't have too much
Do the deliveries, they come in through the front door?
Right through the front door and put it and stop inside.
Right through the front door, if you haven't heard.
And how many times a week, what kind of vehicle is used to deliver the...
vehicle is used to deliver the um sometimes what kind of vehicle is used to deliver it depends
Sometime once.
because i don't they bring it i don't i don't deal with the vehicle i bring the delivery
he doesn't deal with the with the vehicle that brings the deliveries um that's done by the
suppliers so it depends on whatever vehicle they they um provide well right i i understand that
but i mean you know how many times a week oh and uh how many times where where did he sometimes
once a week sometimes twice a week depending on the need okay all right thank you no my pleasure
i i did forget to mention that uh the store app the store operating hours are from monday through
saturday 7 30 a.m to 10 30 p.m and on sunday the store hours are 9 a.m to 7 p.m
any other questions and he works at the store with his son and two other employees
i heard what you said about the basement but that is just not true there is always people loading
things in and out of that basement from that side hatch so to say that the basement is not being
used for deliveries it's just not true he said it he said it's rare it depends it depends
he said it's not that much i'm trying to repeat what he says so it gets into the market it depends
the week so council real quick you said the um the rco that was concerned about the location
of the trash so where is the trash location location in the back um in in that backyard
area that i uh had shown you before where there was no um no picnic tables and and those concerns
of loitering i'll show you a picture right behind this right behind this fence
my cursor my cursor is right over a gate so that gate opens and the trash is is held
in containers right behind there.
This picture really doesn't show the entire rear of that building.
That's a fairly large rear yard back there that had the picnic tables.
There are like four or five picnic tables.
A new fence that was put in about a year or so ago, lighting that was put in.
This picture doesn't really show the full backyard.
But he's not operating on the backyard.
he has no need for the backyard he has no lease for it he just puts you show you show a picture
and you describe that the backyard is not being used but yet you say that he removed the picnic
tables from the backyard this doesn't show the area where you say the picnic tables were removed
The backyard is much larger than that.
So that's, I have no other, I have no further questions.
All right. Thank you.
Questions for our attorney.
Yes. Hi, Lynn Riedel, Huber Board Counsel.
Counselor, I'm just a little confused on who your client is.
You've indicated, he's indicated his name is Mario Rodriguez, but the paper.
Yes, and it's the owner of the answer.
hello uh can i just finish sorry i'm sorry the um documentation seems to list someone called
estel romero d rodriguez who is that and who is in relationship to mario rodriguez that's his wife
we are together and he's still and he's together with his wife so can we clarify on the paperwork
it says ethel romero de rodriguez is that two names one name who is that
ethel de romero rodriguez is mario's wife is he romero
he's romero he's rodriguez and they're married okay so the tenant is both of them then correct
okay and do they both own uh the food market at 53rd haverford inc or does just a mr
or you call himself Mario, but Romero.
She is Romero, he is Rodriguez.
And he operates the store through that corporation.
I'll show you the corporate filing again.
I'm just looking for that corporate filing here.
The food market at 53rd and Haverford Inc.
The food market at 53rd and Haverford.
That's his corporation.
Yeah, what is his role? If it's her name for the corporation, what's his role in the corporation then?
It's his name in the corporation.
And actually it's her name in the corporation here.
that's that's what i just said so can you please explain to me what his role is in the corporation
if it's her corporation he he works there on a day-to-day basis he manages the store
and he lives together with his wife as a family
okay we're gonna hold it but i just wanted to ask a quick question on you said about
the preparation of the food i know you're not doing that now is that going to be hot or cold
that he's um well he is looking to do both
but that's not part of the application right now correct correct that's not
that's not part of the application
okay questions from the virtual audience yes I have Lee clouding with a hand up
sure we'll be promoted
good morning good morning good morning my name is Leah cloud and first name
spelled i'm sorry go ahead go ahead ma'am okay first name is spelled l-e-a-h last name is c-l-o-u-d-e-n
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do are you a neighbor yes i am please proceed if you could could you turn your video
on if possible yes sure
thank you please proceed oh did i press the right button yeah you're okay okay i'm sorry i can't see
that um okay i am a neighbor and um i believe the lawyer is misrepresenting um the facts
There is no dumpster from the meeting. I attended the meeting on March the 26th, and it was established that they were supposed to get a dumpster. There is no dumpster in that yard. I can see the yard from my roof.
their trash when they do get deliveries, their pallets, as well as the wrapping paper,
the saran wrap that wraps the products, as well as carts from the soda crates. I'm sorry,
the two-liter soda crates, they're all placed across the street on the other corner where the
park is. That's where they leave their trash. As far as pickup of trash, it's just regular
sanitation. I don't know what the agreement is with sanitation, but that's what I see.
They constantly do go down in the basement all day long. So my concern with this location is that
there was a food truck out there. They tried it. It was connected to the building. They were
receiving electricity. They didn't get it up and running. They weren't selling food out of the food
truck but there was an attempt i had to call because the food truck um their window was on
the it was in order for them to service any customers next to that store they had to face
the food truck in the wrong direction on a one-way street so i had a problem with that because people
were constantly turning a corner the wrong way because of that and they did i'm not saying mr
Rodriguez fixed up the side. There was Latinos, or I'm sorry, Hispanics. I'm not sure what the
nationality was, but they were the ones to renovate that whole side yard. There were picnic
tables out. As of today, I really didn't pay attention. The way they set it up, it was almost
as if they were trying to do an outside restaurant with the convenience store. Another problem is we
have we have a convenience store on every single just about every corner leading all the way up to
our mini mart it's too many we're flooded with convenience stores in our community the trash on
the street i have never seen a trash on the street like i'm seeing the trash on the street it's just
to me it's a nuisance we've owned our property since the 80s since the early 80s there has never
We've owned our property since the 80s, since the early 80s. There has never been a store on that corner. So I don't even though he can, the lawyer can go back and date that it was it was zoned as such. There was never a store in all the years that we've owned our property, which is next to that property.
been a
um and also the owner of the property is also um putting his his trash from out his house
across i mean i'm sorry they must have been cleaning out the place because they've been
placing mattresses and all types of trash from that entire building across the street on the
corner of the park it's it's been really bad before it was dumping in the yard that's behind
the location. So that's my testimony. Well, thank you very much. Mr. Vaccaro, do you have any
questions? Yes, I do. Thank you. Ms. Cloudon, good morning. Good morning. Yes. Okay. The
trash that my client is allegedly dumping on the other side or across the street,
did you take any video of that or photos of that or no? I have photos of it.
But you're not showing that to the board. I can show it. I'm new. I apologize. I'm new to this, to this, to the zoning board and hearing and everything. So I signed up. I wasn't aware that I had to submit pictures five days prior to the meeting.
so but i have a record of everything and i've also reported it to 311 so they also have a record of
this location thank you and very recently as of tuesday with regards to the april 6 2026 zoom
meeting um you participated in that meeting correct yes yes i did okay and um did you show
us any photos or videos of this alleged trash dumping then no i didn't have a problem with it
well why don't we let her answer the question joe yeah i didn't have a i wouldn't have a problem
with it i have a record of everything i wouldn't have a problem with it but you didn't show that
you didn't show that at the meeting of april 6th correct it wasn't it wasn't asked and it wasn't
necessary when everybody was in agreement not to allow this to be as zoned as the store that it is
with respect to with respect to any other violations did you report any violations to
the department of licenses and inspection i reported everything to 311 i assume that 311
directs those complaints to whatever department the city runs or handles i'm a i'm a citizen
did you get any receipts from them or any confirmation numbers from them
yes sir it's in my email did you you didn't give that email to me you didn't give that
email to anybody who did you my email or the receipts the receipts that you
receive for me I don't have a problem with giving the receipts to anybody but
you didn't you didn't circulate you didn't share those at the April 6th
meeting and you didn't share them today correct because it wasn't necessary
everybody was in agreement not to allow this store and everybody saw that was in
the meeting as as because they kept viewing the property like i do and they all saw we all saw
the same thing so that's why it was 100 unanimous that we didn't want the store thank you thank you
thank you joe you're done thank you okay thank you ma'am for uh your testimony
appreciate it is there anyone else in the virtual audience
there are no more hands planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommend i'm sorry good morning this is liz fusely with the planning
commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential single family
zoning oops okay wrong one very sorry could you get that mic a little closer to you too i think
that's the new mic here the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa 5 residential
single-family zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1971 in a council
supported map change the proposed use is consistent with documented prior use of this property the city
planning commission recommends that the zoning board grant the proposed use variance for retail
sales. Joe, there's some issues that have been raised that I really want to talk to the board
about. One of the things that I would find helpful is if we had a letter concerning the last meeting
at the RCO. So I'm going to continue this for maybe two weeks. We'll continue this for two
maybe two weeks we'll continue this for two weeks give me somebody give me a date if it's possible
weeks. Somebody give me a date if it's possible.
i believe it's august 5th august 5th at 9 30 a.m this is closed this this whole thing is closed
except the possibility of a letter from the from the rco okay and then you would also have the
opportunity to respond to the letter that's what i'd like an opportunity oh yeah sure sure
And I do have just one question, Mr. Berkman. Is that going to be a resumptive hearing, or is that going to be a...
It's going to be a vote, except if we think you need to respond to the RCO.
Okay. Thank you.
Okay? All right. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Have a good day.
All right. Let's see. Number seven.
Mr. Chairman, did you want to go back to the first one yet, or no?
We could.
Or do you want to...
um which was number four so mi 2025 005 491 1804 orth no is that it orthodox street yeah orthodox
street latish if you're in the audience please raise your virtual hand
chair i see i don't see latish okay so what we'll do is we're we're going to move on we
will check later to see where we stand so we're going to move to number seven mi2025
05-840-3400 North Sydenham Street.
Christopher Dean is the attorney.
christopher dean will be coming in as a panel very much you're welcome
good morning mr chair and members how are you could you please state your name and spell for
the stenographer christopher dean dean and i am the attorney for the applicant and also present
is ben sabah who is the principal of the entity do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth i do there's a letter of support from the tayoga improvement team and
our vice chair has a few questions good morning good morning have you submitted your documents
and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing I have and the only supplement I have today is
just the certificate the proof of the certificate of mailing um which I'll have on the screen okay
thank you for that and do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to their accuracy
yes all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with the case
I hope everyone can see that again. Thank you for the opportunity to present this. This is 3400 North Sydenham Street. We're here for essentially two reasons.
um the one is the uh one is dimensional and the other is a use as this is in a
cmx2 district um we are proposing uh this is the rendering of what we're proposing a
a six unit property on the corner of sydenham and ontario i'll just go through the presentation and
then and then make argument and then have my client uh adopt my testimony
This is the renderings and this is what the lot looks like now. As you can see, the lot is adjacent to another lot that actually is collecting trash and has clip violations that are still outstanding.
This is the view heading towards Ontario. Just a bit of the housekeeping stuff. This is the deed of the property.
this is the certificate the tax clearance um good through august 8th this was the nice town
application that we had to submit and this was our application for the actual variance with the pif
uh i'll get into the plans a bit these so the plans um the plans as now submitted um we did
these plans were actually revised twice, but they didn't change the footprint or any of the refusals.
We initially, when we met with the RCO, we presented a
Initially, when we met with the RCO, we presented six units, but with no basement living, and unit A and B being only a one-bedroom.
The RCO, to our surprise, really was pushing for—they, in fact, insisted on additional units.
They really want more residential living, especially with Temple Hospital being in such proximity to the location.
So they wanted to attract more people to live there, consistent with the use on Sydenham Street.
So we revised it.
These are the final plans to include a two three-unit building, two three-units, two two-units, and two one-unit units.
Each one has a washer-dryer, and we do have a – we plan for a trash.
We do have a six-foot – an area in the back over eight feet to handle all the trash receptacles, and we'll have a six-foot privacy fence that will have a gate to store the trash.
This is – and here's, again, the square footage of all of the units, so that the two bigger ones are 1250 and 1500.
And then unit C and D, the 630 square foot units are, you know, more set up like a studio and then the two bedroom units. They are small. There will be smaller bedrooms and we did propose rent that the well, you know, I'll just go ahead and put in the I'll go right to the right to the right to the meeting summary as it was pretty important for when we met with the community to.
give me one second well before i get into the actual summary of the meeting
um the neighborhood characteristics and why this property this what we're proposing does
is actually consistent um with the neighborhood and does not change the the character at all of
the neighborhood the sytenham arms apartments uh they are pretty they actually have they became
before this board in 2009 it's 12 units all residential living the rents there are above
their sixteen hundred to two thousand dollars they're above what we're asking they're mostly
three unit uh three unit three bedroom units um we're offering more alternatives one two bedrooms
one bedrooms to accommodate different types of living not everyone needs a three bedroom and
it does it is more affordable um these are the three properties this is the lot the three
properties before the sinham arms apartments they're all residential single family homes
So, again, even though we're in a CMX2, this entire, nearly this entire area, CMX2, is really residential living.
So, we are certainly not altering what is currently in the property.
Here's a picture of the actual posting.
This was the Nicetown letter.
This was our letter notifying everyone of today's hearing.
Now, we sort of made a community benefits agreement with Nicetown.
did get nine to zero in favor of the of the presentation um as so long as all these provisos
were met which we agreed to um again they they wanted the additional um we revised our plans
for them so they could get two three bedroom units in the on the first floor um we agreed
that we take care of trash we're actually going to put in security camera as well
during construction because the adjacent lot is full of is full of litter and they're actually
collecting clip violations so we we've agreed to this proviso by the RCO and this is the these are
just the you know all the certificates of mailing to prove that we mailed for both the RCO and the
ZBA and. With that, if I could have my client adopt my testimony.
Council, this is Bill Bergman. I'm going to recuse myself in this. Tenetagram will be taking over.
What's your client's name? Ben Sabah.
OK, thank you.
I do see a name with Ben.
s could that be ben sabah that's probably that's probably him all right
they have been promoted
good morning ben are you there
Ben with the last initial S.
Yes, hello, this is Ben Saboff.
Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you.
Could you state your name and spell it for the record, please?
Yes, this is Ben Sabaugh, B-E-N, and last name is S-A-B-A-G-H.
Yes, this is Ben Saboff, B-E-N, and last initial S.
Okay. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Okay. All right, counsel.
Good morning, Ben. Are you the owner of the property?
I'm the managing member, yes.
Okay. And did you hear my testimony this morning?
I did.
okay do you wish to adopt it as your own i do okay um and if you have that do you have anything
further to um to add to the board i don't okay that's my uh thank you okay um questions from
the board yes a question can you go back to the uh proposed plan i just you went by a little quick
sure um hopefully let me know if you need me to zoom in at all the formatting's a little off
this should this is the floor yeah if you could zoom in just a little bit so we can see sure
and here's the trash area i mentioned in the back right can you scroll it up so we can see the whole
plan sure yeah yeah okay there you go so so you you you said that you sort of had a community
benefits agreement i don't just i don't know what that means do you have one is it what
I would consider it a pseudo one. They agreed to support our project with all of those provisos. And they recommended that we alter our plans in order to gain their support. So we don't have a signed agreement. So it's everything but a signed agreement.
But we did at the presentation, they actually insisted that we add the basement living.
We put in more bedrooms because they really want to build up the – to offer more units in that area at that price point.
And what's the depth of the basement slab below grade?
I believe it's about five foot.
additional five foot addition going down or five you're down so you're down five feet
uh no actually it says on the planet four foot eight above ground so i'm assuming you uh doing
like three three and a half four feet okay where is it where is that on your section on your on
on your can you pull up the drawing that shows that
it's on the main maybe somewhere from the ra i'm not sure
yeah it should be on the elevation go to the elevation
here's the elevation right there okay can you zoom can you can you zoom into where that says
that i can't i can yeah four foot eight yeah right there in the center yeah four four eight
both rounds yes okay and also uh i'm sorry uh the council mentioned that we have a six foot
backyard we don't have a six foot backyard we have an eight foot backyard six uh eight foot
a six foot privacy fence i mentioned yes okay okay and then everybody stores their trash in the rear
yes yes correct and okay thank you other questions from the board so what is the breakdown in terms
of the units how many one-bedroom how many two how many three here we go I'll put it right here
so this is the breakdown right right here so hopefully you can let me know if you have any
trouble seeing that there's the breakdown yeah yeah okay two ones two twos and two threes okay
all right thank you yep okay questions from our attorney no questions at this time uh questions
from our virtual audience there are no hands okay planning commission good morning liz fuselay from
the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the cmx2 commercial
mixed use zoning at this location the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2006 in a council
requested map change commercial zoning is a legacy of commercial buildings that existed on this block
base until approximately 2017. there appears to be an active retailer across the street at 1522
west ontario street so we would argue that commercial use is still viable on this corner
this lot is neither unusually small nor narrow and the 1820 square feet would not preclude commercial
of use the appellant is requesting six dwelling units while three are allowed the appellant has
not shown that they cannot derive value from building a three-unit building with ground
floor commercial the city planning commission recommends that the board deny the use in
dimensional um variants thank you um council you want to
Very. Thank you. Council, do you want to respond or?
Yes, I would briefly on this side of the on this on this side of the sitting ham street. It is. While it is on CMX 2, there is all residential use. There's a vacant lot next door that is just picking up trash violations. There are 3 single family homes, which I showed. They're not CMX 2. They are pure single family. And then there's a sitting him apartments, which this board.
did grant in 2009 after the 2006 rezoning which is purely purely residential and and and frankly
if we a forced retailer commercial bay there's a good chance it could remain vacant it would
produce an inactive frontage and undermine the very neighborhood vitality that the cms
classification seeks to promote and the dimensional variances are minor and they represent the least
modification necessary um and it is that it advances an established community housing objective
which we went over with the and we in fact we added more bedrooms because that's what nicetown
tayoga wanted thank you thank you yep thank you um so council we know the um the rco was very
proficient and they have a lot of provisos um most of which we are um not able to enforce here but
uh the rear trash storage is one that we can so we're going to proviso that is that good yes okay
all right mi2025-005840 3400 north sitting ham street my vote is yes with proviso uh trash stored
in the rear michael johns my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso
layla bb my vote is yes with proviso
a quick everyone you have your votes right
thank you thank you have a great day um number eight mi 2025 006 398 518 south fish street um
Alex Goldberg is the attorney.
Good morning, counsel.
Good morning.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Alex Goldberg, A-L-E-X-G-O-L-D-B-E-R-G.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client and the relationship to this property?
My client is Pupptopia, Philly, LLC.
That is a tenant of this property, and the representative of the LLC sitting to my left
is Jim Cauterman.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good morning.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
All right.
Thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
Give me one moment.
I got booted out of the Zoom here.
Thank you.
okay yeah I was just I'm just sure I promoted right now
okay so I'm here seeking a variance for a doggy daycare at this location 518 South Fifth Street
just off of the south street commercial corridor interestingly this property in this portion of the
block is owned rm1 all of these properties have commercial uses a mix of restaurants retail
laundromats so i looked at the 2035 plan there's no indication that the planning commission intends
to change the zoning here but what i'll say is the character of the block is commercial activity
on the ground floor and residential above that's what we're seeking to do there is one unit above
that the that the property owner and my client's landlord lives in he's okay with the doggy daycare
moving in below him um and uh you know at the conclusion of my presentation i'll have jim
adopt my testimony and if the board has any questions for him uh he will be able to answer
those this is the notice of refusal the zoning classification or the use classification is
called animal services that does not include boarding it's just a doggy daycare the proposed
that does not include boarding it's just a doggy daycare the proposed hours
are seven to seven monday to friday not out of character there are a number of other doggy
daycares in close proximity on dickinson bainbridge christian and south third street
within a short walk of this property but um you know importantly and probably the reason why they
identified this property is there isn't one immediately close by and there's obviously a
of residential density a lot of people have dogs so um you know we think that this is uh has the
opportunity to be a really successful location my client presented in front of the south street
head house district um earlier this month which is the rco and also the business improvement
district for this part of the city um unanimous support there's reference in the letter that
you know my client presented an evacuation plan has consulted with veterinarians
is limiting the number of dogs to 25 and that neighbors and residential and commercial neighbors
were supportive uh you know and happy to put their support behind this application not sure
if the council members submitted anything sometimes they do without notifying us this
property has a long commercial history on the ground floor. In 1991, it was retail with two
apartments above. You can see on the screen there was retail. This is a 1991 permit. Most recently,
it was a business called Crown of Creation. It was some sort of hair salon and art gallery.
A lot of that stuff is kind of left behind that Jim was able to make use of some of the storage.
um but uh this this has for a long time had commercial use um here's a zoning map again
this entire block of rm1 has commercial uses on the ground floor this portion of south street
that we're closest to is cmx3 which allows this type of use as of right we have street frontage
in the rear south wreath street we're not using that uh it's sort of you'll see a photo it's it's
open space it's not proposed to be fenced in for the dogs to be in but as another form of egress
there is there is a door back there this is the front of the property here's that image to the
rear notice posting on both frontages here's to the left and this is what reese street looks like
obviously a very narrow street. My client doesn't utilize this for anything really related to the
business. Interior photos, you can see a lot of the sort of design of the salon was left behind.
They put in new floors. They have installed several air purifiers. They have a specialty
trash can that holds the dog waste. Again, there's no overnight boarding here. My client has extensive
of experience running doggy daycares. He worked at one in management for many years at Tenth and
Pine, which is pretty close to here, and, you know, wanted to go into business and work for
himself. He currently has two staff, will hire more as needed. There is no grooming training,
formal training, or retail sales as a part of this application. Those uses would require variances
if at a later date, you know, he wanted to pursue them, especially for retail sales.
In terms of soundproofing, they're installing line cell panels along the walls
and hanging sound dampening panels from the ceilings.
And there are more interior photos here.
He's making use of a lot of the storage left behind.
There's an old barber chair that was there.
