Zoning Hearing Board - Regular Meeting

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[Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Okay, I'm going to call a meeting to order. Uh, we can start with the pledge of the flag, please.

To the flag of the United States of America. and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, we call the meeting to order. We do roll call. Amy, yes. Uh, Mr. Seabald, present. Miss King, present. Miss Gunen, present. Mr. Dawson, present. Mr. Johnson, present. We have a quorum. Thank you. need an approval of the August 12th minutes, 2025. So moved. Second. Second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

All those opposed. Motion carries. Okay. Cases appeals to be heard. Amy. Okay. Um, if we want, do you want to swear everybody in at once since we have kind of this? How about everybody? Is do we have a stenographer on hand? We do.

Yes. She there. Yeah, that was her. Oh, okay. All right. Everybody that's going to uh speak today, would you stand and raise your right hand? Do you all swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give will be true and full to the best of your knowledge and ability? Thank you. And then once you come up to the microphone, if you could please state your name very clearly into the microphone along with your address so that she can hear that for the court testimony. Thank you. Are we ready to begin, Mr. Johnson? Yes, we are.

Okay, we'll start with appeal number 13325. And if you guys want to come up to the microphone and present your case, I'll go ahead and read everything into Okay, we have uh Jared Groves concerning a property located at 2932 Page Street, index bearing 19-6052-107. This is located in an RLB residential limited business zoning district. The appellant is requesting a use variance for proposed tattoo parlor business. Per section 204.5, tattoo parlor is not a permitted use. And you guys can go ahead and present your case.

Hello, my name is Jared Grubs and as she mentioned, I am seeking a variance for 2932 Peach Street. Your address is 2932. No, no, sir. I own the property, but I do not live here. What's your home address? My home address is 3350 West 41st Street.

Thank you. So after spending time and money updating this property to bring it back to life, one of the hardships I had faced is finding a suitable tenant especially within the limitations of RLB and Inc. Therapy is the tenant that was prepared uh to rent this space and they are a tattoo parlor that is advocating for women within that industry that have otherwise been made uncomfortable. In regards to the effect on the character of the neighborhood, I don't believe that it would alter the character of the neighborhood because there is a variety of commercial spaces here um salons, sign shops, and even health spas. So, it is a commercial area um for to have the tattoo parlor in. renting it as residential has not been something possible because the layout and structure of the building. Um, if anything, we believe that it would have a positive effect on the neighborhood by not no longer having a a a vacant storefront, as well as what they intend to do, which is again provide a tattoo parlor where women that are artists and women that are getting tattoos can go there and feel comfortable.

So, this is a female only tattoo parlor?

No, sir. This is just part of their uh belief statement and what they're striving to do. In regards to modifications, this property used to be a barber shop and therefore we don't really have any major modifications needed for a tattoo parlor to be there. It would be the same layout and the same setup. In regards to the hardships I've faced finding a suitable tenant, I have done everything I could to fix the property up, bring it back to life. I have marketed the property. It's currently listed on the unable to find tenants who are prepared and able to afford it. And so therefore, I I am uh left with a vacant storefront in a property that I am paying taxes and renovating. Dave would like to speak as well. This is David who is the owner of Ink Therapy.

Hello. My name is David Mchek. I'm the owner and operator in Therapy. I live at 1407 Lynn Street PA6503. My whole concept for this tattoo parlor is basically a safe, welcoming, you know, comforting place for women to come in and get tattoos. We do offer services to males, but also too, our main objective is for these girls to be able to do their art, which is their passion. They're not just only going to be tattooing. They also are artists. They paint, they do murals, they do sculptures, they do everything like that. This is just an aspect of art that I love that I'm trying to promote with these girls. Furthermore, with the business, you know, like Jared said about having people that are able to pay and stuff like that. I'm a disabled veteran. I served in the in the Iraq war. you know, I have backing in that from the federal government for everything for the rest of my life. This is just something that I'm trying to do to help people, you know, and I think through therapy, especially through getting ink therapy, it does help people cuz it was there for me when I came home. I am tatted up. It's it's to me going to a tattoo artist is like going to your barber, like going to your salonist, like going to the bartender, you know what I mean? You talk to them, you open up to them, you get to express yourself, and you do get some therapy out of it. I just want to be able to share that with other people and hopefully I can get this variant so I can do that to the public.

Questions from the board. How much of the building is your business going to take up? All of it. It's 600 square ft. The store the storefront space in the front and then residential in the rear. Correct. Apartment is it occupied? It's currently occupied. Yes. And soon to be if things go well, he's actually going to rent the residential. The family that's living there is going to move to a a better place for for her family as they grow.

