Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Kelly, is that you?
Yes, this is John Kelly from Lexitus. I'm on by phone.
Okay, thanks, John.
Sorry for the delay, folks.
And Chair, we have 32 attendees, so you can begin.
Thank you.
Good morning, my name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this morning's EBA hearings.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our Board Member, Thomas Holliman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our Alternate Board Member, LeBaron Leonard Palmer from Development Services.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning.
And also present is our Attorney, Hillary Emerson, and our Executive Director, Tanya Sunken.
Here's our virtual format.
Be advised that proceedings are being recorded.
A video will be available by contacting tonyasunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you are participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
to want an appearance statement call 267-270-5548. Leave your email and the address of the property
in question. The question answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony. Any comments
should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunken. Let's look at the continuations we have
on today's list. Number four, MI-2022-004-357-1439 Fawn Shaw Street. That case is continued.
Number eight, MI-2022-007-314-1932 Cecil B. Moore Avenue. That case is continued.
you. Number nine, MI 2022-007-385. Faith CDC has requested continuance. Mr. Anastasio,
if you're in the audience, please come on. Good morning, sir. This is Jason Hand. I will
be co-hosting this morning. Mr. Anastasio has been allowed to speak. Thank you. Yes, sir.
Good morning, Mr. Chair. Mr. Anastasio, could you state your name and spell please for the court
reporter? Yes, sir. It's Vern Anastasio, A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-O. On behalf of my client,
the foundation of Mukadim, Atu, Kidma, and Mohammed Baldy.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I see that Faith CDC has requested a continuance. What's your position on this?
And is Faith CDC in the audience?
i do not see anyone um okay thank you anastasia what's your position on this
hold on mr chair hold on mr charles richardson has his hand raised okay in this matter so i
think we should bring him on as well thank you he's been allowed to speak good morning mr
richardson just state your name for the record please good morning mr chair charles richardson
the office of councilwoman cindy bass room 508 city hall of richardson r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s-o-n
do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do you have a
position on this uh our position on this is uh and i spoke to miss love this morning and uh
mr anastasio did participate in his firm participated in two meetings that were
unsuccessful in getting people to come out uh he is sticking to the codes which is you know
within his rights. So we're not going to oppose him moving forward.
Mr. Anastasia, you're going to move forward today?
Yeah, I mean, normally I would be amenable to a continuance, but we did put this application in in October of last year, and we did do two mailings, and after a while it just gets expensive.
Yeah, I mean, normally I would be amenable to a continuance, but we did put this application.
All right, we're going to call you in a little bit, okay?
Thank you.
All right. Number 13. MI 2022 004 360 10960 Dunton Road. This case is continued. And number 14. MI 2022 004 261 2807 Nightingale Road.
this case is also continued.
Is there anyone has any comments
relative to the cases that have been continued?
Mr. Chair, I do not see any hands.
Okay, thank you.
Are there any other requests for continuance?
Once again, sir, I see no hands.
Thank you.
And case number six, MI-2022-004-260-5306 North 5th Street.
I have no exhibits for this second listing and no one's appeared.
Solange Hoplite is the listed applicant.
Sir, there are no hands and I do not see anybody addressing by that name.
Thank you. So number six, MI-2022-004-260-5306 North East Street. No exhibits, second listing. No one's appeared the first time. I vote to dismiss this case.
Thomas Holloman, I vote to dismiss.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is to dismiss.
Thank you both.
Number three, MI 2022, 004-355-1231-33 Walnut Street.
Karen Laurie Smith from Midtown Chocolatiers is the listed applicant.
We were notified of withdrawal.
We do not have a letter.
This is the second listing.
Is there anyone in the audience from Midtown Chocolatiers?
Sir, there are no hands.
Okay, so MI-2022-004-355, 1231-33, Walnut Street, this case is continued.
So we're going to go to our add-on list first.
Number one, MI-2021-005-282-3257, North 16th Street,
I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Number two, MI 2023-001-253-1330 East Burke Street.
I vote yes, with provisos.
Her amended refusal.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair, this is the one I need to read the letter into the record first.
Oh, I'm sorry, please.
Give me one second.
Following the reconsideration hearing that we held on this matter on May 23rd, we received a letter from Eleanor Sharp, the Executive Director of the Planning Commission, regarding the Planning Commission's recommendation in this matter.
I'm going to read this letter into the record.
Dear Chairperson Bergman, the City Planning Commission participated in the reconsideration hearing for MI-2022-002678 at the May 23, 2023 Zoning Board of Adjustment Session.
The case was originally heard on November 15, 2022, where the Planning Commission provided a recommendation to support the granting of the variants that requested five new residential units.
At the May 23rd, 2023 reconsideration hearing, the appellant reduced the number of units to four, dwelling units to four.
The Planning Commission recommended denying the granting of the variant.
In reviewing the two hearings and our records, we now realized that we erred in providing conflicting testimony to the board on May 23rd.
Due to a technical issue with our database, the original recommendation and hearing information were not available during our review for the hearing on May 23rd.
This situation enabled the Planning Commission to give conflicting recommendations on this calendar number.
We are requesting to amend our recommendation on this application and revert to our previous
We are requesting to amend our recommendation on this application
and revert to our previous testimony and recommendation
provided on November 15, 2022.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change
to the existing residential single-family zoning at this location.
Wilt Street is not on the city plan.
It does not carry essential utilities
and cannot be used as a street frontage to enable subdivision.
The lot is also irregularly shaped and deep.
The total lot area per unit in the proposal is approximately 1,200 square feet, which is commensurate with average lot sizes in the vicinity.
The Planning Commission recommends that the board grant the variances.
We apologize for this inadvertent error and thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely, Eleanor Sharp, Executive Director of the City Planning Commission.
Thank you, Hillary.
So MI 2023-001-253-1330 East Burke Street.
I vote yes with provisos.
Per amended refusal dated 12-22-22.
Revised plans, two pages stamped by ZBA on June 14, 2023.
Thomas Holloman.
My vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Thank you. Thank you.
Number three, MI2022-007-290-1800 North 22nd Street.
I vote yes with Proviso. Maximum five units.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ishmael Shaheem, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Number four, MI 2022-003-293-2409 North 17th Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Hollum, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheem, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
We're going to our regular list.
Number one, 2022-007-387, 1440 South 18th Street.
Nakima Carter is the tenant applicant.
This is a pro se case.
This application is for child care center on first floor with existing two-family household living above an existing structure.
One refusal.
The proposed use child care requires special exception approval in the CMX-1 Commercial Zoning District.
Nakeema Carter, please.
Ms. Carter will be rejoining as a panelist, sir.
Thank you.
Hello.
Good morning, Ms. Carter.
Hi, good morning.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, Nakima Carter.
That is N-A-K-I-M-A-H.
That's the name Carter, C-A-R-T-E-R.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Good morning, Mrs. Carter.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
She just sent me something last night and said everything was complete.
So I sent everything prior to this.
Okay, thank you.
I had like a PowerPoint.
So she told me to send a PowerPoint, which has everything that I need and want.
so you could just flick right through it.
No problem. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
And please turn your camera back on.
Could you share your screen with us, please?
And I would note the letter of support from the Point Breeze Community Development Coalition.
So this is basically my, okay, thank you. This is the basic email of the hearing. This
is my application of acceptance, special exceptions. This is the, I had got three pages filled
This is the, I had got three pages filled out from my neighborhood.
out from my neighborhood.
I also have it in biblical here.
That's great.
All right.
This is also another petition I started online on my own to get more votes.
This is the receipt showing that I mailed out all of the notices to people so that they can join the Zoom.
This is another receipt.
this is in here this is the front of the building this is the side side um this is like a point of
view for neighbors like a viewpoint for neighbors this is the inside this is the front this is like
kind of like a viewpoint of the whole side this is a a full this is the kitchen which is getting
like updated now and this is another side of the building this is another viewpoint right here
bathroom bathroom um this is another room inside the center windows door and that's what i have
okay and you went to you went to your uh rco2 right am i correct yes
Did they vote for you?
Yes, they did.
Do you remember the vote?
It was yes.
I got 13 votes,
one refusal, I believe.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments
from the virtual audience?
i do not see any hands mr chair planning commission
thank you chair bergman sarah bond philadelphia city planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends no change for sorry just for the record could you spell your
name for the corporate oh i'm so sorry i haven't done that's okay okay uh it is uh sarah bond s-a-r-a-h
b-a-n-h right do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes i do please proceed okay uh the city planning commission excuse me the comprehensive plan
recommends no change to the existing commercial mixed use zoning the proposed use will not cause
detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might normally be expected the city planning
Commission recommends that the Zoning Board grant the special exception. MI 2022-007-387-1440
South 18th Street, I vote yes. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ms. Mel Shaheed, my vote is yes. Ms. Carter, you have your votes. Thank you so much. Sure. Number two,
MI-2022-004-353-1208 Day Street.
Nishi Patel is the owner.
This application is for visitor accommodations in an existing structure.
The proposed use visitor accommodation is prohibited in the RSA-5 residential area.
There is a letter of opposition from Fishtown Neighbors Association.
All right, Mr. Chair, they will be rejoining us again as a panelist soon.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Hello, good morning, everybody.
Can everybody hear me okay?
And could you please state your name and spell it for the court scenario?
Sorry. My name is Nishi Patel, N-I-S-H-I-P-A-T-E-L.
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, sir.
Absolutely.
Good morning, sir.
have yielded in all the documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case
in advance of this hearing? Yes, I have. Are you there, sir? Yes, I said I have.
Okay, please proceed to show your screen. Absolutely. Thank you.
green button at the bottom says share screen there you go you're coming up yep okay yep proceed
all right um this uh uh i'm uh giving this presentation on behalf of myself and my wife
who is my co-owner for this property at 1208 day street um uh just to give some background
on our proposed use. Specifically, we would like to use this property as a short-term rental
property. It's a 1,000-square-foot single-family townhome, and about a two-bedroom, one-and-a-half
bath. I have owned the place since 2013, and I lived there full-time until about 2017, and since
then have used the place as a rental property, both long-term and short-term. Initially, I was
granted a commercial activity license but i was notified that i would need a change of
use permit and i've been going through that process um initially when i purchased the
property uh i've generally tried to make uh take good care of it i've made the following
kind of upgrades and repairs and renovations uh to just keep the place uh well maintained
and in the 21st century if you will you know these include a near roof kitchen and bathroom
renovations we've refinished the floors in the living room as well as the bedrooms we've
sealed and finished the basement we've added central air conditioning um i replaced plumbing
and also very recently replaced gas lines which were leaking um i repaired gutters and sidings
and i had also replaced an electrical panel box that was old and sort of rusted out um
you know this is sort of the address if you will we're in the fishtown area right near gerard and
frankfurt avenue um this is an old exterior photo just what you would see kind of across the street
um you know interior this is in the living room space oops um
after our after i kind of renovated it um this is our kitchen area another angle of the kitchen
area after i started renovating and furnishing it here's one bathroom here this is another bathroom
There's one bedroom here.
Here's another bedroom or another angle, the same bedroom, essentially.
In the past, as I mentioned, I had this listed as an Airbnb.
I would use this was sort of my policy, if you will.
I'd have it only for up to four guests with no pets.
There are no parking passes that says not to interfere with the neighborhood.
You know, no parties.
I have a noise noise aware monitoring device to make sure it's not getting too loud in two years that it was an Airbnb.
There was no concerns of loud noises, music parties, you know, no complaints.
We have a security camera system in place so I can tell who's coming and going.
You know, we actually had also started using a valet trash service.
So there's no trash cans ever on the street.
essentially it's kind of like an app uh that i use um uh and somebody will come in and pick up
the trash and haul it away every day um we have no smoking or drinking on the premises as well
to help kind of keep any partying or any party goers down to a minimum
um in terms of other maintenance you know i twice a year i get pest control and uh and and
rodent control inspection to make sure there's no problems there. I make sure the plumbing is
well maintained. We didn't have any snow this past winter, but I use a management company to
handle snow removal. And my HVAC system is also generally maintained twice a year as well to
ensure that it's running. So, you know, this is a house that I generally take pretty good care of.
You know, right now, I actually I don't live there full time. As I mentioned, I live there. I live in York, Pennsylvania, about two hours away. And on holidays or weekends, I use the home as a second home. Occasionally, I have a part time job in Delaware as well.
So when I, working there, I'll stay there as well as my own secondary residence.
We don't really have any plans to sell the home.
My wife and I was our first home together.
We're very emotionally attached to the house.
We love the neighborhood as well.
And so if this variance isn't granted, we would still keep the home in our own name.
we do you know the having the having the variance to use the property as a short-term rental
property does allow us to have some
Property does allow us to have some financial stability in terms of the maintenance of it as well.
And just to show us, our ask is not necessarily out of keeping with other properties in the area.
There are other Airbnbs listed while within kind of walking distance.
I did go to the neighborhood RCO meeting.
We actually had two meetings.
The first was a split decision, if you will, almost a 50-50 vote.
And I was asked to actually represent my case.
And we did a second time.
The second vote did not go my way.
And there's not really any clear reason why the neighborhood RCO basically told me there were no specific concerns articulated.
The neighbors just didn't feel like having an Airbnb there, although there are Airbnbs on that particular street already.
Of note, you know, immediate neighbors on that, on our block, they have multiple ways to contact me if there's ever any issues.
In this entire time, the only time I've ever gotten a call was about a leaking gutter, which was repaired the next week.
my immediate neighbors
have generally been very supportive
although unfortunately none of them were able to join
on the meeting or anything like that today
but that concludes my
presentation and like I said I asked
the board you know consider my request
for a variance. Okay thank you
questions from the board
questions or comments from
the virtual audience
do not see any hands mr chair planning commission
thank you chair bergman sarah bond philadelphia city planning commission
s-a-r-a-h-b-a-n-h the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential
single-family zoning the appellant has not shown that the property cannot be possibly used in strict
conformity with the zoning code and that a variance is therefore necessary to enable
the viable economic use of this property the city planning commission recommends that the zoning
board deny the variance mi 2022 004 353 1208 day street i vote yes with proviso temporary variance
expires
6-15-26
Thomas Holliman
my vote is yes
with proviso
Ishmael Shaheed
my vote is yes with proviso
Mr. Patel you have your votes
thank you
thank you everybody and I appreciate your time this morning
let's see here
number five
MI 2022-004-258-3959 North Fairhill Street. Jose Matos is the tenant applicant. This is a pro se.
This application is for the retail sale of consumer goods and personal vehicle repair
and maintenance on lot. No sign on this application. Proposed uses retail sale of
consumer goods and personal vehicle repair and maintenance are prohibited in the RSA-5
residential zoning district. No RCO letter, but there was a meeting held 8-16-22 by the
43rd Democratic Board, per Council Member Lazada's office.
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. I just want to note that we did receive updated posting photos from the applicant this morning. So I can confirm that requirement has been met. And the council office did note that the meeting was actually held by Esperanza instead of the 43rd Democratic Ward, as indicated by the applicant. Thank you.
Mr. Matos, if you are in the audience, please raise your virtual hand.
All right, he will be rejoining as a panelist, sir.
Thank you.
Good morning, Mr. Matos.
hi good morning good morning mr matos you're the ones going to be testifying right could
Hi, good morning.
Good morning.
Mr. Matos, you're the one.
you state your name please and spell for the court reporter jose matos m-j-s-e j-o-s-t
matos m-s-t-o-s right my name is angela i'm actually his interpreter if if you don't understand
So, we can't use an interpreter.
If he needs an interpreter, we have to have our own.
So, why don't we try to see if we can get through with him, okay?
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Do you swear to tell the truth?
All right.
Thank you.
I have, our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Okay, sir?
Is he going to be able to do his presentation, ma'am?
All right.
Good morning, sir.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you.
You can proceed and share your screen.
Press the green button on the bottom of your screen.
Thank you.
So why don't we start going through it?
i mean i think the easiest thing for you to do is to show us some photos of what you're trying to do
so the front door for the garage right
you put the posters up for the hearing right i see that okay okay
these are the front of the door the little plate right
mr matos how long have you been in business there
like a year one year one year
and did you purchase the building like that
it was like that when you purchased it
it was over the entire shop
show me a photo
are you going to sell consumer goods too
are you selling goods there too
yeah use tire
turn that over
Mr. Matos
When you went to the
Esperanza or the Democratic
Ward meeting
Did people
Accept you, what you're trying to do
At that meeting?
show me more photos of the
show me the building one more time
please the photos
okay so
so hold on a minute
so where in that building are you selling
consumer goods or are you just selling tires
the sort of tire
of nothing but tires
no no mr chair this is hillary i think the consumer goods refers to the tires and okay
there's a personal vehicle repair and maintenance as well because i think they must be putting the
tires on okay thank you thank you no vehicle repair on the tire okay thank you your questions
from the board no mr chairman no chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
no chair questions or comments from the virtual audience
there are no hands mr chair planning commission
thank you chair bergman sarah bond philadelphia city planning commission s-a-r-a-h-b-a-n-h
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential single-family zoning.
However, given the circumstances of the building, the appellant has shown a hardship,
and therefore the City Planning Commission recommends that the zoning board grant the variance.
Thank you.
MI 2022-004258-3959 North Fairhill Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, sir.
You have your votes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Number seven.
MI 2022-006-843-706 North 5th Street.
Vern Astasio is the attorney.
letter of support from Northern Liberties Neighbors Association for five units with one
being owner occupied. Mr. Anastasio is returning as a panelist. Okay.
Mr. Anastasio, just state your name. You've already been sworn.
Good morning again, Mr. Chair. Vern Anastasio for the Somoza family.
Okay. All right. Thank you. Our vice chair has a few questions.
i think this case has already been presented yeah i know i do remember this case yeah i've
already put the my case in chief is on the record is closed uh recommendation by the planning
commission was to approve it we were just tell hillary i do remember this case where
how did this get here let me just give me okay just yeah it didn't come up as a resumption hearing
um on my list so just give me one second let me let me just look at this hold on
it's my recollection uh pretty clearly remember the case now yeah you were just waiting for an
rco uh letter we met with them a few days ago hammered out what we needed to hammer out and
they're sending their letter uh so that you can vote
yes my apologies this is a
it just says for feedback from the RCO and the public
with a response from counsel for the applicant.
Back from May 3rd.
Oh, I don't know if anyone, yeah,
so we did get a letter from the RCO.
I don't know if anyone is here from the RCO to testify
or if there was any public testimony on this matter.
questions or comments from the virtual audience
so there are no hands so so uh mr anasasio i guess the question would be
your response to the community groups rco saying they won five units and one of the five should
be owner occupied you're asking for six was asking for six we would settle for five
as as my test i believe our testimony showed uh before i don't necessarily know i mean it's all
as a testimony was much of the property is going to be uh and already is owner occupied
i don't think i i think it's i think it's a i think we've i've talked to hillary about that
we're okay i think it's a little yeah other than that other than that one little uh caveat i think
we're in agreement did the planning commission already take a position on this hillary
Yes, I just have to, I just have to pull that up. Give me one second.
So the Planning Commission did recommend granting for five dwelling units.
Thank you.
Thank you. So MI 2022-006-843-706 North 5th Street, I vote yes with proviso, maximum five units.
So MI 2022 00.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you.
And Vern, stay on.
So MI 2022-007-385-2100 Shelton Avenue.
And I think you already have, but just for the record, could you identify your client one more time?
Sure. It's the foundation of Muqadim Atu Kidma, and the representative is Mohamed Baldi.
And our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Thank you.
Good morning, Counselor.
Do you agree to wait the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its adequacy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thanks.
My screen is shared.
2100 Shelton Avenue.
The application is for House of Worship.
and a community center in the existing structure. The house of worship is a matter of right by right
use. It's the community center that kicks the the refusal and of course the community center
will be used as an extension of the house of worship. So here is I'll zoom out a little bit.
Here's the lower level that'll be
used here. There's bathrooms in the center. There's a reception area. These classrooms will
be used for community activity. And then on the second level, we have more rooms, offices,
and these classrooms in the back will be used for worship, the activity room in the classroom.
This has been a long-standing institutional use as a daycare.
Here's the interior. It's on what is primarily a commercial corridor.
By the way, under separate cover, I did submit into evidence proof of posting.
is the interior layout, as you can see. So it's been institutionally used for quite some time.
So went a little too fast. Here we are. Here's us. Across the street is another house of worship.
Down the street here, Resurrection Power is yet another house of worship, and across here is yet another house of worship.
All three houses of worship also have community activities associated with their space.
This is our block.
As you can see, it is primarily commercial in use, very oddly shaped buildings, certainly not residential in nature.
Here's additional photos. We did meet with the community, not once, but twice.
Two flyers, two proof of postings. At each time, 137 individual households were in fact mailed.
And as the RCO, Faith CDC, I believe indicated earlier in their letter, no one showed up at the
first meeting, except for the RCO leadership, and no immediate neighbors showed up at the
second. The property was posted with both RCO notices as well. The RCO leadership did hear
our presentation, but it's their particular policy that they can't come to a position without having
near neighbor input. And as you saw with the photos, it's not like there's a whole lot of
immediate neighbors that are residential, that are impacted. So for those reasons,
because we've met the requirements twice, and we did present, there's a history of
institutional use on the property, because other houses of worship with community activity
are on the block. And because we are in a primarily commercial corridor, I am going to ask
this board to respectfully grant the variance in this case thank you would you have your client
adopt your testimony yep mr baldy if you're in the audience please raise your virtual hand
do we see anything
Mohammed Balde
B-A-L-D-E
I'm sorry I don't see anyone
answering to the
Anastasia you're an officer of the court
we will accept your testimony
questions from the board
no Mr. Chairman
no Chairman
questions or comments from the virtual audience
Once again, sir, no hands at this time. Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair. Sarah Bond, Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing commercial mixed use zoning.
However, the proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what normally might be expected.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the Zoning Board grant the variance.
MI 2022-007-385-2100, Cheltenham Avenue, I vote yes.
Thomas Holliman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Excuse me, Mr. Chair, I didn't hear Mr. Shaheed's vote.
Mr. Shaheed, can you just indicate your vote?
Sure. Shahid, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
Number 10, MI 2022-007-533-119 Reed Street.
Danielle DeFazio is the owner applicant.
This application is for the partial demolition of an existing attached structure and the erection of an addition at the rear, including a roof deck,
For use as a single-family household living, size and location is shown on application plan.
A rear yard depth of seven feet is required in the RSA residential district, but this is only four foot, three-quarters of an inch.
Four feet, four and three-quarters inches is proposed.
There is a letter of non-opposition from Penn Sports Civic and a letter of non-opposition from Councilman Squilla.
Danielle DeFazio.
She will be rejoining as a panelist, sir.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Good morning.
How are you?
I'm great.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, my name is Danielle DeFazio, D-A-N-I-E-L-L-E, last name DeFazio, D-E-F as in Frank, A-S as in Sam, S as in Sam, I-O as in Oscar.
We're affirmed to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its
accuracy? That one's for me? Yes. I'm sorry, I apologize. Have you emailed in all the required
documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance
of this hearing. Yes. Please proceed to see your screen. I'm going to apologize for that as well.
I'm going to apologize for that issue.
All right. Are you able to see my screen? We can. Excellent. So this is an existing three-story
row home. And at some point, a two-story kitchen bathroom addition was constructed at the rear of
house. I'll zoom in a bit. As you can see in the picture, the second floor of the addition
only covers about half of the footprint of the first floor. What we have found is the addition
has some structural issues and has settled significantly over the years. And because of
this, we'd like to demolish the addition and rebuild something similar that is structurally
sound. Moving to this page. Here is a diagram. Also, my architect is here as well. So if you
have like architectural questions, they can help answer as well. The proposed addition
The proposed addition would occupy the same exact footprint as the existing structure, so because of this it does not meet the zoning codes rear yard setback requirements.
would occupy the same exact footprint as the existing
The only difference between the new and the existing structure is that the second floor of the new structure would be built over the entire footprint of the addition.
We'd also like to build a small roof deck over the second floor of the addition, which would be accessed from the third floor of the house.
And finally, this is our letter.
We met with the RCO in April and we received a letter of non-opposition.
I'm not sure if I should read it or not, but it is here.
We're fine. We're fine.
So you're only going out as far as the existing structure, and that existing structure never
met the code.
Correct.
Right.
