Members of the Millbrook Civic Association won’t support a local man’s request to legalize a parking space that is just 2 feet shorter than city code requires.
Stefan Pavlovic’s neighbors on the 3800 block of Red Lion Road said they felt issues a lot larger than a couple feet of driveway are involved, and on Jan. 31, they voted not to give an inch on his request to get zoning board approval.
Pavlovic needs a zoning variance for the parking space outside his home because he closed off his garage to create more living space. The parking space that remains outside his house is 13 feet from the curb, said his attorney, Darlene Threatt, but city code requires a 15-foot distance.
Threatt said all Pavlovic was asking for during the civic group’s meeting at the Calvary Athletic Association was support for a variance for that parking space. Neighbors said that recent work on the home, which included the addition of a bathroom, kitchen and separate entrance, made the home look like a multi-unit building rather than a single-family home.
Nearby residents said they had nothing against Pavlovic and that they admired how he has maintained his property and regarded him as a good neighbor. However, they said they feared the home could be illegally rented out as apartments — if not by Pavlovic, by anyone who later buys the property.
Neighbors said Pavlovic’s expansion of his living space initially had been done without permits and that the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections had ordered him to remove a stove he had installed. They said the addition of a second front door on the property also made them suspicious that it would be used as the entrance to a second unit on the property.
Threatt said the stove made a second kitchen in the house, which, in turn, made it a multidwelling home. City code does not allow that on the property, she said, so the stove was removed. The door was added just as a convenience, she said.
Pavlovic insisted he would do anything, including removing the door, to satisfy his neighbors, but they were unmoved and voted unanimously against supporting his parking space variance application. His Zoning Board of Adjustment hearing is set for 2 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 22, on the 18th floor of 1515 Arch St.
In other business, civic association members Mike Lamb and Ken Grow said they are continuing to recruit residents for the local Town Watch. Anyone interested in dedicating just a few hours a month to patrolling local streets should call Grow at 215–859–8204 or Lamb at 267–294–4760.
Next month, the association will discuss new plans for a Telfair Road property. The zoning board recently rejected Mike Sperduto’s plan to develop his land on the 11700 block of Telfair by erecting a house with two two-bedroom apartments.
The land is not zoned for multifamily dwellings, so Sperduto was required to get a zoning variance to legally proceed. When he sought the civic association’s support for his variance request, Telfair Road residents turned out to strongly oppose it.
Members said Sperduto has another idea for the land, which he will present to the association at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at the Calvary Athletic Association, 4330 Deerpath Lane. ••