There's access to the basement right here.
it's sort of a hidden door the basement is unfinished it's not used as a part of
the business it's just existing down there but it's access from his unit very
basic plans minimal work to be done really just cosmetic there's a front
area there's a back area they'll have a retractable gate in the middle there's a
bathroom in the middle and you can see that staircase down to the basement
where it's just unfinished in utilities separate door for the residential entry
point there's the rco meeting notice they met july 9th all the neighbors were notified
the application the lease for the property uptopia philly llc is his corporate entity and then tax
clearance the property owner his llc is fully compliant this is something i ran by um hillary
wherever she is uh that the property you were there then you moved uh that the property owner
is currently under a payment plan with the city of philadelphia um for a lot of taxes so with that
so with that i would ask my client to be sure could you please state your name and spell for
i would ask my client to be sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
the stenographer hi good morning my name is uh jim quarterman uh that's spelled j-i-m-k-a-u-t-e-r-m-a-n
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do counsel
jim did you hear my testimony today i did was it true and correct yes and you adopted as your own
i do thank you questions from the board but what did you say the hours of operations were and how
many dogs do you plan to seven seven seven to seven monday to friday the license that we're
applying for has a mat is permits a maximum of 25 dogs i don't know if that if you think that that
is is feasible or uh you know it's a small space for 25 dogs that's that's what the license allows
i i think how many would you say is more realistic 15 15 maybe yeah what about outdoor space
how are you going to tell you so we're not going to fence the rear end so the plan would be to
to sort of rotate staffing taking the dogs on walks as necessary okay thank you so you're not
going to use the rear yard for not as a part of the doggy daycare oh okay i love the name by the
where'd that name come from all right i have a couple of questions okay first i'm a little
concerned here about the fact that this is in the middle of the block okay so have the neighbors on
either side been consulted do they know about this and are they in agreement with this
Well, the neighbors, sorry, the neighbors to the, if you're facing out the front door, it'd be to the right. The first floor is, I guess, an empty commercial space. But above them, I mean, I don't know the official state, but I've met them multiple times. They seem to be eager to meet the dogs and haven't had any, I guess, anything negative to say.
and the other side is the the sushi restaurant and i'm friendly with them i talk to them all the time
and and his landlord lives above the commercial space yeah and so it was important i think it
was important to him well he obviously knows what a doggy daycare is but you're installing
sound damp dampening on the walls and the ceilings oh right yes so that's the next thing
So, this sound dampening is part of this whole plan.
Correct.
All right.
And then, what are we doing about, okay, so, again, I'm a little concerned that there's no play or exercise area for the dogs in this space.
So, there's no outdoor space.
but i'm asking is there play or exercise area for the dogs part of this yeah so the the entirety of
the space is open so the idea is with the ability to segment segmented on the bottom or in the
middle i'm sorry with a retractable gate that both the front and the back will be completely open as
play areas okay and then what are we doing about the um dog waste great question so yeah so
jim you what's the name of the specialty waste container that you that you purchased it's called
a pet genie um it's like this i don't know describe it it's like a nuclear waste disposal
unit it's like double it's got like a double plastic container with a locking lid that like
completely makes the smell comes out and it's also inside um and then i would take the um
we're going to get a contract with a yeah we're open to commercial trash pickup i mean it's not
a lot of waste uh sort of by volume i would think but if the board is inclined to grant
a proviso for commercial trash pickup we're okay with that okay all right thank you you're welcome
any other questions questions from our attorney um yes there's a quick question the uh tax
compliance did you submit that already did when did you submit it this morning or uh i believe
that sorry when you said submit did you email or did you put it in the portal i resent i think i
sent it yesterday and also this morning okay jesus checking thanks all right questions or comments
from the virtual audience there are no hands planning commission good morning liz fusely
with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rm1 residential
multi-family zoning at this location excuse me the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1971 in a council
The city rezoned this neighborhood in 1971 in a council-supported map change.
The proposed animal service use is in keeping with the commercial character of this block base.
The city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variance for animal services.
number eight mi 2025 006 398 518 south fish street i vote yes proviso first floor only
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso commercial trash
my vote is yes with proviso charl gaster my boot is yes with provisos tenetta graham my vote is
with provisos layla bb my vote is yes with provisos thank you thank you council so much
number 10 mi 2026 000 476 4129 power street joseph consul is the attorney
yes that was part of it it was proviso first floor and commercial trust
joseph console will be coming in as a panelist sure thank you
good morning board morning council could you please state your name and spell it for the
stenographer yeah it's joseph console that's c-o-n-s-o-l-e do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do you identify your client a relationship to
the property yeah my client is sidric lane and he owns lean investment group llc which is the owner
of the property we have a letter of opposition basically a split vote from bell belmont alliance
our vice chair has a few questions good morning have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing i have and do you waive the reading of the refusal and
I do. Okay. All right. Thank you. You can show your screen and proceed with your case.
Okay. Ding. Right.
Sharing my screen. Good morning again, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Joe Consul, Consul Madison for Lane investment groups with me is Cedric Lane.
we're here on a use refusal for a property that is currently although only recently in
the rsa5 district we understand visitor accommodations is not by right
however we believe with this specific property and the history and the layout
this is appropriate for a visitor accommodation variance relief so this property while it's
currently in the RSA 5 zoning district. That was a 2023 change. My client operates and built a
legal three-unit property in an RM1 district. It changed in 2023 to RSA 5. So he's fully compliant
with a three-unit rental license for this property on Parrish Street. So let's see. That license was
issued in 2021 when you rehab the property it's not a single family home
uh we're not you know um doing doing any kind of
change in that respect the first floor of the property
and i'll go through some pictures in a second is a full-time residential pha
unit that tenant is in support of the use
of the second and third floors as uh as a visitor accommodation and in fact
one of the floors has been used
As a limited lodging operation, and that's sort of how this idea germinated, one of the tenants that was in the third floor had a visitor accommodations, I mean, a limited lodging permit, and that was something that was very successful and led my client to have the idea to use the second and third floor as limited lodging.
As mentioned, we did go to the RCO. The vote was effectively split. You see 41, 47 percentages don't exactly match up to 100, but there you go.
So in my opinion, and you'll see when we show the petition from the neighbors, the folks that opposed were more ideological.
The neighbors on the block, we have what I consider to be close to full support from folks up and down the block.
They know my client, they appreciate my client, and they support this as a variance.
um some of the folks in um i've dealt with this all over the city just have an ideological
some of the folks and I've dealt with this all over this
issue with visitor accommodations and i understand that uh but we believe this is a good example
considering that it has operated as such at least one of the two units
for a visitor accommodation variance to be approved it says 41 and 47 percent which slightly
tipped to the opposition. There's our proof of mailing.
Exterior of the property
showing three units and one common meter.
Properties
either side or multifamily.
We do not have photos of the PHA tenant unit on the first floor, but we do
have photos of the the furnished and unoccupied second and third floor units.
Oh another important point and my client can speak to it is these are both small the second
and third floor the second floor is a small one-bedroom and the third floor is a small
studio so we don't believe that one of the typical concerns about these sorts of variances
is is that it will lead to any kind of parties we don't believe that the layout out is conducive to
that um yes while the first floor is larger the second third are are much smaller it's my client's
deed to do tax clearance i believe we have the petition at the end the petition is legitimately
from up and down parish street specifically very close to the property itself and he can attest
that he he could have gotten more but on the couple of days that he was going around he got
who was available on those on those days there have been no complaints about the this property
when it was a limited lodging and being used as such and we believe that this is appropriate
variance, and to the extent the board is willing to grant it with a temporary, some kind of a temporary variance, we would be amenable to that as well.
With that, I'll call my client, Cedric Lane, to raise his hand.
cedric lane you're allowed to speak
okay now that i'm unmuted good morning sir could you please state your name and spell for the
stenographer uh yes yes good morning um my name is cedric lane spelled c-e-d-r-i-c-k
last name is lane l-a-n-e and i'm the owner of the investment group i love the truth
absolutely yes council uh good morning cedric did you hear my testimony just now regarding
this property yes i did joe do you adopt it as your own yes would you briefly just speak
to the board about your experience with this uh um a visitor accommodations property in the city
and just generally how you handle it? Just really quickly so the board knows that you're not fly
by night or anything like that. Absolutely. No problem at all. So yes.
So I purchased this property. This property was a fire damage property. I purchased it back in
February or January of 2020, right? It was fire damage. It was abandoned. It was in terrible
condition i and it was at the time it was zoned uh rm1 so i made it into three apartments by right
i got engineer architect all permits sprinkler systems fire alarm system i do everything right
i don't try to as joe said fly by the night i'm not that guy um we don't i don't operate like that
I do everything according to zoning, according to the code. But the zoning did change in this
particular instance. That's why we're here today, because I was operating the studio apartment,
right, as a short and midterm rental, not just short term. I've been renting it out to travel
nurses since 2021 without incident. I've had many people stay. I've brung people into the community
I've brung people into the community, into the area who typically wouldn't pass through or even
into the area who typically wouldn't pass through or even stop.
stop in this type of area just because it's not on their radar, it's not on their map, but
they're using our public transportation, they're shopping at our stores, they're
patronizing our restaurants in the area. So I've never had noise complaints, not even from my own
tenant on the first floor of the building and she has a larger unit it's a three bedroom
two full bathroom bi-level unit on the first floor in the basement um she has never had to
complain in fact she was the first person to sign the petition um and i intentionally stuck to
paris street to get everyone that i could um on paris street to support the project i didn't
convince them. I didn't have to. A few of them, I already know just in passing, I'm an active
landlord. So like even on trash night, I put the trash out myself, right? Our trash day is Monday
morning. I go Sunday night faithfully. I put the trash cans to the curb, the recycling bins to the
curb. So I'm hands on. I have active rental license, never been elapsed there. I've, like I
that maintain inspections as far as the pha inspections obviously right um for that tenant
her occupancy i have uh the fire alarms is everything is inspected sprinkler system
everything is in good working order um there's not really i i can't even say you know that i
don't even know what else to say honestly i'm not really i think i think you're good cedric
yeah all right questions from the board yes so okay so you're using the this application is to
have the uh visitor accommodation for the second and third floor units correct okay not the first
floor one not at all we plant she's been there four years plus she's a great tenant we're going
keep it as a tenant we're not looking to turn this into anything other than no no no no no no
that's fine just just trying to understand what the application is really for and so
you um you said you've been doing this you had done this before the zoning uh changed to
make it so you had to get special permission for visitor accommodation. So is that what you said?
No. I said, for this particular property, it was zoned RM1. So when I bought the burned,
vacant, fire damaged property, by right, I was able to make it into three apartments.
That's the only thing I've said about this.
uh well she did uh cedric just to just to put words in her mouth um you did you one of the units
was a limited lodging approved unit for some time correct absolutely and you worked with one of the
tenants for that you that one specific unit absolutely yes so you said limited lodging
that's one where the owner occupies the property not or the tenant that's that's yeah like the
person that's occupying the space, they're using it as a primary residence, but partially they're
able to host guests. That's what has been done in the past, but I've never been a resident at
this property. It's always been an investment property for me. Okay. And then I guess I'm a
little confused about the vote of the RCO. Were either one of you there for this?
Yes, we were voting.
We were both there, yeah.
All right.
Can you just wait for my question, please?
Okay. My question is, I'm not used to seeing percentages in terms of a vote. I'm used to seeing there were this many votes in favor, this many votes against. And the percentages here are a little strange. 47% in opposition and 41% in support.
So my question is, if you were there for this, how many people were actually at this meeting?
I believe that the number on the form is accurate.
It wasn't quite 20, but it was more than 10.
They have 17 listed there, and I don't think that counted Cedric or myself.
So it was a well-attended meeting.
So it was a well-attended meeting, but I couldn't say 17 exactly, but that's what they're saying, so I'm going to agree with it.
but I couldn't see
All right.
Well, I'm just going by the notes that we have here.
And I didn't understand.
Yeah, yeah.
It should be on the screen right now.
They put 17 number of attendees, and I'm saying I believe that to be accurate.
Yeah, but that's not usually how it – okay.
usually it'll say this many people were in in opposition or this many people were in favor
oh they didn't let us they they kicked us out before the actual vote I understand that but
I still you know it's a little unusual to see um a vote done with percentages and I I don't know
how 47% of 17 works out or whatever, but I'm just that that's, it's not really a question. It's just a, it's a little strange. So I'm not sure where, and I would assume that their main opposition would be that this is, again, the issue of visitor accommodation, which a lot of communities are not in favor
of because um you have transients you have uh uh the potential for um some kind of disruption
in the neighborhood and yes it was we think there was something like ideological like i said i mean
that's not maybe not the right word but um the block itself in our opinion was there in support
uh and other folks too and then there was just um folks that show up to the rcos for visitor
accommodations to kind of you know say why it's bad as a as a model yeah would this be the
neighbors on either side of this property or do you do you know about that are they in favor
so from the petition that i um got the respondents from that's literally only on paris street this
exact hundred the near neighbors on the across the street next door you know on either side
that's i only went on paris street because obviously they would have the most knowledge
and be the most familiar with what we have going on or what we did have going on previously
um because i said another thing the people who may have opposed obviously i can't speak for them but
from what I recollect during this meeting in March was that there was a lot of speculation
and it was like the overarching, you know, like short-term rentals, Airbnb, parties, disruption,
parking, you know, trash. I've never had these issues. Like it's not like I'm saying I want to
i want to bring short-term rental to your area i was already doing it prior to
the licensing in in the the city ordinances that changed the route that we had to go so i've
already been successfully operating without incident there's been no disruption um no trash
no parties the units are small i stress that they're a studio unit in a one bedroom you can't
hold the party my guess maximum is two guests per unit no more only two people so there's no parties
there's no noise there's no disruption okay all right thank you thank you question can we do with
extra neighbor on the less than uh as a signatory uh on both sides is that right just sorry i'm
sorry what'd you say job did you get the both neighbors to sign on either side i see 4127
i see 20 right so 41 the other side um i did not i wasn't able to reach them but i'm sure
they don't have a problem they are actually moved in like they had some people move out
move in there's not going to be an issue with 4131. the questions
questions from our attorney uh no questions at this time questions or comments from the virtual
audience no hands planning commission good morning liz fusillade with the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the rsa5 residential single-family zoning at this
location there is no unique physical condition or circumstance that would prevent the property
from being used in conformance with the zoning code the 2020 zoning ordinance passed by city
council which regulated short-term rentals did not change the basic rule prohibiting
full-time use of a dwelling unit as a short-term rental this type of absentee management where the
as a short-term rental. This type of absentee management where the owner does not live in the
owner does
unit has been illegal since the first short-term rental zoning regulations became effective in
2015. What's changed since the passage of the 2020 ordinance is that there is now a licensing
and enforcement mechanism. The City Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the
proposed use variants for visitor accommodations so mi 2026 000 476 4129 paris street i vote yes
with proviso temporary variance to expire 7 23 29 and second and third floor only
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso cheryl cast and my vote is yes with proviso
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
All right.
Number 11, MI2026-000480-3251 Fox Street.
Isaac Schleppner is the attorney.
Isaac Schleppner will be joining as a panelist.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the board.
Isaac Slepner here on behalf of 3251 Fox Street Limited Liability Company.
All right.
Just for the record, could you please spell your name?
My name is Isaac.
I-S-A-A-C.
Last name Slepner.
s-l-e-p-n-e-r you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do and we have a a letter of non-agreement here i see that right there is a letter of
it seems to be no position uh from allegheny west yeah well i yeah i i we interpreted what
they sent us is a non-agreement whatever i'm not sure what that means okay um i'll take well why
why don't we do this why don't we go on and you can explain that later when you get to that
our vice chair has a few questions for you sure good morning have you submitted your documents
and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing i have submitted many of them five days a few of
them were uh yesterday and this morning i submitted a deed i believe yesterday and only because i
received it very early this morning we also had another letter from swamp poodle rco who was
another participating rco and they sent me a letter and i believe they emailed it to the board
as well and i also submitted it via the system this morning okay all right thank you for that
information and do you waive the read another refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes all
thank you you can show your screen and proceed with the case okay thank you
here we go all right
okay and is everybody uh seeing this we we do we do see it sir okay this is just my table um
my table of contents so our first document here is the notice uh our notice of refusal which we
just stipulated to original application for appeal um this is the project information
now uh i would point out that in the past this property 3251 fox is an adaptive reuse of an
older factory building in, I guess, the Allegheny West section of the city. And in 2019, the building
was granted a use permit for use, among others, as a child care center. And the space that we're
here on today is specifically is unit 103 of the building, which is we are applying for
a use variance for its use as a daycare or child care center. You can see here that in 2019,
a permit was granted for use of child care center, barbershop, eating and drinking,
retail sale of wearing apparel and accessories in gym and an existing structure.
Then later on in 2021, a zoning permit was also granted for the addition of 37
accessory parking spaces um this is a lease between the tenant and the landlord
um gm holdings llc is the landlord and fc fox llc
Um, GM Holdings LLC is the landlord and FC Fox LLC is the, uh, operator of the, um, daycare center.
This is a lease, a five-year lease beginning, um, on 1-1-2024 through 12-31-2028.
I can scroll through the lease if you want to see the whole lease.
Um, in fact, there is a clause in the lease that states that this particular unit will only be used as a child care center.
Um, let's see.
It's actually, it's further forward than the lease.
Here it is.
The demise premises shall be used solely for the following purpose and no other use, daycare.
This is the letter that I sent to the near neighbors on 6-8 of 26, inviting them to the public meeting that was held by Allegheny West Civic Association because they were the coordinating RCO.
We held the meeting on 6-16 of 26.
This is the cert of mailing from 6-8-26 to all of the addresses that were listed to me by the Planning Commission and the RCO notification tool.
These are plans, and I think these are basically as-built plans.
What had happened was when my client purchased the building in 2019, they had lined up a tenant to open and operate a daycare center, and the tenant had to go about getting all of its licensure from the Commonwealth and fitting the place out in order to have the state inspectors come through.
and then COVID happened and obviously no one was sending their kids to daycare and unfortunately
that operator had to close up shop. A new operator has taken over since then and that's who we're
actually here. I'm actually representing the building owner. The building owner also was
taking over operation of the daycare but these are the plans. So as you can see here this is a
um a site plan of 3251 fox unit 103 is where we're concentrating on right here so this this is the
i'll enlarge this a little bit so this is the unit um we will all right so here is the door from
outside um entry hall entry corridor there's a kitchen some bathrooms back here another toilet
over here storage space a classroom another classroom another classroom an office young
school age uh i guess that's for smaller kids a classroom and an activity room then there's
hallway to go out to the sorry hallway to go out to the backyard and there's a yard over here a
play yard for the kids over here as well um if you scroll down this now gives us kind of more oh this
is um it's more of the uh interior plans these are um your your uh attachments um your wall
attachments and and uh construction connections but as i said this is all already built out so
there's no no construction no demolition planned here um and that's the the rest of the um of the
plan uh we'll move on over here then i've got photos so this is the front door from the outside
leading in. This is a kind of a wider shot of the front door. Entry hall, you can see you got a front
desk and rooms branching off on either side. Classrooms, and there's the kitchen. This is
one of the classrooms. This is another of the classrooms with a window. Another of the classrooms
with large array of windows looking out onto Fox Street and another of the classrooms again with a
window. This is one of the bathrooms. Another shot of the bathroom. Here's your kitchen. You can see
the hot water heater right here. Second shot of the kitchen. This is a close-up of the play yard
and a large wide shot of the play yard.
This is a photo of the orange poster posted in the front window 21 days ago,
so on July 1st of this year,
and a close-up of the orange poster as posted on July 1st.
And a close-up of the orange poster as posted on July 1st.
This is also a copy of the deed in favor of my client that was recorded in August of 2019.
This is the letter and vote tally from Allegheny West Civic, which the board does have in its hand.
The vote total was tied.
It was a total of 11 in favor, 11 against.
And you can see that the coordinating RCO, Allegheny West, stated that they did not reach an agreement on the application.
And so I would point out that it is not a letter of opposition.
uh we also have a letter of support from another of the local rco's uh swamp poodle neighborhood
who uh wrote a very um glowing recommendation in favor of the variants uh they also seem to
have written about some issues that they seem to take with allegheny west which i can't really
comment on um but i would just put point out that that some of the content of their uh
letter involves that um and with that i would like to call my client george groves to adopt my
testimony okay what's your client's name uh george groves of 3251 fox street limited liability company
and he should be out there
George Groves is coming in now.
Mr. Grove.
George Groves, can you unmute yourself?
you're allowed to speak i'm mr grove could you please state your name is spelled for the
stenographer. I'm trying to get him right now. Mr. Grove, do we see him? Yes, he's there. He's
technical issues uh counsel uh you're an officer of the court will accept your testimony uh thank
you mr chair questions from the board yes what uh how many children are we talking about
see that would be a question for my client but i believe it's no more than
25 no excuse me here he is hello wow mr grove could you please state your name is bell for
the stenographer sure george groves g-r-o-v-e-s all right do you swear or affirm to tell the
truth told truth nothing but the truth yes sir council uh george are you a member of three two
five one fox street limited liability company yes and three two five one fox street limited
liability company owns 3251 fox street correct yes and did you hear all of the testimony and
see all of the exhibits that i just offered to the board yes and would you adopt all of
that testimony as though you had given it yourself yes um and uh george i know that um
miss gaston had just asked how many children does this daycare accommodate
yeah 106 okay i was way off oh yeah okay um yeah and uh what kind of age up to questions
from the board and i'll turn it over to the board yeah what other what kind of age ranges
are we talking about infant to uh pre-k okay and then uh hours of operation six to six
every day no six to six five days a week and they're available for uh saturday upon request
okay all right and how long have you been operating this this one um this was approved
in 19 and COVID came
and the person who was running it
lost their
I guess
classification okay we okay I'm just asking about how long is it is it
classification
I'm just
operating now no man how long no it's not operating all right okay all right
so this is an anticipation of doing that so you're not how do you handle snacks
and things like that and that's for the children that's all done through a mason
meals okay it's a reheat it's not a cook got you okay and then uh my question always about these
is um is this on one floor yes ma'am yes ma'am it's on floor perfect okay um and then uh you have
all the fire code um yes yes covered right with the means of ingress and egress um panic bars so
when there's five means of egress there's five means of egress into the building and out of it
okay okay and then uh you have the uh hardwired smoke detection systems you have sprinklers yes
ma'am okay um and uh uh emergency lighting yes ma'am okay and then uh what's the ratio of uh
children to bathrooms how many how many bathrooms do you have and what's the ratio it's it's there's
combination bathrooms in the in the in the girls room there's four toilets in the men's room there's
three toilets and two urinals okay and you said you have 106 kids it's it's it's classified for
the state to be 106 kids okay all right and then so but a bunch of i'm sorry so a bunch of those
would be um children that are um maybe using diapers and first one thing and another so
they wouldn't necessarily be using the bathrooms is that correct correct okay all right thank you
all the questions yeah sorry i have a quick go ahead oh if i may if i may just um ask my
client one one follow-up uh that's not 106 kids all at the same time correct why not it doesn't
The building's big enough for 106 kids.