All right.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
No hands, Mr. Chair.
planning commission
thank you chair sarah bond philadelphia city planning commission
the proposed variance is consistent with prior dimensions at this property thus allowing the
appellant to support their hardship claim the city planning commission recommends that the
zoning board grant the variance thank you mi2022-007-533-119 reed street i vote yes
Thomas Holloman, I vote yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you.
You have your votes.
Thank you very much, everyone.
Have a great day.
Right, yeah.
So, number 11, MI 2022-007-535-8843 Bradford Street.
Joseph Consul is the attorney.
No RCO letter, but there was a meeting held by Greater Bustle and Civic League on 425-23.
Mr. Consul is coming back as a panelist, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Consul.
Good morning.
Just state your name, please, for the record and spell it for the court sonographer.
It's Joseph Consul, J-O-S-E-P-H-C-O-N-S-O-L-E.
you. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I do. Would you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
Yeah, it's the Mendozas. I believe Roberto Mendoza, the owner, is the Zoom name that's
going to be on here, but the two owners are Justina and Roberto. Okay. Our vice chair has
That's just a few questions.
Good morning, Counselor. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stability towards accuracy?
Yes, sir.
Have you emailed them all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have the RCO letter came in Monday, and we sent it over. I was being transferred to panelists. Did anyone else acknowledge receiving that?
I heard you say there wasn't a letter, but
we have not seen the letter. I will double check, but we have not seen the letter.
Okay. Can I send it over to you? Absolutely. Thank you.
I'm sending it over to Hillary. It is a letter of full support. That's why I'm excited to get it
over there. Hold on one second. Is my packet up or is my other screen on?
euro all right i okay hold on a second i'm sending over this letter yeah i see that we
mailed it over to you guys but i'm taking it over right now to hillary better bradford
okay all right so i sent it over to hillary
should i get going otherwise why don't you start please okay is my packet up right now
on my shared screen no not really it's it's all your emails okay got it here we go we're good
great all right so this is 8843 bradford street this is in the uh bustleton section of the city
I will give you, let me close my emails now. So the front of the property looks like this.
So the front of the property looks like this.
It's these houses.
It's these houses along Bradford Street.
And the back area looks like this.
So there's garages and parking and backyards and that sort of thing.
So back to my packet.
We're here because my clients, the Mendozas, purchased this property in 2022.
Prior to their purchase, the garage in the back was closed off and turned into living space.
It was brought to my client's attention during the purchase process that that was not permitted at the time.
So in an agreement with the seller, they worked together to get the necessary plans done and submitted.
And the only refusal that we got was the fact that they had moved the parking from the garage area to the side yard, which I'll show you in one second.
So we have one refusal.
Surface parking spaces are prohibited in required side yards, and that's where we're proposing to have the parking space.
So as I said, we did meet with the Greater Busselton Civic Association.
We got their support. 20 in favor, zero opposed. It was a well-attended meeting. And there's the letter.
So here's the front showing our pictures. But importantly, here's the back area.
So we have the garage to the left of the screen, which was turned into an extended living space on that floor, and then parking that was placed on the right.
And so that is where the family parks their vehicles, and because it ate in to where it was paved, ate into the side yard, that has caused the need for this variance.
So we don't see, there are several other examples of this on this little street here.
We don't see that this is providing any harm and everyone at the neighborhood meeting agreed.
We're not taking any parking off the street because this is not a street you can park on.
And this is just a parking alley anyway.
Close up of the work that was done.
Again, the only variance that the plans for the conversion of the space generated was for the side yard issue.
Plans that were submitted, showing where the parking is, and all the other required documents we included in our packet, proof of ownership, tax compliance, and the deed, and the project information form.
That's it.
I'll call my client. It should be Roberto Mendoza to adopt my testimony.
Mr. Mendoza has been allowed to speak.
Mr. Mendoza, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Hi, my name is Sonia Mendoza, S-O-N-Y-A, Mendoza, M-E-N-D-O-Z-A.
right you swear affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes and you're the owner of the property um i am the owner's daughter
okay he's with she's with her father okay i'm fine okay all right uh good morning um miss
mendoza have you um heard my testimony regarding your property today yes do you wish to adopt it
as your own yes okay i have nothing further mr consul that parking area was already there
when they bought it uh yes sonia would you attest to the parking area being there at the time of
purchase
listen does it please raise your virtual hand again
okay they're back counter excuse me okay yes okay thank you okay questions from the board
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
I'm sorry.
I have Ms. Alice Udovich with her hand raised.
I haven't allowed her to speak.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Good morning, Chairman, members of the board.
Alice Udovich on behalf of Councilman Brian O'Neill.
Could you just spell your name for the court reporter, please, Alice?
It's Alice, A-L-I-C-E.
Last name is U-D-O-V-I-C-H.
Do you swear, Fern, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Proceed. The councilman has no objection to the granting of the variance at this location.
Proceed.
The councilman has no objection to the granting of the...
Thank you for taking the time to call us in. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I do not see any further hands. Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair. Sarah Bond, Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The proposed use will not cause detrimental impacts to the neighborhood beyond what might normally be expected.
the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the variance
mi-2022-007-535-8843 bradford street i vote yes thomas holliman my vote is yes
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes thank you thank you thank you mr consul
Number 12, MI-2022-007-300, 1204 North 7th Street.
Jacob Siegel is the attorney for the owner.
Letter of support from 14th Ward, Democratic Ward, Executive RCO.
Mr. Siegel, if you're in the audience, please raise your virtual hand and wait to be sworn in.
Mr. Chair, we're joining as a panelist.
Good morning, Mr. Siegel. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Good morning, Mr. Chair. Yes, Jacob Siegel, S-E-G-A-L.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Hillary, we have an issue with taxes with this, right?
Yes, there is an outstanding balance from 2022 that has to be paid before the board can vote on this matter.
I advised Mr. Siegel via email yesterday.
Okay, fine. So we'll hear the case and we'll hold the vote.
That is correct. And just for the record, my client did pay that this morning.
So that should be reflected in the near to immediate future.
Okay. Our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good morning, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Yes, sir.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this theorem?
Yes, sir. We did email one additional document four days prior. That is not necessary, we believe, for purposes of today's hearing.
And we're clear that we're still waiting for the tax to come over as well.
Yes, sir.
Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Are you able to see this?
I think you got it.
Mostly.
And I apologize.
Typically, we do these by PowerPoint, obviously.
For whatever reason, our office PowerPoint was not functional at the time we created this.
So that being said, we have all necessary information here.
Here's the refusal, the zoning permit, the application for appeal.
the deed, the proposed plan, images of the proposed or of the property,
and this is the interior. By way of background, we are seeking a variation for two visitor
accommodation units at the property 1204 North 7th Street, Philadelphia PA 19122.
We did have a meeting in front of the RCO where they voted unanimously in support of this
variation. The purpose of this would be to allow my client these two visitor accommodation units,
which will be generally occupied by tenants that my client finds on furnished finder,
which primarily serves potential renters in the healthcare industry. Again, the RCO did vote
unanimously in support of this. We do have the documentation from Ms. Diane Monroe,
which corresponds to that. This is the property itself. This is the interior.
Floor plans, et cetera. With that, we would ask that the board grant our proposed variance. I do
understand that for the tax purposes, that cannot happen today and the board will vote and that is
That cannot happen today, and the board will vote, and that is pending the clearance of the 2022 taxes.
pending the clearance of the
However, we would ask that the board follow the RCO and support this variance.
Mr. Siegel, is your client here? You can adopt your, have your testimony adopted.
My client is present.
Why don't we adopt your testimony?
Yes, sir.
What's your client's name?
Jonathan Massero.
Jonathan Macero
Hi, could you state your name please
and spell it for the court stenographer
Yes, it's Jonathan
J-O-N-A-T-H-A-N
Macero, M like Mary
A-S-S like Sam
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth?
Proceed counsel
Mr. Macero
Can you hear me?
Is all the information that I just stated accurate and true?
It is.
And would you agree that that be adopted for the purposes of the board?
Chairman, do you need any additional information?
No, we're fine.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
There are no hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Thank you, Chair Bergman, Sarah Bond, Philadelphia City Planning Commission.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing residential multifamily zoning.
The appellant has not shown that the property cannot possibly be used in strict conformity with the zoning code
and that a variance is therefore necessary to enable the viable economic use of the property.
The City Planning Commission recommends that the zoning board deny the variance.
The board will hold the vote on this until we receive the tax information, and then we will vote sometime in the future.
Okay, Mr. Siegel?
Yes, sir. Thank you. And will we be notified upon your receipt?
You will. You will. Yep.
Thank you.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose 9.30 a.m. case has not been called?
Mr. Chair, I do not see any hands at this time.
Okay. Thanks, everyone. See everybody at 2 p.m.
I'm sorry, Chair. This is Tanya.
Go ahead, Tanya.
May I just respectfully request that our court reporter, John Kelly,
state on the record that he was able to get all the information necessary for this particular case?
Thank you, Tanya. That's a good point.
Mr. Kelly, could you stay for the record, please?
star six to unmute yourself uh yes chair and and tanya this is john kelly from lexodus legal i was
able to begin reporting from the very beginning of the proceeding and i did get everything
i'm very thankful thank you so much chair bergman and mr thank you and thank you john
i should mention as well that my computer does seem to be functioning again and i will attempt
to log on through the Zoom as a panelist for the two o'clock session.
Okay. See everybody at 2 p.m. Thank you. Thank you, Tony.
All right. Thank you, Stan.
Good afternoon. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing the ZBA hearings at 2 p.m.
With me is our vice chair, Ismail Shahid.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our board member, Thomas Holliman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
And our alternate board member, LeBaron Leonard Palmer from Development Services.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
Also present is our attorney, Hillary Emerson, and our executive director, Tanya Sunkett.
Here's our virtual format.
Be advised the proceedings are being recorded.
The video will be available by contacting tanyasunkett at phil.gov.
For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses to identify themselves before testifying.
If you're participating by phone and you wish to testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute.
When an appearance statement, call 267-270-5548.
Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question and answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony.
All comments should be directed to our Executive Director, Tanya Sunkit.
Let's look at the continuations we have.
Number two, MI 2023-000732-416-20.
0-0-0-7-3-2-4-1-6-2-20-Westerod Avenue.
That case is continued.
Number four.
MI-2022-007-568-5306-208-Havenford Avenue.
That case is continued.
Is there anyone has comments relative to the two cases I just continued?
Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. This is Jason Hand. I'm once again co-hosting this afternoon. I do not see any hands at this time.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
Once more, Mr. Chair, no hands at this time.
Okay, thank you. I also have case number 7, MI 2022-004-822-5304 North Broad Street. Jermaine Harris is the attorney. This may be a request for withdrawal, but we do not have a letter. Is Mr. Harris in the audience?
I don't see him in the audience, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. So number seven, MI 2022, 004-822-5304 North Broad Street. This case is continued.
We're going to go to our add-ons.
so number one i have recused myself from this uh mr uh ishmael shaheed our vice chair will handle
this. Good morning or good afternoon. Let me see. MI 2022-003311, 1023-1027 West
that's when Hannah Avenue. This is a request for reconsideration and rehearing. After close
review of looking over this case and additional community input, we're looking to, my vote
is yes to reconsider ration and rehearing. Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes to reconsideration
and re-hearing.
LeBaron Leonard Palmer, my vote is yes to reconsideration and re-hearing.
Thank you.
Excuse me, Mr. Palmer, can you please certify that you watched the video of this hearing?
Thank you.
Yes, I certify that I watched the video of the hearing.
Thank you.
Thank you, everyone. So, number two, MI 2023, 000064, 513 High Street, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Number three, MI-2022-007-133-1330 Ellsworth Street, I vote no.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is no.
Number four, MI-2022-003-722-3500 Ainsley Street.
Hold on one minute.
One minute here.
I vote yes with proviso.
So, approved use is vacant commercial space on first floor with four dwelling units on the second and third.
Use registration required prior to occupancy for commercial space.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with provisos.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is yes with provisos.
number five mi 2022 006 878 3964 poplar street i vote yes with proviso approved use as personal
spaces on the first floor with single family household living on the second floor
excuse me mr chair i just wanted to clarify the proviso it's approved use as personal services
on the first floor.
on the first floor. Okay, I'm sorry. Approve use as personal services on the first floor
Okay, I'm sorry.
Approve use as personal services on the first floor.
and single-family household living on the second floor. Sorry. Thomas Alamut, my vote is yes with
Proviso. Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with Proviso. Number six, MI 2022-007-288-4223
Palton Avenue. I vote yes with proviso. Revised plans, one page, stamped by ZBA on June 14th,
2023. Thomas Holland votes yes with proviso. Ishmael Shaheem, I vote yes with proviso.
We're going to go to our regular list. I'm going to start with number three. MI 2023-000-504-873 East Thompson Street. Jerry and Roberta Tannenbaum are the owners. This is a pro se.
Today, this is an application for visitor accommodations at first floor in the same building with single-family household living above in an existing structure.
The proposed visitor accommodation is prohibited in CMX 1 Commercial Zoning District.
All right, excuse me, Mr. Chair.
They will be rejoining as a panelist.
Thank you.
hello can you hear me yes could you please put on your um there you go thank you um could you
state your name please and spell for the court stenographer all right my name is jerry this is
my wife roberta and our last name is tannenbaum that i'll spell t a n like nancy e n like nancy
b like boy a u m like mary and mr tannenbaum you're going to do the testifying yes okay do
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Our vice chair has a few questions for you, but I will note beforehand there's a letter of support from the Fishtown Neighbors Association.
That's correct.
There was a 92% vote in favor with some hundred people participating.
Mr. Shahid has a few questions.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I believe I did do so. Other than it turns out that your counsel advised us yesterday that the tax clearance that we had included was an expired tax clearance.
That's the clearance I used when I made the application.
So we did yesterday supplement by email as she had requested with an updated tax clearance.
Okay, thank you.
Please proceed and share your screen.
All right.
Okay, so before I go to the exhibits, first of all, thank you for listening to me and
good afternoon to everybody on the board.
I want to give you a little background about why we're making this appeal and what's going
on with us.
So my wife and I, we're age 67 and 69, we're both retired. We retired from professions working with special needs families. We were long-term residents of Philadelphia. And then, as many people did 30 years ago, we moved out of the city to raise our three children.
and as soon as our oldest youngest child got on his feet we came back to the city because
we really do love Philadelphia and we purchased a building here in Northern Liberties that was in
great disrepair um in I'm sorry I said Northern Liberties in Fishtown and um we've been here 10
years we are committed to this house this is our home this is our forever home we expect to be here
until we die we're not um you know some kind of operators that that are from out of the city or
don't live at the property or whatever. One of the reasons, and it's relevant to our hardship
that we bought this house was it's a very unusual home and it has a double basement. And my, our
idea when I retired from my profession was to return to being a working musician, which I had
been before I had children, right? So this particular building has this double basement
where I could set up a practice room.
I practice every day.
I'm a drummer.
I play in an orchestra in South Jersey.
in South Jersey. I've played several jazz groups in the city here. I do musical shows
I play in several jazz groups in the city here.
I do musical shows in the city here.
in the city here. So this was conducive to do that. Plus, it had an empty space. The history
of this building, this building is built around the turn of the century. It was built by a butcher
who had his own home over the top of a butcher shop. And at the front corner of this building,
which I'll show you pictures of, was the butcher shop. That house was then purchased by a subsequent
butcher who lived there with his family and ran the butcher shop however that house was purchased
by other people who then discontinued the use of the butcher shop when we bought the building it
was our understanding that the butcher shop had been vacant for some 20 years and um we thought
at the time this is another reason why we bought the building it had this great vacant space and
because we were retiring, we thought, well, we can make an apartment there and have some
additional income. We thought that that was fine because the building had already zoned for two
apartments plus a business. That was our mistake. We didn't understand that the zoning was
portion specific and that even though it was already zoned for two apartments,
because I should have told you, when we bought it, it had been divided, the part
that was the home original home had been divided into two apartments. We put it back to one
home for ourselves to live in. And we thought we could use the existing zoning to do an apartment
in the former butcher shop. Obviously, now we know that that's not true. And it's reserved
only for commercial space, which is part of our appeal. We invested a lot of money into the rehab
both of our home. It was in disrepair. I'll show you pictures. We brought it back to what we think
is a beautiful condition. We live here. We care about our neighborhood. We care about our
neighbors. We're not some kind of big time operators. We're just a mom and pop. And as I'll
show you, the neighborhood agrees with us and they think that our operation of this short-term rental
has been very beneficial to the neighborhood, both to the neighborhood businesses, but more
importantly to our actual neighbors because it's their friends and family who are the majority of
our guests. Mr. Tannenbaum why don't we start looking at what you have? Okay so I'm going to
now try to go to my exhibits and just bear with me for a second I'm not all that computer savvy
so first I'm going to share the screen and then I have to go to
I have to go to this zoning presentation and I don't know that you should wait a second
can you all see this on my um you see the green button at the bottom for share screen
all right here let me go back
you got to open this up i did that open this up i'm telling you and then yes i share the screen
and now i've done that and then click on what you oh i gotta i gotta share this first yes all right
you're coming up all right and now can you see um my exhibit it's loading it's loading
Okay, I apologize for that delay.
No, that's okay.
The whole computer process is making me a little nervous.
All right, so these are our exhibits.
You know the notice of, you know, I don't think we need to go through these with you.
I think you're right.
These are things that we were required to submit that we did.
I wanted to get to the photographs.
All right, all our permits. All right, here's the building. And you can see it's an unusual corner property. And this door here was the entrance to the former butcher shop.
And if you can see my cursor, that butcher shop, which I'll go inside and show you, that butcher shop runs from here over to on this side of this big window and then down this side of the street to the end of the building.
And we live up here.
Actually, our bedroom is right over the top of the butcher shop.
And the rest of this part of the property is what we've taken back to be the original home.
Oh, I'm going the wrong direction.
This is this again I can show you that butcher shop is on the first floor only like that and then down that other side, and this part of it is all our home.
This, again, I can show you that butcher shop is on the first floor only.
And when, and when we and this is our front door here. And when we purchased the building it was in great disrepair and we, we believe that we've done a fair amount of work here that benefits the city as a whole we brought this beautiful building back to life.
I'd like to say we're even proud of the work we did.
This is a picture of the actual unit.
We restored all these stained glass windows.
This is the inside.
That's that door I just showed you.
It's a small unit.
It has one bedroom back behind this section.
Trying to show you the space.
It has a small living area.
It has this nice galley kitchen.
and the bathroom. All right. That's all the pictures I have of the place itself. I guess
the most important thing for the board is to understand is that we live right over the top
of this, which we think does several things. Number one, we've never had a complaint. We've
been operating this for six or seven years now. We've never had a single complaint about any
behavior or noise of any of our short-term guests or trash on the streets or anything like that.
zero and we think that that's in part related to the fact that we do live right over the top of it
that it is very small that we don't um allow guests um under the age of 21 and we're on top
of things like i said before we're not um some uh out of city operators we're not big time operators
Mr. Tannenbaum, I know what happened at the meeting.
They're 92% in favor of you.
Correct.
So questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, we have a hand raised by Mr. Robert Everett.
I've allowed him to speak.
Mr. Everett, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, good afternoon. First name is Robert. Last name Everett, E-V-E-R-E-T-T.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I am a neighbor approximately 400 feet away.
Okay, proceed, sir.
I just want to verify the neighborhood vote, and the overwhelming majority of us are definitely in favor.
Thank you very much for taking the time to call, and we appreciate it.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
No further answer, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
It's Ron Bednar, City Planning.
First name Ron, R-O-N, last name Bednar, B-E-D-N-A-R.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
While this property is currently indicated for commercial mixed use on the city plan,
the applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of unique physical circumstances or
condition of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformity with the code.
Therefore, we recommend request for variance not be granted.
So MI 2023, 000504873 East Thompson Street, I vote yes. For a temporary variance, that expires 6-15-28.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ismail Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, sir. You have your votes.
Thank you very much.
We're going to now go to number eight.
MI 2022-007-315, 1601 Cater Street, number B.
um cindy kakorcho kakoro is the owner applicant this is pro se this application is for the
erection of a vertical addition with roof deck and roof access structure to an existing attack
structure size and location is shown on plans existing single family wholesale living used to
remain. The proposed structure does not comply with the height limitations on the CMX2 commercial
zoning district, a minimum of 38 feet, whereas this is 54 feet. Letter of support from the South
from the south of south neighbors association mr chair um there's someone with a hand
of South Neighbors Association.
named okay jacobson do you wish for them to be promoted to panelists sure understood
just let them speak until we can verify that they are the applicant no problem
mr jacobson are you involved in this case yes i am i am the husband my wife was just on the line
because she's she's away in italy and she just got logged off for some reason okay so state your
name and spell please for the court stenographer yuri jacobson u-r-i jacobson j-a-c-o-b-s-o-n
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do can you turn your video on please so that we can see you
oh i'm sorry i'm mr chair i may have to promote him to panelists sir okay fine we'll promote you
to panelists okay thank you mr chair is um it sounded like his wife who is the the owner and
applicant in this case maybe coming back in separately not through mr jacobson well if
she's on then we'll we'll use her yes because i don't believe and i have to double check but i
don't believe mr um jacobson is listed as an owner on the property okay
he's still not
oh did i just log out mr jacobson we believe your wife's trying to get back in
okay i know she has very bad connection
okay thank you
cindy could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
Ms. Kachurro?
Jason?
Yeah, I'm waiting for Ms. Kachurro.
Ms. Kachurro, if you're still in the audience, please unmute and wait to be sworn in.
I see.
I see it coming up.
Could you unmute, please?
Can you hear me?
Yes, I can.
Could you unmute?
So spelling of my name is C-I-N-D-Y.
Last name is Fakuro, C-A-C-C-U-R-O.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
I saw your video before.
Could you put your video on again, please?
Yes, I am overseas, so it's hard for me to hear without putting my ear to the film.
Okay, that's fine.
Okay, our vice chair has a few questions for you, okay?
Okay, proceed.
Yes, good morning, ma'am.
Have you emailed in all the...
I believe there are a few missing pieces that I'm waiting for my accountant.
tax clearance that my accountant is clearing up right now.
Do you have your, do you have your, can you make a presentation where you're at?
I cannot. No, I apologize. Yeah. So, so I think what we're going to have to do is we're going
to have to continue this case. That's, that's, that's acceptable. Okay. And because we need to
will at least see your documents and pictures and things of that nature okay okay sounds good thank
you so um mi 2022 007 315 16 and 1 cater street number b this case is continued
we're going to go to number 10 hold on a minute here
Number 10, MI 2023-000965-1303 Hanson Street.
Wanda Stewart-Gotson is the owner-applicant.
Dotson is the owner applicant. This is a pro se. This application is for the erection of an addition at the first rear floor with roof deck above. To extend single-family use, size, and location as shown in plans.
This is pro se.
This application is for...
The refusal. In the RSA 3 zoning district, the maximum occupied area shall be 50 percent, 680 square feet, whereas the plans are at 65 percent, 887 square feet. This is an increase of the occupied area, thus making the existing nonconformity greater.
Wanda Stewart-Gatson.
Mr. Stewart, please raise your virtual hand and wait to be sworn in.
Okay, Mr. Chair, she's coming back.
Oh, thank you.
You're welcome, sir.
do we share jason i mean i promoted her to panelists before but i don't i don't think
she went through the first time so just try it again all right
it's not about it's not allowing me to do it for some reason do i allow her to speak
please let her speak
but now i think she's a panel but she just came back in as panelist thank you
can't see me hi miss Gatson how are you I'm good okay could could you put on your video so that
we could see you thank you thank you very much so could you state your name please and spell for
the court stenographer? Yes, Wanda Stewart. Wanda, W-A-N-D-A, Stewart, S-T-E-W-I-T, Gadsden, G-A-D-S-O-N.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes. Are you prepared to make your presentation today with your documents? Your documents are
with you? Yes. Okay, thank you. So our vice chair has a few questions for you, but I will note that
There's a letter of support from the Southwest Philadelphia District Services, and also there's a letter of support from Council Member Gauthier.
Good afternoon, ma'am.
Have you emailed into our offices all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Thank you.
You can proceed and share your screen.
Wait a minute, I'm trying.
Share the screen is down the bottom.
Yes, excuse me, Chair, if I may.