And I would assume this is more for the solicitor that very similar to last month that professional and personal services would be applicable here. I I I think I think so. I mean looking at uh you know again what we did back in what the board did back in 2023 um where you found that the tattoo parllets were akin to the personal services um and the ultimate uh uh avenue that was that was discussed with the city solicitor last month with regard to the possibility of also interpreting his professional services. Um, I think that that would be the consistent approach. What will your hours be?

Our operating hours be from 10:00 a.m. till 9:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions from the board? Is there anybody else here to speak on behalf of the variance? Come forward. You can have a seat, gentlemen. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Kathy Schoff. I'm an Eerie residence. I'm speaking as an Eerie resident. I am familiar with the area. My husband used to have his hair cut there at the barber shop. Um, and it was a very good place and he went there for years. It is a very commercial area as far as that one side of the street in particular. My daughters um both have tattoos. um tattoo business is uh definitely something here to stay and um I can see um the place looks very nice. They've done a nice job um remodeling the outside of it and I would think that that would be uh a nice place to have a tattoo. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else to speak on behalf of the variance? Anybody else to speak on behalf of the variance? Anybody wish to oppose the variance? Anyone here to wish to oppose the variance? Last time. Anyone here to oppose the variance? Thank you. You ready to vote? Yeah. Okay. You want to call for the vote, Amy? Yes, I can do that. Um, so we'll call for the vote. And Mr. Seabald, I would approve the variance. Uh, Miss King, yes. Miss Gunen, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes.

Okay, you have been approved, guys. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you very much. And if you make contact with me, Jared, I'll get you set up on the next steps.

Thank you. Take care. Okay, moving along to appeal number 13326. Uh, this is going to be by Jeremy Peterson, Michael Aggressi, anybody else? Okay, just wanted to make sure. Uh, located at 127 East 14th Street located in an M2 heavy manufacturing zoning district. The appellent is requesting a use variance for proposed eating and drinking establishment, personal services, and professional services. Per section 2041, I'm sorry, 204.11. Eating and drinking establishment, personal services, and per professional services are not permitted uses. Okay, Mr. Aggressi, I'll get you moving along.

Thank you. Michael Aggressi representing the EMTA. My address is 300 State Street, Sweet 300, Erie PA16507. Um, before the meeting, we had sent in an addendum that I'm not sure if you've all had a chance to look at, but I'm not going to repeat everything in there. I'm just going to hit the highlights of that. I think that it lays out the basis for finding a variance here. I'm sure you're all familiar with this building. Um, it's brand new construction and a site that had been essentially vacant with the exception of uh, Miller Brothers that had been there for years. The rest of this entire block between French and German was essentially empty and unused. It's currently zoned for heavy industrial, but heavy industrial has not been there for decades. um and it's not coming back there given the dramatic change in this neighborhood starting as I mentioned in the addendum with the level place renovation which transformed that area and was a catalyst for further changes which led to the Merkantile building just a block to the west of this location and all along Upper State Street before the train tracks. The unnecessary hardship here is a result of that significant change that happened before EMTA purchased this property and happened before they constructed this building. The use that we are seeking uses eating and drinking establishments, professional services and personal services will absolutely complement this area. They will not do anything to detract from the neighborhood. They are needed in the neighborhood. This is a this has become a mixeduse neighborhood. As we mentioned in our addendum, there are over 200 people living in Level Place. There are many people I don't have the number, but there are a number of people living in

the Merkantile building. These are many of them young adults who we want to come to downtown Erie. We need them to come to downtown Erie to carry forward the vision that's happening right now from what's happening at the Renaissance building, what's happening at the old Avalon, what's happening right across the park with the EDC. This is part of that that future development and the reason why your children, your grandchildren, hopefully my children will want to stay in Erie and live in Erie. And so the first use that will happen as we mentioned is Otis 12 which I suspect at least a few of you have eaten their wings and they are fantastic. Uh that will be I I don't want to jinx the business but if you allow this variance I have a real strong suspicion it will do very very well in downtown Erie. Uh the building is perfectly suited for it. When they built this building, they had the vision of it not just being a transfer for buses and parking, but to have this mixed use on the first floor. And just uh a few years ago, uh at least three of you, I know Mr. Johnson, Miss King, and Mr. Dawson, you all heard in 2017 a request for variance to allow for a grocery store retail use which was not listed in M2 and you uh and other board members at that time unanimously voted in favor of that and that was the right decision then. Unfortunately, that business didn't pan out. I I'm not sure if the pandemic had something to do with that or not, but it would have been a great use. This is as good of a use um if not better. It will also uh lead to we think additional use of the space. Otis will not take up the entire space. There will be more room for other uses.