Mr. Johns is on there.
He can tell you the square footage a lot better than I can if he looks at it,
but we're going to qualify for that.
I know you have one, Mr. Johns.
You want to ask?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I don't see...
I see steps to the front, so my question is about accessibility, wheelchair accessibility.
I don't see it, so how do you plan to address that?
So there's means of egress on other sides of the building?
On the flat street side, there's a gate, and it's ground level, rolls right in, right through the building.
So the wheelchair access is from there?
Yeah, it met all the ICC and handicap codes.
Yeah, I mean, ideally, you don't kind of want to have folks in wheelchairs that have to kind of go to the back door to get in.
So it would kind of maybe be good to address that.
the other the other just sort of general question i have is what is do the naughty kids get the room
the classroom with no windows yeah that's that's that's my only other question well i want to put
all the i want to put all the attorneys in that room great all right wow that's it don't worry
sir we only have one attorney on the board and two lawyers sitting next to her you're right
other questions um questions from our attorney who's traumatized but
no windows mr chairman you know when i go back and see mr higgins he's going to scold me for that
one i had i just wanted to clarify because you said now the owner's taking over because the um
applicant was fc fox llc you showed the lease and now um let me cut we are part of uh fox llc
that's just another entity of ours okay but i just want to make sure who is now running it because
there's a lease and a deed. Is it going to be FC Fox LLC or is it going to be 3251 Fox Street
Limited? It's going to be Fox, what do you call it, the daycare end of it, the first one you just said.
It's going to be Fox, what do you call it, the daycare end of it, the first one you just said.
The FC, Fox, LLC, that's pursuant to the lease that was produced?
And also for council, I didn't see any tax compliance.
Yeah, we're working on that.
I had spoken with Mr. Hegarty and with board council about that late last week and earlier this week.
my understanding is that the board is either going to hold its vote until we produce tax
compliance and that we will need to do that within 30 days but i did speak with both mr hegarty and
um miss emerson uh about that okay i just wanted to clarify yeah we won't we will not be able the
board will not be able to vote on this um with regard that should be done within the next five
days per the city questions or comments from the virtual audience no hands planning commission
oh wait excuse me chair a hand just went up sure and it's phone number ending in three five five
two they will be allowed to speak right okay adrian
Hello, good morning, Adrian. Could you please state your name is bill for the sonographer?
Adrian.
Adrian, could you you're coming in very low?
can you hear me better now a little bit better yeah could you please state your name and spell
for the stenographer yes adrian fernandez my last name is spelled f-e-r-n-a-n-d-e-z
can you hear me better now do you swear or affirm to tell the truth told truth nothing about the
true yeah yeah please proceed okay RCO has worked with this address with the
affected RCO North Central Philadelphia Susquehanna CDC since 2019 we are
familiar with the original unit 103 application and through to the current
one um swamped rco supports this appeal with one proviso and that's just that they continue with
the um trash and recycling management plan that's already in place um the information
we wrote about the vote is because we have had we have testified swamped rtos testified with
um Tioga residents and other persons about the um concealment and falsification of votes by
Allegheny West Civic Association um for this application for this um public meeting all RCA
all affected RCOs did not receive the public meeting summary form and it's very confusing
how the letter says that no agreement was reached but the public meeting summary form has a chart
throwing votes including six votes for one rco fewer in attendance and either one voted or two
voted but once again the votes are very confusing they're summarized however the letter is in
conflict with that we have other information there in the letter that this concealment and
classification violates the philadelphia code for regulating neighborhood meetings so we're just
asking the board to approve this application for the new operator of the current um or proposed
chocolate center thank you thank you for taking the time to call is there anyone else in the virtual
audience i see no hands planning commission good morning liz fuselay on behalf of philadelphia
the Planning Commission. The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning from the existing
I-1 light industrial zone district. There are several existing commercial uses within this
building. The proposed child care use is in keeping with the commercial character of this
block face. The City Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variance
for a child care center. Thank you very much. We're going to hold the vote on this until we hear
where we stand with the taxes. Okay? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, members of the board.
Mr. Chairman, can we hold it for 30 days? We can hold? Sure. Sure.
thank you board I have nothing further today we're going to set an actual date all right we'll get a
Thank you, board. I have nothing further today.
date for you August 19th August 19th at 9 30 a.m thank you number 12. Mr Chairman sorry to interrupt
this is ian haggarty uh can we see if miss boyd is available now for orthodox street okay
miss boyd are you available
she's been promoted
hi miss boyd
hi yes i'm here are you is your computer ready to go yes okay i please uh just for the record i
think i swore you in right could you just state your name for the record again latish boy spell
it please i'm sorry latish boy l-a-t-e-s-h-b-o-y-d right and just in case do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth I do our vice chair has a few questions
good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits uh five days in advance of this
hearing yes okay and you are here uh your application is for a two-family household living
a duplex okay and you um do you agree that you uh you received a refusal
because this use is prohibited in the RSA 5 district.
All right.
Thank you.
You can share your screen and tell us what you'd like to do.
I purchased this property back in 2017, and a few years after having it, my aunt got sick,
so I decided to change the use to a two-family dwelling, a duplex, so my aunt can be close to me
and I can care for her.
She could live on one floor and I live on the other. I applied for zoning and received a
refusal letter, which brought me to following the appeal.
So why don't you, we have all your documents. Why don't you start off by
probably showing photos of the property, right? And if you have any drawings of things
in the property. Okay. Yep.
you have photos with you there yeah good good thank you the photos well your your whole thing's
coming up okay so this is the front entrance of the building
and this is already a duplex am i correct no i'm trying to change the use for a duplex
a two family is it broken down now as a duplex no okay it's a single family home right now
yes yes this is a living room area first floor first floor yes entrance for the first floor
this is the bathroom for the first floor
bathroom for the first floor
this is the kitchen area on the first floor bedroom first floor
bedroom on the first floor this is the second floor kitchen area
this is the hallway area
that's still the kitchen area
one bedroom
this is the bathroom
still bathroom
this is the bedroom
this is the picture of my zoning notice
another bedroom
another bedroom
Thank you.
just another picture of the zoning notice
that's it
so uh so the property is broken down already ready to go as a duplex is what you've done right
at purchase yes right okay um all right questions from the board
uh so go ahead i'm sorry go ahead no mike you go ahead no the so so you purchased it it was
already like this already laid out like this okay so you didn't do any work to to to make it this
way no okay um all right sure you can you can go ahead i had something else but you go ahead
okay so um you the first floor unit will have two bedrooms and two baths
the first floor unit will have two bedrooms and um one bath it's one bath okay yes all right
And then the second floor is the same thing, two bedrooms, one bath?
And how do we get from the first floor to the second floor?
Do I see the steps?
Oh, so there's a side entrance.
I'm sorry?
There's a side entrance.
if you see the gate um right on the side there's a side entrance and you go up steps on the side
can you show that
uh i don't have pictures of the side but uh okay the gate
the gate on the side of the house is where they go up to the second entrance
Okay. And what do we do about the trash? Where is that going to be stored?
On the side of the house. Where the gate is?
Where the gate is. Yes. Yes. The side of the gate.
All right. And you said this was so that you could live with your aunt, so she'll be on the
first floor and you'll be on the second floor yes so she could be close to me she's sick and so she
could be close to me and i could care for her okay all right thank you you're welcome is it currently
is it currently occupied yes i live there now oh you live there now okay yes
and you're living on the first floor or the second floor first only because you said when
talked about the exit up to the second floor you said they they use the side exit the side to go
up to the second floor you said they so who so you have a tenant upstairs now or it's not my
aunt my aunt oh so your aunt is on the second floor she's going to second floor okay okay
are there any other duplexes on the block that you know of
uh i think across the street there's a duplex
and and up the street on on i think there's one up the street
across from mulberry
so money why don't you tell us real quick too how you make out with the rco
I just received my approval letter yesterday, so I wasn't able to upload that. They just
sent it yesterday.
DARYL FOX- The council member is in favor of it, too. Did you get a letter from her?
DARYL FOX- Okay. Questions or comments from our attorney?
Lynne Reidelhuber, Board Counsel. I just wanted to clarify. So this really is a legalization. Since
you're living in the structure you live downstairs and your aunt lives upstairs no she will be
leaving she will be living upstairs i'm trying to legalize it as a duplex so she could live upstairs
and be close to me okay is anybody living upstairs right now no okay you just live downstairs yes okay
questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands
planning commission
good afternoon Liz Fusillet on behalf of the Philadelphia Planning Commission
comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from RSA 5 residential single
family to RM1 residential multifamily the city rezoned this neighborhood in 2014
in accordance with recommendations in the comprehensive plan this is a
in accordance with recommendations in the comprehensive plan this is a 2000 2014 square
foot lot if it were zoned as recommended five units would be permitted by right the appellant
requests to the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the proposed use variance for
two dwelling two dwelling units mi 2025 005 491 1804 orthodox street i vote yes proviso maximum
from two units.
Michael Johns, and my vote is yes, with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Thank you, ma'am.
You have your votes.
Thank you.
Okay, number 12, MI 2026-000487-5707,
McMahin Avenue.
Perkis is the attorney.
Gary Perkis.
Yes, he's coming in now.
I will I will let's go to my my last thing I'm doing. I have it right here.
We see him.
Good afternoon, Chairman.
Good afternoon, Council.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
Yes, my name is Gary Perkis, G-A-R-Y-P-E-R-K-I-S-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you identify your client in a relationship to the property?
Yeah, my client is the Shepherd's Heart Ministry, which is the owner of the property.
And in the also attending, although not not not promoted, is Pastor Sharon Clark, who will adopt my testimony.
Thank you.
Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon.
Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did.
And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
All right.
Thank you.
You can share your screen and proceed with your case.
I don't know if you have a problem with your computer well it's it's I
I have the documents on.
Let me just move it to the other screen and see if that works.
All right.
Can you see my documents now?
We see notice of refusal.
Okay, we have it.
Okay. All right. Good. So this property, just as my way of background, the Shepherd's Heart Ministry is a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation.
It was formed on May 3rd of 2013. It was formed by pastors Colin Clark Sr. and Sharon Clark.
The Shepherd's Heart Ministry purchased this property on October 1st of 2018 from St. James Community Baptist Church.
The prior owner obtained a variance to install a freestanding projecting sign on the grounds in front of the church,
accessory to the existing church, and that was granted on September 13th of 2007.
This application is to replace the existing sign with an electronic message board sign.
So the first document I have to present is the notice of refusal.
uh well let's start we have all of your documents that we need so why don't you if you would go to
photos or or drawing of a plan for this okay and that way we'll be happy to jump ahead yes yeah
thank you um so here's the photos of yeah the
So here's the photos of the posting of the notice on the church.
This is photos of the property.
That's the exterior.
That's the interior.
And this is, let me make this a little bit bigger.
This is the original sign that you want to change.
Am I correct?
Well, on the on the left side is the original sign that we want to change.
Right. And the proposed sign is on the right.
OK. OK. And that's digital, that sign?
That's digital. Correct. OK.
So it's basically the same size. Exactly the same size.
It's electrical and digital. That's correct.
Okay. In addition to that, I wanted to share with the board. Sorry about that. This is the notice
that i sent to the neighbors okay and this is the um mailing proof of mailing from the from from the
u.s post office and uh here's my communications with the rco patrick jones um although i have
to tell you i've i've i've communicated with him at least a half a dozen times since since the
meeting took place, and he has not advised me of the RCO's position. We're aware of that. Okay.
And then the other thing I wanted to point out to the board is there are three churches within
two and a half miles of this church that have digital signs, that have electronic message
boards one is located at 610 Mount Pleasant Avenue it's the Germantown
Christian Assembly and this is a I can make a larger it's a photo of this of
the of their sign and and that church is 2.4 miles 8 minute drive away from 5707
mcmahon avenue the next one is 1013 to 41 east johnson street which is the true light fellowship
this one's a little bit too big but that's the sign that's there this this church is 1.3 miles
from 5707 mcmahon avenue it's a four minute drive and you'll see right here is a google maps
Google Maps, which shows the distance and the time.
And the last one is 6401 Ogons Avenue, the Mount Airy Church of God, which is 1.2 miles, five-minute drive.
So why don't you bring your client on?
Can I just make one other statement?
The neighbors of the church, if you're facing the church, to the left is the Social Security building, and across the street is the parking lot for the Social Security building.
And then to the right is a mechanic, it's a commercial space, so this does not impact any residential neighbors whatsoever.
All right, thank you very much for your input.
You're welcome.
Ms. Clark, Pastor Clark, are you there?
colin clark uh yes coming in now all right thank you
yes i'm here hi good morning pastor could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
Sure. Sharon Clark, S-H-A-R-O-N-C-L-A-R-K-E.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Counsel?
Pastor Clark, did you hear my testimony before the board?
I did.
And did you see the exhibits that I posted and presented to the board as well?
Yes, I did.
And do you adopt my testimony and the exhibits as your as your own as if you had testified?
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
Just real quick, so can we can we see this sign again?
Just real quick.
I'm sorry.
You showed the comparison.
can you see that yeah okay so this illumination this is just going to be during the day
is there it's it's not going to be at night right uh pastor clark
it's gonna be up all the time yes during the day during the night and illuminated that day and
night yes okay all right um and you said what's around the church there's no to one side is the
social security administration building and and the other neighbor is a commercial auto mechanic
okay all right thank you and that and that that picture right there i just that's on the church's
property that's not on the of course the pavement is wide so but that the sign is on the church's
property not in the right of way correct correct okay questions for our attorney
questions uh no questions questions or comments from the virtual audience
no hands chair planning commission good afternoon liz fuselay on behalf of the
philadelphia planning commission the comprehensive plan recommended no change to the cmx2 commercial
mixed-use zoning at this location the existing non-illuminated signage was approved by variants
in 2007 this new variance request will not substantially or permanently injure the
appropriate use of the adjacent conforming property the city planning commission recommends
that the board grant the use variance mi 2026 000 487 5707 mcmahon avenue i vote yes michael
johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes layla bibi my vote
is yes thank you council thank you board okay number 13 mi 2026 000 491 502 west glenwood
Avenue. Pascual Cavallari is Cavalvita is the attorney.
Pascual has been promoted.
Okay. Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Good morning, counsel. Could you please state your name and spell before the stenographer?
Oswald Polavita. P-A-S-Q-U-A-L-E-C-O-L-A-V-I-T-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel, could you identify your client in relationship to the property?
Yours is Victor Lealazuna to my left.
Okay, and there's...
And he is the owner. I'm sorry.
is sure there's a letter of support from 8 pm but also a letter of non-opposition from
council member Lozada and you also have given us a petition with 80 signatures our vice chair has
a few questions okay good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days
in advance of this hearing I have and did you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate
to its accuracy I do okay thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case
bear with me a moment
here we go
okay again Pasquale Colavita attorney for Victor Lealizuna who owns 502 West Glenwood Avenue
So we, as Chair has stated, we've received a letter of support.
We've submitted the documents listed within this table of contents, indeed,
the notice of refusal, the application, the PIF form.
There are a set of zoning plans, and I'm going to go right to that one right now.
These have been stamped from a prior recent approval.
uh recent um approval and mr ozuna has continued uh to uh perform uh construction to the property
to at the very least right now it's it's um it was approved for a the erection of a structure
and the use would be for parking only, as you can see on the document that's been shared.
He has been continuously doing the construction on it.
He's received all of the proper permits.
He's got a mechanical permit, a plumbing permit,
and I want to say just a regular construction permit to go along with it.
So what else is there?
And again, 80 petitioners, the photograph of the lot itself with the notice poster, the indication that there's a zero balance on for real estate tax.
As before, I don't know what the issue is, but I don't know if his EIN number is social security number, but there's some confusion as far as getting the proper clearance.
But the board has accepted a zero balance on real estate taxes for the property and it passed and asked that you do the same today.
and here's the letter of support and I can stop sharing this for one moment to
get to share a different screen of what it actually looks like today and right
now that's what it is like and i for some reason struggling with the photographs that were provided
by my client but that that's the lot that is what in essence where the uh construction construction
is taking place i can stop sharing that and show you an additional photograph of what it looks like
inside. Has this been shared? No. No. Sorry. Okay. And right now, he's building the foundation
for that. Basically, it's going to be an office. So here, the request is that it will be for used
cars with the same amount of space that is presently there. There's no change in what is
already permitted. The only difference here is instead of just parking, you will also be selling
vehicles. The structure that is being built on the property, which is permitted per the last
zoning permit, as well as under the present building permit, that there is no change in
the difference between what it's going to look like presently and once this job is completed
and it's just the use and we did not need to submit an architectural plan, but I can
I can either show it to you again, or let's go to the plan.
And if you have any questions on this, but we have community support,
pretty extensive amount of support on it with with all of the with the petitioners
no one opposed it I know it was not the most attended well attended meeting but to me and
and I'm sure the board has heard this in the past usually people show up when there's a problem
if they don't have a problem with it they tend to just let it go and the people that did attend
and did vote in favor of the project so we just we're only looking at my right we're only looking
at the use okay well I'm talking to our council here we we're only looking at the use for this
okay yes that's it I'm looking at the property the building no not at all so why don't you bring
your client on to adopt your test okay let's stop sharing and mr uh liao um did you hear my
presentation yes and could i have hold on hold on could i swear him in first oh sure
Could I have, hold on, hold on, could I swear him in first?
Oh, sure.
State your name and spell it for the stenographer.
State your name.
Yes, my name is Victor G. Leo Osuna.
Spell it, please.
Victor, G-I-C-P-O-R, G is our middle name, Leo, L-E-A-L, and the second last name, O-Z-U-N-A.
All right, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Counsel.
Thank you. Did you hear my presentation today? Yes. Did you observe the documents that I
shared with the board? Yes. Do you agree with the information stated within the presentation?
Yes, sir. And do you adopt that, my words, documents, and testimony as your own? Yes, sir.
questions on the board has the streets department reviewed the the plan and approved
yes that was done at the last this is just a change of use this is not
anything else but the end and on top of everything the building permit has already
been issued that is listed as exhibit give me one moment
And Exhibit 9 has that actual permit itself, which is part which at the last zoning hearing on this, we did get the streets approval in order to move forward with the appeal and the refusal.
So, yes.
All right. Thank you.
That's the long answer.
Other questions.
So you're going to do auto sales?
yes and maybe well this is what i remember um but you have to have a building
correct to correct auto sales so that's why you're doing this
no the the building is already approved we're building i'm saying that you still need to have
the approval for the use for auto sales but to have auto sales you have to have a building
you have to have a one unit structure yes exactly yes okay so just just so um how many
cars do you think you're going to be um selling out of this i let me let me go back and take a
look at the prior permit which would indicate the total amount so there there are only five spaces
six parking spaces that are available so the maximum that he would have on site would be six
at a time okay and then he has some other place where he's gonna have cars as well these are these
new cars used cars what do we use cars okay all right young whatever the proper terminology is
these days all right and none of this is going to take place outside of the confines of the
um property space correct it's not supposed to so the answer i i have to guess of course
yes that is my question yes yes yes so um and then
so then um is there uh some place for people to park who are going to um uh look at the
look at that that area there's there's a significant amount of commercial space
Plus, I mean, they can park in front of the actual because there is a ramp that the streets is approved to enter into the property.
And I'll be honest with you. Do you recall how it's that I helped them with the consolidation of the deed?
So I cannot imagine this is anything less than 45 feet wide on the street, because it used to be 502, 504, and 506 West Glenwood.
But right now, the only address is 502.
But it is a three-lot, odd-shaped property.
So there's, at the very least, 45 feet of street parking in front of the premises,
which i don't i don't i would assume that you can probably fit at the very least three cars
back to back minimum okay 1970s style vehicles okay thank you sure the question um so is the
only entrance on glenwood avenue interested okay all right thank you other questions questions
Other questions questions from our attorney.
from our attorney.
Not at this time, questions or comments in the virtual warning audience? No hands.
Planning Commission. Good afternoon, Liz, usually on behalf of this Philadelphia planning commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning from CMX to commercial mixed use.
To arm 1 residential multifamily.
this location is a mix of residential residential mixed use as well as commercial uses there is no
unique physical condition or circumstance of this property that would prevent it from being
used in strict conformity with the zoning code the city planning commission recommends that
the board deny the use variance thank you mi2026 000 491 502 west glenwood avenue i vote yes
michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes
leila baby my vote is yes thank you have a great afternoon all right thank you before we start the
next case i have three cases from this morning we're going to change the date so and i'll do
of them all three at once, 3142 North Taylor Street, which is MI 2025-005-591, 911 West
Huntington Street, which is MI 2026-000471, and 6900 Lindenburg Boulevard, MI 2026-0008111,
one all three will be heard on 12 9 26 at 9 30 a.m and now number 14
mi 2026 000 498 32 22 to 48 richmond street stephanie box is the attorney um
council could you please state your name and spelled for the stenographer
It's supposed to be the morning. It's supposed to be the morning. Oh, sorry. Stephanie, S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I-E. Last name's Magania, M-A-G-A-G-N-A.
All right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
My client is Richmond Street Donuts, LLC. They are the ground lessee at the point.
All right. And I noticed Port Richmond has had unanimous support and a letter of support from Council Member Driscoll.
Correct. Our vice chair has a few questions. Good morning. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have. And do you waive the reading of the refusals and stipulate to the accuracy? Yes. All right. Thank you. You can show your screen and proceed with your case.
Thank you. So this site is 3222 to 48 Richmond Street.
We are about 2 blocks from the exit ramp into Port Richmond from I-95.
So this this location kind of serves as an entryway to Port Richmond generally.
It's zoned ca1. You can see a narrow strip of ca1 here bordering the park and the right of way for Delaware Ave.
kind of adjacent to the residential zoning behind us historically the site at least in recent memory
has been used as a Wawa up until about 2024 Wawa sold the property in 2024 to the current owner
it's sat it has sat vacant and since that time it's a challenging site for several reasons it's
pretty narrow and has struggled to kind of find exactly what the right redevelopment for the site
So it has become a nuisance in the neighborhood. Honestly, it's kind of a source for some vandalism, trash, debris that that we've been aware of.
And we've been working with the council's office in connection with this redevelopment to kind of bring a new option for this site.