You certainly can, LaKeisha.
uh do you have your doc are you on a cell phone ma'am or a left yes and you have your documents
on your um cell phone yes okay yep yes it should be a green share screen button one second
i see share down at the bottom yes once you click on that it's going to ask you the documents you
wish to share? And just make sure those documents is open on your phone.
I went somewhere else, ma'am.
Excuse me, this is Hillary. I see a hand raised by a Malik Tapp or Tappy. Ms. Gadson, do you know
who that is? Yes, that's my contractor. Do you think he would be able to share the documents
Do you think he would be able to share the documents while you give the presentation?
while you give the presentation?
Bring him one.
Is this individual going to be allowed as panelists as well?
He's going to be a panelist, but he's not going to speak.
I'm going to make it clear what he does.
All right.
Okay, he's in.
Sir, just for the Malik, you're not allowed to testify. Do you have the documents with you?
Yes, I do.
Could you please put them up on the screen and she'll testify what she sees on the screen?
No problem.
one second it's loading
all right Wanda you're going to have to testify once he gets up on the screen okay
okay yes
okay so here there so there's a photo okay all right we have all the documents so we see what
that is and we also know that there's the support so what I think I need right now
is photos of the location okay so this is the rear of your property Ms. Stewart yes and this
is what you want to rebuild yes okay um do you have other photos or that's just it that's it
okay so the property's been vacant and the back of it's down right yes and you're going to have
to build out a little bit with this too yes or is it just at the same location no i have to build
down a little bit okay do you know how far do you have you have copies do you have copies with
you of the building plans yes all right let's see what the building plan looks like
okay so so this is going to build out that's going to take you
you know 15 points look bigger than where the code calls for is that right yes okay
Is that the rear of the property you're showing?
So you're going to put the new wall in a little bit further out from where you are now.
Correct.
And how long has the property been like this, ma'am?
As far as open, exposed?
Over a year.
All right.
And you had a collapse there?
The building, the wall collapsed?
No, I was redoing my house over.
and and the building thing came down no um i was i was um remodeling my house to up update it
upgrade it because a lot of stuff in the house was old right and um when we noticed that we uh
that they said that we had a shed that was illegal right okay all right so that was on
attached to the house yes all right and that so that shed came down and that what opened the house
up yes all right and you're going to build out a little bit further so you have a wall and a rear
of the house yes okay all right questions from the board no no chair questions or comments from
the virtual audience so chair i have a hand up from uh mr andrew goodman i've allowed him to
Okay. Hi, Mr. Goodman. Hey, good afternoon. Hi, Mr. Goodman. Could you state your name,
please, and spell it for the court stenographer? Yes, Andrew Goodman, A-N-D-R-E-W-G-O-O-D-M-A-N,
here representing the Office of Third District Council Member Jamie Gaudier, Room 586 City Hall.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Mr. Goodman, we do have a copy of the letter
that came out of the council person's office
where they wholeheartedly support this request?
Yes, so definitely affirming that this afternoon
and just noting, you know, this was a,
because it's an old row house
as most are in Southwest Philadelphia
was an existing non-conforming structure.
And it's really just that,
as the plan says that two feet, three inches.
Right, good.
Right, good. Thank you so much for taking the time to call in. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Thank you so much for taking the time to call in.
Is there anyone else in the virtual?
I see no further hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Good afternoon. I have not been sworn in.
Hi, could you state your name?
I'm Paula Brumblough-Burns.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Paula, P-A-U-L-A, from below, B-R-U-M as in Mary, B as in boy, E-L-O-W, Burns.
Right.
Do you swear or firm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
This property is indicated for residential use on the comprehensive plan.
We believe that this addition is in line with the existing homes on the block.
Accordingly, we have no objection to the granting of the variance.
Thank you.
MI-2023-000-965-1303, Hanson Street, I vote yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Okay, we're going to go back to the list here.
I'll be right with you.
All right, here's our regular list.
Number one, MI 2023-001-305-9986-88 Gantry Road.
Brett Feldman is the attorney.
A letter of support from Councilman O'Neill.
He acted as the coordinating RCO in this case.
there was an on-site meeting and the community voted unanimously to support the variances.
Mr. Feldman, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court's stenographer?
Yes, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Good afternoon. Brett Feldman, B-R-E-T-T,
F. Feldman, F-E-L-D-M-A-N, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19102.
I represent the applicant property owner of Seoka Real Estate Holdings.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
And our vice chair has a few questions.
Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
Great.
I'd also ask that Doc Collier from Sioka Faulkner be promoted to a panelist.
We will take care of that for you, sir. You can start.
Okay. Again, Brett Feldman, I represent Sioka Faulkner doing business, Sioka Faulkner Collision Center and Auto Body.
This is an application to relocate an existing auto body facility owned and operated by Sioka Faulkner at Busselton and Haldeman in the far northeast to an industrial park in an existing large warehouse building on 9986 Gantry Road, which is also in the northeast.
This is right at the, basically at county, the edge of the city in a large industrial park.
I'm just going to go right through the exhibits.
I know you're a little bit behind here.
I also am joined today by Doc Collier, who is here on behalf of CEO Grafalkner.
The first exhibit is, as the chair said, a letter of support from Councilman Brian O'Neill.
What's unique about this situation is there was not an RCO because the RCO has disbanded
or in the process of disbanding.
So the councilman actually organized the meeting, scheduled the meeting, posted the meeting in the industrial park with immediate neighbors of this location.
And they came out and they voted unanimously to support this application.
That's in Exhibit 1.
Exhibit 2 is our zoning refusal.
This property, again, in an industrial park is zoned I-2, heavy industrial.
It is subject to an overlay in Councilman O'Neill's district that prohibits vehicle repair and maintenance in large parts of the district, subject to zoning board approval.
And that's why we're here today.
Exhibit three, here is our aerial photos.
This is the industrial park right up against the county border.
Here is our property, this large warehouse building.
Here's Ganshu Road.
Here's our building that was right here.
And you can see there's other industrial users, equipment companies, other auto body facilities, bakeries, and other facilities around us.
uh bakeries uh and other facilities around us and again the meeting was held at our facility uh
And again, the meeting was held at our facility.
attended by those immediate neighbors who um came um let me just show you the pictures this is what
it looks like at ground view from from the parking lot our building is to the our our warehouse
building is to the right just taking you through that's our view from our building to the next uh
industrial building our large parking lot and then here's inside this is a a large warehouse
building you can see that it's state-of-the-art fully equipped for this type of use. It's hard
to get a sense of the size of it. I tried to take different views down different wings of the
building but what's most important about it is we will be able to have most of our vehicles within
the building for the auto body facility and for the repairs unlike most facility shops that have
vehicles outside. Most of ours will be inside, just taking, you know, completely state-of-the-art
building inside. And then this is the office portion of the use, Sea Oak or Faulkner. That's
where you would come in and do the business operations for this use. We would be moving
25 to 30 employees from the existing location, which is the existing facility, which is going
to be redeveloped for a Honda. It's Honda right now, and that's going to be redeveloped for a new
Honda dealership. That's what I'm understanding. This is the view from the front.
Here's all the plans. You got to see the inside already, so I don't think I need to go through
the plans. But again, state of the art inside. Let me just go through these real quick here.
And if you want to get in depth in the plans, I can stop it. Those are the plans.
Here's the posting photographs right up on Gantry Road.
The Sioka Faulkner name might be familiar to some of you.
Sioka has made some significant investments in the city of Philadelphia in the last couple of years.
They just built the new many million dollar Subaru facility that is right off of 76.
As you come into the city on the University Avenue exit, here is their flagship Subaru dealership that they recently completed in the city.
And then this is the inside of that facility, just to give you a sense of the type of operation
that they're running already in Philadelphia.
This is a car stack with hundreds of cars that they built inside of the facility.
Hundreds and hundreds of employees in this location.
They have 44 brands in the tri-state area.
They have 10 collision centers. This would be a new collision center in Philadelphia. Here's a sense of what all the other collision centers look like in this tri-state area. In Westchester, in Williamsport, Pleasantville, they're all immaculate, all top-notch, all state-of-the-art.
They wanted everyone to know that in Harrisburg, you know,
I could just go on and on with their, their facility Sellersville.
And that's when we bring you, why don't we bring your client on?
We'll adopt your testimony.
Sure. Sure. Doc, are you available out there?
I'm not to speak.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes, sir. My name is Doc Collier, D-O-C-C-O-L-Y-E-R.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Mr. Collier, can you just give the board your title with C. Oka Faulkner?
I'm the Director of Collision Operations. I oversee our 10 collision current collision.
And if this facility is approved, you would be overseeing this facility as well?
Is that a yes?
Yes, sir.
And you were online and listened to my testimony regarding this operation, the state-of-the-art facility, and the other facilities in the region?
Yes, sir.
I've been on since the beginning of the meeting.
And was it accurate and true?
absolutely 100 and you adopt it as your own yes i do great um mr chair with that i would i would
stop we we're available to answer any questions um doc can take us not mind-numbing detail of how
this is going to operate um but we we really wanted to thank uh councilman's or neal's office
for um from working with us um in a challenging situation where the rco was not available we
In a challenging situation where the RCO was not available, we had never experienced that, but it gave us a chance to really get to meet our neighbors, which worked out well.
We never experienced that, but, uh,
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, I have a hand raised from Ms. Alice Wodovich.
I have allowed her to speak.
Alice, you've already been sworn once.
Just state your name for the record and proceed.
Sure, Alice Udovich, U-D-O-V-I-C-H, on behalf of Councilman Brian O'Neill.
Chairman and members of the board, the councilman supports the granting of the variants at this location.
Thank you very much for calling in. Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
I see no further hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Hi, this is Paula Brumbelow-Burns.
The property is indicated for industrial use on the comprehensive plan.
The property is within an established industrial district and is permitted in the underlying zoning district, but prohibited in the far northeast overlay.
While we support the granting of the variance, we ask that the applicant be required to meet the requirements of the zoning code section 14-803.5, which is parking lot landscape requirements due to the close proximity to residential properties behind the facility.
Mr. Feldman, did you hear that?
yeah we're not changing the parking lot at all um it exists we would absolutely meet with
planning and work on this i just don't know the ramifications of what the application of this
application of those regulations to this um but as you can see from the other facility we will
we will meet with i'll reach out to miss uh miss birds tomorrow and and uh you know see what we
can do i just don't know how it impacts because there's another tenant behind us too so okay i
can't i can't start obligating us on that thank you all right if we can do it so mi 2023 001 305
99 86 88 gantry road i vote yes with proviso her amended refusal dated 3 11 23.
ishmael shaheed my vote is yes with proviso thank you counsel thank you for your time and
consideration and uh be well number five mi 2022 004 808 2832 belmont avenue leo movihill is the
attorney, letter of non-opposition from Winfield Residence Association with enforceable provisos.
Trash door in rear, parking in rear only.
There we go.
Good afternoon, Chairman, members of the board.
Movihill, could you state your name, please, and spell it for the courts and article?
Certainly.
It's Leo, L-E-L, last name Mobahill, M as in Michael, U-L, V as in Victor, I-H-I-L-L.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
And could you identify your client, the relationship to this property, Mr. Mobahill?
My client is Jordan Anderson, who is on the line, who is the principal of 2832-BRIEL,
that's B-R-I-E-L-L-E-L-L-C, the applicant in this matter.
Right.
And our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Good to see you.
Do you agree to read the refusal and stipulate to his office?
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Mostly.
What we had was a delay in receiving the commercial activity license from my client.
That was emailed to board council earlier today.
I do have it included in my presentation packet.
There is, we're still awaiting a tax clearance certificate as well,
but we're going to be asking to proceed as the taxes are currently under
appeal.
And my understanding from my client is they have been paid.
It's just not showing as updated in the system for the city.
Fair enough.
Please proceed.
I see you have already shared your screen.
Thank you.
Sorry, this is Hillary.
I just wanted to interject on the taxes. The taxes are paid through 2022, and it is my understanding from the Revenue Department that that constitutes a tax clearance. The appeal of the 2023 taxes does not impact that, so we are okay to not only move forward with this, but vote on it today.
um so we are okay to not only move forward with this but a vote on it today should the
the board want to vote on it today thank you council if possible could you take your volume
up a little bit just a little bit i will do one moment chair i'll do my best all right good thank
you i have unfortunately a neighbor doing some construction outside so it gets a little bit
loud and i didn't want that background noise i mean i can hear you just it'll make but we're
fine we're fine is this better now yeah that's fine that's great all right so members of the
board i'm here today on behalf of 2832 brielle llc and what we're doing here is an application
for use for a three-family dwelling in an existing structure this property is located right off of
city line avenue in belmont it's directly next to a gas station directly behind essentially a hotel
there's a common driveway that goes behind my prop the my client's property and all the adjoining
properties which are mostly single family with the exception of another that is in the two family
dwelling this property had been a two-family dwelling previously with a doctor's office on
the ground floor and our hardship is simply this the layout of the property as it is right now is
not conducive to a single family dwelling uh because the layout is already set up as essentially
a two-family dwelling above and a separate office below what we have is a situation where we convert
that downstairs unit the ground story unit to a an additional dwelling unit we have the driveway
aisle for parking which is going to be allowed behind my client's property as well which will
help alleviate any of the circumstances that neighbors may have or concerns they may have with
regard to parking itself my clients also agreed already to give up a temporary i believe it was a
loading zone sign which i believe has since been removed which used to be in front of this prior
doctor's office what i have here right now is page six of my presentation showing the location
on philadelphia atlas and my client's property this is indicated in blue this is the belmont
reservoir off to the right of the property which you can see in an actual nice removing color so
right as i said at the intersection of belmont and city ave this is an overhead shot on page
seven taken from google maps uh showing the direct location of my property zooming in this
red pin is my client's location this is that common dry valley as you can see this parking
behind this is that gas station i mentioned this here is the uh pardon me hotel that i
mentioned as well this is my client's deed for the property
this is the letter of notification that was sent by my client dated 10 10 2022 with respect to
the property owner jordan anderson having sending this out to the affected community residents
that meeting was held on november 10 2022 at 6 30 p.m i was not part of that meeting but if
the board does have any questions about the circumstances behind that meeting my client
is on the line and is happy to answer those after that meeting my clients uh coordinating rco or
stand-in coordinating rco winfield residents association issued this letter of non-opposition
on page 17 of my zoning packet dated january 19 2023
this is my client's commercial activity license and what we do have now are the photos of the
property i'll go through those briefly count members of the board just so we have an idea
specifically as to what we're talking about so the property was posted these are the properties
that are directly the left of my clients this is my client's property itself as you can see
it's essentially a three-story structure because of the existing doctor's office here
this was used as a parking pad in the front during the doctor's office and this is that common draw
This is the dry vial as it continues to the back parking garage for the hotel is located to the rear of my client's parcel.
This is that common dry vial again, indicating the parking behind the units.
Some of these properties do have garages, my understanding is my client's does not.
so this is the interior of the ground story as you can see it does look very doctor's officey
to the best of my description as we go through this we can just kind of page through everything
so we get a sense as to the interior layout before we get to the floor plans themselves
this is the mechanicals room
and everything in here is going to be renovated members of the board this is just as the property
looks today. Prior examination rooms, storage area, prior examination room,
prior office space, prior bathroom with, of course, the classic vintage pink tile that we all know and love or hate, depending on your sense of taste.
prior office space,
prior bathroom
And this is the upstairs unit.
This is the site plan members of the board with the existing curb cut, the existing driveway easement that runs behind all the properties here.
what we're proposing then as i said is an adaptive reuse of that ground story doctor's office
unit one is about 1200 square feet it's a two-bedroom unit the bedroom pardon me into the
front of the property is a living room we have mechanicals for the property and this mechanical
which is accessed by an exterior door to the right of the parcel kitchen bath bedroom one and
bedroom two again adaptive reuses all the existing spaces that were in the doctor's office
going up the stairs and in the main entrance door to the property we get up to unit number two which
is about 750 square feet a two-bedroom unit with the bedrooms to the rear living room to the front
dining space in the middle with the kitchen bath and going up those stairs we get then to unit three
Again, about 750 square feet.
The layout is more or less identical to the second unit below.
This is just-
So was unit two and three there before?
My understanding is that unit two and three were already existing.
Jordan, my client, Mr. Anderson can confirm that,
but per my understanding of the community meeting
and per my understanding of feedback from neighbors at the community meeting,
those have always been there.
It's just a matter of converting this additional unit
it used to be a doctor's on the first floor yep okay and these are just larger layouts so we don't
have to do the zoom in but more or less precisely at pages 51 and 52 the same drawings that we saw
before okay now mr anderson if you are present if you would please raise your hand so you can
be sworn in and wait to be sworn in before testifying okay he's been allowed to speak
hi sir could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
hi jordan anderson j-o-r-d-a-n-a-n-d-e-r-s-o-n do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the
whole truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed counsel thank you now mr anderson you've been on
the call the entire time during my testimony today yes and you've heard everything i've had
to say today yes is there anything you'd like to add to the testimony that i presented to the board
There is not.
Is everything that I said today true and accurate to the best of your knowledge and information and belief?
All right.
Thank you very much, Mr. Anderson.
The board may have more questions for you at this time.
Questions from the board.
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, I have a cameraman camera that I thought I had.
get your head or hand up and now it's down again so okay i don't see any hands on okay planning
commission wait wait a second her oh see her hand was going up and down and it's back up again
i'm sorry i've allowed her to speak i could you state your name please and spell for the
court stenographer? My first name is Carolyn, C-A-R-O-L-Y-N. My last name is Kamara,
K-A-M-A-R-A. I am an owner and resident of the state. Okay. All right. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Proceed. We sent in the
neighbors. I did a petition and we sent in a petition to the planning board and the zoning
Board. I'm sorry. And some of the hardships that we determined were there are 16 owner-occupied
properties in this block. Of the 16 properties, one-third are owned by seniors over the age of
60 years old. One of the properties is a duplex, which is owner-occupied and tenant vacant for at
least the past seven years. We are subject to constant unavailable parking spaces due to the
customers of the marijuana dispensary located on City Avenue parking on this block and walking to
the dispensary. Due to mobility issues and the fact that the basement stairs are too narrow
to install a chairlift, we need access to our vehicles at the curb. We have unsavory traffic
from the new Philly Suites Motel Slash Hotel located on City Avenue.
motel slash hotel located on City Avenue.
Litter is constantly thrown on the sidewalks and grass throughout their entire block.
Therefore, we are requesting that this variance be denied due to the above factors
and the fact that we are also homeowners and also Philadelphia voters.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
no sir i see no further hands council before planning comes on would you want to respond
yes uh chairman and members of the board so with respect to the parking issue i understand
parking is a problem throughout the city um mr anderson with respect to the parking issues
on the block specifically the loading zone that was in front of the property if you're still able
to speak or if we can get him unmuted would you mind commenting on to that fact since you were
president at the community meeting please raise your virtual hand again there we go my apologies
yes uh so with respect to the parking issues um there was one loading only a 20 minute loading
only zone that was directly in front of the property which was removed and given back to the
city. The doctor's office also had two parking spaces in front of the building which the community
asked that we not use with their proviso so then only parking in the rear which would be one spot
directly behind um and then as some neighbors have um been also parked um in the grass um area
behind that as well but um also um if you go i'm not sure if you can go back to the um picture of
behind the houses um a lot of the houses do have um garage parking with um been able to fit an
an additional car behind um so i think that that um does provide a lot of parking um for
residents um on the block um with respects to as far as i guess needing current parking um you know
there's um yeah i think just as far as the the spot that we gave up um with the the loading only
um then there's at least one spot behind the house um so really it would only be
if you have three families each have one car maybe the addition of one car on the block
that previously wasn't there so just for the record referring to page 27 uh showing the behind
the properties and the driveway easement so members of the board we unfortunately can't
control the other street parking due to the other businesses that are along city avenue
what we can do is control what we can namely removing that loading zone giving that parking
space back to the community allowing for the all street parking behind the property due to the
common driveway easement with respect to trash i believe there was a request for a
trash to be stored in the rear of the property we don't have any problem with that happening either
whether in some sort of enclosure or something different than that we understand that parking
is difficult and i understand the neighbor's plight with respect to everything else that's
going on along the commercial corridor that is city avenue we're one parcel we're doing the best
we can and we try to be considerate to neighbors concerns regarding parking thank you commission
one you please
sorry chair sure sure sure could you
spell for the courts and knocker for police will do chair uh peter bernard for the planning
commission peter spelled p-e-t-e-r barnard spelled b as in boy is an apple r as in roger
M as in Nancy, A as in Apple, R as in Roger, D as in Dog.
Right.
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
I do, Chair.
Proceed, sir.
The comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing RSA 5 single-family zoning at this location.
The applicant seeks to convert a former commercial space into a residential unit.
We feel the applicant has demonstrated sufficient hardship.
Accordingly, the Planning Commission recommends that the Board grant the proposed variance.
M.I. 2022-004-808-2832, Belmont Avenue, I vote yes with proviso. Trash stored in rear, parking in rear only.
Thomas Holland, my vote is yes with proviso.
THOMAS HOLLYWOOD, MY VOTE IS YES WITH PROVISO ISHMEL SHAHEED, MY VOTE IS YES WITH PROVISO
THANK YOU COUNCIL, GLAD TO SEE YOU'RE BACK THANK YOU MEMBERS OF THE BOARD AND THANK YOU CHAIR
GOOD TO SEE YOU AS WELL TAKE CARE ALL RIGHT THANK YOU UM NUMBER 6 MI 2023-000-635-415
QUEEN LANE DAVID ORPHANITES IS THE ATTORNEY UM
Letter of support from 12th Ward Democratic Committee with proviso that final renderings is presented to the community with changes, changes slash updates discussed by Queen Lane's side of the project, not enforceable, and also provisos about trash and mailboxes.
Mr. Orphanides, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court's sonographer?
Certainly, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon.
Mr. Sheriff, I just wanted to interject to clarify.
The provisos regarding trash storage and mailboxes, those were part of a letter of non-opposition from Solo Germantown.
Yep. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman.
Members of the board, David Orphanides.
Last name is spelled O-R-P-H-A-N-I-D-E-S.
Right. 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 the property?
Certainly. My client is 415 to 419 W Queen Lane. That's Q-U-E-E-N Lane LLC.
And that's the owner of the four properties in question.
All right. And our vice chair has just a few questions.
Good afternoon, Counselor. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I waive the reading. In terms of its accuracy, there was a refusal cited for the side yard for units A through F, and I believe that that refusal is not accurate, but other than that, everything else is.
Understood. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I submitted everything. We did not have a tax clearance, so I provided the showing that there's no outstanding taxes owed.
I think the reason that we believe the reason there may be a problem with that is that these four properties were formerly owned by my clients, father, son, either individually or together, and we transferred them into the name of the LLC and possibly because of the transfer into the LLC, it hasn't hit the city's fully hit the city system yet, since we recorded the deeds, and we're not able to pull the tax clearance certificates.
Also, based upon the continuing interaction with the community that was coming through straight through this past weekend when we got the letters from the 12th Ward Democratic Committee and Solo Germantown, I forwarded zoning drawings that I believe are the same ones I forwarded last week.
They may have had some additional tweaks to them to address some of the comments that we received in those letters and those were forwarded.
The revised proviso plan form stayed the same, though, that I forwarded last week.
Understood. All right. Please proceed and share your screen.
Certainly.
Everybody see my screen?
Okay, great.
Again, good afternoon.
my name is david orphanetes i'm with the law firm of orphanetes and toner llp here in philadelphia
and i'm representing 415 to 419w queen lane llc i have with me today nicholas holman from the owner
of the property 415 to 419w queen lane llc and steven maletto from cubed architecture they are
the architects or he was the architect on the project what i have up on my screen right now
is a photograph that i took of the subject premises uh there are four properties in question
here 415 417 419 and 419 are west queen lane what you're seeing in this photograph to the right with
the wood stockade fence behind the black acura i believe it is is is 415 which is a vacant lot
at the present time and then to the left of that the white building that you see says 417 on the
door is an existing two-story structure that's approved for a seven-unit rooming house with a
maximum of 10 occupants. To the left of that setback, you have a very interesting building
that is the 419, F or 419, that was approved for six rooming units.
That was approved for six rooming units, total max of eight occupants. And then behind that is 419R, which is a landlocked lot. You can see here in the survey plan that we have, and this is attached to tab 10, you can see those three properties, or four properties, I'm sorry, here.
Let me change this to a hand. It's always easier to see with that.
