the previous proviso so we think that by having both these facilities that are
strictly educational in there benefits the community SLACS is a Southwest
Leadership Academy Charter School is a longtime member of our community
and they run an excellent operation as you can see from the facility pictures here as well as
their other building over on 7101 pascal avenue so we would ask that this variance be made permanent
thank you very much other questions or comments from the virtual audience
i see no answer planning commission good morning if we were with the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change in zoning at this location from the current
residential multifamily r1 the plan has shown that the proposed use will not cause
detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what would normally be expected
city planning commission recommends that the board grant the requested special exemption
for Educational Facility. Thank you. MI 2024-003-717-6901, Woodland Avenue. I vote yes
with proviso. Limited use to second and third floor. Michael Johns, my vote is yes with proviso.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes with proviso. Ishmael Shahi, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, counsel. You have your votes. Thank you. Have a good day.
thank you have a good day number six mi2024-003-730-1224 south 20th street zenjin is the
Number six, MI 2024.
attorney there's a letter of unanimous support from the point breeze community development coalition
zenjin is coming back in as a panelist now chair
Good morning.
Good morning, counsel.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
My name is Zen Jin, Z-H-E-N.
Last name is J-I-N.
1617 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1838, Philadelphia PA 19103.
Here on behalf of the applicant.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Counsel, could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes, my client is Mega New Investment LLC, the owner of the property, and Ms. Chaojin Huang is here on behalf of the LLC.
Police Chair has a few questions, sir.
Good morning, Counselor. Do you agree to weigh the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its accuracy?
Good morning, and I do.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed and required to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you, Counselor. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you. I'm going to share with the board what was previously submitted in support of this application.
Can the board see my exhibit on their screen?
Thank you.
So we have submitted copies of the refusal, the support letter from Point Bree's Community Development Coalition, as well as photos, plans, proof of tax payment, and additional documentation.
This is an application essentially to legalize what is a two-family household living in an existing building.
This is a corner property building that at one time was given an owner's variance to have a nail salon on the first floor and a single resident unit above.
When my client acquired the property some years ago, it was presented to my client as a two-family unit.
So it seems that the prior owner, when their nail salon closed at some point, converted the first floor to a residential unit and left it as such.
There was no issue with this, so there was no awareness of any issues, at least until recently,
when my client received a notice from L&I that the use on the first floor is not permitted.
So what then she did is to apply for the use application and go before the community to present the existing conditions.
The community reviewed it, and most of the neighbors are aware that this is a two-family dwelling.
In fact, that is part of the reason why they supported it.
They never had an issue with the property, nor did they have an issue with the use.
Considering that it was at one point separated as a commercial and residential, the building itself structurally is separated.
And therefore, there is a hardship to make this building conform with the RSA 5 single family residential structure.
That is why we're asking the board for a favorable review of this variance request.
Again, this is existing conditions at this point, and we're asking the board to legalize
the two-family use.
I have additional information here if the board would like to see anything.
Photos, I'm going to go ahead and show the photos real quick so that it's, I'm sorry.
So this is the corner property.
As the board is aware, a lot of these used to have commercial uses on the first floor
and there was one here as well that was legal.
Entrances are separate, one to the first floor,
one to the second floor,
and they're completely separate on the inside.
And this is, the basement's not used for any living space.
It is simply water heater storage,
and this is the residential inside.
So again, my client should be here to verify my testimony,
and I'm going to end my presentation at this time.
could you call your client please sure uh chelsea could you kindly raise your hand virtually to be
identified your client has been unmuted and allowed to speak hi could you please state
your name and spell for the court synopsis yes my name is chowzen kwan q-i-a-o-z-h-e-n last name
h-u-a-n-g swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes please proceed counsel thank you uh miss huang did you hear and see my presentation before the
zoning board yes can you verify what i have represented to the board is true and correct
and adopt it as your own testimony yes thank you questions from the board
Thank you.
Questions from the board.
When was this conversion done?
The conversion itself probably was done sometime back in 2014 or earlier.
The variance originally for the nail salon was going back to 2007.
Oh, okay.
And then your client, was your client the owner of the property when the nail salon was there too?
my client purchased the property in in 2014 is that when approximately yes 2015 about
okay 2014 actually i'm sorry it is 2014. all right and then just decided not to do the commercial
piece correct well it was already set up as two units at that point so they they thought they
were purchasing complex so they just left it the way it is since that time oh okay so when they
purchased it it had already been converted like it was two units correct okay thank you thank you
the first floor apartment has access to the basement i saw a washer down there uh yes the well
actually the um the basement because of the way the commercial building used to be set up
has uh belco doors that actually allow um both to access if needed to the basement because it's
actually access from flip-up doors from the outside yeah so there's no access to the basement
from the apartment i believe there is as well um chelsea is there is there access from the inside
as well for the first floor i think so yeah let me let me uh review the yes there is i see the
staircase um let me did the board want me to put the plans back up that could i'm just i just said
I just had the question because you said the basement was only used for utility, but the picture showed a washer down there.
So I'm looking at the plans just to clarify.
