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.