At the top of the existing property dimensions is 415.
It's when I say shorter, it's a relatively shorter property at 130, almost 131 square feet.
Then you have 417 and then 419 below that.
And then to the back of 419 is 419R.
The lot sizes of these lots are extremely large.
415 is, again, they're very deep.
417 is 171 feet deep.
You can see that.
I mean, actually, it's 230, almost 231 square feet deep.
I'm sorry.
419 is 171 feet deep.
But 415 is 2,187 square feet.
417 is 4,774 square feet.
419 is 4,275 square feet.
And 419Rs, even though it looks smaller by comparison, is still 1,500 square feet, 1,501 square feet.
As you can see from the zoning archives that I have at tab 5, if you were to scroll through them all, all these properties, well, at least three of the four, because they're only zoning archives for 415, 417, and 419.
And when I show you the historical Sanborn map, you'll see why there's none for 419R, because it always functioned as part of the other properties.
These properties were previously zoned C2, C2 commercial, which is now CMX2.
You can hear 5A, you can see 415.
417, you can see C2, and that's 5B.
And then 5C, you can also see C2.
And these documents also confirm the permitted uses of those properties, 417 and then 415 as well.
Again, 415 presently is a vacant property.
The properties are presently zoning classified as RSA 5.
So here on this map, what's highlighted is the shorter 415.
Then you have the deeper and wider 417.
and then the wider, not quite as deep, 419 as 417, 419, and then 419R at the back.
Here's a close-up of those pictures of those lots.
I think it's safe to say that the lot sizes of these properties, given that they are RSA-5,
They far exceed the lot area that's required under the zoning code for RCA5, which is 1,440.
The total lot area of altogether is 13,736 square feet.
If these lots were still zoned CMX2, they would garner 28 residential dwelling units with no off-street parking required.
If they were RM1, they would get 29 units.
So the lot area would generate 29, up to 29 residential dwelling units with no off-street parking required.
My clients have owned these properties since 03.
They acquired, again, as father, son, or father and son.
They acquired 419 in 03, 417 in 04, 415 in 05, and then 419R in 17.
And the reason I bring that up is if you look at the Sanborns, again, to explain the history of the property,
You can see in the back area where 419R is in the back of 417, there was a garage that stored 20 cars back to the early 1920s.
You can see over the years then that back building became a cleaning and dying facility.
You can see the remnants of that building here, the aerials at tab, Sanborns were at tab four.
The aerials I have at tab 6, you can see the remnants of that building here at the back here at 419R and the back of 419 and 417.
back in 417. You can see in the arrows and then also in the photographs that I have of the subject
property and the surrounding properties on the 400 block of West Queen Lane, you can see there
are a lot of different types of properties, different sizes of properties. You can see
attached structures to extending to the right as you look at our property. There's a vacant lot
right next to us to the right as you look at our property, then attach structures.
To the right, as you look at our property, then attached structures, lower two stories.
You have some taller three stories across the street, a newer three story.
On McKean Avenue, you have a number of taller structures there.
You can see cars being stored.
And I have photographs of that.
You have some buildings that are up at the sidewalk, like 421.
Others that are set back from the sidewalk, like 423.
So you can see, and here in the photographs, again, at tab seven, this block has a large variety of styles, building types, and orientations to the street.
These are all pictures of my client's property in the rear.
And here you can see the abutting property to the left of us, 421, two-story up at the sidewalk, and then the views down to the left of us.
You can see cars being stored in open area.
You can see other lots that are vacant with metal corrugated steel fencing.
It looks like a state inspection garage, two-story building here at the bottom of page, let's see what page this is, page 11.
Here you can see a non-residential arrangement here with large parking area, vacant lot, chain link fence.
Again, two stories, vacant lots, some of them set back with little front yards.
And then across the street, vacant lots, you got some twins, those being utilized as multifamily dwellings.
Some newer three stories that are of a completely different architectural style and type.
These are the properties at McKean that are pretty tall, particularly given that they're raised.
And you'll see that even though we have a height refusal, our building is comparable in height to those, if not shorter, garages directly across the street from us, and then some two stories, three stories and two stories with front porches.
So our application is to demolish all of the existing structures on the lot to consolidate the lots, as was shown in the survey plan at tab 10, and then upon the consolidated lot to construct nine single family dwellings.
uh they will uh eight of those will have two car parking one of them will have one car
um the range in size from i think about 2100 square feet for units a through f interior space
g and h which are the two units behind are a little larger about 2200 and then i unit i which
is all the way at the rear is a little larger still at 2700 these buildings will be built on
graded slab. All this parking is being accessed by a single 18-foot wide curb cut that you can
see here to the right, shared drive. So we're getting a lot of cars off street for this
development project with minimal impact on street parking. In fact, if we were to develop these
properties by right with single family dwellings, not only would they not fit in because those
structures would be incredibly large and financially infeasible, I think it'd be pretty
clear to see that but uh by as a matter of right we wouldn't be able to get any parking off street
and we'd be putting cars on street and as you can see from the photos that i previously provided
there's uh on-street parking is at a premium on this block so um the uh the proposal is for each
of the buildings will be four stories tall uh there's going to be and you can see here on the
site plan, a walkout. The fourth floor is the master or the larger bedroom. They have decks
that walk out off of those bedrooms. You can see here for A through F, they face the shared drive
and then G and H and then I back in this area. There are not roof decks on top of the fourth
floor or a pilot house. Two of our refusals have to do with the fact that the parking, which is
stacked for, or shotgun as they call for A through F, extends into the side yard a little bit,
not much, but a little bit. And then the decks we have off the second floor, what is the rear of
the buildings, but is deemed a side yard, extend a little bit into the side yard on that side.
The side yard requirement is five feet. Again, as indicated in notice of refusal that I'll show you in a minute, they said that we don't have a side yard for A through F. I think the examiner was looking at the distance. We had communications back and forth about this by email. We do have a seven, seven, over seven foot wide.
We do have a seven, seven, over seven foot wide side yard is just that the deck and the parking encroach into it.
We have a side yard refusal down the back here at the side of I, RSA 5.
You're not required to have side yards, but if you do, they have to be five feet.
As indicated, we're more than that for A through F and a little bit more than that through G and H.
You can see that here.
The dimensions are in the back.
But here for I, on the one side, it's only three feet.
You see in our revised drawings in the plans that this allowed and the renderings that this allowed access here to get from the rear yards,
the yards behind I, both out to the shared drive this way or to get out along this way through the backyards of all the properties leading out to West Queen Lane.
We did make some changes to the design originally.
Let me go show you the renderings because I think that'll be helpful.
As originally designed, originally presented, we've had three community group meetings with the 12th Ward Democratic Committee and solo Germantown over the last several months.
After the first meeting, it's my opinion that most of the commentary focused on the design of the building, not on the zoning refusals or the zoning aspects.
But as you can see, this was the original design we submitted to them, the rendering at our first meeting back in April.
And you can see, even though we have a height refusal in comparison to the buildings across the street, the ones that run onto McKean that were the same height or lower, we do have lower buildings to either side of us, the left and the right, but those are obviously built far below the dimensional, the permitted heights for RSA 5 properties.
So even though it looks like we're taller or even tower over them, it's because those buildings are so much shorter.
But you can see this was the original design that we had.
We came back after their first meeting.
We thought that they didn't like the lighter color brick.
There was talk about a bay to match the bays across the street, making it look more, that it fit in a little more than Germantown.
We added, you can see up here at the top, the fourth floor that I said is the bedroom, the larger bedroom, with the deck that walked out.
You can see here, we modified that to a mansard to give it a more historical look.
added a darker color brick, detailing at the cornice.
There was a desire for some greening at the street,
so we created a recess and a planting area.
We got some feedback at that meeting in May,
and this is where we are right now.
And the plans, I think, from a zoning standpoint
and the revised plans, things like moving the doorway
for the end unit, Unit A, from facing the share drive to facing West Queen to get more interaction
with the street. We changed, we added angled bays like you have across the street here,
which also need to be reflected. Again, we continued with the mansard roof at the fourth
floor. We angled the bays going back away from West Queen Lane. So some minor changes that are
reflected in the zoning plan. Nothing material. We still the same number of units, still the same
height, still the same footprint. The shared drive and then plantings along the property,
along the wall or the property line to the left of us. Street trees along West Queen Lane. The
wall for the rear yard will be masonry, brick, same type of materials, the front facade. In West
in the letter from the 12th War Democratic Committee, they made comments about the color
of the brick pointing to a property down the street. We've tried our best to reflect that
in the rendering. My client, which you'll hear who you'll hear from in a minute, lives in the
neighborhood, is a longstanding resident, has interactions with the community and the members
and community group before this project, and we'll continue to do so, and we'll continue to discuss
and get the color of the brick right, the bays, what were discussed, and the other things, let's
see, that were discussed in the letter from the 12th Ward. Oops, let me just move to that.
We did show on the rendering the Wissahick and Schist at the ground floor, even though I don't
Florida, the end unit, unit A, although that was not, you don't see that on a lot, if any, of the other.
Although that was not, you don't see that on a lot, if any, of the other properties on the block, that was something that was requested.
I did talk about the brick and then the bay windows being angled.
We showed all that in the revised renderings that we're presenting to you today.
Again, from a zoning standpoint, I've gone through those things that needed to be reflected in the zoning drawings,
And they are set forth along with the revised proviso plan form at tab three.
But again, going back to the refusals, the side yard refusals, other than the one being incorrect, I think are de minimis.
And they address some concerns and desires of the neighborhood getting cars off the street.
We were able to get two cars off the street for A through G.
And for A through F, that was by, again, having carports with a bit of the back car extending into the side yard.
Let's see if this goes over.
There we go.
The height, we are a little bit taller than the permitted height.
We don't have a parapet around the top of the fourth floor.
So, again, by right, as you know, would be 38 feet plus a 42-inch parapet, which would be 41.6.
We are taller even than the 41.6 at 44 feet, but a large portion of that, or that's largely due to the need to have the off-street parking at the ground floor that pushes the upper floors up.
And again, L&I views, I don't agree with the wording of this refusal necessarily. They view this as a multifamily dwelling. Again, this is not an apartment building.
You're going to hear from my client in a minute that that is not what he wants.
These are going to be for sale units.
The idea is given the lot size and given the number of units, the finances of this project,
they're going to be much more affordable than they would be for members of the community
and otherwise than if they were built as a matter of right.
But you can see that they are each going to be, and it was included in the application,
They're going to be separately building permitted.
There'll be a separate building permit for each unit.
They are nine single-family homes.
It is not a multifamily dwelling.
I've suggested that they write the refusal as either multiple principal uses or multiple principal structures,
particularly since that's how they, being L&I, view it at the building permit stage.
But anyway, it's how they write it.
It's not an apartment building.
It's nine single-family dwellings.
um copy of the deed um in my client's names for the subject properties the two deeds
are attached to tab 17 tab 18 again has the uh showing the documentation showing the zero tax
balance for the properties a copy of our hearing notice is at tab a for today's hearing along with
the posting of those notices
in each of the properties.
It's a little hard to post 419R
because it's landlocked in the rear,
which is a pretty unique condition
for that property.
It makes developing it very difficult,
but we just posted twice
at the front of 419.
And then the 14303 notices,
here you have the email.
This is a tab 20,
the email designating the 12th Ward Democratic Committee as a coordinating RCO, but also
Solo Germantown, that they're both co-RCOs or coordinating RCOs.
The 12th Ward conducted the meeting, but the Solo Germantown was there.
The list of addresses we sent the notices to three times.
Well, there were two times, actually, we sent the notices.
The third time we were ready to send it for the meeting on 6-5, but actually the 12th Ward Democratic Committee sent notices to those people that were at the 5-18 meeting.
We were prepared to send out the notice, but did not send it.
So with that, I'm going to rest as far as submitting any more exhibits.
I would ask that they be moved into evidence.
I would ask that my client, Nicholas Holman, be promoted to panelists to not only adopt my statements, but also to make any quick statements he'd like to make to the Zoning Board.
Please, Bernard, speak.
Sir, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
Nicholas?
good afternoon everybody chairman members of the board david
could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
my name is nicholas holman n-i-c-h-o-l-a-s
My name is Nicholas Holman, N-I-C-H-O-L-A-S, last name Holman, H-O-L-M-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Proceed, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Nicholas, what is your role or position with the owner of the properties 415 to 419 W Queen Lane, LLC?
i'm the sole member and owner of of the llc for those properties that all right nicholas and um
you heard the statements that i made to the board today yes i did and are they true and correct to
the best of your knowledge information and absolutely absolutely and would you adopt them
as your own yes i would yes i did a quick couple quick questions uh how long have you lived in the
neighborhood, Nicholas? Since 2003. Okay. And before you even started this project or when
this project was first starting, you made the decision to be involved in the neighborhood and
actually interact with the neighbors and see what they, the neighbors, those people living on the
block wanted to see it disaddressed. Is that correct? That is correct, David. And what is it
that you learned that they wanted to have, they'd like to see developed at this property?
Oh, even issues that I was always having. They wanted to see more off-street parking, single-family residents occupying homes. Part of the reason they stressed the RSA 5 zoning classification is they want the single-family home ownership in the neighborhood. So I continued to speak with them, and we came up with this design plan, and I presented it to you and Stephen, and it looks great.
Stephen's the architect, correct?
That is correct.
And then during the course of this project, you can see at, let's just tab 1C, there are a number of support letters from neighbors.
Actually, there's 15, well, 14 support, one that's support and non-opposition.
So a total of 15 letters that outline what the project involves, what the refusals were, and that included copies of the original plans and the notice of refusal that was issued by L&I.
Were you the one who distributed those plans to the neighbors and secured their opinions on the project by signing the letters?
Yes, I was the one, David. Yes, I was.
Okay, thank you. And you're aware, real quickly, during our three meetings with the community group, they pointed our attention to a project down the block at 447 to 49 West Queen Lane, correct?
And that project's also zoned RSA 5, zoning classified RSA 5, correct?
That is correct.
And that was a project for a multifamily dwelling for 19 units and 11 accessory parking spaces, correct?
I believe it may have got changed to about 12, a total of 15 units.
Three, yeah, 15 units ended up the design, the final design for that project.
You're correct. That was the original application.
That was the original you mentioned.
But you did not want to go with multifamily. You wanted to do the single family because that's what you heard from the neighbors that they wanted, correct?
That is correct.
Okay. And to the board, real quickly, that project came before the board last week, and I believe it was approved.
Had some of the same variances that we have in this project, and I've included the refusal for that project as well.
Some information for it down at tab nine. You can see their refusals.
Nicholas, anything else you'd like to add for the board right now?
Nope, that'll be all, David.
All right, thanks.
And then real quickly, Mr. Thank you, Nicholas.
Mr. Chairman, I'd like Stephen Mileto, who's the architect for the project,
having promoted the panel sworn in so he can adopt my architectural design statements.
Do we see his hand?
Looking right now.
But her hand just went up.
All right.
He's been allowed to speak.
Hi, sir.
Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court stenographer?
Hi, Stephen Mileto.
First name, S-T-E-P-H-E-N.
Last name, Mileto, M-I-L-E-T-O.
I'm a partner at QB3 Architects.
All right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, told truth, nothing but the truth?
Proceed, counsel.
Yes, Stephen.
I'm sorry.
I keep calling it QE, but it's QB3.
Stephen, did you hear the statements that I made to the zoning board today?
I did, yes.
And are they true, correct?
Are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
Are they true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief?
And would you adopt them as your own?
I would, yes.
Thank you.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chair.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, I have Ms. Cheryl Smith with her hand raised.
I will not.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
can you hear me yes could you state your name please and spell it for the court stenographer
cheryl smith c-h-e-r-y-l-s-m-i-t-h right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth? I do. Are you a neighbor? I represent the 12th Ward RCO, and yes, I am a
neighbor, a near neighbor. Thank you very much. Prasheed. Yes, we wrote the letter in favor of
the changes, and Nicholas and his team have been very helpful. I know it was a hard, you know,
a very long experience, but they did send in a final rendering to us, and those that I shared
it with which were the people who were on the last meeting of the few that i i got responses from
they all approved it we liked the way everything looked and um we hope that you do well with this
project thank you for taking the time to call and give us your input thank you is there anyone else
in the virtual mr chairman just going to ask cheryl this is the just so everybody knows this
what i have up is the rendering the last rendering that was sent to you correct cheryl yes this is
final one that we saw yeah all right sorry mr chairman sorry to interrupt is there anyone else
in the virtual audience i do not see any further at this time planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission sure proceed
sorry sir i just lost my okay take your time spreadsheet there it is
the comprehensive plan recommends rm1 multifamily zoning at this location but the properties were
rezoned to rsa 5 in 2015 after a community-led remapping the proposed development is largely
consistent with consistent with the recommended zoning however we feel the applicant has failed
to demonstrate any hardships for the proposed dimensional variances parking is not required
under either the existing or proposed zoning and any associated dimensional hardships are self
inflicted accordingly the planning commission recommends the board grant the proposed use
variance but then i to deny the proposed dimensional variances um david do you want to respond sure
Sure, sure. Again, I think I understand the Planning Commission's position regarding parking.
We hear it time and time again, with all due respect.
But the result of that that position often is, is that an already.
We're going to we're going to address off street parking and or traffic in cars, I think, in a different way, ultimately.
And right now, the existing circumstances are that on-street parking is a real problem.
People need their cars, particularly out in this neighborhood.
Maybe it's a little different if you're downtown, but this is not downtown where you can walk
everywhere.
You need a car to get a lot of places to do your basic daily activities to get to work.
So what Nicholas heard loud and clear, made very clear to Stephen and me from the beginning,
What we heard during the meeting was everybody liked, needed and liked everybody.
When I say everybody at the meeting, people that lived on the block and even people outside of on the block wanted as many cars off street, even parking for guests, if possible, along the side of the shared drive, which we were able to show could be a possibility, was what they wanted.
And again, those refusals, the refusals regarding height, the one where the parking extends for, it's only through A through F, not for all of them.
But in order to get a nice share, wide share drive, we needed to do this, what we did.
And again, we feel that there is a hardship that impacts this property to make this project work.
You can't get cars off street, even though it's not required.
I think it is a hardship for this property not to have, given the size of it, not to have off street parking.
given the size of it, not to have off-street parking, and it's what creates those dimensional
And it's what creates those.
refusals. And with all due respect, I understand what the Planning Commission is coming from.
We think that there is a hardship, and it warrants the granting of those refusals.
So thank you for everyone and their input. MI 2023-000-635-415-Queen Lane. I vote yes with proviso. Revised plan, free pages, stamped by ZBA, June 14, 2023.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes, with proviso.
Dishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes, with provisos.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I can do this.
My business may be excused.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Number nine, MI 2022, 007-475-2120-22, West Tioga Street.
Jeffrey Young is the attorney.
letter of support from allegheny west civic association and hillary do i believe we have
a second letter too yes mr chair um we have we received a letter of opposition from swamp pool
neighborhood parcels association um however they did suggest um some provisos um i i also received
a posting photo for Mr. Young showing the property was posted for today's hearing.
We will not be able to vote on this matter today because there is an issue with the balance on the 2022 taxes.
That's fine. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Mr. Young.
Could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Mr. Young?
sorry can you hear me yeah we hear you now sir could you state your name please
and spell for the court stenographer yes uh jeffrey young counsel for the applicant
or owner of the property um j-e-f-f-e-r-y-y-o-u-n-g do you swear or affirm to tell the truth
the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes and mr young could you identify your client the
relationship to this property? Yes, my client is Self Inc., Self, the owner of the property. It's
a non-profit entity organized here in Pennsylvania. Okay, our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal or stipulate to its
accuracy? I do agree to waive the reading and stipulate to the accuracy.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with
this case five days in advance of this hearing? As Ms. Emerson stated, we do not have a tax
clearance. Unfortunately, there seems to be an issue with the city. My client is a nonprofit
homeless services provider that owns multiple properties throughout the city. And for some
reason this property does not have the tax exemption that it is allotted. So we are working
with you to figure out what issues we're having with this tax exemption. This property shows that
it is a tax balance owed for real estate. Understood. Please proceed and share your screen.
Thank you.
Again, members of the board, my name is Jeffrey Young, here on behalf of the property owner
self. The property is located at 2120-22 West Tioga. Here is just our table of contents
and indicating the exhibits that are in our presentation. We have the deed, a leasing
letter for the tenant. We have maps. Then we go into the refusal and referral. I'll talk about
the zoning history of this property, our notices, our certificates, and our letter and photos from
the property. Again, here's the deed showing that my client self, a Pennsylvania non-profit
corporation, is the owner of the property located at 2120-22 West Tioga Street.
Here is a letter, a leasing letter.
The tenant of the property is actually Center for Hope, which is also a homeless services provider program that is ran by the Urban Affairs Coalition.
uh program that is uh ran by the urban affairs coalition uh so although my client uh self
does provide uh homeless services um we are leasing this particular building out
to another entity that provides similar services as we do
here as a map of the zoning map of the property at the shaded areas you can see
is our property in mid-block on the south side of Tioga between 21st and 22nd. We have a large
lot that is zoned. It's actually two zoning classifications. The front of the property
is zoned RSA3, and the rear of our property is zoned RSA5. This is an overview map to give the
board, a sense of where our property is located. Within 500 feet of our property are two parts.
We're close to Hunting Park Avenue and Airy Avenue, which are major thoroughfares in our
city, in this part of the city. We have one refusal and one referral. Again, our application was for
the erection of a fence on both sides, one side of the fence being six feet, the other side being
and eight feet in the rear as a personal care home.
This prior application was approved
for this exact same use back in 2023.
My client applied for a use as a personal care home
to consolidate the two lot lines
and to legalize a breach that was in the property previously.
Here are the plans for the property that were developed and submitted to the board
at the original hearing.
Just to zoom in to show where our fence is, we have a rear eight-foot fence to the rear
of the property.
That fence is still erected, and we essentially are asking for the legalization of this fence
because our prior zoning application expired.
We were given a five-year proviso
and the specifics of that proviso was not presented.
So ultimately the entire zoning permit
had to come before the board.
I believe it was particularly just for the use.
However, it wasn't specified in the zoning permit.
So we had to reapply for other things
that we were refused for,
everything we refused for the first time as well. And the six-foot fence is on the, to the
side of the property in the side yard. Again, we're asking for this additional height just
because of the population that we serve. This is a large, atypical amount of folks at this
particular property, although this property has been having a non-conforming use since the 1940s,
which I will get to later on in the in the presentation. But again, we're asking for that
the additional height, I'm not offense, just to keep some privacy from our neighbors from our
from our use. Excuse me. Sorry, Mr. Young, I apologize for interrupting. We're getting a lot
of questions in the chat about two cases on the 330 list. And I just wanted to let people know
we are on the 2 p.m list. We have three more cases on the 2 p.m list. Then we'll take a brief break
and move to the 3.30 list. The Medford Road case is first and the 1401 South 13th Street case is
fourth. Thank you. Sorry Mr. Young. No problem. May I proceed Mr. Chair? Please. Thank you. So I just
want to go through and lay out of our property. In the basement, there's no living quarters in
the basement. We have two laundry facilities, recreation space, storage, and also utilities in
the basement. The first floor consists of two offices, a kitchen area, dining area, and a waiting
room and living room. And as you can see where my mouse is, this is the breach on the first floor.
um, that, uh, connects the, the, the two, uh, originally the two parts was 21, 20 and
21, 22. Um, but again, those parts that have been consolidated into, into one, uh, the
third floor, uh, the second floor, excuse me. Um, and third floor have a similar layout.
Um, there is a total, um, in the entire property of, of 10 bedrooms, um, with six bathrooms.
with six bathrooms. And this, at one point, the property was legally able to have 11 bedrooms.
And this, at one point,
Again, I'll get to that as I get to the history of the property. But in these bedrooms,
depending on the size, there can be up to five individuals in the bedrooms.
This is the previous zoning permit that was granted in June of 2014. Again, it relocated
the lot lines for this particular property and allowed us to erect the fence and have
our use for personal care. Again, as you can see, the proviso is not specific. It just
says five-year temporary permit.
Here's a copy of the previous application
so the board can see exactly what was granted.
There was an application for a personal care home
with a serving of food for up to 32 individuals
living in this property.
And they're also, again, with the legalization
of some storage and to relocate some lot lines.
Excuse me, I'm going too fast here.