This application specifically proposes to redevelop the property, demolish the existing building, and build a new one-story structure for use as a takeout restaurant, and specifically a Dunkin' Donuts with a drive-through as its primary use.
This is an elevation drawing kind of showing what that building is going to look like with different points of contact throughout the building for your primary order point, as well as the pay window and the pickup window, which we'll get into.
We are seeking several forms of relief here. The primary one is a special exception for the use. Takeout restaurant requires a special exception in CA1.
As a general matter, because this use is limited to the drive through, there is no seating indoors.
And as a Dunkin Donuts, our peak hours are primarily in the morning as compared to some other similar drive through takeout restaurants where you'd have several peak points throughout the day.
similar drive-through takeout restaurants where you'd have several peak points throughout the day
so as a broad matter we believe that this not only will this not be more detrimental than expected
for this type of use but in certain ways less so and certainly an improvement on the property we
also have two dimensional variances that we are seeking one is for the location of the speaker
order point that is required to be 50 feet from adjacent residential properties we are 44 feet
We have a six foot difference. We have worked closely with our neighboring properties behind us, particularly on our landscaping buffer that I'm going to show you momentarily.
But we can also control the volume on that speaker to make sure that that impact is minimized.
Because of the configuration of the site, there's also a variance request for the side yard and rear setbacks from the stacking lanes.
We have a five-foot rear yard setback in the back, again, where we have a pretty dense landscaping buffer and a zero-foot setback on the side that borders the Sunoco that is next to us, where there is a landscaping berm at the corner of their property.
So, functionally, there is a divide between the two uses, but our stacking lane will abut their side yard as well.
As I mentioned, we've been working on this project since its kind of inception closely with the council's office.
we met with propac on may 4th we have their unanimous letter of support that we're happy to
include as well as a letter of support from councilman driscoll who has said who's been
involved here's a copy of our initial site plan as you can see the plan was approved by the planning
commission for purposes of landscaping we have two entries and two exits here on the original design
the site layout itself holds 12 cars in total. I'll just highlight the different points that I
mentioned. So the pay window, you can see my cursor, or I'm sorry, the order window is right
here. This is where that 44 feet stems from to the residential property behind us. It'll come
around the building to the pay window and then up to where you can pick up. We also have 12
parking spaces on site um and they can you know you can see the overall configuration um we are
requesting if the board is inclined to grant relief in this matter approval subject to revised plans
um richmond street is a state road penn dot had comments on the circulation of the site
particularly um wanting one-way traffic on the what's on screen left that entrance we have a
two-way exit on the other side these changes are directly from pendat i'll say that we have a full
revised plan set in the package that was submitted to the board i'm just showing you the site plan
to highlight the actual change none of the changes affect the landscaping that was previously
approved by the planning commission although we've updated the landscaping plan simply to reflect the
new underlying site plan but if if there are questions about that of course revised plans
seven pages make sense this is seven pages okay yeah it's our full set to make sure that the site
plan is accurately reflected on each page this is our proviso plans form um and again we have
our site layout um with that i would like to bring up gabe howard um on behalf of richmond street
donuts and introduce him i do have a few questions for him as well before we move on all right sir
could could you move forward a little bit closer to mike so mike one hello right could you please
state your name and spell for the stenographer gabriel howard g-a-b-r-i-e-l right do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes counsel thank you have
you heard the statements i made to the board this afternoon yes okay are they true and accurate to
the best of your knowledge yes would you adopt them as your own yes okay very quickly if i might
um can you give a very very short explanation of your background in the industry to the board so
they understand who the uh franchisee is at this location yes i'm gabriel howard i am a third
generation franchisee in dunkin donuts uh i live in philadelphia um i am in our stores in this
neighborhood already um i'm there every day um and um we're very active in the neighborhood
in all the local schools all the local foundations we have amazing uh partnerships with um phil
abundance and we hire locally. We do a ton of word of mouth, you know, hiring just from the
neighborhood. And I think we've been great neighbors for over 40 years. And do you want
other locations in the neighborhood? So we have three other locations along Aramago Avenue in
19125 and 19134, all in that same area. I have two locations between them just on Aramago Avenue.
we're very entrenched in the neighborhood and we've been there a really long time and we're
happy to present this to the board i mentioned to the board that we can we have the option to
control the volume on the speaker since we are going to be less than 50 feet from the adjacent
residential neighbors is that correct that's accurate okay and that's for day and nighttime
okay and that's for day and nighttime hours as well as proximity absolutely um just for anybody
hours as well as proximity absolutely
Right.
Right.
who's unfamiliar with dunkin donuts or less so can you give just a short what is the approximate
time for each customer to come through the drive-through line once they're at the uh order
board it's we have a standard of two minutes and 30 seconds that would include a window time of
30 seconds, meaning that every 30 seconds, a car should be leaving. And I think that we're
almost the industry standard and quicker than most other fast foods in that category.
And what are your peak hours? 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Okay. And private trash pickup? Private trash pickup.
So just to summarize again, I think given the hours of operation, there is no seating at this
location. It is primarily a drive-through. And because of the nature of Dunkin' Donuts,
we actually think this will have less of an impact than other drive-through takeout restaurants
and we believe we've accommodated in the site plan design to offset the dimensional variances
that we're asking for okay um questions from the board so i know you said primarily um uh driving
but would pedestrians come to this yes so there is a walk-up window um right here in the front
so that anybody who's on foot or traveling by bicycle there is this pathway here to the rail
station next to us on the right hand side of the screen there is a walk-up window so you would have
pedestrian access and that again would service anybody who's parking and then walking up instead
of using the drive-through okay all right thank you does this include signage of some sort this
application does not no okay but you're planning to have some kind of correct so to the extent
there's relief for signage that would come back to the board oh all right okay thank you so
pedestrians won't go inside the store they would just be there's a walk-up window i believe it's a
small lobby area okay um i have a floor park and just out of curiosity is there any particular
reason why you chose no seating at this location yes uh primarily number one is space is that okay
please answer her question unfortunately we had we removed um you know seating from one of my other
locations we had some issues just local issues with the seating and i would have loved to kept
it open but to make things quick and fast everybody's in a hurry want to get more room
for our employees to make these drinks and have space and not knock into each other and um but we
have one down there down the street that has great indoor seating and and you know a nice ambiance
this is more people jumping on 95 you know that they would get in get out and and maybe you can
help us out is it duncan donuts or is it duncan now yeah we what are we we're hearing different
things whatever you want it to be called you're drinking duncan there's a lot of people that get
paid a lot of money in the marketing okay so they'll call it whatever they want we're just
happy to serve duncan the lobby is on the screen so on the right hand side here you can see the
the the entranceway for walk-up orders and then the interior small lobby area for anybody who's on
foot any other questions questions more attorney no questions at this time comments from the
virtual audience there are no hands chair planning commission good afternoon liz fuselay on behalf of
the philadelphia planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning
at this location from ca1 auto oriented commercial to cmx1 neighborhood commercial mixed use district
the proposed use is not dissimilar to the prior use as a convenience store
the audible device distance from residential zoning from the residential zoning district is
de minimis the proposed stacking lanes do not meet the required setbacks and the proposed takeout
uses in keeping with the neighborhood fabric and uses the planning commission recommends that the
board grant the requested noise variance as de minimis deny the stacking lane variance as there
is no unnecessary hardship keeping the proposal from meeting the existing standards and grant the
special exception for a takeout restaurant as this use will not cause a detrimental impact
to the neighborhood beyond that which normally might be expected yes um just for the record
the stacking lane variance is specifically related to the left-hand side of your screen
here in our setback from the sunoco gas station that is to the left you can see the size of this
site the narrowness of this site and the need to provide this orientation in order to provide
adequate parking on site as well so respectfully we disagree with the planning commission thank you
mi 2026 000 498 32 22 to 48 richmond street i vote yes with proviso revised planned
seven pages stamped by zba on july 22nd 2026.
Stamped by ZBA on July 22nd, 2026.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Aston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
Thank you, counsel.
For a point of information, number 15, MI 2026, 0004997355,
line complaint will be heard at 2 p.m is there anyone left in the audience whose case has not
been called no hands chair thank you see everybody at 2 p.m
okay we are about to begin so we will be quiet in the room
Good afternoon everyone. We have one case left from this morning. So it's MI 2026-000-499-7355-Lympilm-Pike.
Xin Jin is the attorney and he's coming in now as a panelist here thank you
good afternoon good afternoon counsel I'm sorry we had a
take you to this, uh, tonight afternoon. We got a little busy today. Could you please state your
name as spelled for the stenographer? Sure. My name is Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N, last name J-I-N.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Counsel, could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes. Uh, my client is Anna Chenney, uh, Chenney, sorry, uh, property owner.
right i see there's unanimous support for your project our vice chair has a few questions
good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do thank you
you can share your screen and proceed with your case thank you i'm going to share with
the board what was previously submitted it should be coming up on the screen at this time
Can the board see my presentation?
We can, sir.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
This is an application for use of this particular address at 7355 Lime Kiln Pike as a laundromat.
It falls under the use, maintenance, and repair of consumer goods category in the zoning code.
This application was refused due to the fact that this property, for some reason, is zoned RSA 5.
But as the community's letter and also the photographs and plans will show, this particular property, as far as we know, has never really been residential.
It is a corner triangular property, and the building was used as a laundromat prior to my client purchasing it back in 2014 for a long period even before that.
so for well over 20 years as far as the neighbors know and as far as my client knows
this has been a commercial property it certainly is designed and in every way looks like a
commercial property and there's no history that shows that it was residential at any time
my client found out through just inquiring with realtors about her property that for some reason
it was never property zoned for the laundromat and that it's zoned rsa5 knowing other business
owners have recently been caught and given fines daily fines for zoning not being in place she took
it upon herself to go ahead and apply to get it legalized and that is the purpose that we're here
before the board today again this is a pre-existing condition that has been at this property for as
long as my client has owned it and for a long period even before my client owned it. As you
can see from the plans, this is a very simple and relatively small laundromat. It's an area
laundromat that service the residents that live in the area for the most part. It simply contains
a small office, restroom area, and then washer and dryers. And it's not a large operation,
So it's mostly local community people coming in to use the laundromat itself.
The laundromat is only really manned by my client or one additional person at most at any time.
or one additional person at most at any time it's a self coin operation type laundromat so it
doesn't really require a lot of people to be on site mostly just to make sure that if a machine
didn't operate properly someone's there to help the property itself is in a good maintenance
condition as you can see from the photos on the outside it does have security cameras and lighting
and has never caused any problem in the community.
And as such, the community was more than happy to support our request.
There was a little confusion from the community about the use as it was written on the refusal.
They had thought that it was going to be changed to some kind of clothing repair shop,
which is not the intent here.
We simply want to continue to have the drop-off and on-site laundromat service.
So that is essentially why we're before the board.
We're asking for legalization of this laundromat that exists at this location and allow its use to be continued as a variance to this particular site.
My client should be here to verify my testimony, and I'm happy to try to answer any questions from the board.
What's your client's name?
And it's C-H-E-N-N-I is the last name.
anna can you raise your hand virtually to be identified anna
good afternoon mr chair and council this is jason hand i will be your uh co-host for this
afternoon i think i see the person in question so i will go ahead and promote them at this time
coming back in now yes
anna yes hi hello hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Yes, my name is Anna Cheney, A-N-N-A-C-H-E-N-N-I.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Yes, truth.
Thank you. Anna, did you hear my representations before the zoning board and see the presentation on your screen?
Can you verify that everything I have represented and presented is true and correct and adopt my testimony as your own?
yes thank you questions from the board
questions from our attorney no questions at this time
or comments from the virtual audience
mr chair i do not see any further hands raised planning commission
i'm report with the planning commission amy boyd
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do
please proceed the comprehensive plan recommends a change in zoning at this location from the
current rsi 5 residential single family attached to cmx to commercial mixed use the proposed use
would be allowed under the proposed zoning the planning commission recommends that the board
grant the proposed variance my 2026 000 499 7355 line called pike i vote yes
michael johns my vote is yes cheryl gaston my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes
layla bibi my vote is yes thank you thank you council um we're gonna start our 2 p.m list
good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergen and i will be chairing this meeting
with me is our vice chair tenetta graham president mr chairman board secretary cheryl
l caston present mr chairman board member michael johns president mr chairman board member layla
beebe president mr chairman also here is our attorney lynn reuter uber our zoning board um
director ian haggerty and our board administrator lakeisha dandy this this uh hearing is being
recorded and will post it on the zba website by participating you agree to be recorded this is
an in-person meeting with remote participation whether in person or on zoom if you're called
to speak please state and spell your name and then wait to be sworn in once you're sworn in
once you're sworn in after you before you testify make sure that you mention state your name first
And before you testify, make sure that you mention.
to enter an appearance indicate the property address on your zoom webinar speak with a staff
member call the zba office by the close of business tomorrow call 215-686-2429 and and and
and also your give them your name your email and the case address remote participation raise your
virtual hand in order to be called on to speak once you're called on make sure you click join
as a panelist button use the q a only for procedural questions nothing to do with the case
if you are if you are joining by phone press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute
in person participation if testifying get close to the mic so that all attendees in the court
reporter can hear you no talking eating or drinking during the hearing aggressive behavior
will not be tolerated in the case of an emergency follow staff directions the double doors at the
rear are for the exit and also to the left is the stairwell if we have to evacuate please go to love
park which is across art street and remain there so that we can account for you so let's look at
our schedule for this afternoon.
No, 4837
Brown Street, which is M.I.
2025, 001
This case has been withdrawn.
Number two,
1937 Watkins
Street, M.I.
2026 001 023 this case is continued until 11 426 at 2 p.m number four 27 2707 to 11 federal street
this is mi 2026 001 030 this case is continued until 11 426 at 2 p.m number seven 16 east
Springer Street MI 2026 001 137. This case is continued to 11 426 at 2 p.m. 11 10 North 39th Street. This is MI 2026 001 255. This case is continued to 11 426 at 2 p.m.
Number 13, 7226 Castor Avenue. This is MI 2026-002-159. This case is continued until 11-4-26 at 2 p.m.
And number 14, 1814 West Erie Avenue, MI 2026-002-444.
This case is continuing until 11-4-26 at 2 p.m.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
Mr. Chair, I do not see any hands raised.
Thank you.
number six
oh that's right here's our ad ones oh my goodness gracious
you didn't have any this morning that's why
Here's our add-ons.
Number one, MI-2025-007-020-2408 West Lehigh Avenue.
I vote yes proviso approved use is multiple family house no multiple family household
living.
oh I got that's that's that's for the other one that's the old one here it is
that's that's that's the other one that's the old one here it is
here it is i vote yes approved use is two family household living only no household living in the
basement michael johns my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso
you got it it's all right okay that's great number two
everyone we have to continue the voting did you go sure okay it's not a grand my vote is
just with proviso layla bb my vote is yes with proviso number two mi 2025 007 358 1509 north
29th street i vote yes with proviso maximum two dwelling units no household living in the basement
interior trash storage michael johns my vote is yes with provisos
cheryl gaster my vote is yes with provisos tenetta graham my vote is just with proviso
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Number three, MI 2024, 007, 462, 6215 North 13th Street.
I vote yes, with proviso.
Maximum two dwelling units, no household living in the basement.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes, with provisos.
And number four, MI 2024-007-465-6217 North 13th Street.
I vote yes, with provisos.
Maximum two dwelling units, no household living in the basement.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Tenetta Graham, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes, with provisos.
I'm good. I'm good. I got...
Can we get him? No, I'm good.
No, no, no, because you need to have the...
Is that yours? You don't need it? Oh.
All right, here we go. It's going to be number six.
It was six, no.
Seven.
Oh, that's right. You all right?
Sorry about the delay up here.
We're good.
number six mi 2026 001 136 1052 to 54 roy street alan knockamson is the attorney
but it's actually alex goldberg
do you need a spanish interpreter yeah okay spanish interpreter please
good afternoon my name is steven aubain last name spelled a-u-b-a-i-n
interpret ID YM288. Right. Do you swear or affirm that you will interpret accurately,
completely, and impartially from English to Spanish and from Spanish to English to the
best of your ability? Yes, I do. Thank you. Mr. Goldberg is the attorney. Mr. Goldberg,
will you just state your name for the record? Alex Goldberg. And could you identify who your
client is please my client is carlos mota um he could be honest yeah if if you see him in the
virtual audience great he may be on a computer identified as maria who's his partner okay so um
but he he uh he understands that all right let's let's let's see if we can see him first why don't
we get them on the line.
Get him on the line.
And this is the interpreter speaking.
Would you like me to ask for him to raise his hand?
Yeah, why don't you do that, please?
Así que Carlos Mota, si puede prender su cámara en micrófono.
Carlos Mota, si puede levantar la mano.
Mr. Chair, interpreter, I do not see that individual in the virtual audience and no
hands have gone up for the matter.
Does there happen to be a Maria Reyes in the virtual audience?
Pardon my interruption, Chair, this is Ian Hegarty.
Carlos Mota has been promoted to panelist and is on the panel currently.
Okay, thank you.
Why don't we swear him in and get him out and just get him online?
Could you ask him to come online, please?
Carlos Mota, si puede prender el micrófono y la cámara, por favor.
Carlos Mota, si puede prender su cámara y micrófono, por favor.
So, can you ask him to please state his name and spell his name?
Carlos Mota, C-A-R-L-O-S-M-O-T-A
All right, Ashton, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth?
Jura y afirma decir la verdad?
The whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Toda la verdad, nada más que la verdad.
All right, counsel, counsel, you've already, if I remember, identified yourself.
You may have to go a little bit slower so the interpreter can work with you, okay?
For sure.
Go ahead.
or you've identified him or you do
not yet good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of
this hearing yes sí que buenas tardes ha sometido los documentos y evidencia cinco
días en adelante de esta audiencia contestó que sí and do you wave the reading of the
refusal and stipulate to its accuracy adiós y usted quita en la lectura de el rechazo y estipula
a su certeza dijo que sí sí que va a continuar con el caso
there we go
so this application is for a use variance to continue use that was granted by way of
special exception back in 2023 the zoning has actually since changed from cmx2 to rsa5 over
the course of time but the private club that was approved for this location has operated here
without issue for the duration of that time without any violations uh their variants actually
just expired um so we're we're seeking you know to to renew that variance um i'm sorry mr goldman
part part of the interruption um did you so we can do a couple of things with the interpreter here
um and it's it's up to you and your client um if you would like the entire proceeding to be
interpreted for your client we can do that or we can uh just interpret any questions from the
board or other information that we need directly from the client um how would you like to proceed
i think just the questions at the end is fine
thank you thanks okay interpreter do you understand um would you like me to let the
client know sure yes please solamente para dejarles saber que el abogado va a proceder con
this dar su testimonio y después al final este que yo le voy a interpretar las preguntas de la
junta si tiene está bien okay okay so what differentiates this go around is that we have
the support from the coordinating rco the previous time was not a well attended meeting the community
group i think didn't fully understand what we were asking to be able to do here this this
This, this establishment has functioned responsibly and respectfully, as I said, for the past several years, and they're now in support of the application, as well as many near neighbors signing a petition.
establishment has functioned responsibly and respectfully as i said
You can see the notice of refusal.
Again, this was a special exception last time around.
This time it's a refusal.
Private club is the classification that we best fit into.
This is, so Carlos is essentially the head of two, two different social clubs.
Um, one is, uh, is a softball team and the other is a Jeep club, which is Jeep aficionados.
Um, and, uh, a lot of, you know, his members are, um, of Latin American and South American
descent.
And they basically, um, you know, meet here periodically to socialize.
um they have uh community benefit um events and um that's that's really it it doesn't get a ton
of use um he he originally owned and operated um an auto body shop or a custom care facility here
for a very long time he's on the property since 1992 it was in very bad shape when he bought it
it's been cleaned up tremendously a lot of the neighbors remarked about that at the community
meeting that they appreciate that there's not junk cars parked all over the place and and he's
taking very good care of the property um and they don't play any loudly amplified music
they don't have crazy events um they don't use the space very often their their sort of hours
of operation are irregular because there's not a business operating here but typically they meet
6 p.m to 10 p.m um thursday to sunday and are there no later than midnight on saturdays
they have security they have exterior lighting all these things that we expect express to the
community group at the community meeting you can see they voted seven zero in unanimous support
they had several provisos the first one being security cameras and commercial trash which we
already both already do both of those things they have um trash pickup every other tuesday from
waste management um connecting more with you know the surrounding neighborhood and local community
meetings on board with that um contact information provided to the rco we did that and then there's
references here that i'm not sure were mentioned to us about um tenants and things like that this
is not a residential property so it was a positive meeting this was a petition that was executed by
several neighbors including the neighbor that we attached to directly next door and several
neighbors that are directly across the street from us this is the permit that we approved that
we received by way of variance in 2023 with the temporary variance to expire in may of 2026
Existing non-accessory parking used to remain.
There's a small garage there that you can see photos of
that he keeps a motorcycle and a car in just as storage, basically.
This is that permit, or this is the refusal that was issued.
This is reference to the zoning approval in 1988,
which was for eight private garages with an accessory office.
Obviously, there's a lot less vehicular traffic
associated with this property now than what was historically there.
zoning map this is a corner property between west westmoreland and roy street there's a large sort
of field directly across from us on the i1 side of the property and then residential properties
on the rsa5 side this is what the property looks like three posting photos for three frontages
the triangular parcel. Here's what it looks like on the Roy Street side, the left, and then West
Westmoreland. You can see it's not a residential side of the property. There's an overgrown sort
of lot here, and it doesn't look the same as the Roy Street side. Here's some interior photos.
There's a pool table. There's trophies from the softball team. Small bathroom inside.
and then here's his his little garage and then the floor plan is very basic
in terms of community service they do back to school drives and donate to the local hospital
they have a great relationship with their neighbors the organization the the softball
team has 32 members the jeep club has 20 members they don't they don't both uh occupy the space at
the same time um nor do all the members participate in socializing here but that's sort of what the
but that's sort of what the what the groups look like and you know the
what the groups look like um and you know
community is in support this time around we would like to not have a temporary
variance but I defer to the board on that we had the RCO meeting with the
with the coordinating RCO nice town tail again improvement team mailers went out
in a timely fashion, deed to the property, and tax clearance.
With that, I would ask Carlos to adopt my testimony.
Well, I'm not sure you can, right?
Oh, that's true. Good point.
So, can't adopt a testimony, but as an officer of the court,
we will take his testimony, okay?
Why don't we start with questions?