Yes, there's only one access from there's an access from the outside and an access from the stairway on the first floor on the inside to the basement.
OK. Thank you.
OK. Thank you.
Questions or comments from our attorney?
Not at this time, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I see no A's, Chair.
Planning Commission.
Amy Boyd with the Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no changing zoning at this location from the existing residential single-family RSA 5.
The property has a history of mixed-use, a nail salon on the first floor, and a dwelling unit on the second floor.
The conversion of the first floor space into an additional dwelling unit
brings the property more into alignment with the spirit of the zoning code.
The planning commission recommends that the board grant the requested variance
for two-family household living.
MI 2024-003-730-1224 South 20th Street, I vote yes.
Michael Johns, my vote is yes.
Cheryl Gaston, my vote is yes.
Ismail Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Number 10. Thank you, counsel. Number 10, MI 2024-003-741-6056 West Gerrard Avenue. Vern Anastasio is the attorney.
Ms. Anastasio is coming back in as a panelist now, Chair.
Mr. Anastasio, just for the record, state your name because you've already been sworn.
Good morning, Mr. Chair Verne Anastasio. On behalf of Mr. Todd Pierce.
Okay, thank you very much. Our Vice Chair has a few questions. Thank you.
Councilor, do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal or stipulate to his accuracy?
I do. I've emailed in all the required documents and exhibits as needed to proceed with this case.
five days in advance for this hearing.
Thank you.
Please proceed, counsel.
Thank you.
Okay, Mr. Chair, members of the board,
this is 6056 West Gerrard Avenue.
That just went blank on me.
Do it again.
Okay, there we go.
6056 West Gerrard Avenue. In my exhibit packet, which is approximately 64 pages,
6056 West Gerrard Avenue.
we've got our refusal floor plans, some photos, and support from the eight immediate neighbors
on the block. We'll start here with the refusal. The application is for the legalization of a
two-family household living in an existing structure. The property is zoned RSA-5 and
therefore a refusal was, in fact, issued. Let me show you what my client purchased.
This is the basement. As you can see, there are cutouts of two electric meters.
He just purchased this last year, by the way.
And what it was is a two-story structure that was all outfitted, sheetrocked, and cut up for a two-family dwelling.
And this is how he purchased it.
It was sold to him as a property that was being rehabbed as a duplex.
and this was the current condition upon which he then purchased the property again just 12 months
ago or so after purchase sorry there
after purchase he put in the fixtures again as the plans show the bathrooms and kitchens were
already built out the entrances were already separated he then had to put in the finishings
for the flooring and the fixtures which he did and that is here
he listed both units for rent had them occupied went to pull a rental license
and then was told the property was zoned for RSA 5 with no two-family dwelling permit on file
here a plant here's more photos here's the second kitchen
let's get to the plans
this is the front of the property
This is the basement, which is just a raw basement with washer, dryer, and heater.
This is the first floor.
As you can see, there's a front porch with a trash corral for both units.
We have a hallway.
When you walk to the left, you can get into the open concept kitchen and living room, both of ample size.
we've got a bedroom in the front and a bedroom in the rear and the second floor
ostensibly the same sort of layout with bedrooms at the front and rear
again another open concept living eating kitchen space which is of ample size and a bathroom
We went before the community group.
Let me show you the notice that was mailed.
This is the notice that was mailed to invite folks to not only the community meeting, but also today's zoning hearing.
Here are all the addresses that were mailed out.
and we do have proof of mailing
of 98 individual households as this shows here
we have the rco meeting was peculiar because it seemed as though everyone was on board
We even had someone volunteer, Mr. Robinson, who was in attendance, who's a very active neighbor, volunteered to take my client door to door, introduce himself.
But then we didn't hear anything from the RCO on that.
So, my client went door to door anyway and was able to get all eight immediate adjacent neighbors to support the legalization of the two-family dwelling.
So my client went door to door anyway.
As you can see, they're right on the block, and they all support it.
There are, in fact, several other duplexes in the immediate area.
We pulled two that have been legalized here in Exhibit 10.
Excuse me for one minute while I try and bring that up for you.
Yeah, here are two separate properties, one on Girard Avenue and one right around the corner.
They're the two that have been listed recently as two family dwellings.
But there are other properties with two mailboxes.
And we're just not sure if they're all legalized, of course.
everything's blank. Yeah. Well, it is now. Yeah.
That's fine. We never saw the extra ones you just talked about. We didn't see any.
You never saw the final one.
Okay. Here they are.
and are either of these on the same block i'm sorry one of them is oh okay yeah and one is
right around the corner and burn you showed photos of mailboxes on properties i did i don't have
mailbox photos of the other properties on the block but i know there are some in fact there
There may be a couple photos of the block itself that may have caught them, but not intentionally.
Our case, however, you know, is there a unique physical condition of the property that makes compliance, which would be a conversion to a single family, physically and financially possible and the impossible.
And yes, the unique physical condition exists.
It existed a year ago when he purchased the property.
It existed when he put in the furnishings. It existed when he he he had the place occupied.
He thoroughly believed that this was illegal to family dwelling and he did not create the unique physical hardship.