Um, again, this permit was granted by the board, um, on November 19th of 2013, um, with
a five-year, um, uh, proviso.
And again, those provisos were not, uh, specific at the time.
Uh, this is a little history of the property.
It just, again, shows that, you know, there has always been a similar breach, uh, on the
properties.
This is in 1985, um, when the property was, uh, used as a six-family dwelling.
Again, right now, there's a single-family zoning classification. However, this property has always, the history has always been of some non-conforming uses in this neighborhood.
Again, 1985, there's a permit for six families.
This permit is in, I believe, 1981, where this property was used as a boarding home with 11 rooms for 25 boarders.
and again this is in 1949 um this property was used as a six family uh dwelling um with
in a prior use uh was uh commercial um offices uh as well
here's a copy of our notification letter that we sent out to the community
we sent out a total of 112 letters to the neighbors
And this is our proof of mailing to the neighbors, which you can see all stamped by the United
States Postal Service. Here's our letter from the Allegheny West Civic Association.
We held our meeting back in February. From the attendance at the meeting, there was no opposition
from individuals who attended, from residents who attended the meeting, hence you see the
support letter from the coordinating RCO, Allegheny West Civic Association. Here is
the proof of the meeting and what the indication was. Again, there was no opposition to the meeting
and the votes were taken from those affected addresses who showed up to our RCO meeting.
Just to give the board a sense, this is a picture of the property.
This is the six-foot fence that starts here where the mouse is that leads to the rear of the property.
Again, this is the other side of the property where we have the other six-foot fence as well.
Here's a picture of our posting of the property.
This is the front door.
This is the rear of the property.
and again the yard where you can see the eight foot fence
this is the lounge of the property this is a similar hallway leading down to
the offices on the first floor this is the picture of our kitchen and then just to give
you a sense of the layout of some of the bedrooms again some bedrooms have up to five twin size
beds to house the occupants and each bedroom has a again a similar layout
and with that I would like to ask the board if they can bring on Dr. Sherlana Dash who is the
Chief Operating Officer of Self Inc to answer any questions and adopt a testimony.
Thank you.
Do we see him in the audience?
Her name is Dr. Shalana Dash.
He's in the audience. I see him.
Dr. Dash, please raise your virtual hand and wait to be sworn in.
Hi, could you please state your name and spell for the court stenographer?
Still no hands raised, sir.
okay do we share in the audience
wait the hand just went up okay okay they've been allowed to speak hi could you state your
name please and spell it for the court stenographer yes dr sharlana dash s-h-i-r-l-a-n-a
last name dash d-a-s-h do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth? Yes, I do. Proceed, counsel. Thank you. Dr. Dash, could you tell the board your position
at Self? I am the chief operating officer at Self Incorporated. Thank you. Dr. Dash, did you
my testimony? At the zoning hearing, yes, I did. Thank you. And is my testimony true and
accurate to the best of your belief? Yes, it is. And would you adopt my testimony as if it were
your own? Yes, I would, sir. Thank you, members of the board. You're welcome. Questions from the
board? No, Mr. Chairman. No, Chair. Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
sir i have a hand raised from a number a caller whose number is ending in the three five five two
yes please let her let it please have her come on understood
star six to unmute please wait to be sworn in hi could you state your name please and spell
for the court sonographer.
Yes, my name is
Adrienne Fernandez. My last name
is spelled F-E-R-N-A-N-D-E-V
Swamp Little Neighborhood
Process Association out here.
Right. Do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Hello?
Adrienne?
You must have dropped off, sir.
Okay, let's wait a minute until she gets back.
Right.
Is she back?
No, sir.
Hillary, we do have her letter, right?
We do, but I think she just came back on.
Okay, good.
but Adrian?
Hello, I'm going to speak again.
Hello.
Hi, Adrian.
I'm sorry.
Yes, I'm sorry.
I was disconnected.
Did I swear you in?
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth,
nothing but the truth?
Proceed.
I sent in a letter of opposition.
we have it okay and um could you adrian i know it's hard could you try to speak up a little bit
i think the court's now we're having a hard time hearing you yes thank you chair okay great thank
you is it better now yes it is okay trying to volume okay um the public meeting um was attended
I think by about maybe 20 to 30 people um but there were no affected addresses from that 2120
to 22 Tioga Street or within 250 feet of the address including um one or two of the affected
RCOs that live right around the corner or in that affected area. Also at the meeting
I voted in opposition for a sponsor to RCO.
So I don't know this included on the meeting summary form
because the affected RCO does acting as RCO
accordingly though she did not distribute the that summary
memo to all affected RCOs. So I've never seen it.
In my letter I spoke about the fact that this this address
was initially granted a temporary variance of five years, and Dr. Dash reported at the meeting,
It was reported at the meeting, the public meeting, that the permit had expired five years after 2013, which was, I guess, five years before the public meeting.
the public meeting, that the
So this operation has been carrying on without a permit.
I'm not sure they built the fact they requested or not I did include that notice of refusal and
a notice of decision with the letter I submitted so we're asking that this variance be denied
because Dr. Dash also answered my question about drug-addicted persons being able to be housed
there and she said they could be housed there I'm not sure who was living there for the past
five years where there was no permit however um the house was still serving as um homeless
for um we were preferable with families or working families but it was um I guess it was
families and drug addicted persons in the same two buildings or same two addresses um
a detail in the letter what the opposition was most of the safety and the negative impact
especially from fentanyl addicted persons needles in the area being able to shoot up behind the tall
fence that could be observed from nearby houses that have you know a second and third story
and also needle littering in the area where you have families children elders in schools pets
I also listed that we have a hepatitis outbreak in Philadelphia and that would be increased if
we could increase the number of fentanyl addicts in the area I keep this thing I can see um that
was listed with 32 persons and that seems to be high for the two addresses so if this is approved
um we're requesting a temporary variance for three years to be sure that the facility
will comply in the future with the notice of decision because on the notice of decision
it said that the permit would be cancelled if the stipulations on that notice of decision
were not honored and that didn't happen and just kept operating so we're asking for if it's
approved but we are opposed to it for a three-year temporary variant and um we're also asking for
that the nose of decision if it's granted be honored so that if the nose decision is violated
that the permit and special exception are canceled um we're asking for no fentanyl or other drug
addicted persons occupy the property and also that the occupancy be limited the entire address
to 20 or the prior 25 persons because I believe one property may be two floors one maybe three
floors not sure when on five floors uh 20 to 25 persons even with double beds that's a lot of
occupancy that one addressed especially with special needs occupants I'm also asking that
there's no drug drug rehabilitation operations at the address and no drugs stored administered
or dispersed at that address also provisor for no basement occupancy because that can change with
future use also for no roof deck occupancy or mechanic no use of the roof just a roof there
so we don't have any danger of drug use on the roof also asking that there's conspicuous exterior
and interior signage identifying the current site the business
operator whether that be self or subcontractor because it
seems like the property went through several operators
especially during a period where the permit had expired in 2018.
That's pretty much the extent of what we're asking for
and the opposition is also based on the fact that
um these operations in a residential zoning area will represent um overuse of that address
okay thank you and that's everything i thank you for calling in we take for taking time
and your input is there anyone else in the virtual audience
no further answer okay planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN RECOMMENDS RSA 3 SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL AT THIS LOCATION.
WE FEEL THE APPLICANT HAS DEMONSTRATED SUFFICIENT HARDSHIP FOR THE FENCE AND THAT A PERSONAL
CARE HOME FACILITY WOULD HAVE NO IMPACT THAN WHAT CAN BE REASONABLY EXPECTED AT THIS LOCATION.
accordingly the planning commission recommends the board grant the variance and the special
ACCORDINGLY, THE PLANNING COMMISSION RECOMMENDS THE BOARD GRANT THE VARIANCE AND THE SPECIAL
exemption for use um mr young as you know we'll wait for the tax uh information before we can vote
EXCEPTION FOR USE.
Thank you.
okay yes mr chair and we'll be in touch when when when we're settled okay thank you very much
Thanks, everybody, for their input.
Number 11, MI 2023-000731-5500 Haverford Avenue.
Robert Careless is the attorney for the owner.
letter of support from HMC Squared based on revised plans with setback on Pearl Street.
Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. I just want to note that we also received a letter of opposition
from a neighbor on Pearl Street. Thank you very much. Mr. Carolis, could you state your name and
spell for the court stenographer? Certainly, Mr. Chairman. Bob Careless, C-A-R-E-L-E-S-S.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Could you identify your client in a relationship to this property?
I represent the Community Justice Land Trust, which is the land trust for the Women's Community
Revitalization Project. The land trust is the record owner of the property.
Okay. And our vice chair has just a few questions.
Certainly.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
I do agree to the waiving of the refusal. I don't agree to the stipulation with the limited purpose of the open space refusal item on the refusal. Everything else we can stipulate to.
Understood. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, I have.
Excuse me. Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen. Oh, you shared it already. Okay.
Yep. Thank you. And members of the board, again, Bob Carol, Sikosin, O'Connor, on behalf of the Women's Community Revitalization Project, which I'll refer to as WCRP for short.
WCRP is a nonprofit and women-led community development corporation committed to social and economic equity for low-income families.
They provide, among other things, support services and resources for low-income tenants of its properties.
And one piece of data that I'm sure they're proud of is that their income, tenants increased their income by approximately 56% over the first four years of living in a WCRP home.
WCRP has developed and or rehabbed more than 300 homes over the last 30 years in Philadelphia.
In fact, this board might remember, we were before you about two years ago on the Arlene Thorpe Townhomes, which was a low-income housing tax credit development in Graysbury.
The subject development before you today is located at 5500 Habiford Avenue.
It's a 33-unit, four-story, multifamily, low-income housing tax credit development comprised, among other things, of a community center and associated improvements.
And this development will be named after Linda Lockman King, who was a longtime community activist who has since deceased.
And WCRP is proud to name this development in her honor.
As I mentioned, this is 5500 Habiford Avenue.
I'm showing you what I've marked in my packet as Exhibit A5.
It's a printout from the Philadelphia Atlas website.
It just shows the dimensions of the site or the shape of the size of the site here.
As you can see, 5500 Haverford is bounded by Haverford Avenue here, North 55th Street, and Pearl Street, it is a hook-shaped piece of property.
Just a Google street image here to give the board some perspective.
This is Haverford Avenue.
If you can see my cursor, North 55th Street, you can see the lot here, and you can also see the adjacent four-story Haverford apartments adjacent to the site.
Scrolling further down just through Exhibit A-6, just to give the board a little bit more perspective, these are also posting copies of our proof of posting.
You can see the current conditions of the site here as a perspective from Haverford Avenue, a perspective from North 55th Street, and again, seeing the four-story apartment building adjacent to the site.
And this is just a perspective from Pearl Street.
Jumping over to the refusal here to set the table for the board in terms of the variances that we're here for today.
As you can see here, we have five variances, one use variance for to allow the multifamily household use, and then four dimensional variances for the height, which we're asking for just over four additional feet in height.
And although the refusal lists a zero-foot setback at the rear yard and front yard due to the hook shape and the irregularity of the site, we do have a setback at the rear and front along certain portions of the site.
And although the refusal lists a zero foot set.
But at its worst, we do have the zero-foot setback, so the variance would be at its worst to allow the zero-foot setback.
But again, it's not a zero-foot setback along the entire perimeter of the site.
And then our initial application that generated this refusal proposed an open space of 18.1%. And we met with our RCO in April, and I'll jump to the letter of support that we have from the RCO here from HMC Squared Community Association.
And that meeting took place on April 20th. Again, here I'm showing here as part of my Exhibit A11, their letter of support with Proviso, dated April 29th.
We have agreed to this Proviso. And then if I jump over to the Proviso plan form that we submitted in connection with this, and let me just rotate my screen here so no one's craning their necks.
I could show the board here that we have agreed to that eight foot one setback on Pearl Street.
That was the provisor subject to the letter of support from the RCO.
As a result of pushing the building back from Pearl Street, the building coverage has reduced slightly, thus increasing our open space.
We believe that this property should be viewed as a corner lot.
As you can see here, you have two adjoining streets here making a corner, Haverford Avenue, North 55th Street.
If I could toggle over here to my legend, you can see if this is viewed as a corner lot, we now meet the minimum open space, thus eliminating that variance.
However, the examiner, in our case, viewed this as an intermediate lot, which would require under the code 25% open space, and we are proposing 20.
And I should back up. I overlooked one piece here on the, excuse me, on the refusal.
and notes that the property split zone CA1 and RSA5. And as you can see, the examiner in our
case applied RSA5 to our case. So for the open area requirements that I was just discussing,
that 20% would be required for a corner lot and 25% would be required for an intermediate lot.
So again, we feel that it should be viewed as a corner lot and we do now comply. As you can see,
we've also made some adjustments to the walkway widths, and we now have bay window projections
that were shown to the RCO during the community meeting. So just to confirm again for the board,
we are in agreement with that proviso from the community, and we're showing that on the board
here. Let me just rotate my screen back here, excuse me. So again, this is just perspectives
and renderings that were prepared by our Architects OZ Collaborative.
In the interest of time, I know we've gone way over here.
You can just note through my packet, through page 63,
we have a number of renderings and massings for the site that the board has seen.
And also for the record, in the interest of time,
I'll just mark that we also have a copy of our deed,
which is Exhibit A1 to our packet.
Exhibit A2 is a zoning permit application that was submitted to L&I.
Exhibit A-4 is our certificate of tax compliance. Exhibit A-7, the drawings that were submitted to Dell and I. Exhibit A-10, the community meeting notice with the proof of mailing. And Exhibits A-12 and 13 are the respective CVs for our design professionals.
um before i have my design professionals come up um i would like uh just to make a few statements
about the uh requested variances um we respectfully would assert that the development would promote
access to affordable housing in the city where we're seeing property values rise and and put
low-income individuals at the risk of displacement affordable housing uh proves improves the quality
of life of residence by leading to better health, well-being, financial stability, security,
and population diversity. We also would respectfully assert that affordable housing is
crucial for a child's well-being, and there are a number of two- and three-bedroom apartments
or units that are proposed in connection with this development. And last, as I've already
indicated, this development would provide a sustainable community in the place of what's
now a vacant lot in the area of the city. As to the dimensional relief, the property is clearly
an irregular lot, which is a condition that was not created by the applicant and also frustrates
our ability to design and lay out a building that would comport to the specific dimensional
requirements that are required under the code. And further, the number of units here are necessary
And further, the number of units here are necessary for financing purposes. If we were to lose that additional height that we're requesting, the four feet, which we're arguing is the minimum variance that is necessary, we would lose about 10 units and thus make the project not feasible.
for financing purposes.
We also, as I mentioned, we have a number of two and three bedroom units, many of which are accessible. I believe we have nine wheelchair accessible units part of this project that are going to serve a demographic of low-income families.
And again, just to close here, the requested variances are the minimum variance that would afford relief and represent the least modification possible of the use of the dimensional regulations at issue.
I won't reiterate the corner lot. I've already stated that.
But again, if the board is inclined to agree with the examiner and view this as an intermediate lot, we do believe that the 5% variance on the open area is a minimal variance.
um we would argue that the variances will not have a substantial increase in the congestion
of the public streets many of our low-income tenants rely on public transportation um
the granted variances will not increase the danger of fire or otherwise in danger of public health
safety general welfare nor will they respectfully uh we believe in um permanently endure substantially
endure endure the adjacent property again we've uh working with the community we have agreed to
setback Pearl Street, that eight feet, which addresses those concerns about the separation
of the building for light and things of that nature.
The grant of the variances will not adversely affect transportation or unduly burden, water,
sewer, school, park, or other public facilities.
Granting the variances will not adversely or substantially affect the implementation
of any adopted plan for the area in which the property is located, nor will we create
any, let alone significant, environmental pollution, erosion, or anything of that nature.
And before I add, Mr. Chairman, my witnesses come up.
I would just ask that the board look favorably upon this development and the variances which we believe are required that will result in a modern, affordable, accessible housing development in a place of an overgrown vacant lot right now.
So, Mr. Chairman, that would conclude my testimony to the board.
I do have three witnesses I would like to just call just to adopt them for my testimony if that's acceptable to the board.
Fine. It's just going to be able to adopt your testimony, right?
That's correct, sir.
okay fine um could i have paul aislesworth promoted please
he's been allowed to speak i sir could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer
yes i'm paul p-a-u-l ailsworth a-y-l-e-s-w-o-r-t-h right do you swear affirm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do proceed counsel oh you're the real estate
director for wcrp i am and and you have been involved in the community uh meetings with this
project yes and did you and you've been sitting through the course of my testimony did you hear
all of my testimony today yes is it true and correct to the best of your knowledge
yes it is and would you adopt that testament as if it were your own
yes i will um mr chairman could i have ronald glenn promoted please sure mr glenn
do not speak hello uh could you state could you state your name and spell for the court
stenographer please of course ronald glenn r-o-n-a-l-d-g-l-e-n-n do you swear a firm to
tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth i do proceed counsel mr glenn i'm showing
here, which is marked Exhibit A-12. This is a copy of your resume? Correct. And you are the
civil engineer on the project on behalf of Rogerio? Yes, I am. And have you heard all my testimony
today before the board? Yes, I have. And is it true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
Yes. And would you adopt that testimony as if it were your own? I would, yes. Thank you. Last
witness, Mr. Chairman, Carolyn Kriego from OZ Collaborative. Okay. Hi, could you state your
name, please, and spell for the court stenographer. Hi, my name is Carolyn C-A-R-O-L-Y-N
C-R-E-G-O. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth? I do. Proceed, counsel. Carolyn, I'm showing under Exhibit A13, this is a true and correct
copy of your resume? Yes. And you have been present throughout the course of my testimony today?
I have.
And is it, excuse me, true and correct to the best of your knowledge?
And would you adopt that testament as if for your own?
And I shouldn't last, I jumped over a question.
You are one of the architects on this project?
That is correct.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my testament.
I would like to note just before, so it doesn't slip my mind.
so it doesn't slip my mind um there were a number of i'm aware there were a number of
There were a number of, I'm aware there were a number of.
letters of support and also here a petition of support that was sent in um i believe by
miss katie grant who's the community organizer for wcrp i'm showing here on the on the screen
here a petition that was signed by approximately 50 residents um and i believe we also have um
a handful of letters that were sent in support from neighbors of the community as well so with
With that, I'm asked to move my exhibits into evidence and be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
Mr. Chair, I have a Zella Gordon with a hand raised.
I would love this time.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
her my name is zella c like zebra e-l-l-a last name gordon g-o-r-d-o-n i'm a resident of the
55 future block of pearl street and i have lived here all my life and i'm wait wait wait
zella wait a minute do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
the truth yes i do proceed um i did send in a letter regarding this construction um we have
the letter and there was something that i did put in this letter um i am concerned about the
construction the number of families that this adds to our hair era every uh historically has
never been um and also where that extension of the building the long rectangular part uh are that
what are they going to do to support the alleyway that that the neighbors on that side of pearl
street because part of that facade or landmass is collapsing from what i understand and once they
start digging how do we know that once the ground is disturbed that the residents are not going to
suffer on that side of the street uh we understand your concerns
thank you all right all right okay thank you is there anyone else in the virtual audience
yes there is there's a hand raised from someone with a samsung sm-a okay
all right five you i've allowed them to speak i could you state your name please and spell for
the court sonographer
sir or madam please unmute
hi could you state your name please and spell for the court sonographer
and it will be star six to unmute yourself
hello chair we have a miss crystal morris
she's not unmuting
miss morris you can unmute yourself
is there anyone else in is there anyone else in a virtual
audience um yes an individual who has a hand raised with just iphone i've allowed them to speak
okay hi could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer
sir or madam nicole clake hi could you spell it please for the court stenographer
n-i-c-o-l-e last name c-l-a-i-t-t
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
And are you a neighbor?
Yes, I am.
Rasheed.
I lived in the neighborhood Haddington area since 1996.
Now, there's so many homeless women and children in our neighborhood.
You know, as someone with a disability myself, I spent years, you know, trying to get on a waiting list for accessible and affordable housing.
I fully support this project, you know, because there's so many abandoned buildings and vacant lots in our neighborhood that is obligatory to our community.
I support WCRP's development because we need affordable housing to help these women and children in our neighborhood.
Thank you.
Thank you for taking the time to call in and telling us that.
Well, thank you for taking the time to call in and telling us that.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, sir.
I miss Sarah Eisenstein with her hand raised.
I have allowed her to speak at this time.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Ma'am, it'll be star six to unmute yourself, please.
hello ms eisenstein are you available
jason is there anyone else with their hand up sarah i don't have my hand raised for this case
sorry i don't know how that happened okay thank you is there anyone else jason
mr prince ellis with their hand raised i have allowed them to speak at this time
hi could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
well my name is good afternoon prince r ellis uh i'm a resident of 5500 pearl street
okay for the wait one minute sir sir do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes are you in favor of the project or not i'm not um from what i was told and
from what i see we've been uh petitioning for years for one there's a tree that's down
behind that area there one on pearl street uh we were not that that's the first reason the second
reason we were not correctly informed of it and uh over the years there been uh we've been trying
to lobby support towards getting things done on a block such as sidewalks being repaved uh streets
being done there's old plumbing that's causing inhabitants in fact in that area there there is a
right where they're building the construction at they're part of the pathway that leads
into that area runs into Pearl Street and then there was a at one point I believe there was an
there was a drainage system that ran into 55th or 56th Street that was probably condemned and
And them building that structure there was going to block the alleyway is a limited path to go back there now.
All right.
Thank you for taking the time to call in.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, sir.
Katie and Grant with her hand raised.
I've allowed him to speak.
Hi, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court stenographer?
Star six to unmute.
hello hi could you state your name and spell please for the court stenographer
hello can you hear me yes could you state your name and spell for the court stenographer
yes my name is reverend dr rodney ellis king i'm the senior pastor of the philadelphia baptist
Church on 55th and Happenford Avenue.
Reverend, do you, hold on one minute, sir.
Could you spell your name, please, for the court stenographer?
It's R-O-O-D-N-E-Y-E-L-L-I-S-K-I-N-G.
Thank you.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do.
Please proceed.
I'm the senior pastor of the Philadelphia Baptist Church, and we've been there for 17 years.
And I support this particular project because there is a need for low-income housing for single mothers.
It's a lot of single mothers in that area. And I really support it. We have a food ministry in which we provide food in that neighborhood for parents and families who are in need.
And it's a great need. Now, that land, that property, I've seen it for many years.
It used to be Haverford multi-services for older adults.
And the building just sat there for years and years and yet nobody done.
And the building just sat there for years and years, and yet nobody done anything with it until it caught on fire.
And nobody said anything about it.
People were going in the building, and some folks even died in that building, and no one complained.
but now here's a positive program in order to support and and help the community help
vitalize that community and and now some people want to complain about it you know
about drainage reverend we appreciate you calling in we just want to make sure we get to everybody
else so thank you so much oh i'm sorry i didn't mean it no no no you had great
insight and we appreciate everything you've said is there anyone else in the virtual audience
um yes sir the hand the person who had uh the samsung sm has their hand raised again i'll
allow them to speak again at this time okay hi could you state your name and spell a piece
for the court stenographer sir or madam it is star six two unmute
still have a problem chair you can move on okay thank you very much is there anyone else
no sir that is all planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernardo for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends a change to rm1 multi-family residential at this location
the proposal is largely consistent with the recommended zoning accordingly the planning
commission recommends the board grant the variances thank you very much mi 2023 000 731
5500 haverford avenue i vote yes revised plans two pages stamped by zba june 14 2023
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with Provaizo.
Ishmael Shahi, my vote is yes with Provaizo.
Counselor, you have your votes.
Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the board.
Have a good afternoon.
Thank you.
Number 12, MI-2022-007382-2817 North 12th Street.
Stephen Pollack is the attorney.
recommendation of support from 37th Ward RCO
Mr. Pollock if you're still in the audience
please raise your virtual hand
The hand keeps going up and down for some reason, sir.
His hand?
Mr. Pollack.
All right.
He's been promoted to panelist, sir.
Mr. Pollack, state your name and spell, please, for the court stenographer.
Hi, Mr. Pollock. How are you? State your name, please.
Good afternoon, Chair.
Stephen G. Pollock, S-T-E-P-H-E-N, G. Pollock, P-O-L-L-O-C-K.
Right. Could you identify your client, the relationship to the property?