Questions from the board.
so is this like a private club or something that's exactly what it is yep and that's what
that's what was approved and that's what we're asking for and this is the interpreter speaking
would you like me to start interpreting from this point yes so yes my question was is this a
private club and there was a response from the attorney which was yes
Y su abogado respondió que sí.
I guess does the interpreter want to interpret the question first?
So, the criteria is that they're a member of this Jeep club or the softball team.
It's mostly adults over the age of 40, men and women.
In terms of dues, I would ask the interpreter to ask my client to see collect dues from the members of the clubs.
Así que la criteria para los miembros del club de Jeep y el equipo de softball, la mayoría son adultos sobre la edad de 40 años, hombres y mujeres.
Acerca de cuotas, se lo voy a preguntar a usted, señor Mota, ¿hay alguna cuota para los miembros?
no no no dudes so can you ask my client if he maintains the property with all his own
money así que señor usted mantiene la propiedad con su propio dinero entonces
So we do raffles.
There you go.
No, I mean, I'm just, I'm just trying to figure out. Yeah. I mean,
there must be some kind of upkeep. Bills. Yeah. Bills, you know,
that come up as part of this. So I'm just trying to figure out, okay.
So is this just a group that kind of chips in a little bit whenever the bills
come due or how they manage to, you know, keep things going?
exactly and it's a pretty lean operation so you know so then the thing with the jeeps i mean
does anybody keep them there already he keeps a jeep there but when like the jeep club is this
is i'm not in this sort of i'm not in the jeep sort of social circles but my understanding from
talking to him is that you know they'll meet up you know the group will meet up there and then
they'll sort of do a drive about in their jeeps but they don't no one's keeping their jeeps
there overnight except he has one car that he keeps there along with the motorcycle
así que este lo que estaban preguntando es que para el club de los jeeps que si este otras
personas mantenían los jeeps en la propiedad este su representante contestó que usted solamente que
tiene su jeep y su motora en la propiedad pero todos los demás personas solamente se encuentran
ahí y después hacen sus giras en este al salir
y así que el espacio no se renta a otras organizaciones
questions for questions from our attorney yes i just i just have one question you indicated that
uh your client parks his jeep there so i assume that the existing non-accessory parking use is
to remain with the uh yes please request okay then we need to make that a proviso
remain with the uh yes please request okay then we need to make that a proviso then
all right proviso that would be um one second existing non-accessory parking use to remain
existing uh non-accessory parking use to remain if you are going to grant the variance request
either temporary permanent whatever it is that needs to be another
question from the virtual audience did you get that to him
I will right now. Así que van a este añadir un proviso que es que el estacionamiento existente
no asesorio.
Okay. Questions or comments from the virtual audience.
Mr. Chair, I do not see any hands raised.
planning commission
sorry amy board with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the current rsa 5 residential single family zoning at this location the property is remapped
from i2 medium industrial in 2024 in a community supported map change however the property has a
history of non-residential uses including auto repair and a special exception for assembly and
entertainment in 2023 the planning commission recommends that the board grant their request
advance for private clubs and my 2026 001 136 10 1052 to 54 roy street i vote yes with proviso
existing non-accessory parking to remain and this is interesting would you like me to interpret the
planning commission statement así que éste en mi porte la comisión de planificación el plan
integral recomienda no modificar la actual sonificación residencial unifamiliar rs a 5
en esta ubicación la propiedad fue reclasificada de categoría industrial de mediana intensidad en
el 2024 como parte de un cambio de sonificación respaldo por la comunidad no esté obstante el
Este mueble cuenta con antecedentes de usos no residenciales, entre ellos un taller de reparación de automóviles y una autorización especial concedida en el 2023 para actividades de reunión de entretenimiento.
La Comisión de Planeo recomienda que la Junta le dé los avances pedidos de un club privado, así que MI 2026 00113610 en la dirección 1052 a 54 Royce Street. Yo voto que sí con provisos y existente el estacionamiento existente no asesorio.
i guess yeah i got it yeah so i voted yep just you i voted okay michael johns my vote is yes
with provisos michael johns me what does he come provisos
cheryl gaston my food is yes with proviso cheryl gaston me about this
comprovisos tenetta graham my vote is yes with proviso internet grammy vote is yes with proviso
thank you thank you number three mi 2026 001 027
i'll say interpreter thank you so much as usual all right thank you for using this
service interconnecting mi 2026 001 027 3941 mount vernon street henry clinton is the attorney
thank you sir
good afternoon mr chairman members of the board council could you please state your name and
spell for the stenographer sure henry clinton h-e-n-r-y clinton c-l-i-n-t-o-n right um do you
swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do council could you
identify your client a relationship to the property sure my client is lefter lefter demon d-h-i-m-a
and he is on the call all right and you also have support from the mantua civic association
our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits
five days in advance of this hearing i submitted the bulk of them we just had a community meeting
on july 20th monday night so some of the documents came in late okay all right thank you for standing
on the set and do you wave the reading of the refusal stipulate to its accuracy i do all right
and do you waive the reading of the refusal to stipulate to its accuracy
i do all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case
Thank you.
thank you mr graham
is that visible mr chairman it is okay uh again good afternoon mr chairman members of the board
i'm here on behalf of ahm properties llc but my client is on the call leftler dima
This is a request for a two-family dwelling on a block that has other multifamily units on the block, including the right next door at 3943 was three units.
And the back story on this is, and the reason we had such a late community meeting is, we had an initial community meeting where we suggested exactly what was next door, three units.
The community group did not like that.
Now, grant you $39.43 is a corner property.
The board granted three dwelling units there.
We asked for the same thing.
Didn't go over very well, so we came back with a revised set of plans asking for two units rather than three.
The refusal, this is an RSA 5 zoning district.
Household living, you can see the application requested three dwelling units.
And as I say, we have downsized that to two dwelling units.
RCO letter of support, just coming two days ago.
Photographs, 3900 block of Mount Vernon. We're right here, one vacant lot in off the corner.
That vacant lot is now, the structure is up and I have photographs of the existing building triplex that's there now.
Again, here's the corner property, which I'll show you. Ours is one in.
so this is the corner property 3943 and we are 3941 and then there's one or two lots in between us
and the next two-story homes
these are the revised plans uh that were submitted and then approved by the rco the other day uh
Three stories, bays at the second and third floor with a rooftop deck, all brick, and some hardy board siding on the second and third floor.
What we've done to accommodate some living space in the basement, and we've done this on other projects, actually on one on this particular block.
We have spiral steps in the egress well, which permit one to walk up and out if there is an issue of any type in the basement.
floor plans
I can walk through them
enter the front door
I walk down into the basement
in the basement there are two bedrooms
front and rear
there's an egress well
a large one in the front
as well as sliding doors that come out
the spiral stairs and up into the rear yard
there's also two baths in the basement
come back upstairs
have the living area, dining area
and then a bedroom in the rear, access to the rear yard.
And as I say, there's a spiral stairs.
If you come in the front door, you want to get to the second unit,
go up the same set of stairs, bedroom in the front, bathroom, kitchen area,
living in the back, and there's a small Juliet balcony in the back
for recycling and trash.
And then up to the third floor, repeat was basically in the lower level in the basement.
Two bedrooms, then access to a rooftop deck on the top of the building.
Basically similar to the house next door.
Side view, closer front view, elevations.
These were the plans we presented to the community May 28th, which were not well received because, again,
it was a i'll show you the presentation was for three three family and client
rethought his plans and we came back again for a recent meeting
the remaining documents from one that you typically see in a presentation like this
the PIP form, the proof that there's no taxes owed with regard to the property, 3941 Mount Vernon,
the zoning map indicating, again, one lot off the corner in an RSA 5 zoning district,
the deed indicating ownership of the property.
This is our notice letter that we sent out for both meetings, one earlier,
and then another on July
20th. Here's a second
Here's a second letter we sent out Monday, July 20th at 5.30 with the ZBA hearing today at 2 p.m.
letter we sent out Monday, July 20th
at 530.
Proof of mailing, 143 pieces went out.
Mount Vernon Street, Mellon Street, Haverford Avenue, Union Street.
And then these are the zoning records of the other properties on the block, including the one on the corner.
As I say, three units.
39.23 is two units.
39.32 to 36, it's 14 units.
39.04 to 10, two units.
And then on the corner of 39th Street,
there's two properties that have two units each.
And I have the backup for all this summation
to show the board.
39.43, approved 10.24, excuse me.
Maximum three units.
issue 2026
two family dwelling
39-32 to 36
this is from November of 2021
multi-family
14 dwelling units
39-04 to 0-10
this is where there's two
two family dwellings, two units, and then 620 around the corner, at the corner actually
of 39th street, two rental units.
So that is a presentation.
We have a vacant lot that the community was interested in multifamily, but not what they
considered a bit of an overreach at three.
we've scaled that back to two and it was well received at community meeting on monday night
i do have my client participating if he could unmute himself and maybe adopt
my testimony and then i can feel the questions i'll go back to the floor plans
leffler can you unmute yourself
then we're coming back in as a panel shortly at council thank you
Thank you, Mr. Han.
Lefter, are you there?
Yeah, I'm here.
Hi, my name is Lefter.
Hold on.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My first name is Lefter, L-E-F-T-E-R, and last name is Vima, D-H-I-M-A.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Counsel?
Mr. Dima, you were on the call when I presented your project for 3941 Mount Vernon.
And were you also at the community meeting Monday night, which took place via Zoom?
And are all the characterizations that I just made concerning the project true and accurate?
And would you adopt them as your own?
Thank you, Mr. Dima.
questions from the board yeah question what's the depth of this uh unit compared to the new
unit on the corner do they have the same size rear yard uh i'm going to go back to the site plan
it doesn't she's not showing that i don't want to i don't know or or is it i can't tell i don't
want to represent that that dash line is actually the end of the building because i don't know that
for a fact, although let me blow it up.
Leifler, do you know the answer to that question?
Our 70 is 56.6.
The building in the corner is more longer.
They have probably like, we have around 10 foot 0.6 backyard.
The building in the corner, probably they have around four foot back
or maybe between uh four or three foot backyard building in the corner we have a larger backyard
just need a slightly larger so that does the uh building on the corner also have roof decks and
other locations around have roof decks yes and also the building at 3923 has a roof deck also
leffler yeah and what's the depth of the the basement slab below grade
uh i think so i were like uh five foot below the sidewalk can you pull it this that elevation up
so you're
so you're you're 5 foot 2 below grade 2 foot 10 it would be good if you can raise that up some more
you've got enough room because you're at 30 32 feet at your roof height you've got yeah about
a foot more to go so if you could raise that up a little bit more that would be better to
have yeah we can we can do that more of the great yep we can do that the other other comment that i
have which is a typical comment i have is that you've got a bedroom you're passing through a
bedroom to get to the rear yard on that first floor level it appears i think you're right i know you're
right yeah it's a but let me see on the backyard yeah it's uh the one to the right yes
so good uh yeah right what uh virtual avoid that i can avoid that i can make a wall there
when do the alley like uh walk through to the backyard or walk yeah yeah okay yeah that would
be better for the yeah for a three-bedroom unit you know what i mean yeah all right those are my
those are my comments any other questions comments um where's the trash for the units going to be
stored uh the trash for the units on the first floor we're going to rear yard and then on the
second floor uh i think one of the reasons for putting this juliette balcony was to have the
trash put out there am i right on that leffler
yes yes
other questions what i'm is that balcony near the
kitchen or what it's uh in the back near the living room
uh so you're gonna have to take the trash basically through the place to get to the
to the juliet balcony here well it is walking through the dining and living room and the other
thing that leffler you could do you could put a trash closet right here at the end of the kitchen
yeah we can do that there next um there's no problem yeah that's a much better idea all right
yeah all right okay all the questions
questions or comments from our attorney uh yes um i just want to clarify uh with regard to looking
at the revised plans it looks like the rear yard depth besides i'm sorry besides the going from
three to two uh dwelling units the rear yard depth was also reduced from nine feet six inches to
nine feet it's still compliant but were you aware of that left floor and the backyard is nine nine
point six yes it was reduced from nine six to nine to nine i i can make them bigger the backyard
it's not problem you know if well i guess what council is saying if you're still compliant but
compliant and if that's so we will we'll need a revised proviso plan because the only plan
the only indication put on your reviso i'm not telling you to change anything but i'm just
just clarifying for it mm-hmm okay so so then I'll I'll do a revised proviso form yeah thank you
okay questions or comments from the virtual audience
Mr. Chair do you not see any hands raised Planning Commission Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning sorry um at this location from the current
RSA 5 residential single-family. The property is remapped from the previous R1 residential
multifamily in a community-supported map change in 2017. While there are some multifamily on this
block, the majority is single-family. The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical
conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance
with the zoning code. The Planning Commission recommends that the board deny the requested
variance for two family household living mi 2026 001027 3941 mount vernon street i vote yes with
proviso revised plans one page stamped by zba on july 22nd 2026 maximum two dwelling units
michael johns my vote is yes with the proviso
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Cheryl Gaston my vote is yes with proviso
Tanetta Graham my vote is yes with
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Thank you, Counsel.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Okay, thank you, sir.
Number five, MI 2026-001-135-7720-34, Busselton Avenue.
So Carrie Nass, Postas is the attorney, Postas.
Just be coming back in as a panel.
Sure, thank you.
hi good afternoon mr chair members of the board can you hear me and see me can most certainly
could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer sure my name is carrie nace
It's Paust, C-A-R-R-I-E-N-A-S-E hyphen P-O-U-S-T, attorney with the law firm of Fox Rothschild.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Yes, our client is Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., and they are a tenant of this property.
All right. And I noticed that there's a letter of unanimous support from Ron Hurst, and our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents, and is it about five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I did submit the majority of those documents.
Counsel for the board had requested additional documents, which we had since submitted.
We also, at the time of submission, we did not have the tax clearance letter.
we submitted a screenshot confirming that no taxes were due we have since received the tax
clearance letter which we will submit to the board for the record yes thank you for sharing that and
do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy yes i do all right
thank you you can share sharing and proceed with your case get my screen up
can you see my exhibits before you it's coming it's coming up right now it's up
great all right before we get uh started as you indicated the property is located at 7720-34
busselton avenue it is bounded by busselton avenue down a little bit here we go sorry trying to get
my screen here all right here's the property it's bounded by busselton avenue glendale avenue and
lansing street it is surrounded by commercial properties you'll see here as well as residential
properties to the rear and across the street. The property is a little over an
acre and is currently zoned CMX1. As you can see there is an existing building
located on the property that is approximately 10,880 square feet.
Previously this building was operated as a retail sales store for consumer
goods. It was operated by CVS from 2006 to 2024. Dollar Tree is looking to reuse this
existing building for a Dollar Tree store, as you're all familiar with, and did submit
an application for a use permit for the retail sales for consumer goods, as well as retail
sales for the sale of food and beverages for takeout. It would be, you know, your typical
sales of prepackaged foods as you would typically see at a dollar store. When we submitted the
application, we did receive a notice of refusal, which is submitted as Exhibit A1 in your packet.
The refusal was issued because under the CMX1 zoning district, it requires that the first floor occupying more than or there shall be no retail sales on the first floor of a building occupying more than 2,000 square feet of gross floor area.
As exhibit A2 is a copy of the appeal that we filed to this board, which is before you today.
Exhibit A3 is a copy.
Exhibit A3 is a copy of the lease, a sublease confirming that Dollar Tree Stores does in fact have standing to bring this application as a tenant of this property.
As I indicated to you, we have now received a copy of the tax clearance certificate, which is shown on my screen, and we will submit to you following the hearing.
a five we did send out notice to all residents within the area that was
here we go confirming the date at which we reviewed the proposed project with the applicable
RCO which was the Ron Hurst Civic Association as well as notice of the hearing today. Also included
is a copy of the bulk mailing certificate confirming that 63 notices had been sent out.
Marked as Exhibit A6 are photographs confirming that the zoning notice was properly posted on
the property the required number of days prior to this hearing a seven is a copy of the aerial site
plan which i was just showing you showing the location of this building as you can see the
property is here outlined with the asphalt this was a access drive drive-through that came around
the building this is the building that's in question here with parking along the side fronting
along busselton avenue and the entrance of long glendale avenue
as exhibit a8 are photographs of the property again this photograph is taken from busselton avenue
this photograph is a street view from glendale you can see the property here
the building this is another street view from glendale showing the entrance point
as well as the parking lot on the side. Here is a photograph at the corner of Glendale and Busselton
and then we come along the rear. This is where on the aerial I showed you the residential.
Here is where the drive-through access lane went through and back here in the corner is
a trash enclosure which will remain. These photographs just show the grade differential
between the subject property and the residential up here.
As you can see, this property actually sits lower than the residential.
As such, the trash enclosure is somewhat protected and shielded from view
due to that elevation difference.
This here is the access drive along the rear of the property.
Again, this is the residential along the rear.
This is a photograph of the trash enclosure area,
which you can see is properly shielded with a fence around and in good condition.
Next are just several photographs of the interior of the property. As you can see,
it's in good condition and Dollar Tree is not proposing to make any significant improvements
to the property. They are proposing a reuse of this building. They will obviously be making
some cosmetic changes the exterior will remain the same just simply with the replacement of the
sign from cvs to a dollar tree
as i indicated cvs operated here from 2006 to 2024 at that time they did have a zoning use permit
for retail sales for sundry articles, pharmaceutical convenience sales with accessory
sale of food and beverages. When they had obtained that zoning and use permit, the property was
zoned CMX2. Under that CMX2 designation, there was not a limitation with regard to only 2,000
square feet of the first floor area being occupied by retail sales. The property was rezoned in
December of 2022. Attached as Exhibit A-9 is a copy of the amendment that was adopted,
showing the change from CMX2 to CMX1. CVS closed its business at this location in May of 2024,
and it has been sitting vacant since then. As I indicated, the applicant is proposing to
reuse this building in its current state we did receive the notice of refusal as i indicated that
refusal related to the limitation of 2 000 square feet being utilized for retail sales
being utilized for retail sales as i indicated the restriction was not in the cmx2 given the
as i indicated the rest
fact that the building is 10 880 square feet once it became rezoned in 22 the use for this building
for retail sales became non-conforming the applicant is proposing again substantially
similar use and as such hardship has been imposed upon the applicant due to
the rezoning of the property making the use of the entire building non-conforming
as retail sales we believe that the reuse and repurpose of this building for
a Dollar Tree store which would provide similar retail sales is a good use of an
existing building that has remained vacant for quite a few years that is in
good condition. We believe it'll be a benefit in serving the surrounding
community and further it would be in keeping with the neighborhood and would
not have an adverse impact in the surrounding area. As indicated in the
beginning, we did meet with the Ron Hart Civic Division back in April of this year.
We have submitted as Exhibit A11 a letter of support that we did receive
from the Civic Association, which we have here. As you can see, everyone in attendance did support
the proposed project. Going back just to show you what the building will look like as indicated
up in the upper right-hand corner is the existing. We are going to maintain that area, provide some
updated painting, and just install the Dollar Tree signage, which is what it would look like here.
i do have a representative of dollar tree on the call here uh alex chu if you could admit him
into the meeting council before we go on lynn do you want to ask a question about the signage
good um lynn reidelhuber board council um you had indicated like you have a sign plan
but signage is not included in this application that is correct that is correct we're not asking
for approval for the signage now signage was simply included in the package here just to show
what the facade of the building is intended to look like okay i just want to make sure you knew
that and i can ask my other question you had indicated takeout earlier i think you meant
groceries you know it's just that's right i was clarifying and confirming it is not take out
okay it's you know make sure it's typical sale of grocery items okay yes thank you
who do you want to have call uh alex true sure alex i'll be coming back in as a panel shortly thank
you hi good afternoon hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
my name is alex a-l-e-x i'll see you choose all right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth is nothing but the truth i do counsel thank you uh mr chu where are you uh
currently employed uh dollar tree uh started corporate at the corporate headquarters uh in
chesapeake virginia great thank you and were you on the call this afternoon uh during my presentation
and testimony given regarding the uh application before the board yes i was and uh to the best of
your knowledge were those statements true and accurate yes true and accurate and had you
testified yourself would you adopt my testimony as your own yes i will great uh mr chair i have
no further questions for mr chu and at this time i would respectfully request that the board consider
granting the variances being requested questions from the board
yes so um is there any other upgrades planned uh for the site like landscaping or um any other
upgrades or you just plan on leaving the site as it is um we're going to clean up the parking lots
yes uh we'll clean up the parking lot uh we plan on resealing and restriping uh and actually as
part of our work we're going to replace all the um site lighting as well uh just to ensure that
they're operational uh and then the last last thing at least i know carrie mentioned touched
on the uh the building you know just some paint um and new signage uh the last last major item
we're going to do an exterior is the we're going to reuse the trash enclosure but we're going to
replace um the the gates as well other questions no landscaping improved no landscaping oh we we
We do. Actually, I apologize. We do. We'll repair anything that's in disrepair or damage, but we're not going to add that new.
like we'll mull the grass we'll make sure any shrubs uh are replaced if they're uh not in good shape
We'll mow the grass. We'll make sure any shrubs are replaced if they're...
okay the questions yeah and yeah i'll just look at the area yeah there's really yeah no
there's not a lot but yeah yeah but but not you
um okay so um do we have an idea of what's going to go on inside
or do we have a plan for in terms of improvements no like floor plan floor layout
we do have a floor plan i apologize i don't have it uh available on my phone uh but largely we're
maintaining the existing uh the former cbs layout so the sales floor will be the same size uh
obviously maintain the entry um our major piece of work probably in the interior is that the former
pharmacy uh it's going to be converted into uh part of our stock room okay and then um so then
a new floor yep you're gonna have commercial trash pickups we do so um well we actually have
a cardboard baler which is actually inside um so that'll that'll handle our cardboard so it stays
inside the store until uh pickup and then we'll have a four yard dumpster that's going to be
located in the trash enclosure on the outside and obviously they'll be you know hidden from street
view and you said what were you going to do with the you said the pharmacy type area you don't have
a pharmacy right we don't but yeah we're going to convert that uh area into our stock room since
Obviously, yeah, we don't want to go. We're not going to be a pharmacy.
And I'm sorry, how many square feet is this going to be? And it's one floor, right?