Accountants, lawyers, uh potentially a chiropractor, some other professional service that would fit with this neighborhood very well. So, we've laid out the criteria in our addendum. I'm not going to go through each one of them. I just wanted to touch on the highlights. Uh if you have any questions for me, I'm happy to answer them. Otherwise, I'd like to turn it over to the witnesses that have come to speak on behalf of this.

Thank you. Good afternoon, board. and want to first thank everybody for allowing us to have the time to speak on Mid City and in our behalf and and sort of the vision and what we've been trying to do in Mid City downtown and create vibrancy in that neighborhood. Your name and address.

Oh, I'm sorry. Jeremy Peterson, uh 127 East 13th or East 14th 16503. Uh once again uh as as attorney Grey mentioned this this was this whole entire project came to the sum of $75 million. This footprint stretches from 14th of French all the way to Parade which is 4 and a half city blocks. So it's $75 million worth of investment into our city. And it's not just a bus company, okay? It's a very nice building that we take very nice good good care of. And also uh this building was built on two different premise. One being uh compressed natural gas and reducing our carbon footprint throughout the entire county and two to solve the food desert issue at that time in the mid city district along a transit line. So folks had that that don't have a vehicle have the opportunity to come shop, grocery shop, eat, drink, so on and so forth. The relationships that we've forged over the last seven years with your events as as one of them, I'll use them as an example. When when Otis if if you guys would be gracious enough to approve this zoning uh when Otis were to moves in, we will have relationships with other entities such as for example your events. Folks will be able to park off street, eat, drink, and also take a shuttle first class to all the amenities that downtown has to offer. whether it be an Otter game, a Seaw Wolves game, a show at the Warner, the Phil, uh Dobbins Landing, you name it. Uh this is going to be sort of one of the only places that offers that kind of service. So, with that being said, Mike coming in,

uh, who's well established, uh, he may even tell you, uh, you know, he's he's invested a lot of money into this already with a liquor license at the sum of about 120,000 and also a signed lease and a build that that's going to cost him roughly a million dollars to build out. So, uh, I I hope you take that into consideration as well. We want to be a definite asset in addition to downtown Erie and we hope that you folks do bless uh the zoning as we're requesting today. Thank you. Questions from the board. I had question parking. Yes. Where's where's the parking?

So the way this and how many spaces? So what what you're looking at right now, sir, is the retail space itself on the bottom floor. There are roughly 300 parking spaces above that. Okay.

Okay. So people can what and like I mentioned these partnerships if somebody wants to come bring their family and kids to let's say a Seawolf game and you know we all know that Erie likes accessibility. If we can't park at the front door, we're we're just mad about it, right? So, uh, what we would like to do, sort of our vision for this is to have people park, uh, enjoy the amenities of Otus 12 and then let us do the the the vehicle, let us be the the vehicle that gets you down to that front gate of the Seawolves game or an Otter's game or the Warner, the Phil, etc. So, it's kind of a a you know, a new kind of evolutionary thing. Um, you really can't go to any other restaurant and be shuttled first class to certain places, but this is our our opportunity to create vibrancy, more vibrancy in downtown Erie, Mid City. Um, and and we would appreciate uh your blessing.

Are you going to maintain the 12th and POW location? Yes, Mike. Mike, I don't want to speak on behalf of Mike, but uh yes, his this is a this is just another location. This isn't a relocation. This is in addition to the business he has in Mil Creek. Is that free parking or is that That would be free. Correct.

Anything else from the board? Anybody else to speak on behalf of the variance? Good afternoon. I'm State Representative Pat Harkkins. I reside at 2665 Schlly Street in Erie. I'm speaking in favor of the variance for the Otis 12 facility to operate a restaurant at the EMTA building located at 127 East 14th Street in Erie. Back about 2014 to 2015, we fought very hard for the state and federal money to develop this property with the intentions that something like this would be incorporated along with the bus facilities. This may be the shot in the arm for the area and the attractions that other that might be enticed or brought in by other small businesses into this area. jobs, taxes, and all the other amenities that this business and other successful businesses could bring to this area are what we are looking for and what we strive for over the years. I know in the past, looking back 20 years ago, I almost located my office right across the street on Parade Street. There's always bumps in the road that come along that stop or hinder things from being developed in this area and I really think this would be a great shot in the arm like I said for the area and for this business owner. Thank you for any consideration you could give.

Thank you. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you. Anybody else to speak on behalf of the variance?