I'm representing the Builder of Better Neighborhoods LLC, and I have with me the principal, Jim Henry, who will join us at the appropriate moment to go through our testimony.
Okay. Our vice chair has just a few questions for you.
Pardon me, Mr. Chairman. Could he be sworn?
I'm sorry. Do you swear or affirm to tell the whole truth? Nothing but the truth.
I do as an officer of the court.
Okay. Our vice chair has a few questions.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to his accuracy?
I do, Mr. Shahid.
Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, sir.
Thank you so much. Please proceed and share your screen.
Do you want to bring your first one, Mr. Pollack?
Do you want to bring your personal one, Mr. Pollack?
Yes, if you could bring Nika Realbuto in.
Yes, if you could bring Niko Rialbuto in, that would be appreciated.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'm notorious now.
I need a second.
You're not notorious, but.
I'll be coming back in soon.
That'd be great.
Here we go.
Okay. Okay. This is a, Mr. Chair, members of the board, this is a request by Jim Henry and his wife, Paulette, to allow this. They have a consolidated lot that includes the house just to the right. The center area is two other lots that have been consolidated in the one lot.
We want to have two accessory parking spaces in this lot.
We also have gotten permission to remove this stockade fence, and we have an as-of-right permission for a gate and a fence already.
And, Nico, if you could go to that, to just show you the style of the fencing that we have gotten permission for.
The permit for that is at our Exhibit A4 at ZP Permit 2023-003403.
that allows this stockade fence to be removed, to create this open estate style fencing, and then have two spaces behind it.
So if we could go to show the photos again, Nico, just of what's around it.
Mr. Chairman, members of the board, unique property.
It's set back officially to the fence, where the fence will be.
It's going to be about 30 feet from the curb line.
12th street is officially 12 26 and 12 for a roadway meaning we have a 12 foot
pavement in front of us then we are set back at 18 feet then another foot to the where the
building is and another foot for where the proposed fencing will be so we'll be about
30 feet away from the 31 feet away from the curb line so this area of refuge creates a good area
for a car to come in and out
so it won't surprise somebody walking in the neighborhood.
And as you can see, the property to the immediate left
at 23 is also owned by Jim Henry.
And then the property's to the left of that.
And if we have to go to some of our other pictures,
to the right is our property,
similarly situated, the Jim's,
but they have porches and a little front area
in front of them. Jim's property is this unique property. The lot itself is 46.5 by 91.5. So it
yields about 4,200 square feet. This front area that will be an area of refuge is about 883 square
feet. And so it has great side triangles. To the left of the building that we've identified Nico
showing as at 2823 are all single family homes that are the traditional right up against the
property line so this is something that we are saying that um across the street from this is
the climber school they it's between on 12th partially on 12th between rush and william and
there there's the climber school it's directly this is from jim's front porch where there's a
sort of a cordovan car in front and that's uh rush street there and during the school year
what happens is jim allows parents to park uh who are ready to pick up their children
at opening and closing or dropping them off at opening and picking them up at closing.
So having a defined area like we would have with the curb cut that has been approved by the streets department,
we have that streets department approval at our A5, at SR2022, 0132829, we'll do a couple things.
One, it allows for less congestion from the school when they have pickup or kids arriving because the parents will be allowed to park in that front area.
So we don't believe we're going to be causing any congestion in the public streets.
By having three lots that are the consolidated area, we have 46.5 square feet of frontage along 12th Street.
We believe that that gives you adequate space and is not really detrimentally taking away a parking space.
We have the hardship is because we are allowed to have all street parking, especially for a single family home, as this is.
But in the RM1 district, you either need a shared driveway, an alleyway or a rear street that has that has no parking on the side abutting your lot.
Well, physically, there is no rear street abutting our lot to the rear.
Well, physically, there is no rear street abutting our lot to the rear.
And as you can see.
And as you can see, there is no shared driveway or alleyway that gives us access off of North 12th Street.
So Jim and his wife rehab the property to the right where he resides along with Paulette.
And these two lots that are proposed for, Jim uses them as a garden.
And Niko, if you can show the board, I think it's in our segment too.
We had to split this up into two segments because our server wouldn't let it go.
But these are these are shots.
Nico's arrow is showing you that they use it for some plantings and ceilings.
And Jim has a couple of big dogs.
He's got his barbecue unit in there.
So it's all for personal use and everything like that.
And but these were two vacant lots that he acquired from the housing authority back in 2009.
And so I think the support of the neighborhood, which was 15 all members unanimous who showed up, plus Denise Anderson exercise 10 proxies she had to give us a 25 nothing vote was because the people in the neighborhood know Jim and know Paulette and they know that they've been very good neighbors with that regard.
So with that, Mr. Chairman, I would ask that all our exhibits be included into the record. As you know, we do have support from the 37th Ward, RCO, and I would ask that if Jim Henry could be especially not only listed as a panelist, but if we could just have Jim be shown physically on the, for one, as I ask him the questions, that would be great.
so jim i hopefully you're there and you've
i know we've been talking well texting all the time and he knows
do we see a hand jason um yes he's been allowed to speak sir okay can we let him be seen too jason
if it means taking down my exhibits great i don't care can you hear me wait yeah we can hear you but
We can't see you quite yet.
You have to hit that mic.
So I say, Mr. Pollack, I'd like to move it along.
Mr. Henry, could you state your name and spell it for the court sonographer?
James, middle initial E, last name Henry, H-E-N-R-Y, the third.
Right.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm, tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Jim, you've heard what I've stated on the record.
Were you here during, you did hear everything I stated on the record.
You were here during the whole presentation of your test of our testimony, correct?
Yes. And do you in your opinion and your belief was what I stated on the record?
True, correct. And in the affirmative? Yes.
And do you adopt that as your testimony today as if you've stated it on the record?
I do. OK, with that, Mr. Chairman, again, just move.
Mr. Powell, Mr. Powell, just one question. That side of the street, is there parking there?
Yes, there is.
All right.
Thank you.
If you look at the pictures, Mr. Chairman, you can see that it's sporadic parking because there's several homes.
Jim, if you're still on, maybe he just, there are several homes that are vacant and being rehabbed or in disrepair.
Jim, is that true?
So that provides.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
no chair what should your comments from the virtual audience
i see no further hands mr planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
the comprehensive plan recommends a change to rsa 5 single-family residential use at
this location. The applicant's hardship is not supported of evidence of unique physical
circumstances or conditions on the property that would prevent it from being used in accordance
with the code. Additionally, we feel this proposal represents a privatization of on-street public
parking. Accordingly, the Planning Commission recommends the Board deny the variance.
Excuse me. Mr. Park, what I want to do is I'm going to take this to
executive session and talk to the other board
members to see exactly where we stand
with this. Thank you for your
presentation.
I will
have over off next Wednesday, the following
Wednesday, we'll do this at 2
p.m. I'll have it.
As we stated, these are
three properties consolidated.
I understand. They have the unique physical
circumstances of being set back
30 feet, 31 feet
from the curb. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Park, I understand your point.
Thank you very much.
We'll have an answer for you in two weeks.
Thank you.
Number 13, MI-2022-007-501-661-North 37th Street.
MI2022-007501667.
Michael McElnanny is the Attorney.
Recommendation of support from Manchua Civic Association.
He's going to come back in as a panelist.
Good afternoon, Mr. Cameron.
How are you, sir? Could you state your name,
please and spell for the court stenographer? Michael McElhenney, M-I-C-H-A-E-L, M-C-I-L-H-I-N-N-E-Y.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
I do. Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
Yes. My client is James Mark Lewis, and he is the property owner.
Right. And our vice chair has just a few questions.
good afternoon good afternoon um council have you do you agree to we waive the reading of the
refusal and stipulate towards accuracy i do have you emailed in the required documents and exhibits
that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing
yes i have thank you please proceed and share your screen
Thank you, members of the board. I know we're running behind, so I will try to be efficient.
On the screen is my index of exhibits for the property at 661 North 37th Street. Again,
the property owner is James Mark Lewis, and Ken Johnson is the architect for the project that
should still be on the call with us. My pre-marked exhibits include the zoning appeal at Exhibit 10,
photos of the property being posted with the zoning notices. It's a corner property,
so we posted the front and the side. And I did meet with, I personally posted it and met with
the neighbors that evening when I was out there posting. We then did have an official community
meeting that took place with the Mantua Civic Association on May 25th. And we did get a letter
of support. My client's deed is at exhibit 13. And as you see, my client acquired the property
in 2015. This is a generational family property. James Lewis, the father, transferred this to
James Mark Lewis, the son, my client. And this is where James Mark Lewis spent a lot of his childhood
growing up at the subject property. And now he plans to renovate it. Exhibit 14 is just showing
the tax balance is currently zero for the subject property. Exhibit 1 is the RCO letter from the
Mantua Civic Association meeting. We did have a nice meeting with the community. We had 20 people
in attendance total, and we have full support for the requested variance at the property.
Exhibit two is the refusal. My client's proposing to demolish a rear shed kitchen and then the
erection of a rear addition from the first through third floors of the existing structure
and including a roof deck in this proposal. The use is for two-family dwelling. Since the property
is zoned RSA 5. We do have one use refusal for the use. Otherwise, the project is dimensionally
compliant. Everything else is by right. Exhibit 3 is the zoning map and some other maps related
to the property. As I mentioned, it is zoned RSA 5. An aerial map at photo 2 is just orient the
board. The property is on the corner of North 37th Street at Mellon, Fairmount Ave to the north,
Wallace Street to the south, 36th Street to the east, and the big development next on 36th Street
is the Mantua Square PHA housing complex. The fourth photo of Exhibit 3 is just showing the
dimensions of the property at the subject property, 67 feet deep, 13.3 feet wide.
Exhibit 4 are the current site photos for the property and the immediate area. As I mentioned,
it's a the corner property red brick building it was originally used as a ground floor commercial
use with an apartment above where mr james uh mr lewis and his family resided and ran a
it's a steak hoagies and ice cream shop basically a corner store
the side property just second photo is a side view
third photo just showing the three-story and two-story houses that fit out this side of the
east side of north 37th street at the next intersection is wallace street which is a
bunch of vacant land that's mainly owned by the city on the north side of the block
we have multiple many multi-families 16 630 north 37th is a triplex 661 is a duplex 624 is a triplex
on the opposite side of the 600 block is we have a church building on one end and a series of
and a series of residences throughout that side of the block.
residences throughout that side of the block.
At the corner of the property, and I did tag in the Mantua Civic Association building,
which is at the one block away on Mellon Street, where we held our meeting.
That's a community space plus two units.
And the diagonal property at Mellon Street at 370103 Mellon,
that's where they're going to be constructing a new four-unit apartment building.
The other properties on that side of the block are dilapidated structures and an abandoned
building at the corner of Fairmount Avenue.
And then on the same side of 37th Street, there's a series of two-story buildings that
go to the north.
And the property is immediately behind my client's property on Mellon Street.
We abut this property, which is 3616 to 28 Mellon, which is a 10-unit apartment building.
The rest of that block on Mellon Street consists of a few residences and then an abandoned house owned by PHA at 3606 Mellon.
On the north side of the Mellon Street, we have two residences and then a new construction apartment building, a four-unit building at 3615 Mellon.
And the next two properties on the block, 3601 and 03 Mellon Street, are two duplexes each.
we did have an original zoning plan that i included at exhibit five we do have a revised
zoning plan one page um that i'm that is at exhibit six and i'll zoom in to the elevation view
as you can see there's a rear one-story shed kitchen the plans to demolish that one-story
shed kitchen and then erect a three-story addition basically to square off the existing structure
We are including a roof deck as part of this project.
The revised plans are mainly to show that we added bay windows on the side of the property.
And we also, where the door was located, we put windows and relocated the side entry door.
On the front of the property, we removed the existing windows and we're now doing a more stylistic Juliet balcony windows on the front of the property.
and we relocated the front door from the left side of the building to the right side,
basically flipping the layout inside.
And as I mentioned, it's an existing, the footprint of what we're building is existing.
We have an existing 14-foot rear yard that will be maintained
that will provide outdoor space to the two units that we're proposing,
which will allow for trash storage enclosures for each of the units.
And again, it's dimensionally compliant. We're not going to exceed 38 feet. We're proposing 36 feet.
At Exhibit 6, the second page is just a proposed floor plan for the property.
The first unit is the basement and first floor. The entry is on the side on Mellon Street, full kitchen, living room, dining room, and bedroom with full bathroom and access to that rear yard space through the first floor unit.
and the lower level will have mechanicals, laundry and one bedroom, one bath in the bottom.
So it's a two bedroom, two bath unit and it will almost be a thousand square feet. It comes out to
it's about 950 square feet for unit A. The second floor unit will enter through the front of the
property and come up the steps and we end up with a full living room, dining room, kitchen
and a powder room at the second floor level and then the third floor level is two bedrooms two
baths laundry area and some sitting open space in the middle between the two bedrooms and that
second floor leads to the roof deck that we're proposing for the structure along with the roof
deck access structure um at and this unit is going to be slightly larger we're at 1153 square
our feet. So we end up with two large dwelling spaces in unit A and unit B, two bedrooms,
two baths, and then two bedrooms, two and a half baths. We do have the revisor plan form at exhibit
six, just detailing the stylistic changes to adding those bay windows, relocating certain
doorways, entryways, and the roof deck size and access structure being revised. The property
itself has seen better days since Mr. Lewis and his family operated the corner store at the
property. The first floor still has the original shelving and materials inside, but it's a full
gut renovation that Mr. Lewis is going to have to do to bring his family property back to
habitability. And the additional photos are just of the upper floors that were the apartment where
he and his family, where he grew up. I did include zoning archives at Exhibit 9, just of the other
multifamilies on this block and immediate area, including the zoning permit for the subject
the zoning permit for the subject property where it was commercial plus one for that
property where it was commercial plus one.
corner store soda shop with an apartment above. That's on the screen right now. It is this soda
shop. Hard to see, but it's private home store soda shop candy store. So, my client's looking
not to reactivate that commercial space on the ground floor with an apartment above he's preferring
to do two residential units that's good to cap this end block he does have a children a child
that's going to be graduated from college soon this would provide a rental unit for the property
and for the family and also possibly keep a relative living in the property with that being
said members of the board my client did have to go pick up his wife at work so he did zoom in
through his phone i believe he is online i could call him um to raise his hand mr lewis
if you can hear me can you please raise your hand
we see him jason um yes he has been allowed to speak sir okay so could you state your name
please and spell for the court stenographer yes james mark lewis j-a-m-e-s-m-a-r-k-l-e-w-i-s
right do you swear or affirm tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
yes i do proceed counsel uh mr lewis did you hear the statements that i've presented to the board
today yes and were they true and correct to the best of your knowledge information and belief
yes and would you adopt those statements as your own report yes members of the board
questions from the questions from the board no mr chairman no chairman questions or comments
from the virtual audience i do not see any further hands mr chair planning commission
good afternoon chair peter bernard for the planning commission
comprehensive plan recommends no change to the existing rsa 5 single family zoning at this
location, which was established as part of a community-led remapping in 2017. We feel the
applicant has failed to demonstrate any hardship that would prevent the building from being used
in conformance with the code. Accordingly, the Planning Commission recommends the board deny
the variance. MI 2022-007-501-661-North 37th Street. I vote yes. Thomas Howell. Hold it.
Revised plans, one-paged, stand by ZBA, June 14, 2023.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes with proviso.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes with proviso.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Is there anyone in the virtual audience whose 2 o'clock case has not been heard?
I do not see any hints, Mr. Chair.
We will take a five-minute break and then start the 3.30 list.
Good afternoon. My name is Bill Bergman, and I will be chairing this afternoon's EBA hearing.
With me is our Vice Chair, Ismail Shahid.
Here, President, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you. Our Board Member, Thomas Holliman.
Present, Mr. Chairman.
Our alternate board member, LeBaron Leonard Palmer from Development Services.
President, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Also here is Hillary Emerson, our attorney,
and our executive director, Tanya Sunkett. Here's our virtual format. Be advised,
the proceedings are being recorded. The video will be available by contacting tanyasunkett
at phila.gov. For the benefit of our court stenographer, we ask attorneys and witnesses
to identify themselves before testifying. If you're participating by phone, if you wish to
testify, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute. To enter an appearance statement,
call 267-270-5548. Leave your email and the address of the property in question.
And finally, the question answer box on the screen is not for comments or testimony. All comments should be directed for Executive Director Tanya Sunken.
Let's look at the continuances that we have. Number three, MI 2022-007-631-1261 South Dover. This case is continued.
Number five, MI 2022-004-546-3251 Fox Street. That case is continued.
that case is continued. Number six, MI-2022-007-585-532 West Ellett Street, that case is
Number six.
continued. And number eight, MI-2022-007. Excuse me, Mr. Chair, this is Hillary. The last case,
number six, that continuance was requested by the coordinating RCO. Can we see if the property
Sure, I most certainly will.
Mr. Lightfoot, are you present?
Jason, do we see Mr. Lightfoot?
Okay, Mr. Chair, I do not see a Mr. Lightfoot in the audience, but Mr. Brian O'Neill has his hand raised.
Who has his hand raised?
Mr. Brian O'Neill, Councilman O'Neill.
Sure. Mr. Chair, he's here for the first case. Okay. All right. All right. Yes. All right. Well, so we don't see Mr. Lightfoot in the audience, right? No, sir.
All right, so MI-2022-007-585-532 West Ellis Street, that case is continued.
And number eight, MI-2022-007-572-4825A Street, that case is continued.
Are there any other requests for continuances?
Mr. Chair, we did receive a request for continuance for number nine.
I believe that was initially noted as an RCO meeting occurring at a later date, but we did receive something from the attorney for the applicant.
Okay, so MI 2022-007-612-5204-06 North Lawrence Street, that case is continued.
And number four, MI 2022-006-978-2034 Ripley Street.
Arnold Garcia is the licit owner. We have a letter from the Ron Hurst Civic Association
say this may have been withdrawn. Mr. Garcia, are you present?
Mr. Chair, I do not see Mr. Garcia within the audience at this time.
Okay. All right. So thank you. So MI 2022-006-978-2034 Ripley Street. This case will be continued and Mark must be tried.
We're going to go to number one. MI 2022-007-604-12301 Medford Road. Alan Nocklinson is the attorney.
We have an RCO letter with this one, Hillary.
Yes, Mr. Chair, we have an RCO letter in opposition from the Parkland Civic Association.
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, Mr. Alex Goldberg.
Yeah, I see Mr. Goldberg.
Hi, Mr. Goldberg, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
firm? Alex Goldberg, A-L-E-X-G-O-L-D-B-E-R-G of Nockamson, PC, 123 South Broad Street, Suite 1600.
Yep. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Do you identify your client in relationship to this property?
My client is Muher Kanaan, and he's the property owner of 12301 Medford Road.
Okay. Our vice chair has just a few questions for you, sir.
Good afternoon, do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Have you emailed in all the required documents that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
I have.
Thank you. Please proceed and share your screen.
All right, I'm sharing my screen. I'm stepping in for Alan today to let him enjoy his vacation.
I am here representing the owner of 12301 Medford Road, the property that you see on your screen.
We are seeking relief from three refusals related to a proposed hair salon in addition to the existing single family use at the property.
You can see this is a unique corner lot.
We met with the community on May 23.
And from there, I'll just jump into my presentation. So we have 15 exhibits here. I know, you know, it's a little late in the day, so I'm just going to hop into the presentation here.
So, the first exhibit is the refusal. It was issued in November of last year. You can see that we have a refusal, A, for the proposed hair salon use, which is identified as retail hair products,
So the first exhibit is the refusal. It was issued in November of last year.
B, for the business and professional office use, which would be used in conjunction with the hair salon and leased to the same tenant,
And the final refusal relates to multiple principal uses proposed at this property, which would be the business and professional office, the hair salon, and the single-family use.
We met with the Parkwood Civic Association, which opposed this variance.
As you can see at the bottom, they're not necessarily opposed to a commercial use at this property, as you saw in the photo and as you'll see later.
You know, it looks at face value like a commercial space or an office space, and that's what we're hoping to do here.
They're just hyper-specific about exactly what type of office or commercial use they would like to be there.
Here's a petition.
So despite the community opposition, you can see actually a lot of nearby neighbors signed our petition in support of this proposed use.
here's a permit uh showing way back in uh till at least 1974 uh this is for one family dwelling
and a doctor's office that was proposed at that time
here's a zillow listing showing how the property was advertised to mr canaan at the time he
purchased the property almost a year ago um describing it as a mixed-use property with
living on one side and, you know, a business that you can rent out on the other side.
So they purchased this property under the impression that they could operate a business
here. We're now in this process, you know, seeking relief to allow them to rent out to
the specific tenant that they would like to. Here's a zoning map. This is an RSA for property,
you know in in name and per the code but again this corner property doesn't look at all like
a traditional rsa4 single-family used property it's also directly across the street from the
shopping center at that ca1 zoning classification and the cmx1 property across the street is a bank
so we are part of rsa4 but we we more so fall in line characteristically with the uses that
are across the street from us. Another map, you can see what I just described there, the bank and
the shopping center. We're at the corner of Medford Road and Academy Road. There are bus stops along
Academy Road and Medford, as well as on-street parking on Academy Road and Medford. And we're
actually pursuing the, you know, pending the zoning, the possibility of renting parking spaces
from the bank directly across the street. Here's some photographs. This is the front of the
property on Medford Road. The office space actually occupies a portion of this lower level
that you'll be able to see more clearly on the architectural drawings. It goes through to the
back of the property. And then the proposed hair salon would occupy this space here.
Here's zoning notice posters, corner of property. So there are two.
Here is right at the intersection. This is sort of head on at that commercial space,
that proposed commercial space this is back in 2007 so you saw the archives from 1974 this is
as far back as we can go on google street view showing what this looked like in 2007
would be highly cost prohibitive to convert this all back to comply with the zoning code
this is the rear of the property you can see there is an entry slash exit to the
office portion you saw the front on medford road this is the rear of the property
Here's to the right on Medford, and to the left on Medford,
you can see the shopping center across the street.
And then this is Academy Road to the right
of the property and to the left.
Okay, so here's the photos.
This is the interior of the proposed hair salon
and the bathroom at that proposed hair salon.
And then this is the proposed office space
at the rear of the property.
Here's the interior photographs of the residents,
single family home.
Here are the drawings of the commercial space. So you can see here, this is sort of an overview of the entire structure.
The hair salon is shaded here with the diagonal lines and is shown in more detail here, containing a bathroom, a few chairs, a few sinks, and sort of a receptionist counter.
And then here's the office space, which is identified and shaded at the rear of the property,
which you can see a small bathroom, small office space.
which you can see a small bathroom, small office space.
And then we've put together some pretty just basic floor plans
of the residential portion, three bedroom,
you know, two levels with entry on Medford Road.
Here's the meeting notice giving notification
to the community of our May 23rd meeting.
We were required to notify 44 properties of that meeting.
this is the list of those addresses mailing certificate here's our application for appeal
the deed of the property showing muher canaan is the owner of the property
and lastly is the tax clearance um at this point i'd like to call mr canaan to adopt my testimony
they've been allowed to speak Mr. Chair
could you state your name please
and spell for the court stenographer
yeah Mihir Kanan
Mihir M-U-H-I-A-R
Kanan K-A-N-A-N
right do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
proceed counsel
Mr. Kanan did you hear my testimony
and was it true and correct
yes and you adopt my testimony as if it were your own yes thank you questions from the board
no mr chairman questions or comments from the virtual audience
mr chair i have councilman o'neill on the line
hi councilman could you please state your name and mr chairman brian o'neill councilman for the
10th district, which includes the current property. I would like, and I appreciate the courtesy of
going first as a witness for the Protestants, but there are two members of the board of the RCO
and they've had two meetings, standing room only meetings, I can say.
Hold on a minute. Let me swear you in. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth,
the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, I do. Thank you.