Correct. So we're utilizing the existing footprint of the building. So the existing footprint of the building is 10,880 square feet.
that's correct and so we would be utilizing the entire space now as mr chu indicated uh the rear
portion where the pharmacy was will be converted into um their stock room with the balance of the
first floor being utilized for retail sales all right okay thank you you're welcome just out of
curiosity the drive-through was the drive-through initially for pickup at the pharmacy yes and does
does the drive-through stay the drive through right the canopy will stay however it will not
be used as part of the dollar tree use and related we're gonna we'll cover the window up and um
the the drawers and other mechanism for the former uh drive operation will be removed
and will be repaired and sealed so so you would drive through there and just park in the regular
lot is that what you would want it uh they could i think you know giving the access and the you
know maneuverability back here most people are going to come off of glendale avenue here where
the parking lot is since there isn't any parking along this area but this isn't intended to be
closed off in any way we still need to leave it for circulation but the majority will come in
through this access point here okay on the other questions from the board questions from our lawyer
our attorney lynn no other questions questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes mr chair i have a handout from a scott kipnis i will allow them to speak sure
right and
uh mr kipnis is uh my colleague uh he was on the line he may have had it raised from when we were
admitted into i don't know if uh he needs anyone else besides that no further hands mr chair okay
planning commission amy work with the planning commission the comprehensive plan had recommended
no change to the previous cmx2 commercial mixed-use zoning at this location however the
property was remapped to cmx1 in 2022 the previous use was for retail and the configuration of the
structure is conducive to retail on 100 of the ground floor the planning commission record
Is conducive to retail on 100% of the ground floor. The planning commission recommends that the board grant their requested variances for retail sales at 100% of the ground floor.
Thank you. My 2020, 2026, 001, 1, 3, 577, 20 to 34. Busselton Avenue. I vote. Yes.
Michael Johns. My vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston. My vote is yes. Tanetta Graham. My vote is yes.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you very much.
Have a nice afternoon.
MI 2026-001-139-3734 North 16th Street.
Alex Goldberg is the attorney.
so you've testified several times today just for the record state your name
alex goldberg and could you identify your client a relationship to this property
yes my client is 3734 north 16th street philadelphia llc which is the owner of the
property and its representative yakov rudik is in the virtual audience i see you have unanimous
uh support from the rco our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing i have and do you waive the
reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy i do okay thank you can share your
screen and proceed with your case okay I see my client already has his hand raised so this
application is for the renovation of a shell structure into a two-family dwelling this block
has a large amount of multifamily living on it because it was previously zoned as such my client
purchased the property in june of 2018 and three years later the zoning changed from rm1 to rsa5
obviously my client would have would have liked to to get to this sooner so they could have
avoided this process but um you know it wasn't in the cards for them to be able to renovate this
project until now as you said mr chairman we met with the coordinating rco they were in support
their main concern was like they they thought that the property looked ugly and they wanted
us to invest money in repairing the facade and the porch and that was no problem with us they
were on board with the number of units we had preliminary conversations my client and i about
two or three units we felt like two was the right number here um and uh and i'll jump into
my presentation you can see this is a notice this is a use application so the only refusal
we're seeking is for the use uh the lot is large it's 2140 square feet obviously if he had uh if
this was still rm1 zoned we'd be permitted far more units than two but i think two is the right
number here here's the letter from the coordinating rco they there was no one there in opposition
there's eight voting in support there's reference to specific rental rates which were not the
rental rates we had discussed although you know we're going to keep this as affordable as possible
we um this property is going to be professionally managed and we were agreeable to the plash the
trash plan that they suggested um they wanted ventilated trash closets we have provided that
in the upper level unit the first floor unit has access to the rear er we would like to store their
trash back there and some other management concerns just making sure that the the trash
was managed the tenants were respectful and um prioritizing low-income long-term res uh
long-term local residents which which we were 100 on board with property history this property
actually has a history as a two-family dwelling dating all the way back to 1938
there are several multi-families in close proximity including directly next door which
is a duplex at 3732 two doors down the other way is 3728 that's a triplex there are six other
instances in close proximity that are all actually three units with the exception of
the next door property which we're also asking for just two here's the legislation that was
approved in 2021 that changed the zoning from this property which was zoned at the time rm1
to rsa5 here's after my client purchased the property uh here's a zillow listing from
from his purchase that references that this was a partially renovated truck
from his purchase that references that this was a partially renovated triplex
it's really just a shell so you know the extent of that triplex i don't think it was
near completion but it was set up to be three units obviously we're only asking for two here
it's still in shell condition here's a zoning map
photograph this is the front of the property
posting the notice to the right on 16th and to the left
here's the plans and drawings so there is an unfinished basement that's accessed by unit one
which is a roughly a 900 square foot unit that basement is unfinished and we are okay with the
proviso for no basement living um i heard the comments from a previous presentation that i
that my client is on hill here um that board member john's and i've heard it otherwise they
they uh you know a preference to not directly exit out of the rear from a bedroom so that's
what i'm showing in unit one here but um again this is a shell condition so um you know my
recommendation to my client is that we we essentially carve a hallway out there um or
reformat it in some way so that the exit to the rear yard of unit one is not through a bedroom
that is a two-bedroom one-bath unit the unit two is bi-level it has four bedrooms and two bathrooms
all the bedrooms are at the front or the back of the house with sizable living dining and kitchen
spaces in the middle there will be a ventilated trash closet in unit two both units will have
their own in-unit laundry as I said the property will be professionally managed and again we are
we are not planning to use the basement for any living space RCO meeting notice
we had this meeting on June 16th again it was unanimous support
e to the property and tax clearance the the they are under a payment plan that
have regularly been making payments on um with that i'd like to ask my client yaakov to raise
his hand which i see he's doing and adopt my testimony don't be back and as a panel of short
thank you
i could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
yakov rudik y-a-k-o-v last name r-u-d-i-k-h right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do counsel yakov did you hear my testimony today
i did was it true and correct correct and do you adopt it as your own i do and um with regard to
the floor plans i imagine you heard what i what i said about rear rear egress not directly through
a bedroom are you committed to designing an interior layout for that first floor where
the backyard access is not through a bedroom yes okay thank you questions from the board
questions or comments from our attorney not at this time questions or comments from the virtual
audience yeah sure no virtual hands raised Mr. Chair we have one here we won't have one in-house
okay hi good afternoon come to me if you ever get if you can get as close as you can to the
mic even pull the mic for you just a little bit yes hi could you please state your name and spell
for the sonographer my name is fiana bertha i am a current resident at 3737 do me a favor spell
your name for the oh my name is fiana f as in frank i a u n n a last name bertha b-e-r-t-h-a
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes and
live in the building i live at 3737 north 16th street right across from why don't you start your
test um i'm speaking today to strong opposed to granting this zoning variance our block is
designated as a rs5 single family home residential district where two family household living is
expressively prohibited by the philadelphia zoning code there is no physical hardship and
There is no physical hardship inherent to this building
adherence to this building that prevents it from being restored.
that prevents it from being restored
and used as a single family home.
Allowing this variance simply to maximize rental income
for a developer does not constitute a hardship
under the Philadelphia law.
Running this variance will negatively impact the health
and safety and welfare of our immediate community.
On our block, multivariate conversion
has repeatedly brought an increase in unmonitored activity, drug use, safety
issues, traffic, trash accumulation, and severe parking congestion on the already
tight block. I am deeply concerned for the safety and welfare of our
children who play here and the elderly residents because a lot of elderly
people that live on my mom block and excuse me and who have lived on this
block for years and deserve a safe and peaceful environment preserving single
family housing there is a critical for the neighborhood safety and long-term
stability and I respectfully ask the board to deny this appeal because the
people that live across from me because I live at 3737 they live across from me
and there's a lot of people that a lot of older people that live on a block and
I check on them a lot and they blast music from like five o'clock in the
afternoon all the way to 6 a.m. and they do this consistently it's a multi-family home on my block
I've been there since I was born 1984 so basically my mom been there for a long time and I've been
there and we we I come from a Christian household so basically on that block it was strictly single
family homes on a block and then they started to come over and turn it to multi-family homes
And then when the people moved in across the way and they turned into a multifamily home,
they start, there's a lot of drug activity. It was just fighting two days ago. I've been reporting
it to 3-1-1. I've been calling the police about it. I've been checking on a lot of the older
people because I have a plan to become the block captain. I want to turn it how it was from the
90s when we used to do Christmas carols and put stuff on the block. I want to make it like how
it was again i want to see the older people sit on a block and enjoy the block not just running
into the house and standing into the house where you can't sit on your own block and enjoy joy to
air and enjoy the people i want to start seeing block parties i want to start to see the community
come together as one and have just be peaceful and be able to sleep at night i don't want to
check on them and be like oh fiona i was up all night it was very stressful because i told them
all that I was going to come here today and they can see me and watch me from the television
or from the phone or the computers. They didn't know how to hook it up, but I told my son
to hook it up for them so they can see this, even though they couldn't be here because
they're really old. And I want them to pass on where they can remember like somebody actually
fought for them so they can just be in a peaceful environment. That's the only reason why I
to deny this please like let them be in peace okay thank you counselor do you have a comment
yeah so i can appreciate what sounds like nuisance and disturbance that's existing on the block
you know the zoning as i mentioned allowed those multi-family properties to be there
uh up until it changed in 2021 um you know my opinion is that having a vacant property there is
is is a negative because you know there's not eyes on the street there's no activity that's
within the property it's dark at night i think that renovating this property which has been a
shelf for a significant amount of time is is a net positive as is providing two affordable dwelling
units there and and you know a lot of these issues i think probably stem from poor management of the
multifamily properties that are on your block my client that's on the screen and that you heard
from today is committed to you know properly managing the property i'm sure that you know he
would extend his contact information to you so that he can help you know be a part of the solution
instead of the problem on your block um thank you for commenting and to testify we appreciate i i
noticed you've been sitting back there for a few hours and we do appreciate you coming in
is there anyone else in the virtual audience
no further hands with the chair planning commission
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change
in zoning to the current rsa 5 residential single family the property was remapped from
rm1 residential multifamily in 2022 and has a history of two family living since then the
building has been gutted disrupting the multifamily configuration the planning commission recommends
The planning commission recommends that the board to neither requested variance for two family household living.
that the board deny the requested variance for two-family household living.
So just quickly in response again, and I didn't meet this in this individual at the community meeting, but it was well attended and there was no one in opposition there.
What we're asking for is not at all out of character.
And again, my client purchased this property as an RM1 zoned lot in anticipation of being able to use it that way.
All right. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to hold this until next Wednesday and we'll vote on it at two o'clock. And just give me a chance to talk to the board and, you know, listen to what everything was said and figure out where we want to be with this. Okay. But thank you for coming in. Do I have to be here? You do not. You can listen on the phone. Okay. All right. Thank you.
Can I ask a question? How many people were at the community meeting? There were eight in support and there was one abstention. Plus.
do you have support from the neighbors next door the neighbor the neighbor that is directly
adjacent to us 3732 is we don't have a petition um and i don't know specifically the addresses
of the individuals that were in attendance there were members of the block that were on that call
3732 which is our next door neighbor is is a multi-family property it's a single family okay
37 32. okay okay all right all right so we're okay all right thank you all right next next
next wednesday thank you sure thank you both all right and i'm waiting here yeah i think um
if you want one more yeah
that's your client coming up yep
Number 10, MI 2026-001-277-232-34 Market Street.
Alex Goldberg is the attorney.
Alex, just for the record, state your name again.
Alex Goldberg.
And could you identify your client, a relationship to the property?
my client is uh the tenant of the property bomb shabu inc and it's uh representative hansu kim
is sitting to my left okay and you also have support from the rco and also
the council person our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing i have okay and this is a referral
so do you wait to read another referral and stipulate to its accuracy i do all right thank
you you can share your screen and proceed with your case okay um this is a referral for a sit
down restaurant that is um you know requires a special exception in the old city residential
area of the center city overlay district we're proposing a hot pot restaurant um at this location
which operated most recently as an axe throwing place and prior to that it was Tangerine which
was a Steven Stahl restaurant that closed you know prior to 2010 I believe. Very large
large capacity restaurant. My client has experience in the restaurant industry and this
will be his first restaurant in Philadelphia and we're excited to at the prospect of being
uh able to get opened um here's the referral again sit down restaurant there's no sign on
this permit and we were required a special exception under the overlay we had a letter
of support from the old city district they were very excited about this application this property
has been vacant um for some time now uh unanimous support and sounds like the council member in
non-opposition as well. There's reference in the permits online to the axe throwing facility
and restaurant that was at this location. Here's an article from Tangerine when it closed.
Zoning map, this is a CMX3 property. Ordinarily, if this was not under the overlay, it would allow
a sit-down restaurant as a right. Here's the front of the property for Market Street.
here it was in 2009 there are multiple street frontages here um bank street and boating street
oh like a 200 block has a lot of restaurants on it doesn't it it does
we have some photos of the interior you can see it's pretty raw in there my client just has his
materials just kind of parked on the inside um and uh you know full kitchen build that will have
to happen ventilation kit you know the whole shebang you'll see the plans there's a large
capacity for seating in here plans and drawings i will zoom in so
plans and drawings. I will zoom in. So the seating capacity per the plan is 190 people.
It's fully accessible. The, the sort of the, the concept is that, you know, there will be a hot pot
at your table where you can cook your food. And there's also sort of a station where there is
it's self-service for vegetables and hot pot toppings i guess you would say uh things that
are that are sort of kept over here on this um self-service area there's also a full a full
service kitchen in the back because there will be appetizers and things that you can't make in a
hot pot that that a kitchen staff will bring out um of course agreeable to commercial trash pickup
trash will be stored on the side where it has been under the prior owners we are not seeking
a liquor license at this time there are ample bathrooms right here and right here there's a
family bathroom in terms of ventilation the ventilation is through the roof and there will
be my understanding is with the hot pot restaurant there's actually ventilation at each table
because of the hot pot steam there in the basement down below which is accessible from
multiple points at the front of the property and at the rear where there are elevators in both
locations is basically just storage there's walk-in freezers and coolers there's an office
there's an employee space and and really just storage as far as staffing goes the kitchen will
be five to ten people the wait staff will be seven to fifteen there will be like a host team and
and management as well um no takeout as a part of this um concept because hot pot doesn't really
work as a takeout concept um chris uh hansu who goes by chris has has worked in the sushi industry
he sold his restaurant two years ago and moved to philadelphia this year and he'll sort of be
in management on the floor and in the kitchen is there an office building above this there
is an office building. It goes up two, three floors? Several floors. I'll show you the street
view. I don't know the exact number, but it's a large building. Four.
Maybe three with a tall ceiling on it. It's all set up to the roof.
Yeah, the ventilation is already, my
understanding is it's existing from the prior
kitchens that have operated there.
That's the conclusion of my presentation. I have the mailers
um right here we met with old city district again they were very excited
they put their branding in the windows as a temporary thing
application for special exception
and tax clearance so with that i would ask my client to be sworn in and adopt my testimony
sir could you please state your name and spell it for the sonographer yes sir my name is hansu kim
h-a-n-s-u last name is kim k-i-m right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes did you hear my testimony today yes was it true and correct
yes and you adopted as your own yes thank you questions from the board
okay so you said this is your first venture in philadelphia so you have another one of these
somewhere else or no i have experience of in restaurant business for the last 12 years and
i have worked in many different restaurants not only the sushi restaurant like korean
um barbecue restaurant brand hot pot restaurant as well so i have i'm confident that i have
enough experience i've been managed the store i was the owner of the restaurant too so
we are trying to build a great restaurant in the old city okay but this is really your first
in philadelphia in philadelphia yeah i just moved down to philadelphia
so you had some places you had another restaurant yeah not the same concept but i used to have the
restaurant in uh flushing new york sushi restaurant in flushing new york okay all right so um you'll
have to forgive me but what is this hot pot concept so it's like individual small hot pot and
It's like individual small hot pot, and you can bring your vegetables from the pickup store, and you can order the meat or the seafood through the staff, and then we're going to bring the meat or the seafood to your table individually, and then you can just cook on your small hot pot.
it's like diy you cook it at your table it's kind of like yeah you cook it at your table
it's kind of fun yeah i mean it's interactive fun concept yeah yeah there's a lot of that you know
we have a lot of hot pot restaurants in philadelphia
okay uh
meeting as one who doesn't even cook in her home house i'm not going out
she kicked me under the table and you start talking about
well there's no more extra in here so all right and then uh but
can you can you order is there a menu where you can
order other stuff yeah like the order stuff is only meat or the seafood
that you can um just cook on your small hot pot everything else like the vegetables is
you just go pick up from the pickup area yeah pick up area i think the question is are there
dishes you can order that the kitchen makes for you and brings oh you know like appetizers or
things like that it's gonna be we're gonna prepare it as like the hot pot i mean hot station okay
so they can just pick up from the yeah okay so it's going to be already prepared so then
there is no like kitchen kitchen well it sounds like where you need venting there is going to be
ventilation and it is a full kitchen you can see on the screen here the largest part here what are
you doing in the what are you doing it's a giant prep room yes giant prep room you're gonna wash
a lot of excuse me this is a reporter i'm having great difficulty hearing i i'm i'm sorry my my
yeah my question was you know you you're saying you're gonna have a kitchen
for any venting so what are you cooking in the kitchen if people are cooking their own food
no like this um we're gonna probably um suggest for like the french fries or like the simple for
like the kids that they cannot they're not enjoyed to having the hot pot before so
it's going to be some some appetizers like the like french fries like the chicken wings and
simple stuff like that that was my understanding that there are some other dishes that are not hot
pot that you obviously can't make in a hot pot in front of you that the kitchen can make
Okay. I mean, this is, you said you're going to have, you've got space for 190?
Yeah, large space.
It's big.
And, okay. Okay, thank you.
Yeah, you're welcome.
Other questions from the board?
Questions from our attorney?
Yes. I don't know if you already testified to it, but what you're looking at is the first floor in the basement. That's correct.
Okay. Thanks.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No hands at this time, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location to the current CMX 3 commercial mixed use.
The appellant has demonstrated that the proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts beyond what would reasonably be expected.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the requested special exception for sit-down restaurant.
MI 2026, 001-277, 232-34 Market Street, I vote yes with proviso.
Use limited to first floor and basement.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
Thanks so much.
Number 11, MI-2026-001-283-733-37 North 4th Street.
Eric Batson.
Batson is the attorney.
Batson is the attorney.
They've been promoted to panelists, Chair.
They've been promoted to panelists, Chair.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Council, how are you? Please state your name and spell it for the sonographer.
Yes, of course. Eric Bodzin, V-O-D-Z-I-N of Law Firm Blank Row.
Sure. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Do you identify your client and the relationship to the property?
Yes. My client seated beside me here is Bruno Bogrig. He is the owner of the subject property
at 4th Street Lofts, LLC.
All right. And I see there's support from the Northern Liberties Neighbor Association.
And our question has a few questions.
Good afternoon. Have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing?
Good afternoon. Yes, I have.
Okay. And do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
Yes, I do.
All right. Thank you. You can share your screen and proceed with the case.
Wonderful. Thank you so much.
Okay, Mr. Chair, does my screen appear?
Appreciate it.
Wonderful.
Well, thank you so much, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
Eric Bods in event blank Rome.
Again seated beside me is Bruno Bogrig, the owner of 4th Street Lofts, LLC, and Merchant
Marine and the other part of the slide.
The subject property that Bruno owns is 733-37 North 4th Street. As you can see in the aerial
pictured here, this is the southeast corner of 4th and Brown Streets in Northern Liberties.
The property consists of an existing three-story brick building upon a lot of approximately 1,900
square feet. The building was constructed in the 1930s as a small-scale warehouse and was more
recently adapted as artist studios. Each of the building's three floors is comprised of a single
floor-length unit, and there is also a basement for building systems only. As you can see in the
zoning map pictured here, the property is zoned IRMX, Industrial Residential Mixed Use, in the
purple, which, like the array of mixed-use designations of nearby corner properties in
this historically industrial neighborhood, supports adaptive reuse through a mix of
ground floor business use and upstairs residences. Here is the subject property as it stands today.
You can see, in fact, it is occupied on the ground floor. You can see in blue
by a modern ground floor business use. In fact, that is Tula's yoga studio. Here's another picture
from the northwest, you can see right across the street a similar mixed-use property with
Honey's sit and eat restaurant on the ground floor.
The ground floor yoga studio is already permitted, Mr. Chair.
The subject of this application is limited to activating the two upper floor units for
residential use.
And as you can see here in the refusal, the singular subject of the refusal is that the multifamily as opposed to two-family use permitted in the IRMX district is defined as three or more units, as opposed to the two proposed in the subject matter.
Here are the floor plans for the subject second and third floor of the property. As you can see,
the proposal is simply to establish those two upper floors of the building as full floor
residences. Each of the floors is approximately 1,200 square feet, and the intention here is to
to use the entirety of the floors in order to afford adequate space and lighting for
each unit within this uniquely configured space that was originally an industrial warehouse
and industrial warehouse space. As you can see here, each unit has distinct living, eating, and sleeping areas, segregated code-compliant trash enclosure spaces in the bottom right corners,
space.
As you can see here, each unit has distinct
and a stairwell and entrance exclusive to the second and third floor residences.
Here, for reference, are floor plans of the ground floor and basement floor plans.
Again, the subject of this application is only the second and third floor.
The first floor yoga studio is already permitted, but here you can see the separate entrances
for the residential and commercial spaces of the building, and again, the basement,
which is used exclusively for building systems. Here is the support letter from the coordinating
RCO Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association. Eric. Yes. Excuse me. Can you go back and can
you make that a little bigger? Oh, yes, of course. I'm sorry. Yes. Is this better? I'm sorry. We're
in our conference room area. Yes. That's much better. Thank you. Wonderful. Let me go back to
second and third floor so you can see that more clearly again the designated living sleeping
separate co-compliant trash areas down here kitchen bath areas for these 1200 square feet unit
and again here are the first floor and basement plans for reference
thank you here is the support letter um from the coordinating rco the northern liberties
neighborhood associate association uh bruno sitting beside me and i along with our architect
doug seiler who is in the virtual audience met with nlna uh back on april the 6th um we are
pleased to share that NLNA supports the application and was particularly supportive of the full floor
second and third floor residences here without the additional you know any additional units.
Further attached and in your packets are nine additional support letters from near businesses
and neighbors, including here the ground floor tenant, Tula's Yoga Studio, Honey's Sit-Need
Across the Street, and several other businesses and near neighbors in the area.
