Alfredo Javier Rondon and Johanny Diaz speak during the Wilkes-Barre Zoning Board meeting on Wednesday evening.
Sam Zavada | Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — The city’s zoning board met Wednesday night to discuss a single agenda item, but the meeting was cut short because the applicant failed to appear at the planning commission meeting earlier in the day. Discussion regarding the lone agenda item was shifted to the September meeting.
The zoning board met to discuss a special exemption application regarding D’Aaron Car Detailing, located at 380 Hazle St. The applicant, Alfredo Javier Rondon, is seeking to establish a hand-detailing business for motor vehicles at the address. The special exemption is under “Section 324: Uses Not Addressed Within Ordinance.”
Javier Rondon was represented by a translator, Johanny Diaz, at the zoning board meeting. Diaz explained that she and Javier Rondon were on a lower floor of City Hall at the time of the planning commission meeting, as they were unaware that the planning commission meets within city council’s chambers on the fourth floor of the same building. By the time William C. Harris, director of planning & zoning for the city, responded to Diaz with the exact location information, it was already 2 p.m. The planning commission meeting began at 1:30 p.m.
The planning commission provides recommendations to the zoning board based on its meetings with applicants, hence the need for the applicant to appear before both bodies.
The zoning board cordially explaned to Javier Rondon and Diaz that they would need to return to face both the planning commission and the zoning board on the date of the next meeting, which, in both cases, is Sept. 17.
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