Continue, sir.
okay so if you could take um uh those those two speakers first i would prefer to go after them
sure fine jason bring them bring one of them all one at a time please yes sir i have mr jim
miller with his hand raised i've allowed him to speak hi sir could you state your name and spell
please for the court stenographer um my name is james miller j-a-m-e-s place names miller
m-i-l-l-e-r you swear or do you swear or affirm to tell the hold on sir do you swear or affirm to
tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor i'm a neighbor i'm
not on the board okay that's fine they counsel me that so i'm a neighbor in the area of parkwood i
have attended the civic association meetings for a while now so this this property here
was a doctor's office at one time the new owners did construction inside without any permits
and then attempted to put up signage saying academy candy and soda a few days before their
opening they handed out flyers and post-it flyers i'm not sure if i can uh show my screen
or how to do that on here of the flyer well you could just you could just explain it to us we
i think we understand so the flyer showed uh numerous uh tobacco products uh hookah machines
and the gambling machines uh they're inside um i guess some corner stores throughout the city
uh something totally different than and a candy and soda so um i think there's a lot of level
of distrust in the community from the owner uh due to that fact and the fact that uh
the houses in parkwood uh they're residential so this sets a precedent
if this is allowed a house is allowed to be zoned commercial then who knows what's going
to open up um mr miller thank you for calling in we appreciate your input
mr chairman may i respond mr miller um alex would you want to wait a minute till we get the other
person comes up too and then you can respond all one time with that is that okay yep all right
thank you who's who's the next person the next person is just named donna i have allowed them
The next person is just named Donna. I have allowed them to speak, sir.
to speak, sir.
Okay. Hi, could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court stenographer?
Ma'am, please unmute.
Hello?
Hello?
we still see her jason um yes but in the q a she's asking how to unmute
oh okay is there anyone else with your hand up jason
um yes richard lesinski i have allowed them to speak that's fine thank you
hello mr chairman hi could you state your name please and spell for the court reporter
sure my name is richard lisinski first name common spelling last name is l-e-s-i-n-s-k-i
and i am the president go ahead i'm sorry all right do you swear or firm to tell the truth
the whole truth nothing but the truth i do for she
okay i'm here on behalf of the parkwood civic association as its president and in that may 23rd
meeting we had uh an attendance in excess of 70 members and we held a vote after the presentation
and that vote was a unanimous no so i'd like the record to reflect that the the the majority
of the participating members of the civic association are vehemently opposed to to the
opening of this and just for a point of information the council for the showed showed the results of
the hearing okay fair enough thank you all right and thank you for going go ahead and we just have
concerns um like like uh mr miller had stated uh in his testimony there was basically a a gambling
hookah corner store that was going to be opened without permits and so i understand that the
intention is or at least the presentation of the intention has been changed which which is fine
however i'd also like uh i'd like to point out that in that presentation the renderings and the
pictures of the work that has been done to this hair salon was done to the best of my knowledge
after a cease order was issued by l and i so this work has all been constructed without permits
okay well i understand that um all right so obviously you're against this project me and
the majority of the i said thank you thank you for taking the time to call in um jason is that
donna there i mean she's unmuted now okay thank you donna could you say hi could you state your
name please and spell for the court stenographer sure my name is donna enstrom d-o-n-n-a last
name enstrom e-n-s like sam t-r-o and like mary all right do you swear all right do you swear or
affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do okay you're you're a resident
You're a neighbor, right?
I'm a resident.
I am a lifelong resident of Parkwood.
I'm an original family owner, and I am the secretary for the president for the Park and Civic Association.
All right, proceed.
I'd like to quickly go through and just summarize basically what this proceeding has been about.
In August of 2022, our president, upon being notified by some residents, visited the property because it was said to have been being constructed.
and we were interested since something was being commercially built in an area that has only ever
been allowed for commercial use for doctor's offices. Upon entering the building, he was told
by Mr. Muhar or Mr. Kanan that it is for hair product sales. Yet within one to two weeks after
that, a large lighted electric sign was placed up for academy beverages and candy. And then there
was grand opening ads advertised for September 5th for a grand opening that included THC products
which were marketed to children as Captain Cush. They were illegal. There was also video game
machines, hookah lounge, and smoke shop and bake shop products that were issued.
Applied many reports to 311. During that weekend, the L&I arrived at the property, shut it down,
and they were told not to continue with any construction until all zoning permits and
license were obtained in uh the uh at that time
were obtained in uh the uh at that time i happened to actually be present and i did question
the owner at that time if he had a resident uh in the property which he stated he did there is
no license for rental in that property nor has it been since 2012. um the week preceding the
grand opening after the um l and i was there and cited them for the violations again they were
told that they are not permitted to continue any construction until the zoning licensing and
permits were completed yet throughout that time until present day um they the property had been
under construction in the middle of the night like 3 a.m by onion non-union uh unlicensed as far as
we're aware um contractors further evidence to prove that that was going on is the fact that
They presented at our meeting on the 23rd of May, the actual photos of all the wonderful beautifications they made to the property.
However, all of that was done, again, illegally, unlicensed, unpermitted, unzoned, and against the violations they already received.
Our neighborhood was built in 1962 as a residential private area.
It was originally intended to be gated.
The only commercial use that's ever been intended or allowed is the end properties which were allowed for medical use for doctor's offices.
Because back in 1962, people didn't go outside their neighborhood for doctors.
They allowed that, and that's the only commercial use that has ever been permitted in an actual property.
As different as that doctor's office looked, it was never intended for retail or other commercial use.
We beg you to please not destroy our neighborhood by allowing this.
retail space in here.
And we believe that this began with deception
and has continued in deception,
and we hope that you will not support that owner's deception
by allowing this to go through.
We're vehemently opposed to this,
and we hope you'll agree with us.
Thank you very much for your time.
Thank you for your input.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
No, sir, only Mr. O'Neill.
Why don't we let Mr. O'Neill testify,
and now she'll have the last word.
Mr. O'Neill. Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, I would like to point out, I had met with Donna, the previous witness, last night at another event in Parkwood, and she pointed out to me that the petition that has been handed in, they're all in the same handwriting.
and it I looked at it on the screen and it's pretty verifiable you'd have to you don't have
to be a handwriting expert to know to to know they're all the same but I just point that out
because yeah the um uh this we had police officers up there last last Labor Day I had to get police
officers the L&I Commissioner because of this grand opening with all these products I've also
been told, again, by Donna, who's done a lot of research, she's the secretary and heavy lifter
of the Civic Association for many years. She's kind of the person that does everything for the
board. And she has told me that at that time, the phone number that was given out at the grand
opening with the advertisements that precipitated all the L&I action and police action
is the applicant. It's connected to him. He also owns smoke shops in different areas. This is his
world. I just mentioned that because this has gotten this development of Parkwood. And Parkwood
isn't a small development. It was built actually in 1960. The doctor's office was finished because
it didn't. When it started in 1960, it was built as the largest. The planning commission told me
this in the 1980s, that it was still the largest single family development in the United States.
These row homes, as we used to call them with the garages in the front, they're now called townhomes
because they're more expensive, I guess. And there are thousands of them. There has never been
a, other than a doctor's office, there has never been a variance for anything other than
commercial. I mean, you know, across the street, the Corman Corporation built the entire development.
They also still own the shopping center across the street, across Academy Road, which is a major
artery. And this, this particular doctor's office addition was built. It didn't need zoning. This is
a very wide side yard. Side yards required here are for an end unit are eight feet. There was
There was plenty of room to put this in in there with a permit, with a doctor living in in the residence.
plenty of room to put this in, in there with a permit with a doctor.
So we have a full service shopping center that's been there for 60 plus years across the street with the same same Parkwood neighborhood.
and uh and then on the same side of the street where you saw the cmx1 there's a huge you know
very large bank that's been there forever since the beginning okay and while there's been different
um uh occupiers of the adjoining building there's a small building adjoining joining the bank
corman is the is the uh landlord of that as well uh it is currently a hair salon
But there is absolutely no hardship here. The Parkwood shopping centers across the street, no one in this community trusts anything that's going on here.
And I would just ask you to keep Parkwood residential. And if we get a doctor or a dentist that wants to rent that out or a single family, this is not a, this is an addition that would be allowed under single family zoning.
I'm not sure they'd want it maybe to look exactly the same, but there's enough room to put a one-story or a two-story addition on this house.
So a larger family, instead of having to move out of Parkwood or some other neighborhood, may very much desire this space.
And if a doctor comes along or, and remember, it was an Az Wright doctor who lived there, and there were several doctors in succession that did.
We check the zoning history. So I would ask you, there's there's no hardship here.
The community is totally opposed to it, as am I. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman, for your input. Is there anyone else in the audience with their hand up?
No, sir. That is all. Mr. Goldberg.
Yeah, just briefly. So, you know, the hardship here is that, you know, it would be entirely cost prohibitive to convert this as a part of the existing single family house.
It doesn't currently connect. You know, it appears at face value as a commercial or office space. And, you know, to the point about the previous use of the property, the tobacco shop, that was a tenant that the property owner had rented the property to.
Once he was made aware of the issues and the violations occurred, that tenant was evicted.
And finally, you know, if there are concerns about trust with the community, we would be willing to agree to a temporary variance.
Thank you for your input, Mr. Goldberg.
Planning Commission.
Ryan Bednar, City Planning.
The property is...
Ryan, did you get sworn yet today?
Earlier today, but...
Okay, you're right.
That's fine, Ryan.
That's fine, Ron.
Properties indicated for residential use on a city plan or adopted district plan recommends no change to the existing residential single-family zoning at this location.
Applicant's hardship is not supported with evidence of physical circumstances or condition of the property that would prevent it from being used in conformity with the code.
A record of several violations and failed inspections have been noted.
We recommend that a queser variance not be granted.
Thank you. MI 2022-007-604-12301, Medford Road, I vote no.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is no.
Ishmael Shahid, my vote is no.
Thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Okay. Number seven, MI 2022-007-574-2551 South Galloway Street. Joseph Consul is the attorney.
We'll be coming back to another panelist, sir.
Thank you.
Good evening.
Hi, Mr. Consul. You were sworn earlier today. Could you just state your name for the record?
Yes, it is Joseph Consul. That's C-O-N-S-O-L-E.
Right. Could you identify your client, the relationship to this property?
My client is Waypoint Properties, LLC, and the owner of Waypoint Properties should be on this call.
is Simcha Nozinski. Okay, and our vice chair has just a few questions, sir.
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy?
Good afternoon, counsel. Do you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its
Yes, sir.
Have you emailed in all of the required documents and exhibits that are needed to proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Everything but the RCO letter, and I'd like to just bring that up briefly.
We met with the RCO on May 17th.
This is Whitman RCO.
They asked us to send a petition around and send them some pictures.
We did both of those things.
And they, since that time, have not responded to us in terms of producing a letter or anything like that.
I don't want to prejudice my client by delaying it for a super long time.
So I was just looking to the board for some direction on how to handle that.
All right. Well, let us go through the actual case. We'll look into it. Please proceed and share your screen.
Let's see.
Did my packet come up or is it?
It's up. Yep.
All right. Great. 2551 South Galloway Street. The owner is Waypoint Properties, LLC.
see. They purchased this property in 2019 at the point of purchase, and you can still see this
online. They were shown a two-unit rental license that was owned by Stephen Chappin. They purchased
the property from his estate. He had that property since 1967, and as far as we can tell from the
neighbors that were at the RCO meeting, that property had been a duplex for as far back as
they can remember. The earliest proof that we have of that is an approval from 1947, which is an
atlas showing that it was approved for a two-family. I believe at the time it's a zoning
permit not required. I guess it was by right, but there was a two-unit proposed approval from 1947.
So it's been occupied. That was a long time for a very long time. This man, Mr. Chapin died. And at some point between when he died and when they purchased it, this license lapsed and is now inactive. We're seeking to revitalize that that two unit license.
we have our refusal to family household living is prohibited in this zoning district
we do not have our rco letter like i said we uh scheduled and attended this meeting with whitman
on may 17th um i thought it was a decent meeting they asked us to circulate a petition email to
them they would then reconvene with us in a non not not like a full second second meeting they
just wanted us to pull some neighbors and send them some photos and they would get back to us
but we sent it and haven't heard anything photos and plans i'm actually gonna i have a whole set
of interior photos here this is the basement first meter there's a second meter
First meter, second meter.
These are the units.
Each is one bedroom and one bathroom.
Counsel, is that a corner property?
It is not a corner property.
It is the second property and it's next to a restaurant
on the corner of a third and Galloway there.
There's the outside of the property.
The floor plans as built. Backyard. Sorry, I'm repeating these meters.
There's the deed. Tax clearance certificate and the petition that we circulated. They had wanted us to speak to the neighbors on Galloway and then also on Third Street, which this property, the rear of the property of Butts.
We were able to get 12 signatures in support. And that's it. That's our whole presentation, absent some input from the RCO.
Why don't you bring your client on to adopt your testimony?
Simcha, are you available?
shai nazninsky has his hand raised i love him to speak thank you sir could you state your name
and spell please for the court stenographer yep it's shai nazninsky s-h-a-i-n-o-z-n-i-s-k-y
n-o-z-n-i-s-k-y right do you swear a firm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but
right do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth
the truth i do i apologize i thought it was going to be the other owner on on the line um how are
you doing today good evening good no worries um can you uh did you hear my testimony just now
to the board yes do you adopt it as your own i do can you confirm to the board that at the time
you purchased the property it was set up as a two unit you did no work on it and as far as
you knew from the family it had always been a two unit that's correct okay is there anything you'd
like to add not at this time okay mr council were you at the community meeting the rco meeting yes
sir you were yes okay thank you uh questions from the board no chair no mr chairman questions or
comments from the virtual audience?
I see no hands, Mr. Chair.
Planning Commission.
Ron Bednar, City Planning.
Property is indicated for residential use
on a city plan or adopted district plan
recommends no change to the existing
residential single-family zoning at this location.
Applicant's hardship is not supported
with evidence of physical circumstances
preventing it from being used
in conformity with the code.
We recommend the request for variance not be granted.
Thank you.
Hillary, we're going to vote this.
I think we have enough indication that the RCO was involved, even though we don't have a letter.
That is fine, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you.
So MI 2022-007574-2551, South Galloway, I vote yes.
Thomas Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed, my vote is yes.
Thank you, and thank you, counsel.
Thank you.
Good evening.
Number 10, MI 2022-007-582-5245-47 Germantown Avenue. Steve Masters is the attorney. We have two different RCO letters sent separately. Are they in favor of the RCO in favor there? Hillary?
Mr. Chair, yes. So we have a letter of support from the coordinating RCO, Faith CDC. Then we have a letter of non-opposition from Solo Germantown. They recommended the following enforceable provisos, a temporary special exception, interior trash storage, and interior mailboxes and mail storage.
Thank you. Mr. Masters, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board.
My name is Steve Masters, S-T-E-V-E-M-A-S-T-E-R-S, from the law firm of JustLaws.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Could you identify your client in relationship to this property?
So one of my clients is Stan Smith, who's with me today, and he's the property owner.
and another client is pastor nathaniel co which is um he's the pastor of the church house of glory
they're the tenants okay and our vice chair has just a few questions good afternoon counsel do
you agree to waive the reading of the refusal and stipulate to its accuracy um good afternoon it is
not actually a refusal it's a referral there it's only for a special exception um i do agree to waive
the reading of the referral, and I stipulate to its accuracy.
Understood. Have you emailed in all the required documents and exhibits that are needed to
proceed with this case five days in advance of this hearing?
Yes, we did.
Thank you. Please proceed to share your screen.
Good evening, again, members of the board. We are here
for a special exception for religious assembly, basically a church, at two spaces in an existing
office building on Germantown Avenue, 5245 to 47. The referral is the only zoning issue
identified by LNI. This is a CMX 2.5 zoning district, and the religious assembly use requires
a special exception. We actually have the support in Exhibit 1 of two RCOs. The coordinating RCO
faith is the first letter in our binder, in which they reported that six near neighbors
appeared at the RCO meeting, all were in favor, and the two representatives of Faith CDC were in favor.
The two representatives of faith, CDC, were in favor, and there was also support from the 12th Democratic Ward.
We also have a letter from Joseph McCarthy from an RCO called BHNA.
They took a qualified support with provisos.
And those provisos were stated at the at the beginning of this hearing.
We also have a letter from the RCO known as solo RCO with the same support with with the same provisos.
In Exhibit 3, we have 48 petition signatures of the close neighbors to this property.
I'm going to make my screen a little bigger here.
So the petition refers to that the House of Glory Religious Ministry has been operating at this location since 2021.
They came in the midst of COVID, and their operations were very COVID.
In other words, they were primarily an online church in the very beginning, but then they ultimately were able to have many programs and weekly worship services on Sunday at the location.
These neighbors are from the unit block of East Springhurst, which is the adjacent street that we will see in a moment with our plans.
uh these neighbors are also from that unit block of east bring her street and uh from streets that
are very close by uh these signatures also some of them are from the very closest neighbors and
some for uh slightly farther away and as are these signatures a total of as i said 48.
so this is a site plan that shows you um here's germantown avenue um this is the front of the
building and the building goes uh quite a bit back um and it also uh juts out a bit um on the side
this is bring her streets um just to give you the orientation of germantown and bringhurst
um next we're going to look at the actual breakdown of the spaces so this um orientation
is from germantown avenue um at the bottom and the um all of the spaces are occupied by various
commercial businesses they all have proper zoning uh except for the spaces c and space d which
is going to is where the church has been operating and where we're seeking the special exception
This next diagram shows the significant amount of parking that this building has. So I'm going to go down to the bottom. So here is Germantown Avenue. This is a cutoff, but it's down towards this area.
um the parking that's available here goes all along the perimeter of the property um that is
a total of 20 parking spaces along this perimeter plus there's an additional five um in this area
and an additional five in a in an outer um part of the parking area here is bringhurst where my
cursor is on this side. So that's a total of 30 parking spaces that are right literally on this
lot. But there is also the owner, Mr. Smith, has a property a half a block away. And he is
allowing the church to use that additional spot for overflow parking. And the overflow parking
lot is an additional 38 spaces.
The site has a security plan and it also has a lighting plan.
And we shared both of those with the RCOs.
So here's some photos.
This is a photo of the front of the office building from the perspective of Germantown Avenue.
from the perspective of Germantown Avenue. Here is a photo standing in the parking lot area. This,
Here is a photo.
as I'm pointing to here, is that line of 20 parking spaces. And so this is the part of the
building that juts out, as we saw, but this is the main part of the building that's one long
rectangle. This is another view of the parking. This is standing at the back of the building
looking towards the the rear of the parking area.
This is now inside space D so you're going to see it's a fairly large space so you're going
to see a few this is an area up here where there's office space up a stairway.
This is an entrance into the space from the outside.
This is the door that enters into the space D. This is also a portion of it.
This part of space D enters into an outer area.
More views of Space D. This is the stairway we looked at before that goes up into an office.
This is another enclosed area inside of Space D. Here's the restroom.
And another stairway that goes into an office area.
This is a separate room, and in that separate room it is decorated with the church's imagery.
This is that room we saw earlier, pointed with some chairs and tables. Then this is space C.
This is where the worship services are held, and this is the area where the pastor stands and also plays music up there.
The upper area of showing the skylights in that area.
Here's our zoning posters that were placed at the front of the office building.
And in the presentation for the RCOs, we shared with the RCOs a number of photos of the church
in operation. So here's a service in the space. And then there's various flyers and advertisements
of various activities that the church is holding. This is Pastor Nathaniel Coe, who's here today.
more images of prayer services this is a children's uh activity at the church
these are some instagram pictures that uh describe what's happening and also have dates
this is a study session for children
More children's programming.
Let's start a photo of a service on Sunday.
Part of the service.
Steve, I think we understand what's going on there.
Yes, I'm going to move it forward.
I'm going to move it forward.
Thank you.
That was a repast, a backpack giveaway.
We have a tax clearance.
The deed that Mr. Smith, when he purchased the property, we also have two leases in our packet, one lease for space C and one lease for space D, that were requested by the RCOs.
our application for special exception
our project information form
we have a property history supplied by the owner we have a copy of the contract
for trash and recycling service from waste management.
This site and these other addresses
are all owned by Mr. Smith
and they all have commercial trash pickup.
These are some sustainability aspects
of the construction of the building.
This was our RCO letter.
We did not get pretty much just one
I think community person came to the first RCO meeting so then we had a second RCO meeting
where we circulated a flyer we went door to door to a larger group and we got six as we said earlier
neighbors who came and all supported the project this was the larger area that we circulated the
flyers to for the second meeting these are those addresses of the first flyer I mean the I'm sorry
the mailing this is our proof of mailing for the first notice and then this is the additional
addresses for flyer distribution i am going to call on stan smith to raise your hand so that you can
testify this is smith if you're in the audience please raise your virtual hand
he's been allowed to speak sir could you state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
sure my name is stan smith s-t-a-n and my last name is smith s-m-i-t-h do you swear or affirm
to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do proceed counsel
um good afternoon um mr smith um did you hear my testimony that i just gave
in this case? Yes, I did. Do you believe that it's true and correct and would you adopt it as
your own testimony? Yes. Is there anything that you wanted to add that I didn't mention
that you want to say to the board? Yes. I'm a real estate development in Germantown for 34 years.
My office has been in Germantown for 34 years and I've learned many lessons in my 34 years
and real estate developments,
one of the best ways to make a difference
and change and make an impact
in the neighborhood.
And one of the things I've learned
as I got older and wiser
is finding great tenants
that are going to make a difference.
The pastor is that kind of energy
that I want.
And even though he came in as an office space
because of COVID,
he's expanded
and the activities that he does
touch the neighborhood
and that's important to me it's important to the neighborhood and uh it's part of the mission my
34 years i've learned being germantown making a difference anyway thank you mr smith thank you so
much thank you questions from the board oh i actually wanted to um to present the the pastor
um because okay there's a question there's a question on the on making this a temporary
special exception and we want to address that. Okay. Is Nathaniel Coe in the audience? Could
you raise your virtual hand? He's been about to speak. Hi, Mr. Coe, could you state your name,
please, and spell for the court stenographer? Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Nathaniel
co n-a-t-h-a-n-i-e-l last name c-o-e do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth i do proceed counsel um pastor co there um
Proceed, counsel.
Pastor Coe, you've seen that we've presented a lot of the programs and the richness that your church has in this location.
Can you talk about why you chose this location and whether it's important for you to have the certainty of an ongoing special exception for permission to remain at this location for quite a long time?
Absolutely. Because Philadelphia is heavily saturated with ministries, especially ministries that do not always have the buy-in of the community, I believe that in this particular Germantown area that we have a very great opportunity to have the full buy-in, the full support of the community.
And so no matter what happens, you know, even as the ministry grows, 5245, our goal and our vision is to always retain our space and our lease here so that we can continue the amazing work, not even just in the community, but with the community.
Thank you. I do have one member of the community who wanted to speak also, Mr. Chair, very briefly. If Angel Roman is in the virtual audience, can you raise your virtual hand?
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yes. Angel Roman. A-N-G-E-L-R-O-M-A-N.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Proceed, counsel.
Good evening, Mr. Roman. Can you tell the board where you live and how close it is to the church?
Yeah, sure. I'm a neighbor to the church, 5241 Apartment B. So the church is right next door to me.
Is it like two doors down or one door down?
Like a door down.
Okay. And what's your experience been with the church? What can you tell the board about how the church has been as a neighbor?
It's a big influence, positive influence. I believe that it's a pillar to the community of Germantown.
Although we have the Powell Center, I believe that the church plays a big part in the community with activities for the young kids and the surrounding area in the neighborhood.
why um why did you decide to take the time this afternoon to to speak to the board and
in support of the church what what is it that that um you want to let the board know is so
important about this this church being at this location uh being in germantown for the past
15 years of my life i've uh noticed a big change in neighborhood and uh the church is something
that we need uh not because um i'm a neighbor but because of the positive impact that it has
in in the community with the activities that it offers um i've seen them you know do the drive
the food drives um you know we we live in a it's you know whether we like to say it or not it's an
impoverished environment you know germantown 19144 has a lot of corridors that are business
corners, but it's also a struggling neighborhood, and the church makes a positive impact, and
you know, I believe that it's a necessity to the neighborhood.
Thank you so much. I have no further witnesses at this time.
Questions from the board?
No, Mr. Chairman.
No, Chair.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience?
no further hands Mr. Chair
Planning Commission
Planning Commission
yes this is Ron Bednar
City Planning
property is zoned for neighborhood
commercial mixed use on the city plan
proposed use will have no more
of an impact than would be expected
given its specific location.
Therefore, we recommend the request for special exception be granted.
Hillary, what were the provisors that were recommended?