Mr. Chair, for all these reasons and based upon the full exhibit package provided in advance of
this hearing, we submit that the requested use variance for two-family household living where
multi-family household living is permitted um should be granted and then ironically only the
denial of this relief could re result in negative impact to the property or its neighbors through
additional units three or more we submit that the applicant is certainly requesting grant
of the most minimal variance possible a reduction in variance to allow two not three units
um and that the proposed relief is all to the benefit not detriment of local transportation
congestion public facilities the environment and the public welfare all important eric let me
answer this what's on the second and third floor now currently the second and third floor are um
vacant space right all right so do you do you have photos of that or you just have pictures of the
little drawings. Let's see what's on the second and third floor. Hold on one moment. Here are the
pictures of the second and third floor in their existing condition. The first row are pictures of
the second floor. Is that right, Bruno? The first row is the third floor. First row is the third
floor. I'm sorry. And the second row is the second floor. So this will have to be basically a lot,
a gut job and exactly do it right no Eric there'll be a lot of work done up
there I'm I'm sorry mr. chair can you repeat that well there have to be a lot
of work done here so if I may introduce into a firm and adopt my testimonies
his own um bruno the owner is seated beside me all right uh good afternoon uh good afternoon sir
could you please state your name and spell before the stenographer yes my name is bruno vogrig uh
v like victor ogrig and i am the owner of the property you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir arick yes um so certainly um uh you know
So, certainly, you know, beyond this permit, renovation will be needed to be done to update the units to provide for residential household living.
Be honest.
Bruno, Mr. Boberg, is there anything you'd like to add about the renovation process that you foresee?
um we do anticipate to do some minor renovation but the extent of the work will not be very large
the previous owners were using both spaces uh the third floor uh for residents and the second floor
for commercial to be making art as an artist studio so it was uh updated in the 2014 with
new electric and plumbing and they had permits for that as well okay i got it okay thank you
questions from the Board. Questions from our attorney? No questions. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, I do not see any hands raised. Planning Commission. Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the current RMX
IRMX, Industrial Residential Mixed Use. The proposed two-family is in the spirit of the zoning code. The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant their impressive variance for two-family household living.
MI 2026-001-283-733-37 North 4th Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes.
Thank you, counsel. Thank you all for your time this afternoon. Sure. Number 12, MI 2026, 001354, 1813 North Howard Street. Andrea Solomon is the attorney.
I guess she was sitting in the back. She went back there a long time. Hi, good afternoon.
Could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer?
My name is Andrea Solomon, A-N-D-R-E-A-S-A-L-O-M-O-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Howard N-D-L-L-C.
The owner of this property with me today on behalf of the ownership is Mr. David Hadari
and the project architect, Mr. Sergio Koscia.
our vice chair has a few questions good afternoon have you submitted your
documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing we have with
exception of the tax clearance certificate which was submitted on
Monday okay and thank you for that and do you waive the reading of the refusal
and stipulate to its accuracy I do all right thank you can show your screen and
proceed with your case. Thank you. There we go. Again, good afternoon. Andrea Solomon on behalf
of the owner, Howard ND LLC, respectfully request that these exhibits 1 through 10 be incorporated
and made part of the record okay 1813 north howard is a new construction mixed-use building housing
multi-family dwelling units industrial spaces and accessory parking the building was an investment
in this former industrial neighborhood to bring high quality modern residential units to meet the
changing needs of the neighborhood this block has seen a big redevelopment to add multi-family
dwelling units. The current application is for the change of use of three of the existing
industrial artist studios for uses three residential dwelling units for a total of
28 multifamily units in this existing structure. You have the letter of support from the coordinating
RCO, North Square Community Action Network. It was a well-attended meeting and we had a very
productive discussion about the changing needs of the community um the underlying zoning is irmx
which requires the 50 of the ground floor school area to be industrial uses that's the that's why
we have the artist studios um and these three tenant spaces were designed as artist studios
originally the location of this property is not conducive
The location of this property is not conducive to industrial or commercial spaces.
It's a very residential block.
This is the area with a lot of multifamily dwelling on the block and some single-family
residential further south on the block.
um hope street and howard street are two narrow streets again very residential in nature
this is the view of hope street uh from facing on the block facing north this was it facing south
and on howard street uh we have the same conditions but there's a transition to
single-family residential and across the street is also the uh toey playground which neither of
the streets have as much foot traffic or other commercial industrial uses as opposed to berk
street and front street just a couple blocks over that are more of a commercial corridor
and uh this is a montgomery avon howard which has also been redeveloped for multi-family residential
this is the entrance of the building on hope street and what the what the building looks
like from hope street with the various residential units the artist studios are located on the ground
in the first the second floor and this is what some of the residential units that have already
been existing and have started to be leased up uh are look like
the property owner has marketed these three units since the even before the ceo was received but
there's really been no bites for artist studios in the area but they have seen a big demand for
residential and these are the prior approved plans that show the three artist studios
there are five parking accessory spaces commercial trash pickup and a trash room
on the ground floor with pickup from howard street each unit has its own mailbox and at
the entrance vestibule and all all the units including the artist studio units share a com
the the now artist studios which we're proposing be converted to residential share a common
entrance um with that i'd ask that um mr larger than yes the artist studio the this the ground
floor studio is 400 square feet and the uh ones on the second floor are for a one bedroom which
is 558 square feet and a studio which is 472 square feet bring your person on um yes david
And Hedari, if you can raise your hand so that you can be promoted as panelists.
They will be back in as a panelist shortly.
Thank you.
Hello, good afternoon.
Hi, good afternoon.
Could you please state your name as spelled for the stenographer?
yes my name is david hidary h-i-d-a-r-y do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
and nothing but the truth i do counsel hi david uh can you just state for the record your
relationship to howard and dlc yes i'm the property manager for the building and you saw the entirety
of my presentation i did and is it true and accurate to the best of your knowledge
yes it is and do you adopt it as your own testimony i do and we also have mr kosha here
the project architect to answer any questions the board may have on the layout and of the
of the spaces all right questions from the board so these uh artist units are is a total of how
many three three units grace so you'll be converting them and there are two
efficiencies in one one bedroom that's that what I heard yes okay all the
questions and so the rest of the building is being leased with no problem
that's correct David I know you can speak to the numbers but they've seen
great success with the lease up okay and what you're basically saying is there's no real
demand for artists yeah it's not it's not an area that's really conducive to the industrial use
demand for artists yeah it's not it's not an area that's really conducive
in fact the whole area has really been redeveloped from this and from the former industrial nature
all right other questions and so the trash uh disposal for and storage for these three units
is that connected with the rest of the circulation of the building that's correct it'll be a
commercial trash pickup and it's it's service from howard street okay so they would have to
where would they bring their trash they would bring their trash into that um the other residential
system like like is there a trash room yeah each floor has a each floor has a trash chute um and
then on the ground floor there is a trash room which is um really only accessed by um our trash
company philly wide um except for recycling so people leave their recycling in the bins in the
trash room and then each floor has a shoot for um you know like for your garbage bags so these units
are on the ground floor though so they're not able to use the shoot or they're able to they're on the
set two of them are on the second floor and one is on the ground floor so the one on the ground
floor would just bring it down the hall to the trash room correct yeah gotcha thank you other
questions questions more attorney no questions questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes chair i have a hand up from a sergio cassia i've allowed them to speak
sure hi hi i'm just the architect i was um just making myself available to answer any questions
sure we appreciate that thank you anyone else yes i have a hand up oh the hand was up but
they put it down okay now to put it up it's um from a number ending in nine four seven zero
i have allowed them to speak okay yes good afternoon hi hi good afternoon could you please
state your name and spell for the stenographer yes milda pimentel n-i-l-d-a-p-i-m-e-n-p-e-l
and i'm the uh president of the coordinating art field sure do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed yes uh before we
Also for comments on the application, I want to go on record by apologizing to the affected
RCO, the South Kensington Community Partners for our failure, I mean unintentionally I
would say, to copy them on the materials that we submitted to the SBA in mid-June.
This is the first time this happened, so again, we apologize for that and we also made that
known to them personally via email. Our board, our group also wants to add that prior to the
zoning committee meeting that we held on May 12th to consider this application, I personally contacted
at the coordinating RCO, and they were informed about our SONI meeting.
So, internal application, as we indicated in our explanation letter, our SONI committee
endorsed the application and including the attendees.
We didn't see any like major serious issues
about the application.
We don't believe that converting those three small units
in the context of over 200 units of residential housing
in the area, in particular the surrounding blocks
is going to alter fundamentally the context of the block.
We also want to let the board members know
that as it's our practice,
we organize a pre-soning conference
and we attended a pre-soning conference
with the Mr. David Hedery and the attorneys
and invited some nearby residents.
We usually do that.
And we also had an opportunity to tour the units
under consideration.
We also reached out to a council member
and as of this morning, we were told
as of this morning we were told that they were issuing an opposition letter
that they were issuing an opposition letter.
okay um council do you have any questions no thank you i i'll affirm you know um miss
nilda was able to tour the units and it was a well-attended community meeting and
we we did reach out to many community members to come tour the units and see see it for themselves
All right. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to call us. We appreciate it. Thank you very much. Anyone else in the audience?
No further hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location to the current IRMX industrial residential mixed use.
The appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code.
the planning commission recommends the report to neither requested variants for ground floor use
just i'll note again that it's a difficult area to have the industrial uses and i'll know also
for the record that the refusal is not for the density the number of units would be allowed by
right it's just the removal of the industrial space that results in the refusal all right thank
you mi 2026 001 354 1813 north howard street i vote yes michael johns my vote is yes
cheryl guest my vote is yes tenetta graham my vote is yes leila beebe my vote is yes
thank you very much thank you have a great afternoon
you um number 15 mi 2026 002 612 921 north 29th street um tobe tobe jia anderson
don't be coming back in as a panel
hello good afternoon hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
the bodger henderson t-o-b-i-j-a-h anderson a-n-d-e-r-s-o-n okay and you have a letter
of support from francisville i understand is that correct i do i have a letter of support um
and i'm newer to this and when you did you say franceville it's francisville right that's the
location am i wrong it's 921 north 29th street fairmount yeah okay fairmount okay yes fairmount
center room which is next to francisville i'm sorry um our vice chair has a few questions for
you okay good afternoon um have you submitted your uh documents and exhibits uh five days in
advance of this hearing yes okay and so is your understanding that this application is for visitor
accommodations yeah okay and uh you understand that in this zoning district cmx1 that the visitor
accommodations is prohibited that's the reason for your refusal is that understandable yes okay all
right thank you you can uh share your screen show us what you're trying to do all right thank you
guys can you see my screen now we can all right um want to try to make this short and sweet um i do
have a refusal here is for a visitor accommodation it was uh approved previously and it expired on
4-13-26. So this was my appeal. And it uses the current layout. There's no, nothing that's going
to be changed on the property inside or outside. The use is low intensity, so it does not create
any conditions that um warn a public safety this is the
application information here i forget the term the um of this form but with the form that i was
supposed to fill out in addition to the appeal this is the lease agreement here this is the
tax clearance here this is just a layout of the two apartments over top of the
commercial daycare downstairs this is the second and third floor again
nothing's changed this was the ZBA meeting notice this was the petition
from the people physically on the block on that particular block there are other
On that particular block, there are other commercial facilities. There's a Chinese store across the street. And then on the corner of 29th and Gerard, there's four different commercial properties there.
their commercial facility is a Chinese store across the street.
This is the, these are the letters that went out to all of the neighbors and this is the letter from the zoning meeting.
so we have we have the letters sir we have we have we have everything
and that's really all i have to provide okay and you've had no problems with before right
how long have you been doing this no problems i've actually been doing this prior to um the
city of philadelphia asking for the zoning permit so i was doing it since 2017 and then when the
tony permit was requested um we started that process our vice chair our board has a few
questions anyone the question oh okay all right questions from our attorney
yes um i just want to make sure is the uh use that you're asking for limited to
the second and third floor apartments only correct so the first floor is
already a daycare a commercial property thank you comments from the virtual
audience I do not see any hands mr. chair any commission Amy Boyd with the
Planning Commission the comprehensive plan of recommends no change in zoning
to the existing CMX-1 commercial mixed use.
The appellant has not demonstrated
that there are unique physical conditions
or circumstances of the property
that would prevent it from being used
in conformance with the zoning code.
The Planning Commission recommends
that the board deny the requested variance
for visitor accommodation.
So MI 2026, 002, 612, 921 North 29th Street.
I vote yes with proviso.
Use limited to second and third floor. Temporary variance granted will expire 7-23-30.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Sir, you have your votes.
Thank you so much, everyone. Have a great day.
is there anyone uh in the audience who 2 p.m case has not been called
i do not see any hands mr chair so we're going to take a five minute break and we'll be right back
good afternoon everyone my name is bill bergman and i will be
chairing this meeting of the zoning board of adjustment with me is our vice chair tenetta
graham president mr chairman our board secretary cheryl l gaston present mr chairman board member
michael johns president mr chairman board member layla lay uh bb president mr chairman um also
present is our attorney lynn reuter huber also our cba executive director ian haggerty and our
Board Administrator Lakeisha Dandy. This hearing is being recorded and will be posted on the ZBA
website. By participating, you consent to be recorded. This is an in-person meeting with
remote participation, whether in person or on Zoom. If you're called to speak, please start,
please state and spell your name, and then wait to be sworn in. After that, each time you're called
to testify please start off with by stating your name to enter an appearance
indicate the pro the property address on your zoom webinar speak with a staff member
call the zba office by the close of business tomorrow call 215-686-2429 and please provide
your name your email and the case address
remote participation raise your virtual hand so that we can call on you to speak when we call you
make sure that you click the join as a panelist button use the q a only for
Use the Q&A only for procedural questions, not anything to do with the case.
procedural questions not anything to do with the
If you are joining by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
In-person participation.
If testifying, get close to the mic so that all attendees and the court reporter can hear you.
No talking, eating or drinking during the hearing.
aggressive behavior will not be tolerated in an emergency follow the instructions by the staff
the the main exit is the double doors in the rear the the nearest stairwell is to the left
if we evacuate please go to love park which is directly across art street and please wait there
so we can account for you so let's look at our schedule for this afternoon
Number two, MI 2025, 005-803, 1030 North 40 A Street.
We have no exhibits.
This is the second listing.
The owners are Zekia, Cavs Sample, and also, no, that's good.
That's it.
and um um no no exhibit second listing
good evening mr chair this is jason hand i will be your co-host for the session
i do not see the individual in the virtual audience and no hands have been raised for the
matter mi 2025 305 803 1030 north 48th street i vote to dismiss
michael johns my vote is to dismiss cheryl gaston my vote is to dismiss
tenetta graham my vote is to dismiss layla bb my vote is to dismiss
number four mi 2026 000 513 22 34 catherine street that case is continued to 12 9
26 at 3.30 p.m.
Number 6, MI 2026, 000814, 311 North 40th Street.
No exhibits.
This is the first listing.
Donjel Tian is the listed owner.
Good afternoon again, Mr. Chair.
once more i do not sit down into it excuse me individual in the virtual audience and no hands
have been raised mi2026 000 814 311 north 40 street that case is uh continued to 12 926 mark must be
hurt. And number seven, MI 2026, 000841, 841 Hagerman Street. That case is continued to 12926 at 3.30 p.m.
and number eight mi 2026 001 388 2511 south 73rd street um
alakaz alakala wisner is the owner applicant we do have a request for continuance could
the uh owner please come forward
I've lost call one, sir. If you're still in the virtual audience, please raise your virtual hand.
we see anyone yes they've been allowed to speak mr chair
i was called winter is a mute
i'm unmuted
hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
My name is Alaskol Wissner, A for Alpha, L for Larry, A for
My name is Alaskol Wissner, A for Alpha, L for Larry, A for Alpha, S for Sierra, C for Charlie, A for Alpha, L for Larry, Debbie for Whiskey, I for India, S for Sierra, N for November, E for Echo, Arapa Road.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
The RCO and the council person for the area both requested this case be continued.
yes here's my knowledge are you are you aware of that yes okay so we're going to continue this case
steady but did he just say he's aware of it okay all right okay all right is the RCO here
okay is the is the RCO present Mr. Chair I see a hand up from Craig Melodosian yeah okay that's it
they've been allowed to speak
good afternoon chair Craig could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
Craig C-R-A-I-G last name Melodosian 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.
Craig, could you give us the basis for the continuance?
Well, we sent you, I'm sorry, there was some confusion in the submittal of paperwork.
We were working with Attorney Breonna, which we feel from Council President Johnson's office.
so i please accept our apology for the delay it was a rather long explanation letter but we
cut it down from about 15 pages of problems that we sent to uh the district office and the um
we didn't really want to bother the president's office uh but unfortunately there's been an issue
with uh the chief of staff for the district office being out uh we found an extraordinary
number of irregularities that we were trying to work around that involved what we believe
are significant life safety and long-standing code compliance issues. We were trying to help
and work with the applicant and said we would be supportive of his application for professional
office, but the current use had multiple violations, and because of the presence of children in the
general public, we felt that it was inappropriate and unsafe. We indicated, again, we would be
willing to work with him changing his use. We told him we would support the current application
for professional services or office, which is a second application. His previous one was rejected.
But we asked that in exchange there be a proviso, that one, he would immediately surrender the
certificate of occupancy that he had that we believe he's not in compliance with because of
building code, zoning code, fire code, and ADA code. And that, again, we surrender that. We will
support him for three years on the professional license. That would give him time to find
appropriate legal and design staff to help him correct his problems if he wanted to stay with
that same intensive use. He did indicate that he wanted to move it, so we did not understand why
he was unwilling to surrender it and accept our support where he could have picked up his piece
today but as we've gone further into it we found some issues I hate to say it
of integrity and it appears material in the public record already indicates that
he's also running the professional offices out of the building though he
does not have the zoning so we would like to work with them we'd like to sit
down and have a somebody a legal staff from the council president's office work
with us so we can get this done he can surrender his license or or we can turn
it over to the various authorities to take a look to see if our our concerns
are founded and do indicate as a put in the material there today something as
simple as taking down the signage from the front of the building or amending or
doing a new application for a sign permit we found his own willingness to do
We found his own willingness to do that. Unusual. The other issues, we could not see the backyard
that unusual
when we looked from pictures. We got no pictures showing us either the north elevation or the east
elevation, which were important to show movement down the side alley to the ground floor of the
building. We finally found satellite pictures prior to him obstructing the view, which correlated
with two of his outstanding violations that have been out there for several years we would like
to work with him but he's going to have to step up make some commitments to the community and work
with us okay um mr mr wisner mr wisner yes sir mr wisner did did you hear that request for the
continues yes are you willing to have your case continue today yes okay um so we're gonna you
know continue this case to 12 9 26 at 3 30 p.m and but we cannot be part of having him surrender
am i correct we can't craig we can't have him surrender so that is something in your conversations
you figure that out with him but he's agreed to continue the case did you say 12 9 12 12 9 26.
that must be december what's that that must be december i can't even say this december of 2026
yeah december yeah yeah wow at 3 30 p.m
yeah showed me that you are going to be sure that uh
craig has shown me that you are going to ensure that uh we actually expect that day
so why don't why don't we do this why don't you and craig touch base with each other
okay all right thank you thank you uh sir for agreeing and
craig thank you for getting on the phone all right let's go to our regular list thank you very much
all right
number three mi20260004695235 north 11th street
princess princess
Princess Kinnard is the owner applicant.
They are rejoining as a panelist now.
Thank you very much.
That's true.
Hi, good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Good afternoon.
could you please state your name and spell it for the stenographer yes princess p-r-i-n-c-e-s-s
last name o-w-u-s-u right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth yes sir our vice chair has just a few questions for you good afternoon have you submitted
your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing yes ma'am and um this application
is for group child care? Yes, ma'am. Okay. And you understand that you were refused because that
group child care is prohibited in RSA 5's district? Yes, ma'am. Okay. All right. Thank you. You can
share your documents and tell us what you're trying to do. Okay. Okay. Are you able to see my
screen should be coming up yep we see it now okay great um so this is yeah we have all the all the
documents that you submitted we have what i would recommend is you show photos and maybe if you have
plans for your your location yes so i'll start with the front this is the front corner view of the
location um here this is i have security cameras out front so i wanted to give a view of that
showing the parking, showing the block and the front angle of the property.
This is also the front where you can see my notices posted on my door up on my
gate and in my lawn. This is the side view of the property going back into the
gated backyard. This is the backyard area which is gated and also has privacy
protection around the gating. And this is also just showing another view with
the security camera of the backyard on the main floor entryway this is showing our main circle one
On the main floor entryway, this is showing our main circle, one of our, our main circle area, one of our classrooms.
of our
And this is just another view, another camera showing the entire downstairs, another view of one of our cameras, I mean, of one of our main classrooms here.
This is our, another view downstairs showing just all the security cameras and the multiple views being able to watch the children from all angles at all times.
Upstairs, this is the hallway area.
Another angle of the hallway area, you can see there is a front bedroom, the bathroom,
a middle room, and there's also a back room.
This is just another angle of the upstairs bathroom area.
and then our front bedroom that is our one of our classrooms that is our sensory area
when weather isn't permitted and we have to play indoors if we have to do yoga meditation
any of those things we'll use this front bedroom for our sensory area this is our sensory classroom
another air another angle of the sensory classroom the middle room is the office area
another angle of the office area and the upper back room is our third pre-k classroom that we're
looking to hopefully have more children being able to fill this room as well as our pre-k area
this is a view of the basement which is solely used for storage purposes
we have the front storage area all of my supplies all of our things for the season
this is all storage area used down here and then in the back of the basement we have another
exit way that we'll use when we are playing outside the kids are able to come in this
coming through the back security way use the restroom wash their hands again when we are
upstairs in the um backyard outside um this is just from our meeting
i'm sending out the postage these are the people that in my neighborhood showed up to the meeting
and was able to sign um the support from both the rco and the councilman that showed up to the me
and michael bird and this is the meet and i actually hosted the meeting in my daycare
there's a church across the street this is the deacon he was able to come out like i said michael
bird the councilman was there this is our co-block captain joy um we were able just to discuss
different resources different ways that i'll be able to offer more families more siblings will be
able to come to the daycare if i have more seating available and um they were able to ask some
questions and fully fully show their support so you currently are operating right now right yes
i am and how many how many students do you have six six um and do you live at the house or is it
just nothing but child care they care yes just child care the whole whole place right yes sir
okay questions from the board so you talked about the access to the rear yard so you as you go down
how do you get to the rear yard other than through the basement is that the only way oh no we go
through the kitchen area so here in the kitchen I'm not sure if I show the kitchen area but here
is the middle um the middle room and this is the kitchen area here and you can go that we go
directly out this back door i'm sorry we'll go back to that okay yeah i didn't see a shot of the
back from the outside yes here we go directly out this back door and that leads us to the backyard
mm-hmm okay and then you can go down the you can go into the basement from the back here in the
corner there's a security door that I open when we're back there and then we're able to use those
basement steps and use that back bathroom sink if need be okay all the questions yes what age
children are we talking about here um ages will start from one until they go to kindergarten
which is usually around five okay and how many do you have i am currently zoned for six i'm
accent cities offered swells okay and did i see the two come in
Okay. And did I see that to come into the property, there are steps?