Hi, my name is Kathy Schoff. I live at 2437 East 43rd Street. I'm speaking as an Eerie citizen and I am so excited about this. If you approve it, my husband and I are very social. Tonight we're going to a baseball game. We spend our weekends at restaurants downtown right through State Street. However, you know, like we were at Pekka, the playhouse, there's so much to do downtown, but whenever anyone is doing like there's things going on multi with the comedy place and baseball and and Mr. Peterson mentioned all those things. There's the places to eat are packed because we go to usually like Calamari's Plymouth, the um brewery station. Those places are all packed. We uh have been to Otis 12 on many occasions. It's very familyoriented, but it's in Mil Creek and Central City is the place to be. We're going to be doing the Miller's Brother um project there. It's located between Parade Street and State Street. It's absolutely perfect. I would think it's wonderful. Competition, more people, the more the marrier. And they mentioned shuttle that is like amazing. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else to speak on behalf of the variance? Yeah. Hello. My name is Mike Miotus. I live in 1311 Dutch Road in Fairview. Um, you speak up a little bit. Yeah.

I live 1311 Dutch Road, Fairview. Um, I've been the owner of Otis 12 for 21 years now. I started in the city. Um, I started to outgrow myself. As much as I loved would have loved to stay in the city, um I found a spot down out in Mil Creek over by 12 and POW. Um we've been very successful over there for 10 years. Um then Joel and Jeremy presented me with this opportunity to come downtown. And at first I tell you the truth, I was you know kind of wary cuz you know we it's hard to find workers and you know I can go into all that stuff but uh when I seen the place I mean it's absolutely beautiful. You can tell Jeremy and um Joel, they they put a lot of time and money and I know a lot of um a lot of money into it. Um I just envision people coming down having a good time. I envision uh it also bringing people to other restaurants. Whether you want to come eat at my place, go have a a drink at Kalamari's or vice versa. Um you got Triple D's down the road. If you want to go eat there, come, you know, try them out and come over and have a drink at my place. Um, you know, that would be something I I'd like people to do and and just bring more people downtown. Um, I also like to give back to the community. Um, I give back to a lot of sports sports in Eeries and and Mil Creek, um, Fair View. Uh, I I donate to almost all the schools in the district. So, I just love to be down here and uh have people come and and create uh new memories.

Was your original location at 26th in Maple? Yes, it was was the old Maples Tavern.

Any questions from the board? Thank you. Thank you. Sorry, I'm a little nervous on the mic. I'm not used to that. Anybody else to speak on behalf of the variance? Anyone else to speak on behalf of the variance? Anyone else to speak on behalf of the variance? Uh, good afternoon. I'm not here to speak on behalf or against it. I just think Jason. Yes. Oh, Jason. For the court for the court reporter.

Yeah. Jason Czech, ch H e cq. One of the solicitors for the city of Erie. Thank you. Thanks, Art. Appreciate that. Um, so I'm not here for or against it, but I do think the legal issue, the way I have I've reviewed the file, looked at the application, and talked to attorney, and then talked to zoning. So, it looks like you're not here really to approve of a hardship variance that was actually already done for retail in 2017. I believe the legal issue is, are you ready? Are you do you believe there's enough of a hardship to expand the variance to eating and drinking, personal services, or professional services? That's how I kind of looked at it. So because it's already, like I said, it's already established that if they put a grocery store or something retail that could go in. We wouldn't be here for that. This is to expand what hardship's already been granted by this honorable council. Thanks.

Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else to speak on behalf of the variance? Is there anyone here to oppose the variance? Anyone here to oppose the variance? Anybody would like to speak opposing the variance? Okay. I call for a vote. We'll call for a vote. Amy,

ready to call for the vote? Mr. Seabolt. Um, I would approve the variance. Miss King, I will approve it. And thank you, Mike, for coming back to the city. We missed you. So, thank you and everything that you do to give back to the community. Thanks, Miss Gunin. I'm in agreement also to approve. Okay, Mr. Dawson, I haven't given up hope that the desert of uh serving people who need food will not go away, but maybe the Otus aspect will help improve the ability to obtain food at a reasonable prices that the neighbors can afford. So, I yes, I approve. Thank you. And Mr. Johnson?

Yes. Congratulations. The motion's been approved. [Music] Any new business? Do we need an approval of an amendment of a current zoning hearing board bylaw? Uh yes. At this time, um if Jake wouldn't mind giving us a a briefing on our bylaws. Uh or do you you don't want to? Okay. Uh does anybody need an update on that? We had heard that last last month. Uh we're ready to vote on that to approve. It's the same from last month. No change.

Same from last month. You are missing the front to back on your handouts today. I apologize. I'll get you a full copy. There a motion to approve. So moved. Second. Anybody? Second. Thank you. Okay. Call for the vote, please. Okay. Mr. Seabol. Uh, approve. Uh, Miss King, approve. Miss Gunshin, approve. Mr. Dawson, approve. Approve. And Mr. Johnson, okay, new bylaws have been adopted. Thank you. Thank you. A motion to adjourn. So move. So moved. Okay. Thank you everyone.

Thank you. Heat. [Applause] Heat. Heat. Heat.