So the provisors that were recommended,
So the provisos that were recommended, and I just want to note that we didn't, there was a third RCO letter that we didn't receive on the BNVA, I think it was.
and I just want to note that there was a third RCO letter.
Mr. Masters, if you could forward that to us for our records, that would be great.
um but just just be clear mr chair the the main rcos um who who have the the larger
constituencies the 12th ward and faith cdc did not put any provisos or conditions on
only only the the minority solo germantown right and one of the rco but and i i see um
miss weiss has her hand raised um from solo germantown um but they did recommend a temporary
special exception interior trash storage and interior mailboxes and mail storage among other
provisors but these are the ones that bring this bring this weiss one bring this weiss one please
it's been a lot to speak sir i'm miss weiss yes hello state your name please and spell for the
court stenographer allison a double l i s o n weiss w e i s s solo general town civic association
You swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Prasheed.
Yes, I just wanted to say that, yes, we did suggest a temporary special exception,
and as did our other affected RCO, the Baton Hill Neighbors Association, Joe McCarthy,
who did submit a letter.
I don't know if he received it.
I have a copy of it.
But they have been operating there for some time, and we feel that it's important to make sure that this use doesn't continue after this church leaves.
So we have no assurance to know what will come in after this particular use.
And therefore, we would like to see that there be a temporary variance granted.
Thank you for taking the time to call us in.
Pull in. We appreciate it.
If I may, Mr. Chair, we believe that a temporary use would be substantially damaging to this church.
the the community came out overwhelmingly a hundred percent for them they have many
charitable programs both for children and for and for adults and the stabilization is is something
that's quite critical for them to be able to thrive and and to grow there was no there was
no support for the for that temporary special exception from anyone in the community and from
the two major RCOs who were there. The fourth one, BHLV, didn't even appear at the RCO meeting.
They acknowledged that in their letter. They never talked to anyone. They just decided to give us
their opinion on their own. So we do believe that it would damage the good works that this
church is doing if there was a limitation put on them. Thank you for your input. MI 2022-007-582,
5245 to 47
Germantown Avenue. I vote yes.
Thomas
Holloman, my vote is yes.
Ishmael Shaheed,
my vote is yes. Thank you, counsel.
Thank you so much.
Number two, MI
2023, 002
809, 1401
on South 13th Street.
Mr. Movahill is the attorney
to reconsideration hearing.
Mr. Chair, I just want to note for the record
that all testimony and evidence previously submitted
for the prior hearing is incorporated
into the record for this hearing.
Thank you.
Counsel, you've already been sworn.
Just state your name for the record
for the yes good afternoon members of the board this is leo mulvihill m-u-l-v as in victor i-h-i-l-l
could you identify your client and the relationship to the property yes my client on the line today
is patrick duffy he and his wife camille baziglou are the owners of the property okay um
this is a reconsideration here and so i why don't we proceed i think
uh we don't need to go over what you've said in and all that stuff so why don't why don't we just
start certainly so members of the board we're back here from november 2022 hearing
With respect to this property, we're here with a new client, which I think, pardon me, a new proposed tenant, which I think will help alleviate some of the concerns as originally outlined in the community group letter, which was Passion Square Civic Association.
with respect to this property uh we're here with a new client which i think
1401 South 13th Street is a three-story structure located on the corner of 13th and Reed, right across from a bakery, I believe another commercial property, and the park right there directly across the street.
we had taken some time to get a brand new refusal for this matter which we received i got in my hand
today because what we're proposing is on the ground story a vegan bakery known as dotty's
donuts previously just been marked as commercial to be some sort of other sort of shop with two
residential units above so what i have not in my table of contents members of the board but
here separately received it was issued yesterday by david salini forwarded to the board council
today is our new refusal which i know some community members were curious about as well
so we received as i said our refusal for a bakery on the ground floor with two family
households living above we had requested this reconsideration due to this new tenant
and due to the fact that we had received numerous signatures in support
of this project in terms of reconsideration from other members in the immediate area as well
a reconsideration request was granted on may 9th this is on page 7 of my packet
and then we requested leave to amend our refusal
on that same day at page 8 of my packet like i said we only received that refusal today
here's what our latest proposal is members of the board because there were concerns about
what sort of tenant would be going in dotty's donuts is going to be our tenant members of the
board which is a local donut shop and i believe they may be vegan which has several locations
throughout the city and it's going to be a takeout shop they're only going to be serving coffee
donuts bagels they'll have a little bit of seating in the interior of the property but
that's about it we do have one of the rest of the principles of dottie's donuts on the line today
i hope they're still on at least only because the this presentation uh is running a little late
later than usual uh some concerns about the property uh initially were whether the
hours of operation would be open too late i believe passion square civic association was
concerned that the property not be open any later than 9 p.m uh considering this is a donut shop
they're going to start baking earlier in the morning initially at this property they're not
planning to begin baking here they're going to be bringing everything in from their west
philadelphia location but they will eventually hope to start baking here at this location which
will begin around 4 30 a.m retail store is going to be starting to open around 7 a.m and they'll
closing at 3 a.m monday through friday and 8 a.m to 3 p.m on saturday and sunday
we're hoping that this is going to be primarily foot traffic at this location
considering its location on 13th street and breed it's most of the other locations that the are
that exist in the city are also being serviced by foot traffic as well
this is my client's tax clearance certificate
This is a reposted zoning notices you'll note that we don't have the reposted new refusal in this instance members of the board and that's because, again, we received that earlier today, but we can see this is the corner property just to refresh the board's recollection. This did previously used to be a veterinary clinic on the ground story, and I believe it was either one or two units above
We have Faraghali's Bakery directly across the street at 13th and Reed.
We have commercial use. I'm not sure if this is a daycare or something else at this point, members of the board. There have been previous applications put in, but this is residential units of Bob and commercial use on the ground story.
And then we have the park directly caddy corner. So this is going to be a perfect location for a takeout donut shop for folks who want to take the dog for a walk, have a nice time in the park, go to the dog park afterwards, grab a cup of coffee on their way to the subway, anything along those lines as well.
The proposal for trash storage is going to be in the rear of the property.
What I have here, members of the board, is the original zoning packet that we submitted back at the first zoning hearing, and I'm happy to review all that as well.
I just want to remind the board of a few things without belaboring the points.
without belaboring the points this is the area zoning map this is page 33 of 102
This is the area zoning map. This is page 30.
of our original of our zoning packet here so we have our park here
the bakery directly across the street is owned cmx2 um i believe the daycare with the
with the residential units above caddy corner to us is on cmx2 we have the park here
and then this is our subject property along 13th street
And just to further orient us, yellow here, this is Broad Street, so we're located in between the Acme and Broad Street.
My client's deed. And these are all the other materials that were previously submitted. Now, members of the board, what I'll do as well is I'll get to the proposed layouts as we were looking.
So the commercial space at this point is kind of a blank box.
We don't have the entirety of the interior layout completely sketched out yet.
We had some previous suggestions that were put together by our architect, but those weren't necessarily to be put in stone at this point.
But we intend to have a service counter.
You go in, you pick up, you order your donuts or coffee or your bagel, you grab it, you go, you're on your way.
Above that is going to be two units.
On the second story, we're going to have unit one,
which is a 645 square foot two bedroom unit.
We can see the layout here, bedroom at the front,
bedroom at the rear, bedroom bathroom,
kitchen living in the middle.
And then on the third story, unit number two,
it's gonna be 530 square feet.
And that's a one bedroom unit,
so it's slightly smaller than the two bedroom unit.
Now, why are we asking to have this at this location? Well, it's due to the peculiar setup of the property and the fact that it was previously used for quite some time as a veterinary members of the board, particularly as well.
This location, as close as it is to Broad Street, it makes perfect sense to have some sort of takeout restaurant or some sort of food establishment on the ground story.
um if i may simply reference the letter that was sent by
pardon me for one second members of the board i seem to have lost passion squares uh letter but
it is in our file uh but just to reference passion squares uh initial letter that was
sent out which was non-opposition um they were not in they were not opposed to our application
so long as we had something similar to a takeout restaurant whereas when we previously filed this
application it was for a vacant commercial use and after which there was a different
tenant that was proposed now we have a proposed tenant that is dotty's donuts that has several
locations throughout philadelphia and i hope that alleviates neighbors concerns about things
like trash storage which will be in the rear of the property um neighbors had other concerns as
well that we'd be happy to address i don't want to take up more time but i understand there may be
significant number of neighbors still on the call that i'd like to be able to address their concerns
and turn as they bring them up with my client and with a representative of bodies donuts if they're
still on the line now patrick are you still available and if you are please raise your hand
been allowed to speak. Mr. Duffy, state your name and spell please for the court stenographer.
Good evening. Patrick Duffy, P-A-T-R-I-C-K-D-U-F-F-Y. Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Proceed, counsel. Okay. Now,
Patrick, I wasn't present at the initial community meeting with respect to this parcel,
But have I essentially gone through the community's concerns to the best of your knowledge, information, and recollection?
Yes, you have.
Okay. Are you aware whether the representative of Dottie's Donuts is still on the line at this point?
Yes, the two owners are currently on the line.
Fantastic. Now, Patrick, previously in this location, what were you proposing to have as your tenant?
It was another takeout restaurant. However, the hours were slightly different.
they were more of a lunch dinner uh type of establishment whereas this one would be
breakfast lunch and then close at 3 pm all right is there anything else you'd like to add at this
time patrick um not too much i'd just like to state that i am a neighbor i live a block away
from this location and um i own another building that's very similar to this proposal that we have
And I own another building that's very similar to this proposal that we have.
And many of the neighbors are familiar with the other building where Reanimate or Coffee currently is.
And I think many of them are happy with how that building turned out.
And I'd like to do something similar here.
Great. Thank you, Patrick.
The board may have more questions for you.
Oh, pardon me.
With respect to my testimony today, do you adopt it as your own?
Yes, I do all right. Thank you very much members of the board. If you have any questions for questions, questions from the board.
No, Mr. Chairman.
Questions or comments from the virtual audience.
I'm sorry. Mr. Steve Fabiani has his hand raised.
so we'll allow him to speak
sir could you state your name
please and spell for the court stenographer
F like Frank
A-B-I-A-N
do it one more time
you were breaking up a lot
yeah I'm sorry about that
I hear some
maybe somebody needs to mute
S-T-E-V-E
as in frank a b i a and i right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and
nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor i am mr chair my property is about 45 feet away
from the subject property i'm here in opposition to this variance also opposition to reconsideration
at all i've submitted a letter that argues against the claims made by counsel's reasons
for reconsideration and would ask the board accept that letter as testimony um thank you
okay uh this is another case of a single family property that for a time had a doctor's office
as part of the doctor's home council's arguing that this represents oppressive use which is
absolutely false does not reflect the long history of the property or the neighborhood
also of note substantial concern about traffic and parking which is already problematic in it
we cannot afford to lose more parking spaces to private driveways or loading zones and finally
I'd like to note for the record that there have been some veiled personal insults on social media
this week against those neighbors who are opposed to the granting of the variance including by one
individual who claims to have I object to this testimony so Mr Fabiano I we we understand that
but let let's just concentrate on where you stand right now I I stand in opposition to the to the
variance I believe this should be a single family home as it has always been um and as the as the
city as the Philadelphia City Planning Commission hearing matter that's all okay Mr. Fabiano thank
you thank you very much thank you are there other hands up Jason yes sir I have a hand up from
Ms. Jennifer Gallo.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court sonographer?
Yes, my name is Jennifer, J-E-N-N-I-F-G-A-L-L-O.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I am a near neighbor, yes.
Okay, and if possible, could you, you know, what we're trying to do with this so people can have their say,
but try to concentrate on something different than what's already been said. I think Mr. Fabiano
laid out a thing. So please see what you can give us that's. Sure. Yes. Yes. I am also in strong
opposition to this, the request for variance and reconsideration, not only for the reasons that
Mr. Fabiani laid out, but also with regard to this particular corner being a very, I am at 1401,
south sorry 1402 south 13th street so directly across from the property in question it is a very
busy corner there is already a lot of foot traffic a lot of car traffic a lot of bike traffic people
walking to and from dogs and babies the park the daycare going about their business um adding
another commercial property in a location that is historically zoned single family is a bad idea
for any neighborhood. It is also a potential safety concern given the amount of congestion
it is going to add to this particular corner. The idea that another food establishment is needed
in this immediate area is hard to believe. There are multiple takeouts.
hard to believe. There are multiple take-out and sit-down breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee
establishments within two blocks of this corner. This proposal adds nothing to the neighborhood.
It also, the variance does not correct any hardship imposed by the existing zoning of the property.
thank you thank you for you taking the time to call in is there anyone else in the virtual
audience jason yes sir laurie mazer i've let him speak okay hi could you state your name please
and spell for the court stenographer yeah my name is laurie l-a-u-r-i-e mazer m-a-z-e-r
you swear or firm to tell the truth told truth nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor
Yes, I live at 1426 South 13th.
So are you in favor of this or opposed?
I'm very in favor.
And I walk frequently with my children
and love the foot traffic and live
and think our block is incredibly thriving.
And we encourage foot traffic
by having citywide block parties for Halloween
and things like that.
So I think this is an amazing addition
and would benefit, yeah, the whole neighborhood.
And I'm enthusiastically in support.
Thank you for taking the time to call in.
Is there anyone else in the virtual audience?
Yes, sir.
Jeffrey McMahon.
I've allowed him to speak.
Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Jeffrey McMahon, J-E-F-F-R-E-Y-M-C-M-A-H-O-N.
Right.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor, sir?
I live on the same block down Reed Street.
Are you in favor of this or against?
I'm in favor of it.
Okay, thank you very much.
Could you give us a quick reason why, if it's different, especially the last person?
Yeah, I think the one context that I think hasn't been elaborated on is the fact that all corners of the park have commercial.
This is a dynamic and growing neighborhood and commercial area in terms of the park.
It activates the way that individuals use the park.
and have services that reflect that.
Dottie's Donuts is an excellent candidate for coming in
and not increasing driving and parking issues,
but rather providing services that people who are already there need.
And I completely support the application.
Thank you for taking the time to call us.
Is there anyone else?
Yes, Lisa Hallowell.
Hi, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court stenographer?
lisa hallowell l-i-s-a hallowell h-a-l-l-o-w-e-l-l right do you swear or firm to tell
the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do are you a neighbor i am okay are you for this
or against it against okay and if i we will we're going to take note that you're against it
Do you have other reasons than what's already been stated?
Just that this property was zoned a single family.
My husband and I looked at the property in 2019.
We were told that it was a hardship variance that was granted, no longer applied, and it was a single family residence, could not be converted into anything else.
And I am currently living at 1238 Reed Street. The west wall of my home abuts the 1401 property that he has. And it's a single family and should remain.
And it is not true that every corner has a commercial property on it.
So just want to state that as well.
All right. Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to cause.
Is there anyone else, Jason?
Yes, sir. Anissa George. I have a lot of them to speak.
Hi. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Yeah. Anissa George. A-N-I-S-A-G-E-O-R-G-E.
do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
absolutely are you a neighbor i am a neighbor i'm in favor of this or against it i'm in favor
i'm on uh reed street on the block and um ever since i've been here it's about 12 years that
corner has just felt like a black hole of sorrow okay i love the idea of donuts being there and
and bringing that corner to life.
You will be part of our record that you're in favor of it.
Thank you very much.
Is there anyone else, Jason?
Yes, sir. Daniel Driscoll.
Yes, sir.
Daniel Driscoll.
Hi, Mr. Driscoll.
Hi, Mr. Driscoll. Could you state your name and spell please for the court stenographer?
Could you stay?
Mr. Driscoll, we can't hear you.
Could you go again?
You're breaking up, but try to get it.
Spell your name for the court reporter.
Daniel, D-A-N-I-E-L.
do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
i do are you a neighbor i am are you for against this i am opposed to this
so are you for against i am i am against okay um um if if there's another reason why then
already happened we would appreciate we'll take note that you're against it and unless you have
another reason than what's already been stated we're going to move on is that okay yes i would
just add that in addition to the other reason um the applicants in council have not done a really
great job of addressing concerns and they've proposed a new use as a reason for a rehearing
okay and i think things like crap storage in the rear is is pretty vague and might actually
I'm sorry, Chair, this is the reporter.
I know he's breaking. Mr. Driscoll, you're breaking up a lot. I think what I heard you say is about trash in the rear yard.
Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm not sure what's happening with my sound. Yes. And I think they haven't really come back with new information, even though that they're saying things have changed. So we're not uncomfortable with the way that they've approached this.
All right. Thank you very much for taking the time to call in. Is there anyone else, Jason?
Yes, sir. Colin Burgess.
Could you state your name and spell, please, for the court stenographer?
Colin Burgess, C-O-L-I-N-B-U-R-G-E-S-S.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Mr. Burgess, we've had a lot of people give their reasons why. The question is, are you for or against this?
I'm four and I am a neighbor and I just stand with the other folks that the comments that other people said. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for doing that. Is there anyone else?
Yes, Mr. Chair and Alex Kaslowitz.
Okay. Could you state your name and spell it, please, for the court stenographer?
Sure. Alex, A-L-E-X, Kaslowitz, K-A-S-L-O-W-I-T-Z.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
As you know, we've taken a lot of testimony.
Are you for or against it?
I am for and I am a neighbor.
Thank you so much for taking the time to call in.
We appreciate that.
Is there anyone else, Jason?
Yes, sir.
Sanaz Hodra.
Hi, could you state your name, please, and spell for the court stenographer?
Hi, yes.
Actually, this is Ross Richards speaking for my wife, Sanaz Hodra.
okay do you swear or spell your name first for the court stenographer
ross r-o-s-s richards r-i-c-h-a-r-d-s we are firmly against this
hold on hold on sir hold on you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the
truth i do and you're a neighbor yes and you're against it yes thank you your your name we have
your name. Thank you for calling in and giving us that information. Is there anyone else, Jason?
Yes, sir. Peter Varekia. Sir, state your name and spell for the court sonographer.
Hold on, sir. Sir, please unmute.
Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Could you state your name, please, and spell for the court
sonographer. Great. It's Peter Varekia, V as in Victor, E-R-R-E-C-C-H-I-A. Right. Do you swear
or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth? I do. Are you a neighbor?
I am. Okay. And as you know, we've taken a lot of testimony about this. Are you for or against it?
I am for it. I'm going to give you a new reason. I spend most of my time volunteering in the park
across the street. And in that time, I've wanted a beautiful small business that would cater to
pedestrians and people who really like this neighborhood. I think this is the right choice.
Thank you so much for taking the time to close. Is there anyone else, Jason?
um yes sir chase dumont i've allowed him to speak sir could you state your name and spell
Yes, sir. Chase Dumont. I've allowed him to speak.
for the court stenographer sure chase dumont c-h-a-s-e dumont d-u-m-o-n-t do you swear
for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes sir we've taken a lot of toast
we were to get to the point are you for against i am for it thank you very much for taking the
time to call in yep is there anyone else jason um yes race rochelle schneider i've allowed her to
speak why could you state your name and spell it please for the court stenographer uh it's rochelle
r-a-c-h-e-l-l-e schneider s-c-h-n-e-i-d-e-r right do you swear or firmly to tell the truth the whole
truth nothing but the truth I do are you for or against this I am for thank you very much for
are your neighbor too are you a neighbor uh yes I'm actually looking at the property right now
as I speak and I did just want to add one new thing there's there's a lot of things I agree
with on both sides but I think um that there are four corners of the park and each corner
has a commercial corridor and one is being built right now but um the corner as it is as it's been
standing as we wait for this has been a blight of the community and I'm looking forward to
forward to it being something beautiful and new and I know the work that has been done by Patrick
before and I look forward to that happening on our corner and I just want to say that if it is
a vegan donut shop um we will be kind of a vegan row on reed street and um and vegans bring a lot
of uh uh happy foot traffic to the the community that i look forward to all right thank you so
much for taking the time jason is there anyone left um yes jim coho has his hand raised i have
allowed him to speak sir state your name please and spell for the court stenographer
uh the name is jim j-i-m kehoe k-e-h-o-e do you swear for him to tell the truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth yes i do are you a neighbor i am a neighbor yes are you for or against it
i am for it thank you very much for taking the time to call us and we appreciate that
jason is there anyone else
yes i'm laura carl she's been out to speak hi could you state your name and spell for the
court stenographer yes sir it's laura carroll l-a-u-r-a-c-a-r-r-o-l-a right do you swear
for him to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes are you a neighbor yes i am are
you are you for against it 100 for thank you so much for taking the time to call is there anyone
else yes sir brian mcmanus he's been allowed jason how many more hands do you see up
i'm five more after this one for me five more hands after this um mr rickmanis
okay could you state your name and spell please for the court stenographer
yeah the name is brian mcmanus b-r-i-a-n-m-c-m-a-n-u-s you swear for him to tell the
truth the whole truth nothing but the truth yes i do are you a neighbor yes i am are you for or
Are you for or against it?
I am very much in favor of this development.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for taking the time to cause.
Next hand, Jason.
Stephen Johns has been allowed to speak.
Hi, could you state your name and spell, please, for the court stenographer?
Stephen Johns, S-T-E-B-E-N-J-O-H-N-S.
Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Are you a neighbor?
I am a neighbor.
All right.
Are you for or against it?
I'm against it based upon a process.
This is the first time we've ever seen the plans of the proposed renovation and would have liked to have the community have a little bit more input on the plans just now developed.
All right.
Thank you very much for taking the time to close.
Jason, next hand.
um yes stephanie dawson has been allowed to speak hi could you state your name please
and spell for the court stenographer yes my name is stephanie dawson s-t-e-p-h-a-m-i-e
right do you swear or firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth
yes absolutely all right are you a neighbor
I am a neighbor that firmly lives across the street from Patrick and Oslo's.
Can you meet which?
Stephanie, are you a neighbor?
Yes, I am.
Are you for or against it?
I am for the property.
I currently live across Patrick and Oslo's other property, and I'm looking forward to this particular corner to be brighter and add more to the community than it has.
this particular corner to be greater and add more to the community than it has.
Thank you so much for taking the time to call. Jason, next hand.
David Mariscotti has been about to speak. Sir, could you state your name and spell please for
the court stenographer? Yes, it's David, D-A-V-I-D Mariscotti, M-A-R-I-S-C-O-T-T-I.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
I do. Are you a neighbor? I am a neighbor. Are you for or against it? I am 100% against it.
Thank you. Thank you for taking the time to call. Next hand, Jason.
Michael Santor has been allowed to speak. Hi, sir. Could you state your name and spell,
please, for the court stenographer? Yes. Can you hear me? We can. Okay. Michael Santor.
m-i-c-h-a-e-l-s-a-n-t-o-r-e
right i am i support the project as hold on hold on hold on a minute i'm sorry do you swear
firm to tell the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth i do and you're in support of the
project i am thank you so much for taking the time to cause jason next hand all right the last
hand is uh um this must be the sanas right okay yes could you hi could you state your name and
spell it please for the court sonographer sanas hudra s-a-n-a-z last name is h-o-j-r-e-h
right do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
i do are you i have additional yes i am and i have an additional reason yes i am well tell me
first are you for or against it i'm against it okay can you tell me your quick reason
quick reason is that the city is preparing to develop a parcel of lands on rain street which
is right on the the garden area and the park and the fact is they're going to add 15 000 square
foot of commercial property this on top of it we are going to be saturated i believe that is too
much. Okay. Thank you so much. Infrastructure. Thank you. Thank you so much for taking the
time to call us. We appreciate it. Planning Commission.
Brian?
Planning Commission.
i believe i believe the planning commission already gave its testimony
um is that true hillary um yes mr chair they gave uh their testimony at the prior hearing um
okay um mr bednar did they wish is your testimony the same or do you wish to add anything yes we
will go with the same testimony okay thank you thank you so um council um obviously we've heard
from a lot of people as well as last time so what i'm going to do is take this to executive session
and sit down with the board members and really discuss where we want to be with this understood
and i and i thank you for your time and i thank everybody else who took the time to cause and
spent a lot of time doing this day so thank everyone for us thank you yes thank you chairman
members of the board have a good evening is there anyone in the virtual audience whose 330 case has
not been called no sir i do not see any further hands um i want to thank everybody you know we
don't try to go this long but i do appreciate everybody for hanging in here we got a lot of
good work done today and you know we we got some things approved and i think this will allow us to
know where we want to be with a lot of these cases so thank you all very much good job i don't know
about that good job good job thank you chair thank you