There are steps in the front here. The blue steps lead to the front door.
But you have to go these other steps to get to the...
Yes, and these are the front of the house, yes, and these are front steps to get to the front door here.
and how many of these classrooms do you have to get to using steps
to get into the house or to go upstairs to the second once you're inside once the
children are inside okay how many you know to go well right now so depending on the age group
we'll have the classroom that i have that we currently use mostly is the classroom downstairs
and then for the pre-k age group they would use the pre-k classroom upstairs so it'll be a total
of these three landing steps and about 12 coming up the staircase and how many bathrooms do you
have i have one full bathroom upstairs and i have like the washroom downstairs with the toilet and
the sink in the laundry area and that's for the six but you want to have that same setup for 12
yes it'll be the same setup for 12 because i'll have different age groups so some age groups will
still be potty training not everyone will be needing to use the bathroom at the same time
depending on if i have pre-k children there they're usually there in the morning time which
is from nine to two versus if i have a younger age they may be there throughout the span of the
day from eight to five so the bathroom schedules would vary enough to where it wouldn't be an issue
okay and you have all your fire code um equipment you have your hardwired smooth
detection systems you've got the two means of ingress and egress emergency lighting you have
all of those things correct yes ma'am okay all right thank you other questions
questions or comments from our attorney uh yes uh i just wanted to comment it looks like you
have a banner um in one of your pictures but i just wanted to clarify for you that you have not
requested um a permit for a sign okay and if you want to sign that would have to be something else
but right now you're only requesting for a change of use okay um at your uh the property
no questions or comments from the virtual audience
yes mr chair i have a hand up from tina marie russell okay tina marie
but i'm sorry the hand was up but it was gone down okay do we have any hands for this case
no answers but we have a hand up from darlene jackson i've allowed them to speak okay
hi hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
my name is darlene jackson d-a-r-l-e-n-e last name j-a-c-k-s-o-n you swear or affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes are you a neighbor
no i am a parent okay please proceed
i just
darlene go ahead
darlene you're breaking up
um i just wanted to give my support opportunity because my child has worked for the last three
years yes and you favor the project i favor the project i'm looking for my daughter soon
to start she'll be two in october and we're hoping september she'll be able to participate um
thank you very much for taking the time to calls we appreciate it is there anyone else in the
audience. Tina Marie Russell has her hand up again. Good afternoon. Hi, good afternoon, Tina.
Hi, this is Dave. Please state your name and spell for the stenographer. Sure, Tina Marie Russell.
please state your name and spell for the stenographer sure tina marie russell t-i-n-a-m-a-r-i-e
r-u-s-s-e-l-l logan community enterprise theater rco hold on hold on do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do please proceed uh we have the rco
coordinating rco for this project um the meeting was well attended as rco meetings go um the people
there was a block captain from the neighborhood as well from the block um some of the questions
you asked i thought was really relevant but my son you know just to go off for a little bit um
also went to a you know uh after school in a daycare like this when he was growing up and yes
there was not the standard professional style bathrooms usage but it always worked out because
like the applicant said we addressed this at the bathroom and it actually works out well because
of the age differences um and then the other thing as far as the trash goes we talked about
that we asked for proviso so that the neighbors could after three years look at the project to
see if it still works for them the applicant has time to see if it still works for her
without actually formalizing the usage change until three years,
you know, give them three years to actually see if it works for everyone.
Other than that, it was everyone supported the project.
We talked about the trash.
We talked about, and I don't have my notes in front of me
because it's our food distribution day,
so I'm sorry I don't have everything in front of me.
But everyone agreed that they liked the project.
I talked to the neighbors on the block.
They had no problem.
We looked at the parking.
it was really um there's a lot of parking there for for parents to come in out plus the applicant
has a structured timing for pickups and drops off drop-offs so there is never really there's
not a time in which is the neighbors are impacted by too many cars thank you very much for calling
we appreciate it thank you is there anyone else in the audience no further answer mr chair
planning commission amy boy with the planning commission a comprehensive plan recommends no
change in zoning to the current rsa 5 residential single family group child care is prohibited in
attached or semi-attached structures in rsa 5 and in all lots in the north councilmanic district
the appellant has a zoning permit for group child care the request to increase the number
of children is not the least minimum the planning commission recommends that the
or deny the requested variants for group child care.
Princess, could you come back on one minute?
Are you comfortable with a temporary variance for three years?
That's what the RCO has recommended.
Yes, I'm comfortable with it.
Thank you. MI 2026-000-469-5235 North 11th Street, I vote yes with proviso. Temporary
variance to expire 723-29.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso.
Tanetta Graham, my vote is yes with proviso.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes with proviso.
thank you very much you have your votes thank you right um number five mi 2023 000 554 907
Wagner Avenue um Juan Gennetta is the tenant
that'll be coming back in as a panelist for sure thank you very much
Thank you.
okay so mr juan um if you have another
Okay, so Mr. Juan, if you have another device on in your room, you're going to have to turn
that one off because we're getting a lot of feedback.
So you can't have two devices on at the same time with the sound on.
That's going to cause a problem, okay?
Once you have that other one turned off, go ahead and unmute yourself and prepare to be
sworn.
How are you doing?
You wanted this one up.
hi sir could you please state your name is spelled for the stenographer
What do I want?
Just give it a second.
okay i'll tell you what we have one other case try to get it fixed i'll be back to you in five
or ten minutes okay we'll be back to you in five minutes can you hear me hello hello
okay um so hello i know they're sitting there laughing we're sitting there we're trying no
okay what we're going to do is we're going to come back to you see if you can get your
your peck thing right we have one other case and then we're going to come back to you okay thank you
All right. All right. Well, let's, let's try this number of this case here.
MI 2025 005 736 4315 Ron Street.
Daniel Laza is the applicant.
And the owners, Teresa Lagatza.
this is here in the home
the attorney
i guess don dine daniel the attorney
yes mr chad do not see either do we see him i don't see either of an individual
Jason if you're talking we can't hear you I'm sorry I do not see other individual
and to approach your audience.
I'll do it.
Can you?
See, this is going to get, we do, we do good
and we can't even get on.
It's a sense of rush.
Why are you rushing?
you're gonna sit here now
can't we call the lawyer
i'm sorry to interrupt the camera to check can you hear me now i can't sir okay good deal
will we call this attorney
good we'll see you johnny go back to one yeah all right let's go back to one um
okay let's let's
let's go back to uh 907 Wagner Avenue Juan Jeanette here you go Juan can you hear me sir
yes how are you doing oh I'm I'm I'm good I'm doing good now that I can hear you and everything
Yes. How are you doing? I'm I'm I'm good. I'm doing good now that I can hear you and everything's good. Yeah. Technical. Do me. Do me. Do me a favor. Yes. Please state your name and spelled for this stenographer. Why is your name? J. U. A. N. First name. Last name. J. E. N. E. T. You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I do. Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
yes good evening um did you submit your documents and your exhibits five days in advance of this
hearing yes i did okay and this is your understanding that you are applying um for a
prepared food shop a special um request yes yep and and that this is a referral so you will need
a special exception uh in this zoning district yes okay all right thank you you can just share
your documents and tell us what you're trying to do now good question i'm having a difficulty with
um with sharing it it's possible to help we share the document i already sent to y'all please yeah
we can bring them up for you sir just give me a minute here okay i appreciate it thank you
he wants to show his own
he's trying to he'll bring them up okay yes
Okay, sir, we have your photos loaded up for the board so they can see them as well.
Why don't you start by explaining to the board what you're going to try to do here.
my wife it's hi I'm here my name is Annette Roman I'm his wife I'm just here for um hold on hold on
hold on okay so who's gonna be the owner of the property oh I'm the I'm the tenant you're the
tenant so you're the one that's gonna have to testify okay yes yes all right I mean you you
know your wife could quietly give you some advice maybe but you can't testify okay okay okay yes sir
this is the entrance entrance to the building this outside the door okay yes this is the way I serve
no this is the entrance where you get to the inside the door so that's the inside okay
yes that's a take out
next shot the snacks
customers that's what the order the customer orders from the door from the window yeah all
right all right so this is going to be cooked food right it's prepared what's that
prepare prepare food no cook so you're going to have pizza that you just warm up yes yes okay
snack water ice right
what else you're going to have in there could you show us the rest of the inside
so nobody's going to come in they ordered the window yes
inside that's where the water ice right with a snack with the chips for the we saw a pretzel
okay um and like i i noticed you have like sandwiches pizza and things like that how does
that get made we pre-prep them you pre-pack them okay yes then you heat you heat it up inside there
yes all right so this is your drawing of what the inside looks like am i correct
yes everything's ordered at the front yes right why don't you tell me the rest
of what's back there the commercial refrigerator right five
sandwiches right the hand pants the hand sanitizer okay the sink watch
station three uh three sink right yes food prep table
yes food prep table and you've already been in business yes and and you now you want to try to
legalize and get and get straight with the zoning is that right yes correct okay um
all right what else can you tell me it was it was already a commercial building we can't
which says i've been here for 20 years but i have um detail shop right next to it you got a pizza
shop too no detail shop a car wash oh okay all right yes so it was under the umbrellas that way
that as as i was my business was growing and a lot of customers request why don't i sell award ice
right and the years come by and i decided to get it to do it thank you and
and thinking that it was under the same umbrella the detail shop without the zoning all right
okay all right questions from the board yes what are your hours of operation from 11 tonight
how many days a week five days yeah and yeah five days and 11
monday monday to monday to sunday monday to sunday
and do you have like uh how do you manage the debris from uh the store because i know this
no I noticed there wasn't a trash receptacle in the front like are you managing the trash in the
front of the store yes correct yes I do I do I have a band now and I put them on different
location in that building okay okay um any other questions I'm still a little confused about the
of foods that you're gonna serve.
So you're saying this is a prepared food shop.
So, you know, there's no serious cooking,
but then the menu items are ones
that usually require some kind of cooking.
So can you help me to understand what it is
that you're really gonna be doing
in terms of the food selections here?
no we we do have pizza pretzel man um with hot dogs
okay the the pizza piece is where i'm confused the hot dogs i guess you put those on one of those
little uh rollers yes yeah yeah okay but what is this about pizza
oh we make a piece of pressure it's like it's a piece of pressure now regular actually piece
of pizza but it's a piece of pressure and it's like already ah okay all right i understand now
okay thank you
and what i was gonna ask that what are you sure
what happened with the rco
there wasn't our favors but they never sent a letter okay yeah we sent we sent a letter yes
okay all right um it's in with the neighborhood document please please ma'am yes oh i'm sorry
it's with the neighborhood document right
do we see any of that letters to the neighbors that is to the neighbors yes okay
77 please excuse me this is lynn reidel huber board council the chairman was asking the response
of the rco not letters to the rco or about scheduling it about a response from the rc
you went to the rco what happened um there was there was everybody said it was the favor to that
yes there was approval but they never sent you a letter saying that they did they did send the
letter it's an undocumented the letter they had sent us okay you sent it to us yes
and what did it say that they were in favor of it yes yes okay
all right any other questions how long have you been operating as uh what i stand um i've been
operating for seven years now and this is year round or just seasonal seasonal seasonal okay yes
okay all right um questions from our attorney um i just i just have one question
questions from our attorney um i just i just have one question is there is your
business this business i know you said you had another business does this business have a
particular location in the building like unit one two a b anything like that is unit one man
the corner okay we should probably provide that then unit one
questions or comments from the virtual audience
yeah should i have a hand up from someone who's also under the name of one janae
i can go ahead and let them speak if you wish sure yeah
hello hi could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer
my name is carmelita shelton it's spelled c-a-r-m-e-n-l-e-t-t-a shelton s-h-e-l-t-o-n
you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do are you a neighbor or relative or no i'm someone in the community that support the business
okay all right thank you very much we appreciate you taking time to call us and telling us that
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
No further hands, Mr. Chair.
Okay. Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
Comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning to the current CMX1 commercial mixed use.
The appellant has demonstrated that the proposed use will not have detrimental impacts beyond what would reasonably be expected.
the planning commission recommends that the board grant the requested special exception
for prepared food job
mi2026000554907 wagner avenue i vote yes um unit one only
michael johns my vote is yes with proviso
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Tynetta Graham, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Layla Beebe, my vote is yes, with Proviso.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
And please feel free to come by.
Oh, yeah.
okay thank you oh good
all right so we're going to go back to mi 2025 005 736 43 15 ron street uh daniel loza is the attorney
appeal
council
zp two zero two five zero zero six five seven six all right council just if you would do me a favor
state your name and spell for the stenographer daniel losa d-a-n-i-e-l losa l-o-z and zebra a
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes counsel could you identify your client in relationship to the property
client is teresa legareta and she's the owner okay our um vice chair has a few questions for you
good afternoon have you submitted your documents and exhibits five days in advance of this hearing
yes ma'am okay and do you waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy
yes ma'am okay all right thank you you can share your screen and proceed with your case
Thank you.
So you're going to be here now.
It should be a bottom on the. Yeah.
Should be a bottom, but a green button that says.
Share share yeah, with the permissions seem to have changed on the file.
Share today.
Okay, open.
I'm assuming.
did you load your documents yourself uh yes okay
just between load uploading i'm uploading here is
i need to be challenging
going on so we are here and they go to my knees
to send me with it again ian do we have his documents yes sir we do why don't i want a
council what if you you can if you can't get it up we'll load it do it here i have it here
no no no you can't do it like that we're going to put it on the screen okay thank you thank you ian
yes sir and let's counsel while we're waiting could you tell us what you're trying to do
okay so what we're trying to accomplish here uh the client has a property a twin and she has a
side yard that has a part of concrete and on the property there is also um an egress and egress
and what she wants to get she wants to have a variance to park her car on the side of her
property like when you want to show you they are you will see the you see the driveway here on the
side who who owns that property my client that the driveway but i mean is it a shared driveway
no no no that's a that's her driveway that's that that's your client's driveway that's my
client's driver but she'd never have a parking there when when the city of phila when she did
the the a from the city of philadelphia told her that she needed to have a permit to part of the
car that's what we apply for the permit you show you're trying to get a permit that you can park
the car like that next to their house too yes sir so we did with the street we call the street
approval for streets improve this yes and this is not a shared driveway this is just no no sir
that's that's her own property and you can see here on the survey the the the width of the property
30 feet 16 inches the property itself is 18 feet two inches therefore she got like 13 feet of
concrete driveway here in between her i'm sorry nine between the the one side and the end of the
property um i i just want to jump in here the plan that you're showing shows a concrete driveway
or if we're facing the house on a concrete driveway on the right of the building
yes on the right of the house and you only have two foot you only have okay and you only have
two foot one inches on the left hand side of the house to the edge of the
property that's what this that's what this survey says yes so are you so
there's not enough room for parking I don't understand
i don't understand the parking on the side not on the two feet on this side so not on so
okay facing the this is this is if i'm facing the property is this on the left of this property or
the right side of the problem what you're looking now is on the right
would you look in right now you are facing this park right
the two feet are on the left okay so the picture that you're showing is of the left if i'm facing
the property i'm looking at it on google right there's a there's a there's an air conditioning
out of the side of the building no no that's the other no and i'm that's not our property that's
neighbors so what's the what side are you putting the parking lot the parking space one so you see
the where the right right where the right where the white fence is
uh let's see the white fence no let me you go down on my give me one second
give me one second i have a picture i have a google picture here
so you see in the jeep on the google picture right
the white fence is you see a jeep i see the white fence yes i see the white fence yeah that's a
neighbor's property we are we are the gray house not the yellow house you are the gray house you
see the gray okay so your house is your house is not the light color house your house is the the
house on the other side on google you're gonna see there is the car of my assistant there the
red card in my assistant car when he went there and and i was doing the measurements that's his
car so this so in this okay so okay okay gotcha okay so what you are seeing was okay so you have
17 feet close to 17 feet okay all right good yeah all right you got plenty the only problem
the city they said that she needed a permit a variance to have a part one car they are and
that's what we do all right all right any other questions from the board because i think we have
people in the audience are going to testify um questions from our attorney um i have well maybe
a couple questions first there's two cars parked in the pictures yes only asking for one parking
spot yes okay you mean i'm not actually enforcing stuff but you can only have one car there you can
have two cars if that if it was granted by the board okay i'm sorry they were the chinese two
parking spots i'm sorry my bad for her and her husband no come on up no that is not what was
requested there was requested one parking space okay that's fine one parking space well council
i have i have neighbors who are coming up to testify okay sir thank you i can write
pull your pull as close as you can
sir could you please state your name and spell for the stenographer my name is brian pedroza
b-r-i-a-n last name is pedroza p-e-d-r-o-s-a you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole
truth and nothing but the truth yes sir are you a neighbor yes and you live right next door yes okay
why don't you uh start your testimony tell us what's going on okay and your and your your
your viewpoint all right so i mean and i'll be sharing exhibits for them chair yeah okay
so we start with exhibits yeah okay so this is right here why don't you get closer to the
microphone because we got a court reporter pull that it'll pull it it'll come right there oh okay
there you go there you go yeah perfect all right so this first exhibit is um work that we need
actually done on the side where they're trying to put their driveway um they are trying to block us
our entrance that we have to access our side of the house which is basically the photos that they
were showing you well not that photo that will be on the left side of that if you go to that picture
right there where her blue car is that over there that's their property that's the property where
trying to get the driveway but in 2022 we had a surveyor come they told us we had approximately
two feet on that side we having difficulty get access on our side to work on our house
to maintain it they locked the gates they got no trespassing signs and all we want to do is
maintain our house we have about five windows on that side that we need to maintain we have
we have electrical outlets and wiring that we also need a fix that goes to our backyard to
electrical outlets and wiring that we also need a fix that goes to our back
our deck she's giving us trouble accessing that we have people come to fix it she doesn't allow
it to happen now if they put a driveway there that's definitely going to stop us from trying
to maintain a house safely like there you see that's an electric outlet right under it it's
the siding's kind of breaking we replaced our driveway side a back and part of the side
in the back of the siding we have to get that also replaced that way it doesn't leak inside
but we have in trouble i mean we try to resolve it with them we try to be cordial all we all we do
is when we ask to do work it's always a denial yes so for there won't be no more confrontations
they asked for this so we just here just to not be able for them to put a driveway to block us
to safely access our stuff and in dumb pictures right there if the plans are correct if we have
two feet on that side that's their property that's on our on our lines that's a house that
they have there that's up against our deck almost which will be on our property line which they told
them last time they had it removed. And there's also more pictures. Let me see. That's basically
they had a fence. If you see that pole right there, they had a fence that was blocking
it that they were using that before to block for people to go in. They told them they had
to bring that down. If you look at the black fence, when they did the concrete, you could
see that it's moved over because it's like bent in and all we have all we want to do
is is be able to access our property can you that one turn can we turn it
i'm sorry is your house the one with the mine's the one with the air conditioner right at the
window yes and then this is the car that's that's their car that's their car
yes there it is now if you see i've posted a picture i put a picture up there
they have it always blocked like okay that if more back of you was to come they have a gate there if
we was to need access there an emergency or god forbid a fire jump out of our one of those windows
we can't everything's blocked there he goes the gate right there
uh i'm sorry and i'm sorry is there is there a curb cut they did a curb cut there i don't know
if they ever got approved we never bothered with it only thing we try to do before because it's
been going on for years it's just try to access to fix our stuff that's it okay it's it's customary
for people to park on this in this in their size gardens your side yards on your block though is
correct not all the houses are like that it's my house is your you park on your side yeah driveway
if i'm not mistaken i try to get they just gave me this now but before the surveyor that did the
survey in 2022 we tried to get that information in order to bring it here but they told us that
was a different type of survey we had to do in order for them to give us copies but if i'm not
mistaken i think it was only like nine feet that they had and we it was like almost approximately
two feet of ours from the beginning to the end so we don't know exactly where they put the points
because we're not allowed to go back there that we are not they don't allow us to it's always an
issue now where you park on your side i have a driveway on my side which i am able to have it
because i have almost 11 feet if you look at that fence actually we didn't know when they came to do
the survey i actually got about almost a foot more into the other property and we didn't know that
because there was a fence there prior before we purchased the house that's your house here
that's my house my garage all right i'm confused a little bit so you had you gotten the survey done
and the survey said that two feet of their driveway is really you're approximately i have
two feet on there and they're for their parking now okay then you said it's another survey that
you didn't get the results of the survey oh they did one yeah recently we didn't get no information
of that okay so so wait a minute you have questions for this witness
counsel no no i don't have any questions at this point i don't have any questions
okay um thank you very much i i think we understand the situation thank you
this situation thank you is there anyone else in the virtual audience
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
chair i do not see any further hands all right planning commission
amy boy with the planning commission the comprehensive plan recommends no change in
zoning at this location from the current rsa3 residential single family there is no evidence
that the conversion of the required side yard to parking was done with the benefit of permits the
appellant has not demonstrated that there are unique physical conditions or circumstances
of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformance with the zoning code nor that
the proposal would not injure the use of adjoining properties the planning commission recommends that
the board deny the variance for parking in the required side yard mi 2025 0 0 5 7 3 6 43 15
run street i vote no uh michael johnson my vote is no cheryl gaston my vote is no
tanetta graham my vote is no layla bb my vote is no thank you counsel thank you sir so much
It's right. Is there anyone else in the audience who's 330 cases not been called?
I do not continue to further hand, Mr. Chair.
Okay. Thank you, everybody. We're done earlier than we expected, and we appreciate it. And I do
think we we had some interesting cases today and and i think it went well thank you all and next
reminder next tuesday yeah next tuesday
take care thank him mike all right thanks take care